#i made this in like 10 minutes cus i wanted an excuse to post this design but i didnt want to post literally 7 month old art

[poopystain-moved]

hi i missed this guiding light design i made so here we are

#doors roblox #guiding light #glitch doors #the coloured one was drawn like. uhh. 7 months ago i think #i made this in like 10 minutes cus i wanted an excuse to post this design but i didnt want to post literally 7 month old art

[horansqueen]

AM Conversations : chapter 30

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16 || CHAPTER 17 || CHAPTER 18 || CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 20 || CHAPTER 21 || CHAPTER 22 || CHAPTER 23 || CHAPTER 24 || CHAPTER 25 || CHAPTER 26 || CHAPTER 27 || CHAPTER 28 || CHAPTER 29

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4.1k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

- if you want to be notified when this is updated, please message me or leave a comment!

- you can send me questions and theories and comments. tbh they all make me SO SO SO SOOOO HAPPY! and make me want to write more! you can also tell me if there are things you WANT to happen. you never know, i may add it :P

- thanks for being patient btw! i work a lot these days and will work even more in the next few weeks (until halloween) so i may not update as often as i’d like. :(

- note for this chapter: idk, i feel like its a bad excuse for a chapter. especially the ending. im sorry for the bad writing.

-please, message me, give me feedbacks, it would mean sooo much to me!

Chapter 30 : His chapter

NIALL

I had been in denial for so long that when reality hit me, it hit me hard. After the conversation with Louis, I went back home and locked myself in for a few days. I didn't try to call anyone, and didn't answer the door or my phone either. I needed time to think and I ended up watching comedy movies for days without really focusing on any of them. It was crazy to always think about the same person, to wonder what they're doing or what they would do or say if they were here... but it was happening to me. It had never happened to me before.

I would spend hours laying in bed with my eyes open, thinking about the conversations Olivia and I could have and have had before. So many things became obvious now that I knew she had feelings for me, so many of her words or actions made so much sense now... and some of mine, too.

I had thought about her sexually for a few weeks now but it never crossed my mind that it could be love. Not because it was not, but because it was easier for me to believe it was lust.

I started thinking about so many things we went through, so many things we lived together, so many times we were there for each other. I didn't have that many memories with anyone else and it's only when I realized that I wanted all my memories to include her that it hit me. I loved her. I was in love with her.

Why did it take me so long to realize that? Why did it take her so long to admit her feelings to me? She said she had always loved me and I couldn't even begin to guess how she must have felt all these years.

My reaction to her confession was pathetic. It was fear and when I admitted that to myself, I started writing. At first, it was only a bunch of words thrown on a napkin at a bar but with time spent on my piano, it became something that was potentially worth turning into a real song. I had never written a song that deep in such a short period of time and when I decided it was done, I was not sure what to do with it.

I was not proud to say I ended up in a bar a few times, searching for a girl to meet and bring home but every time I was close to do it, I would run away. There was a reason why I couldn't have sex with Maya and the same reason stopped me from banging a random girl I didn't know... and I missed that reason. I fucking missed her.

I had never been as nervous as I was then when I saw her walking behind Louis and sitting at the table. Seeing her after two weeks without any contact with her was refreshing. She looked exactly the same, she looked exactly like the girl I was in love with. There was nothing I wanted more than find a way to apologize to her, to prove her that I was sorry and that my feelings were real. I was not the type who would display or expose my feelings but I knew that this time, I had to go big, if only because I felt like I owed her. If paps and online articles wanted to talk about it and post pictures, then whatever. She was more important.

I didn't care about everyone who stood up when I was done singing, I didn't care about the clapping and the cheering. I was only looking at her and she was crying. She walked up to me and I cupped her face, wiping her tears with my thumbs. I don't know how many times and for how long I kissed her but I didn't want to stop. It was completely different than the first kiss we shared when we were teens. In fact, it was completely different than any other kiss I've ever had. Was that too cheesy to say? She tasted amazing, a mix of expensive beer and candies, and I couldn't believe I had waited that long to discover that taste.

"I love you." I whispered against her mouth, deepening the kiss very slowly, making sure I would feel everything. "You still love me, yea?"

“Don’t be stupid.” she replied, just as low. “I always have and I always will.”

"Me too. I always have, and I always will." I answered, my grip tightening on her jaw. "I was just.. a fucking idiot. And a blind one at that. I hope you can forgive me."

She suddenly seemed taller and I noticed she got on her tiptoes, her hands moving from my wrists to my hands on her cheeks. My eyes opened and her lips curled into a fond smile as my gaze traveled on her face.

"That song forgave everything."

Her words made me smile and I suddenly relaxed, realizing that I was still scared. I was scared she had given up on me, that she didn't trust me.. that she didn't love me anymore. She could have changed her mind, she could have given up on us, I could have lost her... but she was still there, even after all the pain I put her through, she was there, ready to give me an other chance that I wasn't sure I deserved.

"I promise I'll write you many, many more."

Once again, I brought my lips back on hers, wondering if it would always be like this, wondering if I would get addicted to the taste of her mouth, or if maybe I already was.

"Okay, okay guys, it's time to drink."

I groaned in her mouth when I heard Louis' voice and moved away slightly before sighing.

"Fuckin' Tommo." I mumbled with a grimace before my eyes fluttered open again.

Olivia laughed and got back down on her feet but when she turned around to go join our friends, I found her hand quickly and squeezed her fingers. It was not the first time we held hands but it felt like it because this gesture meant more than it ever did before.

"Livi, hey." Louis said, pushing her mug on the table. "Aren't you glad you spent those five minutes on your hair now?"

She started laughing and I frowned with a smile at the inside joke I didn't get. I turned to Louis and raised my eyebrows as a question, making him grin.

"It's nothing, Neil, but you should have seen your girlfriend's hair when I knocked at her door." Louis explained, making my heart jump in my chest. "Priceless. And I said that 'cus no one would have paid for that."

My eyes found Olivia's and I didn't have to say anything. The fact that she was now my girlfriend had hit both of us at the same time and I was blissful... like intoxicated by the realization.

"You should see her when she just woke up." I pointed out, sending Liv a smirk and finally turning back to Louis. "A real mess."

"Really?" he replied with a thick accent, glancing at her. "I bet you can't wait to find out what her sex hair looks like."

I didn't expect that answer and choked slightly on my beer. Louis laughed, slapping my shoulder in a friendly manner, and left to get something else to drink. I finally sat next to Olivia and leaned my elbows on the table, turning my head to look at her.

"Are you okay with that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"With what?" she frowned with an amused smile. "You and Louis laughing at my hair?"

"No," I chuckled. "With being my girlfriend."

Her smile turned into a shy one and she looked down chuckling sadly and shaking her head.

"Niall, being your girlfriend is what i've always wanted." she explained low.

I used two fingers to move her chin up and make her look in my eyes. She looked just as vulnerable as she seemed when she admitted her feelings to me but this time, I was not going to run away. My eyes roamed on her face and I licked my lips.

"I'm so sorry I've hurt you all these years." I apologized in a whisper. "I love you, real love."

Her smile came back, more gentle, fond and endearing than ever, and my heart twisted in my chest. I didn't want to ever hurt her anymore and I was going to do anything I could to keep her happy.

"I think we should leave, it's getting late." I proposed when I realized she wouldn't answer.

She simply nodded and we said our goodbyes, thanking out friends for their support and finally getting out of the too crowded bar. Instinctively, I gripped her fingers and pulled her closer, moving my arm up and making her twirl around. She giggled like a kid and it made me grin. She looked up in my eyes and I knew I didn't have to say anything. We reached my car and I opened the door for her but she tilted her head and frowned.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" she asked, worry in her voice.

"Yea, no problem, I only drank a beer." I answered with a shrug.

She sat in the car and closed the door as I did the same but when I glanced at her, she had her eyebrows raised and a small smile on her lips. I loved her facial expressions, I always have. She was the funniest person I knew.

"What?" I asked with a smile too.

"You only had one beer?" she questioned. "One?"

This time, I chuckled and raised one of my shoulders, bringing my head closer before shaking it. I knew it was unusual for me and i couldn't blame her for being surprised.

"Yes, one." I repeated with an other chuckle. "I wanted to be sober for the song but when it was over I drank one. So yea, it was the only one."

She smiled fondly at me again and I just knew I was going to get that look very often from now on. Perhaps she looked at me that way a lot, I just never really noticed before. Or wanted to notice.

"Thank you."

"And also, I couldn't let you clumsy ass drive my new car." I joked as she hit my arm lightly, making me laugh even more.

I started the car and we drove around town in silence. The night was cold and it started snowing, bringing a magical vibe to the moment and although I knew she was not a fan of winter, I could see the happiness in her eyes as she watched the snow fall slowly. It's only when we were close to my house that I felt her hand on my thigh. I thought i'd stiffen at her touch but it was the complete opposite : it relaxed me in a way I couldn't explain, not even to myself.

