#i have very mixed feelings about tom king as a writer but when he hits he HITS

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this page is so good. joker needing batman to be the great hero to his horrible villain. joker needing to know batman will always be there to stop him. joker needing batman. he’s shaped his entire self around his beloved nemesis - what they have gives his life meaning like nothing else could and he can’t lose that.

#what or who even is joker without batman? he doesn’t want to conceive of such a thing #i have very mixed feelings about tom king as a writer but when he hits he HITS #batjokes #joker

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OH, TAYLOR! Taylor Swift On Side-Stepping Into Acting, Owning What You Make & Loving The “Weirdness” Of Cats

On a grey London afternoon in late September, Taylor Swift slips quietly through the doors of a north London recording studio. It is an auspicious moment: the queen of confessional pop has come to meet Andrew Lloyd Webber, the king of musical theatre. Together, Swift, who turns 30 this month, and Lloyd Webber, 71, have written “Beautiful Ghosts”, a new song for the soon-to-be-released film adaptation of Cats – Webber’s 1981 extravaganza, which ran in the West End and on Broadway for a combined total of almost 40 years. In it, Swift plays Bombalurina, and like her co-stars – Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Francesca Hayward, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Hudson, Rebel Wilson – appears in full, furry CGI glory. Track finished, these two titans of the music industry sit down to talk… 

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Well, the first thing we have to clear up is that we both love cats. Taylor Swift: [Laughs] We do! One of the first things you said to me when we met was that you’re president of the Turkish Van Cat Club.  ALW: Professionally, there is nowhere I can go to top this, as you can completely understand. TS: I have three cats. How many do you have now?  ALW: I have three, too – they are all Turkish Vans. And you’ve got a Scottish Fold I believe. TS: I have two Scottish Folds, we think the third is a Ragdoll mix. ALW: You’re probably never going to talk to me again, but you know I’ve got a puppy? He’s called Mojito.  TS: I heard about this! How does he get along in the hierarchy?  ALW: Well, he believes he’s a little bear actually. He’s a Havanese dog, which I got because Glenn Close has one. TS: I’ve met that dog, he’s really good. ALW: You come from Pennsylvania. TS: I do. People seem to think I was raised in the south, but I’m from the north – grew up on a Christmas tree farm, then moved to Nashville when I was 14. ALW: And you wanted to move to Nashville for the songwriting or the singing? Or both? TS: Both – I was just obsessed with Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks, and the thing they had in common was that they had gotten discovered in Nashville. So I had it in my head that this is a magical place where discoveries are made and people are able to do music as a living. ALW: Was it the storytelling side of country songs that you liked? Absolutely. It reminded me of the ’90s, when you had these amazing female singer-songwriters like Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan; incredible female writers like Melissa Etheridge, Shawn Colvin; and these types of Lilith Fair women. Then you started to hit the 2000s and the only place I could find real confessional storytelling was country music. ALW: Did you know anybody when you got to Nashville? TS: No, we didn’t really. I’d been going there on vacation with my family, and my mom, my little brother and I would stay in a hotel and try to meet people. Eventually, after several trips, I got a development deal – it’s a non-committal record deal, like, “We’ll watch you develop for a year and then we’ll decide if we sign you.” That was grounds enough to move the family. ALW: Presumably you were in school in Nashville as well? TS: Yes, I was going to high school during the day and doing my songwriting sessions at night. It was a double life. I’d be writing notes in class, and my teachers never knew if they were notes for my class or if I’d gotten an idea for a song. ALW: How many songs would you write in a day? TS: Usually, never more than one. I had these sessions every day, and if I didn’t come in with a good idea, I’d get stared at. You’re not inspired every day, as you know, but you have to show up and treat it like a job. That’s where I learned the craft of songwriting. ALW: I’ve never worked like that, because I’m so story driven. What interests me, though, is how Nashville works. How did you get your foot on the performing ladder? TS: It was really writing first. At the same time, I was singing the national anthem every time I could – at festivals and fairs and bars, anywhere I could get up on stage. I was trying to hone both sides of what I was doing, but I’m very well aware that I would not have a career if I hadn’t been a writer. I wouldn’t have just been a singer, it wouldn’t have worked. ALW: I guess that, today, very few people have a major career unless they write. TS: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s really important – also from the side of ownership over what you do and make. Even if you aren’t a natural writer, you should try to involve yourself in the messages you’re sending. ALW: How does a young country artist get their first break? TS: I worked as hard as I could, reached out to as many people as I could to make sure I got meetings with publishing companies and labels. They didn’t come about very easily, but once I got in the room I’d just get out my guitar and play for them. ALW: Do you have to sing in a certain club to get to the next stage? TS: Everyone does it a different way, but the Bluebird Cafe is a place where everyone was discovered – from Garth Brooks to Faith Hill to, arguably, me. I remember being at your house after we’d written a song, and you telling me you’d bought it when you were 24 or something, that’s when I realised just how young you were when you had a vision to be doing this at such a high level. ALW: I was writing for the theatre when I was eight-years-old. I had a little toy theatre and did dreadful musicals on terrible subjects. Then, when I was about 13, I met a boy who wanted to write lyrics, and we did a couple of musicals at school. TS: So from the beginning you would pair up with a lyricist? ALW: One of the things I worked out very early was Lloyd Webber and lyrics are not a good idea. TS: Wow. It is a good alliteration, though. ALW: You were 19, weren’t you, when you had your first big hit? TS: I was about 18 when “Love Story”, a song I’d written alone, was a worldwide hit. I was lucky enough to work my way up in country music, for new artists nowadays, it feels like the trajectory of their career is like being shot out of a canon into a stratosphere they could in no way be prepared for. I got to sort of acclimate to every step of the path I was on, and by the time I had a massive hit I’d been working since I was 14. Moving from country music to pop was a crazy adjustment for me. ALW: And now we’ve written “Beautiful Ghosts” together for Cats. TS: I remember the moment. I went over to your apartment to rehearse “Macavity” and you sat down at the piano and started to play this haunting, beautiful melody, and I think I just started singing to it right away. ALW: You wrote the lyrics more or less then and there – it was fantastic. TS: It’s a different perspective on the song “Memory”, too, and the character of Grizabella [played by Jennifer Hudson], who used to have majestic, glamorous times and doesn’t anymore. On the other side of it, you have this little white cat [Victoria, played by Francesca Hayward] who’s been abandoned – she’s afraid she’ll never have a chance to have beautiful memories. So that’s where she’s singing “Beautiful Ghosts” from, to counter Grizabella’s idea of tragedy. ALW: I’d like to come back to something I thought when I heard your album, Lover – which is really absolutely brilliant. Am I right in thinking you approached its recording just as though you were giving live performances? TS: I did. I was really singing a lot at that point – I’d just come from a stadium tour, and then did Cats, which was all based on live performances – so a lot of that album is nearly whole takes. When you perform live, you’re narrating and you’re getting into the story and you’re making faces that are ugly and you’re putting a different meaning on a song every time you perform it. ALW: That’s the point isn’t it. TS: Yeah. ALW: Does that ever make you feel you want to be an actress? TS: I have no idea. When I was younger, I used to get questions like, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I’d try to answer. As I get older, I’m learning that wisdom is learning how dumb you are compared to how much you are going to know. I really had an amazing time with Cats. I think I loved the weirdness of it. I loved how I felt I’d never get another opportunity to be like this in my life. ALW: It’s weird, what I’ve seen of the movie. TS: It’s decidedly weird [they laugh]. ALW: I think Tom [Hooper, the film’s director] has really tried to make something original. And I agree, I think as you get older you do become less sure of yourself and start to question what you can do. Would you consider doing a musical? TS: A musical? Absolutely, absolutely. ALW: Or writing your own? TS: That is way up there on my list of dreams. ALW: You should. TS: Was it really wonderful for you when you got the news that Judi Dench had accepted the role of Old Deuteronomy? ALW: Judi was in the original version in 1981 but she snapped her Achilles tendon and had to withdraw. Then I had this idea, which I ran past Tom, that we could make Old Deuteronomy a woman. Seeing her perform this time was quite an emotional thing for me, because it was a very, very sad day when she had to leave the original show. TS: She’s lovely. I remember being on set, and there is one scene that Idris [Elba, who plays Macavity] and I do with Judi, and someone walked up to me with this kind of gummy candy and I was like, “Oh, I’ve never had this before, this must be British candy, this is amazing.” I was raving about this candy so much, and Judi must have overheard me, because the next day I got to my dressing room and there was a signed photo from Judi and, like, six bags of it [they laugh]. Andrew, we both started young. What do we have in common from our experiences? What do you think was hard about it? And what was great? ALW: I suppose what was hard for me was that I was a fish out of the mainstream water. In the 1960s, to love musicals was as uncool as you could possibly be, and kids in my class at school would laugh at me. TS: I was the same. I loved country music and, where I was in school, the kids were just completely perplexed by that. It’s gotten more mainstream, but when I was a 13-year-old in Pennsylvania, I got similar reactions. Do you feel like you’re glad you were really young when you started? ALW: Yeah, are you? TS: I’m really glad, even though there are challenges to it – like you’re not allowed to make the same mistakes as everyone else because your mistakes are a commodity. ALW: And your mistakes are made in public. But we share something in common, in which we are extremely lucky. We both knew at an early age what we wanted to do, and most people in life don’t have a clue. TS: That’s very true. I think, also, a lot of the time when people see a career that they want it can be results-based. Rather than wanting to write musicals, they want to be a person who has written musicals. But when I see you work, I see you consistently creating and being curious about the next idea. You relish in the process even more than the rewards, which is the advice I would give anyone who wanted to do anything remotely close to this job. It cannot be about the results. ALW: It’s the process isn’t it? TS: It has to be. It’s supposed to be fun!

MEET & GREET: Introducing the faces behind this month’s issue

When it came to interviewing Taylor Swift about her musical-movie debut in Cats, there was only one man for the job: Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer of the original West End and Broadway mega hit. The two colossi of songwriting had plenty to discuss at a recording studio in north London – art, ambition and authenticity, plus what we can expect from the soon-to-be-released film.

Vogue: What was it like to work with Taylor? Andrew Lloyd Webber: She’s supremely professional and very charming with it. In my view, she could go far. Vogue: What was your first impression of her? ALW: She’s a lot taller than me, and a lot more attractive. Vogue: What’s your favourite Swift hit? ALW: “Blank Space” from the album 1989. It’s a great pop song with great lyrics.

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Riverdale 5x03 Review

Wow I’ve got to say I’m actually impressed with Riverdale this episode, I really enjoyed it and I got emotional soo many times. I think it was well written for the most part and a really good send off for the characters as teenagers. I think it would have hit even harder if it had aired as a season finale like it was meant to but overall I really liked this episode which I’m glad because I was a little wary going into it after 5x02 which I didn’t really enjoy that much. Anyway we’ve got lots to talk about so lets jump in. As always these are just my own views and opinions and naturally there are spoilers. 

Jelly Bean and FP. 

So first I figured we can talk about the fallout from last episode and the reveal that Jelly Bean was behind the tapes. One little thing that did make me laugh a  was when Jughead is narrating over the opening and he talks about the darkness in the people of the town and he lists Cliff Blossom, The Black Hood, The Gargoyle King and The Stonies you know all these murders and attempted murders and then he adds Jelly Bean to the list. I mean Jughead sweetie I get that you are upset about your sister making those tapes and that’s completely understandable I’m just not sure its quite on the same level as all the other people in the list in the grand scheme of things. I mean I get what the writers were trying to get at with that statement but it just tickled me a little is all, don’t think it was supposed to but well I’m weird, I’m a weirdo so I found it funny and kinda overdramatic. But onto more serious things I actually loved the way Alice and FP handled the situation I mean kudos to Alice for doing the right thing and suggesting not just therapy but a therapist that specialises in child therapy. I think that is exactly what Jelly Bean needs (and all of the characters really) so I’m really glad that Alice suggested that. At the same time I do think FP was right in deciding to take Jelly Bean back to her mum and stay so that Jelly bean has the support of both of her parents there. I do think that alot of Jelly Bean’s anxiety about Jughead leaving comes from her abandonment issues. If you think about it first her family is split in two with her being in Toledo with her mum and her brother and dad being in Riverdale, then her family comes back together again and she’s then abandoned by her mother. Then her brother leaves to go to school and is nearly killed. All of this was probably really traumatic for her and obviously had a huge effect on her. I think having a stable support system away from Riverdale and its influences for a little while will be good for her and help her recover with some help from therapy, lots of therapy. 

One thing I didn’t really understand and think could have been better explained is what happened with Jelly Bean’s friends. I mean for one thing we are never told why they are hiding out in Archie’s gym like don’t they have homes? Also they had Tom Keller reinstated as Sheriff and they took him with them to find the kids so does that mean they were arrested? And if they were arrested then why did Jelly Bean get off scott free? I have so many questions about that scene. 

FP’s send off was really well done in my opinion. I had a lot of respect for him putting his foot down and telling Jughead no he was going to Iowa when Jug said he wanted to go to Toledo with his dad and Jelly Bean. Also that speech about how Jug going to College and being successful will be good for the Joneses is so true. I mean seeing Jughead go to college and making something of himself will give Jelly Bean something to look up to and for her to know that just because she comes from a family that is underpriveledge doesn’t mean that she can’t strive for success and chase her dreams and I think that is an amazing message to send. That being said seeing FP and Jughead say good bye was really sad and you could feel the emotion in that scene of a father having to let go of his son and let him make his own way now and also Jughead’s worry about going out on his own again and being without his family. It was just a touching scene and one that I relate to so much because it reminded me of when I said goodbye to my mum when I went to Uni and that mix of excitement and terror at having to be on my own, I left home at 16 but I had never been that far away from my family before so despite knowing that I could take care of myself (I had already taken care of myself  for 3 years at this point) I was still really anxious at being away from my mum so I could really relate to Jughead in that moment. He knows he can take care of himself he’s done it before but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t anxious about not being in the same town as his dad anymore. 

Speaking of heartbreaking scenes Alice saying goodbye to FP. It was beautiful, sad and yet hopeful at the same time. I mean when she asked if this was the end of their story and he replied ‘god, I hope not’ it really made me tear up.  Also I love that Alice understood why he needed to do this and even says she loves him for it. FP has grown so much over the last 4 seasons and now he’s become a man who will do anything for his kids and I think Alice really does love that about him. Also I’m going to be honest I felt so bad for Alice this episode especially when she was talking about how she had imagined Thanksgiving and having her whole family there Betty and Polly and the twins, Jughead, Jelly Bean, FP and Charles and now she’s going to be alone that is just so sad and feel really bad for Alice despite mistakes she may have made in the past she doesn’t deserve the deal she’s been dealt. Also as a side note I’m glad they at least made a small mention of Charles and how Alice is sad about that situation, I actually wasn’t expecting his name to be dropped at all this episode so it was better than nothing. 

The last thing I will say about this plotline is that I loved the shot of FP and Jelly Bean riding away in their Serpent jackets and being escorted by the Serpents. It gave a feel of royalty on the move like a motorcade or something which I thought was a nice touch and a little reminder of how Serpents stick by each other. 

The Graduation

Obviously the big theme of this episode was the teens graduating and those scenes were really touching. First there was the whole debate about whether Jug and Arch would be graduating. I was happy for Jug but felt so bad for Archie when he find out that not only was he not graduating but he would have to repeat his whole senior year. I do like that Mr Weatherby reassured him that nobody would hold the year against Archie because Archie really did have a crappy year so it’s not really surprising he isn’t able to graduate. I’m also glad that Weatherby said he could walk with his friends and wanted to make him feel included by asking him to write and record a song for the ceremony. I’m also really glad that they got to have their year books. 

But what I think made these moments so much more emotional were all the little nods to both Jason and Fred. I got the feels so much when Archie was standing in the hall looking around at all the other teens with their parents and fathers and you could just see that in that moment he was really missing his dad. Another moment that was really sad for me was a little earlier in the episode when Archie has the same dream his dad had when he had been shot and its fred taking pictures for Graduation and says he never thought he’d live to see this day. It is so heartbreaking because he really didn’t and its not fair.  Also Cheryl was in her feels about her brother. I mean it must make her really miss Jason when you think he should have been graduating alongside her.  

Betty’s speech at the ceremony was good too. There were so many moments in there that punched you right to the gut. When she talked about how it wasn’t fair that so many of their classmates weren’t there to walk with them, I couldn’t help but think of Jason, Midge, Ben, Dilton Doiley and even characters who didn’t die but left riverdale just to escape like Moose and Josie. Then she gives another punch to the heart when she talks about how its not fair that some of their parents aren’t there to see them and I’m back in my Fred feels. I also liked how she said she hoped the Riverdale they all remembered was the sleepy quiet town that existed before all the violence and how she wishes that town for the next generation. But my favourite part of her speech was when she said to stay young to stay innocent even if it was just for a moment. 

Another scene I really liked was when they buried the time capsule. I liked all the items they placed in there, I don’t think that they would be much help to teens opening it in the future to see what it was like back then but each item was personal to each character and I really liked that. 

Cheryl, Toni and the Blossom Legacy. 

First off can I just talk about Penelope for a moment and how funny that scene at graduation was. She literally just popped out of the bushes and was kinda sweet in a very weird way I mean it was nice that she wanted to see Cheryl graduate but at the same time she still called her a nightmare child which I don’t know maybe it’s a term of endearment. Also I love how she’s decided to turn herself in but has done it in a way that best suits her, like she’s spoken to Hiram to make sure she is comfortable and protected in his jail and also she’s only planning to be in there a few years. Lets be real I think mostly the only reason she is doing this is because she’s tired of hiding in the walls so she figures a few years behind bars won’t be so bad if it means she can walk around freely afterwards. 

Now onto Cheryl I was surprised that she decided not to go to College and instead she wants to rebuild Thorn Hill and the Blossom name. Also as sad as the scene where they kind of break up is I do think it will better for Toni now that Cheryl has let her go. I do think they will come back together again but I think they need a little distance from each other as Toni has become too wrapped up in all the Blossom drama. I think Toni needs to focus on herself for a while and Cheryl knows this. I also love that Cheryl is doing all of this so that she can be a person worthy of Toni and escape the curse of her family’s name. It is interesting to me that Cheryl is choosing to kind of return to her roots and regrow and I am excited to see how they have both grown come the timejump.  

The Core Four     

So alot happened with the core four this episode and you know I actually kinda liked what they did with them. As a Barchie shipper at first I was upset that Archie and Betty didn’t get a one on one scene like the others did. At first it made no sense to me I mean Veronica and Archie got one, Archie and Jughead got one, Veronica and Betty got one so it seemed really odd to me that Betty and Archie who have been childhood friends didn’t get a big goodbye scene or an emotional talk about the kiss like the others did. But then I figured that actually it bodes really well for Barchie that they didn’t get that emotional scene. Why you might ask? Well I’m sure B*ghead and V*rchie shippers will disagree with me and that’s fine this is just my interpretation of it but I do feel like they closed the book on the original couples this episode. To me it did kinda feel like a goodbye to V*rchie and B*ghead. Now I’m not saying that they’ll never reopen those books, I don’t know what the future will hold but for now it definitely feels like those couples have come to an end and gotten closure. However Betty and Archie never got that and I think the reason for that is because their story isn’t done yet. There are a couple of other reasons why I think that they are deliberately leaving the Barchie storyline open and that’s the shot at the end of the episode when Jug a year later is at Pop’s and when the door opens and he looks over its Barchie look a likes. I thought this was really interesting. Like why choose to have two people who look like Betty and Archie come through that door. Was it because they are the two who Jughead misses the most? I mean lets be honest he wasn’t that close to Veronica (which was criminal in my opinion but I digress). What I find most interesting is that these two look a likes are clearly a couple. One theory could be that this is suppose to show that Jughead is still hurt by Betty and Archie’s kiss. But I think it could also be a little nod of what’s to come I mean this scene is shot with Jughead narrating about the future over the top and how they would all be different people. Of course it could be wishful thinking on my part. Another reason I think they might still have the book open for Barchie is because of something RAS said a while back, I can’t find it now but it was something along the lines of how we still hadn’t heard all of Archie’s song and that Betty had kept one of her diary’s and so the door was still open for Barchie. He specifically mentioned these two things. Well since then we have now heard the whole song but the diary still hasn’t come back into play yet which makes me wonder if it will after the timejump. Of course it could just be that the writers forgot about it or changed it but I’m choosing to cling to that little bit of hope. Also there is the fact that KJ talked about how he’s been working alot with Lili so I do still think we should be getting plenty of Barchie content in the next coming episodes.

So now I want to talk about Veronica and Archie. When I saw the promo and realised that they were probably going to have another love scene I was a bit wary about it as I wasn’t sure it was at all necessary. But surprisingly I actually didn’t mind it. I could understand the feelings behind it. They both knew that their relationship is over but that doesn’t mean that the love they have for each other has just disappeared it doesn’t work that way. So I can understand why they wanted one more night together, to live in a moment and not worry about anything else. I actually thought it was really sweet. I also think Veronica’s reaction to Archie joining the Army was understandable. I mean she already feels like she is losing him, she’s going away to college and their relationship has come to an end and then on top of all that she finds out that he is joining the army and will likely end up in a warzone where he could be hurt or even killed that must be terrifying for her. On top of that whilst I think she suspected that he was thinking about it his decision is sudden and so she might feel like he hasn’t thought it through properly. I really felt it when she was talking to Betty and said that the thing that was eating her up was the way it was ending, that it was unresolved and that she had wished she had said goodbye and hugged him on more time. Which brings me to one of my favourite scenes of the episode. I loved when Archie is looking at the photo of his dad and he has the flashbacks of all the things he’s leaving behind in Riverdale, all the things he’s saying goodbye to then he looks out his window and sees Veronica, Betty and Jughead in the Jalopy. I don’t know why but something about this scene made me feel a little choked up and the soundtrack that went along with it was chilling. I think the goodbye scene between Archie and Veronica was again really sweet and I think it was a nice end to their romantic relationship. 

