#Skylines Blu-ray

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (October 15-21, 2023)

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #1 is metahuman-heavy, establishing how the Titans of the Monsterverse found themselves on the same Earth as DC's finest and ending with Superman flying off to face Godzilla. It's early days, but the conveniently deserted Skull Island base the Legion of Doom storms into makes me pessimistic that any of the Monsterverse's human characters will show up. Rodan is also absent from the Titan line-up, despite appearing via flashback in the short Godzilla: Fight or Flight comic included in the Monsterverse Omnibus earlier this year. (Toho must be overcharging for Godzilla's supporting cast again.) It should be fun watching D-listers like Behemoth, Scylla, and Camazotz tangle with some of the world's most famous superheroes though.

Sales data for DC comics is effectively unavailable now, but anecdotally this one is doing gangbusters. The downside of snagging it now over waiting for the trade paperback is that DC disperses ads throughout the comic, instead of just at the end like IDW.

Toho announced a ton of U.S. Godzilla merch launching in the U.S. on November 3. Your mileage will vary, but the most interesting baubles to me are the Godzilla Minus One promo cards from UVS Games (to be sold on TCGplayer.com) and the trading cards from Surreal Entertainment (to be sold at Five Below). Very few Godzilla trading cards have been produced in either Japan or the U.S. since 2006, and most of those have been cross-promotions with Magic: The Gathering and Battle Spirits. I have a small collection of random cards from older sets (a couple of them signed), and it'll be cool to expand it a little.

Toho's Godzilla Day announcement also included some news on Godzilla Minus One's U.S. release, which I thought deserved its own section. Tickets go on sale November 3rd—including for "special Early Access Fan Event Screenings on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, in IMAX and large format theaters across the country." So Toho International has outmaneuvered Beyoncé in the competition for IMAX screens, if only for one night.

In other Minus One news, a couple new TV spots are out (and translated by the GODZILLA OFFICIAL by TOHO YouTube channel). One shows off a new Godzilla ability, if you're wary of spoilers. Its world premiere was held beneath the Godzilla Head in Shinjuku on October 18, where the incredible Godzilla Attack Truck also debuted.

IDW's Godzilla Valentine's Day Special, due January 31, dares to ask, "What if the old 'kill the monster or study the monster' argument was foreplay?" Zoe Tunnell, who I suspect is a Godzilla 2000 fan, writes, and Dani Pendergast illustrates. I'd like to thank them both for making a comic specifically for me. The logline:

Is there anything as romantic as seeing the world together? Hopping from country to country to take in the sights and splendor in the fleeting seconds before Godzilla smashes the skyline? Truly, there's nothing like the thrill of an international game of cat and mouse between an intrepid amateur kaiju researcher and a global kaiju-response lieutenant. But when you're up against Godzilla, it's hard to have a bigger "CRUSH."

SRS Cinema has picked up War of the Ninja Monsters: Jaron vs. Goura, the latest no-budget spectacular from Shinpei Hayashiya. The two monsters are basically Godzilla and Gamera, one-upping Giant Monsters Appear in Tokyo, which never showed its Godzilla and Gamera expies outside of the poster. Hopefully it'll be less headache-inducing than God Raiga vs. King Ohga: War of the Monsters. SRS is aiming to release it on Blu-ray and VHS in early 2024, with a DVD to follow later in the year.

Hoshi 35, Megumi Odaka's return to live-action film, opened in Japan on October 21. A new trailer is out too. SRS Cinemas has an existing relationship with production company 3Y, which previously made The Great Buddha Arrival and Nezura 1964, so I'd expect them to license this one too.

This Netflix ad for an online convention of sorts includes the first snippets of footage from Ultraman Rising, the Tsuburaya/ILM animated film it's distributing next year. The animation is miles above the Netflix Ultraman anime, that's for sure.

#kaiju week in review #godzilla #godzilla minus one #justice league vs. godzilla vs. kong #hoshi 35 #war of the ninja monsters jaron vs goura #ultraman rising #kaiju

[brokehorrorfan]

Skyline will be released on 4K UHD + Blu-ray on May 2 via Scream Factory. The 2010 sci-fi action film is directed by the Brothers Strause (Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem).

Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed, David Zayas, and Donald Faison star. Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell penned the script.

Special features will be announced at a later date.

It was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source, a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and swept into massive alien ships that have blotted out the L.A. skyline. From tankers to drones and hydra-like extraterrestrials, the aliens are inescapable and seemingly indestructible. Now, it will take every survival instinct the group has to elude capture in this riveting, action-packed sci-fi adventure.

Pre-order Skyline.

#skyline #eric balfour #donald faison #scottie thompson #brittany daniel #crystal reed #david zayas #liam o'donnell #scream factory #dvd #gift #sci fi #science fiction #sci fi horror #horror #sci fi action

[recentanimenews]

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These's 4th Season Heads to Theaters in Late 2022

  Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These today announced the continuation of its longrunning space program with a new three-stage launch of theatrical releases, this time for its "fourth season" subtitled "Sakubo" ("Machination").

  A teaser visual was released, depicting Rubinsky and Dominique by Fezzan's skyline at night:

    The first part of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Sakubo is set for a limited release in Japanese theaters from September 30 later this year, followed by Part 2 on October 28 and Part 3 on November 25. A limited edition Blu-ray will be available to purchase at participating theaters.

    RELATED: Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These Season 3 English Dub Announced, Cast & Crew Revealed

    Based on the novels by Yoshiki Tanaka, Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These is directed by Shunsuke Tada at studio Production I.G, with series composition by Noboru Takagi and character designs by Yoko Kikuchi, Iwao Teraoka, and Katsura Tsushima.

  If you're a fan of epic space operas, check out the first three seasons of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, right here on Crunchyroll!

Thousands of years into the future, humanity has advanced into space. Here it has divided into two countries and two different forms of government: the autocracy of the Galactic Empire, and the democracy of the Free Planets Alliance. The countries have been at war for 150 years. Near the end of the 8th age of the space calendar, the appearance of two geniuses will change history forever. The unstoppable genius, Reinhard von Lohengramm, and the unbeatable magician, Yang Wen-li. As heads of the Imperial and Alliance armies respectively, the two will face each other in battle over and over again.

  Source: Comic Natalie

    Der shy man behind @Shymander, Liam is a timezone-fluid Aussie with a distinct fondness for anime, Eurovision and creating odd stats projects despite hating math.

By: Liam Dempsey

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

[picsinhead-blog]

Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Predator

Predator (1987)

Directed by John McTiernan

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Shane Black, Richard Chaves, Kevin Peter Hall

Released June 12, 1987

Plot: When a foreign cabinet minister and his aide are captured by insurgents in the jungles of an unnamed South American country (but…we all know it’s Val Verde, right?), the CIA calls in a team of mercenaries who specialize in rescues. The hunters soon become the hunted as someone or something begins to pick off the soldiers one by one.   

One of my favorites because: Predator is the ultimate 1980s action movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger has rarely been as good and has never been better than he was as Dutch, at the peak of his physicality and in a role tailored to his strengths as an actor – and yes, Arnold is an actor, and a very smart one. The plot is straightforward and action heavy without being dumb or lacking twists and complications. The characters are well defined individuals, easy to invest in. But what makes Predator a capital-A Action classic is that John McTiernan constructs the action setpieces in the film in the same way that he would later build Die Hard: each one is distinct and could stand alone as a short film; each one progresses the plot and develops the characters; and each one builds in length and intensity as the characters’ numbers are whittled down. Predator also avoids many of the elements typical of 1980s action that could be considered problematic or could date the film – sure, it doesn’t come close to passing the Bechdel test, and it features a famous f-bomb (the other f-bomb), but it also features a racially diverse cast and a female character who is allowed to hold her own with the men in terms of intelligence and toughness without being sexualized or masculinized. Predator is gritty, grimy, sweaty, muddy, and very bloody. It’s by turns bright and beautiful, and very dark. Predator is adrenaline pumping entertainment that has stood the test of time.

