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whump-tr0pes · 4 years

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Honor Bound 4 - 21

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3.

AO3

Cw: immediate aftermath of lashing out at a loved one while in a dissoci@tive state, emesis mention, discussion about dissoci@tion, PTSD, death mention, conversation about comparing trauma, navigating loved ones with trauma, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mention of suicide attempt, allusion to mutual noncon

Vera slammed the door behind her as Finn guided her out into the yard, everything pitched a raw orange with the setting sun. Her chest was frozen, her throat spasmed shut, her lungs heaving at the sob that threatened to tear from her. She dragged her hands through her hair, knees shaking. Her stomach heaved until she thought she might vomit into the grass. She felt a shaking hand on her shoulder and lurched upright, her gaze finding Finn’s, desperate.

“She—” Vera choked and coughed on her own spit. “Sh-she—”

“She didn’t mean it,” Finn said stiffly, their hand still shaking.

“But she said it,” Vera hissed. “She… after everything she’s, she’s seen and heard, she still said, that, said that Joseph… Gavin…”

“I know,” Finn said. Their other hand went to her shoulder and they steadied her. “You know she didn’t mean it. She… a lot of us say things like that when we’re under.”

“She wasn’t under,” Vera snarled, and stepped out of Finn’s grip. “She said it herself.”

Finn pressed their lips together and pushed out a breath. “Vera…”

Vera heaved a sob and bent forward at the waist. She couldn’t… she couldn’t let it in, couldn’t let the feel of Joseph’s collar – not Colleen’s, they felt different – wrap around her throat again, couldn’t fall in, couldn’t let Tori be right, that Joseph had brainwashed her, and so had Gavin, so much so that she didn’t want to kill him, she wouldn’t, she…

Vera groaned and straightened up. No matter what Tori said, under or not, Vera knew Gavin hadn’t brainwashed her. She knew it. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t mean to, to take this out on… you…”

“You’re not,” Finn said, their voice high and strained with tears. “I know that. You’re just… upset, I know, and it’s not your fault…” They ducked into Vera’s line of sight. “And it’s not hers either. You know that.”

Vera tilted her head back, letting her tears run into her hair. The sun was almost setting behind the low hills, far in the distance across the lake, almost blocked by the trees that ringed the other side. She closed her eyes against the raw wave of pain that crashed over her, drowning her, tearing at her insides.

“She… What if she doesn’t want to be with me after this?” she whispered. It felt like a curse, speaking the words out loud, as if saying it would make it true.

Finn hung their head. “I…” They crossed their arms over their chest. “I can’t speak for, um, for Tori. But… we’ve all been so hurt, Vera. We all love… someone who’s been hurt. And… we find a way. We find a way to stay together.”

“But you don’t—”

Finn flinched and met her gaze. Their look was made only the more bitter by the shadow of acceptance, of bracing, of waiting for Vera to strike the blow. Vera bit down hard on her tongue to keep herself from saying it: you don’t understand because you weren’t hurt. No one laid a hand on you or Ellis. She shuddered. No one laid a hand on me in there, either.

Finn watched her expectantly. Vera swallowed hard and looked at the grass at her feet. “S-sorry,” she murmured.

Finn drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Vera… Isaac has almost killed people when he’s under. We all do bad shit, okay? We’ve all done bad shit because of pain.”

“But this is—”

Worse?

Vera’s jaw clenched as she looked at Finn. “You don’t.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. “I don’t… what?”

“You don’t do bad things because you’re in pain.”

Finn leaned back on their heels and bit their lip. “Um…” They glanced at the house. “My bad things are… are medical fuck-ups.” Vera could almost feel the weight of more words hanging on them.

Vera tried to crack a smile and it felt like a grimace on her lips. “And sometimes being a dick.”

“I’m… I’m an angel,” Finn said tightly, with a twisted smile. Slowly, it faded. “I also just… haven’t been hurt nearly as much as any of you.”

Vera jerked her head from side to side. “Finn. No. There’s no compar—”

“Yeah, no comparing,” Finn said bitterly. “I get that. But at some point there is the objective fact that I just haven’t been through as much as any of you.” They bit their lip and stared down at the grass.

Vera wanted to argue. She opened her mouth, but no words came. She let her mouth close.

She looked over the lake, where the clouds were fading to a warm purple. “Pain is relative,” she said finally, weakly.

Finn snorted. “Yeah, well…” They let out a gusty breath.

They stood in silence for a while as the light faded. Vera wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. Always shivering against the cold. Always longing for a blanket or a coat or a body next to her to ward it off. Always feeling the shadow of cement pressed against her bare skin if she was cold for long enough.

Finn drew in a deep breath and let it out through their lips. “Ellis… has a lot of pain.”

Vera looked at Finn steadily and waited for them to keep going. “Yeah,” she said softly after a while.

Finn’s eyes were clouded with tears. “And that’s okay. I love them, and they come with pain. That’s it. But…” They pulled their hands roughly through their hair. “I don’t know what I was going to say. It’s not like they’re ‘the damaged one’ and I’m ‘the hero who saves them.’ We’re both damaged. We’re both hurt. We all are. It’s just that sometimes…” Finn bit their lip and drew in a shaking breath. “…sometimes it hurts more than usual. And I don’t have any advice for when that happens. Sometimes I have to step away. Sometimes I have to step closer. And I don’t know what Tori needs right now.” They met Vera’s eyes. “Or what you need.”

Vera barked out a laugh, twisted with the tears that threatened. “I’d settle for a hug right now.”

Finn stepped forward and tugged Vera into a tight embrace.

Vera shuddered, her arms winding around Finn’s neck, clutching them hard. Her fingers twisted in their shirt. Her chest heaved. She ground her face into Finn’s shoulder and started to shake with painful, racking sobs.

Finn squeezed her tighter and swayed slowly with her, back and forth, back and forth. They gently rubbed her back as she gasped and wailed against Finn’s neck, her chest aching like a fist had closed on her heart and was slowly crushing it. She trembled and clung to Finn, clutching at them, hanging on like she was dangling over a cliff.

She felt wetness on her shoulder and realized Finn was crying, too.

Vera cried harder, great, open-mouthed sobs tearing from her one right after the other. Everything from the past three weeks crashed over her at once, every scream, every moment of watching Tori suffer, every moment where she heard Isaac or Sam or Finn cry and could do nothing about it. Every moment since they’d escaped weighed heavy on her, crushing her, every moment when she had to be strong for her family or they wouldn’t survive. Every moment where she’d carried Isaac as he fell apart, listened to Sam cry, felt Gavin’s hands on her throat as he tried to force her to take his life, all broke over her at once. Her lungs screamed at her as she struggled to draw a full breath.

“It’s okay,” Finn soothed. “It’s okay, Vera. We’re all safe now.”

“B-but… T-Tori, she, she, she got hurt, and I knew this would ha-happen and I, I let her come, I, I knew and I still… I was sup-posed to protect them and I didn’t, and I, I watched and, now she’s… she’s—” Vera was cut off with a racking cough. “She, no, she g-got hurt and now she’s, she’s gone and I’ll never ge-et her, her b-back and Isaac is, is s-so hurt and Gavin is, is, he’s asked me to kill him so many fucking times now—”

“What?”

“—and Sam… Sam…” Vera convulsed against Finn, dug her fingertips into their back until they winced. “S-Sam is, is, oh, god, Finn, they’re, they—” She dragged in a wheezing gasp. “They’re so fucking, h-hurt and I can’t stand to hear them cry and I’m so fucking glad I wasn’t here when they were screaming because I… I can’t fucking… take it!”

“I-it’s okay,” Finn murmured, shaking. “I took care of it.”

“I know,” she whimpered miserably. “I know you did. Th-thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” Finn said softly against her shoulder. They adjusted their arms where they were wrapped around Vera’s waist. “You s-said… you said Gavin has… asked you to, to kill him?”

Vera’s eyes fell shut, sending a cascade of tears down her cheeks. “Yeah,” she whispered.

She heard Finn’s throat working around a swallow. “…why?”

Vera huffed out a bitter exhale. “Because he thinks he deserves it,” she hissed. “He thinks… it’s all his fault. That he’s like his father, because of what he did to Isaac.”

Finn went still. “But he’s not—”

“It doesn’t matter what he is or isn’t,” she said through her teeth, opening her eyes and looking up at the sky, starting to twinkle with stars. “What matters is that Colleen broke him.”

“No, she didn’t,” Finn said soothingly. “She didn’t break him. He’s still Gavin. He still loves us. He almost died getting us out.”

A shiver passed over Vera’s shoulders and she pressed her mouth to her arm. “Gavin Stormbeck is dead,” she whispered against her sleeve.

Finn’s arms loosened around her and they stepped away, keeping one hand on her shoulder. “What?”

Vera’s mouth twisted. “Gavin Stormbeck is dead. He… I mean, we have to sell that, if we’re going to keep seeing Danny, but…” She shrugged jerkily. “It’s like he really did die. He’s not that person anymore. He’s… he really is Gavin Uriah now.”

“Names are powerful,” Finn said with a nod. They chewed their lip as they looked at Vera. “Why would we have to keep seeing Daniel?”

Vera scoffed and brought the neck of her shirt up to wipe her face. “Because he wants our help,” she sneered. After a moment, her expression softened. “He wants us to help him process the refugees that are going to be coming more often,” she said quietly. “He doesn’t have the manpower right now. And…” Vera shrugged, her shoulders slightly less tight. “I think it would be nice to… to help people without, um…” She wet her lips. “…giving so much.” She trailed off and wrapped her arms around herself, starting to shiver harder.

Finn nodded their head and crossed their arms over their chest. “That’s fair. And it sounds like we could really do some good with that. Even if we have to see—”

“—his royal motherfuckery—”

“—the mayor,” Finn laughed. “I honestly think it’s hilarious that not a single one of us likes him—”

“—not a single one,” Vera finished with a chuckle. The sky had faded to a dusky purple, with only a slash of pink on the horizon to show the sun had set. The moon had risen and was shimmering on the lake. Vera and Finn fell into a comfortable silence. She shivered again.

Finn glanced at her, then looked to the horizon with her. “You cold?”

Vera nodded. “Yeah. A little.”

“You want me to grab you a jacket?”