Ok Betty and Jughead next. Now I might not have been a B*ghead shipper but I didn’t hate them as a couple and I like and care about their characters so seeing their break up was so painful. My heart really did break for them. I mean the moment Betty says that she has to tell him something and you see his eyes well up and him whisper ‘oh no’ our boy knew what was coming and I think it was something he dreaded but also always believed would happen eventually. Just like the V*rchie love scene I really did think I would hate the B*ghead love scene but again I think it made sense for the characters in that moment. They were both in pain and looking for comfort and were just clinging to that moment because deep down they both knew what was coming but wanted to hold it off as long as possible. It wasn’t at all the healthiest way of dealing with it but it was a very young teenage response. I do want to just say that Cole’s acting in that moment when he finds out the truth was on point he did an amazing job. I mean you can literally see him go through so many emotions in those few seconds, first the dread and realisation, then the shock and pain, then anger, then heartbreak and then desperation. I was surprised that the reason why they break up is ultimately because of the kiss it seemed like from RAS’s interviews that it was going to be the distance that broke them up and whilst it played a part ultimately I do think that it was the kiss that was the main reason. I think alot of what causes that distance between them in those final weeks before Betty leaves is that Jughead knows that its not just a kiss that there are real feelings behind it. I think this is a big reason why they don’t talk about it because I don’t think Jug was ready to actually hear her say it and I don’t think Betty was ready to confront that she does have feelings for Archie. I do feel like Betty and Jughead’s goodbye was sadder because of that distance that grew between them. Whilst I think Archie and Veronica had already excepted that it was over for them Betty and Jughead held on longer and were more in denial in my opinion. But that’s just my interpretation of it. 

Another thing I want to touch on real quick is that I know alot of people didn’t like the reactions Veronica and Jughead had to the whole cheating storyline and thought that they weren’t angry enough but I didn’t mind their reactions. I think they were obviously upset its just that there were bigger things going on in their lives. I mean Veronica says she can’t be angry at Betty right now because of everything that is going on with Archie. That doesn’t mean she won’t go through those stages of anger later, we just either won’t see them or will see them in flashbacks. It’s the same with Jughead he clearly isn’t uneffected, he tells Archie its fine but then we see him and Betty drifting apart because of it so to me their reactions made sense within the context of what was going on at the time. I do think those feelings of anger will come through and that could be why only Jughead shows up a year later. I did think that end scene of seeing Juggie on his own was so heartbreaking. I do wonder why none of them show up. I mean if I was going to guess then I’m assuming Archie was deployed and couldn’t. I’m not sure about Betty and Veronica though unless like I said that anger does eventually come through and her and Betty have a falling out and so its too awkard for them to come but I’m just guessing with that one.       

Now I want to talk a little more about Barchie, I know I touched on it a little before but I want to talk about a couple of other things. The first is Betty’s reaction to hearing Archie was joining the Army. I know alot of people felt like it came across as Betty not caring that Archie had joined especially when you compare her reaction to Veronica’s but I didn’t see it that way at all. Sometimes the best way you can love a person is by accepting and supporting their decisions even if you yourself have doubts about it or fears about it. I think this is what Betty does. If you look at her facial expression in that moment you can see that she’s not happy about the news and that she is concerned but she also knows Archie and she trusts him to make his own decisions and to trust his own judgement so she chooses to support him. Right before she says that she supports him he says that for the first time he doesn’t feel scared or uncertain about the future and I think Betty trusts in his certainty. Also I loved their hug goodbye. It might only have been short but it was adorable I especially liked how Betty buried her nose in his shoulder so she could smell his jacket one last time. I also thought it was cute how he said see you in a year to her even if that didn’t end up happening. Another thing that I thought was interesting is going back to those flashbacks I mentioned earlier, it was odd and interesting that none of those flashbacks had any one on one scenes of Betty, she was included in some of the group shots but no Barchie moments not even just friendship moments. Again I said I did feel like this moment was Archie saying goodbye to those things he was leaving behind, this episode as a whole felt like a goodbye or a closing of a chapter but at no point in the episode did I feel like he was saying goodbye to Betty. Even when they hug it ends with him saying see you in a year which to me is interesting and again really does make me think that they are leaving that door open for Barchie. Of course it could just me but I do feel like the writers made a consious decision to make sure that it didn’t feel like Barchie were getting closure. 

Time jump/ 5x04 Theories.

To finish off I just want to throw out some theories of what I think is going to happen in the next episode and maybe a little further into the time jump and I am basing these off some spoilers we got but largely the two promos that have been released. So if you are trying to stay completely spoiler free about the time jump then stop reading now. 

So I am going to start with the first promo that was released and go through it sort of shot by shot and talk about any notes I have if that makes sense. 

1) We know that Archie went to war and I’ve already made a post about this but the first few shots was scenes of war on a football pitch which I did sadly see quite a few people laughing about. The reason why that saddens me and I’m trying not to judge anyone here because I know people sometimes use humor to deal with dark subjects but this is obviously a flashback Archie is having from his time at war not actual scenes of the war if that makes sense. I think the scene will be Archie coaching the boys and maybe he sees one of the boys get tackled to the ground and that triggers a flashback which is why in those scenes you can see football players laying on the ground as well as soldiers. Personally this isn’t something I can laugh about just because of the serious nature of the topic but then people might not have realised what those scenes were showing so like I said trying not to judge. 

2) This is kinda linked to the one above but I made a theory post way back when season 4 had just finished up and we had just got that casting of Archie’s friend Eric who lost his leg and I said I reckoned the show was going to use Eric to show the physical trauma war can have on a person and that I thought whatever event caused Eric to lose his leg would also injure Archie and that’s why he would return home and that they would use Archie to show the mental trauma that war can have and how Archie was going to be struggling with PTSD and survivor’s guilt. Judging from the scenes in the promo where we see Archie surrounded by explosions and then him in a hospital bed with a officer asking if he was ready to go home I’m sticking with this theory.  

3) It looks like Jughead successfully managed to publish one book but is now struggling to write another it gives me a lot of Lucas vibes from OTH. I reckon once he is back in Riverdale and he finds a new mystery he’ll get past that writers block and I reckon Tabitha will be a help with that as I heard some spoilers that her and Jughead become friends which I am excited to see. 

4) It looks like Betty who is now an FBI agent is going to go through something tramatic as hell in the shots it looks like she is stuck down a well in a barn or something like that and there is a masked figure looking down at her, the whole scene looks terrifying and I’m going to guess that she was working on a case and got captured. 

Ok now I’m going to move on to the next promo. 

5) I’m going to start with this one because it kinda links back to the one above but it looks like Betty is having flashbacks to her captors. There’s a shot of her screaming and a masked man that looks similar to the one in the first promo coming at her with a chainsaw. Now this could be real and there could really be someone invading her home but something makes me feel like she is hallucinating. Also theres a shot that looks like its Archie breaking down Betty’s door and knocking out a guy in a leather coat so maybe this guy breaks in and Betty hallucinates that its the guy who captured her, Archie hears her scream and comes to her rescue. 

6) My eyes could be decieving me on this one but it looks like Barchie are going to get a shower scene. Which as a Barchie shipper obviously I’m excited about that. But I do think the fact that they both seem to be suffering from PTSD and flashbacks is what’s going to bring Barchie back together and they’ll help each other through that. I could see this scene happening right after the invader scene where Archie is trying to comfort Betty. 

7) Toni is an absolute queen. This isn’t really a theory I just wanted to say that I mean did you see those shots of her pregnant on stage all decked out and dancing with the serpents. 

8) This is a theory though Toni as we know is pregnant and my theory for this is either one she had a one night stand with some stranger and that’s whose baby it is or two which I like better she is acting as a kind of surrogate for Kangs but the baby is also hers and Cheryls and the four of them are going to raise it together. Think Silver and Teddy and Shane from 90210. 

9) It’s possible that Cheryl and Toni are married. There’s a shot of Cheryl sitting at a desk and the name plate says Ms Topaz. However it could also just be that Cheryl is sitting at Toni’s desk so I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. Also if they are married it doesn’t explain why Toni is living with Kangs and Cheryl isn’t unless part of the surrogacy deal (if there is one of course) is that Toni has to live with them during the pregnancy. 

10) It looks like the whole gang are going to band together against Hiram who has been wrecking Riverdale I mean there was that shot of Toni and Archie and it looks like the homeless population has gotten out of control so most likely Hiram has been buying then pulling down homes so now alot of people have no where to go. Also it looks like Hiram is trying to shut down Riverdale High so the gang all become teachers to try and keep it open. I don’t think this is going to lead anywhere good and will probably lead to an all out war between the gang and Hiram. 

This isn’t really a theory just a thought I had on a theory but I’ve seen one going around that they think Archie is going to be the dad of Toni’s baby. I don’t think this is likely I just think they might have some friendship building which will be nice to see as I’ve said soo many times now one thing I want from Riverdale is to see different characters interacting so it looks like we are going to get that. Also one of the biggest reasons I don’t think Archie is the baby’s dad is because we see him arriving back in Riverdale so its likely he hasn’t seen Toni to impregnate her but this is Riverdale so who the hell knows pretty much anything is possible. 

Anyway I am going to wrap it up here. I am very excited to see where the season goes so I’ll catch you all on the flip side.  

#riverdale #riverdale spoilers #riverdale review #riverdale 5x03

[scratchybeardsweetmouth]

Game of Thrones’ Iain Glen on the fiery finale and saying goodbye to Emilia Clarke

Game of Thrones is coming. And as the world’s most  popular TV show gears up for its fiery finale, Iain Glen – aka Ser Jorah Mormont –  explains what life  in Westeros is really like. ‘Tits and dragons’ and all… By Chris Harvey 23 March 2019 Photos by Frank Allias 

Put under a read more because I included almost the entire article. It Is quite long:

[...] One abiding memory of Glen will be from the last season, when Jorah, infected with the slow-creeping but deadly greyscale, bites down on a leather strap as the thick, scaly layer that covers his torso is cut away piece by piece with a scalpel. It may not have been his most nuanced performance but the agony on his face made it impossible to look away. ‘I was pretty spaced out,’ he tells me. The prosthetic took eight hours to apply – it had underlayers that would ooze pus and blood as it was sawn off – so Glen had to be on the filming base at 11pm, have make-up applied all night and then shoot a 12-hour day. ‘After what it required, the acting became quite easy,’ he says. We’re in a photographic studio near the Thames. Glen biked here from his home in south London. ‘I’m addicted to cycling,’ he says. He will even cycle to red-carpet events and park his bike around the corner. ‘I find it a very sterile atmosphere being in the back of a limo… and [cycling] is quicker. I duck and dive, and I’m not somebody who will wait endlessly at a red traffic light.  I go up one-way streets the wrong way, too.’ He looks fit and lightly tanned. He was at home in Dulwich, where he lives with his partner, actor Charlotte Emmerson, and their two children, Mary, 11, and Juliet, six, when the scripts for the final season of Game of Thrones landed in September 2017.   ‘Security around the series has got more and more fierce,’ he says, ‘to the point where nothing was allowed on printed paper throughout the whole season.’ It could only be accessed online, with extensive security protocols – it wasn’t even allowed on the cast’s own devices. ‘There was a bit of resistance from actors to that,’ he adds, ‘particularly of an older generation.’ He performs a convincing harrumph – ‘“I need to look at my lines, how can I possibly…?”’ When he read the scripts, ‘I felt, “they’ve done it, they’ve pulled it off”,’ he says, ‘that balance of satiating people’s desire for things to be complete, but leaving enough questions in the air for people to try to project forward what world will follow, individually for all the characters and universally for the world that Thrones has occupied.’  Sadness at the end of ‘the best ride in the world’, after almost 10 years of the show, was tangible at the read-through of the series with all of the main cast in Belfast 10 days later. ‘There’s a real sense of loss, it’s like a family… there were lots of tears because it was coming to an end, but real excitement and joy that we were going to shoot it.’ As characters died within the story as they read, it felt to Glen and others as if they were really being lost. ‘We’ve all grown very close to each other.’  The filming would prove to be punishing. An enormous battle scene involving many of the key characters, pitched against the Night King’s invading Army of the Dead, was shot at the set of the fictional castle of Winterfell, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It took 11 weeks of night shoots in sub-freezing temperatures, enduring rain, mud, high winds and ‘sheep s—’. Glen has described it as ‘a real test, really miserable’. [...] Young actors like Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) ‘are made’ by being in the show, Glen says. His storyline has been joined to Clarke’s almost from the start. What was their parting like in real life? ‘We’re friends and we’ll always be friends,’ he says. ‘Emilia went through an extraordinary story arc for herself as a person, and her character. I saw her as a nervous young actress, who had just got this big gig and everyone, [from] directors [down], was saying, “Is this the right actor? Is this how she should look? Does the wig look right?” It’s an incredible amount of pressure and I saw this young girl cope with it incredibly well.’ ‘She did ask for guidance and invariably I was saying, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.” Emilia’s very gifted, she really has no idea how good she is – she remains very vulnerable but it’s not a destructive vulnerability, it keeps her very focused… She’s [also] a very altruistic, warm person, who was the great generator of social life during Thrones. I’ll always keep an eye on what she’s doing and take pride in it.’ In the series, Ser Jorah is in love with Daenerys. Although Clarke’s character was aged up from the books for TV (in George RR Martin’s novels, she is in her early teens) fans have worked out that Daenerys can still only be 16 or 17 at the start of the show (Clarke was 22 at the time of the first season). ‘There was a point when it was definitely unrequited sexual love,’ Glen says, ‘but I think there’s always been a reciprocated love without the physicality.’ Given that Ser Jorah is in his mid-40s in the show and Glen is now 57, is his love for Daenerys age-appropriate? ‘You have to say that there’s a lot in Thrones that’s not “appropriate”,’ he returns, ‘but it feels plausible for a very different period.’ At the end of season one, Daenerys emerged from her husband’s funeral pyre unburnt and naked, with three newly hatched dragons. I wonder how Glen feels about former cast member Ian McShane’s contention that the show is ‘just tits and dragons’? ‘If tits and dragons is a negative, it doesn’t seem to stop it being a massive hit, does it?’ he says. He accepts that ‘there might have been a degree of HBO trying to arrest people’s attention, and you could accuse The Sopranos of doing that as well – there were tits and violence but there was a psychology that was underlying the whole thing.’ He thinks it might have been overstated in the first season of Thrones, in ‘putting everything on the line’ to establish the world, but says he has never felt concern about the many controversial scenes in the show, from sadistic sexual fantasies to rape. ‘At the end of the day, you can choose to watch or not to watch. When I look at history, at things that have taken place in real life that are just awful, I think there is room for dramas that try to depict that, so I’m not into censoring. I never felt things were gratuituous… Violence wise, it’s never bothered me.’ After filming their final scene, each of the main cast members was presented with a drawn storyboard from the making of the show. Glen’s depicted the bloody gladiatorial battle Jorah fought to win back Daenerys’s favour in season five. It was shot in the bullring of Osuna, in Andalusia, southern Spain, and had special memories for him. His family were with him, and the director took his daughter Mary, then seven, into the make-up tent to get blood all over her face ‘so she looked like Daddy’, then had her shout ‘action’ and ‘cut’ for the scene. After the presentation speech by writers David Benioff and DB Weiss, Glen says he was in floods of tears. Glen, who also has a son, Finlay, 22, from his first marriage to actor Susannah Harker, says he adores being a father. ‘I keep producing children… it imbues your life with a great amount of fun and magic and exhaustion. I have to be away working sometimes, and if I could I would have them with me all the time, because being woken up by a child, or having to wake up a child and deal with the minutiae and a lot of the boring crap, just having those eyes looking at you full of discovery... I love it.’ 'I always think it’s a woman’s prerogative,’ he adds, ‘I think my lady is now done on the kids and that’s fine, but I would always have more.’ He breaks off to take a call from her. As a boy himself, growing up in Edinburgh (he has two older brothers, Hamish and Graham) he was equal parts shy and extrovert, he says, and had no sense of danger. He would happily crawl out of a very high window and climb along gutters. His escapades saw him hospitalised a few times. He was adept at pretending to fall over and hurt himself – ‘I could even do it for you now.’ He still has an earring in his left ear, which he pierced himself with a pin, aged 12. ‘Dad refused to take me to the golf club unless I took it out. I thought, “F— it, I’m not going then. No.”’ His investment banker father paid for him to attend the independent Edinburgh Academy, but he had to stay on to try to improve his grades, then got the same ones again. He  managed to get into Aberdeen University to study Russian, where he discovered the joy of drama and dropped out to go to Rada. He studied alongside Ralph Fiennes, Jane Horrocks, Imogen Stubbs and Jason Watkins, but still walked away with the top acting prize for his year, the Bancroft Gold Medal,  previously won by the likes of Mark Rylance, Fiona Shaw and Kenneth Branagh. Glen built an acclaimed stage career alongside early TV roles, but has always managed to mix blockbuster  paydays – for films such as Tomb Raider (2001) and the  Resident Evil franchise – with more personal work. As Thrones’ popularity has grown, salaries have risen exponentially, with the top-end cast paid a reported $500,000 per episode (around £380,000). He notes that it’s a flat fee for a season, however many episodes you’re in. Have the rewards felt life-changing? ‘No, not really,’ he says. ‘I’ve always been lucky and busy as an actor.’ Glen experienced the negative side of press attention when his first marriage broke up in the early 2000s. Some of it was ‘intrusive’, he says – questions that related to the fact that he ‘sailed close to another relationship,’ which was [that of] Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. ‘I did a two-handed play with Nicole, which was about a sexual relationship.’ The play was David Hare’s adaption of La Ronde, The Blue Room, which famously featured Kidman’s nude bottom and Glen performing naked cartwheels. It led, perhaps inevitably, to tabloid rumours of an affair between Glen and Kidman, whose marriage ended around the same time. Glen has always denied it, but it ensured that his separation from Harker was played out in public. ‘Compared to what some people have to deal with, it was fine,’ he says. ‘But you have a lot of eyes on you and pressure on you, when you just want to deal with your own private life.’ There’s generally no other downside to fame, he notes (‘My wife says it’s like getting your bottom patted every day’), although he will politely refuse to pose for selfies if he is with his family. Game of Thrones’ vast, global appeal means that he was once even surrounded by fans while visiting a township in South Africa. [...]

#iain glen #iain glen interview #interview #the telegraph #long interview but a great read #some got stuff are #he remains friends with emilia #the storyboard he received was the gladiatorial scene #he was in tears at the presentation speech by david and dan #because he remembers that his family was with him during filming #and that his daughter had cuts from make-up #and she was able to shout Action and Cut for the scene #also this wonderful article could have used a better title lol

[dear-vista]

her shadow [t.h.]

[ prince!tom x reader ]

summary: when the princess of france is arraigned to marry the prince of england to help the financial front, zendaya and her sister come to stay at the castle. you make an odd first impression with the royal family, causing the prince to take a certain interest in you. with a heart of gold, you put up with being in your sister’s shadow. but with newfound interest in the prince, how far can you take your curiosities?

word count: 2.8k

warnings: none ( maybe a swear word? )

author’s note: imma be real homies, this was a trek. i worked on this chapter for a long time and i changed it a lot and it took a while for me to be comfortable with it, and i also dealt with some major writer's block. in my personal, i moved to a new city and it's been really hard for me. my mental health hasn't been and still isn't the greatest, but maybe this can be my crutch. i know you guys waited for this and let me just say, a BIG FUCKIN THANK YOU. Y'all were supportive and patient and it's really wonderful to have that in times like this :) but we hit over 100 followers and i never thought i would do that. so again, thank you. and i promise i'll try not to make the next update two months from now. anyway, enjoy chapter three :) also, if i forgot to add you to the tag list or you would like to be added, either comment or send an ask :)

part 1 part 2 part 3

For the next hour of your time, Anastasia had you sat in a bathtub as she desperately tried to scrub the scent of liquor and what could only be called ‘desperation’ off your skin. Sure, your arms and legs looked like cherry tomatoes that had grown in awkward ways, but thank the gods it was normal to wear long sleeves. Anastasia humored you, asking about your time in the city, asking what the pub was like, what the people were like. When asked if she had even left the castle gates, she got quiet and it made your heart ache.

She pulled you from the tub, drying you off as you shivered from the water that had all but turned to ice. You pulled on your undergarments yourself, hating even entertaining the idea of anyone dressing her. You had two hands and thought yourself perfectly capable of pulling fabric on. Anastasia busied herself with looking through your dresses until a knock rang through the room. The copper-haired maid scuttled to open the door but was immediately pushed back by the person you wanted to see probably the least.

“You’re insufferable. Insisting on going into town and drinking your heart out. We’re not in France where you can spend your life as a peasant. We are guests of the King and Queen and you will act as such.” Zendaya scolded you as you sat back, eye looking bored. All she could do was glare at you and you truly questioned if the corset around her waist was so tight that it could cause mental defects. The thought made you snicker, causing the princess to huff.

