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peter-parcoeur · 4 years

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“When you’re gone” - part 3

Post Thanos snap, Peter has to live in a world where Tony Stark is gone. But what happens when Tony’s daughter enters his life...?

Summary + Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Going back to school felt weird.

Though Peter always seemed to struggle to find a balance between his ordinary teenager life and being an Avenger, this time, the wake-up call was hitting harder. His body was definitely walking across the High-School Hall, but his head was somewhere else.

All around him were familiar faces, some looked obviously different after what they all called “the blip” but most of his school seemed back to normal, which was harder to digest as he felt like nothing would ever be the same now that his mentor was gone.

How could he live in a world without Tony Stark?

Luckily, his best-friend was there to show some support and bring random chit-chats back into his routine. Even MJ had given him a hug as she seemed genuinely happy to see him back, but when it should have been the most amazing, unexpected moment of his day, Peter had felt nothing but comfort from catching up with a friend. No tingles at the pit of his stomach, no burning red cheeks, not the usual stiffness down his abdomen. Nothing.

It was like a part of him had died too.

They were all sat in history class when Ned tapped him on the shoulder from behind, his voice filled with some unusual excitement.

“Wow mate, check out the new girl!”

Peter had to roll his eyes and smile at his friend’s typical enthusiasm over the opposite gender. Every time a remotely ‘hot’ girl walked by, Ned turned into a little kid on Christmas Day with a massive sugar rush.

His smile faded as soon as he locked eyes with the girl sitting at the back of the class.

“God” Ned moaned “I would gladly let her step on my face, who’s she?”

“That’s Y/N Stark.” Peter stated as she looked away as soon as their eyes met.

“What do you mean--- Stark? As in...?

- As in Tony’s only daughter.”

Ned was left gobsmacked at this new revelation, quite oblivious to his friend’s sudden change of attitude. Peter looked like he had seen a ghost, writhing on his seat with complete nervousness. He could tell her anger was still running through her blood from the way she avoided his look, but for some obscure reason, he also felt relieved. Now that they had to spend an entire year in the same room, maybe they would get to talk at some point.

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When the bell rang, Peter wisely waited for Y/N to exit the room before he made any move. It had been the longest hour of his entire school experience and he had been sat in chemistry before, listening to Mr. Wyatt spreading bullshits about things Peter himself could teach better.

“You should talk to her” Ned said after being quiet for longer than anyone would expect him.

“I’m not sure she wants me to…

- When was the last time you spoke?

- Her dad’s funeral?

- Yeahhhh…. Ned winced, maybe not the perfect time to have a chat?

- I know, but she seemed so upset

- Dude, her father died, you think she’s gonna give you a lapdance?”

Peter rolled his eyes at Ned’s obvious answer. He couldn’t quite process how he felt about Y/N. Part of him wanted to avoid her at all costs to save himself the embarrassment, but mostly, he wanted to walk down the hallway as confident as possible and just… talk to her. There was this weird attraction between them that made it seems like, somehow, this reunion was meant to be.

“Alright, I’m gonna talk to her” Peter sighed as he caught a glimpse of Y/N grabbing a few books from her locker across the hallway.

His palms were sweaty as he tried his best to brush them to the sides of his pants, air caught in his throat like he was about to give an inspiring speech to a bored audience. Nobody had ever made him feel this way, not even his high-school crush, MJ.

“Hi, Y/N!”

Y/N turned around to see Peter standing there awkwardly, both his hands buried in his pockets.

For a second, it seems like she was about to speak, her eyes daunting him from head to toes. As he stood closer to her face, Peter realized just how much she looked like Tony. She had his eyes, his cocky expression but her slim nose and perky lips were definitely Pepper’s. Her long brown hair was tamed on a sid braid and her ankle boots made her seem taller than him, which was embarrassing enough if she had chosen not to talk to him.

But with the snap of her locker door, she simply turned her back and walked away, leaving him speechless and embarrassed once again.

“Well done, Don Juan!” MJ teased as she walked past him.

On the other side of the corridor, Peter saw Ned biting his lip so he wouldn’t laugh at his misery.

Things were going to be tougher than he had thought.

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Economics was the worst.

Peter and Ned usually discussed any other topic that didn’t involve money and budget throughout the whole course, but today, Peter was just lost in his own daydream, looking out the window with his chin buried into his palm. It was a nice autumnal day, the kind that brought him back to better times where he and his Aunt would start decorating their apartment with Halloween/spooky stuff, their favorite time of the year. It was hard to think that life would go on after the blip but Peter was willing to be an optimistic. Happier days would come.

“Alright, today’s class will be sorely about your final assignment… I want you to pay close attention because this will be half of your grade for the exam.” Mr. Andersen spoke louder so the distracted students could hear.

At least half of the class moaned in complete despair. Mr. Andersen’s assignments were known as chaotic and frankly awful. This one was no exception.

“You will be working as a pair”

Ned smiled brightly at Peter, knowing they would definitely team-up, as usual.

At least it would make it less horrible to be working as a team.

“But don’t get too excited” Mr. Andersen added abruptly as he watched his students stare at each other, building up the usual team partners. “I have written half of the class’s names on papers. These papers I have folded and put in this box so the rest of you can draw”.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” Ned burped out.

“Mr. Leeds, since you seem so pleased, we’ll start with you!”

Mr. Andersen walked closer to Ned and offered him a chance to pick a name inside the tiny white box he was holding. Ned reluctantly picked a piece of paper and pulled a worried face.

“Betty Brant…”

Sitting at the front of the class, Betty Brant looked over her shoulder and gave him an unenthusiastic thumbs up. At least, she was smart, but her good looks would definitely make it hard for Ned to focus on their homework. Shivers ran down his spine at the thought of having a girl in his bedroom, his temple, the architectural equivalent of a Jedi farting the Game of Thrones theme song, aka the shameful natural habitat of the biggest geek.

Things went on as everyone picked a team partner with more or less enthusiasm and soon enough, it was Y/N’s time to draw a name into the box.

She quite obviously hesitated before she composed herself and spoke.

“Mr. Andersen, is there any way I can switch partner?”

“Well, Ms. Stark, what would be the point if anyone just decided who they’d like to collaborate with? I’m sorry you didn’t pick your crush’s name but I’m afraid things are what it is. Now, would you be kind enough to share your designated partner?”

There was a silence before she spoke again, her hand fiddling with the piece of paper.

“Peter Parker”

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“Dude, what are the odds???” Ned squealed as he sat next to Peter at the cafeteria.

It was lunch time and the whole room was buzzing with chatty students and cutlery grazes.

“Yeah, wow, I’m the luckiest guy in the world, am I?” Peter mumbled, still baffled at the complete humiliation he had been given in front of the entire class. The second one that day.

“Now she has no other option than talk to you, think positive!”

“Amazing, it must be as pleasant as being held at gunpoint somehow, I mean… did you hear what she said?” he sighed “Mr. Andersen, can I switch partners?” Peter was mimicking her disgusted tone when Ned gave him the big eyes, nodding towards a point behind him.

“Brilliant, why wasting your time here when you could have a one-man show?” Y/N bluntly stated. Her arms were crossed against her chest, her eyes glued to his face like she was trying to read his soul for some reason.

“Shit, Y/N, I’m sorry I didn’t mean—it’s just—

- Let’s spare us both this conversation, alright? It seems like we’ll have to do this assignment, so… your place or mine?”

Ned couldn’t help but chuckle at the ambiguous comment, but as Peter gave him the dead eye, it was definitely too late to take his nervous laughter back.

“What are you, 12?” Y/N pulled an unimpressed look, eyeballing Ned until he went slightly red. This time, it was Peter’s turn to contain his laugh. Her attitude and comebacks definitely reminded him of the great Tony Stark. In a weird way, it was comforting, like wrapping yourself into a warm blanket in a cold morning. She irradiated with that famous Spark Confidence.

“Whatever suits you best” Peter finally said after what seemed like an eternity of quietness.

“What suits me best is to not be doing this with you but it seems like this isn’t an option, so…”

“Okay, my place then? Peter blurted out all of a sudden

- What time?

- Six thirty

- Good” she turned to Ned “You got a pen?”

Ned fiddled with his backpack and handed her a black ballpoint pen.

“Text me your address” she simply said, writing down her number on a napkin.

She walked away without further word, leaving both Ned and Peter speechless for a while. Peter watched her sit at a table with a bunch of fellow classmates and for a minute, it felt like his brain had stopped to frame-freeze the scene in front of him. Everyone around her seemed captivated, whatever she was talking about. She had inherited that charisma from her father, that ability to catch everyone’s attention in the blink of an eye.

As he stared at her for a couple more minutes, Peter realized this weird, tingly feeling was back at the pit of his stomach.

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@eternaleviee

#tom holland #spiderman #peter parker #peter parker x reader #tom holland x reader #fanfiction #imagine #tony stark #peter parker fanfiction #spiderman fanfiction #tom holland fanfiction

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sshakespeare · 4 years

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An Analysis of NYC Scorpii

I’ve now seen all but one of the actors who have played Scorpius in Cursed Child NYC and I wanted to do a quick write up of some of the interesting differences I’ve found in their portrayals.

Alex W.

(not putting their full names because that feels a hint strange)

My most recent Scorpius! He has understudied Scorpius for both Year 1 and 2 in NYC and it shows; he felt very comfortable in the role.

His Scorpius is the most understated I’ve seen. My brother, seeing the show for the first time, summed it up best when he said Alex’s Scorpius feels very secure in who he is (different from the Hot Mess that is Bubba’s Scorpius). His Scorpius very rarely yells, even when excited, which made the library scene particularly intense because you could tell just how upset his Scorpius is.

Going off of that, Alex doesn’t always “play the laugh” the way Bubba will. His Scorpius is more grounded, but I did find some lines got lost (in particular, one of my favorite Scorpius lines is “No, I’m pretty sure your dad is exactly the same” and Bubba almost always gets a laugh there).

Alex does adorable accents though! When he says “My geekness is a-quivering” he twirls a little fake mustache. He’ll do little bows on his more nerdy lines. When Albus says this Scorpius is a geek, it’s spot on.

He straight up HISSES at Polly Chapman like he’s a velociraptor when he’s trying to hide Delphi. Instead of trying to play it cool on the stairs and flirt with Polly, he hides Delphi behind his cloak like it’s wings. It’s hilarious.

He also koala hugs Draco when they’re reunited in Godric’s Hollow. That moment probably got the biggest applause of the night.

Can confirm he did the Bubba signature “Scar Zap” before the polyjuice transformation. Bubba, king of trends.

His Scorpius and Nadia’s Rose are the only Scorpius/Rose that ever made me go “Huh, maybe.” Which is weird because Alex’s Scorpius seemed pretty romantically uninterested in her up until their last scene. The bread scene on the train was still funny, but it always felt like Alex’s Scorpius was just trying to be her friend. But then in their last scene, when Rose calls him Scorpion King and hisses, Scorpius follows her down the stairs and hisses with her and it’s a genuinely flirty moment.

One bizarre thing: Nick Albus did not let Alex Scorpius hug him when they both emerged from the lake. Alex launched forward, but they never really hugged. It was more that Alex just backed Nick into the wall. I didn’t know what to make of that. They’re definitely not the most tactile Scorpius/Albus pair, but I thought they had sweet chemistry especially in their last scene.

Nathan S.

My first ever Scorpius! I remember going into the show being a little disappointed in not seeing Anto (it was a good ⅕ of the reason I bought my ticket before the NYC cast change), but I left the show thinking how damn cute Nathan’s Scorpius is. Unfortunately, I don’t remember a ton about him since it was a while ago but I’ll do my best.

Nathan’s Scorpius is a true Follower. I’ve always thought there’s a universe where Anto’s Scorpius would not follow Albus off of the train, but Nathan’s Scorpius would follow Albus anywhere. All the lines Draco has about Scorpius not being much of a leader (at least in the beginning) check out with this Scorpius.

I remember the library scene was particularly devastating with Nathan because his Scorpius felt so defeated. Anto plays the scene with more anger, but Nathan Scorpius just seemed exhausted by all Albus had put him through thus far. He cried and I cried.

Like Alex, Nathan is also a more grounded Scorpius. This interpretation might partly come from how distinct Anto’s vocal choices were, but Nathan favored a quieter, nerdier Scorpius vs. one with huge explosions of energy.

I wish I remembered more about Nathan’s Scorpius. My biggest takeaway was just “Cute, cute cute!”

Anthony

OG Scorpius! The man who started it all! His Scorpius is the ultimate Weirdo and no one else (that I’ve seen) has captured the sheer amount of weird energy Anto channels. You can tell his Scorpius is a kid who grew up isolated, with no friends, and just has no clue how social interaction works.

To get into it a little more, I think Scorpius is a deceivingly difficult character to play. Any audience is going to love him no matter what, but because of that, an actor could fall into the trap of making him too cutesy, or too comedic, or even too melodramatic. Anto really embraced making Scorpius a strange, strange kid (I mean...those vocal choices).

Anto’s Scorpius always feels like a kid, as well. He has little ticks like rubbing at his eyes and fidgeting that makes his Scorpius feel very youthful and subtly anxious. While I love Alex Scorpius and Nathan Scorpius, there were times their interpretations felt older than fourteen (this is exacerbated for Alex because Nick’s Albus is so honed in at fourteen at all times).

I love the way Anto delivers “Are we?” and “DO WE?!” in the Amos scene. No one else tops it.

Same with “HELP, HELP, HELP!” Not just anyone could pull off all the yelling, but Anto consistently did.

Going back to something I said in Nathan’s section, Anto Scorpius is the most assertive Scorpius I’ve seen. He pushes back against Albus more directly, seems to get frustrated more easily.

I want to say more, but like with Nathan, it’s been awhile, but if more things pop into my head, I’ll add them here!

Bubba

My favorite Scorpius! Going to get that bias out of the way right now. I love Bubba’s Scorpius. He is the softest, most anxious, hottest mess of a character.

Like Anto Scorpius, there is so much raw energy radiating off of Bubba’s Scorpius at any given time. He’s either going to explode with happiness or explode into tears, possibly both at the same time.

Huge difference between Anto Scorpius and Bubba Scorpius though: Anto Scorpius clearly wanted to be a Slytherin and Bubba Scorpius clearly did not. Anto looks so proud when the Sorting Hat announces Slytherin, but Bubba looks resigned, like he knew it was going to happen but he was desperately hoping for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

Bubba Scorpius = most flirty Scorpius. He’s constantly trying to be suave and failing miserably. See: Hiding Delphi completely under his body on the staircase and trying to play it cool with Polly Chapman. See also: Playing with his hair and trying to make his voice deeper when flirting with Rose in his last scene.

Yet, Bubba Scorpius = most insecure Scorpius. It feels like his Scorpius second guesses just about everything he says and does, at least around the other students. That makes it so relieving when he can be his awkward, shimmy-ing self around Albus and Bubba really plays into how comfortable Scorpius is with Albus.

Bubba and Nick do my most favorite version of the Staircase Ballet. When the staircase shifts and the two end up standing next to each other, Bubba’s Scorpius sits down, inviting Nick’s Albus to sit with him. It implies so much about their previous relationship, how they’ve probably had a thousand heart to hearts sitting across from each other on the stairs, and when Albus does not sit, Scorpius looks absolutely devastated.

They’re by far the most tactile version of Scorpius and Albus I’ve seen. Any given scene they’re in together, one of them will put a hand on the others shoulder, on their wrist, anywhere. They somewhat hold hands in the St. Jerome’s scene (Ginny is holding Albus and Bubba will kneel behind Nick on the other side and put his hand on his shoulder. Nick will almost always have Albus grab that hand).

Which brings us to That Moment. After the fourth and final Albus/Scorpius hug, Bubba pulls away but only slightly to deliver “...in this new version of us I had in my head.” I can confirm Alex also only pulls away slightly to deliver that line, but when Nick says “You better ask Rose…” to Alex it’s very jokey (like Sam to Anto). When Nick delivers it to Bubba, it’s uncertain and almost disappointed? If that makes sense? Like Nick Albus does not want Scorpius going anywhere near Rose ever again. And then it takes a solid five seconds for Bubba Scorpius to snap out of the moment and run back down the stairs, looking very much like he’s realized a Moment just happened. The difference in how Nick plays the scene with Bubba vs. Alex has me hypothesizing that Nick and Bubba want their Albus/Scorpius ending to be ambiguous and open for a future romantic relationship. But that’s just a theory!

Back to stray Bubba observations!

In the Draco/Scorpius hug, Jonno picks Bubba slightly off the ground. It’s adorable.

Bubba does this funny exaggerated march when he says “My geekness is a-quivering!” It’s bizarre and I love it. Bless all the boys who somehow make that line work.

Scar Zap.

I could talk about Bubba Scorpius all day so hit me up please and thank you.

#cursed child #scorpius malfoy #posting this on a side blog because this is Ultimate Niche Posting #but hey come talk about cursed child if ya fancy it #personal

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xolarajean · 4 years

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Greenhouse Academy S1-4

Preface: So, I finally have gotten around to writing a review about S1-4 of Greenhouse Academy. I finished over a week ago and watched all 4 seasons in about 4 days haha. Honestly, I’ve been procrastinating this review because I have A LOT to write about. So here we go!

