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felassan · 1 year

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Some snippets from 'Streamily.com Presents: N7 Day! The Cast of Mass Effect' (the N7 Day 2022 ME cast reunion panel) -

Q. submitted by a fan: "If aliens visited earth and asked you to show them one thing you think is amazing or beautiful, what would you choose? This can be anything - a person, a place, a food, music etc"

A lively discussion ensued about what they'd show this alien, and at one point during this I'm pretty sure I heard JHale say "[...] art... and otters". 🦦

JHale: "I feel deeply honored to have been able to live in this character. And I will say out loud, 'cause everybody's wondering, we don't know what's next [for Mass Effect], like, both, I mean I don't, Mark can speak for himself, I have no idea, but yes, I would show up in a hot minute." Host: "We got lots of questions [on] if you'd show up in a hot minute and I'm glad to hear that you would, that's great." Mark Meer: "I agree, but only under any circumstances."

Q. submitted by a fan: "Would you rather reprise your role as a character you've already voiced or play an entirely new different character in future projects?" JHale: "I mean for this one, you know, Shepard for life." AWR: "Yeah." Ali Hillis: "Liara for life. True blue." Raphael Sbarge: "It's hard, we've all grown very attached." Ash Sroka: "I would like to do both Tali and a new character." Mark Meer: "Yeah, I was just thinking, why not both? [...] I'd want to return to Shepard, but, you know, Blasto, there's a lot of unexplored territory there." William Salyers: "I did play Mordin through his whole life, so it would take something pretty special to get me back, but you know, in that world, it could happen, so. I would just, you know, I'd be a coffee table, I just love the world."

Q. submitted by a fan for Ali: "How did you feel seeing Liara in the teaser trailer for the next Mass Effect? I know you're under every single NDA on the planet, don't break it, we just wanna know how you felt." Ali Hillis: "Well, I probably felt not dissimilar to how all of you out there felt. Surprised, thrilled, perplexed, confused. Yeah, a lot of questions entered my mind, for sure, and they still are there, all of those questions, so I'll guess we'll see where it goes from here, but I mean, yeah, all kinds of questions came into my mind of 'what could be' and 'what is that?' and 'how?' and 'why?' and 'really?' and 'probably not'. Not getting my hopes up in any way, so, you know, I'm probably where you are, trying not to get my hopes up and at the same time, 'hmm, that was interesting'. It was so mean to do that! Just cruel!" JHale: "It's the hope that kills you." Ali Hillis: "It's the hope that kills you." AWR: "Also, you should have seen the text chat that went on between Jen, Ali, me and Courtenay." Ali Hillis: "Oh, it was wild." AWR: "I was like, 'um, Ali, hi? Do you wanna tell us anything?'" Ali Hillis: "I don't know, I don't know!" AWR: "And it was like, 'I've just seen it myself!'" Ali Hillis: "I just saw it!" AWR: "And we were like, 'you're either a very good liar, or, a very good liar...'" Raphael Sbarge: "C'mon, spill, spill." Ali Hillis: "Oh I got online and I started going crazy, I'm sure everybody else did too out there, so, I was looking and looking, 'cause I was really hoping to find something, but I didn't find anything, I just watched that thing over and over, and I paused it, and I paused it again, and I screenshot it, and then I zoomed in... yeah, I got nothing." JHale: [...] "I just vote for the multiverse option, Mark and I get to both be there, like we're both together, I want scenes with Mark, y'know." Mark Meer: "The Shepard siblings, that's a very popular fanart [thing]."

---

Q.: "I already know the answer to this, but, this is for everyone, do you ever wanna get back in the saddle and come back for another game?" Everyone: "Yes, yes, yes!" Raphael Sbarge: "Yes, of course, are you crazy?"

---

[source]

#bioware #mass effect #next mass effect #video games #long post #longpost

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pokemonislanderprincess · 4 years

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Contest for the shipping meme?

General:

How long will they last? - May and Drew are the personification of “good luck trying to return me without the receipt” while drunk and holding a match up to their marriage certificate. For reference, May is the drunk one holding the lighter, and Drew is in the corner trying not to laugh his ass off. They’re solid, despite the (read: May’s) chaos.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - May and Drew probably got together the quickest out of all of their friends. They both knew within a year of meeting that they liked one another, and it only took about another two years for them to both confess.

How was their first kiss? - They’re about 13, so it’s kind of awkward, very short, but still sweet. Drew gives May a rose after a contest, and they’re already “kind of sort of” dating, so May just kind of leans in and goes for a little peck, which Drew returns.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Drew. In a field of roses and Beautifly very reminiscent where May’s parents got engaged.

Who is the best man/men? - Best Man: Max. Groomsmen: Ash, Brock, Cilan, Clemont.

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? - Maid of Honor: Dawn. Bridesmaids: Misty, Solidad, Iris, Serena.

Who did the most planning? - May and Drew actually did a lot of the work together, mostly because May knows Drew is more lowkey than her and wants to make sure he’s comfortable with the plans.

Who stressed the most? - May. Her friends heard about every single wedding related nightmare she experienced (and there were a lot.)

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Harley...initially. Solidad eventually convinces them to invite him. They both regret it within five minutes of the wedding.

Sex:

Who is on top? - This is something they tend to compete for, although Drew normally wins out.

Who is the one to instigate things? - May. She loves to flirt.

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Drew lasts a while. May...not so much.

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Heck no! It’s basically a contest, and there can only be one winner.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - 2

How many children will they adopt? - 0

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Drew

Who is the stricter parent? - Drew

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - May...this is the one thing she’s pretty strict with because she’s really afraid of injuries.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Drew

Who is the more loved parent? - May and Drew’s kids love them equally, but know which parent to go to if they want something specific.

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - May. She’s also most likely to bring the snacks to the kids’ activities, go on field trips, etc. She really enjoys socializing with the other parents.

Who cried the most at graduation? - May. She starts crying before the ceremony even starts.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - May. These kids do not want to cross Drew.

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Drew

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Drew. Not because he has a limited palette, but because he refuses to eat a majority of junk food. May, on the other hand, eats everything.

Who does the grocery shopping? - Drew, because May buys too many snacks and not enough “real” food.

How often do they bake desserts? - Quite a bit! Baking is one thing May learns to do relatively well, so she enjoys whipping something up from time to time.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - May will eat anything, although she often complains that most salads aren’t filling enough for her. Drew veers more towards salads, but won’t turn down meat based meals, especially when they’re well done.

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Both: Drew at home, May out at a restaurant.

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - May. She’s always reading up on popular or highly rated restaurants and always wants to try them.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentally while cooking? - May. It’s happened before. Several times, in fact.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Drew

Who is really against chores? - May. She just thinks it’s kind of a waste of time because “it’s just gonna get messy all over again.”

Who cleans up after the pets? - They both look after their own Pokemon.

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - May. Drew finds her trash and other things all over the place.

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Drew used to, but he kind of just gave up at some point. So if people come over and see a mess May left behind, Drew just shrugs it off with a “yes, this is my life.”

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Drew. It’s May’s. Sometimes he gives it back...sometimes he keeps it. Depends on his mood.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - May, although Drew is not quick by any stretch of the imagination.

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Drew is more likely to be seen out exercising with the Pokemon. May kind of has to be bribed to do it.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - May loves decorating for holidays! It actually gets to be a little garish.

What are their goals for the relationship? - They both love each other and want to have fun, although Drew is more determined to keep their relationship private than May is.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - May

Who plays the most pranks? - May...Drew never even retaliates because he can’t be bothered.

#Contestshipping #Headcanon

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mydearduchess · 4 years

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11.2.19 12:08am

Dear Duchess,

It’s been just over a day since your passing. I am still in shock. I have so many things I want to say to you. And so many I want to never forget.

So, I made this blog. To vent. To cry. To remember. Everything.

Coming home after my first day back to work for the week on October 30, 2019...I wasn’t expecting to see you dying. You threw up on your blanket again that morning in the bathroom. And then threw up all the water you drank into the bathtub. I move you quickly from behind the toilet because it was easier to clean up in the tub. You curled up in the back of the tub then, as I got ready to leave for the day. Construction was supposed to be bad again, so I was in a rush to leave. I pulled your tiny body from the tub, set you on a clean blanket next to your water bowl, and kissed your head. I said, “I will see you later,” before leaving the bathroom and going to work. I was fighting a head cold, so I felt pretty bad that day. My head hurt. I wanted to stay home another day.

The Sir messaged me later that night before I got home that he was in the bedroom with you kitties, though I assumed he just meant Blade. When I got home, closer to 1am on Halloween, that’s where I found you all. Except, instead of loafing on the bed, you were on your side, laying on a pillowcase on the dresser. Soaked into the pillowcase and your tail was urine.

You had peed and just laid in it.

For a cat going through Renal Failure, this was a sign to the veterinary student in me. Because as much as I wanted to say it wasn’t time... you also had hardly eaten that morning, and all day... and I had to work... and it was Halloween.

But it was soon time. This was the moment I have been dreading for over 18 years.

I pulled up a seat next to the dresser and cried as I pet you. Your fur had long been unkempt, it was greasy and thin. Sir didn’t quite understand my sudden reaction. But I knew. So, I talked to you, and cried, and pet your bumpy head. Those Mass Cell Tumors sure got everywhere, huh? I told you that it was okay, you could let go. Let go of the pain, and the fatigue, and the worry. That I loved you. And thanked you for everything you taught me and did for me. You saved my life when I was so low I wanted to die. You kept me sane and comfortable and loved when dealing with my parents’ issues and my horrible homesickness. You taught Dana and Joe and so many others what it was like to love a cat.

And I prayed. For a miracle. For answers. For myself... how would I recover?

You see, my Dear Duchess, you were so special, and so smart, and so loved. There will never be another feline quite like you. I will never have another companion like you. The relationship we shared... it was... I can’t describe how unique it was and will ever be. We grew up together, though you aged so much faster. You were an integral part of my childhood, my adolescents, my innocence.

Maybe that’s why this feels so final? I have grow up... and you won’t be there to share my experiences with me anymore. I won’t be able to introduce my children to you. No cat will ever share what we had.

You were the best cat. You did tricks. You came with us on walks and in the car. You were my guinea pig when I was a child... you taught me about trust. And you trusted me. Solely.

So I hope you don’t hate me for the choice I made that night. I wanted you to pass at home, in my arms, in your sleep. I stayed up all night, crying, and trying to hold you. All you wanted to do was be alone. Eventually, you spent most of the night sleeping on my pillow, as you had a million times before. My “hat cat.” You occasionally bumped my hand with your head, resting it in my palm. I felt your purrs in your throat, though I could not hear them. It was a blessing to have that one more time. You slept quite soundly that night, although you routinely woke up to pee...once on me. That was okay though. I didn’t mind. I got to have you a little longer.

I called in to work for the day... 10/31/19... I had slept maybe 3 hours. I called the vet office too. We made an appointment later in the day... 3:40pm. I had just 5 hours left with my beautiful, sweet kitten.

So I got some of your favorites. Milk, fritos, etc. You know what you loved. You got cottage cheese too. We called Mom and William... they got to say good-bye over Facetime. You stayed curled in my lap on the cloud blanket. We all knew this was the right time. Mom finally cried. After weeks of me fretting and calling her, she finally cried for you. They loved you too.

Dana and Evan were coming to support us. While we waited for them and the time grew closer, we brought all 5 of our beautiful kitties to the bedroom to share a can of fancy feast (something you hadn’t had in a while, as you ate a lot of baby food). You, being the queen, at on the dresser, while the jesters ate on the ground below you. Let’s be honest, Duchess, you ran the house.

Soon, we were preparing to leave. I put you in your blue camo harness and leash set, opting that a crate wouldn’t be necessary for this last adventure. As we left the house, it was cold. Some snow was on the ground. I held you close to me, and asked Dana to take some final pictures of us together. I have so many pictures of you. But not many of us together. I kissed your head. Then Evan wrap the blanket over you and helped me get in the car.

You looked out the window the whole ride there... even though it was only a few minutes. It was like you weren’t sick at all. We were just going for a ride. I kissed you again and again and whispered so many things to you. I started to cry again.

They got us in to the room quickly. A blanket was set on the table, but we put ours on top. It smelled like home. Like me. Like you.

They spelled your name wrong on the papers (don’t know who this “Dutchess” is, but I crossed it out and put the correct name). I signed the euthanasia and cremation paperwork. It was finalized. Not a lot of room to change our minds.

I asked for just a few more minutes. You got so many pets. You rubbed. I asked Sir to kiss your head and love you, then Dana. They loved you so much. The vet came in, and you immediately got up to greet her. Always the social cat. You were so good.

They let me hold you to set the catheter. She couldn’t use your left leg, due to a tumor bump being right over your vein. So she clipped a spot on your right leg. I held off, and she got the catheter in on the first stick. Your vein was tiny. You were likely very dehydrated. But we got it in.

I didn’t want you to be sedated, but I guess that’s just protocol at this vet. She put the ketamine in and you slowly started to slump in sleep. I kissed you and told you I loved over and over. I was the last thing you saw, and smelled, and hear, and felt.

As she asked if I was ready, I fell over your body and cried. “I love you. Thank you. You are such a good kitty.” My ear rested on your chest and I heard your quiet, slow heartbeats come to a stop. Dana, Sir, and Evan had their hands on me, but I was so hyper-focused on you. By the time I looked up, the pink fluid was all the way in. There was no going back.

The vet had to listen. She said you were gone. I asked for a bit of time with you. I hugged your limp, warm body to me. This was the good-bye, my dear. Dana helped me get pictures of each of your feet (FR, FL, RR, RL), and then stamps of them as well. They aren’t perfect, but that’s okay. I will get tattoos of all your feet. You can walk with me forever that way.

I requested to bag you myself. I would be the last one to touch your body. As I placed you in the black cadaver bag, I hugged you hard, one last time. I tied it. Placed the paperwork on it. I left the exam room to ask if I could place your body in the freezer too. I have to see what time their truck comes on Wednesday. If I can, I will take you from the freezer and into the truck before your body is finally carried away from me forever. The next I will see of you is a bag of ash.

I hope it’s okay that I have you cremated. I was so worried that if I buried you somewhere, and then moved, that I would never be able to visit you or have you again. And this way, as I told my Sir, you will be placed in my own coffin someday, to forever be with me.

