#julianne is so invested also...

[yrsonpurpose]

Nicholas Galitzine talking about the connection between Mary & George and Red, White & Royal Blue

[kittyplushy]

House Guest lore? Oh yes, House Guest lore <3

For context House Guest is the ship name for my Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees self ship! It's a fairly new self ship so this will be updated as keep up with the new content IDW has been releasing for it!

Ship name is based on Nothing Painted Blue's House Guest which is often covered by The Mountain Goats. You should listen to this song.

Also you should read BTTWNS. Thanks.

Basing around this interview, the timeline of these events take place a year after the murders in Woodbrook have been resolved. Sam now runs the hardware store alone and babysits Charlie's kids every now and then. For the longest time Lola and Charlie were what she considered as friends in the lifetime she's spent in town. But with both of them gone, there's an air of sudden loneliness in her life. She does like the peace but then that just makes her impulses louder. More slip ups. This lingering feeling of fear or anger still brews inside her- how can it go away? Thankfully the residents are understanding of her condition. They did after all frame her for killing their neighbors for a time.

It's fair she'd be mad at them somehow. She doesn't show the grudge but the lack of any real relationship with people dented her and so she makes more trips to the city to hunt.

On a particular field trip, she stumbles upon her old camp. The earth broken with messy bald sinks. Grass had started growing over the sunken ground. She scoffs, this obviously was a job done by Nigel. She cleans back up the land and patches up the uneven soil. As she does she contemplates why he did it. Love? Obsession? Admiration?

How odd that a guy she's seen since he was a teenager decided to make advances on her.

Maybe it's norm. Nigel is 27. He's got a life to live and around that time people start to think about marriage or moving in or starting families. Maybe he could have gotten a crazy girlfriend back at his university. Maybe if he was not so dedicated he'd have a wife and a child today. He used to be a nice kid. He could have done something better than to disrupt the natural order of things.

Sam is 45. She's lived her entire life alone but not without experience. That's unnatural. In her travels she has had flings with girls and only had a serious relationship with 2 when she had to prolong her stay in some towns. Nobody in Woodbrook mind that she was childless or not romantically involved. But there were occasional condolances or pity parties thrown for her by old ladies. Why didn't she? Well it's probably because she's never really found the need to. And second, she's been only interested in women.

But it's not like there was a demand for her to be in a relationship anytime. These little women and men were her playthings. They couldn't possibly tell her how to settle down. But maybe to ease the tension and break the ice after a year of grieving and moving on. Sam thinks about dating for the purpose that she'll appear better off. Happier. Maybe with the added novelty that she's a lesbian.

It's a lot more positive association, isn't it? Sam had gotten tired of the apologies that punctuated every sentence directed at her. Why yes, tell me about my wife. Tell me about how nice it must be.

But like the wild animals people migrate in and out of Woodbrook. The women she found interest in either had married or went to the city. But people sometimes come in as a tourist or as a permanent resident. One of those people is Julianne, an illustrator who moved across the country to live in a more rural area.

Julianne is a stressed artist who dreams of living slowly and romantically. She chose Woodbrook because of how local and tight knit it was and because not much people are willing to come and invest in it yet after the horrors of 1986.

She bought an apartment suite to live in with big ambitions or visions of how she wants it to look like. One morning she came to the Burly Brown Bear with a binder full of sketches and magazine clippings. It's a grounded concept, she said as Sam flipped through the pages of the bestrewed book. It's as grounded as a maximalist can get. Mostly wood. Warm tones. Unique carvings and custom European windows.

Oh but we don't need to do that part, she laughs.

It's an eye opening pitch, but Sam decides to help her anyway excited to do another full scale project after a while.

This is perfect. They work on the project together growing to be close friends. Then the relationship breaches past a project partnership and they find themselves in parks, taking strolls around the forest that covers the town, drinking cider in Sam's truck or sleeping on the floor of the half finished apartment.

The town pick up on how close the two are becoming. And it's welcomed and encouraged, warming Julianne into the community from merely just being city folk and supporting Sam's bold open secret.

Her prop is useful. So useful. Too useful. That she forgets this is to save face. She feels the same primal satisfaction she feels when she kills with Julianne. A warm soothing hand that muffles the mouth of her soul.

Well. Sometimes Julianne still visits the city. She needs to go to work when it physically demands her. Or she just goes because she oddly enough feels comfort being blended in a crowd of faces. She goes there to ponder. And this overlap in schedule happens with Sam's "business trips". Sam panics realizing they're headed out too but. I mean she's probably on another side of the city. She won't see at all.

So she goes and she asks a deer for help bringing in her groceries. She chokes the doe and begins her usual routine. Ties. Hangs. Nails. Grinder. It's all there.

Nearby is a cat with a canvas bag eating lunch alone. She brought herself a strawberry sandwich and bought a cranberry slice to gift to her girlfriend later. She looks for a nice isolated spot near a river, but across the river is a silhouette of someone familiar. Is it? What a coincidence! Come eat lunch with me, silly.

A ritual is performed across the water. It's quiet and precise. Curiosity gets the better of Julianne and she crosses that stream, locking eyes with a bear slicing an incision on a deer's artery.

There's a silence that deafens.

[filmforager]

Echo Valley: Review

Sydney Sweeney tests the depths of a mother’s love

Sydney Sweeney became a household name as Cassie in Euphoria, a character known for her bad decisions and meme-able mental breakdowns. But that role seems almost tame in comparison with her latest, a manipulative drug addict who puts her poor mum through absolute hell. This fun thriller is laden with other strong performances, even if it isn’t terribly memorable.

From Michael Pearce, director of the thrilling Beast, this is another tense drama that peels back at the darker layers of its characters. In a small country town in Pennsylvania, we follow Kate (Julianne Moore), an occasional horse trainer who ambles passively through each day after her partner passes away. As well as her grief, she also has to contend with the erratic behaviour of her teenage daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney), who abuses her mother’s love (and wallet) to fuel her drug addiction. But when Claire accidentally crosses a local drug dealer (Domhnall Gleeson), Kate becomes entangled in the ensuing chaos.

When Kate finds herself disposing of a body to protect her daughter, you might think you have an idea of what kind of film this is. But Brad Ingelsby’s script is one that plays with expectation, chucking up a few audacious twists in the process. Kate’s methodical routine and dreamy flashbacks build a palpable sense of tension that will keep you invested, and you’ll be genuinely stressed for Kate as she tries to manage a terrible situation.

In Moore and Sweeney, Pearce also profits from having two actresses at the very top of their game. While Sweeney is brilliant as a volatile but vulnerable teenager, Moore convincingly goes from a powerless bystander to someone willing to wake up from her stupor and take control of her life. The film is best when it focusses on this relationship, and their strong chemistry makes some of the more left field twists a bit more palatable. And while they don’t have as much to do, there are also fun appearances from Fiona Shaw as the ride-or-die mother of Kate’s late wife, and Gleeson as a hammy villain who Kate can’t shake.

It's a shame then, that the film can’t keep up the early momentum. There are interesting narrative leaps taken in the second half, but the film doesn’t really stick the landing. The issue is that it all feels a bit too simple and convenient, lacking the shady human complexity of Pearce’s best work. It all heads towards a neatly wrapped up final act ridden with plot holes and implausibility. So instead of being a thriller that lingers in the memory, this works best as a fun Friday night diversion.

