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essaysbyciara · 4 years

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Old Habits Die Hard| Part Two: Just Be Good To Me

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II x Dave East x Y/N Fic

SYNOPSIS | PART ONE: DAYS BEFORE

Warnings: Language, Lightweight mentions of sexual situations, brief marijuana use

Y’all. I’m so overwhelmed by the love I’ve received for this story. Thank you to everyone who read, liked, commented and/or followed me on here. Taglist is STILL OPEN. *squees from joy*

JUST BE GOOD TO ME

Your finger traces the tattoos that dart up and down Dave’s back, the smoke from his blunt curling around his head as he leans back to inhale. The box fan on top of the dresser can only do so much as you push the sheets down to your knees so your torso can catch a quick cool down. You love watching the sweat trail down Dave’s spine. You try to catch each drop before they hit the mattress.

“I forgot your bougie ass don’t smoke.” You crawl behind Dave, wrapping your supple legs around his waist. Your arms prop up your body so you can get a better look at him as he takes another pull. Dave instinctively starts to caress your left knee with his free hand. Your skin feels like cotton candy to him. You taste even sweeter.

“You’re gonna stop calling me bougie...” You chuckle gently as you plant gentle kisses on Dave’s shoulder.

“You know I like messing with you. Chill.” Dave lifts himself off of the bed. He still isn’t used to your love language. You pout as he walks up to his dresser to grab his phone. You try to weaken the feelings of dismissal but Dave catches your body language change in his mirror’s reflection as you lean over the bed to grab your clothes from off the floor. He realizes it was a mistake to walk away from you.

“Yo. Come here.” You answer Dave’s command, lifting up the sheets to wrap them around your body like a towel. “Fuck the sheets. Come here.” A mischievous grin covers your face. Dave elicits confidence and freedom from you like never before. You walk over to him, hips swaying to the beat of the bass that’s blasting holes throughout the atmosphere outside. Before you can even get within an inch of him, Dave picks you up and sits you on top of the dresser. He kisses you so deep that your legs can’t help but to swing open like a broken screen door. The bass cranking from one of the cars outside sets the pace for your next round with Dave.

“Fuck…”

“My bad, Y/N. These potholes ain’t no joke up here.” Yahya’s not-so-smooth driving wakes you up from your slumber. You look down to witness the silent quivering pulsate from between your legs. This isn’t the first time you’ve dreamed about Dave since you accepted his friend request a few days ago but the closer you were to getting back to Philly, the more intense they became. You grab Yahya’s hand to assuage your guilt. He smiles. Unlike Dave, he needs no help deciphering your love language.

“It’s okay, babe. I needed to wake up. We’re super close to Aunt Jerri’s.”

“Should I be scared about meeting your family? You made it seem like they’re gonna cut me if I don’t come correct.”

“Aye, they might.” You tease Yahya. Your left hand starts to caress his inner thigh. “They won’t mess with you. Aunt Jerri always got the family in line, I’m sure. She loves you already and she’s the biggest test to pass.”

“Good. I really wanted to leave the lawyer that I am back home. Where should I park though?”

You reorient yourself to the surroundings to direct Yahya to the back street behind Aunt Jerri’s house. You already see the smoke billowing from the barbeques on the street and hear the little ones’ laughs and screams. You also see all of your Dad’s brothers on the back porch playing spades and they’re already at peak shit-talking form. “You know how to play spades, right?”

“Don’t let this Berkeley degree fool you, Y/N.” The vibrations from your phone break up your laughter. You open your phone to see an Instagram notification from Dave. You set up post notifications to track him, lying to yourself enough to believe it was to keep tabs on Dave so you wouldn’t run into him at the block party. Your heart knows the truth. He just posted a picture of him and his cousin Pardi posted on his porch. He and his boys are outside ready to play.

“Is that my Y/N!”

“Hey Uncle Ro!” Uncle Rodney -- or Ro -- was a barrel of a man who always wore his Sunday best even in the hottest of the weather. He was a preacher at an Pentecostal church who could drink the rest of the family up under the couch. He pulls you in for a hug. You try not to soak in the smells of sweat mixed with Christian Brothers emanating from his body.

Yahya trails behind you with his hands inside of his pockets because of the growing fear quaking his bones. The spades game has suddenly stopped in its tracks and your other uncles -- Trace and Larry -- and Mr. Reed, who has always been like an uncle to you, start to ice grill Yahya down to his socks. Your Dad must have sent a bat signal from heaven for his brothers to stand tall on his behalf.

“Y/N! Y/N!!!!!!! Heyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Aunt Jerri breaks up the detente at just the right time. She hugs you with so much force that your eyes almost pop out of their sockets. “And look who we have here, huh? You must be Mr. Yahya. He looks so much like T doesn’t he, Trace….”

Trace doesn’t respond, still acting as a stand-in for your father.

“Yahya, baby, don’t let them scare you. Bring your ass in the house.” Yahya feels relieved as Aunt Jerri drags him by the hand into her house to meet more of your family. You follow right behind.

“Trace, you can relax. The dude bought bags of ice. He’s aight with me,” says your Uncle Larry. Trace doesn’t respond, instead throwing down a ten of spades that erupts the entire table.

“Run up to the store right quick, Quaadir.” Dave passes a ten dollar bill to his nephew.

“No, nigga.” Quaadir folds his arms and sticks out his lower lip like it’ll change Dave’s mind. Quaadir is not old enough to be on the corner but he’s talking like them.

“Yo, Pardi. Your son think he brolic. You hear him?! Nigga, what?” Pardi only looks at Quaadir and he quickly changes his mind. “He picking all this up from his moms, man.” The porch erupts in laughter.

Dave needed this laugh. Especially after seeing your engagement pictures with Yahya.

It wasn’t what he was expecting to see when he requested to follow you on Instagram. You looked happy and at peace. The paintings inside of the art gallery where you took your engagement photos looked to be showing their approval of your impending union. Dave couldn’t front: you two looked good together.

You and Dave didn’t go on many dates during your two-week romance. There wasn’t enough time and the time you did have only found you mostly under Dave’s body. The only official date you two went on was when you took him to the Anthropology and Archaeology museum located on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus. He watched you grow in excitement at every exhibit, reading every placard and hanging to the museum docent’s every word. He saw your joy and felt honored to witness it.

He felt the opposite of joy as he read one of the captions under your pictures. You called Yahya “your favorite discovery.” Your nickname for Dave was “favorite”. You were Dave’s favorite and he lost out on you and that hurt like hell. Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop scrolling down your Instagram feed. He wanted to see pictures from last summer and of the body, face, smile and the style of the woman who caused him to want to make an entire course correct on that thing called life. He saw that you still had it all. Asking Ariel was such a waste of time and being at this block party was triggering as all get out.

People always talking ‘bout reputation… I don’t care about those other girls, just be good to me … ooooooo

“Just Be Good To Me” cascades down Reed Street in a way that you’ve never heard. You missed this place and this time during the summer when everything stops to allow the neighborhood to bask in delight. It was a feeling you desperately needed last year after you decided to ditch a week in the Bahamas and a week of recuperating at home to spend two weeks at Aunt Jerri’s house. Truth be told was that the Bahamas once had a man attached to it but that fell through.

That’s what led you to go after Dave.

“It’s hot at Hades out here, my Lord.” Aunt Jerri fans herself as she sits on her stoop overlooking the busy street full of barbeque grills, babies splashing inside of kiddie pools and a DJ blasting everyone’s favorite R&B of the 80s.

“Rodney! Rodneyyyy! Boy, toss me a Lime-A-Rita. It’s lit cityyyyyyyy!”

“Mom! Who on Earth taught you about anything being “lit”?!” Ariel’s embarrassment grows at her mother’s attempts to be cool.

“Oh, I’m hip! Too hip to be a square, eyyyy!” She sways ever so gently to “Square Biz” by Teena Marie.

“Ari, leave her alone! Uncle Rodney, don’t indulge her please.” You sip on your Hennessy with ice because, unlike Aunt Jerri, you were free to indulge. Yahya holds you from behind, sipping the last of his Heineken in between fits of laughter. Your Uncle Trace passes another bottle to Yahya as a peace offering and as an official welcome to the family. Your Dad must’ve sent a message to Trace to stand down. Your yellow sundress with a thigh high split up to high heavens is cooling you off as the heat rises from off of the asphalt.

“Y/N … you don’t tell Rodney what to do! I do! Let me be great!”

“You got it, Aunt Jerri!” Yahya kisses your right cheek and grips you tighter. He feels right at home and you’re so relieved that he’s here.

“You know what I need someone to get? More paper plates. Run down to the store, Trace.”

“You got it, Sis.”

Trace’s fashion sense was stuck in 1996; Ghostface Killah and Raekwon would be so proud. Trace was -- and still is -- feared, revered, loved and lusted over. He was the Dave of his time, his roster of women certified. Truth is that he could still build one, Trace capturing the attention of all of the 40-plus-year-old women on the street as he walks down to the store. He still had it.

“Yo, Trace!” Dave hops up from the steps of his Aunt’s house to show Trace some love. Trace got Dave an overnight warehouse job years ago and he’s been indebted to him ever since.

“Peace, king. What’s good?” Dave wants to ask Trace about you but last time he asked someone else in your family, it didn’t end the way he planned.

“Shit, Trace. Just waiting for the street lights to come on so we can really get it in out here. You at Ms. Jerri’s crib? Everybody up there?”

“Yeah. Everybody. You remember my niece, Y/N? She came up too.”

Dave’s mind screams every expletive known to man. He wonders if you came up with you-know-who but asking Trace would open up old wounds and expose a decision that Trace explicitly forbade him not to make.

Dave was Trace 2.0 and Trace knew it. He didn’t want that for his niece so when he saw Dave flirting with you at last year’s block party, he made it a point to pull Dave to the side to ask him in not-so-nicely terms to knock it off.

You worked all the way around that threat with the help of Aunt Jerri.

Aunt Jerri encouraged you to “remember that you’re on vacation” and that “what goes on here, stays here.” She saw the way you looked at Dave. It was the same way she gazed at your Uncle Terrence when she first met him. You were beyond smitten, turned on by the way he walked and talked. Dave could hem you up and pick you up. He oozed confidence that almost crossed into obnoxiousness. You wanted him and couldn’t hide it and Aunt Jerri encouraged to “have some fun with all of that.” She vowed to keep your secret from your Uncle Trace. You didn’t know it would turn into two of the most passionate weeks you would ever have and subsequently the worst heartbreak you ever felt.

“Yeah, I do.” That’s all Dave could muster up to say as he feels his heart boil over. He daps up Trace, sits back down on the steps and opens up Instagram.

Yo. You up here?

Taglist: @yoursoulstea @harleycativy @twistedcharismaaa @dorkskinneded @need-my-fics @ghostfacekill-monger @writerbee-ffs @chaneajoyyy

#yahya abdul-mateen ii x reader #yahya abdul-mateen ii #dave east #dave east fic #fanfiction #old habits die hard

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peterstanslizzie · 5 years

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Lizzie Mcguire (2020): My Thoughts On The New Photos

25 OCT 2019: The Lizzie Mcguire fandom has had a field day today. After the release of the B+W Mcguire family dinner photo by Terri Minsky on Instagram a couple of days ago, we are treated once again with a number of photos released by the cast members themselves on their social media handles.