“You will not embarrass me tonight, our first meal with the King, the entire family. So I went and picked out a dress for you.” What she held up made you want to vomit. A sickly colour that looked like a mix of green and purple with bright white lacing up the front. “You will wear this and you will not speak tonight unless spoken to. Your spot will be next to the twins. Maybe, if you clean up your act, you can pick a Holland of your own.” She smirked.

The way she spoke of the family like objects put you in perspective once again. You were not in the friendly village you called home, not in the city that welcomed you with laughter and drinks. You were in the London palace, surrounded by cold royalty who thought everyone who wasn’t them, wasn’t worth the air they breathed.

“Maybe I don’t want a ‘Holland of my own’” You quoted, “Maybe I think of them as people and would also like to marry as far away from you as possible.” You sneered. She couldn’t help but smirk, because she just loved to get under your skin. You guessed you could blame your mother, though this was something so purely aggravating that just she possessed. With that all being said, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

You stood for a second, trying to mask your heaving chest from the immense anger you felt as you played with the small necklace that sat around your neck. It was a circle, representing the moon that a blacksmith had given you after showing you the countryside just outside of France. You clicked your tongue as you pushed yourself off the chair you had been leaning on, going over to the closet where all your clothing was hanging.

Fabric began to fly as you dug through the clothes, of course, there was quite a bit. But you knew what you were looking for. The moment your hand brushed against it, you pulled it from the closet. A smile formed on your features as you turned towards Ana.

“The people here do talk, don’t they?”

When it was time for the dinner, there was a guard at your door. And lucky for you, you had met this one before. Ana had just finished your make-up as Harrison knocked on your door. She hurried over as you stood, dusting off your dress as you looked in a mirror. A whistle was heard behind you as you turned with a raised brow.

“Well, well, well (Y/N). Looks as if you clean up quite nicely.” He teased as you walked over to him and took his extended arm. You scoffed as you waved goodbye to Ana. “Please, do tell me your secret to sobriety.” He said in a joking manner.

“An hour in an ice bath would wake anyone up.” You admitted as you walked through the halls. You could hear small bits of chatter, soft music as you raised a brow. They had a band just for a simple dinner? Though, you guessed it wouldn’t be considered ‘just a dinner’. The coming of the Princess who was to marry the heir to the throne, the uniting of the kingdoms, that could be a cause for some kind of celebration. It was as if Harrison could feel your hesitance, quickly offering you a soft smile, patting your arm.

“You took on the pubs of London. Some small dinner should be no cause for concern.” He encouraged you, making a breathless laugh leave your lips.

“The streets of London and France are one thing. If I get in trouble, throwing a punch is on the table. But in  a dinner with one of the strongest monarchies in Europe, I don’t think that’s necessarily acceptable.” You chuckled along, drawing ever closer to the source of your fear. At the door, Harrison stopped you. He turned you towards him, hands resting on each shoulder lightly.

“Now (Y/N), do excuse my speaking outright but they are nothing to fear. Just sit there with a fake smile like the rest, and don’t speak unless you’re spoken to if you’re truly that frightened. But as your friend, yes I consider you a friend by now, I encourage you to just try and enjoy yourself. Tom will be there, look to him for guidance if need be. You’re going to do great.” He flashed a smile as you took a breath, nodding and dusting your dress off.

“Into the pit then.”

You entered fairly unnoticed. You could feel a few pairs of eyes on you as Harrison walked you in, linked by the arms to your seat. You were sat in the middle of your sister and one of the twins. At both heads sat the King and Queen. Zendaya to her right, Tom to her left. Next to Tom was the youngest Holland, playing with his food. The other twin, Harry or Sam you couldn’t be sure, sat across from the other. In all honesty, you weren’t really paying enough attention to be able to decipher them apart.

You could feel Zendaya’s gaze as you sat in the deep emerald green dress that adorned your form, along with what you could only assume was Tom’s eyes locked onto you. You smiled as you sat, mouthing a ‘thank you’ to Harrison subtly before looking across the table to Tom, who offered you a grin. Zendaya grabbed your arm with tight lips and you could feel her sneer without even having to look at her.

“I told you to wear the grey dress. Where did you even get this?” She hissed, pulling at the silk fabric as you swatted her hand away. With the small burst of confidence that Harrison gave you from his pep talk, you grinned at your dear sister.

“To be honest with you Z,” Your voice was filled with the type of spite that you only harbored when you were sure you had an upper hand, something you seemed to be very unsure of at that moment. “I really don’t give a damn what you told me to do. Because you may be my big sister, but that doesn’t make you any less of a pain in my ass.” You said with a smile as you looked back up across the table, hearing one of the twins snicker from beside you.

“Zendaya, you look wonderful tonight.” The queen chimed before your sister could get a word in edgewise. “Tom,” the older woman purred to her eldest, gesturing to her, “doesn’t she look stunning?” She asked with the intent of helping her son, only to make his smile falter.

“Of course.” He chimed with an uncomfortable look in his eye. “Though, I’ve never really been a fan of yellow.” He said, making you want to howl with laughter from the look of pure and utter horror that tried to escape Zendaya’s face. “But (Y/N), the green looks wonderful.” You were practically wheezing.

The dinner went through smoothly after that. You were actually mildly enjoying yourself. You decided that maybe, just maybe, you should steer away from any kind of alcohol for the night, sticking with water throughout the meal. You could hear the twins snickering from across the table to each other, Tom playing with Paddy, earning the occasional scowl or scolding from their mother. Dom and Nikki conversed with Zendaya, occasionally including you in a question or two. It was a bit of a change but you didn’t really mind it. Though, you were sure this is one of the first dinners with any kind of royalty where you actually felt anything at all besides pure exasperation.

“(Y/N)” You felt a nudge from beside you, catching your attention and making you turn to the twins. You couldn’t help but raise a brow at the look of mischief on their faces. Maybe it wasn’t so much externally, but you knew that glint in their eyes from a mile away. After all, you were usually the one who held it. You watched for a moment as the two exchanged a glance, a silent thought shared as if it was telepathically.

“We want to go beyond the wall.” The twin closest to you said, who throughout the night you figured out was Harry, Sam nodding after he said it. The hall was noisy enough that you hoped no one could hear your conversation. Of course, they would come to you because of course, they knew. Your little outing had only gone over the head of the king and queen. And for as long as you were a resident of their home, you’d like to keep it that way.

“What do you mean you want to go ‘beyond the wall’? Why are you telling me? You’ve got full power over yourselves, can’t you just go?” You asked with furrowed brows. At home, being the younger sister of the heir didn’t mean much. You were just another person with some nobility. No one cared when you came and went, hell, you were once gone for two weeks and when you returned, your mother gave you no more than a nod. You couldn’t see what the big deal about leaving the gates was. But your confusion just increased as the twins shook their heads.

“We don’t really leave the castle unless its for some war preparation that our father has planned. We don’t greet the public, we don’t go into the city. Mother says it’s wrong for royalty to be in those kinds of conditions.” Another thing you could add to the growing list of things you disliked about the king and the queen. They were your sister’s type of royalty, your father’s type of royalty. But even then, Zendaya and your father made appearances in the lower city, to show they ‘cared’ about their citizens.

“Well I don’t know what you want me to do about it.” You said, mind already knowing where they wanted to go with their statement, mentally forbidding yourself from accepting. It was bad enough that you had your sister on your tail the entire time, but the last thing you needed was to be on the foul side of the King and Queen of England. Especially staying at their home, it was really not preferable.

“We want you to take us-”

“No.” You wouldn’t even let Sam, the one sitting across from the two of you, finish his sentence. “Absolutely not. If you’re not allowed out then there’s no way in the seven circles of hell that I would even attempt to get you out. Ask one of the guards or the golden child. But you won’t be coming out with me.” You didn’t need their lives in your hand just to have your head on a plate. It wasn’t worth it.

“But you can get out! You just left with one of the guards!” Harry complained, his voice was in a whining tone, making you roll your eyes.

“Yes, I can get out. Because everyone here is so invested in the fact that my sister is here that they’re going to look right over my head. But that’s because I’m not one of England’s star princes or one of France’s prize citizens. At home, I come and go as I please. I’m sure they expected no different from me here. I don’t believe it would be in my favor that, after I arrived, the twin princes decided it would be a good idea to go off an explore.” You said with a huff. “Now, if you excuse me.” You said as you slowly motioned over to Harrison. Frankly, you had been done eating for a good amount of time, and no longer wished to socialize.

Harrison walked over to you without making eye contact with any of the other royals, bending down to whisper to you, you could feel the smirk that crawled over his lips.

“Now what’s got your feathers in a ruse, princess?” He asked as he extended his arm, helping you raise from your seat. You felt a gaze on your back, and with a look over your shoulder, you spotted Tom. He was smiling, and it wasn’t overly obvious that he was staring at you. Just enough so you could tell. It caused you to offer a small smile of your own before you walked out of the dining hall on Harrison’s arm.

“Just the twins. I’m not really sure if they know my name, but they know I can leave the castle and they want me to get them out.” You sighed once you were out of earshot. The day had been long, and yet strangely you weren’t tired, at all.

“It’s just like them, they’ve been asking me for months now.” You laughed slightly, shaking your head. You would want to escape too if you were them. Being trapped in confined spaces, though under normal circumstances you would never call the walls of this grand castle confined, next to the Kind and Queen had to be painful.

“Harrison, what do you after nightfall? I mean, when there’s no training or guarding to do, what do you do?” You asked curiously, looking up to the blonde. He looked back down at you with a raised brow, already knowing where you were going. And disliking it.

“I go into the guards quarters, and we have a few drinks, we play a few games. Even the kind’s men get a bit of time off. Especially now that you and your sister are here. The king isn’t planning any wars or requiring any kind of extra training so, we actually get some time off to do what we want to do.” Harrison said, actually sounding happy about the fact. Sure, you had only known him for a day, but you could only guess that the serving class around here wasn’t treated the greatest.

“Take me with you. Please.” You asked, in your own way, with hopeful eyes. Harrison’s own blue ones looked down at you with some kind of mix of concern and nervousness. Before he could say anything, you spoke up again. “Please. It would save me temporarily from Zendaya’s wrath. You have no idea what something like wearing the wrong dress entails.” You said with a small chuckle, hoping to persuade him.

“I don't know (Y/N). The boys are kind of tough people to get used to.” He tried to sway you, and you gave him a blank look.

“Harrison, for a good chunk of the day I was in a pud. And there were several fights and I still got myself home unscathed. Sir, I think I can handle myself quite well.” You reasoned, a slight smirk on your lips as Harrison paused. He had to admit, he saw your point. He stayed silent for a few more seconds before sighing.

“Fine. Go change. It would be a shame for this dress to smell like liquor.” He said, causing you to smile brightly. Yes, this would be a good night.

tags: @greenarrowhead @voidtrixie @racewife2004 @technolilly @andreuskystuff @jadav5 @aelin-firehearts-court @spideybitey18 @choke-me-sweet-pea @loxbbg @thebadassbitchqueen @notes-from-my-journal @jubaydahk @carolyns14 @supernatural-strangerthings-1980 @heimdoodle @httpmcrvel @deranged-sewer-rat @justanotherfangirl2015 @shortbty14 

#tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #prince!tom au #prince!tom #princessdiariesau #royal!au #royal!tom #tom holland series #tom holland x reader smut #tom holland x reader fluff #tom holland x reader angst #tom holland fluff #tom holland angst #marvel #her shadow #trying my best #THANK YOU!!! #like and heart!

[burritodetodo]

Fare You Well Adventure Time - Final Review

On Monday September 3rd 2018 at 19:00 (EST) the 2010s Animation Renaissance era was over after Adventure Time ended. It was the foundation stone of eight years in which a generation that grew up watching cartoons could meet them again thanks to a great story. One of the tales from the mythical Enchiridion that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon.

Pendelton Ward’s creation was born on 2007 as a short on Nickelodeon, but that network didn’t think it was material for a full series. In a very clever move, Cartoon Network, where Pen was working on Flapjack (the mothergum of 2010′s animated series) on those years, did think it was a good series and gave Adventure Time green light.

In eight years Adventure Time went from the adventures of a 12 year old boy, Finn Mertens, and his magical shapeshifting dog, Jay T Dawgzone Jake, on a post apocalyptic world to a coming of age story that has nothing to envy of John Hughes movies.

The first three seasons the Finn wants to be a hero no matter what the consequences. On fouth and fifth seasons, our little dude falls into love games of infatuation, teen love and broken hearts. Family and existential dramas are shown on its sixth season, in which the tone is darker and deeper. The final three seasons show Finn discovering who he is, why he has a heroic behaviour, learns to cope with depresion and anxiety with his other part, Fern, and, different to his younger self, learns that not everything has to be solved with violence.

Alongside Finn we have a cast that grew up with him and were key to the main story:

Bonnibel Bubblegum: an 827 year old princess that looks like a 19 year old one that learned not to be manipulative all the time and has to lean on her friends to solve her problems and chill out.

Marceline Abadeer: a +1000 year old vampire queen (that also looks 19) who survived a nuclear war and heir to the Hell throne that realises she can’t escape from her troubles all the time and need her friends beside her. Especially her loved one, PB.

Simon Petrikov/Ice King: he used to be an archaeologist cursed by a magic crown with antediluvian magic that turned him into mental insanity and looks for his fiancée/princess to say one last goodbye.

BMO: they have the purpose of entertain a young boy, the possible son of their creator that didn’t have because he also didn’t have time to make one, who have some journeys where they found out where they come from and learns about life and death.

Jake: a magical dog who efusively lives under the YOLO rules and skips way too much some important moments like his children breed. Through seasons he learns he needs contention and tries to be a better dad by supporting his pups.

The fight between good and evil can’t be absent from this epic tale. A bunch of major enemies appear such as The Lich as the personification of Evil on Earth, a Grass Curse that brings lots of problems in later seasons, the Vampire King that awakens after a thousand years, a wacky scientist who did hideous experiments on animals and humans and a primordial god that seeks destruction. There’re also other enemies who were defeated in one or two episodes.

Love is a fundamental element of the series. Finn went through infatuations and teen love, satisfy himself through a fantasy that pulls a break up with Flame Princess (his first girlfriend), his unloving dad and loving virtual mom and the spiritual conection with Huntress Wizard towards the end of the show. That feeling can also drive someone mad, like Betty trying to save Simon and almost destroying the world twice.

But the most notorious demonstration of love of the series was the one between Marceline and Bonnibel. Shown distant from the begining because of a mutual distance, they were getting closer and closer as long as the series was reaching the end and the climax was with a long awaited kiss during the end of the world after Marcy went bersek when she saw Bonnie almost dead after a GOLB monster attacked her. That LGBTQ kiss was very important for inclusive representation in animation, a taboo that is luckily disappearing little by little.

We can’t leave behind the crew who made Adventure Time possible. Pen Ward was in charge for four seasons until he stepped down. Adam Muto replaced him with profit the creator’s project. Storyboarders and writers staff that were in the series left to create big hits:

Patrick McHale: part of the core of what was Adventure Time on its first seasons, he did in parallel the extraordinaire Over The Garden Wall. A 10 part miniseries themed in Halloween that was an instant hit and every October is revisited by fans.

Rebecca Sugar: the best alumni for many fans. They left on Season 5.1 to create Steven Universe, CN’s powerhosrse nowadays.

Ian Jones-Quartley: he went with their girlfriend, Sugar, to Steven Universe. His short, Lakewood Plaza Turbo, was greenlit and it was renamed to OK KO. An awesome cartoon with 90s spirit on its own.

Julia Pott: she created a short that was premiered in Sundance festival called Summer Camp Island. It got an award and the network gave it green light for a full series. With her, many members of Adventure Time crew went there and has a tone that’s familiar with AT’s first season.

Voice actors were also a key role in their interpretation of characters. Big names such as John DiMaggio or Tom Kenny mixed with the aging Jeremy Shada that grew up alongside Finn so the production didn’t have to change his voice actor as it happens in many shows. And, as I did in previous reviews, Olivia Olson was amazing playing Marceling but also by singing: from mourning about the last fries on Earth to doing a terrific Mitski cover back on Season 7.

Of course, a big hit series can have big guest actors voicing characters. Names such as Ron Perlman, Neil Patrick Harris, Maria Bamford, Mark Hamill and many more also gave life to Ooo’s big characters.

We say fare thee well to an epic story. Nine seasons, or chapters, that explored with creativity real life situations ambiented in a post-apocalyptic world. A story that gave us back faith on animation, despite network’s mistreatment in the final seasons. A show that wasn’t only child’s game, because animation is for everybody. Listening to the Music Hole sing sweet songs, she rock our souls while we ask what time is it.

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#burrito revews #adventure time #atimers #long post #SORRY for the very long post #burrito reviews

[grigori77]

2018 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  BLACK PANTHER – remember back in 1998, when Marvel had their first real cinematic success with Blade?  It was a big deal on two fronts, not just because they’d finally made a (sort of) superhero movie to be proud of, but also because it was, technically, the first ever truly successful superhero movie starring a black protagonist (the less said about the atrocious Steel movie the better, I say).  I find it telling that it took them almost twenty years to repeat the exercise – there have been plenty of great black superheroes on-screen since Wesley Snipes rocked the fangs and black leather, especially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they’ve always been in supporting roles to the main (so far universally WHITE) stars (the now-cancelled Luke Cage was a notable exception, but that’s on-demand TV on Netflix). All of this makes the latest feature to glide smoothly out of the MCU mould so significant – the standalone star vehicle for Civil War’s OTHER major new success story (after 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming), Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) of Wakanda, finally redresses the balance … and then some. Picking up pretty much RIGHT where the third Captain America film left off, we see T’Challa return to the secretive, highly-advanced African kingdom of Wakanda to officially take up his new role as king and fully accept the mantle of protector of his people that his role as the Black Panther entails. Needless to say, just as he’s finally brought peace and unity to his homeland, an old threat reappears in the form of thuggish arms dealer and fugitive-from-Wakandan-justice Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, gleefully returning to his blissful scenery-chewing Avengers: Age of Ultron role), leading T’Challa to travel to Busan, South Korea to bring him back for judgement, but this is merely a precursor to the arrival of the TRUE threat, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), a mysterious former Special Forces assassin with a deeply personal agenda that threatens Wakanda’s future.  This marks the first major blockbuster feature for writer/director Ryan Coogler (co-penning the script with The People V. O.J. Simpson writer Joe Robert Cole), who won massive acclaim for his feature debut Fruitvale Station, but also has good form after sneaky little sleeper hit Rocky-saga spinoff Creed, so this progression ultimately just proves to be another one of those characteristic smart moves Marvel keeps making these days. Coogler’s command of the big budget, heavy-expectation material is certainly impressive, displaying impressive talent for spectacular action sequences (the Busan car chase is MAGNIFICENT, while the punishing fight sequences are as impressively staged and executed as anything we saw in the Captain America movies), wrangling the demanding visual effects work and getting the very best out of a top-notch ensemble cast of some of the finest black acting talent around.  Boseman brings more of that peerless class and charisma he showed in Civil War, but adds a humanising dose of self-doubt and vulnerability to the mix, making it even easier for us to invest in him, while Coogler’s regular collaborator, Jordan, is absolutely spell-binding, his ferociously focused, far-beyond-driven Killmonger proving to be one of the MCU’s most impressive villains to date, as well as its most sympathetic; Oscar darling Lupita Nyong’o is far more than a simple love interest as tough and resourceful Wakandan intelligence agent Nakia, The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira is a veritable force of nature as Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s elite all-female Special Forces, Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya muddies the waters as T’Challa’s straight-talking best friend W’Kabi, and powerhouse veteran actors Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and John Kani provide integrity and gravitas as, respectively, T’Challa’s mother Ramonda, Wakandan religious leader Zuri and T’Challa’s late father T’Chaka.  Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis have joked that they’re essentially the “Tolkien white guys” of the cast, but their presence is far from cosmetic – Freeman’s return as Civil War’s bureaucratic CIA agent Everett Ross is integral to the plot and also helps provide the audience with an accessible outsider’s POV into the unique and stunning land of Wakanda, while Serkis is clearly having the time of his life … and then there are the film’s TRUE scene-stealers – Letitia Wright is a brilliant bright ray of sunlight as T’Challa’s little sister Shuri, the curator of Wakanda’s massively advanced technology and OFFICIALLY the most intelligent person in the MCU, whose towering intellect is tempered by her cheeky sense of humour and sheer adorability, while Winston Duke is a towering presence throughout the film as M’Baku, the mighty chief of the reclusive Jabari mountain tribe, despite his relatively brief screen time, his larger-than-life performance making every appearance a joy.  This has been lauded as a true landmark film for its positive depiction of African culture and presentation of a whole raft of strong black role models, and it certainly feels like a major step forward both culturally and creatively – it’s so rewarding to see a positively-charged black intellectual property enjoying the almost ridiculous amount of success this film has so far enjoyed, both critically and financially, and it’s something I hope we see far more of in the future.  Like its predecessors, this is a fantastic superhero movie, but under the surface there are some very serious, challenging questions being asked and inherently powerful themes being addressed, making for a deeper, more intellectual film than we usually receive even from a big studio that’s grown so sophisticated as Marvel. That said, this IS another major hit for the MCU, and a further example of how consistently reliable they’ve become at delivering great cinema.  Very nearly the best of the Phase 3 standalone films (that honour still belongs to Captain America: Civil War), and it was certainly a spectacular kickoff for the year’s blockbusters.

