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raaorqtpbpdy · 3 months

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Brotherhood (1)

Directly following the events of Double Helix, Danny enrolls in Bayville High school and joins the Brotherhood of Mutants. He's not sure if they actually believe he's a ghost and not a mutant, but at least they don't care enough to challenge him on it, and that's good enough for him.

Written for @crossoverdanuary Week 2024, Day 5: The Owl House X-Men Evolution | Shell

I have seen exactly two episodes of The Owl House, and that was like four years ago or something, so I was not confident in my ability to write a crossover for it.

The one word prompt doesn't actually appear until the second chapter, but I tried to work in a theme of both Danny and Wanda "coming out of their shell" throughout the fic. You can also read it on AO3.

Chapter 1: Halfway House

[Warnings for mild violence and mentions of mental health issues]

Danny never realized how much of a pain in the ass it was to enroll in school by himself. Jazz really deserved a lot more credit for dealing with all the stuff their parents forgot to do. It was so much paperwork. Nevertheless, with some effort, Danny got himself enrolled in Bayville High and slipped right in under the radar. Since his human form didn't stand out, he just showed up on his first day and figured things out from there.

Just like he'd suspected, there were several mutants at the school, meaning none of the other students picked up on Danny's weird vibes.

The guy who never took off his stupid sunglasses and the German kid whose hands were in a permanent Vulcan salute were perfect camouflage. At least, they helped him hide from the normal students. The mutant students picked up on him within the first week.

"Hey, new kid!" A group of students cornered Danny at his locker while he was switching out his books before heading to lunch.

He recognized most of them from his classes, Lance, Pietro, and a kid everyone called Toad, but Danny didn't know his real name. There was also a huge guy with a blond Mohawk who was about the same size and Danny's dad, maybe even a few inches taller. Danny had seen him around school, since he was kind of hard to miss, but didn't have any classes with him, and so didn't know his name.

"Can I help you?" Danny asked.

"You're a mutant, aren't you?" Lance asked him.

"No. What's it to you?" Danny responded.

"We're called the Brotherhood of Mutants," Pietro explained. "Or just the Brotherhood for short. We've seen what you can do and we want you to join us."

"Unless you're already one of the X-Men," the big guy said. "You're not, are you?"

"Of course he's not. We would know if he was!" Pietro snapped. "So, what do you say?"

"Join you?" Danny raised an eyebrow and gave them a skeptical frown. "What exactly would that entail?"

"Oh it's great!" Toad told him. "You get to live at the board house where there's no rules, fight the X-Men... I mean... we always get our butts kicked, but it's still cool!"

"Free room and board is enticing," Danny admitted.

He was currently squatting in a for-sale home and only getting away with it because he was already gone for school before the first tour of the day and he thought of locks as more of a suggestion than a rule.

"But I don't join just any mutant group that offers me an invitation. What are your actual beliefs, your goals? What do you stand for?"

"Uhh...." Toad put a finger to his lip thoughtfully. "You know what, I don't really know."

"We stand for ourselves," Lance told him, pushing Toad aside. "Because when it comes down to it, nobody else will, and we freaks gotta stick together. You in or what? 'Cause we ain't gonna waste our time with you any longer than we have to."

Lance extended a hand to Danny, and Danny just looked at it for a long moment before accepting the handshake.

"I'm in," Danny agreed.

These guys seemed like dicks, to be honest, but their ideals aligned with his a whole lot better than professor goodie two-shoes. Plus, maybe it was just a coincidence or an accident, but they hadn't actually called him a mutant. They'd asked if he was, but hadn't pushed when he said no, not like that stupid professor had.

"Great," Lance said. "I'll pick you up in my jeep after school, but be on time because I'm not waiting for you."

"Oh, by the way, Tabitha's part of our group, too," Pietro told him. "You may know her as Boom Boom. Hope you don't mind if there's a girl in the house."

"Why would I mind?" Danny asked.

Pietro didn't answer, just sped away.

After school, he waited by what he assumed was Lance's jeep. It was the muddiest jeep in the school lot, so he was only guessing, but he was pretty sure. He ended up being right, and Lance drove them all to the Brotherhood's boarding house. The place was a disaster area, and a complete mess. There were still a couple of free rooms, but Danny opted to lay claim to the attic and moved one of the free beds up there.

"Why would you want the creepy old attic?" asked the big guy, whom everyone called Blob.

"Because, a haunted attic is objectively cooler and spookier than haunted bedroom," Danny told him matter-of-factly. "I'm not gonna be some lame bedroom ghost. What am I, an eight-year-old girl whose depressed mother drowned her in a bathtub? No! I'm a science experiment gone wrong. Besides, this place doesn't have a basement, so I have to settle for the next best thing."

"Oh... I guess that makes sense," Blob said, though he was scratching his head.

"Uh, no," Pietro disagreed. "It doesn't. This new guy is a straight up weirdo."

"So's Toad and we let him stick around," said Tabitha, climbing the stairs to drop off her backpack before heading out again to meet the X-girls at the mall. "At least Danny showers."

"Hey! I shower!" Toad argued indignantly. "I shower every month!"

—

"There's a new mutant at school. The Brotherhood just recruited him yesterday. Should we have invited him to join the Institute instead, Professor?" Jean asked.

She and some of the other X-Men had noticed that the new kid who'd just enrolled in their high-school had strange powers. He was pretty sneaky with them, and none of them could seem to figure out exactly what they were, so they'd just been keeping an eye on him. But now, he'd started hanging out with the Brotherhood mutants, so Jean had convinced the others to bring it up to Professor X for guidance.

"He might still change his mind," she continued. "He doesn't seem like a bad guy. I saw him turn invisible to avoid a group of jerks at school seeing him walk past."

"What?" Scott asked, quirking his eyebrows at her. "Invisibility? But I saw him use a power just like Kitty's to open his locker when it jammed."

"Like, no way!" Kitty argued. "The guy's totally a telekinetic!"

"Maybe he can replicate powers, then?" Rogue suggested. "Because I'm pretty sure I saw him trip Duncan on a patch of ice when he was being a douche."

"Hmm... interesting," Professor X said thoughtfully. "What was this boy's name, did you say?"

"Oh, no I didn't, it's Danny Fenton," Jean answered.

The professor's eyes widened in recognition.

"Do you know him, Professor?"

"Indeed," he confirmed, steepling his fingers as he considered his memories of the boy. "Daniel Fenton is a mutant with an incredibly powerful and versatile set of abilities, notably similar to the abilities ghosts are thought to have—flight, invisibility, intangibility, the ability to create cold spots, move objects telekinetically, and warp electrical fields, among others.

"I first met him at a mental care institution for mutants where I perform regular evaluations on their younger patients," he explained further. "Because of his particular range of powers, Danny is under the delusion that he actually is a ghost, rather than a mutant, and as such, he believes that he cannot die, which causes him to sometimes be reckless with his own life. It also upsets him severely to have his delusion challenged by others.

"I was informed of him escaping from the institution, not long ago, but I never would have expected him to come here. I'm even more surprised that he would be willing to align himself with a mutant group. He always showed clear disdain when I mentioned my school to him, and even more so when I tried to imply that he was truly a mutant, rather than a ghost."

"Sounds like Danny will end up being a powerful enemy," Scott said.

"Indeed," the professor agreed. "He's one of the most powerful mutants I know of, and to make matters worse, he has a tendency to lose control over his powers when you do or say anything to upset him."

"So basically, don't try to argue with him about being a ghost," Rogue surmised. "That about cover it?"

"For a start," Professor X said. "You'd also do well not to get in a debate with him about ideals, he's rather... passionate about his."

"I take it he doesn't agree with yours?" Scott guessed.

"You're quite correct," the professor confirmed. "You would all do well not to engage with him. Offering to let him join the institute at this juncture would no doubt end poorly. Best to leave him alone for now. But keep an eye on him. He could be dangerous."

"Understood, Professor."

—

"So, Lance," Danny crossed his legs and floated in the air by the couch in a way that he knew unsettled the rest of the Brotherhood, which of course meant he thought it was dreadfully funny, "care to explain the rumbling this morning? I'm pretty sure Bayville isn't on any fault lines."

"Kitty asked him to the dance," Toad answered for him, making mocking kissy faces at him.

Lance shoved his face away, but all five of them had already devolved into teasing Lance mercilessly.

"Stuff it, Toad. It's not a big deal," he said.

Danny snickered at him as the teasing continued, Tabitha seating herself on the arm of Lance's chair and leaning into his personal space to ask if Kitty was gonna be his girlfriend while he sat there with a resigned expression on his face.

"We wouldn't be caught dead at that stupid dance!" Blob declared, and Danny laughed even harder.

"Really Freddy?" Tabitha asked, tapping her finger on his nose with a teasing pout. "Aw, that's too bad. 'Cause I was thinking of askin' you."

"U-uh... you were?" Blob asked dumbly.

"Yeah, but if you don't wanna go..." she raised her arms as if giving up on the idea.

"Ooh! Ask me! I'll go!" Toad volunteered, jumping up and down with his hands raised.

"Pathetic," scoffed Pietro, always pretending he was too cool for the rest of them, like he wasn't sprawled out of the same greased stained couch the rest of them sat on.

"Hey, speedy." Tabitha turned to him and put her hands on her hips. "You think you're too good for me?" she asked, leaning down to him with laughter on her voice."

"Nah, you just couldn't keep up with me," Pietro explained. "I mean, I can keep four girls busy dancing at the same time." He did a lap around the room at super-speed to prove his point. "Ha!"

"What about you, cold spot?" she asked Danny.

"You're nice and all," he said with a light-hearted smirk, "but I'm only interested in people who don't know I'm alive, don't want me alive, or have actively tried to kill me in the past, whether or not they succeeded doesn't matter though."

"Is that so?"

Tabitha tossed one of her little bombs in his lap, but he turned intangible and let it blow up on the floor below him.

"Now that that's settled, let's all go! And show that school how to party!" She whooped and just like that, everyone was on board, even Lance seemed happy about it, although admittedly, Danny still wasn't really interested in going. A school dance sounded like a really boring way to spend his evening, and he didn't even have a suit.

Luckily, Danny found some nicer clothes in a box in the attic. They were a little big, but they'd do.

And like that, the Brotherhood all went to the school dance. Pietro actually showed up arm-in-arm-et-cetera with four different girls.

Danny wasn't much for dancing, but in the end, the dance was a lot more exciting than he'd thought it would be. That kind of thing happened when weird little dinosaurs tore up the dance floor—literally.

He was thrown off for a moment when one of them jumped at a girl and went right through her, thinking maybe the creature was some kind of ghost. But then a table went right through her too, and he made the connection. The girl was Lance's date, meaning she must've been Kitty, who was a mutant. Intangibility had to be her mutant ability. It was a good one, came in handy a lot. Good for her.

They looked scary, but the creatures weren't too hard to take down, especially not once Danny got his hands on one and could sense it was from another dimension. He'd never had much luck making portals before, but it was easier to send stuff back where it came from than it was for things to be in dimensions where they didn't belong, and after almost dying a second time, he finally managed to send one of the creatures back to its own dimension.

"How did you do that?" shouted the guy who always wore sunglasses—and after seeing him lift them to shoot lasers out of his eyes, Danny finally understood why.

"Uh... luck, mostly!" he answered.

Danny was getting the chance to see a lot of their abilities for the first time tonight. That red-headed girl had telekinesis. The German kid teleported away with his date after Lance ripped up the gym floor to corral the creature back Danny's way. These kids seemed to be pretty powerful.

Now that the gym was basically evacuated, it was just Danny, the mutants, and one more monster.

"Can you do it again?" Lance asked.

"Are you kidding? I barely did it the first time!"

While they were arguing, the creature forced its way into the hall.

"Shit! We better go after it!"

The remaining Brotherhood members and X-men left the gym, chasing after it. Down the hall, they ran into a guy Danny didn't recognize, but the X-men called him Forge, and he was carrying a strange device.

"Whatever that thing is, don't point it at me!" Danny said when he saw where Forge was aiming it, albeit probably unintentionally, and he stepped aside, out of the blast zone.

"It's a portal maker," said Forge. "It'll send them back to the dimension they came from."

"In that case, definitely don't point it at me," Danny said.

"My scans indicate traces in the gym."

"I already took care of the one in the gym, sent it back myself," Danny said. "We need to get the one that ran down the hall." Much to Danny's relief, Forge didn't question him, and instead, they all got back to running.

By the time they found the one that got away, Tabitha, Blob, and Toad had already taken care of it, and were sitting on it to keep it down.

"Hey, I recognize that thing!" Toad remarked, pointing to Forge's portal-maker.

"I modified to to sent these things back to the dimension they came from," Forge explained. "Everyone step back."

The three of them were more than happy to do so. The creature barely had time to get to its feet before it got zapped back home.

"That should be all of them," Forge said. "My sensors aren't picking up anymore traces from that dimension."

"Thank the Ancients," Danny said, half-sarcastically. "Does this kinda stuff happen a lot around you guys? Cause I may have to rethink my membership."

"You'd be more than welcome at the Xavier Institute," Scott started to say, only to get elbowed by Jean.

"He doesn't want to join Institute," Jean hissed. "Remember what the professor said?"

"Yeah, sorry, but she's right," Danny said. "Professor Xavier and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye. It was fun fighting monsters with you, but I'm gonna stick with the brotherhood. See ya around."

They two groups parted ways, The X-Men to their institute and the Brotherhood to their board house.

"I didn't know you knew Professor X," Tabitha said as they headed toward Lance's jeep. "How'd you meet him."

"At a mental institution," Danny answered, trying to keep his voice casual.

The casual tone did not prevent the rest of them form turning to stare at him when they stopped at a red light.

"It's nothing you guys have to worry about," he assured them. "I'm not crazy. It was just a misunderstanding."

"Some misunderstanding," Lance scoffed. "Let me guess, it was the ghost thing, right?"

"Are you really gonna go there?" Danny asked, his tone warning.

"Ha! No," Lance replied. "You may be a ghost, but I don't plan on joining you any time soon."

"Good call," Danny said.

He had no idea if these Brotherhood folks actually believed he was a ghost, or if they were just playing along, but it didn't actually matter. They respected him enough not to call him delusional, and that made them better than the X-Men and their fearless leader.

