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lovelyrocker · 6 years ago

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Love Is Blind Ch.2

~RPF

~Warnings: Jared being extremely sweet.(yes, that needs a warning!)

~ Characters: Jensen, Jared, Lexi(OFC), Spencer(OC), Ellie(OFC), Cassie(OFC)

~Pairings: Jared x Lexi(Eventually)

~Word Count: 6,310

Love Is Blind Masterlist

<Previous Chapter

Lexi managed to make it through her first few weeks with no major events. Other than the normal over obsessed fan wanted to know stuff and fangirled around her, she was able to stay to herself. Which is what she liked. She didn’t go out of her way to really make friends just yet and she never tried to hide the fact that she was Jensen’s little sister. What was the point? She figured it didn’t pay to hide who she was because in all honesty, she didn’t want to put in the effort of pretending to be something she wasn’t. She knew she wasn’t going to have a normal life but she was okay with that.

She fell into a routine of seeing Jensen and Jared mornings, catching them as she woke up just before they left for work. At night she would normally be awake studying late into the night when they’d come trudging in. Weekends were spent traveling back and forth to Austin from Vancouver and then to Dallas every other weekend. When she did have free time, however few and far between it was, she much enjoyed down time on the set. Watching them film trying not to laugh as they pranked one another, mostly Misha. Spending nights onset in the trailers binging on junk food and following the guys live tweeting while watching the show. It quickly became home, her normal and she was happy.

“Hey Texas!” Lexi heard a voice echo down the hall, seeing a petite redhead walking towards her.

“Hi.” Lexi greeted back closing her locker.

“How’re you liking our school?” The redhead came to a stop in front of her.

“Uh, good, I guess. Different than Texas.” Lexi answered slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“I know. Culture shock. I’m Ellie.” Ellie smiled. “Wanna eat lunch with us?” She gestured towards the waiting people.

Lexi looked over at the teens then back at Ellie. “Sure.”

They sat at the concrete table on the concrete benches as the nibbled on their apple slices, sandwiches and soda. The weather was on the chilly side but the sun kept them comfortable enough to dine out. Lexi was introduced to Cassie, a 16 year old, curvy brunette with a bubbly personality. And Spencer, a sixteen year old, tall, shaggy brown headed boy that had the ‘I don’t give a hell’ attitude most girls found irresistible.

“So why did you move here?” Spencer asked in his deep monotone voice.

“School, I applied on a whim and got in. My brother works here here so.” She shrugged.

“I moved here from El Paso a few years ago. My dad was transferred with his job.” Ellie spoke.

“So you’re Texas too.” She said raising her brow.

“Yup.” Ellie sipped her cola. “So how many A.P. classes do you have?”

“Uh,” She scratched at her nose. “All of them.”

Ellie choked a bit. “All?! How old are you?”

“Fifteen.” Lexi answered shyly.

“So you skipped two grades?” Lexi nodded. “Sweet. Smart bitch.” Ellie added with a nudge. “You said you live with your brother? Must get away with a lot of crap.”

“Uh, no.” Lexi corrected. “When he wants to be he can be strict. Jared however is a big goofball most of the time.”

“Jared?” Ellie questioned. “Is that like his boyfriend?”

“What?!” Lexi was shocked. “No, no!”

“Oh, right! The tall dude!” Ellie corrected herself. “Sorry, i’m not like hardcore obsessed with them like most other girls are.” She explained. “I refer to them as the tall one and the hot one.” She chuckled.

Lexi gave a laugh. “Better than me. I call Jensen Dork and Jared skyscraper.”

“At least my nicknames are nice!” Ellie poked fun.

The two became close as the days turned into weeks of texting and late night phone calls between the teens. Lexi often going over to Ellie’s house after school to hang out or do school work along with Ellie’s other friend’s Cassie and Spencer. They didn't treat her different or odd. They treated her normal, like a person. And when others behaved otherwise around her they would have her back.

But as always in these situations one can never be too sure. So now Lexi felt it was time to attempt to mix her home life and personal life a bit. See how it went. “Hey, can I have friends over?” Lexi blerted to Jensen when he walked into the house.

“Hello Lexi, How was your day?” Jensen answered her with a grin.

“Sorry.” She smiled and hugged her brother. “How was your day?”

“It was good.” He slipped his jacket off and hung it on the back of the chair. “Now, what do you want?”

“Can I have some friends over? Maybe spend the night?”

Jensen looked at her unsure he heard the question correctly. “Uh, here? Like in our house?”

She gave him a weird look. “That’s usually how sleepovers work, Dork.”

“That depends, Punk.” He leaned against the back of the couch.

“On what?”

“On whether or not they’ll go through our underwear drawers or something.” Jared spoke standing from the kitchen table.

“Dude, eww.” Lexi held up her hand. “They’re fifteen and sixteen.”

“Yeah, I know but-” Jensen tried to speak but was cut off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Crazy people.” Lexi finished for her brother. “But these are my friends. They’re my friends for me not you. Trust me, I don’t normally like people in general.”

“You got a point.” Jensen exhaled and looked at Jared across the room who gave a consenting nod. “Fine.”

“Thank you!” Lexi jumped up clapping her hands hugging Jensen.

“Hey what about me?” Jared faked being left out. “I had to agree too.”

“Thank you, too!” She gave Jared a hug as well.

The next day it was a little past six in the evening when Jared and Jensen walked into the house. They were greeted with the sound of teenagers laughing in the living room. Entering the living room the seeing four teenagers lounging across the furniture, jackets and hoodies draped along the backs of the couch and chairs, school books strewn about the floor and coffee table and bags of junk food littered the area.

“Study party?” Jensen greeted.

“Hey, Jensen!” Lexi smiled. “Guys this is my brother and his bestie, Jared.” She looked over at her friend. “The tall one and the hot one right, Elle?” She giggled. “Guys this is Cassie,” She pointed to dimpled brunette. “And this is Ellie.” She pointed to the red head. “And that’s Spencer.” She aimed at the shaggy blond haired boy. “We are all AP nerds so we are kinda sorta studying.” She crooked her hand.

“Nerd herd, got ya.” Jensen said sliding his jacket off. “Did you guys eat? Like actually food?”

“Not yet.” Lexi said digging through the bag in her lap.

“Anyone seen the big bag of gummy bears from the pantry?” Jared asked walking back into the room as Lexi froze putting a gummy in her mouth looking like a deer in headlights. Jared walked over leaning on the back of the chair. “Thief.”

Lexi lifted the bag. “I’ll be nice and share.” She smiled.

“Pizza sound good?” Jensen asked as the all agreed.

“I wish I could stay but I have to get home.” Spencer said putting booking into his bag. “Thanks for the cramming session, I’ll see you guys later.” He stood making his way to the door. “Nice meeting you guys.” He waved walking out.

Sitting around the table with soda and pizza between the three girls and two men they chatted about Lexi’s upcoming birthday. “We should have a party!” Ellie continued grabbing another slice of pepperoni.

“Dude, I barely know five people.” Lexi protested.

“You can make new friends in a month.” Cassie chimed in. “And at the party.”

“Every girl needs to go big for their sixteenth birthday.” Ellie added. “It’s like in a rule book somewhere. It’s an excuse to get all dressed up and sexy.”

“I think you should have a party.” Jensen spoke from the end of the table. “Besides I know Dee would love to plan a party that doesn’t involve cartoons and ponies.” He sipped his drink.

“And I'm sure Spencer would love to come.” Ellie sang.

“The geeky kid that was here?” Jared asked.

Ellie looked at Jared. “He is always giving her flirty eyes and smiling like an idiot around her.”

“Shut up!” Lexi laughed.

“I’ve known Spenc for eight years!” Ellie sat up. “I know how he acts when he likes someone. And he likes you!”

As soon as Lexi agreed to the party the month seemed to fly by extra quickly. The party was a week and a half away. She learned fast as to who was her friends and who was in it for Jared and Jensen. She’d managed to make a few handfuls of friends that she enjoyed spending time with. But, Cassie and Ellie were the closest. Ellie most of all. They always seemed to be attached at the hip.

She was managing well with her new, more so hectic than not lifestyle. Traveling from Vancouver to Texas most weekends. Splitting her time between Austin and Dallas. She was adapting and maintaining her own level of sanity between being a teenaged that was advanced academically and being a normal teen in general. Normal was never her strong suit though.

“Lexi, You’ve got mail.” Jared spoke in an automated voice dropping the envelopes on the counter in front of her. “A lot of mail.” He said turning back around placing a few more in front of her.

Lexi began flipping through the papers. “Hey guys?” The men looked up at her curious as to why she looked in shock. “When you’re accepted to a university, they send you the big envelope, right?”

Jensen made his way over to her quickly looking over the envelopes. “Dartmouth, Stanford, Yale, Princeton! Lexi you got into all four!” Jensen beamed.

Jared stood with excitement. “One more, Cornell!” He held up another big envelope.

“Oh my God!” She sat down in shock. “I really didn’t think I’d get in. Like, at all!” She looked up at Jensen.

“I’m so proud of you, Punk.” Jensen squeezed her into a hug.

Days later it was late into the night and Lexi was sitting on her bed with all the university information spread out in front of her. She was trying to make a decision but did not have much luck.

Hearing a grunt of frustration, Jared pushed the half opened door and stood. “Hey. Why are you still up?”

“I got accepted into three more universities. Brown, Columbia and Harvard.”