Plot: Eight months after losing their astronaut mother in a rocket explosion, brother and sister Alex and Hayley Woods enroll at a private boarding school, the Greenhouse, for gifted future leaders. Separately, they join two competing houses, Ravens and Eagles, within the school and tension builds up between the two siblings as they adjust. Soon, mysterious events catch the attention of the students from both houses and forces them to work together in order to find out what is happening at the draw the Greenhouse.

Review: 3.5/5

I found the plot really intriguing at first. In addition, I liked the actual events that happened and where the story could head in the future. Though, the execution was not as great. The acting I felt was good for the most part, but the writing seemed a little awkward and cringey at some points. But bear in mind that it is targeted at kids/teens (even though at some points in season 3 and 4 there were some curses thrown around) so it is kind of expected to have those moments. Either way, those moments are bearable to watch through. I personally liked season 1+2 more than season 3+4 for the most part. There is one main issue I have with this show, but I can’t describe it without spoiling it. So, continue reading if you’ve watched the show/don’t care about being spoiled (It’s mostly about season 3+4).

But the main issue I have were the character changes. The obvious ones are the actual cast changes for Emma and Brooke. And the fact that Jackie left... that broke my heart. I still have this naive hope that she will come back though. It sucks that the original actresses could not continue with season 3 and 4, but you can’t really blame anyone since those decisions are based on personal reasons. It’s hard not to prefer the original actresses because well they are what we are used to. Though, I can’t understand why everyone is hating on them sooooo much. I personally think they were fine at acting. The REAL problem was the writing. In season 3 and 4, the personalities of so many characters were switched and the plots were messier.

To start off, the whole love triangle between Daniel-Hayley-Leo was annoying. I DID ENJOY Daniel and Hayley, but Leo was just being a dick for the entirety of season 3. Obviously Leo was already a bit of an ass with the whole Aspen and LDR drama, but in season 3 the writers just made him 10x that (especially with the whole leading Beca on and straight up insulting Hayley at every chance he got). As you can tell I’m not a big fan of Leo, but the thing that got me is that the writers made Daniel such a jealous boyfriend? It seemed really out of character to me for Daniel to go through Hayley’s text like that and be paranoid of Leo (I mean hello this is the guy that is just straight up insulting your girlfriend and cheated on her. I don’t think you have that much competition or so I thought -- ending of season 4 was annoying). Like I know he was probably scared of Hayley getting back with Leo because of the Brooke and Alex thing, but honestly he knew that his relationship with Brooke was already sinking before Alex came into the picture. Plus, Hayley wasn’t flirting with Leo like Brooke was with Alex in Season1+2. The only good part about this love triangle was how supportive and understanding Daniel was with Hayley at the end. I mean done get me wrong I was thrown off by the huge 180 his personality took, but I’m just gonna believe that Daniel is just that good of a guy to be that mature. Anyway I’m just gonna end it with I prefer Dayley because their relationship felt more real (also I’m so glad that she told Daniel about the button and secret room right away and the writers avoided the keeping secrets to protect you which leads to tension trope because I would have imploded if they did that) and I want to erase the ending of season 4 from my head.

Next up: Emma and Max. Honestly in the first episode when I learned that Jackie was gone and both Emma and Max started lying about being in LDRs, I knew the writers were gonna try and pair them up. I had hope that they would pull a twist and have Jackie show up in the middle, but NOPE. Like this pairing is just super... boring? Like they are both sweet characters, but they really don’t bring that much to the table in terms of romantic chemistry. I liked them better as best friends who geek out together. And because the writers focused so much about their relationship it left almost no room for actual individual screen time or character development for either of them. Like all they did was use some algorithms and their intelligence to solve some seriously hard problems, but it made them seem more like robots and tools to solve the conflicts in the plot. All I have left to say is that I still ship Jackie+Max.

Now I wanna talk about Alex and Brooke. Tbh I never saw much chemistry between the two characters in any season. Like yeah Alex was a good guy that was with her at the right time when she went to the cave at night in like season 1 where he fought off the park ranger, but still it didn’t feel like a real relationship. This continues into season 3+4 and I was sooo happy when they broke up (but why did she have to do it during a basketball game? Heat of the moment I guess) Also, even when Alex was “trying to be a good friend” to Brooke, it came off that he was still trying to get back together with her even though it is obvious that she is just not ready? And near the end of season 4 after she talks to Jason in the hospital when she and Alex were talking, I cringed so hard when he admitted that he was having trouble being just friends because it felt to me that he was trying to guilt trip her into getting back together with him which is just so wrong?!?! Again, I wish to delete this scene from my brain.

Lastly I wanna share my opinions about Sophie, Parker, and Enzo. Let me start out by saying I think in season3+4, Sophie was my favorite character. I mean come on how could I not love her? She is determined to chase her ambitions like the bad ass she is even with her past (which I’m super mad that they didn’t really delve into her past because that could have made the show a lot more interesting). I also liked the introduction of a character like Enzo since it brings a new kind of person into the show and makes it more realistic because for the most part these kids seemed a little “too perfect.” Though, the writers didn’t use him to the full potential that he has which sucks for the viewers and the actor too and based on what we saw he is pretty good. Anyway I liked how he is actually a softie at heart and does the right thing for Soph. Now I wanna talk about the Sophie+Parker ship. Honestly, are the writers trying to pair up literally all the students together?!?! Again like Emma and Max, I felt that this wasn’t a real relationship; we’ve barely seen these two have any romantic chemistry and I view them more like a good pair of friend (class clown/funny + class president/serious dynamic is something I love). That’s all.

Quick opinion: Louis just felt off since the S3. I mean I get that he wants to better the students, but causing fights seemed wayyyy out of line for his character. So that was weird.

Anyway that was all of my thoughts (at least for now) about Greenhouse Academy! Even though it seems like I hate the series based on my complaints above lol I actually really liked it and hope for a season 5 (crossing my fingers) where the writers and other staff can hopefully redeem themselves by fixing the problems above. If you have any thoughts about the show, please do talk to me about it because I LOVE chatting about the shows I’ve watched.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Best Meryl Streep Musical Performances (Including The Prom!)

https://ift.tt/2JMbiJl

Who would have thought 30 years ago Meryl Streep would become the musical diva of our age? Maybe those who watched her bashfully (and beautifully) sing “You Don’t Know Me” in 1990’s Postcards from the Edge. But largely she was associated with the serious dramas of the ‘70s and ‘80s that won her two Oscars (and saw her nominated for three more) by the time she was 35: Kramer vs. Kramer, The Deer Hunter, Sophie’s Choice. Sober-eyed tearjerkers all.

But an amazing thing happened in the 21st century, didn’t it? Streep, the First Lady of the Academy Awards stage, reinvented herself as the prima donna of the musical-comedy. Sometimes that includes performances so rich that they sing even without any lyrics, such as the imperious Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. But often they come with music and verse too, be it ham-fisted kitsch like Mamma Mia! or something as ambitious as playing the Witch in an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

And today she’s back on the musical big screen—or at least the one in your living room—via Ryan Murphy and Netflix’s The Prom. It’s an all-out musical extravaganza where Streep transcends into her best self: a reigning diva of Broadway. So join us as we use the occasion to count down her greatest cinematic solos.

10. “Changing Lives” in The Prom

For whatever faults The Prom might contain, the Netflix film’s vicious satire of celebrity vanity and performative social action is not one of them. And rarely is that better felt than in Meryl and James Corden’s first big number “Changing Lives.” As a pair of tone-deaf Narcissuses, Streep’s Dee Dee Allen and Corden’s Barry Glickman put on a hell of a show, singing from the lights of 44th St. to the glitzy interiors of Sardis about how being a Broadway star is basically the same thing as Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Is it a great song? Not necessarily. Is it great to hear Streep exclaim she only wants to hear a review if it’s a rave or mixed-to-positive while downing champagne? Absolutely.

9. “Super Trouper” in Mamma Mia!

We know everyone has thoughts about Mammia Mia! and where its qualities (or sometimes lack thereof) lie. But Meryl Streep’s performance as Donna is inarguably one of its great strengths. Her matriarch of an idyllic little Greek island seems a far cry from the apparent free spirit and hellraiser she once was. Yet in “Super Trouper,” her young daughter (Amanda Seyfried) gets a glimpse of the dynamo Donna once was (and secretly still is) as she takes the disco stage alongside Julie Walters and Christine Baranski.

The trio still make the ‘70s excess of their outfits work, crooning about last nights in Glasgow and reawakening that magic for the next generation. Even Donna’s tuneless exes in the back get swept back in time. It’s sweet, and one of several Mamma Mia numbers to appear here.

8. “Goodbye to My Mama” in A Prairie Home Companion

One of the best films mentioned on this list, A Prairie Home Companion was director Robert Altman’s final film—and the movie appears aware of this. Nowhere is that more tangible in this heart-wringing ballad written in the tradition of early 20th century Country and Western music by Garrison Keillor. An ode to a childhood long gone, and both an aspiration and understated fear about seeing a lost mother again on the other side, the song is an elegy realized in soulful duet by Streep and Lily Tomlin. It harkens the Angel of Death backstage, but in isolation it’s still plenty heartbreaking.

7. “The Winner Takes It All” in Mamma Mia!

We said there’d be more ABBA. And here it is with “The Winner Takes It All,” Streep’s single actual solo. In this moment director Phyllida Lloyd knows exactly where to put the camera, capturing the postcard beauty of a Greek isle at sunset as Meryl sings her heart out, and smashes Pierce Brosnan’s for good measure. Appealingly melodramatic, and with perfect high notes for Streep’s range, the scene puts this Oscar winner in the movie equivalent of a romance novel cover. And who doesn’t want to open that?!

6. “It’s Not About Me” in The Prom

Again rarely does The Prom’s satire land better than in its opening number… but Streep’s big solo “It’s Not About Me” is that rare exception. Strutting into an Indiana PTA meeting in a red mink and extravagant mood, Streep’s Dee Dee introduces herself by belting that she’s here after reading three quarters of an article to ask, “You bigoted monsters, just who do you think you are?” And it’s all downhill from there for her argument, and uphill for our entertainment.

Hijacking a vulnerable teenager’s platform to whine about a New York Post notice and to demand soft lighting and a rainbow coalition of colorful streamers for her Insta-ready moment, Streep is given permission by The Prom to make everything about her. More, please.

5. “Stay with Me” in Into the Woods

Attempting to sing Sondheim is a challenge few take up lightly. With his typically complex lyrics, myriad key changes, and sharp musical bridges, Sondheim has thwarted many a movie star who’s tried. Streep is not one of them. As the villainous and somewhat misunderstood Witch of Into the Woods, Streep dominates the film as an antagonistic force who sees all the other fairy tale archetypes for the schmucks they are.

But that does not include her adopted daughter Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy). As the daughter the Witch never had, Rapunzel is kept secluded away in the woods, but it’s for her own protection. Written years before Tangled, a mother’s fanged psychological warfare and pleas to “stay with me” from the danger in the world is as haunting as it is toxic. And it’s Streep’s best moment in Disney and Rob Marshall’s ambitious, yet bloated, movie adaptation.

4. “Dancing Queen” in Mamma Mia!

Yes, it’s that song and that scene: ABBA’s most overplayed earworm brought to treacly life with maximum cheese, including slow-motion shots of Meryl Streep jumping on a bed and skipping along a Greek coastline. Look over there! Why is that old fisherman playing a piano in the water?! And over here! Where did the hundreds of locals on this tiny, largely uninhabited island come from?!

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It doesn’t matter! You know from the first time you heard Streep and company belt this that you sang along. You probably still do, joining in at the parade of empowered women, from ages two to 92, who’ve been liberated by the joy of their youth, now or remembered. As they dance badly across the world’s grooviest pier, it plays as loud; as camp; and as a goddamn delight.

3. “My Minnesota Home” in A Prairie Home Companion

Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin’s other major duet in A Prairie Home Companion, “My Minnesota Home” reworks Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” to give it a Lake Wobegon tenor. It is also the sweetest showcase for Streep and Tomlin’s chemistry, both as singers and human beings. The give and take between the pair, and then Streep’s rousing vibrato during the final chorus, has the air of genuine inspiration and real pleasure. Here are two performers finding harmony together on the stage and before our eyes. It’s big hearted and irresistible.

2. “I’m Checking Out” in Postcards from the Edge

Meryl’s first major musical moment came during the grand finale of director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Carrie Fisher’s wonderful little dramedy. Loosely and nakedly based on Fisher’s own relationship with her movie star mother Debbie Reynolds, Postcards from the Edge is a revealing and sometimes blunt exercise in getting things off a writer’s chest. And one thing Fisher really wanted to clear the air about was her mother’s desire to push her toward musical performance. While Fisher resisted in her own life, she allows the fictional Suzanne Vale (Streep) to give in to mother Doris Mann (Shirley MacLaine).

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In doing so, she also gives into herself and sings this full-hearted rendition of “I’m Checking Out.” A country hymn to the bitterness of living in the heartbreak hotel, the song allows Suzanne (and hopefully Carrie) to bury some pain, and for Streep to reveal her formidable stage and screen presence in front of a microphone. It is probably the rawest and most intelligent performance on this list.

1. “Mamma Mia” in Mamma Mia!

Among Meryl Streep’s many songs in Mamma Mia!—including a few we did not put on this list, believe it or not—it’s her rendition of the movie’s title song that works best. Imbuing the tune with an infectious playfulness, and leaning into the impatience that pours from ABBA’s lyrics, Streep pounces around the screen like a cat who’s just spotted a bird… or at least three turkeys in the shapes of her exes (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård).

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As she creeps and creaks around their goathouse (don’t ask), debating whether to sneak another peak, the film finally makes sharp use of a movie’s ability to edit together imagery: We cut between Streep, the exiled suitors, Donna’s daughter and friends, and even an honest to Zeus Greek chorus of extras sticking their heads into the frame to chastise Streep. Not that she can resist her curiosity, nor do we resist watching it. In fact, we want to egg it on as Streep rolls around in overalls and crosses herself before embracing the next crescendo.

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suhmayzooka · 4 years

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cursed child broadway, December 28, 2019

my sister (S) and i were fortunate enough to get tickets for the third row, right by the aisle, making us right in the center. I was a bit worried about the seats being so close to the stage, but it was absolutely amazing to be so close to the action. it was immersive, and i felt like i was part of the action.

S is my polar opposite. she’s not a potterhead, for starters, and likes to call me (and everyone else in the theater, especially those in cosplay) a loser. she’s heavily involved with her school’s theater -- acting and stage crew -- and i call her a theater nerd. she’s an aspiring actress, and almost gave my mom a heart attack when she announced her plan to study acting in college (they compromised, and now S intends to major in psychology in addition to acting). i didn’t know she was interested in cursed child since she eschews all ‘nerdy’ things, but she said that she ‘wanted to see how bad it was.’

she’s been the only extrovert in our family since she was born. she’s a hatstall between gryffindor and slytherin (although she identifies with the lion). if you’re reading this, i’m assuming you like cursed child and perhaps are involved with the fandom. ever read the tea time series on ao3? S is lily luna. she’s the embodiment of how everyone writes lily luna. she cursed out our dad a few days ago. she made me spend the equivalent of two hours of work on fucking soda and popcorn because she didn’t listen to me when i told her to pack a clif bar. this is what i put up with.

she actually enjoyed the show! i was shocked. she loved the effects.

after part one, she turned to me and went, “please just tell me one thing: do albus or scorpius die?”

i was surprised by her question.

she explained: “because at this point all i care about is their romance, and if they don’t get together or if they die i’m leaving the theater.”

this is coming from someone who ranted to me about how she doesn’t understand why people ship non-canon pairings since ‘not every friendship has to be romance.’ and here she was genuinely invested in scorbus? my heart…

i’m a good big sister, so i told her really vague statements like “our heroes will find themselves in danger several times during this act...” “one person’s pain is used to inflict pain on the other” and similar things. eventually, she became convinced that scorpius would be revealed to be voldemort’s son and harry would accidentally kill him. not sure how she came up with that.

i guess everyone caught the plague? the coughing would Not stop. S started making fun of them. and it’s like...everyone was a-okay during wand dance. there were no coughs in the opening choreography for part two. no, everyone had to succumb to coughing fits during the quiet, emotional moments.

“i always wanted a best mate to get up to mayhem with--”

COUGHCOUGHPHLEGMCOUGHHACKHACKHACKPHLEGMPHELGMCOUGHCOUGH

“--you’re my best friend--”

COUGHCOUGHPHLEGMCOUGHHACKHACKHACKPHLEGMPHELGMCOUGHCOUGH

for every. emotional. scene. maybe they were choked up on their tears.

at the last minute we decided to do stage door. as in, we had already left the theater, saw the line outside, and were like, “sure.” unfortunately we had left our playbills in the theater since my hands were occupied holding her soda and popcorn since apparently she’s incapable of doing so…

i’m using google and my shitty facial recognition to remember who was who. we (she) spoke to zell steele morrow (young harry), karen janes woditsch (mcgonagall), nadia brown (rose), james snyder (harry), and nicholas podany (albus). unfortunately, we had to catch our train and left just as jonno roberts (draco) came out :( i think he was S’s favorite.

anyway here are my (our) thoughts:

1. Characters

~nicholas podany is a really good albus! he’s very mischievous, and you can see the wheels in his head turning as he comes up with his (increasingly more ridiculous) plans. whenever he comes up with an idea he looks at scorpius like :O and it gets funnier as the play goes on.

