#Michele main cast now
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Chapter 14 - Fíli
@laurfilijames, as promised, here is another chapter of the blursed AU.
This chapter 14, which deals with the direct aftermath of Michele leaving Fíli's office.
In the meantime, yes, I have blown up the Finwëan building...so there'll be some references to the chaos and the confusion of that as well.
Characters: Fíli, Kíli, Ori, Michele
Words: 1,6 k
Warnings: Danger, fire, emergency, trauma...a bit of angst...
“Fire!”
Fíli rushed to the door of his office through which Michele had just walked with the damned papers he had been remiss in sending in so very late. “What?” he yelled, sniffing the air to detect even the faintest hint of stifling smoke.
“The Finwëan’s building is aflame,” Kíli screamed as he flew past the door towards the staircase. “Don’t stand there like a dumb ape, come, we need every pair of hands we can find!”
Ever since their earliest childhood, Fíli’s and Kíli’s hearts were in sync when it came to emergencies and thus, the older of the two didn’t even take the time to question his motives as he started racing after his brother; no words were needed beyond the curt exhortation that had been barked at him so rudely.
Something terrible had happened; Fíli could feel it in the air as soon as he stepped into the plaza – milling with panicked people – and walked briskly towards his uncle who was already engaged in a heated discussion with Thranduil.
“Blankets,” Thorin bellowed, “and water!”
There was a strain in his voice that made it sound too tense and brittle in Fíli’s ringing ears; Thorin hated fire with a passion, but he was also not the kind of man to back down in the face of his biggest, most secret fear. Frantic action it was, Fíli thought and turned on his heels to obey his orders.
“On it,” Fíli cried back perfunctorily and – in tandem with his brother – he hastened to get the necessary supplies ready for the evacuated masses pouring out of the half-destroyed building relentlessly. It was mindless, automatic work and so, his eyes kept sweeping over the crowd in search of the woman who had left the building just ahead of him. Where the hell was she and why hadn’t she come back?
He knew that Michele could not possibly have reached the Finwëans before whatever had caused this destruction had gone off, but he also had not been able to locate her in his short foray into the jungle of soot-stained faces and burned limbs. She was still out there, in the no-man’s-land of a shocking act of wilful destruction. Was she wounded? Was she scared?
It was absurd to feel so responsible for a woman he had barely even met, and yet, he had sent her on this errand and now, she was nowhere to be found.
No, it was more than that; he had taken an instant liking to her, and his heart clenched painfully at the thought that something terrible might have happened to her. This was more than mere guilt for having sent her into a perilous situation; he cared about her and dreaded a world in which he would never find out how things might have developed between them.
There had been a spark; surely, she had felt it too, she must have…but if she had, why had she not immediately turned back to find him?
She had been so very nervous and fearful, running from an ominous threat lurking in the shadows, he remembered. What if she had frozen or panicked? What if…
“What can I do?” Ori sidled up to him quietly, interrupting his spiralling thoughts of self-recrimination and desperate fear.
“Can you try to find Michele? She went out to take some papers over and I…” Fíli fell silent with a groan, but Ori’s face hardened into a mask of resolute efficiency. He had been there; he had seen how Fíli’s face had lit up in her company and – not being a stranger to the whims and woes of love – Ori understood all the urgency his friend didn’t dare put into words.
“Of course,” he reassured him, “do not worry about…the other thing. It’s of no consequence. I wonder…”
“Find them both,” Fíli hissed, “I don’t care if this is patronising or dumb; I want them found and dragged to safety – kicking and screaming if need be – and I trust you to make it through the people discreetly.”
It would not do to cause a scandal and Fíli knew that he would probably have elbowed his way through the throng in his frantic search; no, it was better to send Ori who could melt into a crowd and flow through it like water over pebbles. He would not fail him.
“On it, boss,” Ori saluted with a wry little smile and disappeared.
As time trickled by so slowly that Fíli had to check his watch thrice just to make sure that it had not simply stopped to antagonise him, he started to wonder if he had – instead of saving anyone – managed to lose his friend as well.
The cloud of smoke and stifling ashes, descending like a grey blanket onto the square, made him scowl at the sky vainly; he had never felt so helpless and alone in all his life and his fingers shook slightly as he went on dispensing comforting words and much-needed provisions to the survivors.
Survivors, the word rang hollow and mournful like a dirge in his head, and he shivered fitfully.
If only he could have closed his hands around a quivering throat or bashed in a smirking face, he might have felt better, but – as things were – he kept handing out water bottles and blankets mechanically while waiting on any kind of news about what had happened and how bad it was.
He held no love for his rivals in his heart, but he couldn’t stop his mind from leafing through their faces and names as if through a morose book of mourning.
“No,” he mumbled to himself, “no, they wouldn’t simply die. Would they? They are ridiculously strong and resilient; they would not hand the market over to us. I wouldn’t even want to win like that; it’s not fair, that’s not sportsmanship…No, no, they’re all right. You’ll see…”
Fíli didn’t even know whom he was trying to convince, he simply needed to dispel the terrible, eerie, grave silence that pervaded this desert of cold stone and sightless glass.
“Fíli,” Michele ran towards him; her tears had left grimy streaks on her pale cheeks and her voice was cracking like a fallen flowerpot. “I can’t get Rhee to leave.”
Handing some poor sod a bottle without looking at him and nodding sharply at his brother, Fíli grabbed another pack and jumped over the heavy oaken table Dwalin had dragged out from some meeting room. “I’ll be right back,” he called and met Michele halfway to their little first-aid corner.
She fell into his arms readily, letting go of the folder she had been clasping so tightly that it had crumpled around her fingers. Immediately, a copper-haired head dipped down and Ori tucked the binder into his trusty bag that was reliably slung across his narrow chest.
“Baby,” Fíli cooed, “tell me everything!”
“I was just out of the lobby when I saw…it was like an explosion – a sudden blaze of light, a deafening bang – and then a huge cloud of black smoke went up; when the wind tore at it like icy fingers shredding a veil, parts of the building were…gone. I ran…”
She took a deep, messy gulp from the water bottle he had handed her; meanwhile, Fíli gently wrapped an old blanket, formerly used to protect furniture from being scratched while being moved from one room to the next, around her trembling shoulders and watched her closely.
“I’m so sorry,” she then gasped quietly, “I didn’t deliver your documents. I…”
“Never mind the damn papers,” Fíli growled in response, giving in to the desire to press his lips soothingly against her ashy brow as dizzying relief flooded his soul and turned his knees into water. “They have other problems. You said something about your friend earlier, what is the matter?”
Despite the thin blanket, she was still shivering, so he pulled her into his arms to cradle her against his own warmth while softly humming a lullaby his mother had used to sing to them when he and Kíli had still been mere kids.
He regretted his words as soon as they were spoken for Michele’s body spasmed against his as the full force of her despair returned with a vengeance.
“I, of course, started scanning the people for Rhee as she is the only one I know. It took some time, but finally, I could get a hold of her; she was with the man who had come to take her back to work…” Michele took up her chaotic narration of what had happened once more.
“Yes?”
In the background, the sirens of fire trucks and police cars could be heard and Fíli shook his head as if to get rid of the insistent wailing that made it so much harder to understand Michele’s hiccupping retelling of the events he had missed.
“She won’t budge. I’ve…I don’t understand but there are people missing. The man’s boss has not come out yet and…the man for whom these papers were meant…or is it the same? Anyway, Rhee is kneeling by the doors and won’t move away. I…help me!”
Fíli looked around him and waved his hand to catch Kíli’s eye; when his brother looked up at him, he nodded in Michele’s direction to get his brother to keep an eye on her while he tried to tear her friend away from a potentially lethal display of professional loyalty.
As soon as he started moving though, Michele tightened her arms around him. “No, I am coming,” she protested when Kíli tried to pry her off.
“So am I,” Ori declared. How long had he been standing there – transfixed by Michele’s gruesome tale – and had not even dared to comment on the terrible danger in which this mysterious, headstrong, fearsome Rhee found herself?
So, in hopes that this will make you smile, lots of love from me!
Previous chapters are on my Masterlist : Chapter 9 ¦ Chapter 11
#og post#dean o'gorman#fanfiction#writing#blursed AU#Modern!AU#Modern!Fíli#Fíli#Fíli x OC#an offering of love and goodwill#meet-cute#new character#writing for friends#Michele main cast now#drama#chapter 14#slight angst
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What're your thoughts on the new Spooky Month episode?
(Doodle to match your icon, also because this one has me by the NECK) Thoughts in particular for as much as I can below
OOOOOOOOUGGHH DETER AND HIS MOM. FUCK, THE H U G S BIT HURTS MY HEART EVERY TIME IT IS VISCERALLY EFFECTIVE PELO YOU MONSTER ❤️
Moloch is so threatening I GASPED as we finally got to see him achieve Leg Rights and dud he ever put them to WORK running like that all over town!!
Gregor was incredible and competent and despite being opposing to the norm of how the kids go about things, a net positive for the town. His entrapment/death/conversion to what the cult put him through in the ending is an endangerment to the safety of everyone. That he really did care and want to protect the kids was sweet, and while harsh his reality check to Lila was something she's had coming.
I WAS RIGHT ABOUT SO MANY THINGS GOING INTO THIS I WAS SO EXCITED!!!!! Not beating the witch allegations in the slightest and still with so many questions and wonder.
I love how much we learn and yet how much there is to learn. Connections that are only half-given and have to be speculated and discovered with the ARG and background inferences. I still need to go over the frames and take in all the background characters. I don't know how far into November this is set but it's not long enough for Lila.
Getting the feeling that the Theives Duo were hired to go through the house yet settle on the attic, to nab THE DAD'S STUFF given its all strewn about the house after they get whooped, and then the New Grounds Ending confirms it had me shaking. Had me wondering if that's what BOB was sent to do initially in the very first epsiode, but when Lila ran into him he was gonna get a snack. That the cult members backed off at mentioning the spider and the Candy Dealer notes them as having been lucky + the picture revealled of it having been the Dad's (plus Pelo mentioning it has eaten people before) is making thoughts mimic a windows 98 trying to run the Sims.
The Gregor and Moloch ship those working on the show go for and snuck reference to in the show. The "and they've never been married but they are SO divorced" vibes of their interaction here, how Moloch called him by name and would have only ever lied in the past due to Gregor not having Moloch's in kind [the devil a deciever to any word said] hooooo I don't go there but it's next door and it looks fun!
The foreshadowing with the drawings done with Dexter and it's accuracy + Pelo drawing Moloch possessing a lot of characters + also doing so with Eyes + the Other Drawing = F E A R AND EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!
THE EYES IN THE BUCKET STILL LOOK LIKE DEXTER'S AND ARE ACTIVELY MOVING (especially in the Ending Spider Scene) HE IS STILL THERE AND TRAPPED AND AAAAAAAAAA!AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
The Ooga Booga Jumpscare was fascinating and done super duper well!!!! Wanna make a whole breakdown about why and how it worked better than any other so far. There are some layers and misdirection and it's built up really well! Plus what looks like a version of her on Jaune's TV foreshadowing what's gonna happen like it did before with Bob.
It makes me wonder if there's more parallels to Moloch based in the line "I can be ANYWHERE now!" After scaring the Audience. I have a theory that a part of his possession tactic is Fear. To enter someone's body who isn't willing they need to fear him and he can only get one such victim at a time (hence why only Roy and not the whole Hatzgang at once vs Skid and Pump at the same time with no difficulty as they let him in). It's why he Stalks and Stares (Patty, Ignacio) and consistently when we get to be around for when he goes for it, he *roars*. Not bite and claw but roars. He's put off and doesn't enter those that have no fear of him (Gregor, Rick, Ignacio) and I think it's because he CAN'T. It's why even when at his weakest he roared at Gregor. To break the chant, the concentration, to make the wounded and bleeding enemy falter and fear and let him in with that response of weakness. It fails, of course, but hoooo with anyone less devoted I don't think it would have.
BRICK TO THE HEAD. THE COWARDS. THEY GOTTA AMBUSH THIS OLD GUY EVEN WHEN HE'S ALREADY LIMPING TO STAND A CHANCE THATS HILARIOUS.
