#i think this is the first thing jj abrams has worked on that i really LIKED

[gracies-baby]

Pregnant

(Gracie Abrams x Reader)

——————————————————————————

G!P Gracie

Y/n stares down at the pink stick in her hands as tears run down her face.

"What will Gracie think? Are we ready for a baby? She's going on tour, will she even be around?" Y/n mumbles to herself before her phone begins to ring.

"Hey! Where are you? We were supposed to meet like 20 minutes ago" Olivia, her best friend aka over the phone.

"Uh, I can't make it. Actually, would you be able to come over? Please?" Y/n asks as she continues to stare at the stick.

"Yeah, is everything okay?" Olivia asks as she hurriedly gets into her car and drives to her friends house.

"Yeah. Just hurry please" Y/n replies before hanging up the phone and sitting on the bathroom floor with her head in her hands.

"Y/n? What's wrong?" Olivia asks as she rushes into the bathroom before looking at what Y/n's pointing at.

"Is that what I think it is? Is that real? Are you actually pregnant?" Olivia asks with an excited grin.

"Why are you so happy about this? It's not a good thing! Me and Gracie can't have a baby! She's going on tour soon! Her career has just started picking up, this is gonna ruin it!" Y/n cries into her friends shoulder.

"Wait, you guys didn't plan this? You're not on birth control or anything?"

"We usually use condoms but we had a kinda crazy night the other week and it.. broke" Y/n says turning away as her cheeks turn bright red.

"Okay, too much information" Olivia groans.

"That's not important! How am I supposed to tell Gracie about this? She's gonna leave me!"

"Seriously? There's no way that girls gonna leave you. You're like her lifeline. You've really never talked about kids?" Olivia asks confused.

"Well, we have but it wasn't supposed to happen for a few more years"

"So it's just happening a bit early. This is a good thing, Y/n. You and Gracie are gonna be amazing parents" Olivia comforts her friend.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. I'm gonna call Gracie"   Y/n says as she pulls out her phone, hanging up when her girlfriend says she's on her way.

Olivia leaves the house when Gracie arrives, giving the two some privacy.

"Hey, you okay?" Gracie asks when she notices her girlfriend's nervous expression.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I pulled you away from work" Y/n replies as she hides her face in Gracie's shoulder.

"You come first. Always. Now what's up?" Gracie asks, kissing her girlfriend's forehead.

"Gracie.. I'm pregnant" Gracie's eyes widen in shock.

"I know we didn't plan this so I understand if you want to leave but I'm keeping it. This baby is part you so it's going to be perfect" Y/n continues when her girlfriend doesn't answer.

"Y/n.. of course I'm not gonna leave. We're having a baby! There's gonna be a mini us walking around!" Gracie exclaims in excitement as she spins her girlfriend around.

"You're happy?"

"Of course I'm happy! We're having a baby! Aren't you happy?" Gracie exclaims as happy tears form in her eyes.

"I am! I just didn't know if you would be. I mean, you've got tour soon. You won't always be around"

"I can postpone that. I love my fans but my family comes first. I'm always gonna be around, Y/n. I promise" Gracie says as she sits on her knees to kiss her girlfriend's stomach.

"Hi little one! I'm your other mom. I know you don't know me yet but I'm gonna be here for you forever" Gracie says as she presses kisses on Y/n's stomach.

"There's not even a bump yet" Y/n giggles as she runs her hand through Gracie's hair.

"No but there will be. There's really a baby in there. And they're gonna be perfect" Gracie replies in disbelief.

—

"Dude! You're doing it wrong! That goes there!" Gracie groans at her brother as he puts a crew in the wrong place. Y/n laughs at the scene as she watches Gracie and Henry put the crib together while herself and Gracie's mom make dinner as JJ and August watch TV.

"Then do it yourself! We have family dinner once a week and you're making me do this? Do you realise how much better your TV is than mine?" Henry replies as he throws the tool down.

"This is for your niece. Don't you want to be a good uncle?”

"She's not even born yet! Besides, she's not gonna love me more just because I helped put her crib together" Henry glares at his sister.

"Besides, I'm sure Y/n would want you to do it by yourself anyway. She loves watching you work with your hands, right?" He smirks teasingly as he watches Y/n turn around to glare at him with red cheeks.

"You know what? Do this by yourself" Gracie groans as she stands up to walk towards her girlfriend, ignoring her brother's disagreements.

"Hey, need any help?" Gracie asks as she wraps her arm around Y/n's waist, rubbing her bump.

"Nah, we're good. Why don't you go hang out with your dad and August?" Y/n replies as she leans up to press a soft kiss against Gracie's lips.

"Uh, maybe wait actually" Y/n says, stopping Gracie in her tracks.

"You okay?"

"My water broke" Gracie stares at the girl blankly before snapping out of it.

"O-okay! Um, we need to get to the hospital! How do we get there? The cribs not even together yet-" Katie cuts her daughter off.

"I'll drive you and Henry and your dad can stay here and finish the crib. It's gonna be fine. C'mon, let's get to the car" Katie says as she grabs the baby bag from Gracie and Y/n's room before taking it to the car. Gracie wraps her arm around Y/n as the shorter girl squeezes her hand in pain.

"It's okay, it's gonna be over soon. And we're gonna have a baby girl" Gracie tells her girlfriend with an excited but nervous smile as they share a kiss before walking to the car.

—

“She’s so fucking perfect” Gracie murmurs as she lays her head on top of her girlfriend, staring down at her daughter.

“She is. She has your eyes” Y/n mumbles with a soft smile.

“She’s all you love” Gracie replies as she lays a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and then her girlfriends.

#taylor swift x reader #gracie abrams #gracie abrams x reader #fluff #taylor swift

[weerd1]

It’s Been a Long Road: Two decades after “Star Trek: Enterprise” I still have Faith of the Heart.

After the click, there are 2300 words of me doing a deep dive on my love for "Star Trek: Enterprise." You have been warned.

When I was in elementary school, I was a year younger than my peers. My mom had decided I didn’t need to go to Kindergarten as I was already reading ahead of my level, so she insisted I be placed at age 5 directly into 1st Grade. In ways she was right; I completed the reading and phonics program in my little Arizona school for the entire first grade before Christmas. To this day though, I am clumsy with scissors, paste, and all the “kindergarten skills” and I spent the rest of my school career smaller, weaker, and less coordinated than everyone in my class. 

This probably all worked out in the end; sure, I couldn’t play sports, but to avoid bullies and getting picked on, I got funny, and that’s worked out pretty well for me. But in those days when I would play a sport such as baseball, the opposing team would step a little closer, the coaches would advise me to take the walk; I was not as good as my peers, so allowances were made for my performance.

That is exactly how I looked at “Star Trek: Enterprise” for years. It was only four seasons, while its powerhouse predecessors all had seven. It wasn’t set in a utopian far future, but rather not too far from now meaning more modern and vernacular language. The science seemed a little spurious, with writers seeming to think the term “Rigel” was just some made-up word from older Trek series rather than older Trek series using actual star names for locations. The knowledge of Trek seemed a little lacking as well, with the first episode citing “Klingon Warbirds” and basing the hero ship on a design introduced in a then recent movie…that was set 200 years later. 

I watched though, as we were coming off of there being CONSTANT Trek on television for the previous 15 years, and this was what we had.

I groused then, a lot. The lack of continuity, the trivia gaffes, the over-sexualization of women characters (ok, that WAS more than a bit overdone, and I still grouse that point).

The theme song. Oh my lord, the theme song.

But eventually, this show won me over, almost in spite of itself. Then there was a major shift in tone for the third season, and it got to be pretty solid, and the FOURTH season was…STAR TREK! Like its predecessors, the show had taken some time to find its footing (c’mon, admit how uneven the first couple of seasons of TNG were), but had pulled itself together, and the show’s future looked bright in 2005!

And then there was a truly terrible last episode and ENT was cancelled and gone. 

Twenty years later, here I am, and though the absence of new Trek only lasted about four years—until JJ Abrams 2009 movie—I felt that absence keenly then. I am glad to report there has been Trek I really enjoy since then…and some marginal entries, but that’s not new either honestly. But with all this new material, I still find myself going back to revisit Archer and his crew. I’ve rewatched maybe two TNG episodes in the last 15 years. Maybe two or three Voyager episodes. But TOS, DS9, and ENT I hit regularly. Why does ENT keep forcing itself to the front of my Trek consciousness?

From the beginning, ENT suffered from some external pressures that weren’t helpful to its development. There was a tension between doing more of the same, successful formula Trek had been delivering since “Encounter at Farpoint” (the TNG pilot episode from 1987) and doing something experimental and new. Viewer fatigue was setting in a bit, but fans were vociferous in what THEY thought Trek meant. Anything that strayed too far would take a beating on the internet message boards. 

DS9 had just finished off their wartime storyline, and though there were adamant Niners, it was only just beginning to truly find its audience with the advent of home video allowing one to actually watch the whole thing. Meanwhile, the less arc-oriented VOY had added the character Seven. There had been a ratings increase, which the producers took to mean any new show needed an attractive woman in a catsuit. Remember also, we were in the midst of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, so going BACK to a time when the story could be a little looser was floating in the zeitgeist. 

But it was also 2001, and though the visual continuity of the then modern Treks had maintained a history inclusive and accepting of TOS, putting a starship on screen that would look like a century’s LESS development than Matt Jefferies’ design from the mid-1960s was going to be problematic. 

I don’t know this is true, but I also suspect that since the previous shows had a British man, a Black man, and a Woman as captains, someone in Production wanted to make sure there was a white, American man back in the center seat. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s my gut.

So all of this goes into the show, and honestly it kicks off as a bit of a hot mess. So much seems to be playing it safe. Some fairly cliched storylines that occasionally try something a little new. A few things it does try new are not quite there: That aforementioned over-sexualization of the women in the crew*. Cringy comments about relations with aliens. Archer watching water polo.

There are a lot of forgettable episodes, contradictions. And yet, I kept watching. Yeah, I was on message boards complaining about the tech looking too advanced. I’d gripe about how un-Vulcan the Vulcans seemed. I’d gripe about every violation of what I accepted as canon, that was often really just things the fandom had settled on in the 70s and had no basis on the show. And I was just a complete tool online when the first cloaking device showed up. 

And the theme song, oh my lord, the theme song.

But I kept watching. And before I knew it, I started to appreciate something about this show. I had to make a choice between griping that this modern show that I was actually enjoying didn’t adhere to a single line of dialog written (then) 40 years before for a show that wasn’t expected to last a year. I, a staunch Trek gatekeeper, was having an awakening about continuity and canon, and I had to figure out why. Finally it hit me. 