Photo #1: Jake Thomas as Matt Mcguire in the re-creation of the original show’s intro

- Jake confirmed on his Instagram that this photo is ‘official’. By official, I think he means that this shot was taken from the actual opening credits of the new series.

- His long-sleeved shirt looks almost identical to the one he originally wore when he was 10. There are a couple of differences. One, the tiger print on his shirt looks more orangey-gold as well as the rings that go around both his upper arms. Plus, his shirt is a zip-shirt that seems to layer over a plain, white one.

- It seems like the producers are trying to re-create the original opening credits or at least modernise it? In the original opening, Matt was busy chasing the red ball away from Lizzie and her friends or trying to steal it from them. In this photo, he is getting hit in the head by the red ball. I wonder what will the rest of them be doing?

Photo #2: The Mcguire Family Photo (in colour)

- This photo shows Hallie Todd (Jo), Jake Thomas (Matt), Hilary Duff (Lizzie) and Robert Carradine (Sam) all standing in the middle of the Mcguires’ living room, that is currently under construction. Given that the end of October marks the start of production of the new show, all the main sets are currently being built at the moment.

- In the original series, the main sets were the Mcguires’ family home, Hillridge Junior High, Hillridge Elementary and the Digital Bean. I’m curious to find out what the main locations will be for this new series.

- I also wonder if this house of theirs is the same home as the one in the original series or maybe it could be a different home that the Mcguire family had moved into? Whatever it is, the house is gonna look incredible.

- Also, notice how Hilary is holding a blue document in her left hand? I believe that’s the script for the first episode, episode #101. And if we zoom in, we are able to see that the name of the first episode is: ‘13 Going On 30′. There is no other title perfect for this episode since we already know that Lizzie is celebrating her 30th birthday in the first episode. It’s also an homage paid to the movie of the same title, which starred Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo.

- I’ve gotten a few comments on my Instagram about Robert Carradine’s hair and they were asking whether or not he is going to cut his hair short. Personally, I don’t have an opinion on how his hair should look. As long as he is in this show, I’m all good. And we also need to remember that Robert is now in his 60s. So, any mean comments about his looks should just go away.

Photo #3: Hallie’s Todd Ren-Mar Studios ID Pass

- I did some research on Ren-Mar Studios online and it’s actually the same studio in Hollywood where the original Lizzie Mcguire series was filmed and produced. So, the new 2020 show is in good hands in terms of set design and overall production.

- In comparison, Raven’s Home is produced by ‘It’s a Laugh’ productions and That’s So Raven was produced by ‘Brookwell McNamara Entertainment’, which also produced Hilary’s 2004 movie, Raise Your Voice. I made this comparison because I feel like there is a difference in production quality between That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home. But that could be due to budget allocation and things like that. Anyways, I am really happy the producers of Lizzie Mcguire decided to use the same studio again.

- Other shows that were filmed here include Ally McBeal, Seinfeld and The Golden Girls. Hilary Duff also had some of her music videos filmed in this particular studio as well!

Photo #4: Last but not least, Lalaine’s teaser of Adam Lamberg

- Lalaine seems to be one of the ones who likes to give us fans discrete clues. First of all, after the announcement of the new revival series in Disney Expo 2019 back in August, she edited her Instagram profile description and changed it to ‘Re-boot(s)’, which indicates that she’s coming back to reprise her role as Miranda Sanchez.

- And now, she posted this screenshot of her phone, which shows a message that was sent to her by Adam Lamberg (Gordo). If this doesn’t tell us that Gordo isn’t coming back, I don’t know what will. I don’t think Lalaine would tease us like that for no reason.

- I really think that they are saving a photo of Adam Lamberg till later on. I predict that a group photo of Hilary, Adam and Lalaine will surface sooner or later. We gotta keep our eyes peeled for that.

Closing Thoughts

- Basically, production has started and sets are being built for the new 2020 series. Once that is all completed, filming will start henceforth. We still haven’t gotten any sort of official statement from Disney or Disney Plus about the confirmed cast. But, getting info/updates from the cast and writers themselves on social media is good enough for me. That’s the power of being connected through social media.

- But we can pretty much guarantee that Lizzie’s brother and parents are returning. Miranda and Ethan are both hinted to be coming back as both their actors are currently being followed by Hilary Duff and the writers on Instagram. Of course, with Adam, it’s tricky because he doesn’t have Instagram but judging from the screenshot posted by Lalaine, I am 90% sure he is returning.

- That leaves us with Kate, Larry, Melina and Lanny. I have a feeling they might not be coming back, at least maybe for the first season. But there is always the possibility that they can work out some deal with Disney in the future, where they will get to guest star in later seasons.

- That’s my take on all of this. Thank you for reading this long post and have a great day ahead!

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drunkcnsunlight · 4 years

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Introduction to Lawrence Gordon

“DR. GORDON.... This is your wake-up call. Every day of your working life, you have given people the news that they’re gonna die soon. Now YOU will be the cause of death. Your aim in this game is to kill Adam. You have until six on the clock to do it. There’s a man in the room with you. When there is that much poison in your blood, the only thing left to do.... is shoot yourself. There are ways to win this, hidden all around you. Just remember: X marks the spot for the treasure. If you do not kill Adam by six.... then Alison and Diana will die, Dr. Gordon. And I’ll leave you in this room to rot. LET THE GAME BEGIN.”

[Look who just woke up- is that ALEXANDER SKARSGARD? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s LAWRENCE GORDON from SAW. I heard he is 40 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, they still give off a STRONG-WILLED SURGEON, REDEEMING FATHER, STEADFAST MORALIST impression. They’re known to be quite INTELLIGENT, but have a tendency to be TIGHTLY-WOUND on their bad days. (alissa, 22, she/her/hers, est)]

Gender/Pronouns:

Cisgender male who uses he/him/his pronouns.

How long have they been in Sydney?:

As Lawrence is able to remember, he has been in Sydney for one year.

Job:

Larry works as a doctor and surgeon at the prominent Sydney Hospital.

In particular, he is a specialist of a department that attends to oncology and hematology. Given that the time period is the 1920′s, this area of specialization is new--- not mainstream--- and upcoming, but Lawrence’s expertise in his previous universe carries over well in Sydney.

Which suburb do they live in?:

Lawrence presently lives in the Rocks, and he recently moved in with his boyfriend Tom.

The pair of them are aware that at some point, they might need to move, given the possible threats that may be imposed by Tom’s brother, Adrian.

However, wherever Tom goes, Lawrence is set on traveling with him.

Memories of their real life:

Perhaps only fans of the horror/mystery genres would be aware of Dr. Gordon, formerly of Los Angeles, and the universe of the Saw films.

In the canon material, Lawrence is a pompous, oncological surgeon who is quite skilled in his profession, but who neglects his wife, Alison, and their daughter, Diana.

Lawrence is short with his patients, although he is not prone to make mistakes, and he is largely absent from his family members’ lives.

One of his patients turns out to be the infamous Jigsaw Killer, also known as John Kramer, who takes interest in him, and forces him and his family to fight for their lives in their own, separate life-or-death games.

During his torture, Lawrence is imprisoned in a room with a younger man, named Adam, and the pair of them were more connected than either of them exactly realized.

Lawrence’s objective is to kill Adam, and if he does so, then he is told that he will be freed, and he can reclaim his family. At the conclusion of their game, Lawrence cuts off his own foot, crawls across the room, and shoots Adam--- although he is purposeful, and ensures that the wound will not be fatal for his companion.

Lawrence crawls out of the room, and promises Adam that he will return, and that he will bring help when he comes back.

All of the above information is consistent with how I will write Lawrence. However, I will make major divergences from canon, as I describe these differences below.

In the canon material, Lawrence never returns for Adam, and Adam perishes in the room where they were chained up together.

Lawrence becomes an accomplice to the killer who forced him to dismember himself.

As I write Lawrence, he returned for Adam, and he sent help for him straight away; he never became an accomplice.

He recalls spending time with Adam, following their rescues and surgeries, and the pair of them became quite close. They found solace in the fact that they shared horrors together, and Adam is the man who awoke Lawrence to the fact that he is attracted to men.

Lawrence became set on becoming a better person. He was kinder to his patients, and set out to be less arrogant. While he still loves Alison deeply, both of them knew that they no longer were attracted to each other, so they divorced. Lawrence promised to be a better father to their daughter, and he began down this path with actions and words alike, until he was transported to Sydney.

What was their fake life like?:

Lawrence’s fake life resembles his real one in several ways.

He recalls being raised by parents who loved him, but who were always fighting, and who never made efforts to ensure that their son was not affected by their squabbles.

Lawrence recalls a lonely childhood without many friends, and most of the ones that he had were imaginary, and lived only in his books.

Coming up, Lawrence was an avid reader, and it was clear that he was highly intelligent. When he was accepted into medical school, and later practiced as a doctor, people began to take great interest in him.

He became an esteemed student and practitioner, and his arrogance developed to compensate for all of the other things that he lacked, but craved--- family of his own, friends, and a sense of belonging.

In the early days of his work as a medical doctor, Lawrence was driving with friends, and none of them were paying much attention to the road ahead of them. In a horrific crash, none of his friends, nor the other driver, were killed, but all of them suffered painful injuries. Most were pulled muscles, and broken ankles.

But Lawrence’s were the worst. He shattered multiple bones in his leg, none of which healed correctly, even with all of the best medical care. Lawrence came to use a cane in his thirties, and while he was grateful to later walk away from the incident, it never leaves his mind for long.

In his fake-but-turned-real life, Lawrence is dating a man named Tom, who he lives with in Sydney. In his fake memories, it was not until he met Tom, when he realized that he was attracted to men. Lawrence had his fair share of girlfriends during his youth, but he never stayed interested in them for long.

In his fake memories, Lawrence does not think that he had a wife or children. But once he realized that he held other, real memories, he learned about the roles that Alison and Diana played in his life, and he is desperate to have them back with him.

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ask-ivory · 5 years

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Chapter one: Welcome to Shade

Those hunk muffins earned it! I don't care what they thought. If they were so worried about their little dust company, then I would have sided with the Schnees.

"I'm done with dust." I told my stepfather, as we parted ways, "I want to be a huntress; a hero. And nothing is going to stop me!"

Those days were far behind me. Weeks of prepping and training were way in the past. I had passed the entrance exam, my real parents filled out the paperwork, my documents were handed in and I was on an airship bound for Shade Academy, in Vacuo.

My bags were packed the previous night (courtesy of my sand servents). I had barely slept last night, because questions like "what is Shade gonna be like?", "Who will be on my team?", "How many friends will I make?", And many more floated in my head. Now I was actually going there, flying at a hundred miles an hour towards my dream come true.