Though it doesn’t make the most out of its engaging performances and interesting premise, this taut thriller is ideal Friday night viewing.

★★★

[autumnrose11]

iloveeddieredmayne:

David Colman: How’s Budapest?

Eddie Redmayne: I spent the day in trenches. We’re filming a World War I miniseries, and, to be honest, I haven’t seen much of Budapest. It’s been head-down working, so I’m hoping to get a weekend at some point soon and have a proper scout.

Colman: How long have you been there?

Redmayne: About three weeks. We’re shooting an adaptation called Birdsong, from a British book by Sebastian Faulks. It’ a beautiful love story set in France - the guy goes out to fight in World War I and comes back to Amiens and finds it completely different. It’s the first time I’ve played a soldier, so we get to have guns and bayonets and things like that.

Colman: But you had some practice - you know, killing Julianne Moore like you did inSavage Grace.

Redmayne: I did have some practice killing Julianne, that’s true.

Colman: You’ve done a lot of period films, haven’t you?

Redmayne: Yeah! I feel like I’ve worked my way through the Medieval period into the Elizabethan period, and now having done My Week With Marilyn along with Savage Grace, I’ve done the ’50s and ’60s. I was just on a film in North Carolina, and it was set in the ’80s. I’m sort of, step-by-step, working my way into the modern day.

Colman: Is there another time you could see yourself living in?

Redmayne: I kind of loved doing the Marilyn stuff set in the ’50s. One of the great experiences was shooting in Pinewood Studios. Michelle Williams was in Marilyn Monroe’s dressing room, and we were shooting in the studio where The Prince and the Showgirl was shot. In the studios next door, you had [the production of the fourth] Pirates of the Caribbean, and you wandered down this long corridor, and you would literally see a dismembered pirate come out of one door and some turn-of-the-century French something-or-other come out of another.There was an eclectic romance in shooting there. It also really reminded me of the romance of working in this industry where you meet all these people and become very close very quickly, and then you all spin away again three months later. That makes for some intoxicating friendships. None of my family works in this world, and they always question that side of it. I always try to describe making movies like summer camp, or some holiday where you spend all day, every day with a group of people whom you kind of love and then never see again.

Colman: You were living in New York when you did the play Red on Broadway. How was that?

Redmayne: I’ve got to say, I had the most spectacular time of my life. I was living in the East Village in a great little flat by Astor Place, and I’d always had this romantic dream about living in New York at some point. When I was living in New York, I had this slightly wannabe bohemian existence and took up painting, at which I’m appalling. I also bought several guitars.

Colman: Wow, the whole nine yards.

Redmayne: I figured if I was going to live the cliché, I should probably live it all the way.

Colman: Did you start smoking hash?

Redmayne: No. It doesn’t work for me. But I did end up trying to fly back to London with an absurd number of guitars.

Colman: You live in London now, right?

Redmayne: I live just near the River Thames, down by the South Bank. But I haven’t been there much. I’ve been living out of suitcases.

Colman: How do you do that, living out of a suitcase?

Redmayne: When I go to these new places, I leave with crap that I didn’t arrive with, and I’ve actually invested in a load of bags that fall apart about five minutes after you use them. So I’ve ended up with that incredibly depressing scenario where you’ve landed at Heathrow and your bag comes out with that clear film wrapped around it. 

Colman: Like Saran Wrap?

Redmayne: It’s happened at least twice, and I always feel like it’s a metaphor for my state of mind at the end of a job. It’s this battered, barely-put-together thing.

Colman: So how did you come to this Marilyn Monroe project?

Redmayne: Originally, when the script came in, I read the book and I was fascinated by this character Colin Clark. He’d grown up surrounded by people like Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and Margot Fonteyn, who were friends of his parents, but he wasn’t intimidated by their fame. He went on to become a runner in the film industry. The film industry is incredibly hierarchical, a bit like Eton [College], which is where Clark went to school - and also where I went to school. But as a runner on a film set, despite the fact that you’re the lowest of the low, you also have access to everything, so what was challenging for me was that guy is kind of an observer and a cipher.

Colman: Were you a Marilyn Monroe fan going in?

Redmayne: I have to put my hand up here. I’m getting better, but I remain one of the most ill-educated filmgoers in the world, so it was a wonderful excuse to watch a lot of Marilyn Monroe movies. What’s amazing is this whole movie is about how she was going through this incredibly desperate, dark time, and was a nightmare from all accounts - and yet when you watch The Prince and the Showgirl, she has this lightness and frivolity and this kind of sexy effortlessness.

Colman: She does that sort of effervescent quality - especially in Some Like it Hot [1959],The Seven Year Itch [1955], and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes [1953]. She was such a brilliant comedian. It’s interesting in this movie to watch her go to such lengths to be seen as serious - you know, having Paula Strasberg there on set the whole time. And it’s not that she’s a bad actress, but everyone just sort of wants her to do that thing that’s so amazing.

Redmayne: I know. “Do that thing!” “Be sexy!” - It’s such a damning moment when Olivier says that to her. It can be a miserable profession , acting, because you always want what you can’t have.

Colman: I just watched Savage Grace last night. You were amazing.

Redmayne: That was a really special project for me, which I chased and chased and chased, and finally got, thanks to Tom Kalin, the director, and to Julianne. It’s one of those scripts that you read and you become sort of embarrassingly protective of it, like, “Please don’t let anyone else get this!”

Colman: I can see why - It’s such an amazing role.

Redmayne: It is, but it’s also the kind I love. In England we have this saying about Marmite: people either love it or hate it. That’s like a lot of the movie work I’ve done. People either find it repulsive or find it really interesting and get engaged in it. 

Colman: Incest tends to do that sort of thing. Either you love it or you don’t.

Redmayne: And now, in this film Hick I’ve just done, I play this Texan meth-addict pedophile with a limp …

Colman: Oh, is that all? No skin conditions? Teeth missing?

Redmayne: He does have all his teeth - I thought about getting a few knocked out, but no. I remember a friend was curious as to whether I was going to do it, and they were like, “Well, maybe the subject matter’s a bit intense,” and then they were like, “No, he’s doneSavage Grace! He’s done incest - come on.”

 Interview Magazine, September 2011

Eddie Redmayne Interviewed by David Colman

[numboctopus]

Most courageous lesbians on TV

Izzie (Atypical)

Izzie does, what no lesbian ever did or ever will do. She comes out to her bff who has a boyfriend, twice! First, she uses the “forehead promise” to show Casey her affection. Afterwards Casey, who obviously gets confused, ignores Izzie’s interest and makes out with Evan consciously obvious when Izzie is around.

Instead of hiding her gayness for the rest of her life, Izzie turns up at Casey’s night workout to finally confront her. Considering that Izzie has a bad relationship with her mother and only superficial friends besides Casey, she risks her only valuable relationship. Showing her love in her supposedly straight friend makes her pretty vulnerable. She really invests a lot here.

Gigi (The L Word Generation Q)

I think Gigi is the lesbian we all want to be and we all want to date. Her communication skills are phenomenal. I really hope, she and Dani will be end game, because this is the most beautiful relationship I have ever seen on the L word.