We got out of the car and walked to the front door still not talking and I closed the door behind us. I knew I didn't have to explain anything, I just glanced at her and smiled.

"Grab a few blankets, i'll join you."

She just nodded and I reached the kitchen to make some tea, adding a cloud of milk in both and going through the sliding door of my kitchen. She was sitting on the small bench, staring up, her shoulders covered with a blanket and when I handed her her favorite mug, she turned to me and smiled. I sat next to her and grabbed a part of the blanket to cover my shoulder too and put the beanie she handed me on. We stared up in silence, just watching the snowflakes fall and cover the ground, and in that moment, everything was perfect.

"So everyone was right." I broke the silence, turning to look at her. "About us being more than just best friends. It was... written in the stars, or something cheesy like that?"

I raised my eyebrows with a small smile and she shrugged, tilting her head. She looked pretty with one of my beanies covering her head and an old scarf I hadn't worn in years around her neck, all wrapped up in blankets as she held her tea with both hands. In fact, she was breathtaking.

"No it was just..." she shrugged in a cute way and looked away before looking back at me. "Obvious."

I bent down close to her and reached her lips with mine, and it made my heart jump in my chest. It was so weird to do that yet it felt natural. I saw her close her eyes just as I closed mine and the feeling of her mouth against mine made me feel better than I thought. I hadn't felt like that when I kissed Maya or Heidi or any of the other girls I kissed before. This feeling was different and better. I couldn't lie to myself, it was much better, so much better.

"I see it too." I murmured, my lips brushing against hers as I talked. "It really is obvious now."

                                                      ---

I let her borrow some of my clothes to sleep even if we both knew she had left some of hers in my drawers. She had always preferred wearing my clothes and I had always enjoyed watching her wear them. Perhaps it was a bit possessive but the feeling of seeing her in Harry's clothes was horrible and I never got used to it.

"Tired?" I asked, putting my shirt on and turning to her.

"Not really." she shrugged, making me smile.

"Come here, I want to hug you."

It was the kind of things I could have said even before we started dating but once again, it meant so much more now that she was my girlfriend.

"Yea?"

"Yea.

"Catch me, then!"

She started running, taking me by surprise and passing right by me quickly. She was already in the hall when I started running after her, reaching my arm in front of me. My fingertips brushed against her arm and she squealed, making me laugh. She jumped on my couch and ran on it and I got suddenly scared she'd fall down but she jumped back on the floor and ran back where she came from. I ran quicker and bent down slightly, wrapping my arm around her waist and pushing her in my room before throwing her on the bed. I moved on top of her, straddling her waist and holding her wrists above her head as we were both panting.

"Caught ya." I whispered with a smirk.

"You did." she admitted just as low, licking her lips.

My gaze moved to her mouth and I dipped my head down again to kiss her. My grip on her wrists loosened but she didn't move. She just answered my kiss, smiling the whole time.

The last time I ran after her and tackled her down was because she teased me, saying only crazy girls wanted to kiss me. Now, she was the one I was kissing and she didn't seem to hate it. Perhaps, the girls who want to kiss me aren't all crazy, but I was not going to mention that. We had also ended up exactly in this position and it was right after that sex dream I had.

"I really, really want to touch you." I whispered in-between kisses.

She moved her arms and I let her, letting go of her wrists. Her hands ran on my shoulders and down my arms, but I kept kissing her for a few seconds before moving slightly away. I stared in her eyes and she bite her bottom lip gently. I had noticed that habit and i loved it.

"Maybe tomorrow, okay?"

I felt my heart sink in my chest but I smiled and nodded lightly. "Okay."

I kissed her softly one last time and got off of her to turn the lights off in the house. When I got back in my room, she was laying under the blankets, looking at the ceiling. I turned the light off too and joined her, laying on my back and staring up, too.

I knew I could wait for us to have sex and I knew it was not something urgent, even if I really wanted her, but I felt like she was a bit scared, and so was I, if only because I was not sure what she liked and what she didn't like.

"How do you feel?" I just wondered in a gentle tone.

"Better now." she whispered.

Silence again. Not an awkward silence, no. A light and warm silence that we both enjoyed.

"Did you write that song for me?" she finally asked after a while.

I knew this question had been burning her lips since our first kiss at the bar and I sort of anticipated it. I smiled, still looking at the ceiling, and brought my hands behind my head.

"Yes, I wrote it for you." I confessed, turning my head her way. "Only you."

We stopped talking again as we both tried to process what was happening between us. Now that we were laying together in the dark the way we always are, it felt real and true and once again, it hit me hard.

"You were wrong, you know?" I pointed out, still staring at her, now seeing her very well in the darkness of the room.

"About what?" she asked in a murmur, licking her lips.

I looked down at her mouth, trying not to focus too much on kissing her again and finally looked up in her eyes.

"The One Direction song that represents us the most is not Infinity, it's probably Home."

She turned her body my way and smiled, bringing her hand to my cheek. I moved my body to face her too and put my hand on her waist, feeling her fingertips brush on my skin softly.

"And Drag Me Down? Maybe?"

She smiled and I did the same.

"A bit of End Of The Day?"

"What A Feeling." she added, making both our smiles grow.

"Fireproof."

"Everything About You."

I frowned, an amused smile still on my lips, and laughed.

"What? Could you have picked an even older song or what?"

We both burst into laughter and I pulled her closer to me. She smelled good and she looked happy. Just seeing her like that made me feel happy too.

"I thought you hated that album." I pointed out, raising my eyebrows as she shook her head.

"No, it's just my least favorite because you don't sing enough." she explained, moving her chin slightly up to look in my eyes. I could feel her breath on my skin and it made me want to kiss her. Again. "I don't hate anything you do. Except... when you date extra gorgeous models. That, I really hate."

"Says the girl who dated my sex symbol of a bandmate."

She laughed lightly and the sound was incredible. Was that what it felt like to be in love? To think everything the other person does is endearing, sweet, incredible... to feel something explode in your stomach every single time you look at them... Was that what I was blessed to feel ever single day for the rest of my life?

"The truth is... The first time I kissed Maya, it was right after you kissed Harry." I had realized that a few days after Liv had admitted her feelings for me and it had been a shock. All these reactions I couldn't explain now made so much sense. "I was scared, and lost and... and I was jealous, Olivia. I was so fucking jealous."

I didn't expect it but she suddenly crushed her mouth against mine, one of her hands pressing on my cheek as her lips kissed me avidly. Her tongue slipped in my mouth and I finally answered the kiss, pulling her as close as I could and squeezing her body against mine. It was not a gentle kiss, it was rough and passionate and I was a bit scared of how turned on it would make me, especially after she said she wanted to wait before we did anything sexual. She slowed the kiss after a while and I groaned low in her mouth before she pulled away.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, her fingertips slide down my neck.

"Don't be." I  answered in a low tone too. "I'm the one who should be sorry. For everything. Just... you should stop kissing me like that, it makes me want... more."

She laughed and her eyes roamed on my face as she let one of her hand slip down my chest. Her gaze never left mine but her smile fell and she started nibbling on her bottom lip. I could feel my heart throb hard in my chest and remained motionless, just looking at her and telling myself how much I loved her.

"I never said anything about not touching you." she just replied as she moved her hand on my cock over my sweatpants. "I mean, if you want me to."

"You don't have to ask." I reached for her hand and pressed it harder against my dick. "I always want you to touch me."

Her smile came back and I fought against the urge I had to kiss her. Her hand rubbed on me slowly but it's only when she slid it in my pants that I held my breath, focusing on the way her fingers wrapped around my cock. She took it out slowly and I realized how hard I was, even after only a few seconds of her touch. She started stroking me gently and I let out a groan, my eyes fluttering as I tried to keep them open. Her lips parted at the same time then mine when she jerked me off quicker and i whispered a curse word. Her thumb rubbing steadily on my tip brought me closer to my orgasm but it's only when her other hand slipped on my balls that I let out a moan.

"That time I fingered you." I whispered without thinking. "It turned me on so bad I came in my pants."

I watched the expression of slight surprise on her face and her movements faltered for a few seconds before her lips reached mine again, this time a bit softer. I groaned again in her mouth when one of her fingers slid right under my tip and I bit her bottom lip maybe a bit too hard.

"Fuck, you're gonna make me cum so hard, petal."

I could swear I felt her shiver next to me and I couldn't decide what turned me on more : her or what she was doing. With an other curse word, I felt an orgasm spread inside me and gripped the sheets of the bed hard as I came, my lips rubbing against hers with every jerk of my body. When I opened my eyes again, she was staring at me with a small smile and I grinned back at her. I couldn't remember the last time I didn't have to guide a girl on what to do to make me cum when it came to handjobs.

"I fucking love you." I breathed out with a chuckle, making her lips curl more.

"I fucking love you too." she repeated after about a minute.

We stayed in silence, just looking at each other, for a very long time until she yawned and I laughed. She looked adorable, why didn't I notice that before?

