#this is what modern day eugenics looks like and no one gives a shit

[joenotexotic99]

Hey! I love your work so much! Like your writing is actually beautiful! Anyway, I was wondering if you could do some of the Easy Boys if you were to tell them your pregnant? If not that’s totally ok, I completely get it. I just thought it would be kinda cute lol. I was wondering if you could include Bull, Lieb, Gene, and Winters along with whoever you want bc let’s be honest, I’m in love with them all.

A/n hope you liked this anon! <3

Warnings, so much fluff, slight language, probably needs a spell check.

Bull Randleman

You weren't sure of how he'd react, sure you loved each other but you never got to the point of whether or not you were having kids. When you did tell him his face stayed neutral, you almost thought that he was upset at first until a huge grin displayed across his face. He took you into his arms and gave you the biggest hug. He rubbed your back and kissed the top of your head, holding you close. He then let go to kiss your stomach. Telling his future kid that he loves them. When he looked back at you he had the most genuine smile.

“son of a bitch, I'm going to be a father”

“Damn right your are”

Joseph Leibgott

You just made this man stop completely in his tracks, you knew how bad he wanted a family so as soon as you found out you were expecting, you went running to tell him. He had the biggest holy shit face. He immediately ran to you and scooped you up. He started to ramble, thanking you and telling you how much he loves you and how happy and excited he is. He then gives you the sweetest kiss. The whole day he sported the biggest smile, if anyone asked why so joyfully he proudly told them that he was going to be a father. If this was a modern au I would totally see him calling you a milf, respectfully 

“holy shit I love you so much, you're amazing you know that? I'm gonna be a dad, jesus”

“The best”

Eugene roe

Like bull you haven't discussed the possibility of having kids. You had no idea what to expect telling him the news. You honestly expected the worst. But all that fear washed away immediately when you saw the excitement in his eyes and the wide smile on his face. He asked you if this is what you want and when you nodded with yes he went straight to hug you. Gene would be so caring with you. I honestly think that he would find trinkets and toys to give you his kid when he's old enough.  Will be such a great dad.

“Are you sure we're ready for this”

“Probably not but one things for sure is you are going to be a great mom”

Richard winters 

you wanted kids and so did winters, you've talked and discussed it before, even going as far as telling what names you liked and disliked. But it was always something you said you would do later in life, so it came as a surprise when you found out you were pregnant so soon. Telling him was exciting and nauseating at the same time. It took him a second to  register what you meant, but he was more than excited. Starting a family has been something he's always wanted and now it's a dream come true. He rapped you in your arms telling you how happy he gets to do this with you.

“I love you, you know that?”

“More than you know”

Ronald Speirs

Honestly children were never really in the question. When you and Speirs talked about your future you would talk about beaches and vacations and buying a big house. Never kids. So you were rightfully terrified to find out you were pregnant. You had no idea if Speirs ever wanted kids. When you told him you half expected for him to walk away. It took at least ten seconds for him to make any face acknowledging to you his feelings. That's when he hugged you. When he pulled away he had tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. 

“were having a kid?”

“We are”

“I love you”

#band of brothers #band of brothers fanfic #band of brothers headcanon #band of brothers x reader #bull randleman #bull randleman x reader #joseph liebgott #joseph liebgott x reader #eugene roe #eugene roe x reader #dick winters #richard winters x reader #ronald speirs #ron speirs x reader #request

[bellewintersroe]

Headcanon : Easy boys reaction to seeing their lady lieutenant for the first time.

Have a good day!!!! :)

AAAAHHH I love this!!! Thank you so much for the request and inspo, I appreciate it a lot! Hope you enjoy and hope you have a great day :):):) <;3

Easy boys reacting to seeing their lady Lieutenant for the first time:

Dick Winters: ok it would not matter what ranking Dick has, at this point he could be major or a lieutenant himself- but he’s still a blushing mess. Omg he’d be so so so so respectful, and would not bat an eyelid at listening to a woman in command. Sometimes he finds his eyes following you a little too much, and immense guilt and a fear of him breaking the rules ensues.

Lewis Nixon: smirks and shrugs it off, he’s so calm about it, but you’re so hot, he knows damn well how some of the men are gonna act like dogs in heat. Not Nix though, even with his cool exterior he knows how to treat a woman. Might forget to call you ma’m sometimes when he gets more friendly with you.

Ron Speirs: in shock. A little worried?? Confident because you seem so sure of yourself? Ron doesn’t know how to feel from first impressions- but one things for sure, he wouldn’t even think for a second about something as small as twitching his lips in reaction. He’s so respectful, would rather watch you from afar before judging you immediately. He’s super mysterious.

Carwood Lipton: super friendly, probably befriends you first out of everybody. He trusts you as long as you trust him and believes the two of you truly will make a good team. Would be your number 1 supporter and in your downtime he finds himself blushing and gazing like a teenager in love.

Babe Heffron: would probably shit himself? Idk just gives the impression that he’d be a nervous wreck.

Bill Guarnere: tells Heffron to shut the hell up as he himself swags his way towards you, before you have to remind him you’re not just some civilian woman, you’re his companies lieutenant. Apologises and probably admires you forever after this for being so bold.

Joe Toye: ok don’t take this the wrong way but I feel like Toye curses when he see’s his lieutenant is a female the first time? Not because he’s got a bad attitude to women, but this is the 1940s, he’s just in pure shock- I think he’d be guilty of not believing you’re as strong as the men at first.

Joe Liebgott: on the outside he acts all cool, tries to act a mixture between smug and shocked that the companies Lieutenant is a ‘chick’. On the inside he’s freaking out internally because goddddd you’re hot. You’d probably over hear him 50 times talking about how hot you are- he thinks he’s so sly as well.

Floyd Talbert: again, guilty of fancying the hell out of you. However, I feel like Floyd would be more respectful? Yes, I know he gets labelled as a womaniser and all, but I think he’d be kinda shy? Maybe worried what you think about him? Idk he’d give off the vibes that he wants you to like him, so the first time you meet him he’s surprisingly quiet.

David Webster: superrrrrr impressed that the lieutenant is a female. If Web was around in the modern day I think he’d be a feminist. Would brag to other men from different companies about you.

Eugene Roe: SHYYYYY, would barely be able to hold eye contact with you. I think Gene’s a lot more tough than we all give him credit for, but around women he’s a little quieter, so especially for his lieutenant who’s got authority over him, he feels a little nervous!

Shifty Powers: if anybody said ANYTHING bad about you Shifty would jump to your defence! Not in a harsh or abrupt way, he’d be very clear, letting people know they shouldn’t undermine your abilities, and reminds them of all your achievements.

Warren Skip Muck: like Lipton would befriend you instantaneously. He’d be so kind and energetic, he probably wouldn’t look at you any different than any of the men in charge- of course he probably has a little crush on you- but he’s one of the first people to go out of his way to befriend you!

Don Malarkey: giggles.

George Luz: giggles even harder- apologises with a boyish smile when you call him out.

Hoobler: this cutie would be so soft:( he’d make conversation with you and I feel like he’d be so innocent and starts telling you about the Luger pistol he wants to find.

Buck Compton: in the early days he’d be a little confused? Of course he’d never say this to your face or to anybody else but he’s wary. After a while he realises how much he can trust you and hates himself for ever having a doubt about you.

Chuck Grant: would probably smirk to himself, cos you’re hot, but he’s too respectful to admit anything out loud so silently admires you and how strong headed you are.

#Band of brothers x reader #Band of brothers #Band of brothers head cannons

[twotangledsisters]

WIP Ask Game Modern Tangled that is Dark?

Ooh, Id' pretty much forgotten about this one!

If I'm honest, I should probably take this one out of the folder as I doubt it'll ever be completed for umm... Reason I can't disclose? (one person will know what I mean with this xD)

But it was a Tangled AU taking place in modern day where Gothel needed Rapunzel's blood for a medicine she needed to live, and when Rapunzel's parents said there child would not be used for that, she kidnapped Rapunzel and locked her in her attic.

Eugene and Lance are thieves running from the law and in a badly gone heist they break into this woman's house to hide and find Rapunzel.

Rapunzel is in pretty bad condition as she hasn't seen sunlight since she was a child, she's very skittish, underweight, terrified (this is why it's titled dark)...

Eugene and Lance unable to go to law enforcement break her out of the attis and bring her with them back to their hideout. A basement! What an upgrade for this poor girl...

Eventually Lance remembers he has this friend who's father is in the police and she's going through a bit of a rebellious stage so she might be a good option for getting information without having to reach out to the police.

Together they figure out who Rapunzel is and work to get her home safely.

Here's a snippet:

The sound of movement cause Eugene to turn around quickly and Lance to hide behind his friend. Fuck. Just they’re luck to climb into an attic with someone in it! People barely spent time in the attic and the window had been boarded up! But then out of the shadows stepped a girl about their age, green eyes wide and confused. Her hair was down to her waist, greasy and matted. Her skin was pale, and she was littered with bruises. Eugene lowered the weapon he was holding. The girl looked at him before stepping back. There was a clinging sound and as Eugene narrows his eyes, he realised the girl was chained to the ground. “Shit…” “She’s clearly a ghost. We’ve walked into a horror movie. I knew this was a bad idea,” Lance groaned. Eugene shook his head as he pulled out his lock picks. “I wish this were a horror movie, as our day just got a whole lot harder.” When Eugene started to move the girl rushed back, back hitting the wall. She shook her head. “It’s okay,” Eugene whispered, holding out a hand reassuringly. “I’m going to help you, alright?” Lance watched Eugene’s slow movements. The girl slid to the ground with her back against the wall, closing her eyes tightly as Eugene began to pick the locks. “Do you speak English?” She didn’t respond. “My name’s Flynn, that’s Lance.” Lance grinned. “Pleasure to meet you!” The girl opened one eye to look at the two then pointed towards the door. “Mother.” “Is she who looked you up here?” The girl looked at Eugene but didn’t say anything else. “Alright…” Eugene managed to free one wrist before moving onto the next. “Lance, we need to drop her off at a police station before heading home.” “What? No!” “No?” “We can’t drop her off at a police station.” “We don’t go in, we just leave her and run. The police can help her.” “They won’t help her Eugene, if she isn’t talking, they’ll throw her right into an asylum…” Lance held himself. “Trust me, they’re horrible.” Eugene frowned. “Well, we can’t leave her here.” “We could take her?” Eugene scoffed. “And do what, may I ask?” “Help her, of course.” “How?” “If I’d been locked in an attic, the first thing I’d want my brave rescuers to do is give me a delicious hot meal! You like food?” He asked the girl. “Food?” she asked. “Yeah!” Lance smiled. The girl smiled back and nodded. Eugene sighed. “Great… Two food motivated full grown kids for me to care for…”

As you can tell the tone is also very... off. I'd have to rework this fic a lot to make it work.

As always, thanks for the ask!

#ask answered

[please-help-this-little-lesbian]

JUDITH NO

Wait what happened to Daryl?

RIP Jules

HOLY FUCK LUKE TOO?

YESS CONNIE SLAY

THE HARMONICA 😭😭

Y’all I’m actually crying right now

Angel is acting her ASS OFF this episode

The Merle mention 👁👄👁

Mercer rn that’s the safest place to be

YESS PRINCESS

No she lost her fucking arm

Eww

OH MY GOD

OH MY FUCKING GOD

ALL THOSE POOR KIDS JESUS

How old is Coco?? Like 1?

Oh thank god she’s alive

O FUCK THIS SOEECH JUDITH YOURE GONNA LIVE DAMMIT

NO SHE PASSED OUT AGAIN

I LOVE WHEN THEY SWEAR

Bro who just died?

Season 1 throwback 🤩

It’s giving Fear season 1 and I love it

NO. NO. NO. No no. No no.

Wait what other random kid does Gabe have???

NO NO NO NO NO NO NONO NO

YESS

THATS MY WIFE EVERYBODY

What y’all gonna do fly in?

PLEASE AARON GIVING HER ADVICE I CANT 😭😭😭

Where is Elijah??🤨

Cassady’s acting rn I—🤌

Maggie asking about Negan?????

“Pop off—“ NO. GOD PLEASE NOT ANOTHER MODERN REFERENCE PLEASE GOD

“I am doing this for you.” I do not like the vibes of this

Yo it’s been a fucking day???

I’m glad Negan’s attoned kind of but it’s giving enemies to lovers

I swear they’re replaying the same clip of Coco

NO

NONONONONOFUCK NO

I FUCKING HATE YOU AMC

*Violently realizes Eugene and I have the same bangs*

Please God Judith. Please give me some good news.

“Big Asskicker” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Yes Mercer stand against Facism

Maggie make the fucking shot

“Arrest them” girl you’ve got bigger problems

Gabe slays as always

Not DARYL being the one to bring in the power of friendship

EVERY SINGLE FBOMB GIVES ME SEROTONIN

“We ain’t the walking dead” AGFSGHDFKCSHHDXJGSHJFFHGDFHN

Just let Maggie shoot her

ELIJAH

JERRY

Pam what are you

Oh it’s Lance

JUDITH??

WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE COME FROM??

They always have the best music

Lydia put everything into that kick

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO COOL

SLAY CAROL

Negan why were you looking at the whisperer mask

Good for her.

Girlie we’ve already said this

But regardless, tell him!!!

They are actually handling this really well!!

This is exactly what Maggie said to Enid in Just Survive

NO THE DINNER SCENE

LIKE IN THE DREAM IN 7x01

FUCK

AND TGEYRE PLAYING LANDSLIDE😭😭😭

Are Yumiko and Magna together again?

DOG

Is Negan finally gonna fucking leave

Well, answered that question

At least Rosita will die peacefully…

Noo I think Jude knows

I’m never gonna forgive AMC for this

THEY HAD A BABY?????

GOVERNOR EZEKIEL 😭😭😭😭

BLACK LEADERSHIP WE LOVE TO SEE IT

JUST KISS ALREADY

Does Lydia have a fake arm or…

AFDDNSFJFDHDFHC THE COMPAS

THE FUCKING COMPAS

HEY REMEMBER WHEN WE ALL SAID THE WRITERS WOULD REMEMBER JUDITH AND NEGANS BOND AT THE LAST MINUTE??? REFUCKINGMEMBER???

AUNT MAGGIE AGDXHFFF

So that’s how she goes off with Negan…

Did Carol cut her hair??