~bubba weiler is a lot of fun. he’s very physical actor, and he really hams it up. his scorpius is meant to be seen rather than read. most of the comic relief is written for scorpius, and there seemed to be roars of laughter after every other line. he shook his hips at “MALFOOYYYY THE UNAANXIOUSSS” and (exaggeratedly) pretended to march in place for “MY GEEKNESS IS A-QUIVERING!!” he purred at rose. he flailed his entire body around when he was crucio-d :( one thing i noticed was how he carried himself. scorpius spent a lot of time sitting hunched over, rocking slightly back and forth (most noticeable when he was introduced, but he hunched over and rocked on the staircase several times as well). when he stands he’s rubbing his thumbs or the hems of his robes. his leg was bouncing nonstop in the library scene. anyway what i’m trying to say is scorpius malfoy is neurodivergent. ableists don’t interact.

~for some reason S says that both scorpius and albus are unlikeable, but they’re cute together. she was very proud when scorpius yelled at albus for being “the most terrible friend.”

~the chemistry between scorbus is There. it’s clear podany and weiler are close friends irl; they’re extremely comfortable together and play off each other really well.

~matt mueller is great as ron. he works well with what he’s been given...not his fault thorne/tiffany decided to make ron a caricature with very little resemblance to canon ron...but that’s a rant for another day :] he’s delightful on stage. he’s funny and charming.

~i’ll admit i wasn’t really feeling jenny jules as hermione, at least in part one. she’s really playful, especially in the scene in her office where she offers harry a “to~fee~!” she was really great in the dark timeline, however.

~my romione heart

~the man himself, james snyder as harry potter! was um, very shouty? very angry all the time. he’s under a lot of stress. his son disappeared in time. i’ll let it slide.

~jonno roberts was literally draco malfoy. his sneer, his swagger, everything was absolutely as i imagined draco 20 years in the future would be. he’s so protective of scorpius...when the adults travel back to 1981 to find their sons, he picks scorpius up as they hug? and then instead of breaking apart, he sort of...put one arm around scorpius’s neck? like a backwards neck travel pillow thing. scorpius held his arm as draco looked around behind him for any danger. it was really cute.

~diane davis was a really protective ginny. all the fiery ginny from the books that was absent from the films made its way into her.

2. Scenes

~one criticism i have is the fact that everyone speaks really quickly. it’s a five hour play and i get that they’re trying to contain all the dialogue within that time but like...it’s a dialogue-heavy show. i knew what was going on since i’m familiar with the script and the story, but there were parts when S and other members of the audience were confused. this was especially noticeable during the trolley witch scene. literally nothing could be heard over the music and the sound effects, and several people around us were audibly confused and asking each other what was happening. i mean, it doesn’t make a lot more sense with the dialogue, but at least let us hear what the characters are saying!

~podany, snyder, and (at times) weiler were the worst offenders. weiler’s good at physical comedy, punctuating his iconic lines with clownlike movements for laughs since no one would know what he’s saying otherwise. e.g. “we stand over the baby and scream” was almost inaudible, so we just heard “HEEELLLPPP HEEEEELLLP!” it was effective since the whole theater laughed, i guess. take this with a grain of salt; we were only a few feet away from the stage, so maybe our audio wasn’t the best.

~roberts was crystal clear at all times

~S fell in love with scorbus during the staircase ballet. if you’ve seen that one clip from this cast you know why. the YEARNING.

~the LIBRARY scene! i reblogged audio of this a few months ago. oh my god, it’s perfect. it hits the emotional highs and lows. when albus said, “i wasn’t a loser before i met you,” there was a collective gasp and we all “OOOOOOOOOOH”-ed. everyone was invested in this. weiler’s performance is really emotional, he’s holding back tears, i’m holding back tears. podany’s gets so soft when he talks about how kind he is. i actually clenched my heart. “friends?” “always.” audience: “OOOOOOOOOH!”

~i can confirm that myrtle’s “girls...AND BOYS” is directed straight at albus. his eyes widen, and he sheepishly shrugs his shoulders and is very excited to change the topic.

~scorpius’s imaginary friend was named hector. idk if he improvises it every time, or if he decided to change it to hector from flurry, but his delivery was great. sweetly: “oh, i had one of those too!” scathing hiss: “HECTOR.”

~the biggest jumpscare of the play was when scorpius emerged from the lake at the end of part one. it was all dark, and then he shoots out of the water, gasping. i jumped.

~voldemort walked down the aisle right next to us. S was terrified that he’s jump or touch her, so she curled up next to me.

~i was interested in how the penultimate scene would play out, since i heard that weiler and podany really play up their relationship, but scorpius had spent every scene with rose purring at her. she came and imitated a scorpion when she said “scorpion king,” curving her hand and making a hissing noise, which elicited a few “oohs” from the audience. then the Hug...the “new version of us” line is said as they hug, and they just. stood there for a few moments, hugging. when albus goes “you better ask rose” scorpius looks up at him and blinks, goes, “.........uh oh yeah, rose….” and goes off stage. right before he exits he looks at albus, and albus keeps watching him after he leaves. uhh anyway scorbus is canon and so is pollyrose

~“dad...i don’t want to be a wizard anymore.” (dead silence) “i want to go into pigeon racing” *breaks into the biggest shit-eating grin and cracks up*. the last shot is harry holding albus as he silently weeps. Ookay.

~due to several instances of childhood trauma, my sister’s biggest fear is birds (especially chickens, ostriches, and...pigeons). she didn’t know why people laughed at harry’s confession that he was afraid of pigeons, because to her that’s a valid fear. we saw a pigeon in the train station and she almost cried.

3. Stage door

~S did most of the talking. she told everyone “so sorry we don’t have our playbill! you did such a great job!” and then struck up mini conversations. i stood nodding like “good job!” looking like this :]

~first up was (i believe) zell steele morrow! he’s so cute and was really upbeat. S finally found someone shorter than her…

~karen janes woditsch asked what houses we’re in. S was like “gryffindor!” and she smiled, i told her “ravenclaw” and she was like, “well...i love all my students equally….”

~i didn’t recognize james snyder since he was dressed like he was in the arctic. neither did S.

~nadia brown was so sweet! you could tell she really loved seeing fans. there was a group behind us in line who apparently were here for their third viewing, and they conversed like they were old friends.

~nicholas podany came out wearing a t shirt. in december. i was cold because i forgot to wear gloves and he came out in a t shirt. the group behind us asked if he was cold and he said that he was hot from running around the stage. S told him that he did great, she asked how long he was performing (ten months since february) and her response was “oh, that makes sense, you were good!” he went on about how he loves performing, how each night is different based on the crowd and how we were such a great crowd, and i could feel S like. sinking into the sidewalk. i just nodded at him and went “good job.”

~he’s my height, maybe slightly shorter (i’m 5’6/167 cm) and very pale. i think S has a crush on him since she wants to go back to “apologize for being so awkward.” growing up she had a crush on daniel radcliffe, too, so i guess she has a thing for potters.

~the group behind us went on about how much they loved harry potter, had been fans their whole lives, etc. podany’s apparently a huge potterhead, but not the biggest in the cast: they all came together to see who was the biggest potterhead, and the answer is the actor who plays cedric (forgot his name and the internet isn’t helping, sorry!) -- his tv (?) remote is in the shape of a wand! the rest of them are nerdy enough to fact-check the director lmao

~we didn’t get to actually speak with jonno roberts, but we saw him interacting with other fans. he seems like a cool guy.

#ccsquad #cursed child #i see cc

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thecursedhellblazer · 4 years

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(( Alright, the actually ending of the new episode wasn’t as tragic as I had thought...but it still really shook me. John has tons of close calls in every kind of media and I should like be used to it, but...nope. Gets me every time x.x Plus Matt Ryan is just too good at pulling him off, with all his moods and general heavy feelings. On both the good and the bad sides. ))

(( Also, the poison thing was so him. Bless the writers for that. He would have never just sit around and wait to die. As he said, John Constantine goes only on his own terms. Despite all the angst and the bloody scare, I really loved those scenes...even if I kinda wanted to punch Gary a lil bit. ))

(( Ray on the other hand was absolutely fantastic. As per usual. He really took up Sara’s usual role in this one and did one hell of a job. His character matured so much, and I’m glad we get to see that before he and Nora leave for good. Damn, I’m really going to miss him. ))

(( That said, I really wished Sara had been there too. No one can handle John’s bullshit as she did. Plus they are my BrOTP and I miss the moments they had together in the previous season. Give me some John&Sara moments at least on here dammit. I hope I’ll get more of the two of them together at some point. Because she really needs to punch sense back into him...and in the rest of the crew. Mick included. Come on, he bailed out Genghis freaking Khan because he was in a mood??? I get that they need to make more space for the new characters and dynamics, but...That was lazy writing, let me tell you. ))

(( Now, to the huge thing of this episode. Charlie being a Fate. That’s really cool, and it also fits why she feels so strongly about free will. And it adds a whole new layer to her character, one I can’t wait to see explored. Plus, I’m a mythology Geek, so I’m really eager to see the take the show will rebuild and adapt that part of the myths. ))

(( The one thing that really left me ‘meh’ is the whole Charlie and B hooking up ordeal. It dropped out of the blue and it seems really forced to me. Charlie was super close to Zari before the timeline changed, which I guess I mean she was to Behrad in the new take, but...couldn’t they have stayed best pals at this point? They had no romantic chemistry at all. Please, can we avoid falling into this idiotic, honestly upsetting clichés? The whole ‘B is upset at Charlie/worried because she’s acting weird’ thing could have easily been pulled off with them staying friends. She could have stood him up on something they had planned to do together or something. No need to add a new, useless element, especially in an episode that introduces so much already. ))

#(( true seeing stone ::ooc:: ))#lot spoilers #lot 5x06 #(( I'd still love some threads focused on the ep ))#(( both during the whole crisis and post ))

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wandernic · 5 years

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My SPOILERY Be More Chill review

In honor of tonight’s opening, I wanted to put together my impressions of the show, brought to you by five off-Broadway and four Broadway preview viewings. I will divide things up by scene/song to better order my thoughts. Please DO NOT read if you haven’t seen or don’t know the story well already.

(In that case, here’s a mini-review for you: GOOOOO SEE THIS! Okay now do yourself a favor and close this window.)

More Than Survive:

I like the change to Mr. Heere just eating cereal in his underwear, and unable to drive Jeremy to school. This better conveys Jeremy's real frustration with his dad being mentally checked out than the (admittedly funnier) off-Broadway scene, which just made Jeremy seem grossed out by him.

I miss the Chloe-Jake breakup scene a bit, but it didn't really add much to the narrative other than seeing them as a couple for a brief moment. The next mini-scene where Jenna addresses the breakup with Chloe accomplishes what's needed, plus adds to Jenna's narrative as the girl everyone goes to for the dirt and nothing else.

I Love Play Rehearsal:

I would shower Stephanie Hsu with multiple Tonys for this scene alone. Her Christine is equal parts adorable and batshit, and we can easily see why Jeremy finds her so much more fascinating than the conventionally attractive popular girls at school.

Minor gripe: BRING BACK JAKE'S DAB. That shit was hilarious, and in a simple move showed how Jake, while trying to live up to the cool jock everyone knows him to be, has the same amount of dork inside that everyone does.

The Squip Song:

Ugh I get they're trying to clean this up for a staid Broadway audience, but Rich drawing the penis on the wall and brazenly peeing in front of Jeremy are both missed. Not just for the humor, but because without it Rich just seems like his Squip made him merely mean, instead of confident. That confidence would presumably be what Rich was seeking with a Squip, not to become a garden variety bully, so it loses something in the translation when Rich isn't displaying that through his inappropriate jokes.

I do appreciate Rich's bullying of Jeremy being stepped up, because it's important we get a fuller idea of Jeremy's suffering. Off-Broadway, it just came across as "I can't get the girl I dig and a boy at school sometimes says shitty things." Though certainly emotional bullying is awful, its pervasiveness over a long period of time is hard to convey in a few short scenes. Having Rich also physically intimidate Jeremy makes you feel Jeremy's fear in a palpable way, which leads you to sympathize more with him.

Also can we give Gerard Canonico a Tony merely for the "It's from Japan!" scream? I think, yes. Seriously, his performance in this role is so iconic, it's hard to imagine another actor playing Rich.

Two-Player Game:

The perfect scene for conveying the true dynamic of Jeremy and Michael's friendship. That dynamic being, Michael is a much better friend to Jeremy than Jeremy is to Michael. This is one of the challenges for Will Roland in portraying Jeremy: he is not an easily likeable character. Yes, Jeremy is bullied at school, but he also makes everything about him, his needs, his pain, etc. There isn't a moment in which Jeremy checks to see how Michael's doing (lest we forget Michael is also bullied - the backpack prank was pulled on him, too.) So this song works as both a fun bop, and as a display of the unequal nature of this friendship.

Also, on the whole I *love* Chase Brock's choreography. Especially in "Halloween" and the utterly phenomenal "The Pitiful Children." The one exception is when Jeremy and Michael get up from the bed to finish this song; these moves are clunky and not sharp. It's hard to tell if executed more crisply, they would work better for me, or if the actors are intentionally sort of keeping it loose to demonstrate that these dudes are not as cool as their peers.

Be More Chill:

Jeremy's Squip being activated and the ultimate dramatic appearance of that Squip is one of my favorite moments in the show. My God, the evolution of the Squip from last summer has me floored. It was always good, but what Jason Tam is doing with this character now is must-see. This Squip is like an emotionally abusive partner. He coldy points out what he sees as your flaws, then smooth talks you about your amazing potential, and you forget that you were ever hurt or mad to begin with. Rinse, repeat. He also reminds me of the current administration, in that he'll say something totally out of bounds, then quickly walk it back to where he really wanted you, and you're temporarily swayed by the dial-down that he's not so bad after all. Fucking masterful.

If this man isn't nominated, seriously fuck the Tonys.

Do You Wanna Ride?

What I love most about this besides its hilarity is that it shows a bit of quid pro quo in the seemingly one-sided Chloe/Brooke friendship. While Chloe pretty openly treats Brooke poorly on multiple occasions, when Brooke wants an assist in trying to get Jeremy to say yes, Chloe immediately jumps to her cue and joins in. This is actually more than Jeremy ever helps Michael with anything in the entirety of the show, which is pretty fucking sad when you think about it.

Katlyn Carlson and Lauren Marcus have perfect chemistry as the best frenemies we'd love to hate if only we didn't kind of totally love them so damn much.

Be More Chill Part 2:

I liked the staging for this better at Signature. It serviced the choreography much better when they didn't throw a mall fountain mid-stage that forces them to redirect the dance moves in a less visually striking manner. I especially miss the hoveround rolling down center stage with the mall shoppers trailing behind it. We've already been to Payless and the food court; we know it's a mall. The fountain is unnecessary. Also, can we give Troy a better alter-ego when he goes on? The Starbucks get-up just looks like Michael went to work at his mall job and for some unknown reason put a wig on.

Sync Up:

I love the expansion of the supporting roles in the show, something this song supports to great effect. I don't have a lot more to say on this scene since it's new to Broadway, and I don't remember as much as the other scenes. Also I believe before this song is when Jeremy ditches his glasses, and I like the change from first preview in how that was accomplished (though I did laugh at the Spiderman rip-off that first night).

A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into:

I MISS THE PART WHERE BROOKE NODS HER HEAD ALONG WITH CHLOE WHILE LECTURING CHRISTINE. This is in all caps because that shit was comic gold; why take it out? It also demonstrated how in tune with Chloe's whims and emotions Brooke is, which is to say, too much. If I can't have this back, I'm going to at least need someone to explain why it was taken out.

I believe this scene is where the Squip puzzles over the person Christine is, and I love both that she's entirely confounded him, and that post-song, she ultimately defeats his carefully constructed plotting just by being the unpredictable person she is.

As for the song, this has been unchanged that I can see, and that's because it does exactly what it needs to do well.

Upgrade:

One of the best changed scenes from Signature. It was fine there, but is much more fleshed out now, and gives more insight into many of the characters that is needed and appreciated. I especially appreicated the added dialogue between Jeremy and Brooke, in which we get Brooke's insight into her self-doubt, and how Jeremy's seeming interest moved her.

I did prefer how the Squip insinuated himself more in this scene at the first preview. When he was trying to get Jeremy to get with Brooke, he pretty much physically climbed on him to push him into her on the bleachers. In a future preview, the Squip stood completely away from them onstage, directing Jeremy with hand motions, and I didn't think that worked at. All. Last Sunday, he stood near them and physically pushed Jeremy with just his hand to kiss Brooke; while an improvement, it still wasn't as effective as the first preview for two reasons.

