#1949 matt series
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1949 ⭑ Matt Sturniolo
Chapter One
summary : you move back home with your brother and click with his friends, though the tension is high with matt and it turns into something more
warnings : brothers best friend trope, slow burn, tension, sneaky relationship, swearing, eventual smut, slight traumatic past relationship with reader’s mother, and probably some other stuff
a/n : each chapter will have a different collage solely based on what takes place in it. kind of a new idea but i’m gonna run w it. if you don’t like it, use your imagination and pretend it’s not there xx
3.4k words
prologue
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Surprisingly, after the long and heartfelt hug, things were quiet as the three of you make your way back to the car. Your dad insisted on carrying your belongings for you, leaving you arm in arm with Nate, who refuses to leave your side.
The lights on the car flash as your dad unlocks it, heading towards the opening trunk to place your luggage in it. Nate opens the back door for you, holding his hand out, motioning you to get in. You easily slide through, the fresh aroma of black ice filling your senses. A wave of familiarity washes over you, striking you with old memories you’re so fond of.
“Are you okay?” Nate asks from beside you.
You glance at him with a smile before furrowing your eyebrows, “Yeah. How come you’re not up front?”
“Oh come on. I’ve spent thirteen years without you, I don’t ever wanna leave your side again.” He admits with a bittersweet laugh, then pauses, “Wait, unless you’re more comfortable—“
You stop him from getting back out by grabbing his arm, instantly shaking your head. “No, please stay.”
He gives you a smile, taking place right beside you again. Your father opens the door on the opposite side, and starts to scoot in before stopping as he looks at the two of you in the back.
“Wait.. I have to drive?” He questions, feigning absurdity.
“Dad!” Nate chuckles, leaving you all giggling as your dad gets behind the wheel to get you all home.
Home.
It’s weird to think that. You’re going home. It’s you, Nate, and your dad in a city you used to love, but now seems so foreign to you. You can only hope things start to fit together again.
The car ride is silent, the three of you just taking in the abrupt new change. You’re over the moon to be back with them, but you can’t help but notice the difference. And of course, things are going to be different as it’s been thirteen years. You just didn’t really know what to expect.
As you watch out the windows, the scenery becomes slightly familiar and it takes you a moment to realize where you’re at. You recognize the side streets, every turn, every tree, every house. And then you’re there.
Your eyes widen as you take in the house in front of you. Slowly exiting the car, you view the house from top to bottom. It’s exactly the same.
“You never left.” You find yourself stating.
Nate comes to your side as your dad retrieves your bags, “We wanted to stay here in case you ever found your way back home.”
Tears prick in your eyes and you can’t help but feel an overwhelming mix of emotions. Without a word, you lurch into Nate’s arms, engulfing him in a massive hug. His embrace is warm and welcoming, making you realize just how much you missed him.
Pulling away, he gives you a sad smile, rubbing your arm in a comforting manner. Your dad places a hand on your shoulder, causing your attention to shift to him. You immediately wrap your arms around him, yanking him into a much needed hug.
“Enough with being all sappy and shit. Let’s get inside, it’s cold as hell out here.” Nate chuckles.
You smile and follow them in, your heart rate increasing with every step you take. You’re in awe once you walk through the door. It’s been years, but everything’s still the same, aside from a few upgrades. It still gives that welcoming feeling you’ve desperately longed for.
“Do you want to go upstairs?” Nate asks.
You look towards the staircase where your dad is headed, before looking back at your brother. He has a sort of hopeful look on his face, though you can still see he’s a bit unsure. You swallow the lump in your throat and give him a small upturn of your lips, nodding in agreement.
He starts up the same steps you used countless of times years and years ago, beckoning you to follow him. Your shaky hand grasps the railing as you do, the wooden steps slightly creaking beneath your weight. As you round the corner, you notice your dad standing outside the door to your old bedroom.
“Uh—we didn’t change anything, we kind of just left it as it was.” He starts, his tone of voice a bit nervous, “We did get a new bed when your grandma said you were coming back, figured you’d like more room as opposed to a twin. Oh, and your clothes were just pulled out to make room for what you have now. They’re packed away in the garage. I know your taste has probably changed, so we can do whatever you want with it. ”
You’re left speechless as you hesitantly cross the threshold. Your mind is flooded with old memories that you seemed to have forgotten.
“Well, we’ll leave you to get settled in.” Your dad says, “If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“But—“ Nate is cut off by a tug from your father, pulling him out of the room.
As soon as the door closes, you turn back around to take it all in. Your eyes are wide as you observe your surroundings. Today is full of surprises, you almost don’t even know how to deal with it all.
Your walls are covered in that same pink pastel wallpaper, spare flowers scattered all across them. Your floor still has that white fluffy carpet that you were obsessed with when you were five. The chalkboard is covered from top to bottom with old writing from when you and Nate were little, but you notice something in the corner that looks a bit different.
I miss you so much sis
The tears flooding your eyes slip, streaming down your cheeks as your fingertips brush over the words. You wonder what it’s been like for them. Was it as hard for them as it was for you? Was it even worse?
You take a deep breath and continue around the room. Your small desk is filled with coloring books and writing utensils just like you left them the night before you were torn away from your family. Your toy box is overflowing with all sorts of things — dolls, stuffed animals, legos. You have a giant kitchen set on the side of the chest, one that you vividly remember you and Nate playing with. There’s a small bulletin board by your window, covered in pictures from your younger years.
Being with your family in your old house, your old room, brings so many feelings to the surface. You’re super glad to be home, but you feel so sad. Sad that you’ve gone so long without them, and you’ll never get that time back.
Taking a deep breath, you sit on the edge of your bed, before letting yourself fall flat against it. It’s soft and plush, just how you like it, and the fact that they remembered makes you smile.
You don’t know how long it’s been as you lay there in silence, but your eyes feel droopy and you’re practically fighting sleep. However, it takes merely minutes for it to consume you, and you drift off into a much needed slumber.
-
The sweet and smokey smell of syrup and bacon fill your nose, causing you to scrunch it up as you slowly become conscious. Your eyes are heavy and it takes a minute to adjust to the bright light shining through the window. After a moment, your body begins to wake up and you find yourself rolling over in search of your phone. Running your hands through your sheets, you sit up in a slight panic, only to feel the hardness beneath you in the back pocket of your jeans. You pull it out to check the time, shock flooding your veins as you read 12:47 PM.
“Holy shit.” You whisper to yourself, in disbelief that you slept so long.
You swing your legs off the bed, planting them on the ground as you reach your arms up to stretch. Your back subtly cracks, pulling a satisfied groan from you as your legs slightly twitch. Rolling your head from side to side, you stand up and follow the pleasant interruption that awoke you from your peaceful tranquility.
As you make your way downstairs, you hear shuffling in the kitchen. The sound of grease popping is heard, followed by a loud yelp. Quickening your stride, you round the corner and see Nate watching the stove from quite a few feet away.
“Um, are you okay?” You question, your voice still a little groggy with sleep.
Nate jumps at the sound of your voice, whipping around with wide eyes. “You’re awake!”
You give him a crooked smile, your eyebrows knitting together, “Yeah…”
He recomposes himself and points at the stove, “Sorry, dad had to work and I, uh- I was tryna make you breakfast.”
You bite back a grin and walk forward to the stove, turning the burner down. The extra grease popping ceases, it now only softly bubbling around the bacon.
“You just had the temperature too high.”
Nate chuckles, “I didn’t know you were a little chef.”
“Oh no, I just had to learn to fend for myself.” You match his laugh, pausing at your own words. “Um, sorry I slept so late. I didn’t even realize I fell asleep last night.”
“You’re good.” Nate shakes his head, “I know you were probably tired from the flight, different time zones and whatever.” You nod in agreement before he continues, “If you want, you can go shower and do what you need to do while I finish this. Just make yourself at home, it’s yours too.”
A warm smile graces your lips as you nod once again, “Yeah, okay.”
You turn on your heels, heading back to the stairs. You look back once more, watching Nate bounce all over the kitchen, and laugh to yourself at how he’s still the same as he was. Quickly you head upstairs, in desperate need of a shower to help wake you up and relax you.
Entering your bedroom, you go straight for your bags. You pull out everything you need in order to get ready for the day — a towel, washcloth, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and a simple outfit to wear. After gathering all of your little supplies, you head to the bathroom.
Flicking the light on and shutting yourself in, you move to lay everything out on the counter. You place your washes in the shower, turning the hot water on. As you wait for it to heat up, you hang your towels on the shower rack, and begin to brush your teeth.
Once you finish, you strip from your clothes, and step into the scalding hot water. A content sigh falls from your lips as the water pellets continuously rain down on you. You run your hands through your hair, letting it soak up the water.
You find yourself staring off into space, your thoughts consumed by this new life you have to readjust to. You've wanted it back for so long, and now that you have it, you don't know what to do with it. You feel unsure of what's to come, the looming anxiety paired with an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. You just hope your family can help you navigate these new adventures ahead of you.
Snapping out of your thoughtful trance with bright red, and tender skin, you proceed to wash yourself up like you intended to. Having spent quite some time just staring off, you rush to finish cleansing yourself.
After you're done, you shut the water off and begin to dry off. Stepping out of the shower, you wrap the towel around your hair and move to the sink. You begin brushing your teeth while you air dry before getting dressed. Shaking your hair out, you hang your towel to dry, then make your way back downstairs.
"About time." Nate calls, "I was beginning to think you got on another flight without saying goodbye."
Your face droops, guilt taking over your expression as you stare at him.
His smile falls, "Too soon? I'm sorry."
You muster up a half smile and shake your head, "You're good, just wasn't expecting that."
You sit across from him at the table, both of you having a plate of breakfast in front of you. You notice a cup beside your food and look in it, eyeing its contents.
"It's tea. You still like tea, don't you?"
You grin, "Love it."
His face mirrors yours, and the two of you dig in. Your chewing falters for a moment, and you suddenly realize you should've waited until you finished eating to brush your teeth. Taking his thoughtfulness into consideration, you push past the bitter taste and continue chowing.
"Can I ask you something?" Nate breaks the silence.
You nod.
"What was it like?"
You figured he would hit you with that question sooner or later, but for some reason you're unprepared to answer it. You set your fork down and place your hands on the table as your stare at him.
"Uh," You pause, "It sucked. Mom was — I don't know. It just sucked."
He hesitantly nods. You can see that he has more questions, but he lets them go. There used to be a safe space between the two of you. You never had to worry about overstepping boundaries and swallowing your curiosity. You want that back.
"If you have something to say or ask, go ahead." You offer.
His eyes light up and he takes a moment to think. "Um, I-I just want to say that we know it wasn't your fault. Despite not seeing you for over a decade, I know how you are. It was hard for us, so I can only imagine how it was for you. We don't blame you for it. And if you ever wanna talk about it, I'm always here."
You feel a weight lift off your shoulders as you swallow the lump in your throat. You needed that. You needed to hear him say that he knows it wasn't your fault, because even though it wasn't, you were worried they would blame you.
"Best little brother in the world." You smile.
He chuckles and shakes his head, "What do you want to do today?"
"I have no idea." You admit with a laugh as you shrug, "Definitely wanna unpack, and maybe go shopping for new things. I only brought my essentials with me."
He nods, "We can do that."
The two of you finish your breakfast over small talk. Nate says he'll clean up while you start on your room, so you head up there.
You immediately pull your small speaker out, connecting your phone to it to play music. Getting started; you move all of your clothes into your dresser. You have a few perfumes and lotions that you place on top. A few pairs of shoes, you place in your closet. After emptying all of your bags, you're left with your journals.
Shortly after the move, you started going to therapy to help cope with things. Your therapist recommended that you write every day, even about the littlest of things. So, you did. Every single day, even when you didn't feel up to it, you made sure to jot down at least something — your feelings, what you did during the day, things you wish to do, etc.
Setting them in the drawer of your nightstand, you move onto your old belongings from when you were just a little girl. You gather the majority of everything, placing it all into several piles. You find yourself smiling at the memories resurfacing from going through it all. Oh, how badly you wish you could just go back.
"Hey." Nate's voice sounds from the doorway. "I brought this."
He holds up what looks to be a photo album. You meet him at your bed, both of you taking a seat as he sets it in between both of you.
"I figured maybe you would want to see some of this."
You eagerly nod, letting him open the album for the two of you to go through it. You find yourself smiling fondly at the old pictures of you guys as a family. There are pictures of you and your dad, you and Nate, Nate and your dad. You can't help but notice that your mother is nowhere to be seen in any of the pictures.
Nate seems to notice your confusion, and elaborates, "So, dad took them all out. It was hard for him; he was really mad at her. We still have them, I'm pretty sure they're just packed away in the garage with the rest of her stuff."
You nod, understanding that things had to have been difficult. You continue to go through the pictures, laughing together and commenting on every memory. However, soon enough, you're also nowhere to be found.
Your smile soon fades as you go through the pictures of your dad and Nate. From Halloween to baseball games, to dad teaching him how to golf. You even see a picture of Nate at graduation, and it brings a grave feeling to your gut. You've missed out on so much, and there's no getting it back.
Swallowing the pain, you point to a group photo of people you don't recognize. "Who are they?"
"They are my best friends." Nate smiles brightly. "They're triplets. That's Nick, Matt, and Chris. I met them in middle school, we played hockey together."
"Triplets, huh?" You say, "That's a new one."
"Yeah, they're amazing. Never a dull moment with them, that's for sure. They're pretty wild to be honest."
You give him a smile, "That's good. I'm glad you have good friends; you guys seem like you have a good relationship."
"It's awesome." He nods in agreement, "Actually, they want to meet you."
"Me?" You question, incredulously. "They know about me?"
"Really?" Nate gapes, "Of course they know about you. You're my sister, and they're my best friends. I talk about you nonstop."
Unable to help yourself, you're leaning over to pull him into a hug. He's always been the sweetest. He knows exactly what to say almost all the time.
"So, are you down?" He asks as you both part from the hug.