Gigi invests so much. She gives Dani tons of hints and of course Dani understands. However, she deals with her ex-relationship, her father’s legal problems and saving the company. It is not clear if Dani prefers a friendship or is ready to start a new relationship, but Gigi stays confident and straightforward.

Gigi is true to Dani about her feelings and she introduces her early to her family. This shows that Dani is not just a short adventure for her like the Throuple or Bette.

Emma Nolan (Prom)

I almost cried. What is going on with these people at Emma Nolan’s school? They throw two Proms, one for her and one for the rest of the school, because they hate lesbians. This is too tough, even for a teenager.

Emma is true about being gay while nobody else in Indiana is. Her girlfriend is deep in the closet, but still Emma comes out and fights for her right to dance with her at the Prom. She is a hero.

Laurel Hester (Freeheld)

Freeheld tells a true story from the early 2000′s. For me sometimes this time seems like yesterday, but Freeheld reminds me on why it was so tough to get out. It was really not the same time as now and a lot has evolved since then. Also the last 10 years really changed the world for gays. Laurel Hester was one of these heroes who changed the system and Julianne Moore was blessed to play her. I highly recommend this movie. Go watch it, if you haven’t yet.

Carol (Carol)

Carol is pure self-confidence! I mean, this is the 1950′s. Everyone is a homophobe and seriously, the way she flirts is so courageous. Of course this is fictional, because it never happens, even not now and not in 100 years from now. She meets someone who looks super stereotypically straight and who is engaged to some guy. Whatever, Carol is here and changes Therese’s whole life in a couple of seconds. What should I say.

Amy (Women love Women)

Amy is one of the few masculine lesbians on TV at all. It is 2021 and nothing has changed. We have Shane, we have Finley... they are both some kind of hybrid baby butch. I don’t know why movie and TV producers hesitate to show masculine lesbians, but they obviously do.

Amy lives in the 70′s and gets to know Linda in a lesbian bar. They start dating, but Linda’s friends confront Amy on her masculinity. They accuse her on not being a feminist because of her looks. Amy has to justifiy her appearance even around progressive gay women.

In my opinion, this is a unique story on TV. When I used to be part of the lesbian scene and went to parties at the weekends, I personally noticed this split of the lesbian community. I am not sure if it still exists.

Lily (Sex Education)

Tbh I am not that much interested in the story of Lily and Ola, but Lily is a true hero. I am a fan of musicals... and what did she do? I think her interpretation of Romeo and Juliet is the best musical anyone has ever directed. I would very much love to watch it live. It was the craziest party of vagina-something-alien-sex-octopus-music-pure art. I don’t know about art, but this was pure art and it was the best.

[bastart13]

Who are some of the other artists in The Arcana fandom that you would recommend?

Gahh this is a great question because I get to babble about all the artists I admire in this fandom but it’s also hell because I’m sure I’ll look at this later like “HOW DID I FORGET [insert name]???!”

But, as I remember for now:

@sketchy-saram has such a cute and beautiful art style and the way they create and explore their OCs and show character through the different scenes they draw or write is honestly such an inspiration. Also they have too many fanchild pairings with @lazyvoyager I’m hoplessly invested in.

Speaking of, @lazyvoyager was one of the first artists that inspired me to draw for the Arcana. They have a great sense for stylistic exaggeration, Illain is a top-tier fan apprentice, their art is impossibly expressive and dynamic and, again, I’m hoplessly invested in their fanchildren OCs.

@timmys-and-scribbles has such a good apprentice! Julianne is paired with Julian and their dynamic is so?? good?? Timmy is fantastic at drawing comics and sequential art and her use of posing and expression is something to admire, not to mention how gorgeous her illustrations are (she can somehow draw bird people/feather details???)

@slushrottweiler-blog again has incredible OCs. The detail she puts into her character design is astonishing and I really like how she does lineart. It’s a beautiful style which gives a lot of personality to her drawings and the scenes she draws with both OCs and canon character are always lovely!

@agent-darkbootie is so creative with the way they explore different AUs and mixing OCs with canon. Again, agent is an artist who really knows how to put character into their art and it’s beautiful to look at. Also, it’s a small thing but I’m obsessed with how they draw curly hair. It’s to die for!

I absolutely can’t get over how much detail @jyiori puts into their art. I’m in constant awe at how natural and soft their posing can be and then you add beautiful clean colouring and a fantastic understanding of the Arcana style while also being recognisable as their own style and their art leaves me in awe

@jilljoycearts‘s colouring is honestly to die for. Every time I see her art, I’m blown away with how clean and detailed it is, while also being able to do backgrounds, lovely and natural poses, and gorgeous expressions. It’s a small thing but she can draw the arcana style so well at different angles. It sounds silly but that always sticks out to me.

If you want good Muriels, @mountain-man-cumeth is the place to go. Her apprentice Karayan is absolutely gorgeous and his relationship with Muriel is really well developed. She has an incredible sense of posing and anatomy that really inspires me to improve in my own art.

[I’m still screaming about these ngl]

@jyuukichannart is also a great artist to go to if you want good Muriels. Her art style is incredibly soft and it’s all so pretty. Her costume design and attention to detail is beautiful and the way she draws expressions really hits what the character is feeling at the time. She’s another artist where I’m in constant awe of her natural posing.

@greyhands is probably the best artist I’ve seen when it comes to replicating the Arcana style. Her sense for physical space and lord the detail in her art is on another level. Every time I see it, I’m gobsmacked with how beautiful it is. She puts so much effort and hits the perfect amount of detail in everything she draws.

@savenkey mainly posts her art on instagram (momky_savenky or luc.eris) but gosh it’s beautiful. She’s already been an incredible influence on my own art with her amazing edits and resources which she provides for the fandom, but her art... just wow! Eris is an iconic apprentice and her lineart and colouring is a true inspiration.

@myarcanamess is gorgeous with character designs and his lighting is beautiful. He really knows how to set a scene with how he draws expressions and the environments the characters are in. He’s especially good with drawing Muriel and Asra and I can’t get enough of it.

@aaliyah-draws is another Arcana artist who inspired me to draw for the Arcana in the first place. Valarie is one of the prettiest apprentices around and her dynamic with Julian is amazing. The way she uses colour is unblelievably gorgeous, her art is so expressive and soft, and her costume design is just.....I can’t put into words how much I love it.

.......I’ve been writing this post for over half and hour and I’m sure I have more to talk about T_T

There are too many good artists in this fandom, guys

[thedelicatearcher]

9 people you want to know better tag :)

three ships: anthony and kate from bridgerton, katniss and peeta from thg, and quinn and rachel from glee. (i also want to say arthur and eames from inception)

first ship: my first ship (non-book) was kendall and joe from big time rush. i was INVESTED

last song: my kink is karma by chapell roan!! (going on a mini road trip tomorrow and the rise and fall of a midwest princess will be my personal soundtrack)

last movie: i'm currently watching theater camp, but the last one i finished was may december. honestly the whole movie felt so sinister, my skin crawled at every julianne moore's scene (and i had to google the meaning of some scenes lol)

currently reading: mockingjay (i'm only one page in), also where rainbows end (the love rosie book) but i stopped because i got soooo frustrated

currently watching: theater camp!!! it's my second watch, one of my new comfort movies :)

currently eating: a banana shake with oats. i should've let it mix longer...

currently craving: to feel less sad every day or to own a snoopy mug

no pressure tag!!