One, the complete disregard for personal space is just much funnier. Two and more importantly, when the Squip was literally pushing Jeremy's body into Brooke's with his own (imaginary) body, it demonstrated an important aspect of the Squip's control of Jeremy. What looks like the Squip being physically seductive is really a demonstration of his seduction of Jeremy's mind. This is significant, because Jeremy ends up doing a lot of things he doesn't particularly want to do, but the Squip seduces him into thinking he does. I found that incredibly effective.

Loser, Geek, Whatever:

My gripe with this otherwise effective scene is the singing of the song itself. Every time it starts to build steam melodically, it's cut off by Jeremy saying/shouting so many of the lyrics. The build-up then has to start again, leaving the song to finish up not as impactful as it could be. This could be a barn-burner Act 1 closer, and instead it's just pretty good. Also I don't know how Will Roland takes that loooooong end note up and down and back again, and still belt as powerfully at the end of it as the start. The show must be using some new can't-even-look-it-up-on-the-internet technology to pump air into his lungs from backstage. This actor has taken on a very difficult character and pitched it just on the line of where it needs to be to work. So impressive.

Halloween:

Love the song. LOVE the choreo (lookin' at you, Chase Brock.) Love LOVE the addition of the Squip front and center. This makes so much sense, because by manipulating Jeremy he's really manipulating all of them, and his inclusion in the midst of the party instead of on its periphery demonstrates this incredibly well.

I don't love the substitution of a pumpkin candle for a gas can. What even was that thought process? That sucks up the drama of that moment almost entirely. What level of foreboding does one accomplish with a pumpkin?

This scene contains my only major problem with the show, and that is Jake's sudden and unexplained loss of interest in Christine. Are we to infer that they slept together once and that's all Jake was after? And that all of his character development in Act 1 was bullshit? In which case what was the point of developing his character at all? This whole thing could be easily fixed by a line or two where Jake realizes he still has feelings for Chloe, but that never happens. I haven't seen the show since last Sunday (when multiple people told me it was locked in), so I hope since that time they've unlocked it to fix the one glaring flaw, either clarifying Jake is a dick, or Jake misunderstood his own feelings. In any event, Britton is absolutely CRUSHING IT with the nuances of Jake, and I can't wait to hear him on the Broadway cast album.

Do You Wanna Hang?:

Katlyn Carlson is a comic genius. All the little touches she throws into this hilariously awful attempt at seduction are amazing. The only part of this I liked better at Signature is when Jeremy asks her if she's jealous, and in this version she's crying while saying "obviously not." (Or at least she was on Sunday). I think this works better if she immediately *stops* crying at that point, playing it like it's the most absurd possible question Jeremy could ask.

Michael in the Bathroom:

Alternate title: George Salazar at the Tonys

Michael is quite simply the beating heart of this show, an odd role for a supporting character. As played by George, he is that quirky, too weird to be popular but too sweet to not love friend that if we were very lucky, we had growing up. Michael is so important because to be frank, Jeremy is kind of a self-involved dick. That would make the show entirely dependent on Will Roland's ability to make us relate to Jeremy through those trials he faces that we've all experienced - and he does an amazing job. But he also gets a Herculean assist from George, who so convincingly relates how steadfast and loyal to Jeremy Michael is, it makes us believe there's something special in Jeremy that warranted this devotion.

A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into (Reprise):

During the couch scene between Jeremy and Christine, they've cut out Christine's very valid explanation as to why she can't date Jeremy (it involved getting to know herself better first). This is a problem, because it doesn't make sense at the end of the show when she likes him - we never see why she made that leap, so we're meant to assume she likes him for doing the bare minimum of correcting his own mistake. The way it was at Signature, we find out at least that she just isn't in a head space to date someone on the heels of her breakup with Jake, which shows she could be interested in Jeremy once she gets past that.

The Smartphone Hour:

Easily one of my favorite scenes. Tiffany Mann as Jenna is a delight from start to finish, and this is her moment to shine. Her comic sensibility is perfection. Lauren and Katlyn chime in with equally hilarious support.

My only complaint in this number is the slight lyric change to "Jake's house." For pity's sake, we just spent three or four songs at Jake's party; I promise you, we grasp who's house it is. And the change ruins the flow of the song a bit.

The Pants Song:

Okay yes this song is sweetly funny and does exactly what is needed to advance the plot here. But I just want to talk about Jason SweetTooth Williams overall right now. HOW IS HE A REAL PERSON THAT CAN SO EFFORTLESSLY JUMP FROM ROLE TO ROLE WITHIN SECONDS WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT. Mr. Reyes and his delusions of grandeur is my favorite, but Williams brings equal skill to all his roles, including Jeremy's dad. What a talent.

The Pitiful Children/The Play:

This may be my favorite song. Especially with the song, choreography, and performances here, this show is firing simultaneously on all cylinders. I also love that Jeremy and Jenna have an extended conversation that lets us know her a little more. Tiffany Mann gives a heartfelt authenticity to this that is lovely.

I think this is the scene where these critiques go (apologies if not). I wish Jeremy didn't tell his Squip "you were supposed to make Christine like me!" One thing I love about Jeremy is that he is not really into the popular girls, but the most interesting girl. He digs Christine because of all that she is.

When he says this line, he is upset because the Squip didn't make Christine do what he wanted, meaning he now wants her to change to like him. I think this would work better and make Jeremy come across as less of an incel if the line were more like, "you were supposed to make me someone Christine would like!" It was, after all, himself that Jeremy was looking to change - not Christine, who he loves as she is. That is this character's saving grace, and this diminishes it a bit.

That said, I do think there was an overcorrection in trying to make Jeremy more likeable. In the three previews I saw before Sunday, Jeremy tricks Jenna into drinking the Squip-spiked drink. In the last version I saw, he actually tells her what it is, and she immediately drinks it. It's pretty unrealistic that she would do that. Worse, it conflicts with Jeremy's "you were supposed to make Christine like me!" outburst. If we must allow for the fact the Squip has gained so much control of Jeremy he no longer cares that Christine likes him of her own choosing, he's certainly not going to care about respecting Jenna's need to consent to taking the Squip. Given the choice, I would either change Jeremy's line about making Christine like him, or his choice to tell Jenna what's in the drink. Back-to-back, they don't give us a good sense of how much control the Squip has of Jeremy at that point.

After Jeremy and Michael battle everyone and Jeremy makes his final choice, as the result becomes clear, Michael bizarrely explains what is happening on the spot. This makes little sense, especially in light of the fact that at the hospital, he asks Jeremy how he knew what would result from what he did. Um, he didn't know, you literally explained it to him in the middle of the last scene, bro. I would omit Michael's inexplicably instantaneous explanation from the Play scene and let the audience sit with the aftermath a moment, before having it clarified in the hospital scene.

Voices in my Head:

Not a fan of the lyric changes here, which seem to water down the edge of the teens ("she probably thinks that acne is hot") to morph them into Stepford children ("we got your back 'cause we are your squad" - vomit). Otherwise, this scene wraps everything up well and leaves you satisfield with the weird, wild journey you just went on.

What a score (my #1 favorite in all of musical theater history), what a cast, what a show! If there are not multiple Tonys thrown at this masterpiece, any significance the Tonys have is null and void.

In short, GET THERE or you’re missing the show of the year!

#Be More Chill #Joe Iconis #Will Roland #George Salazar #Stephanie Hsu #Gerard Canonico #Jason SweetTooth Williams #Tiffany Mann #Britton Smith #Lauren Marcus #Katlyn Carlson

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scrapyardboyfriends · 6 years

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Jenny’s Belated Live Blogging - 11th September 2018

- Overall I thought it was a pretty solid episode. I liked that it was only focused on three basic stories even if the Lachlan/Rebecca/Belle/Robert stuff was all different strands.

- The Jessie, Marlon and Ellis stuff was good comic relief. I liked Marlon and Ellis geeking out over zombie games. Reminds me of him and Paddy. This whole set up is weird but they have good chemistry so it makes it fun.

- I could have done without 90% of the Rebecca scenes. I feel like they should go back to how she was shown in the cabin where it was just like one scene per episode. It just seems unnecessary. AND WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HER MEMORY PROBLEMS?????!!!!!! Cause she hasn’t shown any signs of them since Lachlan took her and I’M SO CONFUSED. Are they going to magically appear again when she gets back? Will the trauma have magically cured her and now she’ll be able to just happily live in the village??? I don’t understand.

- I don’t have a lot to say about Belle this episode other than that I just feel bad for her. But it did love her sitting on the sofa and Wishing Well with Monty’s head in her lap because it gave me fond Alfie flashbacks. I’m glad they let them get another dog. (Now just give Aaron one please. Give the villagers back their pets!)

- The scene with Lachlan and the lawyer had me cracking up. Why did no one brief her on what he had done? Haha. ‘Lawrence would be so disappointed in you’ YES BECAUSE HE MURDERED HIM!!! Hahahaha. ‘What do you mean it wasn’t an accident?!’ Haha. And her face when he just kept going on about Belle not being grateful to him for all the murder he committed in her name. PRICELESS! I loved every second of it. Haha

- Bless Doug (and Diane today) for looking after Robert. If only they could have gotten him out of that body warmer. You know Robert wasn’t doing well because he let Doug cook in his kitchen. Haha.

- From my brief look at my dash before I started writing this, I saw people hating on the ‘don’t worry daddy will find mummy’ line. For me, I was just like ‘dear god, he interacted with the child again!’ He actually looked at him and talked to him and didn’t just hold him like a prop. It made me happy.

- The whole first half of the episode I just kept screaming ‘WHERE THE HELL IS AARON’ whenever Robert showed up. So I was very happy to see him FINALLY just before the second commercial break. His ‘hey i’m home’ was a little underwhelming considering the events of last week but...at least Seb has a lion now?!

- And the hug! The hug was the best part of their scenes. That was a good kind of hug. The kind where Robert just gets up and throws himself into his husband’s arms cause he’s been traumatized and he’s missed him. It was good and I approved.

- I wish that both the Aaron/Diane moment and the Robron scene after were longer but hopefully we’ll get more from Robron at least the rest of the week. But I appreciated that Diane and Aaron had any kind of conversation at all. Progress. And I liked that Aaron was just like ‘yeah I don’t care about anything else, I’m just worried about you, you idiot’. And I’m sure he’ll keep worrying. Cause his husband is a crazy person who’s gonna have a seizure.

- I did also appreciate the little Doug/Liv scene. The continuity of both Doug trying to help Liv with her school stuff and Liv finally getting to be like ‘I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO’ about Lachlan.

- Oh and I liked that little scene with Aaron and Chas and Paddy in the pub. Though I found it kind of hilarious having them all talk about everything that was going on when they were all MIA the week before. But I liked Chas asking after Robert and thinking he’ll be better now that Aaron is home. And my favorite part was that Aaron actually asked after Charity...as if he has any idea what’s going on with her story since he never gets to be a part of it which I’m still sort of bitter over because it could have been so good. Just like Lisa was a part of Rhona’s rape story because of similar experiences. Sigh. Anyway. I was very happy to see him ask after her and offer up the tiniest of his own experiences as a reply. I’ll take what I can get!

- Speaking of Charity, I thought the Charity stuff was really good today. Though it did once again emphasize that the Dingle family has too many major plots going on since no one could go to court with Charity. But I liked that they played into that by having everyone just assume she’d be fine because she’s Charity Dingle. It was an interesting juxtaposition to how scared and vulnerable she actually felt and how vulnerable 14 year old her was back then.

- I thought they did a good job with the court scenes. It didn’t feel too repetitive. A little but not a ton since you were able to focus on just how much you hated the defense lawyer instead you know? And Bails was appropriately horrible. And I feel sorry for his wife but kind of hate her too for believing him. I’m curious how they’re going to play it now, if they’ll have him be found guilty and just have her dealing with the after effects off all of it like Aaron or if they’ll actually have him get away with it or maybe just get a really short sentence or something.

- I was glad to see a little more Noah and Ryan bonding. I feel like maybe Noah needed to hear that Ryan took a swing at Bails so he knew that he hated him just as much or something. I hope they can continue to bond. Give Noah all the older brothers. And it was nice that they went to court together to support Charity.

- It was also nice to see Tracy back supporting Charity and bless Sam for showing up in his work clothes. I also liked Tracy asking after Sam because they did used to be close once. Also....I forgot Harriet was a character again until she showed up. Oops.

- One of my favorite parts of that whole storyline today was definitely the Cain and Debbie conversation though, in addition to Cain’s reactions in the gallery during the testimonies. It was nice to see it affecting him since he hasn’t been involved much. And I was glad to hear Debbie call him out on the way he treated Charity and the names he used to call her in arguments and have him be apologetic and feel guilty for not helping her. It was good continuity and I appreciated that. Also Cain making Debbie feel guilty over the 2014 stuff and not being there for her today.

- Oh and I also appreciated the little Matty and Vanessa scene at the Shop.

#belated live blogging #emmerdale #robron

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seeasweetsmile · 6 years

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Hey guys ! Here my long Pidge-centric OS ! I’m sorry for the possible grammatical mistakes ! I hope you enjoy it, tho ! <3

Title : Pidge's peaceful times Summary : Before Garrison Time. Pidge is harassed, insulted and sidelined by her classmates in middle school. But thanks to her superior intelligence, she puts together a plan to follow her lessons without spending all her time at school.

Pidge gets a ball of paper behind her head when she is facing the board to solve a math problem. Stifled laughter rises in the air and the teacher, who is known to be severe towards everyone without exception, immediately raises his voice. "Mark ! Alexandra ! We don't throw objects through the classroom !" "I wanted to aim the trash bin, sir !" Retorn the boy. "We just wanted to do a contest to find out who would put it in the trash first !" "Yes, that's it !" Answer the teacher, arms crossed, who don't believe them at all. "For the trouble, you'll both have an hour of restraint tonight !" Both students moan and plead with the teacher because they have supposedly very important appointments at the end of the day. Pidge, on the other hand, finishes solving the equation, puts the chalk on the edge of the board, and returns to her place in silence. The teacher quickly passes beside her without thanking her for her efforts, too busy arguing with the other two idiots. She pinches her lips and curses them all internally.

Pidge keeps an impassive face at the whisperings she heards as she passes through the corridors.

"Hey psst ! Look, she's the one everyone is talking about : the little nerd of the 9th grade." A boy blows with a cupped hand to the side of his mouth.

"Seriously ? She doesn't have the physique or the appearance of a nerd, however..." Replies his friend.

"Think again. Because she's thoroughly in all that’s technology, astronomy, computers, video games... a real geek !"

"Ah ah ! Too lame !" The second boy laughed.

"So much ! I could never go out with her ! It would be super weird !" The other shouted.

The brunette contracts her jaw briefly and narrows her amber eyes. She is mentally appealing to all the forces of her body not to turn around and stick their fist in the face, then she goes down the stairs to go take the air in the playground.

One afternoon, when Pidge is the only one to answer the teacher's questions correctly, a pupil -blond, tidy up his things, get up with a softened air, and hold his backpack on his shoulder. This attracts the attention of the other students, who turn around and glance up at their comrade. "What are you doing, Corentin ?" Ask the teacher, she also intrigued. "I'm off.” He declares tiredly. "It's not that I don't like your class, ma'am, but I don't see the point of following a lesson if it's always Miss-Know-It-All who answers the questions." "He's right.” Continue a brown hair girl. "With her superior tone, Katie makes us look like shit.” "What ?!” Pidge indignant, frowning. "To me, it's her voice that I can't stand anymore." Say an another girl, made up excessively who is also standing and stows her notebooks. "Sorry ?!” Exclaimed Katie again. But none of the three students answers her. They leave the room wondering if they have to go in study room or if they are skip out the last hour of class. A silence as heavy as awkward falls in the classroom and on the shoulders of Pidge. The teacher sighs handsomely and knocks in her hands to draw her students' attention to her and continue her technology lesson. Of course, she doesn't utter any words comforting to the little genius of the class.

Even in sports, when you have to make the teams, Pidge always is the last to be chosen. A subtle message to say "We don't want you". When the teacher orders everybody to warm up first by doing three rounds of the gym, he scolds her for it to go faster because everyone sprints in the first round and she is behind. Some idiots surpass her by discussing as if she wasn't there : "Of course, when you work your brain more than your muscles, don't expect to be strong in sports.” "Her big brain has to slow her down." And then, after sneering, they accelerate their pace and pass in front of her. Pidge shakes her fists, mentally scream with all the insults she knows, and pushes a little more on her legs to double a few people. She may not have been the best at physical activity, but she was doing her best and she had acceptable scores : that was what she kept repeating to reassure herself.

Pidge sighs when she enters the girls' bathroom. Exhausted by her hard day that wasn't over yet, she drops her bag which tumbles down her arm and crashes softly at his feet. She sits on the white throne at the same time as she lowers her pants and does her needs. The nose and the bottom of her face in her hands, she sighs again. She rubs her eyes to try to make fatigue disappear. "More than one hour..." She mumbled. She absently details the blue sky tiles and the black knuckles, before hearing the bathroom door open and footsteps echoing against the floor. She doesn't pay much attention to it.