These characters, these performers, they were more than they should be. These characters were making me love them, even when the stories were mediocre or cliche or counter to what I believed was canon. 

Take Jonathan Archer, played with almost megaton-levels of earnestness by Scott Bakula. Archer’s earnest, do-gooder nature is so extreme…you know how a show like “Family Guy,” does a joke, and it’s ok, and then it keeps going way too long, and you get sick of it. And then it keeps going still, and somehow, this only kinda-funny joke goes so long or so far that it actually manages to somehow loop back around to being not just funny, but hilarious. That’s Archer’s earnestness, his naiveté.  His “oh gosh” nature is interesting and fun compared to Kirk’s bravado. Then, after he oh goshes his way into losing ANOTHER fight, he’s simply grating. THEN you start to think he’s just devastatingly boring. But if you keep watching, then it comes around to this unironic serving of safe-guy that doesn’t blink in how GOLLY he is as a hero and you smile when he all but winks at the camera. And then, in later seasons when he’s faced with some pretty devastating moral dilemmas, you FEEL it!

T’Pol, played by Jolene Blalock: she’s so attractive it almost hurts to look at her, but you realize soon after that while she somehow seems to keep ending up getting rubbed down in decon Jolene is BRINGING the performance. That her delivery, her tone; the micro-expressions which betray her stoic facade for the Vulcan emotions at a full boil underneath…you buy it. You realize her performance is wonderful, and she’s one of the best Vulcans in the entire franchise.

Connor Trinneer as the character I recently described as “Florida Man in Space,” Trip Tucker. He’s a walking cliche, his accent making “warp-field plasma conduits” sound like something you’d serve up with sweet tea and grits. He’s got Himbo energy that rivals the output of his anti-matter reactor, and still it works. His “I don’t really know much about anything, but I’m willing to learn…oh God I’m pregnant” (actual episode) speaks so beautifully to humans DISCOVERING things for the first time, screwing it up, but learning from their mistakes and going back for more! 

I could easily go on about Travis Mayweather, the kid who grew up in space and is both completely knowledgeable and blissfully ignorant of anything that goes on out there. Malcolm Reed, the British tactical officer who if his upper lip was any stiffer, he could use it as a weapon. Hoshi Sato who starts out completely out of her depth, and ends up loving it all. Dr. Phlox, your over-friendly, polyamorous uncle who brandishes optimism like a flame thrower and plays with eels. 

They are all just…TOO. Too this, too that, and in doing so, somehow all circle back to being absolutely perfect. Because as flawed as ENT is in its storytelling at times, and how mired it is in attitudes before #metoo, the IDEA of the show is a great one: How does humanity get from the mess we are now to the icons of TOS or TNG? Enterprise shows us it wasn’t a switch, but a road.  A long road, getting from there to here.

Yes, even the damn theme song, hokey and way too on the nose is EXACTLY RIGHT for what this show means.  

Somewhere along the line, we all knew we had to move in a little closer when ENT comes up to bat, but we all started wishing, hoping, that maybe it would get a home run.

And sometimes, just sometimes, these characters that are great in spite of themselves, and this design, that’s too good for what it should be**, and this show that’s just not on the level of its predecessors does exactly that and knocks one into the stands. Suddenly it’s season four, and Enterprise manages to sum up the humanity Star Trek has been serving up since 1966 better than any show before or since:

Vulcan Ambassador Soval: We don't know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment, you're as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next, you confound us by suddenly embracing logic.

Admiral Maxwell Forrest: I'm sure those qualities are found in every species.

Vulcan Ambassador Soval: Not in such confusing abundance.

We’re not perfect, we’re not utopian, but we are AMAZING when we give ourselves the chance, and for me, Enterprise takes that idea and runs with it. It often swings and misses, but when it connects, we can smile and clap and let it take its run around the bases, because it makes us feel good. And if it weren’t for Enterprise teaching me how these lessons, these characters are more important that visual continuity or strict adherence to arcane canon, I wouldn’t have accepted the Kelvin timeline. The DISCO Klingons. The Strange New Worlds uniforms, sets, and character interpretations. Because as much as I love what Star Trek means, all of that deeper meaning is nothing if it isn’t entertaining. And Enterprise taught me how important that was. 

I could go on about how much better the show got when Berman and Braga took a back seat to Manny Coto, though there are certainly strong arguments that he got a little too fan-servicey. But in the end, the point is CBS took over and closed down Enterprise just as it found its footing. I hope the wave of nostalgia we’re seeing applied (perhaps TOO applied in shows like “Picard”) to modern Trek means we get more than a passing Lower Decks reference to the show. And if not, well, I’ve got my copies, and my fan fic, and my Tumblr memes. 

Most importantly though, I’ve got (I’ve got, I’ve got) Faith of the Heart.

*I will give the show credit at least that it was pretty willing to flaunt shirtless men as well, and biceps-a-plenty. 

**In regard to things looking more advanced, I will give credit to Brannon Braga for dropping a hint in an interview at the end of season 1 that the Enterprise-E coming back in “First Contact” had subtly altered the timeline, making things a little more advanced. Fans—and I regret to include myself—railed against that online, and it wasn’t really mentioned again. Recently, Strange New Worlds has revisited and canonized the idea that the timeline, even though it is the Prime timeline, DOES go through shifts and changes due to temporal incursions, evidenced wonderfully in the episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” when a Romulan time traveler admits to altering time so the rise of Khan happens not at the 1992 date that Spock gave us in the original series “Space Seed” to now to him still being a child 30 years later. It’s in-story shorthand for the fact that when a show goes for six decades some continuity has to change and THAT IS OK. I wasn’t ready to accept it then, but am glad it’s now part of Trek. 

#star trek #star trek enterprise #long post #another jackass opinion #former gatekeeping asshole #i got better

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

Fallout is one of my favorite action movies of all time, but I haven’t seen Ghost Protocol (I’m very inconsistent with my franchise watching). Are they similar movies? What do you like about GP?

i think if you loved fallout, you should definitely watch ghost protocol. having finished my first trip through the entire franchise today with fallout, which indeed fucks, i am now qualified to say that kind of the whole thing with the missions impossible is that each time, they promise “the same movie, but kind of different,” and each time they more or less deliver, with the back half being more similar to each other than any of the first three are to anything else in the franchise, so that while fallout and ghost protocol are different - fallout has a certain heaviness where ghost protocol is all light, fallout’s look is warm and hazy while ghost protocol is crisp and bright - it is extremely difficult for me to envision the filmgoer who loves fallout and thinks ghost protocol sucks. i think they’re pretty equal in quality, with which one you like better coming down more or less to taste. tbh i would throw rogue nation in here too, which doesn’t quite have the it-factor of gp and fallout to me, but which definitely provides ample footage of tom cruise doing insane shit that is shot to look maximally cool as fucking hell. (i think the first two are both great and worth watching - i have learned 2 is much maligned but it’s balls to the wall crazy and horny as hell and i had a great time - but their vibes are both different enough from the later movies that i can imagine someone who loves the back half of the series but not the front, and indeed have seen those people out in the wild. 3 is complete and utter garbage start to finish and is only worth watching because spending time with all the things jj abrams sucks so much at really does set you up to appreciate the strengths of the subsequent entries. i spent all of ghost protocol marveling at how awesome it is when something cool is happening on screen and the movie knows it’s cool so the camera just slows the fuck down and lets you actually see it in all its coolness.)

as to the question of what specifically i liked about ghost protocol, which i do think emerged as my favorite of the bunch, i mean, so many things:

said this already but tom cruise in this movie is maybe the hottest he’s ever fucking been. he’s got the hint of wildness in the haircut (shades of his glorious mi2 hair) but also an incipient agedness, a hint of being just past his boyish good looks which as i think i said earlier he adjusted to by hitting either the hormones or the gym or both to fully transition from his youthful impishness to Man Hot, and, i don’t know, it really does it for me.

it also genuinely works for the movie - one of the things that fascinates me about tom cruise (noted terrible person and evil cult member/apologist) is that he is a rare actor who you can watch getting better over the course of his career, because most successful screen actors either coast on whatever got them into that world in the first place (looks, mostly, but sometimes whatever it is people see in will ferrell) OR are successful screen actors because they are in fact tremendously good at acting. tom cruise has always been good at being a movie star - your eyeballs want to watch him, they just do - but he’s found additional dimensions to the craft of what he does as he’s gone on (largely, actually, by becoming a more understated performer, which is so interesting to me as contrasted with the leo dicaprio of it all), and in the mission impossible world, i think this is the movie where he kind of locks into a particular gently world-weary exasperation for ethan hunt that he takes with him through the rest of franchise.

the movie is not world-weary, though. the movie is, like, effervescently, joyfully fun, tip to toe. there’s a playfulness to the proceedings, a lightness to the touch, that i found just dazzling to watch. and to be clear, this isn’t, like, the MCU-style jokeyness of constantly undercutting your own tension or drama or whatever (although it is probably the funniest of the bunch) - all the missions impossible are 100% earnest and sincere - it’s more a sense that the movie is letting the audience in on a marvelous joke, which is how yes, we are doing all these silly, insane, wild things, isn’t that fucking cool? aren’t we all happy about it? i am.

this doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen MI3 but points to this movie (and actually also to fallout) for i think making the best possible choices in the wake of jj abrams’s absolutely terrible decision to give ethan hunt a wife

when the movie first started, while i was relieved to get away from the hideousness of jabrams world, i was at first a little disappointed to have properly entered the era of contemporary action blockbusters where everything is always chrome because i had loved the first two movies’ use of color so much (lots of great greens and blues in the first one; all that horny red in 2!). but i actually wound up really falling in love with the style as the movie unfolded - it’s a movie in love with a stark white sky and the contrast of black and gray and the well-deployed pop of some big color, and it became clear to me that this was all, like, intentional and aesthetically minded and not just a default to What Action Movies Look Now, and once i understood that i was like, actually i love how crisp and clear everything is, i love that this all feels like it’s happening at noon on a cloudy day in february. (the thing that cemented it is that you can tell when the last act is starting because after all that clear bright white, suddenly it’s sunset and everything is a little bit golden from then to the very end). there’s a thing with a red balloon that is just… it’s great. delightful. delightful! jabrams SAYS he wants his movies to delight you but this movie actually does it.

after the much more uh mission-practical gear of the first three movies i don’t know who was like “let’s dress tom cruise up like he’s about to go model watches for GQ and THEN have him beat the shit out of people” but i want to kiss that person on the mouth. the aesthetic really does at some points feel like it’s right of the pages of a high-end menswear magazine or something and i mean that in the best way possible, it’s so stylish and great to look at but also the juxtaposition between the zillion dollar suits and the relentless levels of hand-to-hand combat is SO much fun to watch

this movie has some real fun with a couple Gadgets!

tom cruise wears a bruce springsteen shirt

josh holloway is in it for like four minutes

the thing everyone talks about with this movie is the skyscraper climbing sequence and the reason they all talk about it is because it’s sick as hell. the fact that they do it is awesome but it’s also absolutely done right to wring every last drop of awesomeness out of it, both in the way events unfold and in the way it’s shot. i’m a film idiot i don’t know anything about cinema but i know that watching that on a TV on my couch at home, knowing it was coming and also knowing, duh, ethan hunt does not die, i felt actual biological twinges of the same anxious physical effects i feel if i look down from up too high or accidentally get too close to the subway tracks. like they HAD me.

it’s just so fun. it pops! it dazzles! it plays! it’s a movie that gives a sense of being made by people gleefully excited to play with the very coolest toys in the sandbox and happy to share them with you. it's the carly rae jepsen album of mission impossible movies

seriously i am going to be getting over tom cruise’s hair in this movie the entire rest of my life

#askbox #missions impossible

[purplekoop]

Do you have anything in mind for Nekross’s backstory?