“That’s great!” Jared praised and Lexi looked at him with annoyed eyes. “Not great?”

Lexi huffed and let herself fall back against the pillows. “I don’t know where to go!” She brought her hands to her face and grunted again then let her hands fall down. “This is so frustrating! Maybe if I knew what I wanted to do with my life!”

“Okay, One, Calm down.” Jared pulled her desk chair out turning it backwards and sitting. “Look at me.” He said as she sat back up and he took her hands into his. “I’m gonna first start off by saying that you should be proud of yourself for getting into, what was it, eight?” He reached and counted the letters. “Eight Ivy league universities.” She looked back up to him. “Second, when do they need an answer?”

“July.”

“That’s still a ways away.” He assured. “We are only in October.” He took a breath. “What’s really going on?” He didn’t know her as well as Jensen did but he knew her well enough to know when something was going on in that head of hers.

Lexi sighed. “I’m not even sixteen yet. I won’t be for another two weeks, and I have to make this major life decision. Like do I live off campus or in the dorm? Can I even live in the dorm since i’m under eighteen? Do I stay here? I mean how will this work? I don’t even know what I want out of life.”

“Breathe.” Jared cooed. “I have an Idea. How about I go over all of this with you tomorrow. You know? Help you sort it all out.”

“Really? You’d do that?”

“Yeah, if you’d like.” He nodded. “Just not right now at 12:30 at night.” He smiled at her.

It was Saturday, Jensen was in Austin and since it was Genevieve’s weekend with the kids Jared stayed behind as well as Lexi to go over the university choices. Sitting on the porch in the cool breeze, papers, notebooks and a laptop sat between the two of them. Flipping through each information booklet one by one they went over all the benefits, pros and cons of each place.

“Which one is next?” Jared asked setting aside one folder.

Lexi shifted grabbing another folder from the pile. “Uh, Stanford.” She opened the booklet. “Isn’t that where Sam went on the show?”

“Yes it is.” He answered with a smile as he read over some papers. “I actually did a little research when I did the pilot. Good school. Between San Jose and San Francisco I think.”

“Geez, that’s far away.” She looked from Jared to the booklet. “I don’t know if I’d be able to live THAT far away yet.” She tossed the booklet aside in annoyance. “UGH! I want Ice cream.” She stood up and walked in remerging with a pint of ice cream and a spoon. “Don’t look at me like that.” She said to him noticing the grin and amused look on his face. “Ice cream fixes everything.” She said as she took a spoonful into her mouth. “Especially cookie dough ice cream.” She handed him the pint. “So why didn’t you go to college?” She asked laying her head back on the chair.

“I almost did.” He took another mouthful of ice cream. “Registered for classes and everything.”

“Really?” She snapped her head back up looking at him. “What happened?”

“I got casted on Gilmore Girls. Packed up and moved to L.A.”

“I wish I knew what my thing was. Like, I wish I could find something I'm passionate about.” She turned to face Jared. “I was always team Dean by the way.” She added as she continued talking. “Like you and Jay for instance. You both walked away on a full ride education to pursue acting. You were passionate and determined. I have nothing like that.”

“Yes you do.” Jared shot back. “Everyone does.”

She thought for a moment, the wheels spinning in her head. “There is one thing that I kind of liked.”

“What’s that?” Jared asked as he passed the ice cream again.

“Help me pick up all of this crap and I’ll show you.” She began grabbing the papers.

Inside Jared followed her upstairs and piled the papers her desk in the bedroom. She went into her closet and began digging around. Spotting what she was looking for she climbed a box reaching for the top of the closet.

“Hold on.” Jared said walking behind her grabbing her waist and setting her on the floor. “You gonna bust your butt.” He chuckled. “What you reaching for?”

“That one.” She pointed. Jared grabbed the box with ease and handed it to her. “Okay, so when I was thirteen, Danneel was doing a clothing thing with a friend and drafted me as one of her models.” She explained sitting on the bed digging through the box. “I didn’t think I'd like it all but I actually loved it.” She handed him a stack a pictures.

“You look so cute!” He exclaimed, seeing the first picture then began flipping. “These are all really good.”

“I thought about looking into it but never did.” She shrugged leaning back on her pillows.

“These are from a different shoot, right?” He sat on the bed holding up a few photos.

“Yeah, those were last summer. I did that with a friend at Lake Austin.”

“Lex, you’ve found your thing.” Jared chuckled looking at her as if it were obvious, and it was. “Why aren’t you doing this?”

“I just did it these few times.”

“So, you’re a natural.” Jared placed the pictures back in the box.

“Kind of thought it may be too far fetched. You know how many people want to model?”

“Have you met your brother? The guy took off to L.A. at eighteen with only a hunch.”

“Guess you’re right.” She slid the box under her bed.

“I know I am.” Jared said with a grin walking out the room.

In Jensen’s trailer a week later Lexi sat on the couch buried in her school books. A place she has come to look at as a second Vancouver home. Spending many nights on set and getting rides with Cliff to and from school, spending the time doing homework and watching Jared and Jensen film.

“Hey punk.” Jensen greeted with a peck on her head, Jared in toe.

“Hey, dork.” She smiled up at him.

“What’re you up to?”

“Homework. What are y'all doing?”

“Little break.” Jensen plopped down next to her.

“Jensen,” A tap on the trailer in passing. “We need you in wardrobe and makeup.”

“Don’t study too hard.” He said, tapping her head standing before walking out.

“Nice stubble.” Lexi smirked at Jared who was sitting across from her in the chair.

“Yeah,” He said rubbing his face. “Sam’s got a little five o'clock shadow going in this episode.”

“It suits you.” She said as Jared crossed the room and plopped down next to her grabbing the bag of sour strips from her lap. “Hey!” She protested.

Jared smiled, popping a candy into his mouth. “What are you working on?”

“Book report. How many times must we pick apart Romeo and Juliet in our high school career?”

“They still teach that?” Jared asked grabbing her notebook.

“Yeah but this report has to be different. We have to not only voice what we think about the relationship but add an entire separate report through the eyes of their parents.” She rolled her eyes.

“Wow.” Jared said looking over her paper.

“Yeah, like being in love at fourteen isn’t bad enough.” She shut her text book and tossed it aside.

“Don’t you believe in true love and all that jazz, like most chicks your age?” Jared asked, putting her notebook down, grabbing another sour strip.

She scoffed. “Negative!” She answered with large eyes.

“Seriously?” He asked surprised.

“Why? Do you?”

“Eh, sorta.” He said shrugging. “Listen, um, I want to show you something. Follow me.” He said standing. Lexi followed him to his trailer, another home away from home and watched as he emerged with a box wrapped in a bow.

“You didn’t have to do that.” She said with a smile spreading across her lips.

“I know. I wanted to.” He said, still holding out the box.

“But my party isn’t until next weekend.”

“And your birthday was two days ago. So technically I’m late.” He held the gift out for her with the sweetest boyish smile.

Lexi took the box and began unwrapping it. As the paper fell away she pulled the top off of the rectangle box and looked up at Jared. “Oh my God, Jared!” Pulling out a beautiful black leather bound journal she looked back at him.. “I can’t accept-”

“Yes, you can.” Jared spoke, looking at her. “With as much as you journal I figured you would soon need a new one.”

“Is this real leather?” She asked examining the elegant spiral design with black, pink and greys. Jared nodded. “This must have cost a fortune, Jared, I can’t-”

He lifted a finger. “Ah ah, yes, you can. Besides,” He opened the journal pointing to the left hand corner on the inside. “It has your initials. And, here.” He handed her an envelope. “This is yours too.”

Lexi took the envelope and opened in. “An address?” She gave him a funny look.

“I have a friend that is currently looking for a few models to do a low profile shoot for some local stores. I showed her your pictures and she was interested.

Be there Saturday morning at 9am.”

“Oh my- Jared thank you!” she said, tossing her arms around his shoulders.

“Wait!” She pulled away. “You stole my pictures?”

“Borrowed.” He shrugged with a chuckle. “Happy Sweet Sixteen, Lex.” Jared said as he hugged her tight once again.

“Oh, I wanted to get your opinion on something. Wait here.” Lexi said as she left the trailer then reappeared with papers in a yellow envelope and handed it to him. “I didn’t know who to talk to about it because, to be completely honest, I’ve only talked to you about the college stuff.”

“Okay?” Jared said shutting the door and opening the envelope.

Lexi watched his facial expressions changed while he flipped through the papers. He shifted as he read and Lexi did a once over of his stance, trying to read him. She paused over his arms. Without a jacket or hoodie she could really see the defined curves of his biceps. She shook the thought from her head and tried to focus on his expression. She watched as he nibbled his bottom lip in concentration. The way his hair slightly fell in front of his eyes… His eyes, the deep, mesmerizing blue green abyss of his eyes.

“So the University of British Columbia?” Jared spoke, pulling her from her thoughts.

“I know it sounds crazy.” She said, refocusing her attention.

“The crazy ideas are usually the best.” Jared smiled.

“So you don’t think this is too-”

“No, I don’t.” Jared smirked. “Their curriculum is so big you can basically study whatever. They can be considered a Northern Ivy league. You get to stay home. Sounds like you made up your mind.”

“I was thinking maybe business and art design with a class or two in photography.” She explained with a hand gesture.

“Sounds perfect.” Jared smiled, handing her back her papers. “Shoot for the stars.”

“Thank you, Jared.” She said, reaching up and giving him a hug.