#dp #danny phantom #x men evolution #x men #dp x x men evolution #fic #things i wrote #crossover #dp crossover #crossover danuary week 2024 #crossover danuary week #double helix #brotherhood #sequel

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pettyprocrastination · 2 years

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WIP WEDNESDAY

tagged by the lovelies @littleferal and @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa

I’ve honestly been in such a writing fuck that I haven’t been writing barely anything for the past few month but these are the most recently added to wips

Surrogate- A story about a queen seeking out a demon to get her pregnant so she doesn’t reach the same sad fates her previous husband’s “Barren” wives did before her. Unsure if I want it to be a Demon!Pero Tovar or Oberyn x Reader yet or just an Oc x Reader

As the cold winds curled at your naked body and nipped at your skin, your thoughts began to spiral.

What if somebody sees you?

What if a guard comes looking for you?

What if your husband wakes to find you missing?

What if-

“Your majesty” A low voice echoed and the winds stopped howling. A man, though you knew he was more than such a simple definition, stepped out from the shadows.

You have heard stories. Of women seeking out deals with other creatures, of fae and demons alike for riches, safety, children. You heard of their silver tongues and nimble fingers and cunning voices that would trick you just as fast as they would kiss you.

“It’s an honor.”

But you didn’t think he’d be so broad.

“I need a child.”

He lowered his eyes to your bare body and the dark curls between your legs. The corner of his lips turned up into a small smile. “So it would seem.”

The Antichrist Wears Spidermanbandaids (placeholder title)- Novel Iv’e begun for my next semester starting in a month. Focusing on single mom Lillian taking care of her son Micah as sudden change causes them to move back into her grandparents home after their death. Francisco Morales x Lillian.

“You’ll be able to find a new tenant just fine! This is a great apartment! It’s got good heating, its close to town, great lighting-”

“You forgot to mention it comes with a fucking body count, thanks to you and-”

Lillian stood up suddenly, chair screeching against the linoleum floors. In a second, her demeanor had changed, before she was shrunk back, desperate and bargaining, but now she stood tall, rigid and angry.

“Don’t.” She warned him lowly. “Don’t blame that on him.”

He at least had the decency to look ashamed. “You're..you’re right Lil’. I’m sorry I didn't mean.. It’s just. Anybody who looks into this place is gonna see that news article the moment they put the address into a search bar. You know it, I know it.”

“And we both know that every goddamn house, apartment, and public restroom has some random crime or accident that just so happened to occur in it. That hotel up the street? Some girl was found dead in the freezers.” she told him. “Back in the 70’s, decapitated and everything. But they still get plenty of business!”

Danny frowned, tilted his head to the side and raised his brows in a way that reminded her of her mother when she was caught in a lie as a child. “Yeah, in the fucking seventies, Lillian. Not a year and a half ago.”

“That murder wasn’t always forties years ago, Danny. If they can rebuild from a headless college girl, you can rebuild from one accident.”

Of Rusted Rings and Shallow Graves- Marcus Pike struggles with the loss of his wife while somebody watches him grieve and suffer from afar. Marcus Pike x Reader

“It won’t be easy, son.” Your uncle told him, voice a dim murmur that moved through the murky waves of Marcus’ head. “But she’d want you to keep living. Find a reason to keep going, no matter how big or small.”

He was a widow himself of twenty five years. A man who knew of sadness and grief more than anybody else in the room, his own cuts of grief scabbed and scarred over through years of living and grieving and ‘getting through it’, setting an aged hand on the shoulder of a young husband whose wound was still bleeding.

Slowly, his voice began to melt away, as did his body. Everything around Marcus was distant

Untitled one shot surrounding The Triple Frontier crew as a group of mercenaries in a Wrong place Wrong time setting and how it all goes down-

“You don’t need to worry about that, lovebug.”You wiggled your fingers against his stomach and that bright smile you love so much finally began to peek out. “All you need to know is that three days from now, we're gonna be meeting spiderman and eating so much funnel cake it’ll be coming out of your ears.”

Elliot shrieked with laughter while trying to wriggle his way out of your grasp as you tickled and poked him. “Gross!”

“You hear me right, little man!” As your son continued to laugh and shimmy in your arms, you noticed movement across the lawn. A shadowed figure moving quick and low across the front yard.

A trick of the light, you told yourself. It’s dark outside after all.

But three shadows follow it in a tight formation as the first kicked open the front door of your home.

Elliot noticed your change of demeanor, how you had fallen silent and hands no longer poking his stomach and sides with joy, but gripping his little shirt with trembling hands. “Mama?” He asks softly, staring up at your face that is still fixated on the house.

Tagging: Whoever wants to join in!!!!

#tj talks #tag game #thank you for the tags my loves #will these ever see the light of day? probably not.#will i finish writing them? maybe #will i continue to contemplate deleting my entire blog? maybe so #anyways if anybody wants to hear more about my shitty novel idea lmao hmu #only two chapters in and it has become my love child and the bane of my fucking existence

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graceslavenderhaze · 3 years

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Send you my love on a wire { Luke Patterson}

This is a two part series!

trigger warnings: insomnia, sleep pills, teenage cursing,

"Are you sure this is really what you want to do? I mean we can host the meetings earlier!" Connor rambled as he held the honorary midnight society speaking torch. It was an early Saturday morning, your dad was at another fishing trip which meant you both had free realm to do whatever as long as your dad didn't find out. You grabbed a mug in the kitchen to make some coffee you barely slept before the incident always juggling school, the midnight society and your band sleep paralysis paradise, now the little melatonin sleep you got was plagued with nightmares.

"It's called the midnight society for a reason, besides you knew eventually this was gonna happen." You said as you grabbed the sugar and creamers. You turned, Connor still at the table his partially eaten pancakes in front of him and the torch in his hand. "Yeah but you started this it feels wrong." He shrugged as he took a sip of his coffee.

"I'm moving up not on. There's a distinctive difference little brother. One that you'll understand when you're older." You said smugly. He rolled his eyes at you, "You're like two years at best, older than me." He said as pulled out his phone.

"Still those two years were the quietest of my life." You said placing your hand on your chest to act as if you were fondly remembering something. He picked up the dish towel that was tossed onto the table and threw it at you. "Speaking about quiet, you know that girl Gabby has been seeing, Flynn?"

You nod as you take a sip of your coffee, the caffeinated drink enveloping your taste buds. "Well her best friend is in this band called Julie and The Phantoms. They were supposed to play at the last dance, before the glow dance."

"Yeah, didn't they not show or something?" You asked not remembering much of the dance being as you were off in an abandoned classroom talking with your bandmates about anything to avoid the high school scene that you hardly fit into.

"Well, they're playing the orpheum tonight to open for panic at the disco and flynn managed to save a certain amount of tickets for your band and the midnight society!" He said as you jaw dropped, the orpheum was the starting point for every band that wanted to be something big. It was your short term goal for long term success since freshman year when your band formed. You couldn't lie when you said you were envious that they'd gotten the gig and your band hadn't.

"Holy shit, how did she do that? I've been trying to score opening for the unknown bands for months and struck out!" You said eyes wide, He shrugged, "I don't know, but she told us to never doubt her power. Whatever that means."

After the show you and your group found yourself at a diner a few blocks down. Buzzing with excitement about the show. Your mind casually floating back to the cute guitar player in blue, whose sleeves were non existent.

"Not to shamelessly self promo, but do you think Julie would want to collab with us or something?" Kora, one of your best friends and bassist of sleep paralysis paradise. For a quick second, Flynns poker face faltered at the question. "I can ask but Julie might be busy, with school and everything." She said trailing off in the last part.

"She also just played the orpheum, she's not gonna wanna slum it." Danny , self proclaimed guitar god, said as he stole a fry off your plate. "Whose the slum? Because last i check, i give it my all." Taylor, your drummer, said as they threw a ice cube at him. You rolled your eyes. While taking another sip of your milkshake. The stretched table sitting the midnight society, your band, flynn and nick.

"Oh really like to see you try the riff of now or never? Objections? Didn't think so." Danny said shrugging playfully. "You know sunset curve?" Flynn asked skeptically, which cause her to receive several stares from the table.

"Duh, my uncle was in the industry or something in the nineties. Found this whole box in his garage this summer when i was cleaning, after his funeral. All cassettes of bands that were playing the strip around that time. His husband and their partner just let me have it." He said as rambled before pointing up at the sky, "Uncle G you're a legend!" Causing several of the other late night diner's to look at your table once again.

Flynn's attention turned from the conversation to her phone and she suddenly needed to be excused. "I'll call you later." She said to Gabby before she disappeared for the night. "That was weird." Connor commented, everyone looking around in agreement.

"Danny probably scared her off." Luke said as he bite into a nacho. "Danny scares me on a good day." Jai said nonchalantly, Danny flipped off Jai.

"She probably forgot about her curfew." Hanna suggested as she threw an ice cube at Jai. "Speaking of curfews, whose riding with who?" You asked as you thanked your waiter for bringing the checks to the table.

"I gotta drop the car off to my mom for the night, so i can't drop anyone off. I'm sorry." Gabby said as you all shrugged it off telling her that it wasn't a big deal.

"I can take anyone who lives around my house and the school." Danny said as he pulled his wallet out. "I'll take anyone who lives around the pier or if you're coming over." You said leaning onto the table. "That leaves anyone who lives by me and like farthest is the park." Kora said shrugging on her jacket.

"Ok, so Danny has Jai and Hanna. Kora has Nick and Taylor. I have Connor and Luke." You recapped as you grabbed the money on the table and brought it hostess at the front of the restaurant, before returning to the table. "Lets rock and roll, homies!"

1 week later,

"Hey!" Julie exclaimed as she sat down at the table you were sitting at with your friends. You all exclaimed various greetings. "You're sleep paralysis paradise, right?" She asked with a smile that you were sure was formed with starlight.

"Yeah but usually people don't refer to us as our band name twenty four seven." you laughed slightly, "I'm Y/n, the singer and keyboardist. This is Kora, our bassist. Danny, "guitar god" as he prefers to be called and Taylor our drummer." You said as your friends threw up various hand signals. Kora a small wave, Danny a peace sign and Taylor a two finger salute.

"I'm Julie and my phantoms are not here at the moment." Your face contorted. "That's not them over there." You said as you pointed to the three in the far corner of the cafeteria.

Julies face faltered, "You can see them?"

#are you afraid of the dark #julie and the phantoms #ayaotd/jatp #connor stevens #luke mccoy #jai malyas #hanna romero #gabby lewis #julie molina #flynn nolastname #nick nolastname #luke patterson imagine #reggie peters #alex mercer #jatp imagine #julie and the phantoms imagine #ayaotd imagine #are you afraid of the dark imagine

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homebody-nobody · 3 years

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54 and 62 Jiara

hello I got ~carried away~ who is shocked not me

Rating: T (for language) Word Count: 1653 (oops)

54) Why is there a pregnancy test in the trash? 62) I warned you. He warned you. Your fucking mom warned you.

Dating Daniel Ryder was a bad idea. Kiara knew that. But he was tall, blond, blue-eyed, and deeply emotionally unavailable, and Kie is, unfortunately, the kind of girl with a type. Pope had already confronted her about the similarities between Danny and a certain friend of theirs, so when she misses her period, she knows she can’t call the boys.

After the summer of gold, Sarah became somewhat of a permanent fixture in their little crew, and, reluctantly, old grudges were forgiven, and a new, better friendship formed. Kiara wasn’t sure how to approach that relationship, at first. Being friends with girls was so much different than what she had grown up with, gotten so used to over the years. It’s a different kind of bond. All the same, she doesn’t want to go to Walgreens by herself.

While they wait for the results, sitting on Kiara’s bathroom floor, Sarah knocks her foot against Kiara’s.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she says, and Kiara just shrugs, too disconnected from reality to really get any thought past the swirling storm of panic that predominates her thoughts.

Another minute passes, and the timer rings on Sarah’s phone. Kiara lunges toward the counter.

The test is negative.

Both girls let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Oh thank fuck,” Kiara lets out, dropping back to the floor, her back sliding down the wall. Sarah leans over and drops her forehead against her friend’s knee, laughing, because she doesn’t really know what else to do. She wouldn’t have known what to say, if something else had happened. “I’m not telling Danny.”

Sarah lifts her head, her chin resting on Kiara’s knee instead. “Why not?” she asks.

Kiara shrugs again. “He’ll freak and run.” She shakes her head. “I should have listened to JJ.” He hadn’t liked Danny from the jump.

Sarah scrunches up her nose and wraps her arms around Kie’s leg. “I mean, he warned you,” she admits, and then; “I also warned you. I mean hell, your fucking mom warned you.” She laughs a little bit, and Kiara picks up the leg she’s leaning on and nudges her in the stomach with her foot.

“You’re not helping,” she points out.

Sarah’s head falls to the side, watching her friend’s face, studying the gears turning behind deep, intelligent brown eyes.

“Are you gonna tell JJ?” she asks.

Kiara lands squarely back in reality with a jerk. “Why the fuck would I do that?” she asks, and Sarah almost laughs. She knows how JJ feels about Kiara. Everyone does, except for Kiara.

Sarah shrugs, delighting just the smallest bit in the way the machine in Kie’s head seems to be spitting smoke trying to understand what Sarah has just said. There’s no more argument, though, because the door to Kiara’s room bursts open, announcing the arrival of John B and JJ, who, of course, neglected to text about coming over to pick the both of them up. AFter everything, Kie’s parents have been infinitely kinder to all of the boys, and the Carrera house has started to feel like communal territory, equitable to the Heywards but not quite on par with the Chateau. Although, nowhere will ever feel like home to any of them quite like the Chateau does.

Sarah scrambles up from the floor, and goes back into Kie’s room to stall. Kiara stands and sweeps the pregnancy test in the trash, washing her hands before following Sarah into the bedroom.

“What were you both doing in the bathroom?” John B asks, plastered to Sarah’s back, his arms around her shoulders. Kiara looks, wild-eyed, to her friend, and Sarah makes up a lie about makeup. John B looks satisfied, but JJ doesn’t.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Kie asks, “I thought it was common practice to call before you start bursting into people’s houses.”

