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leverage-commentary · 4 years

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Leverage Season 2, Episode 8, The Ice Man Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Christine: Hello, I'm Christine Boylan, Writer on this episode.

Jeremiah: Jerimiah Chechik, I directed this.

John: John Rodgers, Executive Producer.

Chris: Chris Downey, Executive Producer, and this is The Ice Man Job.

John: The Ice Man Job was- where did The Ice Man Job come from, Boylan?

Christine: Like all great ideas, Albert brought this into the room obsessed with a certain heist.

John: The Antwerp diamond heist.

Christine: The Antwerp diamond heist. And we just tore the article apart, and we all tried to figure out, you know, what was gonna happen, and what was gonna happen in our version of it.

John: See the thing is, when you write a con and heist show that goes past even 10 episodes, you are now one of the longest running con and heist shows on earth. So as soon as a new diamond heist article hit, we attacked it like piranhas.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Jeremiah, what was it like shooting Russians stealing stuff in the middle of Portland? Cause this is the middle of the freaking street, middle of the day.

Jeremiah: It was pretty easy.

John: Yeah?

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: I could really do this all day. I think the fun of it was the bridge.

John: Yeah?

Jeremiah: Which kind of kept a lid on the composition, and we found a wonderful driver who is in this scene.

John: Vince Valenzuela.

Jeremiah: And he is a stand up, as you've said.

John: He’s a stand up. I had totally forgotten, Vince and I had worked together for 15 years ago- 20 years ago doing stand up in Seattle.

Jeremiah: He lives in Portland, he came in, killed the audition, and in this particular scene, I just love that he just slipped into that Bostonian sensitiblity and just really sold it to me. I loved it, and-

John: We had a lot of good vics this year. We had a lot of good vics this year.

Christine: Yeah, we did.

John: And that was mostly the Portland talent base.

Chris: I would say, yeah, always.

Christine: Absolutely.

Chris: Now Jeremiah did you- was there any movies that you looked at or anything you wanted to get for the feel of this episode?

Jeremiah: No, I didn't want anything to influence me at work; I like to come clean.

[Laughter]

John: He's a tabula rasa, he just takes a ton of peyote and channels the muse.

Jeremiah: I meditate for a week before and then I just go and do it. Rarely do I even read the script.

John: I know that.

Christine: Oh, I know.

John: He just knows who’s in the scene. He has a rough idea how to shoot it.

Jeremiah: But in this case, I actually did, because the script was really very very fun. It was quite clever and anyone who has seen this episode knows. And if you haven't seen it, then you shouldn't be listening to me, you should be watching the episode.

John: Should go watch the episode.

Chris: You're already gonna be lost.

John: No idea.

Christine: This is another one of those great episodes that every single one of us had a hand in.

John: Yes. Everybody has something.

Christine: Everybody has something- some gem in here.

John: And that was a nice bit with the glass. This is the first episode Sophie's gone-

Jeremiah: This is Elijah’s? cup.

John: Yes this is Elijah's cup. I'm Irish, I kind of know what that is. This was the first episode where Sophie was gone. This was originally gonna be the winter season opener, with the idea that she'd been gone for awhile. And we were really faced with the idea- we wanted to keep Gina and Sophie as a character present, and so that's where the subplot to this came up, the idea that what happens when we’re a man down? Because this is something we faced in the writers room - what are we gonna do when we’re a man down?

Christine: Absolutely.

Chris: Well this one kind of is a piece with 3 Days of the Hunter Job where we have- since Sophie's gone, people have to shift into different roles and that's really- we couldn't really break this episode until we came up with that. What’s-

Jeremiah: Excuse me, can we talk about me now?

[Laughter]

John: Yes.

Chris: I threw it to it you about the influences. You didn’t want to-

John: You didn’t want to talk about it! Do I need to get you more scotch? Is that it?

Jeremiah: Yeah.

Christine: You were influenced by the drinks of the Thai restaurant.

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: I like the dynamic of Christian and Beth in this, being petulant children.

John: Yes.

Jeremiah: Always fun to do.

John: They really fell into a brother/sister vibe this year and it really paid off; it’s a lot of fun. And the gemological institute was nice enough to help us with this.

Christine: Those guys are fantastic. We had a great-

Jeremiah: Didn't we win some award from the gemological institute?

Christine: They were definitely pleased. We got their blessings and then some.

Jeremiah: Best presentation of jewels in a television drama.

John: There’s valuable lessons for those kids out there writing the spec scripts. People like to talk about their jobs.

Christine: Research.

John: Because really, this has got a lot of really fine detail in it and the- this is- Beth is about to introduce the plot point: diamonds are registered. And not even just big diamonds are registered. They have, essentially serial numbers, on them and you called the GIA and you found out the size. They sent us a lot of information, exactly how it's done, how it’s inscribed.

Christine: Answered every question we had - really were terrific.

Chris: We’ve got beer koozies from the GIA now, we’ve got letterman jackets.

Jeremiah: You know my aren’t, but I just implied blood diamonds.

John: You just implied- really.

Jeremiah: I really gotta trade up.

Christine: This is- a lot of the registration is to combat the whole blood diamond issue.

John: Yeah. And that was-when we were writing this, for a while the first act was all about getting the certificates, and then it was just easier- and it was interesting because Chris was actually out of town. He came back, we were explaining the episode with all the certificates and stuff and then I said - it’s like filing the vin number off your car. And you were, ‘that’s it! I get that! That's-’ I was like, ‘Oh, alright.

Jeremiah: But I bet you didn't know years and years ago I did a big commercial for De Beers where they flew me to London and I walked through those vaults.

John: Really?

Christine: Wow.

Jeremiah: Where I realized diamonds don't have any real intrinsic value at all.

John: No they do not, sir.

Jeremiah: There are more diamonds than anything. More diamonds than atoms.

[Laughter]

John: It's a manipulation of perceived value. No, it’s very-

Jeremiah: Well sold.

John: Yeah, exactly. Now this is interesting. ‘Yes! I get to be the con man’. What- how did we wind up with assigning these roles? I’m trying to remember the logic we fell on? I think we wanted to sort of pay off Aldis- Hardison always tends to go too far.

Christine: Right and also Parker playing the inside here, she knows so much more about the product than anyone else.

Chris: It was also a product of - we wanted to figure out why we would get our team of thieves breaking into a vault.

John: Yes.

Chris: That was really the thing that stymied the episode was, we had a great idea behind this which was this diamond heist, but why would our team of robin hood thieves do that? And ultimately what we figured out was if one of them was being forced to do it, and they would have to break in ahead-

John: Then we were like alright, is Maggie being held hostage? And the thing is- I personally, and this is a really irrational thing, I hate hostage episodes. I despise them. They're a cheap manipulative trick. And so really trying to find the most interesting way to do, which was Aldis being grabbed in the middle of the episode because he had gone over; that at least felt motivated.

Christine: But being grabbed and used, he wasn't just like held in a room.

John: Exactly.

Chris: I don’t know if-

Jeremiah: So Die Hard is that one of the movies-?

[Laughter]

Chris: Apparently he doesn’t.

John: No, now you know why? Because she's actually got an agenda in that movie.

Jeremiah: They're hostages!

John: They're hostages, but you know what? I think in TV- in a movie it's viable, in a TV it’s not because, you know-

Chris: You're saying you think it’s schmuck bait.

John: Exactly its schmuck bait. In American TV you're not gonna kill off-

Chris: We can’t keep arguing about this during this shot.

Jeremiah: I really loved shooting this.

Chris: This is a really incredible shot.

Jeremiah: Yes I-

John: It's not bad.

[Laughter]

Chris: Talk to us about this shot.

Jeremiah: I planned this shot. I planned this shot. And how I planned it was I was gonna shoot her in slow motion. This is another shot that was very complicated. I'm always very competitive with Dean Devlin, when he directs, about how many of these moves I can do in a piece. I felt I was reasonably successful here.

Chris: Boy is she just stunning here.

Christine: Gary Camp, our operator, doing heros work again, right here.

John: Just the sort of mantra ‘shut up, trust.’ What's interesting-

Christine: ‘Trust the diamond.’

John: This mantra she's saying is actually the opposite of how Hardison plays this con. We’re actually laying in for the audience here how and why Hardison's gonna wind up screwing up. It's also- now this actor is-

Christine: Sal Xuereb. Fantastic.

John: Great job. I like that he looks at the diamond first, you know.

Jeremiah: And you can't help but look at that diamond.

Chris: Yeah, no it- yeah.

[Laughter]

John: Everyone’s a little hypnotized by Beth Riesgraf.

Chris: I’m a little hypnotized by her right now.

John: Well, you know, because she tomboys every episode. Every episode she's in the Nikes.

Jeremiah: That’s why it's nice to dress her up, and she felt great doing this, and she had a great time doing this. And what I liked about it, I got to walk to the set; that was one of my memorable moments here. I was close to the hotel. That's everything.

John: That is everything. That's how you decide how to take gigs, is whether you can walk to set or not.

Christine: That was a nice morning.

John: And Portland giving us great locations.That bridge, the street- shooting that scene in LA, we would’ve snapped our own necks.

Jeremiah: We’d still be shooting.

John: We'd still be shooting. Portland, yet again, coming through.

Jeremiah: This is good. I like the french reverses that I do here. It’s a style-

John: What is a french reverse my friend?

Jeremiah: It's not a direct over, it’s an indirect over, a left side over.

John: I trust that. and this is-

Jeremiah: This is where we feel his Cockney accent, which he worked so well, and I had to really back him out so we could understand him.

Christine: He was too good.

John: Who was our vocal coach up there?

Chris: It was- what, Mary- Mary Mack is her name.

John: Yeah, Mary Mack.

Christine: Mary McDonald.

Jeremiah: Insert edit here.

John: Mary McDonald and she worked with us for the accents all the way through Gina, Aldis, everything; it was a lot of fun.

Jeremiah: Pasha Lychnikoff playing a Russian, which was not a stretch.

John: Not a big stretch.

Christine: Nice and easy for him.

Chris: The accent you had to write this [sounds like: petoir], what did you do?

Christine: My favorite thing beside speeches is writing in accents.

Chris: Now how did you do that? Cause they were hilarious.

John: Now hold on, I'm going to get Jerimiah scotch cause he's out of Guinness.

Christine: Oh here we go, we’re pouring scotch.

John: Don't get that on the soundboard.

Jeremiah: Fight, fight.

Christine: I did it with pleasure.

Chris: Where did you find it?

Christine: You know, there is a lot of things I find difficult like plot and story, but things I find fairly easy-

Chris: But I mean, did you go on the web, were you going and looking at clips?

Christine: I've been an anglophile since I was a kid.

Chris: So this is all-

Jeremiah: Character and story are your weakest points-

Christine: Are my weakest points, you know that.

Chris: So all the-

John: Why am I bringing you back next year?

Christine: I don't know, are you? I don’t know what’s happening.

Jeremiah: You didn't say that about me, though.

Chris: So all the jargon and stuff you knew.

Christine: Yeah, this was a lot of watching a lot of Guy Ritchie movies, watching a lot of- just the usual sort of British television that I enjoy and a lot of the Brit movies that I like.

Jeremiah: This was reasonably complicated to stage, because there are so many people in this scene and-

John: Yeah, you're shooting 6 people in there.

Jeremiah: Yeah, identifying the coverage, exactly what beats to shoot, was a bit of a trick in that it’s a pretty dark place, and I had to use their, kind of, blocking to move them in and out of the light.

Chris: And to orient the geography so the audience knows where everybody is.

Jeremiah: Yeah. Especially me.

John: I like that nice little, subtle beat she does as he lists her crimes.

Christine: And that she gets more and more-

John: More and more frustrated and he can tell that she's pissed off.

Christine: Oh, she’s brilliant.

John: Where did the mute Eliot bit come from? Was that was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels? I think that was the-

Christine: I don't know, I thought that was just shutting him up. It could've been Dirty Rotten Scoundrels unconscious reference there.

Chris: I think it was general- we wanted him to get under their skin.

John: Yeah.

Christine: Hubris.

John: The whole premise of this episode was, what is the most asshole-ish stuff that Aldis can do? You can swear on these, by the way, the most asshole-ish stuff that Aldis- that Hardison could do.

Jeremiah: Can you say fuck on theses things?

John: Sure. Just don't do it unnecessarily, like in a fake prerogative it's alright.

[Laughter]

Christine: Fucking what?

John: That's good. Oh hey mom, I hope you’re enjoying the commentary.

Christine: My moms heard that.

John: And this is, sort of, the hook and the push. This is- he's- the trick to, and Apollo is very clear about this, the trick to a lot of these cons, is convincing the guy he doesn't want it the first time around.

Christine: You have to refuse.

John: You have to refuse, exactly. And you know, then put pressure on the guy that he winds up coming back to you, so it's his idea when it actually hooks.

Jeremiah: Pasha, knowing better, takes a little bit of the bait for later.

John: And this is great. We actually managed to hit this pretty well, she's gonna- Parker’s got a habit of picking locks when she's annoyed or nervous.

Chris: Yes.

Christine: That's the first part of this.

Jeremiah: This is a very cute little high school bit of business between the boys and-

John: Nice rack focus there; bouncing back and forth.

Christine: This is Nate doing exactly what John Rogers does in the room.

John: What's that?

Christine: When you walk in, and you've stood outside so you've heard what we’re talking about.

John: I don't stand outside, you’re just very loud and I hear what you're saying.

Christine: And then you just walk in, and start in on the conversation, ‘Huh, what?’

John: Do I have the same magnificent presence as Tim Hutton when I do it?

Christine: I would like to- well, no. Sadly, no.

[Laughter]

Chris: Gives the scene a little energy to have somebody enter.

Christine: Absolutely, it’s great.

Jeremiah: ‘Not. Gonna. Help.’

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: And I remember being very specific about this.

Christine: I love this shot.

Jeremiah: With this piece of direction, period, full stop, each word-

John: Each word, land it.

Jeremiah: Take a beat. I think Christian said, ‘No, I'm just gonna say not gonna help.’ ‘No.’

Chris: Now shooting- talk about- talk about shooting through this.

Jeremiah: I shot this in a reflection; this is all reflected.

Christine: In the jewelry store.

Chris: How is that difficult?

Jeremiah: Because it’s a semi-silvered mirror and I put it off-axis and avoided seeing myself.

John: Nicely done.

Chris: That’s great.

John: And that's planting the fact that this is a security guard who shows up later.

Jeremiah: And it's a jewelry store, and all in one iconic image.

John: Yeah, it all moves along very quickly. I don't know why Tim chose to do this as- cause he's playing Sterling in this. And he's chosen Sterling, and he's not really doing Mark Sheppard, I think, just more sort of doing the impression of Mark Sheppard that- the impression of Sterling that Nate would do at like the Christmas party at IYS to piss him off.

Christine: Absolutely.

Jeremiah: In fact, I had that exact conversation.

John: Yes, I'd like to know the motivation.

Jeremiah: Because I said, ‘Are you playing Mark? Or are you playing a fictitious character that you are inventing?’ ‘The latter.’

John: Oh.

Jeremiah: And he was very consciously making that decision. He was not gonna play Mark. He was gonna invent a character that he felt was more appropriate to deliver the kind of bait.

John: Yeah, and this is kind of a fun-

Jeremiah: I think it was right, by the way.

John: Yeah, it was right. It's also a fun recurring bit with Nate Ford's character development this year - he’s a jerk. Nate Ford enjoys screwing with people. Now that he's sober, he's an unpleasant human being and he really does- like in the episode right after this, Papadakolis, Tim loves playing Nate when Nate is playing just that really manipulative jerk.

Jeremiah: And the question is: is Mark’s character becoming more likable?

John: Yeah, possibly.

Jeremiah: And there you go.

John: And there you go. And this was interesting, because we wanted to make everybody check in with Sophie, and- but Eliot would never ask for help.

Christine: He's the only one not asking for help.

John: And that was a big deal, was the fact that instead he's just like, ‘I'm going to kill these people. Please come back.’

Christine: Yeah, he doesn't want to change roles.

John: No, he's happy!

Christine: He wants to do his job.

John: ‘My job was to get punched and kicked.That's my job,’ as he says in 206. This was a lot of fun, clearing people out.

Christine: That’s hilarious.

John: This is actually based on that story when I worked on that gas pipeline. Remember in that high school? I worked on a gas pipeline in my 20s when I quit university for a while, and we were looking- investigating a gas leak, came around the corner and found high school students smoking. Because it was out of line of sight of the principal office. In the middle of a gas leak. So we basically did this, we just like wearing these masks were in full respirators and were like, ‘Get the fuck out, you’re gonna kill us all!’

Jeremiah: I thought the art department really overdid it on that piece of cotton.

Chris: It's a little bit over the top, but you know, it works.

John: A little bit.

Jeremiah: But again, as we say, we’re on the fun train here.

John: We’re on the fun train.

Jeremiah: Whatever it takes.

Chris: And did Marc Roskin do this?

Jeremiah: Yeah, he shot- we were so pressed for time, this scene was done while I was shooting the-

John: The vault? Or the van?

Jeremiah: No, the robbery.

John: There you go. It's always fun- by the way, if you're writing your con or heist show, dropping the jumpsuit to reveal the sexy outfits-

Jeremiah: Always a good-

Christine: Never hurts.

John: Have that tool, have that screwdriver in your toolbox.

Jeremiah: It's always good, even in a hostage show. You can use it.

Chris: What was this place?

Jeremiah: It improves it.