My relationship to this movie: I used to see the VHS boxes of Predator and Predator 2 in Video to Go (the slightly more indie of two independent video rental stores in Penn Yan), but neither cover’s art really said what the film was about – Predator had Schwarzenegger with a gun against a tie-die background and crosshairs over his armpit, Predator 2 just had a cloudy sky over a city skyline against a sunset. When I was in maybe 6th grade, someone loaned me the TPB of Batman Versus Predator II: Bloodmatch and I was blown away – I had to see what this movie was. I had heard that some of my friends had watched it at a birthday party some years prior, so I campaigned hard to get my parents to let me rent it. FINALLY they did, and my dad and I watched it on the small TV in my parents’ room so my younger siblings wouldn’t be upset. It was intense for me because I kept expecting dad to turn it off and say it was too violent, but I loved it – I was shocked by the gore and thrilled by the action. Dad actually liked the movie – “Quite a plot twist!” was his reaction (I think he had missed the space ship at the very beginning). In the more than 25 years since, I have owned the film on multiple formats (I currently own three Blu-ray copies - the original release, the 3-D conversion, and a box-set with the remastered "Ultimate Hunter Edition" disc), and I have no idea how many times I’ve seen it. I watch it every summer, when the weather is hot.

My favorite _________: Predator is my favorite macho action movie from the 1980s.  

List Position at Debut:Predator is the thirteenth entry in this project and starts at number three. (I was a bit surprised it was that high!)

#favorite movies #film #blu-ray #predator #predator franchise #arnold schwarzenegger #action movies

[tonkicache]

One eye snake escape from new york

#One eye snake escape from new york 1080p

That story (by Carpenter and friend Nick Castle, who played Michael Myers in the original Halloween), in spite of the fact that it takes place in “the future” world of 1997, is still enjoyable today. The man has always known that the best special effects are invisible and never detract from the story. The genius of John Carpenter includes his subtlety in composition. The miniature of Manhattan is strikingly convincing in that less than a week of filming actually took place in New York, this miniature was used much more often than one might think. A helicopter passing over New York harbor proves to be an animation in front of a miniature. A desolate Manhattan skyline looming over a thick, dark prison wall is proven to be an incredibly realistic matte painting - by none other than a pre- Terminator James Cameron - resting atop a dam near Los Angeles. However, other effects actually required Carpenter’s commentary and the new documentary to even suggest that they were effects at all. True, 1981 was a long time ago, and the occasional trick and trap appears dated and commonplace. Most welcome of all, however, is the new documentary called “Big Challenges in Little Manhattan: The Visual Effects of Escape From New York”, which reveals what “special effects” were at the time, and just how the filmmakers achieved such things in a pre-CGI era. New bonus features include new interviews with actors, photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker and co-composer Alan Howarth. The second disc is absolutely packed with extras, including both a behind-the-scenes still gallery and a promotional materials still gallery (both of which, sadly, are now rarities on new releases), theatrical trailers, the famed deleted opening scene, and a documentary about the film. The existing commentaries by director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell, as well as producer Debra Hill and production designer Joe Alves, are both present and supplemented with a new commentary by actress Adrienne Barbeau and director of photography Dean Cundey.

#One eye snake escape from new york 1080p

The two-disc “Collector’s Edition” truly lives up to its name with brand new high definition scans of the inter-positive, struck from the original negative for a beautiful 1080p experience. Scream! Factory’s 2015 Blu-ray release of Escape From New York is just that “deluxe package” for which fans of the film have been clamoring. Then again, it probably takes a deluxe DVD or Blu-ray package not only to appreciate some of these effects, but also to even realize that many of these are, in fact, special effects at all. Sure, the effects worked for the film on that medium, but they failed to really inspire the awe that they must have in the theater. Like many, I first saw the classic 1981 John Carpenter action film on a cathode ray tube fed by either a cable broadcast or a VHS tape. The most striking thing about watching Escape From New York on Blu-ray is how amazingly the film’s special effects stand up to the test of time, even (and especially) under the unforgiving scrutiny of high definition.

#One eye snake escape from new york

[cookietonki]

They came together

#They came together movie#

#They came together series#

Both lovers and haters of romantic comedies will find plenty to enjoy in this David Wain feature co-written by Michael Showalter. Finally eight years later I got to check it out, and while it's messy and oftentimes aimless, the humor is on point and rarely unfunny. Tonight's is the rom-com spoof They Came Together, long on my watchlist after I remember reading about this comedy while I was in jail in the Summer of 2014. The second of my two Blu-ray gifts from a friend seven months ago, it's Christmas in July so I had little excuse not to rack 'em up and thank him for the fine movies.

#They came together movie#

Those episodes last just 15 minutes-which is probably just the right amount of time for such scattered, sketch-based laughs.☆ "So, if there was a movie about your relationship, it would probably start with aerial shots of the Manhattan skyline."☆

#They came together series#

But a lot of these folks (Wain, Showalter, Marino, Erinn Haynes) are also involved with the series "Children’s Hospital" on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup, which sharply parodies the soapy doctor drama. "They Came Together" clicks sporadically, though, when it takes a chance on totally absurd flights of fancy-a weird date Molly has with her priggish accountant ( Ed Helms), for example, or an awkwardly close moment between Joel and his grandma ( Lynn Cohen).Įven at 83 minutes, "They Came Together" feels like its conceit has been stretched thin. I won’t bore you with the details here, but it has to do with a bartender uttering the phrases "Tell me about it" and "You can say that again" over and over as Joel drowns his sorrows. One joke went on for so long I thought something was wrong with the film-like it was stuck or something. And those guys can’t just obviously represent different points of view on the matter, they have to articulate the fact that they represent different points of view on the matter. Joel can’t just be commitment-phobic he has to talk about how commitment-phobic he is with his regular basketball buddies ( Ken Marino, Jack McBrayer, Kenan Thompson and Jason Mantzoukas). Still, it’s not enough for Molly to be adorably klutzy the dialogue has to inform us that she’s adorably klutzy in addition to showing her knocking over a bunch of her belongings in her bedroom before tumbling down a flight of stairs on the way to work. It’s obvious what they’re parodying-the rom-com is an incredibly common type of clichéd film its tropes are well-known and well-worn. Throughout this familiar process, the jokes are either annoyingly repetitive or overly spelled out for us. Spoiler alert: He did.) We watch them fall for each other over books and coffee in an idyllic version of New York City-which is like a character itself in their relationship, we’re told repeatedly, when such a convention should be clear. (This is also where the film takes a painful, extended detour for a discussion of whether Christopher Meloni soiled himself in his superhero outfit. Can their affection withstand such stress?Īnd so we watch as they show up for a Halloween party dressed in the same costume and immediately clash. But wouldn’t you know? Joel’s company is trying to run Molly’s store out of business. Poehler’s Molly owns a neighborhood candy shop that’s "charming and adorable and impossible not to like," as she puts it. The core of the plot plays like a knowingly cutesy version of "You’ve Got Mail," but "They Came Together" also features recognizable rom-com nuggets ranging from "Pillow Talk" to "When Harry Met Sally." Rudd’s Joel works for a giant, soulless candy corporation. The latter couple is meant to serve as our stand-ins, trying to remain politely charmed by the increasingly inane details they’re hearing in extended flashbacks. Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler star as the Tom Hanks/ Meg Ryan types at the film’s center, recounting how they met and fell in love over dinner with an underused Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper. But mostly, the results are shockingly unfunny and sadly lifeless, especially given the wealth of comic talent involved. There has to be a spin to it there has to be some innovation.Īnyone who has seen a movie starring Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston or Kate Hudson can recognize what’s going on and find a chuckle here and there. But simply recreating what we know to be hackneyed and safe doesn’t suddenly make it hilarious and surprising. It’s got all the moments and beats you’d expect-the meet-cute, the instant hatred that turns to flirtation, the perky montage of trying on clothes, the contrived misunderstanding that keeps the couple apart and finally-mercifully-the mad dash to a wedding for some very public, last-minute I-love-yous.