She shook her head. “Naw. I’m good. Thanks, though.”

“Okay.” Finn bit their lip, then looked back towards the house. “I can—”

“Go,” Vera said with a smile. “Go see Ellis. You two have a lot of time to catch up on.”

“No amount of time will be enough,” Finn said under their breath.

Vera’s lips quirked up, then turned down again as another wash of hurt and despair dragged at her mind like mud. She tried to hold back the tears that welled in her eyes.

“If you’re, um, okay…” Finn wet their lips, already leaning back towards the house. “I mean, if you—”

“Go on.” Vera jerked her chin at the house and tried her best to smile. “I’m good. Want to stay out here for a while.”

“If you, um…” Finn wrung their hands, awkwardly shifting their weight. “If you, um… want Ellis’s and my room tonight, we could… I mean, Ellis would probably be fine with it, we could sleep on the couches, it’s not—”

Vera held up a hand. “Thanks, Finn,” she said weakly, her voice wobbling. “If I need to, I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. But thanks for offering.”

Finn nodded and turned towards the house. “Yeah,” they murmured over their shoulder. They walked back to the house, their steps quickening until they disappeared inside.

Vera turned back to look over the lake, breathing deeply. If she doesn’t want to be with me anymore… If I let her get hurt too badly for her to want me… If she doesn’t trust me to keep her safe… She felt scraped hollow, empty, the raw edges of her hurt feeling enflamed and torn. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, letting the cold seep into her skin, cool the tears that ran slowly down her cheeks.

She heard the door to the house open behind her. She stiffened, every nerve as cold as ice. She wouldn’t let herself think it, wouldn’t let herself imagine… But it came to her mind anyway. This is where someone comes to tell me she doesn’t want me to come back. That maybe I should just sleep elsewhere for a while, maybe in the car, until she feels safe enough to see me again… The footsteps were drawing nearer.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned. She rocked forward with a sob as she saw Tori walking slowly towards her, her arms crossed across her chest, her face shrouded in darkness.

As Tori got closer, Vera’s heart dropped. Tori’s face was lit dimly by the moon and twisted in something that looked like grief, like shame. Her eyes were pleading, almost desperate, and shone with tears.

Vera was frozen where she stood, her lips numb and useless. She let her hands fall to her sides. Tori folded into her arms with a sob.

Continued here

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#honor bound 4 #whump #angst #recovery #HMS ToriVera #violence between family tw #violence against loved one tw #emesis mention tw #discussion of dissociation tw #PTSD tw #past captivity #death mention tw #comparing trauma tw #comfort #suicide mention tw #mutual noncon tw #Gavin Stormbeck is dead #my oc: Vera

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do-what-the-knight-tells-you · 5 years

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Broadchurch: The Short Story Collections Volume 2 Available over here This second volume contains another four short stories, also ostensibly intended 1 per episode, but they take place at very different times. I read them interspersed, (watch ep 5, read first story, watch ep 6, read etc), but it might be fun to read them in an actual chronological order during a re-watch.

1- “Protection”, Sharon Bishop (Joe Miller’s Lawyer), During the S2 trial, specifically the night following episode 5. Serious, heavy, dramatic insight into her character over the course of a terribly busy evening that includes a dinner invite with Jocelyn and the judge, and her romantic partner surprising her at The Trader’s. Plus lots and lots of phone calls. Very interesting.

2- “One More Secret”, Beth, halfway through episode 6, this starts the evening after Tom’s testimony, and continues about 24-36 hours. Insight on Beth, how she’s coping (and Chloe), how she reacts to learning Mark’s “last secret”, that he was gonna leave her... oh, and discussion on her relationship with Ellie.

3- “The Leaving of Claire Ripley”, Claire (who would eventually marry Lee Ashworth), 10ish years before S1 maybe? This is The story of who she was before him, a relationship she got into, what she thought she wanted, and how it all went sideways, eventually forcing her to run from consequences for the first time. Basically, how she ends up in the right town/place to meet Lee, and get embroiled in the Sandbrook mess... and without any support network but him. Very interesting, totally unexpected.

4- “Thirteen Hours”, Alec Hardy, pre Series 1, specifically, One Day before Series 1. Insight on Alec, before he meets Ellie, how he’s balancing Claire, his illness, and secrecy, in the new town, in the new job. Hint: Barely. 13 hours from his life, probably 20 hours before Danny would die. Basically, the last “normal” day before Danny’s body is found and all goes to shit. Poor Sucker.

I’ve included summaries, my notes, excerpts, reactions, and other Things Of Interest under the readmore. Again, these story volumes are interesting, short, and worth the read for me!

1. Sharon bishop- during trial Before episode... 4? What morning is it she drives to see her kid? Ah, she pulls the all-night drive and sees her kid in prison in EP 3, so this takes place the night after that day in court. No, wait, after he's beaten up, so, maybe after ep 5? About to head home from the trial. Gets a phone call from her... Partner? Boyfriend? "Darroll". Not Jonah's dad, I don't think. She gets asked to dinner with Jocelyn and the judge Oh fuck, he shows up at The Trader’s when she specifically told him not to. She forgets to change, and bails out of there back for the judge’s place. Still making phonecalls about Jonah bearing beaten up. God she’s stressed. I can practically feel the anxiety and nausea drip off the page. Man, her POV on Jocelyn is cruel. Specifically, that Jocelyn is perfect and privileged, and never missed/misses an opportunity to put her down. Man, Sharon fucking hates her. The judge makes a comment about Sharon being judge material in a few years, if she's interested, perfectly polite and congenial. Sharon turns it down, privately thinking that she likes the fight too much. Judge says she didn't think it was for her, either, until she suddenly found herself the first Asian woman. And even then, her dad was still disappointed. The whole conversation makes Sharon furious and resentful, of these smug women, their perceived privilege in comparison to her, the way she had to fight to build the ladder she climbed, the way she was never even expected to take A-levels, the way she had Jonah on a great track and it was "his kindness" that got him incarcerated and stuck on the "lowest rung" you can start on. "Sonia refills the glass; Jocelyn puts a hand over hers. ‘You must’ve had offers for the bench,’ Sonia says to Jocelyn, filling a new glass with sparkling water. Jocelyn’s eyes crinkle. ‘Too many other interests I would’ve had to give up.’ Sharon nearly chokes on her salmon. Jocelyn doesn’t have interests. She’s just trying to convince everyone – including herself – that her life has had any kind of meaning since she gave up work. Sharon makes a little coughing noise and Jocelyn looks at her sharply before turning back to Sonia. ‘I’m not good at impartial,’ she says, with a little shrug of false modesty." See, we know that Jocelyn quit because she was going blind. We know that she is regretful of the life, the love she felt she wasted. No way is she out (sexuality-wise), or I think Sharon might not be as furious with her privilege. Which, like, she definitely has, but Sharon is so tired and furious right now, she's equivocating the economic privilege Jocelyn undoubtedly has with "never having had to struggle or sacrifice for your job". We of course know and are sympathetic to how Hard Jocelyn had to work, probably one of the first women in her county/area to do what she did Every Time she did it. And we are sympathetic to the fact that she did that all while remaining closeted, and how miserable and hard that must have been... But Sharon doesn’t know some of that, and she’s too furious at the system, at economic privilege... and honestly, at herself, for having chosen to work so hard she missed things with her son. maybe things that led to this situation. Which she absolutely is blaming on the system, and not at all on anything else. And they have such bitterness between them, Jocelyn probs had been a little jealous, a little "oh yeah, wear your wound on your sleeve, get everyone to cry for you", secretly angry that she never "was brave" enough to come out. At least her protege never had to lie, could be honest about who and what she was. There is a lot of shit between them on the subject of race and gender and privilege and stuff (Jocelyn did specifically mention that the decision to take Sharon on as a protege was partly a diversity hire, to “get more women”. Sharon is furious at that comment. I don’t know enough about race relations in the UK to know how contentious the fact that Sharon’s black would be... but considering the judge is also non-white, and Sharon is furious with her too, it’s clear the primary contention is money, even if race is a casual condition). And pride. I totally believe (agree with Jocelyn’s assertion) that Sharon has an issue taking blame. It must always be someone else's fault. And she doesn't care about morality a bit. She says to herself it's because justice didn't work for her kid, but I get the vibe from Jocelyn that that shit was in place long, long before. "Now they’re getting closer, thinks Sharon. ‘Not good at impartial’ is nothing but a euphemism for the fact that Jocelyn Knight is a dyed-in-the-wool prosecutor, although being her, she’s got to dress it up as a higher calling. She likes the chase, that’s what it boils down to. She might as well come into court dressed in a bearskin dress and wave a spear about. But Sharon knows that working for the Crown makes Jocelyn feel good because she can always tell herself she’s fighting the good fight. She believes her own lies, and that’s what makes her so good at her job. Defence, now that’s where the real fight is. You’ve got to have balls to speak for a defendant, run the risk they might be guilty. To take all the shit from the press and public that comes with it.

“‘You do have to bite your tongue,’ Sonia admits. ‘Mind you, when I say something, people really bloody listen.’ Now that, Sharon likes the sound of. Instant respect. The kind she thinks Sonia and Jocelyn must take for granted. ‘Speaking of which, there’s something I need to say. Off the record. Because if this was official, we’d be in court, and you’d both be in the shit.’ Without raising her voice by a decibel, Sonia has managed to change her tone; if anything it’s smoother and calmer than before, and that’s more chilling than an angry rant. Sharon feels the blood banging in her cheeks and doesn’t risk looking at Jocelyn. ‘I heard your yelling halfway across the building, earlier,’ continues Sonia. ‘I’m presuming, since it hasn’t appeared on the Broadchurch Echo Twitter feed, that members of the press and public didn’t hear it, but that’s no thanks to either of you.’