John: ‘Oh no, he might die.’ He's not gonna die!

[Laughter]

Christine: This is a lab facility.

Chris: It is a lab, OK.

Jeremiah: It’s a real facility, they actually etch information on acorns.

[Laughter]

John: Really?

Jeremiah: Yeah.

John: Is that big?

Jeremiah: It’s huge. It will be!

John: It will be, there you go. It's a big industry.

Jeremiah: Advertising on grains of rice.

John: Wow, there you go.

Christine: We just gotta give Nadine a nod for the costumes in here, they were really brilliant.

John: Yes, they’re very nice.

Christine: Everybody's outfits were terrific.

John: Why did we name the laser? I can't remember that.

Christine: Glinda. I don't know.

John: I don't remember who came up with it.

Christine: I can’t remember who came up with that.

John: Cause it feels like an improv; I don’t remember that in the script.

Christine: I feel like that was you. Because most of the other Cockney stuff I wrote, but Glinda did not come from me.

John: I think it was an improv.

Christine: Could be Aldis. He’s hilarious, by the way.

John: Cause remember I was working on the next, the 209- 210 with you when you guys, so I really just bombed in for the heist, for a bunch of the det cord stuff, and solving a lot of the heist problems. I like heist problems. Now how difficult was this?

Jeremiah: This was not difficult in that it just took a while of second-unit- you know, we were shooting inserts, and that machine was, it actually- I know I'm giving too much away, it actually did not laser diamonds.

John: What? They don't use the same laser on acorns they use on diamonds?

[Laughter]

Christine: You're kidding me - that's a laser, look at that!

John: That’s madness! That clearly looks like a laser.

Jeremiah: I'm wrong! I'm wrong! I'm watching TV, and I stand corrected.

John: By the way, that's a great visual effect. That looked really nice, with a little bit of mist off it.

Chris: That looked really great.

John: Beautiful lift, nice pass.

Jeremiah: The handoff.

Christine: These two could live a life of crime.

John: They could, they could. Very nice hands. And now the sale.

Jeremiah: Beth does the, kind of, blank look very well.

John: Yes, she does.

Chris: This is a great shot, too. That's a beautiful shot.

John: You like an inside shot, whenever you're shooting a piece of machinery like that.

Chris: Microwave oven from inside, I love it.

John: Fridge- like a good inside the fridge shot.

Chris: Like a good fridge shot.

Jeremiah: What about shoes?

Chris: I have not done shoes.

John: Why would you shoot shoes? That’s madness, just a foot coming at you. Here.

[Glass Clinks]

John: You’re 21 years old, you could have sex with this scotch in every state in the union.

Christine: It’s legal. By the way, I did wait until we were on set to have- to tell Aldis, ‘When you're walking, can you just say, “The Ice Man cometh”? And he did and I was the happiest girl in the world.

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: He didn't know what it meant, though.

Christine: He’s young.

John: That is a very 70’s look, that is really Chris rocking the Life On Mars look there.

Christine: Seriously, right?

Chris: The mod squad right there.

John: There's the mod squad! Right there!

Christine: The mod squad shot.

John: Why aren't they running down a storm drain?

Chris: That's a beautiful car, too.

Christine: Wow.

John: I think you can actually see, though, people watching the shooting in the top floor. I think we kind of missed them that day.

Christine: Didn't Aldis learn how to drive that car in like 5 minutes? It's a stick, right?

John: Well if you remember correctly, if you watch the first season DVD, The Bank Shot Job was the first episode we shot, and he didn't know how to drive a stick and the van was a stick. So the first time the van starts to peel out it [coughs] just rolls away. But it-

Jeremiah: I like not seeing it, and then the car is there.

John: There's a nice locked off comedy frame right there.

Jeremiah: I like that.

John: You’ve could’ve made that- we've done some abductions and really, unless there's a fight or something, you wanna, you know-

Jeremiah: I actually really enjoyed shooting this scene, which was in the most grotesque environment ever, but-

Christine: We were close to death.

John: Really? What was wrong with it?

Jeremiah: It was the basement of a pulp and paper mill and-

John: Oh boy. There were union organizers buried in the floor, you know that. There's some rabble rousing communists from the 30’s in the cement.

Jeremiah: And Pasha is always good. He's- first of all he's a lovely person, but- he may have changed by the time this DVD is released, but when-

John: I don’t think things have gone horribly wrong.

Jeremiah: But this is a- I love this shot.

John: This, by the way, is kind of an homage to a running joke we have in the show, which is- this is in theory downstairs or back- the back rooms of the night club they were in, right?

Christine: The Russian club.

John: And there was a- there is a trope in espionage and spy movies of that moment and Chris and I used to do this sound effect, which is you know the deal that's going on in the back of the Russian bar. Which is, you know, just the sound in the background of, you know [imitating bass-heavy club music] ‘uhn ch uhn ch uhn ch’ and then the guy opens the door [louder] ‘uhn ch uhn ch uhn ch’ and then the door closes again, [quieter] ‘uhn ch uhn ch’ I don’t have the plutonium ‘uhn ch’.

Jeremiah: I love that; that’s well performed.

Chris: See almost every episode of Alias.

John: Almost every episode of Alias there's the uhn-ch uhn-ch in the background.

Christine: She walks through the club - she walks all the way.

Chis: She walks through the club with the ‘uhn ch uhn ch’.

Jeremiah: You have to walk through the club to designate that you are a hip show.

Christine: That’s right, that’s why we walk through the club.

Jeremiah: You know what I mean, if you just cut to the back-

Chris: I'm gonna say, 25th Hour is another movie, there's an ‘uhn ch uhn ch’.

Jeremiah: Oh forever.

John: That's a good blog post is: the top ten ‘uhn ch uhn ch’ scenes.

[Laughter]

Chris: Top 10 uhn ch uhn ch scenes.

Christine: You have to write that.

Jeremiah: Aldis’ phone call here is kind of fun, it's very nice.

John: It’s a ton of fun.

Christine: ‘What accent is that?’

Jeremiah: This is England, this is how I see England.

John: It's rainy and there's cabs.

Jeremiah: And, you know, we actually got caviar for him and I wanted it so bad.

Christine: He loves it, he loves caviar. We had a nice chat about it.

John: I love that Sophie basically, ‘As long as you're not in the current parenthesis (situation you're in) you're fine. I can absolutely get you out of there.’

Christine: I’m a fan of that construction whenever we can use it.

Jeremiah: ‘As long as it's nothing to do with Russians.’

John: Exactly. And this is the fact that she's- again, we talked about this on the other commentaries, every now and then this turns into the detective show where you showcase people that are criminals that in theory- part of their skills is they can put together information very quickly, and Sophie pretty much knows exactly what’s going on the second-

Jeremiah: Even before it happens.

John: Really as soon as Hardison calls.

Christine: The tone of his voice and his failed accent, she can discern the entire thing.

John: Yeah, exactly. And there's a gun on the table. This is the bad day.

Christine: Not his best day.

John: And now the call for help and to take-

Jeremiah: I'm happy with the staging and cinema of this scene.

John: It’s beautiful. Is this also in the pulp and paper mill?

Christine: Yes it is. Oh, breathing that in was wonderful.

Jeremiah: It was a delight.

Chris: Oh wow, look at that. Couldn't ask for more smoke, could you? I mean...

Christine: I had a little mask and one of the crew members said, ‘Don’t use that.’

Jeremiah: It’s funny you said that, I did ask for more smoke.

John: And now this is the-

Chris: The beautiful thing here, is the camera constantly moving swooping around-

Jeremiah: Well I always felt that that is one of the, kind of, operative iconic themes, visually, of the show, and really trying to keep it moving all the time. But not to upstage the actors, I’m always careful never to say, ‘Hey, camera, where are you going with that scene?’ I really do try to- sometimes I fail, but often I succeed.

Christine: It supports them, the way you reveal Parker in that last bit, it really-

John: That's another thing we did this year a lot, which is we never see Parker come in or out of a room.

Christine: She just appears.

John: She's just always there somehow.

Christine: Like a genie.

John: And the- this is competence porn. This is them basically brainstorming- this was the fun of the episode. We had to come up with a heist that wouldn't work, then come up with a heist that did work, but the key to that heist was somehow making the heist that wouldn't work, work.

Chris: Making the failing element of the other heist the key to success.

John: A lot of index cards on the wall that day.

Christine: So many.

John: A lot of stuff.

Jeremiah: This is more than my favorite moments, visually anyway.

John: Yeah, it's really nice; it’s very creepy, you know.

Christine: It really is.

Jeremiah: It’s very-

John: We don't usually see guns on our guys, is the thing.

Christine: Nope.

Jeremiah: Well I wasn't looking at the gun, I was looking at the elegance of the rotation.

John: Well I'm saying the elegance of the rotation, the beautiful light around a very dark moment-

Chris: And the light and the dark on his face.

Jeremiah: It was poetically dangerous.

John: Exactly. It really- it brought home the-

Jeremiah: Entertainment value.

John: I was gonna say menace.

Jeremiah: That too.

John: The vertigo.

Jeremiah: Always love those shots.

John: And another recurring thing, when Hardison’s gone, no one knows how to use the computer.

Chris: Yeah.

Christine: Can’t even check email.

Jeremiah: Which is why I put them on the little computer because I thought it was more manageable than the big computer.

John: Yeah, it is absolutely a great choice. Also that space over the course of the season became the family space.

Jeremiah: I like that space.

Christine: Yes. That's not the computer space, that's the brother/sister-

John: That's the family- family arguments happen around that counter.

Chris: Well you've already- by this point in the episode, you've already been at the briefing so you kinda want to be at another part of the set.

John: It's also great that-

Jeremiah: Guess what kind of store this is?

[Laughter]

Chris: Pork store?

John: Pan up from jewelry to pork?

Jeremiah: Butcher?

Christine: Butcher?

Jeremiah: Cheese shop? No, it’s a diamond shop.

John: I love the fact that Parker gives Nate the hair spray with the implicit understanding that Nate will know what to do with that. And this is part of the fun and this was-

Jeremiah: Also, I love the way she does it without looking at him.

John: Yeah, she knows he’ll take it. What's a lot of fun here, is the- is Nate kind of playing a corrupt version of himself, and really getting to do the- you want more scotch? Alright there you go, alright hold on. [Moves away from mic.]

Jeremiah: Yeah.

John: Really getting to make fun of the guy he used to be, and that's one of the themes of the season, which is Nate Ford's identity-

Christine: And using Sterling, too, to distance himself.

Jeremiah: Notice the receding vocal quality of John's voice.

Chris: Scotch in the back of-

John: Getting more scotch.

Christine: Uhn ch uhn ch.

Jeremiah: Uhn ch uhn ch.

[Laughter]

John: Careful, there you go.

Christine: So he's playing the corrupt version of Nate, and using Jim Sterling's name to distance himself from it.

Jeremiah: This is a vault, this is a very very important kind of- this is the vault, this is how hard it is-

John: You're setting the specs.

Chris: Did we build this? What is this?

Christine: No, this is a vault.

Chris: This is a vault.

Jeremiah: Real vault.

John: That door- getting to her to swing on that door, you're not just gonna build one of those.

Christine: It was fun to be in the vault.

John: And this is, again, the fun of the construction, which is we now must make seem utterly impossible and then solve it.

Jeremiah: Those two shots where they were almost looking at the camera.

John: Yeah. That's- we don't usually do that. Why that choice?

Jeremiah: It was a conceit.

John: A conceited choice or just a conceit?

[Laughter]

Jeremiah: Both. It was hard to do both at the same time, that was one example.

John: This is, by the way, I like to say this is kind of elegant, because a lot of shorthand in both movies and television would just have them take you through the schematics on the computer, or show a film or something like that. Having a guy do the tour with a goal, with a character is-

Jeremiah: I think it's very important to do that since we revisit later in a whole different way.

John: Exactly.

Chris: Right.

Christine: Yup.

Jeremiah: And, you know, I particularly like the way we, kind of, solve the vault problem visually, too. I mean it feels real, it feels solid.

John: And all the security in here is real, I mean, including the fogger, which you were obsessed with. You love the fogger.

Chris: I love the fogger.

John: Calling the security expert you were checking up on.

Chris: This was pre-production, it was ‘Let's just see what's out there in terms of vault security.’ And the guy told me, ‘Oh, you know about the fogger, don't you?’

John: ‘No, tell me more.’

Chris: And I think I said the link with the description of the fog, I think ended up verbatim in the script. What the fog’s made out of.

Christine: Absolutely.

Chris: I think when we were doing pre-production, I made a point to say to Jeremiah, ‘It’s not Batman fog, it's gotta be like thick fog.’

Jeremiah: I mean, if it wasn't fog, it'd be foam.

[Laughter]

John: Foam? Oh. I wish we’d filled the place with foam, my god that'd be great.

Jeremiah: They do on [unintelligible]. They have rooms that, if you breach, it fills with foam in less than 2 seconds.

John: What does the foam do?

Jeremiah: Suffocates you.

Christine: Really?

Chris: Wow.

John: That's cool.

Jeremiah: Not if you're a terrorist.

John: Oh, there you go.

Jeremiah: Or somebody who accidentally enters the wrong office.

John: Yeah I know, Jesus.

Chris: Wow, we got to work that-

John: I don't want that.

Chris: Foam next year? Can we do foam?

John: That’s awful. Sometimes I’ll walk in offices accidentally, that seems harsh.

Jeremiah: There you go, suffocating foam.

John: There you go. And-

Jeremiah: Again, the computer is not exactly working perfectly.

Christine: Nothing works here.

John: Again, the challenge this year- first year we established the team was so good, a lot of the challenge this year was constraints. How do we put them off their game? How do we take one element away from them? And you know Sophie gave us the natural one in this one, everyone off their game, everyone’s in a different role and what was the fun here is, Parker kind of diving back into full thief mode for the first time this season, you know.

Jeremiah: Yeah. Close-ups of these guys. Close-ups I like, they feel right. I like that. One-eyed close-ups.

John: One-eye close-up is that a style? Do you have a name for that, too? The one-eyed close up?

Jeremiah: The one-eyed close-up.

John: That's not bad, I would call it the Chechik.

Christine: The Chechik.

Chris: He sent her out with that $400,000 necklace on, very trusting.

Christine: Oh yeah.

John: He has her phone number, he knows where she works.

Christine: He did- we gave him the line, ‘You'll earn it later.’ Which was the filthiest thing I think I've ever seen.

[Laughter]

John: You know what? No, it's a bonus; she works there.

Christine: Oh that’s right she’s a counter girl, she’s a model.

John: She’s an employee. So what he's talking about is her pension.

Chris: Oh right.

Christine: Right. See? He still gives employees pensions.

John: There you go, and a little apology.

Christine: Innocent guy, he feels kinda bad about it.

John: We tried to make a deal out of the fact that Eliot doesn’t like doing this.

Jeremiah: Oh I like this.

Christine: Oh yeah.

Jeremiah: This is real, she’s up there.

Christine: She's really up there.

Chris: That's a great shot.

Jeremiah: That’s a nice smile from her.

Christine: A lot of people in Portland loved watching this shot.

Chris: Oh what a beautiful shot.

Jeremiah: Yeah, and others didn't.

John: And in the season finale, when you eventually see it that's her on the roof of the City Hall- of the Portland City Hall, a ridiculous height-

Jeremiah: I think you tweeted that.

John: I took a couple pictures of that because I was stunned. There was a moment where I was like, are we out of our minds? Beth Riesgraf on a rig hanging like 6- 8 stories up.

Jeremiah: Tim is particularly funny in this scene. I find him engaging, funny.

John: Whenever he's being corrupt, there's kind of a kernel of truth and funny to it.

Christine: Nate enjoys putting the screws to people.

John: Nate Ford is not the honest man he thought he was. And that's something we had a lot of fun playing with this year. Also the blocking, because this is crucial, because he's playing a role here. Did you- now did you come in and it was set up this way? And then you block or did you-?

Jeremiah: No, I set it up in order to block it a certain way, thereby making my life easier. In other words, I actually thought about it.

John: Oh, that's very nicely done.

Christine: Pre-production meetings were great.

John: The magnetic plates- the trick with the magnetic plates is from the Antwerp diamond heist, that I wound up demonstrating on the writers room doors with two pieces of cardboard and tape.

Christine: Two pieces of cardboard and tape. Yes.

Jeremiah: As one does.

John: As one does, cause people kept reading it and going ‘I don't get how this works.’ And I actually wound up building it.

Jeremiah: Now this is a door- this- I love all of this stuff.

Chris: The cutting here is great, too, all the little bits.

John: Great heist cutting. Yeah this was- it was, again -

Jeremiah: It's gotta be a black van; they would never come in a white van.

Christine: Never.

John: You wouldn't be any self respecting Russian hitter in a white van, you know.

Jeremiah: It wouldn't happen.

John: ‘Oh look at that - there's a scuff on the side.’

Christine: ‘Can I take this one?’

John: But again, you know, people think when you write television shows, you've got this enormous plan and everything. You learn how to write every tv show while you're doing it. And again, part of the struggle this year-

Jeremiah: That was a good punch.

Chris: That was great.

John: That was a great punch. Is realizing we can just watch these people do stuff for an act. You know, you don't have to-

Chris: These guys are so funny. The line here-

John: ‘I'd like to see you do an accent.’

Chris: ‘I’d like to see you do an accent.’ Made me laugh.

Christine: We had many many different ad libs at the end there. The two of them were unstoppable, it was great.

