#I don’t think they needed a 30 minute classic for the story they wanted to tell

[satelliteddt]

well I for one enjoyed last night’s squash

#had to keep the deathslot tradition of an under 10 minute match! #it was cute of Mox tbh #i don’t think Mox or Punk need the belt rn though tbh so I hope the next reign of someone will have more story to it! #they did hangman’s reign kind of dirty tbh #but yeah I thought the match was fine and unexpected and sets stuff up for later down the line #I don’t think they needed a 30 minute classic for the story they wanted to tell #squashes shouldn’t only be jobbers vs a known star tbh!! #squashes can be used effectively to tell a story

[pandorasfavorite]

My idea is that Reader is at home (she's due any day with their baby girl) while Dominik is at Monday Night Raw. He doesn't like the idea of being away from her while she's so close to having the babu, but she had convinced him to go because he was scheduled to be there, and his sister was with her so she had a ride to the hospital if she needed it.

Luckily she goes into labor just after he's finished doing what he had needed to do, and he's able to get to her an hour before their baby is born. He's emotional, not just from seeing reader in pain, but also from seeing his little girl.

Our forever

AN: contains pregnancy, Dad Dominik, labor (nothing graphic). Also no water break because it’s rare believe it or not. Only a minor change with the request. Love you guys ❤️

Dominik has always been attentive to your needs, no matter the circumstances. His attentive nature only increased throughout pregnancy. He went from showering alone to showering with his wife everyday so he can ensure she doesn’t hurt herself. Dominik goes out of his way to provide a comfortable pregnancy for his wife when he can.

But the WWE is a hard business to be apart of when you have family. For big events like Wrestle Mania or the classic Monday Night Raw, Dominik is away from home much longer than he would prefer. His requests for time off is not easily granted due to having to peruse an continuing story line. You had your doubts about how often Dom would be spending time at work. Dominik Mysterio was not his father, he sat you down 4 months in your pregnancy to reassure you that he would be there for his child’s life.

———————————————————————————

You lift off the bed with a groan holding your firm stomach, you feel ready to pop any day now but that’s nothing Dom needs to be stressing about. You’re confident the baby has at least another week before it’s due. Dominik walks out of the shower connected to the bedroom a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair dripping down his chest.

A smile hits his face when he see’s you start to get up, he rushes to your side hoisting you up. You smile at him appreciatively kissing his cheek while walking into the bathroom. After relieving yourself, you step back into the bedroom seeing Dominik dressed in his all black and people gear looking apprehensive. He turns towards you no longer tussling through his clothes drawer, he steps in front of you holding your stomach in his hands. He rocks on his heels, a obvious nervous tick he has, “I was thinking-“, you immediately cut him off knowing what he is trying to do. “Dominik” you say to him sternly, “You are going. You are scheduled and I don’t want you to get fired”, you remind him every day.

He rocking stills and he tilts his head back momentarily to show that he isn’t happy with that. He sticks his bottom lip out in a pout, he looks down at your stomach rubbing it soothingly. “Okay mi amor, Call me whenever you need to” he requests earnestly, you can tell he means this with every ounce of his being. He kisses your lips softly then he kneels down and kisses your stomach as well.

The front door shuts and you continue the day like you would normally. Make breakfast, 30 minute rest, clean whatever is necessary, lunch, and other small tasks. During this routine you contribute to healthy habits like drinking super large amounts of water and squats to make sure the baby is prepared for labor later in the week. You walk into the kitchen for a snack holding the curve of your stomach much like you’ve been doing for months now. As you turn the corner a pulsing pain hits the bottom of your stomach.

The pain is nothing like you’ve ever felt before and you double over in pain. It’s 10pm and usually Dominik doesn’t get home until roughly 11 after broadcasting and prep. This Monday night is going to be a long one. Five minutes after your first contraction another one hits and you begin to get concerned. The doctor informed you that contractions are normal and not to come to the hospital until they are about 4 minutes apart.

You count and time the minutes earnestly staring at the timer on your phone. When another contraction hits at the 4 minute mark you make the decision to call Dom’s sister like promised.

“Can you come pick me up? I need a ride to the hospital I think I’m in labor”, you half yell into the recover that is connected to Aalyah.

“Omg are you serious?! I’m on my way be ready!”, she says briefly frantic, moving around quickly for her keys. You hang up the phone with no response too preoccupied with more important things like your hospital bag… and calling Dominik. You breath through another contraction before calling him.

After 5 rings the line picks up and Dom’s voice passes smoothly through the receiver. “Hey baby, everything okay?” He asks sweet as ever. You moan in pain much louder than intended, Dominik worry begins in a instant. “Baby are you okay? Baby?” He says quickly, shuffling can be heard on his end of the phone. You being to speak only to hear Dom tell someone that he has to leave. You manage to grit out the hospital you’re planning on attending, you also inform Dom that his sister is here and taking you now.

He nervousness is extremely apparent, “I- I’ll be there soon mi amor, just one second”. I nod to myself, forgetting that he can’t see me, “Okay” i reply through another shot of pain.

———————————————————————————

You lay on the hospital bed, sweating bullets looking at the door waiting for your lover to show up. Aalyah can tell him being unintentionally late is stressing you out beyond belief. Aalyah texts Dominik hastily asking how close he his, communicating that you are 9 centimeters dilated. When she gets her answer she turns to you, “He’s two minutes away, hang in there”. You grit your teeth in pain and aggravation.

Contractions are also two minutes away from eachother. And groan and scream are combined when the most painful contraction hits you, unfortunately Dominik bursts in while you are writhing in pain. His hands are on his head and he paces for a moment before coming back to his senses. He sits in a chair right against the bed holding one of your hands in both of his. “I’m so sorry, I got here as quick as I could baby” he apologizes, the only thing he can think of doing right now. “It’s oka—“ you cut yourself off with a high pitched scream and a doctor walks in preparing to check your dilation again.

You’re pain is chewing at Dominiks heart, his tears burn his eyes and roll down his cheeks at the sight. He folds his lovers hand tighter and he lays his forehead on the conjoined hands. Sniffles from him mama you realize that he is crying, that you’re pain resonates with him. You whimper in pain but you try and subside it to the best of you’re abilities. Another whimper leaves your lips and Dominik winces from the side watching you hurt while he can’t do anything. He kisses your conjoined hands over and over again. He whispers praises into your ear as the doctor tells you to push.

You take deep breathes and yell while you push, your grip stinging at Dom’s hand. Dominik also takes deep breathes trying to control himself for your sake. One final push and a piercing cry rings through the hospital room. Dominiks one composed tears come rushing back the the sight of his daughter being swaddled and laid on the chest of the love of his life. Dominiks sobs can be heard from outside of the room, he holds your hand before moving his other to touch his daughters delicate body.

She is laying on your chest just taking in the world with her beautiful curious eyes. You cry along with Dominik squeezing his hand in comfort and joy at the life you both have created. Dominik looks up into you’re eyes and tells you something unforgettable, “Nothing will compete with this”. You laugh and sob at the same time smile and nodding while agreeing with his sentiment. You both look back down at your newborn holding the beginning of forever

#dominik mysterio x reader #dominik mysterio #dominik mysterio fanfiction #dominik mysterio fluff #dominik mysterio x you #dom dom #WWE #wwe x reader #this made me cry

[veemo4]

2023 Media Thread (Re-do to add a Read More Link)

Spark The Electric Jester 3:

Man I was holding off on spoilers for MONTHS until the holidays when I could get this game, and I only beat it in the beginning of the year and well…HOLY SHIT I didn’t know I needed existentialism in my funny little platformer- Gameplay is INSANELY solid, like honestly some of my favorite platforming controls I have ever used! Music is top notch as well!

Nier Automata: The End of YoRHa Edition:

Holy fuck how did I manage to avoid spoilers for this game for YEARS??? That ending was beautiful~ (Yes I did do all the main endings)

Chrono Trigger: I should preface this by saying I did modify this game a tiiiiny bit to have PS4 button prompts and fixing the Classic filter. Other than that, I can see why it’s a lot of people’s favorite RPG! Short enough in case you wanna replay it, and the foundation of the NG+ system definitely helps incentivize replays! Can’t wait to play Chrono Cross!

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII:

I binged both FFXIII and FFXIII-2 during October and November of last year, but took a short break to avoid burnout. And well, yeah this game was neat! I will admit though that since there’s no way to REWIND time like in Majora’s Mask that I got INSANELY stressed out but that didn’t take away from the sweet release of seeing these characters I love finally get their well-deserved happy ending :)

Mega Man Zero:

I put this one off and on throughout like 2 years because I just wasn’t good at it, but it taught me a VERY good lesson in perseverance! Really excited to play Zero 2!

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion: ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK ;w; Story was pretty…alright for the most part, but I couldn’t feel attached to any of the original characters :/ Honestly my eyes were on Zack just…being real with what’s going on. I may not feel bad for when people he cares about dies, but I can EASILY emphasize with him because I know that HE knows them. Knows them more than we ever will know. Also the gameplay and music are fucking stellar.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes:

I should preface all of this by saying I don’t remember what order I beat all of these in lmao. Anyways my route was Golden Wildfire and the story for it is such an improvement over its equivalent in Three Houses!!! I love Shez so much as a protagonist even if his outfit is a tiny bit dumb.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

Man I really wanted to like this. And like, music and area wise I loved it! But the story feels…It just doesn’t feel like the finality for all we’ve done so far. I could not care at all for Meteion because they spend approximately like 20 or 30 minutes making us meet them and then throwing us IMMEDIATELY into the angst like, no. This isn’t even a case of “Well I don’t care but I can understand why others do” NO THE GAME MAKES YOUR WOL FEEL BAD AS WELL, MEANING YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO CARE! NO! I DON’T! I was able to at least pretend a little bit to roleplay as needed but man. At least Footfalls and the post-endwalker dungeon themes kick ass though. (Warrior of Light’s name for me is M’bahlon Tia)

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe

SO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE I love kirby games sm and this is no exception. REALLY loved how hard the Magolor Epilogue got at certain points though that was great.

Fire Emblem Awakening

I CAN SEE WHY THIS SAVED THE FRANCHISE WHEN IT CAME OUT!! It’s a REALLY good game! I went with the default male Robin settings since that’s what’s in Smash Bros. And man just, everything about this game is AMAZING!!! Sadly cannot see myself replaying it anytime. I could just load my endgame save and grind out support conversations with other characters or do that…new game plus thing I think it was?

Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space: Bound Wills and the Hollow Puppeteer

I did this event initially back when it came out (and in fact is the main reason why I played the game in the first place) But I got horrible units and died super often, and revived every chance I got. But losing my save data and getting a better unit HEAVILY boosted my chances of getting through the event and man, it was a lot of fun! I love seeing tiny mona :3 JUST LOOK AT HOW SMOL HE IS AAAAAAAAA

Mighty Gunvolt Burst:

I had a lot of fun with this one! I used one of the DLC characters (I think they’re the Zero character from Mighty Number 9 but) it’s a great romp!

EDIT: ALSO SHOULD MENTION IT FUCKING OWO’D ME

Final Fantasy XV

“Walk tall…my friends.” I got this game YEARS ago but haven’t truly delved into it recently. And well… That ending got to me. It really did. The gameplay took me so long to get used to (especially since I had been more used to the more refined gameplay of Final Fantasy 7 Remake 3 years prior) Music is amazing, love the characters! I just wish the other episodes were finished and weren’t just put in a novel :/

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

HOLY FUCK THIS GAME WAS SO COOL. I always heard like, right, about how good this game was but I figured it was just nostalgia talking for people. NOPE. As someone who’s first paper mario game was super (never beat it, I was a really stupid child) and then played Sticker Star (Again, very stupid child but also that game is bullshit because everything is so obtuse and it sucks) But this? This was a big breath of fresh air. I am so excited to go back and play 64 and Super!!!

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Honestly? Way better than I was expecting. You can FEEL nintendo had a strangle-hold on the movie’s production though from how Chris Pratt in the final movie actually fucking voice acts somewhat (it’s a start), there’s no bad Illumination tropes, Peach is a dragoon, Toad and Bowser easily steal the show, and just, ALL THE REFERENCES WOW. EVEN THE NEWER THINGS. I didn’t see any Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi references though which makes me sad. I hope that if there’s a sequel it’s actually better and doesn’t fall into any traps movie sequels usually do, maybe even say if the other kingdoms from Mario Odyssey are in this universe (and maybe Isle Defino) The movie definitely could have used an extra 20 minutes spread throughout to add more to the main group dynamic.