So that’s his goal…

RICK

MICHONNE

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

IM SOBBING

Why is Michonne dressed like she’s still In Wakanda?

Oh so Rick and her ain’t together

Huh????

Okay I’m gonna be fr, I ain’t got no idea what’s going on rn

#twd #the walking dead #twd the finale

[wwhatev3r]

Hi there! I was wondering if I could request something modern and fluffy with Roe?

Note: I'm so sorry for taking a while to write this, I hope you like it (Fluff in not really my jam.) I decided to go for a imagine because I never posted one here, so yeah :) I wanna apologize for not having much modern content.

In Your Arms

Eugene Roe x Reader

Warning: FLUFF, FLUFF, FLUFF

Summary: Reader gets into a little accident during slow dancing. (Yes, that's it.)

The warm lights on the trees were illuminating the whole garden and the fresh smell of the summer night was giving me goosebumps.

“Here.” Eugene gave me his jacket and got his chair closer to mine to help me put it over my shoulders, “We should get inside, I don’t want you to get a cold.”

 We had just finished dinner, which tasted incredibly good, mostly because we were so tired after a long day of work. Eugene and I had just moved to this new town because he had been transferred to a new hospital, so we bought this house and we had been remodeling it. Today we had work on the garden. 

“Thank you sweetie,” I was already expecting him to say that, but the night was so lovely I couldn't waste it like that, “Don’t worry, I’ll get warm pretty quick. Oh, and by the way, the dinner was great.”

“What are you talking about, you did mostly everything, Miss.” he said, right after a quick laugh, “You could've handled it alone, and probably would have come out even better.”

After all this time and sometimes he still calls me Miss, there was nothing in this world that I loved the most.

“Perhaps, if I had four hands.”

“Mine were not made for cooking.

“Definitely not, we made for much greater things than cooking.”

He smiled at me and gave me those sweet brown eyes of his. I held his hand and he got his face closer to mine.

“Actually, I just remembered a great way for me to show you how great my hands are and at the same time get you warm.” He said.

“Like what?” I felt my cheeks turning red and I couldn't help but free a giggle.

“Let me show you.” He stood up, and by my hand brought me up from my chair and guided him to a more open space under the lights. He put my hands on his shoulder and his on my waist. After I realized what we were doing I chuckled and hid my face on his neck for a second.

“You know I’m not a good dancer.” I said.

“Only the moon is watching us.”

He held me close enough to feel his heartbeat, and I could feel how slow and peaceful it was beating. I drove my hands from his shoulders to the back of his neck where I ran my fingers over his black hair. 

The closer our faces got, the more his ears turned red and the more I grew impatient of feeling his lips on mine. As they finally did, I just remembered that it didn’t really matter how many times we had done it, every time felt like the first time. That longing to feel it, the tenderness, the calmness and safety that I feel. I truly believe his kisses take my burdens away. Right after our lips separated, still with our eyes closed we rested our foreheads on each other's. I brushed my nose on his and we smiled at each other mirroring the warm lights on our eyes.

“I didn’t know you were this great at dancing.” I said, growing the pace of the slow dancing.

“For the people who are dancing with no music playing we’re doing pretty good,” Eugene replied, right before he turned me by holding my hand over my head, but my feet didn’t spin quite well on the grass and I lost my balance but Gene held me by my arms right on time. 

“Shit, my ankle.” I grunted, still in his arms. 

“Come here,” quickly he carried me to the chair and held my foot to see it better, “Don’t worry honey, it is nothing severe. I’m going to put a little bit of ice on your ankle, you’re gonna rest and you will be fine.” 

He was saying it almost like he was reassuring himself. What caught my attention was not the pain, it was Eugene’s expression; in his eyes it looked like I was at the edge of death. 

“Hon,” I held his hand, which was still in my ankle, to get him to look at me, “I know I’ll be fine. This is nothing. You are the one who looks concerned.”

“I’m used to having people’s lives in my hands but nothing frightens me the most than having you fall, and worst, to not be here to at least let you fall at least into my arms.”

“Eugene, I love you so goddamn much that I would give up on that, just to not see you with that look on your face again. You shouldn't carry that burden or feel that responsibility.”

#band of brothers #easy company #eugene roe x reader #eugene roe #band of brothers imagine #doc roe

[wheeier]

no taking back

summary: it was only fun and games. but steve had other plans.

warnings: modern au, tooth-rotting fluff i guess, little but of swearing

+ olivia rodrigo’s sour album (stream besties), the movie tangled at the end because it just radiates as a comfort movie

yes a modern au !!! i just saw this on tiktok (the sour part, but the rest was my idea!) and thought it was so cute so it gave me an idea to make it as a fic, enjoy !!!

steve harrington x fem!reader

olivia rodrigo’s new album just released and you were thrilled to listen to it and stream it the whole day.

when you finally got to listen to it, you asked your friends—robin, nancy, and the party, if they listened to it and which ones were their favorites.

robin told you that her top three were hope ur ok, jealousy, jealousy, and brutal.

nancy said she really loved favorite crime.

max said hers was also brutal.

el told you that she played good 4 u and traitor on repeat that hopper had to go into her room to turn it down.

when mike comes over to the cabin he can assure that el does indeed play them on repeat and get pissy about it (but he secretly loves the album, but he wouldn’t let her or anyone know that).

and lastly lucas and dustin are fans of deja vu and 1 step forward 3 steps back. max even told you that they would sing the bridge of deja vu on the top of their lungs.

you slightly laughed at the memory of them telling you about it.

however, there’s one more person that you haven’t talked to about it yet.

steve.

your smile faltered and faded when he came across in your mind.

your feelings for him had deepened over the time and listening to the sour album made it feel like you two had broken up, which in fact, is not true because you were never together in the first place.

suddenly, an idea popped in your head. instead of being sad about steve, you thought about texting him, although it’s almost 1AM, you knew he’d still be up.

Sailor Man

You: hey

You: u up?

Sailor Man: duh

Sailor Man: this has been our nightly routine u always bother me when i’m about to go to sleep

You: fuck off

You: don’t pretend that you’re not binge watching outer banks until 4am

Sailor Man: i’m not?!?

You: yeah right

You: anyways

You: can u do me a favor

Sailor Man: will i get free pizza afterwards

You: no

Sailor Man: k

You: what the fuck

You: fine

Sailor Man: hehe

Sailor Man: what’s the favor ;)

You: dont get me started with that winky face i swear ure so dead when i see you at the wheeler’s house tomorrow

You: have you listened to olivia rodrigo’s new album

Sailor Man: ohh the bitter album?

You: ITS SOUR DUMBASS

Sailor Man: I DONT KNOW?!?

You: I CANT DO THIS HJAGSK

Sailor Man: shut up

Sailor Man: i’ve heard some of the songs but i haven’t fully listened to them

Sailor Man: why

You: can you like

You: ask me to be ur girlfriend then break up with me right after so i can experience and actually feel the whole sour album

Sailor Man: what

You: just do it !!

Sailor Man: you’re so funny (y/n/n)

Sailor Man: okay

Sailor Man: will you be my girlfriend?

You: yes !!!

You: ...

You: hello

You: dont tell me u fell asleep

Sailor Man: i’m not doing the last part you might as well forget about it

You: wjat

Sailor Man: :D

You: wtf

You: okay steve cut it out i’m not doing this anymore u’re not funny

Sailor Man: nope

Sailor Man: go to sleep we’re dating now that’s how this works

Sailor Man: okay i dont know if you’re still reading this now and i am terrified to say this to you in person like TERRIFIED. might piss my pants if i did. so (y/n/n), my favorite dumbass, my favorite person to talk to at night even if it interrupts my binge watching marathon, you make me so happy to the point that even when i sleep you’re still in my dreams. i like you. i have like the biggest fattest crush on you. and thank you for doing that sour album thing or whatever, because of that i get to finally ask you out

you rolled on your back after you read the message, facing the ceiling as your mind processed what just happened. was he playing with you? was he actually serious about asking you out?

Incoming video call...

Sailor Man

you took a deep breath before tapping the green button and placing it back down on the bed.

“hey,” you can tell that he was tired based on his voice. “can you show your face, please? i miss you.”

ignoring the butterflies in your stomach, you hesitantly lifted the phone and shifted your position to lay on your side. “hey.”

“hey yourself.” steve grins. that stupid grin that makes your stomach turn, that grin you always want to see everyday.

“what’s..up?” you avoided looking at him and started to admire your surroundings and the posters placed on your wall. this was the only time you were glad you weren’t with him in person.

“i just wanted to see if you’re okay.” of course he will ask that. he's steve. he cares about other more than himself.

“i am, thanks.” you showed a smile that doesn't reach your ears and steve knew something was bothering you. “hey, look. i'm sorry about my confession- if it made you uncomfortable i'm sorry-”

“no,” you cut him off, looking back at his face on the screen. “i’m fine, really. you don't have to apologize. i was just, surprised.”

there was silence between the two of you for a few seconds, before you spoke again. “did you mean it?” you voice was only above whisper but steve managed to hear them. “of course,” he answered almost too quick, without any hesitation. “i've been trying to find the perfect opportunity and had been asking god for signs because i can't make a move myself-”

“asking god?” you chuckled and steve smiled hearing them, glad that he somehow lightened the mood. “well, more like begging.” he continues and you giggled.

once your laughter died you both fell into silence again. you still couldn’t believe that out of a fun joke, it would turn into a whole another situation. “so, um.. just so you know, i’m not mad, or upset, or anything. i really was just surprised. it felt like a dream because i didn’t know that you like me back and all i did was just supposed to be a fun joke but—”

“hold on, back?”

“what?”

“like you back. you said i like you back.” steve sat up on his bed and fixed his hair as his eyes widened. “i did...” you said slowly, not catching up.

“does that mean you..”

then it hit you. “oh, right. yeah. i- i like you..too.” you waited for his reaction and once you saw him smile you couldn’t stop yourself from doing the same.

“i knew it. and well, i guess that confirms it. we’re dating now. no taking back.” he smirks then laughs when your rolled your eyes. “don’t flatter yourself, harrington. i did not say shit.” you pointed your index finger on the screen, barely containing your giggles.

“based on your beautiful smile i think you don’t need to say it. i like you, and you like me. we’re dating.” steve gives you a teasing smile. you tried keeping your serious face but it won’t last longer so you finally smiled again. “alright, fine. no taking backs. we’re dating.” you said then laughed as he whisper-yelled ‘yes!’ while fist pumping the air.

he soon joined your laughter and you stayed like that until your jaw was pretty much in pain because of your smiles. when it was all quiet again, you both just admired each other’s presence through the screens of your phones. “i wish i was there with you.” he mumbles. “yeah, me too.” you hugged your cold pillow beside you, closing your eyes for a moment and imagining it as steve.

“are your parents home?”

you snorted at his random question. “i’m actually alone right now, they’re out because dad got promoted at his work so he and mom and i think a few friends went out to celebrate. they should be home by an hour or two. why?”

“nothing.” was all he said before hanging up. you were left confused but then he’s your best friend after all, so you knew right then and there that he’ll do something stupid. after you turned your phone off you suddenly felt watching a movie so you went to the kitchen to make some popcorn.

when it was finished and had been put in a bowl, that’s when you heard your doorbell rang—in a pattern which you recognize, and only one person does that.

you let out a quiet laugh when you realized who it was and set the bowl on the counter before opening the door.

“hi!” steve greeted you with a smile. “uh, hi?” you laughed nervously and stepped aside for him to go in. “i smell popcorn, are we having a movie night?” he says as he steps inside and shrugged off his jacket. “actually yeah, i’m planning on watching—”

“tangled.” he finishes off, you subconsciously smiled upon hearing your favorite movie. “how’d you know?”

steve snatches a few popcorns from the bowl as you both arrived in the kitchen. “(y/n), you have watched that movie 7 times this week and always gush to me about it.”

“well, you’re the only one that is around my age that i can talk to with that movie. robin and nancy aren’t that into it.” you replied, grabbing the bowl and making your way back to your bedroom, steve following your heels. “and you think i’m the best option to talk to about that?” he asks, plopping down on your bed and resting his back on the headboard.

“you’re not complaining.” you shrugged as you grabbed your laptop and sat beside steve.

“yeah, probably because i like you.” it came out of his mouth casually. you froze in place and felt your cheeks heat up, finally nodding your head slowly, “..probably.” as you typed in the movie in your laptop you felt steve scoot closer, making your breath hitch.

you were both in a comfortable silence while watching the movie, except for a few jokes and comments that steve makes and him explaining how similar he was to flynn rider.

“you know, since i’m eugene, you could be rapunzel.” he suddenly says. you eyes were still on the screen but your eyebrows furrowed. “why? i’m nothing like her.”

finally looking at steve, you almost screamed how he was already looking at you. “oh, you are so rapunzel. you may not have the longest hair in the world, but you are pretty much similar.” he replies, smiling and not taking his eyes off of you.

you paused the movie and shifted your body towards him, intrigued by his explaination. “how so?”

“well, first off,” steve starts, resting his hands on the soft mattress. “you’re both sweet, you’re both a huge ray of sunshine, have gorgeous eyes and smile, and eugene is head over heels over you — and since he doesn’t exist in real life, i’d like to be the substitute.” he finished with a confident smile.

after about three seconds, you burst out of laughter. you laughed. as much as he loves the sound of your laugh, he can’t help but pout. “(y/n), i’m trying to be sweet here!”

“i’m sorry!- it’s just- i can’t help but laugh at your flirting.” you managed to say between your laughs. you know he’s kidding but he looked at you like he was offended.

your laughter died down and held steve’s face. “it’s cute, sorry.” you mumble with a little laugh. when he finally smiled you turned to your laptop and continued the movie.

steve gazes at you for a few more seconds before watching the movie with you again. “thank you.” you whisper, glancing at him.

“you’re very much welcome, my rapunzel.” he says smiling before he slides a bit down on the bed so his head could reach your shoulder and rests it there.

you giggled as you heard him whisper,

“thank you, olivia rodrigo.”

#steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington fluff #fluff #imagines #stranger things imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #stranger things fic #cute fic #i hope you enjoyed help #fluff fic #steve harrington x reader imagine #sour #sour olivia rodrigo #tangled

[popculturebuffet]

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Buckaroo of the Badlands “It’s the Glory of Achievement that Counts”

Hello you beautiful people and WELCOME BACK. It’s been a LONG time since I returned to this series hasn’t it? But I couldn’t put it off any longer especailly with a LOT of projects to do in February, so i’m pleased as punch to bring this series back for another round. And since like last time a lot of the behind the scene’s for this one can be dolled out as we go, join me under the cut as we get into some cowboy adventures with Srooge.. and President Teddy Rosevelt.  Bully!

When we last left Scrooge almost a month ago, He’d decided, after bottoming out in riverboating, like many young men of his generation to Go West and seek his fortune and took up work on the Wabash Cannonball to do so.  So via letter we find out Scrooge eventually made enough money and has now afforded enough to take a train west, as a passenger. He’s also 15 at this point.. had to look that up because again, the comic dosen’t tell us the date.. and it’s you know been two months. He runs into a man selling square eggs who was SUPPOSED to be the professor from the Barks Story Lost in the Andes.. but he apparnelty died or something like that, and Barks was left to use another minor character in a way that didn’t make sense either it turned out and I don’t really feel like getting into. Point is the square eggs from that story make a cameo and Scrooge gets square egg all over his face after assuming the guy was just full of square chicken shit.  It’s then Scrooge runs into Jesse James, pre assasination by the coward robert ford, who shows up to the train to rob it.. but Scrooge tricks him when he and his crony take stock of Scrooge’s valuables, claming theirs jewels in the teeth of the golden dentures.. before slamming hard on them and giving the guy a bite and with their guns jammed and Scrooge prepared to beat them senseless, Jesse and goon wisely flee. Scrooge yells after them.. but the train speeds up to make distance between them and the bandits.. and accidenlty dumps Scrooge off, leaving him lost and alone in Montana. 

Thankfully it dosen’t take him long before he runs into people, specifically a cattle drive and wants to join them as a rootin tootin cowboy. Turns out the Cattle Baron and head of the drive, Murdo Mckenzie a real life cattle baron, is a fellow Scot and a nice enough guy to take Scrooge on, especially because Scrooge, due to his time on the cattle boat to get to america, has cattle experince. He just needs to ride a horse and he’s set.. but Scrooge never has.. and is put on their roughest horse the windowmaker

Thankfully in a really funny sequence, Scrooge’s money belt is clipped, so he stays on and while he looses his other clothes. So Murdo hires the naked 15 year old on a horse....

Thankfully this isn’t nearly as horrifying as it sounds as Murdo makes him put his clothes back on first, and let’s him keep the horse as he needs him for a special job. Also Scrooge calls himself Buck McDuck because it’s more of a cowboy name and not everyone can pull of cowboying without one on their first day. What i’m saying is the creed i live by every day.. not everyone can be Droopy. All you can do is try to be that cool.

The job is to guard his prized angus steer he imported for a fortune from Scotland, which it’s current handlers the McViper brothers object to, though Murdo shrugs them off. Naturally with a name like McViper they were planning on stealing it. Seriously who hires someone with the name McViper unless your planning to try and murder batman with a nest of vipers or a viper shaped tank or a buzzsaw shaped to look like your dad who never loved you enough. 

So we then get a time passing montage via a letter Scrooge wrote. Originally this was supposed to be the majority of the story.. but Rosa’s editor rightly pointed out that while showing Scrooge as inexpericed and still not quite to his full strength yet was fine.. Rosa overdid it with his gags and made him look like a moron. So the finished product wisely dialed it back to just the horse riding gag. Honeslty it was the right call as his excitment to be a cowboy and episodes with the horse show he’s still got a ways to go and is far from the duck we know now, while the earlier fight on the train shows he’s still plenty badass. he’s just not properly seasoned yet. It’s how he is for the first third of the story: an idealisic teen who is slowly learning the ways of the world and finding good reason to do what he does and learning his morals. It’s the middle part that breaks him into the man he is today and the last one is the early days of that man and the horrible mistakes that cost him quite a bit: his family, his love for adventuring and nearly his soul.   We get a few gags about crossing the planes and the reveal Donald renamed his horse after his sister hortense due to his horse’s bad temper. Hortense takes it as you’d expect.. by snapping off part of her mother’s chair with her bare beak in a rage and grumbling. 

Scrooge is finishing up another letter by the time we cut back to him, the drive having almost reach the ranch in Montana... only for the McViper’s to conk scrogoe on the head and take the steer towards the Dakota territory and the real life Dakota Badlands, because now as ever Rosa loved to set his stories in cool real life locations. After Murdo finds him and wakes him up, and fully buys his story since the McViper’s were acting suspcious.. which is kinda like saying water is wet or Rudy Guliani is a moron but regardless buck mcduck rides again and eventually makes his way to the badlands. Which are awesomely rendered and really do look like that. 

As you can see our hero finds someone in need.. and it’s Teddy Fucking Roosevelt!

As you can tell I love the guy. Really need to look into him more, but eveyr time I read his trope page or hear something about the man i’m in awe. He’s not without flaws, he was  man of the 1800′s and 1900′s, he supported eugenics.. but he was also the first “accidental” President (I.e. a vp who got the role) to formally win despite being given the roll soley to keep him out of the chair due to being a boisterous loveable maniac, invited Booker T. Washington, who I also need to look into, to the white house as the first African American to get invited to dinner there, founded so many parks they had to make the national park service, and supported women’s rights his whole political career. The man is larger than life and respecte din fiction and I intend to make a story with him as a cybernetic frankenstein one day because i’m kinda nuts too and relate to him. He also has a quote I find endlessly relevant after the last 4 years of misery. 

"This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country." So yeah on top of everything else.. he’s smarter than pretty much the entirety of the modern republican party on top of that, not a HIGH bar to clear mind you but still. He cleared it. 

So naturally someone who was basically a real life Scrooge who, while not having earned his money, used it well and never stopped explorin, and also named his son Kermit for some reason, Rosa was not only a huge fan but couldn’t resisit putting him in the story as Scrooge’s mentor once he found out they were in the same area at the same time. He’s also the first one I feel changes him as a person.. his parents set down the foundation and Pothole was.. there I guess.. I mean he ran his first buiness thanks to him and had his first feelings that being rich isn’t an endgoal, But it’s Teddy who helps him realize one of his most important and lasting charactert traits: his love of adventure for the experince of it just as much as the prize. 

And we quickly get to that as Scrooge, after running into a dinosaur skeleton and then letting Teddy free, takes him along with him and finds out Teddy is rich, college graduate and former poltician too, and is out here simply because cattle ranching is way more exciting. Scrooge questions this as .. why do this? He’s rich, he dosen’t need to and Scrooge honestly wishes he was born rich instead. But Teddy shoots that down: He missed being born poor like Scrooge.. because being born wealthy is no acomplishment. You just get handed money to do whatever... but earning it with your own hands, the experinces that lead there.. that’s the real treasure and that’s why he’ll never stop. And he sees that in Scrooge, pointing out someone who didn’t LOVE adventure.. wouldn’t of leaped at a dinosaur skeleton without a second thought, all to save someone he just met. It’s what makes Scrooge likable: Sure he’s a greedy dick.. but he’s one who will never be satisfied, and who only stopped when he was close to death accoridng to Rosa, and even then i’m sure his and Goldie’s retirment wasn’t ENTIRELY peaceful or event free. HIs love of adventure and finding new discoveries and new worlds and ones lost to time... that’s infectious and what makes his stories, and the character work so well. And Rosa has him discover it beautifully, realizing that he never would’ve been satisfied even with cushy family money and that he truly does like this.. he still wants to be rich and understandably so, but he can have some fun along the way and afterwords. 

So truly changed by this Scrooge gets back to tracking and TR helps by... asking some local Native American Buffallo Hunters since he knows their expert trackers and while they haven’t seen the mcvipers they can SMELL them, and with a location , and his first apprication for other cultures, Scrooge and TR head up top to lasso em up... and while Scrooge grabs one.> TR grabs a bear and the insuing chaos, including Scrooge refusing to use up his bullets because “Do you know how much bullets cost”

So in short the mcvipers end up chased by the bear, the native americans end up chased by a buffalo with a skull on it’s head and Scrooge ends up on the Angus. Teddy sums it up best. 

It’s a great comedic set piece.. and leads to Murdo arriving and our heroes emerging, with the angus and tow and victorious. For his help and bravery, Scrooge is awarded the job as manager of the land, and while he plans to leave in a few years to find his fortune, it’s a good steady job he can help his family with and learn some skills so why not. TR leaves him with some last words of ecnouragment and says “There’s the makings of a great man” as he rides off into the susnset.. and his clothes once agian head the other way. 

Final Thoughts: Buckaroo of the Badlands is a solid chapter. After the overly long Master of the Missippi, this is a welcome return to form, with a hell of a guest star, an intresting setting and some fun slapstick. It also reminded me not EVERY chapter is super long, as most are only 13 pages but Rosa packs a LOT into them, and uses each one wisely. Overall an excellent return to the series and I hope to pick it up eveyr now and again between whatever I have scheduled for the day.. and to look into Teddy. Seriously what a man, what a man what a mighty good man. Next Time Scrooge meets another mentor, a future foe, and the lonliness of being rich Teddy warns him about here in “Raider of the Copper Hill” Until the next Rainbow, it’s been a pleasure. 

#the life and times of scrooge mcduck #scrooge mcduck #buckaroo of the badlands #hortense mcduck #teddy roosevelt #western #cowboy #montana #don rosa #disney #disney comics

[zombieplaguedoc]

Yep, two kisekae pics in one day. I normally don’t do redesigns (unless it’s for an already existing character but even then that’s rare), but I figured since I already redesigned Johnny and Jillian, why not do the rest of the Test gang? 

I did this a while back and this took me three fucking days to make, and most of those days were spent on the outfits and Sissy’s hair (which was an absolute nightmare to create). Probably the worst was Sissy’s hair, since I knew I wanted her to have a mohawk but I never actually made one in Kisekae before, so yeah, that was a lot of frustration, and I would not do it again. Overall, though, I really like how these came out, and I really enjoyed making Susan’s outfit (though, coming up with it was a pain), and I especially love how Mary came out. Hard to say which one is my favorite, but I’d have to say it’s a tie between Susan, Mary, Sissy, Bumper, and Brainfreezer. Honestly, I’m just glad to post these and that these are done.

So, going from left to right and starting with her, Susan Test is pastel goth. I’m not entirely familiar with the pastel goth scene, so coming up with a look for her was hard. So I took some inspiration from these as well as some pictures on the Internet and came up with a decent look for her. Her makeup was the hardest out of all that, especially her lipstick. I really love how she came out too. As for why she decided to rebel, while she wasn’t completely bad, she definitely contributed to Johnny’s situation. She always felt bad afterwards, but she didn’t stop until she noticed Johnny’s eye bags. That was a huge kick in the pants for her and she decided to go easy on him a bit, and not bug him so much, which her sister and parents noticed. She also decided to spend some time out of the lab to get away from Mary, which meant she had a lot of free time now. One day, she saw a pastel goth boy walking around, asked him about his look, and they got to chatting which was how she was introduced to the pastel goth scene. As time went on, she thought about how badly she treated Johnny and contributed to his state, and grew to detest her parents and her sister for their treatment of him. So she decided to try and break away from that shit and began exploring the world of pastel goth as a means of finding her own identity, which is how she got to where she is now. She’s definitely a lot nicer now, and is trying to reign in her anger. She still enjoys science, she just has other interests now, including anime, ceramics, Falling In Reverse, and fanfiction. 

Mary Test is I believe grunge goth. Her outfit was another hard one to come up with, because I didn’t have a general idea of what I wanted her to wear. Unlike with Susan, who I wanted to wear a fluffy skirt and knew this beforehand, I didn't really think about what I wanted Mary to wear; all I knew was I wanted her to be some kind of goth. So I took to the Internet for inspiration and came up with a relatively good look for her. I also listened to some 69 Eyes and a bit of Breaking Benjamin as I was working on her, so that helped. If I’m being honest, she actually strikes me more as a nu metaler than a goth. Still though, love how she came out, even if her outfit was a bit of a hassle to come up with.

Sissy is punk. Now Sissy was definitely the hardest to create, mostly because of her hair. While it did help that I knew ahead of time that I wanted her to have a Mohawk, I’ve also never did one in Kisekae before (they do have a Mohawk hair option, it just wasn’t what I wanted for her). So I had to do some digging on DeviantART and the Internet for a reference pic until I found a Mohawk I liked, (it’s not the actual picture I used, but it’s pretty close) and a good Kisekae picture of a character with a Mohawk so I could see what hair pieces to use. Even with that, however, it was still really complicated, and there was a lot of trial and error involved in making the Mohawk like the one in the ref I used. Eventually, after a lot of staring down at the screen and anger and frustration, Sissy’s hair was done, though I would not (and will not) do it again. Her outfit was also a pain, since I wanted to incorporate some of Sissy’s original elements in it so people would recognize her, but not as bad as her hair. I also wanted to give her some sneaker boots, but I didn’t know how to do that in Kisekae, so I turned to this so I would how to make them in the future, but the guy who made the export said they were proprietary, so...yeah. They still look relatively the same though. In the end, I am actually really happy with the end result, so all that frustration wasn’t in vain.

Bumper is power metaler. Believe it or not, he was actually the easiest one to make since power metal fashion is relatively simple. I also went off of this for help. The only hard part was his facial hair. I was originally gonna make Bumper a nu metaler, but then for some reason I decided on power metal. The only downside is he kind of looks like a ginger Skwisgaar Skwigelf. On the other hand, look at that long flowing hair, god it’s glorious. 😩👌 And yes, he did lose weight and hit a growth spurt.

Bling Bling Boy, or Eugene, is classic heavy metaler. I think. He was another easy one to make because I knew ahead of time that I wanted him to have attire similar to Judas Priest or what Rob Halford wears and wore when he was younger. Nothing too complicated, just looked up some pictures of Judas Priest for a better idea and I was good to go. And yes, like Bumper, Bling Bling Boy lost some weight.

Last but not least, Brainfreezer is goth. I knew ahead of time that I wanted him to be goth, and I was originally gonna use his original goth outfit from Johnnycicle, but then I decided to spare myself the migraine and give him a more original look. I decided to go for a more Victorian style goth combined with bits of modern goth to create this, and while I did have a hard time coming up with he outfit, it was still easier than if I had stuck with his original one. I also gave him black to seal the look and a snowflake necklace so people would still recognize him. 