The way Pump was distracted from opening up and being vulnerable with his sister and kept happy by the toy and the lie, while Skid has no such escape as his own heart to heart is burdened further by the sobs of his mom in a home that is no longer in any illusion safe with a shattered door and evidence of earlier break-in everywhere. These 2 have been diverging in small ways in their outlook on things for awhile now, but this episode's ending and scenes about parents, about knowing more and less than each other (The way Skid didn't know about Moloch not running but Pump did and how Skid started to ask what he meant, how Skid still associates all Happy Fellas as Stabby while Pump could see it was Dexter-specific because he could **see** through to what Dexter WAS according to the notes... if Gregor hadn't interrupted there may have been Words. Going forward, it feels like they're going to again.)
IGNACIO AND THE ILLEGAL GUN OF COMEDIC CONTRAST
I cannot stress enough how much Kevin feels like he's being pushed further and further towards a total breakdown and that he NEEDS a coworker to help like Radford [AAAAAAAAAAA THEATRE MAN RETURNS I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM HE PLAYS OFF KEVIN SO SO WELL AAAAA] It's not an if so much as a When with the way his vision is Scribblifying so much (a treat for the eyes tho) and while he CAN cool off if nothing goes immediately wrong its just gonna keep going wrong.
Roy is having problems and given his parents and vibe of his family plus his contact to Skid and Pump, guessing it's likely tied to how it's status quo isn't sitting well and the need for escape with friends. Parents who are present yet Not in how it matters and how they're needed by the child. So glad he's willing to open up at all (the contrast from the second episode is staggering) but like Kevin it feels like he's building up to a bigger breakdown.
It is for Susie's safety and well being that she never met Moloch and yet she might well have been a huge fan given her enjoyment of demons! Have to wonder how she'd react to seeing the ashen form of Moloch in the attic if she ever went digging for what's been going on herself.
Ignacio may be any number of things and the picture with the dad is making me run in circles around the room I am seething with th3 need to shake him even though he'd shoot me point blank. Speaking of, the fact that he was carrying it on his person with taking out the trash and how he used it genuinely made me think that if Skid and Pump bothered him one more time he was going to pop 'em where they stood the same way he was so unbothered and at the ready I was wheezing XD
Why does the portrait have a diamond why does it have only ONE diamond why is it like that despite looking like it's the one for the old mansion we glimpsed in the second epsiode what the hell is with the mannequin and SHY DOES IT HAVE A FACE IN THE HELL CREDITS CARD
The oath Gregor uses portraying a Lord yet not a Father yet maintaining The Son, as well as a Sacred Sky, has me going no-clip on my chair. I am Not Normal about this and I cannot pretend to be I need the implications of this world's religions being impacted with Eyes having been ever-present STAT and the horror of the cult not being to a different God but the same as Gregor's, simply met by a bridge of heresy to meet mortals with the divine while still of flesh and bone and claim of Death....
I thought Evermore was bribing the hobos to blow up the church but now... now it feels more likely to be either Bob's place (seeing his corpse wheeled in the soundtrack video + that Patty was about to cut into him again when the kids interrupted+ Evermore asking for a specific body to be moved) OR the Mansion (not being invited into any cult and wanting John to shut up about it so he gets an unofficial, literal backalley deal going for some nobodies with no credibility to do the work for him). Evermore is the kind of vain who'd spill that he was in an exclusive group to brag and is also wonderfully insufferable with his blatant ego; the idea that he ISN'T part of the cult and his not knowing and terrible mayor strats only benifit the cult so they don't bother with the risk of somone in power knowing about them and his denial that somone as important as him would EVER be excluded if there WAS one which must mean there ISN'T just has such a good punchline and I hope it's true I really do.
THEY SHARE A VA, IS THE MASCOT GUY THE SAME CHARACTER AS THE BOB COSPLAYER CAUSE HIS BAD LUCK AND MISFORTUNE FEEL SIMILAR! Also the happy fella furthest left moves its eyes after the kids so uh. So uh they might've been on the money to destroy them cause looks like one is already possessed by Something and it also gives greater legitimacy to the internment of the one in The Candy Tube of Shame at Kevin's workplace gosh they're STILL BEING SOLD if they become A Problem beyond Dexter and that's when we get to meet Robert's little sister who has one....
The way Pelo has explained how Moloch got stuck and how the possession works means we KNOW Patty was tethered to her body and unable to do anything except watch as Moloch used her to kill (any by the mess and lack of remains) eat Michelle (mom's name in description cast list) to regain some power and begin to sate the prolonged hunger Moloch has been trapped in. It's how he was able to perfectly mimic her and Dexter. It's why her lower half is coated with so much blood it may as well be dyed the color. It's no wonder she's adamant to have a gun! Glad to see evidence of her still actively working with John and Jack on the mystery in the ARG images too.
That doctor, Mort, I don't know who he was talking with but while he's sus as hell I'm not so sure he was taking the call we see Ignacio make. There isn't a reason to be informing him about the priest, even if bother WERE in the cult- going straight to the mourge and opening with asking if the body had been moved feels like it was a micromanage from Evermore to be sure that what he asked for is happening in a timely way. Have to wonder if he's going to take Patty's place now with having a distinct full name and reoccurance in the episode as he does for 3 scenes.
Gosh I love the soundtrack I've been looping the playlist for it while writing all this, again, not well, so so many thoughts. This isn't even all of them but it's past 1 am I have been typing for over an hour gonna pause it at the realization that something DID curse the Candy Corner for the holy water to have worked as well as the fact that the red head kid, Lucky was super cursed for what we now know as LEGIT HOLY WATER to have had such an effect on him. It wasn't boiled it was in that pot to get as many of the kids crowding as possible, as we see the bottles only effectively splash a single person. A friend mentioned Gregor may not even directly see Lucky given the behavior towards the child is abnormal and as we see here he IS normal towards children, even with costumes he sees as mockery of the lord, so ignoring him crumpled on the ground and the siezing on the doorstep are strange outliers. ALSO LEARING ABoUT GREGOR'S FULL NAME AND THE MEANING AND THE RELEVANCE OF THE ANGEL WINGS IN THE CREDITS AAAAAAAAAAAA!! So much thought and care went into this, I love this series so much, thank you for asking my thoughts on it! ^^))
#Octa Talk#spooky month#spooky month 6#spooky month hollow sorrows#So so so SO much happened this was such a great episode so glad they took their time#Gregor was such a surprise favorite for the main cast#I was Not Emotionally Ready for The Moment the gas mask came off I squawked I will not lie#The horrors (affectionate) are getting more threatening and I am here for it#RICK#Lila needs a new house she's still holding onto to do much and it's going to bury her alive if it doesn't suffocate her first#Streber IS alive oh wowie zowie my au is ESPECIALLY dark now ha ha!!#Those babies were gonna get MUNCHED if Michelle hadn't come across Patty gosh the tension of Moloch looking down at them all asleep#SHE WAS A CAT LADY AND HE LOVED HER A A A A A A A A AA AA A#SHE WAS RHE ONE TO GIVE THE NEWS THAT PHOTO FOR THE MISSING PERSONS REPORT AAAAAAA#I will never be free this story is too compelling XD
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Forgotten Realms Things from the Honor Among Thieves Trailer
Here's some Lore™ I spotted after pouring over the shots from the DnD movie trailer and I'm obsessed:
The city is Neverwinter. Several things point to this
The city silhouette looks like Neverwinter
You can kinda make out snowflakes on the blue banners in the street and that's Neverwinter's emblem
The statue outside the arena is very clearly Lord Nasher, from his crown, to his Neverwinter Eye belt buckle to the bow in his hands which is shaped exactly like one of the fancy bow types from Neverwinter Nights
There's a shot of a volcano, which might be Mount Hotenow, which is near Neverwinter
The sun banners look like symbols of Amaunator, which is...interesting. Could also be a weird variation on the symbol of Lathander. There's a lot of fuckiness with that lore. Could maybe just be festival banners?
Chris Pine's character, Edgin, is a Harper. You can see his crescent moon+harp pin in all the shots where he's wearing armor. This fits super well with him being a bard.
All them bald people with tattoos on their scalps? Red Wizards of Thay. The lich-looking one? Probably Szass Tam.
Conveniently enough, there are notable Harper and Red Wizard cells in Neverwinter.
Michelle Rodriguez's character, Holga, is probably an Uthgardt barbarian if this is set in The North. Possibly from the Elk or Griffon Tribe, given the vague shape of the tattoos on her arms and the location of the story. I'm leaning towards Elk.
The shot of the battle where the black dragon flies overhead is between barbarians and warriors wearing black helmets with dragon wings on them.
The presence of banners with elk horns on them would give credence to Holga being from the Elk Tribe.
I think the warriors in black are Zhents, because the Zhentarim's emblem is a black dragon on a gold field, they are allied with a black dragon named Harondalbar, and literally the main character is a Harper, so the chances are high you're gonna have Zhents.
Alternatively, given the amount of dragons in this trailer, we might be seeing some Cult of the Dragon shit and those soldiers are cultists. Or the amount of dragons could just be an effort to live up to the title "Dungeons and Dragons"
The party goes to the Underdark.
I'm like 80% sure the city we see in the Underdark shots is Menzoberranzan, because why would they write any other Underdark city into Thee DnD movie? Also it's the right region. Cue me screaming about dark elves potentially being in the movie. EDIT: I have been informed by multiple people (thank you all) that the Underdark city is in fact most likely Gracklstugh, a duergar city, and the fat red dragon is Themberchaud. I defs need to read Out of the Abyss now.
The runes on the golden chest are Dethek, the script for several languages, including Dwarvish, Primordial, and Giant, but given that they're underground and there's a bunch of statues of dwarves, I think we know which language is on that chest lol
Those statues could be duergar specifically, given that we know they'll be in the Underdark, but there's no way to be sure. EDIT: well given previously stated info, it seems pretty likely.
The shot with the big rock hill (cairn?) could be the Surbrin Hills
That shot of the dead forest with the red ground? Almost certainly the Dire Wood.
Regé-Jean Page's character, the paladin Xenk, has detailing on his bracers and a tattoo on his hairline that look like a sun, which would suggest he follows Lathander/Amaunator
ADDITION: the snowy place is Icewind Dale, as confirmed by the creators+cast in interviews.
This is everything I could spot. If people spotted or have ideas about anything else, feel free to add.