I have my own ideas. But I do not want to step on any toes.

To be entirely transparent (no pun intended), I haven't really thought about their story much at all. It's for slightly better reasons than just me not thinking about it at all... even if that's part of it. Like I mentioned in the post about character heights, Nekross is uniquely tricky due to both being the newest character to be that far along the development pipeline, and due to their super unique defining ability making them daunting to really put too much stock into this early on. In a way I do kind of regret revealing them so soon, but at the same time I don't know if I would've committed to them as a serious member of the cast otherwise if I didn't put them out there anyways.

More relevant to the actual question, story stuff in general comes fairly late into the process so far. Almost always I start with a gameplay concept, then make a design to match the gameplay, and *then* I think of a story that accommodates the design and abilities. If I need to go backwards I will, like in the case of Yanno needing a visual redesign to match his retroactively increased durability, but I like going in that order first. Nekross does have a decently solid kit planned out and a pretty decent first draft design that gets across what a final result could look like, but their story right now is a complete mystery. Their possession gimmick is actually kind of part of the issue here too. Because I want to have a decent explanation for how the hell they do That, it has to be the main thing their backstory explains aside from their basic existence. It's such a wildly different concept from the rest of the relatively grounded cast that it feels like it needs special attention in order to justify how it works. They have to somehow cram their existence *into* another bot's body, which probably requires a bit more flexibility than robots tend to be known for. I have some vague ideas but need to give it serious thought before I commit to anything.

In a kind of accidental way I don't mind this actually, I think if any character deserves to be a jarring enigma it's the alien-looking murder ghost robot. Like, I kind of think for right now that Nekross is cooler of their backstory *is* a mystery. It's sort of the JJ Abrams mystery box, except I don't even have a box but if I did then I'd want to open it just so I don't look stupid when someone walks in and asks what's in it.

Not to say you should feel bad for asking, I really don't mind, I just wanna be honest about how I don't have an exciting answer yet. I'd love to hear your ideas, but for the same reason of "maintaining the mystery" I'd prefer to keep it private, either through tumblr or discord DMs.

Also I swear I do have character backstory ideas, for the rest of the cast, I just want to wait until I can write them out before I commit to anything and I still don't have anything more than a phone to do that on

#war bots #asks #nekross war bots

[syauska]

Okay so, after the rollercoaster ride of today's Silent Hill transmission from Konami, I do have some preliminary thoughts.

(I'll link to the individual trailers as I go; the full transmission is like almost an hour long, I don't want to subject anybody to that lmao)

The full slate of media being worked on is at least 5 separate projects:

Silent Hill 2 Remake, a RE2-make style traditional remake developed by Polish studio Bloober Team (Layers of Fear, The Medium) in collaboration with the core remaining members of Team Silent, Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka

Return to Silent Hill, a new film by the 2006 film's original director Christophe Gans and produced by Victor Hadida, his late brother Samuel Hadida's production partner, that largely follows the plot of Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill Ascension, some sort of livestreamed semi interactive evolving media production created as a partnership between Bad Robot (JJ Abrams' media company), dj2, Behaviour Interactive (creators of Dead by Daylight), and Genvid Software

Silent Hill Townfall, a mysterious character driven piece created by Annapurna Interactive (Stray, Kentucky Route Zero) and NoCode Games (Observation)

Silent Hill f, a title left deliberately vague, set in 1960s Japan and developed by the creator of j-horror landmark Higurashi: When They Cry, Ryukishi07

I have mixed feelings about all of these! I love the original developers and appreciate the depth of care and affection all these new partners have for the franchise--multiple people at each satellite company have stated how deeply formative they found the original games--but like... there's so much going on at one time here.

Out of all of these? I have the highest confidence in Townfall and f. Annapurna Interactive has shown (to me at least) that they understand ambience, the importance of quiet spaces and environmental storytelling, emotional nuance, and no fear of taking risks or being left field. That's EXACTLY what the franchise needs right now, after years of being trash trapped in the doldrums. Likewise, Ryukishi07 (whoever they are, single plural or otherwise) has a veteran pedigree in Japanese psychological horror, and could do a lot of good transforming the games into the new world with their talents. How much it ends up feeling silent hill y is up for debate, considering how juxtaposed their normal style is from the American cinematic homage Silent Hill normally reads as, but still.

With regards to the movie: I do like Christophe Gans, and think he's a competent filmmaker with an appreciation for the source materials and atmosphere that other directors might lack (such as MJ Bassett, the director who botched Revelation in 2012).... but. I simply don't trust the vision he's outlined in his recent interview with Konami to be a captivating movie. Why watch his movie at all? If Return to Silent Hill is going to be like they said, pretty much a straight adaptation of 2, they're not going to have the room to grow and develop from the source materials to make it feel like its own Thing the way the 2006 film managed.

I'm a bit of an outlier in that I did genuinely like the 2006 movie! Despite its problems with pacing and the corporate interference of adding the B plot with Sean Bean, and the flashbacks detailing Alessa's backstory being a bit mishandled (also likely due to upper management's demands of rewrites), the tone, the environments, and performances were really effective. It haunted me for quite a while after my first viewing, to the point where it helped develop my affinity for horror in general and the series of games in particular, which imo is a hallmark of a good movie! But the way Konami and Constantin Pictures have outlined their project for RtSH, I have no reason not to just skip it and watch a compilation of cutscenes from the game on YouTube instead and call it a day, or pony up for the remake, which is going to deliver the same story almost shot-for-shot.

I have no idea what they're doing with this Ascension bullshit. It's supposed to be interactive and crowd operated in a live setting, but like. How does that work here. This franchise has always been a very independent experience from the jump, and the only deviations have been utter failures (notably Book of Memories, a top-down roguelike co-op game on the PS Vita relentlessly hated by fans and critics). How do you translate the fear of isolation and claustrophobia and violence and the unknown into a livestream? I just don't see it being good honestly. I'm happy to be wrong! Please I hope I'm wrong here. But... considering "executive produced by JJ Abrams" has been the blood in the water for more than one esteemed franchise, because he can't fucking write his way out of a paper bag but people tell him he can, I just don't see it having the nuance or subtlety the brand needs.

The SH2 remake is just an utter wildcard, but I'm leaning towards "eh" at this point. I just think, like... we don't really need a film adaptation of 2 AND a remake. It's so redundant, telling the same story in the same ways, when 2 is already a beloved central pillar of horror gaming to begin with. There's so much potential and so many stories to work with in the franchise already! Or even an original screenplay set in the universe could be good too. But what sounds like a 1-1 adaptation of the original game is, well. Not what I want all that much, either from the movie side or the game side. I don't know whether I like the focus in the game so far, considering it's supposed to feel quite hazy and unsettling, while the trailer feels a bit too grounded and emotive. But it's hard to say this early whether that means they miss the mark or nail it in terms of atmosphere. The discourse is pretty evenly split from what I've seen. As a good sign: Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka are both involved as core members of the SH2R team, which means creatively the Bloober Team should be on a comparatively tight leash with regards to the liberties they can take with the game's direction. Bad sign: apparently Bloober Team are known for bungling topics around mental illness in some of their work... and idk if you've ever played Silent Hill 2, but that's a pretty significant component of the title lmao.

Overall? My feelings are certainly mixed, but the fact that the series is being brought back to life after nearly a decade of silence and development hell? I'm glad. I certainly hope all of these end up good, but won't hold my breath and choke on it if I can help it. High hopes for f and Townfall, though. If any of these can make it, it's them. And as always, remember

"The fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh"

#silent hill ascension #silent hill 2 #silent hill f #silent hill townfall #the discourse #long post #sorry I just have a lot of thoughts today #Youtube

[brendaonao3]

Hey so since you posted a mission: impossible thing I'm just gonna ask you:

Which do you prefer out of Mission: Impossible 2 and Mission: Impossible 3?

Hihi!!!

Please feel free to ask me ANY Mission: Impossible questions you want!!! I'm not only a huge fan of the film franchise - THE best action film franchise of all time (I said what I said) - but I also love the TV series for the over the top crazy late 60s/early 70s vibes and total mindfucks. :D

Okay, so, having said that - I'm going to give an honest answer - but I need to lay a few caveats: 1) I LOVE LOVE LOVE John Woo - I think he's a brilliant director and I'm a huge fan of both his Hong Kong films and his Hollywood films. I fully believe he and Ridley Scott are the 2 greatest living directors.

2) I cannot STAND JJ Abrams. And not just for what he did to Star Wars. He did his damnedest to ruin Star TREK first - a franchise he knew nothing about (and man, you could tell) - all to GET the Star Wars gig, and then fucked that up too. And we won't even get into all of the ways he should never be allowed to direct action or write women (yes, I know about Alias - again, I said what I said) or try to work on anything other than weird indies.

That being said - much as it pains me to admit it - MI3 is objectively a better film. I love MI2 because it shows how broken Ethan was after MI1 and losing his entire team and getting betrayed by his old mentor (not to mention, the IMF) and how hard all of those blows made him, until he met Nyah and she cracked that hard shell open and gave him back his purpose. The end of MI2 also perfectly sets up MI3 in that loving Nyah allowed Ethan to be open to Julia.