As soon as she did, she wished she didn’t. The feel of his firm body pressed against her made her lose her breath for a second. His defined arms held her against him in a gripping hug that made her swallow hard.

If only she knew Jared’s mind was made temporarily hazy by her sweet smelling shampoo. The scent filled his nose as he held on a moment longer that needed. She pulled away and looked up at Jared. “Don’t you need to be on set or something?”

“No, I’m actually good for the night. Jensen and Misha are shooting now. I’m staying here for the night. I think Jay may be, too.”

The trailer door opened. “There you are.” Jensen said walking into Jared’s trailer.

“Speak of the Devil.” Lexi giggled

“I’m gonna be shooting till late so I’m gonna stay here. Did you want to head home or have Cliff run you get clothes or something?” Jensen asked fixing his collar.

“I’m good. I have extra clothes here from last time I stay the night on set.”

“Okay, I have to get back.” Jensen leaned in and kissed her forehead before walking out.

Jared and Lexi cut up and watched Netflix that evening to kill time. They watched old horror movies and ate gummy bears and sour strips to their heart’s content while talking about the differences between the types of books and poetry they’d both recent read. Talking about old comic books and 80’s cartoons only to shift onto the topic of sci fi book and movies.

“Hey, Lex. It’s snowing.” Jared commented looking out the window.

“Really?” She glanced out the window excited. “Yay!” Jumping up and running out of the trailer.

She stood in the middle of the dark lot, arms stretched, as the snow fell heavily around her. She spun around and took in the feeling of the cold wetness.

Jared smiled at her. “Have you ever seen snow?”

“Once or twice. But, this is the first time it’s snowed since I’ve moved here.” She said, looking back at Jared. “I love the snow!”

A fair amount of fresh powder had already collected on the ground by the time Jared had noticed. He balled up a snowball and tossed it at her. Looking back with a huge smile, Lexi retaliated. she ambushed him, tackling him to the ground. They wrestled and Jared pinned her to the ground in a bout of laughter and giggles.

“My God, this is freezing!” Lexi shouted as her bare skin touched the snowy ground.

“Well, you ran out here in your school uniform.” Jared laughed helping her up.

“Come on, let's get you in.” As they walked into the trailer Jared handed her a towel. “Jump in the shower, it’ll help warm you.”

Without hesitation Lexi went straight for the shower and turned the hot water on full blast. She stood under the spout and instantly began to warm up. After washing up she stepped out and dried off, then wrapped a towel around herself. It wasn’t until then that she realized that her clothes were still in Jensen’s trailer.

She cracked open the bathroom door. “Uh, Jared?”

“Yeah.” He said, not looking away from what he was reading in his phone.

“I didn’t grab my stuff from Jensen’s trailer. You mind?”

Jared glanced up and saw her standing there in the door in a towel, the water still dripping from her skin. He was momentarily frozen at the sight of her standing there, her curves obvious through the thin fabric. He quickly shook his thoughts and stood. “Uh, here.” He said walking toward the back room. He reemerged with a pants and long sleeved shirt. “I’m not about to go rummaging through your bag.” He smiled at her.

“Thank you.” She smiled, closing the door. She dried off and slipped into Jared’s clothes. Although his clothes fit his six foot four frame perfectly, Lexi’s five foot six stature was made to look even smaller in his huge clothes. But she didn’t mind. His shirt smelled of him and was warm and cozy.

She walked out of the bathroom and sat on the couch, covering back up. “I’m still freezing.”

“I’ll turn the heat up.” Jared said walking towards the thermostat. “I’m always hot so it really doesn’t bother me.”

“Bring some of that heat this way.” Lexi said gesturing for him to come over.

Jared chuckled and slid next to her on the couch. “My God, you are warm.” She said as she snuggled into him.

“You feet are freezing!” He jumped as she touched him.

Jared placed an arm around her and he soon felt her stop shivering. He pressed play on the next movie as he felt her arms wrap gently around his waist. Not long after the movie started he noticed her breathing deepens. Looking down and saw she was asleep. Jared pushed the hair from her face and watched her for a bit, stroking her cheek as he looked over her face, taking in her rose cheeks and pink lips. He let his thumb brush her lip for a small moment before retracting his hand shaking his head to rid himself of the thoughts that were rising in his head. He slid himself down on the couch to get comfortable. Laying longways, Lexi was nestled between Jared and the sofa. He fixed the blanket to cover her better, causing her to stir a bit. Lexi leaned into Jared draping a leg over his, nestling into his chest, she wrapped her arm around his waist pulling him a little closer. Jared wasn’t sure if he should stay the way they were or not. She was sleeping so peacefully. Part of his mind was telling him to move. That laying with a sixteen year old girl like this wasn’t appropriate,especially with the uncontrolled thoughts that kept popping in his head - thoughts that confused the hell out of him, to be honest. If anyone saw him laying with her like this, they would get the wrong impression.

He looked at his watch and saw it was late. If Jensen was gonna pop in after shooting he would have done it by now. Jared looked back down at Lexi and smiled. It had been so long since someone laid on him this way. He missed the feeling of somebody next to him, warm and soft. Maybe that’s what this was. Maybe he was thinking of Lexi oddly because he’s lonely? Finally, he flipped the tv off and laid his hand around Lexi and tucked the other under his head. In a matter of minutes he was asleep.

Jared’s alarm on his phone went off the next morning causing both he and Lexi to jump awake. He reached a hand and shut the phone off, running a hand over his face. Lexi sat up, the blanket falling from her shoulders.

“Did we sleep like this all night?” She asked, rubbing her eyes with a yawn.

“I guess so.” Jared stretched before getting up. “Coffee?”

“That’s a stupid question.” Lexi smirked. “You are better than an electric blanket.” She stretched again.

“What?” Jared chuckled, getting the coffee pot ready.

“I stayed warm all night.”

“Good to know I’m good for something.” He joked.

“What time is it?” She yawned again, peeping through the window shade. “It’s not even daylight yet.”

“Five. I gotta be on set in about an hour and a half.”

“I can do a Starbucks run when the sun comes up.” She smiled up at him.

“That would be wonderful. Iced-”

“Grande iced latte and one of those croissants.” She finished for him as she stood and stretched. “I think I have clothes here from last week now that I think about it.” She said, walking to the back of the trailer. “That purse thing I had last week with the rose on it. Is it still here?” She opened her closet and moved stuff around on the floor. “Ha, I knew it!” She said grabbing the bag.

Lexi swung the door and began undressing. Jared fixed a cup of coffee and walked over to the door. His intentions were to ask if she wanted him to fix her a cup of coffee. He was distracted when he caught a glance of her undressing. He stood a few feet from the door and watched Lexi slide the baggy pants down her legs revealing her sky blue pantys. She lifted the giant shirt over her head and Jared swallowed seeing her bare back facing towards the door. His eyes gazed at her body up and down as she dug for an item in her bag. He took in her curves, the way her hair fell down her back.

She shimmied her jeans up her legs and snapped her bra before turning, giving Jared a direct view of her barely covered breasts. He was already half hard watching her before, now he was fully aroused at the site of her full cleavage that peeked from the top of her bra. She slid her shirt on and went for the door. Jared turned quickly to hide his growing problem.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” She asked as he walked back towards the kitchen.

“I was about to ask if you wanted me to pour you a cup?” He positioned himself carefully behind the counter.

“I can get it.” Lexi said, walking into the small kitchen area behind Jared grabbing a cup.

Jared hoped to God she didn’t notice his issue. She grabbed her coffee and walked to the couch, Jared breathing a sigh of relief.

Lexi downed her coffee and grabbed her newly found bag and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Jensen walked in and greeted his friend, Lexi poking her head out of the bathroom.

“Did you sleep well, punk?”

“Yes. Oh, and I found my missing overnight bag.” She smiled walking back, toothbrush in her mouth. Jensen turned his attention to Jared who was leaning over the counter.

“You alright man?”

“I’m good.” Jared said, brushing it off.

Jensen stared at him for a long minuted then realized. “You don’t- really?!” He said in a half whisper, half yell. “Lexi?!”

“No!” Jared lied. “I woke up with it and it won’t go away!” He whispered to his friend. “When she is done and leaves I’ll…” He drifted off, Jensen understanding.

Jensen stood on the opposite side of the counter and a smile crept over his face. “What?” Jared asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Jensen’s smile getting wider.

“Uh huh.” Jared knew he was lying.

“Lex?!” Jensen called out.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Yeah.” Lexi said as she walked out of the bathroom and slipped her shoes on.

“Jared woke up with a massive case of morning wood, so get lost so he can rub one out before work.” Jared’s face went white.

“T.M.I.” Lexi said with a giggle as she grabbed her jacket and jumped down the steps.

“I’m gonna kill you!” Jared snapped as Jensen walked out with a huge grin.

After wardrobe and makeup, Jared was heading towards the set when he saw Jensen coming his way. “Give me one good reason not to punch you.” Jared spat as Jensen walked in step with him.

“Why would you go and do that? Did you fix your issue?”

“Shut up.”

“Did you use Lexi’s lotion?”

“No!” He looked behind them then back at Jensen. “Cold shower. You’re an ass. Now Lexi is gonna think I’m some creep weirdo thanks to you.”

“I already thought you were a creepy weirdo.” Lexi said walking up behind Jared handing him his latte. “Only thing different now is that I think you’re a sexually frustrated creepy weirdo.” She smiled handing Jensen his Venti Americano.