Jeremiah: It was extremely fun to do all of this. This keeps going. Now we're approaching one of the absolute super fun shots.

Chris: Now let me ask you, when you're looking at a script like this and you know there are certain places you're gonna have to make compromises in the budget and what not, I'm imagining this sequence you're like digging in on, the break in sequence.

Jeremiah: Yeah, I mean, I try to dig in on everything.

Chris: But I mean, if you’re looking at one part of the show.

Jeremiah: I actually- I know where the, kind of, emotional roots are. I have to determine where that is on the show. Like, what is the real emotional tracking relationship-wise? And I have to know where everything comes together. Once I make that determination, that's where I- kind of spend my time and really focus, and to the extent that I'm right, it's a good episode.

[Laughter]

John: Those- that is a great outfit on Hardison in that and so, sort of big props to Nadine for that hilarious looking piece of work. What was I gonna say? The- yeah this shot this is an iconic shot for the show.

Jeremiah: This is one of my favorite shots and this happened almost by accident; I'll explain. When we visited the vault and we were scouting- and it wasn't written like this, the problem was that there was no way for her to be on the door. And I just thought, the only way for her to get on the door, or to get in and not trip the wires, is those kind of window cleaner suction cups so I just ordered them up and then positioned her body in such a way that made such a great shot. Because we had a glass door with that iconic- I can watch that shot over and over again, even though I did it.

John: This entire act is like - I will watch Beth Reisgraf as Parker break into a vault for 15 minutes; I'm totally cool with that.

Chris: Yes, absolutely.

John: By the way, that character uses those suction cups in other episodes. And she actually uses them-

Jeremiah: Oh good, I'm glad we didn't buy them just for-

Chris: No no no.

John: She actually used them in the first season, too, and we used them and then we forgot about them.

Chris: On an armored car.

John: On an armored car. Yeah. This is a lot of fun, him hamming it up, trying to-

Jeremiah: This is the fake break in, this is very good. I mean he’s holding it up.

John: Nice little comedy beat.

[Silence]

John: Sorry, scotch is kicking in.

[Laughter]

Christine: Cross-cutting conversations.

John: ‘I'm gonna kill you-’ it's nice. It's the little-

Jeremiah: And then silence befell the entire- as we kind of were.

Christine: But how much fun is it to write the conversations where they’re all on-?

Jeremiah: I love this shot.

Christine: Everyone’s doing different things.

John: Yes, exactly.

Chris: It’s a beautiful shot.

Jeremiah: Love the upside down of it.

Christine: I love this. I love the security cam just capturing everything that's going on, it's great.

John: Yeah it's great work, Derek, our computer graphics guy-

Jeremiah: I know we liked it. I hope everyone watching it liked it.

Chris: Here we really- we have every single character engaged in this, in the plot here.

John: That's the challenge-

Jeremiah: The cutting rhythm is what really translates that.

John: Yeah, that’s really nice. That's the challenge of the show is, there's a lot of shows where there's one star and a bunch of sidekicks. We’re a real five-hander; everyone has to be doing something at every moment of the script.

Jeremiah: It's very challenging when you're cutting, you always have to be aware of it. And when you're shooting you have to be aware that that's what is gonna fit. Again, lovely.

John: That’s also a great shot.

Jeremiah: Classic.

John: Classic heist shot. The little smile she's got when she stands up, that’s what makes her happy.

Christine: Kid in a candy store.

Chris: And no laser grid.

Jeremiah: She likes that. I like doing that with-

Chris: As much as you hate hostage stories, I hate the laser grid.

Christine: I'm with Chris. I'm so with Chris on this one.

John: You hate the laser grid.

Chris: I never wanna see a laser grid on this again.

Christine: I was so happy.

John: I think we'll never top the laser grid we did in 207 - the moving laser grid - and that was pretty great. Even the reflection in her eyes-

Chris: That’s it.

John: That's it, you're done, you're out, cause that was it. We can’t do another one.

Jeremiah: Excuse me, can we talk about me again?

[Laughter]

John: Jeremiah, tell us the challenge of this opening the door with people walking in scene?

Christine: That door is beautiful.

John: That's tough. That's like-

Jeremiah: Those doors you can open with a finger.

John: Yeah exactly, but you gotta act like ‘ugh’. Give them the impression of weight.

Jeremiah: Here it is again.

John: An act reset. We don’t usually do an act reset.

Chris: We do sometimes.

John: Yeah, but it is not a big deal. This is tricky. This is a timing one- this is a timing joke.

Christine: This is all about to-

Jeremiah: This was challenging to stage.

John: Really, how so?

Jeremiah: Timing-wise, this particular moment wasn't, but as soon as everything breaks, it's complicated. You had to hit the-

Chris: It's a lot of people, too.

Christine: A lot of people in play.

John: This was kind of complicated to figure out, I'm mean- I think I was- I was up in the room. Remember? I came down, you were like ‘Ok, we've got everything except how they get out of the vault.’ And I was like, ‘That's kind of a big thing, guys.’ And then it was Mythbusters that came to the rescue.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: I remembered-

Christine: As usual.

John: The det cord for the instant burn through. Well, it was originally thermite.

Chris: It came from two things - it came from det cord and the fact that we had tunnels available in Portland that we had not- on our list of unused locations. We had these fantastic tunnels and that were used- weren't they used to take people onboard ships?

John: They were press gangs. Shanghai tunnels.

Jeremiah: They were press gangs. In other words, they were bars and they used to get people drunk. Shanghai them, punch them out, take them down to the tunnels, wake up at sea.

John: Exactly how I run the writers room.

Christine: What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Jeremiah: Exactly how I became a Director.

John: Boylan was working on another show, and you came to a cocktail party we had and she woke up in our writers room-

Christine: I have no memory of this. What, am I on cable now?

Jeremiah: Me, I remember working on in, you know, probably a death ship Shanghaied and woke up and I was in the DG].

Christine: I used to be a pirate, I don’t know what happened.

Chris: Here we go, here's the fogger.

Christine: Oh the fog, and that red light off the fog is great.

John: Yeah, nice choice. And then the reset to sort of reestablish the geography and -

Jeremiah: -what happened.

John: Again, we have very strict rules about how you use these shots, and this is a nice-

Chris: I knew when I read the script, this was gonna be my favorite shot.

Christine: I love the-

Jeremiah: Nice, good chemistry.

Christine: Oh these two.

Jeremiah: Beth’s look, beautiful.

John: Cause he's a little oblivious right at that moment.

Christine: A little high from the heist as well.

John: And then the moment-

[Laughter]

Chris: Sex and violence folks. Right there, that's a sex/violence sandwich.

Christine: Yes it is. Who doesn’t like a sex/violence sandwhich?

John: What’s the bread on a sex/violence sandwich?

Christine: You don't need bread, it’s carb free.

John: It’s carb free, it's all meat.

Jeremiah: Or all bread.

Christine: Or it’s all bread.

Jeremiah: If you’re into that.

John: And this was great-

Jeremiah: A steadicam in the vault like this, moving was challenging, obviously.

Chris: It’s hard.

John: There's not a lot of room in there, right.

Jeremiah: No, not a lot of room. And again, Gary, our operator, really brilliant. And this had to move to land on specific lines. We did it a lot. I was very focused on just hitting exactly the right beats and ending up in the right place.

Christine: And speaking of brilliant actors-

John: Lieutenant Bonanno. What's really nice was, we finally- it was nice to start to develop a recurring character that we could go to for law enforcement, and it sort of built the Leverage world and he-

Jeremiah: Into the diamonds!

John: He actually became super important in the season finale. We were looking for someone to use in the season finale and that became a character. Now, mostly because we love the Columbo and he really rocks the Columbo.

Jeremiah: He also enjoys doing this a lot.

Christine: He is a pleasure on set, and so consistent.

Jeremiah: Yeah, he’s wonderful.

John: We beat the hell out of him in the finale, too, and he did everything we could throw at him. And now the villain suffers. That’s Dean’s rule.

Chris: Dean’s rule.

John: The villain must suffer and there's always a little gloat going on.

Christine: Often a petard hoist of some kind.

Chris: Here we go.

Jeremiah: Love this shot.

Christine: Look at that.

John: Where the hell is that?

Christine: Edge of nowhere.

Jeremiah: That is under the pulp paper plant on the river.

Chris: Nice.

John: And that was part of- that was really hanging a lantern.

Jeremiah: Like, that is Portland.

John: And that's- well that's Boston, it’s Boston.

Jeremiah: That’s the joy- sorry, Boston.

John: No no no, that's the joy of Portland is, you got all of these really interesting places that haven't been shot at.

Jeremiah: And it was joyful to do that.

John: That was really hanging a lantern on it was, we said this heist wouldn't work earlier and that's the key. We’re actually going to just lay it out in dialogue.

Christine: And this was Joey Cospito, named for my uncle. I just have to say during the commentary, he’s a sweetheart.

Chris: Oh that’s nice.

Jeremiah: Also his softening is good here. He's very soft, I love this guy; it’s great.

John: It's a nice payoff and it’s-

Christine: Beautiful scene, these two.

John: Yeah, it was really tricky.

Jeremiah: Cash!

John: Yeah, ordinarily we don't have Nate alone in these scenes and Tim’s, kind of, choosing how Nate plays this was an interesting beat. He doesn't usually- he does some version of the hand off with Sophie or one of the other characters.

Jeremiah: Now he liked doing this scene, he liked working opposite Vince.

John: Of Vince? That’s cool.

Jeremiah: Yeah, loved it.

John: No, that was a smooth flip. This is a dense script; this is an awful lot going on in this.

Christine: I don't know what you're talking about.

John: I don't mean in the usual way, which I'm trying to cut down one of your four-page speeches in actual dialogue.

Christine: You love them!

John: Yeah.

Christine: You love them.

Chris: Using every part of the animal there.

Christine: What did I get to write this year? Cockney, Irish...

Jeremiah: I use every part of the animal, and that's just in pre-production.

John: This is great. This is the family- the brother dynamic.

Jeremiah: Hug it out.

Christine: Ad lib!

John: Hug it out this time, and then the roll, she’s still pissed and then-

Christine: Oh that’s so-

John: You can see him starting to lose it, too.

Christine: He's laughing.

John: Chris really can't hold it together.

Jeremiah: Now this was a nice, intimate moment. Tim and I really talked about this. I really wanted these moments to be ver,y very charged from his point of view. Because I thought this was the opportunity to invest as much in that relationship, and in the complexity of their relationship. And just seated him alone, and shoot him alone. And I was- we had a good time working on it and dug in with it.

John: This is actually a book end to a huge moment in the finale. We actually- we do the second version of this where he’s, you know, the same but different speech.

Jeremiah: As well?

John: Yes. Not quite as well as this, but the most epically beautiful phone call in television history, Jeremiah; I hope you’re happy. But no, this is- this feels like a coda. It's actually one of the most important moments of the season. Because it really is the moment where Sophie is just like, ‘You know what? I'm actually getting better and you’re not.’

Jeremiah: And here he can't say goodbye. He just can't say goodbye, and he wants to stay on the phone. And I worked that, and I wanted to really make sure he just couldn't hang up.

John: He doesn’t have the emotional equipment for what he's dealing with right now, you know? This is a shut down, angry guy.

Christine: Right.

John: And yeah, even that little frustration look right there, like, ‘Alright, that didn't go like I hoped.’

Christine: Oh, here it is.

Chris: Nice long shot here. You see his isolation.

John: Isolation.

Jeremiah: Very. And her-

John: And then she's done with it.

Christine: There it goes.

John: Yeah. I love she's wearing the mink in the bar.

Chris: Yeah, the mink.

Christine: The mink and that giant cocktail.

John: Yeah. Well that was fun, guys. Do you have anything you wanna say to the nice folks watching before we take off?

Christine: I adore this episode, I adore working with Jeremiah, and I adore everyone here. That's- it’s scotch talking.

Jeremiah: You love everyone.

Chris: [Slurring] ‘Let me tell you another thing!’

Christine: Scotch talking. Let me tell you something else, bartender.

John: This is the scotch-driven commentary. Thank you for watching the episode.

Christine: Thank you for watching.

John: And watch the next one, it’s very good.

Jeremiah: Yeah, watch many more, because they're all good.

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Eliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Deveraux #Season 2 #Episode 8 #Season 2 Episode 8 #The Ice Man Job

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wosoimagines · 4 years

Text

Home - Tobin Heath/Reader

Guess who’s back. Also here is part 3 since you guys asked for it. Here’s part 1; Mercy. And here is part 2; Birthday. I think I’m going to follow up with a part 4. I’ve already got somewhat of a plan of what I want to do with it if I decide to wrap it up with a part 4.

prompt: mercy pt 2 ripped my heart out of my chest the wait was SO worth it and I’m SO here for a pt 3 to put me out of my misery. side note: All of your work is amazing and you’re an INCREDIBLE writer; please part 3 to the Tobin imagine.

warning: Swearing

words: 2473

Y/N POV

“You miss her,” Lieke sat down beside me. I felt her start to scratch my neck as I looked at the picture in my hand. I knew who Lieke was talking about and I knew that she wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to admit it.

“I miss all of them,” I pointed out. It wasn’t a false statement. I did miss all of my national teammates. Besides, I would be seeing them all soon enough. Well, except for Alex since she was pregnant.

“You know, you can always go see them,” Lieke pointed out. I shook my head at the Dutch player. I knew that it wasn’t that simple. Sure I had times where I had a long enough break that I could go see some of my national teammates, but I knew that if I went I would have a hard time coming back.

Especially if I went to Portland. Or Utah. Kelley and Becky were both in Utah and spending time with them in the city that I had grown to love would mean that I would want to sign back with Utah again. Portland was just a bad idea in general.

Tobin and I had started to talk to each other again. That was great. Although we were both a bit more guarded with each other, I could already feel the love I once held for Tobin Powell Heath start to resurface. I was so torn over what I should do because it definitely wasn’t fair to either Lieke or Tobin.

“Do yourself a favor and go see some of them, (Y/N),” Lieke sighed. She got up and headed to the kitchen. “I’m serious. I can tell your head isn’t completely there on the field. We all can. You’re getting homesick.”

“I’m not getting homesick,” I shook my head. It wasn’t possible. I had stayed out of the US before. I had never been homesick before, so I wouldn’t start now. “I’ve been away from my home before, and I don’t get homesick.”

“(Y/N), whenever you’ve been away from home, it’s for a tournament,” Lieke pointed out. I shrugged it off because it didn’t matter. I had been away from home for long periods of time before. “This is different. You’ve moved to a different country and all of the friends you’ve had are living in a different country than you. So is your family.”

I still hadn’t told Lieke that my friends were my family. I sighed as I thought about what she said though. Lieke was right about the fact that it was different this time. I was living in Barcelona not just staying for a month or two.

“Look, babe, no one will judge you for visiting home,” Lieke said as she suddenly rubbed my back. I was surprised because I wasn’t sure when she had moved from the kitchen to behind me. “Your system is different from ours. Most of us went to a different country to sign with a club when we were still young. You guys go to college and then high school before you even sign with a club. It’s understandable if you need to go home.”

The only problem was that I wasn’t sure where home was. I didn’t have a family to go home to the way that Lieke was talking about. The only family that I had to go to since I was in college was the one that I had built. I just wasn’t sure where to go.

“I think you’re right. I think I should take a trip home.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I shivered as I stood out in the rain but knocked on the door again. I was already soaked. I was just happy that my suitcase was built to keep my stuff dry as it took the person forever to answer. When they did, I wasn’t too surprised by the amount of surprise on their face.

“Are you going to let me in or are you going to let me soak out here?” I asked.

“What are you doing here, (Y/N)?” the goalie in front of me asked before she pulled me inside. She pushed me further into the house. “You should have called me.”

“I didn’t plan on coming here,” I defended as I was pushed into the kitchen where I was surprised by 3 other familiar faces. I was even more surprised when the youngest in the group that I was facing was quick to get out of her seat and slap me. “Ow! What the hell, Cheney!”

“That was for Tobin!”

“What the hell did I do to Tobin?”

The other two that were in the group that had been settled in the kitchen got between the two of us. Hope had disappeared before I felt a towel wrap around my shoulders.

“You know what you did, (Y/L/N)!”

“No, I don’t!” I defended myself. I really didn’t know what Cheney was talking about. “I know I left because Tobin broke my heart!”

“What do you mean you left?” Abby asked. I looked at her in surprise. I had made a surprising move when I went to Barcelona and it had made headlines.

“You’re Abby Wambach and you’re telling me that you have no idea that I left the NWSL?” I asked.

“You left the NWSL?” Christie asked. Hope looked surprised as well. I couldn’t believe that they hadn’t been following the NWSL news. “I just thought you were hurt and that was why you weren’t playing with Utah. I thought you loved it in Utah with Kelley and Becky.”

“I did,” I nodded. I loved playing in Utah with Kelley and Becky. It had meant a lot to me. “Until Tobin broke my heart.”

“No, you broke Tobin’s heart,” Cheney shook her head.

“She didn’t tell you?”

“Tobin told me all about how she flew out to Barcelona to see you for your birthday and when she asked you to come back you blew her off because you were in love with someone else,” Cheney scoffed.

“That someone else is Lieke Martens,” I rolled my eyes. I was really tired of being seen as the villain. “And Tobin should have stopped me from leaving in the first place. She knew that she could have asked me to stay and I would have. But she didn’t, okay? She didn’t ask, so I had to move on. I have been in love with Tobin Heath since 2006 and she didn’t love me the same way, so I had to move on. I did.”

