#And the only ones who actually know about Glam Bon having been there are the humans—and Vanessa may be one who knows what entirely happened | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

multiples-fandomswontkillme · 3 years

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~Metal Family headcanons~

These are like my... general hcs)? which means I didn't include my main hc that Glam, Ches and Vicky are polyamorous, married and started dating after Glam met Vicky, and absolutely everything that implies for the kids and the relationships between each member of the fam. Maybe I'll make a separate post for that or maybe not! Who knows lkfwnlfqnf

Glam

Bisexual

Glam has constant nightmares and ocasional night terrors ever since he ran away home and is an active sleep walker. Ches helped him through the worse ones when they were younger, and learned how to deal with them, always preferring not to wake him up but being with him until the episode passed. Vicky has learned how to deal with them, though she normally asks Ches for advice with it cuz she comes out short sometimes.

He has PTSD. I bet it's diagnosed too, he takes medication and goes to therapy, it doesn't mean he still doesn't have his bad days anyway. He's trying to get better.

Glam has talked to Vicky about his past, his father and his family. This is a direct contradiction of Alina's confirmation that Glam doesn't talk about it with anyone but man FUCK THAT. We love good communication in this house, Vicky tries her best to help him, but there's only so much she can do to help.

Glam enjoys gardening, cooking and making models, he also likes doing his make up, painting his nails and dressing up in fancy, extravagant clothes even if he has nowhere important to go.

He likes taking care of everyone's hair, and constantly helps Vicky brush her hair cuz there's so much of it, Dee when he gets stressed over how tangled it can get, buys Ches hair products so he actually takes care of it, and chases Heavy so the kid actually washes, untangles and brushes his hair.

This one is kind of weird, but I refuse to think any adult in the family is unarmed at any time. Glam owns a taser and pepper spray. They're bright pink and sparkly.

This man cried his eyes out while watching Coco. He's hell to watch movies with cuz he talks and predicts what's gonna happen during the movie, judges them with scores at the end and all.

Vicky

Also bisexual!

Vicky's the one who does everyone's laundry most of the time. She prefers it that way since she's the only one that knows how to wash their black clothes so the colors stay vibrant. (This is based on my gf shaming everyone but Vicky cuz their black clothes always look so muted and almost gray, but Vicky's whole outfit is always the same vibrant black colors, so we decided that neither Glam or the kids know how to wash dark clothes)

She has anger issues, if it isn't obvious. I think she also has PTSD, mainly survivor's guilt due to her surviving the accident her brother died in. She blames herself and cannot bear to talk about it, in some sort of deep denial. If she can't remember, it can't hurt as much, right?

She has scars on the right side of her back and her hip, from the road rash she got on her brother's accident, she never treated it due to grief and it scarred badly. Apart from that, the scar of the caesarean section from Heavy's birth. She doesn't really mind both of them, they happened, nothing to do about them.

She likes watching boxing competitions, brawling matches and motorcycle repairing on TV. Loves doing BBQ's and going to the pool. Also an enjoyer of teasing her kids, kissing and loving her husband at random times, spending time drinking and bonding with Ches and bragging about her family and punching anyone who thinks they're not that cool.

Not particularly a fan of make up, skirts and dresses or any traditionally femenine-perceived stuff. But has been making exceptions due to Glam and Ches being unashamed of being seen as femenine, and actually rocking the looks. The internalized misogyny is kind of slowly dissapearing.

Apart from the guns she carries in each arm (I mean her biceps, have you looked at the size of those?? She strong) she has brass knuckles on her at all times. Glam gifts her new ones sometimes, she loves having multiple choices to punch people teeth in.

Loves horror, thrillers and action movies. Falls asleep during rom-coms and dramas. Ironically, loves gossip and talking shit about people. Enjoys hearing Ches talks about the gossip going on in the nursery home even if she doesn't know who the hell he's talking about.

Rest of the family under the cut!

Heavy

Heavy is a trans boy! He doesn't know his sexuality yet though, he's still figuring himself out. When he's older, i think he definitely dated some men but had better luck with girls.

Heavy has had innocent crushes on some girls on his class before, but they never turn into anything more cuz he's not the best at expressing himself. He follows the bother-the-girl-to-death-until-she-hates-you gimmick, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't work.

I'm sorry to break this to u but Heavy totally had an among us phase, and uses so much reddit and twitch slang... You know he does.