@sparklebear11 @ishouldbepushindaisies @m0nsterqzzz @pinkanon-com @loovely-lilly @finnickodairslut @millie-mei @imreading105 @urfavfairyluvr

tagged by @themarydragon 🥰

9 people you want to know better tag

Three Ships: Zelink (Zelda/Link, Legend of Zelda), Shirbert (Anne/Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables or Anne With An E) and Locklyle (Lucy/Lockwood from Lockwood and Co)

First Ship: i joined tumblr in 2017 for BoTW Zelink and all of my fandom experience spiralled from here. i started playing LoZ games before that though, maybe 2008? and there was a fanfic tab (though it wasn't called like that) on the help website i used

Last Song: ......... "Last Night - Official Madison Song" by Chris Anderson and DJ Robbie (it's on my summer playlist bc of childhood nostalgia, i don't go out of my way to listen to it usually 😂)

Last Movie: Maze Runner: The Death Cure (justice for Newt)

Currently Reading: book wise, I just finished The Two Towers (and am not so patiently awaiting Return of the King to, well, return to the library so i can borrow it)

Currently Watching: Once Upon A Time (nearly done with S1)

Currently Eating: waiting for my dinner to cook (ratatouille and semolina and eggs)

Currently Craving: CHEESE. my kingdom riches gratitude for a scrap of french cheese!!!!

tagging: @js589 @ohmyoverland @hailqiqi @unnamednarrator @practicallyasleep @cateringfears @applesjuice @redplaidjacket @beckybubbles would love your thoughts on this if that's something you're up to :)

[bisluthq]

“If people want connections to be a secret, they don’t hint at them on film.” see that’s exactly what also gets me about swiftgron though. to me the idea of taylor writing a song explicitly referencing her ex’s favourite piece of media that she even has a tattoo for but then making that song about their extremely secret and doomed love affair is just as ridiculous and unrealistic as re-enacting her secret doomed love affair where “no one has to know what [they] do” in a music video. like neither adds up

I hear u lol that’s why the only Gaylor pairing I genuinely do buy - to the same degree as I buy like Matty x Tay - is Julianne Hough and her. Like I entertain Swiftgron but I do hear u lol. To me it can’t have been that deep and for her to do public references to something that’s not that deep is admittedly a bit odd.

That said like it’s sexy to imagine Wonderland is “for” Quinn from Glee and not like just about sex with anyone in her Nashville penthouse lol which is likely what it’s about since that’s Alice inspired yk?

Also I’m a 1989 anti so I’m just not that invested either way.

[weekendwarriorblog]

Sundance 2022 DAY 1 & 2: Emergency, FRESH, When You Finish Saving the World, After Yang

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival kicked off on Thursday, January 20 with a bunch of Day One films in different categories, and I tried to watch a cross-section of films, although I have to spread my viewing out, and still have to watch movies for next week’s column. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have a full-time paying job right now, huh?

EMERGENCY

Directed by Carey Williams, Emergency stars RJ Cyler (Power Rangers, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) as Shaun and Donald Elise Watkins (Black Box) as Kunle, two college students going to Buchanan, best friends and roommates who are looking forward to a night of partying by doing aLegendary Tour, essentially attending seven frat and club parties in one night. Kunle and Shaun are very different, Kunle being a studious science student whose doctor parents put a lot of pressure on him to do well scholastically, while Shaun comes more from the streets. They’ve become friends as roommates, along with their even nerdier roomie Carlos (Sebastian Chacon). Before heading out to do the tour, Shaun and Kunle go home to find a comatose girl (Maddie Nichols) in their living room, and they have to figure out what to do with her. Kunle wants to take her to a hospital, but Shaun warns that if they call 911, as black men, they’re likely to be blamed or even get shot. As the three roomies try to figure out what to do with the girl, her older sister (Gillian Rabin) tries to track her phone with her friends, leading to a night of escalating events.

This is the second feature for WIlliams after last year’s R#J, also starring Cyler, which I had not seen. There’s more than a little bit of Superbad (and ergo Booksmart) in the plot, as it follows the events of a single night. It’s great to see Cyler having such a great role after playing the middle role in one of my favorite Sundance movies ever (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl). He really drives most of the laughs in this one, although there’s also a bit of situational humor in how these three college guys get caught up in an ever-worsening situation. The movie features a particularly sharp script by KD Davila that allows Williams and his talent to play with the ever-changing tone but maintaining a brisk pace that keeps the viewer invested.

Emergency was pre-bought by Amazon Studios before the movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and when you watch it, you can tell why. I’s such a rousing film that’s both funny and moving, and Williams’ movie would have absolutely killed at the Eccles, so it’s a shame the filmmaker won’t have that experience.

Emergency works better as a comedy than it does as social commentary, and it might start to get a little too serious in its last act after setting itself up as a raunchy comedy. Still, there’s a lot of great talent on display here, and I imagine it should play well on Amazon.

Rating: 7.5/10

WHEN YOU FINISH SAVING THE WORLD

The next film is Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut after appearing in a number of Sundance premieres over his career. I’ve interviewed Jesse many times since first talking to him for The Squid and the Whale, and I’ve been to a few of his sets, as well, so I’m both excited and proud that he was able to make this movie and have it premiere on Day 1 of this year’s Sundance. It already has distribution planned from A24, to be released later this year, and it’s even produced by his Zombieland co-star Emma Stone with her husband David McCary, as well!

Set in Indiana, Finn Wolfhard – who apparently recorded an audiobook written by Eisenberg, which he in turn adapted into this film – plays Ziggy, a livestreaming social media singer/influencer who performs songs for global fans who tip him generaously. Julianne Moore plays his mother Evelyn, a social worker at a rehab shelter, who gives advice to parents having issues with their own kids. The two of them have not been getting along, and Eleanor takes a shine to the son of one of her patients named Kyle (Billy Bryk). Presumably seeing more in Kyle she’d like from her son Ziggy, she ends up spending more time with Kyle and interfering with his future against his real mother’s wishes.

Oddly, this actually reminded me of Squid and the Whale, although with different characters and situations and presumably not as autobiographical as Noah Baumbach’s earlier film. In some ways, it’s an interesting look and commentary on young people today, especially with how they want to be social media influences. Ziggy acts very self-important and narcissist about this own achievements getting followers, but to the other kids his age, he comes off as pretentious, making it all about himself while there’s so many bigger and more important concerns in the world. Ziggy likes a girl named Lila (Alisha Boe), who performs angry beat poetry, and he strives to sound more intelligent and political, which makes his mother mad at how he “takes shortcuts” rather than really trying to learn about global issues.

The movie feels very episodic in its storytelling as it slowly introduces these two characters who seem rather awkward in their own skins, lacking confidence when it comes to dealing with others, as much as they exude confidence in making some of their own bad decisions. As Eleanor bonds with Kyle, she lies to her husband and son about her activities, but it also seems like Ziggy pushes his mother away, pushing her to want to help Kyle, who actually has his own mother, who is in Eleanor’s care. It’s obviously a conflict of interests, but it’s just one of many things that she does that makes one question her motives.