“You broke Tobin’s heart,” Cheney pushed me back.

Hope was there to steady me. I shook my head because there was no way that Tobin had told her about what had gone down in Portland that made me leave. If Cheney didn’t know, then none of the others in the room knew.

“You have no idea,” I scoffed. I couldn’t believe that Cheney didn’t know. “Tobin asked Christen to marry her.”

“What?” Cheney asked.

“Tobin Heath asked Christen Press to marry her?” Christie asked. I nodded in confirmation. “That’s not possible. Tobin’s always looked at you like you hung the stars.”

“Well, she didn’t feel that way when she asked Christen to marry her and Christen told her she couldn’t,” I snapped. I hadn’t really told anyone the full story. I didn’t plan on it either, but it sort of just came out. “I went to be there for her because of course, Sonnett called me. You know what Tobin did? She told me she had feelings for me and we kissed. The next morning I go to get groceries and I come back to find Tobin and Christen in the kitchen. They had already made up. So sorry if I decided to move on because it was clear that Tobin didn’t love me like I loved her.”

“(Y/N),” Hope softly said as she put her hand on my shoulder. I looked back at her with tears in my eyes. I didn’t know what to do anymore. She pulled me into a hug. “Hey, it’s okay. Let it out.”

I was grateful that Hope just let me cry. I could tell that the others were softly talking to each other while Hope just stood there with her arms wrapped around me. I had been surprised at how quickly I had been drawn to Hope once I joined the national team. Once I stopped, Hope pulled back from me.

“Why are you here?” Hope asked. I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Did you and Martens break up?”

I shook my head because that wasn’t it. I had planned on going to Portland, but once I got there, I couldn’t do it. I was on my way to Seattle on my next flight. Which had ended up with me in the pouring rain in front of Hope’s door.

“So why are you in Seattle?” Christie asked. I looked over at my old captain.

“I got homesick,” I shrugged. They all knew about my family and that I had really turned to the national team to become my family. “I was going to go to Portland because that’s where Tobin is and I always go to see her when I go see family, but I got to Portland and couldn’t leave the airport. I got a ticket to Seattle, so here I am.”

“Just go home, (Y/N),” Abby rubbed her temples. “I don’t have a home,” I scoffed. Abby shook her head at me. I could tell that she wasn’t impressed with my answer.

“Where’s home?” Abby asked. I was taken back by the question. I went to tell her that I didn’t have one again, but I didn’t get the chance. “Not a physical home, okay? When you think of home, where do you feel loved and safe? Where is your home?”

I stayed quiet because I already knew the answer to that. It had been the same answer ever since I was in college. I had spent holidays with her. We had been inseparable and until this mess had been made, I wouldn’t have even thought twice before I said she was my home.

“Tobin,” my shoulders slumped as I admitted what I already knew. Abby gave me a look and I knew that she wanted me to go see Tobin. “But I can’t! I’m with Lieke.”

“You can fall in love with other people while you’re in a relationship,” Christie pointed out. It was something I had said more than once.

“You don’t get it,” I shook my head. What my parents had taught me so long ago wasn’t helping me anymore. “If you’re in love with a person and you fall in love with a second person, you should be with the second person because if you really loved that first person, you wouldn’t have fallen in love with the second person. That’s what I was taught. I was in love with Tobin, but then I fell in love with Lieke, and now I don’t know what to do.”

“Dude, your home is Tobin,” Hope pointed out. I shook my head because that didn’t mean anything. “Look, (Y/N), you and Tobin haven’t even been together but you guys are meant for each other. If you’re in love with Tobin, you have to fight for her. It’s like you said, you’ve been in love with her since 2006. You can’t honestly tell me that you don’t want a relationship with Tobin.”

“Will you drive me?” I asked causing Hope to look confused. “To the hotel. Will you drive me. I know Tobin’s in for a match against Seattle now. They flew in today as well.”

“And you say you don’t love her,” Cheney shook her head. Hope sighed, but nodded and motioned for me to follow her. Cheney grabbed onto my arm before I could leave the kitchen. “(Y/N), if you hurt Tobin, I will kill you.”

“I have no intention of hurting her.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had asked Hope to give me a few minutes before we left. I had a phone call to make. It hadn’t been a good one, but it was necessary. I was just happy that Lieke had understood where I was coming from. She still wanted me out of the apartment, but she had assured me that she knew that I had still been in love with Tobin. Lieke even went as far as to tell me that she wanted to try being friends with me which I appreciated.

Hope had texted Tobin to come down to the lobby because I wasn’t entirely sure if Tobin would come down if she knew I was here or not. I could see the elevator ticking down the numbers of how many floors were left. I could feel my heart speed up before I turned and rushed out of the lobby. I could faintly hear Hope calling out my name, but I had to get because it was getting hard to breath.

“(Y/N)!”

I didn’t far down the street once I got outside. There was a voice that had stopped me. It had called out to me and I hadn’t heard it in person in a while. I turned to face Tobin who was standing under the awning of the hotel.

“(Y/N)?” Tobin asked me. I sighed but nodded anyway. I was already soaked again. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to come home.”

“So why are you here in Seattle?” Tobin asked.

“It’s where you are,” I shrugged. I noticed that Tobin had stepped out from under the awning. The rain was quickly soaking her. “Tobin, you’ve been my home since we were in college and I never wanted to admit it because if I did then I had to admit that I am in love with you. When we were younger that scared the hell out of me because I had convinced myself that you didn’t like me that way and then you were with Christen and it was just easier to deny my feelings that let myself really feel what I needed to. But with you is where I feel safe and loved. You’re always gonna be my home.”

“(Y/N),” Tobin softly whispered as she stepped closer to me.

I sighed before jumping forward. I cupped her cheeks before pressing her lips to mine. I couldn’t help but smile when Tobin kissed me back. We did eventually have to break the kiss.

“Be my home forever?”

“Just don’t leave like you did,” Tobin whispered.

I nodded because now I had a reason for staying. Tobin smiled at me before kissing me this time. For the first time in a long time, everything felt right. I felt at home. I didn’t plan on giving that up anytime soon.

#tobin heath imagine #tobin heath imagines #tobin heath x reader #tobin heath #uswnt imagine #uswnt imagines #uswnt x reader #USWNT

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littleredroseonthevalley · 4 years

Text

An Oregonian Sunday

Summary: It did have its challenges, but Connor could not feel anything but happiness when evaluating his life, even when dealing with Diana’s little quirks of personality.

Rating: K+ - Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.

Words: 1500

Notes: Well, I was scrolling through Tumblr when I came across this beautiful post, and I just had to write something about Connor. It has absolutely nothing to do with the art itself, but yeah, it was what I managed to do.

I won’t be tagging the artist ‘cause they haven’t authorized me to do so (I didn’t ask, either), but, please, take a look on their post, and other work!

Anyways, enjoy!

The rain pattered lightly on the window of Connor’s overstore apartment, and the sunlight barely shone through the windows, even with the drawn curtains. It was nothing short of a dreary, cold January morning in the Pacific Northwest.

He turned on his side, wrapping himself around the colourful sheets, given as a housewarming gift from his eccentric mother-in-law. His blond, too long and messy hair was falling in his face, as it often did when he woke up in the morning.

Looking to his left, he checked the clock on his bedside table. It was just before 10 o’clock. It was much later than his usual waking hours, as he had to sweep the floor of the store and arrange the merchandise for opening, but it was Sunday and neither of them were a particular religious person, so today was a day for sleeping in.

However, as his grumbling stomach tells him, Connor was hungry and he wanted to get up and make some breakfast. That plan was insidiously thwarted by Diana, his once-beloved wife, who was cuddling closely into his side.

Her leg was tossed loosely over his. He tried breaking free of her grasp but was brought back by a gentle tug of his shirt and a stay mumbled into the pillow next to him.

His wife had a slight penchant towards rainy weather. She admired the tempest forming and blaring through their glassy windows overnight in delight. She liked observing nature’s might, or so she says. As a result, she probably went to sleep late the night before and was feeling sluggish.

Facing with the impossibility of getting up, and the lull of her presence next to him, Connor gave up on breakfast so early. An extra ten minutes would not do him any harm, after all. The food on their pantry would not be going anywhere, after all.

Their conjugal bed was warm and so comforting, and a chested hum of contentment reverberated through Connor’s ribs. God, he was one happy man.

Connor did not know how much he could appreciate another human being until he met Diana when he dropped out of college and moved back to Oregon. He developed a crush on her almost instantly, and did not think he would have her this close to him ever.

After the disaster with Redfield, and Noah’s consequential death, six years ago, neither Connor nor Diana were in any need for excitement and adventure. She decided to attend college in Portland commuting from Westchester, while he settled on his job as a hardware store shopkeeper while he worked on his sculptures on the side.

Fast forward four years, he still did not produce the next David, but he liked where his creativity was taking him, and he made some good money selling his pieces in Seattle. Diana graduated in Anthropology, like her father, and dedicated herself to study the relations of tribal and urban legends in the Pacific Northwest.

When his boss retired, Connor offered to buy out the store. He liked working with the materials he used, and the social observation he did from behind the counter was fodder to his mind. The place came with a loft upstairs he could do some work on himself with whatever money he had left, and the yard, albeit small, had space for a garden, which Diana would appreciate, and a shed for his atelier.

The old man was glad to have someone take over, and he really liked Connor, so he sold at a fair price. Shortly after their business was completed, he proposed to his girlfriend with an heirloom ring, which she gladly accepted, and here they were today.

The Greens were still scandalized with his life choices, and they brough it up every family dinner they had at their place, but Stacy was over the moon with it, badgering them to get on making her a niece or nephew soon.

The world may have been falling apart around them in those first months, and his family proved itself to be a challenge, but he appreciated every single minute he got to spend with her. It did have its challenges, and they faced a lot to get where they were, but Connor could not feel anything but happiness when evaluating his life, even, and perhaps especially, when dealing with Diana’s little quirks of personality.

Sunday was, indeed, a day of rest, but ten minutes soon turned into thirty and here he was, still hungry and stuck within his lover’s grasp. Although his stomach was begging for him to eat something, he was not that angry or anxious. Staying next to her in these comfortable sheets somehow evened the situation.

Diana finally found the strength to open her eponymous eyes after being so tired from watching the storm until early hours of the evening. There was little more she liked more than sleeping in rainy mornings, which, living in such a damp place, bred a complacent attitude that just would not do. So, she had to seize the opportunities whenever she could.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw were her husband’s lapis lazuli ones already fixated on her. She chuckled and put her palm over his creeping face in embarrassment.

“Connor!” She shrieked. “I haven’t even brushed my hair! Stop looking so intently at me!”

He placed his hand around her wrist and brought it back down. He put his arm around her back and she leaned in to give him a soft hug. Her face in his chest as he stroked her back.

The act of being this close was so intimate. Any type of touch could be intimate. Diana was thankful for these moments, because he made her feel like a person, he made her feel alive and seen, things that were rare through most of her life. Even if it was just a hug, the fact that she knows that he appreciates her existence is better than any drug.

Her hands were cold, so she placed them under his shirt and laughed when he flinched.

“Why are your hands so cold?” He pulled away from her, looking at her straight in the face.

“Better question, why is this house so cold?” She countered, with a challenging corked eyebrow.

He laughed softly at her antics and pushed a few stray hairs out of her face. “Because you like the cold and refuses to turn up the thermostat.”

“I certainly do. How else would I enjoy my late mornings with my beloved, but awfully diligent, husband?”

“Waking up early too.” He responded, smirking. “Speaking of awfully diligent, I should go make some breakfast.”

“Please don’t leave.” She looked up at him with a sad face that was obviously fake to make him stay. Obvious or not, it works because, although he knew it was not real, he felt difficulty in saying no.

“But I’m starving.” He pouted.

“C’mon, honey. Just stay with me another minute and we can make breakfast.” She placed her hands on either side of his face, pulling him in for a lazy kiss. He placed his hands on her waist to bring her impossibly closer.

She touched him and suddenly he was putty in her hands, melting into her touch. She made him feel so alive. Time was relative, it moved slower when they were together. Almost as if it knew they appreciated every little moment they had together.

Once she pulled away from his lips, she looked back up at him and gave him a soft smile. It was so contagious, and Connor felt himself smiling back at her as she scratched the back of his head.

“It’s raining.” She pointed out the noise of the drizzle outside.

Her hands moved farther up his scalp, making him hum once more.

“That it is, my dear wife.” He closed his eyes and sighed as she continued to hold him.

“That means we don’t have to go outside.” She pointed out, smirking.

“If you don’t want to, yeah, I suppose you don’t.”

“We can stay in bed all day.”

He opened his eyes. “This is true, but Diana, I’m terribly hungry.”

She rolled her eyes and removed her hands from his head. He winced at the loss of contact. “Well Green, you better go make us some breakfast and bring it back up here so we can stay in bed all day.”

“Oh, so I have to do all the work now?” This time he placed his hands on either side of her face.

“Yes, I am so very sorry, but you have to.” She sighed. “If you weren’t a little bitch about food, we wouldn’t be in this situation, would we?”

“I suppose we wouldn’t.”

He pecked her lips softly and got up to make them both some breakfast.

“Don’t take too long.” She yelled, leaning back into the pillow.

“I won’t. I know how impatient you are.”

She scoffed into the pillow, and yelled after him. “Hypocrite!”

*_*_*_*_*

ILITW Masterlist

#it lives in the woods #Connor Green

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theliberaltony · 4 years

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

In January, Philip McHarris was driving from New Haven to Boston to visit a friend when he saw a familiar sight in his rearview mirror — flashing police lights. It was late at night, and McHarris pulled into a gas station and waited, as he had done many times before, for the state trooper to approach his window. The problem, the trooper said, was the way McHarris had pulled off at an exit. Then he said that the highway where McHarris had been driving was a drug trafficking route, and asked if he could search the car for drugs.

McHarris explained that he was a Ph.D. student in sociology and African American Studies at Yale who had just left campus for the weekend. But while the officer walked away to his car, McHarris quickly took a video of himself and sent it to his mother and sisters. “I said, ‘This cop thinks I’m trafficking in drugs,’” McHarris said. “‘I just wanted to let you know that I tried and I love you. I really tried.’”

Eventually, the officer let McHarris go with a warning. It didn’t spiral into one of the deadly encounters that make the front pages of newspapers, where a Black man is killed at the hands of a police officer. The officer had even been relatively courteous, assuring McHarris that the stop wasn’t the result of racial profiling. But that just reinforced for McHarris how poorly the officer understood the racial dynamics of the interaction — much less the fear he felt throughout the encounter, and couldn’t shake even after he drove away. “What good is it if a cop is being nice to me while asking to search the car?” he said. “What I care about is that I got pulled over in the first place, and I’m sitting here thinking maybe this random gas station is the last thing I’ll see.”

Years ago, McHarris came to the conclusion that because of interactions like this, department-level policing reforms aren’t enough. And as a scholar who studies policing and works alongside the Movement for Black Lives, McHarris is part of a small network of activists who have also spent years working to defund police departments, redistribute the money to other parts of the social safety net, like housing, education and transportation, and create new systems for ensuring public safety. But now their work is suddenly everywhere. After the police killing of George Floyd, the Minneapolis City Council voted to dismantle its police department amid growing calls from protesters to “defund the police.” And it’s not just Minneapolis — officials in Los Angeles, Denver and Portland, Ore., are mulling similar ideas.

The exact meaning of the slogan varies a lot depending on who you ask. Even the Minneapolis city council members who voted to disband say their move comes with qualifications. But broadly, it involves a seismic shift in the way we think about public safety — and who is being kept safe. Some critics of the defunding movement have argued that getting rid of the police would be counterproductive — in their absence, who would keep the streets safe? But McHarris said it’s time to stop tinkering around the edges of a system that many people in heavily policed communities say is causing more harm than good. “These police reforms are implemented over and over again and Black people are still being brutalized and murdered,” he said. “Nobody is saying we can’t have mechanisms to promote safety. It just won’t look like the police.”

Defunding the police is a big departure from the reforms we’ve seen before. But although there are disagreements between activists and researchers about how sweeping change should be, pretty much everyone we spoke with agrees that the system is broken, efforts to measure it are highly flawed, and now is the moment to think big about how to fix it. In many ways, the movement to defund the police is exposing gaping holes in how we measure what good police work really is, and how we gauge a reform’s success. Because after decades of research on policing and police reform, we still don’t know that much about what police are doing, how their presence actually affects the people who experience police violence, and what people in those communities want from reform.

On its surface, large majorities of Americans support “police reform.” But “reform” is vague and gets complicated fast. For one thing, the police aren’t a single entity. There are more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies scattered throughout the U.S., which means that any change has to be piecemeal. And it’s also hard to figure out what departments are actually doing, or how to compare them. Within a single metro area, multiple departments could be operating under different rules or different standards of rule enforcement, and even using different definitions of particular buzzword-heavy reforms like “community policing.”

That lack of uniformity makes it difficult to compare police departments that have implemented similar policies. “To understand if a police reform is actually working the way you want, you need to be able to see what officers do in the field and figure out whether the reform you’re looking at changed that,” said Emily Owens, a criminology professor at the University of California, Irvine. “We don’t really have the data or the studies right now for me to say with confidence, ‘We know that these reforms work and these don’t.’”