“Ha! I’m going to wardrobe.” He slapped Jared on the back, walking away.

“Lexi, this morning, me being-” Jared’s cheeks were growing bright. “That had nothing to-to do with you. Not- not that you aren’t attractive, just-” Jared was fumbling over his words horribly. It didn’t help that he was also lying through his teeth. She was the exact reason he was turned on this morning. And after she and Jensen left, he pleased himself thinking of her in the shower.

“Jared.” She broke his mumbling. “It’s okay. I get how the male body works. You should have just said something.”

“Yeah like I'm just gonna say 'Hey go away so I can jerk off’.” He froze. “Wait, I didn’t- that was a little-”

Lexi laughed. “Jared, chill. I’m not twelve. I know about sex,” she raised her brow. “ the birds and the bees. You’re good.” Jared flushed again. “Besides, I did grow up with Jensen.”

“Yeah, enough said there.”

“Hey, after you get done filming, can you drop me off at the mall on the way home?”

“Sure, what’s at the mall?”

“I was gonna look for a dress for the party.” She said as Jensen walked back up now in full Dean gear.

“Speaking of party, how many people you’re expecting?”

“Fifty or less.” She wiggled a hand.

“Did you even meet fifty people in a month?” Jensen questioned.

“I work fast.” ~ Walking up to the mall entrance, Ellie was waiting with coffee in hand. Lexi reached out and grabbed her cup from Ellie and they made their game plan.

“Wait, wait. Where will you two be?” Jensen asked in a paternal tone.

“We’re shopping for the party, Jay. So, everywhere.” Ellie started. “Gotta make sure we look sexy.” She said shaking her shoulders.

“Yeah. not happening. Dresses are to be decent and respectable. Both of you.” He pointed a finger. “Lex, you need cash?” He reached for his wallet.

“No, I’m good.” She turned entwining her arm with Ellie.

“Okay, Y'all have fun and remember, tasteful.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ellie said with a wave of her arm as the kept walking away.

“And no stripper heels, either!” Jensen shouted.

“Not making any promises!” Ellie shouted back.

Jared shook his head looking at his best friend. A few hours had gone by and Jared and Jensen walked through the mall with a few bags in hand stopping occasionally to take a selfie or sign an autograph. Across the breezeway they saw Lexi and Ellie talking with Cassie and Spencer, their hands full of shopping bags. “I trust the bunch of you are behaving like mature young adults.” Jensen nudged Ellie’s arm.

“Oh absolutely.” Ellie mocked with a smile.

“Guys, you remember Cassie and Spencer.” Lexi reintroduced.

“I actually have to get going. I told my mom I’d pick up my little sister.” Spencer turned to Lexi. “I’ll call you later?”

“Okay, talk to you later.”

Jensen waited till he was out of earshot then turned to Lexi with a mischievous grin. “Call you later?”

“Shut up.”

“I said nothing!” Jensen had his hands up in mock surrender.

“You’re thinking it.”

“Thinking what?”

“I don’t know, but stop.” She said, warning Jensen with her eyes.

“He seems… nice.” Jensen added.

“Shut up, Jay.” Lexi walked past.

“I just said-”

“Oh I know what you said.” She turned and pointed at him. “And what you say and what you think or two totally different things.” She laughed

Next Chapter>

#spn #spnfamily #RPF #supernatural #love is blind #Jared Padalecki #Jensen Ackles #OFC #JaredxOFC #jared x reader #Misha Collins

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onestowatch · 7 years ago

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Kristina Bazan Is More Than a Pretty Picture. She’s an Artist [Q&A]

Kristina Bazan is a woman of many talents. From starting her world-renowned fashion blog, Kayture, as a teenager, to being chosen by Forbes in 2016 as one of the 30 under 30 most influential personalities, it is difficult to imagine something Bazan is incapable of doing. So, when the fashion socialite and best-selling author announced she would be focusing solely on music, it first came as a shock. However, upon further inspection, music does not exist as some experimental detour in the life of Bazan; it serves as her starting point and a place she always seemed destined to return.

Before the fashion and fame, Bazan was an introverted teenager who took up songwriting at the tender age of 13. She even went so far as to join a rock band at the age of 15, in which she would play rock covers in her friend’s garage. However, it was around this time that her fashion blog, Kayture, began to take the world by storm, and overnight she would become fashion’s “it girl.” Now, some odd ten years since first picking up songwriting, Bazan returns to the art form that originally captured her heart with the release of her debut EP, EPVH1. The striking six-song collection is an introspective examination of our relationship with technology scored by transcendent moments of pop and electronic influence.

We had the chance to sit down with fashion “it girl” turned rising artist Bazan to speak on what has always arguably been her calling-music-and making that at-times terrifying leap into a new medium.

OTW: What was it like seeing yourself listed as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30?

Kristina: That was the first time my dad was like, “Okay. Now I respect you.” Before that, he was not really approving of what I was doing. That was the first time he was really like, “You were right for doing this, for working so hard.”

OTW: Besides being a part of Forbes’ 30 Under 30, most people know you from your fashion blog, Kayture, or the fact that you are a best-selling author. However, songwriting has always existed as a passion of yours.

Kristina: I knew I always wanted to be a singer, but it seemed like such an unrealistic fantasy to have. Especially because I was born In Belarus, and I kept moving around a lot, and in Switzerland, we don’t really have a music industry there. So, it was just absurd to even think about it. But throughout my childhood, and when I was a teenager, I was always writing songs, dressing up, and willing to put on a show for my family. I gravitated so naturally towards it.

OTW: Let’s talk about your teenage rock band for a second.

Kristina: Wow! You’ve done your research. It was really funny. It was only with dudes, and we played “Seven Nation Army.” I thought I was so cool cause I was the only girl with way older guys in a garage playing rock. The band was called The Few. I ended up quitting because of the blog, but they actually started performing in Switzerland. They’re really cool. I’m friends with them on Facebook, so when I share stuff about my EP, they’re commenting, “Yes! We knew you from back then!” I wish people knew me from that period, because it makes so much sense. Exactly the way I was at that period, is the way I am right now. I had this period in the middle where you’re playing the game. You’ve got to make yourself a career, to make people know that you exist.

OTW: Your passion for songwriting really does span quite some time. It’s something I noticed even comes up in a few of your past interviews, even when the focus was mainly on your fashion.

Kristina: It is actually what I love the most. Vocally, I’m not Whitney Houston. I think I have a nice voice, but there are vocal singers who just blow your mind. My forte has always been telling stories. I’m such a dreamer. My imagination is running wild all the time. I feel the absolute urge to put it into something. And music is such a beautiful format to tell stories.

You give music to people and they can make anything out of it and put their own memories onto it. It’s so beautiful.

OTW: Would you say your music taste evolved a great deal from teenage you to present you?

Kristina: I always loved electronic stuff. I’m actually super geeky. Growing up, I always played a lot of video games. I would prefer staying in and playing The Sims over going out with my friends. I got really into Myspace and blogs, and that’s actually how I got into blogging in the first place, because I’ve always been an Internet nerd. Musically, I had a huge obsession and still do with Crystal Castles and Daft Punk. Daft Punk is like my fucking religion. I just love discovering indie, underground electronic bands.

OTW: Your debut EP, EPVH1, gives off this moody ‘80s, almost Blade Runner-esque vibe. Did you attend for there to be an overarching theme to your debut?

Kristina: Well, actually, I was wondering, from my point-of-view, what can I bring to the table that’s new and fresh and that hasn’t been done. It’s such a hard question because there are so many incredible artists that are releasing music, and we’re just flooded with content. We barely have time to digest it. I was really wondering what I can do that actually makes sense. How can I turn all of these years of experience, of being a blogger, working in the digital world, and having this public image into use?

I wanted my whole EP to have this underlying subject manner of technology and the relationship we have with technology. And how it affects the way we live but also our relationships.

youtube

OTW: The examination of our relationships to Instagram must be particularly prevalent to you, as someone whose youth was formed alongside social media a popular blog. Did you find writing from that viewpoint allowed you to tell a very unique story?

Kristina: Well, yeah, because from the age of 17, I was literally sharing my diary with the whole world. I think that a lot of people grew up with me. I had really incredible experiences where followers approached me and gave me letters where they said seeing how I succeeded with the blog gave them the inspiration to pursue something they always feared doing. If you have great ideas, you put them into use, you believe in yourself, and you work hard, nothing should stop you.

I’m really proud that was the position and perspective I was defending. But at the same time, I don’t know why the word blogger has such a negative connotation nowadays. I was really ashamed to say that I’m a blogger, that I’m an influencer because it meant that I’m narcissistic, my life revolves around sponsorships and brands, and that it’s kind of an illusion. Honestly, it kind of is an illusion in a way. Your whole life revolves around portraying a certain lifestyle, portraying a certain image. At the end of the day, you make money off selling and this entire system behind it.

For me, there was a point where I completely lost the point of it. I don’t feel like it’s authentic anymore, even though I kept writing a lot. I always took a lot of time to write profound articles and really share things that meant a lot of me. But I knew that maybe 10% of my audience was really reading them. At the end of the day, what people wanted was just really pretty pictures of me in the streets, which is nice, but I don’t think it’s long-lasting. I don’t think that’s what people are going to remember in five years. While with music, if it’s good enough, it can have a really long life.

“At the end of the day, what people wanted was just really pretty pictures of me in the streets, which is nice, but I don’t think it’s long-lasting. I don’t think that’s what people are going to remember in five years. While with music, if it’s good enough, it can have a really long life.”