That’s the story of your death. I don’t want to forget these details, although I’m sure some of them will fade. All you need to know and remember is that I LOVED YOU THE MOST. You will forever be my beautiful, sassy, smart, wonderful kitten. You will never be forgotten, not by me. Every cat, every pet, every person, will be compared to you. And that’s just it, none will compare. You were my child, my friend, my confidant, my longest relationship aside from my immediate family. But I guess, in a way, you were my immediate family too.

And you were over 18 years. We always celebrated your birthday on Valentine’s Day (2/14/02)... but you were born in the late summer... of 2001. 75% of my life so far has been with you. From Valentine’s Day to Halloween of 2019... ironic that these are the holidays for you.

I will write to you often. And someday, we will meet over that Rainbow Bridge. Just wait close by, I will be there.

Love, Missy

#cat #catblr #death of pet #euthanasia #i said goodbye #dear duchess

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chordstrvck-blog · 5 years

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sharp gray eyes size up their unwanted companion through a lung-staled waft of smoke. “ ‘ey. ” a tip of the chin. cigarette ash darts to pavement. crunch. eddie grinds that shit in, real good. nothin’ like a pair of trusty docs to do the trick. “ what the fuck’s your damage ? ”

or alternatively : yo, yo, whassgood ? the name’s liana ( she/her/hers ) and i am so friggin’ hyped to bring you my spoopy lil’ music man, eddie williams !! below the cut you’ll find a big hodge-podged mess of facts, potential connects, and other delicious chips of info. his favorites are hoppin’ jalapeno crunch tators, thanks for fuckin’ askin’. ( imagine how heartbroken he’ll be when frito lay discontinues them in the 90′s... rest in spaghetti never forgetti. )

— ❝ wait is that THOMAS HAYES ? or is that KEITH EDISON “EDDIE” WILLIAMS who arrived in las vegas TWENTY-THREE years ago? HE is TWENTY-THREE years old. last time i checked they were a GUITARIST IN CRIMSON & CLOVER / ARTIST AT ATOMIC TATTOOS . rumour has it they’re very BEGUILING and very HARUM-SCARUM. the CISMALE reminds me of SAY WHAT YOU WILL BY FASTWAY.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: DEATH, DOMESTIC ABUSE, VIOLENCE, DRUG USE/ABUSE, MENTIONS OF ADDICTION.

eddie is the lovely ivy williams [ @poiseonxivy ] ’s older brother ! they grew up in a contentious household here in vegas, with an abusive alcoholic for a father and a complacent/despondent mother. fed up with the abuse and chaos, their mother walked out on them when eddie was 13. he and ivy caught her in the act, and this savage kid called her out for being a coward and opened the fuckin’ door for her. “ die in a ditch, ” is the last thing he ever said to that sorry waste of a woman.

naturally, things with their father only got worse. he was quick to provoke and impossible to please. the williams siblings had to step up to upkeep their home, make sure bills got paid, etc., all while receiving the worst of it from their father. ivy, as the youngest, was blamed for the family’s downfall. eddie got berated and slurred at for his tendency to peruse his sister’s things, paint his middle fingers interesting colors, ask her to do his makeup on halloween. his father was the first person to ever look eddie in the eye and call him a faggot, and, well... that shit dug deep.

it’s not that he’s overly concerned about it. hell, labels are fuckin’ dumb, alright? he’d sooner be gagged with a spoon than told he has to live his life all boxed up. he doesn’t care that the lady at the bar’s stunning and so is the guy pourin’ her drink, alright? what he does care about is... what if he is that thing his dad said? what if he... what if he is the man his dipshit dad saw in him ?

guitarist in el’s band, crimson & clover ! the band formed several years ago and has been playing gigs ever since. it’s definitely made him grow as a guitarist : you can frequently find eddie chilling on fire escapes experimenting with new riffs and the like. he’s absolutely got that band aesthetic –– distressed tees, tight pants, leather, leather, leather. doc martens. beat up sneaks. jaw-length hair, wavy. usually teased on stage and left to its own devices off-stage. music has always been an escape for him, especially from the hellscape that was his childhood home. catch him chillin in el’s record shop, cig in hand, blissed out to the latest rock releases blasting in his headphones.

jake wheeler’s next-door neighbor / best friend ! we have yet to plot about this, but that’s a wc eddie fills & we could do something with that, too!

tw: drugs, abusive tendencies, mild violence. eddie’s genetics do predispose him to addiction. and, unfortunately, this bitch way more than dabbles in a haphazard lifestyle. he’s BIG into psychedelics, stimulants. alcohol. acid. he’ll pulverize the occasional bar asshole’s face. make fights out of nothing. but s’not a problem, alright ? he’s cool. he’s cool. ( this guy’s a sinkin’ ship in heavy ass denial. )

art. tattooing. art has also played a pivotal role in eddie’s life. from a very young age, he created edgy doodles: skeletons in their sunday best, ghost cartoons carrying guns. the late 60′s/early 70′s saw his school notebooks filling with vietnam-inspired strips, doodles, and sketches. he used to draw “tattoos” on his fellow delinquents during detention in sharpie ink. gave himself his first poke tattoo on his ankle ( a scrawled so what ? ) in eighth grade. now, he works as a tattooist at atomic tattoos. always flirts with the clientele. and they always leave happy.

tw: death. wears a dharma wheel pendant at all times, tucked beneath his shirt or, if he’s shirtless, just out in the open. he’ll say he found it in the street, but it actually belonged to a guy he started seeing his senior year of high school, in secret. glenn farley. he was older, around 27, but he offered up the first safe place eddie’d ever known. dude disappeared close to eddie’s graduation. eddie stayed angry for a long time, until his photo turned up in the obits : glenn was killed in a hit-and-run outside a dive bar.

on the topic of sexuality & gender expression : eddie honestly couldn’t give a flyin’ shit. he’s of the belief that existence shouldn’t be coded or explained. so, yeah, he’s male. and yeah, he’ll be attracted to whomever he pleases. but in a time where that shit’s not too common? not too accepted? he does feel like he’s playing hide-and-seek. it’s exhausting. and... there’s still something that nags him, at the back of his mind, when he decides to hook up with a guy. it’s all tied up with his family history ( see the stuff about his dad above ) .

eddie is very outspoken & unfiltered. he won’t mince his words; he’ll speak bullets without considering the exit wound.

he’d much rather have coffee and cigarettes than a meal. but if he’s gotta have food? and you’re forcing him? cinnamon waffles with ten gallons of syrup. delicious.

wears rings because hell, if he’s gonna punch you, he wants that shit to hurt.

smells like tobacco and amber and fresh-fallen rain.

likes makeup. tends to get away with some eyeliner/eyeshadow on stage, but typically doesn’t wear any day-to-day. maybe some eyeliner on his waterline, but... he’s learned how to get by.

cross his sister and he’ll eat your face for breakfast.

default greeting: blinking at you like you’re offending him by taking in the same air.

honestly he’s never thought to leave vegas. he likes it here. his crew? they’re good people. as in reckless. fun.

has almost a full sleeve on his left arm, and two bands curling around his right bicep. one ear pierced, but doesn’t always wear an earring there.

can he offer you a winter green lifesaver in this trying time ??

goes by eddie or williams. call him keith and he can’t be held responsible for what happens to you. the only person who’s got keith privileges is his kid sister.

thomas hayes has brown eyes but eddie’s are a staggeringly light blue-gray. they look like ice. he’s 6′1 and that type of lanky that tends to look sleek, enticing, and mildly emaciated. he does have muscle to him, but the guy doesn’t eat very often and he’s on a steady diet of destructive habits, so... he’s got that matty healy circa 2012 vibe going on

potential connects.

chaos crew. they hit the clubs. they try their hand at scheming and tricking the best poker leagues. chug beers, crush the cans, and toss ‘em in front of cars. experiment with drug cocktails and haunt the town. all laughs and dilated pupils and forgetting, forgetting, forgetting the cracks in their ribs, the scabs on their knuckles. nothin’ hurts when your blood pumps this quick.

diner pal. eddie rolls up to his favorite diner in the wee hours of the morning. 2am, 3am. when he can’t sleep or he’s comin’ down from a heckish night, he’s there, whole pitcher of coffee and a stack of waffles. mussed hair. an entire encyclopedia of wild stories. one night, he stumbled into this person’s booth high as all shit, and they’ve been inviting themselves to one another’s tables ever since. could be a romantic connection. could be platonic.

ex on bad terms. kid’s got commitment issues. i’d love to give them a source.

fuckbuddies. they could just be friends who get fucked and do the deed. maybe there’s feelings. maybe it’s a you service me, i’ll service you situation. either way, they’re indulgent. they’re reckless. and they’ve got no regard for any damage they’ll cause.

people he’s tattooed.

sworn enemies. acerbic words, gnashing teeth, icy glares. they’ll cross the fuckin’ street just to avoid being within a ten-foot radius of one another.

caretaker. a friend ( or even stranger ) who’s taken it on themselves to monitor this maelstrom. all i can say is... good friggin’ luck, kid.

obviously there are so many more but this is just a list to get some juices flowing !

if you want to plot, please feel free to message me !! i’m headed to the gym now but after that i’ll hit up the starter tags !! so flipping excited to write with you goons !!

#eightyintro #❖ – if i don't think i'll blow my mind ! psyche.#death tw #drugs tw

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calzona-ga · 6 years

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In her first interview since being let go from the ABC medical drama, the actress talks with THR about how the Emmy nomination for shortform series 'B-Team' is opening new doors as Drew plots her next chapter.

For Sarah Drew, the Emmy nomination for Grey's Anatomy's shortform series B-Team — which she directed — was profound to say the least. The nomination came nearly two months after she was let go from the ABC medical drama after a nine-season run.

"My confidence had gotten a bit shaken in the wake of being let go and the nomination after the fact made me go, 'I don't need to be worried about anything or have my confidence shaken,'" Drew tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The six-episode web series, which focused on the ABC medical drama's latest intern class, served as Drew's directorial debut and, to hear her tell it, a new chapter in her career. "I'm not only pursuing my career as an actor but now I'm walking into this world as a director and producer. The world is so wide open," says Drew, who called the nom part of her "rebirth."

Here, in her first interview since wrapping her run as April on Shondaland's Grey's Anatomy, Drew opens up about the impact the Emmy nomination has had on her, how April's journey ended and what's next.

Did you know that ABC was submitting the web series for Emmy consideration?’ I knew when we started putting the whole series together because there were certain rules we had to follow in order to be eligible for a nomination. I've been submitted as an actor for an Emmy every year but that didn't mean anything. [Laughs.] It was a great, huge, wonderful surprise to get that nomination. The whole "B-Team," we were just out of our minds. I'm still pinching myself over the whole thing.

What was your reaction to the nomination coming after you'd been let go from Grey's and after you'd already completed production and your last episodes had already aired? It was a bolt of good news. [Laughs.] My confidence had gotten a bit shaken in the wake of being let go and the nomination after the fact made me go, 'I don't need to be worried about anything or have my confidence shaken.' I'm not only pursuing my career as an actor but I'm now also walking into this world as a director and as a producer and the world is so wide open. More than anything else, the last few weeks after my final episodes have been a really beautiful rebirth and a really exciting time. I'm running around, meeting everybody and talking to producers and talking to heads of casting at all the networks and the studios and I'm finding that the landscape is so different. There's so much more content, it's a totally different world for television. The nomination in the midst of walking out into the world and feeling like I'm engaging in this beautiful rebirth was more affirmation that this is a good space in my life right now; that I don't need to be sad and I don't need to be mourning and I don't need to be in grief over the end of something that was so beautiful. I can just rise from the ashes in a more brilliant way. The nomination was such a profound affirmation.

Take me back to the day that you found out that you would not be returning to Grey's. I was let go during an episode where I was shadowing Kevin McKidd [who stars as Owen and regularly directs episodes]. It was in the afternoon and I went back to my trailer and I did my crying and called my people. A whole bunch of people came into my trailer to give me hugs and cry with me and tell me they were so sad I was leaving. I was supposed to be shadowing Kevin this whole episode with the hope that I would get to direct an episode of Grey's but [after being let go] it seemed like wasn't a possibility anymore. I wondered if I should keep shadowing Kevin. My husband was like, "Of course you go." I had this incredible opportunity to grow as a director and as an artist with a director that I respect so much. I had nothing to be ashamed of and didn't need to hide. So that's what I did: I showed up the next morning at 6 a.m. and shadowed Kevin until I got cast as Cagney and had to leave to go shoot CBS' Cagney and Lacey.

What a profound experience. I'm a believer in things happening for a reason and finding beauty in the midst of grief. I don't regret or begrudge anybody this season of my life. I'm embracing it. I had a profound and incredible season of my life on Grey's Anatomy. I got to tell stories I believed in. I got to work with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers and learn from the best. I got to work with an incredible community of people that I will have lifelong friendships with. I got to build a platform and have my children in an environment where I was cared for because of who Shonda is and how she takes care of her mamas and her women. It's hard for me to come up with anything I could be angry about.

What do you think about now that you've had some distance from the show? [Being let go] was painful when it happened but, in retrospect, I think it would have been hard for me to walk away from that job. I was on it for nine years. It feels right and it feels like a good time to move onto something else with all the great love in my heart that I have for everybody and respect and gratitude for what that experience was. Playing a character for nine years is a long haul.

Are you taking more meetings for directing after the nomination? Yes! I'm certainly keeping that in the forefront of a lot of my conversations. I want to do all of it: produce, direct and I want to dig into another really fun character. I got bit by the directing bug because I produced my first film — Indivisible — during our last hiatus and it's coming out in theaters on Oct. 26. I realized on that film that I was scared of directing because I thought maybe I couldn't keep all the different things in my head all at once: everybody's journey, props, costume, wardrobe, shot lists, visuals, etc. I found that it came quite naturally to me and I got excited about it. I called [Grey's Anatomy's producing director] Debbie Allen from that set and asked her to shadow and learn how to direct. That's when she told me about B-Team and that they wanted to have a director who was in the [Grey's] family do it. I shadowed Chandra Wilson (who plays Bailey and regularly directs) to prep for those webisodes. I was terrified in the prep and so afraid of completely failing.

Would you return to Grey's Anatomy as a director? Maybe.