9.  BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – I’ve been waiting for this movie for YEARS.  Even before I knew this was actually going to happen I’d been hoping it would someday – Queen were my introduction to rock music, way back when I was wee, so they’ve been one of my very favourite bands FOREVER, and Freddie Mercury is one of my idols, the definition of sheer awesomeness and pure talent in music and an inspiration in life.  Needless to say I was RIDICULOUSLY excited once this finally lurched into view, and I’m so unbelievably happy it turned out to be a proper corker of a film, I could even tentatively consider it to be my new favourite musical biopic. Sure, it plays fast-and-loose with the historical facts, but remains true to the SPIRIT of the story, and you know what they say about biographical movies and their ilk: “if it’s a choice between the truth and the legend, print the legend.”  That’s a pretty good word to describe the man at the centre of this story – Queen frontman Freddie Mercury truly was a legend in his own lifetime, and watching the tale of his rise to fame alongside fellow musical geniuses Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon is a fascinating, intoxicating and deeply affecting experience, truthful or not, making the film an emotional rollercoaster from the humble beginnings with the formation of the band, through the trials and tribulations of life on the road and in the studio, the controversies of Mercury’s personal life and the volatile personal dynamics between the group themselves, to the astonishing, show-stopping climax of their near-mythic twenty-minute performance slot at 1985’s Live Aid charity concert at Wembley Stadium.  Needless to say it takes a truly astounding performance to capture the man that I consider to be the greatest singer, showman and stage-performer of all time, but Mr Robot­ star Rami Malek was equal to the task, not so much embodying the role as genuinely channelling Mercury’s spirit, perfectly recreating his every movement, quirk and mannerism to perfection, right down to his famously precise, deliberate diction, and he even LOOKS a hell of a lot like Mercury.  Sure, he’s come under fire for merely lip-syncing when it comes to the music, but seriously, there’s no other way he could have done it – Freddie had the greatest singing voice of all time, there’s NO WAY anyone could possibly recreate it, so better he didn’t even try.  (Honestly, if he doesn’t get an Oscar for this there’s no justice in the world.)  Malek’s not the only master-mimic in the cast, either – the rest of the band are perfectly portrayed, too, by Gwilym Lee as May, X-Men: Apocalypse’s Ben Hardy as Taylor and Joe Mazzello (yup, that kid from Jurassic Park, now all grown up) as Deacon, while there are equally strong supporting turns from Sing Street’s Lucy Boynton as Mercury’s lover and lifelong friend Mary Austin, Aiden Gillen as the band’s first manager John Reid, Tom Hollander as their lawyer and eventual manager Jim “Miami” Beach, Allen Leech as the Freddie’s scheming, toxic personal manager Paul Prenter, and New Street Law star Ace Bhatti as his stoic but proud father, Bomi Bulsara.  This is an enthralling film from start to finish, and while those new to Queen will find plenty fo enjoy and entertain, this is an absolute JOY for fans and geeks who actually know their stuff, factual niggles notwithstanding; it’s also frequently laugh-out-loud HILARIOUS, the sparky, quick-fire script from The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour writer Anthony McCarten brimming with slick one-liners, splendid put-downs and precision-crafted character observation which perfectly captures the real life banter the band were famous for.  The film had a troubled production (original director Bryan Singer was replaced late in the shoot by Dexter Fletcher after clashes of personality and other difficulties) and has come in for plenty of stick, receiving mixed reviews from some quarters, but for me this is pretty close to a perfect film, chock-full of heart, emotional heft, laughter, fun and what was, for me, the best soundtrack of 2018, positively overflowing with some of the band’s very best material, making this one of the very best times I had at the cinema all year.  They were, indeed, the champions …

8.  MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT – while Bond may remain king of the spy movie, and Jason Bourne still casts a long shadow from the darker post 9-11 age of harder, grittier espionage shenanigans, I’ve always been a BIG fan of the Mission: Impossible movies.  This love became strong indeed when JJ Abrams established a kind of unifying blueprint with the third film, and the series has gone from strength to strength since, reaching new, thrilling heights when Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie crafted the pretty much PERFECT Rogue Nation.  He’s the first filmmaker to return for a second gig in the big chair, but he’s a good fit – he and star Tom Cruise have already proven they work EXTREMELY well together, and McQuarrie really is one of the very best screenwriters working in Hollywood today (well respected across the board since his early days co-writing The Usual Suspects), an undeniable MASTER at both crafting consistently surprising, thoroughly involving and razor-sharp thriller plots and engineering truly JAW-DROPPING action sequences (adrenaline-fuelled chases, bruising fight scenes, intense shootouts and a breathless dash across the rooftops of London all culminate in this film’s standout sequence, a death-defying helicopter dogfight that took the prize as the year’s BEST action beat), as well as penning some wonderful, wry dialogue.  Anything beyond the very simplest synopsis would drop some criminal spoilers – I’ll simply say that Ethan Hunt is faced with his deadliest mission to date after a botched op leaves three plutonium cores in the hands of some very bad people, leading CIA honcho Erica Sloane (a typically sophisticated turn from Angela Bassett) to attach her pet assassin, August Walker (current big-screen Superman Henry Cavill), to the team to make sure it all runs smoothly – a prospect made trickier by the resurfacing of Rogue Nation’s cracking villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).  Tom Cruise is, of course an old hand at this sort of thing by now, but even so I don’t think he’s EVER been more impressive at the physical stuff, and he delivers equally well in the more dramatic moments, taking superspy Ethan Hunt to darker, more desperate extremes than ever before.  Cavill similarly impresses in what’s easily his meatiest role to date, initially coming across as a rough, brutal thug but revealing deeper layers of complexity and sophistication as the film progresses, while Rebecca Ferguson makes a welcome return from RN as slippery, sexy and very complex former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, and it’s great to see Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg back as series keystones Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn, who both get stuck into the action far more than in previous outings (Benji FINALLY gets to wear a mask!); Jeremy Renner’s absence this time could disappoint, but the balance is maintained because the effortlessly suave Alec Baldwin’s new IMF Secretary Alan Hunley gets a far more substantial role this time round, while Sean Harris tears things up with brutal relish as he expands on one of the series’ strongest villains – Lane is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, a monstrous zealot with a deeply twisted but strangely relatable agenda, and method man Harris mesmerises in every scene.  McQuarrie has cut another gem here, definitely his best film to date and likewise the best in the franchise so far, and strong arguments could be made for him staying on for a third stint – this is the best shape Mission: Impossible has been in for some time, an essentially PERFECT textbook example of an action-packed spy thriller that constantly surprises and never disappoints, from the atmospheric opening to the unbearably tense climax, and if ever there was a film to threaten the supremacy of Bond, it’s this one.

7.  THE SHAPE OF WATER – one of the most important things you have to remember about my own personal mythology (by which I mean the mishmash of 40 years of influences, genre-love and pure and simple COOL SHIT that’s informed and moulded the geek I am today) is that when it comes to my fictional heroes, I have a tendency to fall in love with the monsters.  It’s a philosophy shared by one of my very favourite directors, Guillermo Del Toro, whose own love affair with the weird, the freakish and the outcast has informed so much of his spectacular work, particularly the Hellboy movies – the monster as a tragic hero, and also the women who love them despite their appearance or origins.  Del Toro’s latest feature returns to this fascinating and compelling trope in magnificent style, and the end result is his best work since what remains his VERY BEST film, 2007’s exquisite grown-up fairytale Pan’s Labyrinth.  Comparisons with that masterpiece are not only welcome but also fitting – TSOW is definitely cut from the same cloth, a frequently dream-like cinematic allegory that takes place in something resembling the real world, but is never quite part of it.  It’s a beautiful, lyrical, sensual and deeply seductive film, but there’s brooding darkness and bitter tragedy that counters the sweet, Del Toro’s rich and exotic script – co-authored with Hope Springs writer Vanessa Taylor – mining precious ore from the fairytale ideas but also deeply invested with his own overwhelming love for the Golden Age of cinema itself.  This makes for what must be his most deeply personal film to date, so it’s fitting that it finally won him his first, LONG OVERDUE Best Director Oscar. Happy Go-Lucky’s Sally Hawkins thoroughly deserves her Oscar nomination for her turn as Elisa Esposito, a mute cleaning woman working in a top secret aerospace laboratory in Baltimore at the height of the Cold War, a sweet-natured dreamer who likes movies, music and her closeted artist neighbour Giles (the incomparable Richard Jenkins, delivering a performance of real sweetness and integrity). One night she discovers a new project in the facility, a strange, almost mythic amphibious humanoid (Del Toro regular Doug Jones) who has been captured for study and eventual vivisection to help create a means for men to survive in space.  In spite of his monstrous appearance and seemingly feral nature, Elisa feels a kinship to the creature, and as she begins to earn his trust she develops stronger feeling for him – feelings which are reciprocated.  So she hatches a plan to break him out and return him to the sea, enlisting the help of Giles, her only other real friend, fellow cleaner Zelda (The Help and Hidden Figures’ Octavia Spencer, as lovably prickly and sassy as ever), and sympathetic scientist (and secret Soviet agent) Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (a typically excellent and deeply complex performance from Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Stuhlbarg) to effect a desperate escape.  The biggest obstacle in their path, however, is Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), the man in charge of security on the project – the rest of the cast are uniformly excellent, but the true, unstoppable scene-stealer here is Shannon, giving us 2018’s BEST screen villain in a man so amorally repellent, brutally focused and downright TERRIFYING it’s absolutely impossible to take your eyes off him – who has a personal hatred for the creature and would love nothing more than to kill it himself. He’s the TRUE monster of the film, Jones’ creature proving to be a noble being who, despite his (admittedly rather bloody) animal instincts, has a kind and gentle soul that mirrors Elisa’s own, which makes the seemingly bizarre love story that unfolds so easy to accept and fulfilling to witness.  This is a film of aching beauty and immense emotional power, the bittersweet and ultimately tragic romance sweeping you up in its warm embrace, resulting in the year’s most powerful and compelling fantasy, very nearly the finest work of a writer/director at the height of his considerable powers, and EASILY justifying its much-deserved Best Picture Oscar.  Love the monster? Yes indeed …

6.  DEADPOOL 2 – just as his first standalone finally banished the memory of his shameful treatment in the first X-Men Origins film, Marvel’s Merc With a Mouth had a new frustration to contend with – Wolverine riding his coattails into the R-rated superhero scene and outdoing his newfound success with the critically acclaimed and, frankly, f£$%ing AWESOME Logan.  It’s a fresh balance for him to redress, and bless him, he’s done it within the first five minutes of his own very first sequel … then again, Deadpool’s always at his best when dealing with adversity.  There’s plenty of that here – 2016’s original was a spectacular film, a true game-changer for both Marvel and the genre itself, unleashing a genuinely bankable non-PC superhero on the unsuspecting masses (and, of course, all us proper loyal fans) and earning one of their biggest hits in the process.  A sequel was inevitable, but the first film was a VERY tough act to follow – thankfully everyone involved proved equal to the task, not least the star, Ryan Reynolds, who was BORN to play former special forces operative-turned invulnerable but hideously scarred mutant antihero Wade Wilson, returning with even greater enthusiasm for the material and sheer determination to do things JUST RIGHT.  Working with returning co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, he’s suitably upped the ante while staying true to the source and doing right by the fans – the script’s another blinder, a side-splitting rib-tickler liberally peppered with copious swearing, rampant sexual and toilet humour, genuinely inspired bizarreness (a grown man with baby balls!) and an unapologetically irreverent tone nonetheless complimented by a f£$%load of heart. Original director Tim Miller jumped ship early in development, but the perfect replacement was found in the form of David Leitch, co-director of the first John Wick movie, who preceded this with a truly magnificent solo debut on summer 2017’s standout actioner Atomic Blonde.  Leitch is a perfect fit, a former stuntman with innate flair for top-notch action who also has plenty of stylistic flair and strong talents for engaging storytelling and handling a cast of strong personalities.  Reynolds is certainly one of those, again letting rip with gleeful comic abandon as Deadpool fights to overcome personal tragedy by trying to become a bona fide X-Man, at which he of course fails SPECTACULARLY, winding up in a special prison for super-powered individuals and becoming the unlikely and definitely unwilling protector of teenage mutant Russell Collins, aka Firefist (Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s Julian Dennison), who’s been targeted for assassination by time-travelling future warrior Cable (Josh Brolin) because he’s destined to become a monstrous supervillain when he grows up.  Deciding to listen to his “better” angel, Wade puts together his own superhero team in order to defeat Cable and start his own future franchise … yup, this is as much a platform to set up X-Force, the Marvel X-Verse’s next big money-maker, as it is a Deadpool sequel, but the film plays along to full comic effect, and the results are funny, explosive, blood-soaked and a magnificently anarchic joy.  Brolin is every inch the Cable we deserve, a world-weary, battered and utterly single-minded force of nature, entirely lacking a sense of humour but still managing to drive some of the film’s most side-splitting moments, while Atlanta star Zazie Beets, originally something of an outsider choice, proves similarly perfect for the role of fan favourite Domino, a wise-cracking mutant arse-kicker whose ability to manipulate luck in order to get the better of any situation makes her a kind of super-ninja; Dennison, meanwhile, is just as impressive as he was in HFTWP, turning in a performance of such irreverent charm he frequently steals the film, and the return of Stefan Kapicic and Briana Hildebrand as stoic metal-man Colossus and the world’s moodiest teen superhero, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, mean that the original X-Men get another loving (if also slightly middle-fingery) nod too.  But once again, this really is Reynolds’ movie, and he’s clearly having just as much fun as before, helping to make this the same kind of gut-busting riot the first was with his trademark twinkle, self-deprecating charm and shit-eating grin.  He’s the heart and soul of another great big fist up the backside of superhero cinema, blasting tropes with scattergun abandon but hitting every target lined up against him, and like everything else he helps make this some of the most fun I had at the pictures all year.  I honestly couldn’t think of ANYTHING that could make me piss myself laughing more than this … the future of the franchise may be up in the air until the first X-Force movie gets its time in the spotlight, but Reynolds, Leitch, Reese and Wernick are all game to return, so there’s plenty of life in the un-killable old lady yet ...

5.  BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE – my Number One thriller of 2018 is a cult classic in the making and the best work yet from Drew Goddard, co-writer/director (with Joss Whedon) of Cabin in the Woods (one of the best horror movies ever made, in my opinion) and screenwriter of Cloverfield and The Martian.  It’s an intoxicating, engrossing and somewhat unsettling experience (but in a very good way indeed), a gripping, slippery and absolutely FIENDISH suspense thriller to rival the heady best of Hitchcock or Kubrick, and, as his first completely original, personal creation, Goddard’s best opportunity to show us JUST what he’s truly capable of.  Wrapped up in multi-layered mystery and deftly paying with timelines and perspective, it artfully unveils the stories of four disparate strangers who book a night’s stay at the El Royale, a “bi-state” hotel (located on the California/Nevada border) that was once grand but, by the film’s setting of 1969, has fallen on hard times.  Each has a secret, some of which are genuinely deadly, and before the night’s through they’ll all come to light as a fateful chain of events brings them all crashing together.  Giving away any more is to invite criminal spoilers – suffice to say that it’s an unforgettable film, fully-laden with ingenious twists and consistently wrong-footing the viewer right up to the stirring, thought-provoking ending.  The small but potent ensemble cast are, to a man, absolutely perfect – Jeff Bridges delivers one of the best performances of his already illustrious career as seemingly harmless Catholic priest Father Daniel Flynn, Widows’ Cynthia Erivo makes a truly stunning impression as down-on-her-luck soul singer Darlene Sweet, John Hamm is garrulously sleazy as shifty travelling salesman Seymour Sullivan, Dakota Johnson is surly but also VERY sexy (certainly MUCH MORE than she EVER was in the 50 Shades movies) as “dirty hippy” Emily, Lewis Pullman (set to explode as the co-star of the incoming Top Gun sequel) is fantastically twitchy as the hotel’s troubled concierge Miles, and Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising) delivers a creepy, haunting turn as Emily’s fundamentally broken runaway sister Rose.  The film is thoroughly and entirely stolen, however, by the arrival in the second half of Goddard’s Cabin leading man Chris Hemsworth as earthy, charismatic and darkly, dangerously seductive Charles Manson-esque cult leader Billy Lee, Thor himself thoroughly mesmerising as he swaggers into the heart of the story (particularly in a masterful moment where he cavorts, snake-hipped, to the strains of Deep Purple’s Rush in the lead-up to a brutal execution).  This is thriller-cinema at its most inspired and insidious, a flawless genre gem that’s sure to be held in high regard by connoisseurs for years to come, and an ELECTRIFYING statement of intent by one of the best creative minds working in Hollywood today.  One of 2018’s biggest and best surprises, it’s a bona fide MUST-SEE …

4.  AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – is it possible there might be TOO MUCH coming out all at once in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now?  What with THREE movies a year now becoming the norm, not to mention the ongoing saga of Agents of SHIELD and various other affiliated TV shows (it seems that Netflix are culling their Marvel shows but there’s still the likes of Runaways and the incoming Cloak & Dagger on other services, along with fresh, in-development stuff), could we be reaching saturation?  My head says … mmmmm … maybe … but my heart says HELL NO!  Not when those guys at Marvel have gotten so good at this job they could PROBABLY do it with their eyes closed.  That said, there were times in the run-up to this particular release that I couldn’t help wondering if, just maybe, they might have bitten off more than they could chew … thankfully, fraternal directing double act Antony and Joe Russo, putting in their THIRD MCU-helming gig after their enormous success on the second and third Captain America films, have pulled off one hell of a cinematic hat trick, presenting us with a third Avengers film that’s MORE than the equal of Joss Whedon’s offerings.  It’s also a painfully tricky film to properly review – the potential for spoilers is SO heavy I can’t say much of ANYTHING about the plot without giving away some MAJOR twists and turns (even if there’s surely hardly ANYONE who hasn’t already seen the film by now) – but I’ll try my best.  This is the film every die-hard fan has been waiting for, because the MCU’s Biggest Bad EVER, Thanos the Mad Titan (Josh Brolin), has finally come looking for those pesky Infinity Stones so he can Balance The Universe by killing half of its population and enslaving the rest, and the only ones standing in his way are the Avengers (both old and new) and the Guardians of the Galaxy, finally brought together after a decade and 18 movies.  Needless to say this is another precision-engineered product refined to near perfection, delivering on all the expected fronts – breathtaking visuals and environments, thrilling action, the now pre-requisite snarky, sassy sense of humour and TONS OF FEELS – but given the truly galactic scale of the adventure on offer this time the stakes have been raised to truly EPIC heights, so the rewards are as great as the potential pitfalls.  It’s not perfect – given the sheer size of the cast and the fact that there are THREE main storylines going on at once, it was INEVITABLE that some of our favourite characters would be handed frustratingly short shrift (or, in two notable cases, simply written out of the film altogether), while there are times when the mechanics of fate do seem to be getting stretched a little TOO far for credibility – but the niggles are largely overshadowed by the rich rewards of yet another MCU film done very well indeed. The cast (even those who drew the short straw on screen time) are all, as we’ve come to expect, excellent, the veterans – particularly Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/the Hulk), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Racoon), and, of course, Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) – all falling back into their well-established roles and universally winning our hearts all over again, while two characters in particular, who have always been reduced to supporting duties until now, finally get to REALLY shine – Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen, as the Vision and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, finally get to explore that comic-canon romance that was so prevalently teased in Civil War, with events lending their mutual character arcs particularly tragic resonance as the story progresses … and then there’s the new characters, interestingly this time ALL bad guys. The Children of Thanos (Gamora and Nebula’s adopted siblings, basically) are showcased throughout the action, although only two really make an impression here – Tom Vaughan-Lawlor is magnificently creepy as Ebony Maw, while Carrie Coon (and stuntwoman Monique Ganderton) is darkly sensual as Proxima Midnight … but of course the REAL new star here is Brolin, thoroughly inhabiting his motion capture role so Thanos GENUINELY lives up to his title as the greatest villain of the MCU, an unstoppable megalomaniac who’s nonetheless doing these monstrous things for what he perceives to be genuinely right and moral reasons, although he’s not above taking some deeply perverse pleasure from his most despicable actions. Finishing up with a painfully powerful climax that’s as shocking as it is audacious, this sets things up for an even more epic conclusion in 2019’s closer, and has already left even the most jaded viewers shell-shocked and baying for more, while the post-credits sting in particular had me drooling in anticipation for the long-awaited arrival of my own favourite Avenger, but in the meantime this is an immensely rewarding, massively entertaining and thoroughly exhausting cinematic adventure. Summer can’t come fast enough …