Likes bullying and teasing his brother to death. You know that when Dee had his first romance, Heavy was ALL up in his business being a tease and a bad attempt at a wingman. He means well tho.

He's not squeamish at all. Also has great pain resistance. This kid has picked cockroaches with his bare hands and loves cats, of course the cats have scratched him. He's tough!

Grows up to be the charming himbo he was always destined to be.

Dee

I hc him as demisexual. Kind of inherited his dad's tastes for the takes no crap, intimidating but pretty kind of people.

Can't cook. He tries but he can only do basics like rice, cereal, chicken nuggets or eggs. Complicated meals always burn or don't taste like anything at all. It drives him crazy.

Dee was a quiet and very well behaved toddler before Heavy was born. He never threw tantrums or got whims. After Heavy was born though, and despite the fact he understood his brother was small and needed special care, he started craving attention often and cried and got mad at little things. Typical jealousy of the oldest sibling.

The first time Dee fell in love with someone, he didn't recognize it was love at first. He just thought his interest on the person was born out of curiosity and aesthetic attraction, but as soon as he realized he seeked validation and companionship, that he liked seeing them smile, that he wanted to protect them, that he yearned for more time alone with them and that he wanted more than what just a simple friendship implied, it was an instant 'oh hell no'. He wanted those feelings to get the hell away, but unfortunately, they were there to stay.

Canonically likes MLP, psychological and horror anime like Death note and Hellsing, so I'm deciding he also watched Death Parade, had a FNAF phase, is very into The Walten Files. This guy enjoys any kind of specially dark ARG's and knows a ton of lore of real crime, unsolved cases, ghost appearances and other stuff. Doesn't believe in the supernatural, but sure is entertained by it.

He's a mess at romance. Flirting? His attempts at compliments are hardly flattering. Giving gifts? The best he can manage is jewelry and you can kind of tell he asked his dad for help. Dates? He's so nervous he's silent for most of it, but begins getting comfortable and having fun if his partner really knows how to get him down from his negativity cloud.

Ches

Pansexual.

He's very good with kids. He has the patience of a saint and he's laid-back, chill and fun but still is an authority figure who knows how to put limits. Sure, he's gonna let the kids light up a house on fire BUT hey, now they know everything about fire precautions, burns and how to treat them AND how to get away with arson. What an educational evening, am I right?

Due to certain info from the "Goodbye" official comic, I headcanon Ches as depressed. I don't want to elaborate a lot 'cuz of spoilers, but... God, everything related to his mom fucking hurts, man. How did he deal with all that?

Ches has been Dee and Heavy's babysitter so many times he cannot count them with all his fingers. He learned how to put those kids to sleep almost immediately (Sing Bon Jovi's "This ain't a love song" and any cheesy love song in a slow lullaby style and they're out), which movie were their favorite as kids (Heavy loved 'Monsters Inc.' and Dee never looked away during 'Meet the Robinsons'), how to console them after nightmares (Heavy needed reassurance, sweet words, and to be with someone until he fell asleep again. Dee just had to be tucked in, get his nightlight turned on and kissed in the forehead). He practically raised those kids along with Vicky and Glam.

More than once, Dee and Heavy have slipped and called Ches "Dad". Ches immediately gets his shit eating grin on and answers "Yes, son?" and does a couple of dad jokes just to mess and embarrass them. He's actually very flattered and surprised at how proud of himself he is for being a father figure to both kids.

Has a scar on the left side of his forehead due to a bottle his mom threw at him when he was younger, around the time he met Glam. He hates the scar with passion, it's a permanent reminder of the fact she never cared, that's why he always keeps it covered with his headband. Gets sad about it sometimes.

Ches likes to spend his time with a group of grannies of the nearby nursing home. He genuinely considers them his friends and gossips and hangs out with all of them on weekends. Bingo, billiards, walks in the park, soap opera marathons, you name it. I even designed them, gave them names and backstories... God, i just love the concept too much. I'll make some art about Ches and his granny gang FOR SURE, you're NOT ready for them.

Carries a pocket knife on him at all times. This man grew up on a bad neighborhood and absolutely knows how to defend himself, he can be intimidating when he wants to be and will pose a threat if needed. He's fucking terrifying when genuinely mad. Just cause he looks harmless doesn't mean he is, darling.

That would be all!