But MI3 has the superior villain (PSH might be the best MI villain if I'm honest) and introduces Benji and is the first to show us the behind the scenes machinations of the IMF and is the first film to really show us just how deep and true Ethan and Luther's friendship has become and it's also the first film that gives us the full scope of Ethan's skill set - his ability to quickly read people, the languages, the improvisation, the ingenuity, all of his weapons skills, the way he can pivot and make a new plan on the fly, his ability to train people, and his absolute inability to believe a job cannot be done.

And, most importantly, MI3 gave us Julia. I mean, look, I love Ilsa with my entire heart and soul, but Julia is still my favorite character after Ethan, because her arc is just brilliant in the way she goes from clueless civilian to survivor to protector. And she's the only person who knows Ethan at his core, all parts of him.

So yeah, as much as I hate JJ, I have to give him props for MI3.

#brenda answers things #mission: impossible #ethan hunt #julia meade #john woo #jj abrams #brenda has many opinions

[ad-hawkeye]

haiii

I'm really out of movie critic hcs for Artem so I i wanna ask on who, do you think, are his favorite directors? hehe njfhfhf I kinda feel he would be into Guillermo del Toro's work and maybe Christopher Nolan's. I just know he has good taste.

hi!!!!!

oh goodness i'm not too well read on directors, but i know enough to have TAKES. first of all, agreed with you. artem has nolan dad energy. he'd fit right in with all of the other middle aged dads going in to watch christopher nolan's latest war related think piece

another funny thing about artem is his fondness for romance movies. hell, his favorite movie (about time) is a romantic comedy that doesn't even have amazing reviews or anything (in terms of time wonky romantic comedies, i like groundhog day better!), so i do think he'd probably not rly care about public opinion of directors when making up his mind. which! keep it up you funky little movie critic.

there's also his love of sci fi ... which never :) gets :) mentioned :) anymore :) and i think he would Not like jj abrams. for the sole fact that he's the only guy who managed to piss off both star trek fans AND star wars fans HAHAHA

#asks #anon #artem wing #tears of themis #SORRY IF THIS REPLY KINDA SUCKS i know the absolute bare minimum abt movie directors aside from the General Famous ones

[aphroditestummyrolls]

1, 15, 38, and 49 for the fic writer questions!

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

I already answered this one! This is what I said

Ummmm. Depends on the fandom, for sure! Getting into my writing in general, I’d say the To Be Human series for The Old Guard and Gaining Heart for Spartacus.

More recently, though? The Only Way Out (is through) for wesper and Colm. I am so in love with this story, and it really encapsulates a lot of the energy that I try to bring to all my writing— the introspection, the comfort after the hurt, the messy emotions that come with healing, support from both romantic and platonic relationships… and of course ✨Colm Fahey✨.

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written?

Ooooo. It’s an oldie 😅 it’s the Kes-Verse. My rewrite of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Id still love to go back in and edit and rewrite some things, and finish up the last two stories in the series that I never posted! These stories were fuelled by rage at JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson, love for these characters that got so utterly fucked, and no small amount of desperation for a distraction from the pandemic. And my terrible relationship. And the nightmare of finishing my degree online. And needing to postpone my life. The stories in this series were a gateway into such wonderful friendships and helped me figure out so much about my writing style. (Kes Dameron walked so Colm Fahey could be the father he is today!)

The runner up is a toss up across a couple different fandom’s stories— The Old Guard’s Color and Light, the Mickey/Pierre fic I Travel Alone, and Keep You Safe for Six of Crows.

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

I had to check my AO3 stats for the past couple years to see if anything jumped out at me as odd. I mean, I was surprised by Time for a Spare Prayer. It was supposed to just be a fun little project to explore all of my Colm and The Crows headcanons, and to post in the in-between for Between Hope and Desperation, but it’s really taken on a life of its own. I’m so happy that people are enjoying it so much.

The other one that’s really shocked me is one that I haven’t even posted yet! The Jesper Honeypot Whump-shot has become something that I get requests and asks about, the snippets and moodboard have gotten quite a few notes, and people seem to be really excited for it. It makes me so happy— it was really just a little thing for myself, but it’s quickly morphing into a multi-chapter situation.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

I have answered this one as well! Here’s what I said:

I’m one (ONE!!) scene away from finishing the next chapters of both Spare Prayer AND Between Hope and Desperation. So close. I’m also like, half a scene away from finishing the first section of the Jesper Honeypot Whump-shot, too, and I’m contemplating turning it into a multi-chapter fic (not sure though. But I’m really happy with how it’s turning out, and I’m getting really excited to post it!!).

And here’s a different little snippet, from the next chapter of Spare Prayer:

Jes didn’t even meet his eyes for a second before he was fully absorbed by that boy.

“You’re late.”

“And what’re you doing out of bed?” He asked, as if he wasn’t grinning from ear to ear at the fact that the lad was up and about.

“No one was there to keep me there.” Wylan replied from where he sat at an empty table. He reeled Jesper in by the buckle of his gun belt, craning up into a kiss. Colm took a swig of his beer.

“Mm.” Jes hummed, his lips smiling against the other lad’s— it almost pulled at his heartstrings. “Easy— I’ll just have to tie you up next time.”

Nevermind.

“Jesper Llewelyn Fahey.”

Honestly.

Thanks for playing! ❤️

#ask games #thanks for playing! #star wars #the old guard #spartacus #nagron #six of crows #wesper #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #colm fahey

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 57

Oh no. Not Love Shack. Leave it alone, Sam. How could you? "Rock lobster barbarian from Hell?" SERIOUSLY?!!! "I'm starting to lose the will to live! Please put me out of my misery!" Really, Sam? Oh dear gods ...

Taliesin: "Did you say gothy?" Ah yes, that's catnip to Jaffe.

"Applebee's Soulcycle" again ... (snort)

Ashley and Laura rocking the caps, I love it ...

Yes, they are all talking to each other in their heads. Chetney (immediately): "Balls!"

So clearly sound = gruesome death.

FCG: "If the stag had a dream I could talk to it." Yeah ...

Chetney: "Get loose, FRIDA, get loose!" FRIDA: "Someone oil me!"

Yuck ... fumes ... lovely ...

Massive tower. ALWAYS a dead giveaway.

"Round here" ... Counting Crows, now? Oh, that's set Matt off, that dark grin! Travis: "No, don't roll, don't roll!"

There's motes and spores IN THE AIR?!!! It's like the Upside Down out here? Not good ...

Aaaaaaaah ... undead traces? Lovely ... it's getting worse ... Matt is totally messing with Travis now. XD

Creepy tree ... CREEPY TREE ...

Imogen: "A fiendish tree? Is that loke a thing?" Chetney: "I don't know, I didn't read the books!"

"Orgies"?

Oh fuck ... it's a PEOPLE TREE ... that's nasty ...

Ashley: "How do I have a minus 1 (for Nature check)? I rolled a ZERO. What ARE plants?"

Deanna: "I'M DISTRACTED!!!" Imogen: "We can all hear that!" Deanna: "Shit! I thought this was like a single line!"

My gods, it's like Annihilation. With dead horses ... oh shit, yes, don't let Imogen see THAT!!!

Oh fuck ... not Fearne's topiary again ...

Decompose? Are you SURE? In THIS place?

In a nutshell, Imogen means STOP MESSING WITH THIS SHIT!!!

Chimes? Really? And a HOWL?!!!

Chetney has advantage on scent based stuff and Travis STILL rolls balls ... and Chetney inhales a spore! XD

Slow going, so another stealth check, but Pass Without A Trace is still up ... phew ...

"We're in Molaesmyr, it's Upside Down day!"

Ask the Changebringer? FCG casts Divination ... so what's the skinny? Ooh, wind based response! Cool ... Imogen: "That's the first time I've ever seen a god actually DO something."

"Flippers"?

More ghosts? Fuck ... it's the Paths of the Dead! Not good!

Little teeny FRIDAs! That's adorable! :3

Aabria: "Can I insight check the ghosts before you say the scary thing?"

Shiiiiiiiiit! That didn't go well at all ...

Fuck, these thing are moving like the Weeping Angels! Aaaaaaaaaaah!

Channel Divinity ... JJ Abrams lens flare? Cool ...

Am I the only one thinking that that's a whole FUCKLOAD of rolls?

Five left ... and FOLL INITIATIVE?!!! Shiiiiit ...

Holy fuck that is a SWEET Battlemap ...

Slightly mesmerised by the minicam's slow pan ... O.O

Spiritual Weapon! A tiny FCG? Cute ... Superman style ... "Can you read my mind?"

Deanna turns her staff into a HALBERD?!!! Awesome!

Another Spiritual Weapon ... giant Dawnfather mace! Cool. Boosh!

Travis: "We don't need to see a crazy mini with baby arms." Don't give him ideas, Travis!

Fuck, there's something watching from the tower? Great ...

The ghost tries to REACH INTO Deanna? Seriously? Fuck ... Dirty 20 gives it a hit, though.

Tiny FRIDA whirlwind? Hmmm ...

Chetney getting attacked now ... Charisma Save ... 2? Shiiiiit ... and now he's POSSESSED?!!!

Now FCG? 13 ... what, Us that NOT good enough? Oh ... just worked! Phew ...

Imogen would be a hard attack, wouldn't she? And Fearne KILLS her save too, NICE!!!

Mind Whip! Cool ... and they FAIL!!! Ouch ... and Laura rolls THREE ONES in damage? Oh fuck, the dice gods are CRUEL ...

Mister! Yay ... Fearne shoots out three Scorching Marisha Rays? XD Cute ... all three hit ... aaaaand it doesn't do much ... oof ... they're resistant to fire. Crap.

Chetney is now ATTACKING FCG with Turmoil! Crap ... 17 points of damage! Ouch!

FCG: "Chetney, what's gotten into you?" Laura: "Her name's Rebecca!"

Divine Strike! Yuuuuuusssss!!!

Sam: "I'd say I am a Close Friend to FRIDA now since we've swapped spit!" XD

Deanna beelining for Chetney ... Greater Restoration! Nice! "GET OUT!!!" at the possessing spirit ... BOOF!!! Nice ... Full blown exorcism ...

Deanna: "Are you all right?" Chetney: "I'm a little salty!" Deanna: "Thanks, I hate it!"

Desperate crossbow action ... and that actually WORKS against ghosts? Trippy ...

Aabria (at Sam): "God, baffle your fucking dice!"

Scare effect ... ouch ...

