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#fiona honestly was the highlight for me
sixty-silver-wishes · 7 months
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"Let things that happen onstage be just as complex and yet as simple as they are in life. For instance, people are having a meal, just having a meal, but at the same time, their happiness is being created, or their lives are being smashed up."
- Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
With that in mind, let's talk about the Shrek 2 dinner sequence.
No, seriously. While perhaps not as intricate and dramatic as Chekhov's Ivanov, which tells the story of a man's decline into depression through heartbreaking subtext in the dialogue between himself and his peers as he gradually alienates himself from them, the dinner sequence in Shrek 2, I believe, is a three-minute masterclass in a similar sort of storytelling to the one that characterizes many of Chekhov's dramatic works. Chekhov was a big advocate of the "show, not tell" principle, and the Shrek 2 sequence demonstrates a fabulous exercise in this sort of writing, assisted by genius camera angles. I unironically love this sequence and how much it can tell us about writing- it demonstrates a complex show of dramatic tension and subtext, pacing, character dynamics, and cinematography, while also progressing the wider story and balancing the drama with the Shrek franchise's style of humor- which is not an easy feat to pull off. I really want to talk about this sequence and dissect it, because it's honestly taught me a lot as a writer.
So for context, in case you haven't seen Shrek 2, Shrek, an ogre, and his wife Fiona are having dinner with Fiona's parents, the king and queen. Due to a magic spell, Fiona has been permanently transformed into an ogre after falling in love with Shrek- which she gladly accepts, but her parents do not. With them is Donkey, a comic relief character. Due to the curse, Fiona's parents locked her in a tower until her "true love" could rescue her- which, of course, turned out to be Shrek in the previous movie. We see in this sequence that Fiona's parents have different attitudes towards the couple; later on in the movie, it's revealed that her father was the Frog Prince, contributing to her parents' opinions on magic spells impacted by "true love's kiss."
So, onto the scene.
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First, we get an establishing shot of Shrek at the table, which is zoomed out to show Fiona and her mother sitting on either side, and Fiona's father on the opposite end. Obviously, two characters on either side of a long table is an easy way to show they are opposed to each other. Although the characters haven't spoken yet, an uncomfortable mood is quickly established- Shrek's facial expression looks uneasy. Behind him is a stuffed hawk and a fireplace- perhaps a nod to the fact that ogres are seen as predators to be hunted with torches and pitchforks. On either side of Shrek are two candelabras; he is surrounded on three sides by fire and the lighting is primarily cast upon him. The hawk's talons are also pointed down directly at him, and the scene is lit in an ominous red light.
The next few shots establish all the conflicting moods that will be at odds during the scene. Queen Lilian is, if you will, attempting to be an "ogre ally." She attempts to be accepting towards Shrek and Fiona's decision, but is still clearly uncomfortable. King Harold, however, makes no attempt to hide his contempt. It's him and Shrek- again, seated at the opposite ends of the table- who will have the most direct conflict. (Perhaps this is a small detail, but Lilian and Harold are dressed in pink and blue, respectively- feminine- and masculine-coded colors that contrast with each other. This may reflect their adherence to conservative societal norms, specifically relating to gender roles and relationships.)
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No dialogue has been spoken yet, and the conflict is still being established. We get a POV shot of Shrek's plate, consisting of escargot and multiple different kinds of utensils, after Shrek nervously picks at it. The composition of the plate and utensils is complex, elegant, and orderly, again highlighting that Shrek is out of place.
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The silence is first interrupted as Shrek picks up a snail with his fingers and bites into it with a loud crunch. The first domino has fallen; Shrek foregoes the utensils to eat in a manner familiar to him, creating a marked contrast with the way we assume Fiona's family will eat. Afterwards, we have a shot of Harold looking even angrier; Shrek has broken a social norm. Shrek smiles with his mouth full; we get Lilian looking even more nervous as she eats her escargot with a fork, and Fiona drinks from a glass of water.
Fiona, who is unwillingly assigned the role of mediator between the two parties, belches after drinking the water- a behavior expected from Shrek. She excuses herself politely, which is understood as an attempt at keeping the peace. However, Shrek cracks a crude joke ("better out than in, I always say!"), and they both laugh as the second domino falls. Lilian and Harold look uncomfortable; Fiona laughing at Shrek's joke and displaying chemistry with him communicates that she is on Shrek's side, not theirs. Noticing their discomfort, Shrek and Fiona stop laughing and appear dejected.
The tension is built further as Donkey enters. Donkey plays up the comic relief the entire time, but also adds to the tension more than he diffuses it. While friendly, he's loud and messy, and while Lilian looks at him curiously, Harold treats him rudely, shouting "bad donkey; down!" Fiona again attempts to ease the tension, explaining that Donkey helped rescue her. Donkey proudly agrees, but then demands a bowl for himself from the waiter. Shrek facepalms and says "oh boy;" there is now another conflicting dynamic in the room. Donkey, who has no interest in conforming to social norms, heightens the tension as Shrek and Fiona attempt to appease Fiona's parents.
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Another domino falls. Shrek drinks from the bowl of water given to him, which is supposed to be used to wash his hands. Fiona gets his attention, and dips her hands in the bowl to signify its purpose without making it obvious to her parents that Shrek doesn't know what the bowl is for. Shrek doesn't pick up on the hint, and attempting to be polite, compliments the Queen on the "soup," even using the spoon- once again, trying to conform to the cultural norms of Fiona's parents. However, this time, he's supposed to use his hands and not utensils, as opposed to the escargot, where he was supposed to use utensils and not his hands. The only lines exchanged in these few seconds are:
Fiona: "um, Shrek?" Shrek: "Ohh, sorry. Great soup, Mrs. Q." Fiona: "No no no, darling."
However, through the action and the subtext given from the background of the film, the audience knows the tension is heating up. While only a few lines of dialogue are exchanged, we know from the few seconds of the "soup" sequence that Shrek is having more difficulty conforming, Fiona is having more difficulty keeping the peace, and her parents are having more difficulty masking their discomfort. Donkey seems completely oblivious to the conflict, paradoxically heightening it through contrast.
Queen Lilian starts the first actual conversation of the scene, a minute and 22 seconds in. She asks Shrek and Fiona where they live. As the audience, we know that they live in a swamp, but Shrek and Fiona don't want to say that because they want to appease Fiona's parents. Fiona answers, "Shrek owns his own land." This carefully-calculated answer isn't a lie, but it's not the whole truth, either. "Land" could mean anything, and the idea that Shrek owns land is an attempt to present the idea that Shrek is assimilated into the dominant culture. As ogres are presented as second-class (or should we say Shrekond-class) citizens in the Shrek universe, the idea that Shrek owns land may communicate that he is wealthy and conventionally successful, and is able to climb the social ladder and provide Fiona with the life her parents wanted for her.
Shrek, still nervous but playing along with what Fiona has laid out for him, confirms that they live in an "enchanted forest, abundant with squirrels and cute little duckies." Again, this is an attempt to console FIona's parents. But Donkey, unaware of what's going on, interrupts with, "what? I know you ain't talking about the swamp!"
Another domino falls as Shrek attempts to silence Donkey, but Harold latches onto this line, instead of keeping up the crumbling façade that everyone else (sans Donkey) is trying to uphold. Sarcastically, he responds with "an ogre from a swamp? How original," as Donkey laps from his water bowl. Now that Fiona's parents have acknowledged Shrek and Fiona as "living in a swamp," it becomes even harder to diffuse tension, as this is something they find undesirable. Because Donkey has confirmed it, Shrek and Fiona also can't fall back on the "enchanted forest" excuse they used earlier; it also affirms the stereotype for Harold that ogres live in swamps. Through his “how original” line, Harold is commenting that Shrek is not assimilated and fits the mold of a stereotypical ogre- perhaps suggesting he believes him to fit other ogre stereotypes, such as being monstrous, crude, or aggressive. (Holy shit, that’s a really harsh line from him!)
Despite the fact that Harold is now fully committed to heightening the tension, Lilian still attempts to resolve it- deepening their own rift of conflict. She comments that it will be a "fine place to raise the children," trying to reconstruct the idea that Shrek and Fiona can still live the nuclear family life that she wants for her daughter. However, this is immediately shattered, as Shrek and Harold- shown again from opposite ends of the table- choke on their food in shock- Shrek because he and Fiona are not interested in having children at the moment, and Harold because he doesn't want his daughter having children with Shrek.
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To recap, before the dinner, Shrek and Fiona shattered two of the King and Queen's expectations: 1. Fiona has married Shrek, an ogre. 2. Fiona is now an ogre herself. However, at the dinner- a minute and 53 seconds in- they have shattered three more of their desires for Fiona's married life:
Shrek, Fiona's husband, cannot perform conformity through manners and etiquette.
Shrek and Fiona live in a swamp, and not somewhere expected for a prince and princess.
Shrek and Fiona are not currently interested in having children and raising a traditional nuclear family- and if they did have children, they would be ogres.