#metal family #glam metal family #ches metal family #victoria metal family #chess metal family #dee metal family #heavy metal family #metal family glam #metal family victoria #metal family dee #metalfamily #metal family heavy

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i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle · 3 years

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Chapter 17: The Royal Ball, Part 5 - The M.I.L.F. Club

Twilight returns to the table with most of her Canterlot friends, still without Moondancer as she’s probably going to be spending the rest of the night with her special somepony, Prince Theandri the 2nd. The ponies at the table notice Twilight has tears in her eyes, but also see she’s smiling.

Minuette: Welcome back, Twilight! You look like you might be in a mix of emotions, what went on over there?

Twilight: Nothing but liquid pride, Minuette. I am so proud of Moondancer right now…

Twinkleshine: So… what did they want to speak to you privately about? Moondancer did say you could tell us what it was, when you returned.

Twilight: Admittedly it was strange they even did that, but what basically happened was Moondancer confessed her feelings. Not for the Prince... since that was already known when he was at our table, but for me. It turns out Moondancer held a secret crush on me.

Lemon Hearts: I KNEW IT!

Lyra: Wha..? Lemon, you knew about this?

The rest of the group including Twilight also surprised that somepony else had known

Lemon Hearts: My name isn’t Lemon Hearts for nothing!

Twinkleshine: Heh, I thought it just meant that you loved lemons.

Lemon Hearts: Well that’s still true of course!

But I always had that strange feeling that Moondancer wouldn’t have considered her courtyard party a bust and then become a house hermit, if she only wanted to see Twilight again platonically.

Lyra: I guess in hindsight that makes sense. If I had invited you all to a party, there’s really only one pony here that I would be upset if they didn’t go without saying why, and that’s Bon Bon. I’d understand if you all suddenly had other plans, but I’d want to know why my Bonny couldn’t make it.

Bon Bon: I would never abandon a party you hosted without telling you why, I promise.

Bon Bon gives Lyra a smooch, d’awww’s coming from the rest of the table.

Twilight: Does make me wish I was able to get telltale signs of romantic feelings easier. But I couldn’t quite help it, when I wasn’t even exactly into friendship back then either. It would of helped to have that even a little earlier, so I could of told the Prince I wasn’t interested, as I ended up just egging him on and probably added to his frustration on our “date”.

Twinkleshine: How did that confession go? And did Moondancer actually confess to you IN FRONT of her current date?

Twilight: She did, but that was actually what the Prince wanted her to do. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t betraying her true feelings, and if hypothetically I had decided I’d be open to give a relationship with Moondancer a try. Give her the decision to choose between us.

Lyra: Dang, he helped set that up... Even if that could of meant losing another chance at a special somepony?

Minuette: The Prince really is a nice guy!

Twilight: He sure is, he even said again in the hypothetical situation where me and Moondancer started a relationship here instead. He’d fully support us, Moondancer’s story really moved him to that point. But luckily for him I suppose, I never really felt the same way about Moondancer back then and I don’t really do so now either. The act of kindness he showed though makes me even happier Moondancer is ending up with him.

Lemon Hearts: Yeah, good for Moondancer. She absolutely has a keeper.

Twilight: Anyhow, thanks for the good, long chat all of you. I think I’m going to see my family’s table. Where my parents, my brother, Princess Cadence, and my niece Flurry Heart are.

Twinkleshine: No problem, Twilight. Always a nice time talking with ya.

Minuette: Seeya, Twilight!

Twilight and most of her old Canterlot friends wave off to eachother. And heads off to join her family, most of the rest of the Elements are also with their families tables while Twilight was with her Canterlot friends. Rainbow Dash for perhaps for the first time in a while had a nice chat with her parents, Rarity talked about gossip with her mother, Fluttershy sitting down with her parents and brother, and Pinkie had jokes aplenty to tell her sisters and parents. Spike’s immediate family is only Twilight, but he’s spending time with friends like Thorax, Ember, and Gabby. He’s just as much a part of Twilight’s family and would gladly join the table Twilight’s heading to, but he also wants some of his own individual time at the ball for himself.

As Twilight approaches her family’s table, it’s Flurry Heart who first notices she’s approaching.

Flurry Heart: Auntwi! Auntwi!

Princess Cadence: Yes that is Auntie Twilight, isn’t it Flurry! Hello Twilight!

Shining Armor: Hi Twily!

Velvet: Good to see you, at this lovely ball.

Night Light: Thank you so much for inviting us, we’re loving it here.

Twilight: Good to see you’re all enjoying the ball. I’ve been having a pretty great time myself.

On stage, the same Palace staffer from before comes up on stage

Velvet: Oh! Looks like you got here just in time for the next performance announcement.