#Dungeons and Dragons#Forgotten Realms#Honor Among Thieves#DnD Honor Among Thieves#DnD movie#DnD#y'all I'm losing my goddamn mind over this trailer#I've been waiting my whole life for this movie#I can't believe the universe let me have a DnD movie with a Harper bard main character played by Chris Pine who is perfect for a bard#thank you universe
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hate to say it but skins is getting better on rewatch; the queer politics are batshit insane
the second half of s1 built up the tony-maxxie relationship as plot-critical: tony trying to hook up with maxxie to "try something new" is the catalyst of tony’s social and then physical+mental downfall. and it is very interesting to me that it is tony’s latent homosexual curiosity that michelle, (and by extension the narrative, which ultimately wants us to root for a michelletony endgame despite how miserable they make each other) finally considers too immoral to ignore (despite the open secret of tony’s many infidelities and plenty of unethical behaviors, as well as his subtext infatuation with sid)
like it is textually tony’s attempt to finally act upon this incorrect masculinity that becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back and brings about plenty of narrative punishment that is a clear tool to make him a “better” person (rn i think skins gen1 is pretty straightforwardly a punitive justice narrative)
anyway, all of this said, we are obviously meant to empathize with maxxie. his s1 conflict is his best friend won’t tell his parents that he is gay; it’s a pretty basic 2007 stuff. he is the token gay character but he is written as a fully fledged human being (in some cases even more than other members of the cast) though i think this is partially very good acting carrying the character’s depth. he even goes from a secondary cast member in s1 to a primary one in s2, even being the opener of the season.
what i find interesting is that maxxie is posited as gay from the beginning; it is the challenging of the main character’s heterosexual status quo that the narrative seems to resent and punish
so we get to s2 and tune in again to see that maxxie’s & tony’s relationship has become one of ongoing intimate/tender/nurturing friendship with undeniable homoeroticism/queer subtext, which seems debatably intentional to me in a queerbait/fanservice way that is pretty standard for the 00s (with an implied: it’s never going to happen) and this newfound intimacy both heightens the subtext of tony’s queerness while simultaneously neutering it. another reason why i think this development is a response to the audience (and i’ve done zero research so im just extrapolating here) is the plotline that’s just gotten introduced about maxxie’s straight female stalker, which feels like some sort of jab, possibly, to fangirls and fandom
so we’ve got tony, punished for his sexual deviance just when he was beginning to return to the “correct” gender performance (falling in love with michelle rather than just toying with her), and now he is helpless, disabled, and most importantly desexualized, and he is being tended to by the single queer character and all the while michelle waits it out because — well im running out of steam, but something something, michelle cant tend to tony while he is disabled because there’s no eroticism in it, heterosexual intimacy does not involve vulnerability, does not involve caretaking, does not involve emotional and mental support, only the passion of conflict and empty declarations of undying love
meanwhile, hilariously enough, instead of having sid take care of tony and therefore show a distinct dynamic between michelle and the guy who pretty much says he “belongs to tony,” he is also sulking with michelle and waiting it out like a second love interest because uhhh [checks notes] we also need sid-tony passionate conflict don’t think too hard about it. i love when things are both gay and homophobic
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✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* BLEACH ACTOR/ MEDIA AU HEADCANONS || pt.1
note: Brought to you by a former media student [this is my way of a late graduation celebration on this app. And a gift to you guys because you saw my journey from going back to uni after a gap year and my internships] and now media/ comm practitioner 🥺
warnings: Scandals, unedited, mistakes [im doing this on my phone], toxicity
actor au - modern au
Actor Yamamoto! would be a veteran actor that pioneered a certain genre or a specific scene that was present in all the movies he stared in when he was younger. Filming Bleach was an unexpected role. Because in his 30-year-career of action/drama/slapstick/mystery movies, he thought that his wrinkled body at an old age wouldn't land him anymore roles.
- Definitely the type who's strict and would throw acting lines in between takes at younger costars
- All of the Captain-lieutenant actors was told that the 'main captain' would be a veteran actor. None of them expected that it would be him.
- Filming was delayed by a day because every actor that walked into the room was starstruck and suddenly forgot how to act
ACTOR Jushiro! Wanted to pursue theatre studies but financial constraints said no. Still wanting to pursue a career in media, he attended an open University and studied Broadcasting Arts instead.
In his first day as an intern, he was put to test and was tasked to write articles. At the end of his first month, he was put in front of the camera.
Jushiro who was happy he was in front of the camera as an Afternoon newscaster, was called to his Boss' office three weeks later.
In front of him was the series' casting director and director, both of them agreeing that his face looked more angelic in real life than the news.
News events didn't suit a face like that anyway, he was fit for a gentle captain.
Actor Jushiro! found his way back home to his initial dream.
His background in Broadcasting helped him give articulate answers at movie premieres and red carpet events.
Always seen with his hair tied low and in a black suit, nodding along to the interviewers question.
one time the interviewer was an old classmate of his, it was then the world saw a more hyper version of himself.
Very much involved with the framing process of scenes
Actor Shunsui! Who's either gone too quiet or has the tabloids running after him. For the most normal things, too. Everything he did was a big deal. After all he came from a well known Business family.
'Kyoraku son photographed wasted and escorted out of Kyoto bar'
'Sex, Scandals, and guitar strings: Exclusive cover of what Japan's hottest actor does on his nights off'
It's funny how he accumulated a magazine tower of bizarre articles and has gotten used to the lens following him around.
Actor Shunsui would start as a child actor, starring in commercials because of his mother. His father forbidding him to pursue acting and to focus on the family business was acceptable at first.
His father divorcing his mother and telling the board of directors that actresses are good entertainers but not wives, was not.
Shunsui genuinely loved acting. All the things he did on the side, it was to spite his father.
"How serious are you with your craft?" Asked Yamamoto when Shunsui showed up hungover at filming day. It was only through Yamamoto that Shunsui felt a father's care.
Actor Shunsui who can buy his privacy, bit chooses not to and does more things that'll spite his father more. Who even goes as far as saying "He can only see me on paper. He'll have to come to my mother and I if he's genuinely asking for forgiveness"
Actor Unohana comes to me as Michelle Yeoh of the Bleach actor Au-verse
Definitely the type/ cast member whose personality is close to the character she plays. Is composed.
Very much involved in the scriptwriting process of the series and is always seen next to the director with a script rolled up, talking amongst themselves as their eyes scan actor after actor.
Has the most confusing humour on set, would say the most childish things in the sternest tone.
Starred in other big name shows such as FMaB, JJK [pls JUST UNDERSTAND THE VISION]
Is always partnered with Ukitake on red carpets because of her answers.
Actor Byakuya! a nepotism child. He's a distant relative of Unohana but listen. A nepotism child but what's more surprising is that an actor who's a tenured professor in a College of Communications in prestigious universities. It surprises people so much that they forget he's a nepo-beb
- His tone scares alot of new students, but plenty of his former students would laugh about how he just agreed to anything and doesn't seem to give harsh feedback despite trying to.
- Would specialise in Communication Research and Communication theories.
one time he was asked to teach an introduction to film subject for a semester, and took his students to the filming of the bleach episodes.
immediately after the director yelled cut, Professor Byakuya mode entered, saying, "I expect a paper on what shots were used and the importance of it to the story. That is your midterm."
Starred in a number of films and shows. His voice alone made him a host for a number of awarding events.
Has a special place for bleach, would automatically say yes and sign a contract. But with other offers he would immediately tell that he's busy for the semester.
Being an actor-professor would be annoying. Rapid taps of his fingertips on his laptop would ruin so many silent scenes, always has his laptop hidden in the scene and pulls it out just as the director is about yell cut.
Wandered into the wrong studio once after a marathon of teaching classes and was confused why everyone wore uniforms and hung on the ceilings [JJK Reference]
Definitely started wearing Haoris out of habit after many, many seasons on bleach.
Actor Aizen! Who's roots started as an idol trainee but debuted as an actor in romance films. Always the second lead that never received loved. His crying scenes broke the hearts of many and garnered fans.
He wanted to be challenged and not remain the second lead, wowed the casting directors with his monologue.
Almost backed out of the season when he read the tweets that questioned if a romance actor was fit for a show like bleach.
Another actor that received Yamamoto's wisdom. "You can't control many things, your craft is something that you can." Was all he offered when he heard Aizen's sniffle in a cubicle.
Aizen who's seemingly composed on red carpets, but breaks down to kpop idol rely dances in variety shows and is unashamed to dance to any choreo.
TWICE STAN ACTOR AIZEN IMAGINE THIS PLEASE
Actor Aizen always seen in airports, a Birkin and cardigans. "Look at him and his role" "love the duality" "I stan" "this guy can play god, but can stan harder" are the variations of tweets in everytime a new candid photo of him is released.
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to be honest i find this season overall a let down when it comes to its female characters and politics: michelle is now villainous instead of just a nice woman who fell out of love, rebecca is still as hung up on her ex as she was in s1 but now her entire arch is about motherhood, too; sassy is there just to fuck ted; keeley is completely passive in her storyline and failing at her job; + jack, who is a cartoonish fanfic bad girlfriend; "i'm her ex not her current father" etc. i'm assuming it's in part due to the rewrites and real life factors and think it's a real bummer.
i completely agree. the michelle stuff particularly bothers me because i had praised her first episode for being a very level headed depiction of a woman who wishes she was still in love with her husband and just isn't anymore. making her new relationship ethically questionable was totally uncalled for and disrupts a perfectly nice, mature storyline about adults whose feelings changed!
i would also add:
shandy was brought in as an example of another woman from keeley's same professional background but instead of matching keeley's maturity or being mentored, she was quickly written off as flighty, unreasonable, and dare i say even hysterical
rebecca & the psychic- i'm never a fan when psychics or mediums or whatever show up on a show and make little comments that a level-headed female lead doesn't take seriously because she's a RATIONAL ADULT. the end of this story is obviously telegraphed from the jump - the psychic will be proven right in some meaningful way in the end. it feels uncharitable to rebecca as a woman who doesn't fuck with superstituous bullshit. why are we trying to get one over on her for being smart and rational?
dr. sharon has completely disappeared. i imagine her few pop-in zoom sessions with ted were added in reshoots because i recall jason promising in a small interview that she would appear this season and i suspect it may have been a last minute add in response to the fans who liked her (and sarah niles' 2022 emmy nom). her few scenes are quite divorced from the rest of the plot - whatever she says to ted is never brought up again in other scenes, and it's all strictly therapeutic. i'm bummed, because she had a personality and some obvious baggage surrounding intimacy that was practically begging to be explored. also, this leaves us once again without any women of color in the core cast (see again: shandy being written out quickly), and in a season where trent and colin and new character barbara have all been added or promoted to main cast, that is really disappointing.
the model nate went out with was treated totally unfairly - it wasn't her fault nate chose to take her on a first date to a restaurant he has weird family baggage around, so yeah, if i were her and dealing with such a sappy first date, i'd be trying to get out of there too. presenting her as rude and bored and disengaged enough to fully leave in the middle of the date just served to make nate look pathetic and sad so jade could take pity on him. it's using her as a prop to manipulate his feelings.
which brings me to jade. what does she even see in nate? genuinely, why is she dating him. this isn't a burn on nate; i'm honestly asking why we are supposed to believe in their chemistry. with any tv relationship, you kinda need to convince me they like each other. i said this same thing with sam and rebecca's bizarrely soundless date in season 2. show me why she's into him so i can get behind it!
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On this date in 2001, at the 73rd Academy Awards, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) was named Best Foreign Film.
The four main actors all spoke Mandarin, but with different accents. Chow Yun-Fat had a Cantonese accent, Michelle Yeoh had a Malaysian/English accent, Ziyi Zhang had a Beijing accent, and Chang Chen had a Taiwanese accent. Because of the difficulty some Chinese-speaking markets had with the voices, some markets actually had a dubbed version (into standard Mandarin) of the soundtrack. According to Yun-Fat, he had to do twenty-eight takes of his first scene on the first day of shooting, because he had such difficulty speaking Mandarin. When asked in an interview with Time Magazine how he felt about his Mandarin pronunciation, he replied, "It's awful."
As Yeoh did not speak Mandarin, the script was presented to her phonetically with help from Mandarin-speaking crew members. In fact, her Malaysian accent can be heard throughout.
While Zhang's character is obviously highly trained and skillful in martial arts, the actress herself never had any official martial arts training at all. Instead, she used her dance techniques to learn her moves in these scenes as if they were a dance rather than a fight (which, in terms of creating and filming them, is actually not that far from the truth).
Taiwanese-born Hong Kong actress Shu Qi was originally cast in Zhang's role of Jiaolong Yu and worked on the film for several weeks, until her agent pulled her from the movie to do a Pepsi commercial in Japan. She has since changed agents.
The first draft of the screenplay said, "You will note in the script that none of the fight scenes are described, and I will just inform you now that they will be the greatest fight scenes ever in the history of cinema, period." (IMDb)
[Cinema Shorthand Society]
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Ooo, did you see the Wicked film trailer yet? It dropped during the Super Bowl and gave us some luscious visuals, but barely a hint that it’s a musical.
The First Look also didn’t advertise the fact that it is one of two parts. Part I will be released on Thanksgiving, and Part II some time in 2025. Act I has some great numbers, of course, like ‘Popular’ and ‘Defying Gravity’. But does that means we won’t get Act II’s incredibly romantic ‘As Long As You’re Mine’ until 2025? There was that intriguing moment where Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba caresses Jonathan Bailey’s cheek, swoon.
Ariana is prominently featured, naturally — she looks at home in Ga-Linda’s bubble:
And how excited are we that Jeff frikin’ Goldblum is The Wizard?!
He’s so perfect, with his combination of humor, dramatics, and wackiness—and he can actually sing, too.