In the end, I’m glad these came out well and hopefully you guys like them too.

The sneaker boots used in Sissy’s outfit belong to Meet-The-Real-Me on DeviantART

The jean tear that’s used in Sissy’s outfit belongs to Idessa on DeviantART

The leather jacket that’s used in Bling Bling Boy and Brainfreezer’s outfits belongs to SoullessIceDreamer on DeviantART.

#kisekae #au #johnny test #pastel goth #pastel goth look #pastel goth girl #susan test #mary test #grunge goth #nu metal #grunge goth look #nu metal look #grunge goth girl #nu metal girl #sissy blakely #punk #punk look #punk girl #bumper randalls #power metal #power metal look #power metal boy #bling bling boy johnny test #heavy metal #classic heavy metal look #brainfreezer johnny test #goth #goth look #goth boy

[sherlollydramoine]

Because I Love You

Prompt 3: “you did this”

Fandom: The Pacific/HBO War - Modern Day AU

Pairing: Sledgefu

Word Count: 1621

Warnings: There aren’t any warnings other than maybe some language. PG/PG-13

This is my first foray into Sledgefu but I’ve been wanting to write them FOREVER. I’m sure I’ve got the characterization all wrong but I was nervous.

Pulling into the driveway slowly as it was late and the gravel under the tires of the old truck always feels deafening in the silence of night. Shifting the truck into park and turning the key over to shut down the engine, he lets out a tired sigh. He was a bit bitter that he’d had to go to a study group on Halloween but there was a major exam next week and he couldn’t afford to miss the study session. The love of his life had been understanding though the disappointment on his face was clearly visible. Halloween was always their special thing and they often spent it getting way too drunk and having way too much fun. But with so much that had been going on this year with a global pandemic, political and civil unrest, and so much brutality in the world all of that had been canceled. 

Eugene was weary, so done with everyone’s shit but mostly he just wanted to be done with school. His lover was mostly patient and kind to him though to others his husband was often perceived as hard and mean. Whenever Eugene brings it up Merriell just smiles and says that he has a reputation to uphold. Looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror he runs his fingers through his ginger hair lets out another tired sigh and grabs the bag off the seat next to him. 

The door to the truck loud as it’s old rusted hinges protested with an angry squeak before slamming it shut behind him. Wanting nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed he exhaustedly shuffled his way across the drive and up the stairs of the rickety porch. The one porch light that was in working order was on emitting a low glow and he could hear the moths and whatever other flying insects had gathered to worship in the light repeatedly flying into the light cover. As he pulls open the screen door he notices a piece of paper haphazardly fastened to the door and his heart nearly drops into his stomach. Ah fuck, please don’t let it be another shutoff notice.

Yanking the paper down and squinting in the dimness of the half lit porch he managed to ascertain that it wasn’t a shutoff notice but rather a handwritten note that had been left there by his love. Heart-melting at the familiar scrawl, as he unfolded the paper completely to read what message it contained. He’d assumed that Mer wasn’t home and this was just a little way of ensuring that Eugene was made aware of it before he settled in for the night. He was pleasantly surprised when the note indicated no such thing but rather a sweet, for Merriell, message. 

‘Door is unlocked. Please go wash up and then meet me on the back porch. Dinner is waiting for you.’

Smiling to himself he turned the handle and stepped inside the dark house kicking off his shoes out of habit, and then leaving them on the rack next to the front door, dropping his backpack and leaving it on the floor.  

“Mer?” he calls out in the dark, waiting for a response that didn’t come.

As he walks deeper into the house he glances towards the kitchen noticing a soft glow from some of the Halloween decorations coming from the dining room table. The back porch door was wide open, only covered by the thin layer of mosquito netting that had been hung over the outer part of the doorway. His stomach rumbles as the delicious scents wafting in from the kitchen hit his nose. 

Suddenly he was starving as he remembers that it had been nearly ten hours since he’d last eaten. His study group had provided snacks but everyone was so intense discussing and clarifying information that they were hardly touched. The primary thing he’d consumed all day was coffee which always made his stomach hurt but wasn’t it considered a magic bean? The life giving substance? He knew for himself and for Merriell that neither of them could function normally without a few cups in the morning and for Eugene, he’d need more than just a few cups throughout the day. 

His face splitting in a grin as he realized that even though their plans for Halloween had been drastically changed this year, he was not going to let that stop him from making the best of it. His husband had made a show of making sure that the house, both inside and out, was decorated as fully as it could be. The only damper this evening is that his husband was nowhere to be seen and he found himself mildly disappointed at not receiving his ‘hello, welcome home, I love you’ kiss that he had been so accustomed to.

Deciding not to dwell on the fact that he was actually missing his husband he heads to the washroom to clean up as he’d been instructed. The hot shower was exactly what he needed as the grime from the day slowly made its way down the drain taking with it the exhaustion he’d been feeling. Now all he felt was a sense of excitement perhaps brought on by the chance of seeing his husband and also knowing that he’d have all of tomorrow to rest. 

Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower on the ugliest purple bath mat that Mer had insisted they had to have, he toweled himself off. Deciding against shaving since his husband loved it when he didn’t have a fresh face. His husband often joked that his freshly shaven face made him look like a twelve-year-old boy but the scruff definitely had a positive effect, making his usually incredibly randy husband even more so. As he glances at the counter he realizes that his husband must have slipped in undetected and left his Halloween costume hanging on the towel rack next sink. A little note was pinned to it presumably with the strict instructions to put it on before heading out to dinner. Donning the costume that Merriell had picked out specifically for him to wear and combing his hair so that it sat just as he knew his husband liked it he admired himself for a moment. Merriell really knows how to pick a costume because damn, I do look good.

Making his way through the house admiring all the little decorations and other little things that were distinctly Merriell that make this rickety house feel like home. Merriell was a collector of weird sometimes macabre things but the item that he loved the most was Billy, the Gator skull, that sat on the mantel over the ancient fireplace that was meticulously decorated by Merriell for every holiday or season. By the time he got to the back porch his face was almost hurting from how hard he was smiling. This house was chock full of mismatched, eccentric decorations but it felt more like home than the rigid, full of antique, don’t-touch-anything, it can’t look like anyone lives here upper-crust southern home he’d grown up in. 

Reaching the back door he steps through the magnetically connected mosquito net and called out for his husband.

“Have a seat please, I’ve prepared quite a little feast for us,” Merriell says from behind him. He jumped a little putting his hand over his heart making his husband chuckle.

 “Sorry boo, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Mer says as he moves in front of Eugene, wrapping his arms around Eugene’s neck. “You look incredibly handsome boo. I love you, welcome home.”

Merriell gives his husband a quick kiss and instructs him again to have a seat before dashing off back into the house. Merriell had recently fixed up an old wooden table and had found some chairs that fit the table though they were not a matching set. Sliding into the worn but comfortable chair he sat and admired the table set up. Merriell had gone all out and had decorated the center of the table with some small semi-odd decorations. He had set the dishes on the table in a way that Eugene suspects was trying to mimic the overly fancy, start from the outside and work your way in, setup that Gene had grown up with.

His gaze goes back to the back door as Merriell came in and out of the house several times carrying the various food items that he’d prepared for their Halloween feast.

What a feast it really truly was. His lover had made what he called bloody vampire soup which was really just a tomato bisque, severed finger breadsticks, various fruits on skewers that he somehow managed to make resemble bugs, a salad, and for dessert, he’d made a cake coated in black frosting and bits of cotton candy with fake spiders on them. 

“I really don’t deserve you Merriell. I just can’t believe that you did this. You do everything for us and what do I contribute to our marriage?”

“Gene, don’t start this. I do these things for you because I love you. You know what you do for us? You are getting the education that I never did so that you can get a good job. Then I can become a full time house and trophy husband.”

This elicits a laugh from Eugene.

“Is that all you ever wanted darling? To be reduced to nothing more than a house husband?”

“Yeah, a house husband that can fix this place up with my own two hands. Your parents were more than generous to buy us the shitty little shack as a wedding gift.”

“My darling, I look forward to the day when you can take our shitty little shack and turn into our dream castle.”

@ramimedley @xmxisxforxmaybe @detectivecutiepantsandhisbabyfox @aboutthatmelancholystorm @will-grammer @theblossomknows @diasimar

#FIctober20 #Sledgefu #The Pacific #HBO War #This is my first Sledgefu #Please be kind

[himbowelsh]

You can totally ignore this if you want but I could I request some sad headcanons about the guys. Like how they deal with ptsd or insecurities or traumatic childhood incidents.

Richard Winters

dick isn’t emotionally open in general.  he keeps things in.  that’s how he was raised, how he’s grown up, and the only way he really knows how to cope with things.  talking about his feelings...  is uncomfortable.

that said, he processes them well.  dick doesn’t let negative emotions fester.  he finds releases for them, either through doing things he enjoys or spending time around his loved ones.  he’s not the sort of person to linger on things.

will definitely overwork himself when his mind is in a troubled place.   being productive helps him so much.  focusing on things he can control, things that need to get done...  sure, he’s going to bed at 3am, but it’s not because he’s upset, it’s because he was working.

doesn’t...  like being alone when things are on his mind.  it’s too easy to get sucked in, for those loud thoughts to drown everything else out.  being around other people...  not sharing, but just not being alone...  it helps.

Lewis Nixon

*summon the folger’s theme song*  the best part of waking up...  is an obscene amount of high-shelf liquor in your cup!!

hey, it’s nine o’clock...  in the morning.

literally.  nix is of the opinion that if you can’t drink the bad thoughts away, then they’re not worth thinking at all.  the thing is, his brain summons them anyways, because brains are awful like that.

he’s got a lot of trauma!!  so much trauma!!  his childhood was miserable, his family’s the worst, he feels like a disappointment and has no desire to try to prove himself to parents whose love was questionable from the day he was born...

lots of insecurities too.  can you tell?

he won’t talk about any of it unless he’s really, really drunk, with someone he counts among his closest friends.  then sometimes the negativity just rushes out.  he can’t help it, and it gets ugly.

otherwise, he broods, he holds it all in, and he drinks.  would he benefit from therapy?  yes, absolutely, but alcoholism tastes so much better.

Carwood Lipton

this is a healthy man right here

he copes with things.  lip has interests, outlets he can channel his frustrations into, and the ability to rationalize things internally and get them off his chest.  most things don’t weigh on him for long, because he’s got those sweet coping skills.

this isn’t even angsty.  he doesn’t have a lot of emotional angst.  he works through things, mostly by processing them on his own  ---  but if something’s really weighing on him, lip will turn to his most trusted person  (his mother gives great advice)  for an outlet.

Ron Speirs

heh heh.  ohhhh boy.

he’s...  he’s speirs, okay.  he’s not gonna open up and talk about what’s bothering him, because that’s his business, and no one else needs to know.

ron...  gets impulsive.  reckless.  places less regard on his own life.  he’ll do obscenely risky things because he’s kind of an adrenaline junkie; that burst of danger actually helps him cope with what’s bothering him.  at least, it gives him a good reason to keep going.

he retreats into himself when it comes to anything emotional.   broods a little, but if anyone asks what’s on his mind, he won’t say a word. 

“well, we’re all on a steady march towards death anyways, does anything really matter?  no.  i’m already dead so nothing has any consequences.  yeet.”

jesus christ, get this man some therapy.

Harry Welsh

talks it out.  literally, he’s just... gonna share things.  he’ll literally just do that.

harry sometimes can be an oversharer, but he never really learned to put a filter on his emotions.  it helps that he’s sort of the “water off a duck’s back” type of person; he doesn’t take a lot of things personally, so when he does need to rant about something, it’s usually big.  he turns to his loved ones, because he trusts them, and usually they can help.

but it is kind of weird for guys like nixon and winters, whose life mottos are “i’ll keep all of my emotions right here and then someday i’ll die”, to hear harry be like  “I’M UPSET TODAY AND HERE’S WHY”.  like...  he really doesn’t care who knows what’s going on in his soul, huh?  he’s really able to open up like that.

(harry is the most emotionally healthy man here, good for him)

Buck Compton

it’s called impostor syndrome, and buck has it.

he’s a confident guy, but under the surface, has insecurity in spades  ---  he feels like he has a lot to live up to, and doesn’t believe he’s doing everything well enough.  he’s supposed to be exceptional, and that’s a heavy burden to bear.  there’ll be a part of him that’s always going to feel like he’s not good enough.

like...  he seriously doesn’t know quite where to begin when processing negative emotions, because he feels like he should be able to deal with them himself.  his first instinct isn’t to talk it out, or seek out positive outlets; he keeps it all inside because he feels he can handle it.

don’t get me wrong, buck handles things well  ---  he’s resilient.   but every so often, the emotions just get so overwhelming, and boil up like a toxic spill inside of him; it can get overwhelming.  

Eugene Roe

conceal don’t feel buddy

look, gene...  never acquired coping skills growing up.  it wasn’t anyone’s first priority, and he had too many sisters monopolizing his mother’s time.  as a kid, gene had genuine anger issues, and would get into trouble often, because he just...  didn’t know how to deal with what he was feeling.

his grandmother was the one who stepped in and taught him how to pray.  that’s the closest thing gene has to comfort; he is quietly devout, and turns to god in his darkest moments when desperate for some guidance.  if he can’t talk to anyone else about what he’s feeling  ---  and he usually prefers not to  ---  he can speak freely to god.

but god can’t help him shoulder his burdens.  genuinely, gene just needs to learn to open up and share. keeping everything bottled up...  is not good for him.

