#sorry about almost decapitating george

[heidismagblog]

#mojo #mojo magazine #book review #the beatles #ringo starr #paul mccartney #george harrison #john lennon #yoko ono #sorry about almost decapitating george #peter brown #steven gaines

[calliopecalling]

Queen of the South 5x03 Debrief

Alright. I’ve been marinating on this long enough and I’ve had a few days to relax a little and get over my initial Game of THrones PTSD response to this episode. Thank you to all of you who helped talk me off the edge the other day, lol. I think I’ve moved on from my Daenerys-plot-line panic.

THAT SAID.

I’m still struggling to understand how betraying Marcel was in-character for Teresa. There are so many other ways that they could have portrayed her downward tailspin into queenpin crisis than having her so quickly betray one of her CORE values that they’ve spent four seasons building up. Or at least, spin it for the audience so that it looks like that’s what it is--a huge betrayal of her core values. I mean, she’s been having to betray her values from Day 2 of linking up with Camila, shall we take a quick inventory? Like she tried to say the associate of Lopez’s who was trying to steal from them should go free and quickly learned that’s not how it works (a moment I circle back to below, btw). Over the last few seasons, she:

held the innocent maid hostage

killed the Leon brother who, mind you, James set up to betray

kidnapped and traded in the life of Rios to work with George

stole from the innocent cashier at the horse race who James then killed (and lectured her about how it was totally necessary to kill him)

turned on Lil T’s uncle without actual proof and got several of his men killed in their gunfight

sailed away without Guero and then didn’t try to find out what had happened to him

ordered Kelly Anne killed (but let Camila live?)

tortured and killed Marcel’s guy Bobby for no reason

turned Javier in to the Judge in order to protect her business

And that’s just skimming the surface; I haven’t even gotten into everything. In fact one of my least favorite scenes in the series is her basically putting her own life (and James’s, Pote’s, George’s...) at risk to free La Pena’s sex slaves, because it just felt inconsistent to me with her growing smarts and reluctant ability to compromise in order to play a long game and hold onto what matters most. Like, the gal knows this business isn’t for saints. What makes her different, and ultimately successful, are her instincts, her intelligence, her honesty and transparency, and her ability to own up to her mistakes. People trust her because of a combination of these things--she commands respect and loyalty because of them. And historically, when she’s been forced into corners and had to compromise in order to survive, we’ve gotten to see her figure out ways to take accountability later.

But this time it feels different. Which, I argue, it didn’t HAVE to be. Betraying Marcel in the grand scheme of things really isn’t the worst thing. He’s in the business too. He’s not the innocent maid from season 1. Pote was the first one to suggest it--push it, even, as the only choice she had--at the beginning of the episode, and even Kelly Anne looked like she was grudgingly agreeing by her face. Couldn’t turning Marcel in and letting him know they’d work out a plan to get him out be consistent with her character (and ultimately just a part of the reality of the business)?

But no, they had to make it an out of character thing by planting this whole James speech about how trustworthy she is right in front of it for contrast. I totally agree it was shitty. I also think it was dumb because (1) Pote’s reason for why Boaz shouldn’t be turned over was that he was too unreliable and might leak to the feds but SO WILL MARCEL IF HE FEELS BETRAYED, and (2) literally she’s just showed Boaz that he can get away with murder and won’t face consequences because she needs him too much so... I don’t see anything good coming out of that. How many notches do you think she’s dropped now in his respect for her? Like I fucking love Boaz’s character right now, he carries every scene he’s in, so I’m happy to see more of him, but that just felt really out of character for her. But not in the way the writers tried to show. It was out of character because it wasn’t actually in line with what has always guided her decision-making. And, I think that SAME decision could have been spun in a way that didn’t seem quite so out of character. She could’ve made the decision with her usual integrity and intent to follow through on a plan.

Instead they’re going down a “she’s going to be betraying her core values in a major way” path and I don’t love it. I think there is PLENTY of material to work with to show her going dark and to give us worry for her soul without going in this direction and it just feels a little bait-y. Even just turning away from anything resembling emotion; taking coke to deal with stressful decisions (turning in Boaz could’ve stressed her out to the point of using, too...); etc. could have provided room in the story for her to go dark. So I don’t know. It felt like it got super heavy super fast and I don’t like it when TV shows try to shock the audiences just for the sake of shocking us. She’s a complex and interesting enough character as it is without having to endure some major personality twist.

(Also, I get that James is supposed to be a character whose perspective totally changed on everything after Teresa came into his life; but the guy had no qualms about killing totally innocent people for the first two seasons of the show, so you can’t convince me he doesn’t also in SOME WAY “get” the realities of the business and the tough shit they have to do. That said, HIS FACE when the police came in and how the poor guy had to just stand there and watch. Good acting there. I don’t think his heart broke in disappointment, though. I think he felt let down, yeah, but I think he’s gotta be worried about her now. Worried for her heart and hopefully understanding a bit more about what it is she knows about herself that she’s wanting to protect him from by not being together with him. This isn’t a thing where he really has a leg to stand on in terms of like, feeling betrayed by her himself.)

Anyway, wow, this is getting long and rambly. Point is I don’t love this story-line but I’m hoping that by introducing it early enough in the season, they’ll find a way to have it turn around again. I hope there’s a redemption arc that is less “Teresa becomes a villain and then James rescues her soul” and is more “Teresa is put in the position of making one impossible decision after another, slowly crumbles, and has to crawl her way out of the darkness with the help of people she loves.” I don’t want to be led to hate her by season end. I want to still love her and root for her. The way they wrote the betrayal in this episode really doesn’t make her that lovable and I think that could’ve/should’ve been handled differently. I’d love to hear other opinions about that!

Other random thoughts:

where is George?! George, come back

I really would’ve loved to have seen the Judge under Teresa’s thumb for at least ONE episode, or a HALF of one episode, before getting decapitated

speaking of, that scene WAS pretty golden... the head in the box, the cop moving the box... lolol

James looking all “who, ME?!?!?!?!?!” when Marcel calls it like it is that he’s in love with Teresa... sorry bud, that look would not win you a poker game, you’re going to have to mask your feelings a LITTLE bit more if you’re trying to convince anyone you actually aren’t aware you’re in love with her

the pregnancy story-line - how is Teresa going to react?!?!?!

and Molly’s acting was great in that emotional scene with Pote

but much as I love Pote, I’m really not into it from his perspective -- Hemky’s acting isn’t working for me maybe, or it just feels way too OOC for Pote to be all gushy about the baby

I’m also pregnant right now so I’m like Kelly Anne how are you in the first trimester and not like FALLING OVER WITH EXHAUSTION all the time because that’s been my own and everyone I know’s first trimester experience lol

I missed Oksana in this episode too

I ALMOST FORGOT James’s car chase! That was great. So many great season 1 callbacks so far and we’re only in episode 3.

I also felt like the decision to let Boaz go was a callback to Camila’s very first lesson to her about Lopez’s associate... wrong decision, T. Wrong decision.

I love Marcel’s character, and Alimi Ballard, a lot and hope we still get to see a bunch more of him this season

By the way, I’ve decided to stop speculating about how this is going to end. I don’t want to theorize about whether Teresa actually dies or not, and if so, whether it’s James who kills her, or whether maybe Pote will actually die so that it can be KA and Pote who don’t get the happy ending leaving room for Teresa to get hers, or whether Teresa will become the villain of the season and we’ll all hope she dies, what have you. I don’t want to watch any of the episode promos because they don’t help me not freak out and I especially don’t want to see any leaks about anything coming up. I’m scrolling past things that are obviously spoilerish because those things are not helping my blood pressure this season lololol. YES I TAKE THIS SHOW EXTREMELY PERSONALLY.

#qots spoilers #so much boaz foreshadowing #I'm also not giving up on all the love talk meaning we'll get some more good jeresa material #not to mention all the kissing scenes in the previously on recaps #just keep Teresa lovable please #or at least redeemable #however I will say that Alice's acting has been phenomenal #those hands slamming on the desk #whew #queen of the south #qots #season 5 #5x03 #txt post #qots reaction post

[happy-haunts]

Constance Hatchaway ( Pt. 2 )

Constance Hatchaway ( Pt. 2 )

WARNING THIS POST CONTAINS THEMES OF ABUSE AND VIOLENCE.

Chapter one | Constance pt.1 : Constance pt.2

Chapter two | Mister Topper pt.1 : Mister Topper pt.2

Chapter three | Madame Leota pt.1 : Madame Leota pt.2

Chapter four | The Hostess

Chapter five | Captain Blood pt.1 : Captain Blood pt.2

Chapter six | Emily DeClaire pt.1 : Emily DeClaire pt.2 : Emily DeClaire pt.3

Chapter seven | Finale

She spoke the last part quietly but perked up the instant after, there was something different about her appearance today... looking closely her blue eyes were bright - so filled with warm happiness, but they were rimmed red?

“You’re very beautiful.” She blurted, catching me off guard and making me turn red.

“Oh... Why thank you Miss DeClaire, you are quite exquisite yourself...” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “DeClaire you said? Such as Howard And Elizabeth DeClaire? I had no idea they had a daughter.”

“No, no, I’m their granddaughter. I apologize I should have clarified.” She began blushing. “And I heard you were to be arranged with a gentleman in town?” This took me back.

”Why yes... I have already married him actually, did you not know?”

“How awful...” She took my hands and met my eyes, “I don’t know what I would do if I was arranged a marriage ... Is there anything I can do?” You could understand that I was thrown off by this notion, Ambrose was widely adored by the town because he was the son of a wealthy farmer who made him sound like his child was made of gold.

“No, no ... I’m handling this pretty well- you know being cooped up in a house and treated like a servant rather than a wife.” I gave her hands a squeeze, “But that’s just normal I suppose ... I have to just ... realize that.” I smirked at Emily - giving her a shrug.

“Who is the one that dictates what normal is?” She straightened a bit and knitted her brow to me. “No one thinks I’m normal, not that they’ve outright said so but I can see it in their eyes - but here I am.” Emily placed a hand over her heart, “All I can do is be unapologetically myself and hope one day they see ... not being normal isn’t so bad.”