It's only when she sees two perfectly manicured hands stealing her backpack from underneath the door, that Pidge reacts. "Hey !” She exclaims. She throws her toilet paper quickly into the bowl, pulls her clothes up to her waist and flushes the toilet. When she unlocks her door and tries to push it, it opens very slightly but closes immediately. She tries again with more strength, but the door slams her in the face. Hearing a sneer on the other side that is very close, Pidge understands that someone blocks the exit. “Let me go out !” She ordered, giving a shoulder shot in it. “Nope ! You didn't say the password !” Resist the boy in an amused voice. She recognizes his voice : Corentin. It's the blond with the jaded attitude. The one because of whom the bullying against her had begun by insulting her "nerd" in front of the whole class - which had indeed made fun of her that day. “Sooo ~ ? What do we have here ?” Humed one of the girls, whom she also recognizes as Barabara, who is also in her class.

“A chemistry notebook, a tech notebook, a math notebook, and oh ! there's even a novel that comes from LRC !” Dictates the voice of Alexandra, another girl in her class. Along with the enumeration of her affairs, the brunette hears a squealing cock and water flowing into the sink. She opens her eyes, feels her stomach looping and her heart misses a beat as the three idiots's plans click into her mind. “No ! Stop !” She cries, panicked. She knocks on the door with her fist, tries to smash the entrance again, but her classmates don't listen to her and chuckle at their joke. It was a frame-up.

"So, what's the use of your brain, now ?" Corentin asks shamelessly.

The sound of the water flowing over the porcelain is toned down when one of the girls quietly stalls one of her notebooks open in the sink.

"No ! Please !" Plead Pidge, whose heartbeat continues to accelerate by imagining her pages take water.

"Relax, Einstein. We help you for the sake of the ecology. We may not have the intelligence of a horse like you, but we at least know that the pages of the books are made with trees, and that they are helped to grow by watering them. So indirectly, we take care of watering your plants. It's not nice, that ?" Barbara chases proudly.

"We say "the memory of a horse" for your infomation !" Corrects Pidge before knocking the door. "And let me out !"

She hears a clicking tongue and heels slam on the floor, a sign that one of the two girls is approaching the cabin in which she is locked. “You see ? That's what we can't stand in you, miss the genius ! Always take back others ! As if you knew everything better than everyone else !” Says Alexandra's voice, which Pidge is sure her arms are crossed. "Yeah, you always make your innocent face but we know very well that you belittle us in your heart !" “It's wrong !” Replies the brunette, frowning. “I have never looked down on you !”

Pidge tries to smash the door again with all her strength. The blonde slips a little but gets back very quickly and she was still stuck. Her efforts make Corentin chuckle. Then she hears a thud and understands that it's one of her books that fell flat on the floor. Frustrated by her feeling of helplessness, she strikes the door with both fists and lowers her head, her two amber orbs shaking. “Here. The book of chemistry is done. Technology one, now.” Announce Barabara. “No ! I beg you !” Pleads once again Katie, eyelids hard shut.

But her supplications are useless. The three idiots laugh like hungers while continuing their bad taste joke. A second book sprawls miserably on the ground. The water doesn't have time to rest, since a third book is placed under its pipe. Distraught at this scene, a knot forms in Pidge's throat. She swallows in order to make it disappear but without success. "Stop !!” She articulates with difficulty. “Hey ! Do you want me to tell you, Katie ? Dad and Mom should put in a specialized school where there are people like you. It would be a nice skewer of nerd ! And we would be much quieter !” Confess the blond. The mere mention of her parents touches a nerve and the brunette feels the hairs of her neck stand up. "Fuck you, Corentin ! You only have to be interested in lessons instead of being jaded all the time !” She replies in spite of her hoarse voice. “What did you say that ?!” Suddenly, a crash of the devil echoes in the bathroom and makes Pidge jump. What the...

"In case you wonder what it is, Miss-Know-It-All, it was your pencil case.” Informs Barabara.

"Cm'on, we fill her eraser and pencil sharpener with water. It can be funny.” Teasing Alexandra, while the other two endorse her idea. The two chicks giggle as they are doing their stupidity. The beep of a mobile phone bursts into the room, and a rustle of clothing is heard immediately after. "Who is it ?” Barabara asks, puzzled. "It's Jack. He tells us that – shit !” Alexandra panicked. "What ?! What's the matter ?!” Corentin asks. "The math teacher is going to pick up our homework and he'll write it down !” “Crap ! It wasn't planned, that !” “Quick ! We must find someone to copy the answers !” "Yeah, you're right !”

And then, just like that, the three students go off at full speed. They desert the place without a further remark to her, and Pidge can finally evacuate the overflow of emotion she just had sighing heavily. But when she finally opens the door and gets out of her cabin, the crime scene in front of her makes her even more sick. One of her open books still sits in the sink and is quietly watered by the faucet. Her other notebooks, soaked too, lie on the floor in the middle of her pens, her soaked gum, her tube of glue, her compass, and her pencil sharpener that had indeed the tank filled with water. It looked like they had decorated a cake with colorful little balls scattered all over the place. Her backpack, now empty, is lying on his side a few meters away, wide open, as if he were also shocked at the sight of the horrible sight. Eyes wide open, she takes one step after another to reach the sink and softly closes the faucet. She grabs the porcelain edge, closes her eyelids, and tightens her grip with all her strength.

With her teeth clenched, she can not help but feel a sense of injustice and rage permeating her whole body. Why... ?! What did she do to deserve all this hate ?! Matt was right when he told him that geniuses were eternally misunderstood... Tears soon poured down her cheeks, as did the sobs echoing in the dreadfully empty bathroom.

It's at this moment that Pidge made a decision : she was going to quit college. If she was to be with those morons who were just nagging her and the others who were making fun of her without moving, then she would rather stop school. There was not one to catch the other. And the adults were not much better; barely scolding those responsible and pretending to see nothing... For Pidge, who endured all this hazing and insults since she arrived during the year because she had skipped a year, it's the last straw that broke the camel's back. Her eyes still wet with tears, she washes her hands and does the best she can to collect her belongings and store them inside her backpack. It will also end up wet because of all this water but whatever. She will make everything dry naturally once she made at home.

Somewhere between her slow gestures and her bitterly bitten lips, part of her consciousness knows she's going to skip the math lesson, but at this moment, she doesn't care in the least. She dries her tears before returning home and locks herself in her room pretending to have a lot of homework and an important test of chemistry for the next day. She hears her mother and Matt wish her good luck, and her father tells her that with a brain like the Holts, she should be able to cope easily, which makes her smile slightly. But once her notebooks and books are scattered all over her desk so that they dry naturally, her pencil case opened across a corner of a page, a pen in her hand and the chin wedged between her fingers, it's not up to chemistry equations she thinks. If she suddenly stops going to college, after a week, people would ask questions and she would have trouble with the stewardship. Who would necessarily call her parents for explanations and then she would be dead. But Pidge was smart and could solve a problem faster than anyone else - except maybe her big brother. She should play it more finely. And she knew exactly what to do...

Her parents and Matt don't suspect anything. Her bag on her back, she leaves in the morning thanking them when they wish her a good day in middle school, and she returns at night by hugging her family. In her bag, there are her notebooks and her pencil case, her lunch that her mother prepares from time to time with love for her, and a old hooded green sweatshirt stolen from Matt's wardrobe. But Pidge doesn't go to middle school. She makes a small detour of a few streets to avoid going past the establishment and she settles all day at the library to learn her lessons and do her homework.

She signs a few absences for good measure, ranging from simple flu to family problems, through the famous alarm clock breakdown. And this, imitating perfectly the signature of her parents. Sometimes it's her mother's who decorates the little bits of pink paper. Sometimes it's her father's. She also makes an attestation for her absence on the pretext of the factitious death of her dog Bae Bae, which affects her particularly. She earns two weeks thanks to that. Although Pidge is sometimes reprimanded for her absences, the supervisors and the CPE don't hold much rigor and don't discover her false papers. This is one of the only benefits to being considered a gifted student. When she goes outside to go to the library, she takes care to put on her green sweatshirt and hide her head with the hood. Sometimes, some students skip up to hang out in town, unlike her, who skip in order to continue studying peacefully. From what her classmates say -those who still talk very loudly across the room about what they're going to do at noon, she learns that one of the groups will often eat in the fast-food restaurants that are in the neighborhood. And for Pidge, whether in the streets of the city or near restorations, no way to be spotted. The management would then be informed and her hell would start again, because she would be forced to return to middle school and be under surveillance. Before going home, one block away, she pulls off her sweater and stuffs it into her backpack.

When her dad wants to know how her lessons have been, she responds positively. She even adds from time to time a few anecdotes freshly imagined from her brain, such as the praise of a teacher for her good answers, the practice of the fire alarm that interrupted the English lessons, or the fuss that there was in the cafeteria because of the influx of students because it was “steak-fries” on the menu. Twice in five, when she has to eat the meals that her mother kindly prepared for her the day before, she knows very well that she doesn't have the right to nibble inside the library. So she goes out, sits in a little park where hardly anyone comes, except perhaps two-three parents and their children so that they climb on the games made available, and eat quietly her food. When Pidge has to eat in the cafeteria, she goes without saying a word because her parents pay for the canteen so that she has complete and balanced meals instead of ordinary sandwiches, and she can't bear to throw them away bills through the windows because of her. Maybe they both had good pay, but that was no reason to waste money.

Once a week, on Friday, she goes quickly to the LRC after classes, knowing that there are not many people who are still in the evening and that nobody is likely to spy on it. Sitting at the table farthest from the exit -but also the attention of the leader, she takes out her own little laptop and then hacks the computer network of the middle school. She corrects the absences file of her class in order to reduce the number of absences for which she doesn't give absence tickets. The number of slips in her notebook are not limited, and she's coming to the end soon. So, just for the sake of precaution, she allows herself to do that. It's a breeze for Pidge, who always remains an olympian calm during her operations. She is very meticulous in her typing operations once she enters the private school system. Her real IP address is scrambled and a shield protects it. And in case her shield jumps, she still has another process that automatically redirects to a fake IP address. And if the fake IP address is detected, it has programmed a virus that infects any other computer wanting to access its real IP address. In this kind of situation, Pidge feels like a queen with power at your fingertips. She thinks she should work with the FBI or that kind of secretive organization when she's grown up. But since Matt was accepted into the Garrison Galaxy, her decision was made immediately : she was going to work hard to catch up with him and to be able to enter the Garrison. She was going to become a pilot. Like her brother. Once her job is done, the hacker disconnects from all over, turns off the computer and carefully arranges it in her backpack. She goes around the shelves a little bit so as not to go out immediately, picks up a children's book where a moon and stars are drawn on the cover, and goes to the manager. Once her loan is registered, she leaves the library and returns home.

Her little game lasts peacefully.

Of course, she still goes to the few lessons that she considers the most important. For others, she studies them at the media library alone and independently.

Even if it's itching her to correct the teacher because she made a mistake in her statement, she speaks as little as possible. In this way, she manages to diminish a little bit the unpleasant comments and the glare looks of others.

She is also careful to participate in controls and evaluations. As always, the top of her leaves are decorated with the maximum note surrounded in red, and she pretends not to hear the jealous mumbles around her. But sometimes teachers change their curriculum and put their tests on the day Pidge is away. Sometimes the teachers are indulgent and let her catch up on her duty. Sometimes they just refuse. In these cases, the brunette asks her neighbor if she can take a look at her copy.

"If you want, but that's not going to raise your average." She replies, handing her the sheet, before grumbling a "Not that you need it, anyway..."

Pidge acts as if she hasn't heard anything, picks up the paper, studies the questions for a solid minute and returns it to her owner thanking her. In the afternoon, she goes to the media library. She pulls out a large blank sheet of paper, bends over the table, and copies what she has memorized on her classmate's copy. She answers all the questions correctly, changes her blue pen to a red pen, changes her hand to avoid recognizing her writing, makes small "v" beside all her answers, writes the number 100 followed by a "Excellent !" at the top of the page, and smiles proudly as she watches her work finish. In this way, she could present the copies of the missed checks to her parents without any problem.

When she comes to attend a class but she doesn't want to follow the next because she knows that remarks on it will fuse -still in all discretion of course, she takes it as an hour free. In the meantime, she goes to the school library to studies the lesson, sitting silently at a table. And when she is fed up with it because she is moving too fast for her taste, she settles into one of the chairs and reads a borrowed novel quietly.

And when the teacher then asks her why she wasn't there, Pidge replies that she didn't feel well-well, her badly digested lunch, and that she was in the infirmary. The teacher simply nods and begins his lesson without a further remark to her.

One night, as Pidge thinks about the stunt of her three classmates, an idea settles in her mind. This idea runs through her mind for two whole days. Her idea ends up blooming on the third day. Thanks to her intelligence, Pidge quickly identifies the advantages and disadvantages. And luck for the brunette, there is definitely more positive than negative.

Her strategy is simple : to hack (again) the school system to program and trigger the fire alarm at the same time the automatic sprinklers while the students and teachers are still in the building.

She calls her plan : "Watering Humans"

She's proud of this name she has found because it looks like the name of a machiavellian plan of a villain who could be in her video games or action-adventure books. And secondarily, because the name also echoed what had been done to her by her classmates in the bathroom.

As always, Pidge is confident.

First, she blurs, remotely, surveillance cameras that are around the school.

Then she closes her pc, quickly pulls her green hood over her head, and sprints grazing the ground, her back bent.

She leans against the wall of the establishment, crouches, then she opens her computer again on her lap.

She quickly plays on her keyboard and several windows open successively on the screen.

Once she has the program she wants in front of her, she takes a quick breath and presses her index finger on one of her white keys.

Two seconds later, she hears the fire alarm go off, followed by all the screams of the students as well as the rales of adults on the other side of the middle school precinct.

In her ears, it sounds like a sweet melody.

And Pidge doesn't regret anything.

For three months now, Pidge has been enjoying her new routine. Her plan goes perfectly well and she can not dream better. Nobody suspects anything. She feels that the bullying she receives at school has drastically diminished, and she even has time to play video games with Matt or observe the stars with her telescope. But of course, the dream must end at one time or another. Because a week and a half later, everything collapses : Pidge returns home after her day at the city's media library and goes to see her parents in the living room. But when she enters the room, she freezes on the spot. Her two amber orbs widen and she remains speechless. Because there's the director of her middle school who is there. In her living room. Sitting in an armchair, the elbow resting against the armrest, the cheek against her fist and legs crossed, as if she dominated the scene. "Hello, Katie.” She greets her in a dry nod. The brunette blinks and returns to reality. Still too stunned, she didn't return her greetings and turned her attention to her parents who were nearby. They are both sitting on the couch. They look at her seriously but she can detect a glimmer of apprehension in their eyes. Uh-oh.

It doesn't smell good. If the director of the school is here, there is a good reason. And Pidge already knows the answer to this question : One of her confidence tricks has been discovered.

The excuses of her strange absences, her fraud by hacking the school's database, or her "Watering Humans" plan ?

Or maybe even the three ?, blowed a part of her mind.

Her blood make only one round to this hypothesis. Her mouth remains semi-open and her brain trembles with incomprehension. What had happened ? Her plans were perfect, they had no flaws. She had acted prudently, as always. How could they have been discovered ?

She runs her gray cells at full speed in the hope of finding something she might have done wrong. But nothing comes to mind. She's certain to have done everything perfectly.

She is lost.

The director feels it, since she silently gives her a helping hand. She lowers her eyes on the rectangular bag stuck between the fold of the armchair and her thigh. She takes out a small electronic tablet, turns it on, and turns it so that the screen is in front of her and her parents.

"Do you want to watch this video, Katie ?" She asks her.

The Principale doesn't wait for her answer. She clicks the play icon with her index and the full-screen video starts.

The hacker actually realizes that, when setting up her plan, there was a surveillance camera independent of those of the middle school she hadn't spotted (hidden well in height between the trunk of a tree and one of his branches) and who had filmed everything : her hacking a few meters from the building to disable the cameras to hack to trigger the alarm and automatic sprinklers.

On the video, it's her face that we see. She's at the foot of a tree and strokes the keys on her keyboard. She closes her pc, then we see then puting her green hood with a dry gesture on her head and cover her face. She runs quickly curving her back, slams herself against the wall of the establishment, squats to re-open her computer on her lap, moves her hands on her keyboard, and the fire siren goes on a second later, followed immediately by howls.

The video is cut, and a silence as thick as fog invades the room. Pidge swears she can cut it with a knife. But this is not the time for the metaphors since three pairs of eyes are turning to her with serious air. She swallows hoping to remove the brick that has settled inside her stomach, and prepares for the remonstrances.

It's her mother's firm voice that breaks the silence first.

"Can you explain, Katie ?"

"Why did you do that ?" Continue her father in a slightly softer tone.

But a few seconds pass and the director takes the floor to lay it on thick.

"It was total panic. Some students thought that there was really a fire in the school and a wave of dread to overwhelm everyone. In addition to that, our papers and our computer tools have been soaked. The firefighters were called and in the end, they came for nothing. Do you surrender the gravity of your act ?” Good, think Pidge sincerely. Okay, she felt a little guilty for the firefighters because she didn't expect them to move for a simple fire alarm in a middle school, but apart from that little complication, she had what she wanted. Misson "Watering Humans" : Success. Pidge's mental celebration soon ends when the principal's voice rises again in the air.