What’s more, the data that exists is full of holes — and bias. Even when researchers try to document whether the police are doing a good job or how departments might improve, they’re often conducting those studies using metrics that help tell only part of the story. Policing data is imperfect. Due to a lack of systematic or reliable data on police misconduct, the fact that the data we do have is mostly from police departments themselves, and an emphasis on crime and police presence, it’s liable to miss important variables such as nature of police interactions with the public, or the fact that plenty of illegal or violent behavior happens in places and populations where police aren’t looking for it.

Case in point: The practice of hot spot policing. This is one of the best researched policing techniques and — after some 40-odd randomized controlled trials, by one expert’s count — also the one with the most evidence supporting its effectiveness. The basic idea is that crime is clustered throughout a city or neighborhood, so police should target those areas that see higher levels of crime.

But there are still a lot of unavoidable caveats. For instance, when scientists identify hot spots and measure whether policing in those locations has been effective, what they’re really looking at is crime statistics, said Cody Telep, a criminology professor at Arizona State University. That isn’t necessarily the same thing as measuring safety (real or perceived) in a community, he told us. After all, about half of all violent crimes are never reported to the police at all. So the appearance of a hot spot in the data doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where the most dangerous criminal activity is actually happening — something Telep’s team saw firsthand when it compared the locations of drug-related calls to police in Seattle with drug-related calls to the emergency medical services in the same city. It turns out there was a lot of drug activity the police were missing entirely.

Crime, then, and particularly crimes reported to police, are not a great metric by which to judge where the most crime in a city is happening and how dangerous that area feels to the people who live there. Nor is a reduction in crime the end-all, be-all metric to tell you whether police are doing good work. “Certainly reducing crime is a good metric, but I would add to that, at what cost?” said Rod Brunson, a professor at Northeastern University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

These statistics also don’t tell researchers anything about what police should be doing in a hot spot — or what police do in communities every day. Researchers have established that it’s effective to spend more time in certain parts of town … but, Telep said, have offered little guidance on what police should do once they’re there.

And even if police were given guidelines on what they should be doing, nobody currently keeps track of metrics that would show what those officers were actually doing. That’s about to change, at least partially — under an executive order issued by President Trump last week, the Department of Justice will begin maintaining an anonymized database of police misconduct. But there’s still a catch: The only time we find out about what police do in their day-to-day work is when someone complains or files a report about it, said Wesley Skogan, professor emeritus of political science at Northwestern University. That means there’s no incentive toward good behavior — even though some research suggests that positive interactions with police can improve public attitudes toward them. “The fact about policing is it’s two people in a car, in the night. What we know about what they do is when they choose to fill out a form,” Skogan said.

But even in the situations where it is possible to get good data on real-world police behavior, whether a reform has been successful depends a lot on your perspective. In general, research tends to focus on metrics that are easy to quantify: Did a reform lead to fewer police killings? Fewer civilian complaints? More fired officers? But those measures don’t really account for the human and social cost of police violence, and they don’t tell us much about whether people in overpoliced communities are actually feeling safer.

Part of the problem is that we don’t have a good way to measure or track the effects of dealing with the police on an everyday basis. But qualitative research can give us a window into how a heavy police presence can stoke feelings of deep mistrust. In a study of young people in Baltimore conducted shortly after the killing of Freddie Gray, Yale sociologist and law professor Monica Bell concluded that although the people she was studying were very concerned about violence in their communities, they didn’t see police as protectors. “It’s not just that people are being brutally beaten or shot and killed by police, it’s the routine, daily messaging of — they are going to be watching you in your neighborhood, they’re going to mace you at your school,” she said. “People will even report that a police officer behaved in the ‘correct’ manner but they still walk away with a deep sense that they’ve experienced a broader racism, a broader sense of exclusion that quantitative measures can’t easily capture.”

Analysis of conversations with people in heavily policed communities by a group of political scientists found a similar result: To the people in the study, the police seemed like they were everywhere — except when their help was actually needed. The deep-rooted perception that the police are there to monitor you, not protect you, is hard both to measure and undo. “There’s a very strong perception that the police are there to protect and serve the white community on the other side of the city or the suburbs,” said Gwen Prowse, a Ph.D. candidate in political science and African American studies at Yale and one of the study authors. “The idea is — if you only see me as a criminal and you don’t see me as a full member of this society, how can you protect me?”

And without input from the people who actually experience police violence, attempts to evaluate police reforms can end up reflecting what the researchers — and not the people who are affected — think is important. “There’s this weird business where people think data can solve everything, but data without thoughtful engagement with the community is actually part of the problem,” said Bocar Ba, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School who studies economics and crime.

Use of force is one such example — just as police departments have different definitions of what constitutes “excessive force,” so can researchers. For instance, the idea that there is an “optimal” or “reasonable” use of force may prompt researchers or policymakers to ignore or discount lower-level incidents that were still quite traumatic for the person involved. “Who are the people deciding what an ‘optimal’ use of force is?” said Ba. “Are they the people who are experiencing brutality themselves? In almost all cases, no.”

Meanwhile, researchers are just starting to scratch the surface of how an uneasy and often violent relationship with police shapes other aspects of people’s lives. A recent study of students in an urban Southwest school district found that proximity to police shootings harmed high school students’ performance. That’s in line with other research indicating that having police in schools may actually decrease high school graduation rates. But these types of social costs aren’t easily priced in when researchers evaluate whether a reform succeeded or failed.

It’s becoming increasingly clear, too, that the reforms we’ve already tried are running headlong into other difficult to measure, difficult to fix forces, like police culture. Encounters between police and civilians are often violent because police officers are taught to think of themselves as always being in danger, according to research by sociologist Michael Sierra-Arévalo of the University of Texas. At the same time, Skogan said, police culture tends to discount things people at community meetings say they are actually interested in — like controlling traffic or reducing public drinking — as boring.

These are the kinds of problems that make activists like Arissa Hall, the director of National Bail Out, argue that simply reducing contact between police and civilians, and replacing the police with other community resources, is a much better way to address police violence. There might not be many precedents for disbanding police departments, but the positive effect of reducing police presence and investing in housing and education can already be seen in other places. “Abolishing police departments might seem impractical, but there aren’t police officers on every street corner in affluent white neighborhoods,” she said. “We have actual models and examples of what it means to decenter the police and invest in people’s quality of life.”

There’s a lot of research to support the idea that putting more money into resources that improve people’s lives — like health care, housing and education — can reduce crime. The more nebulous question is how removing funding for police departments will affect public safety. But Jennifer Doleac, an economics professor at Texas A&M University who studies crime, suggested policymakers and researchers should prioritize listening to the experiences of people who are interacting with police and make sure those are taken into account when deciding which policies are implemented and how to evaluate their success.

“Clearly, the system that we have now isn’t working for a lot of people,” Doleac said. “So can I see risks to significantly rolling back funding for police departments? Sure. But there’s also a big, big risk in doing too little right now.”

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Maggie Koerth

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 21, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

As we enter the home stretch to this election, we are bombarded with so much news the only way to make sense of it is to divide it into categories.

The president is angry and self-pitying while campaign officials are trying to tip the election with the dubious laptop story. Administration officials are also working as quickly as they can to push through whatever they can while they are still in power, hoping what they are doing flies under the radar with so much going on. And this flurry of activity means there are bad slips.

At the same time, Democratic candidate Joe Biden is trying to get elected, but in such a storm of crazy that his actual policies, which are quite developed, are simply not getting much airtime. Instead, people have begun to look to him as a return to an America in which strength was measured not by dominance but by caring.

The president began the day by tweeting about Biden’s proposed tax plan, which he calls “the Radical Biden-Harris Agenda.” He claims that the plan will “slash the typical American’s income by $6,500 per year. They will raise TAXES by $4 TRILLION DOLLARS – triggering a mass exodus of jobs out of America and into foreign countries…. Your 401k’s will crash with Biden. Massive Biden Tax and Regulation increases will destroy all that you have built! Additionally, 180 Million People will lose their Private Healthcare Plans.”

In fact, though, it is the administration that is talking about slashing things, including millions of dollars from Democratic-led cities that Trump and Barr have labeled “anarchist jurisdictions”: New York City; Portland, Oregon; Washington, D.C.; and Seattle, Washington. That money would cut federal grants for coronavirus relief, HIV treatment, newborn screening, and so on. Officials from the affected cities, as well as the U.S. Conference of Mayors, say they will sue if the administration tries to follow this through.

In a move that threatens to destroy our nonpartisan civil service, Trump today signed an Executive Order creating a new category of public servant who is not covered by normal rules. These employees can be hired by agency heads without having to go through the merit-based system in place since 1883, and can be fired at will. This new “Schedule F” will once again allow presidents to appoint cronies to office, while firing those insufficiently loyal. It also appears to shield political appointees from an incoming administration by protecting them from firing because of political affiliation.

Yesterday, an inspector general for the United States Postal Service issued a report requested by Congress examining the effects of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s changes to the postal service. The report concluded that the changes resulted in “significant negative service impacts across the country.” DeJoy is a Trump loyalist. The USPS Board of Governors, made up of Trump appointees, rejects the report’s conclusions.

Meanwhile, a number of senior administration officials and lawmakers from both parties are worried that the White House is fast-tracking a business deal worth billions of dollars in what is essentially a no-bid contract to a company associated with Republican operatives, including Karl Rove. The company, Rivada, wants to lease the Department of Defense’s mid-band spectrum. This spectrum is wildly valuable for the 5G market, the next-generation mobile network. Pentagon leaders are opposed to the deal since the military uses that spectrum, and they say they have not been able to study the effect of commercial use of the spectrum on military readiness. Pentagon lawyers say the White House has no authority to sell or lease its spectrum. Lawmakers of both parties oppose the deal. One senior official told CNN, “Something is really fishy about this.”

Today, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe blamed Iran for hacked emails purporting to come from the alt-right Proud Boys warning Democrats to vote for Trump. Ratcliffe said “we have identified that two foreign actors, Iran and Russia, have taken specific actions” relating to the election. He said the emails were designed to hurt Trump. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told Rachel Maddow that intelligence officers in a classified briefing about the matter did not, in fact, say that there was any attempt to hurt Trump. “I’m surprised that Ratcliffe would say that to the public…. I had the strong impression it was much rather to undermine confidence in elections….”

Meanwhile, Trump continues to push the laptop story. He is reportedly considering firing FBI director Christopher Wray after the election because Wray has refused to announce an investigation into Biden, his son Hunter Biden, or other Biden associates. After Wray’s refusal to back up Trump’s insistence that this summer’s violence was from “Antifa,” the FBI director’s unwillingness to announce a Biden investigation is apparently infuriating the president. In 2016, then FBI director James Comey announced a new investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails just 11 days before the election, an announcement political scientists say helped to swing victory to Trump. While the president can, in fact, fire an FBI director, it is unusual, and certainly should not happen because the director refuses to attack the president’s political rival. The term of the FBI director is set at 10 years so the director serves at least two presidents, and is not bound to the political cycle.

Trump is railing not just at Wray, but also at Attorney General William Barr. Trump was counting on Barr’s probe of the Russia investigation to implicate high-ranking members of the Obama administration just before the election, but Barr has backed off on delivering the report. Trump is frustrated, recently retweeting a photo of Barr with the caption “for the love of GOD ARREST SOMEBODY.” Barr has been staying out of the news lately, although he was in Memphis, Tennessee, today, announcing arrests made there under his Operation Legend, the name for the police crackdown in a number of cities announced in July.

Pushing the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop got a lot more difficult today when Sacha Baron Cohen revealed that his new Borat film shows Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani—the source of the laptop-- in a compromising position with a young woman. Giuliani insists the scene is a “complete fabrication,” but the stills I saw (and I was trying really hard not to see any of this) indicate that this explanation will convince only those determined to be convinced. As many observers have pointed out, if Baron Cohen could prank Giuliani so easily, what does that say about how well Giuliani could identify foreign influence operations?

For his part, Biden is acting like a normal presidential candidate, which just doesn’t grab the headlines the way Trump’s actions do. After Trump attacked Biden’s tax policy, though, a number of stories noted the actual terms of the plan.

Biden proposes to raise taxes on the wealthy. He would get rid of some of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, including the cut in the income tax rate for people making more than $400,000 a year. Trump cut that rate from 39.6% to 37%. Biden would put it back where it was. This change would affect fewer than 10% of taxpayers. People would also pay into the Social Security payroll tax for incomes over $400,000. That tax is currently collected only on $137,700 of earnings. Under this plan, the nation’s top 1% of earners would bring home about 15.9% less money after taxes than they do now.

Biden also proposes to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, and establish a 15% minimum tax on the so-called “book income” of a corporation, that is, the amount its directors report to shareholders, which often makes a corporation look quite profitable while it pays little or no tax. He would also increase taxes on international profits. These proposed taxes would make up more than half of the revenue the Treasury would see from the new measures.

The Biden proposals would raise between $2.4 and $4 trillion over a decade. The Penn Wharton Budget Model concludes that the top 1% of earners would pay about 80% of the tax increases. Its report continues: “All groups outside of the top 5%... see their after-tax incomes fall by less than 1 percent.” The Washington Post awarded four Pinocchios to Trump’s attacks on Biden’s tax plan. The Tax Foundation could not score Trump’s own plan because he has made no actual proposals.

Biden had powerful help today getting out his message. Former President Barack Obama, who has largely stayed out of the political fray, has reentered it powerfully. In a speech in Philadelphia, Obama directly attacked Trump, tearing apart his successor’s response to the coronavirus and his administration in general. No one gets under Trump’s skin like Obama does, and the former president seemed to be deliberately needling the president, perhaps to prod him to more self-destruction at tomorrow’s debate.

His appearances were not just attacks on Trump, though. They were reminders of what the presidency looked like just four years ago, and they were designed to make sure people get to the polls. “We’ve got to turn out like never before,” President Obama said. “We cannot leave any doubt in this election…. A whole bunch of people stayed at home and got lazy and complacent. Not this time,” he said. “Not in this election.”

Still, what made most news for Biden today was an old video of the former vice president at a memorial service for Chris Hixon, the athletic director at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who died when he tried to disarm the killer. In the clip, which circulated widely on social media, Biden expresses his sympathy to Hixon’s parents and is walking away when Hixon’s son Corey, who has Kabuki Syndrome, runs up and, as Biden turns to see what’s happening, throws himself into Biden’s embrace. Biden spontaneously kisses the young man’s forehead and asks if he’s okay. When he shakes his head no, Biden hugs him, cradling his head, and reassures him, “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay, I promise.”

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Heather Cox Richardson

#quotes #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #politics #political #election 2020 #corrupt GOP

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thisdayinwwi · 4 years

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The Seattle Star., Dec 24 1919

A mailman, heavily laden with Christmas packages, stopped Tuesday afternoon at 3 p. m. In front of 723 Marion St., Mrs. Fred Finke went to the floor. The mailman handed her three packages done up in holly paper and gaudy with Christmas seals and gay ribbons. One package, heaviest of the three, fell to the floor Mrs, Finke picked it up, shook it and remarked: "Never mind. There's nothing broken." She went into the kitchen, her three children-—Fred, 12; Walter, 10, and Lilly 9 clustered about her, and began taking off the wrapping. Fate kindly with Mrs Finke and her little ones when it prompted her to break open the package rather than untie it in the usual manner intended by the sender. For the package contained a deadly infernal machine. The bomb consisted of a loaded .38 calibre revolver, containing three shells, placed in such a manner in a box filled with minced dynamite and a half dozen high powered percussion caps, that it was designed to explode when the lid of the box was slipped back. The hammer of the revolver was cocked and held in place by a rubber elastic attached to the lid. The contents were tightly packed in the container by cotton. "Something told me," said Mrs Finke to be careful." Police declare the explosives were sufficient, had the bomb worked, to have blown the building up killing the occupants. The bomb was mailed Monday from Portland and the wrapper was marked with a stamp issued by the G. F. Johnson Music house of that city. Husband a Musician Finke is a musician In the Seattle Symphony orchestra. He arrived home just as his wife was examining the bomb He is convinced he knows the man who planned to destroy his family. The sender evidently knew Finke is a musician and probably thought by sending the package in a box labelled with a music company's tag it would be accepted without suspicion.

Finke furnished the detective department with the name of his enemy, and an effort is being made to locate the man, as it is believed he came to the city, after ending his machine, to learn the results. According to Finke, the suspected man was infatuated with Finke's wife, and suffered from brain disorder. Finke recognised the box in which the bomb was placed by the burned design on It. "It looks like the box that used to be on this fellow's dresser in Salt Lake City, when he roomed at my house." said Flnke. "and I am certain I remember the box." "This is the second time an attempt has been made to kill my family The first attempt was made a few months ago. when we left the children in bed and went out we returned home and found them near death, and their room filled with gas The gas meter had been sawed with a hack saw. Physicians worked four hours before the children were revived." The sender is believed by Mrs. Finke, she said. to be the owner of a mine in Colorado, who lived in Salt Lake. The dynamite, it is presumed may have come from the mine.

"I hope they catch him." she said. "He would make a fine Christmas present." Finke sats he moved his family from Salt Lake, following the first attempt on the lives of the children. He has since attempted to locate the former roomer, but without success.