Your eyes widen, "Right now?"
He shrugs with a grin, "Yeah, why not?"
"O-okay." You agree, mirroring his shrug.
He pulls out his phone to presumably text them and have them come over. The two of you go downstairs before he leads you to the backdoor.
"They usually just come straight to the back, so we can just hangout out here if that's cool with you."
You hum in approval, already making your way around the backyard. Nate props his phone up against a flowerpot, running out into the yard with you.
"My sister's back!" He cheers, jumping on your back.
You stumble a bit, caught off guard, laughter pouring out of you as you quickly catch him. You turn towards his phone, a giant smile on your face. You're filled with a happiness you haven't felt in so long.
"I'm back." You copy, giving the camera a thumbs up.
He slides off of your back, picking you up and twirling you around. You let out a small yelp, joyous sounds floating in the air from the both of you. The two of you throw your arms up, cheering like maniacs, just like old times.
Your movement halts as you hear a car pull over the gravel in the driveway. Several car doors open and shut, before quick footsteps make their way to the back gate.
You're suddenly extremely nervous, bringing your hands together in front of you. Your breath catches in your throat when you see a hand reach over to pull the latch. You feel like a deer caught in headlights, unsure of your next move. Your heart races in your chest, and it's confusing to you. You're just meeting your brother's friends; it should never be this serious. But for some reason, as you listen to the creaky hinges swing the door open, you're met with a wave of undeniable tension.
—
a/n : sort of a lil cliffhangerrr lol. gotta keep yall on your toes :-)
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TV Guide - November 16 - 22, 1963
James Grover Franciscus (January 31, 1934 – July 8, 1991) Film and television actor, known for his roles in feature films and in six television series: Mr. Novak, The Naked City, The Investigators, Longstreet, Doc Elliot, and Hunter.
His first major role was as Detective Jim Halloran in the half-hour version of ABC's Naked City. Franciscus guest starred on the CBS military comedy–drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper, and on the NBC drama about family conflicts in the American Civil War entitled The Americans. CBS soon cast him in the lead in the 13-week series The Investigators, which aired from October 5 to December 28, 1961. He played the insurance investigator Russ Andrews, with James Philbrook as a co-star. Franciscus was also cast in the role of Tom Grover in the 1961 episode "The Empty Heart" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He performed in many feature films and television programs throughout the 1960s and 1970s, preceded by a minor role in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "Judgment Night" in 1959, and a major role in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Forty Detectives Later" in 1960, and "Summer Shade" in 1961. (Wikipedia)
Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) Film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
In the 1960s, Jagger increasingly worked on television appearing in The Twilight Zone ("Static"), Sunday Showcase, Our American Heritage, General Electric Theater, Dr. Kildare, The Christophers, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Jagger achieved success with the television series Mr. Novak (1963–1965), receiving Emmy Award nominations for his role in 1964 and 1965, as well as the California Teachers Association's Communications Award, along with star James Franciscus, in 1963 for his portrayal of high-school principal Albert Vane.
Jagger's appearances in the 1960s included episodes of The F.B.I. and The Fugitive, as well as the TV filmm The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970), with Ford, and an episode of The Name of the Game.
He had a semiregular role on the series Matt Lincoln (1970) as the father of the title character, and parts in Vanishing Point (1971), Bonanza, and Incident in San Francisco (1971).
In 1971, Jagger appeared on The Partridge Family. He played a prospector named Charlie in the Christmas episode "Don't Bring Your Guns to Town, Santa".
In his later career Jagger was in The Glass House (1972), Columbo, Kung Fu (Jagger appeared as Caine's grandfather, who wants little to do with him, but starts Caine on his series-long search for his half-brother Danny), Alias Smith and Jones, Medical Center, The Stranger (1973), The Delphi Bureau, The Lie (1973), Shaft, I Heard the Owl Call My Name (1973), Love Story, The Hanged Man (1974), The Great Lester Boggs (1974), The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976), Harry O, Hunter, The Waltons ahd Gideon's Trumpet (1980)
He won a Daytime Emmy award for a guest appearance in the religious series This Is the Life.
His last role was as Dr. David Domedion in the St. Elsewhere season-three finale "Cheers" in 1985. (Wikipedia)
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Happy birthday to my favorite radio actor, Larry Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002)!
Character actor Lawrence Dobkin was a frequent supporting player in radio, with hundreds of credits across dozens of different programs. He appeared in over 170 episodes of Gunsmoke, playing all kinds of characters from gunmen to gentlemen. Other shows where he was often heard include Escape; Romance; Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar; The Whistler; Let George Do It; Frontier Gentleman; Fort Laramie; Have Gun, Will Travel; NBC University Theatre; etc.
Larry Dobkin's only leading role in a radio series was the title sleuth in Ellery Queen from February 1947 to April 1948--and even there he wasn't exactly a headliner, because, in keeping with the pseudonymous source material, the show was always coy about identifying the actors who played Ellery. You might recognize him as Lieutenant Matthews on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the first of three main Archie Goodwins on The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe, Dave on The Man From Homicide, or Pat McCracken (usually) on Johnny Dollar--and if you ask me, his most memorable and lovable radio character was Louie, the Brooklyn cabbie who sometimes played sidekick to Vincent Price on The Adventures of the Saint.
Dobkin also played numerous roles in film and television and later did writing and directing work for television.
Here are a few of my favorite radio episodes featuring Larry Dobkin:
Ellery Queen 1947-12-04 "Man in the Street": A swindler is murdered before Inspector Queen and Ellery can put him in jail. Whodunit? There were only about ten thousand people with a motive!
The Saint 1950-11-19 "No Hiding Place": The Saint tries to help a young man who has escaped from prison after several attempts on his life. Who framed him, who's out to get him, and why? (Louie isn't in this episode as much as in some others, but the lines he does get include some of my favorite lines ever, and anyway I think it's one of the strongest episodes of the series.)
Escape 1949-07-07 "The Fourth Man": Dobkin narrates this classic story of three "civilized" men adrift on a raft in the tropics, battling thirst and each other while their "savage" pilot calmly sits by.
Richard Diamond, Private Detective 1949-07-09: An escaped convict, bent on revenge against Richard Diamond, kidnaps Diamond's girlfriend.
Philip Marlowe 1950-01-21 "The Bid for Freedom": A woman has escaped from an asylum, and now her husband is in danger of being murdered. Or maybe it's not that simple.
Philip Marlowe 1950-07-28 "The Glass Donkey": Lieutenant Matthews calls to ask about a girl Marlowe used to date--a girl who's just been murdered. It's real personal as Marlowe offers his services to find out why a nice girl had to die.
Philip Marlowe 1951-08-18 "The Young Man's Fancy": There's no murder in this somewhat atypical Philip Marlowe episode by Kathleen Hite. Marlowe goes out for Moscow Mule ingredients, and gets involved in the family troubles of the nice old man from whom he buys his limes.
The Story of Dr. Kildare 1950-10-25: A madman with a gun is holed up inside a school building. Dr. Kildare goes in after him, while Dr. Gillespie scrambles to remotely diagnose a mental illness without ever talking to the patient.
Gunsmoke 1952-06-28 "The Ride Back": This recently rediscovered Gunsmoke episode is almost entirely a radio play for only two voices, as Marshall Dillon brings a twisted killer through hostile Indian country.
Gunsmoke 1952-08-02 "Renegade White": Matt goes after a white man who's been selling guns to Indians, and winds up a prisoner of the Indians himself.
Gunsmoke 1953-02-21 "Meshougah": Matt and Chester find a whole town held hostage by a crazed killer and his gang of outlaws.
Fort Laramie 1956-05-13 "War Correspondent": A smart newspaperman from the East tags along with Captain Quince, hoping to show the folks back home a fair picture of life on the frontier. He's got a lot to learn!
Fort Laramie 1956-06-03 "Don't Kick My Horse": One of Captain Quince's soldiers is a meek little man whose only friend is his horse. He's been in the cavalry ten years, and it's time for a new horse. Dude is not ready to accept this. Tragedy ensues.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar 1956-01-09 – 1956-01-13 "The Todd Matter": A tip on an old burglary leads Johnny into a very fresh shooting. Dobkin plays five roles in this story (two of them in close proximity) and what always strikes me is that he doesn't do five radically different voices--he doesn't even change his accent very much! He just acts each character so completely that you're not even inclined to pay attention to the actor.
Have Gun, Will Travel 1958-12-14 "The Outlaw": Paladin makes a deal with a convicted killer who wants to see his newborn son before being hanged.
Suspense 1954-07-27 "Destruction": "And it had a kind of warmth to it, this dying…" A strange, melancholy, poetic script by radio noir greats Fine and Friedkin, about a pathetic little man at the end of his rope.
#my favorite radio actor let me show you him#larry dobkin#lawrence dobkin#ellery queen#gunsmoke#philip marlowe#old time radio
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Working Bibliography
This is a (currently incomplete) inventory of the sources I'm pulling from when researching material for Counter/Feint. It will be divided into three sections: General References (for things like sewage treatment, state laws, tax codes, white collar crime, etc), Original Media (for comics, episodes, movies etc), and In-Line References/Allusions (for when a character's narration makes a literary allusion, uses jargon, or directly quotes a line from part of the source material)
some of them will be in MLA format and some won't because i am prone to arbitrary whims
General References
“A Fix for Combined Sewers — The Cost of Cleanliness.” PBS, 8 June 2022, https://www.pbs.org/show/a-fix-for-combined-sewers-the-cost-of-cleanliness/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2022.
Collins, Chuck. The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions. Polity, 2021.
Delaware's Regulatory Provisions Concerning Public Health
Delaware Solid Waste Auth. v. News-Journal Co., 480 A.2d 628 (Del. 1984)
Hanley, Tim. Investigating Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet's Ace Reporter. Chicago Review Press, 2016.
Houston, Brant, et al. The Investigative Reporter's Handbook: A Guide to Documents, Databases and Techniques. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Kurkjian, Stephen A. Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled off the World's Greatest Art Heist. Public Affairs, 2016.
Kent County, Delaware's Sewer Regulations
Michel, Casey. American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the Greatest Money-Laundering Scheme in History. Scribe, 2021.
Murphy, Jarrett. “Through Illegal Pipes and Improper Dumping, Homes and Businesses Pollute NYC Waterways.” City Limits, 17 Jan. 2018, https://citylimits.org/2018/01/16/in-unknown-numbers-and-often-unwittingly-homes-and-businesses-pollute-city-waterways/.
Planet Princeton's award-winning series of investigative pieces on the Princeton Sewer Operating Plant bribery case, including this piece: https://planetprinceton.com/2020/03/08/state-fined-municipality-of-princeton-35000-for-operating-illegal-dump-at-sewer-facility/
Ritter, Roy H. “The Wilmington, Delaware Sewerage System.” Sewage and Industrial Wastes, vol. 28, no. 5, 1956, pp. 644–50. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25033068. Accessed 5 Aug. 2022.
Original Media
Superman: The Animated Series- "World's Finest" - This one started the whole exercise because I thought it was hysterical that Lois had dated Bruce/ found out he was Batman WAY before she learnt anything about Superman's identity. Hilarious.
Superman: TAS- "The Late Mr. Kent"- This one's important to me and my characterization of Clark for about one million separate reasons
Batman: TAS- All of it
Batman #177- notable for Bruce Wayne's love of cubist expressionism and also the character of Roy Rennie who shows up here and never again. He wants to be the Alfred Foundation's publicist so, so, so bad. I have realized his dream
chapter 2 edit: this is also where the Lathrop Gallery comes from! In the comics, the Lathrop Gallery received an endowment from the Alfred foundation
Fraction, Matt, et al. Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? DC Comics, 2020.- This is in MLA again because it's physically in front of me. It has a profound impact on my characterization, especially Lois's. Her disdain for conspiracy theories and insistence on using the term 'sociogram' over 'conspiracy board' comes from this. It's also the origin of Janie Olsen
Superboy (1949)- I think it's funny to pick and choose elements from this and incorporate it into Clark's backstory arbitrarily. I also think it's funny that I first wrote the line about Clark wanting to kiss Superman if he hadn't BEEN superman before i started reading Superboy because guess what. He forgets he's superboy constantly. and what does he immediately do. Start sighing over superboy. I am SO good at comics
Superboy #85- Especially notable for the appearance of Mightyboy! "Who is Mightyboy?" you might ask. As well you should, since he appeared once in 1960 and never again. However!!!! This is a surprise tool which will help us later because he lives in my brain and also Clark's backstory
World's Finest #285-288- There's just. A lot to unpack here. But I sure have incorporated it into characterization and quirks! Still undecided on if I want Clark to have super hypnosis or not because I think it would be characterful for him to have it and not use it. and also it's extremely stupid as a concept and i love stupid. but also i hate hypnosis
World's Finest #84- Spoiler for the fic, but this premise was so hilarious to me that I immediately decided to replicate it, but with a twist that is typical of my ethos: making bruce step directly onto a rake
Ironically enough, a similar story was presented in Adventure Comics #275, but again. It does not make Bruce step on enough rakes for my taste. Still works as inspiration though!
Superman Annual #11- For the man who has everything. I love this one so so so so much. It greatly informs my understanding and portrayal of Superman, but also it's just a really tight narrative. Also!!! Jason Robin is there!!! Every day I regret placing this fic on a timeline that doesn't align with Jason making an appearance. Lad of all time.
Also important from Superman Annual #11 is the imagery of Batman pathetically presenting a designer rose he had commissioned special for his boy bestie, only for it to be crushed underfoot in the wake of a battle. now there's some symbolism. there's some pathos. there's some grade a pathetic bruce-isms.
Yang, Gene Luen, and Janice Chiang. Superman Smashes the Klan: The Graphic Novel. DC Comics, 2020. - Absolutely phenomenal work that digs into the diaspora elements of Superman's narrative and grapples with The American Ideal, racism, and what it means to stand for your community against violent bigotry. Also the art is soooo charming. I reference this one a bunch because I love it. It's got everything I love about Superman
There's way more to add but I'm tired and this is a working bibliography. I promise more will come
In-Line References/Allusions
Because comics are the way they are, I wanted to make this fic feel like it existed in a bunch of overlapping time periods all at once.