Sam's flask ... RIP Gerry? Oh. My. Gods ...

Imogen casts Dissonant Whispers ... 3D6 psychic damage! Cool ...

FCG gets to Divine Strike on an Attack of Opportunity ... and KILLS that ghostly bitch! Nice!

Mister's mad so he shoots flaming shit at the ghosts! XD Fearne chucks an Ice Knife at another one ... nooooooo, she backs up and takes a devastating Withering Strike! Aaaaaaaah ... thankfully FCG takes HALF of it ...

Oh ... that Ice Knife ghost kill was REALLY COOL, though ...

Ashley: "I'm not scared anymore!" Aabria: "OWN your power, girl!"

Chetney gets the HDYWTDT ... Matt: "You kill it. That's what you get."

"A large wing type tip"? REALLY, Matthew?

Matt makes Ashley roll for concentration ... Nat1? Fuck ... she just RECASTS Pass Without A Trace instead ... phew ...

And now there's something FLYING AROUND out there ... great ...

"Trained as an absolute unit ..." XD

Oh ... that is FREAKY ... multiple legs AND streamers? Forty odd feet wingspan ... and NO HEAD?!!! Sweet fuck, Mercer ...

Creepy place ... are they SERIOUSLY gonna stay here? And there's a tree growing in the middle of the place ... okay ... and it's got a face like the other one ... lovely ... carefully please, FRIDA!

And now it's GRABBED them ... great ... RUN!!! Oh, that wasn't fun ...

Impressive view ... and COMPLETELY terrifying.

Don't talk to the tree, Fearne. PLEASE don't talk to the tree.

Still a half mile to go ... time to move, then ... znd FRIDA keeps watch ... hmmm ...

Chetney: "If only I had a Bonded Blessing." Aabria's explosive laugh is adorable. Sam: "With hindsight that was a mistake ..."

Time for a break.

They're now lost, essentially ... shit roll, Sam!

And now FCG has now fallen into s hole that's just erupted open in the ground! Shit! Everybody gets hit by the miasma! Aaaaaaaah!

Imogen pulls FCG out JUST IN TIME ... but they feel like SHIT. Oh, discussions of their potentially LOSING IT ensue ... yeah ...

Chetney (while they all start babbling): "We're sll gonna die. This is how it happens."

Crap ... the flying thing is COMING ... and it has one massive purple eye instead of a head ... and it's been hunting? So maybe it's gonna be busy for a while, at least ...

Time for FRIDA to head out snd join the others ... and that's a Nat1 on stealth ... crap ...

FRIDA gets halfway back to the others ... Travis: "Oh, he's in storytelling mode." Yup, bad sign ...

Oh, that is a NASTY tumble ... and NOISY. Double crap ...

Howling ... shit ...

"The barks and snarls of MULTIPLE beasts" ... oh, that is LOVELY ...

RUUUUUUUUN!!!

Chetney wolfs out ... but only his UPPER HALF?!!! Ye gods ... running round on creepy little baby legs ...

Oh, decisions decisions ... this is fucking CHAOS ...

Seething Storm? Whoa ... that is AWESOME ...

Oh my gods ... Fearne PICKS UP a sobbing Deanna and just BOOKS IT for the tower.

Wait ... did that actually WORK?!!!

Chetney Donald Ducking it with his tiny legs ... Matt (dismayed chuckling): "That is HORRIBLE ..."

Stoneshape for cover? Cute ... is it gonna work?

The Gildhollow Tower ... hmmm ... looks like it's gonna be HARD to get in ... but lots of COVER, at least ...

Dire wolves? Oh shit ... MUTATED dire wolves ... oh, it's just ONE BIG FUCKED UP RAT KING of a creature ... that is HORRIFYING ...

Everybody's all over the place and it's FUCKING CHAOS ... and now it's dusk ... lovely ...

Imogen tries to Send to FCG ... and Matt makes her roll a D100 ... shit ... is her hair gonna fall out again?

Chetney and FCG home in on the tower ... snd now it's howling! Great ...

Trying to find some way into the tower ... and now Imogen's just CLIMBING up the growth on the outside ...

Guardian of the Faith? Okay ... shaped like a giant Chetney wolf? Cool ...

Fearne makes a Mirthful Leap ... nice roll!

Everybody's climbing now ...

FCG: "Imogen, what the fuck are you doing?" Imogen: "SOMEBODY'S gotta save their asses!" (hair flip)

This fucking thing can CLIMB?!!! Shiiiiit ...

Hiding inside the windows now ...

Guardian of the Faith is SERVING right now! Nice!

Oh, so IT IS the Wolf King. Lovely ...

Ah ... it's backing off ... phew ... thank fuck for that ...

Freaky attempt to comfort Deanna from werewolf Chetney ... "Relax." Deanna: "I can't relax, this is CREEPY!!!"

So ... to business. This is where Ludinus came from ... what can we learn?

Chetney's smell adventure ...

Laura: "That's skin ..." Oh PLEASE don't tempt fate like that ...

Heavily looted ... shit ... not a good sign ...

Fearne tries to "Vibe Check" the place ... XD

This is indeed The Place. Okay ... going upstairs, then ...

Let's not loot the nasty mouldy corpse, guys ...

Traps ... crap ... burn? Oh dear ... a glyph? Hmmmm ... Dispel Magic! Quickly! Oh ... that was cool.

The ring ... snack or souvenir? Hmmm ...

Investigating the weird papery strips ... it IS shed skin ... charming ... and now we're considering the possibilities ... oh boy ... whatever it is, it can't be good.

Looking for clues ... mouldy scroll ... oooh ...

Casting Mending go try and repair the scroll ... SMART.

I'm sorry ... Laerryn? REALLY?!!! O.O

"An Exandrian TED Talk" ... XD

"What is her name? There is power in names."

I swear, one mention of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity and Travis starts channeling Cerrit ... :3

Oooh ... Chetney funds a clue ... intriguing ... what is it?

Arcana Check ... Aabria rolls a NAT20!!! Nice ...

It NEEDS magic? Ooooh ... interesting.

Matt: "FCG, a fickle bitch." Laura: "Fickle Care Giver?" XD

Trying to get at whatever it is in the back of FRIDA's mind ...

Something SOFT ... oh fuck ...

Everything starts shaking ... great ...

A pinkish OOZE?!!! Really? FACES?!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!!!

Some freakish shape-shifting NIGHTMARE ... Matt: "And that's where we're gonna end for the night." SHIIIIIIIIT!!!

#critical role #crit role campaign 3 #crit role spoilers #campaign 3 spoilers #campaign 3 episode 57 #matt mercer #marisha ray #laudna #travis willingham #chetney pock o'pea #liam o'brien #orym of the air ashari #laura bailey #imogen temult #taliesin jaffe #ashton greymoore #ashely johnson #fearne calloway #sam riegel #fresh cut grass #aabria iyengar #deanna #deanna critical role #christian navarro #f.r.i.d.a.

[walkawaytall]

20 fanfic questions

Tagged by @otterandterrier for this one!

How many works do you have on AO3?

27

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

247,251

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Purpose of Heritage (140) Every Version of You (83) Collateral (80) Tell Your Sister (71) Confirmed by Sources Close to the Subject (68)

Some of this was actually really surprising -- I did not know a one-shot had edged ahead of Collateral on the kudos front (and I definitely would not have expected that one-shot to be Every Version of You).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I think the earliest comments on my first fic never got replies because I didn't know what I was doing exactly, but I do try to respond at least on AO3. I know leaving comments takes effort, and I genuinely appreciate them so much, and I like talking to people about stuff I've written. So...it seems like a good thing to do.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oof, it would probably be Collateral if I hadn't added the epilogue, but I did, and that epilogue is angsty af but it also ends on a rising note, so I don't think it fully counts. So, that being said, I think it's actually one of my more recent ones: Entirely Shattered. Everything's broken at the end of that one. And, like, we know it'll be fine eventually, but they sure don't.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think several fit the bill, but my favorite of those is Confirmed by Sources Close to the Subject

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far. The only objectively negative comment I've received is someone who is actually really angry with JJ Abrams and/or Rian Johnson and just decided I was a good outlet for that via anonymous guest comment on FFN. Also, I'm like 90% sure that comment was left by one of my regular readers over on FFN due to some weird circumstances surrounding it and overall vibes, and if that's the case, they're still reading and commenting even after that negative comment was left so...whatever. Otherwise, I've not really received hate. A couple that have been like...passive-aggressive unsolicited concrit, if there exists such a thing, but meh.

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind?

Nope, not something I'm into.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I don't, and I don't read them either. I hesitate to say "never" because you never know what sort of inspiration might strike, but I don't think I'll ever write a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, but I've only been posting for like...10 months

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I haven't, and I'm honestly not even sure how that works logistically speaking tbh.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I mean. C'mon. (Han/Leia obviously. Though in revisiting The Hunger Games this year, I have a new appreciation for Peeta/Katniss)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I'm not like...throwing in the towel on this one, but I have a WIP called Macabre that I had originally started for Han/Leia Appreciation Week and it got replaced by Brief Shadow for the "Anniversary" prompt. The whole concept is this idea that Han and Leia celebrate the anniversaries of every time they should have died but didn't -- there's a whole backstory baked in as to how this started and how they even have the dates recorded to do this in the first place (Leia has a calendar, obviously) -- and everyone around them thinks it's kind of a, well, macabre tradition, but it's like a post-war, coping-with-humor thing for them. The problem is I spent a decent amount of time setting up the backstory and how they sort of accidentally stumbled into celebrating an anniversary the first time, and then I simply didn't know where to go from there. I do think the concept has promise, and I really like what I've written so far (I've posted multiple snippets here! Because I was so sure it would be finished and posted in August!), so I won't say never. But I seriously don't know where to go with this. (Like, honestly, if anyone has any interest in giving it a read and making suggestions, I'm game.)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have been repeatedly told that I stay true to the characters' voices, which is really important to me, so I hope that's true. And, like, if I capture the right vibe, I can write some kind of heartbreaking gut punches.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have a hard time writing things that are not angsty but are earnest. Like, earnest fluff. People actually saying their feelings straight-out. Anything like that. I feel like I need to talk about this in therapy or something.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Ah...I think as long as you do your research, it can be fine? I don't really do this, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Okay, full-circle moment because I forget about this, but I just remembered it recently. I usually say that the first fandom I wrote for was Left Behind: the Kids and that is the first fandom I posted anything for. But, but, the first time I entered a Star Wars phase, I found out fanfiction was a thing, and before my 11-year-old self was exposed to some racy Trip to Bespin fic that scarred me and made me scared to look for fanfiction (this was the late '90s. The Internet was the Wild West and I don't think people were rating their fics, or at least not in a way that was clear to me. I had no real way to avoid running into stuff I didn't want to see, at least not that I knew of), I had actually started writing a little story that I was going to submit to some fansite I found. I remember nothing of it except it took place on Endor the morning after the Battle of Endor and Han had asked Leia to marry him. I actually don't even think I had a plot fleshed out. I just really wanted Han and Leia to get married. I mean, girl, same. When I say they're my OTP, they are my OTP.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Complete dark horse moment here, but I realized today, that I actually think it's Brief Shadow. Like, I do think Purpose of Heritage is going to hold a special place in my heart if it doesn't drive me insane first, but I packed a lot into less than 800 words for Brief Shadow and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

I think everyone I'd tag got tagged by @otterandterrier (thanks for the tag!), but if you want to participate, please do! These are fun.