From here, the tension still keeps rising, and the scene is only a little over halfway through. We get another POV shot from Shrek's perspective, as he coughs up the spoon- the symbol of performing that etiquette- and it bounces across the table towards Harold. Fiona, Lilian, and Donkey all look at Shrek in surprise; Harold looks at him in disgust.
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Shrek continues to express his discomfort while being polite, saying it's a bit early to be thinking about children. Harold makes no attempt to hide his prejudice, saying "indeed; I just started eating," blatantly implying that the idea of Shrek and Fiona having children revolts him. Lilian responds with an irritated "Harold!" and Fiona says "Dad, it's okay," but Shrek has refused to let go of the argument, feeling insulted. He responds with "what's that supposed to mean?", trying to force Harold to voice his prejudices expressly.
The argument is now in full swing. Harold responds to Fiona (while gesturing at Shrek with the spoon) with "for his type, yes;" Shrek answers angrily with "my type?" Harold hasn't yet explicitly voiced that he doesn't like Shrek because he's an ogre, but at this point, it's completely obvious. Donkey finally picks up on the tension and excuses himself to go to the bathroom, but returns quickly to the table as the main course is brought in. Harold and Shrek glare at each other from across the table as the background music picks up into a waltz and the camera shows the waiters walking around the table with an elaborate meal- the setting of an upscale royal dinner is more forcibly established, but Harold and Shrek are no longer interested in playing up appearances.
Lilian and Donkey see an opportunity to make one final attempt to diffuse tension with the arrival of the meal- Donkey jokes, "Mexican food, my favorite!" (despite the meal resembling a Medieval European-style feast) and Lilian encourages everyone to eat, which Donkey enthusiastically agrees to. However, Harold and Shrek refuse to let the argument go.
Harold violently grabs a lobster from the table, saying, "I expect any grandchildren from you would be..." and Shrek grabs his own plate, angrily responding, "ogres, yes." Shrek is the one to drop the word "ogre,” which everyone has mostly been avoiding this whole time (aside from Harold’s “ogre from a swamp” line). In this, he displays he's unashamed of the fact he and Fiona are ogres, a pointed insult towards Harold, who is clearly prejudiced against them but refuses to say so explicitly.
Lilian cuts in with a "not that there's anything wrong with that," and then a pointed, "right, Harold?" She's still trying to downplay the conversation and keep the peace, while wanting to communicate to Shrek and Fiona (especially Fiona) that she's not prejudiced against them, (even if she is, albeit to a lesser extent than Harold). Harold then makes an explicitly prejudiced statement relying on stereotypes of ogres- "No, no- that is, if you don't eat your own young!" while slicing through the lobster with his knife.
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Fiona responds with a shocked, "Dad!" before Shrek fires his own retort- "we usually prefer the ones who have been locked away in a tower!" and tears apart the roast turkey on his side of the table, biting into it forcefully- a show of rejection against the etiquette he has been expected to display. As we know from previous context, this line is a thinly-veiled insult at Harold and Lilian, who had locked Fiona in a tower throughout her childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, Shrek is here communicating that Harold is a hypocrite- he criticizes Shrek's ability to be a parent, but also neglected his own daughter.
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Fiona gives an angry "Shrek, please!", but Harold immediately picks up on the barb, responding with "I only did that because I loved her!" From there, the argument fully escalates, turning physical as a food fight breaks out. As both Shrek and Harold fully disregard manners and social etiquette, poor Lilian sadly remarks, "it's so nice to have the family together for dinner" with a distraught look on her face as food flies past her. The argument culminates in Shrek and Harold fighting over a roast pig and the characters all shouting each other's names in a last-ditch attempt to stop the fighting (and Donkey shouting his own for comic relief). As we get a final shot of the destroyed dinner scene, Fiona- who has attempted to mediate the argument this whole time- runs out without a word, as both Harold and Shrek give each other angry glances.
From here, the rest of the film unpacks and resolves the arguments built up in this short three-minute scene. What started as a quiet dinner quickly, but gradually, evolved into a full-blown argument about bigotry, societal norms, and family expectations- all themes that carry the character arcs of Shrek, Fiona, Lilian, and Harold. The genius about this scene is that the tensions were always there from the beginning; the majority of the conflict started before the actual physical fight- happening, as Chekhov said, as "complex and simple as in real life."
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minijenn · 3 months
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Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Shrek 2
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So I haven't seen this movie in years and having just rewatched it, I can safely say, this movie invented comedy. Hands down.
Seriously though, what can be said about Shrek 2 that hasn't already been said? It's iconic, in every sense of the word, maybe even more of a meme factory than the original Shrek was. And yet even aside from being one of the funniest animated movies ever made (more on that in a bit), it's also just a really good and compelling story that hits all the right spots and really continues building on this world and these characters in an excellent way.
We kick off right after the first movie, with Shrek and Fiona freshly married and heading to Far Far Away to meet Fiona's parents. Throw in some family tension, the deviously delighful (milf) that is Fairy Godmother and her little bitch boy of a son Prince Charming, the ever debonaire Puss in Boots, and you have a movie that's an all time hood classic.
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The jokes in this are so raw and so damn funny. Like the union bit and the police brutality joke? This damn movie was ahead of its time oh my god. Even outside of the humor though, the story itself is really good and does a great job helping you connect even more with the characters than the first movie did. Shrek especially, I feel like this one develops him even more, and you get to see just what lengths he'd go to for Fiona. It's honestly really sweet (and human Shrek is jacked wtf).
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The rest of the cast is also great. Fiona may not get as much screentime here, but she's still a lot of fun. Donkey is a bit less annoying here than he was in the first movie, and the new additions like Puss in Boots are superb, there's a reason they gave that crazy lil cat his own franchise ya'll.
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You also get a pretty interesting redemption arc for Fiona's dad, King Harold, who I just realized is the frog prince??? Like am I stupid or something for never knowing that before now??? Damn. Fairy Godmother is a FANTASTIC villain who gets to headline what may be one of the most epic climaxes in any animated ever (seriously, the I Need a Hero scene is pure HYPE). Speaking of music, the soundtrack is great just like the last movie's, with I Need a Hero being the highlight because oh my god ya'll, she slays it.
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The animation definately got a bit more tuned up for this one too. The character models are much stronger and less... plasticy, I suppose is the right word, and the way they move is much more natural and fluid. The world itself is also given a lot more personality. I love how Far Far Away is basically just LA. That's such a fun little inside joke I never got as a kid.
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As a whole, Shrek 2 is a fantastic movie. There's this trend we're gonna notice with Dreamworks trilogies where the first movie is great, the second movie is the best thing ever, and the third movie is either still really great (HTTYD3 and Kung Fu Panda 3) or the most confusing, what the fuck happened here thing ever (Shrek the Third). But we'll get to those when we get to those. Just... pray for me ya'll. Cause I gotta watch Shark Tale next. Lord have mercy on my soul.
Overall Rating: 9/10
Verdict: Get some dental insurance
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Previous Review (Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas)
Next Review (Shark Tale)
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maya-matlin · 13 days
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Your answers to these asks are among the few highlights of my life, which is currently a trainwreck :)
Five Degrassi characters most fans seem to love who you don't like much?
Five Degrassi characters most fans seem meh on who you love? (Yes, you're totally allowed to list Zig here if you want to :))
Five canon Degrassi romantic ships most fans love that you don't like much?
Five canon Degrassi ships you love that most fans seem meh on?
Ten favorite friendships/platonic ships (ie siblings count too) of the series?
Aw, I'm sorry! 💖 Same, honestly. But I still appreciate the asks. :)
1.) Five characters most fans seem to love who you don't like much?
My main answer will always and forever be Eli Goldsworthy. He's still massively popular with his every indefensible action deemed "out of character" even though being shitty, controlling and misogynistic towards Clare is practically half of his character. I probably enjoy his character best in friendship scenes and as a supporting character than I ever do when he's the lead of a story line, and especially when he's a love interest.
Other than Eli, there's Cam. It's not that I don't like the character. I like him fine and have felt more positively towards him than I have in years. But, he's just some guy to me? Cam was part of an incredibly well written, emotional story line. Dylan Everett acted the hell out of it. But I wouldn't rank him anywhere near my favorite or even the best Degrassi characters. He served his purpose and overall, just wasn't fully fleshed out enough for me to have all that strong of an opinion of him. The worst of them though is Katie. I can't stand her and even though she's more divisive these days than popular, I still think she's more liked than disliked and I will never understand why.
2.) Five characters most fans seem meh on who you love?
LMAO I feel Zig is more love/hate than meh, but obviously him. There are very few fans who are nearly as passionate about the character as me, which is probably why he's constantly misunderstood. He's always been overshadowed by the much more popular Cam and Miles.
I'm just going to cheat and say five more instead of four. Dave, Marisol, Jenna, Ashley and Shay. All of them are either generally disliked or found "boring," but I'm a big fan of all of them and what they brought to the show. Dave never lives down his worst actions even though more than most characters, he actually tries to make amends and grew quite a bit during seasons 11 and 12. No one ever forgets Marisol's and Jenna's past as "boyfriend stealers", regardless of KC's culpability in that and how both became wiser, kinder, more giving people as time went on. It's actually ridiculous how Ashley being an occasionally moody and dramatic (really depressed, but it's not acknowledged) teenager is considered so much worse than literally everything most of the other characters were up to. Shay's kind of the same way, only mostly just overshadowed by Lola's popularity.
