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lonelypond · 5 years

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Jingle Bell Jazz, Ch. 18

Love Live, NicoMaki, 1.6K, 18/?

Summary: Rehearsal wraps up...

Chapter 18

Maki was sitting at the piano, watching Nico flail at Eli. Nico was emboldened and demanding Eli play bigger, better, and brighter. Eli just hunched more with every syllable. And Maki was getting hungry. She and Nico had skipped lunch and three more donuts had only given Maki a rapidly fading energy burst and a sticky taste in her mouth.

“Nico?” Maki spoke into a pause as Nico appeared to be pulling Eli’s sax away to demonstrate her point.

Nico whirled, hand frozen in front of her face, Eli wide eyed behind her, Maki wondered if the two of them had forgotten she was in the room.

They were waiting so Maki continued, hoping she didn’t sound too agitated. The room needed less tension, not more. And she needed FOOD. “Can we take a break for lunch....we...uh...skipped it.”

Eli snickered and poked Nico with her sax. “You have to feed a girl if you want to date her.” Mood lightened.

“Shut up, Eli.” Eli poked again and Nico reached behind her and grabbed the sax out of the blonde’s hands.

“Hey!” Eli protested as Nico dodged her.

Nico had the horn inside its case in under a minute, “We’re dropping you off so you can tell Nozomi about Canada while I feed Maki a stack of burgers. Then you meet us at her place.”

“Nope.” Eli shook her head as she adjusted her ponytail.

“Eli…” Nico whined.

“If I go home, I’m staying…” Eli had been through enough of Nico’s moods today.

“Uggghhhh...you’re just being difficult because you’re annoyed with Nico.” Nico shoved the case at Eli, “That’s childish.”

Eli shrugged and put the case down. “Maybe I’m just tired.”

“Tomorrow we lose time because Kotori’s stopping by with the clothes.” Nico circled, fretting, head down.

Eli shrugged, her fingers splaying out expressively. “We’ll be fine. I’m a pro.”

“Pros practice.” Nico leaned against the piano.

Tired of the Eli and Nico back and forth, Maki rose, to step around the piano and push Nico off it. “Pianos aren’t furniture.”

“Really?” Nico blew her bangs straight up, voice peaking with irritation,“Do you two rehearse this sort of thing, the ganging up on Nico?”

“Don’t have to.” Eli tossed Maki’s coat at the redhead, “Aggravating Nico comes naturally to some of us.”

Nico turned to Maki, suspicious, as if to test, but Maki shrugged, easy grin on her face, “It’s just too cute when you…”

“Nico is going to Europe…Tsubasa will appreciate genius.” Nico slipped into her peacoat and stormed the door.

“Good luck with your future.” Eli picked up her sax, waving Maki ahead of her.

Maki went back to put the fallboard down, “I just want a burger.”

Nico shouted through the door, “So get yourself into gear that isn’t Park."

###

Eli and her sax paused in the hall, key out, the door an impassive spectator. Eli and her sax...Eli loved music and performing and really, Nico too. But out there, who knows where, on the road, traveling from gig to gig, no cozy apartment to come back to at the end of the night, choosing all that uncertainty over school? And what would Nozomi think? They already had a plan. But then there was Nico. Okay, moment of introspection over, Eli told herself, put the key in the door, open, step inside…

“Welcome home, Eli-chi.” There it was. Nozomi’s voice. Soft, teasing, warm. No orchestra would ever sound as melodious.

It would be home wherever Eli was as long as Nozomi was there.

Nozomi was standing in the kitchen doorway, a card in her hand, a goad in her eye. “Three of wands. Where is Nico taking you?”

Eli laughed. Of course, Nozomi knew. Eli dropped her sax on the couch and hugged her partner. “Quebec. And she’ll be taking us.”

Nozomi thought for a minute, then doubled over with huge, rolling laughter…”Oh Nico-chi…”

“Nozomi?” Eli was confused.

“Vive l’amour.” Nozomi was still laughing, hugging herself.