Mega Man Zero 2

OH MY GOD THIS WAS SO MUCH BETTER BALANCE-WISE HOLY SHIT Cyber-elves requirements to be leveled up were MASSIVELY lowered and the enemy AI isn’t as overly aggressive! Loved the music too, especially Departure and the ending theme which was adapted for the song Clover! Can’t wait to do Zero 3!

WARE WA MESSIAH NARI! HAHAHA!

Mega Man Zero 3 was really good, but either I am getting way too good at these games or they are getting easier haha. Loved the music and gameplay though, and how Cyber Elves were handled here is absolutely the best they have ever been! If there’s any game in this series I am gonna replay, it’s Zero 3 without a doubt! On to Mega Man Zero 4, the last of the GBA era.

Mega Man Zero 4

I finally did it. I beat the entire Mega Man Zero series. While I do not agree with how the parts and cyber elf system were handled, It was not a bad experience by any means! It felt nice following Zero’s character arc throughout these games. I’m maybe gonna take a break before I tackle Mega Man ZX, but hey, I feel like that game’s gonna be fun! It’s the only one I actually OWN on its original hardware after all! :D

Sonic and the Black Knight

This was a fun distraction for a few hours! I had a lot of fun with this! Granted the second King Arthur fight took me an hour but besides that it was a quick and good romp! Probably has one of the best final boss themes in a sonic game I’ve ever heard! :D

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past

Pretty fun game all things considered, but I didn’t like how punishing some of the design philosophies were in the end parts of the game. Music’s great though! Maybe I’ll revisit it one day, but not anytime soon. Still, can’t say I disliked my experience.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Where…do I even begin with this?…It was…genuinely amazing. I was waiting for a sequel to Breath of the Wild for years, and during my high school years I was wondering how they would even follow it up! Doing a sequel to an open-world game is harder than a lot of other genres.      But yet….they did it. They somehow did it. Those 6 years of development time more than paid off. It felt…amazing to run around a changed Hyrule from the last game. The mechanics were amazing, and the character development was really cool! The new rune abilities are dope!!!    BUT THE MUSIC MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM THE MUSIC OH THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD THE ENDING MUSIC MADE ME ACTUALLY CRY AHHHHHHHH PLAY THIS GAME PLAY IT NOW

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

And here we are! Finally got around to this! It was a really dope game! Loved the combat and music! I even did most of the bonus content and the Ultimate Cup Z, but I kept dying at the final phase of the final boss of that so I just gave up lol, it’s purely bonus content anyways lol. But honestly I loved this game! Can’t wait for the next mainline kirby game!

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

FINALLY GOT AROUND TO PLAYING THIS ONE! I owned this on real hardware since its release date but never got far. I finally got around to it with the motivation of beating Tears of the Kingdom, and I gotta say, it’s pretty good! Not exactly like, absolutely top tier game that everyone MUST play but, it’s decent! Bosses are a big sour point though. Music was pretty decent, though the final dungeon theme is a bore. Only other current Zelda games I gotta beat are the 2D/Top-Down ones, so maybe I’ll do one of those next! Possibly either Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks.

Pokémon Scarlet

HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING SEQUENCE WAS ACTUALLY COOL AS HELL!!! Like yeah, the game has its decent chunk of technical issues but, holy shit….those last two hours of the main story are phenomenal. TOBY FOX CONTINUES TO BE THE GOAT THE MUSIC HE COMPOSED IS AMAZING! I love how easier it is to capture pokemon compared to Sword and Shield as well. I do like Dynamax raids more as a multiplayer component, but I much prefer the Tera mechanic in terms of PVP. I stlll need to do the post game before the dlc comes out later this year, but all I really got is just the refights against the gym leaders and all that jazz. There’s also the Needle thingies I gotta pull out and the wall things I gotta investigate in order to get the other legendaries, but all I really care about is finishing the core of the main story, I got other games to get to lol. Probably thinking of either Paper Mario or Chrono Cross next haha.

Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Riders

Okay so context: my friend @arcadiusdragoneyes​ is showing me and @darkspine576​ Kamen Rider Build since it’s one of his favorites and he wanted to indoctrinate introduce us into Kamen Rider AND IT’S FUCKING WORKING. I only know one part of this crossover, but I think it did a good job of giving across the feel of the other Kamen Rider series very well! Kamen Rider Build is so extra I love it. Can’t wait to finish Kamen Rider Build!

#long post

[prolix-yuy]

Writers' Iron Chef #9: My Everything and Beyond

[PROMPT] Song lyrics from Leon Bridges’ “Beyond” “Do you think I’m being foolish if I don’t rush in?

I’m scared to death that she might be it That the love is real That the shoe might fit She might just be my everything and beyond”

[TIME LIMIT] Optional, 10 minutes prep. time 30 minutes writing time Optional, 10 minutes editing time

Pairing: Marcus Pike x F!Reader

Rating: T, some angsty Marcus, overthinking galore, lotsa sweetness. While this story is not explicit, my blog and the content shared on it is 18+ so MINORS DNI.

Summary: He's never named the feeling in his chest, but it's as much a part of him as he wants you to be,

Notes: Written for Writers’ Iron Chef Prompt 9.

To ease myself back into writing after the holidays, here's a little fun with Marcus. I am a classically trained overthinker, so I thought it would be fun to see Marcus trying his darnedest to not keep making the same mistakes. I love these prompts as little writing warmups, and while this one got a little belabored in the metaphor it definitely got my wheels turning! Thanks to @writersironchef for always giving the best prompts!

He was wrong before, and that’s what scares him now. This twisting, aching, anxious feeling scrambling in his chest is so close to what he felt for Teresa, but with sharper teeth. Claws that scrape and dig between his ribs. And words that drift up and past his ears like steam from an unattended teapot ready to burst into song.

You love her.

You love her.

You love her.

But Marcus doesn’t know when to trust that voice anymore. Every time it’s hissed softly into his hopeful ear his heart took the damage. College girlfriend who balked at his promise ring. A wife gained, a wife lost. Another proposal dashed to bits on the cold concrete. This feeling is a liar, a trickster that beats against its confines no matter how hard Marcus tries to ignore it. 

When you looked at him for the first time, more than the passing glance he waited for every morning, it tapped tentatively against his sternum.

When your morning greetings grew from “Hello Marcus!” to “I wish you never told me about The Subject was Roses, I cried for an hour after. You better have lunch free to talk about it!” it skated up his spine like ascending notes on a xylophone. 

And finally, after six dinners at the same terrible Chinese place between your apartment when he admitted he wished all of them had been dates, it dug its claws into his chest and held still for a breath.

But when you smiled over the lip of your beer, and said “Haven’t they been?” it roared.

Falling in love was Marcus’ true profession, but was he ever lousy at staying employed. Not for lack of trying, and after Teresa he realized maybe for an abundance of trying. So with you he wrestles the tremors of excitement back. He’s going to play it cool, play it slow. Dampen the voice that begs him to kiss you, hold you, tell you every little thing he wants and desires and what he’ll do to give you the world.

He’s going to do it right this time.

But every time he tries not to linger on your touch, he finds his hands ghosting over your skin. Your teases set his face ablaze, needing to take several laps around the office to regain his composure. And the last few times he’d watched you mount your steps, saying goodnight with a beat longer than necessary before heading inside, he wanted to follow. 

He knows he’s getting close to trouble now. The worst part is how much you’re stoking this feeling, and how hard it's becoming to resist. All he wants to do is quell the ache ponging around his stomach, but your last moments each night are spent obsessing over whether now is the time to kiss you. And if it is, can he stop once he’s started?

You’re starting to notice, and it’s only making it worse. The pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, and now Marcus is positively glacial in his courtship. Thinking about it makes his jaw ache, the twin desires of tell her everything and don’t scare her off become a torturous purgatory of his own devising.

Tonight the air is crisp, and you’re walking closer than usual. He took you to a cozy Mediterranean place this time, the vegetal spice of oregano and grape leaves still dancing on his tongue. You’d slipped your hand into his, tucking both into his overcoat pocket and the closeness makes the feeling rabid.

You love her.

I like her. A lot. 

Tell her you love her.

I’ll scare her away.

Tell her you need her.

Stop it.

Kiss her kiss her taste her take her.

Marcus barely realizes he’s climbed the steps with you before he’s there, your hand still in his and your smile soft on your lips. He’s at a loss, all the words he’s warring with trapped in his throat. 

“I…” he manages to croak out.

“Marcus,” you interrupt, opening your front door. If he could just focus for a moment, concentrate on the perfect arrangement of words to let you know how he feels without being too much, too fast, too soon.

“What are you waiting for?”

Your question quells the feeling for the first time in…Marcus isn’t sure how long. But it finally settles, like a feral cat come to love its home. And Marcus finally breathes.

“For you,” he says, chasing your smile as long as you’ll let him.

END

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#marcus pike x f!reader #marcus pike x you #marcus pike x reader #marcus pike x female reader #the mentalist fanfiction #the mentalist fanfic #lissie's writers' iron chef #iron chef 9

[bonesandthebees]

Internship is certainly going. I want to say going okay… I could be doing better but I kinda got unlucky with my internship spot and workload. This would be much easier to explain if I could just say what kinda of internship it is, but that kinda feels like too much details both for my current degree and the job I’ll be doing after. (Internet safety and all that). Anyway, what I can say is that anyone in the field irl pulls a face when they hear about my internship. The workload feels impossible, but somehow I’m doing it and I’m about half way through so *aggressively knocks on wood* it should be fine.

I do have a different internship in like a month or so and some other projects but those feel like child’s play compared to the current hell incarnate. So moral of the story: sometimes you just get to have a few mental breakdowns, pick yourself back up and go again the next day (again and again and again and again). It’s like that quote: [“It gets a little bit easier every day, but you have to keep doing it.”] or what’s the other one? [the only way out is through]. And then take plenty of breaks and do fun things even if it feels like you don’t have the time because that’s the only thing that’ll keep you going. The world is always more manageable after a good meal or a power nam or a 15 minute music break.

I’ve been blasting a lot of music based on moods, getting back into Dutch music because girl, I need to learn how to spell properly and every internship I have a song that gets me through. This one it’s ‘secret for the mad’ by Dodie. I’ve had to loop it over and over to get the motivation to try at times, to really let the words sink in, but it helps. So find a song to get you through when you need it.

Lastly, I’ve been meaning to say something about Him, but I just haven’t had the time and energy to write something coherent (aka I’m not using my 30 minutes of evening downtime that are just for me for this negative energy). Best thing is can say is that this is a good opportunity to get into new creators. Just have fun with it (hermitcraft season 10 has been getting be through this). Listen to new music. Try new things to fill the void. I’ve pruned all my playlists and social media follows and such and it felt like a fresh start. (Oh and learned your red flags people. People who don’t respect your boundaries (no matter how small) can be(come) very dangerous.)

My only issue now is that I can play since I saw Vienna and La Jolla on guitar (the picking patterns always smooth me), but now I’m not sure if I can keep doing that. I haven’t tried playing them. I feel like I should look at the lyrics first then decide. But I haven’t found any picking songs with the same soothing vibe, so I’ve been playing a bunch of my classical pieces and I really like playing the ‘romantic’ ones and for some reason the polkas and the blues? So again filling the void.

Anyway, thanks for all the well wishes. I’ve been missing you guys. This has been chaotic life updates with Spruce. I really need to start being productive now. So, bye!