"I'll be right back."

I nodded and waited for her as she went to the bathroom while I pulled my pants back up and tried to lay down comfortably in bed. I was tired too but there was no way I would fall asleep without her in bed with me. I felt myself start smiling as soon as she entered the room again and although I thought it was a bit pathetic, I really didn't care.

"You're gonna hold me all night?" she wondered, her eyebrows raised, as I felt the warmth of her body close to mine.

I was never going to stop loving this girl. I could feel it in my bones, in every fiber of my being. She was my person, and I was a fucking idiot for not realizing it before.

"Do I ever not?"

#niall horan #niall horan smut #niall horan fluff #niall horan fanfic #niall horan fan fic #niall horan fanfiction #niall horan story #niall horan writing #my fanfics #amc #i promise more fluff and smut and drama anddddd emotions (good and bad) asap

[thepurpleblossom]

I went to watch the HF movie earlier! So I’ll be posting my thoughts. I’ve already read many reviews prior so I sort of already found out how some things are different, so the changes didn’t quite surprise / disappoint me, and overall, I really really enjoyed it. If possible, I’ll probably go and watch it at least two more times!

I actually wrote a brief summary of the movie on the way back, but I just remembered there’s a post that pretty much talked about what I wanted to, but!! I’ll do it again in any case!

I really enjoy the first few scenes because they were anime original. Since I read the post linked above, I did know that they were animating those pre!story scenes. But what I didn’t expect was how long it was. There was perhaps a good 10 minutes devoted to these scenes. 

Starting off with a beautiful scene in the archery club depicting Shirou’s mastery of archery, Ayako and Shinji looking from behind, and a stranger praising his skills to Taiga. And then immediately juxtaposed with a short scene of Shinji reprimanding Shirou’s carelessness in getting injured during work. And then Sakura’s visits. We get his original insistence that he can’t make his friend’s sister help him like this...! and snapshots of Sakura’s stubbornness, visiting everyday until Taiga warms up to her, and Shirou gives up, giving her a key. And then he wakes up in the shed, with Sakura’s prompting.

I love these scenes so much, but I also love the bits where they slowly depict the changes happening in Sakura. When she first arrives, her eyes are completely dead, and she hardly talks. And then she talks, her eyes remaining dull. And by the end of the flashback (where Sakura gets accepted to Homurahara Academy), her eyes are brightened and as seen in this pv, she smiles so brightly. 

These are so important in establishing the effect Sakura has on Shirou, as well as Shirou’s on Sakura that now, I’m almost surprised that they aren’t in the original material.

Incidentally, there was two separate instances where Sakura touches her ribbon, (oh my god, i can’t believe my hc of her touching her ribbon is actually canon now). The most important one being when they were discussing Kiritsugu being Shirou’s hero, and when faced with the same question, Sakura simply repeats the words while touching the ribbon. 

Originally I was worried how they are going to deal with the repeats from UBW. But they really did just compress them into a few images, serving as a reminder to jolt our memory rather than a full scene. Which is actually a direction that I really liked that they took, because it would be taking time away from content that we have already seen -- there is no point in animating the same scenes again as well.

There are other scenes in which they were longer but the movie cut them short. Such as Sakura noticing the mark on Shirou’s hand, but it skips the following breakfast scene, and changes scene to Sakura leaving and asking Shirou to come home quick. I also really like these cuts, whilst the scenes are lost, its usually done without much consequences and the viewers can fill in the gaps. To borrow @fishofthelake’s words, it really fits the movie’s format.

Also, Saber in Shirou’s yukata.  👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀

About the dream that Shirou had. I think the movie is my favourite rendition. Whilst the original is just Rin H scene. And Realta Nua a scene between Rin and Ayako, this was Rin putting the moves on Shirou at first and then turning to Sakura. The first was awkward given how Rin is not the heroine of the series. And RN’s verison makes me imagine that Shirou... ships Rin and Ayako. And HF’s felt the most natural? Shirou’s crush on Rin can’t be separated from the narrative, and they also showed it during a scene where Shirou chances upon Rin helping Sakura pick up the papers fallen on the floor ( “Oh... The person who helped me is--” “Tohsaka Rin, right?” “... You know her?” “Oh aaah, *flustered* she’s beautiful and everyone knows her.” ). But the change to Sakura felt more natural given that it is her route, and also highlights that Shirou is gradually gaining an romantic interest in Sakura. ( Important as they cut out the bit where Shirou walks Sakura to the Matou’s mansion, as well as the morning scenes including the monologue where Shirou is like “ah this is problematic. Sakura is becoming more beautiful by the day” )

Actually, there are actually a number of scenes that effectively portrayed Shirou’s attraction to Sakura, and vice versa. Whilst the added scenes at the beginning of the movie showed how important they are to each other, the scenes scattered throughout the rest of the movie showed how their feelings for each other are decidedly romantic. With Sakura’s silent jealousy when Sakura finds out that Shirou knows Rin, Taiga’s joking comments that Shirou asked Sakura to stay over so that she won’t be jealous of Saber... And of course, the scene where Sakura first collapses, and Shirou is there, looking after her, and their hands are held together almost tenderly. I teared up.

Speaking of a tender scene, Sakura visited the shed with Shirou. And one of the topics was that Shirou is an adopted child, and Sakura mentions briefly that he had good people around him, and that made my heart break a little. Because Sakura is also adopted and she didn’t have good people around her. While the scene broke my heart a little, the overall atmosphere was really soft and tender, and Sakura seems so glad that his experience is different from hers ( of course, it might be just me assuming that she’s drawing a parallel between his experience and hers since she didn’t talk about herself being adopted, but it’s highly likely that she is. )

The fight scenes were super cool. I was holding my breath the entire time during the Cu and Hassan fight, on the expressway before they moved to the lake. I’m so glad Cu got some scenes before he was gone. Though, I felt like the scene where Medu showed up in the temple could be done better? The scene in the VN felt more creepy in comparison, and I could sense the danger and how she’s so much more powerful compared to her earlier appearance (the scene where Saber absolutely destroyed Medusa was beautiful by the way). I can’t quite recall if the dangerous aspect in the VN was due to Shirou’s monologue, but I feel that they could have done better, perhaps through a new, creepier OST? I don’t think they changed the OST from Shirou’s fight with Zouken. But that’s probably just me nitpicking. My friend thought she seems powerful anyway.

AND, let’s talk about the music. I’m too much of Kajiura’s fan to not devote a section to talk about her to be honest. In summary, I... really like it??? I’m not sure how else I could say it. Other than that scene mentioned above, I really like the music direction. Sometimes the scenes are without music, but it doesn’t take it away. In UBW, the lack of music in some scenes made it rather boring for me to watch, and hard to grip my attention, but in the movie, I felt like it was used brilliantly. The first scene of Shirou’s archery had no music, but served to show Shirou’s hyperfocus and tranquility of archery. Some of the flashback scenes generally had soft, calming music, but other scenes are quiet, without music. It felt like it added to the peacefulness and the fondness in the memories.

The first heavy, dark music is used when Shirou notices the Lancer and Archer fight and he starts running for a safe space before the scene fades to a scene with Sakura somehow noticing this happening and then we get the compressed, repeated scenes from UBW. I really like how the first piece of dark music is used as a lead-in to the rest of the movie because the flashbacks are done now, and this is where the plot starts. It felt like a summary / warning as to what the rest of the movie has to offer, which is dark, dark, and dark. They also used one or two F/Z tracks btw. If I’m right, Back to Zero, during the scene in which Kirei reveals to Shirou Kiritsugu’s involvement in the 4th Holy Grail War. Most of the tracks in the rest of the movie were dark, and very, very different from UBW’s, which is understandable, given that they are done by different composers after all. But it really is a huge indication of how dark HF is compared to UBW’s and I love it.

Things that I’m not too happy about are nitpicks. The loss of the classroom scene, but the inclusion of the scene may have led the movie to feel draggy (since it takes place before the Lancer & Archer fight -- ie where the movie truly begins), so I will accept that choice begrudgingly. The other bit is the dream sequence involving Saber Alter talking to Saber. I liked the horror that Saber is truly gone, and then the resulting shock when Saber Alter showed up later in the story, and such a scene felt like it took away both of such elements. Still, at this point in time, Saber Alter is hardly a secret anymore, so perhaps these factors are gone ever since the popularity of FGO and the Fate franchise in general. So why not capitalise on their knowledge, instead of pretending that everyone watching are Fate noobs right.

Perhaps that’s why the Prize A for the Ichiban Kuji lottery for Heaven’s Feel is not Sakura, but actually a figure of Saber Alter. They’re just like, Saber Alter??? Keep her a secret??? I think /not/.

In summary though, I’m really happy with this movie. The director really seems to love the route and Sakura a lot. The movie was beautiful, and the scenes with Sakura felt so beautiful and wonderfully portrayed and her expressions. And the last scene where Shirou comes back to a worried Sakura waiting for him with her nose and cheeks red from standing too long in the snow... It’s beautiful.