#fanfic asks #fanfic questions #fanfic game #writing #about me #it me

[goddesspharo]

if i may: ✦ and ♡ [any fic you’d like]?

✦ what was your easiest fic to write & your hardest?

I'm going to go with the ao3 era because I'm definitely not looking through LJ. Although I will say I was certainly more prolific re: volume in those halcyon days, particularly for Gossip Girl and House (of all things!...as if I was not obsessed with that show for at least the first two seasons) - God, that perfect storm of excellence that the S2 finale with House getting shot leading to Cuddy and Wilson putting House in a Ketamine coma without his consent and then S3 beginning with him running??? CHEF'S KISS. Even though that show went batshit crazy later on, the mileage from some of those storylines was highway level. This show was at its best when everyone around House was doing ethically dubious things in an attempt to get him to stop doing ethically questionable things. 

But to answer the actual question: I almost never think any fic is easy while I'm writing it and questioning my decision to write anything at all, but some involve less hair pulling than others. There was a period after The Batman where I got into a nice little groove (after not writing any fic for a good five years, apparently) of feeling like the floodgates opened and I wanted to write tomes, which probably has more to do with loving Matt Reeves' distinctive Selina voice. (The effortless baby to this hot mess of a socially awkward dude she met four seconds ago works only because Zoe Kravitz has confidence for miles.) I think living in a rhythm where the minute's working overtime was relatively easy to write (and shorter after the two previous 10k+ fics I'd written) - it felt easy, breezy while I was writing it and I had a good time. 

I'm always inclined to say that the hardest fic is whatever I'm currently working on because it's not over, but in this case, I'm going with against the grain of dystopic claims. As a person who almost never posts WIPs, I'm not sure why I decided a Top Gun Maverick apocalypse AU was the perfect time to start, but I probably would've relegated it to languishing half-finished in my google docs if I hadn't posted it as a WIP so maybe past me knew the only way to get it done was to have external accountability? It was hard to write because I vaguely knew where I was going with it when I started writing it and then had to actually follow through with PLOT that made sense and couldn't go back and change things that I had previously set up. It did force me to make an outline for the current WIP just to avoid that JJ Abrams life, you know?

♡ pick a fic and I’ll pick a comment that made me really happy

Any time a person comments on fic, it makes me happy. There's nothing like that rush when you get one of those [AO3] comment e-mails because it makes you feel like you're not screaming into the void! Of course I agree with the adage that you should write for yourself, but you're also to an extent writing for others (or else you'd never post it, right?) so it's nice when you hear something back. Then it becomes a game of catch instead of throwing a baseball into a tornado and hoping that it'll return someday. I love when people leave lengthy comments with pull quotes and how things made them feel or why certain bits worked for them, but it's also really nice when you get a comment years later with people telling you they still love something you wrote. (Those comments where people are talking about re-reading your stuff? LOVELY.) All of this is a long-winded way to say that if you've ever commented on anything I've written, know that it has probably made me really happy even if it was a sentence. 

[ask me about fic!]

#ask me things #we can pretend there is a thought process behind any of this

[duskwingmoth]

notes and highlights from reading my discord message history (2016):

girl u used to be so sillay. I should get silly with it sometimes

2016 me was a little confused but was also so fucking right about lars steven universe

ough. Failure to recognize imminent trump presidency. You stupid fucking liberal ffs

do u rember enjoying overwatch. I rember...

Liveblogging the sonic 2016 stream like "this new charmy bee album is bussin"

"I just saw the quintessential torb potg"

"beginning with him dying"

hanging on his corpse for the full respawn timer"

"while his turret did the hard work"

"predictably nowhere onscreen"

I was the first drop dash hater. If there are no more drop dash haters i am dead

attempting to read through this sexting now KNOWING FOR SURE i was absolutely faking it is. cringe

S. Skoop. I forgot that i called skype "skoop" (and that there was a brief period where i had it on my phone while discord was on my pc)

Talking about multiple story/game concepts i have since abandoned. Death

Doesn't matter if it's 2013, 2016, or 2024; somebody somewhere is complaining about JJ Abrams. It is probably me

There was a dang stevenbomb when these messages start and tbh I was right on the money abt steven universe in general. More ppl should have listened to me instead

huniepop lmao

I was still in iPhone Hell

Making comments to friends about things i refuse to share or elaborate on. I have learned nothing

playing ALL the hits tbh we even got Complain About Family in here

Scoutposting but it's overwatch

"defense shouldn't have left the point undefended"

Bitch shut UP about Pokémon

Oh my GOD just Shut Up About Video Games in general

The Sword Art Online hater has logged on

All these tumblr links that don't work anymore. Sad

How did i make it to 22 without realizing i was experiencing caffeine withdrawal

Yes yes past robin you've got nintendo diagnosed as fuck can you not sound rude and elitist and also cryptoracist about it

(three hours worth of messages just ranting about nintendo jfc. 2009 youtube would have loved me)

The Traumadumping,

Watch watch. You can see the exact moment steven universe rips her heart in half

Reading through basically all the previous things in varying order. Knowing what's coming up.

The moment

Oh no... The Federation Force announcement. The five stages of grief logged in real time

girl your dick was not out for harambe you did not even know what that meant

Hare-brained game concepts part 3027498: radio station with hundreds of hours of recorded dj voice lines

360 controller sucks send post

It is so easy to tell what youtube poop i was hyperfixated on at any given point

girl u really went looking for and personally banned specific slurs in your twitch chat and proceeded to NEVER STREAM. Self-harm champion. Self-harm's strongest warrior

Oh my god. The inception of steam user gofasthog was on my birthday

Is sent jerma rumble live-action with no prior knowledge or context. Complains

Affirming my girlfriend's life choices and gender. Rare pre-crack based moment

Not long now

The PSVita Chronicles. Very short-lived

"Why is twitter orange" wtf are you on about

September 26th, 2016; 09:00 AM PDT:

There really is like. A shift in my tone after this. Immediately so much performative anger is just gone

"I'm trying not to think about it tbh" no you should be thinking about it more. More please for your health pLEASE think of the hips you are going to lose your chance

Lesbian Gay Bacon Tomato Quiche Ice Arson. I cracked the code

Impostor syndrome. Envy. Jealousy. Girlthing you need to chill

Posting through having my shoes disintegrate instead of asking for a new pair. Lol. Lmao even

Finally watched the jerma rumble series and enjoyed myself. The redemption arc we all deserved and didn't know we needed

Utterly failing to code basic game functions. I needed my girlf frend to help me she is so smart and cute and lovely

the wii u woes

And the switch jokes. They're bad! They're very bad

I had played the paladins beta. You can tell because i complained about torbjörn overwatch again

Civ VI release date, or: how i learned that having good CPU was actually really important

Also the day i committed to my new name

More coding failure

Mere hours before the election polls are called it dawns on us both that we really are going to get a trump presidency and i weep with despair while trying to convince us both that the worst won't happen

(It didn't. We are alive and together)

You can see me desperately struggling with the growing reality that i am not as politically reasonable as i consider myself

A dark pall over the holidays. I won't elaborate. I don’t think it's necessary

#long post

[crusherthedoctor]

Introducing Sonic Stellar, AKA Beyond the Stars 2.0.

Crusher has come to make an announcement. (If you made a moon joke, you’ve failed the test.)

If you're a regular viewer of my blog, you might have noticed that it's been over a year since I last updated my fanfic, Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars. The reason for this is very simple: hindsight has messed me up real bad, Scoob.

One of the many problems with writing a fanfic is that you can get new ideas - or alternative takes on the ideas you're using - that would ultimately work out a lot better for your fanfic... when you're already smack dab in the middle of it, and are too far in to be able to reverse gracefully without pulling a JJ Abrams. This is exactly what happened with me, and it annoyed the hell out of me and made me feel unsatisfied with BtS as it currently was.

As you can imagine, I was conflicted over what to do, because do I really want to risk upsetting anyone by starting over? But after discussing the matter with some of my friends a while ago, and asking for their opinions, I decided to go through with my updated vision after all... which means that yes, I will indeed be starting fresh as a result.

I'm really sorry if any of you are disappointed by this news... but if I can reassure you that everything will be jake, I'd like to go over a few early notes for what you can expect from this new, hopefully stronger version of my story. Emphasis on a few, because naturally I want to keep some tidbits a surprise. (The original BtS will NOT be deleted BTW, so if you continue to like that one, or prefer it over the new version, you’re welcome. :P)

- First of all, the name. I wanted to change the name in order for it to be consistent with the standard naming convention for official titles in this franchise, since giving my story as much of the “official flavor” as possible is important to me. After juggling between my preferred choices, I finally settled on one: Sonic Stellar, because I think it has a nice ring to it, and it maintains the spirit of the original name... and because I couldn't find any other fanfics or fangames that used this name. (There’s probably at least one out there, but if I couldn't find anything, it must not be a common name, so there shouldn't be any confusion... right?)

Fun Fact: I was initially going to go with Sonic Voyage, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that might sound too similar to Mario Odyssey.

- Secondly, I want to reassure that the basic plot remains the same at its core. Sonic and friends still come to Viridonia for a vacation, they still meet and befriend Trudy (who still has EDS), Eggman still comes along to ruin everything so that he can unlock the mysteries of life the Ethereal Zone, and Sonic and friends still set out to stop him with the help of Trudy. Despite the changes and twists, that much is guaranteed... and Trudy still has her Badnik Logs, so yay.