“Caught red-handed; this morning’s angry words ring in Sharon’s ears and a schoolgirl shame burns like acid in her gullet. What could this mean for the case? For her career? Sharon is rarely lost for words but she can’t begin to talk her way out of this one. She feels like the walls of a maze are clanging down around her. Sonia’s still talking as the phone in Sharon’s pocket begins to vibrate. Without looking she knows it’s the prison governor. The call that will keep Jonah safe tonight is coming through now. Answer it, screams her conscience. Sonia’s voice is a burble in the background. Answer it. The twenty-year conflict between Sharon’s motherhood and her career feels condensed into these few seconds. Her skin feels too tight all over. She puts one hand in her pocket as if her fingertips could send the message for her: wait for me. Just give me one more minute. Sharon’s instincts tell her that even to break eye contact with Sonia Sharma right now would be professional suicide, never mind taking a phone call. The phone doesn’t ring for long: four, maybe five rings, before the caller hangs up. Sonia’s words come back into focus.

“‘I told you both at the start: professionalism and dignity,’ she says, still more head girl than headmistress. ‘Keep your personal rows out of this case or it’ll be a full-scale public bollocking. Got it?’ Sharon nods as she absorbs the gist: she’s got away with it, in the broadest sense. Where she ought to feel relief there is only a crashing sense of failure and loss. In the ensuing silence, she can hear the food she’s chewing turn over in her mouth, but she can’t swallow it. She’s just about to push back her chair when Sonia comes in with what she clearly thinks is an ice-breaker.

“‘So, you were her pupil?’ It’s a loaded question and Jocelyn doesn’t give Sharon a chance to answer. ‘I found her and brought her onto a scheme I was running to bring more women into the law. Particularly from underprivileged backgrounds.’

“Sharon explodes; too late, she sees the crumbs fly everywhere. ‘I was at Oxford by this point! She tells it like she pulled me out of the gutter.’ ‘She was the best I ever had. On course to be my Head of Chambers, if she’d stayed.’ It’s a reverse flip in the conversation. Sharon is so stunned that for a few seconds she forgets about the missed call. This is the first praise she’s ever had from Jocelyn Knight. She had always presumed the admiration flowed in one direction. Jocelyn let her go without a fight.

“Resentment boils inside her and she doesn’t trust herself not to come back with sarcasm or worse. Sonia’s seen her with the gloves off now and it cannot happen again. She excuses herself to use the bathroom – beautiful, hand-painted tiles, organic handwash, only the best for the judge’s residence – and she splashes water on her face, tells herself in the mirror to get a grip. She dials her voicemail with shaking hands. There’s a message, not from the governor but from his assistant, saying that they’re waiting for her to return their call. Sod etiquette, Sonia and Jocelyn can amuse themselves for a few minutes: Sharon hits redial but she is locked out by the engaged tone. She waits one minute, then tries again. She repeats this three times with the same result. She weighs up her options – hide in the toilet for god knows how long, or make her excuses and leave? It’s an easy decision.

“Back in the dining room, she realises there will be no need for excuses; the evening is already being wrapped up. ‘Thanks for a lovely supper,’ says Jocelyn, folding her napkin and getting to her feet. ‘But I should be getting back.’ Sonia leads her guests into the hallway. ‘No rest for the wicked.’ She nods through an open doorway to a study where case files are piled high on a table. They will all be working through the night.

“Back in the car, Sharon sets her phone to hands-free and hits redial repeatedly. She is on the dual carriageway that leads into Broadchurch when at last the line is free. Hope spikes then crashes with each unanswered ring. There is nobody there. She’s missed her window. And she doesn’t know where Jonah is sleeping tonight. Reality is a punch in Sharon’s guts. She can’t save Jonah. She’s trying to remote-control his life, when the brutal truth is that it’s been out of her control, and his, since he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong colour skin. The injustice of it burns. The miles between Sharon and Jonah seem to stretch out and then snap. The road swims before her, lights blurring to amber tadpoles against the black. Sharon pulls into a lay-by and bawls until her throat is sore and her eyes are gritty." Her partner is still at the hotel when she gets there, and I thought this section was particularly beautiful: "‘Oh, babe,’ and that’s all Darroll has to say. He places his knuckle on the point between her shoulder blades, the heart of the knot. He knows where her body keeps its secrets, and with his touch, she is undone. Afterwards, she waits until he has fallen asleep, as good as drugged. In these stolen hours the Traders hotel is as silent as it gets. No phones ring. Not a floorboard creaks, not a toilet flushes. There is only Darroll, the gentle rolling snore of him. Sharon is wired. Only four hours’ sleep in two days but she can’t remember feeling more awake. Darroll’s soothing effect is only temporary. It rushes through a drain and is replaced by thoughts of Jonah, his beaten-up face and a circle of thugs closing in on him." She gets up and back to research the appeal for Jonah's case. (God, she's working so hard there, so distracted from the Miller stuff, it really is a mark of how fucked the Broadchurch investigation was, or how ruthless and rule-break-y Sharon is, that her side ends up winning) "She has a career's worth of favors to call in, and she isn't too proud to do it." Determined as fuck, and unwilling to not succeed. Heck of a character. . 2. One more secret- Beth- during trial, partway through episode 6 (where Tom lies on the stand in Joe's defence), I think after Tom's testimony, that night, before Mark's She gets home, longest she's been away from Lizzie. "‘Where are my girls?’ she calls while her key’s still in the door. Chloe emerges from the sitting room, a puke-stained muslin cloth draped over each shoulder. Chloe’s dropped out of college but she can’t get a job until the trial’s over because Beth needs her for the childcare. If Beth can’t be with Lizzie, then it’ll have to be someone else who loves her. The baby needs to be with her own blood. The time spent with the baby seems to be helping Chloe, too. It’s taken her mind off her own problems; the spoiled GCSEs, losing her nan, and the break-up with Dean (who left Dorset for the chance to shear sheep in New Zealand, only telling Chloe the evening before his flight. Beth still can’t think about him without her hands balling into fists)." She has a meeting with a social worker who has come to check on her mental health, and she gets pissed and storms off, only realizing later than that that might have tipped them to the balance of thinking she's not a fit mother. She starts to think about the checklist they gave her and how to throw it so the social decide she's fit enough, not too depressed, to take care of her kid. Next morning is the Mark’s testimony. Where she learns that there's one last secret between them after all, the mystery of the unaccounted for hour in which he drove around, and then wrote her a letter saying he was leaving her. "And then suddenly there is someone at her side. Ellie is there, dropping to her knees. Their faces are level and Beth has been brought so low she will take comfort anywhere, even here. She collapses against her old friend. ‘It’s not Mark,’ says Ellie. Her eyes shine with tears that reflect Beth’s own. ‘It’s Joe, doing this to us.’

“‘Mark was going to…’ Beth can’t get the rest of it out. She lets Ellie cry with her and it feels so good, for the first time in ages, to lean on someone the same size as her. They stay locked like that. After a few minutes, they stop crying, pull apart and look at each other. There’s a strange, almost post-coital awkwardness in the air; for all the intimacy of their embrace, they’re still essentially estranged, both unsure how heavily they can tread.

“‘I’m so sorry about Tom,’ says Ellie. ‘He still doesn’t believe Joe did it.’ ‘Oh, God, no, I get it. Danny would’ve done the same.’ Saying his name changes the mood again; it brings them past embarrassment and into the hugeness of what has happened between them. Ellie meets Beth’s gaze head-on, still offering that unflinching apology and Beth understands, suddenly, that she will keep saying sorry for ever if that’s what it takes.”

[Oh god, she really would, wouldn’t she]

“Something inside her wants to draw back but there’s something stronger – a need to be understood, or perhaps the green shoots of forgiveness – that keeps her in the moment. ‘I didn’t know,’ she says. ‘About the letter.’ Ellie pulls a face. ‘I gathered that.’ Beth puts her chin on her knees and sighs deep. ‘You must want to beat the crap out of him.’

“‘I do, but it’s not just that.’ Beth hugs her knees tighter. ‘I’ve got this social worker on my back making me fill out this questionnaire to see if I’m going to top myself. As if I would, with Chloe and a new baby needing me. I’m like, don’t you think I’ve got enough shit to deal with without racing back from court to talk about my wellbeing?’ Ellie winces. Beth didn’t mean to throw a barb at her, but there’s no way around it. They can’t pussyfoot around this case, and if mentioning it hurts Ellie, well, that’s the way it’s got to be. Beth leans back against the cool wall of the stairwell.

“‘If I’m not depressed already then that’ll just tip me over the edge,’ she mutters, more for her own benefit than Ellie’s. ‘Stupid cow with her stupid drawn-on eyebrows.’ ‘Patricia Kennedy?’ Ellie wiggles her own eyebrows, but nervously, like she’s afraid to acknowledge the joke. ‘I’ve come across her before. She’s all right. She’ll only be worried about you.’ ‘Yeah, well, I feel persecuted. And I worry that they’ll … do something. Take her away from me.’ It’s the first time she’s said it out loud. ‘Why would they do that?’ says Ellie.

“‘Look at me,’ says Beth. ‘I can’t even look after myself.’ ‘Bollocks, you’re doing a brilliant job,’ says Ellie, in her old, no-nonsense way and it’s more reassuring than any platitude. Conversation grows louder in the atrium and the court doors start to swish open. Ellie gets to her feet.

“‘I need to find Tom,’ says Ellie. Her teeth are clenched in a grim determination that Beth recognises from their old lives. Tom’s in for the bollocking of his life. Beth watches her straighten up, and only when she sees her at her full height does she realise Ellie’s been stooping since this all kicked off. Ellie puts out her right hand, and for a moment Beth thinks she’s offering a formal handshake and the indignation surges again. Then, as Ellie’s set face begins to wobble, she realises she’s offering to pull her up to standing. Beth hesitates for a second but finds she doesn’t have it in her to snub the offer. Ellie’s hand is cold in hers, but her grip is tight. I’ve got you, it seems to say. The raw intimacy of it is too much, and Beth drops her hand as soon as she’s on her feet. It’s exhausting: the smallest gesture is so loaded.”

[Oh I ache for you two.]

“ ‘Right, then,’ she says, testing her legs. They seem to be holding her up. ‘I’m going back in, see what else Mark’s got to say.’ ‘You sure you’re up to that?’ asks Ellie, tilting her head to one side. ‘No,’ says Beth. Their smiles are tentative, feelers in the dark. But they don’t hug. It feels too soon for that." oh you poor girls.

She gets back home after kicking mark to the curb, only to find the bloody social worker waiting for her. Only...