3.  UPGRADE – in a summer packed with sequels (many of them pretty damn awesome even so), it was a great pleasure my VERY FAVOURITE movie was something wholly original, an unaffiliated standalone that had nothing to follow or measure up to.  But Blumhouse’s best film of 2018 still had a lot riding on it – they’re a studio best known for creating bare-bones but effectively primal horror (even The Purge series is really more survival horror than dystopian thriller), so they’re not really known for branching out into science-fiction.  Going with one of their most trusted creative talents, then, was the kind of savvy move we’d expect from Jason Blum and co – Leigh Whannell is best known as the writer of the first three Saw movies (a fully-developed trilogy which I, along with several others, consider to be the series’ TRUE canon), the film phenomenon that truly kicked off the whole “torture porn” sub-genre, but he’s become one of Blumhouse’s most well-regarded writers thanks to his creation of Insidious, still one of their biggest earners.  Once again he wrote (and co-starred in) the first three films, even making his directorial debut on the third – admittedly that film wasn’t particularly spectacular, but there was nonetheless something about it, a real X-factor that definitely showed Whannell could do more than just write (and, act, of course).  Second time out he’s definitely made good on that potential promise – this is a proper f£$%ing masterpiece, not just the best thing I saw all summer but one of THE TOP movies of my cinematic year.  It’s also an interesting throwback to a once popular sci-fi trope that’s been overdue for a makeover – body horror, originally made popular by the cult-friendly likes of David Cronenberg and Paul Verhoeven, and the biggest influence on this film must to be the original Robocop.  Prometheus’ Logan Marshall-Green is an actor I’ve long considered to be criminally overlooked and underused, so I’m thrilled he finally found a role worthy of his underappreciated talents - Grey Trace, an unapologetically analogue blue-collar Joe living in an increasingly digital near future, a mechanic making his living restoring vintage muscle cars who doesn’t trust automated technology to run ANYTHING, so his life takes a particularly ironic turn when a tragic chain of events leads to his wife’s brutal murder while he’s left paralysed from the neck down.  Faced with a future dependent on computerised care-robots, he jumps at the chance offered by technological pioneer Eron Keen (Need For Speed’s Harrison Gilbertson), creator of a revolutionary biochip called STEM that, once implanted into his central nervous system, can help him regain COMPLETE control of his body, but in true body horror style things quickly take a dark and decidedly twisted turn.  STEM has a mind of its own (and a voice that only Trace can hear), and an agenda, convincing him to use newfound superhuman abilities to hunt down his wife’s killers and exact terrible, brutal vengeance upon them. There are really strong performances from the supporting cast – Gilbertson is great as a twitchy, socially awkward genius only capable of finding real connection with his technology, Get Out’s Bettie Gabriel is subtly brilliant as Detective Cortez, the cop doggedly pursuing Trace’s case and, eventually, him too, and there’s a cracking villainous turn from relative unknown Benedict Hardie as sadistic but charismatic cybernetically-enhanced contract killer Fisk – but this is very much Marhall-Green’s film; he’s an absolute revelation here, his effortlessly sympathetic hangdog demeanour dominating a fantastically nuanced and impressively physical performance that displays truly exceptional dramatic AND comedic talent.  Indeed, while it’s a VERY dark film, there’s a big streak of jet black humour shot right through it, Whannell amusing us in particularly uncomfortable ways whenever STEM takes control and wreaks appropriately inhuman havoc (it helps no end that voice-actor Simon Malden has basically turned STEM into a kind of sociopathic version of Big Hero 6’s Baymax, which is as hilariously twisted as it sounds), and he delivers in spades on the action front too, crafting the year’s most wince-inducing, downright SAVAGE fight sequences and a very exciting car chase. Altogether this is a simply astonishing achievement – at times weirdly beautiful in a scuzzy, decrepit kind of way, it’s visually arresting and fiendishly intelligent, but also, much as we’d expect from the creator of Saw and Hollywood’s PREMIER horror studio, dark, edgy and, at times, weirdly disturbing – in other words, it’s CLASSIC body horror.  Whannell is a talent I’ve been watching for a while now, and it’s SO GOOD to finally see him deliver on all that wonderful promise. Needless to say it was another runaway hit for Blumhouse, so there are already plans for a sequel, but for now I’m just happy to revel in the wonderful originality of what was the very peak of my cinematic summer …

2.  SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE – oh man, if ever there was a contender that could have ousted this year’s Number One, it’s this, it was SUCH a close-run thing.  Sure, with THREE major incarnations of Marvel’s most iconic superhero already hitting the big screen since the Millennium, we could AGAIN ask if we really need another Spider-Man “reboot”, but I must say his first ever blockbuster animated appearance leaves virtually all other versions in the dust – only Sam Raimi’s masterpiece second Spider-feature remains unbeaten, but I’ve certainly never seen another film that just totally GETS Stan Lee’s original web-slinger better than this one.  It’s directed by the motley but perfectly synced trio of Bob Perischetti (a veteran digital artist making his directorial debut here), Peter Ramsay (Rise of the Guardians) and Rodney Rothman (writer on 22 Jump Street), but the influence of producers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (creators of The Lego Movie) is writ large across the entire film (then again, Lord did co-write the script with Rothman) – it’s a magnificent, majestic feast for the eyes, ears and soul, visually arresting and overflowing with effervescent, geeky charm and a deep, fundamental LOVE for the source material in all its varied guises.  Taking its lead from the recent Marvel comics crossover event from which the film gets its name, it revolves around an unprecedented collision of various incarnations of Spider-Man from across the varying alternate versions of Earth across the Marvel Multiverse, brought together though the dastardly machinations of criminal mastermind Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (a typically excellent vocal turn from Liev Schreiber) and his secret supercollider.  There are two, equally brilliant, “old school” takes on the original web-slinger Peter Parker on offer here – Chris Pine impresses in his early scenes as the “perfect” version, youthful, dashing and thoroughly brilliant but never ruining it by being smug or full of himself, but the story is dominated by New Girl’s Jake Johnson as a more world-weary and self-deprecating blue-collar version, who can still do the job just as well but has never really been as comfortable a fit, and he’s all the more endearing because he’s SUCH a lovable slacker underdog.  The main “hero” of the film, however, is Dope’s Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, a teenager who’s literally JUST acquired his powers but must learn FAST if he’s to become this universe’s new Spider-Man, and he’s a perfect lead for the film, unsure of himself and struggling to bring his newfound abilities to bear, but determined to find his footing all the same.  There are other brilliant takes on the core character here – Nicolas Cage’s wonderfully overblown monochrome Spider-Man Noir is an absolute hoot, as is anthropomorphised fan-favourite Spider-Ham (voiced by popular stand-up comic John Mulaney) – and a variety of interesting, skewed twists on classic Spider-Man villains (particularly Liv, a gender-bent take on Doctor Octopus played by Bad Moms’ Kathryn Hahn), but my favourite character in this is, tellingly, also my very favourite Marvel web-slinger PERIOD – Earth-65’s Spider-Woman, aka Gwen Stacy (more commonly known as Spider Gwen), an alternative version where SHE got bit by the radioactive arachnid instead of Peter, very faithfully brought to life by a perfectly cast Hailee Steinfeld.  It may sound overblown but this is about as close to perfect as a superhero movie can get – the script is an ASTONISHING piece of work, tight as a drum with everything lined up with clockwork precision, and instead of getting bogged down in exposition it turns the whole origin story trope into a brilliant running joke that keeps getting funnier each time a new character gets introduced; it’s also INSANELY inventive and a completely unique visual experience, specifically designed to look like old school comic book art brought to vivid but intriguingly stylised life, right down to the ingenious use of word-bubbles and textured printing dots that add to the pop art feel.  This is a truly SPECTACULAR film, a gloriously appointed thrill-ride with all the adventure, excitement, humour and bountiful, powerful, heartbreaking emotional heft you could ever want from a superhero movie – this is (sorry MCU) the VERY BEST film Marvel made in 2018, and maybe one of their very best EVER.  There’s already sequel talk in the air (no surprise there, of course), and I can’t wait to see where it goes.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me a Spider Gwen spinoff.  I’ll be good, I swear …

1.  A QUIET PLACE – the most unique and original film of 2018 was a true masterpiece of horror cinema and, for me, one of the best scary movies I’ve seen in A VERY LONG TIME INDEED. It’s a deceptively simply high-concept thriller built around a dynamite idea, one that writer/director/star John Krasinski (co-writing with up-and-coming creative duo Bryan Woods and Scott Beck) has mined for maximum effect … Krasinski (still probably best known for the US version of The Office but now also gaining fresh traction for killer Amazon Original series Jack Ryan) and his real life wife Emily Blunt are Lee and Evelyn Abbott, a mother and father who must protect their children and find a way to survive on an isolated farm in a world which has been decimated by an inexplicable invasion/infestation/whatever of mysterious and thoroughly lethal creatures that, while blind, use their incredibly sensitive hearing to hunt and kill ANYTHING that makes a sound.  As a result, the Abbotts have had to develop an intricately ordered lifestyle in order to gather, scavenge and rebuild while remaining completely silent, a discipline soon to be threatened by Evelyn’s very advanced pregnancy … there’s a truly fiendish level of genius to the way this film has been planned out and executed, the exquisitely thought-out mechanics of the Abbotts’ daily routines, survival methods and emergency procedures proving to be works of pure, unfettered genius – from communication through sign language and slow-dancing to music on shared headphones to walking on pathways created with heaped sand and painted spots to mark floorboards that don’t squeak, playing board games with soft fruit instead of plastic pieces and signalling danger with coloured light-bulbs – while the near total absence of spoken dialogue makes the use of sound and music essential and, here, almost revolutionary, with supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn becoming as important as the director himself, while composer Marco Beltrami delivers some of his finest work to date with a score of insidious subtlety and brazen power in equal measure.  The small but potent cast are all excellent – Blunt has rarely been better in a performance of impressive honesty and a lack of vanity comparable to her work on The Girl On the Train, affecting and compelling as a fierce lioness of a mother, while Krasinski radiates both strength and vulnerability as he fights tooth and nail to keep his family alive, regardless of his own survival, and their real-life chemistry is a genuine boon to their performances, bringing a winning warmth to their relationship; elsewhere, deaf actress Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) effortlessly captures our hearts as troubled, rebellious daughter Regan, delivering a performance of raw, heartbreaking honesty, while Suberbicon’s Noah Jupe impresses as awkward son Marcus, cripplingly unsure of himself and awfully scared of having to grow up in this terrifying new world.  There’s great power and heart in the family dynamic, which makes us even more invested in their survival as the screws tighten in what is a SERIOUSLY scary film, an exquisitely crafted exercise in sustained tension that deserves to be remembered alongside the true greats of horror cinema.  Krasinski displays a rare level of skill as a director, his grasp of atmosphere, pace and performance hinting at great things to come in the future, definitely making him one to watch – this is an astonishing film, a true gem I’m going to cherish for a long time to come.

#black panther #bohemian rhapsody #mission impossible fallout #The Shape of Water #deadpool 2 #bad times at the el royale #Avengers infinity war #upgrade movie #spiderman into the spiderverse #a quiet place #2018 in movies

[ivanoconnorhorrorbooks-blog]

Despite many able to argue that attempting to rank the talents of Stephen King in a 'Best Stephen King Books' type-article is a foolish battle, I am going to give it a go as it's a great excuse to get my King collection out. First time King-readers will also hopefully benefit from this, as let us remember that the great Stephen King has published over 60 books by the age of 64, and with the inconsistency that inevitably brings - reading the wrong novel first might put you off King forever. And oh what a crime that would be! Here goes - My personal 13 best Stephen King books.

The following best Stephen King books list is based on a broad number of criteria, including the number of sleepless nights caused from the nightmares that swiftly followed reading the books...

13- Misery

Misery was one of the first King stories that I got my hands on, and I remember reading it from start to finish over the span of no more than three nights. It makes for a fantastic introduction to Stephen King's writing and I thoroughly recommend it as a potential first King novel to read. Misery is the chilling story of an author named 'Paul Sheldon' who has spawned a series of popular stories about a woman known as only 'Misery'. Paul Sheldon decides he wants to write about something new, so he kills off the character known as Misery. On his way back home he has a car accident which overturns his car, leaving him knocked out. He then awakes to find he has was saved and being looked after by a strange woman named 'Annie Wilkes', who also happens to be his number one fan. Annie is not impressed with Paul's decision to kill off Misery, and so Paul, who once wrote to make a living, is now writing for his life. A truly fantastic story, which admittedly should be avoided if you are weak at heart, as there are some tremendously vivid and terrifying gory scenes.

12- The Green Mile

The Green Mile is a highly acclaimed novel that was originally published over six short separate instalments, each being released a month after the other and ending in a nail-biting cliffhanger. Those were the days...

Many have you have probably seen the movie-adaptation in which Tom Hanks stars, need I really say more? Unlike many other movies based on books, the movie is a loyal and strong interpretation of the book accompanied by remarkable acting. However, despite being a great movie, the book is still king (pun unintended) thanks to the many twists and sub-plots that did not make it into the movie. The story is set in the 30′s and tells the emotional tale of the experiences of prisoners on death row and the guards. The green mile is wonderfully well-written - you feel part of the fictitious world that is full of oppression and segregation that leads to multiple memorable thought-provoking and moving moments. Who said Stephen King can only write horror gems?

11- Bag Of Bones

Bag of Bones is possibly King's most ambitious attempt at having a love story. Similar to The Green Mile this is another of Stephen King's novels that doesn't strictly follow his early horror style of writing, and as such is not as popular as some of his other work. Which is a shame, because if given the chance, this is another truly wonderful ghost story full of twists and vivid characters. The main character is, as you've come to expect with King, a writer called Mike Noonan. Mike's wife suddenly dies and causes him to have a severe case of 'writer's block'. In order to get over his writer's block he returns to his summer house, where he discovers that his wife was on the trail of something highly sinister. With countless twists and turns concluding to a haunting ending, you will undoubtedly be left as breathless and mentally exhausted as I was. Great read...

10- Firestarter

Firestarter is perhaps one of Stephen King's lesser known novels and doesn't often feature in lists of the Best Stephen King Books. It might have something to do with the underwhelming reaction people had after seeing the movie-adaptation - many people see films and then read the book if the movie was any good. Whatever the reason is, a lot of King fans are missing out on a very good story which they would surely love. Firestarter is the tale of a father and his young daughter with pyrokinetic powers, who have to constantly be on the run from a government agency trying to capture the young girl to use her powers for their own gain. The plots are cleverly connected and the likeable characters make you genuinely care for their well-being. Recommended.

9- The Dark Tower Series

The Gunslinger is the first entry of King's The Dark Tower series and follows the protagonist, Roland, on his quest to the Dark Tower, but before he can get there he must locate his enigmatic antagonist that he kindly calls 'The Man in Black'. King took twelve years to write this book, but came up with the epic first line while still at University: 'The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed', gripping start for sure and there's a great deal more of it as you discover how Roland is capable of extreme violence, yet somehow still manages to come across as kind. A great start to a great series and a must-read for any Fantasy/Western book-lover.

8- Pet Semetary

Pet Sematary (purposely misspelt) is one of King's most enthralling and chilling novels. I read it for the first time when I was 14 and the disturbing nature of the story hindered the quality of my sleep for weeks (months?), I wasn't able to pick it up for several years, and for that reason I would wholeheartedly recommend this novel to every horror-lover. The story starts out when the Creed family, a happy family of four and a cat, decide to move house. In their new home, unspeakable evil things start to happen and are certain to keep you on the edge of your seat. Thoroughly frightening and definitely not one for the faint-hearted.

7- It

It is the story of a sleepy town in Maine, called Derry. Every three decades, mysterious and unspeakable evils occur, first come the rare sightings that are quickly followed by a series of murders of young children. The local residents refer to the being that causer of these acts as It, and not much is known about It, apart from the fact that it can shape-shift and appears to each person as a combination of their worst fears. A group of outcast teenagers decide to take a stand against the ultimate evil, and as adults return to Derry three decades later to fight It. The beauty of this book is in how King sets the mood of the story, by making It live in places within our very own homes that we take for granted, such as drains and sewers and the strong chemistry between the main characters as they are naturally gravitated towards each other due to their outcast status.

6- Different Seasons

Different Seasons is a collection of four different stories that saw one of Stephen King's first attempts at writing something not strictly-horror, however do not despair, there are still plenty of gory moments to keep the hardcore fans satisfied - Starting with Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (Hope Springs Eternal) which tells the story of an innocent man in prison convicted of murder, plotting his escape. With fantastic characters and a gripping story, it is a great start to the book. Many people will be aware of Frank Darabont's adaptation of the book into a movie which revels in the brilliance of the story - Shawshank Redemption, however this should not be the only reason to pick up this book, the rest is just as good. The second story in Different Seasons is called The Apt Pupil (Summer of corruption) and is about a seemingly normal teenager who discovers that a local resident is a war criminal, and causes him to develop a morbid curiosity about Nazi death camps. The third story is called The Body (Fall from Innocence), which is the touching story of four teenagers who are dared to go into the woods to confirm the existence of a dead body, and ends up becoming a coming-of-age story. Finally we have the macabre The Breathing Method (A Winter's Tale) which tells of an unmarried and pregnant woman determined to give birth, no matter what... All four stories are severe page-turners and will have you go through a range of strong emotions. Highly recommended for a rainy day.

5- Carrie

Carrie, as you are probably aware already, was Stephen King's first novel and kick-started his incredible career. It is hard to believe that this masterpiece was a writer's first published work, and the popularity and cult-status that it created still remains intact to this very day. Carrie takes you into the world of a lonely and tormented teenage girl who has problems both at home and at high school. Unable to connect with anyone, Carrie finally snaps and unleashes her rage using violence mixed with her telekinetic powers, causing havoc in the usually quiet small town.

4- Salem's Lot

Salem's Lot was Stephen King's second novel, following the hit that was Carrie. It was released in 1975 and immediately became another massive hit by terrifying even the most hardcore of horror readers. The protagonist is author Ben Mears, plagued by personal demons, decides to move to an old mansion in Jerusalem's Lot in a bid to rid himself of them and write a new book. However, Ben quickly discovers that things are not as they seem, and that his home town are under siege by the dark forces of evil. This is a vampire novel, but unlike the recent wave of romantic vampire stories around, these vampires are not friendly or charming at all, they are pure evil. The characters are, as expected, well-developed with believable back-stories that will keep you engaged and highly interested.

3- The Dead Zone

The Dead Zone comes in at number seven on this Best Stephen King Books list and is a book that I personally was mysteriously put-off reading for a very long time, I still do not know why that was, but I was very mistaken to not pick it up sooner. It was King's fifth published novel and is one that Stephen King himself later admitted to being one of the few novels that he plotted and actually liked. The Dead Zone is a fast-paced story about a man called Johnny Smith who after a terrible accident is left in a coma for several years. When Johnny finally awakens, he quickly discovers he has obtained the unique ability to limitedly see into the future of people he touches. With this new power and strong desire to use them for good, he unwittingly foresees terrible events. What makes The Dead Zone so special is that the writing is controlled and well-paced, but above all the character development is fantastic.

2- The Shining

The Shining is a chilling story that follows the dysfunctional Torrance family with a sickening past plagued by alcoholism and abuse. The father of the family, Jack, was a teacher until the day he spotted some of his students damaging his car and ended up punching them. After losing his job, the family are forced to move to a far away and isolated hotel, as that was the only place that would offer Jack a job. During a terrible winter the Torrance family are snowed in and forced to look after the hotel on their own, initially things seem under-control, but as the iconic 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy' statement, all is not well... There are not many characters outside of the family of three, allowing the novel to provide vast amounts of information and back-stories to all them, leading to stand-out character-development, which must rate among Stephen King's very best.. One of my favourite novels ever written and an absolute must-read for any book-lover - even if you have seen the critically-acclaimed movie starring Jack Nicholson.

To conclude our Best Stephen King Books list, I leave you with the book that marked me the most and despite giving me countless cold-sweated and sleepless nights, I read at least four times. A true premier horror classic that will remain in every horror and King aficionado's library forever:

1- The Stand

The Stand is a book that most readers are familiar with. Initially I thought that having to state a number one for a best Stephen King books list would be a tough task, but after remembering The Stand, it was the easiest one of the list. The story starts in the early 90′s in the California Desert, where a deadly mutated flu virus created by the U.S government manages to escape from a biology testing laboratory through a contaminated guard by the name of Campion. Unwittingly, this panicky character sets off a domino effect where 99% of the world's population is rapidly killed off by the deadly virus. The only survivors are those lucky (or unlucky) ones that happen to be naturally immune to the virus, but they are terrified and forced to survive in the depressing and desolate landscape. What follows is an incredible story of desperate struggles filled with humanity and real depth. This is possibly the best horror book I have ever read and if you have not read it yet, what are you waiting for?

That concludes this Best Stephen King Books list, and I wish I could have included many more, a few notable absentees that I'd like to mention are: Skeleton Crew - A collection of stories, The Long Walk - 100 boys meet for a race, if you break the rules you get a warning, exceed three warnings and what happens is truly terrifying and lastly Christine - The story of a teenage boy who falls in love with Christine, a rather 'special' woman.

Stephen King's vast imagination is one to be jealous of. King's delicious talent for story-telling makes his novels tremendously engrossing, and his ability to weave and connect his worlds with the vague perceptions we have of our own is remarkable and causes us to have strong feelings and even desires that these tantalizing worlds could actually exist in an alternate universe somewhere. If you have never picked up a Stephen King book, I couldn't recommend strongly enough to research the one that might initially suit you best and let yourself become absorbed by the incredible worlds of the King.

#BestStephenKingBooks #FactsStephenKing

[alittlemorevodka]

Vodka has never been a huge fan of live albums. Give me a good studio recording any day, and I tend to appreciate it more. That said, The Lunar Laugh’ soon-to-be-released Nighthawks! LP is thoughtfully curated, and carefully engineered, and mixed to get that live feel without an abundance of crowd noises. The production is bright and crisp, and the music is expertly played and sung, including wonderful three-part harmonies. What more could you want?