There were a number of roomers in the house at the time the bomb was delivered. Among them was E. Muller, also a musician. Muller called the police, and Motorcycle Patrolman C. Rix responded to the call. He brought the bomb to the station. Patrolman Rix declared the gun was well oiled, and worked smoothly. He expressed considerable surprise that the gun didn't explode with the rough handling the fake Christmas box had received. The bomb wan turned over to the postal authorities. All three of the Finke children were home from school on their Christmas vacation. Lilly was helping her mother iron in the kitchen when the bomb arrived, while the two boys were playing in the kitchen. Altho the children are old enough to appreciate their miraculous escape from death, none seemed to be nervous. Mrs. Finke laughed and calmly inspected the contents of the death box. altho Muller, the roomer, said she did turn white for an instant, when she first removed the revolver.

#stalker

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portbayrp · 4 years

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ABOUT THE CHARACTER.

★ ━ ( ryan potter, cis-male, he/him ) ━ ★ just to be clear, ya didn’t get this information from me. The person you’re lookin’ for is THOMAS ALAN NAKAMURA.. also known as TOMMY. Last I heard they were born on SEPTEMBER 24TH, 1994 in SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, but he’s been livin’ in KENTON, for about SEVEN YEARS. Word around the districts is, this cat, TOMMY can be AVOIDANT, VAIN, & EXCESSIVELY PERFECTIONISTIC, but i gotta tell, ya, alls I seen is good things, like the fact that he’s OBSERVANT, THOUGHTFUL, & GENTLE. I guess that depends on how well ya know ‘em, though. the last thing ya need to know is that he works as a CARTOONIST & ILLUSTRATOR. I don’t know much about what that’s all about but I do know that’s all I can tell ya the rest you gotta find out on ya, own. ━ ( ooc: raleigh, pst7, 23, they/them )

BIOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING…

all about the family & their relationships;

Thomas’ home life was warm, loving, and riddled with history.

His home was small and cozy. In their living room was a soft, used up couch where he’d sometimes take his meals with his dad when his mother worked late hours, and an old T.V. given to them by his paternal uncle. Just beside that couch was a wooden bookshelf. Top shelves belonged to dad, bottom shelves belonged to mom, though sometimes those books got mixed up. Both parents nurtured his personality as a notorious reader, and though both of them combined didn’t have a whole lot of money (or time, really), they doted on him as much as they could.

They encouraged him to understand his familial history, each with different understandings of the Second World War. His father, himself Japanese-American, could trace his roots to a family of immigrants that arrived in the U.S. in the late 19th century for railroad labor. His mother, an Ashkenazi Jewish woman, traced her own history to a Jewish mayor of a small town elsewhere in Washington state. He did a family lineage project about the subject sometime in grade school; his parents still have it somewhere around the house.

His father was the goofy, social, lovable personality. He was the dad willing to take Thomas and his friends to the pool each summer, and the type to willingly toss them off the deep end. Thank God for that; his mother needed someone to take that rambunctious child out of her hair some days. She was good for other things. Like, you know, reminding the playful Thomas to do his homework. He’d rather draw little cartoons in the margins of his assignments.

He keeps well-connected with his extended family, some of which don’t always get along. His paternal uncle and that whole family stayed on Bainbridge Island, though his paternal aunt and some of his cousins had moved out of state for college and such. As for his mother’s family, they’re a tad bit tenser, but his tight-lipped mother never told him exactly why she’s a bit of a black sheep. Oh well. Not his problem.

the road to portland starts with;

Thomas came to Portland to study art and animation at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Turns out, all of that doodling in the margins of his homework and his books did some good; he developed an impressive portfolio of art by the time he was seventeen, and that secured him a position at the school. He would have tried out California Institution of the Arts, but he didn’t get accepted. He still insists to this day that CAL Arts is overrated.

He graduated from the program a couple of years ago and opted to stay in Portland, finding the city quite lovable and eccentric. It helps that he has a goofy cousin to show him around this awesome place. Having someone he knew helped ground him during his initial years in a new city. They still keep in contact.

his occupational perspective;

Thomas loves his work. Yes, logically, he knows it’s all part of a Calvinistic work ethic to find meaning and purpose in your work, but he knows that that part of him has for the most part been fulfilled. But… the pay could honestly be better. He spent the first year doing a bunch of freelance projects, all the while waiting tables to get some extra cash. The shit wages is partially why he lives in Kenton rather than one of the nicer neighborhoods.

Now, he stays in Kenton because it’s affordable and close to downtown, where he recently got a full-time gig. On the side, he offers political cartoons to local newspapers, but that’s more for fun than anything else.

#pb: resident: thomas nakamura #character: male #age: 20s #residence: kenton #ryan potter fc #bio

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truthbeetoldmedia · 5 years

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iZombie 5x13 "All’s Well That Ends Well" Review

Hello friends, are we ready to say goodbye? I was a little nervous coming into this finale, seeing as there was so much to wrap up, and therefore...much to mess up. As a result, the pacing was indeed a little strange, but some minor characters get some hero moments, and it was all setting up a final ten minutes that essentially functioned as an epilogue that sealed the series.

Okay, let’s dig in. Enzo has taken over Fillmore Graves and has declared war on humans. Dolly and her people have responded in kind, going around New Seattle taking out high ranking zombies. While gunfire rains over the city, Ravi, Clive, and Liv are returning from Atlanta with the vial needed for the cure.

Even though it’s risky, they choose to fly to get back faster. Liv’s plane seatmate is suspicious, insisting she’s seen Liv before. Even though the official heist is over, the trio show they still have a few smooth moves, and manage to slip a sedative into the woman’s drink so she’ll stop asking questions. As she sleeps soundly, her iPad drops to the floor of the cabin. She must have figured it out right before she’s knocked out — the flight attendant picks up the device and sees the browser is open to an article about Liv and her work as Renegade.

When the plane lands, the flight attendant pulls Clive, Liv, and Ravi from their seats and introduces them to a Portland police officer. After a brief moment of anxiety, the flight attendant reveals they are siblings, and Liv saved their younger sister’s life by smuggling her into Seattle and turning her into a zombie. The officer offers to escort them to the Washington border as a thank you, and in hopes they can get back to Seattle quicker. Clive is happy to hear this, as he gets a message that Dale is labor with their baby.

Major turns himself in to get a shot at securing the Max Rager, and luckily he still has one more ally back at Fillmore Graves. Lieutenant Collins has always been a steadfast supporter of Major, and she truly comes through in his hour of need. She helps him get past Enzo and his lackeys so he can get to the precious energy drink needed for the cure. As a result, Enzo executes her. Lieutenant Collins was always a background character, but she was one that I always respected and appreciated, and without her, Major wouldn’t have been able to make it out of Fillmore Graves alive. We’re pouring one out for her tonight.

Meanwhile, Peyton is still being held hostage by Blaine. She helps the Freylich kids make a distraction by conking him over the head, and tossing the keys to Oliver, the older boy with a terminal illness. He drives the getaway car, but Peyton doesn’t quite make it out with the rest of them. The Freylich smuggler shoots at Peyton, and while she takes him out, he gets her too. Blaine runs out to see Peyton bleeding out on the ground.

The kids make it back to the safe house, just as Liv and Ravi are arriving. When they realize Peyton didn’t return with them, they get emotional. Ravi nearly falls apart before Liv reminds them they have an important job to do. She tells Ravi to get to cooking the cure, and she would deal with Blaine. She promises to show no mercy.

Luckily, Blaine’s obsession with Peyton serves her well in this instance. He turns her into a zombie and forces to eat a meal with him. It’s pretty incredible Peyton has survived this whole series without becoming a zombie, but I guess the virus comes for everyone eventually. Unfortunately for Blaine, he should have been more calculating about the brain he fed her. Don E watches Peyton while Blaine goes to visit the well on his father’s property (the one that also used to serve as his father’s prison). Don E is delighted when Peyton has her first vision, but in a dead-panned voice, she tells him she saw Blaine suffocating a girl with a pillow, wearing a wedding dress and calling for Don E. While we still never see the true circumstances of Darcy’s death on-screen, I’m more inclined to trust Peyton’s version of things than Blaine’s. It’s the last straw for Don E, who storms to the well and unceremoniously pushes Blaine in. “No one was ever going to love you,” Don E screams down the well. “I’m the only person who could stand you, and you killed my fiance.” Liv shows up just in time to see the show and she hesitates even less. She hurls a rock at Don E and her aim is true. Don E goes in the well right after Blaine. “Enjoy eternity together!” she sneers, just as she bursts into tears, grieving Peyton. One has to wonder, if this was all that it took to get rid of these two, perhaps it should have been done a long time ago. It certainly would have saved Liv a lot of headaches. I find that even though it was a simple death, it was a deserving one for Blaine and Don E. I was hoping for more of a redemptive moment for Don E, but it took him way too long to see the light, and he’s been complicit in Blaine’s schemes since the very beginning. By the end, he was a richer character, but still an evil one. I’m okay with those two being a little closer to hell now.

Besides, it was all worth it for the moment right after. “How funny would it be if now I knocked you in,” Peyton says. Liv turns around to see her best friend, and the two reunite in a sweet hug. This moment made me a little emotional. These two college buddies have morphed into two very capable and clever young women, and they’ve been by each other’s side through the worst of it.

Blaine and Don E may be out of the picture, but we but we aren’t even close to the end yet! Clive and Dale deliver a beautiful and healthy baby. It essentially takes them out of all the action, but I thought, for better or worse, it was a strong choice. I was glad I didn’t have to worry about either of them dying in the eleventh hour, and they were able to watch everything from their television screens without being in danger.

Ravi finally creates the cure, and he and Major dramatically roll up to the local TV station. After a brief attempt at convincing Johnny Frost to take the cure, Major takes matters into his own hands. “I’m here to prove to the people that it’s over,” he says. He strikes a deal. Major will take the cure, and Enzo can shoot him in the chest in front of everyone. If he dies, it proves he’s not a zombie. It’s just the kind of stupidly heroic thing that Major would do, and Enzo takes him up on it. Major takes the cure and Enzo shoots him more times than can be counted. It’s traumatic, and they really had me believing that our boy was probably dead. Ravi tackles Enzo and manages to cure him. Graham, who had been sneaking around the background the entire episode, appears and shoots Enzo in the head, avenging his boyfriend. A Fillmore Graves officer takes him out, and chaos breaks out. RIP sweet teacher Graham. Outside the TV station, there’s intense gunfire being exchanged between Fillmore Graves, Dead Enders, and Dolly’s CHICS. Inside, the power goes out.

Ravi crawls over to what appears to be a lifeless Major, while we listen to a voicemail he left for Liv. He says goodbye because he doesn’t think he’ll survive his latest world-saving stunt, but she’s always been the love of his life. Just when I was beginning to choke up and start preparing for a life without Major Lillywhite, he softly croaks, “You tricky son of a bitch, what was in that syringe you gave me.” Ravi admits that he gave him a vial of straight up Max Rager, but promises him that “next time, it’s all yours.”

Liv is back at the station, bawling while listening to the voicemail and believing Major is dead. Strangely, Michelle comes into the morgue and asks Liv if she’s okay. The moment is brief and someone breaks into the morgue and sets off a huge explosion. And then suddenly, we are ten years into the future.

At first, I was a little let down. This is absolutely the easiest way to wiggle out dealing with the aftermath of Dolly, the other fringe human groups, and all the other plotlines that iZombie didn’t feel like it wanted to deal with neatly. We don’t get to watch how Seattle apparently “repopulated, rebuilt, and rebranded” as we hear in a moment later. But my frustration was short lived, as the last ten minutes were devoted to my beloved core characters that I adore so much.

Clive, Peyton, and Ravi appear on a virtual reality talk show, where a charismatic host asks them questions about their lives after the cure. As three people who had a front row seat to the events, the host wants to get their perspectives. It’s revealed that none of them stayed in New Seattle after the war, but they all went on to have very successful careers and marriages. Ravi and Peyton are a married couple living in Atlanta, she’s a lawyer and Ravi is head of the CDC. Clive and Dale are co-captaining San Francisco PD while raising their kid, as well as Michelle’s. Besides their lives prospering, the world has recovered from this chapter of history. The cure was distributed, and while some were cured, some are still living full lives as zombies. Dolly is still out there, but not causing trouble as far as we know. While this is all lovely and good, this show really makes us sweat here. Where are Liv and Major? The host wants to know as well. The three of them insist that they are both lost to time, legends in their own right, and they miss them just as much as anyone. Liv died in the morgue’s suicide bombing, and while Major never lost hope that she’s alive, no one has seen him in ten years. They’ve accepted that Liv isn’t alive or that Major will never resurface, America will have to accept it too.

Unless...

We see a flashback of Major returning to the safe house with the kids, and Liv meeting them there. They reunite with a passionate kiss, and even though things are still burning and they are covered in dirt and exhausted, things are right again.

In the most “happily ever after” ending the show could have possibly delivered, Liv and Major are living their lives in private, in a huge mansion by the water, with all their little zombie children. Their friends are well aware of this, and are protecting them from the world at large with their reunion interviews. After the host disappears, Liv and Major appear in the virtual reality space, and after some light teasing amongst the group, they invite Clive, Peyton, and Ravi to their personal zombie haven. “All it takes is a scratch,” Liv says with a knowing smile.

This show tackled more than it had a right to. It was convoluted, goofy, strange, exhausting, whimsical, outlandish, absurd, dark, and hilarious, all at the same time. But what grounded it at the center was the fact it never forgot about its core cast. At times they were given unfortunate character arcs, undercooked plots, and under-serving love interests. But in the end, we saw who they truly were. Ravi, the scientist with a moral compass. Peyton, the lawyer with clever smarts. Clive, the captain with a discerning spirit. And Major and Liv, the nurturers and protectors of zombie-kind, the best mom and dad friends you could ever ask for. I can’t express how happy I am the show ended with these five, standing tall and in love with each other, looking well-rested in paradise. It wasn’t an easy road, in fact sometimes it was a very frustrating road. But when I remember iZombie, I’ll remember it was a show about heroes, good over evil, and a really, really good meal. I’m always going to have a soft spot in my heart for it.

Stray thoughts

“She’s googling The Good Place. She thinks I’m Kristen Bell.” “She’ll be sorely disappointed.” This gag was straight up gold.

Those flamethrowers seemed especially cruel? Fire doesn’t kill zombies, but sure seems to be painful

Collins, Graham, Oliver, and Michelle. All minor characters this season that had a Moment this episode. While most of these characters were overall underutilized in this series and season, I liked how each of them were used to tie things together. Oliver was the only one who made it out alive, however, and the rest of them definitely deserved better.

Did the suicide bomber think that blowing up the morgue would prevent creating more zombies…? That’s the only reason I can think why blowing up a fridge full of dead people could make sense.

Wait this actually reveals a strange plot hole. Is there a limit to how long you’ve been dead before you can be scratched and be a zombie? I don’t remember this question ever explicitly being addressed. There was never an instance where anyone considered creating a zombie army from Liv and Ravi’s morgue.

Clive and Dale named their daughter Olivia. My HEART.

Even though Peyton was okay, I’m glad we got to see Major comfort Ravi. Their bromance is truly one for the ages.

“The way I make my decisions these days is asking myself what would Liv Moore do.” This couple is THAT supportive ship.

I wish we had gotten better promo photos for this finale, or at least some more variety of scenes

Even though it’s a little thin to believe that some people never turned back human and there are zombies still peacefully living among us (as well as Liv and Major, living outside), I actually didn’t mind it. They had to have some way to wrap up the problem of people who would die if they turned back into a human.

“I do miss you, partner.” “Vice versa, Clive.” Wow, ten years without Liv’s antics. I imagine that Clive’s productivity at work has gone way up, although I’m sure he sorely misses her crime-solving visions.

That’s a wrap for iZombie. What did you think? Favorite brains? Worst plot holes? Best shipper moments? Let me know your thoughts!

Haley’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝.5

#iZombie #Series Finale #All's Well That Ends Well

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doomedandstoned · 5 years

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Clutch

Red Fang

Mos Generator

~Live At McDonald Theatre~

Words & Photographs by Stephanie Savenkoff

I drove down to Eugene, Oregon from Vancouver, Washington to see Clutch at McDonald Theatre. I couldn’t resist with such an amazing line-up that included two Northwest favorites, Mos Generator and Red Fang. I left in time to be able to catch the rise of The Hunter’s Moon at Skinner’s Butte, but alas the horizon was shrouded in clouds. My spirits were lifted, however, when I arrived at the theater. It was a beautiful venue with a large, well lit stage.

I was pleased to see a lot of young people, as it was an All Ages show. So many acts play venues where minors aren’t allowed, so it was great to see the youth taking advantage of the opportunity. Tony Reed gave a shout out to those youngsters during Mos Generator’s set. He asked for a show of hands of those under 21 and thanked them for coming out and supporting rock music and live performances.

MOS GENERATOR

Mos Generator was up first. I have had the pleasure of seeing them perform a number of times in Portland and Seattle. I ran into Tony right before they went on and asked if I might be able to shoot their whole set instead of just the first three songs and he graciously agreed. That was an amazing treat and much appreciated! As a fan and audience member I love to see a performer lose themselves in their performance and have what I call a “bliss moment.” For me, it elevates the energy and feeling of connectedness and I enjoy the live experience even more. Tony did just that at many points throughout their set. He radiated pure joy as he played and it was heartwarming to see.

Jono was thunder on the drums. It truly felt like he put his whole being into his playing. Everything was engaged and his intention was, well, intense.

Sean Booth on bass was intense, as well. Wearing his traditional (dare I say iconic) checkered shirt, Sean stayed planted and he dug down deep. His hair tends to hang over his face as he leans into his playing, but every once in a while it becomes visible, like the sun moving in and out of clouds.

Between sets another concert goer described their performance as tight, groovy, and jammy. A very concise and accurate summation to be sure.