This means that instead of refraining from making references to broader pop culture like I do with other fics, I'm leaning into them instead. Therefore, some of these are going to be deliberate references that I thought would be characterful. Especially since Lois and Clark are reporters, and Jimmy and Bruce went to fancy schools for fancy little lads
"You're killing me, Smalls"- A famous line from The Sandlot (1993). I am unable to resist the pull of low-hanging fruit
"he could always depend on the kindness of strangers"- semi-ironic deployment of a line from A Streetcar Named Desire. on one hand, Clark genuinely trusts in and relies on mankind's desire to do right by each other. on the other, he thinks bruce wayne is a complete and utter tool here. he's being a bit tongue in cheek about how he's relying on a jackass to help him out
"the pale blue light of a sympathetic moon" is from The Drowsy Chaperone. It's such an evocative phrase. I think Clark would enjoy musicals
"Saint Laurent"- Listen. I read fashion blogs for this. I asked my friends who lose their minds over fashion on the regular. I looked through ready to wear collections and slide shows. And while I want to have faith in the Bruce Wayne that lives in my head and nowhere else, I understand that the search for an ethical designer label is a fruitless one. All I can do is say "in this universe, YSL was never acquired by Gucci, and yet it still, inexpicably, has the insufferable ready to wear collection that includes the ugly fucking gentrified rodeo wear."
also a lot of the outfits look like they're designed for haunted little victorian boys. which. [gestures at him]
"Dorothy [...] you're not in Kansas anymore"- I think this one's obvious, but it's a Wizard of Oz reference
“Is there a ‘c’ in ‘absence’?”- Lois's habit of frequently misspelling words comes up in a lot of adaptations and runs, and I think it's incredibly charming
"There better be a thirty on your buyback piece!"- Traditionally, -30- marks the end of copy that's been submitted for editing
Backfielding- Another term for conducting line edits
Ron Troupe- Political analyst for the daily planet. In comics, he was introduced RIGHT before Superman died but I'm playing calvinball here and I like him :) so
Adam Grant- Cat's son! I'm not killing him off, unlike the comics. There's a lot re: The Toyman where i'm just. y'know. i'm just not gonna. look. at whatever's going on there. So it goes with comics
"the gentle way the strongman had spoken to him, telling him about the disarming power of a silly costume, the way performance became its own kind of strength"- referencing a sequence from Superman Smashes the Klan. This will not be the last time
Lan-Shin Lee- For instance, Lan-Shin is from Superman Smashes the Klan! At the end of the original work, she becomes a cub reporter
Carmine Falcone- I still have never read a frank miller comic and you can't make me. but i will steal the occasional character. for flavor. anyway he's either one of the biggest or the biggest ringleader of organized crime in Gotham, depending on the run and adaptation
“While discontinuous in action, perceived surveillance—”- Bruce is paraphrasing a bit of Discipline & Punish here, specifically the part about panopticism
“Have you tried committing a felony?”- This line comes directly from the World's Finest episodes of Superman: the animated series that first inspired this fic
Superman Signal Watch- this one's a classic. As seen in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, the watch works just as the fic describes
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Phantom Lady was a female vigilante in the Batwoman mode. In real life she was Sandra Knight, bored socialite and daughter of a US Senator, but when needed by the police to crack a difficult case the unconventional way, Sandra donned a blue and red costume and transformed herself into the mysterious dark haired Phantom Lady and set about bringing wrongdoers to justice. In addition to jiu-jitsu fighting skills and her general athleticism, Phantom Lady was also equipped by her “black light projector”, a small box that emanated a dark ray that temporarily blinded her criminal opponents and enabled her to subdue them. Phantom Lady sometimes deposited her prisoners with the police but was just as likely to head off into the night as the cops arrived after the crooks had been captured.
Phantom Lady stories were often well plotted with genuinely complex stories and twists in the tales which make them an enjoyable read nearly eighty years later. The one annoying feature of the series that Sandra wore no disguise as Phantom Lady - not even a different hairdo - but her dumb boyfriend Don Borden, was unable to recognise the heroine as his own fiancé: which kind of makes you wonder what the real tough, capable, and super intelligent Sandra actually saw in him.
Phantom Lady appeared in Quality Comics and later in Fox Syndicate Comics from 1941 to 1949 and the character was resurrected by Ajax Comics in the 1950s. DC Comics have also recently given Phantom Lady a 21st century reboot. The panels above are from Phantom Lady # 19, The World’s Meanest Crook (December 1947) by Matt Baker.
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Dear Felicity Podcast Debuts & Podcast About Travel Writer Who Was A Spy
What is it about a TV series that makes it a strong candidate to become a re-watch podcast? Length? TV ratings? Genre? All viable options. Perhaps, it is the loyalty and enthusiasm of the fan base that determines whether a canceled TV series warrants a re-watch podcast.
In the case of WB TV series Felicity, it definitely could be the loyalty and passion of the show's fan base.
Felicity revolves around the college experiences of the title character, Felicity Porter (portrayed by Keri Russell), as she attends the "University of New York" (based on New York University), which lies across the country from her home in Palo Alto, California. Like NYU, UNY is located in Greenwich Village near Washington Square Park, and the school is an important part of the show.
The show ran for four seasons from September 29, 1998, to May 22, 2002, with each season corresponding to the traditional American university divisions of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years.
Last week, Spotify’s The Ringer and Bad Robot Audio announced Dear Felicity, an all-new, star-studded podcast revisiting the beloved series Felicity, 25 years after it premiered.
Rather than the familiar episode-by-episode approach, Dear Felicity will have an innovative structure, with episodes covering themes and story arcs to facilitate broader conversations about Felicity, The WB, the careers of those involved, and how the television business functioned. Dear Felicity launched on Wednesday, March 13.
New episodes will drop every Wednesday on Spotify and everywhere podcasts are available.
Said Abrams, Co-CEO, Bad Robot, “The experience of Felicity was formative for so many involved. It is such a joy to relive that time, re-examine the episodes, and hear from so many of the wonderful and creative people who helped bring the show to life.”
Hosted by Felicity stars Amanda Foreman and Greg Grunberg alongside The Ringer’s Juliet Litman, Dear Felicity will bring together cast, crew, executives, and fans of the iconic series to discuss its cultural longevity and unique place in television history.
Special guests will include Keri Russell, series creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, Scott Speedman, Scott Foley, Tangi Miller, Amy Jo Johnson, Jennifer Garner, Brian Grazer, Keiko Agena, Andrew Jarecki, and more.
Bad Robot was formed by filmmaker J.J. Abrams in 2001. The company has produced television series including Alias, Lost, Fringe, Person of Interest, Westworld, Castle Rock, Lovecraft Country, and Lisey’s Story, as well as feature films including SUPER 8, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, and the STAR TREK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, and CLOVERFIELD franchises.
Check out Dear Felicity, if for no other reason to listen to Greg Grunberg (a former cast member) who is always eminently ear worthy.
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It's taken me years to get over the revelation (if it's actually true) that creator / host of The Gong Show, and creator of The Newlywed Game and The Dating Game Chuck Barris was a CIA operative.
After all, the U.S. was either desperate for spies, or so ingenuously clever that even Doctor Evil from Austin Powers would be flabbergasted.
Now, iHeartPodcasts and producer Lars Jacobson have debuted Fodor’s Guide to Espionage, with the first episode released on March 13.
Based on the true story of Eugene Fodor, the podcast Fodor's Guide to Espionage will explore the greatest travel writer in the world, who secretly used his profession as a cover to spy for the CIA.
Taking place in the 1960s, it is a globetrotting, jet-setting spy series centered around the biggest events of the Cold War that will take listeners on an exotic vacation and high stakes spy mission every week.
Established in 1949, Fodor's has published more than 440 guides on over 300 destinations, and currently has more than 700 permanently placed researchers all over the world. In addition to having sold hundreds of millions of guide books over the last century, Fodor’s remains one of the most popular travel guide publishers and internet tourist information sites to this day.
Ethan Corn (“Criminal Minds,” “The Resident”), Lelia Symington (“Brut Force,” “The Marksman”), and Jacqueline Emerson (“The Hunger Games,” “FBI”) will take listeners through thrilling history, fine dining and navigating the world through travel.
Creator and writer Lars Jacobson will be producing the series alongside Sabrina Jaglom (“Jane,” “Listening In”) and Noel Brown for iHeartPodcasts. “Fodor's Guide to Espionage'' marks the first podcast out of Teleforce’s first-look deal with iHeart.
Check out Fodor’s Guide to Espionage for its plot twists, narrative roundabouts, and weird blend of travel and international spycraft.
What's next? The Food Network's Pioneer Woman is a double agent.
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For honor crack skidrow
FOR HONOR CRACK SKIDROW HOW TO
FOR HONOR CRACK SKIDROW SERIES
An updated version will be issued if more episodes or better sounding ones become available.
FOR HONOR CRACK SKIDROW SERIES
It contains the most complete and accurate version of this series in the best sound possible at the time of creation. This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers (OTRR) Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website (Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook Group, and Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Notes" Section below for more information on the OTRR. It is not known how many shows aired or how long the series ran.įrom the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. It began sometime in 1955, transcribed under the Artransa label, and aired Mondays at 7:00 PM on the Macquarie network. Listen carefully and one can hear many levels of sound that really helps transport the listener back to the old west.īesides the US version, there was an Australian production of Gunsmoke. The series featured top-notch acting and well-developed scripts that set it apart from many other shows, not only Westerns however, it was the sound effects that stood out the most. Other regular characters were Chester Proudfoot, played by Parley Baer Kitty, played by Georgia Ellis and Doc Adams, played by Howard McNear. It was one of the "stepping stones" toward the production of Gunsmoke. Although not a true audition, Conrad's character role is very close the that of Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke. On August 6, 1951, William Conrad played the lead in a show entitled "Pagosa" in the series Romance, where he played the part of a reluctant sheriff in a tough Western town. The main character, Matt Dillon, was played by William Conrad. It was set in Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870's. Gunsmoke first aired on the CBS network on April 26, 1952, billed as the first adult western. It's also one that is still respected for its high values, in all aspects. Gunsmoke is one of those long-running classic Old-Time Radio shows that everyone knows and remembers.
FOR HONOR CRACK SKIDROW HOW TO
It also helps us in learning how to fight, so we can call it a kind of tutorial.Number Shows: 480 shows, 2 auditions, 5 hour tributeĪudition Shows: Jun 11, 1949, Jul 13, 1949 It can be done by calling catapult âairâ support in the given area or increasing the combat efficiency of our soldiers in the area for a moment.Įxcept for multiplayer gameplay, the production that is described in here can also offer single-player campaign, which has got one particular purpose â to introduce the player into the fictional realities presented in the game. Noteworthy are also the spectacular actions, like for example dealing with enemies in a very showy way. In other words, we will not be able to defend ourselves from the right side if we blocked the attack coming from the left. It is very important while blocking attacks. Art of Battle, the mechanic designed just for this purpose, takes under consideration in which hand we hold a weapon. They wanted to make the styles of combat of all factions very realistic. The participants are very often interfered by the factions controlled by other players, so it is equally important to fight with melee weapons in a spectacular way.ĭespite unconventional approach to historic realities, meaning looking at the sides that participate in conflict, we can say the authors put quite interesting goal before them. There are of course tactical and strategic planning implemented in the game. That is why competition doesnât focus on pure action. These four guys are capable of changing the fate of the battle, showing in the key moments of clashes, making manoeuvres that are currently needed, and turning the tide on the right side. These are fearless warriors with incredible combat skills, much better than the group of warriors controlled by highly advanced artificial intelligence. Each side is represented by dozens of characters, but only four of them can be controlled by the players. These are, among others, classic combats one versus one, teamfights, where two teams of 2 fight, and Dominion that is an experimental game mode with goals similar to very popular domination game mode.
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Jungle Book (1942)
For a few years in the early 1940s, a young actor of Indian descent was a household name among America moviegoers. His name was Sabu Dastagir (better known as simply “Sabu”), and he debuted in Robert Flaherty’s The Elephant Boy (1937). Sabu’s performance in The Elephant Boy was enough to convince Hungarian-British producer Alexander Korda to have the young Indian actor star in the 1940 remake of The Thief of Bagdad and, two years later, Jungle Book. Sabu did find film work after his two most iconic motion pictures, but these opportunities proved harder to find in the United States than in Britain. Almost eighty years later, Sabu remains only one of a handful of actors of South Asian descent to achieve even the briefest Hollywood stardom.
As an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, this is a Korda brothers’ production – eldest brother Alexander produces, middle brother Zoltan directs, and youngest brother Vincent is the art director. Many readers’ point of reference to Kipling’s work is most likely Disney’s animated musical from 1967. Compared to the Disney animated feature, the Korda Jungle Book, distributed by United Artists, is more interested in Mowgli’s interactions with humans, rather than the animals of the jungle. In a time when Technicolor was still relatively new, this Jungle Book contains some of the best use of color in an early 1940s movie. Beyond than the eye-catching palette and then-innovative visual effects, this Jungle Book loses its way anytime Sabu or the wildlife are not on-screen. The original source material, a reflection of Kipling’s imperialist and racist attitudes, also transfers some of those values to this screen adaptation (not related to the plot but in a similarly concerning development, Sabu is the only actor of South Asian descent in a cast almost entirely donning brownface).