#They came together

[horrorpatch]

Weekly Genre Releases - January 12, 2021!

Weekly Genre Releases – January 12, 2021!

January 12: Buried Alive (1990) – Blu-ray From Frank Darabont, the acclaimed director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Majestic and The Mist, comes this gripping thriller starring Tim Matheson (Impulse, Up the Creek), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Rush, Flesh+Blood), William Atherton (Die Hard, Oscar) and Hoyt Axton (Gremlins, Disorganized Crime). Clint Goodman (Matheson) enjoys the…

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#Blood Sisters Blu-ray #Buried Alive Blu-ray #Go / Don&039;t Go Blu-ray #Just Before Dawn Blu-ray #Rituals Blu-ray #Skylines Blu-ray #Spell Blu-ray #The Devils Wedding Night Blu-ray #The Twilight Zone (2019) Season Two Blu-ray #Weekly Genre Releases - January 12 2021 #Zombieland/Zombieland: Double Tap Blu-ray

[asinglemindcreates]

So the general quality of web rips for Tangled is...alright. Not much you can really do with out a DVD/Blu-ray release to rip.

But AI upscaling exists, and so I thought I’d run a tangled clip through it at 200%.

(left is the old, right side is the preview of the render)

There is some improvement, but it also seems to interpret Tangled’s painted texture as noise:

Looking at the water/skyline, you can see there is more noise, though hard edges are less blurry.

So for about ~3500 frames, it’s going to take almost 10 hours for the render based on my PC’s specs.

I’ll be posting the results on my channel sometime after it’s done. I’d like to also run some RWBY web rips through it, but probably for a much shorter clip.

(this is being done through Topaz AI Video Enhancer for those curious)

#upscaling #tangled

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

With a few tweaks, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame could be one of the studio's finest. As is, the movie is strong but suffers from out of place, awkward humor throughout. Let’s preface this review by adding that we’re evaluating the animated film and just the film. If you're looking for an accurate adaptation of the book, this isn't it. If that's what you want, you've got no business here.

In 1482 Paris, Judge Claude Frollo (voiced by Tony Jay) is a malicious, unjust, and xenophobic despot. High in the towers of Notre Dame lives his adopted “son”, a deformed hunchback cruelly named Quasimodo (voiced by Tom Hulce). Alone inside the stone walls of the cathedral, he dreams of belonging to the outside world. When a gypsy named Esmeralda (Demi Moore) captures Frollo's heart, the judge’s lust and rage threaten all of Paris.

This film sets itself apart from other Disney classics with its sinister and tragic tone. Quasimodo is deformed and grotesque. Even with a kind heart, he stands no chance with Esmeralda - particularly while she and the Captain of the Guard, Phoebus (Kevin Kline) make eyes at each other. Several tense sequences take dark turns as Frollo expresses his racism towards the Romani (Gypsy) and willingness to do anything in order to pass the blame he should bear onto others. Quasimodo is frequently subjected to cruelty. The downtrodden are frequently stomped on. There’s a tragic undertone as Quasimodo speaks to his only friends, stone statues he "brings to life" with his imagination. The majestic skyline of 15th century Paris, towering cathedral representing both a prison and hope to those seeking sanctuary, it’s powerful stuff.

This film benefits from a truly great villain. You love to hate Frollo. Though he's been changed from archdeacon to a judge, he remains edgy. You might've seen other children's stories proclaiming the importance of not judging others on their appearance but this character makes The Hunchback of Notre Dame stands out and more suitable for older audiences than little kids. The Judge paints himself as a devout Christian but commits horrid crimes. While nothing is ever explicitly said, a vivid scene in which he imagines Esmeralda dancing shows his lust for her. He's irredeemably evil but human.

The city is wonderfully brought to life through Quasimodo's viewpoint. We've got memorable songs with tunes unique among Disney's roster. The voice actors are excellent, the message great, climax breathtaking. What's not to like? The gargoyles. This is not a comedy but it doesn't stop Charles Kimbrough, Jason Alexander, and Mary Wickes' stone buffoons from trying to make you laugh. Crotch shots, fart jokes, a gargoyle wanting to romance a goat, cross-dressing gags all bring the picture to a screeching halt. They give the crappy robot from Treasure Planet a run for its money as “worst and unnecessary comedic sidekick in an animated film”. I wish the film had predated home video so it could've been “lost” and then “found” again years later with some footage “unfortunately missing”.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is not frequently mentioned among Walt Disney's essentials, which is a shame. It contains heart-wrenching drama, powerful imagery, a moving story, and unforgettable moments. Visually, it's a knockout from the backgrounds to the character designs and atmosphere. It’s a movie so good the one flaw it has becomes that much harder to ignore. Don't let that keep you away from viewing (or revisiting) The Hunchback of Notre Dame. You may cringe when it gets "funny" but the rest is worth it. (On Blu-ray, June 5, 2015)

#TheHunchbackofNotreDame #Quasimodo #DIsneyMovies #DisneyFilms #movies #films #reviews #MovieReviews #FilmReviews #FilmCriticism #GaryTrousdale #KirkWise #TabMurphy #IreneMecchi #BobTzudiker #NoniWhite #JonathanRoberts #TomHulce #DemiMoore #TonyJay #KevinKline #PaulKandel #JasonAlexander #CharlesKimbrough #MaryWickes #DavidOgdenStiers #1996Movies #1996films

[jbbuckybarnes]

Zerfall - 8/14

Pairing: Bucky x named!Reader (Agent Andromeda) Summary: After Hydra drops virus bombs in 7 major American cities in the height of summer, the team is locked in their emergency bunker for weeks. The virus commonly called the Summer Poison successfully brought the infrastructure to a halt in all big cities. When the virus slowly starts burning itself out SHIELD Agents and Avengers are sent out to bring back order into the cities and the international relationships. Not without hurdles. Warnings for this chapter: Pandemic, crime, canon typical violence, flirting, picturing killing as a positive thing, weird grammar. Not beta read. **Image credit goes to Ubisoft.

Zerfall Masterlist || M a s t e r l i s t

08:00 - Morgan Library, New York City “Wake up, Buckaroo. We have another library to occupy.” you shake him awake. “God, this feels like the 40s,” he grumbled rubbing his eyes. You cleared your throat, “Good morning, Sergeant Barnes,” you climbed on top of him, “Breakfast ends in 20 minutes.” His hair was ruined three seconds later with a giggle before he grabbed you in the middle of your escape. “Way better,” he grumbled into your hair. “You like it when women are soft and you can protect them. I read you like a book, Barnes.” you grinned. “I have a metal arm that’s shielding from bullets. Of course, I like to be protective, Agent.” he chuckled letting you go and made a run for the food.