“You don’t understand.” I felt my voice shaking, “How much they would hurt me, how they would treat me if they knew ... I’m not normal.” I pulled my hands away and gulped down the burning in my throat, but I felt her hand on my shoulder.

“I don’t mind if you’re not normal.” I gritted my teeth as the burning filled up my throat again and I finally hissed.

“I want to marry a woman, not a man not any man.” I kept my voice low as I told her and the weight from finally letting someone in on my secret was ... so uplifting... But it came crashing down when I realized - I let someone in on my secret.

“Well ...” Emily blinked placing a hand on her hip. “I’m even more sorry to hear about your arranged marriage.” I turned bright red now, if I had looked at all put together before I was a mess now.

“B-But the town and - I’m not normal ... I’ll never be able to -“

“There is more to every story, and yours isn’t over yet.” She took my hands again, “And until your story ends I believe you’ll find your happy ending.” I couldn’t hold back and I hugged her right there on the street.

“CONSTANCE!” I heard my name shouted from behind where we were and pursed my lips - pulling myself away from Emily. I remember his face as if it were happening now... Deep red unlike I had ever seen before, his pupils almost seemed to shrink to nothing, and his breathing was fast - did he run here? “I came home half an hour ago and I thought you had been swept away by some maniac!” His furious eyes looked to Emily who was now standing somewhat behind me. “What are you doing talking to that gypsy thing?”

Curiously I looked back to Emily and then to Ambrose - thing? This girl? This literal angel! (Might be an exaggeration but she didn’t spit in my face when I told her about wanting a wife so.) “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to but if you ever address her like that again I-.” Emily placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t ... Constance, I’ll go...” She gave a curtsy to Ambrose. “Mr. Harper, good day.” And I watched her leave down the street till she turned a corner and left my vision. I blinked a ew times as though time were stilled - the town people were quiet as they continued to watch the scene before them- Ambrose had made his way across the street to me as I was in a trance watching Emily leave- he grabbed my arm and squeezed.

“We’re going home, dear.”

————

Home was worse, he slapped me across the face and threw me to the ground. “You weren’t here and what’s worse you talked to that gypsy!”

“I needed air Ambrose! She isn’t a gypsy she is a DeClaire!”

“Oh please, the whole town talks about her- we’ve all seen her dancing with them! And how many times have you slipped away to see that... that...” He shook his head. “I saw how you looked at her, the whole town saw how you looked at her!”

“What is so wrong with her?” I screamed down from where I was cowering on the ground. “And are you angry at the fact that she doesn’t act the way you want her to? Or the fact that I will never look at you like that?” He reared up his foot and slammed it into my face.

“Don’t try to compare me with that ... that... ARGH!” He kept stomping on me as I screamed, I was reaching for anything I could beside the fireplace now - anything! That’s when I grasped onto it ... It was as though fate was bringing me towards it ... My hatchet.

I am humble enough to say that I missed the first time - but the second time I landed a hit to his stomach... He was so shocked that it was happening it gave me ample time to get to my feet and pull out the hatchet for a second swing. “Till Death do us part.” I growled and hacked away till his head rolled off his shoulders.

I should have felt something- anything! But my body was numb... guilt overcame me - I killed him! And then realization... I killed him. Then anger again... He hurt me. I sat there- breathing heavily- and I screamed covered in the red blood from my handiwork, I began punching his limp body and clawing at it out of fury.

How could he do something like that ... How could he ... Sweet Ambrose my mother said, what a gentle boy everyone had said.

Garbage, he was garbage ... Just complete garbage...

I took him outside just like that as well - I waited until night time and threw his body in the trees along the Mississippi, I then scrubbed down the house till there was no stains in the house.

I couldn’t just go to the authorities right then ... I waited until the next night and went down there in a mess and sobbed to the authorities, “He’s not come back! He’s left me he must have left me!”

“Easy now Constance, are you talkin about Ambrose?” The more stout man questioned.

“Yes! we - we got into a fight last night ...” I touched my face for effect, “He went out for a drink is what he said ... And he hasn’t come back! Oh please! Can you look for him? I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t come back!”

“Don’t you worry Constance, he’s probably just stayed at the bar all night if the fight was that bad...”

It was just the start.

I should have listened to Emily and found my happy ending - I should have ran away somewhere to where there were people like Emily who didn’t care if I wanted to grow old with a woman and would celebrate how different I was from all these people. But my mother had another man lined up for me every time, and I remember hearing her voice in my ear man after man.

My mother insisted -“He is in good health this one - such a gentleman and so kind.”

Frank Banks, he was kind for a week after I married him and then when I told him I didn’t want to have children or touch him in the way he wanted me to ... He tried to make me. He should have stopped at infatuated for now he’s decapitated.

My mother again insisted - “Surely this gentle soul so sweet and sincere would be better suited than that old Frank.”

The Marquis De Doom, he spent no time telling me my duties as his wife and I remember when I first told him I was going to relax that day, he dared lay his hands on me like Ambrose did. He shouldn’t have tried to act so much taller, for without a head he’ll surely be smaller.

And she insisted -“He has been widely talked about in town for his great sense of humor at the pub- I’m sure he’s finally your match.”

Reginald Caine, he was actually genuinely a nice man ... He didn’t pressure me into anything nor did he raise a hand to me! But unfortunately his times drinking at the pub may have lead him to an early grave...Apparently he was a wanted man and let it slip to someone while he was drinking and was taken in to face his sentence ... A beheading. Although his death was not done by me, I’ll take the fall for the guillotine.

Once more she insisted - “Very stocky - close to your age and has such a love for children!”

George Hightower, it’s true he loved children and since I had gotten so old he had given up thinking there was still time for him to have a son. But I had hope with George ... We had gotten to know each other well enough through the years that, when I found him cheating on me with a younger woman to attempt and creat an heir to his business, I told him about how I didn’t like men and I was fine with him doing what he wanted with any woman he wanted as long as he stayed being reasonable to me. Sadly though it wasn’t so and dear George’s head had to go.

————-

I had been going from suitor to suitor, man after man... I had been planning weddings and murders so much so that I never got the chance to catch up with Emily and find out how she was... I brought her up to my last husband, George, he had bought the Gracey mansion and recounted how she died falling from the attic window. Everyone had a different story, she killed herself, her lover killed her, her fiancee killed her, or even that her grandparents killed her. I had a hard time believing the last one since not long after they passed in a house fire, alot of people said they had a hard time believing it was an accident - that they must have felt so guilty about their granddaughter dying so suddenly they burned themselves alive.

I tried not to dwell on it too much, although I wished I had come by at least at one time... If I knew she would die so suddenly... I just wished.

Years passed and I grew into an old woman, no grandchildren just an old cranky lady who soon passed peacefully in her sleep, imagine my confusion when I was pulling my form from my grave.

You could understand the confusion since I had lived in this house and never realized it was filled with all this ... activity? Ghosts were everywhere! Drinking, dancing, and singing?

I made my way through the halls and reminisced to all the years I spent here alone ...

Then I got to the attic and heard her crying.

“Hurry...” she sobbed, “Hurry back...” A girl - adorable purple and blue bride with a beating heart that was thundering in the attic so loud I could feel my non-existent pulse.

“Excuse me are you okay?” I leaned down and placed my hand on her shoulder gently- then I noticed her crown of flowers, petals fallen into her hair like she rolled through them. “Emily?” I whispered - shook to my core.

Her eyes were glowing blue - blue like her eyes used to be ... Tears were pouring down her cheeks. “Who...? Who are you?” I had to sigh because of course she might not remember me.

“Constance - Mrs. Harper remember? I was married to Ambrose all those years ago ... I heard you jumped from the window...” I looked over to the dusty attic window and pursed my lips, “It must hurt you so much to remember...” She was staring at me hard now, as if in deep concentration. “Constance...” I pointed to myself, “Hatchaway? Maybe you remember my serial killer name?” She turned a pale shade of purple. “No, no, no! Not like- I would never kill YOU just my husbands! But they were mean except one... and to be fair I wasn’t the one who did the beheading that time.”

“I- I’ll just take my leave...” I grabbed her hand.

“Wait! I won’t hurt you, I promise I chopped off their heads because of-.” But at the mention of it she yanked her hand away and placed her palm on her head.

“His head ... They chopped off his head...” tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Who? Emily tell me what’s wrong... I want to help, I’ll stay in the attic-.”

“Take it!” She screamed at me, “I’ll go! I just - my head!” I watched her leave through the door as I plopped onto a trunk in the attic.

I waited for her to come back but she never did... That was until she brought Red with her.

And Red was the blessing I had always hoped for in life... She made me smile, she would let me be myself unapologetically -occasionally she would tease about my beheading of husbands (when you’re a ghost those jokes don’t carry as much weight to them). We are inseparable...

———

I was lounging in the attic with Red as I reminisced my humanity and origin- she was playing with my hair and made a face as I revealed my first meeting with Emily.

“I mean I can understand her having a hard time remembering things since she took a dive from the attic, but she must have known one of your victims.” I shook my head.

“No way, I would have know... I’m so sure I would have...”

“Well what are the chances it’s just some random dude who got beheaded?” I flopped my back atop her chest and gave a heavy sigh.

“True... We should investigate.” Red looked down to me and laughed.

“I’m up for any adventure you have, sweetheart... and if anything it will make for a great series of stories.”

“Lets start with someone who is bound to know something, maybe ... Let’s start with Hatty.”

And as we left the attic- for the first time in the mansion I felt as though someone was watching me.

#disney parks #haunted mansion #disney world #disneyland #emily declaire #we wants the redhead #disney #ghosts #webcomic #wewantstheredhead #constance hatchaway #disney parks fan #fanfiction

[mx-3nglish]

Pirates Treasure (Pirate AU) Part 7

Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6

Summary: A young pirate captain by the name of Anthony Lockwood manages to stumble across a mermaid. After a while, he starts to get attached to the enchanting creature against his best friend - George Cubbins- advice. As if that wasn’t problem enough, rival pirates want the glory of finding a mermaid all for their own. What is Captain Lockwood going to have to go through to keep the mermaid he calls “Lucy”?