OTW: And by the time people have read this, you will have just finished performing your first three shows–in Paris, Los Angeles, and New York–how does it all feel?

Kristina: Amazing. I love being on stage so much. It’s incredible. It’s like you’re meditating with people. It’s an exchange of energy. There’s really such a beautiful and strong connection. People are chill, they’re here to listen to music, they’re open. For me, it’s the most beautiful thing ever. Since I’ve spent all of these years behind a computer screen, I cannot even tell you how nice it is to have real people in front of me and to see people connect to the music. I saw that some people know the words. Like damn, I wrote those words on my bathroom floor! It’s so crazy to be able to bring that and let people make it their own. It’s wonderful.

“Since I’ve spent all of these years behind a computer screen, I cannot even tell you how nice it is to have real people in front of me and to see people connect to the music.”

OTW: Now that you’ve fully embraced becoming an artist, what can we expect from your forthcoming debut album? Will it be similar to EPVH1?

Kristina: I think that the EP set the bricks of the aesthetics and the sound, but it was so interesting for me to get the first feedback. I was cultivating this whole visual and world for so long, and I kind of lost some objectivity at a certain point, because you’re so in it constantly. I just needed the point-of-view of the audience. I just wanted to have the opinion of random people I’ve never met. What does it make them feel like? What does it remind them of? And that really influenced the way I kept working on my album.

To me, the EP isn’t dark. For me, it’s really introspective and deep in some way. I wanted to touch a cord inside of you. It’s filled with light and it’s really positive. It just questions things. I had a lot of people tell me, “Why is it so dark? Are you gothic now? Are you punk?” Look at me! Do I look gothic to you? [laughs] People said that I was a Satanist cause I had a song called “The Devil.” Guys, we’re in 2018, can’t you play with this word and make a beautiful story out of it. In reality, it’s a love song. So, as much as I don’t find it dark, I want to show something lighter and sunnier on the album.

OTW: Do you find there’s a very different process when it comes to sitting down to write a blog post as opposed to writing a song?

Kristina: Very different. When I write blog posts, it’s like I’m in a trance and just write everything that goes through my mind. I literally cannot see the time pass. It’s really like you’re opening up and saying everything that’s on your mind. Music is different because you have a format. You have a certain timeframe, rhythm, syllables, and pattern that you have to respect. So, you have to synthesize your message and be really clear about what you’re trying to say so people can have a story to follow. You have to have a really clear idea about what your song is about. Often times for me, it stars with a word or a concept and then I have one hook. It builds almost like a movie. You’re imagining the colors around you, what people are doing, how does it make you feel. It makes you go into a lot of places in your head. It’s so much fun.

OTW: Who are your Ones To Watch?

Kristina: I love Timber Timbre. It’s really one of my favorite bands right now. I keep playing their stuff on repeat. Very chill but very sexy. It’s perfect for any occasion.

OTW: Any last words?

Kristina: Stay tuned for the album because it’s going to be filled with really beautiful surprises. And I can’t wait to see everyone during my performances. I hope as many people as possible can come.

#interview #kristina bazan #EPVH1 #pop #electropop #electronic

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rockzone · 6 years ago

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The Best Song From Every Rush Album

Rush drummer Neil Peart (pictured above) passed away last Tuesday, January 7, 2020 (aged 67). He was also the main lyricist for the band. Some time ago I read an article by Ryan Reed posted on the Ultimate Classic Rock website taking a look at the best Rush songs from every album. The full text is available at https://ultimateclassicrock.com/best-rush-songs/

I have put together these songs in a Spotify playlist (link below) as I believe that this is a true representation of some of the highlights through time of this amazing band.

Spotify Playlist - The Best Song from every Rush Album

'Rush' (1974): "Working Man"

Without this head-banging fuzz-rock anthem, Rush's debut LP would be an afterthought – a demo-worthy stepping stone to their prog destiny. But "Working Man," with its Black Sabbath-styled riffs and blue-collar lyrics, is a stone-cold classic. After a primal, two-minute pummel, they tease an ambitious streak with wild guitar solos, triplet drum fills and tempo changes, climaxing with Alex Lifeson's grandiose fanfare of string bends. Rush had only one flash of brilliance, but they harnessed its power to forge their hard-prog path.

'Fly By Night' (1975): "Fly by Night"

Bristling with energy at a compact 3:19, "Fly by Night" packs more unbridled second-by-second fun than any other song in the Rush canon. Lifeson's crunching, descending guitar riff is instant joy – the sound of, well, flying by night and changing your life – and the rhythm section's torrent of proggy fills (Geddy Lee's chorus triplets, Neil Peart's splash accents) achieve a perpetual, cinematic tension, as you wonder when and how the next surprise will emerge. (Even the bridge is built on a quality hook, with Lee singing merrily through a trippy wave of phaser – an effect achieved by running his vocal through a Leslie speaker.)

'Caress of Steel' (1975): "Bastille Day"

This song is the sound of the titular battle, the hard-rock guillotine claiming her bloody prize. Surprises aplenty: the downbeat shift at 3:55, the climactic tempo slow-down and slow-mo guitar harmonies. Lee's voice is still high and shockingly shrill, but by this point he'd learned to utilize more restraint, picking and choosing moments to shatter glass with his high trills.

'2112' (1976): "A Passage to Bangkok"

2112 is a tale of two sides: Rush saved their silliest, most long-winded ideas for the title epic and turned the second half into a catch-all hodgepodge. "A Passage to Bangkok" is one of the sharpest vocal melodies the band wrote pre-1980, and it's a load of fun as a lyric – Peart's lighthearted (lightheaded?) fable about traveling via train to Thailand in search of the world's finest reefer at each stop.

'A Farewell to Kings' (1977): "A Farewell to Kings"

The intro to A Farewell to Kings' anthemic title track signals the changes afoot: Synth and glockenspiel flutter over Alex Lifeson's gorgeously plucked, stereo-panned classical guitar, ushering in a trademark thunderous hard-rock riff. There are surprises around every turn: funky bass-led sections, rhythmic shifts, 7/8 time. Their future was limitless.

'Hemispheres' (1978): "La Villa Strangiato"

Rush subtitled this instrumental powerhouse "An Exercise in Self-Indulgence" – ironic since, by their geeky standards, it never offers a moment to yawn or check your watch. This one's full of subtle, deeply emotive playing: the rhythmic shift at 3:33, with Peart settling into a funky hi-hat pattern; Lifeson's palm-muted guitar figure; a swinging, jazzy section ("Monsters!"), mind-melting bass and solos ("The Ghost of the Aragon"). Perfection.

'Permanent Waves' (1980): "The Spirit of Radio"

There's almost a punk edge to this breakout hit, which helped Permanent Waves peak at Mo. 3 in Canada and the U.K. and No. 4 in the U.S. Another track where Geddy Lee wrote himself a quality melody that stands separate from the riff. The reggae breakdown and climactic piano stomp gave this one a commercial appeal no one could have predicted five years earlier. Peart's lyrics are about listening to Toronto radio station CFNY-FM.

'Moving Pictures' (1981): "Tom Sawyer"

"Tom Sawyer" is the ultimate Rush song in several ways. It's their most famous piece, occupying a prime piece of classic-rock radio real estate for almost four decades. It's their cleanest, most seamless fusion of prog and hard rock, boasting some of their tightest ensemble playing and a guitar riff catchier than "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Like the entirety of 1981's Moving Pictures, it's also a fascinating crossroads between '70s and '80s Rush, arriving a few years after the knotty conceptual sprawl of Hemispheres and a few years before Lee became obsessed with synthesizers. The piece originated from one of numerous jam sessions during a particularly frigid winter rehearsal at a Toronto farm; Peart, meanwhile, developed his lyrics of rebellion from a poem he received from lyricist Pye Dubois based on Mark Twain's 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The result is the Rush masterpiece – a compact, four-and-a-half-minute summation of everything they represented.

'Signals' (1982): "Subdivisions"

Rush had given themselves over to synth worship, but it hadn't affected the quality of their music. "Subdivisions" is menacing prog-pop with rumbling, pitch-shifted vocals and some of the tastiest analog synth leads this side of a Stevie Wonder album. Peart contributes one of his jazziest, most complex grooves in the 7/8 section, which only makes the pattern more satisfying when he "resolves" the implied tension in 4/4. Still, Lifeson has bemoaned both the song's and album's production in the years since, specifically calling the mix for "Subdivisions" a "disappointment for me."

'Grace Under Pressure' (1984): "Kid Gloves"

Alex Lifeson wiggles to the forefront on "Kid Gloves," flipping the bird to Lee's synthesizers all the way. The guitarist's delayed, palm-muted 10/8 riff – which conjures Genesis' "Follow You Follow Me" with a proggier sensibility – is the highlight of Grace Under Pressure, offering some grit to an album that often gets lost in reverb. He sounds like he's exploding with pent-up anticipation on the guitar solo, which flaunts an Eddie Van Halen-like tremolo bar flair.

'Power Windows' (1985): "The Big Money"

Lee is one of a handful of prog musicians with the chops – and willingness – to get funky. And on this dynamo single, he smacks the crap out of his bass strings like they owe him a gambling debt. But "The Big Money" is more than just a killer groove – it's also easily one of Rush's most deceptively intricate radio hits, bouncing giddily from atmospheric synths to tribal tom-toms to arena-rock choruses. The band's early '80s sonic exploration – the brushes with reggae and ska and synth-pop – had coalesced into a color all their own.