“Davis? Bucky?” The two men looked up to you from their food before you sat down on their table. “There’s a lower building across from the library that you could take a sniper rifle to. Sounds like a job for you both. I’ll go front and some of the civilians come from Bryant Park.” “You’re right. She really is a badass.” Captain Davis mumbled over at Bucky. “She’s getting the shit done.” He shrugged looking over at you with a smirk. “I guess that’s an affirmative.” You smiled at both of them before starting to eat your soup. “It is, General Andromeda.” You got a wink back. “If I get the paygrade of a General by the end of this I could get used to being called by that title.” You grinned wide.

Two hours later, after you helped the settlement to change their interior around in a more strategic way in case of an attack, you finally wandered towards the Public Library in a group of about 20 people with rifles and vests. “Groups of three on each side entrance. Two with me. Barnes on that building. Davis on that one. Understood?” you looked up at the circle around you. “Understood.” Came back in a choir. “Showtime, guys.” You grinned, picking out the two people to come in through the front with you. A guy with military experience and a girl that grew up in a forest, being perfect with knives. “Everyone on position?” You asked over the communication devices. “One. On position.” “Two. On position.” “Three. On position.” You let EADA scan the entrance area. Quite a few guards. “Wait till we go for it. They might want to escape. If there is nobody after I gave the signal you can storm in.” you told them. You looked left and right to your partners for the mission and each of them nodded. “Going in.”

You jumped over the car you were hiding behind and throwing a bomb with that momentum to land right in the entrance area. “Two gone,” you whispered before getting out your two pistols while the bomb exploded. The second it went up in flames you ran to the next best cover and landed a few good head and torso shots from there. “Wait on my signa-” You were choked from behind. “Whatcha gonna do now, sweetie?” A dark voice chuckled. You yanked your head to the side and felt blood on your cheek shortly after together with a thud behind you. Bucky. “Thanks, partner.” You grinned. “It’s what I’m here for. Always watching your six.” He smiled through his scope. “That sounds like a pick-up line about my ass.” You giggled. “That’s a talk for after the apocalypse, darling.” You got rid of 4 more guards. Your two partners of 3. Bucky and Davis of 5. “Storm in.” you called out kicking in the door that was mildly damaged from the bomb. Head, torso, head, torso, shin, head. You aimed up at staircases and made your way through the rest of the building. “You good? How many?” you asked the others. “Everyone dead. 3.” “Same here. 4.” “Two here.” “Skim through the entire building and make sure nobody is hiding,” you mumbled into the ear piece, suddenly hearing footsteps. In a matter of seconds you got out of your cover and shot the person sneaking up on you in the shoulder, after making sure it wasn’t someone friendly you landed another shot into the head. “Scum,” you grumbled, kicking him before ripping the dog tag off of him. You put your wrist to your mouth, “Eda, scan for important things. Electronics, important books to keep in an extra space, anything.” “There is a computer still up and running in the front row.” Came back shortly after. “Good.” After hacking your way through the computer without much information recovered you finally stepped out of the building again, seeing a guard still securing the front. “Wanted to keep that one for you.” You heard Bucky in your ear piece and smiled before sneaking up on the man and sticking a knife into his throat. There was a lip bite and a suppressed groan behind the sniper scope. He shouldn’t be turned on by this. He really shouldn’t. “Everything is cleared.” EADA informed you. “You can move in, Captain.” “You’re really something else, Agent Andromeda.” “I know.” You winked up to where he was positioned.

-

“God, I love that my favorite sauce comes in glasses. Apocalypse proof food.” You smiled over the pot of pasta that was cooking. You had made Steve’s floor of the building into your little area after the mission went well and you had reported to the others about the day. “Something that isn’t soup and veggies is the thing I’m personally more excited about, but sure.” He chuckled while nudging you. “I really don’t know how I keep doing all of this without getting stressed out by it, you know?” You smiled up at him while pouring the sauce into a pot. “Yeah. Guess you have a good motivation behind it.” His hand was on the small of your back. “Well, it’s pretty simple. I thrive on killing bad people.” You shrugged. “That is a little dark, but valid.” He scrunched his nose.

There were tiny lights throughout the city, but the sky was beautiful again. Not a single cloud. You had snatched yourself blankets and sat down on the deck overlooking the city. “I wish New York had days every year where all the lights would just stay off. I remember when the skyline had like 4 or 5 skyscrapers and you could still see the stars well in Queens.” “You took girls on dates there, huh?” You grinned over. “Yeah.” He smiled up. “Definitely better than going to the movies,” you commented before shoving the next fork of pasta into your mouth. “I just like the wonder in other people’s eyes when they stare up that the sky.” He said a little dreamy and you looked over at him with the softest expression imaginable.

“So, Rockefeller Center and Times Square tomorrow?” You asked after finishing your dinner. “Two control points in a day?” He asked back surprised. “Those are both open spaces tho. Come on, Bucky. We are Avengers and we know the faster we get that done, the better the snowball effect will continue.” You grabbed his shoulder. “Guess you’re right, Ann.” He gave you a lopsided smile. “C’mon. Let’s have a good night of sleep here and kill some of those bastards tomorrow to get your hometown back on track.” You gave a cheeky grin. “Don’t have to tell me twice, darling.” He said standing up and looking down at you for a second.

The next day was filled with two missions and a few more civilians fighting with you on the missions. You’d finally given them hope to get their town back. The Times Square area was full of food resources and antiseptic equipment. To your surprise the reinforcements for that base were not very intense and you had the base in two hours. “Build a few walls around it, have people in the houses looking down before eventually building outlook platforms.” You told the ones staying behind to hold the post. “The rest? We’re going shopping...kinda.” You chuckled.

The Rockefeller Center was a little bit harder, but still a 3 hour takeover with Bucky and Captain Davis on your side. “This is going to be a little bit harder to reinforce, but I’m sure you can find a few ways and a minigun to put there.” You pointed at a good spot and got salutes back. “Damn, I need a break now. And you need a bandaid for that cut.” You pointed up at Bucky. “That’s gone by the time you found one,” he said grabbing you closer on the walk out of the area. “Can I have some of that supersoldier healing?” You chuckled putting your arm around his back. “If I could give that to others, I would.” He laughed. “Let’s go home and watch something from Tony’s Blu-Ray collection.” You looked up. “How about...Star Wars?” He suggested. “Ugh, fine.” You rolled your eyes playfully and got a pinch into your side through the vest.

You started really appreciating the perks of this tower having power in the middle of all of this happening. You had the luxury to not only help friendly people with supplies, but you were able to live normally outside of your intense day job. “Rogue One is just the best.” Bucky mumbled with Chips in his mouth. “It’s badass.” You gave him a fond smile and he stopped in his tracks, eyes innocently going up. “You can have the rest, dork.” You laughed, boxing his arm. “If Steve would see this he’d give us the biggest monologue in history.” He grinned. “You’re eating on the couch and watching Star Wars in the middle of the apocalypse!” You said imitating his frowning face. “Imagine that in small and how hard it was to not roll my eyes every minute of every day.” He shook his head. “Small Steve would be a really great activist nowadays, I assume,” you said tucking the blanket around you tighter. “Yeah, probably. Turned into an idiot with a frisbee instead. Can’t blame him, he’s still a good friend.” He shrugged. “Vibranium arms are definitely better than vibranium frisbees.” You chuckled. “Ya think?” He held his arm out slightly before giving you a fake mad glare and a fist formed towards you. “You act all tough most of the time but I know that it’s just a front. You’re a softie.” You giggled taking his hand and felt the hand turn around and grab your hand. “Guess I like to scare people with my image.” he grinned. “Well, you’re not that anymore. You’re soft Bucky, killing the bad guys.” You smiled at him. “Yeah.” He stared back at you with shimmering eyes for a while. “Another movie?” You mumbled and got a nod back.