George Luz

laugh the pain away, until you no longer can.

people assume george luz processes his emotions in a healthy way.  these people are incorrect.  his “fake it til you make it approach” isn’t the worst, but 9/10 therapists would not recommend.   (the 10th is luz, doing his best impression of a therapist.)

he laughs things off. it’s easier than to do that than to let people in.  george hates burdening others with his feelings.  he’s got a natural talent for keeping peoples’ spirits up, so bringing them down with him is...  a frightening idea.  it feels like failure.

for the most part, george is good at keeping things in and processing them internally.  if something’s really bothering him, people close can tell  ---  he hardly smiles, and his jokes aren’t as funny as they are dark  ---  but he’s usually able to recover without any help.  he’s good at dealing with things on his own.

he tries not to drink too much, because if he gets really really drunk, he loses his grip.  then it can all come spilling out, in a big messy wave of feelings, and he’d prefer to avoid that at all costs.

oh gosh, there’s this amazing fic that actually centers around babe and roe dealing with their problems, but there’s this one scene with luz, and it breaks me

Joe Toye

in a word?  not well.

joe dealing with things...  is not a pretty picture.  he prefers to not deal with things, to be honest, because it’s easier to pretend all the emotional shit doesn’t exist and just push it down until he can’t feel it anymore.  sometimes it even works.

truth is, joe has a lot of insecurities, and really struggles to deal with them.  they plague him]...  and while he can channel some of it into anger  (there’s a reason my modern!toye takes up kickboxing)  a lot of it just gets sent straight to depression central.

it’s not something he talks about easily, either.   he wasn’t raised in an environment that encouraged men talking about their feelings; joe comes from a tough irish family where everyone, especially the men, are supposed to keep a stern face and power through.  he’s only able to opens up to a few trusted people   (malarkey, maybe guarnere, maybe luz).  when the emotions reach a boiling point...  they don’t have anywhere to go.  they feel like they’re going to consume him.

he’s contemplated some dark things before, and it’s not something he’s proud of.

Bill Guarnere

what the hell is this man even made of???

bill takes all his negative emotions and converts them into fuel.    every tear his body forces him to shed adds an extra year to his life.

he’s incredibly resilient, and can power through pretty much anything.  losing his leg didn’t take him out for long; sure, it was a blow, but he bounced back from it as strong as ever.  losing his brother was agonizing  (worse than the leg, honestly)  and it made bill furious  ---  but that fury kept him going, and kept him alive.   he reacts to grief by turning it into anger, and once that anger dulls it’s just raw energy keeping him moving.

bill copes by being around people.  honestly  ---  just put him in a room with his best friends and his problems gradually fade out.   it’s not like he bares his soul to them; he just needs to be around friends, enjoying life. their presence helps him work through things better than any therapist.

(peak extrovert energy omg)

Babe Heffron

just like bill, babe also recovers by being around his favorite people.

he draws energy from them; it’s like he’s low on cash, so he asks his buddies for a few dollars, but in this case it’s emotional stability.  babe just copes better around other people.

left alone with his own thoughts...  things can get messy.

this man doesn’t do well with being alone in general  ---  he feels isolated, almost forgotten, and will seek out the nearest person just to chase those dark feelings away.  when babe’s struggling with something, he also struggles with how to deal with it.   the emotions are like a pot bubbling over inside of him, and he’s fighting to make sense of them all.  he can’t do that alone.

he has to express himself to someone.  ideally someone he trusts, but it might just end up being whoever’s available, or whoever’s nearby.  his dark emotions are very potent, and very painful; it takes a while for him to be free of them completely, but having someone else help make sense of them  (or just offer reassurance)  helps.

he’s a crier.  he’s not proud of it, but when babe’s really at his brink, he cries.  it’s an ugly sight.

Shifty Powers

just freaking...  goes off into the wilderness.

no, literally.  shifty needs some quiet time.  when he’s struggling, he’ll take his gun, take his car, and vanish for a while.   (that sounds...  worse than it is.  shifty’s not the kind of person to consider hurting himself.)    he just disappears into the woods.   

the longest he’s ever been gone was two whole days...  but he always returns with a clear head, willing to talk things out.

Joe Liebgott

he just...  straight up doesn’t, man.  he doesn’t deal with shit.  he pushes it aside, forces it back  ---  it’s not exactly repression, because the Bad Stuff is always there on the outskirts of his mind at all times, lieb just actively chooses not to deal with it.

(he’ll pick any fight except the ones in his own head.)

you’ve got to understand, he’s had his share of trauma.  he didn’t have an easy go of it before the war, and definitely not during.  liebgott collects emotional baggage like baseball cards, and at this point he’s got a full set.

if he can run from the emotions, he will.  this leads him to self-isolate, cutting himself off from the people who might be able to help; he doesn’t want to share all the negative emotions, because he doesn’t know how.  at his worst, he also tends to lash out, and...  other people don’t have to deal with that, okay?

joe will put off dealing with things for as long as possible, and never truly deal with them at all.

David Kenyon Webster

writing is literally his therapy.  putting his emotions down on paper helps.  formulating them into words is like a release, and having them laid out in front of him, where he can analyze it all lets him look at the problem objectively.  webster writes just to get things out...  sometimes because he can’t bear to hold it all inside any longer.

he also loves sailing, partly because of how freeing it is to be out on the open water.  he’s completely in control of his boat, and can go anywhere, anywhere in the world  ---  if he wanted, he could leave everything behind.  the notion is tantalizing.

webster really isn’t open about his negative feelings with others.  when it’s something personal...  it takes a lot for him to open up, and he’d have to trust that person implicitly.  a part of him feels that baring his emotions is just an invitation to be mocked, so he’s hesitant.

at least he processes them.  he’s not tormented by things, because he’s got his releases  ---  writing, and sailing.  if the mind is a prison, they set him free.

Donald Malarkey

catch malarkey right there in that kickboxing class with joe toye

look.  don feels things deeply, and takes things personally.  he can’t help it.  he doesn’t let go of things; if he’s been hurt badly, it’s an open wound on his soul forever, and it never heals.

he’s never a wreck.  like, he’s perfectly able to function, and has a unique ability to power through even in the darkest moments...  but those shadows are always there, and they weigh on him.  they smother him.   he can never really escape.

tends to avoid the topics which hurt him; when they come up, he can get testy  ---  or worse, teary!!  ---   and that’s not something he wants to burden anyone else with.     his greatest hurts are very private things to him, and he doesn’t want the people he cares about affected by them.

Skip Muck

skip channels his bad feelings into energy, and that energy needs to find its way out.

he’ll play guitar and sing along really aggressively.  he’ll deep-clean the entire house.  he’ll run just to feel the burn in his lungs, the ache in his limbs, until he’s too worn out to feel anything but exhaustion.

honestly, he gets a little manic when something’s bothering him.   he needs to chill.

skip is...  more willing than most to talk things out, so long as he has someone he trusts.   it’s not too hard for him to open up, he just needs to be able to open up to the right people.  his sister is a frequent confidant, as are malarkey and penkala.   skip doesn’t like many people seeing the darker side of him, but being able to talk about his feelings helps immensely.

Ralph Spina

genuinely... doesn’t have any baggage.

no childhood trauma.  no agonizing breakup story or betrayals.  no emotional damage whatsoever.  and when something is bothering him, his instinct is to just talk it out, and then it’s done. this man sleeps like a baby.

it’s freaky.

#eat up that sweet sweet emotional trauma #band of brothers #headcanons #tw depression #tw self-harm

[erazonpo3]

I am on my knees BEGGING for more information on that lovely au where Cass and Lio are famous musicians that just happen to be related,,, plEASE

Of course! The AU itself isn’t exclusive, it’s largely just drawing on a Modern AU parallel of the events of TTS. In terms of a modern take I think the drama and escalation of S3 is reflected well in the metaphor of substance abuse and the volatile environment that is The Industry and naturally the story is less about “Cass has to go to jail because she’s been doing bad things” it’s “Holy shit somebody get this woman to rehab”. 

I’ll go into the details but cw warning for drugs and substance abuse and the everything that is a rockstar meltdown (also this got really long because I’ve been jamming on this AU with a friend so there is a lot of detail)

The quick rundown of the timeline basically has the gang starting off as a group act, with Rapunzel on lead vocals, Eugene on electric guitar, Cass on electric bass and probably Lance on drums (and all the others on backup vocals). Rapunzel and Eugene get most of the spotlight for being ‘the couple’ and Lance is able to wrangle a lot of attention because of his natural charisma so Cass tends to settle in the back with her niche fanbase that is lesbians and that’s fine! She’s not in it for the fame, but it maybe irks her a little that she’s been writing a fair few of their songs and gets little credit for it. 

The bitterness starts small and just kind of lingers in the background, because fundamentally Rapunzel and Cassandra’s artistic visions aren’t very compatible and Adira (who I picked for the group’s manager) probably just delegates Rapunzel as the group ‘leader’ most of the time. It all comes to a head when Cass has her freak accident that gives her some very fun burns on her playing arm, which is the result of a ‘Not Directly Rapunzel’s Fault But Wouldn’t Have Happened If We Listened To Cassandra’ thing, like in canon. oof. The situation  probably involves fancy new equipment that Cassandra didn’t want to use because she’s pedantic about safety but Rapunzel wanted it so she got outvoted. 

Cassandra probably gets her first round of skin grafting and physical therapy while she learns to play with her other hand but everyone just kind of skirts around the elephant in the room. Then skeevy manager Zhan Tiri finds Cass and slowly convinces her to break off from the group and break out as a solo act, and Cass probably goes with the decision after her first foray with drugs. And from there you get the idea- a whole lot of reckless behaviour, substance abuse, heckling on social media and irl and all that jazz. 

But she’s also doing really well as a solo act! She’s dropping hits left right and centre and the media can’t get enough of her antics. She’s gone from being the niche bass player to a star that’s had a really iconic musical impact on the scene, to the point where she’s able to coast along on her relevancy even once she starts loafing around and forgetting about the whole writing songs thing. 

Rapunzel is of course very concerned about her but Cass just reads it as condescension and the internet fan feuding is not helping at all. Everything is escalating and meanwhile Gothel is in the background, still alive and kicking and trying to cash in on her daughter’s fame and Cap isn’t talking to Cass because she’s lost his respect because of all the uh. drugs. The Cassandra’s Revenge equivalent is probably some really messy confrontation but things only come to a head when Cass has an overdose and she’s rushing her to hospital. 

From there it’s pretty clear that okay, Rapunzel does care about her and she needs to pull her shit together and cut off ZT and go to rehab. Get this girl into recovery babey! And she catches up on her physical therapy and gets some more skin grafts and things are looking up, but she still stays a solo act because aside from the shitty behaviour it was really working for her. Also she’s probably wrangled her legal team to get Gothel to stop leeching off her name for publicity, and Cap and her are making amends. 

It’s about this time when some fan stumbles upon the fact that superstar supermess Cassandra Chevalier is actually related to up-and-coming new star Ilione Aveline through their mothers, and it’s an interesting media distraction to say the least. Ilione would be very open about her family on social media because I see her being very transparent about the identity issues biracial artists often face, and of course Gothel is already in the media for being a general parasite, so it’s less stalker-ish for a fan to just recognise the two women in a yearbook, as sisters.  

It’s more than a little wild because it’s like if someone suddenly came out one day like “holy shit can you believe Zendaya and Lorde are cousins” and everyone’s like what, including them. And yeah! From there they connect up and get to know each other and give each other boosts on their new projects and it encourages Cass to actually get back to vibing with her music. Fun stuff!

#Anonymous #there's still more detail I could go into but this is the overall gist of it #Cass is an icon! A total wreck but #an icon #answered #tumblr fix your coding challenge

[izzy-b-hands]

I have rekwest. Sledgefu vs. hot glue gun. They are crafting or something, and well, I always make a big damn mess. You can make of this what you want! ;) Can be modern AU, because I have no idea when the hot glue gun was invented. Cheers :3

Aaah thank you!!!! I was thinking about this all day during work (and googling when the hot glue gun was invented, because I had no idea either-1954! Which sounds wrong lol, I figured it was either way earlier like the 40s or way later like the 60s.) 

Anyway, due to that I did make it a modern AU! 

Mother’s Day is below the cut; I hope you like it (even though I did make it a little bit sad, but just a smidge!) 

And as always, my love to all who read/like/reblog!

“When’s the last time you made something like this for your mom?” Eugene asked, as his hands delicately settled a clay flower on the already dried and baked small clay vase he’d made the week prior. 

Snafu shrugged. “Depends on what’s allowed from year to year.” 

He watched Eugene wince, but shook his head. “It’s okay. She’d appreciate it, if she was around. And I’m sure she appreciates it anyway, if she can see it. And I think she can.” 

He’d told Eugene for weeks it was fine; he was happy to participate in Mother’s Day and make a gift for his mother. He didn’t every year, depending on if he could get back to Louisiana or not. The years he could, he left a gift of some kind, some flowers, a few beans of her favorite coffee. It would be nice to do it again.

But Eugene clearly wasn’t used to it, wasn’t used to the idea of trying to make a parent happy years after they were gone from the earth. 

“No reason why that wouldn’t be, right?” 

Snafu shrugged and gave a gentle tap to the finished portion of the coiled rope basket he was making. “I’ve told the groundskeeper to take whatever he wants from her gifts that he can use at home. I figure him or his wife could use this, and they always thank me when it’s something home decor related, so this should be safe.” 

“Just be careful with that,” Eugene said, nodding towards the hot glue gun in his hand. “Pretty sure your mom doesn’t want you glued to it.” 

“You worry too much,” Snafu teased. “You’ve seen me handle an actual gun; this is nothing.” 

“Is it? Because you still have your finger pressing the trigger...” 

Snafu looked down, and winced at the glue pooling on the cover over their table. “That’ll come off.” 

“I’m sure it will,” Eugene chuckled. “Just don’t let any of it hit your hand.” 

“You really trust me less with this than an actual gun?” 

“Snaf.” 

“Eugene!” Snafu shook his head and moved his hands up in shock and frustration. “This is crafts. Would you feel better if I had a crafting ribbon from the Marines? Maybe an arts and crafts specialization training course? Combat gluing of rope to make a basket? Y’know, I’m gonna add some ribbon on this later for accent, and-” 

He felt his eye twitch as glue hit his bare foot. His first urge was to swear and yelp, but he couldn’t let Eugene know. If he was careful, he could hide this.

“And?” Eugene asked. “What other ways do you think the Marines could use hot glue guns?” 

He let his hand off the trigger, then waited for the remaining glue to drop off the gun and onto his foot before setting the gun back down on the table. “Oh. They’d find something.” 

Eugene snorted. “What sort of non-answer is that? Where’s my man with the snappy comebacks?” 

Currently wondering if he’ll have skin left on his foot after this, was what Snafu thought. Instead, he said: “Just distracted I guess. Thinkin’ about what else I could add to this that Mom would have liked.” 

Eugene gave him an odd look, but nodded. “Fair enough. I shouldn’t be distracting you when you’re holdin’ that dangerous weapon, right?” 