In the prologue, an elderly Indian man named Buldeo (Joseph Calleia) regales his fellow villagers and anyone else in the area with tales of the past. When a British woman stop to listen, Buldeo begins the story of Mowgli and how the young boy, raised by wolves and a product of the jungle, came to reintegrate into human society. Unlike Disney’s two Jungle Book adaptations, the Korda Jungle Book cares more for Mowgli’s relationships with humans as opposed to that of the jungle animals. The tiger Shere Khan and the snake Kaa (voiced acted by Mel Blanc) garner plenty of screentime in the film’s closing scenes. But fans of Mowgli’s closest friends – the bear Baloo and the black panther Bagheera – might be disappointed, as they only have glorified cameos. In place of this focus on animals, this film spends ample time on Mowgli’s developing relationships with his mother Messua (Rosemary DeCamp), Buldeo, and Buldeo’s daughter Mahala (Patricia O’Rourke).
The exotified rural India that appears in Jungle Book overshadows most everything about this adaptation, including Sabu’s starring role. That Zoltan Korda, United Artists, and London Films felt no need to cast any other actors of South Asian descent for Jungle Book exemplifies the casual racism that permeates the narrative. The all-white cast playing noble half-savages or passive women is off-putting, fracturing one’s ability to feel as if the events on-screen are not taking place somewhere in sunny Southern California.
Jungle Book’s Indian setting came together at Lake Sherwood near Thousand Oaks, California and what is now known as Sunset Las Palmas Studios in Hollywood, which was then (and still remains) an independent production lot that hosts shoots for various television and cinematic works. Flown onto the sets were hundreds of fauna rented from local farms and zoos and tons of foliage (natural and synthetic), making the jungle scenes – despite the noticeable background or matte painting at times – feel vast and enclosing. And even though it is difficult to distinguish which scenes were shot indoors or outdoors, the amount of water, however improbably still it is in some parts, appearing in the film assists in immersing the audience into this dense environment. For all of the human settlements – in ruins or otherwise – production designers Vincent Korda and Julia Heron (1943’s Hangmen Also Die!, set decorator on 1960’s Spartacus) are not appealing to any sense of cultural understanding appropriateness. Yet the scope of their village and abandoned temple sets are tremendous, with an assist from the incredible matte paintings.
Cinematographers Lee Garmes (1933’s Shanghai Express, 1944’s Since You Went Away) and W. Howard Greene (1937’s A Star is Born, 1951’s When Worlds Collide) use of highly-saturated Technicolor features eye-catching images perfect for this unrealistic reality. Even in the darkest parts of the jungle, the explosion of emerald greens, cool blues, and other earthy colors feels anything but mute, a fantastical version of a rainforest brought to life. The jungle, despite the obvious artificialities in some of the foliage and fauna, almost becomes a character in the Korda Jungle Book. Other artificialities are a shade more convincing, most notably some of the effects required to capture animal movements. Using footage of both mechanical and actual animals alike, Garmes and Greene do their best to hide some strings and wires pulling along stunning mechanical snakes or to allow Bagheera and Shere Khan’s animal actors appear as if they are interacting with the events in the film. For the most dangerous animals that this production features, the black panther and tiger that played Bagheera and Shere Khan, respectively, were separated from the cameras by a glass barrier. This is immaculate visual effects footage, perhaps the film’s saving grace.
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Contrast this with Laurence Stallings’ (1925’s The Big Parade, 1949’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon) clunker of a screenplay. An inordinate amount of the dialogue is expository and declarative, and too many supporting characters speak in formalities with nary a shred of humor. Jungle Book’s narrative thus feels too formulaic, uptight, and unimaginative. When anyone other than Mowgli or the animals are on-screen, the film is a slog. Kipling’s literary influence on the film might not be apparent in how the humans speak, but it certainly comes through in the most perilous sequences in this movie – and that includes a scene of a forest fire that has to raise questions about animal endangerment on-set at a time with almost no laws against animal mistreatment on film shoots. The Kordas’ Jungle Book works best if seen as an extravagant picture book, but one wishes for Sabu, in a decent performance chockfull of glee, to talk a tad more to the animals.
Hungarian-American composer Miklós Rózsa (1940’s The Thief of Bagdad, 1959’s Ben-Hur) scores perhaps his best body of work owing to elements outside Western classical music. Rózsa’s score to Jungle Book is bolstered by the composer’s detailed research into Hindu music’s chord progressions and modes. His compositions and the orchestration come as close as possible to capturing the harmonic developments of Hindu music as one can while using a Western orchestra. Thus, one can imagine that the music for Jungle Book might be difficult for Indian and non-Indian audiences to appreciate. But as a harmonically complex take on Mowgli’s adventures in the jungle and among humans, this is a bold sound – occupying a space between the melodic demands and orchestration of the West and the wide-ranging tempo and virtuosic harmonic swirls found in classical Hindu music.
The closest analogue to the Kordas’ Jungle Book in this era of Hollywood history must have been the Tarzan series (1932-1948) starring Johnny Weissmuller as the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. That, however, is a fraught comparison to make. The Weissmuller Tarzan films were modestly-budgeted and its numerous sequels relied on increasingly laughable contrivances. The Kordas’ Jungle Book is an expensive motion picture leaning on its special effects wizardry while its narrative scarcely makes much of an impression. The premise of Weissmuller and Sabu’s legacies are upon a particular set of roles. By choice, Weissmuller took the roles of jungle-dwelling strongmen. The major Hollywood studios typecasted Sabu – against his wishes – as the urchin, usually a jungle-dweller, from an exotic Asian locale.
This Jungle Book is, for an older generation, a foundational film of their childhood (although I reject any attempts to label this as a children’s film) and an unmitigated technical achievement. In numerous ways, it is also a prime example of how Hollywood viewed Asian influences and actors of Asian descent for decades to come.
My rating: 6/10
^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).
For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.
#Jungle Book#Zoltan Korda#Alexander Korda#Sabu#Joseph Calleia#John Qualen#Frank Puglia#Rosemary DeCamp#Patricia O'Rourke#Ralph Byrd#Mel Blanc#Lee Garmes#W. Howard Greene#Rudyard Kipling#Vincent Korda#Julia Heron#Lawrence W. Butler#William H. Wilmarth#TCM#My Movie Odyssey
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DECEMBER 2020 RELEASES - Coming soon to Warner Archive!
TEX AVERY SCREWBALL CLASSICS - VOLUME 2
New 2020 1080p HD Masters from 4k Scans of Preservation Elements
Run Time: 149:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 - English
Aspect Ratio: 4x3, 1.37:1 Full Frame
Product Color: COLOR
Disc Configuration: BD 50
Special Feature: Documentary "Tex Avery: King of Cartoons"
Welcome back for another three-ring circus of animated comedy from the legendary leader of cartoon fun – director Tex Avery. In the first ring, Avery serves up some of his finest one-shot creations: cartoons featuring cats who hate people, wacky cuckoo clocks, kooky cavemen and lovelorn French fleas. We also meet up again with Avery's attractive Red Riding Hood, a pair of amorous wolves and his durable all-around fall guy, Spike. The second ring is a showcase for Avery's ironically deadpan "Happy Hound": Droopy. This time, Droopy appears in a number of guises – each one funnier than the last. As bandleader "John Pettybone," he leads his jazz-playing fleas to the heights of canine stardom. Out West, as a homesteader and a sheepherder, he has his final showdowns with the Wolf. The third ring offers a whimsical glimpse into the future – or at least a future from the POV of the mid-20th century – with a plethora of zany postwar inventions. While none of the cartoons "of tomorrow" foresaw smartphones or Blu-ray players, these far-fetched contraptions, gadgets, houses and farms, televisions, and various modes of transportation could only come from the madcap mind of Avery and his MGM crew. Uncut, restored and remastered in High Definition for the first time, Tex Avery Screwball Classics Collection Volume 2 is another must-own collection from the master of hand-drawn mayhem.
This 21 cartoon collection includes:
1 LITTLE RURAL RIDING HOOD
2 THE CUCKOO CLOCK
3 MAGICAL MAESTRO
4 ONE CAB'S FAMILY
5 CAT THAT HATED PEOPLE
6 DOGGONE TIRED
7 THE FLEA CIRCUS
8 FIELD AND SCREAM
9 THE FIRST BAD MAN
10 OUT FOXED
11 DROOPY'S DOUBLE TROUBLE
12 THREE LITTLE PUPS
13 DRAGALONG DROOPY
14 HOMESTEADER DROOPY
15 DIXIELAND DROOPY
16 COUNTERFEIT CAT
17 VENTRILOQUIST CAT
18 HOUSE OF TOMORROW
19 CAR OF TOMORROW
20 TV OF TOMORROW
21 FARM OF TOMORROW
THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) - 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION
New 2020 1080p HD Restoration Masters from 4K Scans of Preservation Separation Elements
Run Time: 83:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 - English
Aspect Ratio: Disc One-1.85:1-16x9 Widescreen and 1.66:1-16x9 Widescreen
Product Color: COLOR
Disc Configuration: 2-BD 50
Special Features: New feature commentary by Screenwriter/Film Historian Steve Haberman and Filmmaker/Film Historian Constantine Nasr, Newly Remastered 1.37:1 Open Matte version of feature. New Featurettes include: The Resurrection Men: Hammer, Frankenstein and the Rebirth of the Horror Film, Hideous Progeny: The Curse of Frankenstein and the English Gothic Tradition, Torrents of Light: The Art of Jack Asher, Diabolus in Musica: James Bernard and the Sound of Hammer Horror, Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
The first, and perhaps the best of the long-running series of horror films from the house of Hammer, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in this landmark interpretation based on the famous Mary Shelley story. Baron Victor Frankenstein becomes friends with one of his teachers, Paul Krempe. At first, both men are fascinated by the potential of their re-animating experiments. Eventually, though, Krempe refuses to help with Frankenstein's human experiments. However, he is drawn back into the plot when Frankenstein's creature kills a member of the house staff. For its U.S. Blu-ray debut, Warner Archive is proud to present this deluxe 2 Disc Special Edition, featuring two theatrical aspect ratio presentations, meticulously remastered and restored from preservation separations, as well as bonus disc with the restoration presented in "open-matte" format, as was seen for years on television, plus four exciting new retrospective featurettes, an expert commentary, and the original theatrical trailer.
THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946)
New 2020 1080p HD Restoration from 4K Scan of the Original Nitrate Technicolor Negatives
Run Time: 102:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 - English
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 4x3 Full Frame
Product Color: COLOR
Disc Configuration: BD 50
Special Features: Feature-length audio commentary by Director George Sidney, Three Deleted Musical sequences: March of the Doagies, March of the Doagies (reprise), and My Intuition. Scoring stage sessions (audio only) featuring pre-recordings made for the film including the unused "Hayride". "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" Remixed in Stereo (HD), Original Theatrical Trailer (HD).
Judy Garland headlines The Harvey Girls, a joyous slice of Americana celebrating the "Harvey House" restaurants that brought extra helpings of civilization to the Old West. Famed M-G-M musical producer Arthur Freed brought together an impressive cast of talents for this box-office hit which features a delightful original score by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Johnny Mercer, who earned an Oscar for their On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe as the Best Song of 1946. Garland once again shares the screen with her "Oz" co-star Ray Bolger, clowns with Virginia O'Brien, falls in love with leading man John Hodiak, and faces off against wicked saloon gal Angela Lansbury in one of the most entertaining and enduring musical classics to come from Metro's golden age, now fully restored to its original Technicolor luster for its Blu-ray debut.
HOLIDAY AFFAIR (1949)
New 2020 1080p HD Master
Run Time: 87:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 - English
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1, 4x3 Full Frame
Product Color: B&W
Disc Configuration BD 25
Special Feature: Lux Radio Theater broadcast (12/18/50) with Robert Mitchum and Laraine Day, Original Theatrical Trailer
RKO's resident "bad boy" Robert Mitchum (Out of the Past) surprised audiences with his softer side in this classic Yule-themed romantic comedy. Mitchum portrays Steve Mason, a department-store clerk who loses his job, yet buys an electric train set for a child he scarcely knows. It must be Christmastime. Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh are warmly matched in Holiday Affair, a seasonal favorite scripted by Isobel Lennart (later to adapt Mitchum's The Sundowners) and directed by Hope/Crosby "road movies" veteran Don Hartman.
MISTER ROBERTS (1955)
New 2020 1080p HD Remaster from 4K Scan of Original Negative
Run Time: 121:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1 – English
Aspect Ratio: 2.55:1-16x9 LETTERBOX
Product Color: COLOR
Disc Configuration: BD 50
Special Features: Commentary by Jack Lemmon, Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
The USS Reluctant carries cargo along World War II's forgotten Pacific seaways. Beyond the horizon, the real war passes its stir-crazy crew by. Mister Roberts, directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy, is the classic story of men fighting to survive – not war's dangers, but its indignities. Henry Fonda's reprise of his Tony®-winning Broadway role returned him to movies after seven years away. Jack Lemmon won his first Academy Award® as hapless, lecherous Ensign Pulver. James Cagney's petty, scrappy Captain makes a fierce adversary. In his final film, William Powell makes world-weary Doc a sage for the ages. Mister Roberts has moments of unforgettable humor. But sadness tempers the comedy. No shot is fired. No blood is spilled. Yet Mister Roberts endures as one of our most truthful war sagas.
YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN (1950)
New 2020 1080p HD Remaster from 4K Scan of Original Nitrate Elements
Run Time: 112:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 – English
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 4x3 Full Frame
Product Color: B&W
Disc Configuration: BD 50
Special Features: Lux Radio Theater broadcast (3/3/52) with Kirk Douglas and Jo Stafford; Vintage WB Cartoons: HILLBLLY HARE (HD); HOMELESS HARE (HD) and HURDY GURDY HARE (HD); Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
With a secondhand trumpet and the loving guidance of a brilliant bluesman, a lonely boy grows into manhood as a superb musician whose talent carries him from honky-tonks to posh supper clubs. But his desperate search for an elusive high note – trapped in his mind but impossible to play – starts him on a boozy downward slide. Charged with dynamic performances by Kirk Douglas (the title role), Doris Day, Lauren Bacall and Hoagy Carmichael, and pitch-perfect direction by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), the film is a feast of hot, cool, moody jazz. Legendary Harry James dubbed Douglas' hornwork. Day brings another fine instrument – her voice – to four standards. Movie and music lovers will be glad to meet this Man.