JJ pokes her in the side with a good-natured grin, and masks his confusion poorly when she swats at his hand. “There was no bursting,” he protests, “your mom let us in.” She still doesn’t smile or laugh, and he relents, eyeing her all the same. She’s still upset and a little shaken, and Kiara has never been very good at covering up her feelings. He wants to ask her wha’ts up, but he knows that won’t yield anything, not with John B and Sarah there, too. Kiara already isn’t good at vulnerability, much less in group settings. It takes one-on-one time and usually a good deal of alcohol before she lets anything remotely private slip.

John B saves the day. “We came to get you guys,” he explains, “There’s a killer swell at Rixon’s right now.”

Kiara lights up, delighted by the idea of a long afternoon of surfing to get her mind off the close call and the conversation she’s goind to have to have with Danny, and ducks into her walk-in closet to change. Dimly, she hears JJ say something about needing the bathroom through the door, and her heart climbs up into her throat as she ties the halter of her bikini behind her neck, dizzy and praying to whatever might be up there that he doesn’t look in the trash.

They aren’t listening.

They both come back into the room at the same time, JJ drying his hands on his t-shirt (heathen), and Kiara pulling on a loose button-up to serve as a cover-up. JJ, bless him, never does know how or when to keep his mouth shut.

“Why is there a pregnancy test in the trash?” he asks.

Kiara freezes, and Sarah takes a deep, sharp inhale. Still holding her, John B goes ghost-white, his entire body going stiff. JJ realizes his mistake almost immediately.

“Um --” he says, eyes darting between the two girls, and, resigned, Kiara takes the fall, to save the healthy relationship from an entirely unnecessary fight.

“It’s mine,” she says, and John B relaxes, just slightly. JJ doesn’t. Not until she says; “false alarm.”

The silence hangs awkward and heavy until Sarah says something about warming up the van (It’s May), and drags John B out of the room. JJ doesn’t say anything, and Kiara doesn’t know why she’s waiting for him to. He stares at the floor, and she twists the hem of her shirt around her index finger.

When he does speak, she’s surprised at his question. “Why didn’t you call me?” he asks.

“It’s no big deal,” she reassures him, not sure she believes it, herself. “It was negative, anyway.”

“You thought you were pregnant, Kie,” he says, his voice breaking on the word. She flinches. “That’s a pretty big fucking deal.”

“But I’m not,” she insists, stubbornly determined not to understand why he’s so caught up in this.

“Did you tell Danny?” he asks, and she wants nothing more than to run far, far away from this conversation. She didn’t expect JJ to care this much, and possible reasons tumblr and crash together in her exhausted, anxiety-hangover of a mind. She shakes her head, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth, and his mouth turns into a thin, flat line, his hand curling into a fist and tapping lightly against the bedpost. “Why not?” he asks.

“Why do you care so much?” she shoots back, and he winces, the words like a blow. She knows why.

“I don’t know,” he says. “If it was me --”

“But it’s not you,” she interrupts, shocked to feel tears forming, hard and crystalline, in the bottom of her throat. “So it doesn’t matter.”

“And whose fault is that?” he responds immediately. The words echo like a whip cracked through the room, and finally, their eyes meet, furious and burning, full of misunderstanding and jealousy and illusions of betrayed trust. “I warned you,” he goes on, the dam finally broken, “I told you he was bad news and you dated him anyway.”

“You’re acting like you were even an option!” she snaps, and there’s the truth of it. She dated Danny because he was almost JJ, because the one thing she really wanted, the one person she really wanted -- she thought he was out of reach. Her voice is ragged and raw when honesty finally climbs and claws its way out of her throat. “Of course, I wanted you,” she cries. “But I couldn’t have you, so don’t go trying to tell me how to live my life.”

When she looks up again, his face is so open and honest it almost hurts. Her chest heaves from the argument and the fear and all the other stress she’s carried around all day. She can’t handle this, not now, and her entire body screams at her to just run, but she can’t, not when JJ is looking at her like that.

“Kie…” he sighs, and without words, the truth paints itself around the both of them, colors finally exploding across the blank, undefined space between them. He crosses the room in three quick steps, and he’s kissing her, holding her face, her hands curled on his chest. It’s an explosion of sorts, an ending and a beginning all at once.

JJ speaks softly when he pulls away. “You could’ve had me,” he says, his thumb brushing away a tear that rolls down her cheek. “You can still have me.” She lifts a fist and lets it thump gently against his chest, letting out a watery laugh.

“You never said --” she starts, but he smiles, and kisses her again.

“I didn’t think I had to,” he explains, and she bumps her forehead against his.

“You’re an idiot,” she says, and he laughs.

“Your idiot,” he says. And then, softer; “if you want me.”

She kisses him once more, and there’s still John B and Sarah downstairs, still Danny to deal with, still a thousand other things that might get in their way, but this moment -- this moment is all theirs.

“Of course I want you.”

#jiara #jiara fic #obx #obx fic #my writing #jj maybank #kiara carrera

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class-wom · 4 years

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Little Richard, a founding father of rock and roll whose fervent shrieks, flamboyant garb, and joyful, gender-bending persona embodied the spirit and sound of that new art form, died Saturday. He was 87. The musician’s son, Danny Penniman, confirmed the pioneer’s death to Rolling Stone, but said the cause of death was unknown.

Starting with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956, Little Richard cut a series of unstoppable hits – “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up” that same year, “Lucille” in 1957, and “Good Golly Miss Molly” in 1958 – driven by his simple, pumping piano, gospel-influenced vocal exclamations and sexually charged (often gibberish) lyrics. “I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it,” Elton John told Rolling Stone in 1973. “I didn’t ever want to be anything else. I’m more of a Little Richard stylist than a Jerry Lee Lewis, I think. Jerry Lee is a very intricate piano player and very skillful, but Little Richard is more of a pounder.”

Although he never hit the top 10 again after 1958, Little Richard’s influence was massive. The Beatles recorded several of his songs, including “Long Tall Sally,” and Paul McCartney’s singing on those tracks – and the Beatles’ own “I’m Down” – paid tribute to Little Richard’s shredded-throat style. His songs became part of the rock and roll canon, covered over the decades by everyone from the Everly Brothers, the Kinks, and Creedence Clearwater Revival to Elvis Costello and the Scorpions.

Little Richard’s stage persona – his pompadours, androgynous makeup and glass-bead shirts – also set the standard for rock and roll showmanship; Prince, to cite one obvious example, owed a sizable debt to the musician. “Prince is the Little Richard of his generation,” Richard told Joan Rivers in 1989 before looking at the camera and addressing Prince. “I was wearing purple before you was wearing it!”

Born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5th, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, he was one of 12 children and grew up around uncles who were preachers. “I was born in the slums. My daddy sold whiskey, bootleg whiskey,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970. Although he sang in a nearby church, his father Bud wasn’t supportive of his son’s music and accused him of being gay, resulting in Penniman leaving home at 13 and moving in with a white family in Macon. But music stayed with him: One of his boyhood friends was Otis Redding, and Penniman heard R&B, blues and country while working at a concession stand at the Macon City Auditorium.

After performing at the Tick Tock Club in Macon and winning a local talent show, Penniman landed his first record deal, with RCA, in 1951. (He became “Little Richard” when he about 15 years old, when the R&B and blues worlds were filled with acts like Little Esther and Little Milton; he had also grown tired with people mispronouncing his last name as “Penny-man.”) He learned his distinctive piano style from Esquerita, a South Carolina singer and pianist who also wore his hair in a high black pompadour.

For the next five years, Little Richard’s career advanced only fitfully; fairly tame, conventional singles he cut for RCA and other labels didn’t chart. “When I first came along, I never heard any rock & roll,” he told Rolling Stone in 1990. “When I started singing [rock & roll], I sang it a long time before I presented it to the public because I was afraid they wouldn’t like it. I never heard nobody do it, and I was scared.”

By 1956, he was washing dishes at the Greyhound bus station in Macon (a job he had first taken a few years earlier after his father was murdered and Little Richard had to support his family). By then, only one track he’d cut, “Little Richard’s Boogie,” hinted at the musical tornado to come. “I put that little thing in it,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970 of the way he tweaked with his gospel roots. “I always did have that thing, but I didn’t know what to do with the thing I had.”

During this low point, he sent a tape with a rough version of a bawdy novelty song called “Tutti Frutti” to Specialty Records in Chicago. He came up with the song’s famed chorus — “a wop bob alu bob a wop bam boom” — while bored washing dishes. (He also wrote “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” while working that same job.)

By coincidence, label owner and producer Art Rupe was in search of a lead singer for some tracks he wanted to cut in New Orleans, and Penniman’s howling delivery fit the bill. In September 1955, the musician cut a lyrically cleaned-up version of “Tutti Frutti,” which became his first hit, peaking at 17 on the pop chart. “’Tutti Frutti really started the races being together,” he told Rolling Stone in 1990. “From the git-go, my music was accepted by whites.”

Its followup, “Long Tall Sally,” hit Number Six, becoming his the highest-placing hit of his career. For just over a year, the musician released one relentless and arresting smash after another. From “Long Tall Sally” to “Slippin’ and Slidin,’” Little Richard’s hits – a glorious mix of boogie, gospel, and jump blues, produced by Robert “Bumps” Blackwell — sounded like he never stood still. With his trademark pompadour and makeup (which he once said he started wearing so that he would be less “threatening” while playing white clubs), he was instantly on the level of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and other early rock icons, complete with rabid fans and mobbed concerts. “That’s what the kids in America were excited about,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970. “They don’t want the falsehood — they want the truth.”

As with Presley, Lewis and other contemporaries, Penniman also was cast in early rock and roll movies like Don’t Knock the Rock (1956) and The Girl Can’t Help It (1957). In a sign of how segregated the music business and radio were at the time, though, Pat Boone’s milquetoast covers of “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally,” both also released in 1956, charted as well if not higher than Richard’s own versions. (“Boone’s “Tutti Frutti” hit Number 12, surpassing Little Richard’s by nine slots.) Penniman later told Rolling Stone that he made sure to sing “Long Tall Sally” faster than “Tutti Frutti” so that Boone couldn’t copy him as much.

But then the hits stopped, by his own choice. After what he interpreted as signs – a plane engine that seemed to be on fire and a dream about the end of the world and his own damnation – Penniman gave up music in 1957 and began attending the Alabama Bible school Oakwood College, where he was eventually ordained a minister. When he finally cut another album, in 1959, the result was a gospel set called God Is Real.

His gospel music career floundering, Little Richard returned to secular rock in 1964. Although none of the albums and singles he cut over the next decade for a variety of labels sold well, he was welcomed back by a new generation of rockers like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who used to play Little Richard songs on the piano when he was a kid). When Little Richard played the Star-Club in Hamburg in 1964, the opening act was none other than the Beatles. “We used to stand backstage at Hamburg’s Star-Club and watch Little Richard play,” John Lennon said later. “He used to read from the Bible backstage and just to hear him talk we’d sit around and listen. I still love him and he’s one of the greatest.”

By the 1970s, Little Richard was making a respectable living on the rock oldies circuit, immortalized in a searing, sweaty performance in the 1973 documentary Let the Good Times Roll. During this time, he also became addicted to marijuana and cocaine while, at the same time, returning to his gospel roots.

Little Richard also dismantled sexual stereotypes in rock & roll, even if he confused many of his fans along the way. During his teen years and into his early rock stardom, his stereotypical flamboyant personality made some speculate about his sexuality, even if he never publicly announced he was out. But that flamboyance didn’t derail his career. In a 1984 biography, The Life and Times of Little Richard, written with his cooperation, he denounced homosexuality as “contagious … It’s not something you’re born with.” (Eleven years later, he said in an interview with Penthouse that he had been “gay all my life.”) Later in life, he described himself as “omnisexual,” attracted to both men and women. But during an interview with the Christian-tied Three Angels Broadcasting Group in 2017, he suddenly denounced gay and trans lifestyles: “God, Jesus, He made men, men, he made women, women, you know? And you’ve got to live the way God wants you to live. So much unnatural affection. So much of people just doing everything and don’t think about God.”

Yet none of that craziness damaged his mystique or legend. In the 1980s, he appeared in movies like Down and Out in Beverly Hills and in TV shows like Full House and Miami Vice. In 1986, he was one of the 10 original inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1993, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. His last known recording was in 2010, when he cut a song for a tribute album to gospel singer Dottie Rambo.

In the years before his death, Little Richard, who was by then based in Los Angeles, still performed periodically. Onstage, though, the physicality of old was gone: Thanks to hip replacement surgery in 2009, he could only perform sitting down at his piano. But his rock and roll spirit never left him. “I’m sorry I can’t do it like it’s supposed to be done,” he told one audience in 2012. After the audience screamed back in encouragement, he said – with a very Little Richard squeal — “Oh, you gonna make me scream like a white girl!”

#Little Richard #RIP

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Unleashes Sakura With Episodes 29-35

Welcome to THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! I'm Daniel Dockery aka That Dude That Won't Shut Up About One Piece, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, we covered episodes 22-28, and we continue this week with episodes 29-35.

This week, the theme is Naruto Minus Naruto, as we lose our title character pretty early on. But despite missing someone shouting about how they're gonna be Hokage one day, this actually seemed to work out pretty well, as it gave our favorite boy Rock Lee and the consistently underrated Sakura a time to shine. Sasuke did some stuff, too, I guess. We also got some bad guy reveals and Gaara being as Gaara as possible. So let's dive right in and let the Crunchyroll Features team give you their thoughts on a batch of episodes that didn't have an ounce of quit in them.

So, not a lot of Naruto in this set of episodes, huh? I mean, we've already gotten to know Sasuke, Sakura, Rock Lee, etc. pretty well so far, so it's not like they can't carry the story, but how do you like the show when the title character spends most of it unconscious?

Paul: I'm fine with it as long as the supporting characters have plenty of interesting things to do. Naruto's personal blend of lunk-headed enthusiasm hasn't really clicked with me yet, so I'm happy to see other characters take center stage now and then, and I like that Sakura finally got a moment to prove her mettle in these episodes.

Peter: This was probably Sakura's biggest moment in Naruto... possibly including Shippuden. I forgot they combined her special haircut scene with the Ino flashback. The whole situation with the sound ninja was kind of a cluster but I felt like that sequence was particularly well-done. Episode 30 is easily the best in the series so far, I forgot how well directed the moment where Sakura realizes she's alone is.