'Hold Your Fire' (1987): "Time Stand Still"

Singer-songwriter Aimee Mann's breathy vocal adds a soothing femininity to this Top 3 hit, marking the band's first collaboration with a guest singer. "When we wrote that song, I just became obsessed with having a female vocalist come in and add a different nuance to it," Lee told A.V. Club in 2015. "We talked about a lot of different vocalists. At that time, I was a big fan of Kate Bush, and I’ve always been a big Björk fan. Somebody suggested Aimee Mann, and we listened to her work. Her voice is absolutely beautiful and really possessed a lot of the qualities that we were after, and she was thrilled to come up to Toronto and lend her talents to our song, which I think really elevated the track. She’s such an awesome person and we had a ball with her."

'Presto' (1989): "The Pass"

"All of us get lost in the darkness / Dreamers learn to steer by the stars," Lee croons on this cosmic power ballad, the single most emotional moment in the Rush catalog. It's a perfect symbiosis of music and lyric, as Lifeson's rippling guitar solidifies the poignancy in Peart's poetry about teenage suicide.

'Roll the Bones' (1991): "Bravado"

Rush go into power-ballad mode here, with Alex Lifeson's huge, ringing chords wafting over Neil Peart's jazzy drums.

'Counterparts' (1993): "Between Sun and Moon"

Counterparts marked a return to Rush relevancy – the point where songwriting caught back up to technique. Everyone's on fire here: Lee crafts one of his sharpest chorus hooks, and Neil Peart pounds out a funky tom pattern on his all-acoustic kit. (You couldn't blame the guy for experimenting with electronic drums, but a player this precise doesn't need any excuse to sound more like a machine.)

'Test for Echo' (1996): "Test for Echo"

"Test for Echo was a strange record in a sense," Lee reflected in the 2012 Rush book An Oral History, Uncensored. "It doesn’t really have a defined direction. I kind of felt like we were a bit burnt creatively. It was a creative low time for us." One rare exception to that rule is the instantly hummable title-track – a radiant blast of modernized alt-prog.

'Vapor Trails' (2002): "Vapor Trail"

Rush get full-on atmospheric with Vapor Trails' pseudo title track, another flirtation with radio-friendly alt-rock. Lifeson washes his hands of distortion, and Peart bashes a snare with a ringing, marching-band style tone.

'Snakes & Arrows' (2007): "Far Cry"

"One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel, and the next it's rolling over me," Geddy Lee belts, preaching a universal truth. It's one of Lee's strongest choruses of the modern era.

'Clockwork Angels' (2012): "The Garden"

A rare Rush song that will leave you reaching for the Kleenex, "The Garden" stands out in the band's catalog for its sweetness and simplicity, its clarity and control. It's an unusual arrangement for these guys, with Lee crooning softly over a David Campbell string arrangement, Jason Sniderman's twinkling piano and Lifeson's restrained acoustic guitar. And its decollate quality initially concerned producer Nick Raskulinecz. "Nick was a little wary of it getting too sweet," Lifeson told MusicRadar. "The demo was very acoustic. The piano parts were there, as were the strings, but everything was kind of soft. Nick wanted us to toughen it up some." Luckily, they didn't do much toughening. If this is how the Rush story ends – and by all indications it will be – this was a poignant curtain call.

#Rush #Neil Peart

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ellielauderresearches · 6 years ago

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Costello Albums: Refining Research (Better Quotes!)

Intro (500 wds)

What  is  Post-Punk?

Reynolds (2005): a merging of “working-class kids and arty, middle-class bohemians” – no longer a divide. Brought about after Punk was absorbed into mainstream culture (“became a parody of itself”)

Sommer (2016): “The Post-Punk era was a time when a new generation of bands informed by punk actually lived up to the potential for creativity and artistic intimacy “promised” by punk.”

What classes something as “Punk”? (critics opinions) 

Rombes (2009): a feeling of disconnection from wider society. (A desire to “shake things up”?)

Sabin (1999): “’punk’ is a notoriously amorphous concept…a subculture best characterised as being part youth rebellion part artistic statement… It had its primary manifestation in music… Philosophically, it has no ‘set agenda’ like the hippy movement that preceded it, but nevertheless stood for identifiable attitudes, among them: an emphasis on negationism (rather that nihilism); a consciousness of class-based politics (with a stress on ‘working class credibility’); and a belief in spontaneity and ‘doing it yourself’.”

Does Costello fit this description? (arguments for/against) 

Gorman (2008): Stiff Records – formed “at the heart of punk and new wave scene” (Mahamdallie, 2016) – wanted to portray Costello as a “twisted outsider” to reflect the angry nature of his music. (Riviera: “Buddy Holly on acid.”)

Mahamdallie (2016): Lowe: “as hardcore as the punks, but in different ways”.

LeMay (2002): Costello could write “political” and “personal” songs with “wit and talent”.

Borack (2014): “Elvis Costello has made a career out of refusing to be pigeonholed and also constantly reinventing himself. From angry, young, new waver to country crooner, R&B shouter to sophisticated singer-songwriter – to name just a few stops on his musical journey – Costello’s body of work is nothing, if not diverse.”

Smith (2007): “For an era obsessed with authenticity, Elvis Costello was about as fabricated as they came. A made-up name…and those Clark Kent glasses, he always looked like a ringer in rock’s perpetual race to find the real deal.”

McCombe (2009): “Although Costello is often mistakenly discussed in the context of the punk movement, he had very few affinities with it, outside of a sensibility shaped by Britain’s dire economic fortunes in the 1970s.”

Bresnick (2001): “Like his fellow Englishmen the Sex Pistols and the Damned, Elvis Costello was very good at the bravado gesture early in his career. Yet underneath his punky pose lurked a staggeringly gifted songwriter who had made it his business to devour the history of American popular music, from Hoagy Carmichael to Burt Bacharach, from Hank Williams to Gram Parsons, from Louis Jordan to Smokey Robinson.”

Brief Costello background 

This essay will discuss the impact of Punk on Costello’s first 2 albums, both the artwork and music 

My Aim Is True (graphics) (750 wds)

Brief  bg  (artist, date released) 

Inspiration – a reflection of Punk graphics? (critics’ opinions) 

Gorman (2008): Bubbles loved Elvis Presley – inspired Costello’s pose. In response to Stiff’s desire to show Costello as a “twisted outsider”, created a “visually confusing” (Lynam, 2015) cover. This also done because: Riviera: “We wanted to appeal to the hip people, the pacemakers, those who wanted something different. Our credo was that people are more intelligent than politicians or big business gives them credit for.”

Gorman (2008): Riviera: “The brief to Barney was that we conveyed the minimum of information. No credits, just the song titles. We wanted to intrigue people, get them asking, “Where’s this guy from?””

Message conveyed through text/image – a reflection of Punk ideology/style? (critics’ opinions) 

Willman (2007): “Yet Elvis Costello’s dweeby My Aim Is True stance portended menace, too, as if the 22-year-old dead ringer for Buddy Holly might just bite your head off while he’s buckling.”

O’Grady (2001): “Geek rock has always been a money-spinner. Ever since Elvis Costello appeared on the cover of My Aim Is True wearing the largest pair of horn-rimmed glasses the world had ever witnessed, the punk nerds of the world have taken on a demographic identity of their own.”

Walters (2008): “stylistically quite different”

The Stiff Records Story (2016): “A picture of awkwardness…Costello was a geek years before it was chic. A vibrant yellow screen was placed over him for the initial run of 10, 000, ensuring it would stand out in the racks and window displays of record shops. Then, when the album begun to catch fire, Stiff made a discovery that would result in a collector’s dream. Riviera had gone with Bubbles to oversee the first run and found out that using different coloured inks wouldn’t cost more. He then demanded that every run of 5, 000 copies be printed in a different colour.”

Not cool: “Costello has his Fender Jazzmaster…strapped way too high on his chest, a thrift-store jacket two sizes too small, oversized Buddy Holly specs, and a contortion of his legs that interviewer Terry Gross describes as a “knock-kneed duck-walk”. In a 1989 interview…Costello admits that the album artwork was connected to his overall project of a new masculine idiom.”

Analysis – Punk or not?

My Aim Is True (music) (750 wds)

Is a Punk attitude visible – lyrics, topics discussed, musical inspiration? (critics’ opinions) 

LeMay (2002): “Perpetually wronged and rarely laid men were capable of being intelligent about their bitterness, focusing their anger not on the whole of womankind, but on particular woman…and attacking these women with a potent blend of wit and bile. Rather than self-aggrandisement, self-deprecation reigned supreme. More importantly, subtlety won out over blatant self-pity or obnoxiousness. Yeah, the gentlemen were angry, but they were smart enough to know what they were angry at – and geeky enough to include themselves in that category.”

“Costello exploded onto the punk/new-wave scene like a mutant hybrid of Buddy Holly and Johnny Rotten. He had the seething contempt of a punk, but a transparent intelligence, sensitivity, and melodic sense that made him much more interesting than many of his contemporaries. Punks didn’t give a fuck; Elvis was sensitive enough to not only give a fuck, but smart enough to be pissed off and disturbed by that fuck.”