-🌲

yeah of course don't say any details that would reveal too much info about you, but man that sounds stressful :( at least you'll switch to something else in a month?? I'm so sorry you're stuck in hell rn I hope you get through it alright!! make sure to take it easy when you can!! you're so right the world is so much easier to deal with after a power nap or a snack

oooo I haven't heard secret for the mad in a long time but I used to listen to dodie from time to time. I used to think of such angsty scenarios with my ships while listening to 'sick of losing soulmates'

also it's so real to have a song to help you get through shit like that. I'd say rn for me one of those songs is all american bitch by olivia rodrigo because I just have a lot of fun screaming it in the car. tested waters by loupe is a calmer one I've been listening to on repeat lately

you're right this is a great opportunity to get into new creators. I was already drifting to watching qsmp creators more often besides just phil and tubbo, but now I've been trying to tune into bagi and tina's streams if I have the time

definitely look at the lyrics first, but I feel like out of most of the ycgma songs since I saw vienna and la jolla are two of the 'safest' options you could pick for something like that. at least compared to your sister was right and losing face...

la jolla and since i saw vienna are both such pretty songs though. there's nothing wrong with playing those on your own guitar I'd say? it's not giving any money to him. but of course it's up to your own personal comfort.

good luck spruce!!! ty for checking in we all miss you over here!! <33

#ask #spruce anon

[az-flaming-sword]

Through hell and back (John Price x gender neutral 'reader')

Notes: this is not a classical 'x reader' since I used the name Mika in this one, it’s just something that I came up with randomly and chose to write it down. Pronouns used are they/them, feel free to use your own name while reading. Might make this a small story with another chapter but I am not sure.

Warnings: blood, kidnapping, mention of sexual and mental abuse, murdering, not matching reality or game I guess? So no high expectations

Word count: 1.017

Another side note: english is not my first language and I used google translate for the russian parts, as always: translation at the end

——————————————————————————

"This is Foxtrot 1-8-5, missile incoming. How copy?

"Bravo 6, copy that. Civilians escorted. I'm out."

"Roger, counting down until collapse."

Silence. That’s the last conversation he had with them before the jet went missing. There was no sign of them. Everyday he hoped for some good news from Laswell, that Mika isn’t missing, that this can’t be true. That he will wake up, not on base but at home and Mika will be right next to him. He sat down in the mess hall, chewing on his bagel. He lost appetite. He knew it was wrong to catch feelings for someone he’s working with and even starting a relationship. But he couldn’t help it. Just thinking about their grey-blue eyes, their pretty lips, especially when they’re smiling and that dimple on their right cheek when they’re shining like the sun. Their red dyed hair, the colour already growing out a lot and their surprisingly soft hands, since they’re often working out without gloves. Their smell. It even propably faded away at home. It’s been 1 month since they’ve been M.I.A. Shepherd wants to declare them officially K.I.A. But John won’t give up. Laswell sits down in front of him.

"Got news, don’t know if you want to hear them.."

Price looked up. Immediately as soon as he heard that there are news.

"Shoot. I am all ears."

Laswell places some files on the table.

"Alex found something. 80 Miles south from moscow. Looks like some wracks of a jet. Can’t be reached yet, they are working on it."

Price was silent. "I need the coordinates. I'll take Gaz, Soap 'n Ghost with me. Tell Nikolai to prepare for a flight." Laswell was silent for a moment. "No. We've got our orders to wait until there are news about the situation. You’re impulsive. You can’t just fly over. Alex and the others with him are there, trying to reach the wreck."

Price was silent. He couldn’t possibly sit there and wait. He took a deep breath.

"Alright." Laswell nods.

Price was waiting and waiting for more news. He didn’t even slept properly, even if he has the chance. At 3am he heared a knock, laswell.

"Get ready, you got permission. Gaz, Ghost and Soap are getting ready too. Heli starts in 30 minutes. There are signs of them, they might made it out alive."

In that very moment, Price felt even more unreal. It's 3 am and now he got those news? He never changed his clothes so quickly as now, rushing out to the flight and land area, Ghost ready. Gaz and Soap coming too and they were ready to leave to the right coordinates, that Alex send earlier. It took some time but they reached the spot, Alex greeted them. And there it was, the jet. Their jet. Price gulped. Stepping closer, the jet was free and out of the snow cover. Alex handing him some notes. And pictures. "It’s better if you not look inside.." was all he said. "They’re probably hold captive. Mika's not here. There was a note, a sign that they were alive when they crashed." Price took a look at everything that was handed to him.

"There was a snowstorm, it’s hard to find signs of where she could be. Probably held hostage by Makarov. High chance that they will come back because of the machine. Weapons still here. We should stay alert and build a camp here. Over there is a good spot, me and the my men are here since 2 days now." Price nods. "You heard that guys, put the big bags over there. Weapons always with you.." Soap, Gaz and Ghost doing just that. They checked the area. "Enemies incoming. 8 o'clock. Getting in position" Soap broke the silence. "Roger that."

No one wasted time, everyone got into position, Soap chose a good and high position, able to watch the whole area through his sniper rifle. Eyes as sharp like those of an eagle. The first shots of today were fired. "MacTavish, keep an eye of a possible sniper." A simple order and so he did. John was fighting in that time, full of anger now. Thinking about what they could’ve already done to his precious Mika. "Sniper down" And now there is nothing keeping them from fighting as if there is no tomorrow. They might be less than the Russians but that means nothing.

"Now spit fucking out. Where the fuck are they?"

Hostage. One of Makarov's men being held firmly by Gaz while John strikes down with his fist, nose cracking.

"Хуй тебе!." The man said, spitting some blood.

Another hit, a teeth flowing out of the mans mouth into the snow.

"они их трахнут, как это звучит? Ваш командир уже подчинил их своей воле, на это ушло всего 6 часов".

Price looked at his team. They nod, and price holds a hunting knife against the man’s throat.

"If you kill me you’ll never know where they are, old man"

Price gritted his teeth. He was furious, but he has to stay calm. This russian guy is the only hope, for now at least, that they could find Mika again.

Days passed since then. Price wasn’t going easy on that russian guy. In fact, that guy was barley a shell of himself. Broken bones, bruises. Yes, what they do is not.. specifically right but who cares in this bloody century anyway? Almost every soldier did crimes in war or on battlefield by now. Price and the task force, no exception. And if it means to get Mika back, they would all agree to do this again. And that was the moment where that russian soldier lays there in the snow telling them, with a whisper that was barley audible, where they hold Mika captured. "Let god forgive you, them and me for our crimes and find together in peace."

Those were his last words, nodding at Price who was nodding at Gaz to finally free the soldier from this sinful world. Blood coloring the snow red. Silence.

They got a new mission. Rescue Mika.

Translation:

Хуй тебе!-> fuck you/go fuck yourself

они их трахнут, как это звучит? Ваш командир уже подчинил их своей воле, на это ушло всего 6 часов-> they'll fuck them, how does that sound? Your commander has already subjugated them to his will, it only took 6 hours

#call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #cod #captain john price #cod x reader #john price #captain john price x reader #captain price

[rachelbethhines]

60 Years of Doctor Who Anniversary Marathon - T. Baker 4th Review

Lost In Time - Video Game

Look a game that’s actually available to play!

Sure is a shame that it sucks.

Okay let’s get this out of the way first and foremost...

This not a ‘pay to win’ game. This is a ‘pay to not play’ game!

The gameplay centers around this asinine collection system. You upgrade stuff to make the collection of other stuff go faster and to complete missions, so that you can collect more stuff to upgrade more to collect more stuff. ect. ect.

The problem with this is threefold.

First, it takes way too damn long to collect the stuff that you need. This is intentional as all of the in-game-purchases are build around skipping out on the game play itself. Thereby defeating the purpose of even having a game to begin with.

Second, the mission system is contradictory and borderline unattainable without busting out the cash money.

You’re constantly asked to upgrade stuff, which cost resources, yet at the same time you are asked in other missions to collect certain amounts of resources. Which means that if you go for the upgrade missions you can’t complete the collection missions. Yet you have to complete missions in general in order to obtain certain resources. It’s a no win situation, unless you buy the resources with real money. (or watch tons of ads, but even these are limited)

The third problem is that you have to start from scratch each round. All those upgrades and resources you busted your ass for last round are completely gone come the next. The only thing that caries over is the character upgrades, which still have to be reactivated using more resources that you now have to recollect.

This means there’s no real sense of accomplishment. The gameplay doesn’t get easier as you go along and it’s not made interesting with new challenges. It’s just the same repetitive shit over and over again, just each time it gets longer and more unnecessarily drawn out.

I will give the game two things.

If you step away from the game it will keep collecting even when not logged in. Meaning, if you’re patient, you can put it down and then come back to it for maybe 15 to 30 mins, and then put it back down again. You also get free rewards each day you log back in which will allow you to complete a hand full of missions relatively quickly.

This still means that you’re waiting like 24 hours for just a single minute of cut-scene time. The further you go along the longer you’ll have to wait to complete episodes/rounds. A single ‘episode’ can potentially take up to a week to finish and there’s so far like 30 episodes.

I don’t think it’s worth it, but it is possible to get through the game without paying anything if that’s the route you want to go.

The other thing I’ll give the game credit for is the blend of New Who and Old Who characters. Unlike Legacy, we get classic Who characters from the start and they get to interact with the new series characters. Martha and Liz even team up at one point!

Yeah, in the beginning there’s more favor given to the 70s era of the show over the 60s or 80s, but I feel pretty confident that this will be rectified as the story progresses.

Shame I’ll never get to watch it, as I’ll be deleting it off my phone. Hopefully one day a dedicated Let’s Player will post the story to YouTube or something.

#doctor who #classic who #new who #fourth doctor #Tom Baker #k-9 #Sarah Jane Smith #Leela

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Christmas Reruns 2023 Day 18: Under the Mistletoe

Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and happy holidays if you don’t!  One of the things I love about Christmas is watching reruns of all the old classic Christmas movies–Christmas is a big time for nostalgia.  A few years ago, I decided to incorporate that tradition into my fandom life and post my CS holiday reruns.  So here you go!  Enough holiday (mostly) fluff to get you to New Year’s Day. (With a new story posting on Christmas Day.)

 Rating: G

Word Count: 2140

Other chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Notes:  This story was written for my “Christmas with Captain Swan” collection in 2020.

2x4 Canon divergence

Emma looked around her, feeling her frustration rise.  This room was massive, and it was filled floor to ceiling with junk.  Finding one lousy compass was going to take forever.

She didn’t have forever; she needed to get back to Henry.  Now.

She turned to ask Hook where he thought they should start their search, only to find him fingering a gold coin, bringing it to his nose and then turning it over and over in his hand.

“They hoarded all of their greatest stolen treasures in here.  Piles of jewels and every room filled with coins,” he said.

She rolled her eyes.  Great.  She should have known bringing a freaking pirate on a treasure hunt would be a mistake.  It would be like bringing a kid to a candy store and then telling him to focus.

“Let’s get to it, the compass,” she said brusquely.

He shot her a rakish grin, and totally against her will, her stomach swooped.  Bad enough she was stuck on this adventure with a pirate.  Why’d her body have to betray her too?  Of course the real Captain Hook was hot as hell, because of course he was.  That’s just the way her luck ran. 

“What’s your rush?” he asked languidly, continuing to eye the treasure around him.

That snapped her out of whatever hormonal response she was having to him.  She was so not in the mood for his nonsense.

“How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?”

“I’ve no clue.”

“That’s my rush.”

He smiled at her again, this one looking less flirtatious and more genuine.  Setting the gold piece back on the pile, he strode forward with purpose.  “Too right, lass.  Come; everything we need is right in front of us.”

They hadn’t been searching for ten minutes before Emma’s frustration bubbled up again.  Not only was this stupid giant’s treasure room filled to capacity, it was also a total wreck.  This search was going to last forever.

“They kill all the giant housekeepers too?” she asked. “Where we gonna find a compass in all this mess?”

He winked at her, and her traitor of a  stomach swooped again.

“By looking.  Start searching.” 

For an hour they searched in silence, and Emma had to give it to Hook.  He really was a help in this endeavor.  He was systematic in his search, picking a pile of junk, looking through each item, and then stacking it neatly before moving on to his next pile.

His presence was unsettling, though.  It was…too much.  He made her feel things, and not just the typical “wow, this guy is hot and I’m not gonna lie; I want to do something about it” feelings.  Those she could handle.  What she couldn’t handle was this totally illogical feeling that they understood each other, that in some weird way they were the same.

She’d been burned before when she succumbed to feelings.  She wasn’t doing it again.  Once burned twice shy and all that.

Emma groaned softly under her breath.  She wasn’t doing this–not the feelings, not the thinking, not even the never-to-be-resolved sexual tension.  She was up here for one reason and one reason only: to find the damn compass and get back to her kid.

Probably best if she put some distance between her and Hook.  Moving to the other side of the room, Emma, began sifting through a dusty pile of what appeared to be decorations–candles, brightly colored bows, streamers, and in the back–was that a Christmas tree?