Eli chuckled, leaning down to kiss Nozomi, “That too. I walked in on them.”

“Ooohh, how far did she get?” Nozomi snapped up, interest lively on her face.

“Not as far as you would have.” Eli let her fingers play a few notes on Nozomi’s arm.

“You’ll have to show me.” Nozomi blinked at Eli, faux innocence a thin veneer over vixen, fingers raking through her own waist length loose hair.

Eli couldn’t help a sly smile as she led Nozomi to the couch. She’d gladly take advantage of this mood and Nico’s absence.

###

Nico had watched Maki eat her way through an entire band’s worth of fries and burger so fast there was no time for dipping in the milkshake Nico had thoughtfully purchased. For a person in a fancy house, Maki didn’t seem to have fancy tastes, well, except of course, for her need for Nico, as Nico was the rarest of pearls. But now the redhead was talking as fast as she had eaten and Nico was an equal mix of amused and fascinated as Maki broke down why she was so inspired by Ellington.

“He’s very smart...he takes the effort to craft pieces that use the strength of his soloists, it’s definitely kept the best people working with him...and the way he experiments, with his voice, with classical composers, with time….” Maki finally noticed the milkshake and took a break to sip, her amethyst eyes shining with excitement.

“How did you find out so much so fast?” Nico was genuinely impressed with Maki’s work ethic and learning curve.

Maki counted off on her fingers, “Listening to records, music store clerk, librarian finding me articles, Professor Melton’s music critic friend who specializes in jazz…” She smiled at Nico, “I was busy while you were working.”

“And Nico thought you were just wearing your fingers out on the piano.” Nico slid her fingers into Maki’s, smiling at the sparks.

“I was.” Maki tossed her hair a little, sighing, “You’re tough to impress.”

“I am.” Nico leaned forward, wishing they were in her apartment or the practice room or Maki’s music room so she could kiss the lips glistening across the table, “And you do.”

Maki ducked her head, shy but Nico could see the delight.

“So you want to put some more Ellington in the set list?” Nico wasn’t a fan of awkward silence. And this setting was much more suited to practical conversation than romantical.

“Oh, I’d love to do his Nutcracker, it’s seasonal and so lively, almost luscious, everything’s named after something tasty, some candy...but it’s warm, not hard and brittle, full of life, fresh from the oven, jazzy Arabesque cookies…” Maki’s half smirk, half smile was so sexy, it was hard for Nico not to just crawl across the table. She would have dropped her hand under, to slide up Maki’s thigh, but she wanted to hear what was going to come racing out next…”there’s so much texture, Ellington takes out the strings but buffs the bright and mellows, just the three of us can’t really get that across but when we come back, next Christmas, I’d love to arrange it for a joint concert with Honoka’s band, I’ve already got some ideas....Rin’ll be thrilled at all the chimes and maybe a glockenspiel or...” Maki took another sip, “or castanets and a cabasa, I bet Rin would love that…”

Nico chuckled to herself, content to listen as Maki planned their musical future, picturing the redhead at the piano, directing their friends, making changes to a score in pencil, throwing a wadded up discard in the direction of Rin and Honoka, red hair flying out of the bun she’d hastily tossed it in that morning, when they…

“Nico?” Maki sounded hesitant.

Nico squeezed her hand, cheerful, “Sorry, just picturing you running Honoka and Rin ragged during a rehearsal. It was kind of like two adorable kittens and a retriever chasing a yarn ball.”

Maki found a leftover fry and dipped it, eyebrow in high scorn position, “We’re all very serious musicians.”

Nico snorted, “So serious. Nico’s heard rumors. I bet you have Rin in a headlock five minutes in after she clocks you on the head with her maracas.” Now that was a picture, Nico’s mental image of Maki in pencil skirt and shirt, untucked, sleeves up to her elbow, immobilizing her opponent, Rin in a floral skirt kicking sideways at her. It’d be like Cocoa and Cotaro fighting over the last slice of pizza.

Maki blushed, crossed her arms, and turned so her shoulder was facing Nico.