- The main cast remains the same: Sonic, Tails, Trudy, Amy, Cream, Rouge, and the Chaotix, versus Eggman, Metal Sonic, Orbot & Cubot, and the Hard-Boiled Heavies. However, there will be an extra face this time around, because I gradually admitted to myself that certain plot points make it so that it'd be somewhat awkward if this particular character didn't show up for it.

I won't say which character that is, but I hope to portray them as well as I hope to portray the rest... because if I don't, I'm going straight to hell. :<

- Like in the original, the chapters/zones are four acts a piece. But this time around, each of them have been split into two pages from the start, meaning you have Acts 1 and 2 for one part, and Acts 3 and 4 for another. After acknowledging how much longer later chapters could get in the original, I settled on this format for the consideration of readers who would find reading a whole chapter’s worth in one go to be too daunting... and it gives me some leeway as well, so that's cool.

Also, the interludes between the chapters/zones are still a thing, for the sake of extra character interactions, and not bombarding you with too much action without any cooldown periods.

- You still have bosses in Acts 2 and 4 and the occasional drive-by encounter here and there, and they still consist mainly of Eggman's dastardly machines. However, the Act 4 bosses, despite being Eggman creations, now have a shared motif that serves to make them more climactic and worthy of their status as the end-zone boss.

What do I mean by that? Well, let's just say that Eggman wanted to make a point about being the undisputed master of any creature he sees... he's not screwing around this time...

- There are now human background characters, in perfect harmony with the anthro ones! Obviously they're not as important as the main cast, but seeing how some fans would like to see humans and anthros together - a sentiment that I agree with - I wanted Viridonia to be able to brag about it nonetheless. :D Design-wise, they’d have similar proportions to the anthros, ala @aquillis-main

- Very few elements in the original version have been scrapped completely. Zones have been altered or switched around, certain story beats come earlier or later for the sake of better pacing, and some names may be different, but on the whole, most of the original still exists in some form or another.

So if you ever stop to think “Hang on, what happened to *insert character/level/etc*?”, there's a high chance that you'll think “Oh, THAT'S what happened to it” later on down the line.

- Speaking of the zones, one reason why they've been altered is because, in light of IDW being rather unoriginal with a lot of its stuff, I was beginning to worry that I made my stages more derivative of existing Sonic stages than intended. Granted, I don't think they were too bad in that regard, but I reasoned that if I can make the extra effort to differentiate them even further, and give them even more of their own identity... why not go for it?

Certain games in the series are still an undeniable influence in terms of visual or gameplay inspiration, but ideally in more subtle or clever ways than originally. After all, why would Sonic come all the way to Viridonia to see a Green Hill if there's already a Green Hill back home?

- I felt that the Ethereal Crystals were underutilized in the original version, despite their importance, so I've made it a goal to make them a more prominent presence throughout the adventure. One way of doing that is by having each zone be represented by a different type of crystal, with the zone's overall theme reflecting that crystal's colour and/or ability in some way. This has the added thematic effect of Sonic and Co cycling through the rainbow as they go from one zone to another. Because the colours feel so right...

...But don't take that too literally. The zones aren't literally one colour, lol.

- Another change involving the crystals: there is no longer a cavern filled with them under Trudy's castle. After pondering over it, I was able to see how Trudy's arc as a regular lady becoming a hero in her own right - not unlike Amy in SA1 - could be slightly undermined by there being a cave full of magic crystals right there of all places, that she could have used at any time. Trudy still gets to use the crystals, but now there's more effort to find them, so that it feels more earned.

This also means that Trudy gets more opportunity to show off her skills that don't require the crystals, whether that involves her natural strength, her bow, her whip, or maybe some new tricks...

- One last bit regarding the zones: I wanted to add some extra lore and culture to them, so as to make Viridonia and its citizens feel all the more alive, and give them extra character and (hopefully) extra charm. And if that's not Unleashed enough for you, here's something else of the Unleashed variety: in order to differentiate the ZONE names and the ACT names, the zones are now one exotic word (Apotos, Mazuri, etc), while the acts within them keep the traditional naming structure (Green Hill, Chemical Plant, etc).

- There’s a lot more Eggman.

I think I can hear the sound of @egg-emperor​ screaming for joy...

He was always guaranteed to be a primary focus, cause he's the main baddie, and it's a Crusher fanfic, so what did you expect. But I wanted to take it to the next level. I want the doctor's presence to be felt from start to finish, to emphasize that he is a monstrous force of nature that must be stopped at all costs. He may not appear in every single part, but his shadow looms throughout the whole thing, whether that be due to the characters talking about him, the operations he's got going on in the zones, and so on. He's also more active in general anyway, taking a more direct hand in many of said operations.

- And finally, the biggest and most devastating revelation of them all:

Sonudis is still a thing, bottom text, gamers rise up.

And that about covers it for now! I won't name a date for when you should expect to see the beginning of Sonic Stellar, but I promise that it will come. Thank you so much for your understanding, and I hope you’ll be able to enjoy the reincarnation of my tale when it arrives. :)

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Fanfiction

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with "Mr Porter" (2021)

Minutes before Mr Joshua Jackson joins me in a booth for a Friday afternoon drink at a vibey hotel bar in Santa Monica, he’s confronted by his past. Or rather, a woman in her early twenties who is binge-watching Dawson’s Creek, the teen show about a close-knit group of high-school friends coming of age in a sleepy American town, which made Jackson incredibly famous between 1998 and 2003. The series, which also made household names of Ms Michelle Williams and Ms Katie Holmes, went off air 18 years ago, but is now streaming on Netflix, to the bemusement of Jackson, who played lovable rogue Pacey Witter. “This girl was like, ‘Are you...?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I am. He got old. I’m sorry to break it to you,’” he says, before ordering an iced tea and a charcuterie board to tide him over until dinner time. “It always surprises me when young people say they’ve just got into Dawson’s Creek. I’m like, ‘Is it a costume drama to you? Do you feel like you’re watching a historical documentary?’”

The idea of a Friends-style reunion episode or a Sex And The City revival feels equally far-fetched to Canadian-born Jackson, now 43 and wearing it well in a pale green linen shirt and tailored linen trousers by Oliver Spencer that complement his fading brown hair and Cali-tanned skin.

“I don’t know why you’d want to [bring it back],” he says. “Nobody needs to know what those characters are doing in middle age. We left them in a nice place. Nobody needs to see that Pacey’s back hurts. I don’t think we need that update.”

And Jackson doesn’t need Dawson’s Creek. From Mr JJ Abrams’ sci-fi series Fringe (2008-2013) to the Golden Globe award-winning The Affair (2014-2019), from Ms Ava DuVernay’s ground-breaking true-crime drama When They See Us (2019) to the recent Ms Reese Witherspoon and Ms Kerry Washington-produced Little Fires Everywhere (2020), he has commanded the small screen – with a collection of dynamic and diverse work – ever since.

His latest role as Mr Christopher Duntsch, the Texas surgeon convicted of gross malpractice when 33 of his patients were left seriously injured after he operated on them and two of them died, in chilling Peacock crime drama Dr Death, is only stepping his career up another gear.

“I’ve never played anyone irredeemable before,” says Jackson, who is joined in the eight-part series (based on the 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name) by Messrs Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin. “He is charming, gregarious and has a high-level intellect, but he’s also a misogynist, probably a sociopath, certainly a narcissist and a complete incompetent who is incapable of seeing himself.”

If Duntsch is terrifying, then Jackson’s portrayal is even more so. The artist formerly known as Pacey is virtually unrecognisable (thanks to prosthetics) in the opening scene, but the real challenge for Jackson was allowing himself to view someone who is so “spectacularly evil” as a human being in order to walk in his shoes. “It’s a more damning portrayal of the man to make him into a human being, rather than just make him the bad guy,” he says. “He really believes he’s the hero, he’s the genius and that he’s the victim, so once I got past my own judgment, all the other things fell into place.”

Jackson might have his pick of stellar roles – and challenges – now, but it has not happened by accident. Take it from someone who has been in the business since landing his first job aged 14 in Disney’s live-action movie series The Mighty Ducks, opposite Brat Pack alumnus Mr Emilio Estevez.

“You try to make it look like it happens accidentally,” he says, “but there is no way to do this and not be ambitious. I’d say I’m extremely ambitious because I’ve been doing this cutthroat job for nearly 30 years. I’m in the pay-off phase of my career now. One of the benefits of surviving for as long as I have is you get to learn from your own mistakes.”

Such as? “I wouldn’t say, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that,’ because it all becomes bricks in a path, but [after Dawson’s Creek] I was not choosy enough about the things I was doing. You get stuck. You start trying to perform the performance you think people are hoping to see you do. I was so used to working all the time that I just worked all the time. There was definitely a conscious moment in my mid-twenties when I realised I wasn’t really enjoying the work that I was doing. My manager at the time just said, ‘Take a breath. You’re burnt out.’”

The turning point came in 2005, when Jackson was offered a role in the two-hander Mr David Mamet play A Life In The Theatre, opposite Sir Patrick Stewart. “God bless him, Patrick could have made my life miserable because I had no idea what I was doing, ” he says. “I hadn’t been on stage since I was a kid and now I was in the West End in over my head. But it reminded me that I actually enjoyed being an actor, that it’s not about the red carpet or travelling around the world. What I really enjoy is working on good material with good people.”

It’s no surprise Jackson’s time on Dawson’s Creek led to a career crisis. From the ages of 19 to 24, he lived with his fellow cast mates in Wilmington, North Carolina, filming day in, day out, in an arrangement he likens to college. “You get to the end and they’re like, ‘Here’s your degree. Go live now. You’re an adult. Go out into the world,’” he says.

But most graduates don’t have to deal with global fame. “It’s transitory. You’re only ever cool for a moment and then you become much less cool. I was always pretty dubious about flatterers,” he says, recalling a time he was stung in London in the mid-2000s. “I went on a date in Hyde Park with a woman whose name I will not use – she was socialite-famous – and she was acting completely bizarre, looking over her shoulder the whole time. I came to find out that she had hired a photographer to follow us through the park and gave a whole story to the tabloids about how I was going to meet her family.”

It was his growing fortune, rather than fame, that caused Jackson the most anxiety. “Suddenly, at 19 years old, I was making more in a week than most of my friends’ parents would make in a year,” he says. “It was lovely to have the money, but it was that feeling of nobody is worth that kind of money. You feel like a fraud and it took me a long time to forgive myself for not being the thing that I was perceived as.”

Born in Vancouver, but raised in Topanga, California, until he was eight (before moving back to Vancouver following his parents’ divorce), Jackson bought his childhood home in 2001 and lives in it today with his wife, British Queen & Slim actor Ms Jodie Turner-Smith, and their 15-month-old daughter.