In the end, Captains word is law. Therefore, the mermaid had become a member of the crew. Months were spent teaching Lucy basic language and basic human social aspects (such as wearing cloths). Over time, she became a pirate like the two men who had taught her, along with the occasional help from Skully. It begrudgingly helped her understand basic language and certain reasons why she could and couldn’t do certain things. She became a pretty convincing human. The only thing that differed her was when she came in contact with any form of water. This made storms a big problem.

Over the coarse of these months, George and Lucy had actually formed a mutual friendship. They supplied each other with information. She had told him what he wanted to know about the sea and other potentially real creatures. In return, he told her about the human world and all of its nick knacks. Throughout their social link, they learned a lot about each other and their respective worlds.

Though despite George doing all of the research on her, Lockwood remained the most interested in the now pirate.

Her past, her home, her family, her thoughts, her wishes, her hopes, her likes, her dislikes. The pirate captain wanted to know everything. After all, she wasn’t human.

George’s biggest concern remained that Lucy was charming Lockwood. She was using some sort of magic on him to make him favor her. And more than once had that gotten the two into an argument.

One thing that Lucy knew to be true about her own kind was that her songs were dangerous. If she sang and someone heard it, they would be drawn to her, but only if she sang of something they wished for. For all of this, she never sang. She just didn’t want to risk it. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Lucy sighed, looking at her captain as he ordered the men around the deck. It was dusk and everyone needed to secure the ship before going to bed.

Lockwood was strong, and often helped the men who were having troubles with heavier artillery. With the extra body heat produced and the hotness of summer, he didn’t have his trademark long trench coat on. He wore his light attire; a white, loose-fitting shirt, light fabric paints and his normal boots. His hair was slightly messy, but it never seemed to harm his appearance. He had his sleeves rolled up past his elbows to allow him more mobility, and somehow make him more attractive.

Lucy gazed at the man, admiring him from afar. She just couldn’t deny that this man was beyond handsome. And he was a respectable gentleman, not to mention just how talented he was. And his smile...

His smile had this ability to melt Lucy where she stood. It made her question if he wasn’t some sort of creature rather than a human. But they way the sun seemed to reflect off of his perfect white teeth; they reminded her of pearls. And the way that the rest of his face seemed to just carry on with the smile. His eyes light up and overpower the sun, his pale face makes everything else strangely distant. No matter what, when he smiled, Lucy believed that they could succeed.

Lockwood looked up to her from where he was working. He smiled his dazzling smile and waved at her. Lucy smiled and waved back, her face feeling hotter than before.

“Oh? What’s this?” A raspy whisper called out in her mind. “Could it be you are...”

Lucy looked to the floating decapitated skull in the jar. A ghostly face appeared, overlapping the skull. Lucy looked at it with a baffled expression.

“What are you talking about?” Lucy asked it. The pair were situated on the main deck by the helm. The jar was rested on the railing of the ship while red, pink, orange, green, blue, and purple tints graced Lucys’ form.

It chuckled. “You’re fond of the captain, aren’t you?” Lucys’ cheeks lit up and she scoffed, looking away, muttering insults to it.

“You are! You are! You love the fool, don’t you?” It answered its own question. “Well, you are the only female here, so it doesn't seem like you have any competition.”

“Lucy!” Lockwood called to her. She turned to see him running up to her. When he raised his eyes to her, worry filled the normally happy brown orbs.

“Lucy, are you okay? Do you need water?” He checked.

‘Do you need water’ was code for allowing her some time to just soak in water to let her tail take form. Lucy had stated time and time again that walking, no matter where, felt like she was walking on shards of glass. The pain caused her to barely ever change out of her mermaid form before she was caught. To save her sanity from the pain, Lockwood and George had the code implemented when the pain became to unbearable for her.

“No, I’m fine...” She didn’t want to look at his worried eyes. They would surely make her admit what the skull just told her. She grabbed it off of the ledge and began walking to her quarters. Because she was the only woman on board, she needed a different room away from the men for her to change, sleep, bathe, and soak in.

“Are you sure? You’re red.” He pointed out. “Come on. Perhaps you need to cool off.”

The ghost in her arms chuckled.

“‘Cool off’. Of anything, I think you’re only going to get even more heated up!” It laughed. She ignored it.

“No, I’m fine.” She repeated. He looked at her and relaxed. 

“If you say so.” He placed a hand on her arm, beginning to guide her from the deck. His hand traveled from her arm to her back, gently guiding her aimlessly around the deck. The ghost in her arms traded snarky and very unhelpful comments.

“Oooh, a nice stroll around the ship? Could this be a sort of date?” It snickered. Lucy tried to ignore it.

“We’re going to be arriving at a nearby town in about three months.” He mentioned, making small talk. 

“Town?” He peaked her interest. Of course, it made her slightly nervous. Some humans weren’t as nice as her captain was.

“Have you ever been to a town?” He questioned. She shook her head.

“Aw, poor Lucy. It might be a bit different from life on the ocean. It would be best if you stick close to your boyfriend.” It taunted. She was starting to think it would be best to just toss the jar overboard.

“Then you might want to stick with me. Some men can be quite rude when they see beautiful women.” He smiled at her. She melted before him, his dazzling smile had her almost enchanted.

“Ha! What did I say? Sure you get all pissy with me, but the moment your precious Lockwood says anything-” She had enough of the skulls’ sarcasm. Her face turned sower as she violently began shaking the jar up and down.

“And why don’t you learn to mind your damn business!” She let out a literal growl. Lockwood quickly took the jar from her.

“Luce, calm down! What did it say?” He asked. He didn’t get a coherent response. She was too busy trying to steal the skull back to chuck it overboard.

He gave up trying to figure out what the skull said that made her so mad after a few minutes. Lucy had a bit of a temper on her and it was always best to let her cool off before trying to talk to her again.

“Lucy.” He tried getting her attention, “Why don’t I keep the skull tonight? That way it won’t bother you while you’re trying to sleep.” She growled again while the skull snickered at her. She gave up after trying to jump up to reach the skull a few times and failing miserably. She crossed her arms and let out a huff of air.

“Fine. I’m going to bed then.” She turned briskly and left. For a moment, Lockwood wondered if she was mad at him and not the skull.

He turned the skull to look at him, the ghostly face still very prominent.

“What did you say to her?” He asked. It simply gave him a devious smirk before fading back to wherever the ghost went.

#lockwood & co #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #george cubbins #skull in a jar #skully #holly muro #quill kipps #pirate AU #mermaid au #part 1 #part 2 #part 3 #part 4 #part 5 #part 6 #part 7 #fanfiction #my fanfiction #locklyle #lucewood #AUs

[deansmyapplepie]

Unfinished Business

This was a request from alexwinchester23!

Pairing: None

Tags: British Men of Letters, British!Reader

Word Count: 1,611

(Gif not mine)

The world dragged by outside the window slowly as your brother drove at a leisurely pace down the back road.

"Remind me why we're trying to team up with these damned American hunters?"  Arthur sighed impatiently next to you as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Because we're trying to eliminate every vampire, werewolf, ghoul-"

"Get on with it," you interrupted, brushing dust particles from your black pants. You didn't miss the way your brother glared over at you as he continued towards your destination.

"We're taking our... exterminating skills to the international level." You gave another sigh.

"I still don't see why we have to work with the Americans to do it. Can't we just take over their land for ourselves and force them to work for us instead of trying to work with them?" Arthur's glare was gone now, his face switching back to its normal state, void of emotion.

"My dear, sweet sister, I believe King George III would have thoroughly enjoyed your input during the revolution." Your brother did always have a sort of knack for his quick-witted snark.

"Well," you began again. "I won't ignore direct orders from the elders, but I refuse to like this mission." You paused before continuing. "And I don't like when you call me 'sweet.'" Arthur let out a small bark of laughter, which was unusual for him.

"Of course, you don't," he agreed. "We were trained specifically not to be sweet. Kindness can bring weakness with it." Your classmates had called the initiation process brutal, but you disagreed. The way you saw it, the world was brutal. So, why should life be any different? Soon enough, the car approached a black Impala on the side of the road with another car in front of it.

"We have company," you noted. Arthur nodded his agreement.

"As expected," he replied. "Hand me the grenade launcher if you please." You reached over into the back seat and, hefting the heavy weapon into your hands, handed it to your brother. "Ready?" The jazz music he had playing began to swell loudly.

"Of course," you answered with a simple head bob, readying your handgun. The car slowly came to a stop in front of the Winchesters, their angel, and... well, whoever was attempting to confront them. They looked like federal agents. At this point, everyone was watching you and your twin. You both stepped out of the car at the same time with unrehearsed grace. Arthur lifted the grenade launcher over his shoulder, aiming at the other car, and everyone dove out of the way. The grenade shattered the rear window of the car before exploding into flames. As glass tinkled back to the ground, you and your brother made your way over to the Winchesters and their pet. Arthur kicked a gun out of the way as you kicked one of the agents in the face, effectively causing him to lose consciousness. Fortunately for yourself, the rest of them were already knocked out.

"You. Angel. Wipe their memories," your brother commanded. When the trenchcoat-clad man only tilted his head in confusion, you sighed tiredly.

"We don't have time for this." You clicked a bullet into place and aimed your gun at the closest agent.

"Hey!" Before you could pull the trigger, though, one of the Winchesters had knocked your gun out of your hand and had your hands held firmly behind your back. By reflex, you kicked your foot upwards into the tall man's groin behind you. With a groan of pain, he released your arms, allowing you to pick up your gun once more.

"Sam!" the other Winchester yelled, rushing over to his brother. You resumed your place next to Arthur, straightening your crisp blouse with distaste.

"Now now," your brother said. "Play nicely with the American hunters." You glared at him, involuntarily clenching your teeth.

"You try my patience." You bobbed your head toward the still-flaming car as you evaluated the plates. "U.S. government plates," you informed the Winchesters and their angel. “Elite dogcatcher level." Arthur made a small noise of acknowledgment.

"Someone special wants you," he mused, walking casually towards the group of three men. "Whose hydrant have you lads been tinkling on?" One of the Winchesters stood up from his crouched position. Since he had only moments ago called the other one Sam, that meant this could only be Dean.

"I'm sorry, who the hell are you?" he asked, his tone gruff.