In general, these are both generally unlikable characters at times, especially as Eleanor sometimes acts more childish than Kyle when they get into one of their fights. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of Wolfhard, and Ziggy is more than a little annoying – maybe it’s just ‘cause I’m a crotchety old adult. At times, you may wonder if Eisenberg is following Woody Allen into the world of having younger actors playing iterations of himself. (Not that I’m saying Eisenberg himself is annoying, far from it, but he definitely has his strengths and tics, which Wolfhard, at times, seems to be emulating.)

The film also offers some interesting music and quite a varied score from Emile Mosseri, who did the music for Minari (and whom I interviewed a year ago.)

When You Finish Saving the World is a semi-decent character study with some funny moments in terms of its sociopolitical commentary, but it also feels very much like a Sundance movie, similar to many others we’ve seen before.

Rating: 7/10

FRESH

My first “Midnight” screening of this year’s Sundance is this horror film directed by music video director Mimi Cave, making her feature debut with a film that stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Noa, a young woman who we follow on a series of bad dates until she meets a good-looking guy, played by Sebastian Stan, at a supermarket, and they hit it off. After a few dates, she goes off with him to a house in the middle of nowhere, and that’s where things get dark. That’s also when we get the film’s title credits, an odd new trend I first noticed in the acclaimed Drive My Car. Her best friend Mollie, played by comedian Jojo T. Gibbs, gets suspicious about whether her friend is okay and starts to investigate Noa’s disappearance.

I can’t really relate to the awful dating scene, because I haven’t really dated in many, many years (by choice!), but I guess it can be important in many a young person’s life.That part of the film starts out a little too cutesy and Millennial for this old man, but then the film’s tonal shift is also when it becomes the type of horror I’m not a big fan of either, when there’s women being preyed upon or tortured for entertainment. Noa ends up communicating with two other women who were also tricked into her situation, but the film just drags as Noa begins interacting with her charming kidnapper with no forward movement on the story until the last act, which mostly makes up for it.

Stan is really good, though it’s really hard accepting him as such an awful character, especially as he’s singing and prancing around. I also just don’t feel very comfortable with casual conversations about cannibalism, since as a long-time vegetarian, I can get queasy just thinking about eating ANY kind of meat. And watching lots of scenes of people eating human? Just not for me either. It’s one of the reasons I walked out of Julia Corournau’s after 20 minutes and have never seen the rest of it.

That said, FRESH is a very well-made and also a fantastic looking genre flick – Cave is a talent on par with Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell, for sure – but it takes such drastic shifts in tone, it reminded me very much of American Psycho, which I really didn’t like the first time I saw it either. It also reminded me a bit of Misery, but with genders reversed, it comes off more sensationalistic and in the vein of Eli Roth’s Hostel (and other horror movies he’s made). Maybe FRESH is similarly an acquired taste. As with a few of the other movies reviewed above, FRESH premiered at Sundance with distribution already in place via Searchlight Studios and will stream on Hulu on March 4.

Rating: 6/10

AFTER YANG

So many critics went gaga over Kogonada’s previous movie, Columbus, which premiered at Sundance maybe five years ago. I was mixed on it, so I’m going into his latest movie with a bit more trepidation, even though apparently it premiered way back in July 2021 at Cannes. And of course, the critics went gaga for it as well. Plus it already has distribution from A24, since this is definitely their kind of thing.

Based on a short story by Alexander Weinstein called “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” it’s a sci-fi tinged drama, starring Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith as parents Jake and Kyra with a young daughter named Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja). It shows how this family has to deal with the malfunction of their “techno-sapien” Yang (Justin Min). Mika is particularly upset, but there are complications in reviving Yang, since he has things in his memory bank that might be good to preserve in a museum. One of the things Jake discovers is a girl within Yang’s memories (played by Columbus returnee Haley Lu Richardson), which may have been a romantic connection, which would prove Yang to have feelings.

Honestly, the best part of this movie is the opening titles with families of four synchronized dancing in a global competition, but it’s a sequence that gives off the false impression that this will be a movie with any sort of kinetic movement whatsoever. Instead, we follow Farrell’s character as he goes around meeting with different people trying to figure out how to save Yang, talking to various people including a mechanic named Russ.

The results are another contemplative piece that is at least slightly more interesting than Columbus, because it’s a far more interesting premise and story in the vein of Kubrickian science-fiction with beautiful production design across the board.

I did feel somewhat bad for poor Justin Min who has a few scenes including the opening and title, but other than a few flashback moments, he’s just lying there while everyone else talks about his character. Beyond that, the movie is just lots of philosophical and metaphysical blather about things like tea and about what it means to be human, and boy, I just did not have the patience for this at all.

Along with the production design, the score is quite pretty and adds a lot to the many nearly dialogue-free scenes, but probably my favorite part of the whole movie was the song that ran over the end credits. Because that meant it was over.

Honestly, this is not the kind of movie I would ever need to watch again, nor would it be something I’d recommend whole-heartedly to just anyone. In other words, it’s another yawner that doesn’t care if it keeps the viewer invested or entertained for long, as long as it can appeal to those who are more concerned with auteurism than anything resembling entertainment.

Rating: 6/10

I should have a few more reviews from Sundance tomorrow or Sunday.

[whatiwillsay]

Re the karlie betrayal/ im not that anon but i loved your post. I really believe karlie kinda told scooter about her plans to come out cause in 2018 taylor wasn't friends w karlie but she didn't hate her either and also i know you don't believe they were together but i do kinda think they had something going on around 2013 or 14, karlie is the only one who fits the daisy thing (she tagged her) and also while maybe taylor didn't write you are in love about her she kinda gifted it to her, maybe it was taylor who was more in love and karlie is just one of those girls who kisses her friends and stuff (whatever not really into kaylor).

But hear me out, i really believe taylor told her exes she was planning on coming out. Julianne literally came out of nowhere, she was in a pr marriage (her husband has gay rumours and he kinda said he wanted to explore his sexuality but that's a dif topic). Dianna probably didn't care cause she wasn't very public while she was w winston and no one is really gonna point at her cause they were very private. And maybe karlie didn't want her to come out, even if they weren't together, if taylor comes out everyone is gonna believe kaylor was real because a lot of people already do, so she probably told her.

The other theory doesn't really make sense for me cause 1. I don't believe taylor was given the opportunity to purchase them 2. It was a big amount of money for sure but taylor probably has a lot of money and she could've found an investment group or something if she knew the masters would be sold to scooter. Rerecording all her albums is not cheap either.

Idk let me know what you think if you want :). If not that's fine i know this was a long post but i love theories

this is a really fair theory! i think it's entirely possible tho it's hard to know for sure! karlie's betrayal in the master's heist remains a mystery but this is a good theory!

[breanime]

So word on the street is ben barnes is hooking up with julianne hough. I normally don't care for celebs personal lives. HOWEVER I am so mad at him AND you. You have made me believe that that precious little noodle boy was destined to be with WOC. He needs to get his shit together because he OBVIOUSLY needs some swirl in his life.

Lmaoooooo listen, when he's ready, all he has to do is come and find me and I will ROCK. HIS. WORLD.