“My father unfortunately was not a good father or a husband and exited the scene, but that house in Topanga was where everything felt simple, so it was a very healing thing for me to do,” he says. Fast-forward to 2021 and his baby daughter now sleeps in her father’s childhood bedroom. “There was a mural of a dragon on the wall in that room that I couldn’t believe was still there, years later. The owner [who sold him the house] said, ‘I knew it meant a lot to somebody and that they were going to come back for it some day.’”

Becoming a first-time parent during a pandemic sounds stressful, but it afforded Jackson months at home with his wife and child that his normal work schedule wouldn’t have allowed.

“I now recognise how perverse the way that we have set up our society is,” he says. “There is not a father I know who works a regular job who didn’t go back to the office a week later. It’s robbing that man of the opportunity to bond with his child and spend time with his partner.”

Despite his obvious career ambitions, fatherhood has changed Jackson’s priorities in “every possible way”, he says. “It’s 100 per cent changed how I approach my work and my life. That has been made so clear to me in this past year. For me to feel good about what I’m doing day to day, my family has to be the central focus.

“There are plenty of things left for me to do, but now the thing that gets me excited is experiencing the world through my daughter’s eyes. I can’t wait to take her scuba diving. I can’t wait to take her skiing. I can’t wait to read a great book with her. I’m not worried at all she’ll be a wallflower. She’s been a character from the word go.”

Jackson met Turner-Smith, 34, two days after his 40th birthday. He had been single since his 10-year relationship with German actress Ms Diane Kruger ended in 2016. “I was not looking to fall in love again or meet the mother of my child, but life has other plans for you,” he says.

The couple met at a party. Turner-Smith was wearing the same The Future Is Female Ejaculation T-shirt Ms Tessa Thompson’s character, Detroit, wears in the 2018 film Sorry To Bother You. “That’s what I used to break the ice. I shouted, ‘Detroit!’ across the room. Not the smoothest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked. We were pretty much inseparable from the word go. It was a whirlwind romance and I can tell my daughter I literally saw her mother across a room and thought, ‘I have to be next to this woman.’”

A self-confessed “useless” shopper, Jackson gives his wife full credit for his current wardrobe. He is jewellery-free, apart from a wedding band and a gold signet “JJ” ring on his little finger (a present from his wife), and discovered tailored sweatsuits (by Stampd and Reigning Champ) in the pandemic.

“Jodie has influence in the way that a wonderful wife encourages you, through love, to dress well. She was like, ‘We’re going to throw away all the sweatpants from your past and I’m going to get you some that actually make you look like an adult male and you will still feel comfortable around the house,’ and I’m like, ‘What an amazing idea!’ Who knew you could get sweatsuits that actually look good on your body?”

Jackson’s style has evolved, he says, “from slovenly teen to it’s-nice-when-your-clothes-actually-fit-you”. The penny dropped after he auditioned for his former co-star Estevez, who was directing the 2006 Mr Robert Kennedy biopic Bobby. He said to me, ‘You only got this job because I know you. You came in here to play a very well-put together 1960s political operative and you’re wearing jeans and a hoodie.’

“I had to grow up a little bit. We are very much raised in Canada to never, ever show off, so it took me a while to recognise it’s OK to look good when you go out.”

Still, when you’ve grown up in front of the camera, “every pimple literally documented”, and lived (very successfully) to tell the tale, you can probably be forgiven for the odd fashion faux pas.

“I wore a silk Ascot to an event once in Paris and I still have nightmares about it,” he says. “I looked like Fred from Scooby Doo, but you live and learn.”

#joshua jackson #interviews #jodie turner smith #dawson's creek #dr death #fringe #emilio estevez #mr porter #patrick stewart #michelle williams #katie holmes

[saritaadam]

Spirk Your Name au I will probably never write.

- teenage Spock living at Shi'Kahr with Amanda and Micheal, Sarek being away for his diplomatic duties. T'Pring hang with him and Micheal a lot

- T'Pau is here a lot, preparing Spock for some very important Vulcan ritual. Spock can't help but wonder sometimes if he did the right choice when he chose the Vulcan path

- teenager Jim is on earth, working hard to enter starfleet, hanging out with Bones, having a baby crush on Uhura.

- like in the movie, they switch places, think it's a dream at first and eventually communicate via PADD and writing on their bodies.

- Spock helps Jim having good grades, bicker with Bones and got Jim a date with Uhura (which leads nowhere). All the while he is acting really logical and emotionless, which is driving Jim crazy.

- Spock wakes up in his body with invective to have emotion written on his forehead in english, which makes Amanda laugh.

- Micheal often finds "Spock" touching his ears. Jim talked back to the bullies, he tries to set up T'Pring and Micheal. He looked at all that new alien culture with bright eyes and a big smile. Spock dies everytime he comes back and someone mention his emotional displays.

- Jim walks around with "You are the most illogical" delicately written in Vulcan on his arms. Bones jokes about his new tattoos.

- this the time to go wild about Vulcan culture and your personnal headcanons!

- with the back and forth between Vulcan and Earth, Spock grows to accept his multi cultural nature

- at one point, Spock starts to draw from memory the sceneries he saw on earth, Bones and Uhura. And even Jim. Who eventually sees the drawings and leave compliments.

- Amanda also see some of the drawings and recognize Earth and decides to take her kids on a vacation there. It is long overdue that they see what the planet looks like

- Spock tells it to Jim and they decide to meet.

- Jim waits and waits and Spock don't pick up his comm and he leaves heartbroken.

- The next day, Bones and Uhura drag him to the Vulcan ambassade.

- Is it far away and do they have shenanigans on their way there? Yes.

- They reach the place and Jim asks the clerc to see "S'chn T'gai Spock". The clerc is surprised he is able to say the name right. They are even more surprised when they recognize the name.

- "ambassador Sarek and his family died in Vulcan's destruction 4 years ago."

- did Jim not know about it? Maybe. Or maybe he thought Spock was living somewhere in new Vulcan?

- I don't know what Jim do here to be able to switch body with Spock again. Something that has to do with the big ceremony from earlier. Anyway something magical happens here and Jim wakes up in Spock body the day Vulcan will be destroy.

- he has a talk with Amanda. Up until now, we were laid to people their switch was happening because of Spock's Vulcan heritage, of Solkar shaking a terran's hand. Nope, this comes from Amanda's side of the family

- Jim gather Micheal and T'Pring and got a plan to evacuate the planet. Up until now, Jim has not been an action man. Yes, he has told Spock's bully off, but really he has not being more than a stack of books with leg. But here, he fully takes off his leadership role. Here, he looks the planet imminent doom right in the eyes and decides he doesn't believe in no win scenarios.

- Sarek is a dick, their plan doesn't work and Jim realizes they need Spock. He goes in the desert to find him.

- cut back to Spock, on Earth, waiting for Jim. When it is logical to assume he will not come, Spock immediately takes off for Iowa.

- they meet in a crowed, and the red string of fate happens. Maybe Spock has long hair in this fic (which means he will cut them once he is back), or maybe it is an accesory on his outfit that got accidentaly stuck in Jim's shirt. In any case, they each old an edge, lock eyes for a brief moment, and Spock let go and dissapear in the crowed.

- Jim looks at the red ribbon in his hands, with emboidry of Vulcan's calligraphy he doesn't understand but is a citation about Fate. He wears it around his wrist since than, knowing it is important even if he can remember how he got it.

- Spock returns at the ambassad and the next day, Sarek pick his family up and back to Vulcan

- return to Jim in the desert. Something magical happens, and Spock is standing in front of him. Jim explains the situation to him

- yes they do the whole "let's write our names in each other's hands" thing. Yes, Spock doesn't have time to write his. Yes, Jim writes "I love you"

- Jim wakes up in his body, tries to write Spock's name down only to realize he has already forgotten it and cries.

- Spock looks up his hand, makes a comment about Jim's logic, and eventually announced to Micheal, who absolutely does not understand, that he can't remember him with a heavy voice

- Spock has a confrontation with Sarek and they are finally able to evacuate Vulcan. Maybe even? Save the planet? Because fuck JJ Abrams

- years later, when they have forgotten about each other and hardly remember those few months, like they are a far away dream, Jim takes his captainship on The Enterprise, Spock has his second, and it's like they had known each other for years.

#star trek #spirk #spirk au #star trek aos #star trek tos #i had more tos in mind when i thought about this #but i also took some inspi for aos so imagine what ever suits you

[scullysflannel]

I tried watching Fringe when it originally aired and couldn’t get past the first few episodes. Should I go back and try again? I’m inevitably disappointed when shows are compared to The X-Files because the parts of txf that shows pull from usually aren’t the parts of txf that speak to me. I do love parallel universe shit though!

yeah, the first season of Fringe can be kind of X-Files lite. it doesn't really start cooking with gas until late season 1 — not to knock the character work in the first season, but I think the characters in Fringe are at their most human when the plot is at its most bonkers, because the story gets so personal. after season 1 it gets a lot more serialized and stranger and more affecting. the parallel universe mythology is fully its own thing, so as soon as it gets into that territory it mostly stops feeling like an X-Files wannabe (they actually moved filming from New York to Vancouver after season 1, so there are winks at The X-Files, but it's more homage than imitation).

I don't usually go looking for shows that are trying to be like The X-Files either. nothing that's trying to be The X-Files has what The X-Files has. but I was raised by JJ Abrams, so if you give me a show that's half Alias half X-Files, I'm gonna watch. for me it was worth it; I love Fringe. ultimately the things Fringe does well and the things The X-Files does well are almost totally opposite: Fringe is great at serialized mythology and usually just fine at monster-of-the-week episodes (as a rule; obviously there are some great ones). and the characters aren't anything like Mulder and Scully—they're Alias characters; at one point Olivia repeats a Sydney Bristow line word for word. it's not like I ever stopped comparing them, but comparing Fringe and The X-Files only made me appreciate both shows more. they have different strengths. and for what it's worth, Fringe is the most invested I've been in a fictional relationship with relatively good communication skills. credit to Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv.

if you're into parallel universe storylines you might want to give it another try; I can try to give you a list of the most important season 1 eps if you want, but no promises that I haven't forgotten what becomes important later. but it's not like it's a must for X-Files fans. it's just a fun dessert.

#anon #fringe #disclaimer that I haven't watched seasons 2-5 in like five years since I've only finished season 1 in my rewatch #also sorry this took me a day. I was out yesterday! #fringe thoughts