"Oh, where are my manners?" Arthur said. "Arthur Ketch. British Men of Letters." He held out a hand to Sam, who paused for a moment, but then took it. "I do apologize for my sister Y/N's manners. She doesn't play well with others." Sam gave you wary once-over, his expression sour.

"Clearly."

"Wait, wait," Dean cut in, holding up a hand as he stepped forward. "British Men of Letters? Then what are you doing here?"

"It's all very simple, really," your brother said. "Mick Davies asked you to join our effort, which we're taking internationally. My instructions are to strongly encourage a 'yes.'"

"What, and team up with you and G.I. Jane over there?" Dean snarked, bobbing his head in your direction. You took a step forward, your lip curled backward in a snarl.

"Believe me, I don't take any more pleasure in it than you do." Arthur gave you a chastising look, and you took a deep breath to compose yourself. "But," you continued. "I suppose if this is in the best interests of our goal to eliminate all monsters, I can... play nicely." You almost choked on the words as you spoke them.

"So what," the angel cut in. "You've just been following us?"

"Not at all. We're good dogs. We only come when called." You had to hold back a smirk at Arthur's sarcasm. When Dean and the angel looked between the two of you with confusion, you gave another tired sigh, giving Sam a slight nod.

"And he called." The effect of your words was almost instantaneous, causing both the angel and Dean to look at the youngest Winchester with shock.

"You what?" Dean asked, his tone now slightly angrier than before. Sam shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"I-I didn't, uh..." he stuttered. "I hung up."

"Yes, you did," Arthur said. Dean was still looking at his brother with a look you could have sworn had a bit of betrayal laced in. "Which made Mr. Davies think that you were in trouble."

"Which you were," you pointed out. 

"So he rings me," your brother continued. "Bing bang boom. Meet Bob. He's your uncle."

"Oh, and you're welcome. Hmm?" you said. Dean narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils before he replied.

"And why should we believe anything you have to say?" You let out a dry chuckle, turning your attention to the angel.

"You, Halo," you sighed. "Do you sense we're lying?" The angel squinted his piercing blue eyes.

"My name is Castiel," he replied.

"I don't care. Do you?" Castiel gave both you and your brother a look before he sighed.

"No. But the truth can be situational." Your brother let out a small laugh next to you.

"Oh, I do enjoy an angel. But I understand your hesitation. You haven't exactly seen us at our best. Lady Bevell is a bit... excitable."

"She tried to kill us," Dean said a bit louder than necessary.

"Like I said," your brother shot back, his tone growing more impatient now. "Excitable." Sam, now standing, drifted closer to his brother.

"And you're better?" He gave you a pointed gaze. "She knocked me on my ass when I tried to stop her from killing an innocent man!" Dean nodded.

"Yeah, I'm with Sam. I'm sensing a pattern here."

"What my brother is trying to say here," you proceeded, hoping to steer the conversation in a different direction. "Is that we're eager to collaborate. The British Men of Letters is centuries old. We can offer expertise, weaponry, skills..." Sam pointed over his shoulder at the car, the flames starting to ease a bit.

"Like that?" Your lips quirked upward slightly.

"Among other things."

"Was that a grenade launcher?" Dean asked, obviously trying to hide his interest.

"Quite," Arthur replied, popping the trunk to your car. "The toys are the fun part. For example, we don't always decapitate vampires."

"Insufficient, really," you put in. Your brother lifted a tool you knew well and had used many times before from the trunk.

"We irradiate them. Reorder their DNA. Their own blood becomes lethal to them." The Winchesters and Castiel gathered around the trunk, where you and Arthur had migrated over to.

"Cool," Sam said, now also intrigued. He looked over his shoulder at Dean, who gave a slight nod.

"We'll talk about it," he stated. "Sam and I need to figure out a few things first, and like you said, trust is an issue here." Arthur snapped the case shut, closing the trunk as well.

"I quite understand," he sympathized. You took a business card from your pocket, handing it to Sam, who still looked wary at being in such close contact with you.

"Call when you've come to a decision." Without another word, you and Arthur climbed back into the car, driving down the road in the same direction you came. After a few moments, your brother looked at you.

"Really, Y/N, couldn't we have done without all the theatrics? What if this affects their decision?" You glanced in the rearview mirror, where the three men were still watching your car drive away.

"Trust me," you replied wryly. "We'll be hearing from the Winchesters very soon."

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Like always, the links to my inbox, masterlist, and taglist are in my bio!

#Supernatural #Supernatural Fanfiction #Supernatural One Shot #One Shot #One Shot Fanfiction #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #Castiel #Arthur Ketch #Female Reader #Original Female Character #Reader #British Men of Letters #BMOL

[reztheripper-blog]

Rise of the Demon Huntress Part 5

   Me and Alice stood before Kane, weapons drawn, ready to launch spells. Kane looked extremely tense, his muscles coiled like a snake ready to strike. We circled around each other once and then he struck out in a blur of movement and a flash of bone steel. His attacks were reckless but the were so powerful we couldn't counter-attack while blocking. Each swing, while extremely graceless in execution, almost seemed to have a method to them as if he was trying to break us down with each swing. If either of us tried to go on the offensive, he would strike even harder, making his offense his defense. I even tried to fly above him to get an upper hand but he grabbed me and slung me to the ground, trying to crush my chest. Alice jabbed him in the side to save me, but almost got decapitated while trying to back up.       "What's wrong, mortals?! Can't keep up?" Kane jeered       "No we're just waiting for the perfect time to strike." Alice said while twirling away from one of his lunges.       "Then you better pray you can kill me in one hit!" he said while cleaving his gleaming blade to my head.       I jumped to the side as his sword slammed into the ground, breaking the floor where I was standing. I could feel the violence radiating off of him. He wanted us dead, but death wasn't on the schedule. I did an upward spiral uppercut at Kane and cast a Professional fire spell right in Kane's face, "Columnae Flammae!" and burned his face off..... literally. Kane screeched and backed up, dropping his sword and gripping his face.       "AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!" he screamed