Also, samesies about not caring for celebs personal lives but I'm INVESTED in Ben and I just do not vibe with Julianne. Idky, I just don't.

Ben, let me love you!!!

[tabloidtoc]

In Touch, April 12

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Reese Witherspoon divorce shocker

Page 1: Contents

Page 2: Who Wore It Better? Heidi Klum vs. Maren Morris in Dundas, Scarlett Johansson vs. Ingrid Andress in Tom Ford, Kate Upton vs. Zoey Deutch in Old Navy

Page 4: Kylie Jenner bought all of this instead of helping a friend -- Kylie gave $5000 to a GoFundMe to help pay a portion of the medical bills for Samuel Rauda, a makeup artist friend-of-a-friend who'd been in a serious accident, but when Kylie urged her fans to donate as well, she was slammed for not covering all his expenses. Here are the investments that were worth her hard-earned bucks

Page 5: Man Candy of the Week -- Jason Derulo leaving an L.A. gym after a two-hour sweat session, Number of the Week -- 1 million viewers Ellen DeGeneres has lost from her talk show following allegations of a toxic workplace, Clapback of the Week -- Priyanka Chopra to a critic who suggested she wasn't qualified to announce the Oscar nominations, TMI of the Week -- Orlando Bloom who replied Not Enough when asked how often he and Katy Perry have sex adding we just had a baby though, Makeover of the Week -- Leah McSweeney goes from blonde to red

Page 6: Crib of the Week -- Rihanna's Beverly Hills stunner, Winner of the Week -- Prince Harry who on top of his Netflix and Spotify deals scored a new job as an executive at a San Francisco-based tech startup, Loser of the Week -- Dr. Oz as former Jeopardy! contestants and fans call for his removal accusing the celebrity doc of dispensing dubious health advice over the years

Page 8: Up Close -- Julianne Hough introducing her new Fresh Vine wine line with Nina Dobrev

Page 9: Nick Jonas holding a Blake Shelton bobblehead on The Voice, Heidi Klum's husband Tom Kaulitz gets cheeky at a backyard barbecue

Page 10: Britney Spears' boyfriend Sam Asghari shows off his pecs while heading to the gym in L.A., a new photo of Kristen Stewart as the late Princess Diana in the upcoming movie Spencer

Page 12: Bethenny Frankel wipes out in the waves in Miami, Neil Patrick Harris snorkeling, Paul McCartney soaks up the rays in St. Barts

Page 13: Rose McGowan at the beach in Tulum, Mexico

Page 14: Demi Moore with two puppies on #NationalPuppyDay, Selena Gomez shares a throwback photo of her and Taylor Swift and her cat Benjamin Button

Page 16: Duchess Kate Middleton and Prince William return to their wedding venue Westminster Abbey for an official engagement a few weeks before their 10th anniversary

Page 18: Madonna serving her signature look at age 62, Justin Bieber gets a neck tattoo referencing his latest single Peaches

Page 20: Sharon Stone has had a lot of health problems, she writes about in her new memoir

Page 21: Gwyneth Paltrow is desperate to get Meghan Markle to collaborate with her on future content for Gwyneth's wellness and lifestyle company Goop -- she know Meghan once had a similar site called The Tig, pre-Harry, and she'd bring so much exposure to Goop -- of course Gwyneth also thinks it'd be cool to say she's friends with Meghan as Gwyneth is very focused on status and loves the royal family and they're neighbors in Montecito, so she's been going out of her way to ingratiate herself into Meghan and Harry's life -- Gwyneth even sent Meghan a box of products from Goop's website

* Alex Rodriguez and Barbara Corcoran: Worst Landlords Ever? -- critics sure think so after a building in which the stars are part-owners threw out a COVID-19 victim's belongings while he was in the hospital -- Ryo Nagaoka was admitted to Bellevue in January and returned to his East Village home in late March to find it virtually empty and the locks changed but the building's managers who control the daily operations were just protecting the other residents as Nagaoka's condition had deteriorated some much, they felt his apartment was a health hazard -- Alex hasn't commented on the incident, but Barbara says the management company, with Mr. Nagaoka's permission, has fully renovated his apartment and everyone is the building is beyond thrilled to discover he had returned

* Star Sightings -- Nina Agdal, Brooklyn Decker, Chrishell Stause

Page 22: Cover Story -- Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth hanging by a thread -- tears, threats and a costly mistake: why Reese and Jim are at the breaking point -- in many ways, they're leading separate lives

Page 26: Bindi Irwin's baby joy -- introducing Grace Warrior Irwin Powell

Page 28: After eight year of hell, Bethenny Frankel is finally divorced from Jason Hoppy, and she's ready to wed again to Paul Bernon

Page 30: Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla's anniversary from hell -- Charles' marriage with Camilla is cracking under pressure -- the last few weeks have been an absolute nightmare for the couple

Page 34: The Big Interview -- Sherri Shepherd

Page 36: Beauty -- Spring's fragrance fix -- Kaia Gerber

Page 40: Animal Overload

Page 46: Horoscope -- Aries Mandy Moore turned 37 on April 10

Page 48: Last Laughs

[hollisticallyoptimistic]

(JULIANNE HOUGH, 26, SHE/HER/HERS) | ISLA DAVIES is the CHILD OF WENDY DARLING, who is also a SIBLING TO ONE SIBLING. Whispers in Auradon claim that they are PREPPY + ARROGANT, aligning them with the rebellion against the monarchy. Something wicked is brewing in Auradon, keep your wits about you. [CLARKE, 21, SHE/THEY, CST]

Playlist link

Musings

·        Isla inherited her mother’s knack for storytelling, however, as she grew older, she became much more of a cynic. She behaves very similarly to jane in Peter Pan 2, but not quite. She doesn’t trust many people and has spent a very large portion of her life on Neverland.

·        Chaotic neutral, she doesn’t necessarily agree with the monarchy, but the way things were before weren’t perfect either.

·        Isla never truly felt like she was from Auradon, she has spent a large part of her life there and back from Neverland, a scenario her mother was not the most comfortable with. She probably thought it was something to do with the loss of her father, trying to prolong childhood, and to some extent that was right.

·        Isla is a commitmentphobe, she doesn’t stay anywhere very long, not if she can help it.

·        Isla and her mother have an odd relationship, when her father left for who knows where and who knows why, she started stopping staying in place, that was when she made her first long trip to Neverland, her mother hoped this would be good for her, but good depends on who you ask

Relationships

·        Honestly, I really want her to have all the things (basic I know but some more specific ideas will be below)

·        She has very few people actively invested in her life, partially a result of her simply being so reserved. She has that constant new kid state of mind because between her stints in Neverland, the people around her grow up faster than she does, not by much, but time does pass differently for her. I’d love for her to have someone that’s been like a constant for her

·        Homegirl has “daddy issues” and with that she may have had flings with older men, they never really matter to her, but she loves a good misplaced affection moment

·        One of the few true constants in her life is her sibling, they are her whole world. I’d love for them to be super close, but oftentimes she compares herself to them negatively (think superboy and the invisible girl)

·        Maybe a frenemies to lovers situation?