When news that you and Jessica Capshaw initially broke, there was an uproar on social media of people who assumed that the show could not afford to keep both of you after paying Ellen Pompeo $20 million a year. How was the decision explained to you? I was told that the show had too many characters and that they needed to downsize because they couldn't service all of the characters effectively. They didn't want any of us to be left in the background and not getting much of a story. Because there were so many series regulars, they needed to downsize and to find some characters that they felt like they could tie up their stories well. [Showrunner] Krista Vernoff said that she felt like April had been through so much and had come out the other side and that she didn't know what she could put her through again. It was really hard to hear that. But Krista had a lot of very complimentary things to say about the work that I had done — especially this past season — and that April was going to have her happy ending.

April winds up quitting her job to do, as she called it, "God's work," and winds up getting married to Matthew (Justin Bruening). If that is the last viewers see of April, what do you think about how her journey ended? In the midst of it, I was devastated that Jackson (Jesse Williams) and April wasn't an end game. I thought Jackson and April were meant to get back together and they were going to get married again and realize they'd been crazy and it was just going to be this long, slow burn. But after thinking about it, there's a real sweetness to that story of April's faith. She ran off with Jackson and loved him and wouldn't regret a single second of that relationship because it made her heart grow and she got a beautiful daughter out of it. She grew as a woman and as a person of faith. All of that had to happen. But there was something beautiful about the redemption story between April and Matthew. She hurt him worse than anybody had ever hurt him by walking away from him [at their wedding]. For there to be reconciliation from that scenario? That's a really beautiful redemption story that there could be forgiveness there. He lost his wife and then find his first love again. It's lovely.

Yet at the same time, viewers didn't really get to see that journey between April and Matthew. I wish that we had gotten to see more of their journey before they got married. I would've liked to play those scenes and I would've liked to have told that story in a more full way. I can see the beauty in it. But part of me will always be a little heartbroken that April and Jackson were not end game.

April is one of a small handful of Grey's characters to exit the show alive. Have there been any conversations about having you back at all as a guest star, especially since April and Jackson share custody of their daughter? I have not heard anything about that.

Would you be open to doing that? Maybe.

ABC has Grey's spinoff Station 19, and Matthew works as a paramedic — which would make sense to see in that world. Last summer, I wrote to [Station 19 showrunner and Grey's alum] Stacy McKee and told her that Justin Bruening has to be on your firefighter show. But who knows? I think he'd be an awesome addition to that cast. It would be fun to play in the world of Shondaland. But at the same time, I have said goodbye to April and put her to rest. I would be perfectly happy not being April again. I don't feel a particular urge to play her any time soon. I love that character.

Will you keep watching Grey's? There is something about watching your family go on without you that's a bit painful. I'm not sure I need to put myself through that. I love them and I'm sure it's going to be a great season but I think it might be challenging for me to tune in.

Looking back, what would you say April's impact on Grey's was? So many of April's stories were about resilience in the face of pain and rising above in the midst of sorrow and grief. That's what I want people to remember about her. April's story throughout the whole nine years on the show was a story about someone going through pain and emerging in a more beautiful, more glorified state of hope and of gratitude and of resilience and of strength. That's what I hope people take away from April.

What was it like moving from April to an iconic character like Cagney? I didn't have time to process what I was doing when I walked into Cagney. I got let go on a Tuesday, the news broke on a Thursday, I had five test offers in front of me on that Thursday and I chose to pursue Cagney. I tested on Saturday, got the offer on Monday and was shooting Cagney at 7 a.m. Tuesday. I had been given the role at 3 p.m. on Monday when I was on set shooting Grey's and I had to finish my day with Kevin directing. [on Cagney and Lacey] I had to cuff somebody on day one and our technical advisers had to show me how to do it and I had to figure out how to pull a gun on somebody! It was such a different energy than April. We were heartbroken that that didn't get picked up.

What did you hear about why CBS didn't pick it up? Everybody loved it and it was just one of those, "I don't know what happened" kind of things. It's certainly heartbreaking in the moment but I know that there's something around the corner for all of us that's meant to be even better.

What's next for you? I'm reviewing options. I'm currently dipping my toes in a couple different development things. I haven't officially signed on anywhere but I've got three or four different potential projects that I'm interested in potentially producing and acting in and maybe directing episodes of.

Will you go back to 24-episode broadcast shows? Not right now. I'm thinking more about 10- to 13-episode things. The things that I'm thinking about developing all feel like streaming and not broadcast network stuff. We'll see! It's all very open and exciting right now.

#Sarah Drew #grey's anatomy #THR #news

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wellhellothereboys · 5 years

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BF Episode Names + Work Summaries (Part 1)

These summaries are my OWN and WILL contain spoilers. Some, but not all works will be related back to the show. Thank you!

Click episode names for links to online versions of the works by the way :D And please let me know if you think I made an error, I’m more than willing to fix it

I literally read all of these in three days so I’ll be posting for eps 13-24 in less than a week (I hope)

E1: A Perfect Day For Bananafish by J.D. Salinger

Muriel and Seymour, her husband (who Muriel calls “see-more”), are staying at a hotel near a beach. Muriel calls her mom to reassure her that everything has gone well, but her mother is anxious about Seymour’s state since he returned from war. Of course, Muriel says everything is fine and that Seymour is down at the beach. The reader can assume that Muriel takes a nap shortly after the call with her mother. At the beach, Seymour talks to a little girl (Sybil) and goes to swim with her and just play around. He proposes that they try to look for bananafish. He mentions that these fish eat bananas (strange) in spaces between rocks that they are then unable to escape because of weight gain from the food and they die. Sybil eventually says that she saw a bananafish, which for some reason prompts Seymour to kiss her foot (something you wanna tell us, Seymour?). Sybil runs inside when they get out of the water, and Seymour goes up to his and Muriel’s room. In the elevator, he claims that a woman is staring at his feet (honestly Seymour, what’s with the FEET?). When he gets to the room, Muriel is asleep. Without much further explanation, he grabs a gun and shoots himself.

We can obviously see the correlation between the drug in the show and the fish in the story, as both of them prompt the victim to cause harm to themselves. Seymour was also affected by mental illness after being at war, which could relate to Griffin’s character.

E2: In Another Country by Ernest Hemingway

During a war, Nick (the narrator) is in a hospital with Italian soldiers. Nick can be interpreted as an extension of Hemingway himself within the story. Nick meets three soldiers at the hospital that have earned medals for brave actions. This makes Nick feel bad, because his medal was awarded to him simply because he was an american fighting in the war and was accidentally injured. Nick also meets a younger soldier who wears a cloth over half of his face (an injury that he got BEFORE the war). Because this soldier is the only person who hasn’t gotten a medal for bravery, Nick finds ease in talking to him. Oh! I should probably mention that this story is supposed to be a reflection of Hemingway’s war experiences as well. Anyway, during physical therapy one day, a major is quite rude to Nick and tells him not to get married (Nick brought up the topic) because his wife would leave him. Later, the major apologizes and says that his wife passed away not long ago. For the rest of the story, the major looks out the window instead of focusing on his therapy.

E3: Across The River And Into The Trees by Ernest Hemingway

This one far easier to explain. Essentially, a middle aged man named Cantwell can feel that he’s going to die soon and has a relationship with a 19 year old girl in his last few months. As is typical with Hemingway, there is mention of war happening during this time. However, war is not the focal point of the story (this time). The young girl, Renata, is referred to several times during a flashback that tells the reader of Cantwell’s time in World War I. Apparently, Cantwell knew Renata for a while and was romantically involved with her. Cantwell’s friend, Jackson, urges him to stay with Renata for his final days. Cantwell decides to do just that, and so his final days are spent having sex with a girl less than half his age. Renata seems like she doesn’t give half a crap about it either so that’s... better? Idk all of this is nasty. Anyway, as you can tell, Cantwell ends up dying. He has a heart attack in the back of a car. He quotes Stonewall Jackson before he dies and leaves a note along with his body that basically just says to return a set of guns to someone. ALSO I feel like I should mention that Cantwell literally called Renata his DAUGHTER and she didn’t mind it, even though they were also getting drunk and having sex like all the time.

Obviously, the pedophilia relates to Dino and his whole category of people in BF. That’s about all I can get out of this one.

E4: This Side Of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This one is a LONG boy but the concept can be shortened so that’s what I’m gonna do. Basically a guy named Amory goes to Princeton but he’s SUPER lazy. He doesn’t pay attention in class but he still learns from friends/books. World War I starts and of course he joins. His mom dies while he is away. When he gets back he falls in love with a woman named Rosalind. She loves him too but she doesn’t want to marry anyone poor (and Amory is kind of broke). She breaks off their engagement and marries a rich guy instead. Amory drinks to forget until alcohol becomes illegal. Later, he has a fling with a girl named Eleanor. Then, his friend gets caught with a girl but Amory says it was his fault to keep his friend from having to deal with the consequences. Amory finds out that a his last close family friend has passed away. He runs into one of his dad’s other friends who gives him a short life lessons before he keeps walking back to Princeton. Amory is still not over Rosalind, so he thinks about her on the way home. The book ends with a really emotional (but kind of overdramatic) scene of Amory looking up at the sky and reflecting on his life, saying that the only person he really knows is himself.

E5: From Death To Morning by Thomas Wolfe (this link is kind of a pain sorry)

This is NOT a single work, but rather a collection of many. It’s a whole book of short works of fiction, so rather than explain each and every one of them, I’m just going to give you some major themes so you get the idea. Thomas Wolfe was admired by William Faulkner, who’s works are used later in Banana Fish. In From Death To Morning, all of the 14 stories featured have a theme of loss. Even the titles themselves make that clear. A majority of them involve death, and a solid amount take place in different parts of New York.

Death happens a LOT in BF. Loss is also a powerful motivator for Ash (because of his dead brother) and Eiji (because of his pole-vaulting career). Other characters are also motivated by losses of their own.

E6: My Lost City by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is a nonfiction essay written by Fitzgerald. It talks about his life in New York, and has a depressing approach. There isn’t necessarily a flowing plot, but some very important points are made throughout the story. The author discusses his expectations of New York (celebrity life, luxury, freedom) and then moves to mourn the loss of such dreams. Real life in New York was not as great as he thought, to no one’s surprise. He leaves the city a couple of times, in hopes that he’ll regain his appreciation for the city. Most people have heard of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s most famed work. The exciting parties mentioned in the book, along with the tragedies and the melancholy tone of some parts is a reflection of his feelings towards the city. In My Lost City, he is connecting the New York of his dreams to reality. However, he also feels that he cannot part with the city. Every time he plans on getting out of the situation he’s found himself in, he finds himself coming back to where he started.

Honestly, I see one of the largest BF to Lit connections with this one because of the way Eiji saw the city. He came to New York with a certain mindset, and he was being sort of a “fanboy” of the city. He was SO excited about everything, but then every expectation was ruined within the first few hours of his stay. Though he came in with an image of a movie-like city, he ended up being introduced to the world of violence, drugs, and just about every crime you could imagine. And yet, like Fitzgerald, he stayed and kept hope for happier times. (And as we know, he found happiness with Ash.)

E7: The Rich Boy by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The rich boy in the story, named Anson Hunter, believes him to be sort of above other people because of his money. This is basically a projection of how Fitzgerald thought of the upper class. Anson, however, is not the narrator. This will be important later. In the beginning of the story, Anson is in love with a girl named Paula (whom he met when he was in the Navy), and believes he has control over her. This arrogance causes her to become frustrated with him and she leaves him. Anson then moves on to be in a relationship with a girl named Dolly. She is a lot more playful and does not let Anson control their relationship, but he tries to anyway. They’re a very good match, honestly. He is playing with her feelings but she’s playing him right back. The problem, however, is that Anson still loves Paula. So, he leaves Dolly and goes on to fuck up other people’s relationships like he fucked up his own. He hears that his aunt is cheating on his uncle with someone, and he makes a big scene out of it even though it wasn’t any of his business. The man that she was with kills himself soon after. The next time Anson sees Paula, she says she never loved him. Obviously, he’s saddened by that but apparently it isn’t enough to make him change his ways. Paula dies when giving birth to her second husband’s child. At the end of the story, Anson drinks with the narrator (his friend for all this time), but leaves as soon as he sees an attractive woman nearby.

E8: Banal Story by Ernest Hemingway

In this story, the narrator is not named. He sits and eats an orange in the beginning, while he reflects on past events that don’t really have anything to do with him (Mesopotamia, cricket games, etc.). He reads a magazine as he reflects. Then, the story shifts and all of a sudden it’s talking about a dying bullfighter’s funeral. Apparently, people come to the funeral basically just for clout. He’s pretty popular, so everyone wants to be able to say they knew him. A bunch of people buy pictures of him but don’t actually care about them. Hemingway says the people basically just shove them into their pockets and don’t pay much attention to them. While this happens, other bullfighters are glad that this guy will no longer be a part of the competition. Essentially, this famous dude dies and no one seems to give half a crap. I think this might be related to the beginning of the story in some way. My personal theory is that the bullfighter’s death may be portrayed as unimportant to people, but in the future someone may think back on it? I’m not exactly sure, but it could be a sort of loop to the man thinking about the past in the beginning.

E9: Save Me The Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald (yes, F. Scott’s wife)

This is vaguely an autobiography about Zelda’s life, divided into four sections. The main character is named Alabama Braggs, even though she technically represents Zelda. There’s a lot of content, so I’ll give you the most important parts of each section instead. Part one involves Alabama’s life until around the age of 20. Alabama sees her older siblings experience heartbreak while she lives a life trying to act older. She begins to act spontaneously. She drinks excessively, sleeps around, and woos as many men as she can. She eventually falls in love with a man named David. Alabama had always dreamed of moving to New York, and David was planning to do so. She doesn’t like the idea of being tied down, but she loves David. In the second part, she is engaged to him. They soon get married. He doesn’t have much money, but Alabama is unaware of this. Although the family runs out of money a lot (which makes Alabama realize her husband is poor, but she loves him regardless), they still live luxurious lives. They irresponsibly spend money on parties and such. When Alabama gets pregnant, her parents visit her. They are unhappy with her life, but Alabama does not seem to pay any mind to this. David and Alabama become bored of NYC and decide to go to France. Alabama is anxious on the way there and spends most of her time on the boat in their cabin with her daughter (Bonnie) while David drinks. After they get settled in France, Alabama has an affair with a guy who later moves to China, leaving her lonely. When David has an affair after they move to Paris, Alabama takes up dancing with a famous ballerina who is willing to teach her. In part three, the couple’s relationship becomes more strained when Alabama chooses to commit to ballet instead of her relationship with David. They stay in Paris a while longer before splitting apart. In part four, Alabama lives in Italy, where she performs for a ballet. David sends her flowers, but does not visit. Bonnie visits once, but doesn’t like her mom’s life. Eventually, they all go back to America to see Alabama’s dying dad. She gets to spend time with him before he passes, and the book ends with them throwing a party (like the good old days) and her cleaning up the mess afterwards. The family decides to all move somewhere together afterwards.

