#david a. erickson

[filmaticbby]

Consent (2010) dir. Ron Brown

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

David just gave such an impassioned speech about how hard it is for strong white men that even Eva seemed put off.

[youcouldmakealife]

Masking, YCMAL edition

So, after the general info on masking, here's how it specifically looks like and impacts some of the 'verse's characters.

I think I kind of need to preface this with the fact that a lot of my characters have neurodivergent traits because, well. I do. I don't know how a neurotypical person thinks, the same way a neurotypical person doesn't know how a neurodivergent person thinks. You can read about the experience, and, despite shitty stereotypes to the contrary, you can empathize with it, but the wiring of the brain is literally different.

So when I'm listing characters here as neurodivergent, I either a) set out to write them that way or b) in hindsight can't deny that their experiences are written through a very specifically neurodivergent lens. Someone not being explicitly labelled as ND doesn't necessarily mean they aren't, I just..really don't want to go back through my entire 'verse applying diagnoses the same way I happily slap an MBTI or enneagram or kindergarten teacher/assassin label on them, because that feels wrong.

But if you're neurodivergent and see something in a particular character that makes you feel seen, I'm not going to tell you 'nah man, they're actually neurotypical'. Especially because literally every single one of them was written by someone neurodivergent.

Anyway! Canonically ND characters and their masks:

David: masks extensively. Generally does his best for 'unobtrusive, pay no attention', unsure why it doesn't seem to work (mostly because he's talented and beautiful, so it seems less 'unobtrusive' and more 'I think I'm better than you', which isn't helped by the fact that often when the mask does slip, it's to show frustration, contempt, or disdain -- think at the All-Star Game his rookie year, or several points early on with Jake. Also does not help that he often does think he's better than people.)

Bryce: Still laughing at 'straightsona' used to describe Bryce out with his teammates, because it's perfect. His 'I don't care, I'm hot as shit, bitches love me' dickhead behaviour was him picking up those behaviours from popular peers and teammates over the years, partly mistaking that for the reason they were popular (rather than being seen as boy kings making them callous or arrogant), and partly viewing them as the exemplar of someone no one would predict was gay. Jared's worst enemy.

Speaking of, honourable mention to Raf Sanchez AND Julius Halla here, Jared's going around collecting neurodivergent loved ones all through IJ(aoe).

James: 'unobtrusive, pay no attention', much more successfully than David, partly because he has a mouthpiece in the form of Finn. His crashing after road trips is partly extended overstimulation and change, but it's also having to wear the mask more extensively, because he has much less time to himself, especially when he shared a room. (He's mostly unmasked with Finn, that's why Finn is his exception to a lot of No People things, but he wasn't at the beginning).

Holden: Also kind of 'I don't care, I'm hot as shit, bitches love me', but...ironically? He doesn't mask as much as the others, and because of that, he frequently drives away people who originally seem to like him and wonders why. Has been described as 'a lot'.

Fiona: Literally will not leave the house without a full face of makeup and a pair of heels or she'll feel exposed and vulnerable, and putting her make up on is how she prepares to be Outside Fiona. She's very perky and friendly at work. The second she gets home it's an 'uggggh' moment and straight into the shower to decompress/literally unmask. She's more aware than any of the guys that she's putting on a performance, partly because she grew up with all those 'girls are expected to be...' followed by a list of things she definitively wasn't. Has also been described as 'a lot'.

Finn: And How May I Be of Service To You Today?

Now this is where it gets kind of interesting because like -- people often have facades. That's not a neurodivergent only thing. People can be fake, or posture, or pretend to be something they're not. Mike, for example, will lean into the big macho asshole when he's put on the defensive, Willy is Always Performing, Thomas is sunshine even when he doesn't really feel like being that, Robbie will play the buffoon to make people laugh if he thinks they need it, half of Joey's rants are playing to the cheap seats.

Like, there's a difference between pretending you're somebody else sometimes, or behaving inauthentically, and full on 'yeah, they're masking'.

But Georgie is masking. Georgie is, at all times, evaluating his surroundings, monitoring people's emotions and reactions (especially to him), and behaving in the manner he thinks is most likely to lead to his being liked. And he was already doing that when Robbie met him, but it's intensified significantly since.

I think that's where the biggest difference lies between some of the above ND characters and Georgie? David, for example, doesn't care if he's liked (like, yes he does, but also...no). The mask is for safety/to minimize vulnerability. David's in particular was tweaked to get praise and avoid criticism from his parents (didn't work), teachers, and coaches (worked much better), not so much for his peers.

But Georgie's isn't for safety. Georgie doesn't manage his behaviour to avoid harm, Georgie wants people to like him. And he's discovered that people don't seem to like him when he does certain things, or acts certain ways, or needs things from them, so he just...doesn't do those things.

Finn's interesting because he has both forms. Please like him it'll break his heart if you don't.

[metal-sludge]

METAL CHURCH (1980 - present) | CREEM Masters of Metal™, October 1987.

[warningsine]

[opelman]

1948 Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat NX800H by David G. Schultz Via Flickr: Erickson Aircraft Collection

[colonellickburger]

David Erickson. A telephone pole burns from the Smokehouse Creek fire in Canadian, Texas

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Swamp Thing 1982

[djkerr]

What did Alicia say?

Nothing. But she is advising him.

So we tell him to take emeritus status.

We've already been through that, but he does nothing for the bottom line so we do have cause.

Howard. You wanted to see us?

Yeah. Uh, I just wanted to say, uh, I brought in the Food Service Union.

Excuse me?

The Food Service Union. They were looking for new legal representation, and I landed them.

You convinced Ronnie Erickson?

Oh, yeah, nice guy. Friend of a friend. $33 million in yearly billing. Just thought you three should know.