#mine #text #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes x y/n #james barnes #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #the winter soldier #captain america #mcu #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #bucky fanfic #bucky x oc #oc x bucky #bucky barnes x oc #oc x bucky barnes #named!reader #named!reader x bucky #bucky x named!reader #bucky barnes x named!reader

[brokehorrorfan]

Scream Factory has revealed the specs for its Skyline 4K UHD + Blu-ray, which releases on May 2 via Scream Factory. The 2010 sci-fi action film is directed by the Brothers Strause (Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem).

Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed, David Zayas, and Donald Faison star. Liam O'Donnell (who went on to write and direct the film’s three sequels) and Joshua Cordes penned the script.

Skyline has been newly mastered in 4K with Dolby Vision/HDR and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & Stereo sound. Special features are listed below.

Disc 1 - 4K UHD:

Audio commentary by directors Greg & Colin Strause

Audio commentary by writers Liam O'Donnell and Joshua Cordes

Disc 2 - Blu-ray:

Audio commentary by directors Greg & Colin Strause

Audio commentary by writers Liam O'Donnell and Joshua Cordes

Deleted and extended scenes

Alternate scenes

Pre-visualization

Trailers

It was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source, a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and swept into massive alien ships that have blotted out the L.A. skyline. From tankers to drones and hydra-like extraterrestrials, the aliens are inescapable and seemingly indestructible. Now, it will take every survival instinct the group has to elude capture in this riveting, action-packed sci-fi adventure.

Pre-order Skyline.

#skyline #eric balfour #scottie thompson #donald faison #crystal reed #david zayas #scream factory #dvd #gift #horror #sci fi #sci fi horror #liam o'donnell #brothers strause

[amplesalty]

Halloween 2020 - Day 3 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

The Apocalypse is Now for me!

Even without getting into the Universal sequels the way I have been with their Frankenstein franchise, I certainly have managed to get through a fair few Dracula related movies over the years; the 1931 version (and it’s Spanish language counterpart), Nosferatu, Shadow of the Vampire, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Dracula 2000, Van Helsing, Monster Squad, Hotel Transylvania and the BBC production from earlier this year. Never did a recap on the final episode of that though. This one has been on the list for a while, along with the 1994 Frankenstein movie, and it recently turned up cheap on blu-ray so why not? It is on UK Netflix at the moment so could have saved myself a few pounds but, eh, it can sit with the Universal boxsets and I am curious to look at some of the extras.

This is directed by Francis Ford Coppola and, for someone widely regarded as one of the great filmmakers of all time, I’ve never seen any of his work so this is a first. I do have the Godfather boxset here though that I should get around to a some point. Looking at his filmography, Jack really sticks out like a sore thumb.

Looking at some of the various Dracula adaptations though, one that stands out is an animated Batman movie called The Batman vs Dracula that came out in 2005. I kinda need to see that, along with the TMNT cross over they did last year. There’s actually more Batman/Dracula movies out there apparently, including a lost Fillipino film called Batman Fights Dracula and Batman Dracula which was produced and directed by Andy Warhol, both without permission from DC Comics. I wasn’t expecting one, let alone three of the things.

This version seems to be much more in line with the original source material, featuring a lot of scenes told from diary entries, letters and ship logs. Plus it features Quincey Morris and a more dramatic finale where Dracula faces off against a group consisting of Harker, Van Helsing, Seward, Holmwood and Morris before nearly getting stabbed to death. More interesting at least than sneaking in whilst he’s asleep and staking him through the heart.

It adds to an overall feel of sympathy that it feels like the movie is trying to build for Dracula. It opens up by showing his heroic feats in battle, fighting off the Turks and defending the Order of the Dragon, only for his wife to commit suicide when she receives fake news of her husband’s demise. When Dracula is told that his bride’s soul cannot be saved for she has sinned in taking her own life, he renounces God and drives his sword into a cross which proceeds to have blood gush out of it which he laps up. Even when he goes to turn Mina into one of the undead, he hesitates, reluctant to saddle her with his same fate.

Then when Harker arrives to conduct business with Carfax Abbey, Dracula laments the passage of time, how his great race is now but a distant memory and, when learning of Harker’s fiancé Mine, mourns his own departed wife.

That wig is really stupid though.

Even in the face of that, the movie still managed to win Oscars for Best Costume Design, as well as Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Makeup. It lost Best Art Direction to Howards End. The visuals truly are the high point of the film, particularly early on with the gothic scenery of Dracula’s castle or the surreality of all the blood in the chapel in the aforementioned origin scene for Dracula.

There’s one gorgeous moment on Harker’s journey to Transylvania where he’s writing in his journal and the scene fades between an interior shot of him, to this shot of the train seemingly travelling atop his diary admist a dusk skyline. That same orange skyline is in effect in the scene where Dracula fights the Turks, with everything playing out in silhouette.

Dracula’s armor is quite unique there as well. Has this ostentatious feel to it, I don’t know how protective it would be but it’s very striking. It’s something I’ve seen out of context before seeing the movie and it always made me think of the human body without skin, all the muscles and tendons and what not. Like Frank in Hellraiser before he’s fully reformed. It feels like the kinda thing you’d see as a unique armour set in Dark Souls.

I really like the lunatic asylum where we find Renfield and Dr Seward, even if it is underused. Renfield is always my favourite part of these movies but we start with him already mad and it’s Harker who has to take over his accounts and go seal the Dracula deal before being targeted by the Count and his mistresses in the castle. The whole asylum has this very grimey, industrial feel to it.

The guards have these head cages on and Reinfield has these odd hand/finger braces? For some reason the Dracula: Dead and Loving it version is coming to mind where everything is much cleaner and looks like some stately home. There’s that scene where Seward invites Renfield out for a spot of afternoon tea, only Renfield is more interested in the passing insects than any sandwiches or pastries on offer. Absolutely a world away from his surroundings here.

The cast is very strong, with Gardy Oldman as Dracula and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing standing out, even amongst the lesser parts you’ve got Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes and even Tom Waits as Renfield. Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are also noteworthy, mainly for their English accents. It’s kina hard to see Reeves in this role personally as I’ve just come off the back of rewatching the first two Bill & Ted’s, as well as the new one, so I keep expecting Harker to be like “This Dracula dude is totally keeping me locked in his castle and intends to turn me into one of his undead groupies, that is most heinous!” I find Harker tends to just blend in by the end of the movie though as he’s often in these group settings along with Van Helsing, Holmwood, Seward and Morris and it’s the former two that often stand out most due to Van Helsing’s eccentricity and Holmwood being the comparative straight man who’s always confused as to what the devil is going on.

Certainly for the spectacle alone this is worth watching, beyond that, I’m not so sure. I think anything once Dracula leaves Transylvania I’m not as interested in, this version like the BBC once this year focuses more on the initial meeting between Harker and Dracula and spends more time within the castle, looking at their interactions and Harker’s suffering.

#Halloween 2020 #Dracula #Bram Stoker's Dracula

[weshallneverrevolt]

In-Home Streaming, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Couch

I’m a longtime PC gamer for many reasons. Yes, there’s the snob factor: PC games can look better than consoles almost all of the time. But it’s also because of the customizability. You pick your framerate, your resolution, your graphical settings. But you also own a machine, not an appliance: you learn its quirks, its inner workings. It’s something you take care of. For an enthusiast, a custom built computer is like a tailored suit.