3.) Five canon romantic ships most fans love that you don't like much?
Miles/Lola, Cam/Maya, Eli/Clare, Dallas/Alli & Paige/Alex
4.) Five canon ships you love that most fans seem meh on?
Tristan/Miles (as always, it's complicated these days, but admitting you don't think Tristan is Satan himself and that their relationship wasn't a gigantic monstrosity is controversial, so obviously they belong here), Dave/Alli, Clare/Jake, Frankie/Esme (I don't know if this is true, but the general fandom is so negative about Next Class) & Craig/Ashley
5.) Ten favorite friendships/platonic ships of the series?
In no order:
(1) Spinner/Jimmy
(2) Emma/Manny
(3) Marco/Ellie
(4) Zig/Maya/Tiny/Grace
(5) Drew/Adam
(6) Craig/Joey
(7) Fiona/Holly J
(8) JT/Toby
(9) Spinner/Jay
(10) Downtown Sasquatch (I'm counting the group as one)
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k00295630 · 5 months
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Last week I did the publication workshop, I was so excited to do it I was READY at 11 59 to put my name on the list.
The first half of the day was for using the risoprinter. The way it works is the printer reads in grayscale, so the darkest colour on the page will be the most vibrant and the lightest colour will be a lighter tone of that colour. It took me a while to understand but you just have to keep printing to get the gist of it.
My tutor, Fiona, was really nice and I loved working with her! She was so patient with me and loved my ideas, and she helped me further them more.
We did some doodles first, testing out colours, and textures, and what materials look best. The darkest colours (ours was blue) goes onto the white page, and the brightest colour (ours was pink) goes onto the the tracing paper. The tracing paper get printed first and then the white page is printed on top of it
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I drew with markers, posca pens and pencil too. I used my sketchbook for inspiration, making the doodles related to my project, as you can see theres some mushrooms, branches and just a lot of soft naturey lines.
I did light colours on the white page as well as the tracing paper which was wrong but still kinda worked. But sadly I didnt get a lot of pink out.
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This was my proper print which is more thought out and structured. I still didnt understand how it worked, so I didnt get a lot of pink again lol. I do really like the blue though.
In the afternoon, we had Suzannah for bookbinding. We printed our doodles and our final print together so theyre on each side of a page, then printed 10 copies of them and we all got a copy of everyone's prints. Then we got a purple cover, and we folded every page using a bone folder to get a very neat crease. We made holes in the middle top and bottom of the fold of each page, then sewed them a together. Suzannah had to sew it for me because I made a giant knot by accident lmao. I decorated the cover when I was done. We also did some origami which was very fun and confusing too. I sewed them into the book as well, and I drew on the pop up one as you can see. And the one with the maps drawn on it..its called a map fold..
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On Friday, I furthered my project to fungi, and I decided to explore mold. I really liked the look of moldy oranges. The blue and orange were just immaculate, and I knew theyd look awesome printed. I drew some oranges on a plate with some flies and I wrote ROTTEN in a funky font on top.
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By this point I understood how the printer works, so I used the tones correctly on both pages. And I gotta say, I absolutely love it. I wish the orange was more vibrant but honestly I dont mind cause got the highlights and shadows perfect!!!
I LOVED this workshop and I recommend it to everyone in the entire world!
:3
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owlsinlargehats · 10 months
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Decided to vomit more of my thoughts out after not doing it last week because I felt my ideas and insights inadequate, especially with all the accidental spoilers I'm getting for season two of G-Witch I'm getting from a discord I semi-frequent.
Spy x Family has finally finished the straight girl drama arc! I honestly was only half paying attention to these episodes because while Nightfall/Fiona has a cool design I fucking can't stand her being all goo-goo for Loid. Like when it's Loid and Yor being being husband and wife I'm like "I already accepted this premise, and their chemistry ain't bad. Sure, go ahead." But when they try and introduce other straights in love with one of them then it's just "You're losing my interest. Straight privileges revoked." The only thing that got me through it was imagining stuff about my headcanon that Sylvia has a trans wife that she's pining for since her spy job gets in the way.
Lycoris Recoil looks like it's finally going to have Green guy get his as kicked next week! I have recognized his place in the narrative, since you can't have Takina and Chisato having a climactic final battle against the DA or Alan Institute despite being the real villains since they're both too big for the duo to take down in a 2 or 3 part finale, but that doesn't mean I have to like it or him, so to me he's still an extra in an x-men comic that got killed to introduce a new villain that gets btfu by Magneto. Anyway, I enjoyed how Kurumi was still thinking about Chisato and how to help her after their heartfelt goodbye, and rigged the planes so they wouldn't take off until she either found what she needed or gave up. Also the girl Takina saved in the inciting incident for the show covering for her while she went to save Chisato was sweet.
Gundam is being gundam I guess. Batting your emotions around like their ping pong balls, revealing twists you may or may not expect, making me hate episode 6 more and more with every passing second, getting closer and closer to becoming the ancient dragon that annihilates those that get in between yuri, while still holding my interest, it's great stuff. A big highlight of this for me is obviously the SuleMio plot, where for 2 weeks Suletta has been working hard as test pilot for the Gund-Arm prosthesis(real weird how the discipline is called prosthetics but the objects themselves are called prosthesis. Seems more natural the other way around) and tending to Mio's greenhouse garden full of Mio's last connection to her mother, only for Mio to come back with farmers to watch the greenhouse and Ice Boy 3? 5? to pilot the Gund-arm stuff alongside Suletta. In Mio's mind she obviously sees this as an act of devotion, removing perceived burdens from Suletta, but to the emotionally immature and easily manipulated Suletta she sees this as Mio removing her from her life, since she no longer has importance to Mio if Mio doesn't need her to do something. This is classic miscommunication, very common in yuri, but it is written well and has everyone acting in character to do it. Could've gone without Nu Ice Boy trying to make moves on Suletta to get there. The only one legally allowed to kiss(with tongue) Suletta is Miorine, and any subsequent attempts after this warning will result in the attempting party being sliced, diced, chopped, julienned, and other fancy kitchen words for cut until you are nothing but slop, then thrown away with the burnable garbage because you're not good enough even for chum. Anyway, the other guy that liked Suletta dropped out of school, changed his name to Bob and is working as a janitor on a spaceship. Said spaceship is currently being held up by some earthians related to Nika at the orders of Shadiq, who seem to have gundam of their own, but it looks more like prototypes than finished models like Ariel or Pharact. I wonder what exactly Nika was promised to get her to cooperate with Shadiq? I think he mentioned something about ships, so maybe getting her family off of earth? They are living in ruins so sleeping somewhere not decomposing is probably an upgrade.
One last thought before I finish: I remember reading somewhere (before I started watching the show) someone saying how Mio's greenhouse represented her heart, and how all the characters interacting with it showed her relationship to them, like Guel barging in like he owns it and wrecking stuff, how Suletta defends Mio and gets invited in, how Shadiq was always just outside it despite being Mio's friend, and has gotten farther from it after he betrays her. But now we have a new development on this front: Mio treating her heart like another tool in her attempts to use her new business for Suletta's sake, and in doing so losing her connection to her mother and becoming more like her father, the man she hates the most. GAha! Can't wait to see how Suletta and Mio come back from this. Such juicy drama. But if they don't I'm discarding my humanity to become a magician yokai and challenging all the G-witch writers to a danmaku battle(they're humans with no magic so I just murder them).
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hector-reyes · 2 years
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Location: Hector’s Apartment
Tagging: @bitcme
“Most embarrasing moment of the week? Running into Rebecca Kido? God I was such an asshole to her in high school. Honestly, how have you put up with me so long?” Hector laughed as he handed Chandler a soda after coming back from his small kitchen, grateful to have his own space where and his best friend could just hang out. It was a nice shift from being in the stuffed pool house of his stepfather’s house. “Highlights? Met some chick named Naomi and we got pancakes at like one in the morning, oh and I may have finally convinced Fiona to have dinner with me but I’ll update you on that. You know my older lady crush goes deep,” he added with a sigh and put a hand to his forehead before jumping over the back of the couch to sit next to Chandler, definitely staying closer than he needed to in order to annoy her. “What about you? Any dicks bother you at Dick’s this week?”
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rebelstorytime · 11 months
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weekly roundup
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OK OK OK I've been a bit behind in terms of getting a chance to read some new releases - and one older release that of course I was led to by a new release.
Twenty Questions - Mac Barnett/Christian Robinson: What can I say, I love these two respectively but hot dog do i love it when these two get together. This reminds me of Barnett/Pizzoli's I Love You Like a Pig - the 20 questions are so vague/philosophical and beg you to scour the illustrations for the answers which of course might or might not even be there. This book would be tough for a large storytime but would crush it with a small group or for individual reading.