"‘Just give it to me, then,’ says Beth, sitting opposite Patricia. ‘Give me the bloody questionnaire.’ Patricia smiles softly. ‘All in good time. Look, I’m sorry if I was insensitive, barging in on your trial time. We’ll work around you from now on.’ Beth brightens. ‘You mean you’ll discharge me?’

“‘No,’ says Patricia. ‘I still want to keep an eye on you. Not because I think you’re going to harm Lizzie, but because you are vulnerable, even if you don’t want to admit it. But I won’t come and see you every day while the trial’s ongoing. What I’ll do is check in every few days, and give you my mobile number. If you feel you’re not coping, there are options. Don’t be stubborn.’

“‘I’m not stubborn.’ Patricia raises her magnificent eyebrows and Beth finds a genuine laugh. ‘How come you changed your mind, then?’ she asks. Patricia closes the file on her lap and looks Beth in the eye.

“ ‘I had a call from a colleague who helped me see things from your perspective,’ she says. ‘Helen?’ ‘No,’ says Patricia. ‘Someone I worked with a while back.’ She starts to pack up her bag, putting her various sheaves of paperwork into compartments. On her way out of the door she turns and looks over your shoulder. ‘I won’t patronise you by pretending I understand what you’re going through,’ she says. ‘But you know, you’re not as alone as you think you are.’ Beth thinks she means because of Lizzie, and holds her tighter than ever. It’s only after Patricia has driven off that she realises who the old colleague was, and that she wasn’t talking about her daughter after all." And then, to conclude the chapter, "Without meaning to, she turns slowly in a half-circle to Ellie’s house. The light in the top bedroom is on and two figures move around inside. Tom is home. Jealousy swoops in, and Beth is too bitter to be happy for Ellie. That thought pulls her back to this afternoon at court, Ellie’s outstretched hand and how good it felt to take it. Beth fights the softening inside her. How can she accept friendship again? How can she trust? To survive the next twelve hours, the next few weeks, the rest of her life, she has to keep a force-field, like a shell, around herself and all her children. She turns her head away from Ellie’s house and looks up. The star that was shining so bright above her twinkles once, then disappears behind a cloud." Ugh, it's all so rough. I wanna wrap everybody in a soft blanket, Ellie, Beth, Alec, all the children, Maggie and Jocelyn, even mean Sharon and her poor kid. Wrap them up safe (and keep them out of the way while I off Joe Miller). . 3. The leaving of Claire Ripley- preseries, by a lot Takes place before claire and her husband meet. she's thirty or so, living with her grandma, more or less happy. In the town she was born in. Her friends are all getting married and having families-- she hasn't found the kind of man she wants to settle down with yet. She's looking for something more exciting than that.

She ends up dating a fellow who's kind of a small-time ecstasy dealer, but as she is more more successful at her salon and gets promoted, it makes him feel insecure.

One night he's selling more pills than normal, and she realizes that it's a cheap bad batch, gonna really hurt people, panics about how close she's been to the whole thing, ditches his pills, and runs away. For that, his family / employers put her grandma in the hospital. And tell her she has to leave town or else they'll do it again.

She tells her Grandma she's leaving, and her grandma gives her that pendant, the pendant she had been saving for her birthday. Claire thinks to herself that she's going to love that pendant out of both punishment and hope, and maybe one day give it to daughter of her own. Someone who really deserves it [again, reinforcing that she did care about Pippa, as much as she was able to care about anyone].

She finds that there's a woman selling a hair salon in Mercia, and she has just enough to buy that out of her savings from working salon in town, so she does, and she runs.

a week later she's on a plastic mattress, having forgotten to buy bedding, above the shop she now owns, bitterly ruing the day that she got in with the fella she got in with, and dreaming of a man she hasn't met yet. A strong man, an honest man, a man who works with his hands, a man muscular enough and sturdy enough to carry her upstairs throw her in bed and love her like she wants to be loved. Short, but kind of a wild ride. . 4. Thirteen hours- Alex Hardy- 17 July 2013 The day before Ellie gets back from vacation. (Or, comes back to work). The day before Danny is killed. Fuk. Hardy wakes at the traders, he's been there ten days. He takes his meds to settle his heart. "Hardy looks out over Broadchurch. Those huge cliffs everyone keeps telling him to go and look at glow amber in the distance; the sea is the same pale blue. He doesn’t like horizons. They make him feel agoraphobic, like nothing’s got edges, like everything could spill everywhere. “Now that the seagull’s gone, it’s too quiet. There is no noise apart from the chink and ting of breakfast things being laid out downstairs. You get the wrong kind of noise in the countryside. Hardy thrives on the white noise of the built environment, the comforting rumble of an A-road in the distance. He salivates at the thought of the hotel’s eggs Benedict but knows he should eat the wholegrain cereal in the dispenser, even though he’ll be charged the same price. What a waste, and a waste of police money, too. But that’s all to the good; it’s his own money he should be worrying about. Between the maintenance he pays Tess and Daisy and his other, secret expenses, he’s sliding into the red. Time now is measured in pounds and pennies as well as hours and days. “How much money he'll spend, how many nights he'll sleep in the traders..." It all depends on how quickly he can break Claire Ripley. This short story lays out the situation. Lays out his arrangement with Claire, it lays out the fact that he's doing this to punish himself and to solve the case and he doesn't feel like he can go home until he has done that. Much in the same way that, in the first collection of short stories, Ellie realized she couldn't go home to her actual house in Broadchurch without Tom, without Joe's case being done. The references to his physical state are just... He's drowning. It's so jarring after watching him halfway healthy at the end of series 2 finale. "Alec Hardy's heart skips a beat it can't afford to miss." "He's maybe half a mile from Claire's house, but the walk would ruin him for the rest of the day, and he needs the driver to get them back to Broadchurch." Something strange happened with Claire's phone, and now he's late to his shift, risking the only thing he has left, his career. "Someone behind them sounds their horn... Jolting him from anxiety into panic, and he has one of those micro crisis that happens two or three times a day now. He hasn't got time for this. What the hell is he doing? he was so sure this setup was the only way to save his sanity, but he now realizes it's just as likely to destroy it. it has put his career on the line again, and God knows his career is all he has left, now." Turns out, not that she admits to it but he puts together the pieces from observing, that Claire had herself a little tantrum and threw her phone and broke it. He's a little bit pleased by this, because it's the opportunity he needs to be able to get her a phone that he's paying for that he can monitor, under the guise of it being safer and more secure. he talks about the fact that she is suspicious, and he knows she's holding something back, that she is never the same person twice when he comes by, vacillating between very young, innocent, flirty, pouty, angry, blank.... He told her he'll be back by lunchtime with a new phone for her. " 'I've got to go, I do have another job apart from you.' “Claire nods, and Hardy wonders if she realizes just how loaded that statement is. Does she realize that she has the power to land him in the shit? Does she know what a huge transgression he has made? what he's doing is not a secret you could dump on anyone, not even your most trusted colleague. And D I Alec Hardy has no mates in Broadchurch nick." Then he heads back to the office. (there is a newspaper clipping up in the kitchen at the office, the headline is something like "copper run's 10K for charity", and it's Ellie dressed as a Bee doing a 10km fun run. just FYI. This is a thing that happened.)

Basically the whole story is just one shit-ass day in Hardy's life. His prescription runs out and he has to get a renewal, and ends up having to go pretty far abroad to get that renewal, Claire leaves the house to go get a phone herself and he catches wind when he goes to buy her a new phone and the guy mentions that someone have been there trying to do the same thing. Basically it just involves him traveling the city, fielding phone calls from one of the other detectives about some boys who stole some charity shop tins. He ends up successfully solving the case, nearly dying because of missing his medication, and ends the story worried that his boss is on to him already, that Claire will not behave right, and that today heralds Bad Things for his time in Broadchurch.

But he convinces himself today is just a blip, tomorrow they will charge some hoodlums with stealing Charity money from shops, and nothing more dramatic could possibly happen unless things get real violent at the egg and spoon race at field day at the school. He's exhausted, but he knows everything else to be done can be put off till tomorrow. Tomorrow will be better.. Oh you poor bastard.

That’s all, and I think that’s the last of the broadchurch-associated Official Publications.

(But also I’m high-key tempted to accquire the three-season box set and scour the cast interviews and commentaries and deleted scenes for additional stuff. because I have no chill over these people, apparently)

#Broadchurch #broadchurch resources #and in case readmore is still broken #long post

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eddycurrents · 4 years

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For the week of 28 October 2019

Quick Bits:

Afterlift #1 is a digital original from Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Paris Alleyne, and Aditya Bidikar. Very interesting concept here playing with a character who drives for a Lyft analogue in Cabit, leading to becoming a rather unique courier.

| Published by Jams & Jellies

Batman Annual #4 actually gives us many adventures and stories as we go through almost two months’ of diary entries of Batman’s exploits from Alfred, as told by Tom King, Jorge Fornés, Mike Norton, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. It’s a nice way to pack a lot of story into this annual in a fairly unique way, while also showcasing just how busy Batman really is.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Panther #17 sets up for the next confrontation with N’Jadaka and his forces, also giving us a rather...awkward but interesting conversation between Storm and Nakia. Gorgeous art from Daniel Acuña.

| Published by Marvel

Bloodshot #2 continues the balls to the wall action as Bloodshot and the Black Bar conflict escalates, from Tim Seeley, Brett Booth, Adelso Corona, Andrew Dalhouse, and Dave Sharpe. It’s a bit of a throwback to a more action-oriented style, but it definitely works for Bloodshot. A nice change of pace to give a variety of storytelling.

| Published by Valiant

Conan the Barbarian #10 spins us the twins’ yarn as they plotted their revenge on Conan, from Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham. The art from Asrar and Wilson is gorgeous. The backstory building up to last parts of this story and the fate of Conan is gripping.

| Published by Marvel

Contagion #5 brings an end to this series from Ed Brisson, Adam Gorham, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit. Gorgeous and creepy art here from Gorham and Gandini.

| Published by Marvel

DCeased #6 is surprisingly hopefully, even as everything dies and everybody hurts. It appears to be setting up a sequel, though likely to be incredibly bleak. Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Neil Edwards, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte conclude this series in epic fashion as we say goodbye to Earth.