Snafu laughed to hide the hiss he wanted to let out as he felt the glue cooling on his skin. He didn’t even know how to treat that. Could he just pull the glue off? How bad could a burn from a glue gun even be? It sure as hell felt bad. 

They worked in silence for another few minutes before Eugene was satisfied with the additions on his vase. 

“Gonna go put this in to bake. You good on your own? Don’t need me supervising you?” 

“Funny,” Snafu winked, this time to hide a wince as he tried to move his foot further under the table so Eugene couldn’t easily see it.  “I’m good.” 

Eugene pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, then headed off towards their oven with his vase. 

He couldn’t think of a time he’d whipped out his phone faster, searching online for what he hoped would be an easy answer. 

“Soak in cold water for at least ten minutes? What if I don’t have ten minutes?” he whispered fiercely at his phone. “Shit.” 

“What was that?” Eugene called, and Snafu had never hated how small their apartment was so much until now. 

“Almost dropped my phone!” 

“Be careful! You’re a lovable hazard, you know that?” Eugene giggled. 

“I certainly am,” Snafu muttered quietly to himself, staring at his foot, pondering his next move. 

“Need this?” 

He turned, and Eugene was stood with a bowl of water, just big enough for his foot. 

“How the hell...” Snafu grinned. “Caught.” 

“Yeah. With your hands movin’ like that, I figured you’d hit some part of yourself. Plus, you got a wild tell when you’re in pain.” 

“I do not!” 

“Do so!” Eugene teased. “Honest. You don’t wink with your left eye unless you’re hurting, otherwise you use your right eye.” 

“How the fuck have you noticed that?” 

“How often have you told me some terrible pun and winked at me to get me into bed?” 

Snafu nodded. “Fair enough. Hell of a thing to pick up on though.”

“Like you haven’t picked up on the stuff like that that I do.” 

“You usually swear like a sailor, even more than usual. That’s hint enough,” Snafu said. “That, and you tap your fingers on whatever’s nearest you like you’re pissed at the pain for taking so long to go away.” 

“See?” Eugene said as he walked around the table to him. “Now, what did you...oh.” 

“Yeah,” Snafu sighed, and tried to carefully lift up his foot from the kitchen tile. “Might want to get a towel or two.” 

Eugene was on it in a flash, taking the bowl with him and returning with it and one of their few extra-thick towels to put under it, kneeling by him. “Foot up, let’s get you in this. That’s gonna hurt like a bitch once the glue is off, just so you know.” 

“Hurts now, didn’t figure it would magically stop that,” Snafu smiled grimly as he let his foot settle into the bowl. “Water feels good though. How did you know to get that anyway?” 

Eugene blushed, his head still bent just the slightest bit down, a hand on Snafu’s ankle. “I’ll give you three words.”

Snafu snickered. “Bet I can guess ‘em.” 

“Go for it.”

“Sid, dare, kids.” 

“Pretty much it,” Eugene sighed. “In all fairness, we were pretty young kids. About ten. Old enough to technically know better, but just young enough to still do something that stupid. We dared each other to drop as much hot glue as we could on part of us, a hand or foot, and-” 

“Gene!” 

“Don’t you judge me!” Eugene smiled and laughed. “I can’t really blame you though. Oh, was my mom mad. You know how she gets.”

“All deadly quiet, not sayin’ a word to you the whole time she was fixing you up,” Snafu said, wincing just slightly as Eugene started to rub at the glue, getting it to come away from his skin. “And you don’t dare say a word, or she’d start in on you.” 

Eugene nodded. “Took two days before she was calmed down enough to give a firm talking-to while she was redressing the burn on my foot. Drilled it into my head how to take care of a burn like this, and told me if I ever so much as looked at her hot glue gun again...” 

Snafu shook his head and laughed. “You little shits. Which foot?” 

“Same as you,” Eugene replied, and carefully readjusted so the top of his right foot was visible. A tiny bit of discoloration was noticeable. 

“Your mom did a hell of a job fixing it up then. Can I expect the same level of care?” Snafu asked, reaching down to ruffle Eugene’s hair. 

“We’ll see. I’ll ask you what my mom asked me, when she was first cleaning me up,” Eugene said. “You ever gonna do this again?” 

“No, I will not.”

“You ever gonna be careless with something that can burn you like this again?” 

“On my honor, I will not. The utmost care will be taken in the future.”

“You gonna be good and help me remember to keep burn cream on it?” 

Snafu nodded, then broke and giggled. “She really asked you that?” 

“I had to set alarms! She did most of it, since I was young, but I had to help her remember so we could put more cream on, change the dressing, keep it from gettin’ infected.” 

“I love your mom,” Snafu grinned. 

“Me too,” Eugene said. “And I’ll love watching you tell her all about this next weekend when we go over to visit and take my vase to her.” 

Snafu let his head drop back and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “It won’t be healed by then?” 

Eugene shrugged. “Take a look. Glue is finally off, but...I mean, it could be worse.” 

Snafu looked down, then immediately looked back up.

“Holy...look at how grey you just got! I think you might deserve a medal or ribbon for this wound,” Eugene mused. “You just focus on taking slow breaths, don’t pass out, and let me do the rest. Call me medic until we’ve got you all fixed up.” 

“Kinky,” Snafu tried to tease, but it came out as a weak whisper. Who knew seeing his foot missing a decent layer of skin and looking gross as all hell would take him out so easily? “Want me to call you that in bed tonight too?” 

“You gonna throw up?”

“Please don’t say throw up,” Snafu murmured, and let his head gently drop to the cool surface of the table. 

“You aren’t normally so squeamish...didn’t think I’d ever see you lookin’ like that. Guess you can’t go hurting your feet ever again, huh?” 

He wanted to respond, but he was too light-headed to lift his head up.

 Instead, he let Eugene work, feeling as Eugene’s hands helped lift his foot out of the water, drying it gently with the towel, then leaving it wrapped there for a moment on the floor. 

He heard Eugene go for the first aid kid, and closed his eyes for the rest of it. The sensation of Eugene carefully moving the towel, a shade of red that had reminded Snafu of Eugene’s hair in the sun and his whole reason for buying the towel at all, then applying burn cream so tenderly it was as if Eugene thought his foot might just break apart at the slightest touch. The sensation of the gauze made him wince, and he heard Eugene hiss at the movement. 

“I’m gonna go get you a glass of cold water,” Eugene was suddenly standing, near his other side, the bowl in his hands. “Then get you settled on the couch to elevate that. You can finish the basket later; if I let you sit up and pass out right here I am one hundred percent sure your mother will come haunt me.”

Snafu managed a chuckle. “Probably. She always told me, ‘You aren’t always gonna find someone who babies you like I do. You gotta learn to be careful.’ I don’t think I learned that last bit real well, but I found someone who babies me when I need it. She’d still show up though, give us both a lecture.”

“It would a deserved one,” Eugene said, returning with the glass of water. “And yeah, you are definitely gettin’ babied for the rest of the night, at least. You’re still awfully grey...” 

He tried to keep his head upright, his feet in a straight line, as Eugene kept one hand on his back, the other holding the glass of water, maneuvering him towards their couch. 

Once he was settled, propped up with two of their many pillows (no one couple needed six throw pillows, but they were all cute and had either a cat or dog on them, and who could say no to that?), the glass of water safely in his hands, he started to feel more steady.

“That looks better already,” Eugene smiled. “I’m gonna go check on the vase, and you stay put. Once I’ve got it out of the oven, I think we’re due for a movie night. Best thing for resting and healing is falling asleep in front of something good.”

Snafu nodded, and grinned as Eugene walked back into the kitchen. “How’d I get so lucky, Mama? He’s an angel, I’m tellin’ ya. I can’t wait to introduce you two, when I bring your present by. Without any of me or my skin accidentally attached, I promise.”

That promise he could keep, as well as one he’d made his mother years ago, when he was too young to know what it meant.

If you find someone who cares for you, really loves you? Takes care of you no matter what silly thing has happened, and the entire time, all you can think about is how you’d do the same for them? You treat them well, love them deeply, and thank your lucky stars you have them in your life.

He could keep that promise too, easily, with Eugene. 

#text post #LeeH writes #Sledgefu #rathernotmyname

[incorrecttwoset]

Lesson time with Dani:

I think the lesson we all learned here today is that I probably shouldn't look down on kpop too much. But then, I have listened to a lot of vocaloid and read along with the lyrics which get pretty intense sometimes. I would give examples but Prof. Nic has gone through many a phase and I cannot remember all of them. (And some i dont want to remember)

So, lets get on with the... songs? Pieces? Lyrics? Shall we?

1. Opera: Verdi - La Travita, Aria: Sempre Libera (Always Free), Character: Violetta. Lol i seriously thought that this was a pop song I havent heard of. But when i realized how this game was gonna go, aka when they revealed that it was opera and a translation thing, i stepped up my guessing game. But like SERIOUSLY THOOOOO. Who could've known? (Probably the singer or a person who actually understands the language) But damn son. Quiz-sama ain't playin aROUND.

2. Pop: Arianna Grande - Imagine. When i read the lyrics, i knew iMMEDIATELY. Why wouldn't I when I live with a sister who blared this fucking sing day in and out. (No offense sis, no offense Arianna) But like, when i saw that Twoset thought this was an opera? Oh bOI. Thank goodness I'm great at controlling my reactions. Because fam, I would've laughed my ass off in disbelief like what the fuck. I'd understand Brett's ignorance but Eddy too? Damn. (Brett's lofi intensifies)

3. Pop: Billie Eilish - . I honestly thought that this was like- okay, my thought process had phases. First sentence I thought "okay this sounds like that one Arianna Grande song." When I got to the "set fire" part, I thought "adele?" And then when i read "burn", i thought "is this that really old song? The "and im gonna let it burn burn burn" thing?" As you can see, all my song guesses were wrong. At least I got the genre. And like me, the bois were learning. (Cue that bear grylls meme)

4. Opera: Tchaikovsky- Eugene Onegin, Aria: Ya lyublyu vas, Olga (I love you, Olga), Character: Lensky. Like what Eddy said, this one's pretty obvious. Also, "I can see why people like opera now. I'm getting old." "Why yes, I do love opera as well." I say, a not legally an adult person. But like, seriously tho. Opera is good. Granted, I havent listened to a lot and to be frank the only opera I've listened to all the way is the Magic Flute but like- its good stuff. Only thing I want is to be able to appreciate it better. (Also check out Patricia Janeckova's recording of the Doll Song. I love it, its wonderful)

5. Opera: Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor, Aria: Il Dolce Suono (The Sweet Sound), Character: Lucia. I'll admit that Eddy's singing threw me off a lil but I guessed opera. With... not a lot of conviction. Sounded like something Lana del Rey would write okay.

6. Opera: Mozart - Don Giovanni, Aria: Madamina, il catalogo e questo (Dear lady, this is the list), Character: Leporello. I thought that this was either some really obscure rap, or weird opera. I couldn't decide so I just let it play out. When I saw it was opera, I was confused. Then, I wasn't because I saw that Mozart wrote it. I swear, Mozart would make a killing as a rapper or some kind of foulmouthed idol if he was born in modern times. Also, small Edwina and Brettany cameo!!!!!

7. Opera: Bizet - Carmen, Aria: Tout Doux, Moniseur (Softly, Sir), Character: Carmen. Honestly, by this point of the video (when I watched it for the first time) I was just straight guessing opera. Although, if the lyrics were rephrased, this line could fit in perfectly somewhere in a pop song. And also, I did not expect the dRAMATICNESS of the singing when they played that excerpt. Like, wOW OKAY. I mean it makes sense for Carmen as a character... and the language they used it in... and the style of opera... okay I really can't say anything about the extraness can I?

8. Pop: Billie Eilish - No time to die. I knew it was pop. (Rhyme scheme and lyric pattern and subject matter too predictable babey) But the fact that it was by Billie Eilish was what confused me. Idky, but them lyrics givin me Taylor Swift vibes. Or Lana del Rey vibes if you slow it down and make it "dreamy".

9. KPOP: Blackpink - Kill this love. This one was sUUUUUPER ambiguous to me. It was very eloquent and poetic in a sense. But then it also gave out pop vibes. I couldn't answer though I leaned more towards opera. But when i saw that it was Blackpink's Kill this love? My brain melted out my ears. I mEAN ITS IN KOREAN ITS A TRANSLATION THING. That still doesn't excuse the fact that im very- aSDFGHJKL about it.

10. Opera: Dvorak - Rusalka, Aria: Mesicku na nebi hublokem (Song to the moon), Character: Rusalka. This one was very obviously opera to me. But dem kpop lyrics threw me for a loop man! I went opera but yall, I was dOUBTING.

11. Pop: Charlie Puth - Attention. Was there really any need to guess this one? Although, if you've never been exposed to pop music and are hearing them for the first time then thats okay. We're all learning.

12. Opera: Mozart - Cosi Fan Tutte (All Women Do It), Aria: In Uomini in Soldati (In men, in soldiers), Character - Despina. I sincerely thought that this was a really obscure rap. And I wasn't surprised when it said that Mozart wrote this opera. (His creepy smiling face tho...)

13. Pop: Justin Bieber - Sorry. Like I said in number 11, was there really any need to guess. And Brett's (albeit braindead) singing of Super Junior's Sorry Sorry is- aUGHCK MY STAN HEART. I WAS ALREADY SLAUGHTERED BY HIM WEARING THE VIOLIN BUTTON UP AND HIS ADORABLENESS AND HIS DADDYNESS OTHER NON ADORABLE QUALITIES. Ughhhhh. Jesus christ i really have to simp for Brett in each of these posts huh?

14. Pop: Taylor Swift - Delicate. I thought that this was fOR SURE an Arianna Grande song. Because of that one song with the sleep thing. But ugh, Eddy's assumption of the song was just too good not to be mentioned. (And also because i need to fill these paragraphs but like- dat voice dow) And oh gOD SEEING THEM LAUGH TOGETHER AND VIBE LIKE THAT? IM- wow look I just died of blood loss.

15. KPOP: BTS - On. Brett picking opera and falling off his chair is me. Quiz-sama. Mercy. Mercy pLEASE. Dude, translated kpop is intense.

Also editor-san was on fIRE TONIGHT. The sass was very string today. Fuck, i LOVE IT. Wait. Holy shit I just realized something. Editor-san, subtitler-san, and quiz-sama. The holy trinity of subtle twoset humor and behind the screen action. The cast is huge and i am a simp for all of them.