“You guys have Christmas here in the Enchanted Forest?” Emma called over to Hook.

He stopped what he was doing and ambled over in her direction.  “Of course we have Christmas, Swan.” She could hear the smile in his voice. It made him seem younger somehow, more innocent. “Some of my best memories as a lad involve Christmas morning.”

“Yeah well our giant seemed to go all out for it,” Emma said. “Take a look at that tree!  I didn’t even know they grew them that tall.”

He looked in the direction she was pointing, and then his expression changed to one of concern.  “Swan be careful!  Look out for–”

He reached her side, and she suddenly heard a sound like the tinkling of bells.  A fine mist of dust smelling faintly of evergreen settled over both of them.

“–mistletoe,” he finished dryly.

Emma looked up to see that, of course, there was a healthy sprig of the stupid weed directly above her and Hook.  She rolled her eyes, moving to brush past him.

“Well, shall we get this over with then?” he asked. 

She scoffed.  “Good try Hook, but I didn’t come up here to make out with a hot pirate.”

His grin turned wicked.  “A hot pirate, am I?”

She felt her face flame in spite of herself.  What was it about this man that made her feel like a teenager with a crush?

“You know what you look like,” she said, giving him a wide berth and moving on to the next pile. “I’m not stroking your ego…or any other part of you.”

She expected another round of innuendo, but instead, he stepped in front of her, stopping her searching with a hand to her arm and a concerned look on his face.  “You can’t seriously be thinking of ignoring what just happened.  You know full well that mistletoe can’t be ignored.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, hands going to her hips.

“Don’t tell me you don’t have mistletoe in the Land Without Magic!”

She growled.  “Yeah, obviously we do.  Stupid weed and even stupider tradition.”

“It’s far more than a tradition in this land, Swan,” he said.  “It’s a deadly poison.  The couple who is caught below it’s tendrils is cursed, the only antidote being a kiss.”

“Seriously?” she asked, feeling her ire growing.  They had a job to do and all he wanted to do was hit on her.  It was getting old.  Really, really old.

“No one born and bred in the Enchanted Forest would joke about mistletoe,” he insisted.  She had to give it to him; she couldn’t detect a single lie in what he was saying.  He really believed this crap.

“Okay, fine, I’ll bite,” she said, “what exactly happens to a couple if they refuse to kiss?”

“They slowly go completely mad,” he said simply.  “Most infirmaries in this land have an entire ward dedicated to mistletoe poisoning.”

Now that he mentioned it….she did have this strange urge to kiss him.  What would it be like?  Would he be a good kisser?  He looked like he’d be a good kisser.  For a moment Emma was tempted to give in, to find out the answer to those questions for herself.

But then reality reasserted itself.  She’d only given them ten hours before Mulan would cut down the beanstalk and strand them up here forever.  Turning away, she began searching again.

“Look, I don’t know if that mistletoe poison story works on other women,” Emma said, “but I’m not falling for it, and I’m not wasting anymore of our time on this stupid conversation.  And if you even think about trying to steal a kiss–”

He stepped in front of her, looking absolutely sincere.  “Swan, I’ve never once forced my attentions upon a woman, and I don’t intend to start now.  I simply warn you that the longer we delay the inevitable, the more uncomfortable we’ll both become.”

“Yeah, well I’ll take my chances.”

Within a quarter of an hour, Emma was starting to rethink her stance.  His story about mistletoe poison was ridiculous, of course it was, but she had to admit–whether it was due to the power of suggestion or something else–her urge to kiss him hadn’t gone away.  

If anything it had grown.

Her heart began pounding, her palms becoming sweaty, her breathing fast and shallow.  More than once she considered just doing it, just getting it out of her system once and for all, but something stopped her.

She knew, could feel it deep within her soul that a kiss with Hook would be no simple matter.  She’d kissed–and done far more with–several hot guys in her life, and it had never been more than a quick scratch of an itch, but she was drawn to Hook, almost as though he were a black hole and she was approaching the event horizon.  A kiss would change everything, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to come back from it.

Emma took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  She would not lose control; she would not give in. Best she focus all her energy on the search.

Of course that would have been a lot easier if Hook wasn’t searching right beside her.

“Did you know that there is one more tradition regarding mistletoe?” Hook asked, his voice tight as though he were gritting his teeth.

“Yeah?  What’s that?” she asked in spite of herself.

“Oftentimes couples seek it out in order to determine if they are soulmates,” he continued.

“Soulmates?  Really?”

“Aye,” he nodded before turning back to his pile of junk. “It’s said that if two people are soulmates, when they kiss under the influence of mistletoe poison they get a glimpse of their future and then promptly forget it–any of it–ever happened.”

“Convenient,” she deadpanned.

He looked as though he wanted to say more but resolutely shut his mouth, and the two of them returned to the task at hand.

After half an hour, the desire to kiss him had gone from uncomfortable to almost painful.  After an hour it was close to unbearable.  After Emma caught herself standing stalk still and imagining a full on makeout session with Hook, she finally gave up. 

She was wasting precious time that they didn’t have.  Maybe he was right after all.  Maybe they needed to just get this stupid kiss out of the way so they could get on with their search.  Hardly believing what she was about to do, she walked purposely toward Hook and tapped him on the shoulder.

When he turned toward her, she stood on tiptoe and kissed the living hell out of him.  It was obvious she’d shocked him by the way he stiffened as her lips made contact.

But he recovered quickly, and soon he was kissing her back just as fervently as she was kissing him.

She’d meant it to be a quick peck, just a way to disperse the “poison”, but once she started kissing him, she couldn’t stop, tugging on his collar, running a hand through his hair, turning her head to deepen the kiss.  When the kiss started to slow, to turn into something soft and gentle and thorough, rather than quick and hot, Emma finally forced herself to pull away.

She looked into his thoroughly gobsmacked eyes, and suddenly her vision blurred.  In her mind’s eye she saw herself.  She was wearing a white dress, her hair in soft waves around her shoulders.  She was in some sort of castle’s great room or something.

It looked like Mary Margaret was about to put a crown on Regina’s head.

What the hell?

Emma looked more closely at the scene, and her heart began to pound.  She wasn’t alone.  She held a baby in her arms and beside her stood Hook.  He had his arm around her, and he peered down at the baby with such love it brought tears to her eyes.

Emma gasped, coming out of the trance or whatever that was to find herself once more looking at Hook in the giant’s treasure room.  Suddenly there was a burst of light, like some sort of rainbow tinted shockwave, and she shook her head as the memories quickly fled.

She shook her head, looking around them.  Had something just happened?

Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, realizing the almost unbearable urge to kiss Hook had finally gone away.

She scoffed.  Mistletoe poison her ass.  She should have known Hook was just trying to get into her pants.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Killian watched as Emma went back to searching with renewed vigor, but for a long moment he found himself rooted to the spot.  The fact that he and Emma had been caught under the mistletoe was indisputable and yet his desire to kiss her was no greater than the normal pull of a hot-blooded man to a beautiful woman.

It could mean only one thing.

They’d succumbed to the mistletoe and been proven soulmates.

“Hook get your ass in gear!” she growled at him. “This stupid room isn’t going to search itself!”

Killian shook his head and went back to the task at hand.  This was quite the development.  Maybe–maybe after his revenge was accomplished, there was hope for a life after all.

NEXT CHAPTER->

#christmas reruns 2023 #cs fanfiction #captain swan christmas ff #my fanfiction #under the mistletoe

[paralleljulieverse]

“Maria’s not an asset to the abbey!”  Cover of Movie Life magazine, April 1965. 

The massive industrial changes that transformed Hollywood in the 1960s had an equally far-reaching impact on the subsidiary industry of fan magazines. The demise of the studio system signalled the end of the close synergistic relationship that had existed for decades between Hollywood and the popular press. Because studios were no longer in control of stars and their publicity, magazine editors didn’t have to toe the studio line or print the curated Cinderella stories that had previously been provided by the studio PR departments. The playing field was suddenly deregulated and the entertainment press could publish pretty much what they liked.

As Anthony Slide (2010) notes in his comprehensive history of the fan magazine industry:

“Editors and writers were on their own in unearthing stories and unchecked as to the content of such stories....Once, fan magazine writers had been required to get advance and then final approval from the studio with which a star was under contract prior to publication. By the 1960s, it was no longer the producer whose permission was needed but the personal press agent. Even if the story was approved, the fan magazine editors realized that the title could easily be changed to suggest a more scurrilous content” (184-85). 

Meanwhile, the star system itself was also undergoing seismic changes. Gone were the hyper-manufactured gods and goddesses of the classical studio era and in their place was a new breed of smaller celebrity, increasingly sourced from television or popular music, that was rooted in cultural values of authenticity and relatability, and shaped by an aesthetics of naturalism. 

The new-style celebrity didn’t exactly offer rich fodder for the fan magazines that had traditionally traded in stories of larger-than-life icons leading extraordinary lives. As one magazine writer of the era complained:

"[T]oday...readers find most actors and actresses suffocatingly dull... part of their dullness comes from the death of the big studio contract system. The studios would tack some excitement onto a personality whether he wanted it or not...Now we have these people who become actors in 30 minutes and ‘stars’ half an hour later, I don’t think we’ve had a real star since Elvis except for Julie Andrews” (cited in Harmetz: 56).

In the absence of extraordinary studio-generated star charisma, fan magazines tried to create their own sense of promotional allure  – and they knew that nothing sold like moral titillation. Their readership was predominantly conservative, described by one magazine editor as the “ubiquitous woman under the hairdryer” and by another as “a rather square set of readers [who] were never very interested in the Beatles but they just loved The Sound of Music” (cited in Harmetz: 56). 

To appeal to this middle-American readership, the magazines crafted hyperbolic soap opera stories with an accent on star tragedies, heartaches, marriages, affairs, and divorces. If the stars themselves were not quite the larger-than-life icons of yore, they could still be seen to lead private lives that were spectacularly different  – morally, socially, emotionally – to those of the average suburban reader.

Many of these melodramatic storylines blurred the boundaries between truth and fabrication. Typically, they would use a salacious headline hinting at scandal, but then explain it away in the story as a misunderstanding or fanciful rumour. 

In the case of the magazine cover above, readers were enticed with a PR photo of Julie Andrews on the set of The Sound of Music captioned with pearl-clutching delight to suggest that she might be – shock! horror! – an unwed mother. Inside the covers, however, was a thoroughly routine star profile where the only “unconventional” thing about Julie was her commitment to motherhood: 

“[M]ost actress-star-mothers leave their children with a governess when they’re working. Not Julie! If there’s a way, Emma goes along” (“I took...”: 42).

This dubious tactic of implied sensationalism may have helped sell magazines but, not surprisingly, it wasn’t very popular with the stars themselves. James Garner (1967) – one of Julie’s favourite co-stars – complained in a newspaper op-ed of the time: “Practically every fan story is salacious, muckraking drivel aimed to suggest scandal in the life of a favourite actor or to suggest that some part of his psyche is twisted and morbid” (7).

As the decade wore on, the fan magazines become more sensationalist with their stories – and more liberal with the truth. It resulted in a number of legal suits, including a pair of high profile cases filed by Julie Andrews. In 1969, she sued MacFadden-Bartell, publishers of Screenland magazine, for a story suggesting she was having an affair with Sidney Poitier, and the Magazine Management Company for another story in Modern Movies which alleged daughter Emma became ill over Julie’s relationship with Blake Edwards ('Julie Andrews sues...’, II-4). Both suits were eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. 

Far from stemming the trend, the legal actions only served to embolden the fan magazines. They provided widespread media exposure and furnished new material for the ongoing soap opera stories about stars and their tribulations. In Julie’s case, her libel suits spurred the gossip columnists to sharpen their pens, including that of her arch-nemesis, Joyce Haber. But that’s a story for another post...

Sources: 

Garner J (1967) ‘A Maverick gets the drop on fan magazine editors’. The Los Angeles Times Calendar, 31 December: p. 7.

Harmetz A (1967) ‘Fan magazines yearn for star-spangled banter of yore’, The Los Angeles Times Calendar, 17 December: pp. 1, 56.

‘I took my baby to my wedding’ (1965) Movie Life, April: 40-45.

‘Julie Andrews sues 2 movie magazines’ (1969) The Los Angeles Times,  8 January: p. II-4.