Michelle Yeoh is also brilliantly cast as Madame Morrible, she’s got just the right shades of brilliance and menace. Also, FLYING MONKEYS.
Now, since we have a while to wait for Part I of the film, I thought I’d mention that I happen to have written a CW Nancy Drew musical theater AU, “No One Mourns the Wicked” in case someone’s hungry for Wicked content (yes this is a shameless plug). In this S1 AU, the Drew Crew puts on the first summer stock production of Wicked in Maine. It has a lot of the same flavor of S1 Nancy Drew, with a murder, a water logged ghost in a pink dress(haunting the theater of course), the crew as suspects, but also lots of tie-ins to the story of Wicked, Easter eggs for both the show and the cast, Nancy Drew secondary characters in surprising roles, and of course a lot of Nace (with some 🌶️).
There is definitely singing, and yes it gets very hot and heavy when Nancy and Ace sing ‘As Long as You’re Mine’—more than once.
Speaking of flying monkeys, we do also get to see Ace in a classic S1 ‘Ace’ shirt adorned with them—here’s a visual courtesy of @hucklebucket:
Anyway, I’m excited for the film, and humbly encourage you to check out my fic if you need something to tide you over!
Read No One Mourns the Wicked
#nancy drew#nancy drew cw#nace#ndcw#cw nancy drew#ace hardy#wicked#ariana grande#cynthia erivo#kennedy mcmann#alex saxon#musical theater#jonathan bailey#nace fanfic#nace fanfiction#nancy drew fanfic#nancy drew fanfiction#author: pluckysidekick
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[WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN]
Before its cancellation, plans for a fourth and potentially final season of Martin Mystery was in the works from Marathon Media and years later, they were eventually leaked out and later confirmed to be true from the creators:
• Season 4 in a change of pace, would've been serialized by having stories that would span multiple episodes and make mini-arcs with them comparing it to the fifth and final season of Totally Spies!, another show of theirs.
• In one of the mini-arcs, we would have saw the return of the Gatekeeper who was last seen in the Season 2 finale which ended on a cliffhanger with him infiltrating the Center with the storyline picking that up with Martin and Billy uncovering it in a conspiracy within the Center itself.
• Others that would've happened were Jenni and returning characters Michelle Dubois, Darla and Kaitlin becoming new agents for the Center, an episode set in Chinatown that would've been an homage to John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China, creatures such as the Jersey Devil, mermaids that steal souls and the Ninki Nanka were to be included but in their own different ways, it was going to be revealed that the Center was founded by the first President Of The United States themselves, George Washington himself.
• A new character that would've been introduced and be added to the main cast is Troy — a british gymnast who died of a broken neck back in the 80s but is accidentally brought back to life by Diana and is now a corpse without half of his body and a snapped neck that is has to use duc tape to keep said head up. No, seriously.
• Now one major storyline that would've changed the show and recontextualize it is that while Martin figures it all out by himself, Diana discovers that M.O.M. is in fact her mother and his step-mother. The latter is already on thin ice and working her way to the top with the help of Martin after the Octavia Paine incident but at the end of one of the mini-arcs, Diana discovers this to her shock, disbelief and horror, only be immediately "caught" and kidnapped by M.O.M. who appears right behind her out of the shadows in her room. M.O.M. reveals that she wiped her family's memories of her and has kept them in stasis in order to keep their relationship from interfering with her role as head of the Center, leading to more of M.O.M.'s character being fleshed out which shows her as a strict and morally grey but loving and caring woman who will equally do anything to keep the Center afloat and anything to keep her family safe to which she's called out on by Diana for all of the things that she's been through and all of the things that's happened to her, leading M.O.M. to question herself. To show what kind of drama we're dealing with and were to be dealing with, an episode would've ended with just M.O.M. and Diana driving in a car with the former driving and the latter sitting next to her, Diana apologizes for everything that has just happened and M.O.M. says she know she is and that she's her daughter and nothing will ever change that, she'll always love and care for her no matter what and nothing will ever change that as well but from this point forward to she don't know when, her trust is something Diana is going to have to earn back. Diana hangs her head down in shame as M.O.M. drives off emotionless.
Oh, and M.O.M.'s real name is revealed to be Olivia Lombard.
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5. Cake Mania: Lights, Camera, Action (2011)
*Previously on Cake Mania: Main St*
It’s been a while! Throughout this entire cake mania saga I’ve applied, got accepted into, and started medical school. If I’m gonna be honest, this was not even the biggest contributor as to why the Lights, Camera, Action review took forever (I’ll get into another reason later). But I finally finished, and I’m ready to review!
🄿🄻🄾🅃: Pregnancy is the milestone in Jill’s life that is the center of this next Cake Mania game. A game that represents the entirety of her pregnancy would be pretty boring (I would still play it) and at this point they can honestly tack on literally any kind of plot to go along with Jill’s pregnancy. I mean, she’s been to the moon and in Antarctica in Cake Mania 2. She’s time traveled. There are no rules to contain Jill and her journeys. This time, we are going to be dealing with..
A movie being shot in Bakersfield. Directed by...Michele Be. It is going to be a Pride and Prejudice remake with martial arts starring Tiny as Mr Darcy. It will additionally feature: explosions, aliens, a yeti monster, angry dwarves, and ninjas. It’s very lol-so-random-xD, very in-tune with the time that the game was developed and released. Bakersfield is being overrun by all kinds of interesting characters associated with the shooting of the movie. Eventually, it turns out that Michele Be is an evil fraud of a director that treats has cast and crew like dogshit. Risha is the one who saves the day and directs the movie in her own way.
This game is also repeating the set-up that Cake Mania: Main St has, which is welcome by me. Risha has ditched her stepping stone plant nursery and is now running a business that is more in line with her passions--a boutique. Since Tiny is one of the leads of the movie, we aren’t following his sushi restaurant. Now, we get to go through Giorno’s Pizzeria.
🅆🄷🄰🅃'🅂 🄽🄴🅆
No drink station: The drink station did not make a return this time around. I’m not sure why, I didn’t mind the addition of it and thought it was a nice break when things got crazy. This is just a guess on my part, but there is a new addition to the cake-making process that made its debut, and maybe they got rid of this to make room for that.
Equipment breaking: Holy SHIT this is so annoying. The first time this happened was when I finally had enough money to upgrade my snail green oven to the slightly faster purple one. Literally the worst feeling on the planet……which is a welcome addition by me. This introduces conflict that breaks the monotony of the game once you become ultra mega gold standard equipment, where the angry and/or Blue Bubble customers become a minor nuisance instead of ruining the whole level. This also does not occur randomly, as it always occurs once you finish a certain level and the opening screen for the next level is Jack admitting to causing it. Speaking of Jack...
Fruit Station: Jill cannot run around like she usually does and now has let Jack take control of operations, which was a risky move, but what business runs without risks? So while Jack is wreaking havoc around the bakery, Jill is sitting in a corner running the fruit decoration station. This game is not going to let you get away with clicking one button to add fruit to the cake, no. Instead, to add fruit to the cake you have click on the cake in a set pattern.
The equipment: There really isn’t much to say about them, just that I don’t know how I feel about the designs. They feel friendlier and more approachable, but they have less swag than the ones from Cake Mania 3 and Main St.
Here is the final set up for everything ^_^
Risha’s Boutique has a similar “fruit station” where customers can request their clothes to be put in a box with a pretty bow
Risha’s Boutique and Giorno’s Pizzeria have the same general format of the Burger Barn and Sushi Restaurant from the previous game. But let me tell y’all...I could do just about anything and beat a Cake Mania level with the superstar goal. I could move as slow as that damn green equipment and make a surplus of like $400. These two games? If I do not sit in the right position, move my arm 0.00005 m/s slower than what is ideal, and pause for 0.0007 seconds to look at the screen to figure out where to click next I am not even going to make the bare minimum goal to get to the next level. Every move has to be perfectly choreographed in order to beat the level. At least with Giorno’s Pizzeria the ingredients are splayed out so you can easily click on what you need. In Risha’s Boutique, the clothes the customers want will be the tiniest little “shirt” hidden between the jackets that are puffier than the average New Yorker’s and you will just have to angle your cursor just right to click on it. So you would think that Giorno’s Pizzeria was a breeze, huh?
Right?
Well, wrong.
Now...I pride myself on being a good Cake Mania player. I pride myself on being a tenacious one too. I am willing to play a level 60 times in a row to ensure that I do not leave the game without a 100% rate of achieving superstar goals. This time though.....I had to raise my white flag :(
Here is Level 18 of Giorno’s Pizzeria. Broke my streak and everything. This shit literally killed a large part of my soul. Had me tweaking and shaking and crying all at once. Once I hit $473 mark I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not sure how I pulled this off besides rapidly clicking on the TVs to keep all customers with a maximum number of hearts (thus, maximum number of tips) AND IT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH.
Level 18 is the reason why it took me so long to upload this review. This time last year, I was well on the way to finishing this game until I got to this level. I just couldn’t beat it, I would be like $20-30 off from the superstar goal most times, which is fairly significant in these two businesses, and when I was still $7 off after giving it my all I was seething. I will not bullshit y’all, the sheer butthurt I felt at not being able to achieve the superstar goal made me take a long, loooooong hiatus from finishing it. And of course, life stuff. However, towards the end of this past semester I picked the game up again, and decided to clear all my progress and restart the entire game. I still didn’t get the superstar goal on day 18 of Giorno’s Pizzeria, but I was able to get it for the rest of the levels. I’m fine with this, I guess (no I’m not).
But in all honesty, even with me being a dramatic sore loser (just guess my zodiac sign from this) one of the biggest factors I look for in these games is ways to keep it engaging and create some challenges. So I really cannot be that mad that Giorno’s Pizzeria made me work for that Superstar goal. With the cake-baking portion of the game, the monotony is inevitable even if it gets delayed with some new approaches to the recipe of the game. The kooky customers are annoying and do create troubles, but what will a Yeti that pisses everyone off really do when you have gold-standard equipment, high-speed TV, and unlimited distraction cookies? With Risha and Giorno’s games....YOU are the oven and the cake froster. Each new upgrade you get is just keeping track of more and more possibilities that customers can throw at you. Especially Giorno’s! With Risha, only the most recent clothes collections get featured while old ones are thrown out. By the end of Giorno’s Pizzeria, you will have an entire produce aisle to keep track of, the customers will want every leafy green on their pizza, AND you will have to put that shit on them in order. Your cursor will be forced to move all around the screen.
Another factor that had me seeing red during Giorno’s is that some of the dishes (like the pizza) would STILL have to bake after you compile all the ingredients
I know, strange thing to complain about, but hear me out. In all of these games, you want the customers to get their orders and gtfo as soon as possible so you can fit in the maximum # of customers and thus get the maximum number of funds. It’s why strategically upgrading equipment is so important in the cake-baking parts of these games. When it comes to Giorno’s Pizzeria, it already feels like an eternity gathering all the ingredients for an order. Longer than clicking a few buttons to make a cake. But then, on top of that for a pizza or lasagna you have to wait additional time for it to bake, and then have to wait on the damn customer to do their stupid emote before leaving!! After all of this, what do you get for an order? $40, maximum
Anyways, here are the low paying cheapskates themselves.
🄲🅄🅂🅃🄾🄼🄴🅁🅂
♥Ballerina♥
Favorite TV Show: ANTM
Omg this is so Lana Black Swan Coquette ^_^
♥Lola Fierezza♥
Favorite TV Show: World Cup
She is That Girl. Because she is That Girl, the moment she steps in and reveals her order, every other customer changes their order to match hers. The Regina George effect. There would be whole levels dedicated to her recurring appearance, and it was fun figuring out how long I should delay handing the menu to her. There is an art to it!
Farmer
Favorite TV Show: ANTM
Average Customer over the age of 50
Favorite TV Show: The Orange channel. I couldn’t think of a witty name for it so I’m just referring it by the button color on the TV
He comes in with a stank attitude, so we’re already off to a great start. It takes maybe a few seconds and then he starts swinging his axe around, which causes customers to leave. Ruining your business in the process. They should have AXED him from this game!