#lesson time with dani #you know i was gonna save this lil tag section for editor-san appreciation and brett simping #but turns out i already did those two things in the actual post #so instead im gonna talk about how beautiful twoset looks on tv. #yes. #my first viewing of this video was on my tv. #my god the dETAIL #the cLARITY #the aCTUALLY NOT BLURRY FOR ONCE #it is an experience that i cannot describe #because its just so- ASDFGHJKL #and also it is 1 am and my brain is falling apart as we speak #i probably shouldn't have procrastinated on this post #twosetviolin #twoset violin #twoset #eddy chen #brett yang #editor-san #editor san #subtitler-san #subtitler san #quiz sama #quiz-sama #opera #opera music #pop #pop music #kpop #kpop music

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

The Democrats need a new national symbol.  The Republicans have the elephant, a majestic and wise and noble creature.  Democrats have a donkey, which was originally meant as an insult; political opponents of Andrew Jackson (American Hitler) called him Andrew Jackass, and he turned it around on them by adopting a jackass as the symbol of his party.  Oh sure, in the 1800s you could argue that a jackass was stubborn and strong willed, but then as now you will eventually come to the conclusion that donkeys are just not bright animals.  Being called an Elephant is great!  Being called a Donkey is not so great.

There are so many better animals attributed to the United States; I say we adopt one of them.  I think the bald eagle is off limits for parties, so maybe something like an American bison, or a mountain lion, or an alligator (if you’re from down south).  The American black bear, or the Grizzly if we can get some support from Alaska or Montana (not exactly Democratic strongholds).  Raccoons are cute, but I think a party mascot needs to be a bit intimidating.  So that’s why I propose we bring back the Bull Moose!

Bull Moose Party, the Progressives, formed in 1912 when former President Teddy Roosevelt (1901 - 1909) decided to run for a third term.  It was a left-wing party, dedicated to the protection of human welfare first and foremost. It fought for 8-hour work days, workers compensation, and minimum wage laws.  It fought for women’s suffrage, the direct election of senators (who until 1913, were appointed by their state legislatures instead).  It sought to bust trusts and break up monopolies; it was reformist, it sought to modernize the state, regulating big corporations and PACs to fight corruption.  Conservationism, environmentalism, social justice, healthcare and wall street reforms; all the quote-unquote “pie-in-the-sky” dreams that Republicans and Moderates pretend we can’t have!

I’m not saying we go back to 1912; they had eugenics and shit.  I’m just saying we adopt the symbolism because of how strongly it is tied to Teddy Roosevelt.  Yeah, he was a Republican, but back in the day that was the northern liberal party.  He created the National Monuments and National Parks people know and love, he’s a manly man, he’s got machismo, he’s the kind of guy voters could just sit down and have a beer with, shoot the shit.  He could play to the salt of the Earth like he’s one of them, regardless of his affluent family.  That’s the energy we need, the confidence, the big personality that everyone loves.  Never meet your heroes, they’ll always disappoint; look long enough and you’ll find skeletons hidden in every politician’s closet. Teddy by no means had a clean track record, but the average American doesn’t know that.  They just know him as a war hero and a diplomat; he led the rough riders up San Juan Hill, he spoke softly and carried a big stick, his face has been carved onto a honking mountain!  We need to use this to our advantage,

Adopt the Bull Moose as the symbol of the Democratic Party, and integrate some (but not all) of Roosevelt’s progressive talking points into the modern party platform.  Let Republicans squeal about how we can’t have him because he’s their’s, who gives a shit? We’ll trade them Andrew Jackson, they like him, they can have him, but we’re taking Teddy Roosevelt.  For that matter, we could take Abraham Lincoln; the Party of Lincoln is NOT the same as the Party of Reagan, they are mutually exclusive, they had none of the same ideologies, they just used the same name for their political cool kids club is all.  We don’t have any cool Democrats.  Wilson is boring, FDR comes close, beloved by pretty much everyone, but he’s not as bombastic as his fifth cousin once removed Teddy (yes, that’s how they’re related).  Truman was boring.  Kennedy was cool, but got shot halfway through his first term, so we have no idea what he would actually be like.  Johnson was a drunken warmonger from the south.  Carter was an ineffective peanut farmer from the south.  Clinton was a pervert from the south.  I think it’s clear the south doesn’t give us good presidents. Obama, you either love him or you hate him.  I’m on the fence because I WANT to love him, but I know how the sausage gets made, I know he’s just as guilty as any other president that’s sat in that office, so it doesn’t make sense to idolize these very flawed people.  My point is, the Roosevelts sell. If we pitch Franklin and Teddy together, we get the good cop/bad cop dynamic, fire and ice, two of the most beloved presidents in American history united under one common banner to our advantage.

That’s how we can sell the Green New Deal; talk about the Great Depression, World War II, FDR’s policies pulling us back from the brink and onwards and upwards to the most prosperous and dynamic economy the US has ever had, before or since.  We can do good business without having to shit on the environment and the little people.  A Bull Moose Progressive coalition in 2020, 2022, 2024, I think could do wonders for this country.  It could be like a left-wing Tea Party.  We need to toughen up, we need to stop acting like failures and start acting like winners!  Ditch the Donkey.  Moose mean business, they’ll fuck you up.  A moose is big enough that it could actually go toe-to-toe with an African bush elephant; with those antlers, it could do some serious damage.  Give us a symbol that can hold its own; political cartoonists would have a field day with that one!

#democrats #democratic party #democrat #democratic #donkey #democratic donkey #jackass #bull moose #bull moose party #progressive party #franklin roosevelt #teddy roosevelt #roosevelt #president roosevelt #fdr #teddy #bull moose progressive #party symbols #liberals #leftists #progressives #coalition #food for thought #politics #political #rant #political rant

[letterboxd]

Sundance 2020.

“Dude, I hope this gets over 3.5!” Letterboxd rates this year’s Sundance.

Our West Coast editor Dominic Corry returns to Sundance to engage in such essential festival experiences as: judging other people’s cellphone etiquette, pretending not to notice A-listers, coming to rely upon coffee to a dangerous extent, and hastily downing a hot sandwich while standing over the garbage can outside the Park City Fresh Market.

He also watched a whole load of cool films, and spoke with the writing and directing talent behind some of the 2020 festival’s most talked-about premieres: Janicza Bravo (Zola), Eugene Kotlyarenko (Spree), Miranda July (Kajillionaire), Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor) and Jim Cummings (actor and executive producer of Danny Madden's debut Beast Beast).

Zola

“There are more ways to access great storytelling than the ones we’ve been used to.”

Generating much of the buzz ahead of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival was Janicza Bravo’s Zola, a film based on the Twitter thread by A'Ziah King that went famously viral in 2015. It concerns two exotic dancers: King herself—who goes by Zola—(played by Taylour Paige) and her new friend Stefani (Riley Keough), who head down to Tampa one weekend accompanied by Stefani’s boyfriend Derrek (played by Cousin Greg himself, Nicholas Braun) and Stefani’s “roommate” (read: pimp, played by Colman Domingo). To say shit gets cray doesn’t quite cover it.

It’s been simplistically, if understandably, described ahead of time as “Pulp Fiction meets Spring Breakers”, but Bravo herself cited a much more eclectic selection of cinematic inspirations when we spoke to her ahead of the film’s world premiere.

“My inspirations were The Wiz, Coffy, Paris Is Burning, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Special Victims Unit. And Natural Born Killers!”

Bravo (pictured above) took to King’s Twitter thread immediately when it went viral. “I think I found it within a day, or days, of it coming out,” says Bravo. “It was sent to me by a group of girlfriends and before finishing it I knew that I wanted it, and I worked at getting [the rights] for about two years.”

Bravo wasn’t the only one who wanted to tell this story on the big screen—James Franco was initially linked to an adaptation.

“It’s not that it was difficult to get the rights, it’s that there were many other people who wanted it and the people who got it before me were just fancier. But here we are.”

Bravo is credited with Zola's script alongside playwright Jeremy O. Harris, who recently blew up Broadway with his incendiary show Slave Play. She concedes there were unique challenges in translating something so specific to the big screen.

“The thing that everyone was attracted to about this story was the voice, and I would say the hardest thing was to make sure the voice was still present in the film. What you’re reading, that it would translate into the visual.”

Bravo says she’s not sure if this is going to lead to a rash of social network-based films (Letterboxd: The Movie excepted of course), “but I would say that what the story tells you is that there are more ways to access great storytelling than the ones we’ve been used to.”

Spree

“Put it on lists and do those Letterboxd battles!”

It can be all too easy to over-perceive mini-trends at film festivals, but it was hard to overlook the large role that social media played in multiple films at Sundance this year.

In Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Spree, floppy-haired Stranger Things star Joe Keery (pictured above) plays wannabe influencer Kurt Kunkle, a driver for a Los Angeles-based ride-sharing service (called… Spree) who plots to up his subscriber numbers by murdering his more obnoxious passengers on a live stream. Or he might just be staging it all for the LOLs. The entire film plays out as a series of live-streaming videos, mostly from the dashboard cameras in Kurt’s car.

Kotlyarenko’s film questions the overly prominent role of social media in modern life. “We've all kind of signed on to this thing, to use the literal expression,” he told us. “It’s part of the way we understand ourselves and our relationship with the rest of the world. It’s basically: a like or repost or a good rating on something, gives us part of our validation or sense of self and that is a kind of twisted place to be. [Spree] is a provocation, it’s a challenge, it’s a way of saying: look, we have a problem.”

Kotlyarenko had a number of inspirations in mind while he was writing and directing Spree. “A lot! A lot of movies! I actually put ten movies in a Dropbox for the cast and crew. One movie that I thought was really inspiring was Jafar Panafi’s Taxi, also known as Taxi Tehran. You want Man Bites Dog in there, because the whole thing is that the movie’s a live stream, right? So how do you do that pseudo-doc thing but now? So you’re following a psychotic character and you’re getting very close to them. Uncomfortably close. What else? Network and To Die For, just hardcore media satires. There’s a bunch of other films, like Coming Apart, do you know this film? It’s a late ’60s movie starring Rip Torn, where he’s a psychiatrist and he sets up these hidden cameras and exploits all his patients and stuff but they don’t know that they’re on camera.”

It turns out Kotlyarenko is a keen Letterboxd member, and he’s looking forward to other members generating an average rating for his film. “Dude, I hope this gets over 3.5!”

We can safely assume Kotlyarenko won’t employ measures as drastic as those adopted by the main character in his movie in order to get his desired rating.

“I want people on Letterboxd to watch the film and rate it whatever the fuck you think it is [worth]. And, you know, put it on lists and do those Letterboxd battles. Put it up against, you know, some Gasper Noé movie. And let it win!”

Kajillionaire

“Instead of sort of half-arseing two jobs, you’re doing one job really well.”

Filmmaker, actor and performance artist Miranda July is a central figure in the American independent cinema scene, even though she’s only directed two films: Me and You and Everyone We Know and The Future. Her third full-length feature Kajillionaire had its world premiere at Sundance this year, just as her previous works did, but the big difference this time around is that she stuck to writing and directing, having also played the lead role in her two previous films.

“It’s just better,” she told Letterboxd of staying behind the camera for Kajillionaire. “Instead of sort of half-arseing two jobs, you’re doing one job really well, you know? You get a lot of energy when you’re performing—that’s nice. Especially initially to kind of set the tone, that was super helpful, starting out. But now it’s like: these people all knew my work. So I didn’t have to actually be in it for them to like, get it. Which is, you know, what a dream right?”

Kajillionaire is a typically (for July) offbeat tale of a Los Angeles family who attempt low-level scams to raise money to pay the rent on the disused office space with oozing walls in which they live. The family (comprised of mom Debra Winger, dad Richard Jenkins and daughter Evan Rachel Wood) find their equilibrium challenged when an optimistic young woman (Gina Rodriguez) eagerly joins them for their latest “heist”.

Miranda July. / Photo courtesy of the Sundance Institute

Letterboxd asked July if she thinks there’s a common narrative thread running through all three of her films.

“I mean, I see the thread, but it’s really just me living my life. Not that it’s autobiographical at all. But now I was ready to face issues and tell a story that only could be told by someone who had been a child, grown into an adult, and then been a parent of a child and had this 360-degree perspective. And also I think there’s a joyfulness that only comes in once you’re like: I know a little bit how to do this, you know? Like, maybe there’s some fun that I had, as well as breaking my heart 100 times.”

Although Kajillionaire would seem to speak to general economic anxiety, July said that wasn’t necessarily the point of the film.

“All I’ll say about that right now is: I wrote it in this time and the whole thing comes from my unconscious. But I am the child of boomers and, you know, living in the same world you’re living in. The sense that something criminal might have happened is in the air, but I wasn’t consciously [thinking]: ‘I’m going to hit them hard with this political satire’. It’s not that movie. But I don’t think anyone would be wrong to find that in it.”

Beast Beast

“It allows you to circumvent all of the bullshit that is Hollywood.”

We met up with one of our favorite filmmakers (and Letterboxd member), Jim Cummings, who wrote, directed and starred in the 2018 low-key masterpiece Thunder Road, an expansion of a 13-minute short that won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2016.

Cummings was at the 2020 festival as both an executive producer and supporting cast member in a film in the NEXT program (which highlights emerging filmmakers) called Beast Beast. It’s the first feature from writer/director Danny Madden.

“Danny was my co-producer and creative director on many of my short films, the Thunder Road feature, and my new upcoming werewolf movie. So it’s great to be here for his first Sundance feature.”

Cummings, who also runs The Short to Feature Lab in Malibu, understands more than most how shorts can be a pathway to feature filmmaking.

“It’s just so much more fulfilling to make something as a proven concept. You kind of become your own studio in a way that’s incredibly fulfilling. I think it’s the future. You can afford to make something over a weekend with your friends in the backyard that’s a short film and then you can use that and use Kickstarter or a crowd-equity plan campaign to raise the rest of the money for a feature. It’s absolutely the future and it allows you to circumvent all of the bullshit that is Hollywood.”

Jim Cummings and Danny Madden. / Photo by Jovelle Tamayo, courtesy of the Sundance Institute

Hang on, did you say new upcoming werewolf film? Thunder Road fans can look forward to beholding Cumming’ follow-up feature soon.