Slide A (2010) Inside the Hollywood fan magazine: a history of star makers, fabricators, and gossip mongers, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson MS.

© 2022, Brett Farmer. All Rights Reserved

#julie andrews #fan magazine #movie life #old hollywood #classic film #the sound of music #Emma Walton Hamilton #gossip #1960s

[maxsix]

KPOP BIASES AS: BAND ERA

Choi Seungcheol: Julian Casablancas is a spiritual Godfather to Seungcheol. If you don’t get it, then oh well whatever nevermind. Their old videos are in bad quality but it doesn’t actually matter. If Coups was in a band, it’d be this band. But secretly, he wants to be this song. 

Bang Chan: Well if he’s going to insist on Nirvana then so be it. But it’s like watching a teddy bear in a mosh pit. It’s been 30 years and I still cannot believe Kurt sounds like that live.

Choi Beomgyu: I just know in my heart that he has jammed to this at least once in his life. 

Kim Hongjoong: Genre defining. If Ateez was a rock band, it’d be this band doing this song in this era. And that’s just about the highest order compliment I could give them. 

Hwang Hyunjin: Barbie would’ve been a Hole stan. They’re both more metal than the vast majority of male rock bands. There I said it. 

Han Jisung: Jisus Of Suburbia. This is the rock song I’ve always assigned to him in my head. I want him to cover it so bad. I think he could easily sing every chapter of the story. 

King Taemin: Queen.

Choi Yeonjun: I know they’ve done an emo rock era but I’m going to need a punk rock era. Specifically channelling Our Holy Lady of Way. I really need to see Yeonjun in a proper punk era. 

Park Seonghwa: Only pretty songs for Seonghwa. 

Song Mingi: This bassline is what Mingi sounds like to me. 

Kim Mingyu: I’ve always felt very warm optimistic energy from Mingyu so that’s why he gets this classic. 

Seo Changbin: The best acoustic live set ever recorded. 

Jeon Wonwoo: This is the only song I had for him because this is what he sounds like in my head. I’m the woman in the audience having a religious experience. Amen. 

Choi San: But this song? It sounds chaotic and jarring but the melodic payoff is so euphoric and satisfying. There’s not much metal in KPOP but if any group can bring on the MetalPocalypse, it’s definitely Ateez. 

Kang Taehyun: It is absolutely necessary for everyone to watch all 9:16 minutes of this video. This is my favourite GNR song and my favourite guitar solo and my favourite music video. Please pay it the respect it deserves. 

#wonwoo #i made this post for him and taemin #taemin #seungcheol #hyunjin #chan #changbin #hongjoong #taehyun #yeonjun #san #seonghwa #mingi #mingyu #scoups #this will be of interest to no one #but rock and metal should infect kpop #because it'd be fun as heck #and the idols always have fun with the genre #music #KPOP BIASES AS #music reccomendations #text #seventeen #stray kids #txt #ateez #tw: flashing lights

[scribblesbyavi]

I think long ass posts don’t work well now a days. I’m not blaming Tumblr but it’s the story of every social media site these days. I only have like one or two long ass posts here though. No wonder social media has turned us in to people who don’t have the patience to sit through a complete book or a complete film even. May be that’s why many new writers have stopped putting their effort on the setting up of the story plot and development of the character arcs. We only want the best second half. We want the best action scenes, the best reveal, the best climax and happy endings. Yeah, and that’s everywhere. “Pun intended.” However, we should understand the fact that a good piece of content is whole and not two halves. But social media is turning us in to people who wants content that will hit our brain for instant pleasure and then to go away. Because after that we want something else to hit us next.

May be we need to stop feeding ourselves on what the mainstream media and the hype tells us. May be we are better left alone to our own decision making of the whats and the whys. May be only then we can become thinkers and creators. May be only then we will be able to become good audiences and contribute the way we should always have. May be only then we will also be able to become good observers, someone who can see the tiny details in a frame and the nuances of a character or a scene, and that applies even to our day to day lives, our work etc.

we are a generation that feeds on instant gratification.

We are becoming a generation who wants instant noodles, instant results and instant love. But we very well know the fact that even noodles take time to cook and it’s not actually instant like they advertise.

We want a reel to swipe every 10 second, 30s cuts of songs just so that it can fit the social media attention span and go viral. May be that’s where the future is going. 1 minute down to 30s and now down to 10s and what’s next? 1s snaps? But what can you say? Art is art. But is that somehow affecting us, may be in a small way now but leaving adverse effects for the long term? Don’t we sometimes want to dive deep in to the content we love rather than just making us go wow for a second and making us feel bored again. Don’t we want to consume something that makes us think and leaves a mark on us and actually help us build ourselves and a stronger foundation around us?

Some of us are still the kind of people who will go back to those long music sessions. Damn, I just love the long music sessions and qawwalis of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. They go for like 25 minutes, even Sabri Brothers. I always feel that rather than making remixes of the classic songs we should revive them by letting the good singers sing them as covers or like on Coke Studio. Oh! It’s the best thing to have happened. Singers like Ali Sethi, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar, they being legend themselves are making covers of the evergreen songs created and performed by the maestros who are no longer with us.

So there are some of us who may not have all the time in the world but we will definitely complete a good book and a good academy winning film or even an indie film for that matter. We just don’t care about the critics or the general audience reactions. We know people who knows people who can recommend us the good books and the good movies to watch. And that’s the purpose of a community, isn’t it? To be able to share experiences that we enjoyed with the people of our own community. And I believe the next revolution in the content world will be brought by these people who don’t care about the social norms and will do anything to bring the best forms of content to the masses, may it be educational or for entertainment purposes. Content will stand truly for the strength of the content and not marketing or vfx alone.

So the hell with going viral and likes and follower numbers, I’ll just continue dropping long ass posts from time to time. May be the content we are creating right now will actually find their right audience only after few months and years. And may be that’s a good thing too. Because these long ass posts actually start the important and the long ass discussions and helps me build a better relationship with few of my readers and actually learn from them too. I mean, we are all here to learn from each other and only then this can be a healthy and growing community. And may be that’s what I crave for too.

To be able to connect. ✨

Initially I thought this post will be about my thoughts on why long ass posts have less readers, but then I kept on writing because things just kept coming and this itself became a long ass post about long ass posts. Inception, you see.

Hope you enjoyed the long ass post (rant) !!!

#long ass post

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De-rezzed in the Second Act

So, I have this weird habit: I am fascinated not by perfect stories, but those that start well and fall apart for no particularly good reason. I remember seeing Atlantis: The Lost Empire in the theater and being carried away by the efficient setup in the first 20 minutes, only to hit a point when things slow down and thinking “wait, when did this suddenly start to suck?”

I hear ya Vinny. I’m bored too.

The problem, as story theorists know, is second act trouble. It’s that problem of the long middle of the story where initial enthusiasm fades, attention drifts, and momentum fails.

Well, that’s what it does when you’ve got second act trouble, anyways. Obviously, some movies/games/shows don’t have this problem, because they don’t have a defective second act. Nobody in 1977 came out of Star Wars saying “man, that stuff on board the Death Star went on way too long.”

Anyways, let’s define our terms. Three-act structure splits the story into three parts:

Setup — Introduce the characters and the situation. An inciting incident gets the ball rolling, ultimately leading to the first plot point, where an irreversible change occurs and the conflict begins.

Conflict — The protagonist attempts to achieve their goal, dealing with a progression of complications that arise naturally from each of their actions along the way. Eventually, this leads to the second plot point, at which the back-and-forth of the main conflict cannot continue, and a conclusion (for good or ill) must be reached.

Resolution — A new, final conflict ends the story, with the protagonist succeeding or failing (or, sometimes, a combination of both, like discovering the thing they originally wanted and have now attained isn’t what they actually need).

Thing is, these aren’t divvied up in tidy one-third portions. In practice, the acts are in more of a 25%-50%-25% split, or 20-50-30 if you go by the Scriptnotes podcast’s t-shirt. Author K. M. Weiland has an extraordinary site for story theorists that breaks all the key moments (or beats) of this structure into blogs, podcasts, and compilation books.

So, after seeing YouTube videos of the cool new Tron roller coaster at Disney World, I was reminded of 2010's Tron Legacy, the would-be franchise-relaunching, torch-passing, sci-fi film that basically did none of those things. It's another film that I remember deflates about halfway through, so I thought it would be worth a rewatch to see where it goes wrong.

This being a sequel to 1982’s Tron, you’d figure some the audience would need a reminder of the first film, since it had been been 28 years. You could just watch the first movie, but… surprise… Disney let it quietly go out of print in the year or two prior to the debut of Tron Legacy. Corporate incompetence? I’d argue quite the opposite: whatever you think of the original Tron, it’s not as good as you remember. To modern eyes, it’s clunky, talky, and slow, and certainly can’t coast on the power of its dated special effects. Chance are, if 2010 audiences could have gone back to watch Tron, they’d have been less likely to get tickets to Tron Legacy. Which is why I think Disney drained the retail market of Tron DVDs on purpose. After all, they were perfectly happy to issue a Blu-Ray of "Tron: The Original Classic" once Legacy had finished its theatrical run and got its home media release.

Come for the space frisbees, stay for the Wendy Carlos soundtrack that you remember from the arcade game.

So, instead, Tron Legacy opens with a scene of a digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges — well, a digitally de-aged back of Jeff Bridges’ head — reprising the character of Kevin Flynn, the protagonist of the first movie, a coder who went inside the computer called “The Grid” to defeat evil programs. He tells his son about how he fought alongside the heroic program “Tron”, and created another program named “Clu” to care for The Grid in Flynn’s absence. That’s basically everything you need to know from the first movie. All the other details — Sark, the MCP, Yori, Dumont — none of it matters. See how much time you saved by not rewatching it?

Next scene: info-dump. A news story reports Kevin Flynn’s disappearance, as it plays out over footage of the lonely, and increasingly troubled young Sam Flynn. It moves fast enough, and it’s fine for what it is.

Now, though, we are six minutes into the movie and don’t really know the protagonist. A 10-minute action sequence takes care of that. With an implicit timeskip, we see the young adult Sam speeding on his motorcycle, escaping the police, and breaking into the corporate tower of his father’s former company, which is having a board meeting to announce their new operating system. This is one of the already-dated bits of Tron Legacy: the now-evil version of ENCOM is a pretty obvious expy for Microsoft, as it prepares to launch its new operating system with a high new price tag and no new features.

When Apple did this, they called it “Snow Leopard” and everyone thought it was great. Shouldn’t we cut ENCOM a break?

I don’t think this bit lands today like it did just 13 years ago. People under 35 don’t recall Microsoft’s cutthroat monopoly days and mostly just know Microsoft as the Xbox company, not that different from Sony or Nintendo. An evil computer company today would probably be portrayed as directly creeping on its users, like Google or Facebook, or perhaps an Apple-style aesthetic dictatorship. Maybe with an Elon Musk caricature because, man, that dude is creepy.

As the board meeting continues, Sam sneaks into a server room and starts hacking, narrowly avoiding a security guard. As the board goes to launch their new OS, Sam’s hack reveals itself as a looping video of a barking dog, despite the “world-class security” claimed by the company. Better yet, Flynn’s last remaining loyalist at the company, Alan (the creator of the original “Tron” program), discovers that Sam’s hack has released the OS for free on the web.

At the top of the building, the security guard reaches Sam as he stands atop a crane. Sam, as the main shareholder in the company, justifies his hack as stealing from himself… then jumps off the building. Halfway down, he opens a parachute to complete his daring escape… except that he gets caught in a traffic light on the way down and the cops catch him.

Fifteen minutes into the film and Garret Hedlund is almost effortlessly charming. Pity it doesn’t last.

After bailing out of jail, Sam returns to his home — a makeshift bachelor pad built of stacked shipping containers — to find Alan waiting for him with news: Alan received an alert from a pager left to him by Kevin Flynn 20 years ago. From a long-since disconnected number.

Bruce Boxleitner has such a low-key charm, it’s a shame we didn’t see him in more stuff. Although now I’m sure you’re all going to tell me to watch Babylon 5, aren’t you?

Sam laughs off the idea that his father is waiting for him at the old arcade, but eventually rides over to check it out. Finding a secret room behind the “Tron” machine, Sam discovers Kevin’s office, and after a few ill-considered commands at the terminal, he gets zapped into The Grid.