♥Cameraman♥
Favorite TV Show: ANTM
Before you hand him a menu, he’ll film the customers in line which will increase their hearts. I feel like something like that may produce the opposite effect, but I suppose I am living in a post-TikTok world where the sight of someone filming me without my permission would turn me into the above customer
Little Kid
Favorite TV Show: Food Network
That’s so Raven
Favorite TV Show: Food network
In a world filled with Blue Bubble Demons....the game devs decided to give us a character who is actually going to see the pearly gates. Psychic Sheila will use her crystal ball to automatically reveal the order of subsequent customers. It’s like Medieval-level power-up in Cake Mania 3, except we get an entire character who performs this task. I thank her for her service
Me in the Future if I Become a Superhero
Favorite TV Show: World Cup
Meet Super Cat Lady. She turns people into mimes. Kinda lame, would be better if she turned them into cats. Maybe that’s not actually me in the future...
Mime
Favorite TV Show: Food network
Mimes pair up together in a line.
Biblically Accurate Naruto
Favorite TV Show: ANTM
Another Blue Bubble repeat customer. Ninja does exactly what he did last time make your job harder attack people with smokebombs and make them freeze in line.
Firefighter and Stuntman
Favorite TV Shows: ANTM and Food Network
I putting these two together because it is pretty funny. This doesn’t have much consequence for the gameplay or anything, but a stuntman and firefighter being in line together causes the firefighter to hose him lmao.
Sad Sack: Chicken Edition
Favorite TV Show: Orange Channel
Only the most Noble Knight
Favorite TV Show: ANTM
He’s such a good and noble knight. Such a gentleman. He demands to be served before everyone else so that the other customers can have more time looking at the menu ♥ such admirable behavior
Yeti
Favorite TV Show: Orange Channel
He is a double whammy. Not only does he piss people off, but his ass has the nerve to freeze people so they are stuck in place. Pick *one*, jackass!
Klepto Kelly
Favorite TV Show: ANTM
You Know, she looks really nice and snazzy. Her outfit must cost a lot *and* she’s ordering expensive cake. I wonder how she makes a living? Oh yeah, she steals from you, that’s how.
Tiny: Our Leading Man!
Favorite TV Channel: Orange Channel
Another customer who helps you out instead of making you wanna tear your hair out. He orders multiple times, just like he has been doing in the past games!
Risha: Our Debut Director!
Favorite TV Channel: World Cup
Jack: The dumbfuck
He is typically an endearing Himbo, but in these games......🙄........so you already know that in Risha and Giorno’s games you need to be ON IT! Well, when he walks in, the momentum that I would build up throughout the level would be thrown off because now I would need to use my peripheral vision and WAIT on the proper item to show up in his bubble before I could hand it to him and clear out another space for a proper customer. What’s more infuriating is that in Giorno’s level he would only “order” a single ingredient so I had to expend energy looking out for him only to receive $17 in return. And YES, he appeared in Level 18. Ugh!!!
♥Jill: La Reina del pastel♥
I hope the Duolingo lessons are paying off.
Also I never figured out their favorite tv shows. Probably because I didn’t need to haha.
🄼🅈 🄾🄿🄸🄽🄸🄾🄽: I mean hey, what can I say? I can’t get too mad about them repeating a good recipe a second time in a row. I really enjoyed the Main St formatting, and think repeating it one more time to experiment with different kinds of secondary games is alongside adding more “Jill lore” is not a bad idea. Cake baking game is a classic and they basically maintained the formula that everyone knows and loves. The equipment breaking was a nice touch to create more “conflict.” Even if the secondary games (especially the damn pizzeria) made me cope and seethe, I didn’t hate them. In Main St, the Burger Barn and Sushi Restaurant were easy as shit and I beat them with very little struggle. These games, on the other hand, made me work a little bit more for the superstar goals. I don’t mind the more relaxed environment in some of Main St’s secondary games, but as I expressed many times before, I appreciate a good challenge that keeps my on my toes (disregard the long stretch of temper tantrum I had about level 18 of the pizzeria).
I give this game a ⓕⓡⓔⓢⓗ rating on the tomatometer!
Now onto the choice screenshots!
When I saw this shit, I actually keeled over. Jack predicted family vlogging in 2011.
*sighs*
I love Risha talking about “high couture” and then the collection of clothes we are introduced to look like they are from JC Penny.
Look at all of them slayinggggggg. The artstyle here is so pretty I love it.
I will not lie, there were way more screenshots I could have gotten. I couldn’t though, because for some reason this game only works in full-screen. I tried changing my desktop resolution and everything, and the game still wouldn’t budge and I had to play this game full-screen. Which meant. One screenshot per every time I had the chance to play. Let me tell you, each and every screenshot featured in this review I got was very, very strategic. I never put so much brain power in determining when I want to get a screenshot of the customers in my life.
After everything, here is my trophy room.
Well, at least it doesn’t look like I’m missing a trophy from not being able to achieve superstar goals for all the levels in Giorno’s Pizzeria!
#cake mania#cake mania lights camera action#2000s nostalgia#early 2010s#old web#pc game#time management#childhood nostalgia#childhood game#nostalgia
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Ted Lasso 3x12 - An Honest Review
I completely understand the amount of dissatisfaction with the finale. I had my own reservations and admittedly didn't like a few little things about it, but it didn't ruin the episode as a whole for me.
Thinking back to when the season three trailer dropped, they warned us about what to expect with the song choice - you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you find you get what you need.
We might not have all got what we wanted, but the characters we've loved for three years got what they needed. Not necessarily forever, but for now.
Nate came back to Richmond and patched things up with Ted. Roy finally started therapy. Keeley chose herself. Sam got to play for the Nigerian team. Jamie worked through his issues with self-confidence. Rebecca got her little moment of gezellig. Ted got to make up for lost time with his son.
The key thing to keep in mind here is that this is what the characters needed in that moment. And at this point in time, we don't know whether this is truly the end for Ted Lasso. There's enough wiggle room for us to potentially pick up where the finale left off sometime in the future. There are things left unsaid, moments left unseen, that have the potential to be explored further down the line. If we don't get that, then at least we got to witness a bittersweet ending for a beloved show.
Now, it wouldn't truly be a trademark Lauren Review™ without me finding at least one parallel between Ted Lasso and the work of David Lynch - so here it is.
The mixed reactions to the pacing of the show and the direction of certain storylines reminded me of the reaction to Twin Peaks season two, when David Lynch left to pursue other projects and Mark Frost handled the show all by himself. In the case of Ted Lasso, Bill Lawrence wasn't present for all of it, which is where some of the perceived problems come in. On top of that, the longer episodes made it more of a struggle for some people to engage with the show (which is true in both cases).
In the second season of Twin Peaks, in what was perhaps the first big 'shipping war' of modern television, Audrey & Cooper didn't get the happy ending the fans wanted (although their relationship would have been problematic if it had become a romantic pairing) - they remained friends. Both Coop & Audrey were given last-minute love interests that arrived in Twin Peaks to sweep them off their feet and completely detach any sort of meaning from their connection. Annie Blackburn was a cardboard cut-out of a woman who fit everything Coop needed at the time. John Justice Wheeler was Audrey's rich, preppy Mills & Boone hero with a private jet to whisk her away on any adventure she desired. One could argue that in the third and final season of Ted Lasso, Michelle was Ted's Annie, and Matthjis was Rebecca's John Justice Wheeler. The difference is, Audrey didn't get on the plane. She knew that whatever was waiting for her with JJW was too good to be true. That leaves us to wonder, what if Ted hadn't stayed on the plane? What if Rebecca's relationship with the flying Dutchman didn't develop? Where would it leave them?
The cast have waxed poetic about the beauty of platonic love and the concept of soulmates and cosmic connections, but for a show that lived by the rules of rom-com royalty Nora Ephron, there was no romantic payoff for any of its main pairings. That's not to say platonic soulmates can't be as meaningful and important as romantic soulmates - they absolutely can - but for all the expectations they subverted, choosing to duck out of putting the show's leads together by opening the episode with a fake-out, after all the groundwork they built for them, felt like kind of a cheap shot. I will admit, though, it was kind of funny. And let's be honest, they gave the TedBecca gang a few crumbs to work with in future fanfics. We have to at least be thankful for that.
As a qualified screenwriter, do I feel this episode - and the season as a whole - hit all the right marks? No. But it wasn't a complete disaster either. Sometimes jokes didn't land. Sometimes a scene really was too long. But it was long enough for them to tell the story they wanted to tell.
I think one of the main reasons there was trouble in terms of giving the story enough space to be told was that we're living in the generation of binge-watching and streaming. The Ted Lasso writers are old school. They've been playing the long game within a short format, and only managed to break out of that restrictive mold in the third and final season.
Do I wish Apple had pulled a Showtime and extended Ted Lasso season three for eighteen episodes instead of twelve? Yes. I think it would have given them just enough space to tie up a few loose ends. But at the moment, we don't know if this is truly the end - there's a chance we might get to see how things turn out. I know, it's the hope that kills you, but I'm still going to hold on to that hope. Because that's what rom-communism teaches you - there's always hope in despair.
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Chapter 11: Fíli
@laurfilijames, here is the follow-up to my first entry about Fíli for the @deanobingo.
This is chapter 11 of the blursed AU in which we'll meet Rhee, learn a little more about what happened between her and Ori (but not much) and encounter Thorin.
(Chapter 10 synopsis: Maedhros returns to the office after finding Ori - who wanted to talk to Rhee - in the foyer. Maglor is there and looks as if he has an important question; so is Fingon who visibly loathes Ori. Rhee takes off in a huff and leaves them standing there.)
Character: Fíli
Prompt: Can I help you with that?
Words: 2k
After the evident fear he had witnessed, Fíli was loath to let Michele leave on her own, so he downed his coffee – burning his tongue in the process – and hastened after her.
He felt like a villain himself as he slid behind a column and watched the plaza; Michele was walking bristly towards a woman Fíli had often seen before as everyone knew everyone else from sight in this madhouse. He recognised herspecifically within a single instant though.
As he crept nearer nevertheless, his heart sank into his stomach; if this was the friend – Rhee – who had gone to college with Ori, he had a serious problem on his hands.
The small woman with her sleek ponytail was one of those who arrived early and often left late, this much he knew; moreover, she was exactly Ori’s type – so much so that he had mockingly encouraged his friend to pay her coffee more than once – and the idea that they had met before made his mind swim with cold dread.
What if she was the very woman Ori refused to ever talk about?
She didn’t strike Fíli as a harpy though; her face was drawn and tense and – as Michele extended her slender arms to her – she crumbled against her friend and dissolved into hot tears.
“What the fuck,” he cursed under his breath; this day was evil. His fingers were wrapped, white-knuckled and clammy, around the edge of the wall he was sheltered behind to keep himself from rushing over and bundling up both ladies into his arms.
If Thorin had taught him anything in this life beyond sound business practices, it certainly was that – as a man of honour – one had to defend and protect those in need.
Just as he was about to intervene, a dark-skinned, impressively fit man ran towards them and vomited a flood of apologetic words.
Was this the boyfriend? She clearly seemed to like him a good deal for she gave him a wavering, watery smile and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
Then she turned back to Michele and Fíli saw his impromptu coffee date pulling out his card; a short discussion ensued and, finally, the mysterious stranger nodded at her friend and pointed at the company building down the square.
Would Michele present herself there?
Fíli knew every lane and shortcut around here and so, running as fast as his clothes allowed and his legs would carry him, he went around the back to arrive before Michele could.
In the end, they reached the heavy front door almost simultaneously.
“Hello again,” Michele smiled shyly and put her hands in her coat pockets. “Rhee has to take care of the adult toddlers she’s working with, and she said I should look into the opportunity of working here.”
She chuckled a little. “And even if not, she trusts this company to keep me safe for a little while.”
“Come through,” Fíli said calmly and pressed his badge against a stone pillar to open the security gates. “She’s quite right; no harm will come to you within these walls. The same could be said about her own though…”
Her cheeks flushed with sudden embarrassment as she was caught in her inconsistency.
“Yes,” she replied slowly, drawing out the single syllable, “but I might have wanted to come here instead.”