“I shot a werewolf movie in Coalville, Utah last March. I spent four months out here. I wrote it, I directed in and I star in it, and it’s a proper monster movie. It’s like a proper werewolf comedy. It’s like Thunder Road with a werewolf. Or Zodiac as a comedy. That’s coming out in theaters in September.”

And because this is Jim Cummings we’re talking to, there’s more: “I ran a crowd-equity campaign for a movie that we made about talent agents that I can’t really talk too much about, but it’s very good and it’s a horror movie that we shot in November. That should be coming out around the same time.”

Possessor

“It has a lot to do with character psychology, without giving too much away.”

Following the world premiere of his new film Possessor, Letterboxd sat down with second-generation filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg, the son of legendary director David. The younger Cronenberg’s second feature (following 2012’s Antiviral) had Sundance audiences audibly wincing at the extreme body horror on display in the sci-fi thriller, which stars Andrea Riseborough as an assassin who forcibly inhabits the minds of others to perform her incredibly violent executions.

We asked Cronenberg how he feels about the term “body horror” (a sub-genre often associated with his father’s work) being applied to his film.

“I guess it depends how you define body horror,” says Cronenberg. “There are violent scenes in the film and I guess that fits into a certain aspect of body horror, but it isn’t really what I would necessarily describe as body horror. There’s a small amount of story stuff that I feel is legitimately a part of that genre, but it’s not [the] prime aspect of the story.”

Cronenberg confirmed that on-screen viscerality appeals to him in general as a filmmaker: “I think especially in genre, although it can be incredibly conceptual. It’s partly defined by deep visceral emotions, not always because of graphic violence or gore. Sometimes it can be a film primarily about dread or anxiety that I would still consider to be a horror film, and a lot of classic ghost films for instance are not graphic but are visceral and in that emotional sense.”

Actors Christopher Abbott and Andrea Riseborough with director Brandon Cronenberg. / Photo courtesy of the Sundance Institute

The violence in Possessor may have had audience members covering their eyes in Park City, but Cronenberg told us there was a point to all the grue.

“It wasn’t just there to be intense or to provoke people. It has a lot to do with character psychology, without giving too much away. The way it’s depicted and the various approaches that are taken in different scenes, very much relate to the main character, her relationship with violence, her own internal space and also where the audience is situated from a kind of more objective or more subjective position.”

#sundance #sundance fim festival #sundance 2020 #jim cummings #miranda july #letterboxd #red carpet #film festival #preview #festival

[happymetalgirl]

Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas

No vocalist this decade has been more innovative for extreme metal as Travis Ryan has with his diversity of snarls, growls, and screams stretching into uncharted melodic territory on the past few Cattle Decapitation albums, and no other band has been more vital and consistently creative for deathgrind as Cattle Decapitation has been for a long time now. The band have always taken a particularly uncomfortably gnarly and confrontational approach to the dicey topics of human mistreatment of animals in the food industry and the many despicable facets of species exceptionalism that humankind has operated under since the advent of mass industrialization, and their gratuitously grotesque and brutal musical and lyrical approach to such disgusting topics honestly couldn’t be more fitting for each other. I just recently picked up a physical copy of the band’s third LP, Humanure, and, looking at the lyrics, holy shit do they fit all too disgustingly well with the now-iconic cover art.

As the band’s sound has become grander since then, more stylistically unique, more polished, yet no less brutal than the goregrind on which they built their foundations, Cattle Decapitation have shifted their lyrical focus to the grander scope of self-driven environmental catastrophe and the worst case scenario of human extinction as a result of humankind’s own ecological carelessness. The band took a tremendous leap forward from the already tight and deathly goregrind of The Harvest Floor on 2012’s Monolith of Inhumanity, with Travis Ryan’s expansion of his harsh melodic range being a huge factor in that growth. But the rest of the band grew tighter and more capable of dishing out extremely intricate and technical agression at frightening speeds, and both Monolith of Inhumanity and the band’s 2015 follow-up, The Anthropocene Extinction, showed just how unbelievably versatile Cattle Decapitation could be with this style of music. I don’t want to get too hung up on reminiscing on the quality of old work with more of that quality packed into the band’s longest album to date to discuss at hand, but I don’t want to simply brush over and understate how immense the band’s past two albums have been for them and for extreme metal in general.

With Monolith of Inhumanity, Cattle Decapitation put on an absolutely baffling exhibition of a wide array of compositional protocols and instrumental and vocal techniques that broadened not only their horizons, but the horizons of deathgrind as a genre, of melody without compromising on brutality, especially on the vocal front. The band took their sickening brand of goregrind to its classically brutal extreme on the increasingly slow churn of “Forced Gender Reassignment” and the nasty grinding of “Projectile Ovulation”, but the band really pushed the boundaries of melodic terror on the vocal front on songs like “A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat”, “Your Disposal”, and “Kingdom of Tyrants”. The song with which the band really shattered the genre’s ceiling on melody was the strangely, astonishingly beautiful “Lifestalker”, on which Travis Ryan harnesses his filthy blackened snarl into a melody so emotive it’s hard to believe a band so focused on powerfully merciless brutality penned it. The album was a huge progression for Cattle Decapitation and for deathgrind, undoubtedly my favorite of the genre.

The band sought to refine their frenzied and newly dynamic grind on The Anthropocene Extinction with generally longer and more grandiose compositions like the monumental “Manufactured Extinct” and the gloriously grinding “Plagueborne” and “Pacific Grim”, while staying true to their gory roots all throughout and making sure to deliver more directly deadly blackened grinders like “The Prophets of Loss” and “Mutual Assured Destruction”. And the band did indeed give their already impressive and elevated sound an even more magnificent and grandious edge that generally isn’t associated with Cattle Decapitation or grindcore. As its title suggests, The Anthropocene Extinction marked an increase in the band’s urgency about the consequences of humanity’s careless abuse of resources and destruction of crucial ecosystems through industrial overconsumption. The band on their most recent past album sounded at least panicked and eager to call for whatever possible to mitigate the disastrous effects of humankind’s mistakes. Four years later, however, Cattle Decapitation are far less optimistic about the outcome of mankind’s abuse of its planetary home and certainly not any more sympathetic towards our species’ continued heedlessness in the face of scientific consensus on the forthcoming destruction and collapse of civilization as we know it.

As grim and forthrightly convicting as Cattle Decapitation have been in the past about how much needs to change to avoid disaster, the band sound more pessimistic than ever on Death Atlas, forecasting more than forewarning of the impending deathly consequences of our species’ prolonged malignant negligence. They play with a distinguishable air of numbness to sorrow as though the long foreseen end has already begun and that humanity is too late. Travis Ryan dips into melodic harshness more on this album than he did on even Monolith of Inhumanity, offering up eulogy after merciless eulogy for a dying species and a slowly (but not so slowly) burning world.

Indeed, Travis Ryan meditates harshly on the inevitability of the universe’s snuffing out of life grown out of control on the blackened melodic doomsday prophetics of  “The Geocide” on which he ominously sings “The universe it always find a way to purge / the sustainably inappropriate numbers that once surged”, and he is even more hopeless on the following track, “Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts”, which he opens with the line, “Every new life is a tragedy in waiting” and on which he breaks out another nastily sung/snarled melodic chorus of apocalyptic embrace over blackened deathgrind that reaches for the upper echelons of the band’s widely encompassing sound. Ryan had stated before the album’s release in a promotional interview that he wasn’t going to focus so much on overpopulation as much on this album being that he has said his piece thoroughly on albums past and that the valid ecological problem is being misdirected by modern eugenicists, yet here he calls (probably in defeated exaggeration) for mass human death, stating “Every new death is a step toward preservation”. He once again concludes in dismal defeat that “Human life is simply not sustainable”.

Ryan continues on his frustrated raging over humanity’s exponentiating population on the following song, “Vulturous”, on which it becomes clearer that he is not taking the warped, racist approach to this topic and is rather eulogizing the willful and self-inflicted destruction of so-called advanced cultures by their short-sighted capitalist urges, as evidenced by the lines “A horrible ghastly proclamation / That profits dominate what’s right” and the painfully and intentionally ironic “Living for ourselves / Anything at any time / as of tomorrow we will die”. Clearly these lines are not pinning the blame for catastrophic climate change on the usual, lower-consuming scapegoats of fascist eugenics, but rather the capitalism that exploits them and those doing the scapegoating and those who keep it in place because they have something to gain from it. Musically, the track is one of the more demonically sinister cuts on the album, with Ryan giving a particularly eerie, menacing, death-summoning vocal performance.

Indeed, while I am talking a lot about Travis Ryan’s lyrical contributions and one-of-a-kind vocal performances, I would hate to overlook the solid and vibrant instrumental foundation the rest of the band continue to provide him and Cattle Decapitation. Longtime drummer David McGraw’s jaw-droppingly lightning-injected performances continue to shine as one of the band’s major instrumental attractions as he absolutely punishes his kit at ungodly speeds with awe-inspiring technicality. Similarly fast-paced and technical strong-work continues to flow like a gushing torrent of hail from storied lead guitarist Josh Elmore and newly arrived rhythm guitar supporter Belisario Dimuzio, who together drive the album’s (and the band’s) likely under-appreciated emotional dynamic through their interplay between colossal eruptions of infernal guitar distortion and ashen atmospheric dissonance with cleaner tones when the time is right. And new bassist Olivier Pinard provides the essential foundational accents to meticulously track and support the maddeningly technical rhythms above him in the mix, and even surging up to the forefront of the mix when the rest of the band is at a lower instance of acceleration to provide his own moments of spotlighted technical brilliance as well. Together the band have continued to hone the already highly perfected form of epic deathgrind that they and no one else can channel.

Backed by particularly vicious grinding instrumentation, Travis Ryan continues to count down to calamity on “One Day Closer to the End of the World”, at first seemingly welcoming with open arms “the end of all life of this fucking planet” in a storm of hardcore-influenced guitar work, but clearly lamenting, as the song progresses, mankind’s seeming “Lust for dying” and the terrible, suffering-filled end it has set up for itself, as he closes the thundering instrumental chaos by characterizing humanity as “Out of breath, out of time - a species out of its mind”. This bend toward self-destruction is further examined throughout the more direct, technical blackened death metal of “Absolute Destitute”, which is mostly spare of the previous tracks’ melodic niceties and summed up nicely and poetically by the lines “A life in love with despair / in a world beyond repair / A global consensus that the powers that be are against us”, and Ryan essentially calls time on humanity’s soured reign over planet Earth on the fittingly apocalyptic-sounding melodic vocal and guitar dissonance and rhythmic crashing of “Time’s Cruel Curtain”, whose tragically cathartic and enigmatically beautiful sonic hideousness as a result of is truly a tough thing to describe, probably best likened to a fire-scarred martyr desperately sacrificing themselves one last time to no avail.

Travis Ryan shifts his mournful tone to a more critical one on the ruthlessly rapid-fire “Finish Them” as he concludes that “Now we see that the true evil has a face / Now we know the devil is the human race” as David McGraw’s dynamic playing shines at the track’s particularly fast pace, and Ryan subsequently imparts, furthermore, a stern warning to the opulent elites that those whose world they’ve ruined will be coming for their hides on the similarly high-octane percussive hurricane and roller coaster riff-fest of “With All Disrespect”.

Ryan does return to his more usual classically colorful beckoning of death on the surprisingly infectiously hook-laced, old-school (for the band), and darkly comedic “Bring Back the Plague”, which is an exaggerated call at wits end for exactly what the title implies, but musically one of the band’s most unique songs and a certain standout on an album filled with impressive tracks.

The band also includes a few shorter interludes to break up the relentless deathgrind, “The Great Dying”, “The Great Dying II”, and “The Unerasable Past”, which are strung with excerpts detailing the sequences of events that have led to humanity’s current predicament, including “55 Languages of Planet Earth” from NASA’s Voyager Space Probe on the intro track, “Anthropogenic: End Transmission”.

On the titular closing track, Travis Ryan offers his last sorrowless dirge for humanity as he screams “We deserve everything that’s coming” across the epic nine-minute firestorm of crunchy guitar riffage, furiously firing double-bass, and biblically monolithic death howls that wrap the album up in cinematically grand fashion without sacrificing any of the brutality of the band’s grind. And while the song’s second half isn’t quite the dizzying crush the first half is, the gradual fade out into an operatic lamentation for a biosphere’s graceless end is a fitting one for the image of the Earth humanity’s last days careening away into the void of space in abject meaninglessness to the rest of the universe and whatever may fill humankind’s empty place at square one of rebuilding a new civilization.

Given how greatly I still admire Monolith of Inhumanity and the Anthropocene Extinction obviously my expectations for death Atlas were pretty high. Yet Cattle decapitation still managed to surprise and around me with melodicism greater than even that which characterized Monolith of Inhumanity, incredibly surprisingly infectious hooks, and gripping, terrifyingly bleak prophetic lyricism amid consistently thrilling instrumental performances that continue to prove what a tremendous force to be reckoned with and what an important band Cattle Decapitation is and has been. While Cattle Decapitation are far from the only band addressing the huge, overbearing impending doom of environmental Armageddon, and while the novelty of the melodicism of the band’s terrifying assault and nauseating goring has worn off since Monolith of Inhumanity, Cattle Decapitation has expanded it to further elevate the grandiosity they cultivated on The Anthropocene Extinction to produce a swan song for the planet unlike any other. Truly, there are few bands more important today for metal than Cattle Decapitation is, and there is no situation more dire than humanity’s arrogant and self-assured loitering on the brink of civilizational downfall. And while a deathgrind album probably isn’t the kind of art piece that will pull humankind back from the edge, the uncompromisingly ugly and truly hellish portrayal of the world’s collapse on it makes Death Atlas the album the world needs and humanity deserves for its compounded failures. And I also suppose it’s quite fitting that the band releases this album on America’s frustratingly ironically times national holiday of celebrating capitalist consumerism after a day of supposed giving thanks whose tradition is warped to hide its ugly genocidal historical origin. Undoubtedly one of the most crucial albums of its time, one of the year’s, one of the decade’s, and Cattle Decapitation’s best.

And I count the days ‘til we expire for always/10

#Cattle Decapitation #Death Atlas #deathgrind #death metal #technical death metal #grindcore #metal #heavy metal #new album #new music #album review #great music #great album #Monilith of Inhumanity #The Anthropocene Extinction #climate change #global warming #capitalism