Now, if you excuse me, I’ll just be looping Hana no Uta.

#and also plan the next time im visiting the cinema to rewatch this #stfu miko #hf r

[cripplinganxietyflix]

I saw IT.

The time has finally arrived. IT was released to theaters last Friday and so far, it’s broken a lot of records in a time when we’re all talking about a disastrous summer season for theaters (down 7% from the summer of 2016), and pretty piss-poor theater attendance in general. The $35 million dollar film made over $50 million in its first day in theaters and has generated $123 million in its opening weekend. IT can now lay claim to both the largest-ever opening for a horror film and the largest-ever opening for a film released in September. That’s a pretty big deal, but even before viewing the film, I wasn’t surprised by the success. The reputation the IT miniseries has generated over 27 years and the cultural phenomenon it sparked, in my mind, has played the largest role in selling $123 million in tickets. It isn’t the objective quality of the film driving this, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

In terms of millennials and based on my own anecdotal observation, the IT miniseries serves as a lot of people under 30’s first horror movie experience. Usually dad rented the two VHS tapes from Blockbuster because hey, it was on TV, it can’t be too bad. Or someone tuned in on a sick day in elementary school during a re-run. A lot of people in their early 30s and late 20s saw IT between the ages of six and ten, in the prime age for childhood post-traumatic horror movie stress. I would argue that the original IT has claimed the largest number of childhoods out of all horror films, maybe more than The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead, or The Shining.

Speaking of which, I’m not in the demographic of adults that were scarred by IT as a child. I can’t precisely recall when I first watched it, but I was between 10 and 12 and by then I’d already had my shit wrecked watching The Omen on AMC home alone on a sick day when I was 8. To this day, the moments in the miniseries that spooked me were a few instances of weird practical effects, like the shower scene with the clown parting his way through a drain, but other than that, I came out of it mostly bored. The spider ending was pretty weak even for someone with arachnophobia. While Tim Curry did his best with an absurd premise and he did deliver a memorable performance, it’s hard for me to take the whole thing seriously. It’s a flamboyant, quipping clown, for fuck’s sake. On that note, I’ve never really understood the appeal of Stephen King, to be really frank. You can argue the absolute best adaptation of his work is Kubrick’s The Shining, and King himself has come out and said he dislikes it because of the liberties Kubrick took to make it a watchable, serious film. You can say what you want about that, but I look at that and compare it to King’s work on and praise for the 1997 Mick Garris miniseries adaptation for The Shining, and it’s hard for me to take him seriously. I respect his work ethic, but I don’t find the work itself appealing or compelling most of the time.

It takes some skill to make a cohesive film about an angry, child-murdering, supernatural clown that also can take the form of someone’s worst fear. The miniseries tried, and I think it was a mixed bag. The first half is pretty good and above average from what I would have expected for a TV special in the early 1990s, but the second half is quite disappointing. There are some good scares and quite a bit of effort made in terms of practical SFX, but it definitely suffered from the campy atmosphere and bad acting from the adults. The writing, particularly in part two, was kind of weak. The script wasn’t brilliant, and sometimes it was downright awful. The whole product is pretty cheesy and really didn’t age well. I won’t comment on the book because I read a bit of it in middle school and disliked it enough to put it down, and also because I don’t want to talk about the underage gangbang. FYI really refine your fucking Google search on that one if you’re curious. 

Coming out of the newest incarnation of IT, I think it was about what I expected. The closest comparison I can make is something like The Conjuring- not brilliant, certainly above the average wide-release horror film, but far too reliant on jump scares and sudden noises. And of course, plenty of CG effects to take you right out of the moment.

That’s the first thing I want to talk about with IT. The CG is my biggest complaint. Maybe a couple of years ago I would have said that CG is a foregone conclusion to have a successful, major horror movie, but after Get Out made $252.4 million dollars earlier this year on a $4.5 million budget without any major computer effects, I no longer think that’s a valid excuse. Sure, IT is much more of a spectacle film, but that makes me feel even more disappointed in the pervasive use of CG. A few times, I suppose it was justified, but it largely cheapened the film. There are many sequences with Pennywise rushing the screen that look awful, even laughable in some cases. The woman in the painting was another good example of bad CG being overused. We already know that minimal CG used to augment or distort faces can be great for horror, and a very relevant example I can think of is the very slight facial distortions used for the vampires in the film 30 Days of Night. Special effects were used to slightly narrow faces, to tilt eyes a few degrees; and the effect is a very creepy, almost uncanny valley effect that benefited that particular film greatly. I think something as subtle as skewing a woman’s face would have been more effective than what we saw in IT, which looked like a low-end video game monster. But that brings me to my next point.

This movie has zero subtlety. Yes, a movie about a pun-making killer clown can’t be expected to be a subtle film; that’s not what I’m getting at. Subtlety is a really important aspect of making something scary. IT fell victim to the same plague that most other horror films can’t seem to fight off, and that’s the total lack of subtlety in the scares. I feel like I saw Pennywise at least every five minutes, if not more, and it very much diminished his presence. Instead of being selective when showing him to maximize the dread and tension when he is visible, the movie spends a good chunk of its time and budget showing him off. Even worse, they don’t often make it count. Whereas many of Tim Curry’s Pennywise appearances in the miniseries are very memorable and stand out well, there were 3 instances where they let Bill Skarsgård do his thing: once at the very beginning, once in the middle of the film when Bill, Richie and Eddie enter the wellhouse for the first time, and at the very end of the film when they vanquish him back into the well. I think that the vast majority of Pennywise’s appearances outside of those three were meaningless and only served to desensitize viewers to the scare he would otherwise be able to generate. It was like they crammed 4 hours worth of Pennywise appearances into half the time. I feel that the film offered Skarsgård very few opportunities to carve his own path and make his performance iconic and memorable, and that’s pretty unfortunate. I think he is more than capable of delivering a good performance without being smothered with a disorienting kaleidescope of bad and unnecessary CG. He shows up so often, and yet it felt like Skarsgård had so little time to make it count.

On the note of subtlety, we need to talk about jump scares, and what makes a good jump scare and what makes a bad one. Jump scares are not inherently bad in horror films, but they are often overused and they’re almost always sloppy. A really good example of a perfect, organic jump scare can be found in the first fifteen minutes of the film Suspiria. Don’t call me a snob, there’s a reason why it has its reputation. We see a frightened young woman standing near a large, dark window. The Goblin score is hammering away and giving you a bizarre anxiety about what is about to happen. She looks out the window into the darkness, like she’s certain something has to be hiding in it. And it makes sense, because minutes earlier she’s running for her life through the woods and you’re still wondering what she was fleeing from. She lifts a lamp to the window, and we look into the darkness, and a pair of yellow bulging eyes appear with a subtle invocation from the Goblin score. The music then quiets, the shot pulls away, and suddenly a hairy arm smashes through the glass and grabs her head. The movie has already spent several minutes generating tension between the images and the score, and when the jump scare happens there is no added audio effects to augment what is already there. We have the sound of breaking glass and the woman’s screaming to do that already. Often times everything a film needs to generate a jump scare is already present, but all too often, directors don’t make the effort to cultivate the atmosphere to precipitate an organic jump scare. The audience is constantly cued into expecting one due to the framing of the scene, and they add unnecessary effects like loud, sudden noises to make you jump anyway. It’s a huge cop out! You can actually see a real example of this right in the IT teaser, and they kept in the movie. I think it’s enough to see Pennywise’s glowing eyes appear in the darkness of the sewer as Georgie tries to retrieve his boat, but in the teasers, they’ve added a loud noise like you’re too stupid to know when to be scared. It’s so unneeded, and lazy, and it was all over the film. Every time something spooky was about to happen, you fully expected it, and they threw in a loud clattering noise to scare you so that they wouldn’t have to try harder to generate tension or anxiety or to truly take you by surprise. I fully expected this from a major studio horror film but was surprised by how heavily IT relied on this low hanging fruit.

The writing was pretty uneven, but when it was good it was great, and the comedic timing worked well. However, it seems like Finn Wolfhard and Jack Dylan Grazer’s lines had all the effort put into them, but everyone else was pretty unmemorable. If the other kids are great actors, it wasn’t always easy to see. There’s a moment when Mike says something along the lines of “Guess I really am just an outsider” as his excuse for leaving the group, and it was so out-of-place and dumb. I hated the scene with Beverly cutting her hair and saying “this is what you did!” Speaking of whom, Sophia Lillis was pretty terrible and often felt extremely ingenuine when delivering her lines. Most of the other kids were alright, but not great. My bar for great child performances in horror movies has been set by films like The Innocents and more recently The Witch, so maybe I’m asking too much. But I went into this movie hearing all this buzz about how the strongest part of the film is the kids, and I’m just not seeing it. Do not even get me started on Nicholas Hamilton, who played Henry the bully. I could not stop rolling my eyes.