| Published by DC Comics

Death’s Head #4 is another ending to a series this week, from Tini Howard, Kei Zama, Felipe Sobreiro, and Travis Lanham. Some very nice character work here for Death’s Head and Vee.

| Published by Marvel

Doctor Strange Annual #1 gives us a pair of tales. The lead from Tini Howard, Andy MacDonald, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit is a fun Halloween story dealing with the spirits haunting the Sanctum Sanctorum. Any art from MacDonald is a treat. The back up is a bit more deadly serious with Pornsak Pichetshote, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Sean Parsons, José Villarrubia, and Petit revealing a failsafe should Strange go rogue.

| Published by Marvel

Ether: The Disappearance of Violet Bell #2 continues to be incredibly inventive as Boone tries to track down the assassin. David Rubín’s art is absolutely amazing. And Boone’s continued inability to really think about anyone other than himself is telling.

| Published by Dark Horse

Excalibur #1 is another tick in the win column for “Dawn of X”. The X-Men dabbling in magic isn’t common, but Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit do so with amazing flair, fittingly taking us in through Otherworld, Captain Britain, and Betsy Braddock. Apocalypse’s new incarnation as “ •|A| •” and his newfound interest in magic is fascinating.

| Published by Marvel

Five Years #5 spotlights Zoe’s rather elaborate imagination for coming up with ways to murder people. Granted, the Russian agent may well deserve it, but still... Terry Moore continues to deliver some unexpected twists as the end of the world inches closer.

| Published by Abstract Studio

Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1 is a one-shot finale special from John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. It picks up roughly a year from the end of the series, dealing with why Esther has been missing from their reunions. It’s full of all of the humour that we’ve been used to and hammers home the power of friendship. Also, it gets very, very weird.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Harleen #2 works hard to portray Harley’s seduction by the Joker. Stjepan Šejić and Gabriela Downie portray it as an insidious, manipulative thing. It might appear romantic on the surface, but there’s definitely a darkness there. There are ideas of bringing back a monster from the edge of insanity, but the story makes you realize that some may well be beyond hope.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Hellboy and the BPRD: Long Night at Goloski Station might well be the best of these new format tales yet, and both of the previous ones were incredibly strong. Here Mike Mignola, Matt Smith, Dave Stewart, and Clem Robins deliver a single issue story building on Hellboy’s confrontation with Baba Yaga, Sir Edward Grey, and demons.

| Published by Dark Horse

Invisible Kingdom #6 begins the second arc, “Edge of Everything”, as the crew first try to find food and fuel and then run afoul of a salvage ship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano keep things interesting as we start to see the crew’s life after Lux.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Invisible Woman #4 is disturbing, basically everything goes to hell and everyone that Sue was trusting to see this operation through has let her down. Or worse. Mark Waid, Mattia De Iulis, and Joe Caramagna set up a rather horrifying situation in this penultimate chapter. Again, De Iulis’ artwork is stunning.

| Published by Marvel

Joker: Killer Smile #1 is essentially a psychological horror from Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Jordie Bellaire, and Steve Wands. It comes from the point of view of a psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Arnell, who is trying to get to the heart of Joker’s mental state. It’s not going so well and it appears like the good doctor is losing time, doing strange things, and possibly worse. Very intriguing beginning to this story.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Knights Temporal #4 has some stunning artwork from Fran Galán, particularly during the gangster sequences where colour comes into play as another important storytelling element. There are some very nice twists this issue, making you wonder about a lot of what we thought we knew.

| Published by AfterShock

The Last God #1 is dark fantasy done right by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, Sunny Gho, Dean White, Tom Napolitano, Steve Wands, and Jared Blando. It gives us lying kings, heroes who weren’t rightly heroes, and a Lovecraftian terror returned to show the truth. It plays deep on resentment and distrust, and of a complete failure of institutions to uphold a decent society. All with absolutely stunning artwork from Federici, Gho, and White. This is a beautiful, haunting work.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Last Stop on the Red Line #4 is very, very weird. We get a peek behind the masks of the monsters and it’s even stranger. There’s a very interesting mix of symbolism and the supernatural where we’re really not sure where one begins and the other ends. This was a very unique series from Paul Maybury, Sam Lotfi, and Adam Pruett.

| Published by Dark Horse

Mall #3 goes even harder into inter-faction warfare as it seems like all of the groups are at one another’s throats. Great world-building here from Michael Moreci, Gary Dauberman, Zak Hartong, Addison Duke, and Jim Campbell, with some interesting plot developments.

| Published by Vault

Manor Black #4 concludes the series as we see what essentially amounts to order vs. chaos as the old blood takes on wild magic. This doesn’t feel so much as a conclusion as an end to a chapter of a wider arc, leaving much unresolved. Hopefully we see more. The artwork from Tyler Crook is phenomenal.

| Published by Dark Horse

Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #1 is really damn good. Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Leonard Kirk, Guru-eFX, and Travis Lanham kick off this series with a new angle on the Marvel Zombies, playing up more on the horror angle, with a truly terrifying spread of the disease through a new vector. Gorgeous artwork from Kirk and Guru-eFX.

| Published by Marvel

Monster Planet #1 is the kind of thing that you used to see regularly published by Image and Top Cow, the military action comic that throws in horror elements, from Joe Brusha, Marcelo Mueller, Maxflan Araujo, and Taylor Esposito. It’s not bad, setting up a world where humanity has been turned into dinosaur-like beasts and the remnants of society need to turn to classical monsters for help.

| Published by Zenescope

The Necromancer’s Map #3 takes a bit of a different approach, giving us a fair amount of action as Tristan’s Will catch up with Bethany and co. as well as some great character building in between the action. Great stuff from Andrea Fort, Michael Christopher Horn, Sam Beck, Ellie Wright, and AndWorld Design.

| Published by Vault

The Plot #2 is wonderful horror storytelling from Tim Daniel, Michael Moreci, Joshua Hixson, Jordan Boyd, and Jim Campbell. Very creepy build of supernatural events once Chase Blaine and his family arrive back at his ancestral home. Hixson and Boyd’s presentation of the black, gooey masses are also disturbing.

| Published by Vault

Queen of Bad Dreams #5 concludes this excellent series from Danny Lore, Jordi Pérez, Dearbhla Kelly, and AndWorld Design. Rather interesting confrontation with and revelations about Eleanor Chase here.

| Published by Vault

Red Goblin: Red Death #1 is a one-shot featuring three stories set during Norman Osborn’s tenure as the Red Goblin at the end of Dan Slott’s run on Amazing Spider-Man. It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t instead tie-in with current events in Absolute Carnage, but it’s not bad for what it is. The art of the first two stories from Pete Woods is great.

| Published by Marvel

Relics of Youth #2 is even better than the first issue, delving deeper into the mysterious tattoos that the kids have been branded with and their connection to the island that they’ve landed on within the Bermuda Triangle. Matt Nicholas, Chad Rebmann, Skylar Partridge, Vladimir Popov, and AndWorld Design are telling a very compelling adventure here.

| Published by Vault

Roku #1 begins another mini-series focusing on one of the luminary villains in the Valiant Universe, this one from Cullen Bunn, Ramón F. Bachs, Stéphane Paitreau, and Dave Sharpe. It’s full of action and intrigue as Roku is hired by an unknown client to retrieve...someone. Things get more interesting as a new face stands in her way and we find out the unusual nature of the target.

| Published by Valiant

The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer #1 is a homecoming of sorts for John Constantine, back to his old haunts alongside some of the other Vertigo corner of the DC Universe. Si Spurrier, Marcio Takara, Cris Peter, and Aditya Bidikar spin a yarn that reconstitutes John after a massive magic war led by an evil Tim Hunter. How exactly the pieces fit are anyone’s guess, but it’s a brilliant darker take resetting him here.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label / The Sandman Universe

Savage Avengers Annual #1, though largely a self-contained story, is still integral to Conan’s adventure through the Marvel universe and the overall narrative as he, Hellstorm, and Black Widow stumble across a human trafficking ring that bears the marks of Kulan Gath. Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and Travis Lanham deliver a compelling story.

| Published by Marvel

SFSX #2 does further world and character building, showing us just how much has changed since the Party took over, and how utterly betrayed many of the people from the Dirty Mind felt of Avory abandoning them. Very interesting stuff from Tina Horn, Michael Dowling, Chris O’Halloran, and Steve Wands.

| Published by Image

Silver Surfer: Black #5 concludes what has been a very trippy series from Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. There are some very interesting revelations of the past here, and it really makes you wonder about the Surfer’s new incarnation.

| Published by Marvel

Star Pig #4 concludes the series, kind of, from Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee. There’s some rather disturbing tentacles in this one.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #5 brings an end to this round of the series. I think it’s a perfect approach for some all ages “ghost stories” within the Star Wars universe. Wonderful resolution for the framing story from Cavan Scott, Francesco Francavilla, and AndWorld Design.

| Published by IDW

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Death of Superman #1 is the second of these one-shots spotlighting DC events gone horribly wrong, this time giving us a much angrier Lois Lane’s grief at the loss of Superman to Doomsday. Jeff Loveness, Brad Walker, Drew Hennessy, Norm Rapmund, John Kalisz, and Clayton Cowles present her as vengeance against a world that didn’t deserve Superman’s grace, raising some of the questions that you’d often see in The Authority. Only, you know, kind of evil. It’s not bad, but definitely dark.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #99 is the extra-sized penultimate chapter of “City at War” as all of the pieces begin falling into place for the grand finale. The story here from Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee feels truly epic and that something huge may just happen next issue. As it is, there’s still a ton of action here, some interesting developments with the Rat King, more disappointment when it comes to Raph, and something new with the mutagenic bomb.

| Published by IDW

Test #5 is very strange. Christopher Sebela, Jen Hickman, Harry Saxon, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou end this story as Aleph and Laurel find one another and a new way is planted, but there’s still seeds of something going awry.