I wasn't the only one here on this airship. A hundred people, at least my age or older, were here on this airship with me. The Vacuo news was on the screen systems near the windows, (probably to keep the passengers from getting bored, because if so, things tend to get pretty ugly). The news was announcing the latest robberies from the technical laboratories in Vacuo. Normally the news doesn't really interest me, but now that I'm training, I'm beginning to wonder if a huntress fought more then just the Creatures of Grimm. If so, then I would also stop crime.

"Focus on the task at hand," I told myself, "Train and prepare to be a huntress first, fight evil Grimm and other junk like that later."

I gazed out the window, thinking about my brother Basin. He was already at the academy, starting on his third year. He told me about how great Shade Academy is, and sent me pictures of the school.

He also sent me pictures of his team, Team BLCK (Pronounced Black), and told me about each teammate. On his team, he had a pair of fox faunus twins, whose names were Larry and Kerry Steel (get it? Steal? Steel? I just got that). He also had a another guy named Cade Blackstone. All of them were the same age and followed in Basin's leadership (well, most of the time anyway).

He even snuck some pictures of his classes that he had attended in his first and second years (spoiler alert, he got into detention for that, but with a semblance like his, that rarely happened).

Anyway, before the day came to move here, I looked at the pictures over and over again, memorizing the school grounds, my brother's teammates (just in case they decided to kill me with pranks), and teachers' mad faces when they caught Basin taking illegal pictures in class (heh heh).

I thought about pulling my scroll out again to look at the pictures again, but then the news shut off on the screens and a holographic image of a woman appeared. She was tall with long black hair. Her bare arms were adorn with golden bracelets and she wore a sleeveless dress that faded with purple to blue at the waist, all the way down to green at the bottom. In her hair was a golden headset, decorated with peacock feathers. She had a pair of, what looked like fans, strapped to her golden belt. She had golden high heels that were so ridiculously high that she looked like she had ballerina slippers on. Her face was beautiful but in a harsh mother-knows-best-now-don't-cross-my-path-or-i-will-have-to-step-on-you, kind of way. She wore blue eyeshadow, which matched her eyes.

"Welcome back all returning students and greetings to our new first year students." Her voice sounded stern, like she had spent her free time yelling at bad puppies. "I am Professor Hera Peacock, your combat trainer for this year. You are all very privileged to be attending this excellent institution. The world of Remnant is moving at an incredible length of pace, maintaining it's peace and prosperity. As future hunters, your training here will be vital to your future career. I wish you the best of luck"(I don't think she meant this part)" and welcome again to Shade Academy." The hologram turned off after finishing the welcome speech.

I looked out the window to find that the airship was just yards away from the landing docks. I ran to get my bags, but I bumped into someone.

"Ow!" I exclaimed.

"Ohff!" My accident responded. We both fell backwards.

"Sorry." I apologized, getting up, "I'm soo-" then my voice left me speechless. The girl I bumped into stood up.

The girl wore a sleeveless dress that started at gold and faded to orange and ended with blue. The dress itself was short at the knees. Her hair matched her dress, but only matched to the fading orange part. She wore a black belt, with pouches for dust on the side, and a pair of golden swords, that appeared to be folded in half, were attached to the back. She wore dark blue shoes with star patterns on them. Her eyes were a light crystal blue. But her wings were the thing that unnerved me.

On her back was a blinding white pair of wings. She was definitely a faunus, but she was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. In the few months that I lived in Vacuo, I had seen faunus of all types and traits: everything from ram's horns to lizard's tails. I had only heard of faunus with wings from the stories my father told me, the tales of the Great War. One of the things he said was that after the Siege of Vacuo, the winged faunus who fought with Vacuo just left and never returned. I heard people say that the chances of a faunus born with wings were pretty rare.

But here I was. And here she was.

"You can stop starring now." the girl said. "Just please, don't make any jokes."

"Oh no!" I protested "I wasn't planning on making jokes about your wings. It's just, I've never seen anything like this before. Their beautiful."

The girl seemed to brighten up at this comment, "You really think so?"

"Of course! I heard that having wings is a really rare trait. I've never seen it in person before."

"Yeah..." the girl muttered "That's what everyone thinks. Their not exactly right though...."

"Wait. What?"

"Nothing." the girl held out her hand. "I'm Lyra by the way. Lyra Phoebus."

"And I'm Aliar Ivory." We shoke hands.

"Oh!" Lyra exclaimed,"you are a first year student, are you?"

"Of course." I responded. "I'm so excited to start the year. But..." I hesitated "I'm also kinda nervous too. Even though my brother told me what Shade Academy's like, I still don't know what to expect."

"Is your brother a huntsman?"

"No, he's a third year. His name is Basin Obsidian, and he's the leader of team BLCK." I pulled my scroll out of my purse. "I've got pictures of him and his team. And..." I added with a smile, "He managed to sneak some pictures of the classes we'll be attending. Wanna see?"

She was about to respond when the speakers overhead turned on, "Attention students, we are about to land. Please bring all personal belongings with you as you leave the airship. Another reminder to reclaim your baggage and suitcases before you enter the school. For returning students, please meet up with your team leaders and move your things to your assigned dorms. For first years, once you have retrieved your items, please drop them off at the Great Hall. All students will meet in the auditorium for the ordination speech in eighty minutes. Welcome to Shade Academy."

People started flocking towards the exit. I could feel the ship landing slowly under my feet.

"Come on!" Lyra grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards the door,"The pictures can wait. We're about to see the real thing!"

She dragged me out the door into the golden sun. The cool atmosphere of the airship turned to scorching desert heat in a heartbeat. Momentarily, I was binded by the shinning rays of the sun. When I adjusted to the light, I couldn't find the words to describe what I saw, or how I felt.

In front of me was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life. Shade Academy was a huge palace-like building, maby eighty years old, it was several stories high, surrounded by a tropical court yard. It looked really good which is saying alot because nowadays, it's hard to find beauty in Vacuo. Now I'm not saying that it was perfect, because it wasn't. Some of the sandstone benches were broken, and the marble memorial wall was well worn. Not to mention the entire courtyard had a decent layer of sand covering it, but this was Vacuo, so there wasn't much they could do about that, (but that kind of thing doesn't really bother me very much.) Despite all it's flaws, I loved it. It was even grander then Atlas.

"This place is great!" Lyra exclaimed.

"And packed." I added, "come on. Let's get our things."

One thing I learned the hard way about Vacuo: all sence of order and organization is tossed out the window.

There was no line or anything. Just a crowd of people trying to get to there things before any of it got stolen. We squeezed through the crowd and barely managed to get our stuff (not-so-cool fact: it took us at least twenty minutes, which is generous because it probably took longer.) The airship wasn't too tightly packed, but other airships were coming in, some had even more people than our airship. All of the luggage was delivered in a big package mess of chaos, so we had to shuffle through hundreds if not thousands of bags and hope we didn't grab the wrong luggage. It was so crowded that at one point, Lyra said that she needed air. So she climbed on a random guy's back while he was leaning over to grab a suitcase, and leaped into the air,(yes, dear readers, we somehow managed to stay together the whole time, though, I'm still not entirely sure how.)

Much later, we finally stumbled out of the crowd. I was sweating so hard, I wondered how I didn't faint. We collapsed on one of the stone benches. Small groups of students (probably teammates, probably friends) were walking around the courtyard talking about their vacation time, or maybe some of them were new students becoming friends. Most of the students were trying desperately not to trip and fall as they hauled their things indoors. A few managed, but others had no such luck. One poor guy accidentally opened his suitcase while he was pulling it out of a sand dune, and all of his things fell out. Another guy, maybe a friend or family member, dropped his things too help his buddy out. It made me glad to see that, even though it was a rough start for everyone, the school and the students still kept the same respect that Vacuo had for it's people.

Well... almost everyone.

"Hey! Your in my seat!"

Startled, I turned to see a tall blonde girl barely managing to stand straight and tall in her fancy clothes. And when I say fancy, I mean something a casual Atlisian citizen would wear: a sleeveless pink dress with a faint flower print towards the bottom. She wore a pair of hot pink high heels that were so ridiculously high, that I thought she was going for the floating princess look. Her face was covered in a super heavy layer of makeup. Her blonde hair was streaked with pink all over the place, and she was oviously wearing hair extensions, because there was no way that her hair was long enough to touch her butt.

"I'm sorry," I said as I looked at her sideways, "you must have the wrong bench."

"And the wrong school." Lyra added.

The blonde gave Lyra a distasteful look. "No one asked for your opinion, weirdo. By the way, are those pillows on your back? Or are you supposed to be some kind of 'rare' species or something?"

Lyra's face burned with hate "They're wings. And before you ask, yes, they are real."

"Well," the blonde sneered "I don't know what kind of trash is going through the headmistress' mind, recruiting freaks like you into one of the most famous combat schools in the world. You're definitely not worthy of even being here."

I was so mad that I got to my feet in an instant. "Well at least this is the most friendly kingdom in Remnant. In Atlas, they don't give a dime about anyone unless your rich. They definitely don't like faunus. And because of that, I think that Atlas is a crappy kingdom. I bet that you come from a rich, spoiled, ignorant, family who only cares about themselves. I wonder what would've made them hate you so much for them to send you to place that's to low for your standards."

She was so mad, that I thought she was going to blow a fuse. "What?! How dare you just assume..."

"I'm not assuming!" I snarled. "I was raised in Atlas. And I know first hand how awful the people are."

"You traitor!" She shrieked. "How dare you betray your home kingdom like..."

"Like what?" A taller girl walked up. She had deep red eyes, which shone behind a pair of circular spectacles. Her long brown hair was tied back in twin braids, and her bangs with red streaks were parted. She mainly wore dark red and brown colors, with gold as an accent. The only thing I could say was different about her, besides her clothes and her neat appearance, was her accent. I wouldn't say she sounded atlesian. Maybe she was half and half? I don't know. I couldn't tell how she felt because she looked pretty emotionless, but my guts told me she was far from pleased. I could tell because her position was rather tense and her tone was rather stiff.

"This little brat is talking trash about her home kingdom! She needs to be put in her place!" The blonde shook her head, flouncing her overdyed hair. The other girl rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip. She used her other hand to push her spectacles in place.

"Sounds more like you need to be put in your place. If you wanted people who looked, walked and talked like you as friends, then you should have gone to Atlas. You made a poor choice in Academy chosing. Your physic doesn't even look huntress worthy. It's a surprise you even passed the Shade academy entrance exam." The girl bluntly stated, causing the blonde to glare daggers right through her newfound enemy.

"I-it's not my fault I was sent to this garbage kingdom! I was forced to! By my parents!" The blonde protested.

"Huh, how fun. It's a shame really. If this is an Atlesian tradition, then it must suck like crazy. What forced your parents to send you here, when you could have been at home, spoiled rotten to the core?" The girl grinned wryly. Boy, there was no end to the shame this girl could endow upon that blonde.

"And besides," I added, "Technically, I was born in Vacuo. So that gives you no valid excuse to call me racist."