I Can Explain - Shinsuke Yoshitake: Listen, the kid on the cover is picking their nose. If that doesn't sell you or any kid on picking up this book quite frankly i don't know what will. I feel like this sensation happens to me a lot with any Shinsuke Yoshitake's books I am lucky enough to get my hands on.
Lunch from Home - Joshua David Stein/Jing Li/with Contributions from: Niki Russ Federman, Ray Garcia, Pretti Mistry, Mina Park: If there are two things I have become surprisingly interested in and passionate about at my age it's A: picture books and B: global cuisines/foods/cooking. (Seriously 15-year-old me would be like Wait what? Aren't we supposed to be in LA?) This book is a great combo of the two, handling the "Ew what's wrong with your lunch? Where's your white bread?" experience so many children have with grace and pride while highlighting not just one child's traditional cuisine but four. For another favorite read-alike: A Normal Pig by K-Fai Steele.
Silver Linings - Fiona Woodcock: Ok, you just need to pick up this book because it's sweet as heck without necessarily being saccharine. Just a gentle reminder that we all hopefully have that one friend who always helps us look on the bright side when we're about to have yet another menty b because doing life is hard no matter what age you are.
My Strange Shrinking Parents - Zeno Sworder: Gee whiz what a beautiful book this is. Quite honestly it made me a bit weepy. It is a new/interesting take and expression of not only what parents will do and sacrifice to ensure their child's comfort and success but especially immigrant parents. Beautiful story, beautifully illustrated. This of course led me to Zeno Sworder's other book This Small Blue Dot, which similarly, is a clever, earth-loving take on a "Welcome to the world little sib!" I highly recommend both.
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prettyvacanttt · 2 years
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Taking another late night luxury bath and recounting my happy 4/20 I slept in then wake n baked then my sister in law and her cousin came and picked me and my puppy up and we went and got an ounce and coffee and she bought us both such beautiful new pipes!!!! They look like the ocean they're stunning...and then we went to sabias so my puppy could meet her dog and fio was trying to get her dab cartridge out of her pen but she has a funny snail shaped one and we couldn't get it off so my fried ass brain went "bite it and twist it off" and I took one little bite and I immediately had glass falling out of my mouth LMAO Fiona looked at me and screamed "PLEASE DONT SWALLOW GO RISE YOUR MOUTH OUT RN " so I did and then Sabia found pliers and she was able to use the coil(that I exposed by chomping the glass to pieces) to twist it off hehe and I did a bunch of other fun stuff but honestly that was the highlight so funny too me
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misandriste · 3 years
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FAVOURITE FIONA PEMBROKE MOMENTS in THE PRINCESS SWITCH: SWITCHED AGAIN (2020)
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dreamylyfe-x · 3 years
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Your trevor meta is making me realize how weird it is that the writers and cast were so insistent that mickey wasn't coming back, because I don't think theyve ever really known what to do with ian's story without him. They put him in these lukewarm relationships and tell us they're so much better and healthier, but then have ian straight up admit that he still loves mickey and nobody else has made him feel the same way. How do they set that up and then have him go back to trevor? They set up ian moving on with "I'm not that person anymore" and follow up with season 8. It's like okay...who he is now is gay Jesus? Lmao. He's always been the shows forgotten middle child and after they wrote mickey off "for good" they could have taken him in a million directions but they chose one so shitty it basically made cam leave lmao. Sometimes it feels like fan insistence kind of forced mickey back but in actuality, the seasons where he's gone just hammer home that he was always the inevitable end to ian's story. So bizarre how little the showrunners understand their own story sometimes.
Ok. I’m going to be a little more Doylist here than I usually am, because we’re talking about what the writers are thinking. And I’m also going to take this opportunity to share this fascinating article from the AV Club in 2016: When Fan Engagement Goes Wrong. Everyone beware, it contains significant spoilers for The 100. But it’s also largely about Gallavich, the fact that online promotion of Shameless leaned hard into the popularity of the couple, and were up against it when Noel left. I’ll quote: 
“[Supervising Producer Shelia] Callaghan’s choice to be honest and straightforward when engaging with fans is admirable, and yet also on some level futile. She can’t tell them exactly why Fisher chose to leave, she is (logically) unwilling to spoil future storylines outright, and she can only speak her own mind as part of a collaborative process over which she holds only some influence. So while many fans respect her effort to maintain the connection to this now marginalized community, others attack, reinforcing that attempting to manage these situations is a full-time job that no one has been properly trained for.” 
This article links some tweets and the one I find the most interesting is this one:
“But the actor left.  So...what to do? Have them just break up?? Felt way less true to me than a forced separation!” 
That tweet is from Krista Vernoff, who wanted to convey that they tried really hard to come up with what they do with Ian now that he’d lost Mickey. And I’m sure they did try really hard. And.... People hated it. Mostly. 
Here’s what I think, based on what I’ve read and the interviews I’ve seen, on deleted tweets and Tumblr rumours and YouTube clips: The show didn’t want Mickey to leave the canvas. At all. Noel wanted more money. The show could not come up with both that money and the money they needed for everyone else. The show let him go. And hoped they could solve the creative problem their budgetary problem had dumped in their lap. 
I actually think Ian’s story in season six is decent. I miss Mickey, of course. I find the last scene with him really painful -- but it’s not painful because the show is trying to diminish him. They write and then cut together a scene where Mickey is DEMONSTRATIVELY still deeply in love with Ian. He’s carved his name in his chest. He is looking at Ian like he’s the most beautiful creature ever given breath. And Ian can barely meet his gaze. They tell us Mickey is being sent away for 16 years but when we see the last of Mickey Milkovich in season six I think “God, this is so sad. They love each other so much and this is so fucked up.” 
I do NOT think “We are NEVER EVER EVER getting back together.” 
The show always knew what it had with Ian and Mickey. They leaned into it promotionally. They gave meaty storylines to the characters, particularly given that Ian was the fourth lead on a family dramedy built around six children. John Wells replaced Aaron Sorkin on The West Wing. He knows how hard it is to follow a phenomenon. 
The more I think about it, honestly? I don’t think they tried. I think they knew that they couldn’t bring in Mickey Milkovich, the sequel in season six, so they brought in Caleb. And maybe they meant for him to be a LITTLE more viable than he was... but I think there’s a pretty good chance they were just throwing something at the wall to see if it stuck, while being fully aware that the important storyline in season six was getting Ian from despair to a fulfilling career. Caleb was just there as a catalyst. 
Season seven if more interesting, because Trevor is brought on and it’s very much... “Hey, let’s do something new. Let’s bring on a transmasc character and put him into a relationship with Ian and explore those complications.” 
“Great! Put it up on the board!” 
“Also. Let’s call Noel Fisher’s people and see what we can work out because we can do better with Mickey’s send off and people are yelling at me on the street about it.” 
Quite honestly, these are not equal tasks for his writer’s room. You have one story -- Create a whole ass new character. The only thing we know is that he’s trans. Figure out the romance from there. You have six episodes to get them together as an established couple. 
Then: Bring back the well-established and beloved character for an epic romantic two-episode arc where he reunites with his true love and they run away together and then ultimately realize it cannot be, and say goodbye and it all feels like I Will Always Love You should be playing in the background. They actors worked together for five years. They have a great professional partnership. They like working together. They have a ton of history so there’s lots of juicy subtext. The longing and sexual tension comes pre-established. See what you can do. 
HOW do you make both those things work out so that they are equal? You need lightening to strike. And that already happened on How I Met Your Mother. They squandered their good luck and now there is none left for Shameless. I do not disparage Elliot Fletcher at all when I say that for Trevor and Ian to really work he’d have had to have come with scorching chemistry with Cam, rich material that really gave them a good opportunity to build rapport between the characters, and A wizard standing by to cast spells in the wings. They had SIX episodes, a pretty average connection between the actors, and the “these are the LGBTQ+ people in your neighbourhood” scene. 
I just can’t believe that someone with as many years of TV writing under his belt as John Wells has expected that to work. He hoped the Trevor story might be good, and was certainly going to break some ground in terms of telling trans stories. And the Mickey story was going to be the highlight, because he knew people wanted it and he also knew that they’d had something pretty special to start with. Which is why people were yelling at him at Comic-Con. I DO think he hoped it might placate fans a bit. But... he wasn’t going to completely close the door on Mickey this time, either. 
So... I don’t really think the show every intended to write Mickey off “for good”. I think they wrote him off “for now, and we’ll see what happens...” -- and they did that with Karen, Shelia, Jody, Steve and Fiona, too. They only brought a few of those people back... They brought Mickey back three times. They ended Gallavich FOUR times. Noel is in ever season except eight. I don’t think they wanted Mickey gone -- but I KNOW the fans also made it pretty hard for them not to know his value, so absolutely I think that played a role. But when you create something people love and you get that lightening in a bottle like they did with this story, I think writers are always going to be excited to get that back. They like praise! They like people to be excited about their show. And Gallavich was always one of the things that got people excited about Shameless. 
I think they also wanted Gay Jesus to be a great story. But that’s why the lightening in the bottle is so valuable. You can’t just get it anywhere. 