Danni: I've joked in my livetweets that I can't tell whether the main character of this show is Naruto or Sasuke yet, but that kind of became not a joke at all this time around, didn't it? That was kind of a shame, given that his material at the very beginning of this batch where he's chiding Sasuke is great. Luckily, the rest of the cast was great all around in this batch.

Noelle: It is pretty funny to have the protagonist absent, but it's clearly not just wasting time. A lot of stuff happens while Naruto is out cold, especially the big fight where Sakura shines, and she needed to shine! A protagonist doesn't have to be there all the time, even if they are carrying the story, and these segments are proof of that.

Jared: Having Naruto out for most of the episodes really made some other characters step up and gave them a time to shine like Sakura (finally) and Ino's group. You couldn't get away with having him be gone or KO'd all the time, but especially when the show just brought forth all these new characters, it worked.

Kevin: It actually helped to up the stakes a bit and create space for more character development. Sakura hasn't needed to do much until now, since Sasuke and Naruto could fight instead. In this set of episodes, the boys were unconscious the majority of the time, so not only did she need to push herself to look after them, but she also needed to fight opponents that even seasoned Genin like Lee couldn't stand up against. Running or hiding weren't options.

Carolyn: THIS is the Sakura I remembered and have been missing this whole time. I am fine with Naruto sitting out a spell so Sakura can rise.

David: While I like that the other characters are getting the spotlight, I'm also not a huge fan of how they're getting it. Lee? He's allowed to be cool for a little bit, but still has to be undermined by his limitations that also define his character. Sakura? We have to square getting her development with her entire character revolving around Sasuke. Oh, and Sasuke? Got cool powers from the new bad guy, so the whole thing feels a little artificial by the end.

Joseph: It kind of makes it seem like they just didn't know what to do with Naruto while other people have the spotlight, because knowing his character he would have to butt in no matter what, dattebayo! If it paves the way for more episodes like 30, which features out of this world choreography and animation, I'm all for it, dattebayo.

Kara: I'm a Doctor Who fan - having the lead unconscious or straight-up missing for major portions of story is familiar territory. That said, I'm glad it was used to good effect here. I was hesitant coming into the Chunin Exam arc because there are Just So Many Characters, and a lot of them are completely new but clearly important. Giving Nart some down time while we get to know how they work (and how characters we've seen before are growing) was a good idea.

These episodes are sort of bookended by two horrific reveals:

1) IT WAS ME, OROCHIMARU, THE WHOLE TIME

2)WTF, GAARA

How do you feel about these two? I've been playing a lot of Gaara in Jump Force, but I forgot that he pretty much opens his character arc in the show through intense murder.

Paul: I mentioned this on Twitter before, but although Orochimaru is clearly coded to be this big, scary, impressive villain, he strikes me as the ninja equivalent of that bad friend whom everybody kinda knows but nobody particularly likes. Orochimaru's the kind of guy who would get a little too drunk at the holiday ninja party, and then he'd awkwardly hit on your ninja girlfriend, and then he'd puke on your ninja couch cushion and then flip it over to hide the ninja vomit rather than tell you about it. Damn it, Orochimaru!

Gaara is just a comical murder-baby so far. Again, I know he's supposed to be frightening, but I just think he's a precious little sandy cinnamon roll.

Peter: Given what Orochimaru's done so far, I'm actually curious if Kishimoto had a plan for him at this point. One of this lines in particular speaking with Anko is hilarious in retrospect. I have a new appreciation for Temari and Kankuro. The scene where they were trying to get Gaara to calm down was particularly good. You got a sense of how desperate and afraid they are of Gaara. Also I don't remember Orochimaru using so many... wind ki blasts? I think Kishimoto wasn't sure what powers he had yet.

Danni: I'm a little disappointed that my perfect snake wife was just a creepy old snake man in disguise. I'm honestly more terrified of Gaara right now. Orochimaru seems like he actually has a plan. Gaara just seems a bit...unhinged...

Noelle: I definitely agree with Peter, where Orochimaru in his introduction definitely wasn't as cohesive power-wise, as opposed to the snakes and more snakes that he becomes later. He is set up to be extremely threatening, but at this point, it's definitely more potential than it is factual. As for Gaara, Gaara is one of my faves, even if he starts out as a murder machine. The murder does not stop my appreciation for him. You go, Gaara.

Jared: Now I want a redub of those scenes with Orochimaru except with the Higher Power reveal audio. They certainly make him seem to be a big deal, although it's still relatively shrouded in mystery. Gaara's showing fell incredibly flat for me. Unlike when we first saw him where he had this mysterious aura about him, this just felt like he was made to be the ultimate edgelord. Which if the folks above me are indicating, he gets better, so hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

Kevin: For both of them, I feel like their introductions worked well to establish them as serious threats. Orochimaru as a somewhat unknown quantity that even the adults are scared of, while Gaara is a coldblooded Genin that doesn't bat an eye at killing people, to the point that even his teammates fear for their lives when around him. For Orochimaru though, I can't remember any actual reason why he's actually in the Chunin Exam. We'll get to future events in later installments, but why bother actually joining the Genin?

Carolyn: I remember loving Orochimaru the first time I watched the show and thinking he was a major villain. They certainly set him to seem that way. I'm interested to see if my thoughts on that change as we progress. I also remember thinking Gaara was quite impressive and mysterious, though he was never a favorite character of mine. Rewatching the show, they definitely hype up his skills.

David: Gaara having a team that is scared of him is significantly more scary than Orochimaru's clear long-term threat foundation going on here. It's kind of cheating but I think this matters a lot for how impactful this ends up being very soon, whereas Orochimaru's threat is much more broad and lore-spanning in the grand scheme of things.

Joseph: Between Orochimaru, cursed Sasuke, and Gaara, there's so much DANGER in these eps. I love it!

Kara: Holy crow, things got dark. I'm not saying that as a negative, either. I'll be curious to see what happens with Orochimaru, because that's some high-stakes stuff that got thrown into the mix. I had a feeling Gaara was gonna make Sasuke look like a ray of sunshine by comparison, but I'm with Akamaru on that whole situation.

If you had to get into intense anime battles in your actual, half-anime life, and you had to copy a Naruto character's techniques, whose style would you use?

Paul: I will continue to stan for my main man, Choji Akimichi, and his ability to transform into the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also, they never kill the chubby comic relief characters, so my plot armor would keep me safe from harm but not from embarrassment.

Peter: I feel like the correct answer is Gaara since you can just stand in place writing poems while sand kills people. Practically I think it's hard to argue that Sasuke doesn't have the most "ninja-like" style incorporating the three "jutsus" and leaning heavily on misdirection and outmaneuvering. Each requires having a pretty particular thing though, so it's kind of a lottery by birth.

Danni: Probably Orochimaru. Less for his actual fighting techniques and more because his Mr. Fantastic powers could come in handy when lounging around the house.

Noelle: Gaara's, having sand do my bidding would be pretty neat, and it's not like I sleep much anyway.

Jared: Rock Lee's techniques are what basically what I imagined myself when I was younger when thinking of having anime type fights.

Kevin: I would probably go for the Sharingan, largely due to how versatile it is. It gives amazing kinetic vision, allowing the user to dodge more and land more hits, lets them copy any ninjutsu the enemy uses, can make [REDACTED], or [REDACTED] or even summon [REDACTED], and that's without even getting into the unique abilities from [REDACTED]! Basically, it allows for a lot of flexible techniques, and just with the slight drawback of [REDACTED].

Carolyn: Ooh, can I redact stuff, too? My favorite hasn't happened yet. Have I mentioned how much I love Shikamaru?

David: Is it wrong to want to be Sasuke just because he gets the most well-animated fight scenes? I want to be as cool as he is in those.

Joseph: I've always been a fan of the Shadow Imitation Technique of the Nara clan. I think this is the first time we've seen it in the anime, but throughout the manga I always found it awesome whenever, BAM, someone found themselves ensared out of nowhere.

Kara: Gonna have to say Ino and the body-hopping. I'm so clumsy, the only way I'll ever effectively beat someone up is if I project into them and beat myself up.

So, Sakura gets a few cool minutes in Episode 32. I especially like the reveal that it wasn't a substitution and that she was actually dropping on Zaku and gutting through those Kunai. However, it's kind of mired in a lot of flashback and a weird "How does my face look?" backstory. How did you feel about it? I will say, for a little bit, I got hyped. Bleeding Sakura descending like Batman on this goon is a dope visual.

Paul: I'm glad Sakura finally got a chance to shine, and I didn't feel that the drama of the scene was terribly undercut by her childhood anxieties about having such an enormous forehead. It contextualizes some of her earlier, snappish behavior, and I was impressed with her growth as a character when she expressed a genuine desire to protect Naruto and when she offered Rock Lee her heartfelt thanks.

Peter: I'm kind of two minds on this watching it for the second time. If anything I feel like her dramatic move was undercut by the fact that there were two more Leaf squads that could have stepped in acting as a sort of safety net rather than anything actually relying on her. That said, I think the balance between her efforts in the moment and Ino remembering the extremely dumb stupid kid reason they stopped being friends was great.

Danni: I adored it. A woman's body in media is often portrayed as a priceless work of art. It's an object whose fragile beauty is meant to be fawned over and protected. The slightest mark of imperfection is detrimental to the whole piece. This either leads to strong women whose bodies remain unscathed or weak women whose bodies exist to be tragically violated. Seeing Sakura use her own body as both a weapon and a shield in this fight was nothing less than refreshing. She cast aside the beauty of her long hair, took three kunai to the body in order to get closer than her target, straight up sunk her teeth into him like a wild animal, and took a beating without flinching or letting go. It was so incredibly refreshing to see a woman actually fight with her whole body rather than an objectified version of one.

Noelle: This is Sakura's big awesome moment, and she nailed it. She doesn't have signature jutsu like Naruto's clones or Sasuke's fire - all she really has are perfected versions of the basics. That she's able to use her intellect to her advantage; setting traps, tricking her opponents, it works for her character. The fact that she is unyielding is fantastic, considering that in a lot of anime fight scenes featuring women it it's rarely conveyed just how brutal they can get. Sakura's desperately fighting, and she will take kunai and even bite her opponents if it means she can help her friends. It's rough, messy, and great. Let girls have brawls too!

Jared: I'm a huge fan of the "cutting your hair to signify a big change" trope, so I was incredibly excited to see it here. This moment for Sakura was essentially what I'd been waiting for this entire time with her and it delivered. I was kind of surprised how much backstory we got here, but I think it fit well with everything that was happening around them with Sakura and Ino. Everything about how she attacks Zaku felt like she was desperately doing anything she could to survive, which included things like biting and not letting go. Plus, I'm surprised they showed her bloodied up.

Kevin: To put it this way, Sakura faking out Zaku is both my highest and lowest point of the week. I love that we finally got to see her fight and even out think her opponent, and I was even okay with seeing Ino struggle with their history when deciding how to act, seeing her friend-turned-rival in trouble. They probably could have cut one or two of the flashbacks and lost nothing from the storytelling though.

Carolyn: I actually loved the flashbacks explaining her desire for long hair to impress Sasuke and her rivalry for his heart mixed in with Sakura being an awesome fighter. We saw where she came from and we see where she's headed. Her cutting off her hair (epic) was not just a clever tactic, it was her moving past her fickle, shallow priorities and stepping up. (And incidentally, finally winning Sasuke's respect.) I liked that contrast and I thought it made her powerful moments more meaningful.

David: I don't like how being feminine was presented so constantly as a negative thing in the lead up to her 'level up', especially because it got immediately followed up by a line from Shikamaru to Choji about how they need to be the 'men' of the situation. I also don't like how it didn't end up even really helping the situation, but Sasuke's unintentional powerup did. I do like how the story clearly realized how drastically it was underutilizing its main female characters and tried to rectify that as well as it could within the characterization it had already established for them. So, basically, I like that it ended up where it was, but I wish it didn't have to do that in the first place.

Joseph: Sakura's moment makes up for a lot of her inaction in previous episodes. It made it feel like a much more significant turn, and I think it's another great argument for the power of anime adaptations in taking certain aspects of the source material to the next level. I would also be remiss not to mention how major of a role she played in stopping Sasuke after he awakened to some straight-up Final Fantasy IV midi cover music.

Kara: Sakura's characterization grew three sizes this week! Normally I have nothing against romance or a crush being a motivator (people in the real world act that way sometimes), but I was getting second-hand embarrassment whenever everyone and their mother used her emotions against her because she was that much of an open book. She was seriously dope in episode 32, and I do like that she didn't drop her feelings so much as compartmentalize them. Was it perfect? No. Was it better than what we've seen for the last few weeks? Very much. Plus we've spent so much time being told she knows her stuff, it was nice to see it in action.

If you've read the manga, how do you feel about the pacing of the anime at this point?

Peter: I appreciate they're not trying to draw things out, past a few recap episodes. The only real filler we've gotten was a few more social scenes that ultimately helped build up the individual Team 7 members more so I'm good with them. Visually the series uses the manga as a direct roadmap the majority of the time but the departures, like in Naruto's fight against Haku, were extremely good.

Noelle: It's definitely a little slower, especially since you can read the same amount content much faster than you can watch it. Different mediums lend to different speeds. At the same time, it's not significantly slower - not like One Piece - so it's pretty tolerable. I can't say I have much complaints with the pacing.

David: It's gotten slower recently, but it's still MUCH better than I expect from long-running shonen adaptations even today. I never feel like a half hour isn't used effectively, which is impressive.

Joseph: They've chopped a few minutes off the absurdly long flashbacks at the start of each episode, so it's much punchier now than when it was covering the Zabuza fight. The adaptation nails some of the big moments, so I think they do a fantastic job of making the most out of Kishimoto's story and characters.

Last but not least, what was everyone's high and low points for this week, along with anything else you want to shout out?

Paul: My high point was the fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru in Episode 30. Pierrot's animation team really pulled out all the stops for that one, and I was frankly blown away by how well-staged it was, especially since the previous episode was so janky, to the point where it gave us the "Naruto, you look kind of cool" silly face meme. My low point was the reveal that Rock Lee's ultimate technique is just a glorified Izuna Drop. I was disappointed by that, because I was expecting something really far out there.