"And I've visited Atlas in the past." Lyra said in a sour tone. "Do you want to know what I think of Atlas? It's an illusion. An illusion to all the people outside and in. People look at Atlas and think it's the best and most advanced kingdom of the present. But like any illusion, it can shatter in an instant. If you think Atlas is a great kingdom, then you can believe that if you want to. Nothing lasts forever."

"I've been born and raised in Atlas, and I will say that my lifestyle sucked, which is why I left to live in Vale. My only friend was a faunus, who was beaten and discriminated because of her faunus traits and family status. I agree with the standard that Atlas is nothing more then a mere fantasy. You can enjoy your beliefs, but watch where it will lead you, because it may lead you straight to your doom." The dark girl joined in. She wasn't even fazed by the Barbie girl's reaction. She just glared laser eyes through her plastic frame.

The blonde girl was looking at all of us with a murderous glare, "Well, I can't stand for any of this trash. I'm heading inside to find more sensible people to talk to. I think you all are a bunch of a..."

Her cuss word ( I'll let you guess which one,) was cut off by a squeal of joy that was so loud, that I almost had to cover my ears. It came from all the way across the courtyard, where the students were being dropped off from the airships. I couldn't see who exactly screamed, but she was definitely loud enough to silence the whole courtyard.

"Wow." I said in a small voice, "Someone's definitely excited."

"I bet even the people inside heard that, too." Lyra added. The dark girl nodded in agreement.

After a moment of silence, the blonde said, "Let this be a warning to you. If I see you ever again, then I will beat the stuffing out of you."

She gathered her four hot pink colored bags, and started struggling to get her things to the academy.

"What a jerk," the dark girl said, "I hope I'm never on a team with that girl."

"Um..." I looked more closely at the stranger and instantly realized something: the only luggage she had was a leather backpack. "Hey. Where are your bags?" I asked.

"I dropped them off at the Grand Hall." She said casually, "I kept my backpack on me just in case."

"Huh." Lyra nodded, "ok, who are you?"

"I'm Dracella. Dracella von Burgundy."

"Hi, there." I said "I'm Aliar Ivory." I helt out my hand. Dracella took my hand, and we shook.

"And I'm Lyra Phoebus. " Lyra shook hands with the new girl.

"Are you an Ivory?" asked Dracella.

"I am." I responded, "but I'm not into business, I'm a fighter."

"Interesting." Dracella said. "My uncle told me about the Ivory family. My parents don't like you guys."

"Um... Does this make us enemies?"

"No. In order for us to be enemies, we have to hate each other. I don't hate you."

Lyra let out her breath like she was relieved, "Thank goodness. Cause I thought you were gonna..."

"Take a selfie!!!" A squeaky voice behind me exclaimed.

I almost jumped out of my shoes. Behind us was the girl with the exact same voice that echoed throughout the courtyard. Except, she wasn't a girl, she was a faunus. She was wearing a vertically stripped skirt patterned with black and white. She wore a magenta colored shirt with short puffy sleeves, and a darker purple button-up vest on top of that. She had a pair of dark purple high heeled boots on. Also, she was wearing a tie across her neck. I usually thought that ties were worn by business workers, but she wore it like a practical joke. Her crazy, purple colored hair and matching colored cat ears only made her look more unprofessional, but in a good way. Maybe it was her black gloves that gave off the message that she wasn't here to mess around. With a folding fan on her belt, a scoll in her hand, and a look of pure craziness on her face, she looked like she was ready to fight an army of Grimm, then take a bunch of selfies of herself right next to the decaying corpses. Then, she'd probably take selfies with her scroll on every inch of the campus.

All in all, she looked like someone from the lower classes of Atlas, or maybe someone from Minstral.

"How did you get here?" Asked Lyra.

"I took the scenic route." She sounded like a girl who was living the life of a party. "Oh! And my name is Catness Magenta."

We all exchanged names. Then Dracella said that she had to go text her cousin before the welcoming ceremony, and she ran into the school.

"So," Catness asked, "Why aren't you two inside the building?"

I face palmed myself. "Right!" Then I turned to Lyra, "We should get our bags to the Grand Hall."

"Well if you wanna talk later, then I'm always available." Catness offered. Then she smiled, flashing two rows of shiny white teeth, and disappeared.

For a minute we didn't say anything. Lyra piped up first. "Huh. That was a thing."

"We should probably go drop our stuff off." I suggested. I picked up my black duffle bag and slung it over my shoulder. Then I grabbed my two white suit cases by the handles and got to my feet. Lyra grabbed a golden suitcase and a blue duffle bag.

"Yeah," she agreed, "We don't want to be late."

I amplified my Aura and the sand beneath my feet solidified, creating a solid ground for me to walk on.

"Lyra," I told her, "I may have just met you and I think you're a good person. I hope maybe we can be on a team together. Or at least be friends."

Lyra smiled. "Well we can be friends. And I think I could definitely live with you on the same team as me. But..." Her smile faded, "I don't know how they pick the teams. Let's just hope the system's friendly enough to at least let us make a choice."

"One can only hope." I muttered. "Wanna meet me at the auditorium after we drop our stuff off?"

"Sounds fun to me." Then she took off, flying over the scorching sand, with her suitcase dangling in the air.

"Oh yeah." I smiled as I walked towards the Grand Hall. "This may be a tough first year, but it's gonna be fun."

@saiyoyuutsume, @cinnamon-pineforest, @taiyang-too-long, @doctoroobleck, @fallentitan98, @ask-stjerne-a-fallende, @ask-dracella-von-burgundy, @ask-professor-goodwitch

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softboywriting · 6 years

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Y’all need to know something that’s going on with me right now. I’m making this post in your best interest because I feel like it’s important that other writers and bloggers who follow me should know. If you follow or contact the user ironfurycollector, they are not an honest person and faked their own death to me.

Okay so I started talking to her in September and it was great. both Shawn fans and she loved my fics. we exchanged a few pics, and we talked about our lives a little bit from time to time. but i started to wonder why she never posted anything on her blog, only liked everything. no big deal. some people just dont reblog a lot.

then there was some outtake pics she bought that she was gonna email to me and when she sent them they were from her ‘brother’s email. she said something about hers being hacked a while back. now the question is, why not just make a new one? it takes ten seconds. (this email fiasco can be backed up by another trusted friend, more to come on this.)

it was a red flag but i ignored it and moved on. we talked more and more about shawn and my fics. (side note: some time in December she sent me a pic that her friend recently took but she was in a hoodie and a puffy coat, it’s dead ass summer in AUS rn. NOT coat weather. i mentioned this in the chat but she just moved on to another topic) but then i started getting really suspicious after she entered this relationship with her brother’s best friend. see, it was too perfect, too ‘fic’ like but i just went with it cuz it was interesting and maybe he was this good and i was a sucker for it.

but then it just got over the top. the stories, the details, it just was too much for a first time relationship and the guy/her being only 18-19 years old.

so at one point he supposedly left a little scavenger hunt of notes around her place when she fell asleep and he had to leave. this was only a week or two into their relationship. pretty unbelievable. so then shes sending me pics of the little riddle notes for her scavenger hunt and the handwriting changed half way thru. also, one of the pics there was a guy’s leg in the pic. and she lied to me and said it was a fake one her brother pranked her with on Halloween. well. i called her on that, asking for a pic of it and she fessed up to lying saying ‘she was embarrassed cuz she couldn't figure out the clues and she had her friend Bradley come over to help her’. which, honestly sure i’d buy but why lie? and how fast did he get there? smells fishy.

moving on. i was confused cuz she said her friend was named Bradley. well. that was also the name on the ‘brother’s email’ she was using. i called her on this. she said they are both Bradley and she calls her brother B. I was iffy. What are the chances. Honestly.

At this time i called her out and told her i thought she was cat fishing me. and asked to see a pic of her with the notes from the scavenger hunt. which she took forever to send a pic, making up the excuse of being in the bathroom, and they getting dressed but finally did. it appeared she was holding the notes but idk tbh. (in all her pics shes sent it’s clearly the same girl)

Fast forward and she has this wild weekend with her now boyfriend/ brother’s best friend. like so much sex. it’s literally impossible how long they supposedly went and how many times her boyfriend supposedly came. it was just too wild and for her claiming to be a virgin, it was too much and he, being a supposedly 18yr old was way too experienced sounding. seriously. it was like a fic.

so like i asked for a pic of her boyfriend cuz supposedly he’s so shawn like and shit and all i’ve seen was this one generic pic of him (god knows where that came from) and she can’t get any on facebook and blah blah. now i asked several times for pics of this boy (shes with him all the time) but she always had an excuse. always.

at this point im just so suspicious she’s lying about everything. now her boyfriend is going off for a sports camp thing for a month in the US. shes sad. okay. but then about two days later she says she has some family drama and won’t be available for a few days. im like okay. shit happens.sure.

she tells her best friend ‘Bradley’ to message me on tumblr so i wouldn’t be lonely. so he had to make a tumblr cuz ‘he just used hers to read your fic’. so im like okay sure. well. while i talked to him i noticed he speaks, types, has the same exact quirks as her. i mean so specifically the same. i use lmao a lot, too much perhaps. and she started using it too cuz we talked all the time, you pick things up from people. but for this guy, whom ive never spoken with and i assume would have their own quirks and way of speaking, to be the exact same is super fishy to me.

so a few days later she texts me (i have her cell # and have since just after the boyfriend thing started) and shes like saying that she’s not in AUS anymore and that her boyfriend just COULDNT be with out her and paid for a flight to come stay with him for a week in the US while he’s doing his sport thing. Not sure where an 18 year old boy gets money like that let alone how she was staying with him, specially if he was on an exchange program for a school function. red flag. im suspicious.

so then she says ‘oh its so boring here all day with out him cuz hes at camp for sports” and im like thinking well....you could text me all day or message me on tumblr but you don’t? doesn't make sense. so when i get a chance to talk to her, she says shes heading home soon. and i ask what the family drama was and she says something about her aunt. and i dont remember how it came up but i asked about her living situation back home. cuz previously she’d sent me stuff about living with a roommate but now she was saying she lived with her brother. so i asked. and she said she lives at home but her parents have been away for a while but they just came back and then there was drama with her aunt. like, what? that just didn’t make sense to me at all. she never mentioned moving or anything and always said she lived with her brother (never mentioned parents ever before and also where the fuck would they be for so long??). (also side note, when we first started talking she said she had a horse/pony and his name was Waffles i think and she loved him so much and was always out there with him. never ever heard about this again. ever.)

so here’s the point where i am just done with this and i have a bad feeling and i can’t ignore it anymore. she tells me her boyfriend will be back soon and i should go talk to Bradley about my concept i wanted to tell her about. i told her im not as comfortable talking to him about it cuz it’s not the same. she insists. and then...she calls him Larry. and im like what? who? and she tells me this story how that’s his nickname cuz her mom would call them that when she got mad when they were kids. (that makes no sense) and she called him that since he beat up some guy for her in high school (still makes no sense and now im absolutely done with this not adding up shit) also this whole time ‘Bradley’ hasn’t been on for a day or two. and suddenly as soon as i say goodbye to her. he’s suddenly online. Fishy.