"You know, I don't want to scare you, but a case like this can go to the police station and a case may come up against you in spite of your age. And it can also affect your professional career.” She informs him in a neutral tone. Her poor attempt at intimidation doesn't impress the brunette. On the contrary, it revolts her much more than anything else. She clenched her fists at the same time as her eyebrows. She's frustrated to be accused of her mistakes while this is only a small revenge for all that her classmates had done to her. But of course, to them, they are never told anything. "It's not me that's started !” Exclaims Pidge, ignoring the sound of an immature little girl at that moment. "They're all asked for it ! I did nothing wrong !” She insists. "What do you mean, Katie ?” Sam asks, confused but with a kind voice. And, since it is her dad who asks her, the brunette can not refuse.

She has always felt very connected with her father. Not that she's not close to her mother or she doesn't support her, no. On the contrary, Colleen is very understanding and encourages her daughter to exploit the full potential of her intelligence. It's just that her dad is a Commander at the Galactic Garrison. His stories are all more interesting than others. Each anecdote fascinates Pidge. He tells her words of hope that inspires her enormously, and she always imagines she's going through a lot of adventures in space when she also becomes a fighter pilot. "Katie ?” Her mother gently calls, tilting her head to the side. The concerned flutters eyes and goes back down to Earth. "Oh, uh... I...” She stammers, lowering her eyes. But Pidge pinches her lips. She doesn't want to admit what she has experienced. Because for her, it's an admission of weakness. And the Holt family is anything but weak.

When the adults see that she's not going to answer them so soon, they glance at each other in the hope of finding an answer in the eyes of the other. At that moment, the Principale clears her throat. Hands clasped on her lap, her tablet disappeared, she allows herself to speak to regain the thread of the conversation. "And that's not all : We've noticed that your absences have been hovering a lot lately. On all your schedule, you come to class only for 10 hours in the week. Against 35 hours in total, you understand that it doesn't do much." "Even if I don't participate in all subjects, I'm always present during the tests. That's all that matters for my trimester.” Asserts the genius.

“Maybe. But we are concerned about the consequences that such an absence could have on your school record. You're a brilliant student, Katie, it would be a shame to see your grades drop now." "Even with my absences, my grades are at the top in the class, you can check.” Pidge answered, in a calm and confident voice. "We have checked and you're right. But what bothers me is why you skip up the lessons so much ? And where are you going if you're not in school ?” Her mother then takes the torch, her wrist tight against her chest.

"We're worried, darling. Is there... a boy ? Do you hang out with him ?” "What ?!” Pidge exclaims with a start. Her heart is accelerating and she can't believe her ears. But after the fact, this is one of the most logical topics that would come to the mind of parents when their 15-year-old girl often disappears without them knowing. So it's not so surprising. "It would explain her strange absences and where she is if she's not in school.” Pursued the director, chin stuck between fingers. In the midst of the murmured theories of her parents and the Principal, Pidge crackles. “No !! It's not a boy !” She says loudly, clenched fists. "But if it's not a boy, then... Katie, do you... take drugs ?” Asks her dad, who clearly didn't want to believe at this assumption. “Even less !!” She shouts, shaking her fists. She sighs and growls while rubbing her face. Neverminde for the weakness she didn't want to show. It's getting really ridiculous. Eyes on her carpet, she takes a breath and starts before regretting her decision.

"When I don't go to middle school, I go to the media library of the city. It's a lot less toxic there. I am considered a genius for my age, but that doesn't mean that my school life is peaceful. I'm not going to draw you a picture of the kind of bullshit that other do or say to the gifted people like me. So I preferred to isolate myself to study alone. At the media library, I progressed as I wished without being insulted. I could even expand my knowledge without being laughed at. I felt really comfortable there. And yes, I admit that I have skiped the lessons so as not to be left with my stupid classmates. I admit that I falsified my absences with bogus excuses. And I also admit that I turned on the automatic sprinklers by pure revenge but I had a good reason."

She raises her eyes and meets the wide-eyed of her parents. Obviously. They are shocked but not very surprised either. After all, Matt himself was harassed by being younger, so they must understand why she was sidelined herself this way.

"Do you remember the day I came home from school with my wet bag and all my books soaked ? I hadn't dropped my backpack in a fountain as I told you when you noticed hours later. It was students who had taken my bag to empty and flood all my stuff..."

"But... why didn't you react ?!" The governess wondered, incredulous.

"Ha !" Pidge laugh with a cheeky looks. "Easy to say that : they locked me in the toilet ! Impossible to get out ! And even if I physically defended myself once outside, it would inevitably fall down on me ! The proof ; I defended myself peacefully, and I have the right to the visit of the Director of the school who threatens to call the police, just that !"

"Because you hacked into the middle school's technically inviolable system and intentionally triggered the fire alarm and automatic sprinklers. It's called a premeditated act and you could be severely punished for that, young girl...!" Hisses the principal with annoyed brows.

Wow. Said this way, Pidge can't help but feel a bubble of pride swell in her chest. She's sure that, in spite of the director's serious and professional tone, the adult must be shocked that a 15-year-old teenager was able to build such a amazing plan and get through their protection as if it were only a simple formality.

"Katie..." Her mother suddenly growls, bored.

The brunette arched a questioning eyebrow at her.

"At least, you might be kind enough to look more guilty. And please, take that smile off your face." She said, irritated.

Pidge automatically raises her hand on her face. Oops. She didn't even feel her lips roll up...

The Principal is rubbing her forehead, as if this conversation gives her a headache, and sighs handsomely before continuing to speak. "To come back to your concerns of harassment, you could at least have talked to one of your teachers.” She reproaches. At this simple sentence, the anger is bubbling again inside Pidge, who is still clenching her fists along her body, and clenching her jaw. “I'm sure they would have-...” “Sorry to disappoint your trust in your employees, but the teachers saw what others were doing to me and they didn't move ! So frankly, instead of going to visit the right people, you should be a little more careful about what is going on inside your own school, Madam Director !” She spat harshly. Then Pidge ran off.

She rushes up the stairs and slams the door of her room. She swings her backpack like an old sock, throws herself on her bed, her head in her cushion, and does her best to swallow her tears. Pidge hears the muffled voices of her parents, that of the headmistress, then the front door close, sign that she was finally gone. She sighs, rolls on her back, and takes her pillow between her arms as a sign of comfort. When she hears the door of her room open and the anxious tone of her parents, she immediately raises her big cushion in the face. She had no desire to see a glimmer of disappointment shine in their eyes. She feels them approaching slowly. The smell of her dad's cologne tickles her nostrils, a sign that he is next to her. She then feels a heavy weight on her mattress, near her feet, and flinches when a graceful hand touches one of her ankles. "Katie..." her mother calls softly.

She buzzes to signal that she has heard, and Colleen continues on her way. "We understand your actions and we think you did very well there..." But...?

“...But we think you should have talked about it right away. Maybe not to the teachers since they were pretending to see nothing, but you could have gone higher, go straight to see the assistant director. She would have intervened and the management would have taken necessary measures.” Her father finished. Pidge sighs in her pillow. She doesn't even have the strength to argue anymore. Although she's sincerely grateful to them because they are on her side, she just wants to be quiet. But obviously, they are not ready to leave her room until the problem is solved. "But you could tell us about it too. We are your parents, and you know very well that we will do absolutely everything for you and Matt.” Sam gently reminds her. "I know...” she mumbles lazily with a muffled voice in her pillow.

A silence settles between them, and her mother caresses her ankle gently in order to appease her. It works gradually and she feels her muscles relax as and when. "We can change your school, if you want.” Offers Colleen encouragingly. This is probably the best option. Pidge knows that very well too. But she cann't shake that feeling of cowardice and weakness that itches if she agrees to change institutions. "I don't know..." She answers. “And then, if you leave this school, I'm sure those who hurt you will become aware of it.” Reached her dad. “I highly doubt it.” Sniggered the schoolgirl. "Sometimes it's enough for a student to suddenly change school so that young people of that age can question themselves.” Arguments her mother. "It's not a shame, you know ?” Adds her father. A half-minute elapsed in silence, and Pidge spoke again after fixing the ceiling of her room, as if the answer were written there. "Okay..." She says simply.

“Good. I'm proud of you, Katie.” Congratulates Sam. Then her dad bends over to kiss her hair and her mother strokes her leg again with a soothing gesture. That's when the front door slams and a "I'm home“ weakened is heard. Matt. A barking sounded followed by clattering of paws on the floor, and she perceived the muffled voice of her older brother, who certainly spoke to the dog by caressing him. “Mom ? Dad ?” He calls, looking for them clearly in the rooms on the ground floor. "We are upstairs, honey !” Her mother answers, raising her voice. His steps make the wooden steps creak. When he sees his parents in his little sister's room, at her bedside, and the brunette lying with a cushion hug, he arches a questioning eyebrow. "What's happening ? Pidge had her period ?” He asks before taking a pillow in his head. Colleen sketches a brief amused smile at her son's hypothesis. "Katie is just going to change school.” She answers as she gets up from her daughter's bed.

Then she shares a look with her husband, who joins her without a word, and the two adults leave the room, taking care to close the door behind them.

Gaping, Matt blinks, clearly confused. But after the surprise, he understands right away. He automatically squeezes his teeth and looks at his sister's bedrest.

"Who hurt you ?" He demands, banging his fist against his palm. "I'm going to detroy them."

His fraternal protection pull off a small laugh at Pidge, who turns her head to the side to look at him, her hands now resting on her belly since she had no pillow. A smile stretches the corner of her lips, and she can’t help but tease him.

"With your flabby arms that look like spaghetti ?"

"If you hit hard, spaghetti can hurt." He said, before extending his arm and swiftly shot him vertically. "Like a whiplash, "Woosh" ! And if add the Bolognese and more, it would make "Vlam", like that !"

The antics of Matt make her laugh again and she feels much lighter than half an hour ago.

At the end of the week, Pidge is transferred from school without saying a word of information or farewell to her classmates. In her new middle school, no one mistreats her or insults her. She feels at peace but doesn’t make friends. Two months later, she learns of the disappearance of Matt and her dad during their Kerberos mission. She's closing herself even more on herself. A year later, she finds herself at the Galactic Garrison, in the orange and white uniform worn by the cadets. She has her hair cut, a new identity, and a specific goal in mind. Again, it's a new school setting where she has the opportunity to bond with others. But she does not have time to make friends. She has other priorities : find clues about the disappearance of her brother and her father.

#pidge #voltron fanfiction #voltron #myfanfiction

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thetribalmoth · 6 years

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the Victoria in my head by Janelle Milanes

This book would be pretty good for someone who likes close to real-world teen stories. If you feel any connection or relatability to the main character it's worth the read. Now this review is coming from someone who experiences maladaptive daydreaming. The back of the book frames the main character as if she has maladaptive daydreaming herself and that's why I was drawn to reading the book. Further this book has characters that are LGBTQ+ and alternative, I myself am both these things.

Now this particular genre is one I don't read and I wouldn't have read the book if it hadn't been free. I strongly stick to fantasy, horror, supernatural and sci-fi. I did enjoy this book but I wouldn't buy it. This was me giving this genre a chance and I'm satisfied but not impressed and I've got little desire to read more. I'd recommend this book as a preteen/tween novel, around 11-14. I'd class it as being better suited to the children's (9-12) section than YA section if it wasn't for the alcohol consumption and point blank sex mentions.

A book summary is pretty straightforward as not a whole lot happens. Basically the main character (Victoria) lives a boring life where every day is the same but this makes her parents happy. She dreams of being a singer and loves to make oddly specific playlist. Eventually these dreams get a chance to be reality and on top of that she falls for the sight of two boys. She also has a best friend named Annie who is far too tight laced of a person. The book also delves into dealing with parents wants and child's wants clashing. That's pretty much all there is to the book. Frankly the book is at least 20 chapters too long for the material and there's tons of filler.

World building is bare minimum which is unsurprising since the world it's in is just the real world basically.

Characters: All the characters are simple straightforward and cookie cutter Victoria is your shy "please the parents" girl who learns to break the rules for her own happiness. Annie is your school obsessed neat freak that learns to loosen up Levi is your work before everything unattached boy who really learns nothing. Strand is your bad boy womaniser who learns to be a little less of a creep. Krina is your edgy alternative badass lesbian who gets some genuine love (honestly this is the highlight of the book). A note in Annie's character: she's framed as this supposed happy positive good influence character. But she's actually painfully depressing. Whenever she thinks she's rights she just forces people into stuff, by whatever means, it's to the point of being cruel. A note about Victoria's character: She is for a lack of better words (plus this suits the book which attempts to be "edgy" and "vulgar") a whiny bitch.

Stereotypes: (yes I had to make a section just for this because the amount of stereotypes in this book is physically painful) The Book can't even go two pages without throwing puppy dog love at you. Plus the boy is "unobtainable" and a "bad boy jackass" talk about a stereotype. On top of this there's instalove with a totally different boy. Not even two chapters after the onset of puppy dog love for Mr.bad boy. Queue stereotypical good guy geek vs womanising bad boy love triangle. And of course, it turns into quite nervous shy sheltered girl makes a loyal decent man out of the bad boy. Plus good guy geek being Nice Guytm. Heavy emotions are mentioned to be always premenstrual which is a massive incorrect stereotype that women are bloody sick and tired of hearing. The book is wholeheartedly unable to sperate romance from sexuality. Apparently not kissing somehow equals "sexually stunted" (what? O_o). Feeding into the stereotype that relationships need the sexy stuff. The Mohawked alternative girl Krina is a walking stereotype. Fake id to get into bars, drinking pigs blood, being a "sexual deviant", scary, rebelling against society, hates beauty standards etc if you're going to do an alt girl do it right instead of low key insulting any alt folks that might read the book. But at least the author had the sense to make her a left-leaning feminist. As most alt folks actually are left-leaning feminists. Making the alternative feminist a lesbian was pretty stereotypical even if alt folks have higher rates of being LGBTQ+. Thankfully this stereotype is offset by the two other LGBTQ+ girls. However queue Stereotypical cute girl prep dates stereotypical edgy alt girl. (Not sure how much I can trash this stereotype tho as cutesy pretty girl is exactly my type). However Krina being a lesbian doesn't feel like an attempt at brownie points and neither do the other LGBTQ+ character. Victoria's father was a ladies man who "knows what boys are like", hello stereotypical overprotective dad. Her parents overall are stereotypical "we know what's best for you" "your friends need to be good kids" "rock music is a bad influence". But they truly appear to care and have heart felt-ish conversations with her. As soon as the Victoria is introduced to alcohol she practically becomes a drunkard and regrets everything she does whenever drunk. Hello stereotypical demonisation of alcohol and being drunk. Lastly, There's the "cats are cold distant pricks" stereotype thrown in for good measure.

Some stuff that's simply wrong or ridiculous to reality or to me: Again with the Author chalking up emotional behaviour as "premenstrual", that's not how that works at all. Someone being emotional doesn't equal them being on or near the period. The Book can't wait even 4 chapters before shoving it that the main character is vegetarian. Which I just have a personal issue with as no minor should be intentionally having an unbalanced and less healthy diet. The author throws in a "veal is baby animal and makes you vomit" scene just to guilt trip the reader/meat eaters, it's very rude and is shitty vegan/vegetarian agenda/propaganda. Thankfully Victoria drops the whole vegetarian thing and the entire book would have been far better off without the vegetarian thing thrown in. Plus removing the vegetarian thing would have removed an awful lot of the filler. Victoria is a total mess yet is also day in day out the same. It's illogical. The character can go from freaking out to the point of near vomiting to being good to go in two sentences. Real people aren't like this. The book summary makes it sound like the main character has maladaptive daydreaming, she very obviously doesn't. Daydreaming is rarely mentioned and even then it's nothing more than a mental scene to go along to music. I'll give the author slack for this tho seeing as the author and book never directly says Victoria has maladaptive daydreaming. However when you literally describe the main character as "living inside her fantasies", further to book title is a very unapologetic nod to living side your own head; the author might as well have said maladaptive daydreaming. As mentioned earlier the book can't sperate sexual from romantic. In real life no ones relationship (especially a minors relationship) has romance and sexual behaviour so heavily tied. This will be extremely off-putting to any asexual readers or really anyone who understands romance without sex.

Some other things: The quotes at the beginning of chapters are unfitting and just don't belong. Tossing cheerios into Krina spiked Mohawk was freaking adorable. "Cutlet-related violence" is actually pretty hilarious. And I like that it becomes a running joke. The book does a decent-ish job at points for making you feel bad or relate to the main character even if every attempt is covered in tons of stereotypical stuff. The 40's chapters do a great job of making the main character totally soul crushed almost to the point of being full blown depressed. Annie and Krina are adorable together and the book sets them up for perfect chemistry. The last 10-ish chapters are actually fantastic and do a great job at surprising and satisfying the reader. The cover is somewhat creative, has an old-timey feel (which I know is popular with hipsters *sigh*) and is a nod to the book being predominately about music.

Overall the book was passable but would qualify as good if you like the specific genre. However, it is filled to the brim with stereotypes and unnecessary attempts to be "edgy". It feels like an adult trying to pass as a hip teen. The representation of LGBTQ+ teens is nice and done decently. The representation of subcultural/alternative teen is nice to see but done quite poorly. I'd say give to book a go for cheap.