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wisehq · 3 years
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Mission Debrief: Chapter Forty-Four
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Battle aboard the Princess Lorelei, everybody!
I think I speak for the whole fandom when I say thank you Endo for finally giving us our long overdue Yor chapter! And not only that, but a whole freaking boat arc to boot!! There was so much that happened this week that I honestly had trouble narrowing down the panels to use for this review. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get into it!
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First off-!
[rips up all my old reviews]
All of my Shopkeeper theories up until this point have been completely wrong...and I am A-OK with that! I didn’t think we’d actually get to see her this early (I’m assuming it’s a her, but it was never directly stated) and to be honest I’m surprised by her design. She’s unlike any other character we’ve seen till this point; I assume the bags under her eyes to be wrinkles, and she is built very strongly for someone her age. Her gaze has a definite presence, and that hair- good god it’s long! Shopkeeper is certainly intriguing from a design standpoint, which only adds to the mystery of her as we really don’t get to see much of her character despite the panels devoted to her.
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We do get to see that Shopkeeper barely approves of Yor being Mrs. Forger, both in the above exchange and her introduction. It’s obvious she prizes Thorn Princess highly as a valuable Garden assassin, and worries that playing house is making her lose her edge. It’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out further down the road; I wouldn’t put it past Shopkeeper to start keeping tabs on Loid, just to have something in her back pocket should the time come to convince Yor to leave the family (oh the juicy angst).
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Moving on, Yor’s mission is interesting (for more reasons than one, which we will get into more later). Instead of killing, she’ll be protecting- a mother and her child no less. I’m willing to bet money that Yor’s going to draw parallels between herself and Olka, if only for the fact that they’re both mothers with a young child. I suspect that’ll come into play more as the arc progresses, given that Anya-
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-Is not only a card shark, but also queen of the raffle box!
Ok look, I get it; this was complete bullshit on Endo’s part to finagle a way to get Loid and Anya on the boar with Yor, but dammit if I didn’t love this whole scene regardless. Anya’s determined yet deadpan stare, Loid’s nonchalant attitude about the whole thing, the whole bit about the winning ticket being stuck underneath the lid and Anya using her powers to find it, it was all adorably fun. Plus, it got the Forgers altogether on a boat, so I have no qualms about it!
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Also throwing it out there that I loved Handler getting chewed out for overworking the agents and just being like “sure whatever go on a cruise with your family, have fun.” Endo really could have made her the stick in the mud here, but I guess for the sake of time and also Loid’s sanity he went the easy route and made her the fun mom for a change lol
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The same goes for the soft moment with Yor and Yuri. It’s no secret I’m not a huge fan of the latter, but anytime the Briar siblings are together having genuine conversation I melt like butter. Not only was it nice seeing Yuri behaving like an adult for a change (for the most part) but also for Yor to start coming to terms with the fact that he’s older and doesn’t need her as much anymore. Instead, we see her feelings slowly start to shift towards Anya towards the end of the chapter. Yor muses that perhaps the best thing she could do is give up assassination, and instead focus on her (not-so) fake family. It’s a new layer of drama to an already thick cake, so we’ll see how it all plays out as the arc proceeds.
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I will say that the final panels do give a certain air of tenseness (aside from Loid holding Anya’s hand of course, love it). It certainly sets the scene for something big just on the horizon and given that we know a whole army of assassins is out for blood on a giant cruise ship, you can rest assured it’s going to get messy!
Speaking of, before we wrap up, it’s time to get back to the whole “Yor’s mission is really interesting” thing from earlier. I’d like to highlight what a few people have pointed out already; specifically that this gentleman in Shopkeeper’s briefing-
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-looks remarkably similar to a certain someone from chapter one.
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Arguing for the side that this isn’t the same character, @eldraftsman​ (calling you out dude xD) points out that their faces are slightly different and their hair’s not quite right, which I will agree with. Looking at it from the other side’s perspective though, it’s entirely possible his design has changed slightly since the very first chapter of the manga. Two years is a long time to tweak a design, let alone how fast Endo is at doing it (just look at Fiona’s introduction vs. how she looks now, all in the span of two chapters). Plus, it wouldn’t be the first time Endo has hinted at a future character way before their proper introduction.
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Guy on the right look familiar? Mr. Green in all his glory, all the way back in chapter twenty-seven. For reference, he didn’t show up again until chapter thirty-nine, almost a whole year before he got the spotlight. It’s also clear that this isn’t just him re-using the design; Mr. Green is Eden security, so it would make sense for him to be escorting the mid-term tests. Whether or not the same holds true for our mystery man orchestrating the events of Cruise Ooting Arc (coining it), I guess we’ll just have to wait till the next chapter to find out!
Also, BONUS!
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Anya really said “Give me a boat or I’ll give you felonies”
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mylordshesacactus · 3 years
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7 10 (you can either use this as a general in that scenes are fun to write or if you want something more specific pick something in the Happy Huntress verse) 19
Favorite description in your wip?
Oooh damn. We don’t have a WIP, the new Aquarius chapter just went up the other day!
Hmm.
Oh! There’s a project on the back burner--because we want to incorporate some v8 plotlines before writing it--in which Fiona describes Team Remnant as the AceOps Youth Outreach Program, the Atlas Academy Reserve Color Guard, and the Jackboot Auxiliary in the span of about thirty seconds.
What scene was the most fun to write for you and why?
Hmm...a fun scene in the HHCU.
Fuck it I’m doing one of each because you can’t stop me.
Garlic & Rosemary: Robyn and Fiona’s banter over dinner
Blood On The Ice: Oh god actually there is nothing fun or lighthearted in Blood On The Ice. However, writing Robyn’s alleyway confrontation with Eleanor of Aquitaine, leader of Team Aqua Elaine Teal and her gang flowed really well because in a fic containing so much intense awfulness, it was just....so fucking petty. And Elaine was having a good time, even if Robyn wasn’t. Plus like....I got to do worldbuilding.
Away To Me: Honestly, any time Fiona is HAPPY is a welcome breath of fresh air, but special highlights included the peanut gallery during Ironwood’s freshman orientation, and the girls bantering in the library.
Occupational Hazards: ARE YOU FEELING AT ALL DEGRADED OR OPPRESED--
Protectors of Mantle: Hmm. Tempting to go with “BIG FUCKING WALRUS” because that line is just iconic, but in terms of entire scenes that were just fun to write...probably tied between Alexis being possessed by the spirit of the working-class South while writing Cliff Bucking, and Robyn in the first chapter bitching to herself about bread flour while meeting Penny.
Omelette: This one’s also reeeeally damn heavy, but: May’s future wives watching her through the diner window trying to figure out wtf was wrong with this kid? Hilarious. See also: Burger With Cheese.
Lucky Shot: Robyn and Clover’s doubles round hurt the least, so it wins by default!
For fans of ______!” What works would you say are similar to yours?
Well, if y’all like @alexkablob and her fic, I have a feeling you might enjoy a few of mine as well.
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homeformyheart · 3 years
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until now - m!raleigh carrera x mc (plat)
author’s note: trying my hand at a shorter piece and for platinum – there will probably be at least one follow-up to this but both will stay as one-shots.
copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. songs and lyrics owned by their respective creators. series/pairing: platinum – raleigh carrera x mc (cadence dorian); mentions of jessica clark (red carpet diaries mc) rating/warnings: 13+; swearing, infidelity, angst word count: 1.7k based on/prompt: “should’ve said no” by taylor swift summary: raleigh gets too drunk and too close to a fan and the only real relationship he’s ever had falls apart.
until now
cadence could recall exactly where she was the moment r&b’s timebomb blew up the internet. she couldn’t recall with detail how she felt or how she reacted in that immediate moment but she could describe the exact shade of brown from her morning latte that stained the open page of her notebook because she stared at it for a solid five minutes after the headlines broke. she was working on a new single for her upcoming album that needed an angsty, heartbreak vibe to balance the upbeat, love-focused songs she had already written. she had a few lines written (it’s strange to think the songs we used to sing / the smiles, the flowers, everything) but had been struggling with motivation to come up with anything more – after all, she hadn’t been heartbroken in a while.
she was happy in her relationship with raleigh and where she was in her career. her first world tour had been a huge success, with raleigh joining her on tour as often as he could. after her tour was over, he insisted he didn’t want to wake up in his apartment without her and it didn’t take long before cadence moved into his penthouse. a few months later, she was able to join raleigh for the beginning of his transformation world tour, his first album since deciding he could embrace the things he enjoyed from his sunset skatepark days, making it his most personal project to date. of course, whenever the music and obligations to the studio called her back to new york, they facetimed as much as they could.
dating cadence had given raleigh some of the “good boyfriend” brownie points with the public related to loyalty and affection. it helped that cadence defended him against unfair accusations and doubled down on how well he treated her to the media and their fans. and no matter what part of his reputation was theme-of-the-week over at the tabloids – shameless flirt, heartbreaker, wild card, adrenaline junkie, to name the popular ones – raleigh never gave anyone a reason to label him as a cheater and more importantly, never gave cadence any reason not to trust him. even in his fake relationships, raleigh made sure that that part of his reputation was sterling. until now.