I decide not to talk and i block him to see what happens. nothing happens. so now i decide to take this story to a friend on here who i trust a lot. she tells me to block her and see what happens. see if she notices. a day later and she’s supposed to be home from the US and back in AUS. i get a text, something about a car accident on the way home from the airport. I don’t respond.

at this point my trusted friend mentions a user randomly contacting her and sending her outtakes in exchange for writing a oneshot a while back. and that the email was weird and ‘fishy’ and ‘from her brothers email.’ low and behold. it’s the same person i’ve been talking to. and she told my trusted friend that she got the pics ‘from her friend’ when she told me should bought them (with what money idk cuz they were expensive $80-$100 per sets and yet she was complaining about bring broke??)

I go on with my blogging and writing. next day. she doesn't text me. another day and she sends something along the lines of “hope you’re okay i noticed you haven’t been active.” I don’t respond because I want to see if she notices I've blocked her and asks me about it.

another day passes.

I don’t get any messages about being blocked, or asking what’s going on or why can’t she see my tumblr, etc. Things that an actual person and normal friend would probably be sending texts about far more frequently than just one or two texts.

so then i get a text today from her cell that says this

which i don’t believe for one second. so i take it to my trusted friend. and she tells me that she has liked a few of her posts since last night. oh. really. blogging from the grave huh? So i ask my trusted friend to message her. to see if she replies. and low and behold:

I’m honestly pissed off and hurt. I called this person my friend. I grew to trust this person and share my days/stories/ideas with them. I have no idea how much is true of what she’s ever told me. I have no idea if she is a real person or another person pretending. But even if all the other stuff that I was iffy on and sent up red flags for me were somehow bizarre truths, this text is a lie. She faked her own death and I am calling her out on this. Because I won’t be friend with a person like this. And I highly suggest no one is because this is wrong and sick.

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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The Weekend Warrior 3/19/21: SXSW, Zack Snyder’s Justice League,The Courier, City of Lies, Happily and More!

Remember a couple weeks back when I stated the plan was to bring back the Weekend Warrior as a regular weekly series again? Yeah, well if you looked for a column last week and wondered what happened, I just didn’t have time to write one. And I also just haven’t been able to get back on the ball in terms of writing reviews. It just takes a lot of time to watch all the movies let alone review them the way I did last year. I honestly have no idea how I did it last year, but things have been busier than ever at Below the Line, which does throw a bit of a spanner into any extracurricular plans.

The big event this week is the annual SXSW Film Festival, which I’ll be taking part in virtually, and somewhat tangentially, watching as much as I can while still doing other things. It’s been a while since I’ve attended SXSW in person, but it tends to have great docs, especially music docs. In fact, this year’s Opening Night Film is the documentary, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, about Demi Lovato’s drug overdose from 2018 and its aftermath. Other music docs of interest include Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché, about the late frontwoman from early punk band X-Ray Spex through the eyes of her daughter; Mary Wharton’s doc Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free made from archival footage of the late singer making his 1994 record “Wildflowers”; Alone Together about Charlie XCX’s pandemic record; Under the Volcano about George Martin’s AIR Studios Montserrat; and it gives another chance to see Edgar Wright’s excellent, The Sparks Brothers, which was picked up by Focus Features after Sundance. There’s also an amazing doc about Selma Blair’s fight with MS, Introducing, Selma Blair, which is equal parts heartbreaking and inspirational.

SXSW also has pretty solid Midnighters, and there’s a number of those I’m also looking forward to, including Travis Stevens’ Jakob’s Wife, starring horror legends Larry Fassenden and Barbara Crampton, who were so great in my buddy Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here. (No coincidence since Stevens produced that movie.) And I hope to watch a few others like Lee Haven Jones’ The Feast, Jacob Gentry’s Broadcast Signal Intrusion, and Alex Noyer’s Sound of Violence. We’ll see how much I get to see this week, cause it’s a lot of movies over only a couple days, basically from Tuesday through Saturday.

Closer to home at the Metrograph, the still-closed movie theater is doing a virtual series called “Bill Murray X6” which has already shown Lost in Translation and What about Bob? With Rushmore screening until Thursday, and then The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou available through Friday. Become a digital member for just $5 a month! This past weekend I saw a really amazing 7-part doc series called Untitled Pizza Movie by David Shapiro. In fact, I stayed up late on Sunday to watch the whole thing since it was leaving the digital screeners, but it’s a very entertaining, intriguing and personal story about the director, his friend and partner in crime Leeds, who he went around to different NYC pizza shops in the ‘90s trying to find the perfect slice, and then they come across pizzaman Andrew Belluci at the world-famous Lombardi’s in Soho. The project that took over 20 years to make follows what happened to the three men, but mainly Leeds and Belluci as they have ups and downs that ultimately leads to Belluci starting his own pizza joint in Queens. Everything that happens in between is quite fascinating.

I saw a couple other movies this past weekend including Robin Wright’s Land, which I quite enjoyed, and the rom-com Long Weekend, which came out last Friday but I totally missed. Land is a pretty amazing directorial debut that’s mostly a one-woman show with her character alone in the wilderness until she runs into trouble and meets Demian Bichir’s kindly Samaritan and they become friends. Directed by Stephen Basilone, Long Weekend stars Finn Wittrock and Zoe Chao in what starts as a meet cute rom-com and turns into something much deeper with a couple sci-fi-tinged twists, a bit like Palm Springs, but much more grounded. I loved the two leads and how Basilone made a romantic comedy that actually was romantic and very funny, as well. Both movies I recommend.

Getting into some of the streamer offerings this week, ZACK SNYDER’s JUSTICE LEAGUE will hit HBO Max on Thursday, so we can finally see whether or not that extra money and work paid off. I’ll be reviewing this over at Below the Line, so won’t spend too much time here. I figure that anyone who has been waiting for this will watch it, as will anyone who has been curious about it. As you can read from my review, I was quite impressed by the film as an achievement in finishing what is clearly a far superior film to the 2017 theatrical release. Some of the highlights include great stuff between Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and his father, a far more fun introduction to The Flash that was cut from the 2017 release and just some insanely crazy good action. I can’t wait to watch the movie again.

Kicking off on Friday is the anticipated Marvel Studios series, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney), bringing back the title characters played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, who were introduced in one of the MCU’s better movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I was sent the first episode and unfortunately, there’s an embargo until Thursday afternoon, but I do think that MCU fans are gonna be thrilled with the first episode, especially with the Falcon’s opening action sequence, which is like something right out of the movies.

Okay, fine, so let’s get to some new movies and some real reviews…

Probably the movie with the widest release this weekend will be THE COURIER (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions), starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which I’m guessing will be in 1,000 or so theaters. The movie premiered at Sundance way back in 2020 under the significantly worse title of “Ironbark” with plans to release it later in the year, but then COVID happened. I’m not sure if Roadside Attractions planned for this to be an awards movie, but after a few delays, releasing it in mid-March just days after the Oscar nominations, I’m guessing probably not?

Directed by Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) from a screenplay by Tom O’Connor (The Hitman’s Bodyguard… wait, WHAT?), this Cold War spy thriller set in the early ‘60s stars Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne, a British businessman who is coerced by agents from MI6 and the CIA (repped by Rachel Brosnahan) to smuggle Russian secrets from military man Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze). Greville’s trips to Moscow start getting more and more dangerous under the shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and his wife (the always great Jessie Buckley) wants him to stop taking the trips. It all leads up to a pretty exciting second act as the KGB starts to figure out what Greville and Oleg have been up to and work to put a stop to it.

I have to admit that as much as I enjoy a good spy-thriller, a lot of this reminded me of Cumberbatch’s earlier film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – yes, the John Le Caree adaptation, which I was never a particularly big fan of. This has similarities in that it starts out fairly slow, making me think this might be one of those well-made, well-acted movies that are just plain boring cause the subject doesn’t interest me. I’m sure when this was greenlit, there was probably more relevance to the situation between the U.S. and Russia, although this is obviously a British production and maybe something better to watch on the Beeb than in a movie theater.

In general, the stuff with the two men and their families tends to be the best part of the movie. I wasn’t familiar with Merab Ninidze beforehand, but he’s a really good actor who holds his own in scenes with Cumberbatch. Although Cumberbatch’s performance is significantly better here than in The Mauritanian, that’s definitely a better movie, so even in the last act which sees Wynne in a Russian jail, it just doesn’t compare. This is the second film with Rachel Brosnahan in which she didn’t really impress me much after hearing how great she is on Mrs. Maisel. Even so, the movie did make me want to go back and rewatch the beginning again to see if maybe I wasn’t as focused on it, as it should be.

As far as box office, I don’t have much hope for this making more than $2 or 3 million this weekend, since it seems more like a prestige platform release that would have to build audiences from rave reviews or positive word-of-mouth. Coming out so long after its festival debut (kinda like that Thomas Edison movie a few years back) may have helped people forget about the midling festival reviews. Even so, this movie just doesn’t have much buzz or interest from #FilmTwitter who has had its tongue so far up the superhero movie ass this week between Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to pay much attention to this. (Hey, facts is facts!)

Johnny Depp and Forrest Whitaker star in Brad Furman’s crime-thriller CITY OF LIES (Saban Films), which is about the real-life search for the killer of the Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls with Depp playing Detective Russell Poole, who ended up on the case in 1997, and Whitaker playing reporter Jack Jackson, doing a story on Smalls for the 20thanniversary of the unsolved murder.

Based on the book “Labyrinth” (the movie’s original title), it’s a story that takes place in two time periods, Los Angeles in the ‘90s after the Rodney King beating and L.A. riots and how it’s made the criminal element that surrounds rap mogul Suge Night. It begins with Poole investigating the death of a black police officer named Gaines, shot by a white police officer (Shea Whigham) in what is seemingly a road rage incident. As Poole investigates, he learns about police corruption in the force including a number of officers tied directly to Knight.

As Jackson interviews Poole to try and find out who killed Biggie, we flashback to Poole’s investigation and interaction with some of those corrupt cops and being put into extremely dangerous situations. The movie isn’t bad, especially the scenes between Whitaker and Depp, who gives a far more grounded performance than we’ve seen from him in recent years. Even so, the performance that really impressed me was Toby Huss as Poole’s superior, who just brings something new to the tough head detective role we haven’t really seen.

Regardless of what you think of Depp’s activities off-camera, this is a fairly solid crime thriller (as was Scott Cooper’s Black Mass), and though you never actually get to see Biggie, Tupac or Suge Night, it’s an interesting examination into a period in L.A. that seems so long ago but still rings true to what’s been going on in the last year.