Peter: I'd have to say everyone involved had a low moment against the sound ninja. Rock Lee could have actually just kicked the guys head off so I'm not sure why he pulled out his ultimate technique. The master strategist Shikamaru really handled the InoShikaCho combo poorly (why not just have Ino knock the paralyzed guy out then 3v1 the last guy?). Feels like there were too many cooks in the kitchen while Kishimoto was trying to let Sakura stand on her own. High point was Sasuke's epic fight against Orichimaru... or maybe Gaara being Goth Prime?

Danni: If you can't guess already, the high point of this batch for me is Sakura's battle. Naruto snapping Sasuke out of his daze and the whole fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru are close runner-ups. I can't say there were any real low, low points for me in this batch, but I could have done without the whole prolonged tension of them debating whether or not to open the scroll simply for them to move on without opening it. I really feel like that could have been a lot more condensed.

Noelle: It has to be Sakura's battle. She's the last member of the team who hasn't really had a moment of growth, as she's mostly been stuck fawning over Sasuke. Now she has a moment of her own, to show that she really can be one of their peers in combat, not just because she's assigned to be alongside them. Sasuke vs Orochimaru was also fantastic to watch. Low points would probably be the Sound Ninja fight when Sakura wasn't the highlight, it felt a little too long.

Jared: The true answer here is Sakura finally getting her moment as the high point. The flow of these episodes just kept moving until the end where things really slowed down, but that makes sense. Sasuke pulling out a Canadian Destroyer (front flip piledriver) was something I absolutely wasn't expecting. Maybe my low points would be Gaara's fight and then Naruto wanting to open up the scroll since it felt way too obvious that he'd do that.

Kevin: Sakura's fight somehow managed to be both the best and worst moments. The best moment was when she uses Substitution multiple times to trick her opponent into giving her an opening, even though she needed to take multiple kunai wounds in the process. It was awesome to see her thinking, and there might've even been a bit of Naruto rubbing off on her, given how brazen the plan was. Unfortunately, it led to the end of her plan... biting Zaku's arm and just holding on as he kept punching her head. Great plan, Sakura.

Carolyn: The squirrel and the hair cut were high points for me. Also, just seeing everyone have respect for each other. Sakura thanks Rock Lee, Rock Lee acknowledges Sasuke's ability. Good stuff.

David: It might not sound like it so far, but Sakura's fight is my high point for not just this bit, but the entirety of the show - it's one of the defining moments of the series to me, something that has stuck with me for decades at this point. So, criticisms aside, that matters a lot to me. Low point is how even when the show is trying to make Lee cool is still undermines him just as quickly, making it hard to believe it really appreciates his struggle.

Joseph: Episode 30 is an all-timer, so that's gotta be my high point. The low point was probably the Sound Ninja. Their powers are cool, and I understand jutsu is a term encompassing techniques in a wide swath, but to me they just had prosthetics and weapons. Hey, check out my jutsu *pulls out a gun*.

Kara: Can't decide between Sasuka vs. Orochimaru or Sakura finally Doing Things as my high point. Really liked both. Low point was probably every time I had to see Naruto squiggling around in snake guts.

COUNTERS:

"I'm gonna be Hokage!" count: 14

Bowls of ramen consumed: 2 bowls, 3 cups

Shadow Clones: 115

And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto!

Here's our upcoming schedule!

-Next week, on FEBRUARY 22ND, we’re looking at EPISODES 36-42 as I, DANIEL DOCKERY, IN MY TRUE BEAST FORM, hosts as the Forest of Death continues to torment! THIS IS THE ONLY INSTALLMENT WE'RE ACCEPTING QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR THIS WEEK!

-Then on MARCH 1ST, we’ll talk about EPISODES 43-49 as NATE MING returns as we enter into one-on-one competition including a showdown between Rock Lee and Gaara!

-On MARCH 8th, we move on to the final stage of the Chunin Exam with EPISODES 50-56, hosted by CAROLYN BURKE!

Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

Have any comments or questions about episodes 22-28? What about our upcoming installment, featuring episodes 29-35?

-------------------------

Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. He has a Twitter that he uses.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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frederator-studios · 6 years

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Derek Iversen: The Frederator Interview

Derek Iversen began his unlikely career in animation as a PA on the very first season of Spongebob Squarepants. You might say he was got by The Hook: he spent about a decade with the show, on the production staff before becoming a writer on Seasons 6-9. Since then, he’s written on countless awesome TV shows, become an elected official in the neighborhood of Valley Glen (business card and all!), and created his own Nickelodeon short, “Carrot and Stick” inspired by his dog Rosie, whose image blesses the end of this interview. In honor of his episode of Bravest Warriors premiering tomorrow (5/18), Derek and I sat down to discuss sketch comedy, time travel, and a certain absorbent (and yellow and porous) friend.

Did you always want to be a writer? What’d you want to be growing up?

First I wanted to be a fireman. Then a police officer - huge jump there. Then I wanted to be an astronaut, until I realized I get motion sickness. So I thought I should be an astronomer - a little safer, little less barfing. But in 5th grade, my English teacher Mrs. Carrol gave me high marks on a short story assignment. I got really encouraged by that; I thought, “Hey, maybe I’ve found something I’m good at!” So pretty much from then on, I wanted to be a writer.

Wow, 5th grade? Were you a wunderkind, writing a ton as a kid?

Nah, I wasn’t that ambitious. In high school I took Theater with another great teacher, Mrs. Carrick. She encouraged us to write our own scenes and monologues. So I had the opportunity to try stuff out with my fellow students, and hopefully crack them up with idiocy. Then in college at University of Arizona, I joined a group called Comedy Corner and got really into sketch comedy. I thought if I could make a living doing that, THAT’s what I want to do. There’s nothing like doing live comedy before an audience. It’s thrilling.

Did you stick with comedy after college?

Some friends and I formed our own group! The People Who Do That. We became the kings of Tucson comedy… which, shockingly, didn’t pay the bills. So some of us decided to truck it out to LA to try to make it in the big city.

Did you have a job when you got to LA?

Nope, but I got a really stupid one: phone customer service for a pager company. Let me just say, the introduction of cell phones was NOT the only thing that killed off pagers… but I had a friend working at Nickelodeon, so I managed to get a job as a driver on The Angry Beavers. This was back in the olden days, when if artists needed reference materials, someone had to actually go pick them up from libraries or - RIP - video stores. Soon after, I got a job as a production assistant on a show that Nick had just picked up: Spongebob Squarepants. At the time we all thought, ‘This is a strange little show that hopefully will get a cult following.’ It did a little better than that. So that was kind of my ‘big break’. But it took me 7 years of working on the show to become a writer on it.

How did that path look?

Long and meandering. Because for some time, I thought I wanted to do sketch comedy, and that animation was my day job. I was a PA on seasons 1 to 3 and a coordinator on seasons 4 and 5. In that time I started chipping away at animation writing, because I had to actually learn how to write cartoons. I was used to writing for the stage, and animation is a visual medium. Much more so than even other kinds of TV, let alone theater, so I had to learn to tell stories visually. And stories that kids could relate to—I’d always written for adults, so my stuff went right over kid’s heads. But I wanted to write and kept knocking on the door, and in season 6, became a staff writer. I was one until season 9.

Do you think your background in sketch comedy aided that transition?

Oh yeah, absolutely. When you do a sketch in front of a big throng of crazy college students, it’s clear when it works and when it doesn’t. Sketch taught me not to waste the audience’s time: you get in, do the joke, and get out.

How was working on Spongebob? Any stories, secrets, lore?

It was a wild ride and a lot of fun. I’ve gotta be the only one who remembers this, but I swear it’s true: back in the first season, Steve (Hillenburg, creator) had a sign on his door that read, “Have fun or you’re fired.” It sounds cruel, but it actually set a good tone. We did have a lot of fun! And there wasn't much firing—it’s not like the hatchet fell every time somebody frowned. The crew had awesome camaraderie, and I think that’s reflected in the show. I sincerely believe the environment of a show, how it’s made, affects how it turns out. If a show is made with a tense crew where everyone fears the creator, it shows on-screen. Conversely, if the crew has fun and makes each other laugh, that’s clear on-screen too.

(Season 1 Christmas party: Ennio Torresan, Carly Benner-StClair, Bruce Heller, Mica Nataami, Carl (CH) Greenblatt, and Derek with the devil horns.)

So despite the sign, no one was afraid of Steve Hillenburg?

No, no, the sign is misleading. He’s a total sweetheart. Success couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy: just a thoughtful, funny, sincere human being.

That’s exactly what you wanna hear about your heroes. What’s your favorite thing about the show?

Well Spongebob is definitely a reflection of Steve! As are the other characters, but mostly Spongebob. And to me, the greatest thing about the show, and the reason I think it’s been such a huge success, is that Spongebob is genuine. He’s without guile. He’s enthusiastic without any reservation. And I think, especially when the show came out, a lot of cartoons in the kid realm starred adults disguised as kids. And Spongebob was never that; he was always for kids, always had a kid’s spirit. That’s part of why we never defined his age: he has kid and adult qualities. He’s just sincere—and sincerity is underrated.

Do you have a favorite Spongebob episode?

Man... that’s like choosing a favorite child. But I’ll go ahead and do it. I have several favorites. One is “SB-129”. I’m a bit of a sucker for time travel - it’s part of why I enjoy Bravest Warriors so much. “The Fun Show” is awesome too, it’s a classic. Of episodes I wrote, “Not Normal” was my first and still a favorite. It’s a bit autobiographical: I was a weird kid and always felt like I needed to conform to some idea of normality. After a while, I decided that didn’t matter and I was going to accept being my weird self. And the same is true of Spongebob.

(Mr. Lawrence (aka Plankton), Vincent Waller, and Derek.)

How did you come to write for Bravest Warriors?

After Spongebob, I was a staff writer on Sanjay and Craig, which Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi executive produced. They’re great guys and a blast to work with. They'd also produced Bravest, so I found out about the show through them. I watched it and just thought it was madness in the best possible way. Last year Will mentioned they were looking for writers, so I gave it a shot. I really wanted to be part of the show and feel lucky that I got to be!

What are your favorite things about Bravest Warriors?

I love time travel and sci-fi, and you get both of those in BW. That’s a treat. But I love that it also goes right to the heart of teen angst. That’s a sandbox I don’t get to play in a lot, as I’m usually writing for kids or preschoolers. It’s a lot of fun to deal with broken hearts, romantic attraction, all that gooey hormonal stuff.

Do you have a favorite character from the show?

I like Danny a lot, because he’s kinda pathetic. I just want to help him out. But I can’t resist Catbug. He’s amazing. And I’m a big fan of Impossibear. Something about his gruffness... he’s selfish in a way that reminds me of Bender from Futurama. If I ever got to do another BW episode, I’d want it to be about Impossibear. Finding the mushy heart he hides inside.

What is your episode, “A Apple, B Banana, C Chili” about?

I did a sort of anti-consumerist screed cleverly disguised as a Bravest Warriors episode. The team succumbs to the power of marketing. They have to escape the clutches of a Costco-like superstore. It seemed like a uniquely weird challenge they hadn’t faced before. I think that’s why it was chosen from the ideas I pitched—when you’re pitching on a show with a lot of episodes, you’ve got to find the part of the floor that hasn’t been painted yet.

Aha - don’t they go in that store to grab Wallow a snack?

Haha yeah. Wallow gets hangry on a mission so they go to buy him some chips or a granola bar or something and it goes terribly wrong. I love episodes like that - we did it on Spongebob too - where it’s the simplest possible objective. The goal of the episode is one tiny thing, and then it balloons out from there and becomes ridiculously huge in a way it never deserved to be.

What would you be if you weren’t a TV writer?

Maybe a lawyer. Or a crazy activist trying to make the world a better place and not getting very far. I’d probably be quitting my job at the EPA right now out of sheer frustration. At least writing cartoons, I can express the absurdity of our world—but hopefully to make people laugh, instead of cry.

What are your favorite cartoons?

Well, Spongebob’s pretty darn good. I always loved Ren and Stimpy, the latest news notwithstanding. I’m a simple man: I love Road Runner. I couldn’t resist the simplicity of the gags. You always know what’s going to happen - Road Runner’s gonna get away and Wile E. Coyote is gonna eat it. But you don’t know how he’s gonna eat it. The magic is in the details. I’m a big fan of The Simpsons. And I enjoyed Aqua Teen Hunger Force; Master Shake cracks me up. I love how stupid and petty he is.

After writing for so long, is it ever still challenging?

Absolutely, it’s always a challenge. I think a lot of people struggle with being too precious with their ideas. It’s a collaborative medium: stories change and change and change again. You can accept compromises and look for the good in them, or you can fight against them. My view is, you have to choose your battles. Even the creator doesn’t have complete control. And the best creators and showrunners delegate responsibilities. They trust the people they’ve hired.

Do you pitch show ideas around?

I haven’t as much lately; I’m busy story editing a preschool show now called Hanni and the Wild Woods. But I made a Nickelodeon short a few years back with my friend Miles Hindman, called “Carrot and Stick,” about a pair of buddies who live in a junkyard. Their nemesis is a dog named Rosie, based on my own dog Rosie. It’s a mixed media show - a combination of puppets, live action and 2D - so we wanted her to play herself. It didn’t work out. She’s cute and all, but cute doesn’t make you a good actor…

(Rosie, sweet and perfect in every conceivable way aside from acting ability.)

What else are you working on?

Well besides Hanni, I just got back from teaching an Animation Writing class in Jamaica for a few weeks - that was amazing. It was through The World Bank; they’re trying to build an animation industry over there. I’m glad they found me, it was a ton of fun and some of the student’s ideas were really cool. I also have a YA sci-fi book I really want to write. The trick is finding the time to do it; it keeps eluding me. Earlier I said animation is very collaborative - not so with this book. I have a very specific vision, and I’m excited to tell exactly the story I want to tell. I also write as Spongebob and Patrick on their Twitter accounts - which is a tougher gig than it sounds! All of the 140 character zingers have to be contained to their universe. But it’s fun and keeps me connected to the characters, and I love that.

Thank you for the interview Derek! So much fun talking with you. Good luck on all your many projects, I’ll be on the lookout!