“By all means,” he grinned, “be my guest. So, that’s me.” He pointed at a board with photographs. “The grumpy one is my uncle, Thorin, the one who looks like him just prettier is my mother and that little fool over there is my brother, Kí.”
It struck him how important it seemed to him to prove that he had not lied to her and that he indeed was who and what he had described; she evidently had trust issues rooted in some terrible experiences and if her own friend wanted her to be safe rather than just occupied, he would do his darndest to make sure that she was.
“Good pic,” she commented with audible admiration. “So, what would I do if I was to get that job?”
Fíli led her to the elevators and took them to his floor where he barked at his brother – poking his head through his own office door – that he would have to take over Fíli’s afternoon appointments.
Then, he unlocked his own corner office and closed the door firmly behind him, turning the heavy key in the lock ostentatiously; Michele’s tense shoulders relaxed a little as she wandered over to the windowfront and looked out onto the deserted plaza.
“I don’t want to press you,” he started softly, “but I have to wonder what you are so afraid of.”
She frowned a little but heaved a low sigh before admitting that she had parted with her former partner in a less-than-amicable way. “It’s not as if I was running from the law or anything,” she then joked weakly. “I just need a safe place to stay for a little.”
“Can I help you with that?” he grinned and smiled to make her understand that he meant her no harm and would not come on to her unbidden when she had just admitted that her last experience with a man had ended badly enough for her to pack up and flee. “You are very welcome to spend every day here if that makes you feel better. There’s always someone around to keep an eye on things.”
A short knock resounded and he strode over to the door with the sharp, feline movements of a watchful predator. “Who’s there?” he called sternly and only opened the door when a small squeak announced that it was in fact the friend he had gone out to find in the first place.
“Man,” Ori exclaimed as soon as the door swung open, “those dudes have problems. Got a nice sandwich out of it though.”
“Where did you go? And what did you go there for?” Fíli barked and waved his friend in; by the look on Ori’s face, he could tell that whatever great quest he had wanted to fulfil had miserably failed.
It was not the first time that Fíli turned himself, his office, and his very soul into a sanctuary for the hurt and the lonely; Kíli and Thorin were more than capable to carry his load for a day, he knew, and so he suppressed the surge of guilt rising in a tide of bitter gall within his throat.
“Ori,” Michele hissed and Fíli observed with macabre fascination how the high colour of agitation drained from his friend’s face in a single moment as he whirled around to face the woman.
“Oh,” Ori merely whispered, stumbling back a few steps, “oh, Michele. Hello. I take it you’re the friend Rhee was going to meet. How…” He relapsed into silence, wringing his hands nervously. “I have no right to ask that, forgive me.”
Turning to Fíli, he promised that he’d call him later.
“No! You stay right where you are,” Fíli commanded, but his friend gave him an apologetic shrug and dashed back to the door like an overgrown squirrel that had seen the neighbourhood cat approach.
“What was that about?” Fíli then asked Michele sharply; he had suspected right away that there was more to the story than what she had divulged this far, but he had never expected to see such a vehement reaction from someone as placid as Ori usually was.
“It’s not my story to tell,” Michele said with a minute shrug. “If you care to know, you can ask Rhee when she picks me up; I suspect that she will as soon as she’s done dealing with her own co-workers.”
Sometimes, Fíli thought, the world was like a large lake, and it sufficed that one petulant child threw a heavy rock into it for the consequences and disturbances to ripple out until they had lastingly changed the peaceful microcosmos underneath the surface.
Ori meeting Rhee unexpectedly was certainly one of those stones and he felt the ground underneath his feet shift and waver as he stepped up to his desk to regain his composure at least outwardly while his mind was reeling with confusion.
The files sitting on the polished stone surface should have been submitted to the loathed neighbours by now and he knew for a fact that the folder was not even complete yet; with a frustrated grunt, he started leafing through his papers to find all the necessary documents and give them to Kíli.
Had he known where Ori had run off to, he might have hurried and given his friend the file to submit it to the competent agency within the Finwëan purgatory.
Of course, his computer had to chime at that exact moment with a flood of e-mails.
Three short raps resounded and – before Fíli could extricate his hands from the mountain of loose sheets – Michele had walked over to the door confidently and thrown it open.
“Who are you? I need the file, now,” a dark, impatient voice declared. Thorin, Fíli thought with a sinking feeling in his stomach; he didn’t care for disappointing either his mother or his uncle.
“It shall be ready promptly,” Michele replied calmly as if she had been working in this firm for years. “Do you need us to have it delivered or handed in somewhere further along the line or will it suffice to follow the usual procedure?”
Fíli was amazed by the change he saw in her; her back was straight, and her eyes did not hesitate to meet his uncle’s, gleaming with cool efficiency as Thorin grumbled that it would be absolutely satisfactory to simply give it to Kíli once it was done.
“I’d rather not give the darned ballerinas next door a reason to complain,” Thorin then explained almost apologetically. Again, Fíli could only gape at Michele in astonishment as she – who had only just arrived in town – immediately grasped the meaning of Thorin’s bitter jibe.
“I shall take the file over myself, if that eases your mind, Sir,” she said soothingly and Thorin actually smiled at that and nodded at her gravely.
“Very well,” he said in a much more debonair tone, “that spares us all – well me at least – a trip to their gaudy foyer.”
His dark-haired, shapely head pushed past Michele to peer into the room. “Fíli,” he called, “I see you’ve found someone to assist you. Well done!”
And with that, he was gone again, stomping down the corridor to terrorise some other unsuspecting soul.
“You’ve handled him admirably,” Fíli praised, wishing desperately now that she’d accept to work for him. He had, of course, put the horse before the cart here; thus far, he had not even described the job opening at hand.
Rubbing his tired eyes with one broad palm, he waved at the comfortable chair on the other side of his desk.
“Not now,” Michele grinned and tapped a slender finger against the pile of documents he was leaning on. “You’d better get this done. I shall present myself here tomorrow and then, we can talk about this job you want to offer me.”
Grabbing a post-it from a funny goat-shaped holder and a pen from a “Best brother in the world”-mug, she wrote down her own number and taped it against the outside of the desk.
“Chop chop,” she then encouraged him playfully after theatrically checking her wristwatch, “they’ll close shop soon.”
Returning regretfully to the odious ordering of stray papers, Fíli observed Michele from the corner of his eyes; she was beautiful in a calm, composed manner that made him feel too loud and clunky in comparison.
Moreover, she seemed to have an innate sense of efficiency and was able to pacify Thorin without ever raising her voice; she was doubtlessly an extraordinary asset, and his ambition was stoked by the prospect of winning her over. In every sense of the word.
So, that was another glimpse at my forbidden, silly AU.
I hope you liked this <3
-> Chapter 14
#deanobingo2022#dean o'gorman#fanfiction#writing#blursed AU#Modern!AU#Modern!Fíli#Fíli#Fíli x OC#an offering of love and goodwill#meet-cute#new character#writing for friends#Michele main cast now#Follow-up#Chapter 11
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Weekly Pond Newsletter
It's a big week for the US folks! If you haven't set your clocks back for the end of Daylight Savings Time, go do it now! Later this week, Tuesday is Election Day and Friday is Veterans Day (observed). In honor of all of these super important things happening in the world, have a super silly gif that is not related to anything at all:
Old Business:
SPN Rewatch: Fanfic Edition - Last weekend, we had a great chat about episodes 1.03 Dead In The Water and 1.04 Phantom Traveler. We also decided to make docs in the Archives for more than just episodes! Admin Michelle is working on getting these docs created and updated with the notes we have gathered so far. Click here for the masterlist and to check out the new links!
Fishing for Treasures at the @fanficocean - November's theme is Gen fics! No romance in November! Fics can have a pairing, but the main plot of the story will not be a romantic relationship. Head on over there to find some multi-fandom gen fics!
Last week's #TweetFicTues prompts were:
New Business:
Secret Santa 2023 - Signups are open! If you like to both give and receive fabulous fanfics, then this fic exchange is right up your alley. You fill out the form, and we match you up with someone compatible with you based on your and their answers. Click here for more info on how to get involved! Click here to see last year's masterlist!
Monthly prompt for November - The theme for November's monthly prompt is soulmates! Click here to see the beautiful collage that Admin Marie made. If you decide to write something based off of these prompts, be sure to let us know so we can signal boost them!
New Member Spotlight for September/October - The post is up, and has even been edited for a late reply from one of the newbies. Click here for the updated post and to meet our newest members!
Manta Rays in the Discord server - Our Discord server will be busy this week! Admin Marie will be in later on today, Manta Ray Kat will be there tomorrow, and Manta Ray Dean will be hanging out on Friday. Keep an eye out for announcement posts with times!
SPN Rewatch: Fanfic Edition - Next weekend, we will be discussing episodes 1.05 Bloody Mary and 1.06 Skin. The template docs for these have been created and added to the Archives masterlist, so feel free to add your own notes as you watch if you want! We will also add notes from the chat on that day. This chat will be at the earlier time, Saturday noon Eastern US/Canada time. Click here to access the Archives!
Paul Carella livestream concerts - Paul has put up the shows for this week, two today and two on Wednesday! His new venue is Lounges.tv, and one of the benefits of this new site is that you can watch old streams, too! Click here to get tickets to his upcoming shows and see videos from last week's shows!
(Divider by @glygriffe!)
That's all for this week! To see all Pond events, and also other SPN-related things like conventions and online concerts, check out our Google calendar! Click here for a static view in Eastern US/Canada time (desktop only, no mobile app access, sadly), and click here to add our calendar to your own Google calendar! We try to keep it as up to date as possible. If there's something you want to see on the calendar that's not there (maybe a convention we missed, or cast birthdays, or something similar), send us an ASK and let us know!
Hope you have a great week! - From your Admins and Manta Rays, @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, @katbratsupernaturalwhore and @heavenssexiestangel!
#weekly events post#michelle answers#pond admin#long post#spn fan fiction#spn fanfiction#spn fan fic#spn fanfic#supernatural fan fiction#supernatural fan fic#supernatural fanfiction#supernatural fanfic#dean winchester#sam winchester#castiel#the winchesters#spnwin#spn prequel#john winchester#mary winchester#carlos cervantes#latika desai
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How a 1985 horror film addresses the importance of true names and gave a cis character a dead name
I happen to love the original 1985 horror film Fright Night (not so much the remake). In the original Fright Night a teenage boy named Charley Brewster discovers that his new neighbor is a vampire.
Not knowing what to do, Charley seeks the aid of has-been horror actor, Peter Vincent. Peter Vincent hosts a TV show also called Fright Night where he shows classic monster movies (usually featuring himself.)
Now Peter Vincent happens to be the character’s stage name based on Peter Cushing (Hammer Horror actor who played Dr. Van Helsing in Hammer’s Dracula movies), and Vincent Price (classic horror actor).
It was actually the name of the character he played in his old monster movies “Peter Vincent The Great Vampire Killer.” Imagine if Sarah Michelle Geller couldn’t find work after Buffy, started hosting late night monster movies and began answering to the name Buffy Summers. That’s pretty much what happened here.
At first Peter is reasonably skeptical to Charley’s claims that his neighbor is a real vampire but after seeing the man doesn’t cast a reflection in a mirror Peter is forced to face the reality that vampires are real.
From this point on the character experiences intense character growth. He goes from cowardly-has-been horror actor to becoming the hero he always pretended to be.
One major catalyst for this is when Peter is forced to defend himself against a recently created vampire “Evil” Ed. Seeing that poor boy die as a vampire is both heart breaking and terrifying and Peter realizes he has to become the hero he always pretended to be.
While trying to encourage himself he repeats again and again the words ”I am Peter Vincent, the great vampire Killer. I am Peter Vincent, the great vampire killer!”
Earlier in the movie when Charley had tried to encourage Peter (after he had panicked at learning vampires are real) Charley had said something very similar to which Peter had responded with “That’s a character in a movie! That’s not even my real name!”