BenDavid Grabinski’s HAPPILY (Saban/Paramount) is a dark comedy-thriller starring Joel McHale and Kerry Bishé as Tom and Janet, a happily married couple who annoy their friends by still having sex on the regular whenever they possibly can. In fact, their friends decide to uninvite Tom and Janet to their planned couples’ weekend because they’re so annoyed by them. One day, a mysterious man (played by Stephen Root) shows up at Tom and Janet’s house, one thing leads to another and they kill and bury him. Thinking that the man’s visit might be part of a friend’s prank, they go to the planned couples’ trip, trying to figure out if the prankster has gotten suspicious about what they’ve done.

For the sake of transparency, I met Grabinski at my very first Sundance ever as he was friends with some of my colleagues, but I never spent a ton of time talking to him. This film impressed me, since it’s a prtty strong debut from him, one that benefits greatly from a strong cast that includes Paul Scheer, Breckin Meyer (who I didn’t even recognize!), Charlyne Yi, Natalie Morales and more, making for a really solid ensemble dark comedy that reminded me of the tone of last year’s The Hunt or Ike Barinholtz’s The Oath or a great lesser-seen movie from last year, Robert Schwartzman’s The Argument. Dark comedy isn’t for everyone, and this is definitely a little mean-spirited at times, but more importantly, it’s very funny and tends to get crazier and crazier as it goes along.

More importantly, I loved Grabinski’s musical choices from Devo’s “Working in a Coal Mine” to not one but two OMD songs, and great use of Public Image Limited as well. The way Grabinski puts this together comes across like a hipper and fresher Hitchcock, and while it might not be for everyone, I could totally see this killing at a genre fest like Fantastic Fest or even this week’s SXSW. It’s clever and original and rather intriguing how Grabinski puts all the various pieces together.

Hitting Shudder on Thursday is Elza Kephart’s horror-comedy SLAXX (Shudder) about a possessed pair of jeans brought to life to punish the practices of a trendy clothing company, which it does by terrorizing the staff locked in overnight. Didn’t get to watch this before getting bogged down in SXSW but definitely looking forward to it.

Another horror film coming out this week is the horror anthology PHOBIAS (Vertical), exec. produced by the filmmaking team “Radio Silence” (Ready or Not) with segments directed by Camilla Belle, Maritte Lee Go, Joe Sill, Jess Varley and Chris von Hoffman. The stories follow five dangerous patients suffering from extreme phobias at a government facility with a crazed doctor trying to weaponize their fears.

Jeremy Piven stars in Paolo Pilladi’s LAST CALL (IFC Films) playing real estate developer Mick, who returns to his old Philly neighborhood and must decide whether to resurrect his family bar or raze it. I actually watched a few minutes of this, but apparently, IFC Films isn’t allowing reviews, so I have nothing more to say about the movie beyond the fact that it’s coming out on Friday.

Opening at the newly reopened Film Forum – currently doing a hybrid of in-person and virtual cinema – is Chris McKim’s doc WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER (Kino Lorber), premiering virtually on Friday. It’s about David Wojnarowicz, one of the loudest voices in the ACT-Up movement during the ‘80s who died of AIDS himself in 1992. (Correction: Film Forum actually isn’t reopening until April 2.)

A few other things this week include Aengus James’ doc AFTER THE DEATH OF ALBERT LIMA hitting Crackle about Paul Lima, a son obsessed with capturing his father’s murderer who has remained at large in Honduras due to a failed legal system. Because of this, Paul travels to the Honduras with two bounty hunters to find and capture the killer.

Lastly, streaming on Topic Thursday, there’s Parliament, directed by Elilie Noblet and Jeremie Sein, about a young man named Samy who arrives in Brussels after the Brexit vote trying to get a job into the European Parliament without really knowing how it works.

That’s all for this week. It might be a while before I can get The Weekend Warrior back into some sort of fighting weekly shape, but I’m doing the best I can right now, so let me know if you’re reading any of this.

#TheWeekendWarrior #TheCourier #Movies #Reviews #BoxOffice #ZackSnyderJusticeLeague #Happily #CityOfLies

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harryandlouisarehappilystrong · 7 years

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also a question about zayn—why doesn't he ever perform or even do interviews? from what I can see (which isn't much) it looks like he just wants privacy, talking about how he likes NYC bc he's more anonymous there and stuff. I feel like if I ever saw him irl I would leave him alone bc he doesn't want to be bothered. is it just bc he's shy? or is something wrong? and I know he has a bad team so does that mean he wants to perform but it's not being worked out? I'm so confused

Ohhhhh boy. Ok. -takes a deep breath- If you came for the standard Larrie party line on this one, you won’t find that here because I don’t believe for a single solitary second that he left because he wanted to. At all. Just a warning.

Zayn is 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% being sabotaged into not performing or doing interviews. At this point, I can’t understand why that’s not a fact to the rest of the fandom. That’s not normal!!!!!!! What team in their right mind would even ALLOW that???????????? The boys have mentioned before that when they were tired or didn’t want to do it, they were given Coke (the drink)/Redbull and sent on their merry way.

So for THE SAME EXACT TEAM to be like “you know what, Zayn? we’re just gonna let you cost us thousands of dollars in cancellations and bad press and souring relationships with fans and investors and just let you refuse to perform and cancel whenever you want because we’re good people.”

No. That’s insane. No team would EVER do that. One or two? Maaaybe. But EVERY SINGLE ONE in the last TWO FUCKING YEARS?????? That’s...... that’s blatant fucking sabotage.

And the worst, most insidious part about it is that everyone just accepts it because they trotted out this “crippling anxiety that keeps me from functioning” narrative, so whenever it happens everyone just shrugs their shoulders.

If Harry suddenly never performed again and cited anxiety - despite years’ worth of evidence - people would be furious.

I can’t remember which performance it was, but his backing band was there, ready to perform, his family was in the audience ready to see him...... and all of a sudden he cancelled just a few minutes before he was due to go on? After they had him stunting with Gigi just the day before in NYC? It’s insidious and disgusting and it makes me sick to my stomach.

Now I’m not saying that Zayn doesn’t have anxiety.... but anxiety as bad as they want you to believe - the same people who want you to believe that Louis’ a dad and Harry’s a home-wrecking whore who can’t keep his pants zipped around anyone over 30?

Anxiety so bad he’s only performed 3 times in 2 years despite apparently leaving 1D for a solo career (oh wait, it was anxiety, oh wait it was Perrie, oh wait it was a solo career, oh wait it was something else)? He made an album that was criminally under-promoted by Syco and RCA and is making ANOTHER ONE........ yet he still can’t perform it?

Or, oh wait, has his anxiety magically gone away yet? Didn’t he just recently say that? Or is he magically going to have crippling anxiety again that his team doesn’t even do a damn thing to help him with?

His mgmt team has BLATANTLY STATED that their only concern is breaking into the fashion world... which is the only area his career has shined lately............ but ONLY if he’s on Gigi’s arm or can name a pair of hideous shoes after her nasty racist ass.

Also, he’s NEVER ONCE IN TWO WHOLE YEARS GIVEN A SINGLE LIVE INTERVIEW TO ANYONE ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET.......... and people think that’s normal? Not even to Donatella Versace!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s NOT normal.

My personal opinion is that they can’t trust him to go off-script so they keep him locked away.

Ever notice how EVERY SINGLE bad thing he’s ever said about 1D is IN PRINT yet whenever he DOES give a pre-recorded interview he has nothing but love for 1D? Kinda like how Louis is only a raging homophobic shitbag who loves no one but his girlfriend in print, yet can’t be bothered to say more than her name in person?

Not to mention this recent cancellation with Japan. They moved it TWO TIMES only to in the end just straight up cancel it for “anxiety” or whatever pulled-out-of-their-ass thing they could bother to type out. You’re telling me that they couldn’t figure out ONE SINGLE TREATMENT for him to be able to perform? You’re telling me there isn’t ONE DOCTOR ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH that could help him? That they DIDN’T EVEN TRY? (which they’ve said) Hell, all they’ve publicly said they’ve done is to talk to Adele or Adele’s person who also has anxiety (and they have the same PR firm) ............ yet she still performs no question (before her throat problems).

(if he really had anxiety that bad, I’m glad they don’t force him to perform, but I 100000% don’t believe he does, so)

I’m sorry, but it’s just fucking ridiculous and an insult to my intelligence to believe that there’s absolutely nothing anyone could do to help Zayn, yet he’s still out there with a “music career” and a second album on the way..... that he’s not gonna even be able to tour. How do they expect fans to even WANT to buy tickets when no one knows if their date is gonna get canceled while they’re in the arena? That’s career suicide and absolute fucking madness.

I’m impatiently waiting for Syco/RCA to drop him because he doesn’t perform, get a good team who actually gives a fuck about him, for his anxiety to magically go away (and stay away), and for everything to be business as usual. Idk how long we’ll have to wait, but my ass is firmly planted in my chair until that day.

I feel so sorry for Zayn. My heart absolutely fucking breaks for him because none of it since March 17, 2015 has been fair to him at all. And yet he’s still forging ahead and being such a sweet, shining light when he could very well just let the sabotage twist him into a bitter, cruel, depressed shell.

I honestly have no fucking idea how he, or Louis, or Liam, or Harry even cope with all the bullshit they’re forced into doing. I’m just a fan who will never know a second of their lives and I know 100000000% without a doubt that I could not do it. I couldn’t. There’s no way. Yet they do. They blow me away every single day with their strength and courage.

Aaaaaaaaanyway, this is too fucking long, so I’m gonna stop my rant here. Feel free to check out my tags for more info on my feels, or come back if you have questions.

#Exit Sabotage #SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK #Anonymous

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ladyloveandjustice · 7 years

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The Great Ace Attorney Replay: Case 5, Part 4

PHOENIX AGAIN.

HIS FEVER IS ONLY 102 HE’S FINE. Nick no go back to bed.

If you examine the bridge it’s like “I hear this place has earthquakes. Which reminds me Edgeworth isn’t a fan of earthquakes.” OK THANKS FOR THAT GREAT FACTOID PHOENIX. Good to know what your first thought is whenever you hear the word “earthquakes”.

HI FRAN. Aw, I can’t present anything to her. I WANT TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ON EVERYTHING FRANZISKA COME ON.

“It’s probably the fever but she’s so openly hostile it’s almost cute” Phoenix thinks open hostility is adorable. We already knew this from re: everything with Miles but here is our confirmation. You are a strange man, Phoenix Wright.

Ohhhh no no one told him Pearl was missing COME ON GUYS.

Phoenix: “FIRST MAYA NOW PEARLS HOW MUCH MORE PAIN WILL THIS PAIN CAUSE ME”

aggggh Phoenix shh it’s gonna be okay

Phoenix: “STAY CALM I HAVE TO STAY CALM”

yes I too would flip the fuck out at the thought of Pearl coming to any harm. I’m glad someone’s having the correct response.

SHE’S OKAY THOUGH.

UGH FUCKING GODOT JESUS WHY I’M NOT EVEN GOING TO TALK ABOUT “U SHOULD HAVE MAGICALLY PROTECTED MIA WITH UR MAN POWERS” or the AWFUL BULLSHIT he says to Franziska. Why doesn’t she whip him. It’s ooc. LET HER WHIP HIM.