He fell to his knees, "You miserable wretch!!!" There was char falling from what remained of his false face and his eyes glowed a piercing red, and his demonic face showed through the false skin. He had rough, red scales with black specks and long 4 inch long fangs. He snarled and got up. "I'm gonna kill you slowly..."       "I'd love to see you try that." I glanced at Alice, "Remember back in Fisticuffs 107?"       "That move we used on Jake Bradley?"       "Yeah!"       "Let's do it!"       "Enough talking!!!!" Kane yelled as he rushed at us. He rolled forward, grabbing his sword and did a lunge at Alice's midsection. I pushed her out of the way, but I still got my left leg cut open. It wasn't a deep cut, but it hurt like hell.       "Are you alright, Melina?" Alice asked, concerned about the wound pouring blood everywhere       I felt just a little dizzy, but I thought I was fine. "Yeah... yeah, I'm good."       Alice helped me up and said, "If he starts to run at us we'll start, if not... We'll improvise."       Luckily for us, Kane ran straight at us like a maniac. I used my chestplate to glide back a few feet and got running start, then jumped in Alice's cupped hands and leaped over her. I used my chestplate's wings to add some extra height while I Imbued[1] my sword with a Stasis Aspect[2]. As I aimed the killing blow towards Kane's throat, he looked up and slammed his fist into my stomach. I sorta fell out of the air, then he sort of kicked me across the floor as Alice was rushing towards him and tried to hold him off while I got up, but... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------        I stopped my own story. I really didn't want to tell this part. I didn't want to even relive it. I could feel the pinpricks of tears coming to my eyes.       "Melina...?" Marlin asked       "I'm sorry Marlin... I can't just skip this?"       "I need to know in case there's something that could've been missed."       "Nothing happened of importance!" I said loudly       "Look! I can see this clearly upsets you." he said gesturing to my tears. I didn't even feel their warmth running down my face. "But you need to tell me what happened."        "Fuck what you need to know." I said       "I need to know exactly what happened." he repeated softly       "And you won't find out anything." I replied stubbornly       We probably sat in complete silence for 5 hours before a clock rang stating it was 11:00 P.M. I had been in this damnable room for almost 16 hours. The guards escorted me to my room and what passes for dinner was served to me. It was some type of meat slab, a mush they had the nerve to call "mashed potatoes", a cookie so hard I could have used it to escape, and some really good fruit punch. Turns out the fruit punch had something to help me sleep, because I was out like a light a few minutes after drinking it. I dreamed about what happened hear the smooth Shlick! as Kane's blade entered Alice's chest. I woke up with tears down my face.       They passed me clothes and told me to get ready for the next round of interrogation. When I first was sent here, I was surrounded by some of the best magicians in the world and bound by at least 20 different sealing spells[3], not like that was gonna stop me. Now, it's simply two guards and iron shackles. They led me into the room and did their normal guard stuff, cuffing me to the table and chair, telling me to not cause any trouble or they will be forced to apprehend me, the usual. I was sitting in that room for about 30 more minutes for Marlin to get his ass up and in the damn room.       "Sorry for the wait, Melina."  he said as he sipped his coffee and sat down. "Now where did we leave off?"       "At the part where I told you to fuck off with asking me what happened during my fight with Kane."       Marlin rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply. He picked up a phone and typed in a number on the holopad. "I'm not getting any answers. Bring her in."       I got a little worried. This is and interrogation after all. "Bring who in?!" I asked a little more panicked sounding than I thought. "Marlin, what are you doing?!"       "This is an interrogation after all, Melina. We're supposed to get information in any way possible."       "Marlin... What do you have in mind?"       "We're just going to go for a walk. And I can't just let you walk with out a guard. I'm not a magician."       The door suddenly opened and this lady walked in and smiled. She was wearing a blood red blouse and black jeans. She had some disturbingly red irises and a dark complexion. "Hi, Melina! I'm Marylin Preston and we'll be going on a walk around the facility. Marlin, will you be joining us?" She seemed a little too cheery for my tastes, but it's not like I had a choice.       "I think I'll pass Mrs. Preston."       "Okay!" She looked towards me and took off my handcuffs, "Come with me Melina."       She didn't check if I was following, but I got up and followed her out. The click of her heels led me to her. When I caught up, I tapped her on the shoulder, "Hey, it was Marylin, right? What is the purpose of this?"       "To talk to you. Get to know you better."       This took me by suprise because I thought interrogators were supposed to inflict pain and get answers, not try to be friendly. "What- what do you mean?"       She ignored my question, "What do you like to do in your free time?"       I answered out of force of habit, "I like writing new spells, learning new ways to fight, reading, and writing. It kinda calms me down."       "Who's your favorite author?"       "George Rezlin. He makes the best fantasy novels. I really liked his 'Opinions' book." Then I thought of something, "Wait, why do you care?"       "Look, we don't think you deserve the punishment the Council gave to you, not like we can really do anything about it. So we're just getting the necessary details from you to maybe try and get you a better sentence."       A wave of reality hit me as I realized this might be my last few days alive. Since the decision was already made, my case would only take a few hours unless by some miracle evidence came around and cleared me. And knowing my luck it wouldn't happen and the very next day... I would be dead. Everything I had done, all the lives I did save... and all of it washed away and re-labeled as an "act of villainy" or something along those lines. The thought really depressed me and I just sat down where I was and thought about everything I had done. I know it was all for good. Screw what the Council said was for the best of humanity; demons being held captive is asking for shit to hit the fan. And I couldn't control what that asshole Felius did!       I was broken out of my thought when Marylin spoke, "Are you okay?" She said as she sat next to me in the middle of the hallway floor.       "I'm fine... Tell Marlin, I'm coming in. If those jackasses are going to kill me, at least let it be known the truth was spoken.       We walked back into the interrogation room where Marlin was reviewing what looked like paperwork and files. I think I saw my name on one of them. "Alright Marlin, you wanted the rest of the story, here you go..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       Alice's shadow blade met Kane's and while I was recovering she held him off, except Alice isn't a good close-up fighter and we both were out-matched, her especially. I was running forward to help and he broke through her defense and plunged the blade into her chest. I have always been used to the sound of metal tearing flesh and bone, but when it was one of my friends, it sounded... different. Kane gave a wicked smile and ripped the blade up, tearing her body in half and looked towards me. "You're next..." he said.       I couldn't even think straight. I was so consumed with hatred towards this... this demon and grief for the death of my friend I lost it. I threw my blade like a javelin right at him, piercing his torso and summoned my Tempus Gladio. He winced in pain as he tore the blade out and he didn't even have time to realize there was still a Stasis Aspect on it before he froze still. I walked up to him and I cut him to pieces slowly. I kept him alive through every cut, every slice, every burn, everything. I wanted him to feel pain that he couldn't imagine. I kept at it for hours until I grew tired and slowly pierced his throat. I picked up my sword and dissipated my Tempus Gladio. Then, I cast a Spell of Repair[4] on Alice's body and carried it out. I didn't have a destination in mind, I just walked away with Alice's body. It was dark outside when I left and I walked so long, the sun had rose up. I still didn't know where I was, but kept wandering, looking for who knows what. Then I saw a familiar face, Natasha. She had bandages around her arms.       She came up running towards me, "Melina, are you okay?!" She saw that I was carrying the pale body of Alice and gasped, "Is she...?"       I nodded slowly and kept walking past them.       "Melina..." Natasha stopped "At least come with me. We'll give Alice... proper rites."       I don't remember the walk back to Natasha's base, but I finally came to when we were laying Alice to rest. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       I stopped talking to answer the question forming on Marlin's lips, "Yes, I get that it is tactically a waste of time. I could have waited, but I wasn't going to leave a good friend unburied."       "I wasn't going to ask that. I was going to say that was an admirable thing you did. Too many people were left out, not buried." Marlin said. "It's hard having to lead a family to where their decaying loved one is and hear those tears."       "Th-thank you." I continued on with my story... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       "Melina, what are you going to do now?" Natasha asked me as we sat waiting for dinner to be made.       I sprawled out across the bed and looked at the ceiling, "I probably going to go find the cause of this, the source and fix it up. But I'm gonna need a team. A really good team." I leaned up and looked up to Natasha, "Do you know anyone who might be able to help me with that?"       "I know a company of people who are looking for fighters. Head to Jontia's main hall and ask for Elise. Tell them Natasha sent you."       "Thanks for the recommendation. What are you going to do here?"       "I'm going to try to reclaim Divitiae and hold the place down from the demons, maybe get life going again. Then work my way from there."       The bell rang for dinner and everyone got up to eat. I got up and held out my hand for Natasha, "It was nice meeting you. Have safe battles."       She shook my hand and said, "Safe travels to you Melina. It was a pleasure meeting you and fighting with you by my side."       After I ate dinner, I left the base and looked around for the nearest road to Jontia. I had a long walk ahead of me. It'd take me about 3 days to run from here to there and I didn't know the rune for Jontia, so I started looking for a car that an Iusto might have left behind. After about an hour of searching, I found one and broke in. I don't think they'd mind with an apocalypse occurring and all. After several shocks and burns, I hot-wired the car and started heading to Jontia. I'm glad there was nobody else on the road, because I had never driven before and was swerving all over the place. Then to make things worse, it was nighttime so I couldn't see some of the obstructions in the road. I still don't understand how normal people use this mode of traveling. About 2 hours into the drive there this loud explosion from the car and the car made this grinding noise, so I stopped and got out of the car. One of the tires was flat and I don't think it was going anywhere else, so I set out on foot. I cast a speed exponentia and started running to Jontia. Luckily I got far driving so it was about a night's run from where I was.       I was finally in sight of Jontia and decided to rest for the rest of the night in case there was trouble. In the morning, I readied my gear- it's not like I had much- and went into Jontia. It was surprisingly quiet at first, then the first sounds of combat rang in my ears. It was a strange noise I hadn't heard in a long time: Gunshots. Everyone else has a strong dislike of guns and the like as it's seen as dishonorable or something like that, but me personally, I love guns. They're the coolest things ever made by us after spells. On the downside, they're extremely expensive, meaning whoever this was had some bleeding edge tech and islands worth of money. As I approached, I could see a small group of people nearly completely surrounded by a particularly large demon horde. They moved with such grace, it was almost like gun ballet. One soldier snapped the leg of a demon and blew his brains out while spinning and meeting the face of another who met the same fate. Another jumped in the air while spraying white-hot death down below. I was getting closer to join them when this loud screeching noise came from above, it was... a flying demon?! At this point, one of the soldiers was beating a demon to death with his rifle and started shooting at the creature above. His comrades kept him covered until he started reloading and turning his attention to the remaining demons. I decided to join them at this point, so I drew my sword and ran over to the fray. I sort of spooked them when I arrived because I almost got shot a couple of times while I was helping because they didn't know who I was.       We shot and carved through a majority of the demons and finally it was only about 15 demons and the large, flying one.       "I don't know who you are, but you can fight. Do have any idea how to kill this flying demon?" one of the soldiers asked, "It's been plaguing us for days!"       I cast a strength exponential. "I got this." I waited for the demon to get close and I jumped straight at it sword coiled for the first strike. The creature tried to rear away, but I slammed the point of my blade deep in its side and grabbed on. I summoned my Tempus Gladio and started stabbing it over and over until it started falling. I grabbed my sword, turned it into a scythe and beheaded the beast as I jumped off using my chestplate's wings to slow my descent. The soldiers looked at me in awe. One of the soldiers walked up to me and pulled me into an arm hug.       We pulled apart and she said "I'm not sure who you are, but you saved our asses back there and we owe you our lives. I'm Commander Elise."       "I'm Melina Angelo and I was looking for you."                                                                End Part 5

#RiseOfTheDemonHuntress #magic #weapons #action #violence #demons

[jmowatstuff]

Monthly Media - June 2017

June flipping whizzed by. However there was some media consumption for sure.

MOVIES

Oh, Hello: On Broadway (2017) - ★★★★

Treat a 4 like a 6 and she'll be grateful?

I've become a huge fan of Nick Kroll very recently and rapidly after seeing his seemingly carefree and totally unphased character work. This is a total example of that, with some bits seeming like they don't land as best as possible, but Mulaney and Kroll's sheer commitment to each character pulled it through for me. The more I got to know the disturbed George and Gil the more I found them funny. Was also great to see them interview Steve Martin and nerd out hard over the fact he is an absolute comedy legend and they are relatively young in the game. Or that’s how it seemed, which I liked.

Logan (2017) - ★★★★

Finally got round to watching this. Forgot it was R-rated until I saw multiple decapitations and swear-bears. Hearing Charles Xavier swear cracked me up. Also thought Stephen Merchant crushed. Huge Jacked-man OBVIOUSLY crushed. Double Hugh was appreciated and unexpected. Muchos enjoymenté.

My Scientology Movie (2015) - ★★★½

Watched with context of knowing that it was different to most of Louis' films, so that made the stylised filming and editing easier to get on board with. However it did kinda make Scientology seem like a joke when at multiple points in the film it seems obvious that Scientology is a poisonous thing that is hurting people under David Miscabbage. However I did enjoy some lols as well as some knowledge gained.

GAMES

Monument Valley 2 (2017) - ★★★★

There aren’t any iOS games good enough to make me pay £5 for their sequel without a second though, apart from Monument Valley. After the beautiful, puzzley experience of the first game, it was a no-brainer to buy the sequel. I didn’t even know it existed until Mr. Bingo sold-out and advertised it on his Instagram, but I’m REAL GLAD HE DID. Isometric brain-meltage now mixed with mother & child emotional rollercoasting??? Sign me UP! This made many subway journeys a total joy, to the point that I was totally engrossed in it and was snapped at by a middle-aged woman who rightly wanted me to move up as I was holding up approximately 29 people trying to get into my carriage. Sorry lady.

TV

Mad Men: Season 1 (2007) - ★★★½ (so far)

So I haven’t actually finished this season, but I wanted to write about it as it’s the first show in a while I’ve actually managed to get over the inertia of starting, whilst knowing there are multiple seasons ahead of me to plow through. However, Jon Hamm’s cool, dirty, messed-up, mysterious antihero has intrigued me enough that I need to know how the Drapes will hang. The first episode perplexed me a little, with the retro editing style and the deliberate cheese, but both those things are serving as refreshments compared to the usual hour-long drama formats I’ve seen.