Well, Peter finally becomes the hero he always pretended to be. His “real” name never comes up again. In fact his character is credited as Peter Vincent on the end credits. And he answers to Peter Vincent all through the sequel. At this point his original name has become a deadname. He sees himself as Peter Vincent and that is who he has become. The deadname no longer matters. His stage name, his character name has become his true name.
This is a great symbolism to show how a chosen name can be a true name and a birth name is not necessarily your true name or who you are meant to be, and yes, you can learn who you truly are later.
There’s a lot of LGBTQ+ overtones in the original Fright Night (again, not so much the remake). Amanda Beares (who played Amy, Charley’s love interest) was a lesbian in real life. Stephen Geoffreys (who played Ed) was gay in real life. Roddy McDowall (Peter Vincent) was gay in real life. Not only that but the character was half-inspired by Vincent Price (who was bisexual). The character Jerry Dandridge (the main vampire) had a live-in male companion that was implied to be a lover even though he also felt Amy looked like a lost lost.
And Fright Night Part 2 also featured several gay actors, including one who was dying of AIDS, Merritt Butrick (it would be his final role). The character Regine was also implied to be bisexual. And there was a one trans character named Belle.
Though deadnaming wasn’t (by the majority) considered an issue yet in 1985 I would like to believe that Peter Vincent’s self-acceptance and discovering who he truly was is something powerful for many in the LGBTQ+ community.
There’s virtually no LGTBTQ+ content in the remake. Come to think of it, I don’t even remember there being any black actors in the remake either for that matter. Meanwhile in the original Fright Night the club bouncers and the homicide detective were black. Jerry’s sister in Fright Night: Part 2 (1988) was of mixed race, and Belle (the transwoman vampire) was black.
Fright Night (1985) deserves a more respectful remake, embracing the LGBTQ+ overtones of the original, not changing everything to try to make it be the anti-Twilight that the 2011 Fright Night tried to be.
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A character study analysis -
Why Tara Maclay matters
youtube
"Now I’ve never been much of a shipper. I think the first ship I ever telegraphed was Harry Potter and Cho Chang, and while I was a little sad they didn’t work things out, I never hated Harry/Ginny. And I accept it as the natural progression of their story. But when I was a kid watching ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ for the first time about 10 years after it first aired there was one ship I fell in love with and was willing to die on a hill for. ... This isn’t going where you think.
I) My Unnecessarily Long Backstory
Very quickly Willow became my favourite character. I’d loved and adored Sarah Michelle Gellar in just about everything I saw her in beforehand but when I finally got around to watching the show that made her famous, I strangely preferred her more as these gals. I’m more receptive to Buffy as a character these days and can appreciate her performance but younger me was all about Willow. Alyson Hannigan’s work continues to impress me with how she transformed a shy bumbling nerd into a powerful confident witch across seven seasons without once making me feel like the characterisation was betrayed. It’s still a marvel to me how Alyson can effortlessly be adorably hilarious in one scene and heartbreakingly emotional in the next. One of the reasons I kinda, sorta love the magic-is-a-drug storyline in Season 6 and the subsequent Dark Willow thing is the strength of this gal’s performance. So now I’ve hopefully established my love and devotion to this character and can convey that if they were going to put her into a relationship with anyone other than me and have me accept it… said partner had better be the perfect match for her.
Enter Oz. Oz represents a good example of how to create a love interest that exists to put someone in a relationship without feeling like you’re actually doing that. He complimented Willow and his very presence helped her become a better person. Unfortunately by Season 4 Seth Green had grown creatively dissatisfied and scheduled conflicts with another film meant he had to be written out only six episodes into the season. As heart-wrenching as Oz and Willow’s break-up was, it proved beneficial in the long run.
Amber Benson was introduced the same season as a character called Tara Maclay. She was not intended to be a love interest for Willow outright since although Joss Whedon had envisioned one of the main cast turning out to be gay, he was actually leaning more towards Xander being the candidate. The main reason for Tara’s introduction was because Willow had become significantly more powerful over the four seasons and thus was no longer able to convincingly be put in danger the way she used to. So they needed a new character that could serve as their resident distressed damsel. Amber Benson almost wasn’t cast because, well, Joss Whedon has his body preferences. Marti Noxon, however, could see that the vulnerability she brought to the character was what they ultimately needed. Through a combination of convenient timing and the surprising chemistry between the two actresses, their friendship was eventually written to have them become a couple. In what became a shocking move for the series the episode ‘New Moon Rising’, in which Oz returns, ended with him and Willow parting on good terms and Willow choosing to stay with Tara. To say this was met with an uproar would be an understatement. Willow and Oz have been a popular pairing and in the far less enlightened early 2000’s the idea that Willow would not only turn down Oz but do so in favour of another woman… To cut a long story short, Amber Benson was met with so many nasty comments that she nearly left the show. But, of course, she didn’t. And I want to highlight just how impressive it was that this character was despised for no reason other than the fact that Willow chose her over Oz. And then at the end of Season 6 when she was written out, there was even more backlash. While I love Oz it’s impossible for me to ignore that his successor became just as, if not more popular, and her successor was the most despised character in the entire franchise. Seriously, there are Xander fans, Wesley fans, even the odd Riley fan. I will be very surprised if this video reveals the rare thing known as a Kennedy fan. Tara was that tough an act to follow.
II) The Triumph of Representation
The Willow and Tara relationship was not the first time a queer romance had been depicted on TV and nor was Buffy the first series to have an established character suddenly come out after been assumed straight beforehand. But compare the sitcom Ellen in which the title character came out alongside her actress and was met with a lot of criticism for the tone shifts that followed with people such as Elton John telling Ellen to “shut up about being gay and start being funny again”, Buffy was notable for not having a big coming out moment or a very special episode about homophobia. It also stood out for avoiding the other end of the spectrum. The Willow and Tara relationship was treated with the same grace and seriousness as any other on the show. Incidental and un-stereotypical. It was positive representation without beating you over the head with it. Queer viewers could see themselves in either character and find comfort and relatability. Straight viewers could see another perspective and learn to normalise the idea. The relationship had an uphill struggle behind-the-scenes with restrictions on what the characters could or couldn’t be shown doing. Forcing the writers to use magic as a metaphor for exploring their sexuality. They didn’t share their first on-screen kiss until Season 5’s ’The Body’ after eighteen episodes as a couple. But despite those restrictions they still stood out as being a same-sex couple on a major show, in which they were accepted as a vital part of the main cast. Both powerful and fallible in their own ways and existing as independent characters in their own right rather than tokens there to meet a quota. And while there was obviously a bigger focus on Willow at first, since she’d been on the show since it started, the writers quickly began to explore Tara’s character in interesting ways.
III) A Different Kind of Empowerment
The 90’s were the era of aggressive, in-your-face girl power in which women declared they could do exactly what the men did and asserted their strength in a multitude of ways. Buffy expressed her strength through physical prowess and razor sharp wit. Willow expressed hers through intelligence and, later, unrivalled magic powers. Cordelia and Anya likewise stood out for their unfiltered, independent attitudes towards life that were then refined through character development to being unafraid to do the right thing. Tara stood out by being defined through her kindness and empathy. She’s introduced as the only Wiccan at a college meeting who listens to Willow and validates her interest in pursuing more advanced spell casting. She then acts as Willow’s guide and mentor to help her improve her powers, remaining an understanding and empathetic teacher the whole time. Even when meeting Oz, she’s understanding of the idea that he and Willow might get back together despite how much pain this would cause her. Throughout the series kindness and compassion would be her defining characteristics. And showing that she is far more than just ‘the nice character’, her first episode establishes that she is also a powerful witch in her own right, providing Willow with enough assistance to fight off The Gentlemen. This helped set her apart from, say, Dawn, who ended up in distress so much the show itself had to lampshade it. Tara was given just enough competency that her ending up in trouble was never annoying, and she justified her presence in the main cast. This made her an easy character to root for and accept.
IV) Tara as Her Own Person
Once she was established as Willow’s girlfriend the show set about developing her into her own person so as not to remain a satellite character. The Season 5 episode ‘Family’ properly delves into her backstory revealing that she comes from a history of abuse and has been brought up to think that she’ll turn into a demon when she reaches adulthood. This story serves to put the audience on Tara’s side where we see that she fears Willow and the others will reject her if they discover this. We’re shown what she’s had to put up with from her family, explaining her shyness and vulnerability, and thus endearing her to us all. So in the end, when the demon thing is revealed to be just a lie to keep the women in the family in line, the episode celebrates that Tara can remain within the main cast. Also her relatives disapproval of her interest in magic and witchcraft is an effective parallel to her sexuality, making the ‘family of choice’ theme very relatable. The episode ends with an affirmation that Tara is an essential part of the group and the show.
But I’d argue that the most significant turning point in her character development isn’t actually from an episode that centers around her. Season 5’s ’The Body’ is considered one of the best episodes of the entire series and it is important for Tara not just because it features her and Willow’s first on-screen kiss. This right here gives Tara a role that only she can fill in the show. Someone who has experienced the loss of her mother at a young age and can relate to what Buffy, and indeed Dawn, are feeling. And as someone who didn’t know Joyce as well as the others, she is able to be the one who can hold it together and be a rock for everyone. We’re normally used to seeing Willow reassuring Tara or being the stronger partner, but this allows Tara to fill that role too. Putting them on an equal footing. In the next episode ‘Forever’ Tara establishes her identity as someone with a different perspective from Willow in what would be a recurring source of conflict for them. Willow - the witch who came to the craft late - always wants to bend the rules and push the limits of what she can accomplish while Tara - the natural witch - knows and respects these limits and doesn’t like meddling with the natural order. Conflict between them is further explored in the episode ‘Tough Love’, highlighting another part of Tara that distinguishes her as her own person. The inner-belief that Willow sees her as just an experiment and will go back to boys as soon as she loses interest in her. And while this isn’t great for Willow to hear, it serves to reaffirm that Tara is her own person with her own thoughts and fears and not just an extension of her girlfriend. She is then the one who is targeted by Glory and has her mind… well I don’t know what the technical term is but because of that Tara then reveals the season’s big secret to the villain. That scene may be a little clunky but the act itself further puts Tara on an equal footing with the main cast. Things now only happen because of her that can only be done by her. A conflict set up by her disharmony with another character that then leads the turning point towards the finale and now she becomes the secondary part of the main tension. It’s not just ‘will they protect Dawn and stop Glory?’ But now ‘will they save Tara too?’. And once it happens in the big battle Tara contributes in a way that reminds the audience that she is also a powerful witch just like Willow.
That’ll continue into the next season. So Season 5 ends with Tara no longer being ‘just Willow but less powerful’, but an important character who serves the narrative.
V) Character Development
The two-part episodes that opens Buffy’s first season on the UPN network is the best season premiere across the entire series. Beginning what is my second favourite Buffy season after three. Tara is one of four characters preparing a dark spell to resurrect Buffy from the dead after she sacrificed herself at the end of Season 5. Initially on-board with the idea we see that aforementioned conflict come into play when it’s clarified how Willow has been hiding some of the darker parts of the spell because Tara is the one who would question her. And one of the things I love about this episode is how it shows Tara rising to the occasion. In a crisis where Willow was too drained to be their heavy hitter, Tara steps it up and demonstrates how she’s a force to be reckoned with too. And I don’t want to gloss over this badass moment either. Like in ’The Body’ we’re shown that when Buffy is M.I.A it is Tara who the group really needs. She keeps everyone together and ensures they stay on track. And what is the next significant development in her story this season?