[liebegott]

Hi! I just want to say that one, I really really love your writing so I’m very happy to see you’re making more oc’s and two, is there anyone you look up to in this fandom for writing? 💜 just curious

thank you so much 🥺🤍 i’m really glad you love my writing, and i appreciate your kind words!

it took me awhile to write list down all my favourite things about these lovely and talented writers, but please check out their work! they’re all incredible at what they do.

(not in any order btw)

@kathikon

sloane has some of my favourite writing ever. i always joke around and say he’ll give madeline miller a run of her money and that’s the TRUTH. he mainly writes for gen kill, and a lot of it is angsty and violent, and all of them are BEAUTIFUL (if i may i add). he should definitely be a published author, because he has such a delicate way of tying his words together. each paragraph, each sentence, each phrase is filled with so much love, and its communicated every time i read his work.

i’m also super stoked about all the fics he has coming 🥺 if you like being mindfucked and brad/nate, i suggest checking out Folie á Deux! its literally one of my favourites to read when i wanna go “sloane what the fuck i’m crying why would you do this” and yet i still crave more once i’m done.

@hellitwasyoufirstsergeant

imagine not looking up to angelica’s writing? could never be me. my favourites tag is dense with all her oneshots/imagines, and i have a literal tag called “angelica absolute art” because that’s exactly what her writing is. ART. i definitely look up to the way she’s careful with what she writes, and she does each character so perfectly. like seriously how are you so amazing at having everyone in character?

i’m also so excited for her upcoming fic 🥺🤍 i had the pleasure of making moodboards for her two ocs, and from the little information she’s given me about them, i’m already emotionally invested! pure talent. everyone should definitely check out her masterlist, she does everything from sfw and nsfw so beautifully!

@vintagelavenderskies

krysta. makes. me. cry. but in a good way, and tbf, she makes herself cry as well so she and i are even. i loved her agent carter fic so much despite having not seen the show myself. i love the way she treats each of her ocs like her babies! i love hazel and lina so much as a result. she also puts so much research into her work, which is so admirable. 

she’s been kind enough to show me parts of Bleeding Hearts, and as well as the process she puts into writing it. its definitely one of the fics to look out for 👀 it’ll make you cry, laugh, and squeal with how cute everyone is.

@order-of-river-phoenix

i literally don’t say this enough but mariah has me speechless with everything she writes oml. i love her oneshots so much. whenever she posts, i know for a FACT i’ll be giddy all day. 🥺 she genuinely has such fluffy and soft and cute oneshots, and my favourite has got to be *checks list* all of them.

read her work if you wanna fall in love i’m begging you. i believe in love because mariah says its real. 😂🤍

@wexhappyxfew

shannon knows this but i look up to her A LOT when it comes to writing. she’s so good at making relatable, lovable, and deeply flawed, literally just HUMAN characters that every fic of hers has me feeling like i know them. i haven’t read all her fics, but i’m going to go through all of them real soon! i also love how she updates daily or almost daily (i’m actually not sure because of timezone differences omg) and yet each chapter is written SO WELL. i swear if i take three weeks to write like two chapters. 😂

i’m so excited for to read the rest of her work! she writes strong female characters so well, i feel leaving empowered as well. 

@julianneday1701

i’ve only read snippets of julianne’s writing, but her work has been in my list for so long now! i don’t have much to say mostly because i haven’t gone through all of her writing yet, except this: every time she posts, i think its a published author. 😂 AND THAT SAYS A LOT CONSIDERING I’VE ONLY SEEN SNIPPETS!

there are a TON of amazing writers that i’ve left out mostly because i have terrible memory but there are literally so many. the hbo war fandom is packed with such talented people. 

feel free to reblog this and add writers from this fandom that you love as well! 🤍

[fashournalist]

Thank you, Isentia Content Hub: An open letter to my colleagues.

Eleven days ago, it has exactly been two years since I first started working at Isentia. I remember feeling scared whether I’d belong, and what kind of people I’ll be working with. I remember I kept telling myself “Bawal maattach, Grace, as some alumni have said, when you enter the real world, you’re there to work. Just do your job well and be a team player, but don’t invest your emotions.” But here I am, after two years, with so many beautiful memories with amazing people. I did get attached after all, and it’s worth it. Because I did not only have colleagues, I met a new family.

This was my open letter to Content Hub, which I hesitated to send at first after writing, because it’s too long. But thankfully, two of my teammates encouraged me to send it because they said what matters is I wrote it from my heart and it’s my farewell message to my friends. (I was one of the employees who got laid off.) It was here that I learned tears are really contagious, because after sending this letter, I received texts saying they shed a tear, too. Perhaps that’s because when I wrote it, I was shedding tears myself. Why do I feel like graduating from high school? Haha! I guess this is how close we have been. So here goes my letter, and pictures of some of the memories we have made. :)

Dear Content Hub,

This August 20, it has been exactly two years since I started working at Isentia. And now, 731 days and 41,283 summaries later, I just finished my last working day as a Broadcast Monitor. Permit me to be cheesy, I just want to thank the amazing people who made the past two years a memorable journey. I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but please know this letter came from my heart.

I'm really blessed that I got to work with you. I did not only have colleagues, I had a family. That is why whenever I reached the office, my update to my parents has always been "Happy place". It meant I arrived safely, I'm at OSMA already. And I know there have been hardships, times heartbreaking news crushed me, or times I went home way past my shift. Yet whenever I was on my home, no matter how tired I got, I just looked forward to facing the next day and working again. If world news were a play, we all get front row seats, binge-watching current events for at least 40 hours a week. It genuinely excited me that our job allows us to literally learn something new every day. But, I don't feel that way all the time; sometimes I just have burnouts and frustrations. So I think the real major reason that kept me going through it all is I had colleagues as supportive as you guys are. Allow me to thank you.

To Sydney Swans, my first team. 

Working with helpful teammates like you added to my motivation as I traveled from LB to Ortigas every day for five months (when I was not yet able to find an apartment in Manila). Thank you for your devotion to Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. It showed me what client-obsessed looks like, and I committed to following that example. Your compere inside jokes and reactions to news added a lot of fun to our job. Until now, I enjoy backreading the group chat just to see your new musings or memes. Thanks a lot especially to John, Julianne, Zennon, Marco, and Kuya Ronnie.

To Fremantle Dockers, my afternoon shift team for more than a year, 

Thank you for everything; for being supportive colleagues, helping me whenever I struggled, and celebrating with me whenever I improved. 

Kuya Coily’s last day at our team.

How we help one another, especially during the Christmas dinner just so everyone can go to Sambokojin on time, inspires me. This was our post-Sambo bonding at Greenfield. I am also relieved that you never judged me as “walang pakisama” even though I only drank iced tea or milkshake haha. Others tend to force me to drink, but my friends at Isentia just let me finish all the food. HAHA. I appreciate people who can respect our preferences and differences. And you are witnesses that I don’t need to drink to be drunk. Based on my energy, I am drunk by default. Haha I will miss all these sessions with you and my batchmates!

I will miss our movie nights and billiard sessions (tho I'm just watching you haha) at the lounge. I wish we played more board games, too.

Isentia Outing 2019

Thank you so much also for being there for me when I lost my mother, you had my back and that will always mean a lot to me. When my Momi was still alive, she always knew I was working with great people. Thank you to every single one of you especially AJ, Morris, Evann, Aly and Kuya Mel. 