- Cooper

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mitchbeck · 5 years

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CANTLON'S CORNER: FOGARTY NAMED 12TH WOLF PACK CAPTAIN AND HE'S READY TO LEAD

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - For Steven Fogarty, being named the team captain for the Hartford Wolf Pack was a very high honor that left him both humbled and a bit surprised. “I didn’t expect it really. I've been here for four years and I’ve seen the ups and downs. I’m just being one of the older guys, I have always taken pride in being a leader. We have a fresh new group here, and I’m very excited. I’m not the most vocal guy. I will say something when it needs to be said. I met with Boo (Nieves) and Lindy (Ryan Lindgren) (who were both named assistant captains). I think we're gonna have a very strong leadership group here,” Fogarty said. Lindgren is quite the loquacious player. If Fogarty isn't going to be vocal it's a pretty good bet that Lindgren will. “He’s got a pretty good set of pipes,” Fogarty said with a laugh. However, for the Wolf Pack, over the past few years, being named the captain has been a kiss of death. The preceding four were all traded during the season, something Fogarty is fully aware of. “Well, it was in the back of my mind,“ Fogarty smiled and chuckled acknowledging the obvious, “No, I’m not worried about that.” The Rangers have addressed a multitude of changes all throughout the first training camp of the "John Davidson Era," was kicked off. “We met with the coaches and asked everyone to embrace the change. It’s a whole new staff and a lot of other changes. We're starting over. I really got to see that in camp.” The offensive depth is palpable with the team. ‘We have some tremendous depth up-front and a lot of pieces from veterans like Danny (O’Regan) and Phil (Di Giuseppe), younger players with strong credentials; it’s the best depth we have had here. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Fogarty said. He signed a one year deal last spring. The new Wolf Pack head coach, Kris Knoblauch, was effusive in his praise of Fogarty and spoke of the collective organizational input on the selection process. “I knew some things about Steven, but Jeff (Gorton), Chris (Drury) and Jed (Ortmeyer) and others filled me in about Steven, and what David (Quinn) saw of him in Rangers camp. For me, my interactions have been solid and matched up with everything that I heard that there was no better qualified to handle the captaincy.” Having a new staff takes some adjustment for everybody. “All of them have different levels of experience, but at the end of the day, you have to execute the systems in place. They’re to help us play the right way. The more eyes and expertise you can bring the better we can be. They brought in a lot more people to the organization to try to make us successful and hold us accountable. Players have to take advantage of it.” The recent cycle for Wolf Pack Nation over the past five years hasn’t been very good. Fogarty recognizes that and has an antidote for it. ‘Winning can take care of a lot things and solves a lot of issues. It boosts confidence. You're excited to come to the rink. It helps everything. It’s our main goal to play the right way. Everything will take care of itself. A winning culture takes care of a lot of problems." KRAVTSOV AFFAIR There's an early piece of drama for the Wolf Pack. It was astonishing that Vitali Kravtsov was benched. Maybe at game 10, 20, or in game 30, it could be understood, but game one, in the second period was extraordinarily unusual. He earned the benching and might be embarrassed , but that's the intention of a benching. The new head coach has 19 other players he has to handle and on the first night of game-play, he has to show he's in control of the team. It’s clear that with Drury present, he was given full discretion to do this. This was about more than just his indifferent play at the end of camp, but also in the pre-season game in Bridgeport and the first period against Charlotte. What is possibly fueling this during the negotiations between the New York Rangers and his agents were the promises made for him to come to North America. Clearly, he was hoping he would be playing in the NHL in New York, but he demoted and assigned here. This will require getting things smoothed out. While Kravtsov signed a standard NHL entry-level deal, he does have a European out-clause that could allow him to return to the KHL in Russia and Traktor Chelyabinsk who still hold his rights. When that clause can be activated and what conditions allow it to be invoked specifically are unknown. In addition, he is still WJC eligible. It would seem likely that he would be allowed to play for Russia at the WJC in December in the Czech Republic. The NHL and Russian Ice Hockey Federation do not have a formal transfer agreement. There was one piece of news that could be an inducement for Kravtsov to stay was the trade of Vladimir Namestnikov to the Ottawa Stars for New Jersey-born defenseman, Nick Ebert, who played one game in Belleville and has been assigned to Hartford. There could be a roster slot open in New York for a revitalized Kravtsov with some strong AHL play, possibly over the next couple of weeks. In a worst-case scenario, if he did go back, a la Ilya Kovalchuk when he left the Devils for the KHL, the NHL teams holds his rights until the end of his initially signed contract. Those rights could be traded. Kovalchuk was different because he turned 35 and was a free-agent who eventually signed with LA. Also, another possibility is that he could come back after the season in the KHL was over. It is likely to be worked out the Rangers who drafted him. Obviously he is very highly regarded and an important asset in bringing a competitive team to Broadway that can compete for the Stanley Cup, and that is the number one priority. The story of Ryan Poehling, now in Laval, should be conveyed to him. Poehling had a great WJC tournament last year and had a dream NHL first game on the last night of last year’s regular season against Toronto. Poehling had a hat trick, and five points including scoring the game-winning shootout goal. He had a strong camp for the Montreal Canadiens. Poehling is in Laval working on his craft and will be at the Bell Centre in the very near future. If Kravtsov lights things up in Hartford, he too will be at MSG among the bright lights soon enough. The Ebert addition to the Hartford d-corps forced the reassignment of Brandon Crawley, who was scratched along with Jeff Taylor last weekend for both games, to the Maine Mariners. The Rangers are already planning the Wolf Pack's 2020-21 roster. They signed defenseman Matthew Robinson to a three-year entry level deal. He had a strong training camp before being reassigned back to his junior team, the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). Ex-Pack, Conor Allen, has signed with HK Hradec Kravlove (Czech Republic-CEL) for the year. Ex-Pack, Corey Locke, who retired after the pre-season with HC Dynamo Pardubice (Czech Republic-CEL), has been named an assistant coach with Guelph (OHL) whose associate head coach is ex-Pack, Chad Wiseman. Locke becomes the 88th former Wolf Pack player to be involved in hockey as a coach, GM, or as a scout. Three former coaches are still behind the bench while three others are scouts. Read the full article

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trubbull · 7 years

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La Vie En Camaieu // Chapter 6

[[Read on Archive Of Our Own]]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Category: F/M Fandoms: Game Grumps, TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band), Starbomb, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom Relationships: Dan Avidan/Original Character(s), Dan Avidan & Original Character(s), Suzy Berhow/Arin Hanson, Brian Wecht/Rachel Bitney Wecht Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Character, Dan Avidan, Arin Hanson, Suzy Berhow, Brian Wecht, Commander Meouch, Doctor Sung, Havve Hogan, Lord Phobos Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Colorblindness, Rating May Change

Summary: It seems like all of Dan’s friends can see the world in all its colorful beauty. He’s nearly 40 and he still views in the world in shades of grey.

At a fateful NSP/TWRP/Starbomb concert, everything changes.

**Inspired by iamavacado’s egobang story ‘Love Is Any Color’ and its one-shot 'Even Rainy Days Have Color.’ This has been posted with their permission.**

Chapter 6: Other Girls Were Never Quite Like This

Notes: Do you ever just find a song that’s perfect for something and you listen to it over and over again? I’ve Just Seen A Face (Across The Universe)

As I publish this chapter, I’m sitting alone in the living room of my biological father’s house. My mother and stepfather just declared divorce last night. He has taken possession of everything I have, including my dog, and all my precious belongings, including treasured childhood toys, precious handmade items from friends, and my signed NSP CDs and posters. I feel like I’m on a raft at sea during a storm and I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Writing these stories and the input i receive from all of you are one of the few things in this world that bring me unadulterated joy. As such, I’m going to try to continue to write, if not for the sake of my readers, but for the sake of my own sanity. Once again I appreciate all of the support, kudos, and comments I have received. I love each and every one of you. –Moobaby

The group of them headed to dinner. The Twerp guys, their interns, Brent and Vernon finally joined them from wherever they had been during the concert, doing important things or whatever, Brian, Arin, and the lovebirds, which Arin had dubbed them.

Jude sat in the backseat of the rental car between Brian and Dan. Dan occupied one of her hands with both of his, causing her to giggle as he played with her fingers, tickling her palm and her wrists just to hear her fluttering laughter. Everything about her made him think of sunshine and the song of birds, memories of his childhood home playing in the backyard. It was strange how memories that had always been black-and-white were now so vividly colored.

“What do you do?” Brian inquired. It was something Dan had been thinking to ask, but if he was honest, he thought about way too many things around Jude, and somehow when she would make eye contact with him, his brain would be filled with nothing but the chirping of crickets.

“Uh, y-yeah, I was gonna ask that.” Dan offered, quietly, earning another soft laugh from Jude that made his sheepish smile widen.

“I’m, uh, in college. Or, well, the semester just ended. In the spring I’ll graduate with my bachelor’s.” She shot Brian a look immediately, “If you quip about your damn PhD I will tuck and roll out of this car.”

“Brian, please don’t.” Dan immediately jumped in, laughing.

Brian crossed his arms, a devious smile on his lips, “Well, I kinda wanna see her do it.”

“Dude, we are on the highway, in Dallas Texas, she’ll die and I’ll never forgive you.” Dan was still laughing as he snaked an arm between Jude’s back and the seat, causing her to squeak with surprise before leaning into his embrace.

Dan closed his eyes as he buried his nose into the hair atop her head, which was so soft. He kissed the top of her head, and drew a sigh from her lips as she leaned her head on the front of his shoulder.

“So, if you’re just graduating college… Uh…” A thought occurred to Dan, and his brows shot up suddenly. The trepidation in his voice had caught Jude’s attention, causing her to pull away and avoid eye-contact.

Dan glanced at Brian, who raised a brow back at Dan. “There’s a considerable difference in age between Rachel and I, it’s not a big deal, Daniel.”

“I… Yeah, you’re right, it doesn’t really matter, but… I’d still like to know.” Dan leaned his head forward slightly, trying to catch Jude’s attention again.

“I’m uh, 23. You’re 16 years older than me.” She cleared her throat lightly.

Holy shit.

“Well, uh, the point still stands.” Brian offered, admittedly surprised.

Jude gave Dan an apologetic look, and when she did, all of the tenseness in Dan’s body melted away immediately. It really didn’t matter how much older he was than her, it wasn’t like she was underage, and he wasn’t going to entertain that train of thought any further than that.

He brought a hand up to her cheek, stroking her cheekbone with his thumb and causing her to smile. It was short-lived, however, as she hunched her shoulders to hide herself in the popped-collar of her leather jacket.

“Babygirl, nooo.” Dan whined, laughing despite himself. “Your smile is so fucking cute, you don’t need to hide it… At least, not from me.”

In the passing streetlights, he could see the redness in her face when she folded back her collar. “Alright, Danny.”

Hearing her say his name was the sweetest sound to ever grace his ears.

The rest of the drive was silent, as everyone was tired and hungry.

They finally arrived at a nice Italian place that was apparently near the hotel they were staying. Jude insisted she could pay for herself but Dan wouldn’t hear it.

After they had all ordered, and it was just a matter of being served, Arin stretched his arms overhead and sighed, leaning back slightly in his seat. “So, what now, Dan?”

Dan looked up from the table, which he had been staring at in a sleep-deprived state. Jude was sitting beside him, tapping away on her phone. “What are you getting at, Arin?”

Arin gestured obviously to Jude, whose attention was brought to the present by the action. “Hmm?” She inquired quietly.

“Oh, uh.” Dan’s face turned red. He hadn’t really thought about anything, future-wise, a little too distracted by the present at the moment. He looked at Jude, and didn’t even try to fight the smile the broke across his face as she met his eyes. “Do you, wanna move to California with me?”

Her brows shot up, and she placed her phone in her lap. “I-I mean, yeah, absolutely, I… This is just all happening so quickly.” She laughed a little to herself, feeling the eyes of everyone else at the table on her.

Dan took her unoccupied hands in his, “I mean, only if that’s what you want, princess. I mean…” He sighed heavily, and took a deep inhale of breath.

“I have been waiting, looking for you, my whole goddamn life, babygirl, and now that I’ve finally found you, I don’t want to spend another moment away from you. I know you know how it feels, to lay awake all night long, wondering if that person even existed, if that the day you found them they would feel the same way. Fuck, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight, knowing that you do exist, and that you do feel the same way, but you’re not gonna be there beside me.“ He squeezed her hands between both of his, and saw her previously awestruck gaze suddenly turn downward, a sheepish smile on her lips.

“I-it’s, uh, it’s not like I have a curfew or something, Danny… I don’t have classes or a job to wake up early for.” She said this very quietly, leaning closer so only Danny would hear.

The red blooming across his face gave them away, though, as the rest of the table whistled lasciviously at the two of them. “Oh, shut up!” Dan grinned with his own embarrassment.

The conversation didn’t have a chance to continue as their meals were brought to the table, and everyone groaned like pornstars at the mere smell of the delicious, authentic food.

Jude popped the collar of her coat once again before eating, but it was a few minutes before Dan noticed, and he attempted to roll it back again.

“Danny~” She whined in protest, the word muffled by her full mouth. She shook her head, then, and swallowed her food before popping the collar once more, defiantly.

“We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on this, Danny. Obviously, I’ve got an overbite.” She gestured to her face, sighing in a defeated manner. “It’s an abnormally large overbite. Like, orthodontists-won’t-touch-me abnormal. It’s hard for me to eat with my mouth closed, and it’s embarrassing.” She said all of this softly so only Danny would hear.

“It’s especially embarrassing to think you’re watching me while I eat.” She laughed a little, but it was a tight and nervous laugh. “I… I have always hated my mouth. I think it’s the worst thing about me, being fat aside.”

Dan straightened up, his face looking almost convincingly offended, “You’re not—“

“Don’t even lie to me, Daniel, I am fat.” She said, pointedly. “I’m fat, you can still think I’m beautiful regardless.” She winked at him, before resuming eating.

She had a point. He couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t a big girl, because she was. While he was pretty used to model-esque ladies, he wasn’t averse to bigger girls by any means. Fate had just always placed him in the hands of thin, leggy things.

And she had really nice legs, herself, if he was being honest.

“… Well… You are beautiful.” He said, quietly, and he could see the redness tinge her face. “And I think your smile is cute anyway, but I get why it bugs you, I won’t pester you about it anymore, babygirl.”

He kissed her temple before resuming his meal. He glanced over at Arin and Brian across the table, who were smiling fondly at the two of them.