McCombe (2009): Costello: “The only two things that matter to me, the only motivation points for me writing these songs…are revenge and guilt. Those are the only emotions I know about, that I know I can feel. Love? I dunno what it means, really, and it doesn’t exist in my songs. (qtd. In Kent, “Horn-Rims” 190, 1977)

“Rejecting the dominant pose of “cock-rock”, as well as that od=f the “soft male” (articulated in the more psychedelic stylings of bands such as Pink Floyd), Costello offered a new image of masculinity that has been much misunderstood since he first emerged in the wave of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee and punk (1976-1977).” *

*also rejected “the aggressive and assertive “warrior” male found in many hard rock and punk songs, with its “violence aimed at a suffocating (s)mothering culture” (Reynolds and Press 40).”

“Ever since Costello was labelled an “avenging dork” by Frank Rose in a 1979 Village Voice article, critics have been quick to view Costello’s representation of masculinity in the terms he himself outlined: his songs espouse some guilt, but far more revenge as a result of his “betrayal” at the hands of various femme fatales.”

“Costello identifies an aesthetic that is truly “punk” in spirit, if not in its musical presentation” in “I’m Not Angry” and “Miracle Man” – C: “admitting absolute defeat – taking all this sexual abuse, say” “without” the need for “self-pity” or “coming on all macho with the whole revenge bit”.

Whole album: “there is no mask to conceal pain”.

Marcus: Not a misogynist? - “as much his own target as anyone else was.”

“As Reynolds and Press suggest very early in The Sex Revolts, “Rock’s great paradox is that it has successfully revolted against established notions of manliness while remaining misogynistic” (18). Such a criticism has been levelled at many iconic artists of the punk movement (The Clash, The Sex Pistols, etc.), and Elvis Costello is no exception. But is such a simple description deserved in Costello’s case?”

Analysis – Punk or not?  

Conclusion of entire album

This Year’s Model (graphics) (750 wds)

Brief bg (artist, date released)

Inspiration – a reflection of Punk graphics? (critics’ opinions)

Gorman (2008): Abstract? The back cover, of which there are several alternatives (Jsayers, 2015), and also shot by Gabrin, have the band reacting to an “ectoplasmic incident” in a nicely-kept living room.

Commercially-themed, up-to-date (a reflection of the title)? The inner sleeves show two “abstract interpretations” of the title: one features a mechanical hand holding an up-to-date “micro-TV”; the other shows four clothing shop chests wearing garments in different colours.

Desire to confound the audience? In terms of shock and confusion, This Year’s Model has a very defiant “Punk” attitude – as with My Aim Is True, this is visible in the advertising campaign and cover design. According to Riviera, he refused to let Radar’s supplier Warner Music change any aspect of the record’s design; he wanted:

“to make them wary of us. We didn’t want them dictating whether we couldn’t use metallic inks or what-have-you, so we were out to show them we meant business”

In response, Bubbles came up with “one of his finest commercial interventions”, which also highlights the manufacturing procedure – the front cover deliberately crops the album title and reveals the CMYK colour bar. Confoundment was certainly created overseas – the American record company who stocked the album believed the printing “error” was real, and corrected it (Morgan and Wardle, 2010).

Snap Galleries (2019): To fit with the title, Bubbles said Costello “should be behind the camera rather than in front”. Gabrin has remarked that Costello wanted to look angry in the photograph – to achieve this, he listened to “Hotel California” by The Eagles, a song he allegedly hated. He also mimicked Gabrin’s actions throughout the shoot.

Message conveyed through text/image – a reflection of Punk ideology/style? (critics’ opinions)

McCombe (2009): Costello relates to the opposite sex? Feels objectified by mainstream culture/the music industry? “Costello is the woman objectified – he is “this year’s girl”. Of course, “This Year’s Girl” would be an awkward title for a record that bears Costello’s own image on the cover, so “girl” becomes “model”, but the album artwork nevertheless confirms the connection between the singer and the model before the camera.”

“In the words of Graeme Thomson, Costello is “both observed and observing” - both gazing behind the camera and the subject of the camera’s gaze (92).”

“Perhaps it occurred to Costello as he was writing songs for Model that his “anti-style” adopted on the album jacket of My Aim is True was nevertheless its own distinct style. It may be true that his polka-dot shirt on the cover of Model is a bit more “rock star” than what we see in the images on his debut...but we also clearly see a wedding band on his left hand, and there is still the matter of the “computer geek” prescription eyewear (Thomson 73). Although the glasses provided many a commentator with the opportunity to connect Costello to a certain memmber of the rock ‘n’ roll royalty...as Franklin Bruno writes, the specs “were more socialized medicine than Buddy Holly to English audiences” (13).”

“By choosing This Year’s Model as his title, Costello reinforced the record’s overwhelming fascination with beauty, image, and objectification.”

Analysis – Punk or not?

Morgan and Wardle (2010): “Punk-era designer Barney Bubbles...was an ex-hippy, very much like the era’s other big stylist, Jamie Reid. Yet his designs are very much contrary to the brash, bold aesthetic of the day – he was into subtlety and wit.”

N.A. (2009): “(Barney Bubbles’) fans consider his design work to be Pop Art anyway: “Taking from contemporary visual culture – he did that all the time. It wasn’t stealing, he was moving things forward,” says Garrett.”

This Year’s Model (music) (750 wds)

Is a Punk attitude visible – lyrics, topics discussed, musical inspiration? (critics’ opinions)

Gordinier (2002): Rap? “You don’t tend to think of Elvis Costello as a rap pioneer (especially where he’s schmoozing with string quartets and Burt Bacharach), but listen to the wordplay on the reissue of this 1978 classic. With all those corkscrew rhymes and spitfire verbal grenades, he could be Eminem’s long-lost uncle.”

Sheffield (2008): “The pain in these songs is as clearly visible as the wedding ring Costello wears on the album cover...these are are the plaints of a kid who fell too hard too fast, who took romantic promises way too seriously and believed more fiercely as he kept getting burned. The music is surprisingly lush and pretty... Yet it’s all punk rage, thanks to Pete Thomas’ drums and Steve Nieve’s cranky organ.”

McCombe (2009): Mankind “disappearing under late capitalism”? - “Lipstick Vogue”.

“the speakers in Costello’s songs are obsessed with betrayl and infidelity in personal relationships and how, in Thurschwell’s words, “our personal relationships are invaded by, indeed inextricable from, institutions of power” (290).”

Costello relates to the opposite sex? Feels objectified by mainstream culture/the music industry? “When Thurschwell contends that Costello desires “to objectify women before they objectify [him],” she misses the crucial ways in which Costello’s speakers also identify with these beautiful and treacherous women, in the sense that he has already been objectified as the music’s “next big thing”.”

Rejection of the music industry? Costello (NME, Kent, 1978): “People in this fuckin’ business just don’t understand that I don’t want to join their little club... From the very beginning there was never any air-brush stuff.”

A “possession” of the music industry/the audience? - “You Belong to Me”.

Analysis – Punk or not?

Bray (2018): “While it’s difficult to call the record “punk” in the classic sense, it’s undeniably informed by the genre’s angry, rebellious spirit.”

Conclusion of entire album

Conc (500 wds)

Does Costello fulfil the role of a Post-Punk artist?

Does artwork for Costello’s albums reflect Punk graphics?

Does Costello’s music reflect Punk ideology?

Effective summing-up sentence

0 notes

samanthasroberts · 7 years ago

Text

4 Straight-Up Lies Movies Tell Teens About High School

When you’re about to enter the hormone-fueled thunderdome that is high school, there are very few things that can act as your guide. You’re far too cool to listen to anything that your parents or teachers have to say about the issue, so most of your guidance comes from the coked-up Sherpa known as pop culture. Sadly, you usually have to graduate before you learn that movies are full of filthy lies. For example …

Getting Drunk Will Make You So Popular

Screenwriters use a messed-up version of the transitive property to get from “Popular kids drink” to “Drinking must make you cool!” Cooly is definitely one of the seven dwarves of drinking, but so are Pukey, Sleepy, Angry, Sad-y, Horny, and Doc. Doc is when you have to go to the doctor because you decided to jump on a trampoline while you were drunk. You never know which dwarf you’re getting, but only one of them makes people like you. The rest always do the opposite.

Yet teen movies seem to have this idea that if you’re a nerd, it’s only because you aren’t drunk enough. The best example of this is in Can’t Hardly Wait. Nerdy Will gets drunk for the first time ever, and suddenly becomes so goddamn cool that a group of his peers actually applaud him for interrupting their party to lip sync “Paradise City” while wearing a tan polo shirt.

I feel like I can very objectively say that nothing he’s doing is cool, despite the fact that he is portrayed as Bacchus, god of wine, revelry, and late ’90s fashion trends.

You can see the same transformation on a smaller scale in Paper Towns, when geeky Ben gets drunk and ends up doing a keg stand while a bunch of jocks cheer him on. He then makes a giant sword out of beer cans and knights his friend.

20th Century Fox

20th Century FoxHoly shit, alcohol is awesome! I should drink it every day for the rest of my life!

Absolutely no one gives him an atomic wedgie for this, despite that being the scientifically accurate way to end the scene. Movies haven’t exactly figured out that you don’t get to be prom king after ten seconds of light intoxicated interaction with the football team.

In 10 Things I Hate About You, America’s cool older sister Julia Stiles gets drunk and dances on a table. It’s admittedly a pretty damn cool dance, but everyone is supposed to hate and fear her, and they’re suddenly just like “Sure, I’ll move my beer so you can cha-cha slide or whatever.” Alcohol can do some magical things for people, but it’s not popularity juice.