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)
New 2020 1080p HD Remaster
Run Time: 99:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 – English
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1. 4x3 Full Frame
Product Color: B&W
Disc Configuration: BD 50
Special Features: Vintage MGM promotional film: "The Miracle Of Sound"; Screen Guild Theater radio broadcast (9/29/40) with Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan; Lux Radio Theater broadcast (6/23/41) with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche.
Ernst Lubitsch adds his unique style of directorial aplomb to this timeless love story that marked the third of Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart's four film appearances together. A 1936 play by Nikolaus Laszlo called "Perfumerie" was the basis for this timeless love story set in a Budapest shop. With a witty screenplay adaptation by Samson Raphaelson, Stewart and Sullavan play bickering gift-shop workers Alfred and Klara, unaware that they have fallen in love with each other as secret pen pals who only know their respective correspondents as "Dear Friend". The charm of the stars ably supported by a sterling supporting cast headed by Frank Morgan make this timeless classic one to enjoy over and over again. The story was later filmed as "In The Good Old Summertime" with Judy Garland and Van Johnson in 1949, and as "You've Got Mail" in 1998. It was also the basis of the 1963 Broadway musical favorite "She Loves Me". Beautifully remastered from protection film elements made right from the original nitrate negative, this new Blu-ray presentation of the original 1940 classic is a joy to behold
IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE (1947)
New 2020 1080p HD Remaster from 4K Scan of Best Surviving Nitrate Elements
Run Time: 115:00
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 – English
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1. 4x3 Full Frame
Product Color: B&W
Disc Configuration: BD 50
Special Feature: Lux Radio Theater Broadcast (5/19/1947)
As he does every winter, hobo Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore) moves in to a mansion on New York City's 5th Avenue while its owners are away for the winter and invites all his hobo friends in from the cold. But this Christmas, Mary O'Connor (Ann Harding) comes home unexpectedly after a quarrel with her boyfriend to find her house occupied by jovial street dwellers. To make matters even worse, her father (Charles Ruggles) disguises himself as a hobo to get an invitation to stay in his own home -- and keeps his identity secret in this perennial Christmas favorite about rediscovering family and the joy of being together. Don DeFore (Romance on the High Seas) and Gale Storm (My Little Margie) co-star as the young love interests in this first release from Allied Artists Productions.
THE 100: THE SEVENTH AND FINAL SEASON (2020)
Run Time: 672 Minutes
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio Specs: TS HD-Master Audio 5.1 – English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1. 16x9 Widescreen
Product Color: COLOR
Disc Configuration: 3 BD 50
The seventh and final season opens with our heroes picking up the pieces of the society they destroyed on Sanctum. Still reeling from her mother's death, Clarke (series star Eliza Taylor), perhaps more than anyone, feels the toll of years upon years of fighting and loss. The group soon finds that maintaining order among the competing factions is no easy feat, and one that has them questioning whether their commitment to doing better was worth the price. At the same time, our heroes must contend with new obstacles on a scale beyond any that they previously experienced as they unravel the mysteries of the Anomaly. What they encounter on this epic journey pushes them to their limits both physically and emotionally, challenging their long-held conceptions of family, love, and sacrifice. Ultimately, our heroes must answer for themselves what it means to truly live, and not just survive.
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Episode 45 Review: Bob Costello’s First Episode
{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }
{ Full Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }
At long last, welcome back to my review series for Strange Paradise, a show increasingly living up to its name. In 1969 PT, the audience for this episode--primarily young people and housewives smitten with Colin Fox--is watching Jacques threaten Alison’s life if Vangie tells anyone about the events on Maljardin after leaving. Meanwhile in our timeline, the story takes a different, more bizarre direction, featuring an allegedly evil rabbit, a bloodied locket that once belonged to Erica Desmond, and an emergency séance that ends in a poisoning.
Now that former Dark Shadows staff member Robert Costello has taken the helm as producer, there will be many changes to the show, including a change in writers. Co-creator and former headwriter Ian Martin is gone now, and in his place we have George Salverson and Ron Chudley. Salverson was a prolific writer for Canadian radio and television, writing (among many other works) a 1949 radio adaptation of Dracula that’s very good and at least four scripts for the 1967 historical comedy TV series Hatch’s Mill[1], which also starred Cosette Lee and Sylvia Feigel and featured Kurt Schiegl as Big Kurt. Chudley was an up-and-coming writer who, like fellow SP writers Ian Martin and Harding Lemay, became better-known for his later work. He is still alive as far as I can tell and works as a novelist and playwright. The resume on his personal website lists a wide variety of works, including a series of mystery novels, one published play (After Abraham), and many scripts for different media, including “over one hundred [TV] scripts, for CBC and independents.” Salverson and Chudley will only write the next five episodes, but one of these (Episode 47) will be among the best of Maljardin.
From now until Episode 149, all episodes will open with new, Dark Shadows-style narrations delivered by cast members. The first, read by Angela Roland (Vangie), is rather vague and--surprisingly--doesn’t recap Holly’s poisoning:
Death lives in this great house on Maljardin, striking as swiftly as a bolt of lightning. Legend says it is caused by the evil of this man [Jacques Eloi des Mondes], three hundred years dead:
But others believe it is something more, like the Reverend Matthew Dawson.
The reason why she mentions Matt of all characters is because he appears first in this episode, lamenting the fact that Alison hasn’t yet verified whether or not his twenty-year-old stalkee Holly survived the poisoning attempt at the end of last episode. “Murder is a three-hundred-year-old tradition here on Maljardin,” he comments, speaking to the portrait which he refuses to believe is animate. “Do traditions ever die?”
“Murder, Reverend Dawson?” Vangie asks, which triggers a discussion of who could have poisoned the wine that Holly drank. Was the culprit her mother who poured it (and whom Vangie and Raxl have identified as a dangerous witch)? Was it Raxl, who filled the decanter? And could Holly have drank the cyanide that Jean Paul took from the lab in Episode 23, which has been missing since? We soon get an answer to the third question, courtesy of Holly’s mother Elizabeth:
Well, that was quick.
“They tried to murder my daughter,” she accuses. “What will they do to the rest of us?”
“They?” Matt asks, confused. “Who?”
“I filled the glass, Raxl filled the decanter, and where was Jean Paul?” She asks about the master of Maljardin with a tone of accusation, evidently suspecting him of playing some role in the attempted murder. This is the first time on this show that one of Colin Fox’s contractually obligated absences has been worked into the plot in a way that makes sense, and I think it’s brilliant. His absence from the second séance provides her with a realistic and believable reason to accuse him of having something to do with the poisoning.
As for what Jean Paul was doing during the events of last episode...
Less realistic or believable, IMO.
He appears to have spent the night rabbit-sitting in his bedroom the whole time while trying unsuccessfully to interrogate it. “What are you?” he asks the Rabbit of Evil, who ignores him because it knows which of them is really in control of the island now. “A creature that cannot exist on this island and yet does exist! My...Erica...”
Raxl cuts him off when she enters the room, bringing tea as a pretext. “The master is not safe with a devil spirit in the room,” she tells him, no doubt wanting the fluffy devil spirit back so she can sacrifice it.
Jean Paul must see through Raxl’s flimsy pretext, given how dramatically he refuses the refreshments she brought. “Leave me, Raxl,” he hisses, mugging for the camera. “I do not want your tea!” Even after she offers to taste it first, he refuses.
Raxl leaves to visit the Great Hall, where she arrives just in time to overhear Elizabeth accusing her of poisoning Holly. After pissing off Elizabeth by giving her the stink-eye, Raxl sends Vangie upstairs to report to Jean Paul with the locket.
Raxl giving Elizabeth the stink-eye.
Elizabeth tries using the look as evidence that Raxl is working against them. Vangie doesn’t buy it.
While ranting to Quito in the crypt, Raxl recaps what she knows about Erica, the locket, and the Rabbit of Evil. She speaks of herself in the third person: “Raxl cannot tell them because they are fools!” This is a new thing, which Ian Martin’s Raxl never did. It’s also the second time this happens in the episode; the first instance occurs in the tea scene. where she asks, “Does the master wish Raxl to taste the tea before he drinks?” I don’t like it. I think referring to herself in the third person makes Raxl sound less intelligent than she’s proven herself to be.
Meanwhile, in Jean Paul’s room, Vangie dangles the sparkling locket like a pendulum before Jean Paul’s eyes:
Vangie: "Jean Paul Desmond…look at the locket…focus on the locket…focus as I swing it back and forth like a pendulum…you are now getting very relaxed…now, Jean Paul Desmond…now you will stop being mean and grumpy as you have been since the capsule malfunctioned…you will go back to being polite and charming like before and stop breaking everybody’s hearts…you will confess your love to Dr. Alison Carr…you will also stop looking constipated…Jean Paul Desmond…Jean Paul Desmond…"
I wish. No, she isn’t actually using it to hypnotize Jean Paul, just showing it to him so that he can inspect it. He verifies that it belonged to her and claims that he “put [it] on Erica’s throat with [his] own hands. I saw it sealed into the capsule with her, with these same eyes that see it now.”
The line above is a retcon. In Episode 4, Erica was not wearing any visible locket when the men from the Cryonics Society insert her body into the cryocapsule. Jean Paul entered the crypt to see her after they had already sealed her in.
“Now, take it, Jean Paul,” Vangie orders. “Feel it. It is real!” She says this as though Jean Paul had just denied it being Erica’s, which is the opposite of his reaction. “I can touch it no more! Take it back!”
She hands it to him and he takes it. Even though he says it’s real and so does she, he still wants confirmation. “Touch it, Vangie!” he begs. “You must! How am I to save my mind? How else am I to know if it is true and real, what I am seeing?”
“Do you doubt your mind, Jean Paul?” Vangie asks, although it’s obvious that’s the only explanation for his command.
“This is the mystery,” he says. “This is the terrible fact I must find out, without this.” It’s not clear what specifically he means by this in either of those sentences. “Vangie, how can you make a contact?”
Not wanting to subject herself to a third dangerous séance on the island, Vangie tells him, “I’m sorry, Jean Paul. The séance is impossible. The angry spirit that came into this house with the locket and the black rabbit is still here, waiting. It can seize any one of us as it seized Holly. I will not do it!”
But Jean Paul insists that she must, or else “how will [he] be able to save [his] mind?”
“How much are you asking?” Vangie demands. “What are you doing to me? What are you doing to all of us?”
Speechless, Jean Paul doesn’t respond. After Vangie leaves the room, he clutches the locket to his chest. “How am I to save myself and my Erica?” he ponders, his eyes wide with terror.
Down in the Great Hall, Vangie vents to Matt and Elizabeth about how she doesn’t want to put them in danger by holding another séance, throwing the box that was on top of the séance table in anger. Elizabeth, remembering that Jean Paul had once seemed “such a reasonable man,” speculates that one of them may be able to reason with him.
Meanwhile, Jean Paul begins to speculate that someone has opened the capsule and continues his attempted interrogation of the very bored-looking rabbit:
Jean Paul: “Who are you? What are you? If I gave you the poisonous leaves here on Maljardin where nothing lives, would you die, or have you lived and dined on this vile island on poison?”
Rabbit of Evil: “...”
Jean Paul: *obviously reading Teleprompter* "Or are you innocent? And if you are, then you would die blameless. Or is Raxl right? Was it evil that brought me the locket or good?"
Jean Paul: *unable to suppress a smile at the ridiculous monologue about the cute animal* "And which are you: good or evil?"
Rabbit of Evil: *twitches nose cutely*
This scene is the crowning moment of cute on Maljardin, between Colin Fox’s unsuccessfully suppressed smile and the adorable rabbit twitching its nose at him. Eventually giving up on questioning the animal, he sets it back down in the picnic basket and returns to the matter of the locket.
“Yes!” he declares. “I can find these answers if the capsule is opened. And if there’s nothing there or the locket is there,”--he reads the Teleprompter some more--”then this is false!”
After a brief filler scene between Raxl and Quito--in which she, thankfully, is back to referring to herself in the first person--Matt visits Jean Paul in his room. Attempting to reason with him, the Reverend begs Jean Paul to confess if he is responsible for the things that have happened to Holly, between her being pushed down the stairs, the slashed portrait, and last episode’s poisoning. Jean Paul accuses him of plotting with the others on the island to gaslight him, then describes his new, bizarre theory about Dan removing the locket from the cryocapsule when it allegedly failed and dipping it in blood as part of their plot. But how did Dan get the blood? The only possibility, he believes, is that there was blood on Erica. This provides him with yet another reason to open the capsule: to see where and how Erica was bleeding, which he now claims he remembers happening.
Meanwhile, Raxl and Quito meet in their bedroom to discuss the necessity of finding the conjure doll and the silver pin. And the fact that they’re meeting in their room means...
There he is, again: our mascot!
They leave to search in the Temple of the Serpent shortly after, and we get this well-lit shot of the passageway between the crypt and the temple.
Matt returns to the Great Hall and recaps his conversation with Jean Paul to Vangie, who comes to the conclusion that the situation on Maljardin is hopeless because Jean Paul doesn’t know the truth. At the same time, Raxl prays to the Serpent in the temple to tell her if the “woman-child” Holly should die, to which the answer is “yes.” She then orders Quito to “search” (for the doll and pin) and he screams!
Quito screaming, with the moment’s location in the video of Part 3. Even though it’s not technically a line, I’m going to count this as a line flub because Quito is supposed to be mute.
Later in the Great Hall, Jacques speaks to Jean Paul through the portrait, telling him not to open the capsule. “You will learn nothing,” he argues. “You will finish off Erica for nothing. Don’t you think so? All you can learn is whether that machine works. Is Erica’s body perfectly preserved, or is Erica now something else?”
Obvious foreshadowing is obvious.