TGW 07x03 Cooked

[all-action-all-picture]

The High Chapparal. First shown on US television on 10 September 1967 and ran for four seasons, finishing in March 1971. The High Chapparal was the name of the ranch in the series run by the Cannon family (Chapparal being the name of a plant). The main stars were Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchell, Henry Darrow and Linda Cristal with Mark Slade also starring in the first three seasons.

The theme tune was by David Rose, who also composed the theme to Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie as well as a piece of music called 'The Stripper' which many know better as the music Morecambe and Wise make their breakfast to. There is a bit of similarity to Telstar by The Tornados but the two tunes are distinct enough.

[hannahwatcheshorror]

BANSHEE CHAPTER (2013) REWATCH

Weird little film that gets a little too big for its britches. The plot is just too convoluted for what they were able to convey and make both interesting and scary. If you really want to watch a woman run around a desert for an hour and a half, knock yourself out.

⭐⭐

Trigger Warning Flashing Lights, Seizure, Suicide

This movie centers itself around the fact that the USA used to do secret experiments on its citizens without their knowledge or consent. One of the characters in this movie, James, got one of the drugs that was used to dope unwitting Americans and soon after experimenting with taking it he disappears. We follow Anne who has been looking for James since his disappearance, she is an old friend from film school who is determined to find him. When James first disappeared the police thought his friend who was with him was to blame but that friend went missing less than 72 hours later and was also never seen or heard from again. Spooky! Anne has to go to a radio specialist because there is a creepy radio station that keeps being played, a numbers station that just says random numbers and plays a kids song. Very creepy! While trying to pick up that tricky radio station Anne admits to herself and the camera that James was more than a friend and that she might have even been in love with him.

Anne is working with her editor at work on this who is surprisingly on board (maybe she will be using this for a story somehow? Who knows what goes on in the internet journalism game) and helps Anne a lot. The editor even points her in the direction of an author, Thomas Blackburn, who might have something to do with this whole crazy thing. Anne attempts to contact Thomas but he hangs up on her so she has to devise another plan. In the meantime she watches a government video about the drug (M. K. Ultra) that they had been giving the patients and it turns out they were getting it directly from dead people's brains. Yuck! And Wack! Anne figures out a way to get to Thomas, who did in fact have the drug and he tricks Anne into taking it! Oh, no! Things start to get out of hand very quickly at this point. Another girl that was there (the one who compounded the drug) starts to freak out about something that is coming and then something actually breaks into the house which at first Thomas thinks nothing of (drug hallucinations, he thought) but then he sees it for himself and gets scared. 

There is a blackout and Anne and Thomas end up passed out on the floor, the other girl is nowhere to be found. This scares them very much so they just get in a car and start driving away from the house. Anne and Thomas talk in the car, Anne tells him about James and Thomas admits he did send the boy the drugs but he didn’t know James disappeared. Suddenly, Anne sees an evil face and Thomas starts to sort of choke on his own blood. She quickly drives away from where they were and that seemed to stop the incident from happening but it was still very scary and neither of them really know what is going on. Thomas shares the H. P. Lovecraft story “From Beyond” with Anne (you know, the one where the guy has a tuning fork that resonates at a frequency that lets him see entities from other planes but he doesn’t realize until it is too late that those entities can also see him) and that really freaks poor Anne out.

Our freaked out Anne goes through the other girl's house to try and get some clues but only gets grabbed by a spooky hand while she is trying to leave. They find out that the military base that all the experiments were happening in is just there in the desert so they go out to try and put a stop to the madness (somehow). It is at this point that Thomas admits to Anne that he never gave her the chemical in the first place, he just lied to her to rile her up (hey, it worked). Anne could go home and be safe but she wants to see this through to the end (good for her, and good for Thomas who keeps bleeding from his eyes). They find the military base and break in and then find the source of the mysterious radio signal but at this point Thomas is really having a bad time and starts to seize up along with bleeding out of all the holes in his face so he shoots himself putting an end to his Misery. Anne is beside herself, her companion just killed himself and she is all alone in this scary place being chased by unknown entities.

It is all up to Anne to end this so first she hides from an entity then runs around it to get the jug of gasoline. She gets a good jumpscare but is able to bring the jug back and light up the thing that is sending out the radio signal. There is a minor explosion but it seems that she gets the job done. As she exits the room she finds James’ clothes on the ground all burnt up and destroyed and she knows that he is dead. She cries but then leaves the base, making her way to a police station to report what happened to Thomas (I guess). Her editor arrives and meets Anne at the station which is such a relief to her. They are having a nice chat when all of a sudden Anne hears the mysterious station playing again. Anne screams for help but when she turns around she sees the distorted face of her editor, it is too late. The last thing we see is a clip from the military base, we find out that Thomas had been experimented on as a youth so his involvement was inevitable.

-----------------------HANNAH WATCHES HORROR--------------------

[falconcrestalbumphoto]

Danny (David Sheinkopf) et Genele (Andrea Thompson).

[ellie88-blog-blog]

Sailor Beware

With a blend of humor, romance, and physical comedy, "Sailor Beware" weaves a delightful narrative filled with lighthearted moments and unexpected twists.

I have not reached one of my favorite Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis films, though not my all-time favorite of their collection. Their second military film, the 1952 Hal Walker directed “Sailor Beware” is a movie black and white musical comedy, I’ve watched many times over, usually when I’m feeling down, though it has been a while. This film is adapted from a 1933 play written by Kenyon Nicholson and…

[ericksonalaska]

A new novel by David Erickson: The Darkness

[warningsine]

[opelman]

1948 Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat NX800H by David G. Schultz Via Flickr: Erickson Aircraft Collection