Nico stood, leaning into Maki’s side, “If you’re done, Nico would like to take you home.”

“You can’t drive.” Maki pouted, but there was a gleam.

“You’re exhausting.” Nico let her arm drop over Maki’s shoulder. Piano height, perfect to just lean in and waft a discreet near kiss over silky red strands.

“But I can drive.” The sarcastic flair didn’t make Nico’s pulse race any less when Maki shifted nearer.

Nico pushed Maki to her feet, “Prove it.” Although Nico was planning to make sure that the ignition key wasn’t turned until Nico had thoroughly demonstrated how exasperatingly cute her new girlfriend was.

A/N: Next up: New Year's Eve...get your party gear ready...

#NicoMaki #Jingle Bell Jazz #music #jazz #Nishikino Maki #Yazawa Nico #Ayase Eli #Bibi #Tojo Nozomi #nozoeli #fanfic #Christmas #holiday #rehearsal #etc

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ryanmeft · 6 years

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The Endless Movie Review

I watched The Endless a few days ago, took some time off for some kind of wedding or something, and now, sitting back down to write about it, find I still haven’t unraveled its mysteries. I can barely describe them, because I want you to go into this blind, as I did, and not looking for plot points. I can say this: two brothers, having escaped from a cult a decade prior, go back “for a visit” and discover their memories of the place don’t quite line up. That is mere plot. The relationship between the brothers is the story.

Justin (Justin Benson) is the older and wiser of two brothers, who are eking out an existence as house cleaners in Southern California. His younger brother Aaron (Aaron Moorehead) is naive and longs for the unquestioned comfort of his existence as a youth in Camp Arcadia. Justin assures him it is a UFO death cult, but Aaron questions this when he receives a video from a camp member, proving they remain alive. To help Aaron move on, Justin agrees to go back to “say goodbye”. It’s never quite clear what they are saying goodbye to, because of course the answer is that Justin also longs for the structured discipline of the cult. Such things are appealing because they offer simple answers. The difference between the two brothers is that Justin knows “simple” is usually just a way to avoid the basic truth that life is complex.

Or does he? The film sets up a tried-and-true formula: younger character wants a fairy tale, older character knows better, sets out to disprove it. This could go one of two ways in an easier movie: the older character could teach the younger a valuable lesson, or he could rediscover a cliche innocence and go skipping naked through the fields. The Endless does neither. Upon arrival at the camp, they re-encounter Hal (Tate Ellington), whose performance as the spacey leader of the place has heavy elements of Wes Bentley in American Beauty. He is not quite out-to-lunch, nor is the alluring Anna (Callie Hernandez), but they do seem to have checked out of worry, something that appeals to Aaron. They haven’t, of course: there is conflict at Camp Arcadia, and what kind it is comprises the mystery.

I’m going to discuss that now, and I can’t suggest strongly enough that if you haven’t seen the movie, you either stop reading or skip to the last paragraph. Justin must eventually admit his impressions that Arcadia is a death cult, which he reported to the media years ago, are drawn from speculation, rather than ironclad evidence. Aaron eventually learns it is indeed more than just a simple nature retreat. Neither of these things play out exactly as you expect. As Aaron and Justin explore, trying to reconcile their memories with what they are actually seeing, it transpires that the camp is stuck in a time loop, or rather many time loops, and in a Shining-esque turn, the people in it are very old, indeed, having failed to escape. Writing that out now, I realize it is naturally a metaphor for the way Justin and Aaron have not dealt with the issues between them, and how they remain trapped in their own post-Arcadia lives, as if Cain and Abel had both for some reason been exiled from Eden together.

Like the vastly underrated Alex Proyas film Knowing, The Endless is not concerned with how it plays to any kind of modern demographic group. The metaphors in the film are sly and obscure, and it’s a trick of incredible skill on the part of Benson and Moorehead. When you break down the film into literary elements, the idea that the phenomena affecting the camp is important not because of mystical mumbo-jumbo but because it reflects the tension between people is evident. Yet, though the brothers felt natural in their conflicts during the movie, and the time loops grabbed my attention on a more visceral level, I found I didn’t pick up on this until the final shot; I was simply fascinated, and the film had done what so many popcorn films have not: turned off my ridiculously over-active brain.