RED FANG

Red Fang went on next and I have to say, they play with raw energy and pure fun. The killer bass drum by John Sherman thudded like a heartbeat while the controlled growl/scream of Aaron Beam tickled all the right places. The virtuoso shredding of David Sullivan on guitar was like lightning! He barely moved and his gaze was always low, but he was all business and all fire.

Bryan Giles alternatingly took the lead and his raw power was stunning. His deep voice added to the heavy even as the songs sped along like a freight train.

Red Fang fans like to mosh, but things stayed low key for the most part, in contrast to the show the night before in Bend. With the young people in attendance, I was glad that things didn’t get out of hand.

CLUTCH

At last, Clutch took the stage and opened with the classic "The House That Peterbilt" from 1995 and the audience lit up. The energy level rose the moment Neil Fallon hit the stage and started belting. I just became acquainted with Clutch about a year ago and this was my first time experiencing them live. The quality of their sound is amazing and just as good as the studio. Seeing them live is better, though, as you get to watch Neil perform the songs and not just sing them. He prowled the stage like a caged panther, moving from one side to the other and the animation of his body and face was continuous

The only time I saw him stand in one place was when he played guitar on a couple songs toward the end of the set. Clutch has a considerable catalogue and I was impressed by the depth and breadth of it. I find it hard to name a favorite, but after experiencing the show I am leaning heavily toward "Sucker For The Witch." (Side note: I discovered that all of the band members had writing credit for that song, which I think is rather rare.) Jean-Paul Gaster was a master on the kit. Tim Sault never looked up from his guitar and had absolute focus on his playing. Dan Maines on bass was fairly still himself, all of which I think allowed the focus to stay on Neil and his dramatic, animated performance.

Neil asked the audience if Clutch had played that theater before. The audience responded affirmatively. Neil admitted that he couldn’t recall doing so, but that he would remember this night for sure. I know all of us will!

Clutch ended their set with "Electric Worry," which is often their encore song. I wasn’t sure if they would come back out, even though the audience was clapping, shouting, and the front row people were thumping the photo pit barrier, but return they did. When they came back out, Neil confessed that his guitar player informed him that they had indeed played McDonald Theatre before with Primus and that it wasn’t that long ago (August 13th of 2017).

He then announced the first song they intended to play which was "Willie Nelson," whom Neil declared “a National Treasure.” They finished with "X-Ray Visions" and I swear Neil put just as much energy into that number as he did his first. I don’t know how he had anything left in him after the constant movement onstage and the amount of passion and punctuation he puts into every song.

Clutch was a class act from start to finish. The band members gathered up the set lists from the stage and handed them to fans over the barrier and shook hands with many of them.

I truly hope I have the privilege of seeing them live again sometime. When I left the theater I was able to see the Hunter’s Moon shining brightly overhead as the sky was mostly clear. A perfect end to a perfect night.

#D&S Concert Review #Clutch #Red Fang #Mos Generator #Eugene #Oregon #Photography #Stephanie Savenkoff #McDonald Theatre #Doomed & Stoned

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fandomfanficandmore · 5 years

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1. Love Again (Calum Hood)

Song One Shot 2019- #1. Love Again

fandom: 5 Seconds of Summer

pairing[s]: Calum Hood x oc

warnings: Calum Fluff

word count: 800+

It's been a year, two weeks and one day since Iris and Calum had split, not that they were keeping track.

What started off as a fairytale romance between a musician and a graphic designer turned into a nightmare full of distance, missed moments and hurt feelings. Though they were hopelessly in love for well over two years, they decided that, due to their jobs and locations, it was best for them to split.

Iris was a photographer living in Portland when they met. She had gotten a photo pass to one of his shows in Seattle and had bumped into him while trying to take a picture of his bandmates before the show.

The shutter of the camera sounded as Iris knocked into a something, the camera falling out of her hands- only being saved by the strap around her neck. Swiftly, she turned to look at what she had collided into, finding a brown-haired man with a soft smile.

“I’m so sorry,” She apologized, taking a few steps away from him so that she was no longer touching him, “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was stepping.”

“It’s fine,” He laughed in reply, his Australian accent soft. “Are you a groupie or-”

“Oh, no,” She laughed quietly, “I’m a photographer.” She dug around her camera bag for her pass for a moment before pulling out the laminated card attached to a broken lanyard. “I, uh, broke my lanyard. Again.”

The man took the pass, examining it for a moment before handing it back to her. “Well, Iris, nice to meet you.”

Her heart stopped when she heard her name. “How do you know my name?” With a chuckle, the man pointed to the pass she was tying to the strap of her camera. “Right.” Iris’ cheeks heated up as he smiled at her. “Nice meeting you, too, Calum.”

“How do you know my name?” His smile grew as he teased her, watching as she rolled her eyes. With a grin, she pointed at the crowd. “Right.”

After the show, he found her on Instagram and sent her a dm, where the two began talking. Their first date was to a show when she had come to LA to photograph a festival, and by the time she left LA a week later, the two were together.

In the time since the breakup, Calum and his band had put out a new album, which Iris knew had at least one song about her. She still kept tabs on them, as they were still her friends, but she hadn’t seen them other than through facetime.

During that year, Iris was also given the opportunity to become a house photographer for a historic venue in Los Angeles, and she soon made the move from Northern Oregon to Southern California.

One night, not long before a show, Iris was in her office collecting her equipment when a soft knock rattled her door. “Yeah?” Spinning around, her heart stopped when her eyes landed on the man, who wore a soft smile on his face. “Calum?”

“Hey, I.” He responded with a warm smile. That was all it took for the feelings that Iris had pushed away a year ago to come back, two words and a smile.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were on tour.” She spoke before her brain could stop her.

“You’re photographing my show,” He laughed, “We’re opening for the Chainsmokers.”

“Right,” Iris let out a short laugh, embarrassed, “I forgot.” She took a moment to look at him. He hadn’t changed much in the last year, Iris had noticed, other than cutting his hair a bit shorter than usual. She could smell his cologne- the one she had gotten him for his birthday right after they had started dating- reminding her of the many nights she'd spent in his bed, entangled in the sheets that smelled like him.

She was pulled out of her memories by a stagehand, “Thirty minutes until showtime.”

“Thanks,” She nodded at him before turning back to Calum.

“Have fun, Iris.” Calum nodded at her before turning to leave. Iris reached out, grabbing his hand to stop him from leaving, feeling the familiar spark she always got when they touched.

“Wait-” She watched as he looked back at her, “find me after, okay? Let’s catch up.”

“Okay, I.” He smiled at her, “I’ll see you after.”

What was meant to be a short catch up turned into a long, in-depth talk between the two exes. They talked about the time they had spent apart, Iris learning about the stories behind the new album, Calum learning about the artists Iris had worked with. They also talked about their relationships- or lack thereof. They missed each other- they both knew it- and they made sure the other knew. By the end of the night, the feelings they both had pushed down had come back. By the time the sun began to rise, both Iris and Calum knew one thing: they were in love again.

#songfic #love again songfic #calum hood #calum 5sos #calum imagine #calum hood x oc #5sos fanfic #5 seconds of summer #5sos

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alekakers · 5 years

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The Story So Far (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Existential Dread)

- 32-

When I was a kid I thought of thirty-two as this incredibly significant age. For whatever reason I viewed it as the epitome of reaching adulthood. Of course as a child I thought of everyone older than me as an adult. You know that weird skewed perspective thing, when you recall memories from childhood and even high school kids looked like grown ups. But in my head thirty-two was a mythical age that solidified your status as an adult. An age that once reached meant you were no longer a young man/woman, but a full fledged adult-y adult.

Now as I sit here looking back on thirty-two years of life I can say I had no idea how my perspective on age and life would change over the next couple decades. But in some strange way I wasn’t completely wrong either. I had wanted to do this kinda thing when I turned 30 but that was a chaotic time so I never got around to it. So now with two more years behind me, here is a reflection on a simple life and what I’ve learned from it. Let’s start at the beginning...

- Born On The Bayou -

I was born in the early afternoon in Nassau Bay, Texas. I grew up on the same 25 acre ranch my mom was raised on. 30 minutes outside of Houston, 20 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, and 10 minutes from the Johnson NASA Space Center where my grandparents were instrumental in the Apollo and space shuttle programs. My grandfather was an Oklahoma farm boy that crossed the Mississippi in a covered wagon who ended up putting men on the moon. My grandmother came from New England and was breaking ground in the country’s fledgling space program when she fell in love with a cowboy rocket scientist and brought my mom into the world. Unfortunately they died when my mom was in college. I wish I could have met them.

My dad grew up in a sleepy suburb outside Portland, Oregon. His mother was an eccentric, loving, and strong-willed woman. It was her grandfather, Aleksander Justice, that I’m named after. A wolgadeutsche immigrant, he moved to America to start a new life for himself and his family. My grandmother was harshly old-fashioned to say the least, but she loved me and my sister with all her heart and was in our lives more than any other extended family member. Her passing a few years ago wrecked me more than I thought it would.

My father’s father was an orphan adopted and raised by his Uncle. As an angsty youth he enlisted in the navy to avoid jail time, served as a frogman in Vietnam, worked as a motorcycle cop for decades to support three kids, helped raise my cousin after my aunt got divorced, and was a volunteer firefighter and loving grandfather and great grandfather when he passed a couple years back. He was and will always be the prime example of the man I judge myself against. I miss him a lot.

- Beans and Cornbread -

My parents met in college and were soon after married and the proud parent’s of a baby boy. My dad was serving in the navy when both I and then my sister, Erin, were born. After his tour of duty my parents moved to the property in Texas that was left to my mom and my uncle. Despite being crazy young, dirt poor, and perhaps in retrospect being wildly unprepared to raise a family, my parents managed to keep us fed and clothed and sheltered. Most importantly they instilled in us the values and morals I still hold dear. Treat others with kindness. Be grateful for what you have. Work hard, try your best, and never give up no matter what life throws at you. In some ways I’m grateful for my modest upbringing and the appreciation it gave me for the little things in life.

Even though my friends lived in nice suburbs while I lived in a run down ranch house, even though they had nintendos and nerf guns while I had cheap plastic toys, even though we ate on a shoe string budget and couldn’t go on fancy vacations, even through the emotional trauma of it all, I still look back on my childhood fondly. I am eternally grateful for those years. Wandering around the pasture. Erin and I letting our imaginations run wild. Going to cub scouts every week. Making our own fun roaming around the church after hours while our mom was there to do whatever she was there to do. My parents scraping every penny to make holidays and birthdays special. I wouldn’t trade all the dinners of beans and cornbread for anything else. I’ll always be a humble country boy at heart.

- Misty Mountain Hop -

Three months after my 11th birthday we packed up the house, loaded the moving truck, and drove half way across the country to start a new life in Washington. My dad had been unemployed for a while and ended up finding a job with the boy scouts in Everett. It would give our family a modicum of economic security and put us closer to my dad’s family in Oregon. It was a jolting transition to say the least. Shortly after we moved puberty hit like a ton of bricks. My early childhood was firmly left in Texas and my teenage years made their angsty debut in Washington.

We moved into a quiet suburb 30 minutes north of Seattle and for the first time our family had a level of comfort we had never had. We could afford name brand cereal! But simultaneously my father’s anger issues were coming to a boiling point. Also my sister and I were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It was a very tumultuous time. My defense mechanism was to retreat, and I became terribly introverted and detached, retreating into music and video games. My sister went the opposite direction and became a loud, boisterous spit-fire, finding herself at home in the world of theater. I think we both already had the predilections for these respective personality traits, but the dissonance in the family only exaggerated them.

After a few years we moved into another house around the block. It was around this time that my father’s temper finally became too much and he started seeking help to work through some things. It took some time but I can’t stress enough how much of a different person he was after that. Night and day. I was in high school at this point and it was also around this time that I started to become disillusioned with the status quo of society. The modern school system seemed pointless, I started smoking weed, and music became the end all be all of my existence. It still is. Music is life! I dropped out of high school and decided to live the life I wanted to live.

Throughout my teenage years I played in different bands, experimented with all kinds of drugs, met and broke up with my first true love, entered the work force, and started the slow painful transition from adolescence to adulthood. It was a wild time! While part of me wishes I had stuck out high school, I have never regretted the choices I made. I saw that so much of the reality around me was a construct of our culture and I sought to push the boundaries of that reality. And I’m glad I did. I learned lessons the hard way, on my terms. I saw past so many lies and illusions and fallacies of how we’re expected to live our lives and perceive the world. I created my own world of truths and morals instead of blindly accepting the ones being pushed on me. It was an incredibly eye-opening and freeing time in my life and I credit those experiences for a lot of the wisdom and knowledge that I’ve absorbed.

*Disclaimer: I am grateful that I came out of that time in my life relatively unscathed. I know/knew many people that couldn’t claim themselves so lucky. It takes an incredibly strong will to toe the line and step back without going over the edge. Even though I wouldn’t change a moment of it, I wouldn’t recommend the life I led to anyone.

- Retreat and Rebirth -

After the last band I was in during those days broke up, our collective friend groups started to dissipate. As the realities of adult life started to pull from different directions most people rose to the occasion. I did not. Burnt out from the crazy ride and being overwhelmed by life I retreated to a world of isolation. A little solitude is healthy. I consider myself an outgoing introvert (A term a like a lot). But I took it too far. Unemployed for three years. Letting many friendships dwindle and slip away. Spending my days doing nothing but smoking weed and playing video games. It was unhealthy and I didn’t know how to change. Then the universe decided it was time. Just after my 22nd birthday I finally cut ties with a very close but deceptively toxic friend. After smoking half a pack a day since I was 16 I decided to quit. And I decided to take a break from smoking weed. Then to top it all off my childhood dog that I had had for 14 years died. To this day that remains the most transformational time in my life.

I spent that spring and summer reconnecting with myself and what was important in life. Taking care of my diabetes. Eating healthier. Gardening. I leaned into making mixtapes like never before. It is still my main hobby. Musica es vida! I had what I can only describe as a spiritual awaking. Come fall I was smoking weed again but with a renewed respect for the plant. I had a job doing something I had unexpectedly developed a passion for, cooking. And I found myself coming out of my social isolation. It was like I ended a three year hiatus from the world. I still think of my life in terms of before that time and after.

Then three years after I hit the reset button on life I was ready for another change. I was 25 and the inexorable march of time wasn’t stopping. So I finally moved out of my parent’s house. No shame! Science says that adolescence in modern humans lasts into our early twenties. And I was definitely still weening out of my teenage years at that age and was lucky to have such amazing supportive parents. It wasn’t until 24/25 that the existential dread of life started to set in and I thought, shit I gotta get outta here. December 2012, the apocalypse didn’t happen, and I moved in with my sister in downtown Seattle. She herself had spent the last few years overcoming her own traumas and wrestling with her own demons, and she helped me step even further outside my comfort zone into the greater world. I am so grateful for the two years we got to live together as fledgling adults.

- She Saved Me -

Just shy of a year living among the sights and sounds of the city, I found myself falling into a dangerous rut. I had been at the same job for three years. Commuting between the suburbs and downtown. Six years since my last relationship. Not much of a social life. And finding escape from the dull routine at the bottom of a bottle. Get up. Go to work. Come home. Get drunk and high and play video games or watch tv. Rinse, repeat. I suddenly found myself back where I was. And again I didn’t know how to break the cycle. Then I met the one person that would change my life in ways I never could have expected. The one person that would rock my world, wake me up to the true possibilities of existence, and become the one person that I could truly never live without.

One fall day I walk into work to see a new face. Olivia was her name. Damn she’s cute, I thought. And I quickly became enamored with her personality. But it would take 6 months of quietly pining for her before I had the courage to try my hand. Then on a fateful day in May we spent a whole day together. Then a whole week together. Then the summer that would change my life forever. We fell madly in love. I stopped drinking like a horse. My heart was opened to another for the first time in many many years. My mind was awakened by a mind I so closely related to. My body was refreshed by the passion I had been so long without. It was another rebirth of the soul, the kind that shook me to my very core. I had almost resigned myself to being alone forever, working a dead end job and drinking the nights away. Then she saved me. She remains my best friend, my rock, and my favorite person in the whole world.

- My Place -

Invigorated and encouraged, I found a new job. A slight step up in the culinary sense. Challenging yet rewarding. Olivia moved in with us. Then a few months later we got our own place in north Seattle. Shortly after we got a pupper. It was an incredible time. Feeling truly independent and self-supportive for the first time. Developing an amazing relationship with the person that I quickly realized I could spent the rest of my life with. This was the first time in my life I could attest to feeling the slightest bit like an adult. Of course I had realized long ago that you never really feel like an adult. You don’t just wake up one day like a switch was flipped and go, oh I’ve got it now. Life is a constant journey of growth and learning. We’re all just faking it till we make it.

But this was the first time in my life where I felt like, ah okay this is it, this is life, this is being an adult. Waking up every day, doing your best to navigate life, and constantly trying to figure out what it means to be you, what's important to you. Then life set up to deliver another wave of challenges to overcome. It was around this time that my family experienced a huge upheaval. We almost lost someone very close to us and it rattled me to my core. Then my boss was involved in a car accident and as his assistant I was suddenly interim kitchen manager. A couple months later the owner was impressed enough to make it official and I toke my first salaried job.