He’s all “YOU SENT MAYA TO HER DEATH”

um??? He did not send her here?? SHE CAME ON HER OWN? IT WAS HER IDEA?? SHE WAS THE ONE WHO BOUGHT HIM ALONG? Does Godot literally think every decision in a woman’s life has to be made by the man physically closest to her? Ok yes he does I’m not surprised but JESUS.

“N-No! I didn’t send Maya to her death” YES BECAUSE YOU DID NOT SEND HER HERE IT WAS HER IDEA TO COME HERE DON’T FUCKING LISTEN TO HIM NICK JESUS.

Godot: “You’d better pray that friend of yours brings the accused back quickly”.

YOU KNOW WHAT I’M PRAYING MILES DOES. PUNCH U IN THE FACE WHEN HE HEARS WHAT YOU SAID TO HIS SISTER.

I’M ACTUALLY PRAYING ANYONE WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE. ANYONE. I’D PREFER MAYA OR FRANZISKA OR MIA-SUMMONED-THROUGH-PEARL BUT I’M DOWN FOR ANYONE.

HELL EVEN LARRY BUTZ CAN DO IT. EVEN HE PROBABLY HAS MORE RESPECT FOR WOMEN THAN YOU AND THAT IS THE SADDEST COMMENTARY I CAN POSSIBLY MAKE ON ANYONE. SOMEONE ANYONE PLEASE PUNCH GODOT.

THANK GOD HE’S FUCKING GONE. NOW ONTO ACTUAL GOOD CHARACTERS. IT’S EARTHQUAKE TIME.

Bikini informs us the earthquake means the cavern collapsed on top of Maya. Phoenix freaks out of course but BEFORE WE LEAVE WE HAVE TO STOP AND THINK

Phoenix: “… Right at that moment, I had the worst feeling in my gut. We just had an earthquake... I wonder if he's alright...”

SAD MILES FLASHES ON SCREEN

Franziska: You look worried. ...Are you thinking about Miles Edgeworth?

Like Phoenix. I really appreciate that you’ve gotten more sensitive to his panic attacks and general mental issues and are this concerned. BUT WE KINDA GOTTA THINK PRIORITIES HERE. HE CAN SURVIVE A PANIC ATTACK PHOENIX. MAYA CAN’T SURVIVE A BUILDING COLLAPSING ON HER. SO THAT SHOULD LOGICALLY BE YOUR WORST FEELING, PROBABLY?

I KNOW YOU LOVE HIM BUT STILL.

Granted I’d have more confidence that Maya could survive literally anything the world throws at her than in Miles faring well against his mental issues and emotional trauma.

SO WE’RE OUTSIDE NOW AND HERE’S MILES and oh no sweetie. He just. passed out over the earthquake and Iris ran away during that time. “I STUPIDLY PASSED OUT” Miles. That’s not like.a commentary on your intelligence, okay.

Phoenix is like “yeah but you’re still traumatized over the thing right?”

And Miles is like “THAT’S NO EXCUSE I CAN’T BELIEVE I LET THIS HAPPEN”

oh my goddddddd IT IS TOO AN EXCUSE CALM DOWN.

We get to the cavern and suddenly five locks are keeping Maya’s room shut WHAAAT did Iris do it whoooo knowwws?

Miles is all “IF ONLY I WAS STRONGER”

and Phoenix is like “ARE YOU FEELING OKAY YOU LOOK PALE”

and Miles is like “YOU’RE ONE TO TALK, WITH YOUR GREEN FACE THAT I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT EARLIER U DON’T GET TO PULL THIS ON ME”

and fortunately for all of us their worried marital bickering is averted by Franziska stepping in and forcing Miles to go outside and rest. GOOD SISTER-ING.

Phoenix: “He’s got so much pride that he’s probably going off to cry in the corner of the garden”

Great job Phoenix I’m sure he super appreciates you announcing that to everyone. Granted “everyone” is mostly his sister who also knows that is what is happening. “THERE GOES EDGEWORTH, OFF TO CRY. WHY COULDN’T HE JUST CRY IN FRONT OF US HUH. WHY’D HE HAVE TO YELL AT ME FRANZISKA. HUH. WHY”. Now is not the time Phoenix.

#the great ace attorney replay

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itwilltoteshappen · 7 years

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(1/6) Thanks for being so kind and friendly and allowing people to speak their minds on your blog even if you don't agree. You know, sometimes I can almost understand why people become ex-larries/houies--it's forbidden to say something about Louis that isn't the party line. Having doubts about him instantly labels you as a mean anti/houie. People are afraid to speak up about it, and that's horrible. It's not much better than bullying. I hate when antis call larries a cult, but

(2/6) there’s one thing larries become cult-like: Louis. I don’t know why it is that way, but it gets really old, you know? We’re all adults, but bullying those who dare to have an opinion different from the crowd puts a bad taste in my mouth and takes me back to my high school days. Don’t people get that this type of behavior is exactly why people leave the Larry fandom? Not because they necessarily stop believing in Larry, but because of the toxic attitude toward those who dare to think

(3/6) a little differently about Louis than the majority? Thinking that Louis might have different ambitions doesn’t make Louis a bad person or Larry less real. I wish people around here learned that thinking differently isn’t an attack against Louis and Larry. People are allowed to have doubts in real life without instantly becoming a “closeted anti.” I’ll never be an anti: I believe the boys are in love and together, but perhaps out perception of the boys was wrong. We don’t know them.(4/6) I mean, Louis managed to hide Jay’s illness for a year; what are the odds of us knowing his inner thoughts and ambitions? Louis is the only one who still has so many ties to OT, so I think having doubts is very normal. NOT having them at all is actually strange. I love the boys, but they aren’t perfect idols who can do no wrong. They’re people, with flaws and bad decisions. I’m not gonna justify everything they do and make excuses for them to make them fit into this idea of them I have.

(5/6) Don’t Het harries do the same with Harry? They blindly deny his less than het actions and words, reaching to find explanations for them. Larries do the same thing do with Louis. The world isn’t black and white. There’s gray, too. We aren’t sheep. We should be allowed to have different opinions on Louis’ actions without people attacking us for our thoughts and accusing us of being antis. It makes me so sad, because Larry fandom is wonderful otherwise and I’ve made some great friends here.

(6/6) But I’m afraid to tell even them about my doubts, and I fucking hate it. It’s not healthy and it really ruins my fandom experience. I can’t just delete and make friends with antis, because I think they’re wrong about Larry; I can’t be a houie because I don’t think the boys broke up. Where are people like me supposed to go? People who believe in Larry, think they’re still together, but have a different opinion on the boys than the majority of Larry fandom? I’m tired, B.

awwwwww babe, I’m so so so so SO sorry you’re feeling this way. I can definitely see you’re in a tough place. I think people are particularly defensive because they’ve been attacked for so long. The bigger blogs in particular get sent a lot of hate on a daily basis. And if it’s NOT straight up hate, it’s antis trolling pretending to be doubters just so they can take what the responses are back and either laugh at it or twist words which in turn leads to more people sending more hate. I’ve never seen fandom dynamics like this. I understand where it comes from, sure, leading alllllll they way back for years, but that unfortunately doesn’t help fix the situation now.

People ARE very protective of Louis here. He’s been shut down so much, fans were afraid of him for so long, people have called him such ugly names and talked shit about him, and then not to mention the fact that he recently went through a personal tragedy.

While i understand what you’re trying to say regarding het harries, for me the argument doesn’t quite hold up. They’re basing their perception on Harry on what the media says about him and not looking deeper into what he’s actually saying. I”m not trying to be rude here, but to me that’s what it seems like you’re doing with Louis. You’re basing it on what’s publicly being said, and not the things that we’ve observed upon closer inspection.

I do agree with you that none of the boys are perfect by any means and I do agree that we definitely don’t know Louis’ innermost thoughts, but…I guess my question to you is, who DO you think he is exactly? What do you think his ambitions are? if you take a look at everything he’s done publicly (and this is removing any personal feelings, anything having to do with Larry, just stating what’s been publicly shown) he’s kind of all over the place. He’s got a UK label supposedly working with a US girl band. A manager that handles on camera personalities based in the UK and is also listed as a solo artist on their website. He’s got a US based agent that deals with actor/musicians. He just released a solo song through a US based label. He signed with a UK based PR firm but let a completely separate UK based PR firm handle the PR for his single.

To me, just looking at those facts alone, I have absolutely no clue what this person wants to do next. I didn’t even add in the fact that we know he’s an amazing songwriter who enjoys doing that as well. So then that’s when I take a look at it from things i’ve OBSERVED which, sure, that’s open to interpretation, but from what i’ve seen, that’s not a kid that’s not exactly on friendly terms with Simon Cowell. So that’s when I start asking why. And even, as I mentioned yesterday, from a purely business standpoint, certain things don’t make sense to me. Which leads me to ask MORE whys. and THEN finally as my very last step, I look at it from a Larry point of view and find even MORE whys on TOP of those whys.

I’m not here to try to change your mind, I”m just showing my thought process. I really am curious to know what your thoughts are and why you came to the conclusions you’ve come to.

I wish I had more advice about your friends. I don’t know them, but I would think if they’re legitimately good people if you come to them privately and say “hey, so i’ve been thinking about this particular situation and this is how I see it. I see it this way because…” and explain yourself that they’ll understand. They might not agree, but as long as you’re not an asshole about it (which obviously you aren’t) and as long as you present it with valid reasons why you feel that way, if they’re your friends, they should understand. Maybe also look into finding some blogs that are just here to enjoy the boys and don’t do so much speculation on either side of the spectrum. There’s still joy to be found here. Lots of big solo projects to look forward to and even a film! Focus on the things you love about these boys and not the drama surrounding the fandom. And you’re welcome to chat with me any time!

#little louis #business talk #media image #Anonymous

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND March 22, 2019 - US

Of course, the big movie of the weekend is Jordan Peele’s US (Universal), his follow-up to his Oscar-winning mega-hit Get Out, this one starring Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke from Black Panther. Right now, from the reactions and rave reviews out of its SXSW premiere, Peele is not going to experience a sophomore slump and the world will continue to be his oyster. (As of this writing, I personally haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’ll be attending the New York premiere on Tuesday night and hope to have a review done and posted some time Wednesday.)

You can read what I think of the box office prospects for Jordan Peele’s Us over at The Beat, and here’s MY REVIEW OF US.

A24 is also expanding Sebastian Lelio’s GLORIA BELL, a drama starring Julianne Moore which I loved, into more theaters on Friday, and that could also make an entry into the top 10 as solid counter-programming to Peele’s movie.

But let’s get to what hopefully you’re reading this for… and that’s the other stuff in theaters this weekend.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

I’m gonna start with this section this week, because I’m so excited about something going on at the IFC Center -- not the first time and definitely won’t be the last -- as it’s the 2nd annual WHAT THE FEST?!, which I sadly missed last year. This year’s line-up is slammin’, opening on Wednesday night with the World Premiere of Larry (Habit) Fessendern’s new movie Depraved, his take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Later on Wednesday is the NYC Premiere of the Swedish film The Unthinkable and then on Thursday is the NYC Premiere of Pollyanna McIntosh’s Darlin’, a sequel to Jack Ketchum’s 2009 movie The Woman, which was in turn a sequel to Offspring.