It did so in a good way. The brothers promise interviewers the film is not autobiographical, though shortly before they began filming, their mother took her own life. Benson told the publication Independent that he thinks that grief came through in their work. How do I, removed from their lives, comment on something like that? I can only say I believe it. Let’s look at Aaron’s performance a moment; he is leadened with the pain of realizing that ordinary life is not only hard but often unrewarding. You might say he hasn’t matured enough to realize this, but is the goal of life really to accept that it sucks? There’s a wistfulness in his voice he hasn’t learned to filter out; it is shared by Justin, but the older man has trained himself to hide it. The forlorn nature of Aaron’s acting brings to our minds how grief actually works, not as movie histrionics, but almost as removal from caring.

The movie’s low-budget nature extends beyond the director and writers being the stars and, you know, actual brothers. The movie was filmed in Anza-Borrego park, which takes up one fifth of San Diego county, so while the movie does come from California, it bears none of the hallmarks of a Hollywood production, or even of the desire to capture West Coast glamour that’s hard for anyone to resist. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn it was Montana or Utah.

Speculative science-fiction, the kind of bizarreness championed in mid-century short stories by masters such as Asimov, Heinlein, and Bradbury, is a freewheeling category whose only real requirements for membership are strangeness and thoughtfulness. It’s also been largely subsumed at the box office by spaceships and lasers. And yet, I think The Endless might have done well if it had been given a wider release and a small bucket of marketing. It has things horror fans sometimes want---a mysterious threat, shocking supernatural questions, creepy characters of indeterminate motivation. The major difference between this and more standard horror and sci-fi is that these elements start in familiar places but don’t always end up in them. A camp leader who talks like he’s been at the spiked punch turns out to have a method to his madness. Potential romances go places that aren’t in the Potential Romance Playbook. A dire situation involving a man who repeats his life in a Groundhog Day-like loop is left off with a bit of dark comedy.

What does happen in the camp? It’s tempting to say it doesn’t matter and is all a metaphor. Yet this family effort doesn’t make things that simple, since the stuff we saw can’t be explained away. Like this year’s Annihilation, what happens matters less than who it happens to. The film’s last shot is wistful, sad, exciting, a bit funny and bittersweet, and never feels written. It feels earned.

Verdict: Must-See

Note: I don’t use stars, but here are my possible verdicts. I suppose you could consider each one as adding a star.

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid like the Plague

You can follow Ryan's reviews on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/ryanmeftmovies/

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All images are property of the people what own the movie.

#movies #the endless #science fiction #california #callie hernandez #aaron moorehead #justin benson #tate ellington #Wes Bentley #american beauty #annihilation #horror #the shining #cults #cultism #alex proyas #knowing

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njawaidofficial · 7 years

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Emmys 2017 Inside References Explained

http://styleveryday.com/2017/09/19/emmys-2017-inside-references-explained/

Emmys 2017 Inside References Explained

The Hollywood Reporter breaks down the shout-outs and jokes that may have left viewers scratching their heads.

Why does Veep boss David Mandel owe Silicon Valley executive producer Alec Berg $1,000? Does the Emmy statuette really hold an atom of boron? What’s the connection between Andre Braugher and Sterling K. Brown? Why did Dave Chappelle shout out D.C. public schools? What’s South Asian Youth Action? And who is Hiro Murai?

These are just some of the questions that Emmy viewers, especially ones who don’t work in or closely follow the entertainment industry, may have had as host Stephen Colbert, presenters and winners made references to lesser-known facts and public figures.

Read on to find out the stories behind six esoteric references from Sunday night’s Emmys.

“Alec Berg, I owe you $1,000.”