READING

Mountains of Schoolwork my Parents Kept From Ages 5-14 (1999-2008)

Being a vain narcissist, when I found out mum & dad had a large collection of my schoolwork from my younger youth, I had to dig it out and read it and reminisce about how much of a child prodigy and/or legend I was back in the day. Obviously that is not true and I was a total assbean, but still hilarious to read. Highlights included my short stories written in a very cringe-inducing format with many ellipses and middle-aged-woman-style exclamations and phrases peppered throughout. Thanks Mum.

PODCASTS

Bill is Boring (2017 - present)

When you hear about ordinary people you know making a podcast, you are met with the clashing emotions of excitement and scepticism. Naturally. However, even though my encounter with Billiam Robinson was fleeting in a skatepark in a summer camp in Ontario in Canada in Earth, the encounter did suggest that he was an endearing and humorous fellow. This podcast has proved such suggestions, as he keeps the conversation hyped and intelligently dumb which is what a podcast should be. Go listen!! They’re an independent podcast and your support will make you feel nice!

MUSIC

Thanks to Obscurify Music I was able to get an actual statistical insight into my most listened.

J Dilla (artist)

Thanks to the Bill is Boring (see above) episode with the musical prophet Matt Im, I heard about J Dilla, even though I’d literally never heard of him before. I went and listened to his top tracks on Spotify, and ended up leaving him on for like 3 albums without noticing. Great, chilled, major-key beats, that satisfied my usual dis-satisfaction with modern rap/trap/hip-hop/rip-rap/trapped-myself music.

Black Sabbath (artist)

Had an inkling for some classic Ozzy vocals and booming shreds this month. I like to navigate amongst the ‘life is the worst and therefore so is whoever god is’ to the ‘yeah lets do it i love drugs and being hardcore’ songs, cause they get me amped. To be fair to them, they do have some pretty good philosophical lyrics, but I came for irresponsible Ozzy.

Tame Impala (artist)

Had another refresh with different ozzies (haha), who I’d almost forgot existed, which is a tragedy as they are just great. Currents is a beauty of an album, with just the right amount of ambience and beat to get you through some work. It’s almost as if you have an impala but instead of being wild it is house-trained or something similar.

A Man Called Anthony - Magnus International (song)