If anything about IT impressed me, I respected its willingness to show child dismemberment and death. It certainly was surprising when it happened and I am always talking about how the last frontiers of horror are showing kids being murdered and child molestation, and this movie covered both of those things. Kudos for being daring, and kudos for doing an R-rated film horror film, especially when big studio horror always goes for a PG-13 to get that sweet, sweet middle-schooler and teenager money. I think that Bill Skarsgård tries very hard with the opportunities he’s afforded, and I appreciate that he tried to do something different than what Tim Curry did. I’m not sure if I liked the cutesy-ness incorporated into of some of that approach, but he tried, and it shows. Two of the child actors (mentioned above) were great and charming, and I really wish that the casting was more consistent. I like that it didn’t try to cram the adult storyline into the run time and as much as I’ve disliked this film, it’s probably a good idea to have a sequel for the rest.

But I think that’s it for what I enjoyed. Maybe I’m jaded and maybe I’ve watched too many horror films, but IT felt like a totally unnecessary venture. I think that most of the positive reviews are 1) reviewers that are used to seeing mostly garbage low-effort horror blockbusters and 2) people that are huge fans of the miniseries or book and were happy to see it get a facelift. That’s the only way I can explain the buzz to myself. I don’t recall being scared at any point other than being afraid I was going to see a 15-year-old’s character get raped by her pervy dad. I think if you’re a big IT or Stephen King fan, or you’re not a prolific horror movie consumer, you’ll probably have a fine time watching this film. If you’re a horror snob, or hold your horror to reasonable standards, there’s a good chance you’re gonna have a bad time. I’ve seen a lot of great, effective horror movies in the last couple of years, and literally all of them cost $2-5 million to make and had little or no CGI. I really wanted to enjoy this movie and I did get myself excited to see it, but having slept on it for a night I’m baffled by the positive reviews. I wish I had enjoyed it more. IT isn’t brave enough to do anything outside of an extremely conventional, predictable approach, and unfortunately for this viewer, slightly above average writing with expensive production quality does not make a great horror film.

★★ ½

#it #it 2017 #pennywise #bill skarsgård #horror #movies #reviews #stephen king

[jasonheart1]

Kick in the gut! Broncos fall 19-17 on Mac miss

DENVER -- Well, that was a kick in the gut. And the face. And in the pants.

With a chance to keep their season relevant, the Broncos found a new way to churn their heart in a blender. Brandon McManus missed wide right on a 51-yard field goal as time expired, sending the Broncos to an excruciating 19-17 defeat at chilly Mile High Stadium.

"Bad kicks. Terrible kicks. The guys gave me a chance to win the game, and I was terrible," said McManus, who offered no excuses for the snap or the wind. "It sucks because you come into the game kicking pretty well, and I didn't give us a chance. I let these guys down."

Trailing on the final drive, quarterback Case Keenum converted a pair of fourth downs on completions to Emmanuel Sanders and Jeff Heuerman. However, with 20 second remaining, the Broncos ran the ball up the middle, leaving a serious degree of difficulty for McManus. The Texans iced him, and he hustled over to the sideline and kicked into the net. He entered the field to a loud roar, known for his clutch kicks, dating to the Super Bowl 50 season. 

This one wasn't close. He hit it right, and it never moved, sending the Texans, including Demaryius Thomas, into jubilation. The Broncos felt resignation, their playoff hopes all but dashed with a 3-6 record as they enter the bye week. 

"It's gut-wrenching," said coach Vance Joseph, whose employment status will be subject to question with his 8-17 overall record, though he's expected to survive. "I know how hard the guys work. I want to win for them."

Entering Sunday, the Broncos needed to deliver on a mandate: Own Your Job. It plastered the TV screens in the locker room on Thursday and Friday in block blue letters on a white backdrop.

With the defense smothering Houston like a python -- Von Miller and Bradley Chubb added to their sack totals -- the Broncos responded with a 12-play, 81-yard drive to secure a 17-16 advantage. It represented the second longest drive of the season, six shy of a first-half march Sunday. 

"My knee felt better as the game wore on. Rushing the passer is like being a prize fighter. You have to be ready to go 12 rounds," Miller told me in the tunnel after the game as he hung out with former teammate Demaryius Thomas. "I will be fine after the bye. It's just tough to lose."

Keenum's dime to Heuerman shoved the Broncos ahead by a point, but it felt uneasy. The Broncos' inability to finish has been an issue since winning Super Bowl 50. They have shown they can compete, but crossing the line with the lead remains a difficult skill to recapture. 

The Texans pulled ahead 19-17 on Ka'imi Fairbairn's 37-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. And they made it stand.

"The margin for error is so small for our team. We can't mess up and win," said veteran cornerback Chris Harris Jr., frustrated that the Texans didn't challenge him more in the passing game. "We have to find a way to eliminate those little mistakes that kill us every game."

It didn't start well for the Broncos because it started with a bubble screen, as it so often does with Thomas. It was his signature play for eight-plus seasons. OK, not so much the past two years as Thomas leaned out, going vegan, and playing roughly 10 pounds lighter, leading to his yards after contact to vanish. But Sunday, after a Jumbotron tribute, he went to work. He broke inside, slipped a missed tackle by Tramaine Brock, and skated 31 yards. He followed with an 18-yard reception -- it was impressive he was running entire route tree after three practices -- setting up an easy score.

"I loved my time here. It was just a different bond. You had guys you would think would never shed a tear that were shedding tears. I had a great time. We won a Super Bowl," said Thomas, who finished with three catches for 61 yards. "But it's up and done, and on to the next.

DeShaun Watson, clearly a player who has Thomas feeling young again, connected with tight end Jordan Thomas for a a 7-yard touchdown, who beat Josey Jewell in coverage. He became the third quarterback in NFL history with at least 35 touchdowns in first 16 games, joining Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Dan Marino.

"It was good for Demaryius," Watson said. "He did a great job of making catches when we needed him, and he had a leadership role on the sideline. I just kept the faith."

The Broncos responded with his replacement Courtland Sutton. He delivered a critical 21-yard reception, breaking a tackle. Then, it went wrong. He was called for a block in the back and dropped a touchdown in the end zone. Brandon McManus salvaged the drive with a 44-yard field goal, shaving the deficit to 7-3 with 4:42 remaining in the first.

A fourth down stop ignited the crowd moments later. This was the type of play to change a Sunday. Instead, it altered nothing. Devontae Booker fumbled as Justin Reid pawed out the ball and recovered it on Denver's 22-yard line. Watson made the Broncos pay with a 16-yard score to DeAndre Hopkins on a communication breakdown. It brought a sobering reality that players not guarded by Harris would be open too often.

The game, if not the season, sat a crossroads.  Embattled Keenum, who has been only marginally better than last season's carousel at the halfway point, engineered his best and longest drive of the season. In four plays, the Broncos raced 87 yards. 

Who knew the Broncos had a tight end passing weapon? Matt LaCosse caught a ball in the flat and broke down the sidelines like a kid running from class to recess. His 44 yards on the play led the Broncos in receiving in the first half. Jeff Heuerman, who delivered his best game as a pro with 10 receptions for 83 yards, followed with a 14-yard reception, and Booker found redemption with a 14-yard scamper for a score, his first since Oct. 30 last season. 

An encouraging half turned dark in the waning minutes. Center Matt Paradis left the field on a cart after fracturing his right fibula. He said he will be fine, believing the break will heal. He had played every snap since 2014 -- 3,850 entering the game -- before exiting for Connor McGovern. Brandon McManus followed with a missed 62-yard field goal, leading to Houston's final score. Paradis is expected to miss the remainder of the season as he enters free agency, joining left guard Ron Leary (Achilles). 

"I am gonna be fine after some time," Paradis told Denver7. 

Added Keenum, who completed 26 of 42 passes for 290 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, "He's top notch, as solid as they come. It's a tough deal."

At the end of the first half, Denver's field goal decision backfired. Watson completed two quick strikes, setting up Fairbairn's 46-yard field goal. It swelled in importance as the game inched toward a conclusion, and was made worse by the fact that he missed his first attempt. Joseph, it turns out, de-iced the kicker.

It captured the season. The Broncos found a way to do just enough to lose. 

"If I could put my finger on it, we'd be winning," Miller lamented. "It's a tough league. We give teams hell each and every week. We just have to find ways to come out on top." 

Footnotes

The Broncos honored Demaryius Thomas before the game with a 1-minute long video tribute. Thomas thanked the fans, who gave him a warm welcome. The Broncos also added "Thank You" to the banner of Thomas hanging outside the south end of the stadium. ... Von Miller looked limited because of a brace on his left knee. But he entered the sack column for the four consecutive game, corralling Watson in the third quarter. ... Shane Ray limped off late in the third quarter, favoring his right ankle. ... The Broncos' inactive list included five injured players and two healthy scratches, linemen Sam Jones and Nico Falah. ... Bradley Chubb's eight sacks represent the most by an NFL rookie at this point of the season since Von in 2011. 