| Published by Vault

Venom #19 largely plays out the end bits for the Maker and Dylan’s portions of Absolute Carnage, with some very interesting revelations. It seems like even bigger seeds are being lain for future stories here. Great art from Iban Coello and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Witchblade #16 gives us the fight between Alex and Haley, after a few distractions and discursions. The stakes are pretty high here and there are a few rather tense moments as it plays out. Beautiful art from Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valenza.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Wonder Woman Annual #3 is largely a flashback tale, set five years ago as Wonder Woman and ARGUS attempt to extract an agent sent to infiltrate Gorilla City to see the legitimacy of Grodd’s rule. What Steve Orlando, V. Ken Marion, Sandu Florea, Hi-Fi, and Pat Brosseau do with is establish a new backstory and interpretation for a very old Wonder Woman foe in a fairly interesting way that even ties in to Event Leviathan. It may strain a bit of credibility for the villainous turn, but that will largely depend on the follow-up.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Archie 1955 #2, A Basketful of Heads #1, Batman and the Outsiders Annual #1, Chrononauts: Futureshock #1-4, Dead Man Logan #12, Fantastic Four: Grand Design #1, Fight Club 3 #10, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #13, Ironheart #11, James Bond 007 #12, Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance #2, Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Alliance #4, Jughead’s Time Police #5, Kick-Ass #18, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #44, Rick & Morty #55, The Ride: Burning Desire #5, Runaways #26, Star Trek: Year Five #7, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Annual #3, Star Wars Adventures #27, Superior Spider-Man #2, Tremor Dose, Warlord of Mars Attacks #5

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man: Red Goblin, Amber Blake - Volume 1, Black Science - Volume 9: No Authority But Yourself, Deadpool - Volume 3: Weasel Goes to Hell, Dept H. Omnibus - Volume 3: Decompressed & Lifeboat, Dick Tracy Forever, Hit-Girl - Volume 5, Jimmy’s Bastards - Volume 1: Year One, Lucifer Omnibus - Volume 1, Marvel Action: Spider-Man - Book 2: Spider-Chase, Punk Mambo, Spider-Gwen: Gwen Stacy, Star Trek: The Q Conflict, Symbiote Spider-Man, Thor - Volume 3: Wars End, Tony Stark: Iron Man - Volume 3: War of the Realms, Vamps: The Complete Collection, War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men, The Wild Storm - Volume 4

d. emerson eddy feels like stale, day old pepperoni pizza.

#This Week in Comics

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lilithderayne · 6 years

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Ten Songs Playlist Tag

Like both @notanotherhour and @deadlyessencewhispers, (I was tagged by both of you, thank you) I don’t have a specific playlist for any of my WIPs, but I do have a playlist for when I am writing. Thus, a lot of my scenes and characters are influenced by these songs. So here we go. I’m restraining myself just to The Others Book #1, because #2 could get...odd.

Adding a “keep reading” CUZ FAM THIS GOT LONG.

Tagging @qchromanite, @undinisms, @mellow-stories, @ruins-of-gold, @silas-fenderson, and anyone else who wants to!

1. Ariana Grande-God is a woman

I'll tell you all the things you should know So, baby, take my hand, save your soul We can make it last, take it slow, hmm And I can tell that you know I know how I want it But you different from the rest And boy, if you confess, you might get blessed See if you deserve what comes next I'm tellin' you the way I like it, how I want it

I think we all know that this is Bane, Caleb and Divinity. Those kinky little shits worship the ground she walks in. She is as close to god as they can believe in.

2. Lorde-Magnets

Never really felt bad about it As we drank deep from a lie Cause I felt melting magnets babe The second I saw you through half-shut eyes

Okay this is a spoiler I’ve never given, only hinted at with Divinity’s last names, but...Nathaniel Gray and Divinity. Just sayin’ fam.

3. Lindsey Stirling & Peter Hollens-Skyrim

There are no lyrics, well not in English or that I could spell, but it’s just a really good action and battle song. I listened to it and others when I wrote the final boss battle between Marcus’ army and Divinity’s army.

4. Two Steps From Hell-Victory

Omg yay so this is another lyricless song but again it is SO. FUCKING. GOOD. ORGASM FOR THY EARS. I listened to this too, while writing the final battle.

5. Ellie Goulding & Kygo-First Time (R3hab Remix)

We were lovers on a wild ride Speeding for the finish line Come until the end of our time, yeah Started off as a wildfire Burning down the bridges to our empire Our love was something they could admire, yeah

.........Fuck I’m not even gonna go there. I’m not going to cry over my own characters. Suffice to say, there’s a certain pairing this makes me think of.

6. Selena Gomez-Wolves

Your fingertips trace my skin To places I have never been Blindly I am following Break down these walls and come on in

I wanna feel the way that we did that summer night Drunk on a feeling, alone with the stars in the sky

Same couple as before.....whom shall remain unmentioned. I’M SORRY.

7. Evanescence-Lies

Honestly, the whole song is just pure Darkling. But I choose these lyrics, even though the whole thing is just...perfection. And dark as fuck.

You will never be strong enough You will never be good enough You were never conceived in love You will not rise above They'll never see I'll never be I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger Burning deep inside of me

8. Xandria-Nightfall

Here it comes, the story of mankind´s final glory Into the nightfall The showdown now has come, this will be the last curtain Before the Night falls We are rising higher, closer to the fire Let the final dance begin

This fits Book #2 a bit better but I listened to a lot of Xandria through all my WIPs so... Another Marcus vs. Divinity song.

9. Danny Lohner-Death Dealer’s Descent (from the Underworld soundtrack)

No words, but a badass song. Always helps me write those boss-protagonist-strutting-into-battle scenes.

10. Halsey-Hold Me Down

I sold my soul to a three-piece And he told me I was holy He's got me down on both knees But it's the devil that's tryna Hold me down, hold me down Sneaking out the back door, make no sound Knock me out, knock me out Saying that I want more, this is what I live for

Well that ended on a dark note... probably a Divinity song just because...well, Divinity backstory.

#writing tag #tag game #writeblr #writeblr community #The Others

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gokinjeespot · 4 years

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off the rack #1297

Monday, January 20, 2020

We got sunshine and blue skies after the recent snow storm so I went for a walk Sunday afternoon. No one else was out on Alta Vista Drive because the sidewalks were not cleared of snow. I appreciated the stretches that were cleared by kind-hearted home owners but they were few and far between. The graders had cleared the roads leaving snow banks at each intersection. Some of them were waist high so the trip home was more of a struggle. Still and all, it was nice to feel the sun on my face.

Avengers #29 - Jason Aaron (writer) Ed McGuinness & Paco Medina (pencils) Mark Morales, Ed McGuinness & Paco Medina (inks) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). We get closer to the Starbrand being reborn. It's going to be a big surprise what comes out of the birth. I'm glad they gave Mini Man-Thing a name. the War Widow however can be packed away after this story ends.

Legion of Super-Heroes #3 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ryan Sook & Travis Moore (pencils) Travis Moore & Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Jordie Bellaire (colours) A Larger World's Troy Peteri (letters). I liked the Justice League by Kevin Maguire tribute cover for this issue. Jon is all excited to bring Damian to the 31st Century to join the Legion but that's not allowed for a mysterious reason. This is why I hate time travel. I hope this book sticks to the mystery of Aquaman's trident for the rest of this arc.

The Red Mother #2 - Jeremy Haun (writer) Danny Luckert (art) Ed Dukeshire (letters). This story about a woman who sees monsters is really weird but the art is so nice that I just have to read it.

Runaways #29 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Andres Genolet (art) Dee Cunniffe (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I don't know why, but I really noticed how nice the art was this issue. Nothing much going on storywise with the kids going around LA fighting crime with Doc Justice. There is a hint to what their benefactor has up his sleeve and things may not be as nefarious as I thought.

Valkyrie #7 - Al Ewing & Jason Aaron (writers) Pere Perez (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The Doctors are in. They're on a mission to save Death from dying. Seems paradoxical but Al and Jason make sense of it all. I liked how Death was depicted like one of the Endless from Sandman along with the shrouded figure that Thanos dated.

Archie #710 - Mariko Tamaki & Kevin Panetta (writers) Laura Braga (art) Matt Herms (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). Part 1 of Archie and Katy Keene introduces a Katy Keen for 2020. She sure looks different from the original fashionista from 1945. I wonder when they'll insert a cut-out doll?

The Batman's Grave #4 - Warren Ellis (writer) Bryan Hitch (art) Alex Sinclair (colours) Richard Starkings (letters). This is a very quick read with a lot of action and very little dialogue. I don't even know where this story is going. I just like seeing Alfred in a major role again.

Jessica Jones: Blind Spot #1 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Mattia De Iulis (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's so nice to see Ms. Jones back on the racks and being lovingly taken care of by an excellent creative team. The writing is solid and the art is gorgeous. It looks like Jess is being framed for murder and the shocking last page rivals any cliffhanger that Brian Michael Bendis ever did. Definitely putting this book on my "must read" list.

Iron Man 2020 #1 - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers) Pete Woods (art) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I am not going to mince words here. This is terrible. The only good thing I can say is that I liked the art but it's wasted on this new concept of the character. I can't believe two of my favourite writers came up with this crap. Tony Stark is dead, again. Ho-hum. Already been done. Tony's "brother" Arno Stark is now in the suit. Who thought that the giant cogs at the shoulder joints were a good idea? The new armour looks ridiculous. Then you've got Tony's old nemesis Sunset Bain taking over his company. So the bad guys have taken over. Nothing new there either. The kicker for me is the main conflict of this book. Arno and Sunset are fighting an Artificial Intelligence revolt lead by Machine Man. It's just a bad "I Robot" rip-off. There's going to be a mess of tie-in books connected to this one and I'm going to save my time and not read them based on the bad taste in my mouth left by this comic book.

Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1 - Frank Tieri (writer) Angel Unzueta (modern day art) Guillermo Sanna (flashback art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I'm surprised by how much I like this story. The monstrous history of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane is cool and the team-up of Misty Knight, Wilson Fisk, Mr. Fantastic and Werewolf by Night (surprise!) is really neat. The Wolverine cover may just be a ploy to get you to buy this book but I think you'll be happy with what's inside if you do.

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jeremystrele · 5 years

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How Can Your Business Give Back?