her phone had buzzed non-stop when the news broke – to the point where she thought she was getting phone calls that sounded like a ticking time bomb but they were mostly texts and social media notifications. the headlines filled her feed one after another – “raleigh carerra cheats on cadence dorian!” “did ralence break-up?” “was cadence too boring for raleigh?” “cadence drives raleigh into arms of another woman!” – along with hundreds of theories painted by devastated and thirsty fans alike who picked apart every public appearance, interaction, social media post, and song lyric associated with the two of them for the past six months as if they could find incriminating clues and signs of a slowly fizzling relationship like amateur sleuths. cadence had to give them props – it’s not like she wouldn’t eventually do the same once she was ready to process the relationship; in some ways, the fans gave her a head start.
how was she supposed to react to this right now? the photos and videos definitely highlighted that sabrina simmons, who cadence vaguely recognized as a media-hungry and wannabe actress from one of raleigh’s older music videos, cozying up to and grinding on raleigh at a club in london, presumably the afterparty for the closing night of his tour. cadence could also point out every tell-tale sign that raleigh was drunk out of his mind; he was relishing in the attention from sabrina and being inappropriately handsy for someone in a well-known, committed relationship. what most people didn’t know, was that cadence could forgive that – raleigh was normally flirty and handsy and alcohol always exacerbated it. what she didn’t think she could forgive was the next thing she saw – or rather heard.
if cadence felt like she was close to either having a raging smash-everything-breakable-in-raleigh’s-apartment spree or an emotional-because-her-heart-was-actually-breaking meltdown, the audio clip that hit her inbox pushed her to the teetering edge of both. the recording was barely 15 seconds long but it was damning. given the circumstances, it was probably planted or planned by sabrina who wanted to catapult herself into internet fame by taking advantage of raleigh’s reputation. her voice could be heard asking him if he wanted to come back to her hotel room. the question didn’t matter to cadence though, because raleigh’s response – “fuck yes” – was clear as day and cadence knew it would haunt her for months to come.
[jessica: just saw the videos – u ok? i’m heading home to iowa for a break from work, come stay with me, no one will find you there]
cadence quickly typed out a text reply, grateful for the close friendship she had with jessica clarke, the actress-turned-director who directed the music video for her last single. there was only one call she needed to make. if anyone was already putting things in motion, it was fiona. right on cue, she picked up and before cadence could say two words, said, “i’m so sorry cadence. i’ve already got movers on the other line and hank’s on his way.”
“thanks fiona. i’m going to stay with jessica in iowa and lay low for a bit. raleigh is not allowed to find out where i am; i will get a new phone if i need to,” cadence said, calmly starting to pull out and sort her things from raleigh’s closet so the movers would know exactly what to pack while she ironed out a few more details with fiona.
raleigh was still way too drunk when his manager barged into his hotel room and forced him into the shower. he was very drunk when his security team had to half-drag him all the way to where the private jet was waiting at the airport. he was mostly drunk throughout the eight-hour flight back to new york and progressed to staggeringly hungover by the time he was in a private car heading back to his penthouse apartment. once raleigh felt like he was only massively hungover, he pulled out his phone to text cadence. he became only mostly hungover after seeing that his texts weren’t going through. in a matter of seconds, his now slightly hungover state took a backseat to the anxiety filling his stomach as he tried calling to no avail. he frowned as he opened his news feed. the headlines alone made his eyes widen but the videos were what sobered him up the rest of the way.
a new email in his inbox from cadence caught his eye. it was an audio clip and a straightforward message: just so we’re clear, our relationship is over.
cadence was halfway to the airport when she saw the incoming call from an unknown number. she knew it was probably raleigh since she had blocked his number, but she answered the call anyway. she knew she was going to need the closure, may as well get it out of the way.
“cadence? it’s me, please don’t hang up. i’m so sorry, babe. i have no idea what happened, believe me. i woke up in my own hotel room alone, i promise,” raleigh begged, the pit in his stomach had lodged itself in his throat, threatening to turn into tears.
she chose to ignore what he just said. if she let herself pull at that thread and dig into it further to see if it was the truth, she’d never be able to end things cleanly. “tell me this – was she worth it? was she worth this?” she asked, her voice hardened as a reminder to both herself and raleigh that he couldn’t sweet talk his way out of this one.
“of course not. i was black out drunk and don’t remember anything, i swear. all of the stuff in the videos and photos, it was all just—” raleigh’s voice softened, “a moment of weakness.”
“that’s convenient since i’m pretty sure this wasn’t an isolated moment,” cadence said in a clipped tone, examining her worn nail beds. she made a mental note to ask jessica for salon recommendations in her hometown. “do you honestly expect me to believe we could ever be the same?”
“i love you, cadence. i would never cheat on you, babe – you have to believe me,” raleigh pleaded, swallowing his pride at the fact that he was begging right now.
cadence let out a dry, humorless laugh. “i don’t have to do anything, those recordings speak for themselves. you should’ve known that what you did with her would get back to me. and you know what i think? you knew what you were doing. you actually had everything you could’ve ever wanted – the fame, fortune, and creative freedom that comes with success in this industry and something real with someone who cares about the real you, not the curated, fake version of you.”
she paused to take a deep breath and blink back the tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. keep it together, cadence, she told herself. “and it scared the shit out of you, didn’t it? it got too real for you because having something real and precious as love in your life also means you could lose it too. and even the thought of that happening made you feel so vulnerable that instead of treasuring and protecting it you decided to utterly destroy the only real relationship you’ve ever had. congratulations – you’ve perfected your bad boy reputation and collected the last trophy you needed, cheater.”
her words cut right through him. “i— i’m so sorry, cadence,” raleigh whispered into the phone. “i swear, i don’t remember saying yes to her or even doing anything with her. please just, tell me what i need to do to fix this.”
the audio recording replayed on loop in cadence’s mind. after a long pause, she whispered back, “you should’ve said no.” the finality of cadence’s tone was punctuated by the beep from his phone indicating she had hung up.
raleigh stood up from the couch where he had sat while on the phone with cadence. as he walked toward the bathroom, he finally looked around his apartment and realized that all of her stuff was gone. the apartment was empty, quiet, almost sterile with its clear surface areas and shiny, clean floors. it was like she had never lived here; his closet didn’t have the hint of jasmine from the perfume on her clothes, his sink counter was devoid of her jewelry and makeup, his music room wasn’t drowning in loose sheets of paper covered in her handwriting, and worst of all, the clothes she always borrowed of his, including his oversized tour shirts and sweatpants, were folded neatly on his bed.
he reached into the back corner of his closet, the side closest to the door, where no one ever stored or looked for anything until he found his gym bag. his felt around the old shirts in the bag until his fingers wrapped around a small, velvet box. he didn’t have to open it to recall the vivid five-carat emerald-cut diamond ring he had planned on proposing to cadence with. he held the box against his forehead, hand clenched around it, before throwing it as hard as he could out the bedroom door into the living room, twisting and turning his body from a crouching to an upright position in one smooth motion. maybe he should’ve been a baseball pitcher instead. it hit the far wall with a resounding thud.
the echo reverberated throughout his living room until it was met with silence, once again reminding him that he was utterly alone. and for the first time in a very long time, he cried. raleigh carrera had never been heartbroken before. until now.
* * * * * mentions: @raleigh-edward; @dulceghernandez; @thegreentwin; @kat-tia801; @otherworldlypresents; @brycesgirl; @robintora;
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jedivszombie · 3 years
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‘got tagged by @wancestroll to share some albums I’ve been listening to lately (thank u angel). some musings under the cut. 
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This album came out at the end of last year but I stumbled upon it towards the beginning of this year. It has gotten me through some Bad moments and I have had it on repeat variously throughout the year. It’s a really coherent and beautiful neo soul/blues album with excellent production. 
Michael Kiwanuka is so bloody talented it’s almost not fair! It opens up with a BANGER (You Ain’t the Problem), which never fails to make me want to dance and I just put it on repeat when I’m having a bad day. It’s a really beautiful journey through some highs and lows, other personal favourites include Piano Joint (this kind of love) - which always makes me cry and yearn because it’s beautiful - and Hero. 
Michael Kiwanuka is so bloody talented it’s almost not fair! It opens up with a BANGER (You Ain’t the Problem), which never fails to make me want to dance and I just put it on repeat when I’m having a bad day. It’s a really beautiful journey through some highs and lows, other personal favourites include Piano Joint (this kind of love) - which always makes me cry and yearn because it’s beautiful - and Hero. 
It’s the perfect album to blast on sunny days driving around with the windows down because it’s too hot, but it’s also the perfect album to blast when you’re feeling down and want to capture the feeling of a summers day. In short it is gorgeous and I have been obsessed.  
SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama
Goshhh this album is just so perfect as a debut album. You would actually be forgiven for thinking this was her second or third full album release, I haven’t been this impressed with a debut album since Tei Shi’s Crawl Space. It honestly sparkles with so much passion and personality. 