Enjoy this content? Follow Denver7 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and download the Denver7 app on iOS and Android devices for continual access to breaking news, weather and sports.

Want Broncos news? Denver7 Broncos insider Troy E. Renck is your source. He talks to the players, covers the games and reports scoops on Denver7 and the Denver7 app. He is a CU grad who has covered pro sports in Colorado since 1996, including 14 years at The Denver Post. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and TheDenverChannel.com’s Broncos page. Troy welcomes most of your emails at [email protected].

from Local News https://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/broncos-face-texans-in-critical-must-win-game

[wbouldingblog-blog]

I’m wet and cold, but not unhappy. Wet, not because it’s raining dear readers, but because I’ve just been for a  swim in our lovely (so far) hotel pool in Hoi An, and have only been driven upstairs because a) a child, who seems to have whooping cough but decided swimming would be his activity of choice today, hawked the brownish contents of his alveoli into the water where I would have been swimming and b) the temperature has dropped to a ‘frigid’ 24 degrees.

I left you on my Goalie Post as we were on the bus to Ho Chi Minh City (or HCMC as it’s known by those who want to spare syllables, as I do). After the most beautiful noodle soup in the most beautiful service station, we got to Phnom Penh without further drama and were driven to the Mekong Express depot, where we got on larger coach which would take us to HCMC. As we pulled away, the chap who seemed like he was in charge came down to inspect passports and visas. We’d been clever clogs and sorted ours online beforehand, having read that visa-free access was only an option. This turned out to be fake news. The chap explained (repeatedly) that ‘these passports, no problem. You don’t need visa!’ and disposed of our rather expensive printouts.

We got into our usual bus routine of napping, listening to classical music (me – the refined one, as you’d expect) and checking social media (Henny – the modern one, as you’d expect) (but me too when Henny let me leechingly tether to her cleverly-bought sim card). As we passed along the litter-strewn streets, weaving and honking our way past dangerously driven motorcycles, we followed our progress on Google maps – the border was approaching. Once again, the man in charge explained what we had to do and herded us all off at the Cambodian border to confirm to the authorities that we’d actually left their country. Then, once again as a group, we made our way on the bus through the no-man’s land between countries and entered the smart building of the Vietnamese immigration control. Immediately we were impressed by the organisation and cleanliness of the building – there were even bins! Once again, we waited en masse to have our passports processed and shuffled our way past the guards, put our bags through a (seemingly useless) x-ray machine and that was it – far less painful to get through than the Cambodian border.

Back on the bus, we sped past several grandiose buildings flying red flags with more stars, hammers and sickles than you could shake a marching baton at. We were definitely in a communist country now. Every shop flew the red flag with the yellow star in the middle – I was unsure whether this was a law or just some incredible nationalist sentiment from the shops next to the border. Then something struck me. In the 15 or 20 minutes it had been since we crossed the border, we hadn’t seen a single pile of rubbish next to the road, not one mouldy pile of litter had been spotted. On first impressions, Vietnam was taking a great step ahead.

It was only another hour or so to HCMC, where we were dropped next to a Burger King (great omen on the food front) and elected to get a taxi to our hotel – the Alagon Saigon hotel and spa. We had tried to get a vague idea of the price to the hotel (only a kilometre away as the crow flies), but only got the ‘taxi meter, taxi meter’ response, so took the taxi anyway. Bad idea. It ended up costing us 10 dollars for a 10-minute trip as there was a building site preventing us from going the short way. ‘New year’ was the excuse, but we had been robbed blind.

After we’d checked in and inspected our lovely large room (we’d even got an upgrade thanks to Henny’s elite status on Booking.com), we went for a quick explore, found the backpacker street and got some street food (Banh Mi for me – a delicious baguette filled with salad and barbecue pork, and a disappointing Pho for Henny – we knew we’d get better). We then sniffed out a bar on a street corner, ordered a beer each, saw a woman agree to accompany a creepy old man for the night, paid up and went home to sleep like freshly-chopped lumber.

The next day, we decided to have a relaxed day of exploration and walked over to the big Ban Thanh market, where I was talked into buying not one, but two pairs of shorts (I needed t-shirts really) for a princely sum. Perspirating madly and despairing at my awful decision (and bargaining skills), we headed to a local shopping centre which had been recommended by one of Henny’s colleagues (thanks, Alex!).

It was here that I had one of the most interesting toilet experiences of my life. Henny and I had both been suffering a little from the unpredictability of a gippy tummy, so our first stop was to the loos. No urinals, just stalls in the men’s – strange, but true. First thing to hit me was a small panel on the right-hand side of the bowl as you sat down. The second thing to hit me (as I sat down) was the heated loo seat. Normally when you sit on a warm loo seat, there’s that feeling of disgust (some fat, hairy bloke has just been voiding himself here, hasn’t he?), but here it was too warm and (dare I say it) comfortable for that. This was deliberate bottom warming – and not unpleasant. Then there were various buttons to control the minutiae of the enigma that was this loo. Position, style (rear, soft

A little blurry due to fits of childish laughter

rear or front), pressure, dryer and, most importantly, the stop button as well as the heat controls for the seat and water were all present here. There was more processing power here than there was in the rockets for the moon missions, that’s for sure. I found the heat control and turned it down on the seat, as I felt a little bit like I was being turned into human bacon. I didn’t actually produce (ahem) on the loo, but couldn’t pass up this ripe opportunity I’d been presented with. Opting for ‘soft rear’, just to try it out, I heard a whirr and suddenly (taking me a little by surprise) a jet of warm water spurted with quite some force and perfect aim at (and into – not quite as comfortable) my nether regions. Startled by this inanimate object’s sudden, damp invasion, I scrabbled through the controls, initially trying to find the pressure control to turn it down (I had opted for ‘soft’, hadn’t I?!), then mashing the ‘stop’ button like a younger sibling on a playstation 2. Having managed to put an end to my reverse shower, I tentatively pressed the dryer button which, in stark comparison to the aggression of the water, gently wafted me ineffectively. After a couple of minutes of gentle waft, I reckoned I was dry enough to get back out into the real world, where I met Henny with a schoolgirl giggle. She hadn’t been as brave as I (the loo pioneer) had, and probed me tactically on velocity and surprise value.

With my afternoon having been made by the loo experience, I forgave Henny the next hour or so of shopping centre ritual (walking aimlessly around the shops, mostly western, tugging at interesting tops and saying ‘ooh that’s nice’), when we got to a toy shop full of Lego. I’m not sure if it was my giggling childishness from the loo, but I certainly felt 5 years old again as I wondered at all the new (and expensive) Lego kits that were out there. We were supposed to be searching for something nice for the two Australian girls that Henny au paired (and who I’ll be meeting in Melbourne – looking forward to it!) on her last visit down under 4 years ago, but sadly found nothing at this particular spot (except great excitement for me at the prospect of playing with Lego again at some point in the future).

After a brief visit to the top of the high tower, we found that pool afternoon was in order. We headed home, got in our swimmers, in the lift and up to the 11th floor for our rooftop pool and 3 for 2 offer on beer, which powered us through our blog posts. The wifi was good, so we were able to post and schedule a few blog posts at that point, a refreshing change from the on-and-off relationship with the wifi on Koh Rong.

Beers finished, pool splashed in and blog posted, we made our (slightly wobbly) way down to the restaurant for high tea, a small collection of cakes and fruit and a cup of Earl Grey. I was once on holiday in Devon during the blazing heat of an English summer (probably about 25 degrees) as a child and couldn’t understand how my parents and grandparents were able to drink hot tea with their cream teas. I was told, “You’ll understand one day, William. Now finish your squash.” This was the day that I understood. Glorious it was.

Once we’d finished high tea, we headed upstairs again for a bit, I watched some football (it seems to be on fox sports 24/7) and walked to the street food market, where I ordered more Pho and some fresh summer rolls, while Henny took the night off food in an attempt to curb gippy tummy. We then rolled to a travel agent, booked a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels for the two days’ time and headed back home.

The next day, after another lovely buffet breakfast, we set off in search of sights: the independence palace, war remnants museum and (most excitingly of all) the post office. We got 2 out of 3.  After taking the long way around the walls and being accosted by a coconut seller who stole 150k dong from us for 2 coconuts (that’s 5+ euros for 2 coconuts which usually cost about 75 cents each) and holding his weighty wooden staff for a bit, we found that the independence palace was shut until one. We then decided to go to the war remnants museum and return when it was open again.