Nighthawks! is mostly a collection of back-catalog tunes gathered from very good (see above) live recordings. In 2020, as the pandemic put an end to touring for the band, they released It’s Okay (seen/heard here) as a way of passing on good vibrations to their fans:

“So I say It's okay it's okay to have a heartbreak it's okay if you don't know what you're thinking of trust me I can relate it's okay if you're questioning everything that you used to be No, you are not your past You're here at last and you're who you're supposed to be it's okay“

The message is that there are a lot of things that upend our lives. Certainly the pandemic has been one of those things. In the end, though, you will get through it. It’s okay, as the lyrics say, to feel like you do, but just remember you aren’t in this alone. The music emphasizes this positive outlook, pushing that fun, free, revelatory feeling. It’s Okay, as well as the lead off track, I Wanna Know, are songs that were part of the band’s studio sessions that created the LP, Goodnight Noises Everywhere (June 2019). They didn’t quite fit into that LP, but I’m glad they make an appearance here.

So what else can you expect from the LP?  Well a lot, actually. The previously mentioned I Wanna Know is a mid-tempo rocker with a jangle rock feel that would have been comfortably played on the radio two to three decades ago. Because the band is so playful, it does not sound dated at all, but fresh like a little time machine bubble updated just for you. On The Road, is a song that dates back to the band’s 2015 LP, Apollo. It is always included in the band’s set list, because, as Jared Lekites tells it:

“It works so well in a live setting and this line always rings true: playing my songs, making bank, but every dollar winds up in the gas tank”

By The Light Of The Living Room, from Goodnight Noises Everywhere, seeks to channel the influences of Tom Petty and Pat DiNizio (The Smithereens). Both artists had recently passed away before the song was written. It is a reverent re-imagining of both artists styles.  It might be Vodka’s favorite song on this collection, but there is a lot to love everywhere here. Listening to this song will have you singing it aloud in no time!

Living Room is followed by Winsome from Apollo and Living a Lie from Mama’s Boy (February 2017), and the Campbell Young penned and sung Alive, originally from his solo work before he joined the band. It should be noted that It’s Okay is also written and sung by Campbell. Jared Lekites is definitely the lead writer here, with 9 of the 18 tracks written solely by him, and with a hand in four additional tracks. Lekites’ penned Tell Me A Story, from Goodnight Noises Everywhere, is his version of what I would call the state of the music business. Today’s next “hit” is more about feelings, rather than a message, and Lekites longs for that missing element:

“we gotta keep movin’ on can’t concern ourselves with yesterday said it’s alright and day turns to night anyway is there somewhere that I belong? another place where I can sing my songs again when nobody’s listening hey! tell me a story of seven maids and cabbages and kings and help me take my mind of some things hey! tell me a story that makes me wonder where the treasure’s hid the kind of story I heard when I was a kid“

Jared, Vodka is with you there 100%.

There is original material galore here, but The Lunar Laugh almost always include a few covers in there live sets. True to that live set format, the band does not disappoint, by including Neil Diamond’s Solitary Man, and Death Cab For Cutie’s (Ben Gibbard penned) Soul Meets Body with guest vocals provided by Chase Kerby (an Oklahoma City The Voice contestant) here. This latter track reminds me so much of songs written and performed by The Bats. Both tracks work very well within the band’s style. 

The three primary band members, are  Jared Lekites (vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica, percussion), Campbell Young (electric guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals), and Connor Anderson (electric and acoustic guitars, vocals, percussion). Additional musicians included here are Chris Anderson (keyboards), Peter Collins (keyboards, melodica), Jimmy Jackson (drums, percussion), Triston Lightner  (bass, vocals), Derek Moore (bass), Logan Morris (percussion), Levi Sherman (drums, percussion, vocals), and John Stendel (bass). There were also special appearances by Chase Kerby (vocals, acoustic guitar on "Soul Meets Body"), Kyle Reid (pedal steel guitar), Lucas Ross (banjo on "Nighthawks and Mona Lisa") and Taylor Johnson (bass, keyboards, guitars on "I Wanna Know" and "It's Okay"). You can find more information on the band, by heading up to their very complete website, which includes all of the purchase, streaming, and social links that you need. You can also purchase Nighthawks! from The Lunar Laugh’ label page at Big Stir Records. 

As a footnote, there is one track that The Lunar Laugh can’t get away without playing in any live set, and so they include it towards the end. That track is Work In Progress (track 18 here), from Mama’s Boy. A great way to end this phenomenal set of music!

Nighthawks! releases in just two days and you can pre-order right now. Head over to Big Stir Records and reserve your copy! You can find most of the band’s music right there, but feel free to visit The Lunar Laugh’ bandcamp.com site as well. 

Note: Unfortunately, we are still dealing with Covid 19. The variants are making a comeback, which means that the livelihoods of artists like The Lunar Laugh and many others are still threatened. If your situation allows it, consider purchasing more in these tough times. Please, if you are physically able to do so, get the vaccine! –Vodka

#the lunar laugh #jared lekites #connor anderson #campbell young #chase kerby #the bats #ben gibbard #a little more vodka #musicblog #alittlemorevodka #indie-pop #indie-rock #indie

[your-dietician]

Entertainment heat wave is coming this summer: What to watch for | Entertainment

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/entertainment/entertainment-heat-wave-is-coming-this-summer-what-to-watch-for-entertainment/

Entertainment heat wave is coming this summer: What to watch for | Entertainment

Remember 2019, when hot girl summer became a motto for living with confidence?

Well, with life getting closer to normal and vaccines nudging the pandemic into — fingers crossed — the rear-view mirror, 2021’s entertainment calendar for the next few months has a similar mood.

Call it a hot everything summer.

Blockbuster movies are returning to theaters. Live concerts are set to resume. Television and streaming shows are back to being a nice part of the mix, not a sole entertainment lifeline. And with travel heating up again, beach books can actually be read on a faraway beach.

To navigate this soaring heat index for fun, here is a list of recommendations that are sunny, breezy, steaming and sizzling. You get the idea.

Hot Jeff Daniels summer

Michigan’s resident acting great always keeps it real — remember his plaid dad shirt at February’s virtual Golden Globes? His latest project evokes his home state’s ethos of blue-collar endurance. “American Rust,” a nine-episode series premiering Sept. 12 on Showtime, stars Daniels as the police chief of a Rust-Belt Pennsylvania town who is feeling “ticked off and kind of jumpy” when a murder investigation tests his loyalties. If the preview looks a bit like HBO’s gritty “Mare of Easttown,” that’s a very good thing.

Hot goofy summer

In real life, metro Detroit native Tim Robinson could be a calm, collected guy. But as a sketch comedian, he’s made an art form out of wildly overreacting to life’s little embarrassments. “I Think You Should Leave,” his mini-masterpiece Netflix show, is back July 6 with a second season. Besides brilliantly making himself the butt of the jokes, Robinson always remembers his hometown friends. Let’s hope for repeat appearances by his pals like “Detroiters” co-star Sam Richardson and Troy’s own Oscar nominee, Steven Yeun.

Hot retro Motor City summer

The Detroit of the mid-1950s comes alive in director Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move,” available July 1 on HBO Max. The crime drama starring Don Cheadle, David Harbour, Benicio del Toro, Jon Hamm and more is about some low-level criminals given a simple assignment that draws them into a mystery that stretches to the heights of the automotive industry’s power structure. The film was shot last year in Detroit under strict COVID-19 safety measures, because Soderbergh, who filmed 1998’s “Out of Sight” here, would accept no other city as a substitute.

Hot road trip summer

Six years ago, a young waitress from Detroit created a viral Twitter thread about a bizarre journey she took to Florida with a new friend to do some freelance stripping. It was as compelling as a novel and as vivid as a movie. Cut to June 30 when “Zola” hits theaters starring Taylour Page and Riley Keough. It’s a comedy and a thriller that defies expectations and makes J-Lo’s “Hustlers” seem mild. Director Janicza Bravo and screenplay co-writer Jeremy O. Harris have created a raunchy adventure that still respects A’Ziah (Zola) King as a strong woman and original writing voice.

Hot action dad summer

Yes, Matt Damon is now old enough to play a Liam Neeson-esque outraged father out for justice. In “Stillwater,” Damon is a worker for an Oklahoma oil rig who must travel to France to try and clear his daughter (Abigail Breslin) of murder charges. Think “Taken,” if it were a serious drama directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy of “Spotlight” fame. It comes out July 30, just in time to make Damon’s fans from his “Good Will Hunting” days feel ancient.

Hot reboot summer

It has been almost a decade since “Gossip Girl” ended its run, which is way too long to be without fashion tips from impossibly beautiful rich kids. The newly reimagined “Gossip Girl” on HBO Max arrives July 8 with some notable improvements, like the inclusiveness of its cast of newcomers. But it’s bringing back the original narrator, Kristen Bell (who grew up in Huntington Woods), as the voice of the title character with the hidden identity.

Hot sweating summer

Sweating is a bodily function, but what exactly is it all about? “The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration,” out July 13, will explore the biology, history and marketing behind the moisture that makes us glow (to use a polite term). It covers everything from the role of stress in sweat to deodorant research that involves people who can sniff out, literally, the effectiveness of a product. Since the New York Times recommended the book as one of its 24 summer reads, you know that author Sarah Everts did sweat the details.

Hot Olympic star summer

The 2021 Tokyo Games, which run July 23-Aug. 8, will feature the world’s best gymnast, Simone Biles. She still enjoys competing, but quarantining gave her some time to improve her work-life balance, as she told Glamour for its June cover story (which comes with a dazzling photo spread of Biles). “Before I would only focus on the gym. But me being happy outside the gym is just as important as me being happy and doing well in the gym. Now it’s like everything’s coming together.” For the 24-year-old GOAT, the sky — or, maybe, gravity — is the limit.

Hot variety show summer

“What percentage of white women do you hate? And there is a right answer.” That was among the questions posed by internet sensation Ziwe to her first guest, Fran Lebowitz, on the current Showtime series that carries her name. Combining interviews, sketches and music, “Ziwe” deploys comedy to illuminate America’s awkwardness on issues of race and politics. The results are hilarious, so find out about Ziwe now before her next project arrives, a scam-themed comedy for Amazon called “The Nigerian Princess.”

Hot ice road summer

Take the driving skills of the reality series “Ice Road Truckers” and add one stoic dose of Liam Neeson and you’ve got “The Ice Road,” which premiered Friday on Hulu. The adventure flick involves a collapse in a diamond mine, the miners trapped inside and the man (Neeson) who’s willing to steer his ginormous rig over frozen water to attempt a rescue mission. Crank up the AC temporarily!

Hot kindness summer

There is a better way to be a human being, and he shares a name with an Apple TV+ series. “Ted Lasso,” the fish-out-of-water sitcom about an American football coach (Jason Sudeikis) who’s drafted to lead a British soccer team returns for a second season on July 23 —the date that Lasso fans will resume their efforts to be more empathetic and encouraging, just like Ted. Only there’s a new sports psychologist for AFC Richmond who seems impervious to Ted’s charms and home-baked biscuits. She doesn’t like Ted? We’re gobsmacked!

Hot podcast summer

When Michael Che guested on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” recently, his segment was interrupted repeatedly by Dave Chappelle, who kept plugging his “The Midnight Miracle” podcast available on Luminary. What Chappelle was selling is worth the listening. “The Midnight Miracle” brings him together with his co-hosts, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, and his famous friends from the comedy world and beyond for funny and though-provoking conversations interspersed with music. If you were a fly on the wall of Chappelle’s home, this is what you might hear.

Hot series finale summer

The last 10 episodes of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” start airing Aug. 12 on NBC, a too-short goodbye to one of the most underrated comedies in TV history. You can give all the glory to “The Office,” but the detectives of the Nine-Nine could go toe to toe with Dunder-Mifflin’s Scranton branch in terms of quirkiness, humanity and office romances and bromances. It’s hard to pick a favorite dynamic among the characters, but the irritated father-incorrigible son vibes between Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) and Det. Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) are sublime.

Hot musical comedy summer

Keegan-Michael Key and “Saturday Night Live’s” Cecily Strong lead a star-studded cast in “Schmigadoon!,” an AppleTV+ series premiering July 16 that magically transports a backpacking couple to a land of 1940s musicals. Until Broadway reopens in September, this parody love letter to the power of musical theater should do nicely. And the premiere episode’s song “Corn Pudding”? Catchy!

Hot nostalgia tour

Hall & Oates are criss-crossing the nation with enough 1980s hits —”Maneater,” “Kiss on My List,” “I Can’t Go for That,” “You Make My Dreams Come True,” etc. — to make you want to trade your mom jeans for spandex leggings. As if they weren’t enough top-40 goodness, their opening acts are Squeeze, still pouring a cup of “Black Coffee in Bed” all these years later, and K.T. Tunstall, whose “Suddenly I See” is immortalized as the anthem of “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Hot all-female, all-Muslim punk band summer

A British import now airing on the NBC streaming spinoff Peacock, “We Are Lady Parts” would be notable alone for defying stereotypes about Muslim women. But this sitcom about an all-female, all-Muslim aspiring rock band is a gem of both representation and laughs, thanks to characters like Amina, a shy doctoral candidate in microbiology whose complaints about a guy she calls “Bashir with the good beard” inspires a song.

Hot documentary summer

While Woodstock has become synonymous with epic music gatherings, the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 is finally about to get the pop-culture recognition it deserves. “Summer of Soul: (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” directed by the Roots drummer Questlove, will hit theaters and Hulu on July 2. It chronicles a mostly forgotten event that drew superstars like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, the Fifth Dimension, Sly & the Family Stone and B.B. King. Using his vast knowledge of music, archival footage and interviews with performers and those who attended, Questlove has created a history lesson that’s also the best concert you’ve never seen before.

Hot Marvel summer

Once you’re all caught up with the summer streaming sensation “Loki” on Disney+, please turn your attention to two new films. “Black Widow,” the long-awaited star turn for Scarlett Johansson’s former KGB assassin Natasha Romanoff, makes its debut July 9. It’s followed by “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” set for Sept. 3 and starring Simu Liu (“Kim’s Convenience”) as the martial arts master of the title. All brought to you by the corporate global entertainment domination machine that is Marvel.

Hot biopic summer

“Respect,” starring Jennifer Hudson, arrives Aug. 13 at theaters, nearly three years to the day the world lost the Queen of Soul. Although Cynthia Erivo gave a fine performance earlier this year as Franklin in “Genius: Aretha” on the National Geographic network, the odds are good that Hudson, chosen by Franklin herself for the part, will be the definitive screen Aretha.

Hot fiction summer

Terry McMillan calls “The Other Black Girl” essential reading. Entertainment Weekly describes it as “‘The Devil Wears Prada’ meets ‘Get Out,’ with a little bit of ‘Black Mirror’ thrown in.” This debut novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris mixes office politics with suspense in its story of Nella Rogers, an editorial assistant who’s the only Black staffer at a noted publishing company. When Hazel, a new Black employee, is hired, things seem to be improving. But then Nella starts receiving ominous unsigned notes. Sounds like yet another reason to keep working from home.

Hot slow dance summer

After nearly four months on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, “Leave the Door Open” remains the song most likely to provoke a quiet storm on the dance floor. The hit single from Silk Sonic (aka Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak) may sound like a cover of a long-lost ‘70s classic R&B tune, but it’s a contemporary song that can make you forget the humidity long enough for “kissing, cuddling, rose petals in the bathtub, girl, lets jump in.”

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[briangroth27]

Avengers Infinity War Review

I went into Avengers: Infinity War completely bored with the drawn-out Infinity Stones plot (it’s been going on for 6 or 7 years—since First Avenger or Avengers—depending on how you want to call it and Guardians of the Galaxy devalued the Stones by calling them meaningless McGuffins), uninterested in Thanos (Josh Brolin) as a villain, and not at all ready to say goodbye to original Avengers like Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). However, the movie definitely dispelled the vast majority of my doubts! It was very well-made, expertly wove a huge amount of characters together, and absolutely felt like an epic event movie. That said, while I didn't dislike it by any means, there also weren't any moments that really wowed me; I liked it a lot, but didn’t love it.

However, it’s obvious the creators did. It’s clear this movie isn’t a cash grab, but a celebration of the universe Kevin Feige and his numerous writers, directors, and actors have crafted over the past 10 years (which is a bit odd to say, given this movie gets dark). Infinity War never feels cynical or forgets to treat its heroes as heroes, despite their imperfections. Gone are the days of severe hero infighting; when a universe-threatening enemy shows up, everyone puts their differences aside to save the day (even if they bicker from time to time). I love that writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely changed the source material (Infinity Gauntlet) to make the Avengers the main characters out to stop Thanos instead of cosmic characters we haven’t met in the movies. It would’ve been extremely disappointing to have an entirely new group of characters come out of nowhere to steal our heroes’ thunder. Script-wise, this movie feels like meeting old friends again, as the writers captured the various heroes' voices well. While less-skilled writers might have washed out nuances between characters due to the similarity of trademark MCU snark, everyone still felt distinct here and there were plenty of standout comedy moments balancing the dramatic beats perfectly. Even though I haven’t previously been invested in some of these characters, everyone came off as likable. I do wish we’d gotten more character moments out of more of the heroes: all of them (somewhat necessarily, given the scope) come in as we left them in their last adventure, even though for about half of them, two years (or more, in the case of the Guardians) have passed since we last saw them. This lack of development wouldn’t be as much a problem for me if there were more solo films coming, but given we know whose contracts are expiring, it seems several Avengers have run their course in the MCU and are leaving interesting stories on the table. I have no problem with a universe-threatening villain in a sprawling adventure, but given the choice between that and digging into the characters more, I’d prefer solo films. Still, there’s only so much screentime the acting was strong across the board; even when the script didn’t give some actors a lot to work with, they were able to play to their characters’ iconic true north really well. The writers and the Russo Brothers brought everyone together seamlessly, creating several fun new dynamics. Tony (Robert Downey, Jr.), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) similar attitudes irked each other perfectly while Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Teen Groot (Vin Diesel) came together organically and Captain America’s crew mixing with the heroes of Wakanda felt totally natural.

Full Spoilers...

There are a lot of character beats I loved. Black Widow consistently being the deadliest of the Avengers was great (and I’d love to see these skills put to the test as her enemies come after her in a solo film, allowing her to finally clear her Red Ledger), and her kickass team-up with Okoye (Danai Gurira) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) was a great (if brief) showcase of the MCU’s heroic women. Likewise, I loved that Shuri (Letitia Wright) was the obvious person to turn to when it came to super-science, and her reaction to Stark and Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) construction of Vision (Paul Bettany) made it absolutely clear that her tech abilities far outstrip theirs. I’ll take any Shuri appearance I can get and I wonder if she'll get to be the Black Panther in her brother's (Chadwick Boseman) absence like in the comics. I do wish she could’ve met Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and that they could’ve become science besties. Spidey’s enthusiasm for superheroics and his drive to protect his neighborhood was a breath of fresh air, particularly when played against the more cynical characters. I do think his willingness to come up with a plan to kill a villain was a little alarming morally, but otherwise I love his youthful energy. I wish we could’ve seen the fallout of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) discovering Peter is Spider-man at the end of Homecoming as part of Peter’s introduction here, because that certainly needs to be dealt with onscreen. Maybe he could’ve finally said “with great power comes great responsibility” and mentioned Ben in that moment, which would also fuel his decision not to leave when Tony tells him to get off the ship. I get the urgency of giving Peter the Iron Spider suit (which looks much better than in the comics), but I was kinda bummed that we’re yet again having Tony hand all these toys to Peter instead of Peter developing them himself (I prefer a self-sufficient Spidey using homemade tech). Speaking of Tony, it was great to see him come up against egos as big as his, particularly when Star-Lord threw his plan away outright and came up with a better one. His reaction to Strange’s magic was what you’d expect from Stark encountering the supernatural and I wish they’d had time to dig into a science/mysticism dichotomy between them a bit more. Tony’s arc of telling Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) about wanting to have kids to losing his surrogate son Peter at the end was much more emotional than the “last man standing” fear vision he had in Age of Ultron. I thought his reluctance to call Steve as the crisis started was a fine—if underwhelming—continuation of their rift from Civil War, though I think it’s worth noting that he kept the flip phone on him for use at a moment’s notice (even if he didn’t end up calling Rogers personally).

Steve's "We don't trade lives" is a great motto and, like others have noted, it’s the answer to Thanos’ argument. I just hope it's not reversed in the next installment by the original Avengers sacrificing themselves for Thanos' victims. I also liked that they dealt with the potential dissonance with Cap sacrificing himself at the end of First Avenger, though Banner's justification was essentially that Steve didn't have a choice. I worry that Cap and the others will be forced into a place where they don't have a choice in Avengers 4. It would’ve been nice to dig into Cap’s thoughts on having become a nomadic vigilante after the events of Civil War and to at least hear what he and his crew have been facing in that time. I’m glad he hasn’t lost his upstanding personality, but he, Nat, and Sam (Anthony Mackie) don’t seem very changed by their time on the run, which felt like a missed opportunity: you’d think losing the Avengers’ insulation would be the perfect time to expose Steve to how the common people’s ideals and dreams have changed, which would be a fantastic conflict for him. I really wish we were getting one more solo Cap film to deal with just that: are his ideals outdated? What kind of symbol does America want now, and does he need to remind us of what we should be aiming for? What of citizens who spout hate and call it patriotism? Maybe they can persuade Evans to come back for a Logan-scale solo film set before Infinity War to explore this kind of thing. Still, it was good to see Steve and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) reunite, but I wish we (and Rogers) had gotten an idea of Bucky's newfound peace. I like the idea of Bucky finding his place as White Wolf in Wakanda instead of taking over as Captain America, so some idea of what he's been doing beyond recovering would've been nice. I wish that Cap's other bestie, Sam, had gotten more than an extended cameo here; at the very least, both he and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) should've have something to say upon seeing Wakanda for the first time (as pointed out here). I guess the writers wanted to focus on the characters who'd be vanishing so their loss would hit harder—and the original heroes are said to get the spotlight in the next film before we say goodbye—but small moments like that would've added a lot (especially as Sam vanished). However, I was glad to hear Rhodey had turned on the Sokovia Accords in the time since Civil War; it seems all the heroes on Tony’s side have realized how bad an idea it is, which is a nice vindication for Cap (Spidey hasn't signed or commented on them at all, perhaps because he's a minor and isn't thinking about the big picture).