I have seen a couple of the movies including Penny Lane’s doc Hail Satan?about the Satanic Temple’s fight against theocracies in the form of states trying to put statues of the Ten Commandments on government sites. It’s a movie that has humor as well as politics, and it’s part of the all-day Satan-themed Sunday that will include my buddy Grady Hendrix doing a presentation in conjunction with his novel We Sold Our Souls. Friday night is the New York premiere of Emma Tammi’s The Wind, an amazing Western horror film set in the desolate wasteland, starring Caitlin Gerrard (Insidious: The Last Key) and Julia Goldani Telles (Slenderman).

If there’s one movie you ABSOLUTELY MUST SEE, it’s Shinichiro Ueda’s horror-comedy One Cut of the Dead, which is very hard to describe without spoiling but imagine if a film crew making a zombie movie is attacked by real zombies… and then throw any conceptions you might have about the movie out the window. I have to thank my pal David Jaffee for recommending the movie so highly, as it’s a very clever take on zombies. (And honestly, at this point, I have no idea if and when it will get U.S. distribution.) I probably won’t have a chance to see Roxanne Benjamin’s Body at Brighton Rock but Magnolia is opening it in April so hopefully I’ll see it before then.

LIMITED RELEASES

Opening in New York and L.A. on Friday before a wide release on March 29 is HOTEL MUMBAI (Bleecker Street), the directorial debut by Anthony Maras, which looks at the 2008 terrorist attacks on the Taj Hotel. It stars Dev Patel, Armie Hammer and Jason Isaacs as part of the ensemble cast dealing with Muslim terrorists who attacked the hotel in order to take Western hostages for ransom. It’s a solid debut by Maras, one with a lot of moving parts but handled sensitively and tactfully due to the nature of the events. I definitely recommend the movie if you have a chance to see it. It’s not quite United 93 but still very good.

Oscar-winning Hungarian filmmaker Laszlo Nemes (Son of Saul) returns with his new movie SUNSET (Sony Pictures Classics), set in Budapest 1913, as it follows Irisz Leiter as she arrives there to work as a milliner (hat salesperson) at the popular hat store that belonged to her parents, though she’s sent away by the owner Oszkar Brill. When a man shows up looking for Irisz’s brother Kalman, she begins to look into her lost past. I have to be honest that I wasn’t much of a fan of the movie, maybe because it was very long, slow and confusing to the point where I really didn’t understand much of what was happening. Clearly, it’s not a film on par with Son of Saul, although I guess some people might like it more than I did. It probably will open in New York and L.A., as that’s the way Sony Classics usually does things.

Filmmaker S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) returns with his latest genre film DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE (Summit/Lionsgate), a police thriller starring Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as disgraced police officers who decide to hijack an ambitious heist, stealing the bars of gold that were stolen by a group of robbers. It’s a decent movie if you’re into this sort of thing. Zahler keeps improving as a filmmaker and here, he makes a movie with the weight of Steve McQueen’s Widows, although I thought Tory Kittles was far more interesting than the two leads, even though they do have good chemistry together. This will open in select cities Friday.

Opening at the Film Forum on Wednesday is a wonderful doc by Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honnigmann called BUDDY, which looks at a number of people and their relationships with incredible service dogs who help them get through everything from blindness to PTSD. This really is a wonderful movie, especially if you’re a dog-lover because all of the dogs have personalities as interesting as their masters.

Also opening at Film Forum Friday and at the Lammle Monica Film Center is Nancy Schwartzman’s new documentary Roll Red Roll (Together Films) looks at a 2012 incident of high school sexual assault in Steubenville, Ohio where a young woman was raped by the football team. It’s a harrowing story but if you’re interested in the type of true crime docs that are all over Netflix, this one should interest you as well. (It’s particularly struggling for me to watch it, having one nephew in high school not too far away from where this happened.)

A movie that I saw and reviewed out of the Tribeca Film Festival last year was Robert Budreau’s STOCKHOLM, which reunites him with Ethan Hawke from Born to Blue, this time playing a bank robber who robs a bank in Sweden with his partner (Mark Strong) and takes a bank manager (Noomi Rapace) hostage before she falls for him … leading to the term “Stockholm Syndrome.” No, I’m not making that up. I don’t remember hating or loving this but just thought it was okay, probably elevated by the presence of the cast.

Patricia Clarkson, Jacki Weaver, James Caan and Toby Jones star in Carol Morley’s thriller OUT OF BLUE (IFC Films) about a New Orleans detective (Clarkson) searching for the killer of a renowned astrophysicist (played by Mamie Gummer), who was shot to death in her observatory. I’ll try to watch this and write more about it soon.

John Travolta and Toby Sebastian star in Karzan Kader’s Trading Paint (Saban Films/Lionsgate), playing a fat her and son racing duo who have a falling out, something that a rival racing company uses to drive a wedge further into the relationship. The movie has been on Ultra VOD for the last month but it will open in select theaters and regular VOD Friday.

Following a one-night theatrical release in 150 theaters on Tuesday, Jesse V. Johnson’s action-thriller Triple Threat (Well GO USA), starring Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak) and Iko Uwais (The Raid) will be available in select theaters and VOD. They are part of a team of mercenaries sent to stop a group of assassins from killing a billionaire’s daughter. It also stars Scott Adkins, Tiger Chen, Michael Jai White and more.

Joel Proykus’ video game comedy Relaxer (Oscilloscope) stars Josh Burge (who previously starred in Proykus’ Ape) as Abbie who is trying to beat the impossible 256thlevel of Pac-Man with no food or water and a bunch of friends and acquaintances showing up. The comedy also stars David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man) and it opens in select cities.

Eric Khoo’s Ramen Shop (Strand Releasing) also opens in New York at the IFC Center and Landmark at 57 West. It follows a young Ramen chef named Masato who leaves Japan to go on a culinary journey through Singapore where he discovers family secrets and new recipes. It will expand to L.A. and other cities on April 5.

As far as streaming, we get our third Western in three weeks with Scott Martin’s Big Kill (Cinedigm), starring Christoph Sander, Jason Patric and more. It involves a Philadelphia accountant who travels West to join the family business who meets up with two rogues who have been run out of Mexico. It’s on VOD now.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Harmony Korine will be on-hand Friday for the start of a special seriesshowing his films, including 2012’s Spring Breakers, as well as showing 1995’s Kids, which he wrote. (It’s all to prepare for the release of Korine’s latest film The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey, which will screen for members only.) Film Society of Lincoln Center director Kent Jones ventures downtown to promote his new movie Diane with a “Dream Double Feature” of Westerns The Shooting (1966) and Rio Bravo (1959) on Saturday afternoon. Late Nites at Metrograph will show Catherine Reillat’s Fat Girlon Wednesday night and then Masahiro Shinoda’s 1969 film Double Suicide on Friday and Saturday nights. This week’s Playtime: Family Matinees is Ken Kwapis’ 1996 monkey comedy Dunston Checks In, starring Jason Alexander from Seinfeld.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Weds. afternoon shows a singular screening of The Three Faces of Eve (1957) starring Joanne Woodward. This week’s double features are John Ford’s Fort Apache (1948), starring John Wayne, with Robert Aldrich’s Ulzana’s Raid (1972) on Weds. and Thurs, the comedy double feature of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983) on Friday and Saturday, and then the Paul Wendkos double feature of The Mephisto Waltz (1971) and Special Delivery (1976) on Sunday and Monday. This weekend’s midnight movies are Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 2 on Friday night and Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex But Were Afraid to Ask on Saturday. The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINE is Clarence Brown’s 1944 National Velvet, starring Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor. On Monday, the Bev shows the amazing Parker Posey breakthrough film Party Girl (1995) with director Daisy von Scherler Mayer in person, then Tuesday’s GRINDHOUSE double feature is two from Hong Kong, The Tattoo Connection (1978) and another “Bruce Li” movie Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger, also from 1978.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The ongoing Bob & Wray: A Hollywood Love Story series continues this week with the Fay Wray double feature of The Clairvoyant (1935) and Black Moon (1934) on Weds, the Bill Riskin-penned Mister 880 (1950) and Broadway Will (1934) Thursday, then even more Frank Capra with American Madness (1932) and The Miracle Woman (1931)on Friday (and again, next Tuesday). The weekend sees a 35mm print of King Kongshown as part of Film Forum Jr., as well as in a double feature with The Most Dangerous Game (1932) on Saturday and again on Monday. Also showing this weekend is The Four Feathers ( 1929) – with live piano accompaniment--on Saturday and Magic Town (1947) and Capra’s Meet John Doe (1941) on Sunday. Also Sunday is a single-showing horror double feature of The Mystery of the Wax Museum and The Vampire Bat, both from 1933 and both starring Wray.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Before coming to New York’s Metrograph, Harmony Korine will be here in person for a Thursday screening of Trash Humpers and Spring Breakers, plus “Bruno Ganz Remembered” continues as the Egyptian also shows Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire on Sunday. (At one point, the theater was also showing a double feature of Nosferatu, The Vampire and The American Friend, too.) Old movie fans might also be interested in “The Musketeers of Pig Alley” and More Films of 1912, which a series of shorts by D.W. Griffith that run on Saturday and Sunday.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: The Feds wraps up with Steven Spielberg’s 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can, starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. Weekend Classics: Early Godard also concludes this weekend with Pierrot Le Fou (1965) while this weekend’s Late Night Favorites is David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.

MOMA (NYC):

MOMA continues the series Modern Matinees: B is for Bacall with the 1953 filmHow to Marry a Millionaireon Wednesday, Vincente Minelli’s 1955 film The CobwebThursday and Jonathan Glazer’s more recentBirth (2004) on Friday.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

For whatever reason, BAM is screening Michaelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 “classic” Zabriskie Point on Friday night – I’m not really a fan -- as part of BAM and Triple Canopy: On Resentment, but already sold out is Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 film La Haine, starring Vincent Cassel, and other interesting films in the series, like Steve McQueen’s Hunger, starring Michael Fassbender.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

The museum’s Tribute to Bruno Ganz will screen Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire on Sunday, and it’s showing this year’s Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts as part of its ongoing family program.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

The Nuart’s Friday midnight offering isJohn Waters’ Polyester (1981)starring the late Divine.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The quad continues its Bertrand Blier series with the 40thanniversary restoration of his 1978 film Get Out Your Handkerchiefs.

AERO (LA):

The AERO is booked up this week with the West Coast version of the Canada Now!Series.

STREAMING AND CABLE

This Friday’s big Netflix streaming debut is Jeff (Bad Grandpa)Tremaine’s Motley Crue biopic THE DIRT, starring Douglas Booth, Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones) and more. I haven’t seen it yet but I’ll probably watch it sometime this weekend.

That’s it for this week, but next week, we’ll get Tim Burton’s Dumboand more.

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