Small Business

Fiona Killackey

Members of the Who Gives A Crap team in their Collingwood office. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Co-founder and CEO Simon Griffiths. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

‘If you do good you’ll be held to a higher standard than your competitors! ‘ tells Simon. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Who Gives A Crap launched on crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo in 2012. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Every June the business makes its annual donation, which usually means its bank accounts go from full to empty overnight! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

It gives 50% of profits to build toilets and has provided $1.8 million to charities to date. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

TIPS FOR BUILDING A BUSINESS THAT GIVES BACK

1. Know your why

What’s the reason your business exists? What’s the long-term impact or legacy you wish to create? Knowing this is the first step in working out how your business can give back and the best possible charities or causes you will support. Perhaps you wanted more flexibility in your life after becoming a single parent, or perhaps you felt there was a gap in the market for a more ethically produced product. Maybe you were influenced by trauma in your past or perhaps you wanted to build something that would enable minority groups to have more of a voice. Whatever your why is, uncover it, understand it, share it and ensure however you choose to give back aligns with it.

2. Research the contenders

When it comes to charity partnerships, rushing in can cause long-term confusion for your customers, and financial loss for the business. Do your research. Is the charity you wish to partner with stable? Who else do they work with and how does your business align? What support (content, reporting, field trip access) can they give? How transparent is their practice (will your customers be able to genuinely see how their money has impacted the planet/people)? How do their business goals align with your own? Ideally, you want to forge a long-term partnership that’s beneficial to both parties.

3. Understand the numbers

The amount you may wish to donate or give back may not match the reality of your sales. Go in too large and you may be left financially vulnerable, go in too low and you may not be able to make the impact you desire. Ask youself, what does this figure look like today, and what does it look like five years from now? Is it sustainable? Work with an accountant or CFO to crunch the numbers so your donation and/or partnership makes sense and won’t leave your business open to instability. And remember, you can start small then scale as your business does. Giving back doesn’t always have to mean going big!

4. Invest in your brand

Thank You began purely as a water business, before offering additional product categories. This was only possible because they had invested in building a strong brand and loyal audience, who were devoted to the overall cause – “life-changing products” – rather than one specific product (water). Consider your messaging: is it about the people and the vision behind the brand or does it focus too heavily on one product line? If you were to pivot how would your customers react? A strong business is one that is able to carry their audience with them as they grow and adapt (even if that means dropping or changing offerings).

5. Walk the talk

If you’re aligned with a charity to empower women through education, what training and education opportunities do your own staff have access to? If you’re working with an environmental cause, how does your workplace wastage stack up? Well before launching any marketing or media around giving back, ensure you’re ‘walking the talk’ when it comes to your own business practices and processes. Aligning with a charity or cause will magnify scrutiny of your business, and you must be ready to answer any and all questions that your customers – and the media – will have.

Fiona Killackey is a business consultant, author, and mentor for My Daily Business Coach. You can sign up to her weekly email full of small biz insights and tips here or purchase her new ebook, all about having a great business year here.

The Who Gives A Crap team (left to right): Tim Baxter, senior growth marketing manager; Megan Olney, head of customer experience; Simon Griffiths, co-founder and CEO; Tim Jacob, financial controller; Phil King, head of sales; Ellie Smith, head of people and culture; and Zoey Hopkins, inventory planning analyst. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

IN PRACTICE: WHO GIVES A CRAP

Since launching on crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo in 2012, Who Gives a Crap has become a household name, with their toilet rolls, tissues and paper towels stocked in homes, restaurants and hotels across the globe. Created by Melbourne trio Simon Griffiths, Jehan Ratnatunga and Danny Alexander, the business gives 50% of profits to build toilets and has provided $1.8m to charities to date. We sat down with Simon to discuss the brand’s vision, advice he would give to others just starting out, and why financial acumen is crucial when building a business that gives back.

Who first inspired you to create a social enterprise?

Who Gives A Crap is all about impact – we’re on a mission to show that businesses (and our customers and staff!) can have a huge positive impact on the world by making better decisions. Who Gives A Crap’s main inspiration are the 2.3 billion people across the world who don’t have access to a toilet. That’s roughly 40% of the global population and means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation – that’s more than 700 children per day, or one child every two minutes. I wanted to start a forest-friendly toilet paper company that donates 50% of its profits to help to improve access to basic sanitation, hygiene and clean water in the developing world.

How do you balance profit and business viability with giving back?

Our goal has always been to have as much impact as possible, so we structured the business to ensure we’re able to grow quickly (as growth ultimately means more impact), while maximising our donations along the way. When we started, we had a decision to make: donate a small amount of profit, donate 100%, or somewhere in-between. Donating 100% of profits can significantly impede a business’ ability to grow, while donating 10% or less might have meant it would take a long time to have any meaningful impact. We decided that 50% was the perfect number – it allowed us to continue to invest in the rapid growth of the business, while still having a significant impact along the way. A few years in, we’ve been able to double or triple the size of the business every year while donating over $1.83 million, which we’re incredibly proud of!

It hasn’t always been easy, though. Managing cash flow is a challenge for many businesses, but it’s especially hard for us as we have to balance making a big annual donation with the usual costs of doing business. Every June we make our annual donation, which usually means our bank accounts go from full to empty overnight, and we need to ensure that we can do that without slowing down production, shipping, marketing and, of course, paying our suppliers and team! We’ve gotten incredibly good at modeling cash flow as a result, so it gets easier every year – we’re expecting this year to be the smoothest yet!

What advice would you give to someone who has a business or a business idea and wants to give back but is scared it will make their business non-viable from a financial perspective?

1. Doing good is good for business: regardless of how our customers initially found us, our impact is what they remember most. Our impact helps us to find new customers, and keep existing customers engaged and coming back to buy from us again – our social media posts relating to our impact have the highest engagement, and we see a strong correlation between our biggest sales days and the days we’re talking to our customers about our impact. We hope that our model will inspire more businesses to do good

2. Doing good isn’t easy: if you do good you’ll be held to a higher standard than your competitors! We tackle this by providing lots of information on our website about our impact, where our profit goes, our production standards, and a whole bunch of other questions. Doing this well builds trust in your customer base, which, for us at least, has meant that our customers often go above and beyond to tell other people about what we’re doing.

3. Decide what impact you want to have, then design your business around it: lots of people told us that it would be impossible to run a business that donates 50% of its profits, but so far it’s worked really well. If we were a regular toilet paper company we’d look at the cash required to make an annual donation and say that it’s not possible, but because we started with this constraint from day one we’ve simply found ways to make it work.

4. If you’re on the fence, think about the impact we could have if every business donated just 10% of their profits! I think that successful business owners have an obligation to give back, but it’s important to do it in a way that’s true to who you are.

What’s next for Who Gives a Crap?

We’re hoping to see more than just toilet paper, tissues and paper towels in our customers’ homes before the end of the year, but I can’t say more than that for now! In the meantime, we’re concentrating on building up our USA and UK customer base (as well as at home in Australia) to encourage more people to make the switch to toilet paper that’s good for people and the planet. And of course, we’re looking to maximise our donation as we get closer to our June 30 donation deadline.

Who Gives a Crap is currently hiring for their LA and Melbourne hubs. Visit them online or connect on Instagram.

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tabloidtoc · 5 years

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Us, January 28

Cover: Jeff Bezos’ $160 billion divorce

Page 1: First Look -- Yara Shahidi

Page 2: Red Carpet -- J. Mendel’s ethereal expertly draped gowns -- Sara Bareilles, Sara Sampaio, Ellie Kemper, Padma Lakshmi, Hayley Atwell

Page 3: Scarlett Johansson, Virginia Gardner, Meg Ryan, Jordana Brewster, Olivia Munn

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Miley Cyrus vs. Laura Harrier, Kendall Jenner vs. Rita Ora, Doutzen Kroes vs. Gwen Stefani

Page 6: Kimberly Schlapman vs. Alicia Silverstone, Kate Bosworth vs. Debby Ryan, Rebecca Gayheart vs. Erin Foster

Page 8: Please don’t wear suede

Page 10: Loose Talk -- Busy Philipps on Beyonce at Target, Tiffany Haddish isn’t pregnant, Serena Williams loved being pregnant, Melissa McCarthy is inspired by Viola Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow on embarrassing her daughter

Page 13: Contents

Page 14: Hot Pics -- Critics’ Choice Awards -- Glenn Close and Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper

Page 15: Julia Roberts and Stephan James and Rami Malek, Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard

Page 18: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon, Timothee Chalamet and Christian Bale with wife Sibi Blazic

Page 19: Sandra Oh and the Crazy Rich Asians cast -- Ken Jeong and Chris Pang and Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh and Gemma Chan and Jon M. Chu and Harry Shum Jr., Patricia Heaton, Laura Dern and Issa Rae

Page 20: Justin Theroux, Pete Davidson, Hilary Duff and son Luca

Page 21: Tristan Thompson and Khloe Kardarshian, Zac Efron and brother Dylan, Tim Tebow and Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters

Page 22: The Sopranos 20th anniversary -- Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco, Vincent Pastore

Page 23: Robert Iler and James Gandolfini’s son Michael and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico and Michael Imperioli

Page 24: KJ Apa and Cole Sprouse, Amy Adams and Jessica Chastain, Tiffany Haddish

Page 25: Ashlee Simpson and daughter, Matthew McConaughey and Mahershala Ali, Vanessa Hudgens and Stephen Oremus, Gina Rodriguez

Page 26: Animal Lovers -- Carson Kressly, Gisele Bundchen, Constance Wu, Kristin Davis

Page 27: Kristin Cavallari, Jennifer Garner, Gigi Hadid, Russell Brand, Ian Somerhalder

Page 28: The Beach -- Victor Cruz and Karrueche Tran, Padma Lakshmi, Camille Grammer, Behati Prinsloo

Page 29: Ryan Phillippe, Teresa Giudice and daughters, Mark Wahlberg

Page 30: Stars They’re Just Like Us -- Gavin Rossdale, Joey Fatone, Chris Pratt

Page 31: Derek Hough, Whitney Port, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Kelsey Grammer

Page 32: Mommy Moments -- Eva Longoria and son, Victoria Beckham and daughter, Jana Kramer and infant son, Sherri Shepherd and son, Jennifer Lopez and twins

Page 34: Love Lives -- Emily Blunt said husband John Krasinski cried watching Mary Poppins Returns

Page 35: Wells Adams and Sarah Hyland are not engaged, Garcelle Beauvais’ new man Ted Bunch, James Franco and Isabel Pakzad have talked about getting engaged