E10: Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Oh great, another complicated one. This summary will explain the general progression of events, but I WILL be leaving out some things that you might think are important so I strongly encourage you to read this one. As the story opens, Charlie is coming to visit his daughter, who greets him with excitement. The other people in the house seem to dislike Charlie. He used to drink a lot and act recklessly, but he’s stopped engaging in that lifestyle a long time (~1.5 years) ago. Others still seem to keep that impression of him. While Charlie does not specifically try to regain trust from the others in the household, he continues to cherish his daughter throughout. He does everything that is expected of a loving father. After a lot of convincing, Lincoln (an adult in the household) tells Charlie that he can live with Honoria (Charlie’s daughter). Marion (the other adult in the household) continues to hold a grudge against Charlie because his wife was her sister and she died after cheating on him. In the end, Charlie is separated from his daughter because of something that affected Lincoln at the time. He decides to continue to send Honoria gifts even though he knows he should be doing more.

E11: The Beautiful And Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Anthony Patch is the main character in this. His grandfather tried to get him to start a career in writing for a very long time, but Anthony has not paid much attention to it. He claims he is working, but does not (big mood). He falls in love with a girl named Gloria who uses her looks to get anything she wants. Gloria likes a movie director for a period of time, but drops him and gets with Anthony as soon as Anthony expresses his interest. They start out happy together, but soon realize their differences and struggle in their relationship. When they realize they do not have enough money, they push that problem off to the future and throw parties instead. His grandpa shows up to one of these parties without warning and scolds Anthony for his behavior. He disinherits him and dies shortly after. The grandpa’s secretary writes Anthony out of his will, so Anthony is left with little to nothing. Gloria and Dick (Anthony’s friend) go to fight in court for the money. This whole time, by the way, Gloria gives no shits about her own life. She doesn’t fear death at all. She is sad, however, when her old interest tells her that she is too old to be a lead actress. Anyway, Anthony goes into town and tries to find someone who could loan him any money. No one agrees, not even his best friend. After being tossed around because of his lack of money, Anthony makes it home. A few weeks later, Gloria and Dick come home to Anthony being emotionally nostalgic on the bathroom floor (he’s drunk, too) declaring that they had won the case. At the end of the novel, Anthony is described in distant 3rd person. He is said to have been physically and mentally drained by a family friend’s suicide. His money has also been taken away from him.

E12: To Have And Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

A man named Harry Morgan is a smuggler and takes money to do jobs for people. He agrees to help a Chinese man named Sing smuggle people across the border. Once he does this and gets the money, however, he kills Sing instead. Almost a year later, he is smuggling alcohol but becomes injured by Cubans. Harry and his friend decide to sink the alcohol and come back for it later or have another ship take it. A U.S. official sees this happen and reports the action. Harry gets his boat taken away and his arm is cut off as a result. Harry steals his boat but then gets it taken away from him again. He visits his family one last time and his wife gives him a loaded gun to take with him. Harry leaves, but is hurt by Cubans soon after. He gets away while his friend is killed. Eventually, Harry gets to a rich area that takes him in to a hospital where he dies during surgery. He gets to know these people a little before he dies, and their lives contrast the way Harry lived for the whole first section of the book. Among these rich families is a gay couple (because Hemingway is what the kids call, “woke”) and a bunch of people with various backgrounds, both good and bad. Marie ends up not going to his funeral because of guilt.

Harry’s wife reminds me of Jessica from BF honestly because she cares a lot about him and is also really badass while trying to protect him.

#banana fish #ash lynx #classic lit #eiji okumura #why did i do this #this is so self-indulgent

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starlitesymphony · 6 years

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10/11 Questions Tag Game

I was tagged by @shadow-maker and @hklunethewriter for two different versions of this, so I decided to combine them into one post. Thank you both for thinking of me!

Sorry, it’s long...

Who is your favourite OC? I still write the very first OC I made when I was eleven! He’s evolved quite a lot since then. He’s an MC in my current WIP now. His name is Ash and yes he was originally named after the pokemon character. I can’t hardly change it now, can I?

Have you ever made a dramatic change to your WIP? I cut a huge chunk off the end to turn into the sequel when I realized it was gonna be twice the size of HP and the Order of the Phoenix

How many OCs do you have? A whole lot of them!

If you could bring any of your OCs to life, who would you choose? Probably my protag. She’s really kind-hearted and brave.

Do you have any non-human OCs? I have intelligent starships, spaceports, cities, etc. Most of the time they don’t communicate directly with humans, though.

Would you ever co-write with another author? …Maybe? I’m not opposed to it, anyway

What writerblrs would you recommend following? @boothewriter @cog-writes @firewritten @dragonscanbeplantstoo @incandescent-creativity @briannadeberry but honestly I haven’t run across a bad writeblr yet, it’s worth a look through the tag to find people!

What is your favourite book? Banner of Souls by Liz Williams. It’s out of print, and it’s not perfect, but I have been in love with it I was a teenager. I actually saw a post not too long ago complaining about lack of dystopian matriarchies in fiction—well that’s what this is!! It’s a very unique and frankly brutal world. I’ve drawn a ton of inspiration from it over the years.

What’s the #1 thing that’ll make your MC blush? One of the plotlines of my novel is the narrator experiencing her first crush, so she ends up feeling embarrassed a lot. Luckily she can control whether or not she blushes. Usually.

Describe your MC in one word. Sagittarius

Now describe your antagonist in one word. Scorpio

What’s one thing your MC wishes they could change about themselves? She wishes she hadn’t been conscripted into the military when she was a child.

Pick a WIP and tell me whether your “good guy” OCs get along. What about the “bad guys”? Yeah, they do. I’d say this is actually the whole theme of this book—having your bestie’s back no matter what, even if you don’t always see eye-to-eye.

Who would your OCs die for, if anyone? Her mom or her mentor, which she’ll say without a second thought, and her mentor’s lover by the end of the book.

What advice would your MC give their younger self? You don’t really want to know the whole truth yet! The truth hurts

How much would you say you torture your OCs? :3c Well…quite a lot. They’re literally bulletproof, can happily survive in space without a suit, and can look like anyone. They’re the most powerful fighters of the human race. So I’ve had to come up with some serious stakes.

Your antagonist is given $1,000,000 with impunity–it’s clean and obligation-free. What does your antagonist do with it? Spend it all on fancy things for her apprentice.

Alright I’ll tag @lady-redshield-writes @briannadeberry @firewritten @writebruh @winnieleighwrites @authorisada @writing-after-midnight @theinkstainsblog @hannahcbrown @burningemberjade @dragonscanbeplantstoo Here are your 10 questions:

1. Which of your MC’s would you take on your next vacation? 2. If you got whisked off into your story world, would you stay there? 3. Which of your MC’s do you feel the most connection to? 4. Are any of your OC’s based on people you know or have met? 5. Have you ever abandoned a large WIP? If so, why? 6. Have you published anything? (Just yes or no is fine!) Are you hoping to go traditional, indie, online, or not at all? 7. Do you have any goals for your work over the next year? 8. Post a line you think sums up your work! 9. Have you ever had someone you would consider a mentor? 10. What are you currently reading? Anything interesting?

#writeblr #10 questions tag game #11 questions tag game #my novel #writing

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markwatkinsconsumerguide · 4 years

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Consumer Guide / No.98 / American television, film and stage actress, Bernadette Quigley with Mark Watkins.

MW : What’s new?

BQ : Currently, work is sparse as most of my businesses have been shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. No films or television shows are being shot in NYC at this moment in time and most of my side businesses are on pause as well. This season’s gardening work didn’t happen at all (because NYC had not yet deemed gardening an essential service).

Thankfully, I have a few coaching (acting) clients I work with often and I had one job before this pandemic hit that I’m still working on - a press and radio campaign for Irish singer-songwriter Ultan Conlon’s beautiful new record, ‘There’s a Waltz’. It’s been gratifying to see reviewers agreeing with me that it’s Ultan’s finest record thus far!

MW : Tell me about your role in Law & Order...

BQ : Well, I had four Law & Order roles, actually. Two are on Law & Order: SVU and two are on the mothership Law & Order.

My first big role on SVU was of a victim, Jean Weston, on the season finale of their 2nd season, many moons ago. This character was a mother and wife from Oregon whose husband and son got stabbed to death by a serial killer – played by Richard Thompson.

I’ll never forget this role for many reasons but primarily it was a job where I discovered I could cry on cue. The director and producers decided they wanted to end the episode with a huge close up of my character, breaking down in the gallery in the courtroom. One of the producers shouted out, “Bernadette…can you cry on cue!?” I meekly replied, “Sure.” Next thing I hear was…”rolling….” and “ACTION”… I looked up, terrified I wouldn’t be able to summon up tears but imagined the hell my character went through and looked deeply into Chris Meloni’s eyes and …phew!...started to cry!

The Law & Order franchise has been a godsend for many actors. Not just financially, which it has and still is but for me, the experience I gained working on those shows led to a lot more television and film work over the years, so I’m forever grateful to creator/producer, Dick Wolf.

MW : What are your own views on law & order? Anything you’d like to see relaxed or tightened up on?

BQ : Feels very naïve and idealistic to say this, but I’d love to see major, police reform. Police brutality is despicable and out of control, especially in Black communities.

I believe we’re beginning to see the power of the Black Lives Matter movement resulting in some of these police officers losing their jobs and sometimes being arrested themselves for their unspeakable acts of violence, but I imagine we, as a nation, need to keep the pressure on. The police brutality simply has to stop. There has to be more consequences for those senseless deaths. There has to be better training, etc...

I’d also love to see major gun control in this country. I would love to see guns banned. Period. But that’s highly unrealistic as this country tragically has a major addiction to their gun culture. Perhaps someday we’ll have some common-sense gun control again such as background checks, and high-capacity magazine and semi-automatic assault weapon bans.

MW : What was it like working with Kenneth Branagh?

BQ : I suggested Kenneth’s play “Public Enemy” to the Irish Arts Center’s Artistic Director at the time, Nye Heron, and was emailing and talking with Kenneth’s assistant quite a lot before setting up a meeting with Kenneth and Nye.

I was flying high that I helped to secure the rights to his play. Kenneth then came to our first read-through, and he came back to see a preview or two. He was an absolute prince, kind, intelligent, caring, witty.

However, this success was so bittersweet because my dad died right before we opened the play, a performance I had dedicated to him before he died (because my dad loved Jimmy Cagney, and the main character of the play was obsessed with Cagney). The play got great reviews and we ran for five months. It was so difficult for me to fully appreciate the success of this show as I was mourning the most devastating loss of my life.

MW : Which "shelved" film appearance of yours should have seen the light of day?

BQ : There’s a provocative film I am in about a racial experiment that is under the radar called, “The Suspect” (2014), which stars Mekhi Phifer, Sterling K. Brown and William Sadler.

By the way, I am currently in three indie films that I’m psyched for the world to see: I play a lead role in “Darcy” which is available (worldwide) to stream on Herflix.com; “The Garden Left Behind” has just landed international distribution, so stay tuned for the release date! And finally, I have an interesting supporting role in a film called “Tahara” which had its world premiere at Slamdance in January and is slated for more film festivals.

MW : What makes a good film/TV critic? Can you name any?

BQ : One that doesn’t give the plot, or too much dialogue away. I often don’t read reviews of films, or television shows, I want to watch because I love going in – not being influenced by another’s opinion. But sometimes, I’ll read reviews afterwards to learn more about the evolution of a film or TV show. I often find myself agreeing with A.O.Scott’s (NY Times) film reviews.

MW : How do you usually prepare for an acting role, and has a character ever taken you over?

BQ : The first thing I do is read the script several times and see what the words are telling me about the character, and how other characters view that person. If it’s a period piece, I research the era or history surrounding the event in the play, or screenplay. Eventually, I forget my research, learn my words and hopefully let the character inhabit me emotionally, physically and psychologically, spiritually etc…and try my best to be fully present with the other actors I’m working with moment-to-moment. Every project is different.

Yes, there were times, I found it difficult to shut off the pain of a character after some performances. Two that come to mind are two intensely emotional theatre roles I performed at the Repertory of St. Louis, Elizabeth Proctor in “The Crucible”, and Agnes in “Bug”.

MW : Is performing on film different to TV as an acting discipline?

BQ : I think it all depends on the style of the film, or television show. With a TV show like Law & Order, it’s formulaic and heightened realism (acting style) and so one makes sure one knows every single word, and hits one’s marks, and if it calls for emoting then one must emote! Some films I’ve done are grittier-kitchen-sink realism. A very minimalistic style of acting.

MW : Has your song-writer husband ever penned a song for you?

BQ : Yes, many….Don (Rosler) primarily writes for and with other artists – on the John Margolis: Christine’s Refrigerator CD, there’s many tunes that speak to many moments within the course of our lives: the title track (altho’ the name was changed), “Scrap of Hope” (a pep talk to me when I was stuck at a temp job I hated), “Here’s Something You Don’t See Every Day” (a wedding reverie that literally started in Don’s mind when I fell asleep on his shoulder), and he wrote an exquisite lyric for Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy-nominated record VOCAbuLarieS, a song called “Brief Eternity”… where his words infuse my love for gardening: “Working in the garden has you... ...Breathing in the bloom and then you View the sunset view to move you Close to truly understanding Life and death but nothing ending Voices living on”…..

MW : Tell me about some of your favourite music...

BQ : My music tastes are pretty eclectic – besides all the indie artists I’ve done publicity for, I love so many styles of music from classical to folk to country but here’s some of my fave artists: Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Pink, Beyonce, Billie Holiday, Ani DiFranco, Ibeyi, Sinead O’Connor, Prince, Bjork, Leonard Cohen, Kacey Musgraves, K.D. Lang, Laura Mvula, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Billy Bragg, and Randy Newman, among many others.

MW : ...and your favourite films....