This song is just a summery banger that is literally the same beat over and over and over again but the melody is just very nice on the ears and the bass is nice on the diaphragm so why change it? Exactly.

~~~~~~

All in all a good month of media. Also really enjoyed exploring some illustration style with the accompanying illos. Going to try and keep it up in some form every month, picking a certain way of drawing and sticking with it for every illustration. Yeah. DRAWING!

#Monthly Media #movies #movie #film #cinema #music #songs #albums #podcasts #podcast #tv #tv show #tv shows #reading #video games #mad men #monument valley #logan #oh hello #louis theroux #j dilla #tame impala #black sabbath

[the-everqueen]

2 for hamliza!

2. Things you said through your teeth

i’m sure you imagined some great angst or conservatory au, but this turned into Morristown fluff. so have a girl and her dog instead!

That month’s ball happens to fall on the first night of the new moon, something for which Alex is grateful.

It’s not that he can’t attend the dances any other time. At least, Washington hasn’t told him so  outright, continues to pass him the invitations when they come. But he knows it would be a bad idea. He isn’t a purebred like Lafayette, can’t pretend to be human when it might be convenient. The rest of the camp has gotten used to him at this point and recognizes him no matter what form he’s in, but he isn’t enough of an idealist to think the ladies would welcome his presence. Who cares that he’s the General’s chief of staff, or that Washington sends him on important missions? Who cares that he writes to the president of Congress or drafts plans to fix the national economy? At a glance he’s just a cur with mange, a stray the General found useful.

But he misses it. The dancing, the wine, the girls. Witty banter and stolen kisses and the firm tightness of corset stays beneath his (human) hand.

He’s been to a few dances since… well, since the accident. It wouldn’t do for him to turn down every invitation, so he tries to make social events whenever possible. Otherwise he pens notes in advance: Colo. Hamilton regrets to inform Miss — that he has urgent business elsewhere on the night of… Unfortunately duties prevent Colo. Hamilton from attending. All very polite and untrue, and he is certain there must be rumors. How could there not be, with a dozen aides who see him on a day to day basis and a French aristocrat who can’t hold his tongue? At some point people will find out, and God knows where that will put him, but certainly not in the echelons of the Clintons or the Rensselaers or -

A vision in pale blue watches him from the other side of the room. Her dark eyes on him are like an invitation, or a threat, and it unnerves him but he also can’t help sneaking glances in her direction. She seems familiar, has he seen her before? His fingers tighten around the stem of his wine glass - a prop, turns out dogs can’t ingest grapes, but he needed a reprieve from Miss Lott’s leaden toes.

The dark-eyed girl leans in to whisper something to Kitty Livingston. Points at him.

His stomach churns. He and Kitty exchanged some flirtatious letters after the last ball, but she let him know she wasn’t interested after a couple weeks. He thinks she must have suspected. Or maybe his pedigree was lacking in another sense.  

Alex looks around the room for Laf. Suddenly he feels overwhelmed, in this room crowded with the smells of sweat and perfume and the rustle of skirts and those dark eyes on him and John not here. He wants a friendly face, he wants pack.

A hand grabs his wrist. He almost jumps out of his skin, swallows down the growl that rises in his throat.

Kitty tugs at him. “Alexander, come.”

He laughs a little. Inside joke. “Where are you taking me?”

“I’m about to change your life.”

He raises his eyebrows and opens his mouth to make a suggestion -

“Elizabeth Schuyler, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The dark-eyed girl drops a curtsy, offers him a sweet smile. Alex tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear. “Schuyler?”

“Thank you for all your service.” Her voice tremors on the words, and she’s beaming at him, her eyes huge and earnest. He meets her gaze and there’s something in her, beautiful and pure and shining, that dissolves the last of his tension and makes him feel something he hasn’t felt in a long time.

Safe.

He wonders if she can see the gold of his eyes, or if she thinks it’s a trick of the candlelight.

Taking her hand, he bows and presses a soft kiss to her knuckles. She smells like roses and green outdoors, over her own scent, the smell that means Elizabeth Schuyler and no one else in the world.

He straightens and gives her his best smile. “If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.”

***

Alex never meant for this to happen.

Eight days. Eight days since the new moon, and eight days since he met Eliza.

Her letter came soon after: I do hope that you can join me for tea on the evening of the 16th, as I would Greatly enjoy your company and, though I know he Relies on you as crucial to his efforts, I am certain His Excellency can spare you for a few Hours. Surely the British will Allow us this small Happiness? I am staying in town with my Aunt.

He hasn’t replied.

They talked for hours at the ball, during a dance and later in a semi-private corner behind the punch table. She told him about her sisters and her home in upstate New York, and he told her about his work and recounted the Battle of Princeton, with as many gruesome details as he could, because she laughed when the cannon decapitated George II’s portrait, and he wanted to hear that sound again, wanted to watch her tip back her slender throat, soft lips parted like petals.

He once sent John his qualifications for the perfect wife in jest, but Eliza surpasses his most  fantastic demands. If Alex were human he would have plied her with declarations of love the very next morning, courted her with all the tenderness and passion of Eros.

He’s an animal - a good dog, not a mongrel - so he did not.

She doesn’t know. Of course not. He looked human, why should she suspect otherwise? The golden eyes are a dead giveaway, though. Maybe she thought him a purebred. Lafayette has his Adrienne, after all, it’s not uncommon for born weres to find human mates.

He has to tell her. He just doesn’t know how.

His slashes through another error in his copied letter with a vicious growl. McHenry looks over at him, makes a sympathetic noise. “Congress giving you trouble, Hammie?”

“Aren’t they always?”

“At least come spring we’ll see some real action.”

Alex hums. Maybe the other aides will, but not him. The General seems determined to keep him leashed to his desk. At least he doesn’t mind the winters anymore. Fur is a good insulator, keeps him warm while John is down South.

A familiar voice in the hall snags his attention. His ears perk.

“… I understand he’s busy, but it won’t take more than a moment…”

Eliza.

Lafayette is arguing with her, trying to keep her out of the workroom, but the firm tap of her heels continues to get louder. Alex pushes back from the table with a yelp, paw pads and toenails scrabbling for purchase on the hardwood floors. He glances around the room, frantic; the other aides frown. He doesn’t care, he has to get out, he can’t let her see him like this -

“Alexander.”

The sight of her pulls him up short. He turns his head and lowers his ears, tail tucked between his legs. Five days from the full moon, he’s veering closer to wolf, starting to look more dog than human, but she doesn’t startle or look away from him.

“Can we talk in private?” Her voice is gentle.

Avoiding Laf’s pitying face, Alex bobs a quick nod and leads them into an unused side parlor. There isn’t a door, but it gives them space. She turns around to face him. “Why didn’t you answer me?”

That wasn’t the question he expected.

“I thought - we had such a nice time at the ball, and I’d never met anyone so - like you, and - did you not feel the same way?” She twists her fingers together. “I’m sorry, it was presumptuous, but you could have at least said no.”

“Miss Schuyler, you know what I am.”

She rolls her eyes. “Of course. There aren’t many humans with your eyes.”

“Then you know this -” he gestures to his face, almost-but-not-quite a muzzle “- gets worse. I wasn’t born like this. You are without doubt the sweetest and fairest of your sex, and you deserve better than a - a creature like me. Please don’t deceive yourself otherwise.”

“Oh, Alexander.” She takes his hand, rubs her thumb over the short fur. “It’s still you.”

He closes his eyes.

“I knew. But it didn’t matter, because it was you. Have you ever wanted something so much nothing else mattered?”

His lips twitch in a smile. “All the time.”

“Then will you come on Thursday?”

“I would, except…” He hesitates. “It’s the full moon.”

“Yes? I thought, well, His Excellency might not need you then because…” She bites her lip, blushing. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I just hoped you might have the night free.”

“Won’t your aunt mind?”

“Oh, she’ll be pleased to meet General Washington’s right hand man.” She rocks onto her tiptoes to place a kiss on his nose. Bold, his charmer. Her hand squeezes his. “Unless you would rather not?”

“No, I - I would love to. Thank you, Miss Schuyler.”

“Eliza,” she corrects him.

“Eliza,” he repeats, and feels his tail wag.

***

The walk to Aunt Cochran’s is only a couple miles, but it’s faster on four legs, even if Alex does have to avoid the more popular streets. He’s a bit too large to be mistaken for someone’s pet, and he doesn’t want a repeat of the incident with the farm. Then the General might actually make him wear a collar, and Alex would die of humiliation.

He finds the house without trouble and scratches at the door. It opens to a sharp-eyed, middle-aged woman with a generous frame. “You must be Colonel Hamilton.”

He bows as best he can. She laughs, steps back to let him inside. “Eliza is in the parlor. I’ll join you in a minute.”

The house smells like butter and sugar, but he catches Eliza’s scent and follows it to the parlor. She’s setting out teacups and looks up as he trots into the room. “Alexander, have a seat.”

Eyeing the wing back chairs near the hearth, he jumps onto the settee next to Eliza. He almost takes up the entire thing - he forgets how much bigger he is like this, all fur and muscle - but she doesn’t seem to mind, just slips him a secret smile.

“We’re patriots,” she explains, as she pours steaming liquid into cups, “so it’s coffee rather than tea. Except wolves can’t have coffee, so I have water for you.” She fills the third teacup from a pitcher and holds it up for him. He laps delicately, careful not to spill, and licks his lips when he’s done.

Aunt Cochran brings with her a plate of shortbread, cheese, and pear slices. Eliza feeds him pieces of each and he takes it all gingerly from her fingers. The entire time she keeps up a pleasant conversation, explaining his work for the General to her aunt and describing her daily routine in Morristown to him.

When they’ve finished eating, she tells him, “If we’re not going out, Auntie and I usually spend the evening reading while we finish our sewing. Do you mind?” She holds up a novel.

In answer, he noses at the cover and makes a soft whine.

She adjusts her position so he can set his head in her lap, and begins to read.

Usually he hates these days, when he’s stranded without words or work to keep him occupied. His mind runs in circles. But here, with Eliza stroking his ears and her soothing voice filling the parlor like music, he can appreciate quiet.

Later he goes back to camp, head warm where she kissed him goodnight. Thoughts of her overwhelm him - her smell, the taste of sugar on her soft fingers, her throat moving with every word - and he prances to the gate.

“Password!” the sentry calls.

Oh, for goodness’ sake. He barks, once. C’mon, it’s me.

“I cannot admit any persons without the password.”

He knows they recognize him. The sentries are trained for this: wouldn’t do to have a soldier putting a bullet in the General’s top aide or, God forbid, the Marquis de Lafayette. He growls.

The men are stifling laughter. “Has the lovestruck colonel forgotten?”

He hasn’t forgotten, he’s a damn wolf. He lunges forward and makes a snap at the air, showing his teeth. The sentries stumble back, cursing. “All right, just a bit of ribbing! At ease, Colonel.”

He curls his lip at them as he trots past, but even their teasing can’t upset his mood. His mind is a delighted whirl of Eliza and a tiny corner perks up its ears and goes mate?

That night he dreams of dark eyes.

#wereham au #@swan look our son has Manners and has fallen hard #i researched foods acceptable for dog consumption for this fic #Eliza is good to this pupper #also for y'all: i apologize about the Length i did not anticipate this

[mrmichaelchadler]

Larry Cohen: 1941-2019

Since the creators of B-movies generally do not have such luxuries as famous actors, familiar properties and large budgets to work with, they have to rely more heavily on an ingredient that is just important but much lower in cost—a great idea. Not just any great idea, of course, but the kind of idea that makes you stop in your track and think “Man, I’ve gotta see that.” The problem is that, in many cases, even if they do manage to beat the odds and come up with that killer idea, they don’t always have the resources or talent to do it justice. 

One B-filmmaker who never had that problem was Larry Cohen, who passed away this weekend at the age of 77. He may have never had the same level of name recognition as such contemporaries as George Romero or John Carpenter, but his films, in which he took often outrageous premises and built upon them with witty dialogue, incisive social commentary and colorful characters, were among the best genre films of their era and continue to pack a punch today.

Cohen was born on July 15, 1941 in Manhattan and from a young age, he developed a fascination with movies. In an interview I did with Cohen a couple of years ago, he professed a special fondness for the films produced by Warner Brothers during that era. “It was a great studio—they had really ballsy movies and political movies … They were shot at a fast pace with a lot of action and fast talk, as opposed to MGM movies, which were a lot slower and more luxurious. He began his career as a writer for television, first by writing for such shows as “The Defenders, “The Fugitive” and “Rat Patrol” and then by creating such shows as the 1965-’66 Western “Branded” (sorry fans of “The Big Lebowski”) and the 1967-’68 paranoid sci-fi saga “The Invaders.” Watching the shows that he created today, one can actually see the ideas and conceits that Cohen would embrace throughout his career—especially in the mixing of standard genre tropes with sly commentary about what is going on the real world, including the blacklist and the Red Scare—coming together in distinctive ways that set them apart from a lot of what was going on in television at that time.

He then began to make the move into writing feature films in 1966 with “Return of the Seven,” a largely forgettable sequel to the hit Western “The Magnificent Seven,” “I Deal in Danger” (1966), a spy film comprised of the first four episodes of another series he co-created, “Blue Light,” and the psycho artist horror film “Scream, Baby, Scream” (1969). Later in 1969, he would come up with what would prove the first great example of his kind of audacious storytelling that would eventually become associated with his name. In “Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting,” on which he cares a co-writing credit with Lorenzo Semple Jr., Cathy (Carol White) arrives from London to live in San Francisco and immediately meets and falls in love with the seemingly nice and clean-cut Kenneth (Scott Hylands). She soon becomes pregnant but then begins to discover that Kenneth is deeply disturbed and elects to not only break up with him but to have an abortion as well. Some time passes and Cathy has now married a rising politician and given birth to their child when Kenneth turns up again with a shocking demand—Cathy must kill her baby to even the scales for having aborted his child. Channeling real-world concerns into a thriller framework, this was a truly startling screenplay (one that almost certainly would not pass muster today) and if the execution did not quite do it justice—although the screenplay required a daring test pilot of a director to do it justice, Mark Robson, fresh off the success of “Valley of the Dolls,” was strictly United material—it certainly promised better things to come in the future.

"Bone"