So, in 20 minutes, there’s Act I. The essentials, from a story perspective:

Protagonist: Sam Flynn, genius hacker, prankster, lost-boy-without-a-father-figure trope.

The hook: Can Sam figure out what happened to Kevin Flynn all those years ago, and find him? And could doing so set things right both with Sam and the company?

The inciting event: Alan receives a page from Flynn’s pager, and lets Sam know.

First plot point: Sam is zapped into The Grid, the world inside the computer.

All told, this is really good. The movie efficiently gets us on board with a fun, exciting protagonist, and gives him a compelling purpose. You’d figure we’re in for a good time at this point.

(Reader, we are not in for a good time.)

OK, so Act II. There’s lots to do in the second act — it’s half the running time after all — so it’s helpful to break it down more granularly. Weiland writes, “[the] first half of the second act is where your characters find the time and space to react to the first major plot point.” Since the plot point was getting zapped into The Grid, it makes sense that the reaction — Sam’s first order of business — is figuring out where he is and what do to do. So we start with a five-minute sequence of Sam immediately being captured by the authorities, outfitted with his Tron-land uniform and identity disc, and brought to the game grid.

I hadn’t realized until this rewatch that Sam being pinned down by the Recognizer’s searchlight is a callback to when the police helicopter gets him back in Act I.

From here, we go into what everyone expects from the Tron movies: the videogame stuff. Sam immediately ends up in “Disc Wars”, the gladiatorial death frisbee from the first movie, albeit with updated effects. Using his innate athleticism and cleverness, he survives to a faceoff with the champion Rinzler, who wounds Sam and realizes from a blood drop that Sam is not a program, but a user. A mysterious figure lording over the games demands that Sam be brought to him.

As Sam is ferried up to the throne room, the mysterious figure reveals himself as the spitting image of the 35-year-old Kevin Flynn. Sam greets his dad and insists they go home, only to be told the leader isn’t Kevin Flynn after all. Sam realizes that this is Clu, a program that Flynn created (owing to the Tron convention that programs resemble the person who created them).

The convention of programs resembling their “users” also speaks to the mainframe-era idioms of the original Tron, when a user and programmer were one and the same, typically someone who wrote a program to solve computational problems for themselves.

Clu sends Sam back out to the game grid, presumably to die in combat in the lightcycle game. So, shut off your brain, we get another zippy five-minute action sequence. It’s playing out just like the original Tron at this point in the second act, arguably better because Act I established Sam’s motorcycle skills, so the lightcycle action sequence and his success in it is actually motivated by his character.

40 minutes in and he’s still charming. If only it had lasted.

Despite being outgunned by opponents with better equipment, Sam leads his team and puts up a solid fight. Eventually though, dirty tricks kill off his compatriots, leaving Sam with a wrecked bike and facing certain doom at the edge of Clu's outstretched disc. Suddenly, a four-wheeler bursts onto the grid and rescues Sam. The driver wrecks most of the pursuing lightcycles, then blasts a hole in the arena to escape to a barren outland beyond the grid, where the pursuers’ vehicles can’t operate. Removing her helmet, the driver introduces herself as Quorra, promising that Sam’s questions will be answered in due course.

Things slow down as the car weaves its way through hidden passages to a secret lair. Quorra brings Sam inside an elegant home, where a solitary figure resides in a seated meditation.

For those of you keeping track, the Blu-Ray is at 48 minutes, 30 seconds, and the movie is about to fall apart, though we don’t know it yet.

We’re now approaching the midpoint of the second act, and thus, the midpoint of the movie itself. This is a separate phase of the second act, one that is uniquely situated to keep the story from flagging. That is, if you actually do something with it. As Weiland writes:

The midpoint is what keeps your second act from dragging. It’s what caps the reactions in the first half of the book and sets up the chain of actions that will lead the characters into the climax. In many ways, the midpoint is like a second inciting event. Like the first inciting event, it directly influences the plot. It changes the paradigm of the story. And it requires a definitive and story-altering response from the characters.

So, a good story probably wants to do something big at the midpoint, something that changes the stakes, changes the conflict, and forces the protagonist to act. Revelations! Betrayal! Explosions! The good stuff!

Tron Legacy, by comparison, sits down to have dinner.

What’s wrong, Quorra? You haven’t had any of your uncannily realistic roast pig.

The reunion scenes with Sam and (Kevin) Flynn stretch out for about 15 minutes… a full one-eighth of the movie. It’s all dialogue, much of it while seated. That’s already tough to make dramatic. What’s even harder to chew through is a staggering amount of info-dumping:

Sam insists they leave the Grid together, but Flynn says it’s impossible.

Awkwardly, Sam and Flynn try to catch up over the lost years, but it turns to why Flynn didn’t return. Flynn explains the discovery of the “Isos”, isomorphic algorithms, a spontaneously-generated digital life form that could change the world.

As Flynn's story turns to flashback, Clu sees the Isos as a corruption of the perfect system Flynn created him to build, and stages a coup against Flynn. Tron (apparently) dies defending Flynn, who flees into exile to escape. With no one left to stop him, Clu commits genocide against the Isos, wiping them out in one stroke.

The portal between The Grid and the real world closes, trapping Flynn within. It can only be opened from the outside, meaning Sam’s entry has opened it.

Flynn suspects that Clu is organizing something, and that he wants the power of Flynn’s identity disc. Flynn reveals that he didn’t send the page to Alan, meaning that Clu must have done so, as a means of laying a trap to lure out Flynn.

Yeah yeah, I was around in the 80s. I remember “War Games” too.

It’s kind of a chore to get through all of this material. It’s good for the story to breathe after the action of the game grid, but 15 minutes is probably too much. And to be fair, this does meet one of the requirements of the midpoint: it changes the protagonist’s goals and actions. Sam realizes he can’t convince Flynn to come with him to the portal. Instead, as he explains to Quorra, if he can just get to the portal himself, then out in the real world he can delete Clu with just a keystroke. Quorra thinks about it, then gives him the contact information for “Zuse”, a program who can get anyone to anywhere. Sam takes this information, steals Flynn’s old lightcycle, and heads back into the Grid.

We are now at one hour, five minutes into the movie, and believe it or not, this is the last time in the movie that our protagonist will take action entirely on his own. But more on that later.

Sam meets a female program who takes him to the End of the Line Club to meet Zuse, through an intermediary named Castor. Meanwhile, Clu's forces find the lightcycle and trace it back to Flynn’s hidden lair. Sam negotiates with Castor (who turns out to be Zuse himself) for transport to the portal, but is betrayed when it all turns out to have been a trap and Clu’s forces crash in from above. This kicks off a big bar fight sequence — the first action in nearly a half-hour at this point — with Quorra arriving to help protect Sam.

The Daft Punk cameo is a cute touch, since the soundtrack they created is quite likely the most enduring and best thing about the film. It’s a pity the Blu-Ray doesn’t have a music-only audio track, because then you could turn the entire movie into a two-hour Daft Punk music video.

The fight goes badly, with Sam overwhelmed and Quorra losing an arm to one of Clu’s goons before Flynn arrives to use his convenient god-like powers to turn the tide of the fight. He urges Sam to escape with the wounded Quorra to the elevator, but as they leave, one of Clu’s minions steals Flynn’s identity disc: exactly what Flynn has tried to prevent all these years.

Flynn and Sam steal a solar sailer and set off, Flynn reluctantly agreeing to Sam’s plan to make a rush to the portal. With the in-flight downtime, Flynn starts to use his magical user power to start healing Quorra. As Sam watches Flynn work, he realizes the truth: Quorra is an Iso, in fact, the last surviving Iso.

And this pause gives us an opportunity to bring up something about Tron Legacy: what is the point of this entire exercise? Ideally, a good story should have a theme that it expresses. The title gives us a hint: "legacy", things left behind by previous generations.

There's a really interesting idea when you think about it: Flynn basically has three children in this story:

Sam, his biological human son.

Clu, the program he created literally in his own image.

Quorra, his adoptive Iso daughter.

…and it doesn’t really do anything with that idea. Clu is motivated not by his resentment of Sam (or Quorra, if he’s even aware of her), but by his political ambitions to create a perfect world. Sam arrives to see Quorra living with Flynn and doesn’t for a second consider the idea he’s been effectively replaced by her in his father’s concerns and affections. If anything, the movie wants us to see a spark of romantic interest between Sam and Quorra, and if years of watching anime on Crunchyroll has taught me anything, it’s to never fuck your sister, even if you’re not blood-related.

(Looks up suddenly, taps earpiece.) Uh, Wolf, I’m getting word that what anime actually says is to always fuck your sister. Back to you in Atlanta.

The scene of Flynn magically healing Quorra’s disintegrated arm also brings up what a missed opportunity this is. Between these three characters, they chose the least interesting option. To wit, could Sam heal Quorra? We’ve seen he’s got 1337 4ax0r 5k1llz back in Act I; does that give him magical abilities inside The Matrix The Grid? Do all users have that, or is it just Flynn?

Turn it around another way: what if it’s Flynn or Sam who gets injured. Can Quorra heal them? Flynn tells us that the Isos are these fascinating creatures who are going to reshape the real world, but we never see anything like that. Quorra is at best a quality Action Girl, but nothing she does in the story appears to have any relevance to her identity as an Iso. It’s another failure to “show, don’t tell”, in a movie that does an heck of a lot of telling to begin with.

Moreover, this sequence is taking us to the end of Act II. Citing Weiland again, this post-midpoint section is supposed to set up the protagonist for his or her final actions in Act III.

Because the second half of the second act will lead right into the slugfest of the climax, this is the author’s last chance to get all his playing pieces into position. We have to set up the line of dominoes that will knock into the final major plot point at the 75% mark, and we do that by creating a series of actions from the main character. Although he’s not likely to be in control of the situation, he’s at least moving forward and calling a few shots of his own, instead of taking it and taking it from the antagonistic force.

Tron Legacy has an even worse problem than the protagonist sitting back and taking it. Over the course of the last 10 minutes or so, Sam has been all but replaced as the protagonist by Flynn. Following the fiasco at the club, Flynn is the one driving the action (stopping the falling elevator in the escape from the club, healing Quorra) and providing all the information to drive us to the third act. Sam has been just going along with it, suddenly demoted to damn near sidekick status in the The Jeff Bridges Show Starring Jeff Bridges, with Special Guest Star Digitally De-Aged Jeff Bridges. Also appearing: Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde. And it's only going to get worse in Act III.

But before we get to Act III, there are two completely unnecessary scenes that drag even more momentum from a story that’s already at a virtual standstill:

Back at the End of Line Club, Castor/Zuse negotiates with Clu over Flynn’s identity disc. Clu coerces him into handing it over, then his minions bomb the club, killing Zuse inside. It’s now been almost 15 minutes since the breakout from the club, and the lead characters are long gone. Why should we care about Zuze? And if the point is to remind us that Clu is a cold-blooded murderer… um, I think we got that when he exterminated all the Isos.

On the solar sailer, Quorra tells Sam the story of how Flynn rescued her from The Purge that killed the Isos. She asks Sam what a sunrise is like, and he describes it in romantic terms as he briefly looks into her eyes. This could be a charming moment that lets the story breathe, if it weren’t for the fact that this whole second act has been largely sitting on its ass for nearly an hour.

No. Just no, OK? Don’t even think it, Sam Flynn.

At one hour, thirty two minutes into the film, we now head into Act III. The solar sailer arrives unexpectedly at an industrial facility, rather than the portal. The trio finds barges of kidnapped, zombified programs, who they realize are being amassed into an army by Clu. As they skulk about the facility, Quorra gives her disc to Flynn and makes a run for it. While she's easily captured by Rinzler, her distraction allows Flynn and Sam to further infiltrate the facility.

Plot point two, in screenplay theory, puts an end to the the conflict of Act II and forces the conclusion that will play out in Act III. Here, it comes in the form of Clu’s speech to his army, in which he reveals his plan: he will use the army he has created and take it through the portal, using Flynn’s identity disc, to conquer the real world.

Straight-up Triumph of the Will here, because Hitler Is Bad is the easiest point in the world to make.

The conflict of the second act was Sam trying to get back to the real world, preferably with Flynn in tow. Now that they know Clu’s plan, they can’t just run away. They have a new goal: Clu must be stopped here, on The Grid. That’s what takes us into Act III.