BQ : Ohhhhh-so-many faves but a few, in no particular order :

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

Parasite (2019)

Secrets & Lies (1996)

Vera Drake (2004)

Pain And Glory (2019)

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

A Fantastic Woman (2017)

Babette’s Feast (1987)

Coco (2017)

To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

Nights of Cabiria (1957)

The 400 Blows (1959)

12 Years A Slave (2013)

Jean de Florette (1986)

Trees Lounge (1996)

My Left Foot (1989)

In America (2002) (I know I’m biased but still…such a beautiful film)!

Annie Hall (1977)

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

My Brilliant Career (1979)

And I also love documentaries and a ton of old movies from the 1930’s and 1940’s, such as The Lady Eve (1941).

MW : ...plus your favourite books....

BQ : I’m currently reading this years New York Times Bestseller American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins (it’s excellent!).

Some of my all-time faves are :

Of Human Bondage ~ W. Somerset Maugham (1915)

A Confederacy Of Dunces ~ John Kennedy Toole (1980)

Angela’s Ashes ~ Frank McCourt (1996)

The Grapes Of Wrath ~ John Steinbeck (1939)

Lady Chatterley's Lover ~ D.H Lawrence (1960)

Olive Kitteridge ~ Elizabeth Strout (2008)

Americanah ~ Chimanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

The Feast of Love ~ Charles Baxter (2000)

Everything Here Is Beautiful ~ Mira T. Lee (2008)

An American Tragedy ~ Theodore Dreiser (1925)

Sister Carrie ~ Theodore Dreiser (1900)

Act One ~ Moss Hart (1959)

Born A Crime ~ Trevor Noah (2016)

Wild : From Lost To Found On The Pacific Crest Trail ~ Cheryl Strayed (2012)

MW : You enjoy gardening. How is yours designed and tended to?

BQ : I don’t have my very own garden. I live in NYC and dream of having a country house with a garden of my own one day!

This is the reason I started a side business of urban gardening. My dad was an extraordinary gardener and after he died, I started tending to my mother’s flower gardens. Then I found myself volunteering at a neighborhood garden and that led to me working in other people’s gardens. Primarily small back gardens and some rooftop or balcony gardens.

I specialize in flowers, shrubs and trees and love planting lots of perennials (flowers and plants) with annuals so there’s lots of varying blossoms of different heights and textures, throughout spring, summer and fall.

When possible, if space allows, I also love incorporating foot paths, rock walls, or other elements in gardens – art/birdbaths/benches/statues that might be a sweet focal point but primarily I love the combinations of plants, trees, shrubs and flowers to be the focal points.

MW : Recommend five flowers...that every good garden should have!

BQ : Daffodils - one of the first signs of spring! Muscari (aka grape hyacinths) – the color (blue) is gorgeous, as is the scent. Climbing roses – the beauty and romantic history of roses. Anemone Robustissima (late blooming perennial flower). Lady Ferns (okay not a flower, but I’m a fern freak and I love ferns of all kinds!, but Lady ferns in particular are stunning when they sit beside most flowers or surround trees).

MW : How opinionated are you on current events? Would you like to be more, or less opinionated?

BQ : I’m extremely opinionated on current events but find it difficult to find ways to communicate my thoughts without screaming angrily from the rooftops and then of course not being heard. There are those that say we have an obligation to try to talk sense into people whose viewpoints are much more extreme than one’s own (either extreme conservative or extreme liberal).

I’m very liberal but am more pragmatic when it comes to progress, not perfection, so I’m very happy to enthusiastically vote for someone like Joe Biden or in 2016, Hillary Clinton, but I honestly don’t know how to reach people whose minds are already made up – people who either continue to justify their support for the current racist/narcissist/sexist/pathological liar-in-chief, or that justify their “protest” vote by falsely equivocating both candidates as “the same” or “the lesser of two evils”.

So yeah, I offend people at times because yes, I’m judgmental when it comes to politics and I most definitely believe in the power of protests, but believe just as strongly in the collective power of one’s vote and it drives me insane when others don’t show up and vote for local elections, and national ones.

I find I do hold back on Facebook, not because I’m afraid to voice my opinions but because it becomes too much of a time suck for me.

MW : What character traits frustrate you?

BQ : Impatience (in myself). Aggression (in myself and others).

MW : What’s the kindest thing another person has done for you?

BQ : I find this question so complex to answer. There are so many inexplicable moments in my life, where I’ve been blown away by many seemingly small gestures or kind words from strangers. And professionally, I’ve been truly blessed to work with some top-notch directors that gave me the gift of encouraging me to fully trust my artistic instincts.

When I was a child, my parents were not the type of people who conveyed their love in typically demonstrative ways, in ways that I honestly craved, so on the rare occasions when either one of them did utter something like “We’re proud of you”, or “I love you”, I was very moved by them going past their own comfort zones to express that kind of sentiment!

I’ve had many personal and professional challenges in my life and many of my siblings have been there for me over the years in ways I can’t really articulate without choking up. I also think having the courage to face one’s disagreements and past hurt, which comes with the territory of most friendships and relationships, is an act of kindness that I most value. Those I feel closest to have stuck it through with me by navigating through some painful, complex and messy misunderstandings. I’ll never forget those acts of kindness and generosity.

MW : What have you lost, growing older... and gained?

BQ : My mom died in January, and as I mentioned, my dad died many years ago. Sometimes I feel the depths of that loss – the fact that I don’t have my parents to share the ups and downs of the events of the rest of my life. Of course, I do have them close to my heart and their spirits live on….but damn I miss them! I’ve definitely gained a profound appreciation for them and their influence on me in countless ways.

On a professional level, as an older actress, unfortunately it’s easy to become invisible but I’m not ready to disappear and am joining the fight against ageism! I’m drawn to stories and filmmakers that include women and men of all ages, genders and ethnicities.

Perhaps if enough roles are not forthcoming in the next number of years, I’ll venture into writing and directing at some point.

MW : Where can we find out more / keep in touch?

BQ : Thanks so much, here’s a few links…!

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0703489/

https://twitter.com/quigdette

https://www.instagram.com/quigdette/

https://www.facebook.com/bernadette.quigley.3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Quigley

https://bernadettequigleymedia.wordpress.com/

https://bernadettetheconstantgardener.wordpress.com/bio/

0 notes

todaysbiggesthits · 4 years

Text

Odds, Ends

The Leftovers

TBH Era:

Nasty’s 16-20

16. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories 17. Chromatics - Kill for Love 18. A$AP Rocky - Live. Love. ASAP 19. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 20. Action Bronson - Blue Chips 1 & 2

Larson’s 16-20

16. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You 17. Taylor Swift - Lover 18. Waxahatchee - Out in the Storm 19. tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L 20. The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness

BC’s 16-20

16. Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation 17. Disclosure - Settle 18. Kurt Vile - b’lieve i’m goin down 19. Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action at a Distance 20. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Bronco’s 16-28

16. High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis 17. Violent Soho - Violent Soho 18. Moontooth - Chromaparagon 19. Thou - Rhea Sylvia 20. Alien Weaponry - Tu 21. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World 22. Inter Arma - The Cavern 23. Windhand - Eternal Return 24. MAKE - The Golden Veil 25. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity 26. Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology 27. Monoliths - Monoliths 28. Violent Soho - Hungry Ghosts

Code’s 16-26

16. Robyn – Body Talk 17. Colleen Green – Sock it to Me 18. Colleen Green – I Want to Grow Up 19. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 20. Washer – All Aboard 21. Spook Houses – Trying 22. Alien Boy – Sleeping Lessons 23. EMA – Exile in the Outer Ring 24. PAWS – Cokefloat! 25. Snooty Garbagemen – Snooty Garbagemen 26. All Dogs - All Dogs

Chap’s 16-33

16. Tomberlin - At Weddings 17. Dan Deacon - America 18. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory 19. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell! 20. M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming 21. Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs 22. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear 23. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree 24. Lost Under Heaven - Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing 25. Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy 26. Kanye West - Yeezus 27. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake 28. Girls - Broken Dreams Club 29. Robyn - Body Talk 30. No Age - Everything In Between 31. The National - Trouble Will Find Me 32. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost 33. Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

JD’s 16-57

16. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour 17. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz 18. DIIV - Oshin 19. Ariel Pink - Pom Pom 20. Beach House - Depression Cherry 21. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains 22. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo 23. Panda Bear - Tomboy 24. Death Grips - The Money Store 25. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake! 26. Slowdive - Slowdive 27. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell! 28. Radiohead - The King of Limbs 29. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening 30. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest 31. Destroyer - Kaputt 32. Grouper - Ruins 33. Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal 34. Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs 35. Joanna Newsom - Divers 36. Nine Inch Nails - 3 EPs 37. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs 38. The Strokes - Angles 39. William Basinski - A Shadow in Time 40. Todd Terje - It’s Album Time! 41. The Knife - Tomorrow, In a Year 42. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica 43. Julianna Barwick - Will 44. Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound 45. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream 46. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City 47. Panda Bear - Buoys 48. No Age - Snares Like a Haircut 49. Dirty Beaches - Badlands 50. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Before Today 51. Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future 52. Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy 53. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree 54. The Voidz - Virtue 55. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network Soundtrack 56. Pantha du Prince - Black Noise 57. Colleen Green - Sock it to Me

‘19:

Laser’s 16-20

16. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats’ Nest 17. The Black Keys - “Let’s Rock” 18. Electric Guest - KIN 19. Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs 20. Tegan and Sara - Hey, I’m Just Like You

Bronco’s 16-20

16. Blackwater Holylight - Veils of Winter 17. Year of the Cobra - Ash and Dust 18. Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race 19. sunn O))) - Pyroclasts 20. Baroness - Gold & Grey

Chap’s 16-20

16. Field Medic - fade into the dawn 17. Brittany Howard - Jaime 18. Mannequin Pussy - Patience 19. The National - I Am Easy to Find 20. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

JD’s 16-24

16. Sui Zhen - Losing, Linda 17. Empath - Active Listening: Night on Earth 18. Gesaffelstein - Novo Sonic System 19. Earl Sweatshirt - Feet of Clay 20. No Age - A Cassette of a Live Ambient Performance 21. Paul Maroon - A Two Song 45 I Bought On Etsy 22. Denzel Curry - ZUU 23. Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond 24. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

From the Desk of

Bronco’s Brettnacher-Certified Attendance Report

2019: A Broncospective

This was a year of waiting. Waiting for Tool. And I feel like I treated the rest of the year's music up until that point as thumb-twiddling whilst waiting for the big payoff. This year seemed to be filled with passable hold-over music. And a sense of dread as the months ticked by, that dread that comes with the unattainable expectations I've come to experience as I've grown older. Waiting for something awesome to happen, and then it happens, and it's not nearly as awesome as you hoped it to be. I've come to equate anticipation with dread now...to the point that I do my damnedest to avoid anticipation by pushing everything future out of my mind. So I live in the present now, and I feel totally unprepared every single day. Weekends come and I have no idea what's happening. I really should rethink this strategy and maybe just try not to build up my expectations. Fuck it. Either way, I was dreading the new Tool album. There's no way it could live up to a 13 year wait. Then it came. And it was good. Not redefine my life and realign my soul good, just perfect. It was what we all needed, those of us who have been waiting. One album that definitely wasn't a time-killer during the great Tool wait of nine deen was King Gizzard's 'Infest the Rats Nest.' That easily would have been my number one album this year had it not landed in the same year as Fear Innoculum. I actually had a hard time deciding which one was my number one, but in the end had to place Rat's Nest second. I know these guys have pumped out so many records in the past few years, but I was pleasantly surprised at their ability to sound like themselves while at the same time ripping out a proper metal album. The subject matter, the riffs, all of it is great. And it's accessible to non-metal folks who want to hear some tasty licks. Lastly, I listened to a lot of hardcore this year too. Unlike any other year, something about it spoke to me. I don't know if it's our current political climate or what, but the indecipherable doomy sludgly stonery spacey lyrics of the stuff I'm usually in to felt like a nondescript blob of meaninglessness (not that I care what their meaning is at any other time). But the hardcore scene felt important. Like something topical was being said (or screamed), and said hard. The sheer anger in the music, I think, reflects the way I feel on a daily basis as I'm inundated with political shit from NYT, WashPo, CNN, etc. etc. etc. News about no news, filler designed to get me pissed off about shit that's out of my control, and designed to push me over the edge when the eventual outcome of all of this outrage is just more outrage that none of the original outrage mattered at all. That feeling of not being heard, the voice of reason being smothered by a sweat stained pillow owned by some bible thumping hypocrite child fucker, is maddening. To the point that all you want to do is scream until you're heard...like Sara Connor at the chainlink fence before Judgement Day destroys the playground and melts her skin off her body. That's what some of these acts have sounded like. And it's scratching an itch. Probably not going to be my jam for an extended period of time, I don't see myself pivoting to this corner of the genre, but like a good enima, this stuff has cleared my brain's bowels for the better this year. Here's to the next chapter, the next decade, and the next Tool album in 2035. Hail Satan, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New (Wave of British Heavy Metal) Year to you all.