It would've been nice to see more of how Wakanda had begun opening itself to the world beyond staging the final battle there. Does T’Challa have a specific plan for his outreach centers? Okoye's comment about imagining Wakanda taking part in the Olympics or getting a Starbucks was funny, but I wanted more. More pointedly, how do the people view T'Challa's decision? Is there any dissension, especially when his choice immediately brings a war to their doorstep? I really would’ve liked to see T’Challa convincing the people to take on this struggle (at the very least, Black Panther 2 needs to discuss this). If nothing else, his role as King could’ve made him a starker contrast to the other heroes. It seems T’Challa and Cap’s strategy held off Thanos’ forces long enough for Shuri to copy Vision’s AI, so even though his body was destroyed he could come back though honestly I'm not sure he's necessary. I don't really get Vision, so it could just be me, but his story seems to have come to an end. I appreciate that he isn't written like a cliché robot seeking humanity (or seeking to eliminate it), but his purely analytical outlook from Age of Ultron and Civil War seems to have largely faded, he isn't protecting the world like Stark created him to at all (as a friend of mine pointed out), he seems potentially too powerful to fully use his abilities, and I don't really see what he adds to the overall universe at this point. I do buy his love for Wanda (and hers for him) as well as their connection over the mysteriousness of their origins, though. Given all she's been through and the incident that sparked the Sokovia Accords, I don't blame Wanda for wanting a normal life with Vision. However, it would've been nice to get a glimpse of her view on the world post-Civil War and how she felt about being tied to a cosmic force like the Infinity Stones that already mutated her and her brother and now threatened her love. I liked the twist that Wanda could destroy the Mind Stone since it was used to create her powers and that she was perhaps the most powerful Avenger. One of the other most powerful, Hulk, got an unexpected arc that didn't fully land for me. I'm all for Hulk having his own character development, but if his refusal to show himself really was fear after his beating from Thanos (as fans have speculated), that wasn't clear. Instead, it felt like they played Banner's inability to transform as a joke. I was also underwhelmed by the moment touching on the Bruce/Nat relationship. I'm not a fan of that relationship in general—she doesn't need to date anyone, but if she were going to, she and Cap had the best chemistry and "opposites attract" spark—but this is what we've got and they need to deal with it. The awkwardness of their reunion didn't cut it for me.

As far as reunions go, it was a bummer that Thor and Loki’s (Tom HIddleston) peace after Ragnarok was immediately cut short here. While I felt it was time for Loki’s death—too many wishy-washy alliances and betrayals over the years wore out his welcome for me and Ragnarok established that he was aiming to be a lazy king, defanging his villainy—I’m glad he finished his arc and found real peace with Thor. I thought telling Thanos to kill his brother felt a little off at first, but I suppose making it seem like he’d put up a fight to keep the Tesseract was part of his elaborate plan to try to kill Thanos (as was bringing up that he’d worked for him before). It was also a little disappointing that the Asgardians took another huge hit to their population here and are apparently just left floating in space. I certainly hope Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) survived and can join the fight to get revenge on Thanos; losing so many of her people again has got to have an impact and I'd love to see the lessons about heroism Thor imparted to her inspire her to stand up rather than run away this time. Maybe she could become something of a queen of Asgard and lead the survivors to a new home! Even beyond losing half of his people, Thor going over all the family and friends he’d lost with Rocket was a somber moment and Rocket’s attempts at consolation were a nice gesture. I felt like Infinity War found a perfect balance of Thor’s humorous and serious sides, and I hope it sticks around. The bond Thor and Rocket developed was a highlight of the film, even if their quest to get Thor a new weapon a movie after establishing he didn’t need one was a little odd (as others have noted). I can’t wait to see how Rocket grows after losing all his family, especially now that we know Teen Groot’s last word to him was “Dad…” That’s heartbreaking! Moody Teen Groot was a very entertaining addition to the Guardians and they got a lot of mileage out of making the Guardians his “parents.” Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is another strong addition who gelled well with the rest of her crew thanks to her enthusiasm for “kicking names and taking ass!” I’m glad she stuck around after Guardians 2. I was impressed that she got to play such an important and powerful role against Thanos when they tried getting his glove off. I still prefer Drax’s (Dave Bautista) original “takes everything literally” personality from the first Guardians, but I liked his humor here a lot better than in the second film (where it seemed to settle on “states the obvious” instead). “Perfecting” invisibility by standing totally still was hilarious! I’m glad he got a chance to avenge his family, even if it didn’t work out and nearly cost them everything. If only Quill had learned a lesson from that failure! I don't think the movies should follow the comics in having Thanos see the error of his ways while Nebula (Karen Gillan) becomes the real villain. It's a cliché that a woman achieves ultimate power only to become evil, so I’d be much more interested in seeing her interact with Tony (maybe they make something of their biology-infused tech similarities?) than going off the deep end. True Thanos' torture of her was horrific, but I'd like to see her take a healthier path instead of spiraling into insanity after all the pain she's had to endure.

I was wary of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) making Quill promise to kill her if things went bad in their attempt to stop Thanos from collecting all the Stones because she knew where the Soul Stone was hidden, as it seemed like that could lead to fridging her. Ultimately, though, that request being her choice and the fact that she was killed for more than fueling Quill's angst avoided that (though she does fuel Thanos’). I don't have a problem with him getting emotional and punching Thanos when he found out about Gamora, but I wish that scene had been staged differently. I thought we got a good amount of range from Pratt in the film, from that sadness to his romance with Gamora to bickering with Stark to the comedy surrounding his confidence issues around Thor. Star-Lord copying Thor's accent was unexpectedly fun and it was great to see Stark's dismissive attitude thrown back in his face. The similarities between Stark and Strange were also fun, and I enjoyed Strange's completely different point of view from everyone else when it came to saving the day: he had no problem sacrificing anyone. That perspective is one I would've thought would belong to someone with universal experience like Thor or who’s coldly calculating like Vision, but it was nice to see a human thinking beyond their planet, even if I agree with Cap's "we don't trade lives" philosophy and not Strange's "sacrifice whoever it takes" outlook. I thought he'd given Thanos something other than the Time Stone when he traded it "to save Tony," and like a friend of mine suggested, he probably rigged it in some way to give the heroes a chance.

I thought it was incredible that, despite some iffy CGI in a couple of wide shots, Josh Brolin was able to emote so clearly as Thanos. I'm not sure I've seen a CGI villain in a live-action movie done this well technically, and it certainly helped that the writers let Thanos experience loss and remorse. I was impressed they included his emotional side and gave him an arc, but I do have an issue with that remorse: despite Brolin selling the feeling of a man who thought he was giving up what he loved most, Gamora is right and what he's framed as love is anything but. It's abuse and as others have pointed out, I'm not sure why he loved Gamora in the first place. His "adoption"/kidnapping of her felt a little random and turning her face away from the murder of half her people did nothing to convince me he was a caring parent (I'm also unclear as to why she was so transfixed by a knife he gave her that she forgot about her missing mom), nor do the facts that he turned her into an assassin and later killed her. As a friend pointed out, I wish we’d seen more focus on Gamora's view of being raised by Thanos in Guardians 2 to increase the complexity of their relationship. Even if we had (and her laughing in his face when she finds out he has to sacrifice something he loves gives us a good indication of it), I still wouldn’t sympathize with Thanos…if he really loved her, he would’ve let her live and would’ve abandoned his plan when it came down to choosing between them. The more I think about it, the more troubled I am by the implications of the Soul Stone trade. Since Thanos' task is to sacrifice something he loves and he's successful, it implies that whatever cosmic judgment holds the Stone agrees that what he felt for Gamora is love. Unless the Young Gamora (Ariana Greenblatt) in the Stone at the end is a punishment to torture him for an impure trade (which I'd be fine with)—I imagine she’s actually adult Gamora using a form that will turn the screws on Thanos harder, and her Soul enduring there will allow her to come back to life—this is a pretty messed-up message and it’s my biggest issue with the movie. 

I would've preferred keeping Thanos' comic motivation of becoming the universe's greatest killer to impress the physical embodiment of Death by showing what an awesome guy he is (to which she shrugs, having done better herself); playing the galaxy's greatest scourge as a Nice Guy would've been an unexpected way to make him relatable and of the moment without really having to modernize him at all. That said, trying to kill half the universe to save it from overpopulation is a fine egomaniacal supervillain motivation (no, internet thinkpieces, he is not a hero), even if I wish the heroes had pointed out the flaws in his logic (as others have pointed out online) and how foolish this plan is. For example, unless he also makes the survivors immortal and sterile, people will still breed and kill each other, throwing his precious balance out of whack within a generation or two (and his sunset retirement at the end doesn't imply he thinks he’ll have to conduct regular cullings). He also gives no consideration to how the resources he's "saved" will be used on each planet, leading me to think that things are going to immediately descend into chaos as the survivors try to take all they can (especially if the majority of any given people's governments survived to maintain their status quo). And as I've seen elsewhere, what if a people were already using resources responsibly and he killed them without bothering to check? Better yet, why doesn't he just create an infinite set of resources with his all-powerful glove? Forcing him to confront flaws in his plan would give us more insight into his thought process, or at least the justification he's sold himself. If the Gauntlet can only destroy and not create for some reason, explaining that would've served to make Thanos seem more backed into a corner and desperate, making his thought process seem slightly more "necessary." Instead, he comes off as a lunatic (yes, he’s known as the Mad Titan) who couldn't get over his one terrible idea because he confused the mismanagement of Titan's resources with proof he was right and not crazy. I've seen comments suggesting he be seen as a conservative politician, only concerned with fawning over his ideology instead of seeing the detrimental effects it has on the people, and that's not a bad take: looking at him as an outdated fringe "visionary" who won't learn/evolve his thinking or question his way of doing things helps quite a bit. I feel like these questions and the sheer outlandishness of his plot ranks him far below the best MCU villains like Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), Vulture (Michael Keaton), and Hela (Cate Blanchett), who all went to terrible extremes, but at least had motivations that were somewhat understandable and tethered to reality. He was still a powerful threat who truly required all the heroes working together, though.

Thanos' "children" (Terry Notary, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Carrie Coon, Michael James Shaw, Monique Ganderton) were fine as lackeys, which is all they needed to be. I wish X-men Apocalypse had taken a similar tack with the Horsemen instead of using famous mutants: we don't need to know characters who are essentially zealot thugs. I did appreciate how warped they were to Thanos' way of thinking, though. They also proved to be worthy matches for the heroes before facing the Mad Titan himself.

Infinity War has an incredible sense of scope, giving the impression that the Marvel cosmos are vast, but it was odd they were largely devoid of people (even on Earth). Showing more than just wreckage would've upped the stakes and impact of Thanos' climactic actions while also showing the overpopulation “problem” he seeks to solve. The pacing moves the film along really well, even with the film being as packed as it is (though it doesn’t feel overstuffed). I loved that they were willing to have imaginative fun with the Infinity Gauntlet's powers, like turning laser blasts into bubbles, throwing a moon at our heroes, literally unraveling Mantis, and turning Drax into blocks. I’m all for more weirdness like that! The action is thrilling and moves very well for the vast majority of the film, with one major exception. A pivotal battle with Thanos on Titan has Iron Man, Spidey, Strange, and several Guardians struggling to hold him long enough to steal his Gauntlet. They almost succeed, but Star-Lord messes up his own plan (when it's revealed Gamora is dead) by punching Thanos in the face, knocking Mantis (who's psychically subduing him) away and freeing Thanos. I don't have a problem with Quill reacting to the news emotionally, but the staging of the scene offers at least two ways the heroes could've won right there: Nebula does nothing when she could've been stabbing Thanos in the face, and either she or Strange could’ve cut off his arm to free the Gauntlet. I know the movie can't end there, so knock Nebula out or otherwise busy her and Strange before writing yourself into a situation that raises these questions. Or they could've let Thanos lose his arm, yet still regain the glove through brute force or cunning before the heroes could get a handle on how to use it: showing him as a scrappy underdog for a moment would make him look more dangerous (and more appealing to the audience). 

Despite an ad campaign suggesting a culmination of the MCU, Infinity War feels more like a seamless continuation of it. I'm glad they hit the ground running and didn't take the time to re-introduce everyone, except when it made sense, like the Guardians and Thor meeting for the first time. This will be detrimental for anyone coming into the film having missed earlier entries, but I think it works for this series. Reveals of familiar characters and locations, like Cap and Wakanda, made me smile. It was also great to finally get an answer to a dangling question about Red Skull's (recast with Ross Marquand) whereabouts in a completely unexpected way! I understand why they ended the movie on the beat they did, but part of me wishes this hadn't been a two-parter: I'd like there to be more adventures than just Thanos Round Two. I don't have a problem with the MCU going on indefinitely, but I do want them to take the time to continually develop and change the characters, and disparate threats would be a great way to challenge them differently. Between changes, we also need to spend time in their status quos to see how they react to each new normal. That's the weakness of movies vs. shows, though, and it seems highly unlikely the MCU is willing to give that much time to its movie heroes.

Infinity War felt like a true comic book crossover and that's the direction I want the Avengers films to take: they should be the crossovers with MCU-altering events while the solo franchises are just that, exploring the worlds of each character while focusing on character development. However, like the revolving door of death in the comics, a lot of the impact of this finale is going to come down to how the fallout is handled. I feel there are three necessary components to making the ending of Infinity War matter: the survivors need to be changed by losing their friends and half the general populace, the victims need to be changed by their experience as well, and we need to see what happened to the world in the wake of Thanos' Snap. Regardless of how the Snap is undone, everyone should remember what happened to give the events weight. Since I don't think Infinity War 2 will have time to deal with (and say a final goodbye to) the original Avengers, let everyone have a moment to shine, chase down Thanos, undo what he did, and really explore the state of the post-Snap world (one scene of Cap and Co. stopping a riot or something and saying "it's gotten crazy out here" would be deeply unsatisfying IMO), the world-building should be mostly left to the MCU offerings that are coming out next. Ant-Man & the Wasp and Captain Marvel are coming out before Infinity War 2, but Ant-Man is supposedly happening concurrently with/just before Infinity War and Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s. However, Luke Cage Season 2, Cloak & Dagger, and possibly The Runaways Season 2 would all fall into this range and could explore the world from several different angles. I thought the mass vanishing would've been the perfect chance to finally let the TV characters join the Avengers in a unified universe, but I'll settle for the shows handling the fallout.

There's so much potential with this scenario that it would be a massive wasted opportunity not to do anything with it. With the world losing half its population, there are plenty of opportunities for supervillains (or just regular people) to exploit the problem. Do people stop caring about values and basic decency in a world where half the planet can vanish? Are they all hoarding resources and killing each other over them, fearing another culling? Are there others who find their inner, everyday hero and help their fellow people? Maybe superheroes are forced to take extreme measures to defend their local turf. What happens to religion? Do some people think this is the Rapture (a critic referred to it as "the Snapture," which might be perfect)? Are there new religious beliefs rising out of this; perhaps a cult that believes in what the Snap "accomplished?" Society as we know it could crumble and every nation could be in danger of falling. This is the perfect time for superheroes to step up and for SHIELD to finally reclaim its position as a global force for good. It’s a shame Agents of SHIELD isn’t coming back until the summer after Infinity War 2, since it would’ve been the ideal vehicle to explore this world. Even when Infinity War 2 undoes this, it'll only have weight if everyone remembers what happened, so SHIELD and other heroes working to save everyone from themselves wouldn't be in vain even if the Avengers are the ones who actually save the world. No matter what happens, half the population vanishing is a fascinating premise fraught with drama, and something in the MCU needs to explore it; if they gloss over all that, this will have been truly empty.

That emptiness is a problem I had with a lot of the deaths. It's not just that it's clear these heroes will be brought back—if they remember what happened and it changes them, it won't be pointless—but they didn't die for anything. They were slaughtered for nothing, which left a bad taste in my mouth; if they'd at least chosen to go out fighting or if Thanos cared about who he was killing instead of being randomly "fair" about it, I feel like I would've felt them more. I was disappointed to see a few of them go, like T'Challa, but it was Tom Holland who really got me with his "I don't wanna go." That was heartbreaking and nearly made me cry!

It would be nice if the Defenders who survived the Snap got promoted to Avengers status in the interim, but I doubt that will happen. I've seen suggestions elsewhere that the heroes who got Snapped could form a "New Avengers" within the Soul Stone to fight their way out and that could be cool, but I hope the focus of Infinity War 2 is on the original six Avengers since it will probably be their last mission. They can deal with what the Snapped heroes went through in their future solo films.

I think it'd be cool if Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) beeper actually contacted Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in the 90s (just chalk the time zone difference up to Kree or Skrull tech). This could be why he chose to summon her for help: being in the past, she wouldn't be affected by the disintegration wave.

In terms of the longer-term plans, I don't want another long build-up to something; I hope Infinity War 2 is the end of long-form plotting in the MCU, at least for the next few phases. We don't need a years-long build-up to Secret Wars or something, and not every threat has to spring from the previous one in some manner.

 Infinity War is big, fun, and action-packed with plenty of crowd-pleasing moments (and some that truly pull at your heartstrings), but it's not one of my favorite MCU films. I think it falls somewhere in the middle, but in terms of spectacle it's one of their finest outings. It's definitely worth a trip to the theater!

  Check out more of my reviews, opinions, theories, and original short stories here!

#avengers #infinity war

[dcwomenkickingass]

DC Women Kicking ...the Flu?

A chance to hear about a bunch of the ladies of DC Comics coming together was what it took for me to return to posting after a few months. Today DC Comics released Batgirl and the Birds #15 which starts a new arc “Manslaughter” which sees the DC women coming together after an outbreak of flu downs the men. I spoke with the writers, sisters Shawna and Julie Benson about what readers can expect, the return of Oracle (!) and which Bird is has a big take out bill!

I'm so excited to see DC women coming together and kicking ass in the Manslaughter arc. How did you come up with the idea of a flu that hits only the men?

We wanted a story that would allow us to bring together a lot of women in the DCU. It seemed like the best way to bring both heroes and villains together was to give them common cause. Taking out ALL of the men of Gotham felt like a way to do that. Once we landed on that idea, the rest of it clicked into place. A story like this hasn't really been done before in DC. Sure, there are a few BoP/Sirens team-up's and individual cross-overs, but this felt unprecedented and well overdue. To their credit, DC JUMPED on the opportunity when we pitched them the idea. We weren't sure how they would take, "So... all the men in Gotham are sick and out of commission." But they were down from the start.

I was super excited to see Lois Lane in this because she's always fun when she hangs out with the Birds once every decade. Which lady or ladies were you most excited to get to write and include?

We love writing all of the characters! But we were very excited to try our hand at Gotham Girl, Batwoman, Orphan, Harley Quinn, and Wonder Woman. Coming up with a way to bring Lois Lane to Gotham was a huge victory for us. We knew there weren't many non-Gotham women we'd be able to include due to canon and availability, so getting her felt like a big win.

Anyone you wanted to include that you couldn't?

There were so many -- when you think of writing a story like this, the "ultimate female team-up" you want to have everybody -- but we knew we'd have a tough job balancing the 13 or 14 we were already jamming into the issue. Supergirl would have been a lot of fun. We talked about others like Hawkgirl, Power Girl, and Barda... But again, their availability was limited to  us, so we took who we could and ran with it!

One of things I'm looking forward to are the alliances between characters who don't often get together. Are there two characters you were excited to put together.What's the most interesting team-up that you think we'll see?

We've had such fun with unlikely pairings, like Poison Ivy and Huntress. Bouncing these other women against our core Birds of Prey team was such a fun idea, so we couldn't wait to mix them up a bit. Batwoman going toe to toe with Catwoman felt fun -- especially since there's another level of relationship there that can't be discussed (see Tom King's "Batman" to understand that!) Harley with everyone was exciting as was getting to play with Gotham Girl, who Tom King created and we felt was a really good fit here.

The men of Gotham seem to be handling their illness in different ways. Who were you most excited to send to their sickbed? Who is the biggest baby? (Say Bruce, it's Bruce isn't it?)

We definitely felt that Jim Gordon would be the worst patient ever. But Bruce probably comes a close second. He'd be the guy too stubborn to realize he's really sick. We included Grayson because if someone was going to be a big drama queen about it, it would have to be him!

So I noticed that Barbara was back at the keyboards in this issue, with Gus gone will she start doing double duty as Oracle and Batgirl?

Yes! That's been a slow story burn for us through the series. We wanted to get Barbara back to being Oracle, but without losing her Batgirl side. It's an issue that causes a lot of conflict for Barbara, which for us means, great stories to tell.

You've been writing the Birds for 15 issues. Do you feel you have a good feel for the characters? Care to answer a few questions?