Me ‘pretending’ that the stick is heavy

Henny struggling with the weight

The war remnants museum is, unsurprisingly, about the Vietnamese wars of the mid-20th century, including both the war of independence with France, then the proxy and direct wars with the United States, which they call the American war. History is written by the victors, they say, and so it was here; everything written from a refreshingly Vietnamese point of view, painting them in a brave and patriotically heroic light rather than the ‘Apocalypse Now’ cloaked-and-daggered Viet Cong, Ride-of-the-Valkyries-blaring-from-a-helicopter history we’re familiar with in the west. Along with the standard war machinery in the courtyard, there was a wealth of photojournalistic content documenting the horrors from both sides (though the torture used by the Americans seemed to be more present) and the lasting effects of the tonnes of Agent Orange used to flush out the Viet Cong. We read stories of how 2nd and 3rd generations of families were dealing with the consequences, how the social programmes were helping those affected, as well as art which had been created by children affected by dioxin. It’s amazing how brutal we can be to each other sometimes and beautiful how people cope with and get on with their lives however they can.

After the museum, we headed back to the palace, but weren’t prepared to pay entry for another museum and walk around the gardens as well, so we got a bottle of water instead and headed to the post office via the cathedral. Unlike most British post offices, this wasn’t a Postman-Pat/Mrs-Goggins-run place with chocolate bars and lottery tickets, this was more of a post palace. The only thing I’ve seen which is comparable was in Russia, where they have a vast room and hundreds of Gogginses bureaucratically stamping and franking envelopes. At one end was a huge picture of Ho Chi Minh (the president whose name the city now carries) and around 3 sides were barred-off counters with various functions; pensions, unemployment benefit, parcel collection and sending, and stamp sales. After buying enough stamps to send our postcards from Koh Rong (hope you got it, Grandma!) and taking a blurry posting-picture, we went home, had some more high tea watched some football (or at least I did) and then treated ourselves to dinner at a sushi place where we sat next to some Germans who had found out the Vietnamese for cheers and wouldn’t shut up about it. Nevertheless, the sushi was good and my chicken teriyaki delicious. We then headed to the local mini mart, grabbed some beers and headed upstairs for a Netflix and chilling thriller session with the Ritual – a great British thriller set in Sweden.

The next day, after another very large breakfast (with more Pho!), we were picked up by a bus and taken to the Cu Chi tunnels, via an art factory where people affected by Agent Orange were making some fabulous pictures on blocks of wood using eggshell and bits of clamshell. Beautiful, but useless for us travellers, so we took the short tour of the workshop then chilled in the shade before getting back on the bus. 45 minutes later, we were unloaded and had stickers pressed onto us before getting into the museum’s densely wooded area. Here, we were shown how the Viet Cong had hidden in a network of tunnels which was a miniature underground town, with kitchens, underground toilets, air holes, tailors (for the high-end Viet Cong fashion overalls), and weapons factory. We also had a demonstration of various grisly traps, initially designed for animals but used by the Viet Cong for maiming humans. We were shown the remains of a tank and were even offered the chance to shoot some guns, which felt insensitive and a little awkward to do where so many people died, so we politely declined whilst flinching every time somebody had their go. Then, we finally got to crawl through a 100-metre stretch of the tunnel and I immediately regretted bringing my large blue rucksack – it was a squeeze even for those without hefty luggage. Dusty, dirty and with aching joints from scrambling around in the dark (it was like doing mega-squats), we headed to the kitchen where we were served the staple of the Viet Cong (tapioca with a sugar and peanut mixture) and some jasmine tea. Afterwards, we headed back to the bus and chatted with some of our fellow travellers, who gave us some excellent tips for Hoi An, our next stop.

We were dropped off at our hotel and, as another treat, headed out to the tallest building in HCMC for some cocktails and sunset view (we made it with 15 minutes to spare) then went to Pizza 4P’s (For Peace – another Alex recommendation) and had the best pizzas we’d had in a long time, perhaps ever (the toppings, sauce, dough – everything perfect). A very impressive cheese board with garlic pizza bread had kicked us off and the pizzas blew us away – Henny had a half-margarita with creamy burrata and a camembert and ham and I had a seafood pizza which I added tabasco to and it was perfect. We’re still waxing lyrical about it a week later. Dreaming of that pizza. Weighing up whether to return there, even though we only have 1 night in HCMC on the way to Australia.

Almost crying with happiness, we headed home and I introduced Henny to a staple of British culture, which is on Vietnamese Netflix and I’m pleased to say it was a success. Henny absolutely loves the Inbetweeners. Happy and full of lovely food and British schoolboy humour, we slept again until it was time to wake up for more food – this time a lighter breakfast – and then we checked out, left our bags downstairs and headed up to the pool to read, relax and swim. I managed to make friends with a Scottish dad who lives in Shanghai (shoutout to John) and chatted for ages about everything. We spent another couple of hours drying off, then headed out for some Banh Mi and a beer. We headed back to the hotel, collected our bags and headed to the airport in an Uber. The airport was better than Schönefeld (not a very high bar) and we relaxed and watched a couple of episodes of the Inbetweeners after going through the rather lax security.

Once on the half-filled plane with a loud American complaining and breaking several records, including ‘Most Disruptive Passenger Ever’, ‘Most Words Uttered On An Hour-Long Flight’ and ‘Most Opinionated Female 2017’, Henny took her usual travelling nap and I plugged myself into my ipod for some Blink 182 goodness. At the other end, we were met by a chap with a board, and helped out a couple who’d been let down by their lift from the airport. I’ll leave you there, wondering what happened next, and fill you in on Hoi An at a later date.

Yours cliffhangingly,

Boulders

  Ho Chi Minh… *sigh* Gone. I’m wet and cold, but not unhappy. Wet, not because it’s raining dear readers, but because I’ve just been for a  swim in our lovely (so far) hotel pool in Hoi An, and have only been driven upstairs because a) a child, who seems to have whooping cough but decided swimming would be his activity of choice today, hawked the brownish contents of his alveoli into the water where I would have been swimming and b) the temperature has dropped to a ‘frigid’ 24 degrees.

[sufferblr]

this is just a diary entry of my day w my love ok lmao 

Finally, after months and months of ditching each other last-minute, we got to meet on the second day of a promising new year. (So glad 2016 died)

When I got to the meetup location, I passed by a 7-eleven and bought two packs of chocolate milk and hid it in my handbag, because it’s the thing between us. Ever since that day you said you liked this brand of chocolate milk, I bought you a packet every (rare) time we meet, for old time’s sake. It really brings memories from MCS back. 

I picked you up at Exit B at the station and we ran into each others arm with a giant fluffy hug! “You smell really nice!” you said. “Yeahh I got this for Christmas!” “You got smelling nice for Christmas?” you joked. I said, “What??I got this perfume!!!” We laughed. Note: Victoria’s Secret: Bombshell. 10/10 will wear again. 

So we, being our spontaneous selves, strolled around Tai Wai for food. Tai Wai is truly my favourite place in the world - I only have good memories in it, and it is full of friendly people and just the perfect place for bonding experiences, no matter it’s with family, friends or crushes. We strolled down the street full of comfortably half-full restaurants and got way too immersed in our conversation. God, we haven’t seen each other for nearly half a year. How did I even survive in those days? Our conversations are simply natural and easy. It is so easy for us to keep talking, and even the dead air moments are comfortable - there is no such thing as an awkward silence between us. Knowing she is next to me is already so fucking enough. 

We went to the end of the vertical street and went back a bit, to eat in this neat little place with red chairs and red tables. They actually let us go upstairs instead of the ground floor because it was full, and wow I am glad about going upstairs. There are way less people and more space, so that we can talk and laugh as loudly as we like. We talked about my new year’s eve, which I got so fucking drunk and couldn’t tell Sharon and Aaron apart; the receptionist that asked me if im okay because I walk all slouched and with a grin fixed on my face; also, my drunk text to you that says “i locw you <3 <3 <3″. Then you told me about your drunk stories - well, technically it wasn’t you being drunk, cus you are such a good drinker. You told me about taking care of your friend Connor, who said “I’m not drunk” while lying on a bed full of his own puke. You are such a mom friend! 

I knew you were broke af this Christmas, so i pondered on making this dinner my treat, but you said that I can pay for dessert instead. Fair enough. We left the place and walked along the entire few blocks of Tai Wai Village. Despite living here forever, I never dared to stroll around like this, especially at night. You make me feel so adventurous and brave, baby. We talked about your wild af life in LPC after MCS, of fake ids and underage drinking and all that. I wish I could join you over there. 

We couldn’t find any good new places for dessert, so I suggested the one CCY told me about before, Summer Ice something. We were two blocks away from the place and suddenly, you took my hand. (i am internally screaming). You started to run and I did too, and god that was so liberating! I haven’t ran like a child for so long. We giggled and stumbled and stopped after a really short run, because we are so bad at sports. “I’m bad at the... you know, leg things!” you said. Our hands are still locked, and we walked by this creepy abandoned kindergarten. “Serial killers live here.” You said. “Naughty children gets sent here” I said. You then suggested we get really drunk one day and break in, to which I replied, “LPC is really getting into you, THAT IS SO WHITE.” We laughed. “But have you ever lived if you don’t do white things??!” Oh my god, this girl! Where are our conservative Good Chinese Girl characteristics, really?! 