And yet, there’s something I have missed for a long time: gaming on the couch.

Couch gaming is how I grew up. Huddled with friends around a tiny TV and N64, controllers in hand, shouting and laughing. Or leaned back in a chair with a cold soda, savoring every moment of a lengthy Final Fantasy cutscene. An office chair just isn’t the same. It’s rigid and harsh. It says “at attention,” not “relax.” It was the antithesis of my ideal gaming experience.

But after I got my PC, I never bought a console. For one, I couldn’t afford them. In college my money was precious, and my computer – already cobbled together from low-end or used parts – was expensive enough to maintain. The idea of dropping hundreds on a console and proper television was out of the question.

As an adult with more disposable income and now a home of my own – complete with an awesome living room my wife put together – I wanted to have that experience again. But my budget-mindedness and graphical snobbery hadn’t changed, and my PC was upstairs on the other side of the house. What to do?

I wanted couch gaming. And I managed to get it without buying a console or moving my PC to the living room thanks to a hugely underappreciated technology: in-home streaming. Here I’ll share what I’ve learned, discuss setups, and evangelize one of the coolest tech tricks I’ve discovered in homeownership.

What is In-Home Streaming?

You’ve probably heard of Google Stadia, Google’s uh…interesting new streaming game service. The basic idea is that your console isn’t in your living room. Instead, it’s located in a Google datacenter, which streams the game as a video through the internet. It sort of works, with the hiccups you’d expect with streaming a game over the internet: lag, input delay, graphical glitches. It’s like having very, very long HDMI and USB cords.

In-home streaming is basically that, but in your house. With the distance being just a few rooms instead of across state lines, latency becomes much less of an issue. It finally gives PC gamers the one thing we were missing: the couch.

Because it encodes video in real-time, in-home video streaming is a pretty new technology, and it requires certain hardware and software. The two dominant solutions are Steam and Moonlight, and they’re different in important ways.

Steam Remote Play

Steam Remote Play is by far the simplest method. For one, it integrates directly with Steam, so there is no complicated setup. Just install Steam on both devices, boot em up and you’re good to go. It pairs well with Steam’s “Big Picture” interface for a console-like experience.

Steam streaming also runs on just about anything, including very small computers like a Raspberry Pi. This is because it uses H.264 encoding, a standard that has been around for a long time. Just about any computer made since 2008 can play H.264 video, meaning that your old laptop or a $25 PC from Goodwill can be turned into a stream machine. Encoding H.264 on the host machine also has little performance cost.

Where Steam hits a limit is in resolution. Steam can only stream games at the resolution they use on your native monitor. So if your computer monitor is 1080p, you can’t play in 4K when it’s streamed to your TV. You can go lower resolution, which is fine if you’re streaming to some laptop screens.

Steam works with all Xbox controllers, as well as the Dual Shock 4 through DS4Windows.

Moonlight

Moonlight is what I use for in-home streaming. It’s an open-source implementation of NVidia’s “GameStream” technology, originally developed for their Shield devices. My main PC has a GTX 1070, which supports GameStream.

Moonlight has a number of significant advantages over Steam. For me, the most important is its ability to stream in a different resolution than your desktop. So while my desktop monitor is 1080p, I can play games in native 4K on my TV set! For newer games that my PC can’t run at full 4K, I use NVidia’s dynamic super resolution feature to run at 1440p or another resolution, then upscale it to 4K.

GameStream can also encode in HEVC, a cutting-edge video codec that offers superior quality with lower bandwidth. There’s virtually no artifacting, and colors usually look better than with Steam streaming. There is also HDR support. Because HEVC is lower bandwidth, it’s also ideal for wi-fi streaming.

If you’ve been keeping up with all the NVidia mentions, you’ve probably figured out the most significant drawback of Moonlight: hardware exclusivity. GameStream can only encode certain NVidia graphics cards. For instance, the 10-series locks GameStream to the 1050ti or higher, so budget gamers with a 1030 or 1050 are out of luck. Good news is that the receiving PC can run non-nVidia graphics.

GameStream also supports H.264, but for HEVC you need more powerful hardware on the receiving end. So while any old shitty laptop could stream with Steam, it would choke on HEVC.

Moonlight has the same controller support as Steam.

My Setup

When I first built my setup, I set a few standards:

4K, 60 frames per second

Option for “upscaled” 4K similar to the PS4 Pro/XB1X

4K Blu-ray quality HEVC (around 100mbps bitrate)

Quiet

An unobtrusive look, like a home theater appliance

A hard-wired setup for low latency

Less than a week after we moved in, I hard-wired my house for internet. I ran an Ethernet cable all the way from my office, through the garage, under my crawlspace and into my living room. I then crimped the ends (badly) and installed a wall outlet in my office (barely.) If I were to do this now, I’d buy a pre-made 200-300ft CAT6 cable on Amazon and just run that. That said, my cable still works for what I need.

For my streaming PC, I knew that I had to go small form factor. The credenza in my living room didn’t have space for a full-size PC, and the aesthetic of most of those would offend my non-gamer wife. I considered building one, but most SFF hardware is targeted at enthusiasts and so doesn’t come cheap.

But small form factor PCs have a particular application: offices. When offices dump their old hardware, you can get it for almost nothing. I found just such a deal on reddit’s /r/buildapcsales for a Lenovo ThinkCentre m58p, refurbished from Staples for $20 shipped. It was small, simply designed, and not too flashy. But it is from 2008, and needed a few cheap upgrades:

I swapped out the dual-core E8400 processor for a quad-core Q9400 I had on hand.

I replaced the loud, slow hard drive with a small, cheap ADATA SU635 solid state drive.

For my quiet living room setting, I also replaced the cooling fan with a high-quality Noctua model.

But chief among these upgrades was a graphics card. This PC, being more than a little old, could not play HEVC video without specialized hardware. And it had to be silent, not require much power, and be able to fit inside this small case.

So I turned to the NVidia GT 1030, specifically the MSI low profile silent model. Targeted at home theater PCs and poor gamers, the GT 1030 is not gonna blow anyone’s socks off. But it does 4K, and it does HEVC, and it does all of this over HDMI so it plugs straight into my TV with no issues. One quirk with my model is that the heatsink didn’t fit in my unusual case, so I had to take a hacksaw to it.

For a truly 1%er experience, I wanted to be able to start my upstairs PC remotely. That way when I want to play, I don’t even have to walk up there. For this I used an Android app called Unified Remote, which allows you to remotely control a computer from a phone. Unified Remote is free, but I bought the premium version with Play Rewards points.

The Value Question

Let’s get the first question out of the way: if a NVidia Shield is $150, why not just buy that? A few reasons:

It has hard-wired ethernet. No matter how good your wifi is, hard-wired is better.

Moonlight’s interface is more flexible than the Shield’s.

This also runs YouTube with a full keyboard remote for easier searches.

I can install a Blu-ray player at some point, if I choose.

I can emulate many games on the living room PC; the GT 1030 is great for that.

It runs party games like Jackbox just fine.

This is more fun.

So let’s run a tally. I’m not counting the hard-wiring, since I needed that for my office computer anyway.

The PC itself: $20

GT 1030: $75

Noctua 92mm fan: $15

Bluetooth receiver: $10

SSD: $15

Q9400: free to me, but you can get one on eBay for like $10

So for $135 – less than a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X – I get 4K couch gaming at higher framerates and higher settings. And for certain games, like Overwatch or Cities: Skylines, I still have a killer keyboard and mouse setup.