These ladies live rent-free in our heads now. We love them as if they were real people -- they ARE real people, to us. They are living, breathing, heroines and we are SO LUCKY to get to hang with them every month. We have enjoyed writing every issue of this book and are excited for people to see where we are taking them. As for questions, ask away!

Which Bird spends the most on delivery food?

Dinah. We estimate she burns like 3000 calories a day, more if she's busting out the Canary Cry. She needs to stay fueled. Tacos, pizza, kale salads, she's open to it all.

Which Bird spends the most time on SnapChat?

Now that she knows all about those kinds of apps, Dinah, for sure.

Which Bird takes the most selfies?

Dinah. (Sensing a pattern?) Helena wouldn't want her face too be out there on too many facial recognition apps and Barbara is probably too busy to care.

Which Bird has the most unwashed laundry?

Once again, Dinah. She kinda got used to living out of suitcases when she was on the road. Helena probably has the most drycleaning, what with her professional day job.

Thanks Julie and Shawna!

issue #15 is out today and it is a fun read; pick it up.

#Birds of Prey #Oracle #DC Comics #DC women #Batgirl #dcwkasave

[maryxglz]

Emotion, thy name is #RADAHamlet 

by Kerstin - September 17, 2017

It has only been a bit over six weeks that the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in cooperation with Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company (KBTC) announced there was going to be a Hamlet production on show in September 2017, directed by RADA president Sir Kenneth Branagh and with RADA alumnus Tom Hiddleston playing the lead.

Now, halfway through the run, when googling “RADA Hamlet” for the period of time since its announcement, a roundabout 600 hits come up, equaling 100 a week. Few, one might say. But let’s consider the facts: the short three-week run of this production takes place at the RADA Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre, seating no more than 160 patrons. In total, not even 3,500 tickets were available via lottery, a system that was heavily criticized by some but was, hands down, going to be the fairest option. Little promotional activity in public and no designated press night make for a rather unassuming event in terms of commercial publicity. That’s likely to be owed to the circumstance that the production is primarily serving as a fundraiser in aid for the RADA Attenborough Campaign. As such, it is aiming to help improve the RADA facilities in Chenies Street for their students, providing on-site accommodation, an enhanced library and archive and a bigger theatre seating 250.

“I believe Shakespeare and RADA are very good things. This production celebrates both. We bring actors, writers, directors and technicians from last year’s KBTC Garrick season, and team them with RADA graduates past and present, together with artists from the larger creative world to explore Shakespeare’s Hamlet.” – Kenneth Branagh on RADA | KBTC Hamlet

Having been lucky enough to win a lottery ticket to one of the 21 public performances, I had been following the reports and sparse number of reviews on the first few nights and I was pretty sure I had a good idea of what was lying ahead of me. Upon entering the auditorium, though, it became clear to me right away that it was going to be an even cosier affair than I had expected. The audience is sat level with the stage on three sides, the actors performing just an arm’s length away from the front row. An upright piano, strategically placed centre stage and subtly demanding attention, immediately conveys the close proximity of the events to follow.

When everybody is settled and the room goes dark, a silhouette darts to the piano, sitting down. It’s Hamlet (Tom Hiddleston), as the lights reveal, and already on first glance it is noticeable, even before the first note, that he’s deeply grieved. An initial impression that in the blink of an eye is being amplified to off-the-chart heights, when Hamlet starts to softly play and sing a touching song – Ophelia’s And Will He Not Come Again – for his deceased father. Teary-eyed and with a shaky voice Hamlet is mourning, remembering, possibly self-soothing. It’s in that very first minute of the performance that the tone of the entire play is set: emotional, intimate, intense. The audience is drawn in right from the start, frozen in their seats as not to cause any disruption. The choice to begin the play that way feels bold. Bold and deeply impactful.

What follows then are two hours and 45 minutes of raw, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat emotion. Hiddleston’s Hamlet struggles with grief, anger, betrayal and a thirst for revenge like all Hamlets do, but his sadness and vulnerability mixed with occasional, terrifying bouts of rage, and a little bit of fun and play, make for a well-rounded character that seems very real. I couldn’t help but sympathise with him, even when he makes questionable decisions, because I felt like I had been made to understand his motives driven by all-consuming inner turmoil. Hiddleston’s ability to make Shakespeare’s words flow naturally surely contribute a great deal to Hamlet’s authenticity, too.

The intimate set-up, the close proximity of the events unfolding make the audience part of the journey. An impression that’s being intensified when Tom Hiddleston during his soliloquies seems to deliberately address the theatregoers. Admittedly, the moment he acknowledges the audience, it feels like he is giving a speech more than he is talking to himself. But on the other hand, the whole set-up of Branagh’s production makes the audience feel like participants rather than just observers to begin with, and the fact that Hamlet involves them in that way could be interpreted as sealing their status as confidants. It’s a matter of preference, I suppose, but this much is certain: Hiddleston fills the room with his presence during these monologues, capturing the audience with seeming ease, expertly guiding them through Hamlet’s emotional turbulence – before he blends right back in with the ensemble reemerging on the stage. All actors in this play are fabulously level with each other in what feels like an intense match of tennis. Aptly illustrated at times by the characters being found on opposite ends of the court, the patrons sat on the side made to look back and forth between their skilled playing off each other.

Emotionality, to me, is the keyword to describe this production. The play is utterly immersive and the performances across the board are strong. King Hamlet’s ghost appearing to the young prince sent a chill up and down my spine. Hamlet yelling and rampaging in anger made me duck in my seat to get out of harm’s way. Ophelia swirling around the room having gone mad had me hold my breath with consternation. The shift of energy and aggressiveness in the Hamlet/Laertes brawl shortly before the big duel were so palpable, my pulse was speeding up, my body put on alert. And the many tears Hamlet sheds all throughout the play put a lump in my throat more than once, making my eyes brim with tears of my own.

Mercifully, there are lighter moments, too, joy and laughter the audience embraces whole-heartedly. Particularly Polonius was given several moments of comic relief – which Sean Foley delivered straight to the point – as was Hamlet himself. Although in the case of the latter, these moments held a certain kind of bitterness to me since the underlying sadness and anger never fully disappear, even when Hamlet puts on a facade to the outside world. A subtle and credible facade, at that. He doesn’t go over the top mad but simply acts strange enough for people to wonder about his state of mind.

On the flip side, Ophelia’s (Kathryn Wilder) state of mind is renownedly of nobody’s concern most of the time, but her portrayal in this production is intriguing. Despite the predetermined course of the play, it doesn’t seem like she fades away between the conflicting priorities of her father and Hamlet. She appears strong and proactive despite or maybe in defiance of the hurt and humiliation she endures. Wilder’s performance, particularly but not exclusively when Ophelia has gone mad, is meaningful and stirring.

The ensemble of ten is a solid unit and the fact that some of the actors are playing two or three roles is in principle not a problem, even if a slightly more pronounced difference in costumes would have helped to emphasise the multiple roles. I suppose that for somebody who has little prior knowledge of the play, it may be slightly difficult to follow at times. That said, Ansu Kabia in his triple performance as King Hamlet, Player King and Gravedigger is truly impressive in his versatility. It took me a long time to realise that he is both, the graying ghost of the King and the upbeat gravedigger hilariously jamming to his own tunes on the grave site.

The stage design is sparse but effective, mostly just using props like a couch or a desk to hint at the different settings. Lighting and sound accentuate the main themes, like Hamlet’s soliloquies, and choral music at the end accompanies Hamlet’s exit as he is being carried off the stage by the ensemble in a procession down the aisle of the auditorium, passing by the audience one last time.

The bows seemed slightly rushed for reasons unknown. Caroline Martin as Horatia delivers a truly moving last recital upon the bloodshed and when the lights come back on right after, she just barely manages to wipe away her tears before the first bow. Personally, I didn’t feel like I had made my way back to the present yet, when the actors were already leaving the stage. But one way or another, the standing ovations have surely given the cast an idea of how much the audience enjoyed the performance.

“The play speaks as loudly as ever to our volatile world and we are proud to have Tom Hiddleston lead an exciting group of actors, as he plays the title role for the first time. This work has been in discussion and planning over a period of years. To find its expression at, with, and for RADA, is a privilege.” – Kenneth Branagh on RADA | KBTC Hamlet

I wish we had gotten more insight into the production than just the press release and short programme introductions. A full on interview, for example, or maybe just little behind the scenes statements on the RADA Website. It would have been interesting to find out more about the team’s working process. Was it always going to be Hamlet or did they discuss other options? How did the contemporary setting come about? What was Branagh’s objective? How did the actors approach their roles and has their understanding of their characters changed in any way? The list could go on.

“The actor playing Hamlet really has to bring themselves to the role […] It seems to me that it’s an amazingly open role and the actor is asked to think about fathers and mothers, and revenge and friendship and sex and mortality and philosophy, and all of those things. It’s just the most heart-attack poetry around.” – Tom Hiddleston to Flicks and the City in 2013

In our very short chance encounter, Tom Hiddleston would casually attribute the performance to “blood, sweat and tears” – in both a metaphorical and a true sense, I suppose. Having talked to a few theatregoers after the play, I would say it is hard work that absolutely pays off. We were collectively left in awe and struggling to find the right words. It was only when I was reading through the programme later, that I found a quote by Lolita Chakrabarti – who was wonderfully expressive in her portrayal of the ambiguous Queen Gertrude – that seemed to perfectly summarise what I felt was truly the foundation of this production:

“A monumental work of art such as this can become the property of the learned, owned by those who ‘understand’ it, but Hamlet is a play to be seen, heard and felt. The words are beautifully crafted but the play’s true power is in its exchange with the audience and how it makes them feel.”

Hamlet Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7JN 01 – 23 September 2017

#tom hiddleston #rada hamlet #rada #hamlet #theatre #kenneth branagh #hamleston #hiddlespeare #hiddlehamlet

[kingofthewilderwest]

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people. I was tagged by @dyannehs​

LAST:

1. Drink: Water 2. Phone call: Myself. Because I lost my cell phone. Outside of that, my mom! 3. Text message: One of my awesomeful friends of awesomeness who I’ve nicknamed Hux (she’s the Hux to my Kylo!) 4. Song you listen to: A nerdy composition project I’m working on. *grins* It’s a secret ’cause I’m gonna share online when I’m done! 5. Time you cried: Actual-actual cry? Don’t remember. Tears in the eyes? Maybe like two days ago? Yay for being broke.

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: Yes, I have dated the same person twice, and both experiences were quite wonderful indeed! And I’d probably date her a third time if life came around to it - both times we broke up came from us being too timid to do basic communication about relationship goals. We’re still really good friends rn - honestly either as friends or as dates, I’m happy either way! 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Yes 8. Been cheated on: Not in the sex way, but my first relationship ended because my current gf was hitting blatantly on someone in front of my face, and while we were talking about maybe doing a poly thing, this hitting-on-someone-else was in the venue of putting aside and ignoring me, and that wasn’t okay.  9. Lost someone special: Yes. 10. Been depressed: Oh shit I forgot my depression meds again... *runs to take them* Umm. Yes. The answer’s yes. High-functioning depression, here I am, prime example. Yayyyy [sarcasm] 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: I don’t drink alcohol so nope.

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 

12. Silver 13. Chocolate brown 14. Black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Aye! 16. Fallen out of love: Not really? I mean I don’t know how to explain it. 17. Laughed until you cried: Thanks to Lance and Kaltenecker, yes. 18. Found out someone was talking about you: I guess my coworkers thought I was quitting instead of just reducing my hours, so I had to fix that rumor chain straight. 20. Found out who your friends are: I think that’s always an ongoing thing in life. This year, I’d say that I’ve had reaffirmations that the people I care about care about me, so that’s really awesome. It’s wonderful to know that people are thinking of me. And I’m thinking of you, friends! 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yep!

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: About 99% of them. It’s very rare for me to add an internet friend to my FB contacts. 23. Do you have any pets: No. My apartment only allows cats and dogs, and I want guinea pigs again. ;_; 24. Do you want to change your name: I’m proud of my name and have used it as a source of inspiration (it means “pure”). That said, in the last few years, I feel increasingly distanced from my name and honestly think of myself far more as being named “Haddock.” Haddock is my name, my birth name is second. Still a good name, but I’m a Haddock. 25. What did you do for your last birthday: On the day itself: relaxed, bought myself froyo, Skyped family, chilled, was awesome. The general-ish week of my birthday: had a dinner with family, stayed up and binged all of VLD S4 the night it came out, hung out with a friend and also binged VLD. Basically, a lot of VLD. 26. What time do you wake up: The number fluctuates quite wildly day-per-day because “sleep schedule” is a myth. Today, I got up at 11 AM. 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Answering asks on tumblr and PMing/texting a few good friends. 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Having enough money to live comfortably and not stress every time rent week comes around. 29. When was the last time you saw your mom?: A few days ago, Friday. 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: Oh where do I fucking start... Well. The biggest thing is I’d do is go back in time and prevent a terrifyingly bad argument/falling out with my ex/ex best friend that happened in 2011-2012, not because I want to still be friends with this person (I don’t anymore), but because the experience was very... traumatic... to both of us and I’d love us not to live with those mental scars. I’m still getting over those scars and it sucks. 31. What are you listening to right now: The composition I’m working on. 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yeah. Don’t know anyone well named Tom, though. One of my coworkers is a Tommy if that counts? 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: There’s one wonderful friend of mine who’s going through a really challenging time. I want to help them so badly, but they’ve been closed off and hermitting themselves to the point I think it’s harmful for them, it’s hard to contact them to help them, and they live too far away for me to check on them in person easily. I want to do anything to see them in person to help, or to talk to them, or anything... sitting in silence makes me very worried because this wonderful human soul deserves all the love and support they can get for what they’re going through. 34. Most visited website: Tumblr, Facebook, Netflix, Google. 35. Mole/s: I have two bumps on my forehead, one to either side. I jokingly call them horns, but they’re not evenly lined up, and the one on my left is much larger than the one on my right. 36. Mark/s: Bellybutton scar from a second degree burning incident, lots of scars on my hands right now from falling on concrete two months back, lots of scars on my wrists from a whole bunch of whatnot (I even have one from my sophomore year of high school when a school binder scraped me?), oh. And I have basically leopard-speckled shoulders from countless acne/pimple scars. For unnatural marks... three tats! Plans to get at least two more. 37. Childhood dream: To be a published, bestselling author or a college prof. 38. Hair color: Currently dark brown with bleached bangs and a strip on the right side. Natural hair color is what I call “dusty brown” and some people would call dirty blonde; it’s in that random in-between blonde and brown where the top is blonde-ish and the bottom is rather brown. 39. Long or short hair: I have the conundrum of enjoying my hair either really long or really short. I’m in the process of regrowing it to the long stage. It’s sort of at the bottom-of-the-shoulder-blades/boob length now. Goal is to go back to waist length. 40. Do you have a crush on someone: Does Takashi Shirogane count? 41. What do you like about yourself: Honestly, quite a lot? XD I’m very thankful to be a nerd who is apt to learn anything from sciences to arts and music and sports. I’m thankful to be a musician, a composer, a creative writer, an animation junkie, an analytical and logical mind, a complete and utter NERD beyond belief who lives in nerd culture. I love my appearance, I love my facial hair, I love my eyebrows and face shape, I love my body shape, I love that I’m left-handed, I love that I’m not conventionally pretty. I love being a Christian. I love being aroace. I mean when I’m not in a depressive, self-deprecating mode, I really am proud and thankful to be who I am all across the board; there’s very little that I dislike about myself. Mostly what I dislike is my current life situation of not being anywhere career-wise. Everything else, pretty happy. :) 42. Piercings: Two on each earlobe and one halfway up the cartilage. Dammit and I wanted like a dozen piercings by this type in my life. Get me a more stable paycheck and we’re fixing this! 43. Blood type: O+. Most common blood type, woot? 44. Nicknames?: I’ve had a terrifying slew of nicknames over the years. Currently, the most common ones are Haddock, King, (Kylo) Ren, Spock, and Toast. 45. Relationship status: Single in my chill natural habitat. 46. Zodiac: I am so bitter about my Zodiac sign I refuse to say it even though it’s not too hard to figure out what it is given other answers to this meme. 47. Pronouns: He/his/him, though honestly I really don’t care too much what people toss at me. 48. Favorite TV Show: Voltron: Legendary Defender. 50. Right or left hand: LEFT-HANDED WOOOOOOOO LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFTY PRIDE YOOOO! 51. Surgery: When I was nine I had four baby teeth and then the four adult teeth under them removed. Basically, a wisdom tooth like surgery but younger and with different teeth. 52. Hair dyed in different color: FUCK YEAH! I was getting really bored of my natural hair color but was keeping it natural for the purpose of looking professional (job searches). I’d been wanting to reinstate some purple and black again, but with my current job only allowing “natural” hair colors, I decided I couldn’t go that route. Instead I bleached the front and dyed the rest dark brown in a sort of inspiration from Takashi Shirogane. 53. Sport: I played soccer all growing up, so much fun. Love jogging. Sports are great, miss having the opportunity to do team stuff. Also really enjoy watching professional gymnastics, soccer, American football, and especially tennis. 55. Vacation: I want to see so many locations oh my fuck. My “to go to” list includes Bhutan, Nepal, China/Tibet, Mongolia, Cambodia (again... come on I miss it!), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Japan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (England & Scotland), Norway, Canada, Peru, Mexico, South Korea, India, Myanmar, Austria, Germany, Iceland... um. Yeah. You. Get the picture. I NEED TO TRAVEL, YO! 56. Pair of trainers: Uh they’re like really raggedy and old and stuff

MORE GENERAL: 

57. Eating: I’m snacking on M&Ms again, like always. 58. Drinking: Water, though methinks I shall make some homemade ginger tea. 59. I’m about to: Probably go shower. It’s 3 PM and I still am in my pajamas. 62. Want: To fucking write and do NaNo and yet life’s been busy and I haven’t had the time for a word but I HAVE SO MANY VLD FANFICS I WANT TO DO AND AURGHGHGHGHGHGH the goal is to somehow write and finish my universal translator mix-up one this month???? We’ll see! Translators, stay tuned, and thanks again for offering to help! 63. Get married: 97% of me doesn’t want to get married I think? 64. Career: Linguistics consultant of doom. Not sure if this can be a career but if I could, I would enjoy continuing the remote work. To explain: I currently work contract positions with various companies who hire me for short-term projects, in which I use my linguistics expertise to analyze and annotate large sums of data according to certain guidelines. 65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs. I. LOVE. HUGS. SO. MUCH. HUGGGGGMEEEEE! I always look closed off in my body language but I swear the inside of me is always going “Giff me the cuddles and don’t let go.” 66. Lips or eyes: Eyes. Eyes are the most gorgeous thing about humans seriously. 67. Shorter or taller: I prefer to be the short one in all social situations. 68. Older or younger: For friends, I’m chill with whatever age you are. Dating, also chill, though I think I tend to prefer being slightly older just ’cause that’s how most of my relationships have been? But really doesn’t matter. 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Arms. Nice arms are unique for me. I’m pretty happy with lots of different stomach types I see - tummies just are cute! :) 71. Sensitive or loud: A combo is fun but what I look for most in any platonic or anything relationship is someone with a deep heart. I want friends with whom I can confide in anything... so has to be that sensitive side (sensitive-logical if that makes sense is what I like best). 72. Hook up or relationship: I’ve done random PG hookups? But my answer for this is relationship; hookups are only fun for short-term boosts of self-confidence and not being 100% genuine and just being like carefree “whatever” for a night (make sure you both know you’re just doing the hookup night though, please guys, no deception!). Long-term relationships though are glorious like none other for their emotional power. <3 That is pure beauty, caring for someone deeply with lasting loyalty. But of course ya’ll know me... I find nothing more beautiful to cherish than deep platonic care! 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Combo of both!

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a Stranger: Yeppers 75. Drank hard liquor: Nope 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: Yes ugh I have no clue where one of my pairs of glasses are again 77. Turned someone down: Yes 78. Sex on the first date: I’ve had sex never so this is an easy answer 79. Broken someone’s heart: Yes 80. Had your heart broken: Yes 81. Been arrested: No 82. Cried when someone died: Yes 83. Fallen for a friend: Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84: Yourself: Yes, typically 85. Miracles: Absolutely 86. Love at first sight: I mean I don’t deny it happens. It happens. But I don’t think it’s pragmatic to think that’s what’ll happen to you. 87. Santa Claus: Come on, of course North and the Guardians are kicking Pitch’s butt! 88. Kiss on the first date: Sure, why not

OTHER: 

90. Current best friend name: I don’t have one best friend right now. A few of my current closest friends are named Josh, “Hux”, Keith, JuLee, Rachel, Peter, and Meredith. 91. Eye color: Brown 92. Favorite movie: HOW DO I PICK ONE FAVORITE MOVIE FUCK YOU?? The Prince of Egypt, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the How to Train Your Dragon movies, Pacific Rim, there, I made a list.

Uhhhhh let’s so who should I tag... if you want to do it... @akkeyroomi @the-mr-eggplant @chiefrosepetal @thefuriousnightfury @insaneskye @fanwriter02 @dragonpride99 @jettara @margarethelstone @shailyesshadow @hubwalker1 @godguy0001 @theravenfliesagain @frosty-viking @jackthevulture @hiccup-is-left-handed @dragonnan @spacekeet @nightfury326 yaknowwhat I am not going to count but we’ll say that’s about 20 XD

#non-dragons #long post #swearing #meme #ask meme #about me #blabbing Haddock #my life