Tara is the first one to become aware of Willow’s increasing problems with magic use and what happens next becomes a fascinatingly ironic twist in the tale where Willow erases Tara’s memory of their arguments just in time for the musical episode in which Tara gets an entire song to herself titled ‘Under Your Spell’. While a double-meaning to the memory erasing Willow did, it’s mainly about how their relationship has helped her come out of her shell and shine to her full potential. Besides designating her as important enough to have her own solo the song serves as an important next step in something very hard she has to do. In the episode ’Tabula Rasa’, when Willow’s problems become impossible to ignore and it’s clear she can’t be reasoned with, Tara breaks up with her. Despite how much it hurts her to leave and the cold reaction she gets from Dawn in response, she walks out because she now knows her own self-worth and understands her right to be treated with respect. At a point in the series where Buffy and Willow falls so low they resort to using the ones they care about, Xander and Dawn just hurt people, and Giles abandons someone who needs his guidance, Tara has reached her peak in knowing when to stand up for herself and not tolerate mistreatment. And she doesn’t punish the other characters who cared about her for Willow’s actions. She still makes an effort to be involved in Dawn’s life after the break-up. Even staying over at the house after Buffy and Willow are out all night. Even though Dawn is on paper just the little sister of her girlfriend’s best friend and Tara has no obligation to keep in contact with her, she still looks out for her and tries to provide some stability. But Tara’s friendship with Buffy is something that just made me love her even more. And like in the previous season, this creates a role for Tara that only she could fulfil. Buffy could never talk to Xander or Willow about her relationship problems. Giles is out of the picture. And, well, Anya isn’t the sort of person you kiss and tell to. Tara meanwhle is outside of the group at this point so Buffy feels safer going to her about problems. And Tara again shares this understanding with Buffy that allows her to open up. Having feelings that you’re ashamed of and worrying you’re biologically wrong for things outside your control. The script for this scene in ‘Dead Things’ originally had a line where Tara drew parallels between her being a lesbian who’s had to hide her relationships to Buffy being ashamed of hers with Spike. And it’s not drawn attention to but Tara herself was recently in a relationship with someone who could be very virtuous but also had a dark side and was doing bad things that was getting impossible to ignore and justify. Tara is able to provide that support to Buffy and be there for her and making sure Spike stays in line. And even with regards to Willow she’s supportive of her attempts to get clean in a healthy enough way. Take this scene in ‘Older And Far Away’ where Anya is trying to pressure Willow to cast a spell that will allow them to leave the house they’ve been magically trapped in. While the metaphor doesn’t really land (how many life or death situations require alcohol or drugs to get out of?) the sentiment does. Tara stands up for Willow, recognising that she is trying to be better, and again, serving as that grounding presence who prevents the others from falling apart.
By her final episode, this shy wallflower who put up with mistreatment for so long has transformed into a confident, passionate woman who stands up for what she believes in, will lay down boundaries that she will not tolerate the disrespect of,… but also balances that with being 100% there for her loved ones and not hesitating to help someone in need. I hate to constantly reference ‘Games Of Thrones’ but the development of Sansa makes for a good contrast. Both she and Tara start out in perpetual victim mode and their powerlessness is frequently emphasised. Sansa’s character development into ‘empowered woman’ involves shedding her femininity and the attributes that defined her virtues in opposition to her flaws. Most notably her compassion and ability to be smarter than she’s given credit for. Someone who took pity on a drunk knight, became friends with an inexperienced handmaiden, comforted several scared women in a war zone, and stood up for her husband when his family tried to publicly humiliate him develops into someone who smirks after feeding a man to his own hounds, nearly has her own sister assassinated, trash talks a woman who’s literally fighting on the front lines for her, and her reaction to being indirectly responsible for an entire city of innocents being destroyed is…
Tara’s character development allowed her to become stronger and more confident while still retaining the virtues that were built into her characterisation from the beginning. She doesn’t become perfect and I’d argue that restarting her relationship with Willow at the end of ‘Entropy’ probably wasn’t the wisest move that she herself admits - but hey, she’s human. And then what happens?
VI) A Meaningful Death
The real twist of Buffy Season 6 is that The Trio of Warren, Jonathan and Andrew aren’t the true Big Bads. Their actions just unleash the real one. Enraged and distressed at Tara’s accidental death, Willow goes off the deep end and first just tries to kill the three boys in revenge but then escalates into trying to destroy the world to alleviate her pain. It’s probably my favourite arc in the series - or close enough. And even though Tara isn’t technically involved in this arc - what with her dying to start it off - it still speaks to the strength of her character. Tara had previously shown herself as the anchor who kept the group grounded in the aftermaths of deaths or absences, and it was her leaving Willow and being less involved with the group that led to them falling apart. So her death is indeed what allows for things to escalate this way. Remove the group’s anchor from the equation permanently and the conflict increases for maximum drama and therefore excitement. And because Tara was such a beloved character it just adds to the emotional investment. We don’t just want Buffy to stop Willow because the world ending would be a downer in general. We want Willow to be stopped before she crosses lines in a way that Tara herself wouldn’t want, and that she would permanently stop being the character we know and love. Tara’s death also forces things like Xander and Anya to actually talk about their issues rather than what they’ve actually been doing in the fallout of the wedding. Or Buffy to stop seeing Dawn as just someone to protect and closer to an equal member of the team. The resolution to this storyline is not an elaborate spell, fight routine or comically large weapon… but having compassion for the monster and stopping the apocalypse with an act of love - which, arguably, is a very Tara solution to things.
VII) Conclusion
Despite Tara dying at the end of Season 6 there were plans to bring her back in various capacities before the series ended. Given that the Big Bad of Season 7 could impersonate anyone on the show who’s died, she was a prime candidate for that. The episode ‘Conversations With Dead People’ was, in fact, supposed to have her in this scene instead of Cassie but Amber Benson turned it down. Her reasoning being that the Willow/Tara relationship had meant so much and been a lifeline to many viewers who related to it, and seeing Tara as an evil being telling Willow to die “would just destroy people”. You can read the script for that scene in the link below. And yeah, it’s good, but what we got with Cassie is just as effective. There was also a proposed episode where Buffy would get one wish from The Powers That Be and consider using it to, say, restore Angel’s humanity, defeat The First for good, or bring her mother back to life. And it would end with her showing off a new pair of shoes to Willow - letting her believe she used the wish for that - before stepping aside to reveal Tara. The reason for this not happening was initially just that Amber Benson had a directing opportunity in the UK but she later confessed the following:
“I had had some issues with somebody on the show and it had kind of come to a head just as I was getting ready to leave… Leaving the show was sad, because there were some of the crew and the writers and some of the cast that I just adore… But I had made my peace with that person and the show, and I was done… I’m leaving everything in a good place… I don’t need to come back…”
Would the series have been served well by having Tara come back from the dead? On the one hand - that part of Season 7 showing Willow dealing with mourning her and learning to balance magic on her own is pretty strong. On the other - Kennedy, am I right? Part of me feels that Buffy was never the sort of show to have the wish fufillment element. On something like ‘Charmed’ - yeah, no bother. But Buffy always had this gloomy 90’s ‘life sucks - do what you can with it’ vibe. Mainly from Joss Whedon’s mantra that happy people make for boring television. Bringing Tara back may have been little more than fan service. And it’s actually another actor on the show commenting on their character that helps me come down on the side of letting Tara stay dead. Emma Caulfield spoke about how Anya was killed off in the finale, and unfortunately I can’t remember the exact quote or where to find it, but she used the fact that people were upset at the death and that it affected them as a sign that she was successful as a character since a death that no one cared about would hardly be an example of good writing. Tara was lucky in that she got the generous treatment from the writers. Never being given these low moments that were less organic character flaws and more ‘WTF Whedon?!’ I mean Willow will probably be the character I love most overall. Buffy is great and Oz can’t be touched. Gotta love Anya and Cordelia too. But I think Tara easily had the best development and avoided any nasty derailment that virtually nearly everyone else got at some point. And she’s a testament to what the show did right and what holds up about it all these years later.” - Better With Bob?
A fantastic well-worded and reasoned character study analysis of the character Tara Maclay and why she matters even though she was never credited as part of the main or season regular cast. While I don’t believe that Tara had the best character development - by a long mile - I can’t argue with the sentiment that she was a significant character in the show that taught above all that empathy, compassion, kindness and love is all-important in telling a story about flawed characters that so often need it and that rarely, if at all, ever got it. If not for Tara - who could provide it? Sure, tragic and dramatic storytelling is compelling and teaches many lessons but without the balance of hope and love, it feels more like torture than catharsis. You can’t just throw in the dark without the light, the hard without the ease, and the heavy without the heart. And I think - if it weren’t for Tara and the marvellous way Amber Benson portrayed her, Whedon would have taken all the substance out of what he calls a “weight-y story’. Yeah, life does suck and we should just deal with it however way we can, but empathy is enduring a battle that hasn’t been won yet. It provides the empowerment needed to keep fighting against insurmountable odds. We may not win the battle - but least we can say we never gave up the fight and that we never lost ourselves within it.
And that was what Tara Maclay represented alongside being the personification of purity and ‘the nice character’ and ‘Willow’s girlfriend’. She represented that motivation to keep going, to keep fighting, to keep enduring, and to also remain our best selves in the process because it’s not easy to be a fighter and a lover at the same time. It requires real strength and power too few possess or realize that they once did. It’s not just Willow who needed that lesson. Every main protagonist character did. And Tara Maclay showed them how to endure in the fight through love.
#buffy the vampire slayer#tara maclay#amber benson#willow rosenberg#alyson hannigan#willow and tara#empathy#compassion#kindness#love#characterisation#character representation#character development#why tara is the best#better with bob?#character study#analysis
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Hey why whi who is josh hutchensin i sont fucking know
Joshua Ryan Hutcherson was born on October 12, 1992 in Union, Kentucky to Michelle Fightmaster, who worked for Delta Air Lines, and Chris Hutcherson, an EPA analyst. He has one younger brother, Connor Hutcherson. From the age of four, Josh knew that he wanted to be an actor. In order to pursue his goal, Josh and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was nine-years-old.In 2002, Josh landed his first acting role in the TV film, House Blend (2002), with Amy Yasbeck, Dan Cortese and Sean Faris. The same year, Josh was cast in the pilot, Becoming Glen (2002), but Fox did not order it to series (though, several years later, it was reconfigured as the short-lived series, The Winner (2007), starring Rob Corddry, and co-written/produced by Seth MacFarlane). Toward the end of 2002, Josh appeared on an episode of ER (1994).Josh made his big-screen debut, in 2003, with a bit part in the Oscar-nominated American Splendor (2003). His career began its measured ascent in 2005 with a supporting slot as one of Will Ferrell's kids in Kicking & Screaming (2005), a co-starring role in the indie hit Little Manhattan (2005), and another co-starring role in Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), which was originally conceived as a sequel to Jumanji (1995). Despite underperforming at the box office, "Zathura" helped earned for Josh his first Young Artist Award for "Leading Young Actor".2006 saw bigger returns for Josh's burgeoning film career with a role as one of Robin Williams' sons in the modest hit, RV (2006). The following year, he landed his first breakthrough role in Bridge to Terabithia (2007), the kid-approved adaptation of Katherine Paterson's novel that co-starred AnnaSophia Robb, whose career was also taking off at this time.Josh starred as Brendan Fraser's nephew in another family-film hit, Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), and he had a smaller role in the Crash-like drama, Fragments (2008), though by now his face and name were being used in movie-marketing materials. Though it wasn't a hit, Josh's character in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) served as a major plot device early in the story.In 2010, Josh co-starred in the critically-acclaimed film, The Kids Are All Right (2010), alongside Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, and Mia Wasikowska. The film received several awards and four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Josh's performance as the youngest child in a family, led by two mothers, earned him acclaim from audiences and the industry, alike. Josh followed up with an expanded role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), which saw Dwayne Johnson take over as the main character from Brendan Fraser. Between the star power and the allure of 3D, the sequel was a worldwide hit and a third installment is in development.With the announcement that he would portray the beloved "Peeta Mellark" in The Hunger Games (2012), the film adaptation of the best-selling novel written by Suzanne Collins, Josh became an instant celebrity. In the wake of the movie's massive worldwide success, Detention (2011), a horror/comedy that Josh made before "The Hunger Games", was released. Josh was also an executive producer on that feature.Before Josh reprises his role as "Peeta" in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), we will see him in the long-delayed remake of Red Dawn (2012); the omnibus 7 Days in Havana (2011) (aka "7 Days in Havana") (Josh's segment was directed by Benicio Del Toro); The Forger (2012) opposite Lauren Bacall, Alfred Molina, and Hayden Panettiere; and the animated Epic (2013) from Ice Age (2002) co-director (and voice of "Scrat"), Chris Wedge.
BornOctober 12, 1992
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