Ignoring him, Jean Paul retreats to the crypt, where he grips the capsule and cries, believing he must open it but fearing for Erica’s safety. Raxl finds him there and begs him to open it and let her die naturally, not just so he gets his answers, but also “so that she may have eternal peace with the god that you denied.”
“Are you, too, suggesting that I am mad?” Jean Paul asks.
“Open the capsule, do not open the capsule. If madness is to come, it may come right away," is her cryptic reply.
Jean Paul crying on the capsule from the episode’s final scene.
While not as good as the other Salverson and Chudley episodes to come, Episode 45 shows promise in its focus on Jean Paul’s descent into insanity. Once he realizes that the locket was Erica’s, he constructs a ridiculous conspiracy theory involving his enemy Dan removing it while tampering with the capsule and somehow getting blood on it. He feels tempted to open the capsule despite the danger to her frozen body, and now must choose between risking her permanent death by opening (what Raxl wants) and keeping it shut despite his mounting fears that the uncertainty will drive him mad, so that Jacques can resurrect Erica. The script has its issues and there are some amusing bloopers, but the first episode produced by Robert Costello is engaging and suspenseful, leaving the viewer with questions about what will happen and be revealed in Week 10.
Coming up next: The Bad Subtitle Special for Week 9, followed by two theories about Jean Paul’s new fears regarding Erica and the locket.
{<-- Previous: Episode 44 || Next: Episode 46 -->}
Notes
[1] Hatch’s Mill makes for an interesting footnote in SP history. In addition to sharing one writer and three actors in major roles, Peg McNamara (aka Peg Dixon, the first Ada Thaxton) and Patricia Collins (the first Huaco des Mondes) played minor roles in one episode. A scathing 1968 review by critic Douglas Marshall provides the most detailed description of Hatch’s Mill available for free online.
#strange paradise#george salverson#ron chudley#maljardin arc#week 9#episode 45#review#the bloodied locket#chalcko (quito's bird)#creative line interpretation#cryonics capsule#dark shadows#foreshadowing#hatch's mill#lost episode summaries#the missing cyanide#rabbit of evil#retcon#robert costello#teleprompteritis
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imagine chapter one’s a let down BHDHDHDHDHD 🫣🫣🫣🫣 should b posted tonight. if not, then def tomorrow xx
#lustfulslxt#joss speaks#sturniolo triplets#sturniolos#the sturniolos#matt sturniolo#matthew sturniolo smut#matt sturniolo angst#matt sturniolo series#matthew sturniolo x reader#matt sturniolo x you#matt sturniolo smut#matt sturniolo x reader#matthew sturniolo#1949 matt series
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TV Guide - April 18 - 24, 1964
Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) Film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
In the 1960s, Jagger increasingly worked on television appearing in The Twilight Zone ("Static"), Sunday Showcase, Our American Heritage, General Electric Theater, Dr. Kildare, The Christophers, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Jagger achieved success with the television series Mr. Novak (1963–1965), receiving Emmy Award nominations for his role in 1964 and 1965, as well as the California Teachers Association's Communications Award, along with star James Franciscus, in 1963 for his portrayal of high-school principal Albert Vane.
Jagger's appearances in the 1960s included episodes of The F.B.I. and The Fugitive, as well as the TV filmm The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970), with Ford, and an episode of The Name of the Game.
He had a semiregular role on the series Matt Lincoln (1970) as the father of the title character, and parts in Vanishing Point (1971), Bonanza, and Incident in San Francisco (1971).
In 1971, Jagger appeared on The Partridge Family. He played a prospector named Charlie in the Christmas episode "Don't Bring Your Guns to Town, Santa".
In his later career Jagger was in The Glass House (1972), Columbo, Kung Fu (Jagger appeared as Caine's grandfather, who wants little to do with him, but starts Caine on his series-long search for his half-brother Danny), Alias Smith and Jones, Medical Center, The Stranger (1973), The Delphi Bureau, The Lie (1973), Shaft, I Heard the Owl Call My Name (1973), Love Story, The Hanged Man (1974), The Great Lester Boggs (1974), The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976), Harry O, Hunter, The Waltons ahd Gideon's Trumpet (1980)
He won a Daytime Emmy award for a guest appearance in the religious series This Is the Life.
His last role was as Dr. David Domedion in the St. Elsewhere season-three finale "Cheers" in 1985. (Wikipedia)
James Grover Franciscus (January 31, 1934 – July 8, 1991) Film and television actor, known for his roles in feature films and in six television series: Mr. Novak, The Naked City, The Investigators, Longstreet, Doc Elliot, and Hunter.
His first major role was as Detective Jim Halloran in the half-hour version of ABC's Naked City. Franciscus guest starred on the CBS military comedy–drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper, and on the NBC drama about family conflicts in the American Civil War entitled The Americans. CBS soon cast him in the lead in the 13-week series The Investigators, which aired from October 5 to December 28, 1961. He played the insurance investigator Russ Andrews, with James Philbrook as a co-star. Franciscus was also cast in the role of Tom Grover in the 1961 episode "The Empty Heart" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He performed in many feature films and television programs throughout the 1960s and 1970s, preceded by a minor role in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "Judgment Night" in 1959, and a major role in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Forty Detectives Later" in 1960, and "Summer Shade" in 1961. (Wikipedia)
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hey i don't know of you've answered something like this before, but i'm interested in the wind in the willows, and was wondering what you would consider a good starting place to getting into it?
Hi Anon!
Sorry it took me a bit to get to this! It’s been a bit of a chaotic day, and I wanted to make sure I set aside enough time to give you a good answer.
If you’re looking to read (or listen) to the book, there are lots of places to find it online for free, including several nice audiobooks on youtube. If you dive into the book, I highly recommend making sure you pick an unabridged version. Abridged versions tend to leave out two of the odder (but in my opinion very good) chapters, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” and “Wayfarers All.” In particular, “Wayfarers All” is one of my favorite chapters.
However, books are a big time committment, so if you would rather dive into an adaptation, I’ve got a couple of suggestions!
I think which version you start with might depend on what you like and are looking for. If you like animated movies, I think the 1995 Television Cartoons adaptation is probably the most faithful adaptation as far as capturing the dreamy and sometimes meandering feeling of the book, and the voice acting and animation style are both lovely. There’s also a sequel, The Willows in Winter, which is based on the first book of William Horwood’s Tales of the Willows series. The Willows in Winter is a fun movie, but I wouldn’t say it’s a super necessary watch right out of the gate, since it’s not based on the Kenneth Grahame book. The first movie is excellent though!
Another good option is the 1983 Cosgrove Hall film. However, I probably wouldn’t go for it if stop motion animation (particularly of the older, less fluid variety) freaks you out in any way. Personally, I think it’s adorable. It doesn’t have as much of the meandering feel as the Television Cartoon version, but it’s a really charming film that hits the high points of the story. It also gets the chance to adapt some of the bits it leaves out (as well as original stories) in the subsequent series based on the movie. I’m absolutely in love with the series, so if it sounds interesting, I definitely recommend checking it out!
If you want a live action adaptation, I also have a couple of suggestions.
The 2006 BBC TV film does a pretty good job of following the source material, and I think a lot of the design is lovely. It also has Mark Gatiss (of BBC Sherlock fame) as Rat, and Matt Lucas (currently of Great British Bake-Off fame) as Toad. Personally, I could take or leave Matt Lucas as Toad (although many loved him), but I still think it’s a nice version that is worth checking out. I’m very fond of live action adaptations with human designs for the characters, and this one has some really nice moments.
My last suggestion is my personal favorite adaptation, the 2017 West End musical pro-shot. I would say that it’s the least strictly “accurate” of the four adaptations I’ve mentioned, in that it strives to create a clearer narrative for the story by changing/adding some subplot, and by creating clearer character arcs. Even though some points are not as strictly adapted, I think the changes really work for the medium, and it’s a great jumping off spot if you prefer an adaptation with a clearer story arc. It’s also visually stunning.
Note: I feel l would be remiss not to mention the 1949 Disney film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad (at least the portion that adapts The Wind in the Willows), and 1987 Rankin/Bass adaptation, because those seem to be the versions people remember the best. I’m not including them as suggestions for jumping off points because I don’t find them to be particularly good intros to the story. However, feel free to check them out later! They’re both beloved by lots of people.
Also, Anon, I have links to all of these adaptations (and quite a few more) in a master list that I am constantly curating. I don’t share it publicly, as some of the videos are unlisted on my personal Youtube account, but if you’re comfortable DMing me, I’m happy to share! Otherwise, all the versions I mentioned can be found by poking around on Youtube, Dailymotion, or Vimeo, with the exception of the stage musical, which can be seen on BroadwayHD or rented directly from the show’s website.
I hope that helps! If you enjoy your introduction, please feel free to come back and share your thoughts!
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Rod Cameron.
Filmografía
- Heritage of the Desert (1939) - Cowhand (sin acreditar)
- The Old Maid (1939) - Papel secundario (escenas eliminadas)
- If I Had My Way (1940) - Slim - Bridge Worker (sin acreditar)
- ¡Esos fueron los días! (1940) - Bartlett - Estudiante camarero (sin acreditar)
- Stagecoach War (1940) - Townsman (sin acreditar)
- Rangers of Fortune (1940) - Shelby Henchman (sin acreditar)
- El mariscal de campo (1940) - Tex
- Policía Montada del Noroeste (1940) - Cabo Underhill
- Navidad en julio (1940) - Dick
- La vida con Henry (1940) - Bill Van Dusen
- El monstruo y la niña (1941) - Sam Daniels
- I Wanted Wings (1941) - Voz en altavoz (sin acreditar)
- Riders of Death Valley (1941, Serial) - Rider (sin acreditar)
- El párroco de Panamint (1941) - Porter, joven prospector, 'Son' en Prólogo (sin acreditar)
- Cómprame ese pueblo (1941) - Gerard
- Nada más que la verdad (1941) - Sailor (sin acreditar)
- Henry Aldrich para presidente (1941) - Ed Calkins
- La noche del 16 de enero (1941) - Asistente del abogado Polk
- Sin manos en el reloj (1941) - Tom Reed
- Among the Living (1941) - Eddie - Man in Cafe (sin acreditar)
- Pacific Blackout (1941) - Piloto
- The Fleet's In (1942) - 'Texas' - Sailor (sin acreditar)
- El notable Andrew (1942) - Jesse James
- Fiel al ejército (1942) - Pvt. O'Toole
- Prioridades en el desfile (1942) - Director de escena
- Isla Wake (1942) - Capitán Pete Lewis
- Los guardabosques del bosque (1942) - Jim Lawrence
- Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) - Suboficial (sin acreditar)
- Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942) - Pasto G-Men contra el Dragón Negro (1943, Serie) - Agente Rex Bennett
- No Time for Love (1943) - Taylor (sin acreditar)
- Lodge de luna de miel (1943) - Big Boy Carson
- Servicio secreto en el África más oscura (1943, serial) - Rex Bennett
- The Good Fellows (1943) - Soldier (sin acreditar)
- El Kansan (1943) - Kelso
- Cabalgando alto (1943) - Sam Welch
- Gung Ho! (1943) - Pvt Rube Tedrow
Jefe de Boomtown (1944) - Steve Hazard
- Trigger Trail (1944) - Clint Farrel
- Sra. Parkington (1944) - Al Swann
- Jinetes de Santa Fe (1944) - Matt Conway
- The Old Texas Trail (1944) - Jim Wiley, haciéndose pasar por Rawhide Carney.
-Salomé, donde bailaba (1945) - Jim
- Más allá de los Pecos (1945) - Lew Remington
- Swing Out, hermana (1945) - Geoffrey Cabot
- Renegados del Río Grande (1945) - Buck Emerson
- Frontier Gal (1945) - Jonathan Hart
- El runaround (1946) - Eddie J. Kildane
- Piratas de Monterey (1947) - Capitán Phillip Kent
- Panhandle (1948) - John Sands
- River Lady (1948) - Dan Corrigan
- Los saqueadores (1948) - John Drum
- La hija de Belle Starr (1948) - Bob 'Bitter Creek' Yauntis
- Hágalo rico (1948) - Duke Massey
- Estampida (1949) - Mike McCall
- Brimstone (1949) - Johnny Tremaine
- Dakota Lil (1950) - Harve Logan / Kid Curry
- Stage to Tucson (1950) - Grif Holbrook
- Hierba corta (1950) - Steve Llewellyn
- Oh! Susanna (1951) - Capitán Webb Calhoun
- Explorador de caballería (1951) - Kirby Frye
- El avispón marino (1951) - Gunner McNeil
- Fuerte Osage (1952) - Tom Clay
- Vagones del oeste (1952) - Jeff Curtis
- La jungla (1952) - Steve Bentley
- Mujer del país del norte (1952) - Kyle Ramlo
- Ride the Man Down (1952) - Will Ballard
- San Antone (1953) - Carl Miller
- La dama de acero (1953) - Mike Monahan
- Pasaje del suroeste (1954) - Edward Fitzpatrick Beale
- Puesto avanzado del infierno (1954) - Tully Gibbs
- Pasaje de Santa Fe (1955) - Jess Griswold
- Doble peligro (1955) - Marc Hill
- Cazadores de titulares (1955) - Hugh 'Woody' Woodruff
- La oportunidad de luchar (1955) - Bill Binyon
- Pasaporte a la traición (1955) - Mike O'Kelly
- Tambores yaquis (1956) - Webb Dunham
- Spoilers del bosque (1957) - Boyd Caldwell
- Escape (1958) - Jeff Keenan
- El hombre que murió dos veces (1958) - William 'Bill' Brennon
- Laramie (1961 episodio "El último viaje") - John Cole
- El halcón arma (1963) - Sheriff Ben Corey
- Las balas no discuten (1964) - Pat Garrett
- Bullet in the Flesh (1964) - Nathaniel Masters
- Réquiem por un pistolero (1965) - Dave McCloud
- El asesino de recompensas (1965) - Johnny Liam
- Winnetou y Old Firehand (1966) - Old Firehand
- Evel Knievel (1971) - Charlie Knesson
- La última película (1971) - Pat Garrett
- El amor francés (1972) - (sin acreditar)
- Las niñas de Jessi (1975) - Rufe
- Asesino psíquico (1975) - Dr. Commanger.