Page 36: Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk balance life and work, Rami Malek raving about girlfriend Lucy Boynton, Topher Grace and Ashley Hinshaw on the challenges of parenthood

Page 37: Kate Hudson thought she was done having children until she met Danny Fujikawa

Page 38: Hollywood Moms -- Rosario Dawson on adopting a teenage girl

Page 38: Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi isn’t thrilled with her third pregnancy, Olivia Wilde balances her career with motherhood, Kelly Clarkson doesn’t want her kids to be in the music industry

Page 40: Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are engaged

Page 41: Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton inch closer to getting married, real-life drama for 90 Day Fiance couples

Page 42: Kim Kardashian is being flooded with inmates asking her for assistance, Mario Batali is a lot nicer to the locals and has lost a lot of weight since sexual assault allegations, Hollywood’s Oddest Jobs -- Frankie Muniz, Nick Offerman, Erykah Badu, Jaden Smith, Spencer Pratt

Page 43: The Bachelor Colton Underwood’s time to shine, VIP Scene -- Chad Rogers and Jenna Willis, Selena Gomez, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepherd, Luann de Lesseps, Robert Downey Jr., Niall Horan, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph

Page 44: What’s in My Bag? Lana Condor

Page 45: Meghan Markle royal baby watch

Page 46: Cover Story -- Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie’s $160 billion divorce

Page 50: Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham’s wedding album

Page 54: Lady Gaga is proud of her body

Page 55: Other stars suffered from body issues -- Hilary Duff, Kesha, Demi Lovato, Portia De Rossi

Page 56: Winter’s coolest hot spots

Page 58: Food -- Please try a plant-based diet

Page 60: Style

Page 62: Beauty -- DIY Star Smile -- Freida Pinto, Shay Mitchell, Hailey Bieber

Page 63: Kendall Jenner, Chanel Iman

Page 64: Jeanine Mason of the reboot of Roswell, New Mexico

Page 66: Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger and Nick Cannon of The Masked Singer

Page 67: Buzzzz-o-Meter -- Cindy Crawford, Naya Rivera, Bruce Willis, Jade Roper, Tanner Tolbert, Michelle Obama

Page 70: Fashion Police -- Heidi Klum, Jennifer Tilly, Jamie Chung

Page 71: Kiki Layne, Kate Mara, Jackie Cruz

Page 72: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me -- Jazz Jennings

#tabloid #gossip #jeff bezos #russell brand #vegan #ian somerhalder

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wrflmusic · 6 years

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WRFL 30th Birthday BASH RECAP

Friday By Noah Oldham WRFL Birthday Bash: Day 1

30 years calls for more than just one celebration – it calls for three. That’s why WRFL threw a three-day Birthday Bash in celebration of the college radio station’s 30th anniversary. The weekend kicked off Friday the 2nd at the Burl with musical acts, Idiot Glee, Helado Negro and Washed Out.

Idiot Glee

Local musician and former WRFL D.J., James Friley (A.K.A. Idiot Glee), opened the show. Idiot Glee’s poppy and enchanting music entranced the full crowd of the sold-out concert. The songs ranged from broody and mysterious to lighthearted and danceable. Consistent across the songs were dreamy, chill vibes and Friley’s impressive vocal range. “I don’t remember the words, but whatever,” joked Friley as he went into his third song.

Idiot Glee’s performance was certainly appreciated by the audience. They watched, transfixed, nodding their heads to the smooth electronic beat as the soloist performed songs like “Pinkwood,” and “I Don’t Feel Right.” One audience member said she had seen Idiot Glee before in her hometown of Ashland, where Friley is also from. She thought Idiot Glee gave a great performance at the Birthday Bash. WRFL D.J., Cameron Childress, later likened watching Idiot Glee for the first time to a, “religious experience.” “One or two more?” asked Idiot Glee towards the end of his set. “We want three more!” shouted an audience member in reply.

Helado Negro

Roberto Carlos Lange, who performs under the moniker, Helado Negro, took to the stage second. Helado Negro was accompanied by his “Tinsel Mammals,” two backup dancers dressed in Cousin Itt-like costumes made of shiny tinsel. The Tinsel Mammals moved slowly behind Lange throughout the performance with the grace of two massive lava lamp blobs. “I loved those furry monsters,” said one audience member, Kathryn, who thought Helado Negro gave a fantastic performance. “I wish that was my job, to dance around in one of those costumes.” Lange performed a set showcasing his variety including “It’s My Brown Skin,” and “Lengua Larga.” To say Lange knew how to play to his audience would be an understatement.

The singer, with his wild curly hair and mustache, carried himself with an aura of pure sexiness. As he crossed from one side the stage to the other, Lange often flirted with the audience members closest to the stage. Groovy techno music accompanied the Latino singer’s suave voice and romantic, bilingual lyrics.

Washed Out Washed Out

Finally, the most anticipated act of the night, Washed Out, took to the stage. The excited crowd concentrated closer to experience lead singer, Ernest Greene Jr., in all his glory. The alternative pop band gave an energetic and psychedelic performance, playing songs like “Feel It All Around,” and “It All Feels Right.” As the band played, a projector covered the performers and the screen behind them in a colorful and trippy film. Throughout the evening many attendees mentioned coming to the Birthday Bash to see Washed Out. The band did not disappoint. Their fast-paced yet hypnotic music had the audience excitedly dancing along with them.

The sold-out concert at the Burl was an exciting kickoff to WRFL’s 30th birthday. Every artist brought their A-game to an enthusiastic audience that was passionate about the music. http://heladonegro.com/ https://ift.tt/2pFFcR6 https://ift.tt/1kY6wTd

Saturday Birthday Bash Day 2 Jason Schroeder March 3, 2018

WRFL’s 30th Birthday Bash started off with bang and the drum keeps beating on. Last Saturday the old mixed with the new as current and former WRFL staff attended the WRFL 30th Year Homecoming Reception held at the Downtown Arts Center. WRFL Alumni had the chance to see how the station has been doing and how it has progressed since they worked there.

a collection of WRFL Ephemera

“I remember when we were ten kids in a moldy basement in Miller Hall,” said Mark Beaty, one of the co-founders of WRFL. The day also featured an art exhibit titles “F.M.Era: 30 Years of WRFL.” The exhibit was curated by incoming general manager Franki Arroyo “There were old RiFLe magazines, posters, name tags and stickers there. It was a bunch of memorabilia,” said Tre Lyerly, the assistant promotions director at WRFL.

a collection of WRFL Ephemera

The event had a good turnout of both past and present DJs and workers from WRFL and reeled in some familiar WRFL faces. People like Uncle Bill, a long time DJ and the designer for the Yellow Belts concert poster, and Keen Minter who designed many covers for RiFLes in the 90s, were at the event.

a collection of WRFL Ephemera

The homecoming lasted from noon to 4 p.m and Kakie Urch, another co-founder of WRFL, hosted a small pizza party afterward as a side event. The fun didn’t stop with the reception and instead continued on to the Burl where the bands Cults and Hair Police played alongside emcee Devine Carama and house producer Ellie Herring. Thank You For Coming To Our Parties closed out Saturday night at the Burl and the audience went home knowing there was more fun to have on Sunday.

Sunday By Noah Oldham March 4th, 2018 Day 3

WRFL’s Birthday Bash concluded on Sunday, March 4, with a Brunch Bash at the Burl. Local bands took to the stage to celebrate 30 years of WRFL. Many of the artists were former WRFL D.J.’s.

The Brunch Bash kicked off with Duck Fat, the band of married couple, Nick and Eli Warner and their newest band member, three-year-old Oscar Warner. The family, all dressed in bright and colorful outfits, sang “Happy Birthday” to WRFL. Oscar Warner also delivered an unplanned yet thrilling rendition of “The Alphabet Song,” receiving tons of applause.

Duck Fat

Following Duck Fat, People Planet took the stage. The teenage rock band included Jack Quinn on drums, Madeline Farrar on bass, Charlie Overman on guitar and Daisy Helmuth on guitar and singing lead vocals. People Planet’s music has a mellow and classic sound.

Sour Cream

Especially impressive was Helmuth’s vocal performance with both range and emotional expressiveness in their song, “Moment of Silence.” The entire band showed great potential. Next to take the Burl stage was the teenage heavy metal band, Sour Cream. With talent comparable to rock bands well beyond their years, Sour Cream rocked the Burl. The band includes Colby Grant on Bass, Haran Cecil on guitar and Jon McGee on drums. Their music is loud and wild but at the same time well composed and expertly performed. Grant and Cecil jumped excitedly around the stage as they played, flipping their long hair and banging their heads. The ecstatic audience danced along to the ear-blasting loud music.

Following Sour Cream was the first of the three headlining bands, Johnny Conqueroo. Johnny Conqueroo includes Grant Curless on guitar, vocals and keys, Wils Quinn on drums and vocals and Shawn Reynolds on bass and keys. The band performed their signature style that’s a mixture of vintage blues and psychedelic rock. The band, which has been around since 2014, is a local favorite. Next up was 10 Foot Pole, a band that’s been together since 1988. Band members include Billy Quinn, David Farris, John Turner, Brian Arnett and Danny May. The band gave an energetic performance. The band’s music is a fusion of rock and jazz- a feat the band compares to walking a tightrope, without a net. Their songs are funky and upbeat and got the crowd dancing along with them.

Johnny Conqueroo PC: Jack Smith

Finally, Nine Pound Hammer, a band that has played together since the mid 80’s, concluded the show. Band members include Scott Luallen with vocals, Blaine Cartwright on guitar, Brian Pulito on drums and Mark Hendricks on bass. “I’m excited to see Nine Pound Hammer play, I haven’t seen them in years,” said Dan Shorr, owner of POPS Resale, a WRFL underwriter. Nine Pound Hammer has a southern rock sound. The band is influenced by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and the Ramones among many others. The band gave an outstanding performance to an excited crowd. The Brunch Bash was a great celebration of WRFL. Local bands, new and old, came together to jam out and pay tribute to a station that has served as inspiration and support to local artists for 30 years.

9 Pound Hammer PC: Jack Smith

source http://news.wrfl.fm/wrfl-30th-birthday-bash-recap/

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