She manages to blend so many of my favourite genres into incredible songs that just create such a unique sound, that still sounds incredibly like Rina Sawayama. She draws from such a wide array of influences and experiences - from heartbreaking songs touching on her family to tongue in cheek evaluations of societies obsession with celebrities and wealth.  
It’s fun, it’s heartbreaking, it bangs from start to finish and truly cements Rina as one of the more exciting pop acts at the moment. Highlights for me include: Comme des Garçons (like the boys), Love Me 4 Me and Who’s Gonna Save U Now?. 
It was the perfect soundtrack to a weird, weird year, I could go on for years about this but it would just end up being me screaming and squealing and pointing at every little detail she added (like the concert sounds of who’s gonna save u now?!!!!) 
Petals for Armor - Hayley Williams
This album was probably the one I was anticipating the most this year, from the moment she started dropping hints about PFA I was hooked. As many of y’all will know I am a MAJOR Paramore and Hayley Williams fan, I love the way they have evolved as they have grown up and how it’s weirdly evolved with my own tastes. 
I truly love this album so much, it’s not massively coherent but sometimes albums don’t need to be. Hayley tries out so many different vibes and sounds it makes total sense why she released it as three EPs, giving each of the songs the space they all need in the world before we scrambled to listen to all of them at once. 
It’s also a hugely personal album and as someone who has felt similar feelings of depression and loneliness and grappling with loss and heartbreak I really love how some of the lyrics just really summed up stuff I didn’t even realise I was feeling. 
It starts out very moody and atmospheric and carries us on a journey from anger through to love in such a nice way. There are some duds (I am not a massive fan of My Friend for example) but she delivers them all in such a way I rarely skip songs I don’t love. 
Highlights for me are: Leave it Alone (very atmospheric, very autumnal, very late night walk in the woods, love the imagery and it kills me), Cinnamon (didn’t love this when I first heard it but I was WRONG, it’s really fun and makes you wanna dance and is an ode to loving yourself which we all need a bit more of), Dead Horse (my favourite fuck u song about an ex, it’s cutting where it needs to be and it’s a banger, and it makes me feel like summer and also smashing someone’s car with a baseball bat, and srsly Fuck You Chad), Why We Ever (another one I didn’t vibe with butttt actually now loveeeee so much, it’s so peaceful and full of love and sadness and makes me feel like I’m floating and also like I wanna cry? as someone who has a predilection to self sabotage something good I felt it), Sugar on the Rim (honestly I just wanna dance to this song, preferably in a gay club with pals, it’s so fun and 80s I adore it) and finally Crystal Clear (it makes me feel like I’m floating on a pool of water and serene and peaceful and loved and I’m so happy for her that she can write songs like that, it’s about embracing fear in love and just a really gorgeous song, also the sample of her Grandad’s song is adorable). 
All in all I adore the album and had it on repeat A LOT since it came out, hopefully I will be able to see her perform it live at some point but at this point I am just thrilled that we have been able to experience an album from Hayley Williams like this. 
Flip Phone Fantasy - Ocean Grove
Finally, Flip Phone Fantasy is an album I was introduced to not so long ago (thank u Allie) and I love it. It slaps, it fucks, it is the perfect mad modern nu-metal esque album. 
Again I love the way it blends lots of different genres and sounds and vibes to create something very unique, fun and energetic. I have had this on repeat for about 2 weeks now, so you could say I’m a little obsessed. 
Highlights on the album include: SUPERSTAR (just like a real hot song, love the imagery, wanna dance in a club to it, instead end up just dancing around the house and shower to it instead), GUYS FROM THE GORD (very trance/drum and bass kinda vibes, which I loveeee, reminds me of shady clubs at Uni and going on hikes up Constitution Hill high to watch the sunrise, 10/10 vibes) and ASK FOR THE ANTHEM (another v hot song but in a different way from Superstar, the lyrics are immaculate and the vocal effects are killer, again would party to this song). 
Their first album is also a banger but honestly at the moment this is the kind of vibe I’m going for. Something a little sexy, quite summery, makes you want to dance and also rage at the same time - which is honestly an Eternal Mood. 
also some honourable shout outs to: Chromatica - Lady Gaga, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Sarah McLahan, Fetch the Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple, What’s the 411? - Mary J. Blige, Crisis - Alexisonfire and Die 4 Ur Love - Tei Shi for getting me through this year. 
I am tagging @danielthicciardo, @reynobody, @efe-uno, @alonsista, @j-button and @josefnewgarden1, @laptimedeleted, @mushroom-callum​, @stones-and-water​, @formulaelectrified. 
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angelsfalling16 · 4 years
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Winter Prompt #13 maybe??
Thanks so much for the ask! :)
I finally managed not to let one of these get out of control, but it is unexpectedly soft. I hope you like it!
#13 my family invites you to join our holiday meal as an obvious setup and i’m so sorry
Simon
It only takes me five minutes to figure out why I’ve been invited to this dinner. And really, I should have figured it out a lot sooner. Like when Baz’s aunt practically shoved me into his arms and instructed him to give me a tour of their house, which I have been to on more than one occasion.
It’s Christmas Eve, and I was content to spend it alone in my apartment, eating too many cookies and watching sappy Hallmark movies, but somehow, Baz’s family caught wind of the fact that I would be alone and insisted that I come over to have dinner with them.
I’m sat between Baz and his sister, Mordelia, and it feels like they’re doing everything that can to make me feel welcome here.
Baz and I only met earlier this year when we were moving into our college dorm and collided with each other in the hallway. We talk every once in a while, but I didn’t realize that we were close enough to warrant spending Christmas together.
Not that I’m complaining. Yeah, his aunt appears to be pushing us together, but I don’t mind that much either.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t at least a little bit attracted to Baz. He’s gorgeous, and when he decides to take part in a make-shift game of soccer, I can’t take my eyes off of him.
He isn’t just good looking, though. He’s also brilliant and funny, and what little time we do spend together is always the highlight of my day.
Unfortunately, he will never see me that way.
“Did Baz show you the gardens?” Baz’s aunt asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“It’s winter, Fiona,” Baz says, answering for me. “There is not much to look at.”
“There are more entertaining things to be done in the gardens.”
“Fiona!” Baz hisses, and I stare down at my plate, trying to hide my smile and my blush.
It isn’t the worst thing that she has asked since we sat down, but it’s obvious that Baz is getting tired of this interrogation. I just think it’s amusing.
I don’t know why he doesn’t shut it all down and tell them that it isn’t like that with us, that he only sees me as a friend. That would probably put an end to all of this.
Baz
I am going to kill my aunt.
I knew it was a mistake to tell her that Simon was spending Christmas alone. It took her a mere ten minutes to pull the truth about my feelings from me, and the next thing I knew, she had my phone and was texting Simon, telling him that he was welcome at my house for Christmas.
Obviously, I couldn’t uninvite him. That would have been rude. I was surprised when he accepted, though.
I just feel bad that this it turned into a probing interrogation by my aunt as she tried to suss out whether Simon has feelings for me while also trying to push us together.
Fortunately, the evening is finally over, and Simon is able to make his escape now. (If only I had that same luxury.)
“I cannot apologize enough for all of that” I say as I walk Simon to the door. “I had no idea that was going to happen.”
“Don’t apologize. It was fun. I mean, your aunt obviously cares a lot about you.”
“Maybe a little too much,” I murmur.
We’ve reached the door now, and Simon turns back to me rather than opening it.
He reaches out to touch my arm and says, “I honestly didn’t mind it.”
As he pulls his hand away, his fingers drag down my arm and over my hand, leaving a tingling trail in their wake.
It leaves me breathless, and I don’t know how to respond to that, but I know that I can’t let him leave yet.
He starts to turn back for the door, but I reach out and take his hand in mine. He turns back surprised but doesn’t pull away.
I take a step closer to him and whisper, “Is this okay?”
“Y-yeah.” He nods, his bronze curls bounce with the movement, and I want to run my fingers through them, muss them up.
“What about this?” I ask, bringing my free hand up to place on the side of his face, rubbing my thumb over his cheek.
He nods again, swallowing, and I follow the movement of his adam’s apple with my eyes, wishing I could kiss him there.
“And this?” I slide my hand up into his curls and move even closer, and he nods again. “And this?” I repeat, leaning forward until our lips are a breath apart and my nose bumps against his.
He nods once more and keeps nodding until our lips meet.
I tangle my hand and his hair and hold him there as we kiss. He pulls his hand out of mine and wraps his arm around me, pulling me against him, and I can’t help but smile into the kiss.
I pull away for a moment, resting my forehead against his, so that I can catch my breath and ask him, “Are you sure this is okay?”
“It’s perfect.” His smile is so beautiful that I have to kiss him again, backing him into the door.
I should be worried about my family finding us like that, but I don’t care if they do because I’m finally happy.
The world seems so much brighter when I’m kissing Simon, and I never want to stop.
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aion-rsa · 3 years
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Shameless Season 11 Episode 7 Review: Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake
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This Shameless review contains spoilers.
Shameless Season 11 Episode 7
“Why do you still all live together? You obviously hate each other.”