“Fuck, I miss Suzy.” Arin whined out loud.

Once everyone had become miserably over-stuffed with food, they all made their way to the hotel. Brent, who was driving, was happy that he wouldn’t have to drive Jude home.

Brian and Dan had been sharing a hotel room. Between the eleven of them, they were split into pairs in six rooms, the only single being Brent. No one argued about the rearrangement, everyone was more than happy to give Dan and Jude privacy.

“Just, uh, you know, don’t be so loud.” Arin said, offhandedly to Dan and Jude both, causing her to flush immensely and him to become indignant.

“Arin!”

Arin just dove into his own room, which he was now sharing with Vernon, and his cackling could still be heard behind the closed door.

Dan was embarrassed, but he managed to catch Jude’s eye and give her an encouraging smile. “I, uh, wouldn’t… Expect you to want to…”

She interrupted him by grasping his hand, “Just lead the way, Danny, I feel like I’m gonna fall asleep on my feet.” She punctuated her statement with a yawn, leaning her forehead against the face of his shoulder, and uttering a sound that Dan could only equate to a purr.

He led her a few doors down, to his own room. After sliding the keycard through its designated slot and opening the door, he had to usher her inside due to the sluggishness of her feet.

The room had obviously been cleaned, and Arin had retrieved his things from the room, but it was easy to tell which bed was Dan’s as his things were piled next to it. Jude sat down at the end of the bed as she toed-off her shoes.

Dan had taken the flowers back from her so that he could place them in a glass of water. They’d need to be placed in a vase eventually, but there wasn’t anything else he could do about it.

Jude shed her Jacket and tossed it onto the other bed, followed by her socks. “Danny~?”

Dan had been in the kitchenette, so he leaned in the doorway when he heard his name called. “Mmm?” Was all he could respond with in his tired state.

“I, uh, can’t sleep in my jeans and… stuff.” She said this shyly. “So… Are you gonna be able to control yourself?” She giggled, teasingly. She was tired, and it made everything funny.

It made him laugh a little too, but he couldn’t hide the light heat building in his face. “What do you take me for, princess? I know how to keep my hands to myself.”

“Well, I mean, you don’t have to… Keep them completely to yourself…” She said this between yawns as he watched her wiggle out of the dark, ripped jeans that clung to her wide hips. They fell to the ground and she kicked them off towards the other bed and Dan couldn’t look away from her damn legs.

She was covered in freckles. She had legs that would have made some of his friends jealous, and he knew girls that were pornstars. Why he knew them was irrelevant.

She didn’t seem to notice he was watching, or if she did she didn’t say anything. She went about doing that magical thing that Dan couldn’t understand, removing her bra without taking her shirt off. It was discarded on the second bed as well as everything else, and she didn’t hesitate to curl up under the covers of his hotel bed.

The shower was calling to him, but he didn’t want to miss a moment of the warmth that was now collecting in the bed in the other room. He bounced on his heels with indecision before finally deciding to take the shower anyway. If anything, Jude deserved him smelling his best.

The moment he stepped into the shower, he was immediately grateful for his decision. He hadn’t realized how caked he felt in grime. He scrubbed at his face, feeling the puffiness and tiredness of his eyes. Today had definitely been a rollecoaster, and it all happened so quickly. He couldn’t have been prepared for it all, even if he had known that morning when he woke up, that he would meet his soulmate today. He still couldn’t have been ready for the whirlwind of emotions that berated him today.

Once he was content with his state of cleanliness, and also concerned about falling asleep in the shower, he dragged himself into the cold air of the bathroom and dried himself off. He tied back his flattened, slicked hair, as he usually did after showering. Pulling on clean boxers was the second best thing he had experienced today.

He cut out the light in the bathroom and then the kitchenette, and it was now completely dark save for moonlight that was pouring in through the window at the end of the room. Dan could just make out the silhouette of his soulmate who was silently breathing in his bed.

“Babygirl?” He whispered. No response from the tuft of red hair on the pillow beside his spot. She was already asleep.

He briefly considered sleeping in the other bed, out of respect, but his lightly shivering, bony frame was cut through easily by the cold of the hotel, and he wanted so desperately to curl up next to a soft, warm body. It’d been so long since he had enjoyed such a pleasure.

He tried his best to be very careful as he slipped under the covers beside her, and he froze stiff when she rolled over, heavy eyes looking up at him just over the edge of the duvet.

“Ah—I’m sorry, princess, I—“ He didn’t mean to wake her, but it seemed it didn’t matter, as she immediately closed the gap between them, and his body leeched the welcome warmth from her.

She draped an arm over his chest as she snuggled into his side, and Dan shifted in order to get comfortable with her in his arms, one of his hands coming to rest on the back of her head. She sighed against his shoulder, closing her eyes and smiling into his skin.

Dan heard her sniff just as he was about to doze off, and he looked at her, bringing his spare hand up to her face, feeling the dampness on her cheek. “Jude, baby?” He inquired, his voice croaky with sleep.

“I-I’m just, really happy.” She whispered, her voice tight. “I never thought that this was even a possibility for me.”

Dan rolled over slightly, just enough so he could properly embrace the redhead laying beside him. “Don’t think about the past anymore, babygirl. You’re here, now, with me, and that’s all that matters, princess.” He kissed the top of her head again.

“I love you, Danny.” She whispered, and it made Dan feel cold despite the warmth enveloping him. “I’ve loved you for so long, I’ve wanted to tell you for ages…” She continued, her voice soft and wavering.

This was really happening. It seemed to strike Dan all at once, very suddenly.

He was holding his soulmate, the both of them were only barely clothed, alone in a hotel room. He could see the color of her hair illuminated by the moonlight from behind, creating a soft halo around her face which was obscured by the darkness. He could only tell her eyes were open by the little glints of light on her eyelashes which fluttered with sleepiness and her inability to keep them open.

Dan leaned in close, and kissed her eyelid, which made her chuckle softly, almost a sigh.

“I love you, too, babygirl. You’re never gonna be alone again.”

#trubbull post #trubbull fics #lvec #moobang

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chicagopdlover · 6 years

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Tarantino First Look; Academy Class Questions; Chalamet's 'Beautiful Boy' Trailer; L.A.'s "Influencer-Only" Mural

Tarantino First Look; Academy Class Questions; Chalamet’s ‘Beautiful Boy’ Trailer; L.A.’s “Influencer-Only” Mural

What’s news: Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Plus: Lingering questions about the Academy’s record new class, Dana Brunetti launches a new company and an “influencer-only” mural arrives in Los Angeles. — Erik Hayden June 27, 2018 What’s news: Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Plus: Lingering questions about the Academy’s record new class, Dana Brunetti launches a new company and an “influencer-only” mural arrives in Los Angeles. — Erik Hayden Academy Class Questions Having sifted through the 928 member list unveiled by the film Academy, Scott Feinberg has a few questions about the direction of the organization: 1. Is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? In order to meet its diversity goals, the Academy — and, in particular, its largest division, the actors branch — is increasingly inviting people to become members who are tremendously talented, but whose talents have primarily manifested themselves in other media. 2. If you’re good enough to win an Oscar, why aren’t you good enough to join the Academy? I do believe that there is one circumstance under which someone who has not amassed a large body of standout work should still be invited to join the Academy, and that is if that person has made a contribution to a film that was deemed excellent enough to merit an Oscar. 3. Is Oscar campaigning about to go crazy? With the latest class added, this will create the highest number of Oscar voters since the period spanning 1938 to 1945, when certain classes of members of outside guilds, including the now-defunct Screen Extras Guild, were granted full voting privileges, bringing the size of the voting rolls to approximately 12,000. Full column. Elsewhere in film… ► MoviePass parent stock hits new low. The company is losing about $45 million a month on its plan that gives subscribers 30 movie tickets for the price of one; it may need to spend $1.2 billion more if it is to stay afloat and keep growing ► Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg reteam for Netflix film. The duo have set their next project (their fifth together) with the movie Wonderland , an adaptation from Robert B. Parker’s detective series. Sean O’Keefe penned the screenplay. ► Pete Davidson to lead indie Big Time Adolescence . The SNL star will join Machine Gun Kelly and Griffin Gluck in the pic. The film, which will begin shooting next month, will be the directorial debut of Jason Orley. ► Annapurna president to exit company. Marc Weinstock is leaving after less than two years in that role. According to insiders, his decision to depart is amicable and he will not be replaced. ^Sony’s Quentin Tarantino Manson drama unveils first still. Leonardo DiCaprio posted an image of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , with him and Brad Pitt featured. First look. ► Amazon unveils Beautiful Boy trailer. Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet and Maura Tierney star in the drama from the streamer that hits theaters Oct. 12. Full clip . ► Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper scores rare China release date . Legendary Entertainment and Universal’s action thriller has locked down a July 20 date, securing a spot right in the midst of Beijing’s summer blackout on imported Hollywood fare. ► Lionsgate finds new film group marketing chief. Damon Wolf, currently co-head of marketing at Sony, will join the studio Jan. 1. His recent campaigns include work on Baby Driver and Don’t Breathe . ► Constantin Film buys production group Hager Moss. The Munich-based production outfit is best known for its dramas and for crowd-pleasing films, including Oktoberfest . ► Independent Film and Television Alliance leaders renew contracts. Jean Prewitt and Jonathan Wolf have each re-upped for another three years with the trade association. Prewitt has headed the group since 2000. ► Writers Guild of America East unveils board candidates . It’s election season for the guild, which revealed a list of 16 candidates nominated for 10 open seats on its council. In Heat Vision : Marvel’s wait-and-see LGBTQ character approach. Graeme McMillan writes: Studio chief Kevin Feige recently confirmed queer characters are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which lags behind the comic book publisher. Full column. Mega TV Deals It’s official: Fox will be the new home of WWE SmackDown Live, Marisa Guthrie writes: + Fox: The new five-year agreement will commence Oct. 4, 2019, and will give Fox two hours of live event programming 52 weeks each year. It is worth $205M annually, and $1.025B over the life of the pact. + NBC: The network said that is has closed a new five-year pact to keep the Monday night showcase Raw on USA Network. That deal is worth $265M annually, a big premium over the current pact, which is worth about $150M annually for both properties. Currently both programs air on NBCUniversal’s USA. Full story. Elsewhere in TV… ► Charter greenlights its first scripted series. Bad Boys spinoff L.A.’s Finest , starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union, has been ordered by Charter Communications. The 13-episode drama will premiere in 2019. ► HBO casts Jeremy Irons in Watchmen pilot. The actor will topline the pilot from Damon Lindelof. While the pay cabler has remained mum on details, Irons will likely play an imperious lord of a British manor. ► Freeform cancels Famous in Love . Sources say the Disney-owned cabler wanted more money from SVOD partner Hulu for a potential third season amid clashes between star Bella Thorne and showrunner I. Marlene King. ► Lionsgate inks Dear White People showrunner to deal. Fresh off a third-season renewal, showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser has signed an overall deal . Under the pact, Bowser will create new projects for the studio. Quoted: “It seemed like, you don’t need to murder someone that’s committing suicide. I thought the firing was overkill. She’s already dead.” — Jerry Seinfeld to USA Today on Roseanne Barr ‘s firing. ^Can Netflix transform the TV landscape in the Middle East? With over 400M potential viewers, the region has vast potential, but with little variation in programming, audiences are starved for original content. The streaming giant could change all that. Full column. ► ITV COO, CFO to step down. The U.K. TV giant said that CFO and COO Ian Griffiths has advised the board of his intention to retire in the next 12 months. The company is searching for a successor. ► Endemol Shine names head of non-English scripted drama. Lars Blomgren, producer of the Scandinavian series The Bridge , has been hired as the new head of scripted across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. ► Fox Searchlight’s TV division fills out exec ranks. The new arm of the company has tapped Kara Buckley and Danny Samit as vps of television production. The division has yet to launch its first project. ► Sony shutting down Crackle in Canada. The video hub will shift some of its Canadian inventory to two new local ad-supported VOD services, via a partnership with Sony Pictures Television. Dana Brunetti launches new TV and film company. He is teaming with former Relativity exec Keegan Rosenberger to create Cavalry Media with “moderately-priced, premium” programming that includes the Columbus series Hispaniola. The budget for a film will be in the $40M-$80M range. Details. L.A.’s Influencers-Only Mural A stunt: Stroll down Melrose Avenue and there it is: A blue mural with a pink heart and angel wings. A security guard stands out front, next to a sign that reads, “For verified influencers and people with over 20,000 followers only,” Natalie Jarvey notes. What that means. What else we’re reading… — “Comcast hunts for additional cash.” Amol Sharma and Dana Mattioliis report that the company is “exploring tie-ups with other companies or private-equity investors that could provide additional cash as the cable giant pursues a costly acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets.” [ Wall Street Journal ] — ” How’s he gonna react when there’s a scandal?” Joe Pompeo on CNN: “So much appears to hang on the Jeff Zucker-John Stankey bromance. For now, everyone is saying the right thing.” [ Vanity Fair ] — “Hollywood’s instant antihero.” Reggie Ugwu’s Benicio Del Toro profile: “he’s been a strikingly economical player, if not always the most valuable one, averaging an unusually high ratio of memorable moments.” [ New York Times ] — “What does ABC want from The Conners ?” David Sims writes: “The network canceled Roseanne and ordered a rebooted version of the show without its star, but what kinds of stories is the spinoff hoping to tell?” [ The Atlantic ] — “Prince estate signs deal with Sony Music to re-release 35 catalog albums.” Colin Stutz notes: “The deal also includes rights to other previously released singles, B-sides, remixes, non-album tracks, live recordings and music videos recorded before 1995.” [ Billboard ] From the archives… + 10 years ago today: On June 27, 2008, Pixar unveiled WALL-E, a sci-fi adventure that would become a summer hit with critics and audiences. Flashback review. Today’s birthdays: Sam Claflin , 32, Khloé Kardashian , 33, Wagner Moura , 42, Tobey Maguire , 43, J.J. Abrams , 52. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use June 27, 2018