-Amor y suministro de automóviles de medianoche (1977) - Sheriff Dawson.
Créditos: Tomado de Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Cameron_(actor)
#HONDURASQUEDATEENCASA
#ELCINELATELEYMICKYANDONIE
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Weekly Wrap Up
April 26th - May 2nd, 2020
Reading (fic & books):
Saltwater by @idontgettechnology from the Sparks of Light series
Outpost 17 by @sarahbeniel
Smudge by @idontgettechnology from The Long Way Around series
Karen’s Witch by Katy Farina
dry your eyes and love you warm by Ellessey
Every Word Spoken is a Spell by @idontgettechnology
Watching (TV and movies):
Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 12
The Last Dance episodes 3 & 4
Westworld Season 3
The Simpsons Season 6 (rewatch)
Being There (1979)
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Children of Heaven (1997)
White Heat (1949)
Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Scarface (1932)
The Lion King (2019)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Marty (1955)
Music (newly added to Spotify):
Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex
Night Shift by Lucy Dacus
Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me by Frank Sinatra
Daylight by Matt and Kim
Writing:
Limerence: (n.) the state of being infatuated with another person. Maria finally takes some time off to attend Tony and Pepper's wedding weekend in France.
Four Words: Darcy and Steve invite themselves along for a space adventure with Jane.
Now That They’re Gone (chapter 7): After Thor went for the head, life has been dragging on. Natasha asks Steve to stop a young hacker named Darcy Lewis.
The Comeback Kid (chapter 40): Darcy, after her boyfriend suddenly leaves her, is forced to reinvent her life. This means taking a job at a private school as their new library technician. While struggling to learn the nuances of Sacred Heart, Darcy is drawn to Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes... and she's pretty sure they're secretly dating.
Brooklyn Baby (chapter 10): Steve Rogers is a best-selling comic book writer and artist. His semi-autobiographical graphic novel was adapted to the screen by himself and the eccentric Academy Award-winning director Stephen Strange, starring Steve's childhood best friend James Barnes. Steve has the final leg of his European tour promoting his book ending in the United Kingdom, and an old friend from his art school exchange program offers to catch up. Steve can only stay so busy before his personal life suffers for it, and he knows he's lonely, and he knows that deep down he's been denying something his whole life.
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pull me in — 2
a/n: this series is my new baby, pls don’t get mad at me. heads up: emotions ahead.
warnings: cursing, fluff, smut & use of other languages.
words: 5,258k.
pull me in — 1 | masterlist
The Sunday morning had never felt this warm before — which was weird, since the rain washed Pickering all over during the night and turned the waterdrops into snowflakes, colouring the glass of her still opened window in a vivid white — and home had never felt so cozy. She’s thankful he’s asleep in front of her instead of giving that typical stare that insists on discovering every single thought passing through her mind, because he would definitely make fun of her poker face and tickle her body until she says those three words she never says.
And it’s so hard to resist when Shawn is finally quiet and peacefully asleep on her bed. Not the she doesn’t enjoy his voice or those weird whimpers of his that he always lets out when he’s falling asleep more deeply, but she never thought that words were necessary as long as you’re showing your love with attitudes. Shawn, on the other hand, is the complete opposite — his notebook pages are never blank because the papers are filled with loving words for Alyssa. There are songs he plays for her until nowadays and there are songs he’ll probably never let her know about, fearing rejection or the possibility that they’re not in the same place. It’s been tricky since the beginning, and Shawn’s the only one being patient and polite, he thinks.
“May I call you just Lyssa?” He asks with pity eyes, feeling his frame softening to the sight of Alyssa blushing while she curls a strand of her hair with her forefinger. Her smile is timid, but he doesn’t stick to this impression. Ever since Alyssa and Daniel stepped into that school, the rumours were all around for everyone to hear.
‘Oh, he’s got a car!’ ‘Oh, she knows five languages!’ ‘Oh, their mom is Spanish!’ ‘Oh, their grandfather fought in the World War II!’ ‘Oh, they’ve just arrived from France!’
So he knew she wasn’t just another one. No.
Being the helpless passionate guy that he is, he puts himself into an internal bet between him & himself — impressing her in all possible ways, more than he regularly does with the other girls.
“Lyssa?” She looks him in the eyes, pursing her pink lips into an intimidating grin. “Is it that hard to pronounce the letter A?”
The time seems to stop for Shawn.
People from school are filling up the diner, some looking at them inquiringly as he places his hand under his chin, analyzing her features and feeling his mouth water everytime her lips touch to speak her words, wishing he could fit his lower lip in between her parted mouth and taste the chapstick glossing the plump flesh. Alyssa knows he’s having problems resisting her, and she’s obviously going to take advantage on this. She just needs to wait for the perfect opportunity.
“What, babygirl?” He tries to recover his confidence, more than observant to see if he can break her self-assurance somehow by being the typical Shawn Mendes: seductive in the cockiest way possible. “Not a fan of nicknames?”
Alyssa analyses Shawn as he spreads his arm on top of the headrest of the diner sofa, chewing his gum and exhaling big rebel—boy energy in a very overbearing mode. She finds it fun how hard he’s trying to get her weakening when it’s going to be the other way around. She can count on her fingers how many boys with this same attitude she humiliated all around the globe and there would never be enough hands to fit the amount onto.
“Listen…” Squinting her eyes, she plays a thoughtful face as she gets closer, inching her middle towards the table.
“Shawn.” He says, swallowing harshly and clearing his throat. How can someone let Shawn Mendes pass just like this? Impossible.
“Shawn,” Alyssa confirms, snapping two of her digits in the air like she’s just remembered of something practically unmanageable to get inside her mind. “I don’t know what type of girls you’ve been fooling around with, but I guarantee you that you’ll need to come off stronger than ‘babygirl’ and ‘Lyssa’ if you’re planning to get under my skirt,” She maintains eye contact with his hazel irises, oftentimes dropping her glance to his lips parting in surprise. Yes, she wouldn’t be easy but no one has ever seen Shawn denying a good challenge. That’s what keeps him eager and starving for those pretty lips and incomparable personality. If it’s a game, then game on.
“I—“
“Mongola!” A tall guy approaches their table, making the two of them take distance from each other again. He’s got his hair pushed back with gel and his features are different from what Shawn is used to see. Other than that, he’s also got his gang behind him and keys spinning around his forefinger repeatedly, still speaking a language he’s never seen before. “¿Terminaste con tu estúpida charla?”
Alyssa rolls her eyes, taking some dollars out of her pocket to place right beside the milkshake she ended ages ago before the flirting started. At this point, the other guy was impatiently waiting for her to finally get her jacket and backpack to slide towards the end of the red long chair, staring at her with a devilish smile while the people from school decide to pay more attention to what’s going on.
“Yes, I’m done with my conversation,” She gets up, tossing the jacket on top of her elbows and shifting her bag into the guy’s chest. “And you? Done with your show? Or do you really wanna try to stand out from the others by being a dork?” The boy closes his eyes and squeezes the fabric of her nearly empty bag with his strong hand, exhaling strongly and shooting an intimidating look at Shawn after prompting his eyelids open, the curly haired boy glancing at Alyssa and the man he still doesn’t know totally confused. “What now, Dani? Cat got your tongue?” His friends were at the merge of wetting themselves with silent laughs as she wore a winning smile, shaking her head slightly to move her bangs away from her eyes. They’d never get enough of her sassy attitude, putting her own brother down like he’s nothing.
“Better be outside in 2 if you want a proper ride home.” The guy hisses and turns on his heels to get outside, never forgetting to give Shawn a last look and drop her bag on the floor before walking to the parking lot, obviously winking at some pretty girls on his way like he hadn’t put out a whole scene seconds ago.
Shawn gets up and grabs her backpack, jaw clenched and mind still lost. What the fuck just happened?
When he turns to face Alyssa, her eyes are threatening to water but they don’t. They’ll never. Not because of her brother, not because of the people staring at her — the past 9 years were the worst and they’d always come back to haunt her regardless of the day, regardless of the moment. They made her learn on how to act tough and fierce even though the truth was the complete opposite, so these people would need to come off a lot stronger than this to break the wall she’s been building ever since 1949.
“Your bag, Alyssa,” He says while straightening his spine up again, offering her the object with his eyes glued on the door. “Who was-“
“My brother. Nothing you should worry about.”
“Are you gonna be okay?” His eyes moves slowly to glance at her. Alyssa’s expression tells him nothing and everything at the same time. He can sense she’s kinda in pain, kinda embarrassed but his mind repeats unstoppably that she can’t fear a thing. Although it’s not the moment, this quick second of weakness gets him more than curious to unravel all the mystery that’s Alyssa.
“I am okay.”
“Want me to-“
“Thank you,” She cuts him off, giving him a forced smile but sincere look of gratefulness. The wind breaking into the diner by the semi-opened windows blows her hair softly and he can’t understand how can a girl look like both the angel and the devil at the same time. “Mm…?”
“Shawn—Peter—Raul—Mendes.” Shawn repeats again, his ego begging to be caressed instead of hurt. He wants to be done by now, hates the heavy magnetism that brings him closer and closer to her frame. She’s hugged gracefully by a white shirt tucked into a light-pink skirt that defines her waist and cascades at her thighs, covering all the way almost to the end of them and it’s probably the first time he sees a girl showing her knees and a little bit more in public. How can teeny-tiny pieces of skin can drive his mind to somewhere else? He’ll never comprehend.
“Peter Raul,” Smiling — sincerely, this time — she winks at him and it looks like she haven’t even been through a moment of stress minutes ago. He widens his eyebrows in surprise and her smile widens as well, welcoming a laugh that shoots a wave of dopamine right down his senses. It’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard and sure he’s exaggerating, but he doesn’t give a fuck at this point. He could watch her laughing the whole day, just like he can watch the way her necklace moves along with her chest when she catches her breath again. “Creo que tendremos que terminar esta conversación en otro momento,” And the time stops. Again. Her tone lowering a little bit while her words come out to poke his heart and make it miss the beats. Shawn can’t figure out a single word but, if her accent keeps on being this sexy while her tongue touches the back of her front teeth so beautifully, he’ll start paying attention to Spanish classes just to talk to her like this everyday. “Hasta luego, guapo.”
She dares to inch closer give him a kiss right on the corner of his lips, but before her mouth can press a warm smooch, she hears the motor of the car getting started outside and she can’t help but leave him with the softest graze of her wet lips that could never fulfill the desire consuming his entire being right now.
“What the hell did she say?” Shawn asks to himself while she walks away, her scent stuck on the spot she just left.
“It’s latin for ‘you’re totally fucked for the hispanic’.” Brian joked between laughs, elbowing Matt beside him as the guys had the most fun with his face screaming ‘Sucker for Alyssa’ in their imagination. Although Brian couldn’t have been quite correct with the ‘latin’ and ‘hispanic’, he wasn’t totally wrong.
━ ━ ━
His broad frame is taking most of the space on her bed when she’s back from the bathroom. She’s sure he might have had his limbs all stretched to get spread on her mattress while she was gone to brush her teeth and hair. It’s the only downside of sleeping with Shawn, Alyssa thinks. He’ll either curl and cuddle her body to keep her warm or throw his leg or arm on top of her frame in the middle of the night, looking for the space that her bed doesn’t have to fit his big body. It’s cutely annoying. Just like him.
She gets rid of her slippers after closing the door carefully, slipping back under the covers now with Shawn’s serene expression right in front of her. He’s slowly waking up with eyes still closed, but he starts to take deep breaths and grab her waist lazily, pulling her even closer and hiding his face on the crook of her neck. He takes a moment to smell the moisturizer she uses, enjoying that unmistakable scent of what he thinks it might be a mix of roses and vanilla. He could stay like this for the rest of his days, immersed on the craziest ride of his life that’s Alyssa. He’s in love with the mess, the danger, the uncertainty and the undefined thing that’s their relationship.
What they have is somewhere lost between very-frequent hook ups and a proper relationship that includes some I-love-you’s and jealousy. Shawn would define as a couple walking with baby-steps, taking their time while Alyssa would say it’s complicated. Period. And it’s hard for her to care when he’s tilting his head back up and opening his eyes, giving her a lovely look with those tired chocolate eyes and a weak smile. His curls are messy and fluffy, making him look angelic and innocent. As if.
“Morning Lyssa,” He greets with that raspy tone that always gets her thighs clenching. She smiles in response, kissing the tip of his nose delicately. “Gonna have to brush my teeth to get a decent kiss?”
“Rhetorical question, I hope.”
“Still have my toothbrush?” Shawn asks yawning, sniffing and rubbing his eyes. He’s got soft dark circles that draws their ways to the apple of his cheeks, face all marked from sleeping heavily. It’s such a sight that she wishes she could take photos and put them all in frames to embellish her bedroom.
“First drawer, it’s the transparent one,” She warns and he blinks deliberately. ‘You think I’ve forgotten?’ He ruminates in silence as he prompts his body up to sit and crawl his way to the end of the bed. “Just in case…” Alyssa defends herself, lifting both hands to the sides of her head. “Be silent, asshole. My dad has a light sleep.”
Shawn smirks in response, drinking her in by the way her body’s splayed shyly on her bed with the untidy blankets covering her legs partly — her thighs are bare, capturing his attention as he notices that her nightdress is messy, exposing the swell of her round ass. No one would look at this so accurately — at least he hopes no one would — but the way her tanned skin begs for his lips drives him insane little by little.
“You pervert!” She realizes what he’s doing and pushes the fabric back to where it should be, her cheeks burning and turning pink. “Go before someone wakes up. I need to kick you out sometime soon.”
When Shawn looks down, it’s just what he was expecting.