I look forward to a Dockers reunion when this pandemic is over! 

And my favorite teammate, Czesar. The best meetings are the ones you participated in. Thank you for all the laughter you gave us. 

I also want to thank my friends outside my team, including Tomie, Zendee, LA and Nico from Collingwood Magpies. 

Thank you for the dinner sessions and conversations on life and dreams!

This was LA’s birthday salubong at Kanto Breakfast :) While the next photo is a “panel discussion” at Goto Believe haha! We talked about the news we monitored, and boi, we went home at almost 5am.

Tomie, thank you for our never-ending laughter on our way home. Normally, I just want to be quiet and regain energy while traveling, but with you, it's okay to chat all the way to Quiapo.

To my favourite comperes, who will not read this but I feel like thanking anyway because some of you might share love for them: Marc Fennell, Jan Fran, Kanoa Lloyd, Jules Schiller, Sonya Feldhoff, Anna Vidot, Dave Sutherland, Tamara Oudyn, Sammy J, Paul Barry, Jeremy Corbett, David Speers, Leigh Sales and my inspiration Jesse Mulligan. Thank you because I learned so much about the world and about life from you. I will miss blogging about your stories and reacting to your insights.

To the leaders who managed me and/or accommodated my concerns, 

This is my former TL, Kuya Coily :)

TL Coily, TL Angel, TL Rem, TL Nico, TL Nic, TL Jonna, TL Geoff, TL Alni, and Sup Mitch. Thank you for all your help! Thank you for the times you inspired me and my colleagues to grow as well as the times you coached me, gave constructive feedback, and helped me overcome my weaknesses so I can continuously improve. 

To our Trainer Rachel, who we can consider as Content Hub's matriarch, 

thank you so much because you patiently equipped every single one of us before we transitioned to live operations. To OM Dean, thank you for your feedback and praise during my regularisation.

And most of all, to Western Borlogs fam, my home for two years, I don't even know how to thank you enough. 

I'm grateful you've been my batchmates at our training--and for everything after that. 

Isentia Outing 2019

Sibyullee, farewell samgyup party for Jai (her last day in the company)

Seoulgyupsal, farewell samgyup party for Aiona (before she flew to Spain to teach)

office memories :)

Pantry catch-ups. I usually eat at my desk because of all the work but I’m grateful for the times I was able to join their dinner breaks hehe.

Sambokojin, Christmas dinner 2019

Dear Borlogs, thank you for all the memories, endless laughter, samgyup sessions (a regular segment haha), Friday nights, and times we comforted each other when some of us are facing a hard time. Thank you also for comforting me and my family when you and B visited the wake of my Momi. She has always heard about you (and I'm happy she met some of you) when she was still alive. Thank you for being such a great sounding board, a safe space where we can be vulnerable and strong at the same time. Also, I've never been a milk tea person until I met you guys, so thanks for that, too. My BM experience would not be the same without you. Naz, Janelle, Joey, Patty, Billie, Lou, Aiona, Jai, Nee, Mau, C, Ady, Sarah. Thank you, sists!!

If you've read until here, thank you for bearing with my lengthy cheesy, farewell note to Content Hub. I attached some photos that captured a few of the memories I spent with you, as well as some jokes I've randomly thought about while monitoring. I was reserving them for Christmas Party or something, but anyway, here they are. I am confident they will make you cringe.

So there, I will miss you and I appreciate you always. I will not forget the memories we've made along the way. Thank you for everything, Isentia Content Hub! God bless you all and stay safe.

Arrivederci :)

Always,

Grace / Mariel

(this was me when I graduated from training and was so excited to be part of Content Hub haha)

PS. Thank you to Janelle, Jai, Joey, Jai, Kuya Coily, LA, Zendee, Dots and Troy for the photos!

PPS. Thank you so much for your heartwarming replies!!! And the food/gifts some of you sent!! I love you guys. (There, I said it. Haha! I was too shy to put that sentence in the email I sent. But this is my blog, I can write what my heart says without holding back)

^letter from AJ with a Bebi plant. She sent me oatmeal cookies and three novels too huehue she knows my weaknesses well haha thankuu ajj

^Matchaaaa from Patty thank you sist! <33

^Carbonaraaaa from Tomiee thank you siz!!!

Thank you to every single one of you. I was emotional when I wrote the open letter, but I got more nostalgic when I read your responses. I will always be thankful for the privilege of working with you and being your friend. Keep in touch, okay? We’ll still meet again. :)

Love,

Grace

[storytime-reviews]

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Movie Review

After the Kingsman's headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, an allied spy organisation in the United States is discovered. These two elite secret organisations must band together to defeat a common enemy.      

I’m going to be honest – I absolutely love the first Kingsman film – but Kingsman: The Golden Circle doesn’t do it justice. Kingsman: The Secret Service is an homage to old school spy films, as well as a fun satire that is driven by the camaraderie between the main characters.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is at its best when reminiscent of this first film, particularly when focusing on the relationships between returning characters. However, other character interactions in The Golden Circle require development, whilst the narrative in general is repetitive. As such, this second film lacks the comedy and heart of the first that made it so successful.

What I truly love are the beautiful emotionally resonant moments that demonstrate the connections between past and current characters. What Kingsman: The Golden Circle does get right is the pain and trauma associated with the loss of Kingsman team members – even as they fight to keep their emotions at bay to get justice for their friends, the grief is still clearly present. This emotion allows a greater connection between the audience and characters because they feel real, and you genuinely feel for them. Taron Egerton (aka Eggsy Unwin) comments on one of these moments towards the end of the film:

There’s a really cool moment where, just before we go into that action sequence, you see Colin and I go really dead behind the eyes. And I really love that moment. Because where I think a lot of action films fail is that they don’t have characters you care about, and they don’t have characters that are feeling things and that you’re invested in. It’s all action. Whereas in that moment, right before you get the action, you’ve got two characters who are really hurt and really angry, and who really wanna… fuck shit up — Taron Egerton

The fight scenes towards the end in Cambodia are more emotional because of who they have lost, and you can see them directly taking their feelings out on their enemies. As much as I generally enjoy the Kingsman fight scenes, this made the fight scenes even better, because they also felt character driven, rather than simply thrown in for action. And who could argue about the fun inclusion of Elton John, from his little kidnapping sideplot, to the use of ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’ in an extended fight sequence?

I also love that an old foe (Charlie) is back, because the fact that he is so heavily involved in the Kingsman losses in this film makes for an even better story, because of the personal nature of his attack. The villain-hero battles are made much more interesting by their longstanding negative relationship, which is perhaps why I just found Julianne Moore’s Poppy to be an incredibly dull addition to this film.

Unfortunately her villain plot is just boring compared to the previous film, and she is just one of the well known actors that are completely under-utilised throughout the film – I’m thinking also of the Statesman characters who fail to interest me in any way. I felt that the narrative could’ve handled the Kingsman as underdogs much better, including the necessity of the Statesman characters who resemble plot devices rather than fully fledged characters.

There were plenty of enjoyable moments throughout the film, particularly the character driven scenes, but these tend to be overshadowed by what the film gets wrong. This is a shame considering how well received the first film was.