You can easily make this cheaper, especially if you use Steam and aim for 1080p instead of 4K. A Raspberry Pi – around $60 with accessories – can do 1080p Steam streaming flawlessly. Most Intel CPUs made after 2011 can decode H.264 without a graphics card, and the 6000 series and higher can even decode HEVC. You could also go for a GT 1030 with a fan, which are usually cheaper.

So How’s It Perform?

In short: great!

I’ve played everything from The Outer Worlds to Slay the Spire to Rocket League on my streaming setup, and they all work perfectly. Sekiro – which requires extremely precise inputs – does suffer a bit from the input lag, but I can’t detect lag with most games. Visual quality is excellent with very little loss in color saturation. You will notice artifacting on grass or leaves when you’re up close, but this is less visible at 1440p or higher.

I would not play competitive games on a streaming setup. The only one I play seriously is Overwatch, and there is definitely a difference in my performance when streaming. Competitive first-person shooters also suck to play on a controller, and a proper couch desk is not an investment I’m prepared to make.

Be prepared to tweak graphical settings if you’re shooting for 4K on most setups, as the video encoding does have a slight performance cost. This is not true for older games; Dark Souls and Dishonored run at a locked 4K and 60fps. For modern games, Forza Horizon 5 runs at 1800p on High, and Resident Evil 2 is smooth as silk at 1440p.

One final tip: if you’re streaming over wi-fi, be prepared to make some compromises. I would stick to 1080p to avoid lag, or do 4K only on HEVC with lower visual quality. Also streaming basically requires 5ghz wifi, so if you have an old router you should probably cut back to 720p.

So that’s in-home streaming! If you’re already a PC gamer, it’s an affordable and easy way to achieve a console-like experience. Feel free to DM me with any questions you have about hardware or software setup.

#tech #gaming #streaming #in-home streaming #remote play #steam #moonlight #nvidia #gamestream #hardware #pc gaming #couch gaming

[aubzylynn]

After the Epilogue

Word Count: 1500 Warnings: Steve’s a little shit. This is his revenge for being picked on so much during RTS. Lots of fluff. Summary: After some time of separation, Bucky wants to see you again. A/N: Soooo hi. I’m not dead. I swear. Im trying to get back into writing. What better way than to have a fluffy ending to RTS a year after I posted the original? lol

Please remember to leave comments! They help motivate me to keep writing!

[Road to Schkeuditz Masterlist]

You breathe in deeply through your nose, letting the world fall away. Your eyes drift closed as the rising sun kisses your skin, not as warming as the mantra in your head:

You’re going to see Bucky today.

Over a year of waiting. A year of listening to Steve’s stories of Skyping with his best friend. A year of Steve visiting his pal. A year of your Captain telling you that Bucky asks about you all the time, that he wants to know how you are, what you’re doing, not so subtly asking Steve if you’re still harboring feelings for him.

You worried that this day would never come. That your promise of patience for Bucky was being tested. Doubts that the soldier had any remaining feelings for you crept into your mind. He was getting himself back, why would he need you? Despite Steve’s constant reassurances, you doubted. He just needs time. He’s doing so well. He wants to be ready. He misses you, he’s adjusting, just give him a little more time.

More time. Something you wish you didn’t have an abundance of. You had all the time in the world following Steve, Natasha, and Sam around on covert missions and hiding away from the United States government.

But that’s what you had promised, isn’t it? I’ll wait for you.

Your doubts were silenced when Steve found you, beaming, looking like he was holding a small bust of Bucky in the palm of his outstretched hand. You sat up, asking silent questions as Steve beckons you towards him, still looking towards the Bucky in his palm. “Yeah, she’s right here, pal, hold on.”

Steve grabbed your hand and pulled you into his side, his smile practically splitting his scruffy face. Your focus is on the Kimoyo bead in Steve’s palm, then on the lifelike Bucky who is just grinning from ear to ear. “Hey, Kid.”

You stop and look between Bucky and Steve, trying to figure out if this is real. Reaching out, your fingers brush across Bucky’s image. You feel nothing but air, but it looks like your fingers are sifting through fine sand. A startled laugh escapes you as you watch Bucky’s facial expressions.

Suddenly his image is distorted and your smile fades, worried that he’s going to disappear. “Bucky?”

“Sorry, Kid,” he smiles sheepishly, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. You quietly realize that he must have also touched your...hologram? (What even is this?) The thought brings a shy smile to your lips.

Steve’s still beside you, you realize when he huffs out a quiet laugh. “Already touchy feely and you’re not even in the same room yet?”

As a reflex, you smack Steve with the back of your hand, turning to him and making a startled noise. “Cut it out, you monster!”

“Aww, you blushin’, Buck?” he smiles wide, bringing the image of his best friend in his hand closer to his face.

“No,” Bucky clears his throat as Steve laughs. “Shut up, punk.”

After that first time, Steve was happy to ask T’Challa for your own set of Kimoyo beads so you could talk to Bucky whenever you wanted. It was slow going for a while, conversations would stall, shy smiles exchanged. Eventually, though, you had found your rhythm with him again. After some time, he asked if he could see you. You cheekily made a remark that he practically sees you every day. He smiles at you, eyes gleaming.

“I’m serious, Kid. I...I think I’m in a good place. I th--” he stops, purses his lips and swallows. Bucky looks down and nods before glancing up at you through his lashes. “I think we’re in a good place.”

The controls and insistent beeping on the jet pull you from your head, you look at the coordinates Steve had given you, panic bubbling slowly in your stomach. “Steve, you sure this is right?”

“Keep going,” he says with no offer of an explanation.

You’re headed straight for the mountainside. He has a little ornery smile on his face, but you know to trust him. Your muscles slowly tense, waiting for impact; but it never comes.

The trees on the mountainside melt away, revealing Wakanda. The country is waking with the morning rays bouncing off the tall, beautiful buildings, the open plains, the little villages and huts. Animals graze lazily through the open fields while their shepherds wave at your jet.

“You were nervous, weren’t you?” Steve asks cheekily.

You scoff and smile at him. “I wasn’t ready for this view.”

He smiles warmly, turning back to look out the windshield. “You were sleeping last time you came in, huh?”

You nod absently, taking in the skyline and the beauty of the land before you. The whole country was beautiful. It almost felt like coming home.

The awe you felt seeing the beauty of Wakanda slowly dissipated and a raw, jittery energy slowly settled in the pit of your stomach.

You were going to see Bucky today.

As much as you had dreamed of this day, you were nervous to see him. Sure, you had fallen back into an easy relationship with him, but would it be the same when you were together? What if things were different while you were in his presence?

“You keep spacing out--which scenario are you imagining?” Steve asks, taking over the steering from his side of the jet. “A: Bucky runs to you, arms open, slow motion, like in that movie--”

“When the hell did you have time to watch 10?” you laugh loudly, thinking of Bucky in corn row braids, running like a sex icon.

Steve grins, running a hand through his beard. “We’re here.”

“Darn, I was looking forward to hearing what you think scenarios B through Z were,” you sass, making Steve laugh again. “But I must say, option A sounds pretty good to me.”

Despite Steve’s brief distraction, you’re nipping at your bottom lip as Steve lands the jet. He turns everything off and looks at you, face spreading into that shit eating grin that makes you wanna smack him sometimes. “You ready?”

Sigh. “As I’ll ever be.”