A tenet of Shameless that’s defined the series even more than its Chicago setting or lower class social strata is that the dysfunctional Gallagher family all live together in one crowded house. There are nearly ten people living in the Gallagher household at any given time and these close quarters are metonymic of the love-hate relationship between the Gallaghers that’s at the core of the series. 
This cramped lifestyle is uncomfortable and limiting in many ways, but it’s allowed them to become stronger and closer in the process. Shameless has previously handled this living situation as an enduring badge of honor for the Gallaghers, but “Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake” is the first episode that wonders if it’s actually codependent behavior and questions if the Gallaghers should still be living together after these eleven seasons. This important question causes different reactions in the entire family, which results in one of Shameless’ strongest episodes of its final season.
The biggest conflict that drives nearly all of the activity in “Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake” is Lip’s selfish proposal to sell the Gallagher home and the resistance that he faces from everyone else. It makes sense that this idea would have extremely limited appeal to anyone, so it’s reassuring to see the various Gallaghers come back at Lip with unenthusiastic responses, because why wouldn’t they! 
It’s actually kind of sickening to see Lip try to buy out his family’s votes with meager favors like preparing their favorite food. This is a major decision that’s going to change the rest of their lives, not a vote over what’s being watched for movie night. Digestible favors aren’t the solution here and Lip should really just listen to his family instead of focusing on the right way to flip them.
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Lip’s unscrupulous tactics become cruelly manipulative when he tries to sway the younger members of the family, like Carl, with the potential in their $20,000 buyout. That’s hardly enough for Carl to upgrade from the life that he currently has, especially after he just decked out the basement and made his living quarters more comfortable than they’ve ever been. It’s rough to watch Lip aggressively bully his family into immediately voting on the matter and then being resentful when the consensus doesn’t side in his favor. The fact that nobody else votes to sell the house should give Lip enough of an indication that this is something that his family isn’t interested in and that he should find another way to solve his housing and financial problem.
I was concerned over Liam’s future if the Gallagher house disappears and so it’s satisfying to see this episode explore Liam’s fear over this exact situation. Surely some family member would step up and allow him to live with them, but the fact that he doesn’t consider that and thinks that he’s on his own speaks volumes for how he currently views his family. He’s more comfortable with Kevin and Vee than any Gallagher. Honestly, Lip should volunteer to house Liam until he finds something else, considering that this is all his fault, but Liam could do better than them at this point.
No Gallagher is more opposed to Lip’s suggestion to sell the house than Frank. He sequesters himself and grapples with the possibility of losing this symbol that’s been with the Gallaghers for generations in a much more philosophical manner than everyone else. Frank has been possessive over his territory and this very home in the past, but it’s always been for selfish reasons whereas his motivation here is surprisingly tender and poetic. Now, that’s not necessarily the reason to keep a house, but it’s a much purer motivation than Lip’s reasons for wanting to sell it. 
Frank’s continued to watch his family grow up and move beyond him and this house is the one constant that’s been present in the majority of his life. This means even more to Frank now after his dementia diagnosis and he finds more of his world slipping away from him. In many ways, Frank needs to keep this house and this episode highlights that in a manner that’s graceful and natural.
The rest of Frank’s material in this episode is quite haunting even if he does playfully manipulate others with his fresh diagnosis as a new tool in his arsenal of cons. “Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake” finds another clever way to juxtapose Shameless’ final season with some of its earliest exploits. There are several installments where Frank has gone on a massive bender and spends the episode in a stupor as he attempts to find his way back home. 
There’s never been an element of fear in those past excursions, but it’s now genuinely frightening to see Frank out of his element in some foreign place as he struggles to remain composure and figure out where he belongs. Shameless is already getting a lot of mileage out of this and it’s making its limited time with Frank’s diagnosis work as opposed to a whole season where he’s lost and mentally in bad shape.
Frank barely manages to get home in one piece due to his failing memory, but new drama with Sandy makes Debbie learn something that she wishes that she could forget. More of Sandy’s guarded past comes home to roost and now there’s a child that’s also in the equation. Debbie actually manages to create a modicum of empathy for her character as she emphasizes the importance of not shirking the responsibility of parenthood. 
It’s helpful for Debbie to display some humanizing qualities in an episode where the rest of the Gallaghers explicitly shout, “We just hate Debbie,” but she quickly turns the situation around on herself by how she handles her feelings. It’s incredibly inappropriate for Debbie to get involved in Sandy’s custody battle and consciously ignore what both parents and the child are requesting in this situation. Debbie’s erratic behavior is all the response of her intense abandonment issues from Monica and even Fiona, to some extent. Debbie seems resistant in the area even if it’s something that the audience has been aware of for some time.
The other major relationship that this episode deconstructs is the recent encounter between Carl and Tish, which begins as DOA on account of the sexual assault component of it all, but takes a surprising turn by the end of everything. Carl lets Tish down in a gentle and caring manner that’s actually mature and seems like it will be premature, albeit responsible, conclusion to their time together. This is Shameless, so “mature” is a word that’s typically out of the show’s vocabulary. Initially, Carl’s stress over this scenario explodes in a humorous and inappropriate display at work, but then matters take a more realistic approach to this relationship. 
There’s a very sitcom-like aesthetic to a lot of “Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake’s” storylines and like in most sitcoms, Carl and Tish’s problem is a case where clear communication would have solved everything. I actually love how this plot plays out where Tish is a decent, accomplished person who has valid excuses for all of her behavior. Similarly, Carl never initially accuses her of rape because he’s equally trying to act like a gentleman and minimize any unnecessary conflict in their goodbye. It’s a simple, yet surprising, resolution where Carl is actually the wild one and Tish is completely normal. It’s a welcome change of pace and it provides a nice taste of Carl’s awkward transition into adult relationships now that he’s growing up and entered this seemingly more responsible stage of his life.
Ironically, consistency has been good for Carl, but it’s something that’s been sporadic in this season of Shameless. The group dynamic in episodes has occasionally been unbalanced or felt unnatural, but there’s a very comfortable energy around the Gallaghers in this episode. Characters like Lip and Debbie become antagonistic and cause ripples throughout the rest of the family, but these moments of tension are explored in larger group scenes that benefit from the complete family’s dynamic. Mickey not even say something in a scene, but the fact that he’s there and offers an exasperated eye roll to Ian or Carl accomplishes so much. The beginning of this season struggled in this area, but it’s been a triumph across the past few installments and will hopefully continue until the season’s end.
This is a natural and effortless Shameless episode not just in terms of its character dynamics, but also its sense of humor. This installment is easily one of the funnier entries of the season and lands some legitimately hilarious gags. It’s always appreciated when Shameless can accentuate its strong comedic skills, especially since lately it’s embraced melodrama and quirky scenarios over direct jokes. 
“Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake” is an effective reminder that this show can still be quite humorous and the moment where Frank is a bar that’s not the Alibi and gets tripped up over a Vee doppelganger made me laugh out loud. It also might be the last joke that’s made which stems from Frank’s dementia if the subject matter grows more intense on that front.  
Shameless embraces this lighter comedic energy the most with Ian and Mickey’s storyline, where they try to acquire some gay friends for themselves. This is fantastic right from the jump and it’s such a pleasant and affable storyline that it almost feels out of place in Shameless, especially eleven seasons in. Mickey struggles to make something as simple as a smile seem natural and it only gets more ridiculous as these two put themselves out there. 
Mickey and Ian both generate an awkward energy and it’s a major wakeup call to just how atypical the Gallaghers and Milkoviches are in contrast to the rest of Chicago. The craziest detail here is that Mickey becomes the more popular of the duo in the end and it’s a highlight to see him trading barbs and doing pile-ons as Ian tries to collect himself. Ian and Mickey’s behavior in their post-married life has been a bright spot in this season and this is the easily most enjoyable of their storylines so far. The two have been in such heightened scenarios that there’s a real charm to them doing something this normal and mundane. 
Once everything comes to a head in “Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake,” Lip reaches a very dangerous place and he practically has a mental breakdown over the avalanche of selfish and misguided decisions that he’s made this season. Lip has been responsible for some seriously awful things, but “Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake” concludes with behavior that is so out of line and on par with any of Fiona and Frank’s worst behavior. A reckoning is coming and it might be too late for Lip to get a happy ending by the time that all of this is over. 
All of Lip’s foolishness crashes together in such a disastrous manner that you practically expect the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme to kick in. The most important thing that Lip needs to do is just face reality and know when to tap out rather than continue to dig himself deeper. This behavior was problematic when Lip was a single self-destructive alcoholic, but now he has a child and life partner and it’s not tenable any longer. Just live with her family, dude!
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“Two at a Biker Bar, One in the Lake” is a satisfying episode that greatly benefits from a smart script that’s heavy in humor. This season of Shameless has gotten a little away from itself, but this episode turns to more grounded scenarios that are rooted in the characters’ backstories. It’s exactly what the series needs right now and as Frank loses track of who he is in a mental capacity and Lip loses sight of himself based on how far he’s fallen, it’s reassuring that Shameless has found itself and remembers what makes it work as it heads into the Chicago sunset.
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