Touchstone PicturesPoor Heath Ledger’s nervously eyeing for an exit into a less cliched scene.

A Live Band Will Play At Your School Dances

Maybe I’m the only person who’s angry about this, but I grew up assuming live bands played at all school dances all the time. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that my school just had a DJ, and his name was Principal Owens, and we eventually replaced him with an iPod. I can’t decide if that’s more or less cool.

I then assumed that if I went to a larger school, I would get the high school dance experience I deserved. Imagine my surprise when I started dating a guy who went to a school with 2,000 students and no live band to infuse their events with the proper amount of pop culture relevancy. What gives? There are so many live bands in teen movies that The Donnas, an early 2000s all-female punk band, is featured in two of them: Drive Me Crazy …

20th Century Fox

… and Jawbreaker.

TriStar Pictures

Although they go by the name The Electrocutes in Drive Me Crazy. Keep that in mind the next time you attend a trivia night hosted by Melissa Joan Hart.

And it’s not just school dances that go whole hog and pay for live music in teen movies. Matt Damon gives the least-convincing lip-syncing performance I’ve ever seen as the frontman of a fictional punk band that plays at a house party in the beginning of the movie Eurotrip.

Which calls into question: What house parties are these screenwriters going to? And what transcendent bands are they seeing there? Whenever I go, it’s just a dude with a guitar secretly hoping that people will sing along when he starts to play “Wagon Wheel.”

Even the Yule Ball in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire has a full band, and that universe has magic and shit! They could just magic all the instruments to play, but nope, Harry Potter needs to have his Obligatory Teen Movie Moment, so Hogwarts went out of its way to find a hip band that just plays songs about what it’s like to go to fucking Hogwarts.

They cut the scene in which Ron gets wasted on butterbeer and lip syncs “Fuck Tha Police.”

Teachers Are Obsessed With Their Students’ Personal Lives

I have so many friends who are teachers, and let me tell you, they are just counting down the hours until they can go home and take their pants off like the rest of us. They want to be accessible and helpful to their students, but they don’t obsess over them the way teachers in the movies do.

For instance, they wouldn’t go to a student’s super illegal drag race and cheer them on like the shop teacher does in Grease. She shouldn’t be there! (Side note: I love her character. A female shop teacher who wears pearls and fancy earrings with her jumpsuit? Nice, Grease!) But as nifty as Mrs. Murdock is, drag racing is a crime, and she should probably refrain from helping her students prepare to commit that crime real good and then cheering them on while they do it.

Then you’ve got the insane Mr. Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, who leaves school and spends the entire day trying to catching a single student in a lie. There were a lot of other students in that school, man.

Paramount Pictures“I HAVE TENURE; I CAN STALK ANYONE I DAMN WELL PLEASE!”

And I’m not even sure what a dean of students specifically does, but taking an entire day to obsess over one teenager has to be leaving some paperwork not-done. Unless he’s actually been spending the whole day filling out form 236-C, and it requires you to break into a student’s home to complete it?

In the end of Fast Time At Ridgemont High, the history teacher shows up at Sean Penn’s house to angrily force knowledge down his throat right before a school dance. Let me think of all the times a teacher has shown up at my house when I was in school. This may come as a shock to you, but never. Not once. No teacher, no matter how ceaselessly inspirational they were, has ever gone to my house unannounced to ensure that I was schooling harder. I don’t mean to diss the education system, but I don’t think most teachers are that dedicated.

Universal Pictures

Universal PicturesEven people who are paid millions of dollars avoid hanging out with Sean Penn unless absolutely required to.

The Popular Kids Are Doomed To Lead Crappy Adult Lives

Every teen movie with an epilogue uses it to give a good dig at the popular jerks’ bleak future. Mike Damone gets caught scalping tickets and ends up working at a 7-11 in Fast Times At Ridgemont High. We’re told Mike Dexter (a lot of assholes are named Mike, apparently) becomes an alcoholic who washes cars after the events of Can’t Hardly Wait. Biff from Back To The Future … also winds up washing cars for a living? Screenwriters must see this as the ultimate punishment.

Universal Pictures“Hey, remember when I tried to rape your wife? Man, crazy times. Anyway, I’ll get back to work.”

It’s what we want — justice for all the times those popular assholes were popular assholes at us. The thing is, sometimes popular people kind of rule at life. Popularity is often shorthand for “people skills,” and that often stems from being aggressive and/or physically attractive, all of which is really, really beneficial in the adult world.

We mentioned Mike Dexter up there. He was a jerk in Can’t Hardly Wait, but he was also good enough at football to get a scholarship to college. Communities tend to have a long memory when it comes to people who were good at sports. In my hometown, football players are the closest things to local celebrities we have. Mike would have to screw up pretty badly to not be able to land a cushy job at a local car dealership there, even if he dropped out of college. So what did Mike do?

Columbia Pictures

Columbia PicturesI need a Cant Hardly Wait 2, in which we see … the murders.

The Mikes of the real world will learn to tie a tie, play golf, and get good jobs from their frat alumni, working overtime to figure out how to keep their sexual harassment away from witnesses. And while he’s interviewing you for a job years later, you’ll look at his gold watch and think, Damn, this could have been me, if only I’d drank more in high school.

If you’re the type of person who enjoys reliving your glory days on video, try it with a sick projector set from DB Power.

If you loved this article and want more content like this, support our site with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more, check out 5 Horrible Life Lessons Learned from Teen Movies and 6 Ways Society Is Designed To Screw Teenagers Every Day.

Also follow us on Facebook, dudes.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/4-straight-up-lies-movies-tell-teens-about-high-school/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/07/12/4-straight-up-lies-movies-tell-teens-about-high-school/

0 notes

adambstingus · 7 years ago

Text

4 Straight-Up Lies Movies Tell Teens About High School

Getting Drunk Will Make You So Popular

I feel like I can very objectively say that nothing he’s doing is cool, despite the fact that he is portrayed as Bacchus, god of wine, revelry, and late ’90s fashion trends.

20th Century Fox

20th Century FoxHoly shit, alcohol is awesome! I should drink it every day for the rest of my life!

Touchstone PicturesPoor Heath Ledger’s nervously eyeing for an exit into a less cliched scene.

A Live Band Will Play At Your School Dances

20th Century Fox

… and Jawbreaker.

TriStar Pictures

Although they go by the name The Electrocutes in Drive Me Crazy. Keep that in mind the next time you attend a trivia night hosted by Melissa Joan Hart.

They cut the scene in which Ron gets wasted on butterbeer and lip syncs “Fuck Tha Police.”

Teachers Are Obsessed With Their Students’ Personal Lives

Paramount Pictures“I HAVE TENURE; I CAN STALK ANYONE I DAMN WELL PLEASE!”

Universal Pictures

Universal PicturesEven people who are paid millions of dollars avoid hanging out with Sean Penn unless absolutely required to.

The Popular Kids Are Doomed To Lead Crappy Adult Lives

Universal Pictures“Hey, remember when I tried to rape your wife? Man, crazy times. Anyway, I’ll get back to work.”

Columbia Pictures

Columbia PicturesI need a Cant Hardly Wait 2, in which we see … the murders.

If you’re the type of person who enjoys reliving your glory days on video, try it with a sick projector set from DB Power.

If you loved this article and want more content like this, support our site with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more, check out 5 Horrible Life Lessons Learned from Teen Movies and 6 Ways Society Is Designed To Screw Teenagers Every Day.

Also follow us on Facebook, dudes.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/4-straight-up-lies-movies-tell-teens-about-high-school/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/175827708192

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trendingnewsb · 8 years ago

Text

4 Straight-Up Lies Movies Tell Teens About High School

Getting Drunk Will Make You So Popular

youtube

I feel like I can very objectively say that nothing he’s doing is cool, despite the fact that he is portrayed as Bacchus, god of wine, revelry, and late ’90s fashion trends.

20th Century Fox

20th Century FoxHoly shit, alcohol is awesome! I should drink it every day for the rest of my life!

Touchstone PicturesPoor Heath Ledger’s nervously eyeing for an exit into a less cliched scene.

A Live Band Will Play At Your School Dances

20th Century Fox

… and Jawbreaker.

TriStar Pictures

Although they go by the name The Electrocutes in Drive Me Crazy. Keep that in mind the next time you attend a trivia night hosted by Melissa Joan Hart.

youtube

They cut the scene in which Ron gets wasted on butterbeer and lip syncs “Fuck Tha Police.”

Teachers Are Obsessed With Their Students’ Personal Lives

Paramount Pictures“I HAVE TENURE; I CAN STALK ANYONE I DAMN WELL PLEASE!”

Universal Pictures

Universal PicturesEven people who are paid millions of dollars avoid hanging out with Sean Penn unless absolutely required to.

The Popular Kids Are Doomed To Lead Crappy Adult Lives

Universal Pictures“Hey, remember when I tried to rape your wife? Man, crazy times. Anyway, I’ll get back to work.”

Columbia Pictures

Columbia PicturesI need a Cant Hardly Wait 2, in which we see … the murders.

If you’re the type of person who enjoys reliving your glory days on video, try it with a sick projector set from DB Power.

If you loved this article and want more content like this, support our site with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more, check out 5 Horrible Life Lessons Learned from Teen Movies and 6 Ways Society Is Designed To Screw Teenagers Every Day.

Also follow us on Facebook, dudes.