We were lucky enough to get the big spacious couple seat in Summer Ice (I’m still fangirling over our luck to get THAT SEAT among so many others!) and ordered chocolate & banana waffles, and this peach drink. (A strawberry drink arrived instead, but eh. It’s good anyway.) 

This time, I asked you to take a picture. I was aware of how often I forget to take pictures when going out with important people in my life. This time, I didn’t. You took a pic of the waffles and a selfie of us. Both of us slayyyy! We talked and talked and talked and you fed me some sorbet on the drink. I screamed internally and ate it. Now I know you don’t mind me doing that either, I did that too, a good several times afterwards. You ate them off my spoon like the good date you are! (aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!) Both of us were too full for dessert actually, but we ate them anyway. By the end of this meal, we caught up with each other’s lives in the last 6 months, and I also found out more about your relationships. I’m so so so relieved that your ‘abusive’ recent ex never hit you, but was just manipulative. I hate to admit it but I got quite angry when you posted “I got out of a shitty abusive relationship” on your private instagram yesterday - I’m not sure what I’d do about that but it’s probably something snakey if your ex-bf ever hit you. Turns out he was just manipulative - phew! Also good to know that my girl is a fierce bitch at heart that ain’t afraid of breaking up with manipulative boys. That’s the girl I love! 

Your twin brother called you and told you to get back at 10:30 for Sherlock, so we finished up and left. We were holding hands again. The street lights gave us this very distinct shadow, and that’s when we put our arms around each other and held our body and cheeks close, just to watch our shadow do the same. She said, look at us, we should be this one big human together (or sth like that, i dont remember the exact wordings). I felt so content, this is so wholesome! 

I walked you back to your minibus station with the excuse of “my bus has a schedule, yours don’t”, but really, I just wanted to spend more time with you, be it 20 minutes or 2 minutes more. We stood at the station in comfortable silence, chatted about your teachers at LPC a little, then the minibus came. 

You gave me a good warm hug again, and complimented my fluffy cardigan. I’d love it a whole new way now. I suddenly remembered something - the chocolate milk. “Wait, I got something for you!” I said and pulled it out of my handbag (which you once complimented a couple years ago - I picked this out deliberately). You giggled again and I clearly remember what you looked like that exact moment, eyes closing into this pretty pretty line and shoulders scrunched a little, and your back arching slightly backwards, as if you couldn’t contain the happiness thrown at you! You were smiling so big and I was so happy that I can make you smile like that. Again, so wholesome. “I love you,” I said again as I went for another hug, which was returned generously. “I love you too.” She replied, and she boarded the minibus. “Bye!” I said. As I walked back to my shuttle bus station to go home. 

On the way from your station to my station, I turned back at least 4 times, hoping to see you wave at me, or perhaps just look at me and smile. I’d mouth to you, “I love you”, but damn my eyesight. I couldn’t see that far, and the inside of the minibus was so damn dark. Still, I stole a few glances at the minibus again. Only after it drove away did I finally stop turning back. 

As always, I need a song to remember this by. I chose Gale Song by The Lumineers, because I don’t listen to it often so it’s a clean state to collect memories and it’s the song I was listening to when i was waiting for you at Exit B - it had come on shuffle. I listened to the lyrics, only to find out it was a love song. 

This loneliness won't last for long I wasn't there to take his place I was ten thousand miles away

So when you hear my voice And when you say my name May it never give you pain

'Cause I don't wanna go But it's time to leave You'll be on my mind, my destiny

And I won't fight in vain I'll love you just the same I couldn't know what's in your mind But I saw the pictures You're looking fine

Gale Song - The Lumineers

Tell me, baby, how are we not lovers? Would we be together if you never left MCS? Probably. But we’re graduating in a few months, could we be together then? You said you wanted to leave Hong Kong. 

And most of all, do you love me back? Because I love you more than words could ever say. From June 2015 to 2nd January 2017, you are in my head every moment. 

And here, I've made a decision: When we graduate, I’ll ask you to be my girlfriend.

#a bold statement #personal #**r #*r #i love you #stay strong and stay fighting #when the big exams are over i have a surprise for you #i love love love love love you #so fucking much #fuck it my heart is beating weirdly again #love you baby

[jasonheart1]

Renck: Denver7 Takeaways after Chiefs sweep

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs make opponents look flawed. Offensively, they possessed a mismatch Sunday on every play with anyone not guarded by Chris Harris Jr.

Upsetting them demands perfection. That is not the Broncos. Not this season.

Denver competed, then watched MVP frontrunner Patrick Mahomes guide five straight scoring drives. Offensively, the Broncos ran well enough to win -- 189 yards -- but submarined themselves with a flurry of flags.

It also might have marked the last game for the longest-tenured Bronco, Demaryius Thomas. The Broncos are listening to trade offers. They would prefer a third-round pick for the veteran -- I think a fourth is more realistic. Thomas' exit would create playing time for rookie Courtland Sutton and free salary cap space for next season when Thomas would likely not return. The Patriots, Eagles, Texans and Colts are looking to add a wideout. Thomas estimated his chances of being dealt at "50-50," a fair guess after Denver's latest defeat.

In the end, the Broncos lost a game they were not supposed to win. The script flips this Sunday. They are favored against the Texans, despite Houston's five-game winning streak. Lose at home entering the bye week, and coach Vance Joseph's status, if not that of a few coaches, will come under intense scrutiny. 

My Denver7 takeaways from the loss, The Broncos' 10th in 12 road games under Joseph:

Yellow submarined

The Broncos insist the refs missed some calls, and made others that were ridiculous. No argument. The problem with this logic? This is who the Broncos are. They have been penalized 65 times, 56 of which have been accepted, seventh most in the NFL. Denver no longer has Peyton Manning to camouflage more mistakes than Clinique. They must play a cleaner game to win. No excuses.

Pass-Fail

The Broncos continue to move the pile in the run game. However, their pass blocking remains a mess. Every Broncos offensive lineman was penalized, save for right tackle Billy Turner, who allowed two sacks. The return of right tackle Jared Veldheer this week -- at least that's the plan -- could help stabilize the group. Yet Garett Bolles' lack of development remains a concern. He has been penalized six times this season, fifth most in the NFL.

On secondary thought

The Broncos hoped cornerback Adam Jones would provide a lift in the secondary. He played zero snaps. Tramaine Brock was OK, but the Broncos needed terrific from him. Had he been better this season, it would have freed Harris to play more outside, making a greater impact. 

On his Case

Quarterback Case Keenum led his most impressive drive as a Bronco to end the first half. He gave the Broncos hope, so what gives? As the Broncos have dropped five of their last six games, Keenum has too often compiled stats when the outcome was decided. He has yet to play a complete game. This is a problem. The Broncos signed him to produce wins, not fantasy league stats. His line is doing him no favors with 22 sacks allowed. Still, he must stop holding onto the ball so long in the pocket. He looked terrific in play action and on bootlegs. Do more of that. Please.

Run for it

The Broncos have found their offensive identity. In a pass-drunk league, they are a running team. They rank first in yards per carry (5.3) and seventh in yards per game (133.1). Phillip Lindsay boasts an impressive resume -- he leads all rookies in rushing yards --playing with relentless drive and energy. And Devontae Booker showed burst (nine carries, 78 yards) not seen since his days at Utah.

Isn't that special?

The Broncos special teams are better. Sunday, they were ordinary. Colby Wadman delivered a 22-yard punt, believing the play had been blown dead. Brandon McManus missed his first field goal, and a popup kickoff backfired. Again, the Broncos have no margin for error on the road in general and against good teams specifically.

Coaching matters

The Broncos match up well against the Chiefs, losing twice by a total of 10 points. The Chiefs have a better roster. They also made adjustments the Broncos failed to counter. Denver played too much zone coverage in the red zone, and the jet sweep third down call cost them control of the game. I like creativity. But running Emmanuel Sanders laterally seemed unnecessary given how well Lindsay was crashing between the tackles. And Joseph's clock management in the final minutes deserves scrutiny.

There is no shame in falling to the Chiefs. It matters because of the lopsided loss against the Jets. Now, the Broncos face the Texans needing a victory to keep their postseason hopes from fading to black.

  Enjoy this content? Follow Denver7 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and download the Denver7 app on iOS and Android devices for continual access to breaking news, weather and sports.

Want Broncos news? Denver7 Broncos insider Troy E. Renck is your source. He talks to the players, covers the games and reports scoops on Denver7 and the Denver7 app. He is a CU grad who has covered pro sports in Colorado since 1996, including 14 years at The Denver Post. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and TheDenverChannel.com’s Broncos page. Troy welcomes most of your emails at [email protected].

from Local News https://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/broncos/broncos-takeaways-after-latest-loss-to-kansas-city-chiefs