His hardened member started to nudge the fabric of his underwear still timidly, but nothing that would escape from Alyssa’s attention. It’s been almost ten minutes since he left to freshen up and Alyssa can’t think about something else.
That vision got her mouth watering and her brain working twice as faster.
But she couldn’t. Could she?
She’s toying with the silver foil, looking at it as she twirls the object unstoppably. Her throat goes dry and she feels the urge to gulp, her lungs searching for more air when she thinks about how painful it might be. But oh, it might be so wonderful as well…
When she hears footsteps coming closer, she tucks the condom under her back rapidly and covers her body with the blanket just to make sure it’s all well hidden. “Looks like you just saw a ghost,” Shawn teases her, closing the door and copying her intentions on doing it as quiet as possible. “Qué happened?”
“¿Qué pasa?” She corrects his terrible Spanish and thinks to herself. She had never felt brave enough to ask Shawn to be her first time, fearing he would say no because of her brother. And father. And their overprotective personalities. And what if she gets pregnant at 16? What if she’s not hot enough or pretty enough? “No pasa nada.”
“What?”
“Nothing’s going on.” Alyssa lies, her tone flat and unhappy. He gets closer and sits beside her, choosing a strand of her hair to caress and brush it off her face so he can graze her cheek.
“Tell me, Lyssa,” Immediately, she shakes her head in denial and stares at the wall. His eyes would get her failing. “If you don’t want to then I’ll go say good morning to Mr. Stempford. He sure would like to know me better—“
“Sit your ass down, Peter Raul,” She hisses, tossing the blanket away and grabbing his arm instantly when he threatens to get up. He ends up falling on top of her upper half, noses touching and she closes her eyes, breathing deeply. It shouldn’t be this hard. “I want you to promise me you’ll be nice.”
“May I know when I’m not nice with you?”
“Promise me, asshole.” She pinches his arm. Nothing hard already that Shawn can’t make it harder.
“I promise, asshole.”
“Great!” She starts, opening her eyes but not looking directly at him. Playing with her fingers, she chooses to stare at them like they’re doing the most interesting thing in the world. “See, I was thinking to myself…”
“Mm…”
“We’ve never… Well…” Clearing her throat, she shakes her head slightly to move her bangs away from her eyes.
“Fucked.”
“What?”
“Fucked,” He repeats. “That’s one thing we’ve never done.”
Her heart races.
“Fucked… Right…” The stress begins to show up as Shawn fixes his body on top of hers, laying down gently. “We made out lots of times, of course, and they were—“
“Incredible.”
“Incredible,” She smiles, finally looking at his face. He’s so close she can hear his heartbeat and smell the minty scent of toothpaste coming out of his parted lips. “Breathtaking…” Whispering, she swallows harshly before being interrupted by him again.
“Hun, what’s going on?”
It takes all of her not to freak out.
It’s simple, Alyssa. Spit. It. Out. Now.
“I…”
“You?”
She covers her eyes with both hands and enjoys the lack of shyness that takes over her.
“Iwantustofuck.”
“What?” Shawn squeaks, getting shushed by Alyssa at the same instant. His chest prompts up a little and he’s frowning. It’s all very confusing because Alyssa never asks, she practically demands. And she always stops right when they’re about to unbutton their clothes properly.
“I’m tired of the ‘what’ question,” She rolls her eyes, masking her apprehension and hoping he wasn’t able to understand a single word of what she just said. “We should come up with another word like… Pardon? Or… Or maybe ne razumijem! Možete li molim vas govoriti malo sporije?”
“You want me—“ He’s now sitting on top of her, running his hand through his wild curls and staring at her totally in shock. “You want us to—“ He clutches his own chest while she covers her entire face with her hands, both their chests heaving and screaming for oxygen.
“Shut up! No one’s up yet!”
“You…” Shawn sobs a little, blinking rapidly as he tries to process the information. “You want me to make love to you, Lys?” He mumbles.
“Vielleicht—“ Her voice is muffled by her palms, shoulders shrugging bashfully.
“English, Alyssa.”
He grabs her wrists carefully, holding them up away from her worried face and entwining their fingers softly. For the first time in years, she feels that knot on her throat begging to be loosened through a cry.
“Maybe, Shawn,” She admits, so nervous that her hands aren’t shaking because his giant ones are keeping them stable. “Maybe I do wanna feel you… Inside… Of me?!”
“God!” He breathes out, putting her hands on the curve of his shoulders so he can lean down and pin his forehead on hers. “What are you doing to me, Alyssa Stempford?”
“You know I love it when you say my whole name?”
“Oh yeah?” He smiles against her smile, licking his lips and placing a kiss on the corner of her lips — the way she does when she wants to tease him. “What else?”
“W-What else?” Alyssa stutters, feeling her breath now unpatterning as he lets go of her hands to support his body with one arm, traveling his free palm along her side and peppering kisses from down her face to her jawline. She’s turning cold due to the nervousness but he makes sure to cling to her frame so the hotness spreading through his flesh can comfort her somehow. “I…” He kisses the sensitive spot a little down below her ear precisely, making her get chills and he sees those goosebumps coming to the surface, announcing that he’s starting to get the best of her. “I love it when you drag your lips down my throat and…” She has to stop and focus, because he does exactly as she says and ends with a light suction at the base of her neck. Fanning his breath on the wet region he just sucked, Shawn kisses the other side of her neck intensely, unhurriedly. “Fuck, like this…”
“Like this, eh?” He mouths against her, lowly and raspy while his teeth scratch her skin tenderly. She’s quiet, eyes squinting close as she thinks about how the hell is she going to ease that aching sensation that’s making her heat pulsate in anticipation. Shawn’s lips goes to her collarbones, loving every single piece of skin and feeling the expansion of her bone being touched by him, being appreciated so devotedly just like his girl deserves. He moves his hand up from her waist to trace her arm and reach the strap of her nightdress. “Are you sure, Lyssa?” He twirls the fabric, face tilted down as he closes his eyes and waits for a yes.
“I am,” Alyssa responds, tugging his thick locks and bringing his face to hers. “Will you be gentle?”
If heaven has a specific appearance, it sure is Alyssa’s face softening up as she asks sweetly for his kindness. She looks blissful with her bright brown eyes connected with his, honey hair adorning the pillow and her features. Shawn had never felt the need to be nice and gentle to anyone like he does right now. His chest tempers and hurts at the same time with love. Nothing could mess up with him like this; nobody can fuck Shawn up like Alyssa does.
“I will, babe,” He pecks her lips. “I always will.”
She cups his face with both hands and kisses him deeply. Their lips pressing together is enough to drive them all the way to the edge, her bottom lip in between his mouth as his tongue pokes out to touch hers. The tenderness of their affection is enough to ease her nerves and encourage her to pass her hands through his curls, going further to the back of his head and scrape the nape of his neck lovingly. She pulls him in, impossibly closer to taste all of him as her hands wanders to his back, feeling the muscles moving under her palm due to the way he’s shifting to keep his frame established not to crush her. Shawn finally drags the strap down her arm, slow and as polite as possible, caressing all the spots of her arm where the fabric passed by with his skilled hand. When Alyssa releases her arm from the cloth, she instantly squeezes her breast — now uncovered — with the inner part of her elbow, pressing down on the flesh to hide her nipple from his sight. He breaks the kiss with a smack sound, bringing his tattooed hand back to hers.
“Want me to dress you back, baby?” Shawn asks concernedly, his thumb grazing the back of her palm.
“I don’t, actually,” She knows she doesn’t want to, but she fears the shame will become too much. “I don’t know.”
“Lys, look at me.”
“Yes?!”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t love you in every single way?” He holds her hand more forcefully, as if he could assure her even physically that he doesn’t give a damn if she’s dressed in her most expensive clothes or naked under the plain white sheets. He wants her no matter what, no matter how, no matter when. Her smile shows some pain, but somehow he knows it has a pinch of happiness behind it. “I know you’re afraid and needs more time to figure out what you feel, but I want you to know that I’m already there,” Shawn catches himself confessing his emotions to her again. He did it before a thousand times and there’s no turning back. His feelings seem to be fresh new even though they showed up a long time ago and everyday feels like it’s the first day he saw her standing there, being her charming self with a sassy attitude. Nobody compares to her. “I see, it’s awkward for you, but I am in love with you. I love you, Alyssa.” And then Shawn gives her no time to feel joy or guilt for not being entirely there, because his lips are on hers again and his touch is firm on her hand, setting it once more on his own body. Alyssa now palms his bare chest as his member presses against her core and lower stomach, spurring her to move her fingers down —still reservedly — and he decides to help her through. With his hand on top of hers, he guides it down his toned abdomen and intensifies the kiss at the same time, taking her breath away. She’s grateful his soaked clothes from last night were long gone under her bed so she wouldn’t need to go through the ceremony of undressing him. Her hesitant hand reaches the waistband of his briefs, making the both of them hitch their respirations suddenly, his mouth leaving hers slowly.
“Can I… touch you?” Alyssa asks, eyeing his white underwear between their bodies as her forefinger toys with the elastic band.
“Sure you want to? You don’t have to. This is about you, not me.” Shawn’s eyes are darkening, analyzing her expression and he prepares himself to stop at anytime if she asks him to. His hand stays still above hers.
“Please?” It’s innocent but it makes him twitch inside the material of his underwear. Fuck, Alyssa. Fuck. Obviously she can. She can do whatever she wants to do. Shawn’s answer will always be yes.
He looks down at her small hand threatening to slip inside and he can’t help but contort his face in pleasure even though he hasn’t been touched yet.
“Shit,” He hisses out. “’Course.”
“But I need you to teach me how—“
“Babe, I know,” Her desperation is clear so he wants to give her the freedom and confidence to move on, because he’s here for her. “Tell me if you want to stop, ‘kay?”
Alyssa only nods in agreement, feeling his hand guiding hers inside the fabric leisurely and Shawn watches her breast being released from the harsh touch of her arm. When she touches the head of his cock, touching the tip lightly, her nipple hardens and Shawn gulps to the sight of her. Alyssa is all flushed, from face to chest, and she starts to take a handful of his length. It feels warm against her icy hand and oh so smooth, totally different from what she had previously imagined. He impulsively thrusts into her fist, kissing her chest not to moan in relief while her other hand pulls the underwear past his crotch and it rests on his muscular thighs. She’s still unsure of what to do, so her touch is fragile and insecure. His hand goes back to hers and he embraces her fingers with a gentle strength, squeezing his own cock. Alyssa finds it so hot that the wetness down on her slit and panties is becoming irritating; she can’t quite understand how her hesitation turns into a fiery desire so fast.
“You can hold it like this,” Shawn tells her in a whisper as his palm guides hers up and down gradually. “And pump it like this, eh?”
She’s too weak to do anything else rather than murmur in confirmation and, to add more to this weakness of hers, he circles her nipple with the tip of his tongue to capture it in between his lips. It makes Alyssa hold him tighter, pumping all the way down to the base and back up to the leaking rosy tip. A sweet whine flies past her lips when he sucks at her bud, tender plump lips enveloping her in the most delicious way as his throbbing cock is massaged by her careful hand.
“Gotta keep quiet, hun,” He manages to say between suctions on her wet skin. “Be good for me, hm?”
She huffs and Shawn’s hand leaves hers to travel along the inner part of her thigh, grabbing the delicious soft skin with a force that’s definitely not very gentle. At this point, he’s starving and insatiable. His middle finger accidentally touches her clothed entrance and she whines once more, bucking her hips towards his touch.
“Holy fuckin’ shit,” He mutters against her chest, squeezing her leg intensely. “Babe I can’t take this for too long.” Shawn confesses, feeling the vein on the underside of his aching length pounding painfully. There’s pre-cum leaking and her hand picks up the pace just a little, testing to see if this is what he needs. Alyssa takes the condom from under her back, managing to pump him meanwhile, and hands him the foil.
“Lucky you I was prepared.”
“Where the hell did you get this?” He takes the condom from her hand and sits up, her hand never releasing him. The view is far too pornographic: his defined abs clenching as his thick cock gets pumped by her with some inability, but sure leading him somewhere. He runs a hand through his chocolate hair and waits for her to stop looking at his member and face him. “My eyes are up here, Lys.”
“Stole from Dani’s wallet while you were in the bathroom.” She says simply, daring to twist her wrist as she edges him and the unexpected sensation makes Shawn growl. Going back to her, he inches down and steals a kiss.
“You’re fuckin’ awesome, you know that?” Shawn pecks her lips repeatedly until he cups her face with one hand to lick inside her mouth and make the most of this abrupt kiss.
The atmosphere is too pleasant to let them be aware of anything else. Maybe that’s pretty much the reason why she haven’t heard steps coming to her bedroom door before a loud knock brought them back to reality.
“Alyssa?” A strong voice calls out and Shawn opens his eyes, utterly scared. “Alyssa, who’s inside there with you?”
She pushes him away, the both of them immediately getting up — Shawn searches for the keys to his motorcycle and pulls his underwear back up while Alyssa is bent down on the floor, arm stretched under her bed to get his clothes.
“Alyssa if you don’t open this door right now…”
“Hold on, dada!” She promptly warns, throwing Shawn’s jeans at his face and tossing the shirt up on her bed with the leather jacket. “Go, go, go!”
“If you haven’t noticed yet, my dick’s still—“
The door slams open no longer after, making Alyssa get up on her heels and Shawn cover his hard cock with both hands. The jeans are covering nothing but his shins and knees, the fabric too tough to fit his legs because of the rain that soaked them last night. She crosses her arms in front of her chest to hide her bare chest and they force a smile towards Alyssa’s father, dripping tenseness and fear.
“Gareth—“ Shawn greets with an odd smile but stops at the moment Alyssa elbows him mightly. Fuckin’ dumbass. “Mr. Stempford. Good morning!”
#shawn mendes#shawn mendes fanfic#shawn mendes fanfics#shawn mendes imagine#shawn mendes imagines#shawn mendes masterlist#shawn mendes series#mine#ficsofmine
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