#book #books #book review #the Victoria in my head #thetribalmoth speaks #thetribalmoth #gothmoth #gothmoth speaks

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sourwolfstories · 7 years

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Hey there :) was just wondering if you could maybe do a list of high school sterek au's where Derek and stiles are the same age or quite near in age. cheers ^ω^

the lunch table configuration by thepsychicclam

When Isaac makes Derek switch lunch tables, the last thing Derek expected was to fall for Stiles.

John Hughes Did Not Direct My Life by nascentgalaxies

Stiles and Derek are childhood friends who drifted apart. When Stiles joins the lacrosse team against his will, the universe (with a little help from Laura and Lydia) chooses to push them back together.

Talk Geeky to Me by stilesanderek

Derek and Stiles are the most typical combo of nerd plus geek two teenage boys could be; and as stereotypical as they could ever get, they’re each other’s only friend. That usually doesn’t bother Stiles much, Derek is the best best friend he could ever hope to have, but sometimes when he thinks about his fate of possibly not having his first kiss until college, he starts wishing he had a few more friends–or at least more people who were a bit more interested in him other than when they need to copy his notes.

In a fit of curiosity about how kissing feels like, Stiles proposes Derek that they each be the other’s first kiss–strictly platonic, of course. But afterwards, Stiles can’t stop noticing how hot Derek is, can’t stop thinking about kissing and touching him.

The five times Derek and Stiles “fake” kiss and one time they take things further.

Oh God, He’s Hot by lupus

When Stiles came home a couple of days before junior year started from a summer away, he was a little more than excited to see his best friend Derek, especially now that he’d finally gotten the courage to act upon his long standing crush on the guy. There’s just one problem; somewhere in the span of three months puberty hit Derek like the bus hit Regina George and all of the sudden Derek is hot.And Stiles isn’t the only one who’s noticed.

Accidentally in Love by Scruffy_Wolf

Derek has spent his summer vacation crushing on the Sheriff’s son Stiles Stilinski, mostly from afar, but then when school starts suddenly Stiles is sitting next to him in Chemistry and inviting him around to his place after school.

Derek’s not sure what gives but he’s certain that Laura’s behind it.

The Lawn Ranger by Snowjob

In which Derek is an adolescent werewolf with a penchant for chocolate bunnies, and instead of the dream summer of lazing around the house playing video games and nibbling on his hoarded supply of easter candy his mother makes him get a job.

In which Stiles is a showoff jock with a broken arm and an embarrassing crush who can no longer push the lawn mower around the yard

I Feel We’re Close Enough by samann98

Derek’s two friends share a look and even Boyd can’t muster up the strength to deal with his pathetic attempt at denial. “Come on now, Derek, seriously? We know about you and Stiles.”

“Yeah, we know you two are fuck buddies,” Erica adds with a smirk, and Derek buries his head in his hands.

“That’s not exactly the terminology I would use,” he murmurs, his whole face burning with embarrassment.

“How else would you describe having sex with your best friend who has no clue you’re in love with him?” Boyd asks, actually sounding curious about his answer.

Derek lifts his head, opens his mouth to reply, but only ends up making a few ridiculous noises that can’t pass for actual words. When Derek finally just throws his hands up in defeat, admitting, “Okay, fine, that’s exactly how you’d describe it,” Erica and Boyd shake their heads at him.

Or the one in which Derek and Stiles are childhood friends, their freshman year of high school Derek makes the craziest suggestion ever, and four years later Stiles decides to take him up on it.

You’re The Comeback Kid by capeofstorm

Derek Hale doesn’t do friends, not after the fire that claimed his entire family and landed him in foster care. He just wants to graduate and get on with his life. But Laura always said he was a bleeding heart and that’s how he ends up with Erica Reyes as his best friend after he helps her through a seizure one day.

Erica’s not content with being the loser epileptic anymore, not now that she’s Derek’s friend. She intends to become the uncrowned queen of the school because running things from behind the scenes is always fun.

Add in Stiles Stilinski, the guy Derek can’t help but notice and help with some bully trouble.

And how the hell did Erica talk him into taking Isaac Lahey under his wing?

The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me (Is You) by distortedreality

Derek is fairly certain the new kid is either an incubus or a witch. Turns out he’s actually his mate. Stiles is 98% certain the brooding guy in the leather jacket is fantasizing about stringing him up by his intestines. Turns out he’s also wrong.

A High School AU in which Stiles is Derek’s mate and Derek leaves a dead deer on Stiles’ porch, buys a lot of fast food, and lies about economics.

Drive by MyGirlfriendsAttic

“Everyone knew you didn’t touch Derek Hale’s family, leather jacket, and especially not his car. Not if you wanted to live, that is.”

Or, the high school AU where Stiles can’t decide if he wants to kiss Derek Hale or steal his Camaro. Spoiler: it might be a little bit of both.

on the bus by bibliosexual

“Yeah,” Erica says with exaggerated slowness, “I did like Kira, and now I like Boyd. I’m bi.”

“Bi?”

“Bisexual?” Erica prompts. “As in, not gay or straight?”

Stiles is pretty sure his entire mind explodes. “You can like guys and girls? That’s a thing?”

Erica looks at him like, What planet are you from? “Uh, yeah. As long as they’re hot, I don’t care what gender they are.” She pokes him in the side, and he jumps. He’s always been ticklish, and unfortunately Erica knows it. “What about you? You ever like guys, Stilinski?”

*In which Stiles and Derek ride the bus to school together, and there are bisexual awakenings.

Of Glasses And Lacrosse Sticks by charlesdk

“Okay, how ‘bout this? One date, just one date, and if you still don’t believe I’m genuinely interested in you, then I’ll leave you alone for good. How does that sound?”

Derek hesitated for another moment, before he sighed and said, “Fine. One date.”

Kingdom By The Sea by TheCriminal

Lydia grabs his arm and pulls him down in the seat next to her. “When the hell did you find time to bag a guy like Hale?”

“We’re friends,” Stiles feels his face heat up, and then the team are running out and Derek sees him and smiles. His blush gets worse.

“Oh really?”

“Our moms were friends, okay? We’ve been in diapers together.”

“I thought you two hated each other.”

Just the Same by ericaismeg

Something is seriously up with the captain of the lacrosse team. There’s just no way Derek Hale is human.***“I was wondering if you’re even human. You move so quickly. I mean, it’s ridiculously fast. No human should be able to move that fast, y'know? It’s unfair for us. I mean, it’s obvious you work out, and I don’t, so that could be why, but like…I was just wondering if you were human, that’s all.”

“Stop talking, Stilinski, or I'll—”

“Put me on the bench all season?” Stiles asks knowing full well that Derek Hale can’t threaten him with shit.

The Boy Next Door by dereksstilinski (greyslittlediaries)

Stiles thinks he’s doing the right thing by distancing himself from Derek, but little does he know that Derek needs him more than ever.

OR in which Stiles and Derek are the same age and have been neighbors all their lives.

Letters by ericaismeg

“Stiles, this is getting ridiculous. Can you please do something about it?” Lydia demands. “Do anything. I don’t care. Go up and kiss him, ask him to prom this year, write him secret admirer love letters, whatever. Just do something.”

***

OR: The one where Lydia sets up an email account for Stiles to “confess his love” for Derek. And as fate would have it, they also end up becoming friends in person at the same time.

#answered #anonymous #sterek #sterek fic rec #sterek fanfic #sterek fanfiction

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atamascolily · 6 years

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An incomplete review of the Star Wars EU/Legends canon

I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually very thankful there will never be another Star Wars EU/Legends book in the old - now non-canon - universe. I've been revisiting those books recently as part of my recent Star Wars kick, and let me tell you, I stopped reading them just at the right time - when Vector Prime came out and they killed Chewie off. It's all downhill from there.

Anyway, the Legends universe is a hot mess, but for me, the five Thrawn Books by Timothy Zahn - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future - are amazing and totally canon in my heart for pretty much everything. Everything else is pretty much "meh" except for a few books that evoke some late '90s nostalgia (because really this blog is all about late '90s nostalgia).

So in my head, Luke and Mara Jade are happily married, and so are Han and Leia; their three children, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin, are all happy-go-lucky teenagers who can use the Force with their besties - Tenel Ka of the Hapes Cluster, Chewie's nephew Lowbaccha, and Tahiri Veila - and getting kidnapped/saving the galaxy every few months. The New Republic is alive and going strong on Coruscant (which never gets invaded by aliens from outside the galaxy), Luke runs the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; the remnants of the Empire are scattered and disorganized and sue for peace with the New Republic and Captain Pelleaon finally gets the retirement he deserves. It's really great.

But let's face it, I read just about all of the books published prior to 1999 because I was a Star Wars geek and that's just what you did in the late '90s. (They were New York Times best-sellers so I know I wasn't the only one.) In general, I love the art on the books because it looks just like movie posters for films that were never made and that's exactly what I wanted.

Random thoughts on said EU/Legends canon cut below, for length:

-Ben Kenobi's last appearance to Luke in the Legends AU: "You're not the last of the old Jedi... but the first of the new." (TAKE THAT, DISNEY EPISODE 8!) -Awesome things from the Thrawn books: Mara Jade - check. Talon Karrde - check. Art as a major form of military strategy - check. Secret commando ninjas - check. Leia's title as "Lady Vader" - check. Borsk Fey'lya -check. Camaas Document macguffin-thingy- check. Ysalamiri - lizards that block the Force - check. Vornskrs - Force-sensitive predators - check. Insane Jedi master- check. Lots of clones - check. Lawful Evil Imperials - check. Mara fulfilling her orders to the Emperor in the most badass way possible in The Last Command - check, PLEASE. -Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo forEVER! -Also, Coruscant and New Republic forever!! -Shadows of the Empire: WTF, Xizor/Leia sex pollen (okay, pheromones) seduction scene???; Dash Rendar is a Han Solo expy, you're not fooling anyone. -Truce at Bakura: wow, Ssi-ruuvi are full of Fridge Horror, powering their tech with human life force; maybe the Imperials aren't so bad after all; Luke and Gaeriel have no chemistry and also her entire religion is against the Jedi on principle, and she's not interested in changing it for you, Luke, sorry; of course Dev dies after his redemption arc; watching the force-ghost of Anakin Skywalker try to talk to Leia is amazing, because Leia is so not interested in his shit. -The Courtship of Princess Leia: I love the Hapes cluster, but man Han buying a planet in a card game and kidnapping Leia with the Hapan Gun of Command (pretty much what it sounds like) is NOT OKAY; Teneniel Djo is awesome and so is Dathomir in general. Isolder is okay once he gets over Leia, which takes most of the book. Also on the cover on one edition, Leia looks like Sarah from Labyrinth during that dream sequence with Jareth - what? On the other, she's wearing her Endor outfit, as are Han and Luke and there's a Rancor there, too for no good reason that I can recall. -Jedi Academy Trilogy: Yay getting to see the Kessel spice mines; I'm not so into the Sun Crusher and the Maw Installation, but Qwi Xux and Wedge Antilles are adoreable together, poor Admiral Daala and Imperial sexism (yet another reason Tarkin is an asshole); yay for a Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; Kyp Durron seriously needs to chill, Luke's in a coma for a lot of the series, Exar Kun is not as clever as he thinks himself. -I, Jedi: I'm supposed to like you, Corran Horn, and I'm just not interested and your narrative voice is kinda annoying.... Just sayin'. -The Crystal Star: super weird and trippy, Han and Leia's kids are kidnapped by "The Empire Reborn", which is as dark and terrible as it sounds, Crystal Star explodes, do not read. -The Black Fleet Crisis: super dark and trippy, especially the Yevethan culture; reveal that Luke's mother was one of the Fallanassi - pacifist Jedi who hid when the Empire was formed - only it turns out to be a huge macguffin, which is too bad. -Children of the Jedi: EVEN TRIPPIER AND DARKER THAN THE CRYSTAL STAR, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE; Luke gets a love interest who's a Force ghost trapped in a ship's computer; sacrifice, body-swapping, creepy song motifs. -Darksaber: Hutts try to build a Death Star, what can possibly go wrong? Luke's new Jedi girlfriend can't live without her force powers when she loses them, so she leaves him. -Planet of Twilight: Luke goes chasing off after Callista and they don't get back together, so that's good. Also dark and trippy. -The New Rebellion: SUPER DARK AND TRIPPY, LOTS OF MASS MURDER, NOT A FAN. Thank goodness for Mara Jade and Talon Karrde showing up with ysalamiri to turn the force off so Leia can shoot the Evil Dark Jedi behind it all with a blaster. I can't believe I read this. -Ambush at Corellia/Assault on Selonia/Showndown at Centerpoint: also weird and trippy. Han has an evil identical cousin. Luke has to go back and ask Gaeriel for help (she's married now and it's awkward). Lando tries to marry for money and after some awkwardness ends up with Tendra Risant, who is awesome. Lots of things blow up. Kids save the day at the last minute. -I only read one of the Junior Jedi Knights series, Lyric's World, about young Anakin Solo and his friend Tahiri, taking some time off from their Jedi studies to help a friend metamorphose into a new life stage, and I remember it being really charming, despite the inevitable intelligent secret animal sidekick. I later learned that Anakin and Tahiri were kinda an item and then it went horribly wrong in New Jedi Order so I'm glad I didn't read that. -Young Jedi Knights: yay young adult Star Wars novels from the '90s; I stopped reading after Diversity Alliance, but these were fun - especially Tenel Ka, who was a badass, and I quietly shipped her and Jacen (and then that ALSO ended badly in later books - why can't we have nice things?) Especially good in my memory: Shadow Academy (trying not to get corrupted to the dark side at an academy for Dark Jedi), Lightsabers (Tenel Ka has to deal with losing a hand during a training accident); Diversity Alliance (aliens get pissed off at human dominion in the New Republic government but decide that killing the humans off is the only way to achieve justice).

We're not going to even go into all the stuff that happens post-Vector Prime, because it is truly awful. Go look it up if you're curious.

I did read a few stand-alone books this week, though:

-The later Zahn novels lack the spark and vigor I remember from the Thrawn books. Scoundrels couldn't keep my interest. Allegiance and Choices of One feel very weird to me because Luke and Mara manage to work together without actually meeting each other. Survivor's Quest ought to have been good except somehow Luke and Mara encountering the Outbound Flight expedition was BORING and it shouldn't have been. It's not clear if reading the follow-up novel set during the Old Republic era - titled Outbound Flight - will help with this. -Also, I dislike the retconning so that Mara and Luke make references to Naboo and the Trade Federation, which they didn't do in earlier books, and also Thrawn's major motivation for everything is getting the galaxy ready for the impending invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong in New Jedi Order, which I just - really don't like, especially since NJO was pretty awful. -Also, there are an awful lot of Jedi healing trances in Survivor's Quest, which are only tolerable because the code word that Luke and Mara use to snap each other out of it is "I love you". D'aww. -Also, perhaps this is just me reading too much fanfic, but would it hurt to have at least an allusion to the fact that Luke and Mara have sex on occasion - in addition to snuggling and having Force mind-meld sessions? I'm not asking for porn, mind you, but just anything beyond platonic Force buddies would have been good. -Kenobi, by John Jackson Miller was another, relatively recent Legends book that ought to have been good. I mean, it's Obi-wan Kenobi hanging out on Tatooine, dealing with Tusken Raiders and moisture farmers - I eat that sort of fanfiction up - but although there were some good bits, it just really didn't work for me. -Those handy timelines in the front - listing every single book and how it fits into the convoluted chronology - is really helpful, though! The only thing that would make it better would be to add authors and dates. But that is what the Internet is for, I guess.

Conclusions and Follow-Up Questions to Research:

-Wow, the '90s were an interesting time. -Bantam Spectra line of EU novels: mostly good, some weirdness. Del Rey line: ARGHHHHH. -Wow, there are a lot more Star Wars books out there then I remember. -Wow, Mara Jade is awesome. -I have a lot of strong opinions on the subject. -Since they stopped putting out Legends novels as of April 2014, I never have to care about keeping up with canon or anything I don't like about this universe ever again. -Has fanfiction spoiled me for the "real" thing? Or is it just a failure of the published works to address the topics I'm REALLY interested in? -Is the Disney EU canon any better? (My guess, given how I feel overall about the direction of the recent movies: probably not for me, but maybe worth checking out.)

#star wars #book reviews #star wars feels #star wars legends #'90s nostalgia

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Dog Soldiers: The Wild History of the Most Action Packed Werewolf Movie Ever Made

https://ift.tt/36IrB2A

There is no shortage of werewolf movies scattered across the century of horror cinema. Whether it’s the original lycanthropic classic The Wolf Man, which spawned the very first shared cinematic universe, or the genre’s still unmatched final form with 1981’s An American Werewolf in London, lycanthropes of all shapes and sizes have loped and howled their way into our hearts through the decades.

But even among those highlights, there’s a certain sameness to far too many werewolf movies: The tragic individual, the creeping dread as the full moon draws near, perhaps a prophecy detailing how the poor soul is doomed to kill even those they love the most when in the grip of the curse, the final fate involving something silver. You know how it goes.