Like so many screenwriters, Cohen tired of directors messing with his material and finally moved into the director’s chair in 1972 with the bizarre dark comedy, “Bone.” As the film begins, Beverly Hills couple Bernadette (Joyce Van Patten) and Bill (Andrew Duggan) interrupt their latest round of bickering when they discover a strange man (Yaphet Kotto) on their grounds and invite him in, assuming he is an exterminator. The man, Bone, isn’t and takes the two hostage but soon discovers that his captives are not as rich as they appear to be. Nevertheless, he sends Bill to the bank to get more money and threatens to do great harm to Bernadette if he doesn’t return. While in line, Bill gets distracted by a sexy young woman (Jeannie Berlin) and decides to abandon his wife. While all this is going on, Bernadette gets increasingly drunk, seduces her captor and launches a plan for them to murder Bill and collect his insurance money. Making the most of what were presumably limited resources, Cohen devised an ingenious work that tackled racial, sexual, and class concerns in a manner that pulled no punches and got great performances from his cast to boot. Although closer in tone to something like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff?” than anything else, the film ended up being sold more along the lines of a straightforward exploitation movie—one wonders what the typical grindhouse crowd must have thought when they encountered this instead of the usual junk that they were presumably expecting.

Cohen was then contacted by Sammy Davis Jr., who wanted to do a film where he was the central character for a change, and the idea of doing a contemporary version of the Warner Brothers gangster films of the Thirties came up. When Davis couldn’t pay for the script for “Black Caesar” (1973) due to tax trouble, Cohen ended up selling it to American-International Pictures and wound up directing the film as well with Fred “The Hammer” Williamson in the lead. Charting the rise and fall of Tommy Gibbs (Williamson), who begins as a kid struggling to survive on the streets of Harlem, becomes the head of the black crime syndicate and wages a war against his enemies that leads to his downfall, the film was fairly conventional in its structure, Cohen added any number of twists that are still startling to observe today—in perhaps the most infamous bit, the adult Tommy gets the drop on the racist cop who beat him as a child when he was doing shoeshines on the street, smears the guy’s face with shoe polish and forces him to sing before beating him to death with a shine box. These wild bits, coupled with Williamson’s undeniable screen charisma and a driving soundtrack by James Brown, helped make the film a hit and AIP clamored for a sequel despite the fact the central character had definitively died. 

Needless to say, that didn’t stop Cohen and by the end of 1973, he had “Hell Up in Harlem” in theaters with Williamson again in the lead. Like most rushed sequels, this is a relatively undistinguished programmer but it does contain one magnificently inspired sequence in which Tommy chases an attacker through the streets of New York that seems to end when his quarry eludes him and boards a plane taking off for Los Angeles. That doesn’t stop Tommy—he boards the next flight to L.A., spends the next few hours flying out and lands just in time to finish things up at the baggage claim at LAX.

"It's Alive"

Not wanting to be pigeonholed solely as a blaxploitation filmmaker, Cohen made his shift to the horror genre where he would achieve his greatest fame. His first effort there, and one of his most famous films, was “It’s Alive” (1974), in which he took one of the squirmier premises in screen history—a woman gives birth to a monstrously deformed baby that slaughters anyone unlucky enough to cross its path—and embroidered upon it with a narrative that managed to make its so-called monster somehow sympathetic in the manner of Frankenstein’s Monster, presented some extremely pointed commentary regarding the pharmaceutical industry (who devised the pills the mother took that presumably caused the mutation and who need the child killed in order to cover up their culpability) and included moments of jet-black humor as well as well as impressive contributions from makeup maestro Rick Baker and famed composer Bernard Herrmann. Completed in 1974, the film was released by a regime at Warner Brothers that did not get it and thus the film only received a limited release. Three years later, the film was re-released with an inspired new ad campaign (“There is only one thing wrong with the Davis baby. It’s alive.”) and became a box-office hit that would inspired two Cohen-directed sequels, “It Lives Again” (1977) and “It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive” (1987) and a 2009 remake that was so bad that Cohen claimed that the head of the studio that made it actually apologized to him for it.

From this point, Cohen embarked on a series of wildly ambitious films (especially considering the low budgets that he was working on) that continued to join together familiar genre tropes with increasingly pointed social satire and commentary. In “God Told Me To” (1976), he tackled religion with a story of a New York cop (Tony Lo Bianco) trying to solve a rash of bizarre violent crimes perpetrated by people who claim that God told them to kill and stumbles upon a cult whose leader (Richard Lynch) inspires some startling revelations about his own past and possible connection to the increasingly bizarre happenings. “Q-The Winged Serpent” (1982) involves a giant flying serpent that is flying around decapitating New Yorkers and a small-time crook (Michael Moriarty) who happens to discover the beast’s hiding place and tries to trade that information to the police in exchange for a big payday. “The Stuff” (1985) was a broad satire target crass commercialism and corporate indifference in telling the tale of a brand new dessert treat, known as The Stuff, that sweeps the country and turns those who eat it into addicts. An industrial spy (Moriarty) hired by the now-struggling ice cream industry investigates and it turns out that the Stuff is a living parasitic organism that is essentially eating the very same people who are eating it—a minor fact that those selling the substance seem blithely unconcerned with in their quest for profits. In “The Ambulance” (1990), a comic book artist (Eric Roberts) investigates the disappearance of a woman he just met—after collapsing on the street, she was picked up by an ambulance but never made it to any hospital—and uncovers the expected mad and elaborate conspiracy.

Among genre movie fans, the films that I have just cited, with the possible exception of “The Ambulance,” are justly famous, not only for the films themselves (which expertly blend the comedy and horror genres with style and ease) but for the stories regarding their productions. In “God Told Me To,” there is a scene in which someone dressed as a policeman begins to shoot up New York’s St. Patricks’s Day parade. Considering the number of elements that would be occurring, there was no way that he could possibly get the required permits to film during the actual parade and recreating it would cost far too much money. Instead, he just took his actor—a then-unknown Andy Kaufman, just to add to the weirdness—and stuck him into the parade and filmed without any permits. As for “Q,” that film came about when Cohen was fired from another movie that he was directing, a big-budget adaptation of the pulp classic “I, the Jury” and decided to conceive another movie to do instead—not only did “Q” beat “I, the Jury” into theaters, it cost only a fraction of that film’s budget and wound up being a bigger hit to boot.

"Full Moon High"

Although these horror/satire hybrids would be the films that he would become most associated with, Cohen would occasionally change things up with unexpected forays into different types of filmmaking. “The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover” (1977) was an ambitious biopic that centered on the 40-year career of the former FBI director (Broderick Crawford) but which also served as a corrosive look American history during that time. Although the budget limitations are a little more obvious this time around, the film hit more than it missed. “Full Moon High” (1981) was a sweet-natured comedy in which Adam Arkin plays a teenager in 1959 who is bitten by a werewolf while on a trip to Romania—rendered ageless by this attack in addition to the usual side effects, he returns to his old high school 20 years later to reenroll, this time posing as his son. Although it had the misfortune to come out in the midst of a mini-glut of werewolf movies (that included “The Howling,” “An American Werewolf in London” and “Wolfen”) and disappear from view, it remains a charming work that suggests what the later “Teen Wolf” might have been like if it was actually good. 

Cohen then returned to his early thriller roots with two 1984 films that he shot back-to-back. In “Special Effects,” Eric Bogosian plays a filmmaker driven mad by a massive flop who accidentally films himself murdering a one-night stand (Zoe Lund). After discovering a lookalike (also Lund), he elects to make a movie about the dead woman utilizing that footage but when it gets destroyed, he becomes convinced that he needs to recreate it. In “Perfect Strangers,” a Mob hitman (Brad Rijin) discovers that a young, pre-verbal boy has seen him committing a murder and is ordered to kill the kid but before he can, he finds himself getting into a relationship with the boy’s mother (Anne Carlisle). “Wicked Stepmother” (1989) was another overt comedy but one perhaps better known for its own oddball behind-the-scenes story—after filming for a couple of weeks in the title role, star Bette Davis suddenly left the production  and rather than shut everything down, Cohen rewrote things so that her character would suddenly change her appearance so that the rest of the part could now be played by Barbara Carrera.

Although it would become harder over time for Cohen the director to get work—especially since the studios were now specializing in expensive versions of the B-movies that he specialized in—he still found work as a screenwriter and his name turned up on the screenplays for such films as “Best Seller” (1987). “Maniac Cop” (1988), “Body Snatchers” (1993,” “Guilty as Sin” (1993), and “Cellular” (2004). Of his work as a pure screenwriter during that time, his best-known project is probably the 2003 hit “Phone Booth,” a thriller in which a fast-talking publicist (Colin Farrell) with a messy personal and professional life impulsively answers a call at the last phone booth in New York and finds himself targeted by an unseen sniper who threatens to kill him if he attempts to leave. Cohen originally pitched the basic idea for the film to no less than Alfred Hitchcock but it was abandoned when they could not conceive of why the guy would have to remain in the phone booth. 

Cohen’s final film as a director was “Original Gangstas,” an entertaining blaxploitation revival that brought back some of the genre’s greatest icons—including Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Ron O’Neal, Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier—to kick some young punk ass. However, while he wasn’t doing anything new, his legacy continued to flourish. A member of an informal club of genre filmmakers known as the Masters of Horror, he would go on to direct an episode of the horror anthology series by the same name in 2006. He had reportedly been working with JJ Abrams on a project anthology series for cable television. 

"Q: The Winged Serpent"

His oeuvre returned to the spotlight in 2017 with the release of “King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen,” a wildly entertaining documentary in which Cohen looks back on his crazy career and which features additional testimonials from friends and coworkers as well as a slew of mouth-clips that will make you want to see the full features immediately. Among students of the genre, Cohen’s influence as a storyteller cannot be denied.

Of course, any discussion of the works of Larry Cohen at this site cannot conclude without mentioning an anecdote that Roger and others would often cite. In 1982, “Q” screened at that year’s Cannes Film Festival under the original title “The Winged Serpent.” As those who have seen the film know, the movie is largely dominated by a brilliantly out-of-left-field performance by Michael Moriarty, the kind that might have earned awards had it not been included in a film where giant creatures tear the heads off of topless sunbathers. Anyway, after the screening, there was a luncheon and the following conversation was said to have taken place between Samuel Z. Arkoff, the B-movie legend who produced “Q,” and film critic Rex “Myra Breckenridge” Reed.

REED: Sam! I just saw “The Winged Serpent!” What a surprise! All that dreck—and right in the middle of it, a great Method performance by Michael Moriarty!

ARKOFF: The dreck was my idea.

A great story, of course, but the genius of Cohen—and I do mean “genius”—was that he took concepts that others could have easily reduced to dreck and transformed them into witty, provocative works that pushed all the right buttons. As a filmmaker, Larry Cohen was a true master—not necessarily of horror alone. For film fans who have long sparked to his offbeat output, his passing will prove to be a great loss.   

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[ao3feed-hamilton]

by Chysack

La Révolution est en marche à New York City. D'un côté, l'impitoyable chef de gang George King et sa grande armée de Redcoats. De l'autre est celui qui lui fut auparavant loyal, l'ex-Redcoat George Washington, tentant d'évincer son ancien boss avec uniquement une petite, bien que vicieuse force. Le NYPD est impuissant à arrêter la guerre de gangs qui approche. Quand la violence arrive à la mort d'innocents, le NYPD fait face aux faits : ils ne sont pas capable de gérer ça seuls.

Entre en scène Thomas Jefferson et James Madison, agents du FBI, spécialisés dans les guerres entre gangs et leur violence. A la tête d'une force spécialisée restreinte, les deux ont pour but d'arrêter la Guerre des Georges, faire chuter les deux chefs, et ramener la paix sur NYC. En théorie, une opération de routine. Ils sont des professionnels. Des experts.

Mais entre un King excentrique, un George Washington impitoyable, et un jeune soldat de gang nommé Alexander Hamilton simultanément mignon et frustrant, Jefferson et Madison se sont sans s'en rendre compte embarqués dans leur plus difficile mission à ce jour. Peuvent-ils arrêter les violences avant que trop ne meurent, ou seront-ils heureux de seulement s'en sortir en vie ?

Words: 1678, Chapters: 1/?, Language: Français

Fandoms: Hamilton - Miranda

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Theodosia Prevost Burr, Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, James Reynolds, Maria Reynolds, Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, Angelica Schuyler, Margaret "Peggy" Schuyler, George III of the United Kingdom, Hercules Mulligan, Samuel Seabury (1729-1796), Charles Lee, George Eacker, Benedict Arnold, Paul Revere, Sybil Ludington, Benjamin Franklin, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Martha Jefferson, Sally Hemmings, Louis XIV de France, Benjamin Tallmadge, Martha Washington, Phillip Hamilton, Everyone I guess- Character, Charles III of Spain, Abigail Adams, Adrienne de Lafayette, Juan Manuel de Cagigal y Monserrat

Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr/Theodosia Prevost Burr, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, George III of the United Kingdom/Samuel Seabury, George Washington/Martha Washington

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternative Universe - FBI, Gang Violence, Violence, Gun Violence, Blood, Massacre, Church Massacre, Religion Mention, vomitting, Hospitals, getting shot, Explicit Language, Liberal Interpretations Of History, non-canon timeline, First In The Fandom, Canon Death, Non-Canonical Character Death, Minor Character Death, Jefferson's POV, FBI Agent Thomas Jefferson, Gang member Alexander Hamilton, Sorry Not Sorry, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Undercover Missions, Slow Burn, the slowest of burn, show slow can the burn go?, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, Bad Parenting, Prostitution mention, kidnapping mention, Trans Male Character, transphobic language, Medical Inaccuracies, Torture, Disassociation, Disassociative States, Aftermath of Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Nightmares, Rebirth Imagery, Almost smut, Decapitation, Santeria, Religious Themes, Religious Conflict, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Eventual Smut, Bottom Thomas Jefferson, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, I Can't Believe I Wrote Porn About Our Founding Fathers, this will haunt me for the rest of my life, Suicidal Thoughts, Dubious Consent

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#IFTTT #ao3feed #Hamilton #fanfic