Well, for what it’s worth of course. We burned an hour in Act II not doing very much action-wise, not doing anything thematically, and spending just a staggering amount of time in flashback info-dumps. The momentum has fizzled, and this movie wouldn't be saved by Act III even if it were great.

As it is, Sam and Flynn split up, with Flynn getting an escape ship ready while Sam makes an all-too-easy trip up to the throne room to recover Quorra and the disc. Seriously, Flynn’s disc is the most important thing in the world and you’ve got like three guards? It’s a pretty rote action scene that takes less than three minutes of screen time, and that’s with intercutting to Clu finishing his speech and reacting to an alarm when the disc goes missing.

As the trio take off in a stolen lightplane — with Quorra driving, Sam shooting, and Flynn calling the shots (because he’s all but the protagonist at this point) — they get chased by Clu, Rinzler, and their goons, basically replaying the lightcycle sequence, but now it’s flying.

And the thing about this is, the action doesn’t really lean on anything specific to Sam or Quorra that’s been established earlier in the movie. There’s one line about how Sam’s glider-assisted escape from the throne ship tower is a trick he learned a few nights prior at ENCOM Tower. But there’s nothing really thematically about Sam, who he is, what he values, how he solves problems — no “use the Force, Luke” moment — because the prior two acts never really set any of that up. So what’s left now is pew-pew CGI light show.

At least they should have gotten a good PS4 game out of this, right?

Dispatching the pursuers — including Rinzler, who turns out to be the corrupted Tron in a subplot that feels like it just barely escaped being left on the cutting room floor — the trio reaches the portal, only to find Clu waiting to confront them. So now, with Clu standing between them and their goal, does Sam take the role of the protagonist and vanquish the antagonist once and for all? Does he deliver the thematic truth, proving the righteousness of his world-view, and putting a bow on the whole point of the story?

What, are you kidding? No, of course not. Because this is Tron Legacy. Flynn does it instead.

If you squint, you can just barely see the putative protagonist, out of focus in the background.

Flynn offers a reconciliation; Clu rejects it Because Evil. After a brief fight, Clu retakes Flynn's disc, only to discover he's been tricked by a switcheroo and is holding Quorra's disc, while Sam and Quorra make their escape with the real disc. Clu attempts to stop them, forcing Flynn to use his Magical User Power to merge with Clu, seemingly killing them both, or at least reducing them to a little glowing light, which match-dissolves to Sam back in the real world, saving something (possibly Flynn’s data) to a USB stick.

After this climax, there’s just wrap-up bits of falling action in the real world to whip through before the credits. Sam finds Alan at the arcade, telling him to meet tomorrow morning at ENCOM Tower to retake the company. And we end with a cute shot — even if so much of the film doesn’t work, it is a lovely note to end on — of Sam on his motorcycle giving a now-human Quorra a ride and showing her the sunrise.

For the last time, Sam, do not bang your de facto stepsister.

So, what have we learned? I’d argue that the problems of the second act that doom the film aren’t just that not enough happens. That kind of audience-gets-bored-easily thinking is what gets us more dumb, loud movies. I think the problem of the second act is that it loses track of what the story was supposed to be about, if it ever had a point at all. The story raises a question of what would happen if the son ever finds his long-lost father inside the computer, but never settled on a good answer before they started banging out pages. And with no point to the whole exercise, there’s no natural pull of where the story should go. Perhaps it’s inevitable that Flynn ends up stealing the movie from Sam, because there’s no answer, no conclusion, that Sam’s story is working towards.

Still, the movie got one thing right: ORIGINAL MUSIC BY DAFT PUNK.

It’s a widely acknowledged truth that the Tron Legacy soundtrack is the best coding music ever created. As a software engineer, I can confirm.

#tron legacy #second act trouble #three act structure

[amadcap]

Defense of a Device That Does Just One Thing

I know what you’re probably thinking to yourself. “Oh great. Another article about how phones are evil.” as you roll your eyes. While that is sort of what this article is, I’ll preface it by saying, I like my phone. Phones are great. The modern cell phone is a device that has reshaped the world, in some ways faster than we can keep up with. But what I also like in the devices I own, is a purpose, a desire or need to be filled or fixed. I have no need for a smart speaker. This probably pegs me as an old man, but I don’t mind going to a store or looking something up with my fingers on the aforementioned phone I like. I have no need then for a tiny box listening in all the time just in case I need toilet paper. It is a solution to a problem I don’t have.

The thing about smart speakers or cell phones or voice remotes, etc, that is supposedly attractive to the consumer is that they do a lot of different things. Take the cell phone, which I can speak to better since I have owned a few of them. It can make calls, send texts, take photos or video, surf the web (as I’m sure all the youths still say), stream music and movies, control my lights or thermostat, play video games and, hell, I can even write or edit things I’ve written (like this article) on it. It’s a magic miracle rectangle in my pocket. But does it do any of those things well? Does doing a lot of things add up to something valuable?

My phone can take some high-quality photos but it doesn’t have the control you get with a Nikon or Canon. It can record audio but if you’re making a record you might want to go with a few SM57s jacked into a Tascam at the very least. I love a quick castle defense or match three game but when I’m really looking to get into a virtual story, I’m booting up a console or my PC. And as for writing, phones are fine for texting but no one is writing the great American novel with just with their thumbs.

Let’s focus on a device that does just one of the things my phone can do, my iPod Classic. Well, I say iPod Classic when I should say Classics since one of them is full so I had to get a second. For those of you uninitiated, the iPod Classic was the original iPod from Apple. It was a little black, silver or white box with a small two-inch screen and a revolutionary for the time click wheel. It had a mind-boggling 160GB of storage and almost all of it was dedicated to one thing, music. It was simple. You just put as much music as you could into iTunes and plugged it in. A few minutes later it was all there, ready to scroll through at your leisure, stored in your pocket.

The iPod was made for music nerds like me. It could hold my whole library, arrange and sort it any way you could want, simple and clean UI and most importantly offered a distraction-free music listening experience. It wasn’t without flaws. The 30-pin connection gets filled with junk easily, iTunes itself has a lot of trouble with anything more complicated than one record by one artist and who knows why they never put in a hard drive that didn’t spin. Instead, they just discontinued it a few years ago. I was obviously devastated. Now if my iPods give out, which with a spinning hard drive one solid bump or fall will do the trick and all I will have left is my phone for all my portable music listening needs.

So how does my phone stack up when it comes to listening to music? Well, I have a Galaxy S9 Edge and it comes with two music apps, one from Sprint and one from Google. Both are part of that group of apps that come with a phone that no one really wants and, if they can, usually uninstall them. Bloatware I think it’s called. The offering from Sprint is especially bloated with the landing page set to the store where you can buy songs, bundles and ringback tones. Remember those from the dawn of the cell phone? You’d pick a song you would want to blast at anyone who dared to call you, friend, family and potential employer alike. If I had music on my phone, I would only be able to find it in this app through a few menus but the main focus is to get the end user to spend money. Most of this goes for the Google Play app as well, which I have used in the past when my iPod was broken. But along with all the previously mentioned problems, it also will lose songs as they disappear from the service, ruining the flow of records and playlist. Google is more subtle with their store but only because it will play ads between songs. I don’t know about you but nothing throws off my groove like a Squarespace ad.

Of course, ads are also a problem on other streaming services like Spotify or Youtube but those will disappear once you subscribe for a certain amount a month. So for five bucks plus your phone bill, you can stream as much music as your data plan will allow as long as you have a connection. Essentially, you end up paying $100+ just to listen to some music that you don’t even own (owning media v. renting access to it is a whole other article for another day). Now compare that to just having high-quality audio on a hard drive in your pocket that just works, distraction-free for one price. Which of these devices is going to enhance your music listening experience?

I am in no way saying the iPod is a perfect machine. If it were still around today I could think of a few things I’d change. First, you obviously put in a solid state drive with as much memory as you can fit in that small package. Swap out the old connector for something more modern. Since it’s Apple, it’ll be their proprietary USB-C garbage but still, it’s less space for dirt and junk to build up in. Add some wireless sync in there and while you’re at it, if you really have to, add a WiFi connection for anyone who has to have Spotify, or in this case, Apple Music. All the things I would add in this imaginary re-imagining of my iPod though would be serving one purpose, to make listening to music a better experience. Your phones only goal is to keep you on your phone for as long as possible and that is the one thing it does that very well.

Most applications on a phone are only surface deep. The music app is made to get you to buy a few songs or stream whatever the company post on the landing page. Your camera is mostly used to take quick snapshots or clips and post them to some social media platform. The screens aren’t really the IMAX experience and the microphone is barely able to make calls. The thing is, that is fine for most people. But if you’re looking for a deeper and frankly more enjoyable experience, you’re going to eventually need the right tools for the job. Filmmakers and photographers need a camera that is dedicated to being the kind of camera they need. Recording artist of all kinds need a device with its sole purpose being capturing audio or being an instrument. The last thing you need while laying down a beat is your mother calling in the middle of it. Even things like drawing and painting, even when done digitally, are best left to programs and tools that were brought into this world specifically for people who draw and paint. It’s more expensive and has a learning curve but I feel that, in the end, it’s needed. It all just depends on your needs. If a phone can get you by, that’s great but in the end, you need the right tools for the job.

Aside from your specific needs, having a device that is made for one thing is all around a nicer time. A dedicated device, as opposed to your phone, offers a distraction-free ordeal. No notifications, texts, calls, emails or ads. When I listen to a record, the only interruptions I have are the ones I allow. When you’re at a movie, there’s a reason they want you to turn off your phone. It is a place and medium designed to use most of your senses to capture all of your attention, which is required to properly enjoy the movie. The same goes for any other media you might want to consume or create. It deserves your full undivided attention.

So while my phone is a miracle box that allows me to do many different things, sometimes you just have to focus in and have a gadget made that only does one thing. Every photo I take doesn’t have to be for Instagram and every song I listen to doesn’t need to be counted and logged. Everything I tap doesn’t need to be recorded and used to sell me more things. My iPod may not let me shoot video or tweet or even stream music, but it does offer a designated place more all my music right in my pocket and it does it well. I’ll take that any day.

#writing #music #ipod classic #opinion

[tinseltine]

#4 – TÁR | Focus Features|Writer/Director Todd Field | Music by Hildur Guðnadóttir - There were technical difficulties at the first press screening of TÁR where we could hear it, but the screen was black.  They tried to fix it for 30-40 minutes and eventually we were dismissed, with our PR agent saying they would send details for a new date. But I didn’t think I wanted a new date, I knew the movie had a long 158 minute run time and in just listening without images, it seemed too dense, too insider, too intellectual.  However, I did attend the re-screening and now these things are some of what I love most about this film.  It’s feels so authentic, as if you are a fly on the wall of this classical-music world, it’s beauty, dedication, artistry, politics, precision.  One of my favorite critics for Variety, expresses it best:

“In “Tár,” Todd Field enmeshes us in a tautly unfolding narrative of quiet duplicity, corporate intrigue, and — ultimately — erotic obsession. Yet he does it so organically that for a while you don’t even realize you’re watching a “story.” But that’s what a great story is, right? It doesn’t hit you over the head with telegraphed arcs. It sneaks up on you, the way that life does. Field, working with the cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister, has shot “Tár” so that it looks like a documentary directed by Stanley Kubrick (who Field worked with on “Eyes Wide Shut,” back when he was an actor). The compositions are naturalistic in an imposing, ice-cool way, and what they express is the casual calculation with which Lydia monitors every facet of her existence” – Owen Gleiberman

Everyone has made a big deal out of the fact that it’s been 16 years since Field has directed his last film “Little Children”(2006) starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson. I know I saw it, and remember it getting awards season buzz, but little else.  I remember more his debut feature “In The Bedroom” (2001) with Marisa Tomei, but I need to revisit it again too. “Tár”, however, will be his tour de force. Due in great part to his lead, Cate Blanchett, for whom he wrote the character of Lydia Tár.  

This is a character study, one of my favorite genres, delivering a fully multi-dimensional woman/man/artist who is as arrogantly toxic as she is intriguing, vulnerable, and understandable. One of the first scenes of the film is Lydia being interviewed at a large forum by Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker (playing himself) it’s the ideal setup for a character piece because the viewer is made to understand this woman’s accomplishments and the fact that she is at the epicenter of her career, there’s really no where for her to go, but down. Which ultimately is the crux of the film, a huge fall from grace – but for me, not one I was seeking for the character. Similarly with Blanchett’s other excellent role, that of a boozy socialite in Blue Jasmine, I found myself in this woman’s corner, despite her unflinching power games and predatory sexual desires – which are handled with ingenious suggestion. For instance, there’s a scene where a young woman is fangirling all over Lydia Tár – during the conversation Lydia admires her bag, which looked like a Birken.