From the Bin Bin

Nasty’s Best Rap of the Decade

Nasty’s Video of the Year

Da Baby - “BOP on Broadway”

youtube

JD's Silver Screen Video Staff Recommendations: Long Form Shelf

Solange - When I Get Home

youtube

Earl Sweatshirt - Nowhere, Nobody

youtube

Thom Yorke - Anima

New to Code in 2019

Colleen Green - Dude Ranch (cover of full album) Ganser - Odd Talk Felt - Forever Breathes the Lonely Word Duster - Capsule Losing Contact Dungen - 4 Alien Boy - Sleeping Lessons Charmer - Charmer Michael Cera Palin - I Don't Konw How to Explain It

Interloper’s Corner

Fergwad’s 1-10 of the Decade

1. Tame Impala - Lonerism 2. Tame Impala - Currents 3. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City 4. Beach House - Bloom 5. Kanye West - Yeezus 6. Real Estate - Days 7. Beach House - Teen Dream 8. No Age - Everything in Between 9. Deerhunter - Hacyon Digest 10. Vampire Weekend - Contra

Ferg’s 10 “Call the Fire Department” Songs of the Decade

Tammy Rooney’s 1-10 of ‘19

1. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride 2. Cass McCombs - Tip of the Sphere 3. William Tyler - Goes West 4. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains 5. Bon Iver - i, i 6. Strand of Oaks - Eraserland 7. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow 8. Thom Yorke - Anima 9. Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Disappeared Already 10. Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms of Surrender

From the Desk of Code’s Pal Jon Wotman

Artists spend an entire career and oceans of money in an effort to *shimmer.* I Wonder: shrug, yeah I shimmer so what. It’s not hard. -This, and the lines below, taken from an imagined documentary called “'I Wonder' Speaks” Somehow, despite the fact that in its initial release the recording sounds like a construction project nailed hastily in a tin lean-to (and the hammering was also included in the mix)... I Wonder: you take ecstasy and it’s not like everything drops away clean. There’s blood in there, there’s all the memory and old feelings and shit in your brain that that drugs have to sweep out and they don’t want to leave. It’s messy and I made it messy on purpose. You wanna make something really good, it’s got to feel messy even if it’s got the 90 degree bones of a skyscraper underneath. [Handclap.] It’s not hard. “When I look over my shoulder, I know who’ll be on the other side” effortlessly combines gesture, solidity, and faith in what must be the most romantic line of the decade. I Wonder: Everyone thinks writing about this stuff is hard. It’s not. “… and things’ll get trashy when we get to my place… “ presents sex as both without forethought and deeply premeditated, but, in both cases, without judgement… it’s the most erotic line of the decade. I Wonder: I’m not punning. No fucking way. And shame on your for putting me in this position. There’s some judgment for you. Any closing thoughts? I Wonder: Y’know.

0 notes

felassan · 3 years

Text

Highlights and insights from the N7 Day cast & crew reunion panel

[Rewatch link]

In case a text format is better for anyone. There are some NSFW references. Cut for length.

(Some paraphrasing.)

“Some of us are inebriated”

“Patrick Weekes, the killer of man and beasts, the breaker of hearts”

JHale put the whole thing together, it’s the biggest ME cast reunion to date

The cast had no idea that the remaster was a thing

Lots of ace discussion about what the magic of the MET is (“it captured lightning in a bottle”)

Lots of warm fuzzies between the cast, crew and community, and lots of fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes

Lots of great discussion on the diversity and inclusion in ME: on gender, sexuality, representation, empowerment, the core message in the MET that “we’re all in this together or we’re screwed”, the progress made in the portrayal of female characters in gaming, etc. “Everything behind what went into these characters was authentic, we [the VAs] could tell that so much research, texture, authenticity etc had gone into them. It really made a difference”. JHale: “I’ve spent my career kicking down ceilings [barriers and so on women actors experience] with my steel-toed boot. To get to be a part of this game that has now created the expectation that there now be a female PC, ‘duh’, is once of the great things of my life. BioWare listened and put her on the box. The first time someone dropped the box in front of me I held it over my head and screamed over the crowd, ‘Casey Hudson, thank youuu!!’ It was a divine moment. This game was the moment the boot finally crashed through the glass, pushed by millions of women.”

The panel received many messages from the question submission from fans expressing that MET really helped them through very dark places and periods in their lives. The cast have had a lot of interactions with fans over the years where the fans expressed similar sentiments to them

ME was one of the first games Keythe Farley (Thane) acted for that had branching dialogue/dialogue choices, and when he saw the script with that when he went in, he was like “wow”. ME was the second big game D. C. Douglas (Legion) ever did. In his first audition he didn’t know it was for a robot-type character as it was disguised as something else with a military-feel. The second time it was to do a speech/lament at someone’s funeral and he knew it was for a robot. He said playing Legion for him was a case of “wake up, drink some coffee and go to work”

Jack was really special to her VA Courtenay Taylor because she relates to her so much and had a lot of similar emotional problems and personal troubles in her past. Jack helped her become who she has became. The host added that in his interactions with Courtenay over the years, he realized very quickly that she is very much like Jack

AWR has two moms, something which she hasn’t talked about/expressly said publicly before. Talking about recording lines between Sam and Femshep made her tear up. She said that being raised by two moms in the 80s was tough due to societal attitudes at the time, and so to see a loving relationship between two women depicted in a game was a big deal for her. When recording the white picket fence conversation, she was actually crying (“and then I’m crying because of the lesbians”). It was a huge moment for her to represent her moms’ journey. When she went home she told them all about how her character is gay and wants a white picket fence and everything “just like we had”.

When PW was working on Sam’s arc, one of the things they did was show it to one of their colleagues, who is a lesbian, asking what things she’d like to see in an arc like that and what things she felt were missing from it. The white picket fence conversation came from the colleague’s feedback (“we wanna see the nice, healthy, happy domestic stuff”, as it’s often missing in portrayals of wlw relationships)

As the VAs got more into their characters, they sometimes had feedback and input to the process to offer, like “I don’t think she’d say [this] like [that]”. Sometimes they knew their characters even better than the crew did sometimes. JHale waxed lyrical about Caroline Livingstone’s awesome direction, with the host adding that he has interviewed a lot of the VAs over the years and they all talk about Caroline like she’s Gandalf the White coming to the rescue in LotR. AWR expressed that Caroline is really funny (“don’t worry it’s not you, PW was sick when they wrote this line that’s why”) and emotionally in-tune with them and this makes long hard sessions with her a joy

When Mark went into record for the Citadel DLC one day he asked Caroline “wouldn’t be great if Shepard’s clone had been made to be the opposite gender? Then the two Shepards could fight each other!”

William Salyers (Mordin) likes the way Mordin’s story ended and felt that it was wonderful to be able to play that. He feels like the luckiest person because as he wasn’t the original VA of Mordin, he got to come in late to something that was amazing. “Caroline helped me get to where I needed to be emotionally to play that final scene. It was one of the most moving things I’ve ever gotten to do personally for a piece of interactive art”. PW related that with Mordin’s writing, they didn’t realize how much they were asking for. They thought William was amazing doing all the science-speak/technobabble, as they themselves didn’t know what it meant, and then suddenly having to deliver emotional heartbreaking lines. William’s always been a secret science nerd and so he loved that fact about Mordin. “It was a real treat to say your words”

Karin: “I always claim credit for the Scientist Salarian song even though I had nothing to do with it. I opened that door for PW”

Steve Blum (Grunt) found it a real treat playing Grunt as Grunt is a tough soldier on the outside but a [babey] on the inside, while he is more the other way around (softer on the outside, fight-y inside). He isn’t a gamer and so didn’t know what to expect or what he was getting into. There was the big pile of words, they showed him the picture of Grunt, and he just ran with it. “Grunt was kind of a perfect character for me in that respect”. Side note: his wry comments throughout the panel were hilarious

“Casey Hudson, our glorious loving overlord”

Courtenay jokes about “interspecies snorkeling”

The women Courtenay met working on this game are her friends for life. Ali Hillis (Liara) gave her her number the night of the ME3 drop and was like “let’s hang out!!” “JHale is the shit. I go to England and there’s AWR and I have this friend for life”.

“We’re a family”. The host comments that you don’t see this kind of closeness between the people on a lot of projects

Kimberley Brooks (Ashley) thinks things have and are changing for the better in terms of roles for women, and roles for brown and black women. This year she has noticed increasing awareness of inclusion and of where it’s lacking. “The copies I’m being sent for auditions, it’s drastically changing, I’m seeing it change before my eyes. It’s really exciting, there’s more and more roles for me.” “Ash is such a strong character and I felt very badass playing her, it was life-changing”. She’s excited that the remaster is going to be a new way to see these characters that they’ve been so lucky to voice. Kimberley/Ash was the first female character Karin saw in the studio, when she saw her she was like “Wow, she’s so kickass and inspiring”. At this point Karin hadn’t been working at BioWare for all that long, and she wanted to thank Kimberley, because she saw her and heard her voice and had a personal ‘this changes everything’ moment

Raphael Sbarge (Kaidan) finds it very moving how many women were encouraged into gaming due to ME

Raphael: “Everyone here has awesome varied careers, but because ME was so collaborative [and so on], [it was something really rare and special]. Nothing else I’ve done has been so important or impassioned, it has almost a religious experience to it, which you can see from tears in fans’ eyes and tattoos and people talking about it 10 years later”. “I’m so grateful for it.” “Clearly we’re going to do this again next year! :D” D. C. added that it’s going to follow him for the rest of his career. Courtenay says it has catapulted her career

PW talked about how it’s great that the female chars in ME were allowed to have real, realistic flaws and dark periods (as opposed to nonsense stuff like ‘her flaw is that she’s clumsy’)

Having the male and female PC be voiced was a big, expensive commitment for the studio. Karin commented that at the time, it was a risk that the pretty-much almost entirely-male leadership of BioWare at the time decided was important to take, and so she was happy that these were the values her colleagues had

PW was “the junior baby writer on ME1. I’d just gotten to the studio and Mac Walters fell down a flight of stairs and hurt his back, and they pulled me in while he was healing”. Karin: “Mac was very understanding when PW fell on the ice and hurt themselves during ME2.” PW: “My job in ME1 was to come up with conversations between followers to pass the time in the elevator loading times. I was throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick”

Steve turning his volume down before he shouts classic Grunt quotes down the mic

Caroline: “Do you know how many tears were shed in the booth? How many times have we all cried in the booth...” JHale: “We were recording the end of ME3, which I never call the end, because I’m always like I’M HERE! [wink] The goodbye Garrus lines” - these lines got right under her skin and when she went to say her lines she couldn’t speak because she’d burst into tears. “It was all I could do to say those words... and then there was silence... [and Caroline had gotten choked up too].” This was one of the last sessions they did. PW: “John Dombrow wrote Garrus in ME3 and I’m gonna tell him that he got you both to break.”

Caroline was also really teary during Keith David’s (Anderson)’s performance where he tells Shepard she’s like his daughter. This moment was one of JHale’s favorites to act

BioWare came up with a proprietary VA recording system which JHale describes as a secret sauce as-yet not widely-used in the industry

Lots of fun in the line-reading portion at the end. The lines/scenes were sent in by fans. This starts around timestamp 1 hour 50 mins. There’s a break where they discuss more anecdotes after a bit then some line-reading resumes at 1 hour 59 mins 18 secs

"Salarian Vorcha Conrad Verner simmering sexual tension scene”

One of PW’s fondest memories is of ME3 when JHale and Mark got to play off each other (which they naturally didn’t get to do very much), when PW had shoved the entire script of the Blasto movie into random ambience throughout the Citadel. They knew Mark was going to be Blasto as he voiced most of the hanar. PW: “We had to have Blasto’s elcor partner’s hot sister... And I was like could it be JHale?? Because they hardly ever get to talk to each other. It was one of my proudest moments”. Mark: “Not only that, we had a romance.” JHale: “Yeah, it was hot”.

“Think of the poor cold freezing Edmontonian hanar”

PW’s story about Sam’s toothbrush: They wrote it as a throwaway line but AWR did it so well that PW wanted to bring it back in the Citadel DLC, as that DLC was the action-comedy one. So they decided the toothbrush was going to save the Normandy. The art director at the time was in an early playthrough of the scene and in that version of the scene Sam held up her empty hand. The director was like “We gotta make the toothbrush? Really? It’s gonna be thousands of dollars to render the toothbrush.” It then got to the next few lines and the director deadpanned at PW “Okay that’s pretty good, we’ll make the toothbrush.” PW: “Good, I got my toothbrush.”

It was John’s idea that we find out that Mordin had been working on a crime noir novel. There was a period in the development of the Citadel DLC where PW was feeling like “Mordin’s gone, he had his big moment, I want to respect and honor that” and the entire team were like “I think Mordin needs a couple more songs dude”. “Well alright!” By that point William had shown them he could deliver literally any line

“Oh I need a shower that was so steamy hot”

PW got in trouble with Localization over Jack’s “Save some of your energy, we’re gonna do it on the pool table” exchange. Localization were like “Um could you explain what Jack means by this??” These lines were PW’s, Karin as an editor got the question about it and passed it on to PW like “nope this is your fault”. “The best part is it was France that needed PW to explain the joke while apparently Germany were like ‘Yes please confirm that this is regarding the possibility of oral sex-’”

Keythe on voicing Thane: “Thane was a real lesson in opening up to the character, allowing this beautifully conflicted character to exist. Each character in the MET has conflicts within themselves and a tragic flaw that is revealed through the course of conflict.” He also waxed lyrical about how the MET was akin to Star Wars and Citizen Kane, and about the interconnectedness and representation in it

D. C.: “I have a question for you guys. Was it a conscious decision to not have Legion as a romance? Because there are a lot of upset people out there!!” “Voltage problems.” “A lot of creative reuses of ‘There was a hole.’” PW: “It was a process of us figuring out what we wanted to do. If we had known... The number of people who were like ‘I don’t know, are people gonna wanna romance Garrus? Liara? She’s blue and has no hair. Are people gonna be okay with that?” Karin: “We were young and naïve, now we know BioWare fans are thirsty.”

Derek brought in the first picture of Thane to show Caroline and she was like “He’s really hot, that’s gonna be a killer character. People are gonna want to romance that gentleman”

Raphael asked the BioWare team if there’s ever been a point where they thought about doing more DLC content or some kind of revival. “Has that ever come up?” “We’re legally obligated not to say, sorry, we’re going through a tunnel right now, bad reception!!”

D. C.: “Does this country have a soul?” “It does.”

“An N7 Day to remember! Go forth and heal.”

#bioware #mass effect #video games #lgbtq #feels #lul #garrus vakarian #best boy #please remember if you are a minor you should not be following me #a minor = under 18 #next mass effect

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just-a-touch-of-sass-and-fandoms · 7 years

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Supernatural Survey

I was tagged by the lovely @melissaj616

1. What season did you start watching Supernatural?

I started at the end of season 11. I had heard about it for years, seen a million Tumblr screenshots about it on Pinterest, and needed a new show to watch. In about a month and a half I watched all 10 seasons that were on Netflix, then I started my Tumblr in July, binged season 11 when it hit Netflix, and watched season 12 as it aired!!

2. Who was the first character you fell in love with?

It’s going to sound weird, but Bobby. I liked Sam and Dean a ton, but the first one I was like “yes, you, you right there, I love you, you’re amazing” was Bobby.

3. Who was a character that you hated at first but grew to love?

Honestly? John. I feel bad about it now because he honestly was just doing the best he could. At the beginning though? I wanted him gone.