But 2002’s Dog Soldiers dispenses with most of that, allowing the audience’s general pop culture knowledge of the genre to do the heavy lifting in service of something wilder, louder, and even stranger than what we’re usually accustomed to when werewolves are around. Instead of a movie about an individual laboring under the shadow of a curse, we get a whole pack of werewolves. And instead of that pack feasting on unsuspecting villagers or their loved ones, they’re up against a special forces unit, on a training exercise gone horribly wrong.

The result is one of the loudest, goriest, and unexpectedly funniest werewolf movies ever made.

Origin Story

The origin of Dog Soldiers can be traced back to 1995, when director Neil Marshall and producer Keith Bell were involved in a small film production together.

“It was fairly chaotic and people weren’t getting paid and it was the classic ultra low budget deferment based kind of production,” Marshall recalls. “It was great as a learning experience and a first feature to be involved with, but it was clearly not a way forward as a going concern of making features for a living.’”

It was there that the pair “made a pact” to work together on a feature of their own, with Marshall directing and Bell producing, and that ended up being Marshall’s “soldiers versus werewolves” concept. Marshall had a first draft script by 1996.

“I’d always wanted to do a siege movie, war movie, or a military movie, and combine that with my love of horror,” Marshall says. He did exactly that. If you were to walk in late on Dog Soldiers and miss its opening scene, you might be forgiven for thinking you were watching a war movie, as a group of young soldiers engages in a training exercise with their hard-bitten sergeant. But as their training progresses, and their unit gets picked off one by one, the true nature of their foes begins to reveal itself, before finally devolving into full “siege movie” territory, with the last survivors locked in a cottage, trying to keep the circling pack of werewolves at bay.

Despite the fact that so many of its characters are dispatched (in increasingly gruesome fashion) in its first act, Dog Soldiers is a rare breed of horror movie in which there are no easy victims, and virtually every member of the ill-fated special forces unit is distinct and fun right from the outset.

“I think that’s ultimately what made the story so lasting,” Marshall says. “It wasn’t just some two dimensional characters being killed by werewolves. I wanted to make those soldiers completely believable.”

But to achieve that, they needed the right cast.

Rounding up the Troops

Because of its remote wooded setting, Dog Soldiers has no need for extras, and there are no unnecessary characters. But the keys to the film are Sgt. Harry G. Wells (Sean Pertwee), Pvt. Lawrence Cooper (Kevin McKidd), Capt. Richard Ryan (Davos Seaworth himself, Liam Cunningham), and the mysterious Megan (Emma Cleasby). These are the film’s final four standing (for a while at least), and the rising tension between them once they’re looked in the cottage in the woods is a highlight of the film.

But the course of Dog Soldiers history could have been very different if some of the original casting had stayed in place. For one thing, the production had initially targeted Jason Statham for the role of Cooper.

“I’d seen him in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and I thought this guy’s got real charisma, he’s going to be a star, he’d be great for Cooper,” Marshall says. “He stuck with us for a little while, but then he got offered Ghosts of Mars. My advice to him was ‘We don’t know when we’re going to get to make this. You’ve got a chance to go and work with John Carpenter. Go and work with John Carpenter.’ He went off to the States and the rest is history.”

While casting what-ifs are always fun, it’s difficult to imagine Statham’s taciturn brooding having the same effect as the earnest forthrightness McKidd brought to the role of Cooper. But Statham wasn’t the only soon-to-be big name who almost made it into the film, as Marshall had offered the role of Spoon to Simon Pegg, long before the actor had his big screen breakout in Shaun of the Dead. And while Marshall describes his meeting with Pegg about the role as “charming and lovely,” the actor had already promised Edgar Wright that Shaun of the Dead would be his first film role. (Darren Morfitt, in his first film role, ended up a perfect fit for Spoon).

Despite losing two stars of this caliber, Marshall believes “the movie gods were on our side” throughout the casting process. Particularly with the arrival of Sean Pertwee as Sgt. Harry G. Wells. Pertwee had become aware of the project when a draft of the script was passed to him by none other than Jason Isaacs.

“I didn’t quite get it initially because it was dense, the dialogue,” Pertwee recalls in a Zoom chat with Den of Geek. “The syntax was dense and I didn’t understand a lot of it. There was a stream of these characters’ consciousness which I then later realized, of course, was how the British army speak to each other, constantly jibing each other.”

A meeting between Pertwee and Marshall went well, and the actor offered his assistance with the project.

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“I said, ‘Please use my name if that helps in any shape, way, or form,’ because I was working a lot at the time.”

Three years later, he got the call that filming would begin in two weeks.

“Now you look back and you just cannot imagine anybody else in those roles,” Marshall says. “What we got was this ensemble group of more experienced actors, like Liam Cunningham and Sean Pertwee and Kevin McKidd and then less experienced actors like Chris Robson and Les Simpson and threw them all in the mix together and they became very nurturing to each other. They were looking at Sean as the boss of the squad, and he looked after the other guys. I swear by the end of the shoot, these guys would have fought and died for each other. They were so tight.”

Despite the challenges of filming in cold, rainy conditions in the woods, Pertwee looks back on the experience fondly.

“On our first day we did the very first scene where you see us all piling out of this helicopter. It was a 12-page scene and we did it virtually in one take,” Pertwee recalls. “You get to know each other very, very well on a first day when you’re nervous anyway, and you don’t know the people around you necessarily and you’re supposed to be emulating a crew, a unit of people that have been together for many years, and we did by the end of that. We went to the pub and drank lots of beer and the rest is history. We became a family from that day, and that was all down to Neil and his impeccable casting.”

Action Men

With its tightly-knit strike force of heavily armed soldiers as its central characters, like Predator or Aliens before it, Dog Soldiers is as much of an action movie as it is a horror film, and that was always key to Marshall’s approach.

“I think the movie that made me want to make movies in the first place wasn’t a horror movie, it was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is my all-time favorite movie,” Marshall says. “I think the thing that links together the films that I love and the films that I make and the films I want to make, is action more than horror. I try to find ways for playing action into whatever I’m doing, because I just love doing action stuff. So I knew I wanted to do an action horror film.”

To help keep that action as authentic as possible, there was a consultant on set who was a former French Foreign Legion servicemember, who “told us what we needed to know” as Pertwee put it.

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Dog Soldiers was filmed somewhat chronologically, with the first half’s scenes in the woods shot before they moved to the werewolf house. Those outdoor shooting conditions may have helped the actors cement their onscreen chemistry.

“It was wet and muddy and at one of our locations you just couldn’t stand up in it,” Marshall says. “Everybody was falling over left, right, and center. It was Luxembourg in the winter. It was a bit grim, but I think it lends itself to the way the film looks, the quality of the film.”

Pertwee is more direct.

“We were in the shit, we were in the mire,” Pertwee says with a smile. “From the moment we jumped out of that helicopter we had 70-pound packs and SA80s and we were literally jumping around shooting…You never really were aware that the camera was there, so it was a lot of no acting required because it was just a question of being there.”

The Nature of the Beast

While the idea of “soldiers vs. werewolves” is a compelling enough pitch on its own, Marshall wanted to make sure he didn’t get pigeonholed as strictly a horror director, nor did he want to get caught up in too many of the traditional werewolf movie tropes.

“I didn’t want to make a ‘curse of the werewolf’ movie, which is pretty much what every werewolf movie prior to this has been…except potentially The Howling which doesn’t really kind of deal with that so much,” Marshall says. “So I wanted the werewolves just to be essentially like the enemy…like the equivalent of aliens in Alien or Predator or whatever.”

Of course, the movie isn’t completely devoid of traditional werewolf elements, such as the full moon (of course) or the vulnerability to silver, but even these inclusions were carefully thought out.

“There’re certain tropes that you want to put in there, but that I wanted to play around with,” Marshall says. “If it’s the night of a full moon, when does that actually happen? Does it work as soon as the full moon appears in the sky or when it comes out from behind a cloud? Because it’s still there even if it’s hiding behind a cloud. That’s when I came up with the idea that they’re compelled to change on the night of the full moon, but there’s not a specific time that happens and they can try to hold it back.”

This of course plays out in a funny exchange between Kevin McKidd’s Pvt. Lawrence Cooper and Sean Pertwee’s Sgt. Harry Wells, describing it as “needing a piss…when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go.”

Dancing in the Moonlight

Even the werewolves themselves are unique among the genre. The werewolves of Dog Soldiers are disturbing, unnaturally tall, gangly figures with oversized lupine heads, rarely seen fully in frame for more than a few seconds at a time. It was all inspired by a sketch that a friend of Marshall’s brought to him.

“It was just this beautiful, almost elegant creature, rather than a big muscular lump…and it looked all very feminine,” Marshall says. “I took that idea and ran with it. When we were designing it even further it evolved a little bit along the way, but it stayed to that basic concept.”

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To add to the otherworldly, disturbing feel of the werewolves, Marshall hired dancers rather than stuntmen to fill the costumes. Of course, that led to its own unique challenges, especially since they had to wear stilts to account for their lupine leg extensions, which made them a little less graceful than that original sketch had promised.

“You come up with all these kinds of crazy ideas about putting dancers in costumes and things,” Marshall says. “They were on these foot tall stilts, which were really difficult to walk on. Then you’ve got to factor in the fact that when they’ve got the head on, they can’t see very well. All they can see is from a tiny little hole in the mouth of the werewolf. So they’re blind and staggering around on stilts. A lot of that grace kind of went out the window quite quickly as they tried to literally find their feet and learn how to move in the costumes.”

Mercifully, they also filmed some shots of the werewolves from just the waist up, so the dancers weren’t required to perform on stilts the entire time. But the offbeat werewolf appearance had some unintended results on set, as well.

“I remember there was a scene with Kevin McKidd and I watching the lycanthropes coming out of the woods, and we just got the giggles because the poor guys in these suits were standing en pointe, almost like a ballerina stands on their toes,” Pertwee says. “They had these weird wooden-heeled leg things, but they were around their feet to give them the dog’s bow back leg, so it was incredibly uncomfortable. They couldn’t go to the bathroom because they were sealed in this neoprene style rubber with these huge heads on and they were staggering around. We got the giggles because it was not remotely terrifying.”

Pertwee had a different reaction during one of the movie’s most harrowing moments, shortly after his character had been disemboweled by one of them.

“I take nothing away from the skill of these young men that were doing this because it was so insanely uncomfortable and they never complained,” Pertwee says. “They were in these costumes literally 12 hours a day, really horrendous suffering from heat exhaustion and everything. They were in cramped spaces, they couldn’t see where they were going. But when I saw one looming over me, coming to get me when I was in the bed, it was like what nightmares are made of. It was terrifying. They were extraordinary performers, so my hat goes off to them.”

“Sausages”

If there’s a record for most gruesome and frequent depiction of entrails on film, Dog Soldiers would certainly be in the running for it. And to hear Pertwee tell it, the process of creating a convincing disemboweling seems only slightly less unpleasant than an actual disembowelment.

“I think they used some kind of intestinal skin, which they rammed full of sausage or something, which probably went off,” Pertwee says. “It smelled to high heaven, and we’d break for lunch or whatever so they had to devise a way of holding my guts together. They built this cup kind of thing out of gaffer tape, which they strapped around me that I could put my guts in and then I’d sit down and have lunch with everyone.”

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And then there’s all the blood to consider.

“I was covered in so much blood,” Pertwee says. “It was very cold where we were shooting, it was freezing in fact. We used sugar blood, which is this really visceral kind of thick thing, but whenever it gets cold it sticks. It got to the point that it was very uncomfortable both because of the smell of my sausages that had gone off, and I would take off my trousers and stand them in my trailer and overnight they’d still be standing, literally standing, because the blood had frozen. The worst thing was putting the trousers on every morning, I have to say. It was deeply unpleasant.”

Pertwee’s “sausages” lead to what might be the most memorable (and gruesome) scene in the film is when McKidd’s Pvt. Cooper and Cleasby’s Megan have to perform field surgery on Pertwee’s Sgt. Wells, after he has been disemboweled by a werewolf. With nothing but a small cottage bed, some field supplies, a little morphine, and a bottle of scotch, they have the unenviable task of putting Wells’ “sausages” back in their correct place.

Pertwee’s performance seems like a study in spontaneity, blending the sheer horrific agony of the situation with the unexpected humor that comes from a man deeply in shock while also intoxicated by a vast quantity of painkillers. It was Pertwee who suggested a little method acting to move things along.

“I was supposed to be whacked off my head on huge amounts of doses of morphine and drank a bottle of scotch,” Pertwee says. “I said to Neil, ‘Can we experiment with some alcohol,’ which of course is a big no-no on set. Of course, absolutely we would be able to do it sans alcohol, but we just thought it would add a different energy to it, so we gave it a go. We tried it and sorry, but I think it really worked.”

Or as the director recalls…

“Yeah, he’d taken the edge off, definitely,” Marshall says with a laugh. “And I think that allowed him to just get settled into it way more.”

The scene culminates in Cooper getting frustrated with Wells’ ranting and thrashing, and knocking him cold with a punch. But it turns out there’s a little more to even this fun moment.

“I’d love to say I remember but I don’t,” Pertwee says. “[Kevin] went to knock me out so he could glue my guts back in. But I turned the first time and I went, ‘No, not like that you pussy! Really knock me out!’ He was so exasperated he caught me on the end of my nose, and all I remember was just going down hitting the pillow and all the props guys were standing next to me…He had actually broken the end of my nose.”

The director knew right away that something had gone a little wrong.

“I just saw this blood splash across the wall. And I was thinking, ��Hang on, that wasn’t in the script,’ but it was Sean’s blood.”

It’s one of many scenes in the film where the dialogue and interactions between the characters feels so completely natural, despite the fact that they’re in increasingly absurd and horrific situations.

“Certainly the operation scene was the most significantly improvised,” Marshall says. “The big learning experience for me with this movie was just working with a really solid cast of experienced actors for the first time in this kind of context. I’d spent six years planning this movie in my head, [and] I discovered on day one of working with these guys that all my plans went out the window because of course they’re amazing collaborators and they want to bring something to the table, and that doesn’t necessarily always fit with what you had in mind. So a lot of the scenes that were in my head, kind of static, suddenly became much more lively and interesting, especially within the house.”

Gallows Humor

In a movie that’s already full of characters who fire off quips and wisecracks in the face of death, there are also unexpected moments of humor that make their way in. But remarkably, none of it feels out of place. “I wanted all the humor to come out of the characters themselves, but also just some of the absurdity of the situation,” Marshall says.

Notably, the moment when Pvt. Cooper is helping to nail the door of the house shut and suddenly a werewolf’s hand bursts through the mail slot, prompting frantic, Looney Tunes-esque hammering at the werewolf’s fingers.

“If you’re hammering a nail and a werewolf pokes its fingers through the door, you’re going to hit them with the hammer,” the director says matter-of-factly. “It seems logical, but it’s also funny. I wanted them to use whatever they had available. They attack them with frying pans, knives, axes, swords, and all sorts of stuff. I just wanted to use everything available.”

Despite that, or perhaps because of it, when characters die, audiences feel the impact. The unfortunate soldiers of this film aren’t mere cannon fodder…or werewolf chow.

“I wanted there to be realistic stakes,” Marshall says. “Making the characters so sympathetic and empathetic and lovable, we’d feel their deaths more, so that the threat of the werewolves is much higher. There’s always that sense of menace and it’s meant to be a horror film and a suspense thriller, whatever you want to call it. But the humor never undermines that, it just enhances it.”

Long Tail

There’s only a handful of truly classic werewolf movies, and Dog Soldiers is perhaps the only candidate for that title in the 21st century. There may be fewer werewolves roaming the cinematic hills than before, but Marshall doesn’t think the genre itself is cursed.

“I think the reason that werewolves aren’t so prevalent in horror movies is an expense issue more than anything,” Marshall says. “Vampires and zombies are a hell of a lot cheaper to do than to do werewolves well. They’re either going to do fairly expensive practical werewolves or you’re going to do fairly expensive CG werewolves. But either way there’s no cheap version of werewolves.”

And as for the time-honored debate between practical effects and CGI, especially when related to lycanthropes…

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“My gut experience from movies I’ve seen, I think the practical ones always look best and stand the test of time,” Marshall says. “Even on the bigger budget stuff, like the Underworld movies and things like that and where they kind of mix and match, but the practical ones really look good. The moment it becomes CG, it kind of looks CG and it’s just not so good. Given that werewolves are meant to be kind of half human anyway to me it makes sense to do it with a human in a costume. It’s just going to be better that way.”

Dog Soldiers quickly gained a cult following upon its release, and it’s the kind of film that would appear to be positively howling for a sequel. Originally envisioned as a trilogy, the sequels never materialized. “We would have loved to have done it,” Pertwee says. “Not as much as the millions of fans that incessantly ask me the same question, but I wish we had done it because a lot of people love the movie.”

As for whether it could ever happen, well, Marshall did tell us a little bit about that. “There’s more of a chance now than ever before,” the director teases. “There’s things in the works. We’re seeing what we can do.”

Perhaps everyone’s favorite Dog Soldiers will get to howl once again after all.

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