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duanecbrooks · 7 years

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A Sight For Sore Eyes It's what could be called an old-time flick, having been released in--steady yourself--1969. It features two leads who have long, long, long since gone off the radar, namely Jacqueline Bisset and Jim Brown (Actually, Brown has only sunk from sight as an actor. He has for some time had a third-act career--he began as a pro-football heavyweight, remember?--as an entrepreneur). Having been released in, as was mentioned, 1969, its filmic style and the motivations of its characters would, in this overflowing-with-political-correctness age, likely be dismissed as greatly dated, even rather philistine. However... As the theatrical film The Grasshopper, which first unspooled in said year and which stars said folks--and which, in a leonine change-of-pace, I saw not on DVD but (and this is not a typo) on YouTube--proves, it is very much worth re-visiting, being--say what you will about it being Old Hat--an incisively-written, maturely-directed and, its strongest suit, sensitively-performed drama about following dreams, dealing with what life throws at you while you pursue those dreams, and, at last finally, is a cautionary tale concerning the fate of those who thoroughly, totally surrender their positivism, who allow themselves to be entirely swept up in all the crap that comes their way. The long-popular assertion goes: "Be careful what you wish for, for you might well get it." What The Grasshopper, with considerable style and genuinely impressive intelligence, says is: "Be sure to have a realistic perspective about what you wish for, otherwise there'll be hell to pay." Let's get to the picture itself. We open with its heroine, 19-year-old Christine Adams (Bisset), sneaking down the steps of her house and outside--the latter after leaving a good-bye note for, as we'll come to discover, her parents--carrying luggage and, eventually, getting into a convertible and driving off. After she goes a distance, we see her car conk out and Christine having to hitch a ride. As she and her driver are riding along, she fills him, and us, in on her story: She's going to L.A. to hook up with her boyfriend, who works in that city. Also: Her past home life was far from tranquil, as is demonstrated via a flashback, wherein Christine thinks back to her incessantly warring parents. It all culminates in Christine giving her driver, and us, a verbal sketch of what she wants her life to be ("It's very simple. What I want is to be totally happy, totally different, and totally in love"). In time she's taken up by one Danny Raymond (Corbett Monica, a stand-up performer who was quite popular at the time), a Las Vegas-based comic whose humor fails to impact our girl (He freely acknowledges: "I'm not too funny, but you can't expect brilliance in the middle of the desert"). We press on. While transporting Christine, Raymond stops off at his employment base, namely Vegas, where he attends to some business and Christine takes in the sights and, in time, is summoned back to Raymond's side (He has the hotel announcer intone: "Will Christine The Hitchhiker please report to the front desk?"). Eventually she, and we, meet Tommy Marcott (Brown), a former pro-football star who is employed by the hotel as, well, a lure, as a celebrity whose fame is used to bring in customers. We also see Raymond trying to get close to Christine and she firmly resisting ("No, Danny. I like you. You're a lot of fun") but Raymond not being in the least dissuaded ("Stick around a few more minutes. I hate to be alone"). At last finally Christine gets to L.A. and Eddie, with whom she entreats to have a baby with her. Yet life with Eddie turns out to be far from the Paradise Lost she imagined and hoped it would be, as her job as Eddie's sister bank teller, she finds out to her dismay, is routine and boring (In an attempt to put some life into her life, she hands a customer the following note: "This is a hold-up. Give me your money and don't touch the alarm"). At one point she goes for a walk and, gazing into the windows of the other apartments, she sees the inhabitants fighting between themselves and otherwise engaged in the kind of dullish, mind-numbing activities she hates with a passion. Thus our gal leaves Eddie and returns to Vegas and Raymond. To go forward: At first Christine's hooking back with Raymond turns out to be very pleasant for both of them (We see Christine happily lying in bed next to Raymond and his saying into the phone: "I gotta go now, 'cause there's this gorgeous girl just dyin' for my body"). Yet it all ends when Christine is informed by Raymond that his ex and their offspring are coming to visit. Next we see our heroine audition for a position as a showgirl. At first her auditioner is quite skeptical (Christine: "I did Little Women in school." Auditioner: "Did you do it nude?"), telling her: "Showgirls gotta have gigantic tickets [breasts]." Christine doesn't shirk at the least upon hearing this, firing back: "In my hometown I was considered one of the over-developed girls." At last finally Christine unbuttons her blouse and proudly shows her auditioner her "tickets," which causes the auditioner to happily hire her (The auditioner asks Arnold, his barber at the time: "Would you pay $12.50 to look at that [Christine's fully-exposed bosom]?" When Arnold smiles affirmatively, that to the auditioner is the deciding factor, which causes Christine to say: "Thank you, Arnold"). From there we witness our girl as part of the hotel's regular showgirl line-up and getting the 411 from a sister showgirl ("There are only two kinds of dancers in this line: great dancers and girls with friends") and, later, catching a performance by the hotel's resident rock group, The Ice Pack, wherein she becomes fast friends with a devoutly homosexual member of the group. Their friendship develops to the point where Christine informs him of her hopes and dreams ("I was thinking of becoming a stewardess...I like people. Maybe I'll meet a nice guy") and, after debating whether God did indeed create the world or whether the human race evolved from monkeys, standing side-by-side one night and gazing at the stars (Christine: "When you look out there, there's got to be a God." Homosexual buddy: "Or one hell of a monkey"). Going on: Christine's former beau Eddie comes to town, accompanied by his wife and their baby, all of whom, after a visit with Christine, make her quite wistful. Afterward she has further association with Marcott, who makes it abundantly clear that he kowtows to nobody unless he absolutely has to ("I used to be eight years old...I don't say anything unless I mean it"), and rebels when, during a conversation with some financiers, his employer casually manhandles him ("Don't do that, man. You make me feel like a piece of meat"). We then see Christine and Marcott riding a merry-go-round and the former further contending what she wants and expect regarding her life ("Sure I know what I want out of life. No, I don't. Yes, I do") and the workings of her inner self ("No matter where I am or what I'm doing, somewhere in the back of my head I'm thinking somebody is having more fun than I am"). They talk more and they exchange dialogue on Christine's priorities concerning her romantic life (Christine: "I hurt that guy I grew up with [Eddie]. And he hurt me." Marcott: "Everybody gets hurt"). Christine fervently urges that she and Marcott live together rather than get married but he loses no time shooting down that notion ("I've been that route. I don't want a chick to shack up with. I don't want a pad, I want a home"). At long last they decide to elope, which, when the woman at the Vegas chapel they turn to sees them with another couple, makes her quite antsy (Woman, into the phone: "I'm serious, Ted. A white girl, a Negro, a Jap, and a sissy"). Grasshopper moves forward. Now Ms. Tommy Marcott, Christine sets herself to getting her new hubby a less degrading job with the hotel. While swimming, she pushes to one of the aforementioned hotel's bigwigs for Marcott to given higher standing and, when the bigwig balks, she flatly spits water in his face. Next we see her with another hotel higher-up making the same case and, again, being unsuccessful (Higher-up: "Only your husband is special at shaking hands." Christine, walking angrily away: "You're a bastard"). The ante is upped when Roosevelt Decker (Ramon Bieri), a particularly wealthy financier, enters Christine's life. She--unwisely, as she, and we, will come to discover--accompanies him to his hotel suite and, not surprisingly, Decker loses no time in making a play for her. Also not surprisingly, she fully rebuffs him ("Mr. Decker, I really enjoy talking to you. Can't we just be friends?"). Decker, alas for her, doesn't take this well, first openly disparaging Christine's hubby ("I'm as good as any nigger"), then going on from there to literally beat the crap out of her. When she arrives home afterward, she shuts herself up in the bathroom. When Marcott forcefully orders her to open the damned door ("If you don't open the door, I'm gonna break it down"), she does and he, along with us, get a full view of her battered and bruised face. Cut to Decker playing golf and Marcott coming after him right there on the greens. Decker runs away but Marcott soon catches up to him and gives him the same aggressive beating that he gave Marcott's wife. The very next scene has the Marcotts in a car, hubby at the wheel, driving away from Vegas and he making it fulsomely clear that from now on their lives are going to be very different ("I'm gonna find myself a job where I don't have to play the clown. And you're gonna be my wife"). We continue. We next see our young lady at a laundromat, washing clothes and unmistakably bored peeless. In an attempt to enliven things, she spreads laundry detergent upon the floor and does an impromptu dance for the others doing their laundry. Following is a scene where Christine's old buddies, The Ice Pack, sneak up on her and following that are scenes wherein she had the same blast with them as before. It all bleeds into her growing disenchantment with her life with Marcott and it culminates in her flat-out confronting him (Christine, standing defiantly over him as he's sitting in a chair: "You don't really like my friends [The Ice Pack], do you?" Marcott: "Look, Chris, are you trying to start a fight?" Christine, still defiantly: "Yeah, maybe I am. Anything to liven things up around here"). Yet Christine comes to shake off her antagonism toward her husband and open herself to him ("I thought if I loved you, everything would be all right"). Things, however, go badly when Marcott, in the midst of shooting hoops on outdoor basketball grounds, is fatally gunned down, no doubt by a fellow specifically hired by Decker. This of course devastates Christine, who deals with her mega-anguish by, during the ride back from the funeral, ordering the driver to stop and pick up these two hippie types whom she sees standing around ("I don't give a damn what you think! Pick them up or I'm gonna jump out!"). We proceed to see Christine pouring her heart out to her homosexual pal ("The worst part is, I can't even grieve for Tommy...If only I knew [my crying] was for Tommy and not for me") and said buddy coming clean regarding whether or not she'll get justice concerning Marcott's murder ("I don't think [the authorities are] even gonna touch Rosie Decker"). Having experienced the real deal in the aforementioned way, Christine returns to Vegas and her former employer, who offers her financial assistance--which she adamantly refuses ("Wait, let me get my tin cup"). Her ex-boss then suggests that she go back to hometown and try for "civilian" work--a suggestion she also rejects ("And be a secretary for $300.00 a week?...I don't want my life to be a cliche"). It's here where her former boss-man throws down the gauntlet: "You're not that talented. You got a pretty face and a nice body...You're an average girl. Why are you knocking yourself out [to Be Somebody]?" Our heroine's response cuts right to the heart of the matter: "Why not?" Going forth: Christine next hooks up with one Richard Sherman (Joseph Cotten), a highly rich older man who gives her a fur coat. Christine, naturally overjoyed at receiving such a present, hugs Sherman--which brings forth a lighthearted admonishment from him ("Christine, you'll break something!...There are certain rules you must follow when you're dating an older man"). Christine, for her part, solemnly assures him that he really and truly is The One ("I think what I've always wanted was a mature man, someone with whom I can have a real relationship"). Yet we next see the utter insincerity of her words, as we see her making out bare-ass-naked in the shower with Jay (Christopher Stone), a singer with The Ice Pack, who's also jaybird-naked. Christine, along with the rest of us, get the inside skinny on Jay's doings since Christine last saw him ("I didn't leave [The Ice Pack]. They fired me") and she gives him, and us picturegoers, the inside skinny about her actual needs ("I need someone. I'm lonely, Jay. I want to be in love"). Next: Christine is back with Sherman, who warmly extols her ("I'm not going to bore you with the old story of my wife not understanding me...You saved the day"). Afterward we see Chris back with Jay, who angrily lights into her ("Do you love me, Christine, or do you just think you do?...[W]hy don't you try the only thing you were ever any good at--balling?"). Jay winds up leaving Christine a "Dear John" note, and Christine, having reached the end of her rope emotionally/psychologically, gets this pilot to sky-write "Fuck it." (This being 1969, we natch don't see the full statement) As Christine is being taken in by the cops, she's asked how old she is. She replies rather listlessly: "22," which says volumes about all she's been through and the emotional/psychological toll it's all taken on her. There's The Grasshopper, a skillfully-made cautionary tale about what happens to those who don't take care while pursuing their dreams. Ramon Bieri wholly chills the blood as Christine's eventual assaulter. The men in her life--Brown, Cotten, Monica, Stone--are all virile and appealing, each in their own ways, to make you see why Christine stayed with them as long as she did. The then-red-hot writing team of Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson (also Grasshopper's producers) come up with many engaging characters and many heart-tugging romantic entanglements. And as director, Jerry Paris--who would work with Garry in the future, helming many a Happy Days episode--deftly pushes the proceedings along, never, ever allowing even an iota of schmaltz or grandstanding to show. And one of the picture's key numbers, "Used To Be," is sung with impressive feeling by the intensely-beloved Carol Burnett sidekick Vicki Lawrence. And at last finally there's Jacqueline Bisset. She is, quite simply, radiant. With her stylish beauty, her beauty-queen charm, and her lightning-rod energy, she absolutely walks off with the picture. Her smooth good looks and her volcanic sexiness positively dominate every scene she's in, easily heralding her breakthrough performance in her signature theatrical film The Deep (Fess up: Is there any one of us men who, when we look back on said picture, does not mightily drool at the memory of the opening when, while underwater, Bisset exposed her oh-so-succulent breasts?). Indeed, it's Bisset's Grasshopper portrayal that brings out this unarguable fact: Motion pictures were the most effective as a visual medium, when they entirely eschewed aesthetic considerations and presented luscious, well-bodied players who enchanted us with their vitality and their charm. It was the 1950s cinematic sexpot Ava Gardner who, in her classic personal/professional memoir, freely acknowledged, concerning her heyday: "I wasn't an actress--none of us kids at Metro [-Goldwyn-Mayer] were. We were just good to look at." In point of fact--and Bisset in Grasshopper abundantly proved this--pictures were at their best when they sidestepped artistic aspirations and simply gave us performers who "were...good to look at." (Television is, in the main, fantastically moronic. But the redemptive factor regarding it is that it's a visual medium. There's none of this crap about the director or about how some star "fell in love with the script." All that's necessary is to put Pamela Anderson or Carmen Electra or whoever on camera showing skin--or to put Kerry Washington on camera, period--and the battle is won) It was the fiercely-esteemed big-screen director Bruce Beresford who, in a forward to a compilation of picture reviews by a then-well-known critic, asserted: "I know it's not politically correct to say it...but...watching beautiful girls can do a lot to relieve tedium." It is "watching" Jacqueline Bisset, the "beautiful girl" of The Grasshopper, that "does a lot" to keep said picture from becoming "tedious." And how glad we are to have that specific "relief."

#1969 #jacqueline bisset #jim brown #the grasshopper #youtube #dreams #christine adams #Tommy Marcott #las vegas #l.a.#joseph cotten #Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson #jerry paris #used to be #vicki lawrence #the deep #ava gardner #Bruce Beresford

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