4. Which character would you most want to be in a long-term relationship with?

Garth. He would make life and hunting fun, he’d make a great dad, he has an incredible heart, and I think we would get along great.

5. If you could go on just one date with one character, which one would you choose?

Benny. I think we’d have some serious fun ;) and that accent *swoooooon*

6. What would you do on the date?

I think he would shut down the restaurant, make me a nice meal, and we’d have awesome conversations about all the things he’s seen and done over the years. And then some sweet southern lovin’ would be next on the menu ;)

7. Which character would you most want to be like?

Jody. She is unapologetically strong, caring, and incredible. I want her confidence, her strong will, and her warm heart. She’s an incredible woman, sheriff, friend, mother, and hunter.

8. Which character would you most like to see brought back from the dead?

Of course Bobby, Kevin, Charlie, and John. But I’d love to see what would happen if Jess was brought back into their life.

9. Which character would you most like to punch?

Ruby

10. Who is your absolute favorite character?

Tie: Rufus and Bobby, when they’re together

11. Which “Big Bad” do you think was the worst?

Azazel, he fucked a lot of shit up

12. Which character are you most like?

Dean. We are both strong, badass, risk takers. We are also vulnerable, gentle, caring, semi-shy people. I get him...a lot.

13. What death hit you the hardest?

Any time either of the boys died. The others were awful, don’t get me wrong, but those hit me pretty hard.

14. What season finale hit you the hardest?

Season 12, because it’s the first one I haven’t been able to just click on the next episode to be able to cope with. Actually having the unknown sink in...it’s not fun. (yes I’ve seen the spoilers for s13, but this still sucks butt)

15. What are your ten all-time favorite episodes?

Tall Tales, Weekend at Bobby’s, Bad Day at Black Rock, Dog Dean Afternoon, Yellow Fever, Two and a Half Men, Swap Meat, Monster Movie, Ghostfacers!, and the Pilot

16. What’s been your favorite season?

Honestly? I’ve loved all of them equally. But, for the sake of this, I’ll say season 1 because it’s what started it all.

17. Who is your favorite angel?

Gabriel. He is way too funny, tries to do the right thing, and knows when to cut the crap, get serious, and stand up to his family.

18. Who is your favorite demon?

Demon!Dean counts right?

19. Who is your favorite evil character?

Lilith sort of cracked me up to be totally honest.

20. Do you have any Supernatural ships?

Honestly? There really isn’t anyone I ship super hard.

21. Who is your favorite supporting actor?

Briana, because she’s everything and more.

22. What is your favorite quote from the show?

“Get off my property before I pump you so full of rock salt you crap margaritas.”

23. If you could cast one famous actor in an episode of SPN, who would you choose?

I think Robin Williams would have found a way to make an episode even more creative and entertaining than they already are.

24. If you could write your own episode, what kind of creature would you like to see included?

Anything from the Harry Potter universe would be pretty cool I think. Like house elves, goblins, hippogriffs, mandrakes, cornish pixies, dragons, etc.

25. Who is your favorite girl that Dean’s hooked up with?

Suzy Lee, Casa Erotica star turned born again virgin.

26. Who is your favorite girl that Sam’s hooked up with?

Ruby, of course.

27. What are some of your favorite convention moments?

Any time J2 talk about their families, Misha and Jensen panels at JibCon because those two crack me up, J2M2 at NerdHQ, watching Jensen perform with Louden Swain, watching Jared perform recently, and basically every other con moment we get to share with all of them.

28. If you were going to guest star (or be a recurring guest star) on SPN, how would you want your character described?

Quirky sass ass, sorta like Charlie, that’s always picking on the boys and saving their asses. Oh! And I want to be a witch (not just on the show either haha).

29. What do you hope to see in next season?

I’d love to see more stand alone episodes where they sort of test the limits of the show and we get to see the boys have fun. I think they’ve deserved it after 13 seasons and I can’t wait for the Scooby Doo episode!!

30-40, if you had to choose....

Bobby or John? Bobby

Bela or Ruby? Bela

Jess or Madison? Jess

Jo or Lisa? Lisa

Charlie or Kevin? Charlie

Balthazar or Ash? Balthazar

Cas or Crowley? Cas

Ben or Claire? Claire

Jody or Donna? Jody

Sam or Dean? Both, they always go together

Tagging anyone and everyone that wants to do it!! Tag me so I can see what you say!!!

#supernatural survey #spn fandom #spn family #fun stuff

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caswouldratherbehere · 7 years

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Supernatural Survey

I was tagged by @starsinursa. Thanks hon! Sorry it took me so long to get around to this.

1. What season did you start watching Supernatural? Season 6. But the first episode I ever saw was In the Beginning, when Cas sends Dean back in time. I didn’t know Sam was a main character. XD I went back to start at the beginning after that and joined in Season 6 just a few episodes in.

2. Who was the first character you fell in love with? Well, as I was powering through the first couple seasons to catch up, I was doing it all because I was teased with Cas and I HAD to have more. So I guess he was first, even though I then spent those first three seasons falling for Dean.

Okay, rest below the cut!

3. Who was a character that you hated at first but grew to love? At first? No one. I was quite shocked to learn about the hatred towards Jo and Anna, etc etc. I guess Rowena may fit this question best.

4. Which character would you most want to be in a long-term relationship with? God. None of them. Do you have any idea how stressful that would be? That said, when I’m playing in my head, the long term relationship is usually with Dean.

5. If you could go on a date with just one character, which one would you choose? Cas. Yes, it’s different than the above answer. No, I don’t have the next six hours to get into why. I’m sure it’s at least somewhat obvious anyway.

6. What would you do on that date? I want Cas to take me to a country field somewhere and just watch the stars. And I want him to tell me about all of them.

7. Which character would you most want to be like? Charlie! Strong, smart, funny, geeky, capable, compassionate, a little more emotionally stable than other options.... Who wouldn’t want to be Charlie? Only, you know, alive.

8. Which character would you most want to see brought back from the dead? Assuming Cas is a given, I’d say Charlie.

9. Which character would you most like to punch? Between Toni, Gordon, and Metatron, I’m going to go with Metatron, cause I think his reaction would be the best.

10. Who is your absolute favorite character? Cas. Though in a list of like, top three characters of all time? Dean would still be in that list.

11. Which “Big Bad” do you think was the worst? Worst like, the most evil? Or just the best villain character? The one I wanted to punch the most? Or worst like, the actual worst, like, ugh, we could have done so much better? Cause the leviathans were dumb. Lucifer was the best, nothing has topped the original five year plan.

12. Which character are you most like? Like a cross between Donna and Charlie and Kevin, really.

13. What death hit you the hardest? Charlie’s made me the maddest... Don’t think that’s a surprise.

14. What season finale hit you the hardest? IDK, they don’t usually hit me that hard in the feels. The entire end of season 6 was like a kick in the crotch though. DO NOT watch Man Who Would be King straight through to the end, especially while on your period. I did that once. Hubby had to scrape me off the floor.

15. What are your ten all-time favorite episodes?

On the Head of a Pin, Free to Be You and Me, Mystery Spot, Changing Channels, Fanfiction, LARP and the Real Girl, Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets... I’d have to look at some season episode lists, honestly.

16. What’s been your favorite season? 4.

17. Who is your favorite angel? Castiel, obvs.

18. Who is your favorite demon? Ruby 1.0??? Can I say that? It’s nothing against Gen, I just thought the first Ruby was more interesting. Otherwise Crowley.

19. Who’s your favorite evil character? Crowley I guess.

20. Do you have any Supernatural ships? *laughs into space* I think it would take anyone about five seconds to figure out the answer to that.

21. Who’s your favorite supporting actor? Misha. I’m sorry. It’s boring and obvious, but utterly true.

22. What’s your favorite quote from the show? “What the hell?” “Guess again.” Sassy Cas FTW.

23. If you could cast one famous actor in an episode of SPN, who would you choose? WILLIAM SHATNER. Just given Shatner’s relationship with Misha, this would make me squeal like none other. When fandoms collide....

24. If you could write your own episode, what kind of creatures would you like to see included? Cthulhu. Hello Redemption Road.... Oh! How about real aliens, cause why not?

25. Who’s your favorite girl that Dean’s hooked up with? Crowley, lol.

26. Who’s your favorite girl that Sam’s hooked up with? Sarah Blake, by far. I adored her.

27. What are some of your favorite convention moments? I’m pretty sure Misha’s fake orgasm is top of a very long and awesome list.

28. If you were going to guest star (or be a recurring guest star) on SPN, how would you want your character to be described? I’d want to play the character that is terrified, but has to find her bravery to help the boys anyway. I’m not terribly brave in real life, so I always admire these characters the most.

29. What do you hope to see in the next season? A Castiel that is not Marvin the manic depressive robot would be great. I want to see him kicking ass again. I want him standing up for himself more. In general, I’d also love a beach episode. You mean to tell me the boys have never had a mermaid or selkie to go after? Actually, more world-wide experiences would be super cool in general. I know that wasn’t the original concept, but if you can’t shift after 13 years...

30. - 40. If you had to choose…

Bobby or John? Bobby

Bela or Ruby? Pass...

Jess or Madison? Madison

Jo or Lisa? Jo

Charlie or Kevin? Charlie

Balthazar or Ash? Balthazar

Cas or Crowley? Cas

Ben or Claire? Claire

Jody or Donna? Aren’t they a packaged deal?

Sam or Dean? Dean

#meme #about me #starsinursa #not tagging anyone #no time to think about that #you're tagged if you want to be

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lesbianalicent · 7 years

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mass effect: andromeda review

abandon hope of not seeing spoilers, all ye who click the cut

overall: 3/5 main story: 3.5/5 dialogue: 5/5 fuck all of you it was hilarious combat: 5/5 worldbuilding: 2/5 squad: 4/5 overall gameplay: 2/5 side quests: 1/5

this is gonna be long, y’all, i have A Lot To Say

so, first thing’s first: ryder is a treasure and probably the best protagonist that bioware has come up with since hawke or shepard. inquisitor whom??? they’re absolutely hilarious and whenever they open their mouth i know something delightfully terrible is going to come out of it. i find it interesting that the older folks who play this game (late twenties and over) HATE the dialogue but the younger folks who are around ryder’s actual age don’t? it’s an interesting split that i could write essays on just bc of how ryder talks bc it’s so similar to how i talk.

god she’s such a little asshole i love her i would die for her.

THE PROS: -fantastic combat that is probably the best that bioware has ever done, not having a set class is wonderful and being able to switch to do whatever you want is [prayer hands emoji] i can finally be the biotic infiltrator combo of my dreams -I LOVE BEING ABLE TO PROJECT MY DADDY ISSUES ONTO RYDER THANK YOU FOR THAT BIOWARE -kissable!! turian!! gotta Kiss That Turian!! -the tempest crew feels like a tight knit family, they feel Real, hearing them banter on the ship itself is lovely and seeing how their relationship grows over the course of the game is delightful. the movie night single handedly saved me. the emails and the message board killed me dead. -nakmor kesh is my girlfriend -liara t’soni cameos -SAM, i love that ai i hope he knows that. he’s a very different character than edi and i really like that? i like the relationship he has with ryder it’s a lot different than shepard’s relationship with legion and with edi -the little easter eggs scattered around, like hunting dr. okeer’s research and finding zaeed’s son -the main story missions really felt like mass effect, and there’s some great choices you have to make that i hope will have actual effects later in the series -STUNNING scenery, holy shit -nomad banter -peebee/vetra, specifically. thank you sheryl chee for my life. -THE RYDER FAMILY WHAT THE HECK I LOVE THESE ASSHOLES -loyalty missions were a lot of fun, liam’s specifically is SO funny i love that boy -i would die for the tempest’s crew THE CONS: -too big. way, way, WAY too big. like take the hinterlands and make it into several PLANETS big. it’s exhausting and it was neat at first but by the end i just wanted it to be done, i had to resort to doing a speed run just so i wouldn’t burn myself out on the first try. if i wanted to play an open world game i’d play world of warcraft or skyrim, honestly. the open world aspect of it is dEFINITELY one of the game’s biggest weak spots, and i’m def gonna save my completionist run for when some mods and patches come out so i don’t burn myself out real quickly. i still haven’t recovered from my dai completionist run and that was a year ago. -the loyalty missions are fun and interesting, but except for cora’s they really didn’t seem to have much of a point other than unlocking romances. in me2 the point of the loyalty missions was that the crew would draw a line with shepard somewhere, things you said and did could lose their loyalty and if you lost their loyalty the characters could and often did die in the suicide mission. these seemed more like personal quests, they didn’t even unlock new outfits :/ -okay. listen. i understand that garrus is a fan favorite. and i love him too. but holy shit liara had a VOICE cameo and he still got the most references. that goddamn archangel paintjob? “reach and flexibility”? having his picture in the codex? his goddamn father being in a flashback? liam mentioning a scarred turian vigilante? meanwhile kaidan and ashley get nothing, lmao, Okay. like shit even shepard only got referenced ONCE like come on y’all. not even gonna mention the battle of the citadel? that was a big goddamn plot point, especially since ryder was RAISED ON THE CITADEL? you’d think that the sovereign attack would be traumatizing. -dragon age characters got references but ash and kaidan don’t.........lol.........i see you bioware.............. -what was even the point of editing shepard’s gender -if you’re gonna have references you should at least have a little reference for every major character like the game is so fucking big you could have done it without being in your face. ellen’s role with biotics? reference baat. general williams and shanxi. wrex when talking to drack’s clan urdnot friend. -i really wish they’d have at least had some major choices from me1 imported in, like “did the council survive, who was the virmire survivor, was everyone recruited, did wrex survive” etc. -speaking off, there’s plot holes for days. i can’t get a confirmation on when in 2185 they left, but if they left before shepard woke up and they didn’t ever recruit garrus in me1 then WHY would garrus’s dad talk to alec about it. the fuck my dudes. -yeah. plot holes for days. i’m tired and a bitter OT fucker. -gil’s.......entire.............storyline............lol GOD bioware...... -having the two crime lords being the latino man and the black woman. i see you bioware. -sloane’s entire storyline god bioware........... -the remnant are literally just synthetic protheans and the kett are organic reapers -i’m tired of this trend in bioware games where they use the “SILLY MORTALS YOU CANNOT EVEN COMPREHEND OUR ACTIONS, THEY ARE BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING” like with the reapers it was cool, corypheus was a disaster and quite frankly so was the kett but whatever. -activating the monoliths and having to do sudoku. why. -not prioritizing quests properly. you could miss one of the biggest twists in the game bc you don’t finish that fetch quest to get all the memory triggers, and that twist was the main one that i actually wanted to see (shepard and the reapers and liara’s SOS) -PEEBEE’S SEX SCENE GOD. TOO MUCH. BIOWARE. -JAAL WITH HIS VAGINA HEAD GOING DOWN ON SARA RYDER. FUCK.

that’s all i can think of atm but my main issue with the game is that bioware doesn’t seem to know how to prioritize quests, it’s SO BIG, and they treat their mlm like garbage. also racist tropes ahoy.

i’m really excited to see where they take the franchise tho! definitely got some solid future plot points with whatever the fuck the remnant were, whatever the kett are after (ugh...), discovering what happened in the milky way, who killed jien garson, who is the benefactor (my money is illusive man and tann’s power hungry froggy ass had her killed and it was unrelated just coincidental), ellen ryder’s recovery, the quarian ark, etc.

i hope they keep the same squad for the next game! continue the romances as well as add in new ones, maybe add a couple of new squaddies. i like having the same characters overlap in different games, it makes you actually care about them. add in scott/sara as a squaddie! LESBIAN/GAY SQUADDIES. keep ryder as the protag or so help me god..........

it really, really makes me miss the original trilogy tho. and playing it knowing there’s a bunch of ppl who wont ever touch it but will play andromeda hurts me deeply.