Later when we see Lydia back in Berlin and discover she has a wife, Sharon (Nina Hoss) and daughter; Sharon makes an off-hand observation, “Oh, you got a new bag”. Lydia doesn’t miss a beat in downplaying the acquisition, offering it to Sharon if she wants it. This is how we’re clued into the fact that she must not only have seduced the fan sexually, but beguiled her into giving up her Birken too. Truly, subtleties are a key factor Field employs throughout, which also feeds the haunting moments of the film. A couple weeks later we were sent a screener link, so I watched it again, picking up on more nuances, which I think will be the case with each viewing.

#Tár #cate blanchett #todd field #top 10 list

[hollywoodcannon]

Anonymous asked: Describe your feelings when you saw Niccola walking down the aisle at your wedding? What were your vows to her?

Skeptics never imagined that such a day would’ve come. Chapel bells ringing, waves of laughter from an entertained party, the wedding of the Loose Cannon and his Niccola. Garrulous were the headline papers, the magazines that spoke in bold lettering of a union doomed to failure. A marriage that was already marred by the crimes of Brian. Just as badly burned by the almost annoying naivete of Niccola, gullible and too ignorant to know any better. Even Junior hadn’t been spared from those journalists’ wrath. An innocent baby who was born to unfair circumstances, unwed parents and, better yet, two fools. He was guaranteed to fall down that same path, should he ever be anything like his mother or father. Miserable, going through the motions for the sake of respectability, social norms and acceptance - the awful result of matrimony based upon sex and vulgar and oversized egos. Niccola and Brian, they wouldn’t last. 

More than once had he, the Loose Cannon, considered setting fire to the production offices of such slander. Flamed match in hand, as they had written about him before, he was just crazy enough to do it. He didn’t mind the publicity for himself. More so found funniness within the pages rather than actual hurt, the lies too good to ignore in favor of truths. But when they started to have their stories on his little family, his precious son and beloved lover, it wasn’t so funny anymore. Perhaps gave the push that was needed. That final shove into the back of Brian to go through with his very real promise to Niccola, forever and always, the proposal that he always intended to make. Onto bended knee did he ask her, after a romantic dinner at home, Junior the bearer of the engagement ring, his father’s one year old cohort, a classic gold band and three diamond piece. They would be married. Just as they were meant to be from the beginning. 

“Well, I can tell you what I first thought when I saw her: when do we get to consummate the marriage?!”

Brian explained, seriousness overtaken the silly, the graying stubble around his chin scratched, the whitening hairs. “I don’t think I need to say this, but I’ll say this anyway, just to make sure that my point is clear and easily understood, our wedding day was the best day of my life, after the birth of my son. My feelings on this haven’t changed. Seeing Nickie walk down that aisle, having all of our family and close friends watching, it was like a damn fairytale come true. I never thought that I would see the day. This might come as a surprise to you, but I’m a tough bastard to fall in love with. I have issues. I have baggage. I’m a raging lunatic with some deep-rooted trust problems. I don’t make relationships easy, and only an angel would’ve ever dared to marry me, taken the time to show me what real love felt like. Well, friend, I found my angel, and she’s made me not just a better man, but a decent one at that. Nickie saved me. Forced me to get my ass in check and to clean up how I’d been living. When I saw her walking down that aisle, I could feel my heart melt. She wasn’t marrying me because she had to. Because we had a baby together. She was marrying me because she loved me, wanted me. Just as much as I loved and wanted her. I was the happiest S.O.B alive.”

“Honestly? I don’t remember exactly, because I was too busy crying my eyes out, trying to come up with the words to describe just how important she was to me. Nickie always says that I have a motor mouth, and I know damn well that I do, but when it came to our vows, it was like I couldn’t stop even if I tried. I just kept talking. How the hell could I even come up with something to describe what that woman had done for me in the span of a traditional 30 second sharing of vows? I probably spent a good 10 minutes talking about how much I loved her. I know I spoke about our son, our life together. Things of which I never would’ve had without her. Because, really, Nickie gave me everything I ever could’ve wanted. Christ, I’d be dead right now if she hadn’t come into my life. She was, and is, the best thing to have ever happened to me. For my vows to her, I just said what I felt, no fluff and filler. Albeit, with my face looking like a damn mess, like a telenovela actress during her big scene. I told Nickie that she was my best friend, the love of my life, my soulmate. And that’s the whole truth.”

___

#( Anonymous ) #Pipe Bombs Flyin' // Answered #Legacy Continued // Present / Current ERA #Heart Shaped Love and Trust // Brian x Niccola #Bruises on the Fruit // Headcanons

[violettelueur]

— ITADORI YUJI + FUSHIGURO MEGUMI + GOJO SATORU + RYOMEN SUKUNA || WAKING UP WITH THEM

↳ featuring : itadori yuji + fushiguro megumi + gojo satoru + ryomen sukuna from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : hidden suggestive hints + grammar issues

↳ form : headcanons

↳ published : 05 april

↳ pronouns : non specified in headcanon

↳ request : Hi! Can I ask you for a Headcanon on: Itadori Yuji, Fushiguro Megumi, Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna, in the morning when waking up with their s / o please?

↳ barista’s notes : so right now, i have no anime to watch...but fruits basket is coming out tomorrow i believe so i do have something to be excited for soon also, i updated the spotify playlist so go ahead and enjoy some new songs i have added ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔ other than that, i hope you enjoy your cup of classic black coffee and come again soon ʕ￫ᴥ￩　ʔ

I don’t think Itadori is a morning person at all despite his bright personality, so waking up with him is more like sleeping in a bit more and a few ‘5 more minutes’ will be said.

However, if Itadori does wake up before you, he would stare at you for a while because he wants you to be his first view he sees to start his day off - that’s how he obtains his bright self.

He does tend to place his whole hand on your cheek before stroking it with his thumb if you are facing him - he does make sure Sukuna isn’t about to bite you.

If he feels like you are too far away from him, he will pull you closer to you before resting your face into his chest because we all know that itadori doesn’t care one single bit if he is the small or big spoon - he just wants your warmth.

To be honest, Itadori sucks at waking you up because he feels guilty doing so and he also wants to sleep in overall.

However, if you wake up before he does, you would wake him up by giving him a few pecks on his cheeks - it’s like an energizer for him.

You can tell he loves it because he smiles before opening his eyes while reaching up to get more of his morning kisses.

You both do talk in bed for quite some time before getting out of bed because it just feels calm and comforting to you both before you start the day.

You and Itadori talk about what you both are planning as well as what you both are excited for like an up-and-coming date you both had planned or what game you want to play today - the morning conversations are a great start to both of yours day.

Estimated time of getting out of bed - 30-50 minutes in total.

It’s a process but a cute one.

Fushiguro is someone that is organised and we all know that, so you know he has a few alarms set because he knows that you sleep through some of them quite peacefully.

He seems like the type to be up by the first one if it is an important day or he will turn them off immediately if it is an off-day because he desires to have a sleep-in with you and doesn’t want you to wake up just yet - there is no in-between.

So when it is an important day, he slowly sits straight up to turn off his alarm before turning to look at you, only to discover you sleeping peacefully as usual.

He will ruffle your hair gently to wake you up because you need to and will tell you to wake up with a small smile on his face because you look really adorable.

If you whine and say to give you a couple of minutes, he will just sit there and admire you because what better way to waste time waiting for you - if you allow him, he will play with the ends of your hair to keep him occupied for the time being.

After a few minutes, he will wake you up properly (probably lightly taking the blanket away from you) and you have to comply because you know he is doing it for a reasonable reason (not) and he knows that you are going to demand a hug since you are quite clingy when you are tired.

If it’s an off-day, just know Fushiguro’s face is buried deep into your chest with his arms sluggishly thrown across your waist leading you to wake him up by playing with his hair as well as planting a few forehead kisses that he loves so much.

If you are able to sit him up, he will place his forehead on your shoulder for a short while to gain some extra sleep - so wake him up with a few temple kisses as well 

Estimated time of getting out of bed - 10-15 minutes (on a work/school day) or 30 minutes (on an off-day)

Like I said there is no in-between.

Gojo is someone that rarely sleeps to be honest, due to his role as the strongest sorcerer within this generation. However, when he wakes up with you by his side, it’s a whole process.

If you wake up first, Gojo will whine and moan at the fact that he doesn’t want to get up and if you try to leave the bed without him by your side, he will drag you back by force and anchor you down with his arm and leg.

You will complain that you both will be late and to be honest, he doesn’t care one single bit because he is known for being late - he will switch up the story to the others by saying that it was you that didn’t want to wake up (but they know he is lying and will inform you on what he said)

No matter how the day has started, either him waking up first or you, he will bombard you with so many kisses on your face and neck before you stop him when he comes to your lips - because morning breath ain’t it.

Once again, he will whine that he didn’t get to kiss you ‘good morning’ and he won’t leave the bed until you give him one - you will also be anchored to the bed until you give him one.

However, there are times when he has to wake up really early and leave you, so he makes sure to leave a little note before heading off - he probably tried to make breakfast but we all know he ordered something for you since he doesn’t seem like the type to cook.

When you both managed to sit up, Gojo will put all his weight on your back and just hide his face in the crook of your neck before placing a few kisses here and there because he’s clingy like that.

Morning cuddles are a must for him. One way or another, he will move you to his lap only to wrap his arms around your waist while waiting for you to wrap your arms around his neck - he will carry you around the house like that because he refuses to be apart from you.

If you have one of those days where you just won’t wake up and refuse to get up, Gojo will just admire you for a while and will play with your hair.

If you are married to him, he will fiddle with the ring on your left ring finger because it just reminded him that you are here with him - not like he is a canon player or anything…

“Morning exercises”

Estimated time of getting out of bed - 1-3 hours.

It’s a whole process, so wake up at like 6:30 am to be only 5 minutes late.

There are parts of me that say Sukuna doesn’t sleep at all for some reason like he will lay in bed with you but he will just watch over you during the whole night.

We all know Sukuna is a dominant person, so when you wake up just know you are in the position of the small spoon - always.

Let me admit, I have no idea if Sukuna is a morning person because he just doesn’t sleep...he just zones out for a while.

WE ALL KNOW, THAT HE SLEEPS SHIRTLESS - so admire...

If he feels mean, he will pinch your nose to wake you up because he wants your attention but he won’t admit it at all - don’t know why I thought of it.

Sukuna will also bite your neck to wake you up if pinching your nose wasn’t enough or you were taking too long to wake up.

When you wake up, expect to see Sukuna looking down at you with a smug face because it’s just him but please prepare yourself because you will probably be doing a few morning exercises to start the day off.

However, if you wake up before the King of Curses could wake you up, you would probably just stare at him with a smile on your face before caressing his cheek - which does surprise him and he will tell you that he doesn’t want your touch but doesn’t make the effort to move away.

If Sukuna does manage to fall asleep (which is quite shocking) he really likes it when you play with his hair - but as I mentioned before, he won’t admit it.

If you try to leave the bed without him, he will grip your arm or waist before ‘asking’ you “where do you think you are going?”

Somehow his hands are under your shirt - there is no question about it, there are going to be under your shirt somehow.

Estimated time of getting out of bed - probably when he feels like you are allowed to leave the bed...so never? Maybe a good 6 hours since he has nothing to do...not sure.

Like do I know what he does in his domain….no.

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jujutsu kaisen headcanons #jujutsu kaisen headcanon #jujutsu kaisen hcs #jjk headcanons #jjk headcanon #jjk hcs #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #itadori yuji #fushiguro megumi #gojo satoru #ryomen sukuna #sukuna #itadori yuji headcanons #itadori yuuji headcanon #fushiguro megumi headcanons #fushiguro megumi headcanon #gojo satoru headcanons #gojo satoru headcanon #ryomen sukuna headcanons #ryomen sukuna headcanon #itadori yuji x reader #fushiguro megumi x reader #gojo satoru x reader #ryomen sukuna x reader #sukuna x reader