I relished the opportunity and strove to run that kitchen the absolute best I could. I went above and beyond. I poured everything I had into it. I learned so much about the restaurant game, management, cooking, and above all about myself. It was an intense period of personal growth. At the same I was coming into my own as a leader and a cook, I was also dealing with multiple family tragedies. And as much as I loved the work, the restaurant, and the owners, the stress of the job started taking its toll. Salary is a double edged sword in any industry, but especially in food service. If you know you know. I was doing my best to soldier on but I got to a point where enough was enough. I had come into some money and decided to take some time off. I left on good terms and will never forget the lessons I learned and the people I met.

- Intermission -

I had just turned 30. I had spent the last two years running myself ragged as the kitchen manager of a bustling Seattle restaurant. I put my blood, sweat and tears into that place. It was time for a break. I invested most of the money I inherited, and then set enough aside to to take some time to live life again. I rested. I remembered how to not be anxious every waking moment. Olivia and I went on a cross country road trip to see the national parks and visit my home town in Texas. I proposed. She said yes! It was so incredibly cathartic and needed. I am still grateful I had the opportunity to take the time I needed to reset.

Later that year it was time to go back to work. I ended up back at the little place in the burbs where I started my journey. I was happy to take the lessons I learned and come back as kitchen manager. It was just what I needed to ease back into the industry. The perfect place to put into practice my new found appreciation for work life balance. Meant to be a temporary step, as soon as I did all I was able to do to help them right the ship, it was time to move on. My father in law put me in touch with the chef he worked with and he brought me on board. It was a significant step up in the culinary scene, and I’ve been tapped to take over for the sous chef.

- And Now For Something Completely Different -

Now here I am. 32 years old. That mythical age I held in random esteem when I was a kid. Looking back on my life and thinking about what I’ve learned along the way. Even though I still struggle with my less savory qualities - I fear change and the unknown. I’m scared of success. I suffer from impostor syndrome and doubt my own strengths. I avoid confrontation. - I’m working on it. For the most part I love who I am. I’m proud of the person I’ve become. But it took a time. And work. I made peace with childhood traumas. I fought through pain, did some serious introspection and soul-searching, and came out the other side a better person for it. I looked inside myself to find the strength to overcome my demons. I think it’s inside all of us. Some people attribute it to a higher power. Some people find peace and comfort in the company of others. Whatever it takes, we’re all capable of making changes for the better.

If there is one thing life has taught me it’s that we are never done learning. We never stop growing. We never “figure it out”. We’re constantly being tested by the realities of life and doing our best to rise to the occasion. At 32 I may be an adult by most standards, but I’m still sorting out what that even means, what my purpose in life is, and waking up every day just trying to be the best me I can be. That’s life. And I’m grateful for the safety and security that gives me the luxury of musing on such ephemeral topics. I’m grateful for every day I wake up and get another whack at this crazy thing called living. I’m grateful I got to exist at all. I don’t spend much time these days waxing on the countless possibilities of the what’s and why’s of reality. At the end of day it’s a mute point. My consciousness still inhabits this physical body in this physical realm, and if I wanna keep seeing how far I can take it I have to play by its rules. Even if I occasionally see how far I can bend them. Whatever comes next, whatever is beyond the great void, my reality exists in the here and now. I’ve come to terms (for the most part;) with my mortality and the existential dread. It reminds me that its up to myself to find purpose in life. So I try to live in the present, to work on my shortcomings, make the best of every day, and treat others how I would want to be treated.

As I stare down the barrel of the “best years” of my life, I am hopeful and optimistic about the future. If not for the world at large (jury’s still out on that one) than at least for my ability to navigate it and make the best of it for myself and others. I'm engaged to my best friend, I'm in a kick ass band making music with some of my oldest friends, and I've got a job that I'm incredibly excited about. Lao Tzu said, “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future.” Wise words. But at the same time I think its important to remember where we came from and retain the lessons we’ve learned along the way. As well as looking to the future so that we may live with purpose. I think living is a delicate balance of keeping in mind all that was, all that is, and all that may be. And we’re all just doing our best to find the balance. Do whatever makes you happy as long as it doesn’t hurt others. Try to leave the world a better place for those that come after. Be nice and work hard. Love yourself so that you can love others. Namaste!

- Alek

TL;DR - I just turned 32. Life is crazy. Be nice and work hard. Love yourself and love others. Do your best. Namaste!

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sciencenewsforstudents · 5 years

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This is the eighth in a 10-part series about the ongoing global impacts of climate change. These stories will look at the current effects of a changing planet, what the emerging science suggests is behind those changes and what we all can do to adapt to them.

Last August, the Gulf of Maine experienced a heat wave. Average water temperatures at the surface reached the second-highest level ever recorded: 20.52° Celsius (68.93° Fahrenheit). That’s still a bit chilly for any person who might go for a dip. And it’s even colder diving beneath the surface. But for lobsters, these conditions are absolutely balmy — and they’re loving it. A few decades ago, the Gulf of Maine was at the northern extent of the American lobster’s range. Now, as waters have slowly warmed, it’s prime territory, and lobsters are booming.

This has been great news for Maine lobstermen, like Kristan Porter. He fishes out of Cutler, Maine, on his boat the Whitney & Ashley, named for his two daughters. “I’ve seen not-so-great lobstering when I first started, and, you know, [I’ve] had a pretty good run over the last 25 years or so.”

Back when Porter first started fishing on his own, in 1991, temperatures in the Gulf of Maine weren’t ideal for lobsters, says Andrew Pershing. He’s an oceanographer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland. But as climate change has warmed the planet — and its oceans — more and more, lobsters have migrated north. With rocky bottoms, kelp and other things that lobsters love, this is great lobster habitat, Pershing notes. Climate change has turned the gulf into a “paradise for lobsters,” he says.

Explainer: CO2 and other greenhouse gases

But it won’t stay that way. Pershing’s research shows that if people don’t cut back on emitting greenhouse gases, later this century the waters here will become as warm as those now found off New Jersey, way to the south. And that’s “not a place you associate with a really robust lobster fishery,” he adds.

Maine lobstermen like Porter are starting to worry. They know that these good times might not last forever. “If things go down,” Porter says, “it’s going to be hard on those coastal communities” that depend on lobsters. The lobster fishery in southern New England has already collapsed, in part due to climate change.

As the Atlantic warms, lobsters are chasing their preferred water temperature. They’re spreading into waters that were once too cold for them, and leaving those that are now too warm. This movement is not unusual. Many, many other plants and animals around the world, both on land and in the sea, are also on the move. As a result, old ecosystems — communities of species — are falling apart, and new ones are forming. Some species will be winners. Others will be losers. This is also true for the people that depend on these ecosystems. Some, like the Gulf of Maine lobstermen, will benefit from these changes, at least for a while. Many others will lose out.

Just how all this will turn out is still a bit of a mystery. Scientists can’t predict how everything in an ecosystem will change as climate warms and weather patterns change. “But I think we should be prepared for some complicated responses,” says Janneke Hille Ris Lambers. She’s an ecologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “All these species interact in these complex direct and indirect ways.”

#science #sciblr #scied #climate change #warming #global warming #habitats #environment #greenhouse gases #Maine #lobsters

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lilacmoon83 · 5 years

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Witness Protection

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 4: Hidden in Bliss

Mary Margaret smiled at the wonder on her student's faces, as the tiny blue bird perched itself on her finger. For as long as she could remember, she had always had an affinity for birds. Other children always thought she was the weird bird girl, but then she had always known she was different from other people. Her father was a monster and she had somehow escaped him. She and her husband would likely have to be in witness protection for the rest of their lives, but that was fine with her, as long as she could be with the love of her life and their baby.

To the town, they were David and Mary Margaret Swan, newlyweds that had come to them almost two years ago now, just married and pregnant, though the people had taken to calling her Margaret. Margaret taught fourth grade and David was Sheriff Graham's new deputy. They fit in famously well with most of the townspeople, becoming quick friends with Archie Hopper, the town therapist, Ruby Lucas, who had become their best friend, along with her Granny that owned the diner and Inn, and two couples, Fred and Abigail Midas, as well as Lance and Gwen Knight. Most everyone had been very welcoming to this young couple with a baby joining their community. All except the Mayor, Fiona Gold, who seemed to loathe them from day one. She had tried to protest Graham's hiring of David as his deputy, even though her husband came with an impressive record as a detective in Seattle. And she hadn't liked the school hiring Margaret either. Granny had explained that the Mayor didn't like outsiders in her town. Which seemed a bit weird and as a cop, it made David naturally wonder just what the Mayor might be hiding. Despite her though, they loved their new home and hoped they weren't found and forced to leave it.

They still kept in close contact with Roni and Rogers back in Seattle and much had changed there in the last two years as well. After having a one night stand with a woman named Eloise shortly after they left town, Rogers was surprised about a year ago with a baby outside his apartment. Eloise left a note saying that it was his daughter and she didn't want to care for her. And though he was in shock, Rogers took his child in and instantly fell in love with her, vowing not to fail her where her mother had. His little girl's name was Alice and she was only about a year younger than Emma and Roni adored Alice as much as her father. It made Mary Margaret hope that they could be reunited with their friends someday. For now, they were content and grateful that they had been able to stay in this new home for as long as they had. And they hoped it continued, for this small town was proving to be the perfect place to raise their baby.

She gently let the bird out the window and it flew to the bird feeder just outside. Her students marveled at that, just as the bell rang and they filed out. She watched them leave fondly and then started picking up for the day. She loved their life in this town, but in the back of her mind, she wondered how long it could last. It scared her, for it was one thing for her and David to be on the run, but to have to take Emma into that sort of life was another entirely. She prayed everyday that they wouldn't be found and though threats from her father had seemingly gone quiet in the last couple years, she and David hadn't let their guard down. As much as she hated it, she knew her father was still looking for her and she knew that he knew she had a child with David too. She shuddered to think about how he still wanted to destroy the beautiful life they had created together. But all her fears and worries melted away momentarily at the sound of a little voice.

"Mommy!" Emma called, as David let her down and she toddled to her mother.

"There's my munchkin," she cooed, as she scooped her up, as her husband walked toward them and kissed her tenderly.

"You're off early," she mentioned, as she was usually the one to pick up Emma from daycare.

"The perks of living in a small, quiet town," he replied, as he dropped a kiss on Emma's head too.

"Show Mommy what you made in daycare," he reminded, as Emma showed her the piece of purple construction paper she was carrying. Mary Margaret gasped.

"Oh sweetheart...it's so beautiful," she praised her daughter's drawing, which included a sun with a rainbow in the sky and three stick figures, which represented their family.

"We'll put it on the fridge when we get home," she promised, as she kissed her hair. She then got her things and joined hands with her husband, as they left her classroom.

"How about Granny's?" she proposed.

"Yay!" Emma cheered. David smiled.

"Sounds great to me," he agreed, as they strolled out to the car, unaware that someone watch watching and snapping pictures of them.

~*~

Seattle

Leopold looked up from his desk, as his head of security, Rivers, walked into his office.

"More photos just in from our contact," he said, offering the file folder to his boss. Leopold opened it and looked through them. It was much of the same as the rest of the photos taken over the past two weeks. Finally, after two years, he had found his daughter. But this time, he was taking a bit of a different approach.

"Boss...we know where they are, but you haven't issued any orders yet," Rivers stated.

"Because somehow Weaver is always one step ahead and manages to get them out before we can get to them. Plus...as much as I hate admitting it, my daughter's husband has been proven to be quite formidable, especially when it comes to taking what is mine. So this time...I'm taking another approach," he said, as he picked up the phone.

"Fuel the jet and standby," he told his pilot.

"So we're taking the jet there?" Rivers asked.

"No...because the moment my jet takes off, Weaver will somehow get our flight plan and warn them. So we're going to let him by sending the jet off to Los Angeles on a business trip," Leopold stated.

"Meanwhile, I have a first class ticket under an alias to Portland, Maine. And from there, it's a mere two hour driver to...Storybrooke. I'm going to visit my lovely daughter like any good father," he added.

"Alone Sir?" Rivers asked skeptically.

"Yes...after all, what threat does an old man like me pose to anyone?" Leopold asked. Rivers smirked, as he got exactly where he was going with this.

"That's...ingenious. I guess that's why you're the billionaire," Rivers complimented. Leopold smirked deviously, finished his drink, and left to prepare for his trip.

~*~

Mary Margaret bit her bottom lip and smiled indulgently, as she watched her husband feed their daughter bites of ice cream. And she felt her heart flutter when they smiled at each other with the exact same smile. David looked up to see her gazing at them with a dreamy stare and smiled at her too.

"What?" he asked.

"Just staring at the loves of my life," she answered. She never imagined falling in love and then when she did, she hadn't imagined actually having a baby. She couldn't believe that it was just four years ago when she walked into her father's living room and witnessed his men putting a bullet into a man's head. A man that had been on his knees, begging for his life. It had shocked her to the core and changed her life forever.

~*~

As the body fell to the floor with a thud, her father and his men stared at her and Leopold was quick to snap his fingers.

"Close the door," he ordered, as one of his bodyguards did as he requested.

"Mary, my dear...what are you doing here?" he questioned.

"This...this is my home," she stammered, as her eyes were still locked on the body.

"You are early...the party is not for a few more hours," he chided. She looked at him in disbelief. He had just ordered the murder of someone and watched them die. And now he was talking about parties?

"Father...what have you done?" she blurted out. But he put his hands on her arms, which made her skin crawl.

"He was a very bad man, my daughter," he admonished.

~*~

But she knew better. She knew that it was her father that was the bad man. She had just been sheltered from his evil before that moment. And what had happened next was one of those make or break moments that defined a person's life. Had she not made a move to escape that night, her life would have turned out very differently. She would have been trapped in her father's web of evil and become his victim in the most horrifying ways.

~*~

"Don't worry...all traces of him will be gone before your party. Perhaps you'd like to relax in a bath before your guests arrive," he leered and she jumped, as his hands went to her waist. And what she saw in his eyes when she turned was a lustful stare that frightened her to her very core.

"Don't touch me…" she blurted out.

"You are my daughter, Mary. I must make sure you are okay after what you walked in on," he said, as he kept advancing, while she kept backing away.

"No...you want to make sure I don't tell anyone you just murdered someone! And you want to do things to me that a father should never do to his daughter," she spat.

"Mary...you belong by my side, just as your mother did. Is it so wrong for a father to love his daughter so much as I do?" he questioned.

"Yes!" she said hotly.

"Fathers are not supposed to love their daughters this way," she protested.

"I am Leopold Blanchard, practically King of Seattle. You know that no one tells me no…" he warned, as she kept backing away.

"I always have what I want," he added and in a moment of pure clarity, she stopped seeing her father and saw a monster instead. It would be the thing that saved her that night, as she picked up a lamp and broke it over his head.

~*~

That had led her fleeing to Hyperion Heights and directly to her friend's bar. Roni had promptly drove her to the police station in Hyperion Heights where she met Detective Rogers and his rookie detective partner that would become her husband and the father of her baby.

~*~

"Yes...you are still in a lot of danger, Miss Blanchard. If your father gets his hands on you again, I daresay he'll either kill you for knowing too much or worse things I'm sure none of us want to think about," Weaver said bluntly. She swallowed thickly at that.

"Then what do you suggest?" she asked.

"You are definitely the key to bringing down your father and luckily, I'm going to put my two best detectives on it," Weaver replied.

"While Rogers is investigating him and trying to turn up a body...Nolan will be moving you into witness protection," he said. She looked at Nolan and then back at Weaver.

"So I'm getting a babysitter," she realized.

"I'm not a babysitter," he snapped in return, as they stared at each other.

"I have a safe house in Oregon. You both leave tonight," Weaver said.

~*~

And the rest was history. She had fallen in love with her protector and they escaped to new lives with new identities. They made new friends and were a family. None of their new friends had any inkling of her past or who her powerful father was. And she prayed that it stayed that way. If she had her way, she'd never have to see her evil father again and they could stay in this wonderful town and raise their family. A family that would soon be growing, she thought, as she put a hand to her still flat abdomen. She hadn't told him yet, but planned to after they put Emma to bed tonight. He smiled at her from across the table, as Ruby picked up their plates.

"Thanks Rubes," Mary said.

"Three cocoas?" she asked and they nodded. Cocoa and a walk in the park on the way home would be the perfect ending to their already perfect evening.

~*~

Rogers rifled through the files on his desk, as he prepared to take a few home to read over that evening. He was about to leave to pick up Alice and peered into Weaver's office.

"Anything on the Leopold Blanchard front? You mentioned earlier that he was leaving town," Rogers replied. They were always leery when that happened, for there was fear that he may have found them. But Weaver shook his head.

"I just got the flight plan and his private jet just touched down in Los Angeles. Probably another lucrative business trip," Weaver responded. Rogers was relieved at that. He hated that Leopold Blanchard still got to conduct the day to day operations of his business, which they knew was full of illegal dealings; none of which they could prove. But at least he hadn't found David and Mary Margaret.

"Well...in that case, I'm out of here for the evening," he mentioned, as he made his way to his car to pick up his little starfish.

~*~

The commercial plane touched down in Portland, Maine late that night and Leopold disembarked at the airport. A car was waiting to take him to a five star hotel for the evening and then tomorrow, a rental car would be waiting for him. He would drive to this small town that his daughter was hidden away from him and he would finally see her again. By dinnertime tomorrow, he would find her and meet his granddaughter as well...

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family AU #feat toddler Emma #AU #Hyperion Heights #Storybrooke #Weaver #Roni #Rogers #Alice #anti-Leopold #evil Leopold #romance #family #adventure #witness protection

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