#shut up katie #mass effect andromeda spoilers //#me:a spoilers #so many spoilers #bioware critical //#i guess?? idk #mass effect

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saigontimemd · 7 years

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Andromeda/Ryder Meme

Wasn’t tagged by anyone but I’m doing it anyway.

Name: Scott Ryder (until I come up with something else)

Gender: Male

Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian

Eye Color: Blue

 Hair Color/Description: Brown and either shoulder-length or pulled back in a tight ponytail

 Skin (color, blemishes, tattoos, etc): He’s white and spent a lot of time in space. What do you think? Has an Arcturus Station tattoo on his arm, but he only thinks of it ironically.

 Misc Physical Attributes: Fantastic ass, knows it, is confident about it.

Preferred Romance Option: No idea. He’s playing this one by ear. He’s into flings, but he might actually fall in love if he gets out of his own way. He’s between a 2 and a 3 on the Kinsey scale.

Relationship with Alec and sibling (do they get along? etc.): Relationship with Alec Ryder is strained; Scott’s always been the more introverted, less mature of the two Ryder kids, but while Sara got to go off and mess about in Prothean ruins, Scott got assigned to Arcturus Station on his old man’s request in hopes that some combat time would make him grow up. Scott did a lot of things at Arcturus, but ‘growing up’ wasn’t one of them, and he’s got quite a bit of resentment built up from the whole thing. Relationship with Sara is top tier; they bonded as kids over music, science, and reading, and stayed in touch as much as they could when separated. She’s the reason he signed up for the Andromeda Initiative. Scott would’ve been fine to see Alec leave and never come back, but there was no way in HELL he was going to let his sister see a whole new galaxy without him.

 Projected BFF (the squad mate who isn’t bae but you always take): DRACK

 Dreams/Hobbies/Likes: Scott doesn’t have any long-term dreams or goals, really; he’s spent so much time in the shadow of his father (whether real or perceived) that he’s kind of given up trying to make a name for himself, instead just being content to do his own thing, living one day to the next and not really worrying about tomorrow unless it includes waking up in someone else’s bed. He plays guitar, and used to want to be an artist; he still sketches things and people from time to time, but never when he thinks anyone else is looking. He’s got really eclectic music tastes, but gravitates towards punk/melodic hardcore, and 1990s-early 2000s hip-hop. In spite of his entire military career being his dad’s idea, he does enjoy combat and sparring quite a bit. Has a habit of picking fights he knows he’s supposed to lose, if only to test himself.

 Fears/Dislikes: On an existential level, he’s deathly afraid of failure and disappointing people who believe in him, which is why he usually keeps everyone else at arm’s length through humor and self-deprecation. By the same token, he’s terrified of responsibility because that invites the possibility of disappointment; he figures nobody can ever be disappointed in him if they don’t have any expectations in the first place. He has quite a bit of natural leadership ability and excellent combat instincts, but he passed up promotion at Arcturus more than a few times because he didn’t want to have the rest of his squad depending on him in an official capacity. Honestly, he’s kind of a chickenshit - a well-meaning one, but still. He’s only got two real-life fears: open water where he can’t see the bottom, and drowning.

Other (what else should we know about your Ryder?): He’s so unprepared for becoming the Pathfinder that it’s not even funny. Scott isn’t selfish - his military record, numerous incidents aside, shows him constantly putting himself in danger for others, and when he’s a lot more altruistic of a person than he wants anyone else to know - but he is self-centered and immature. A big part of that immaturity is his own inherited stubbornness from his father; Alec sent him off to grow up, so Scott intentionally stayed immature out of spite. Now he’s going to have to grow up whether he wants to or not. Scott is also about 20% logic, 80% emotion, so that’s going to be entertaining. His gut instincts are usually right, but they’re still just gut reactions. Also, he secretly wishes he was a Krogan.

+++

In the original Mass Effect trilogy, my Shepard was very much an idealized version of myself: confident, charming, partially robot, and utterly selfless. Aside from occasionally socking fools in the face, he was about as Paragon as possible, and not just because I chose beforehand to just take those options, but because that’s what I would’ve done in that situation.

My Ryder, on the other hand, is probably going to be a lot similar to who I actually am: competent but effectively no self-confidence, hotheaded, geeky as shit, occasionally petty, and would pretty much bang anything that moves. Think Ash Williams from Evil Dead, except replace the egotistical overconfidence and brick for a brain with being entirely too nice and super-introversion. I’m happy to say I’ve got a lot better of a relationship with my dad than Ryder does, but, you know, drama. Bioware has said that Andromeda is going to be a transformative experience for the player character, that they’re going to go from being really inexperienced to becoming a hero, and I’m really looking forward to taking that journey with him.

#ryder meme #andromeda meme #scott ryder #mass effect andromeda #mass effect

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davidastbury · 4 years

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There is only one age - and that is young. Somehow we have a concept of ‘growing up’ but it is a delusion, as fragile as burnt sheets of paper lifted from the ashes, as hard to sustain as sweeping fallen leaves on a windy day, as unsatisfactory as the hard stare in the bathroom mirror.

Eventually it falls apart - the struggle begins to ease and your own youth greets you like a loved friend; the person you rejected; the one who embarrassed you; the one you thought you didn’t need.

And from now onwards you will never be anything other than your authentic personality, and along with all the other miracles you may even look kindly at the years of separation.

The Healing Words ... 1965

Lorna once told me that Ian had saved her life. It was difficult imagining Ian as a hero in any shape or form, and she must have seen how puzzled I looked. We were alone, sitting in the back-room of the bookshop, where we took our coffee breaks, and for some reason or other she wanted me to share her thoughts.

Nearly all the staff were young, most still living at home, and naturally talk during the breaks touched on family chat. Frank’s dad was an MP and he had stories of trips abroad - others had memories to share; memories of holidays, cars, pets, hilarious mistakes and so on. There was a lot of laughter and any stranger looking in on this, would have concluded that we were a nice bunch of young people.

But Lorna did not join in; she sat silent and sometimes looked up at the clock and walked out. I could only guess that the family chat gnawed at a private pain - that she couldn’t bear hearing it.

Ian must have picked up on this too, because on that one occasion when alone with Lorna - when for no reason she told me that he had saved her life - when she told me, with her eyes as wide as a child’s, that things at home were bad and that Ian had saved her with a few astonishing, healing words ...

‘Lorna, please believe me - believe this if you never again believe anything I say - there is no such thing as a happy family.’

Why struggle with the heavy dough of Dickens - or the worthy seeded bread of George Elliot? Why munch through the bland oven-bottoms of Trollope - when you can have MY offerings?

I am the Ryvita of modern literature. Crunch my croutons and snap my crackers. Enjoy my oaties and crispbreads - my delicious shortcakes and scones, my hobnobs and ends, my pink wafers!

Ever ready and smiling; my only pleasure is in luring you away from stodge into the pure air of cadence and ambiguity - longings, broken gates, broken hearts - Madeleines and memory.

The Train

This is where he used to stand everyday waiting for the train. The spot was carefully chosen; he had taken note of how the drivers slowed down and pulled up; he would be nearest to the doors - the first one aboard.

Young people wait for their trains - they are impatient for its arrival - they are eager to get away - to be carried into their futures,

He liked the window seats facing the engine. He liked the sensation of going forward into the future - dictating his demands - not being pulled backwards, as if a helpless passenger.

Roughly halfway on the journey the train would go through a long tunnel. The windows turned black and the everyone looked shabby and haggard in the weak lighting. They stared at each other, wishing for the sunlight to return - as if waiting for depression to end.

For him, blinking in the new brightness, there was something to anticipate - the next stop - ‘she’ would appear! Sometimes she got into his compartment and sometimes she didn’t. They never spoke; she hardly looked at him, but he could still see her even when he looked away.

And after that the train doesn’t stop again ... just the relentless rushing uncertainty ... taking him towards his future.

The designer Judith Leiber died recently at the age of 97. She was a Holocaust survivor who somehow got through the horror and, starting a new life in the U.S. became famous as a handbag manufacturer - her designs were unique, every First Lady from Mamie Eisenhower to Laura Bush carried a Leiber bag at the inauguration ceremonies.

She married Gerson Leiber, the artist, in 1946. They did not have children.

They died hours apart. The day before she passed away he whispered to her - ‘Sweetheart, it’s time to leave.’

A Photograph

A friend had once taken several photographs of her in the local park. They were both nineteen. She doesn’t remember much about that day, except that it was very cold and the light was fading. It was a long time ago.

Only one picture has survived the upheavals of house-clearances, flat moves etc, and to her, it wasn’t one of the best. But looking at the photograph now, from such a distance in time, it all feels different and she experiences a rush of tenderness for the girl - the girl she once was. She stares at the picture and feels an ache flood through her. How could she have failed to see this before - not been affected by the luminous whiteness of the winter-pale skin, the trusting eyes, the expression of curiosity and kindness.

It breaks her heart to see this innocent girl, standing on the grass, surrounded by sharp, leafless branches, and dark opaque bushes.

At Such A Distance

Two metres - is that okay? A hundred metres - two hundred metres - still see me? How about fifty years - still see me?

And keep in mind, when you are close to someone, really close, you cannot see them clearly, but when apart you cannot see anything else.

Gus Barker was a relative of Henry James - part of a group of talented young people, cousins and friends - who had grown up together and as young adults, spent their summers as guests at the Temple’s house in New Hampshire. Among them was Henry’s brother William, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Gray, the three Temple sisters and others. They all had the glow and sweetness that great wealth and privilege bestows, and the self- confidence that they would cut deep and satisfying grooves for themselves through life.

Like the others, Gus Barker would have achieved distinction - he would have equalled the others - novelists, judges, psychologists - but he rushed to take part in the American Civil War. He was wounded and discharged; healed quickly and, against advice, insisted on returning to his regiment. Very soon afterwards the news reached Albany that Gus had been killed by a sniper at the Rappahannock River in Virginia; he had just turned twenty.

One Of Those Stories

We all carry so many improbable stories in our minds! The ones that are so deeply improbable that you eventually begin to doubt ever happened. They aren’t polished by retelling and sharing - they are kept shut away - untold, unmentioned, even embarrassing. They may be trivial but their oddity gives them an aura of importance - an unmerited depth and significance.

This little anecdote fits the bill.

Department store - he’s complaining about the long delay in delivering furniture he has ordered. Only one item has arrived - and it wasn’t what he’d ordered - it had to be collected. So he was complaining.

Complaining wasn’t easy for him; he actually felt sorry for the young man having to listen - how he tilted his head in sympathy; widened his eyes at the right moments and so on. He produced receipts and delivery notes - and the collection note for the unwanted item - and explained about the colour change that had been offered and agreed upon. It was a long story and the very telling began to affect him - it was as if he was lapsing into a childhood mode; he started to speak too quickly, stumbling over his words, becoming breathless. Like a child, he felt that the story needed emphasis, as it would crumble and become hopelessly undermined if he slowed down, as if the facts would melt away and he wouldn’t be believed.

The sales assistant interrupted him and politely asked him to wait a moment - he would get the manager. A few minutes later she appeared - just as he was arranging the documents in the correct sequence. They were introduced and he started again to explain the situation. Then - there was a sharp movement - as if his vision had changed without moving his head; as if about to faint - and then the soft blur of her grey eyes as she leaned forward and kissed him.

Kaş

Kaş is a little town on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast - the beautiful ‘Turquoise Coast’. The Romans loitered there for a while and then left leaving an assortment of tombs, fallen arches, sturdy roads and the like. Being an archeological philistine - ‘one pile of rocks is much the same as any other’ - I gave my attention to other attractions.

I used to visit a seafront cafe nearly every day. Looked at from the outside it would remind you of France; a sprawl of chairs and small iron tables spilling over the pavement; a frayed awning flapping; free standing tin frames advertising ices; a menu board with illegible chalked scrawl; a festoon of light bulbs on a sagging wire. The waiters wore black waistcoats and white aprons, completing the illusion of - ‘la belle France’.

The proprietor was a tiny, bird-like old man. He wore a loose fitting suit and tie - I have a picture of him somewhere - very neat and well groomed, with the grandeur and dignity you often find in the truly ancient. But he wasn’t the boss any more - that was in the hands of his two sons (or sons-in-law, or whatever). These were bulky, badly shaved men, scowling through their jowly middle age. The old man wasn’t giving up easily, he continued to behave as if he was still in charge. It was amusing to watch the two sons go along with this - kidding the old man and pretending to hear his occasional rants. It was easy to see that they were related by the insults they fired at each other. I tried to understand if the old man knew that they found him a bit of a joke - and if he actually knew, wouldn’t playing along to their deception be the finest satisfaction?

And then, early afternoon, a group of boys arrived - one of them was clearly family - he had the same wiry shape as his grandfather - I remember how his school blazer was too long in the sleeves and how he and his gang of pals took over a corner of the terrace and a waiter brought them tray-loads of ice creams.

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