Veep boss David Mandel let this aside slip when he was accepting the show’s Emmy for best comedy series Monday night. Mandel addressed the Silicon Valley executive producer as he listed the other comedy series nominees, which he said inspire the team at Veep. So why is Mandel indebted to his friend and fellow TV writer? It seems the two have a bet that has gone on since last year as to which show will win the best comedy series Emmy. Mandel, ever humble, never thinks Veep will win, he says, so much so that he picked every other show to win last year, paying Berg $1,000 at the HBO party after Veep emerged triumphant at the 2016 Emmys. This year, Mandel thought Atlanta would win, but Berg bet on Veep.

“I called it out really in the spur of the moment, more so acknowledging our long-term partnership in the speech,” Mandel told THR, revealing he hasn’t yet paid Berg for this year’s wager. “I actually had the cash ready to pay him but we missed each other. We have a date to settle up. Believe me he wants his money!”

“A lightning-winged lady holding an atom of boron.”

Host Stephen Colbert described the Emmy statuette, “the real star” of Sunday night’s show, thusly, adding after the audience seemed lost by his boron mention, “It’s got five electrons, look it up.” The description of the statuette segued into Colbert’s interview with the award, with RuPaul playing the trophy. So is the Emmy statuette a winged woman holding an atom of boron? Maybe. According to the TV Academy, the Emmy statuette, as chosen by the academy in 1948, was designed by Louis McManus using his wife as a model. The statuette shows a winged woman holding an atom, an image designed to represent the arts (the wings) and science (the atom) of television. The third Academy president, Harry Lubcke, selected the name “Immy,” a term for an early image orthicon camera, which was later modified to “Emmy” to accompany the female symbol. As for whether that atom is of boron, the TV academy’s website doesn’t specify. But boron, the fifth element in the periodic table, does indeed have five electrons, as well as five protons.

South Asian Youth Action

The Night Of star Riz Ahmed referenced South Asian Youth Action in his acceptance speech for best actor in a limited series, singling out the Queens-based youth development organization as one of the groups that helped him prepare for his role as Naz, a Pakistani-American college student, whose family lives in Queens, accused of murder. SAYA provides academic support, leadership development and enrichment programming for South Asian youth in New York City.

Hiro Murai

Donald Glover name-checked Mirai when he accepted his Emmy for outstanding directing in a comedy series. Mirai is a longtime collaborator of Glover’s, also serving as a director and producer on Atlanta. Mirai, who directed seven of the 10 episodes in Atlanta‘s first season, previously collaborated with Glover on videos released under Glover’s Childish Gambino alter ego.

“Mr. Braugher, whether it is at Stanford University or on this Emmy stage, it is my supreme honor to follow in your footsteps.”

Sterling K. Brown referenced a number of past drama actor winners, including Bryan Cranston and Jon Hamm, calling out both by their characters’ names, as he accepted his Emmy for his role on This Is Us on Sunday night. But he seemed particularly honored to follow in Andre Braugher’s footsteps. Braugher was the last black performer before Brown to win the best drama actor Emmy, which he received in 1998 for his role as Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street. “Because of the category and because it’s been 19 years, it feels big,” Brown said backstage, alluding to Braugher’s win. “I’m bugging out because I never thought this was a possibility. And to be standing here, 19 years after him, I want to represent.”

Brown revealed that he and Braugher also share an alma mater: Stanford. Braugher graduated in 1984, and Brown graduated in 1998.

“Shout out to DC public schools”

Dave Chappelle gave educational institutions in the nation’s capital their first of two bits of recognition on Sunday night. Presenting with fellow guest actor Emmy winner Melissa McCarthy, Chappelle revealed he had skipped rehearsal so he was going to need to simply read the teleprompter. “Please forgive me. Shout-out to D.C. public schools,” Chappelle said before reading the nominees. Chappelle is a 1991 graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C., and whoever manages the Twitter account for the school district didn’t miss a beat, waving at Chappelle and expressing surprise when later winner John Oliver urged people to get “D.C. public schools” trending on Twitter, which they did. The school system also urged their new fans to learn more about their facilities.

.@DaveChappelle