He pats your shoulder as he passes by, “I thought you’d be more excited to be able to kiss the love of your life--”

“Steve! Oh my god, shut up!” Heat burns your cheeks as you shove him.

He laughs joyously, dodging your feeble punches as he makes his way down the ramp. T’Challa is making his way towards you both with a couple of members of the Dora in his wake. He crosses his arms over his chest in greeting. Steve nods in reciprocation before shaking T’Challa’s hand and pulling him into a hug.

“He has been anxious for your arrival.” T’Challa says to you over Steve’s shoulder. Heat flares up in your cheeks again, prompting a smile from T’Challa and Okoye. “Come. Let’s not keep him waiting.”

Steve grins at you again before offering his arm to walk with you. Taking it gratefully, your mind starts to wander again. Wondering how today was going to go. Wondering if you would still mean so much to this man once he saw you again.

Everything focused as soon as you saw him. Bucky was sitting on the ground, a baby goat in his lap and a child sitting next to him, laughing while the goat ate from his hand. He only glanced up when the child ran towards your party, speaking excitedly to T’Challa.

Bucky stands, a smile slowly enveloping his face. You let go of Steve, feeling like the grin you’re sporting is going to split your face in half. Bucky looks so good in his Wakandan clothes. Hues of blue and green really make him look soft. You reach for him as you get close enough, your hand slides from his shoulder to cup his jaw. “Hi,” you breathe, caging your lower lip between your teeth again.

“Hi,” he says just as quiet. The wind blows around you, whipping your hair around. Bucky tucks a lock behind your ear seconds before you lunge into his embrace. “I smell like goats--!”

“I don’t care!” you laugh, wrapping both arms around his neck, hugging him tight. He scoops you into him, wedging your shoulder under his chin.

You stay like that, wrapped in each other, for a long time; but it’s not enough for you. You could stay here all day like this.

He pulls back slowly, wanting to see your face. As you release him, you press a gentle kiss to his cheek and you’re just beaming. Before he can stop himself, his fingers are tangled in your hair as he pulls you close and presses a sweet, chaste kiss to your lips.

You giggle against his mouth and kiss him again and again and again.

“Come on,” he says, eyes sparkling. He’s completely forgotten about the party behind you. “There’s so much I want to show you.”

*If you liked this, please consider donating to my Ko-fi so I can help buy an Owlet monitor for my goddaughter! Thank you!*

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#aubzylynn writes #08/05/2018 #Road to Schkeuditz #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes one shot #white wolf #idk #im gonna redo my tag list #cuz a lot of these urls were struck out #and there's a few that i know never leave any feedback #and #to be honest #i dont want to tag people that aren't going to leave feedback #is that selfish?M #maybe #but at this point i dont care #so ima be watching #i really hope you guys like this #i hope it makes up for how the epilogue ended #i know it was a punch to the gut #i know the dates wrong #its too late to change it lol #:)

[peggy-faces]

So I discovered something weird and I really need to tell you guys about it. [content warning: blood, graphic imagery]

As I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t watched an episode of Mad Men in quite a while. Years, in fact. This is abysmal for someone who runs a Mad Men blog on Tumblr so this weekend I decided to change that. I have a poor internet connection and I’m usually lucky if I can get a stream that doesn’t look like pixelated blobs of colours so I decided not to watch it on Netflix. I also couldn’t find my DVDs anywhere. I have a Blu-Ray player that’s gone relatively unused so I thought “what hell, I’ll just buy a Blu-Ray!”.

So I walked to the department store down the street. The store only had the final season available on Blu-Ray and, to my delight, was marked down to $6.66. As a noted cheapskate, this was like all my birthdays and Christmases had come at once so I picked it up and practically ran to the check out.

I popped the Blu-Ray in and started watching. I was suddenly hooked as I remembered why I loved the show so much and before I knew it, it was over. When the final episode credits ended, I started looking around for the remote but then, to my shock, the Mad Men title sequence started playing again.

[Rest of the story below]

But there were a few weird things I noticed. First of all, only Jon Hamm’s name appeared on screen. The other actors’ names were conspicuously absent from the credits. Secondly, all the old-timey advertisements and stuff were gone. Instead, the opening sequence showed Don fall past hyper-realistic photographs of each character, each with the same creepy blank expression on their face.

The first shot of the episode was of Don sitting cross-legged on the floor of the kitchen in his old house in Ossining. But this wasn’t the Don I knew. This Don looked emaciated, like he hadn’t eaten in years. His clothes were in tatters and his hair was overgrown and untidy.

Then he got up from the table and started walking. All the furniture was gone and the rooms were completely bare. The camera followed him through the house and up the stairs to the second floor. He stopped at Bobby’s room and looked around sadly. To my horror I realized that everything was stained with blood. Thanks to the Blu-Ray’s incredibly video quality, the blood looked extremely realistic. Hyper-realistic, in fact.

Then he moves to Sally’s room and then Gene’s. Again, hyper-realistic blood everywhere. Then he gets to the room that he used to share with Betty. He collapsed onto the bed and buries his face in his hands.

Then the screen went blank for few seconds and suddenly switched to a shot of Don coming out of the elevator at the old Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce offices. The offices looked a lot like they did when we last saw them in 7.12. Like with the old house, all the furniture was gone and the whole place looked eery. The camera follows Don to Peggy’s office, which is also completely covered in blood. We then see him visit Pete’s office, Joan’s office, Roger’s office etc.

Finally he arrived at his own office, which was completely furnished(complete with the bar of course) and looked blood-free and untouched. He poured himself a drink and stared out at the Manhattan skyline(which looks I N C R E D I B L E in 1080p btw).

“I thought I’d find you here, Dick.”

Don whipped around and sees a man standing in the doorway of his office. The man was wearing a partially-destroyed army uniform and was covered in burns. Part of the skin on his face looked like it had been blown off altogether and part of his skull was exposed. Thanks to the Blu-Ray’s superior quality, I could clearly see the badge that said Lt. Donald Draper on the man’s uniform.

“Why did you kill them?” Don(the fake Don aka Dick Whitman) screamed. “WHY DID YOU FUCKING KILL THEM?”

“This was the only way to punish you,” Don(the real Don) said. And then he started to laugh. It was laugh unlike any I had ever heard before, low and piercing like it was coming from a demon.

Don ran to the window, opened it, and started climbing out. Just we see his legs disappear, the screen goes black and the Mad Men title sequence starts to play once again. Except instead of Jon Hamm’s name I saw RIP DONALD DRAPER 1918-1950. And then MARGARET OLSON 1939-1970 and PETER CAMPBELL 1934-1970. The rest of credits continued on in this fashion.

This time, Don Draper did not land comfortably on a couch with a drink and a cigarette in his hand. Instead, the scene switched to an extremely graphic shot of Don hitting the pavement below. The words DICK WHITMAN 1926-1971 appeared on screen, seemingly written in hyper-realistic blood.

I stared at the image for the next twenty minutes, feeling unable to move. Finally I managed to lift the remote up and shakily clicked the off button. No matter how hard I tried, Don’s mangled body remained on-screen.

I stumbled over to the tv and physically switched it off but again, nothing happened. I ripped the Blu-Ray player out and threw it out the window. Still nothing. I had no other choice. I ran to the garage to retrieve our toolbox. Arms shaking, I hurled a hammer at the tv. The screen smashed and hyper-realistic blood started oozing onto my freshly vacuumed carpet. I picked up the hammer again and continued to destroy the tv until it was nothing more than a bloody mess.

So if you guys have any tips for getting blood out of carpet, LMK.

#cw: blood #cw: graphic #cw: bad creepypasta parody