Twilight: Sweet! I wonder who’s coming up next.

The crowd quiets down as the Palace Staffer reaches the mic in the middle of the stage.

Palace Staffer: Thank you all for remaining a wonderful audience, we are very proud to announce that our next performer is none other then the world renowned singer, Coloratura!

Big cheers are heard upon hearing Coloratura’s name, she’s super popular in Equestria of course. But even as far as Saddle Arabia her music seems to have touched many a heart. Particularly loud cheers coming from a certain apple farmer.

Applejack: WHOO! Let’s go, Rara!

Back at Twilight’s family table, they express excitement for this as well.

Velvet: Oh my gosh, I love Coloratura’s music. This is going to be awesome. I have all her records! Even... the ones that Coloratura has made public that she’s not proud of. She had a terrible manager during the release of those records, but she did have some pretty catchy tunes when she went by The Countess…

Twilight: Yeah, this should be pretty great

Some large palace guards move a huge piano onto the stage. In most cases, the Piano being brought out usually meant a particularly popular song was going to be performed.

Velvet: OOOOOH, Looks like she’s going to do The Magic Inside! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH

((Story continues after the break))

Coloratura walks out on stage as the whole audience claps. And she begins playing.

((The Magic Inside))

Rara: I’m here to show you who I aaaaam…

Throw off the veil, it’s finally tiiiiiiimmmeeeeee…

There’s more to me then glitz and glam… oh whoa…

And now I feel my stars aliiiiggggggnnnnnnnn…

For I had believed what I was sold

I did all the things that I was told

But all that has changed, and now I’m bold

‘Cause I knooooooooooow

That I am just a pony!

I make mistakes from time to time!

But now I know, the real me!

And put my heart out on the liiiine!

And let the magic in my heart stay true-oo-ooo

Whoa-whoaaa-a-whoa-whoa!

And let the magic in my heart stay true-oo-ooo

Whoa-whoaaa-a-whoa-whoa!

Just like the magic inside of you

And now I see those colors!

Right before my eyyyyes!

I hear my voice so clearly!

And I know that it is riiiiiiight!

They thought I was weak, but I am strong!

They sold me the world, but they were wrong!

And now that I’m back, I still belong!

‘Cause I knooooooooooow

That I am just a pony!

I make mistakes from time to time!

But now I know, the real me!

And put my heart out on the liiiine!

And let the magic in my heart stay true-oo-ooo

Whoa-whoaaa-a-whoa-whoa!

And let the magic in my heart stay true-oo-ooo

Whoa-whoaaa-a-whoa-whoa!

Just like the magic inside of yooooooou-oo-ooo

Just like the magic inside of yoooooooooooooooou

Coloratura’s performance is over and loud cheers and applause heard throughout the entire ballroom. She steps out and takes her bows after another well-received performance before she speaks to the crowd.

Rara: Thank you, thank you! It’s alway nice to perform for an audience whether they’ve been to a show before or this is the first time you ever listened to my voice. I’d like to thank the Royal Family of Saddle Arabia and Princess Twilight for setting up this absolutely fantastic ball. Though most of all I want to thank my dear childhood friend, Applejack for personally inviting me here. I owe her a deep gratitude for many things lately, so please give a round of applause for Applejack!

A spotlight shines on the table Applejack’ sitting and applause is done for the well-known apple farmer. Applejack sheepishly grins, blushes, and puts a hoof behind her head.

Applejack: Aw shucks, it was nothing. She’s the famous musician, Ah just invited her…

Coloratura walks off stage and following up is the Palace Staffer.

Palace Staffer: Thank you so much for a wonderful performance, Coloratura. Absolutely lovely, we’re once again in another intermission before we go the next one. There are now only 2 performances left before we soon move on to opening up the dance floor below everyone’s hooves or feet to end the night.

Back at Twi’s family’s table, Twilight herself is clapping while her eyes are closed happily for Coloratura.

Twilight: Now that was indeed a fantastic performance, huh Mom?

Twilight realizes Twilight’s mom isn’t even at the table. In fact, Cadence is gone too. Though Shining Armor, Flurry Heart (Now on Shining Armor’s back), and Night Light are left at the table

Twilight: Shining, where did Cadence and our Mom go?

Shining: They went off on their own to another table, I think Cadence recently joined some sort of club that our mother is also in. And they decided that after the 3rd performance they’d move to have said meeting somewhere here

Twilight: Hm, I guess I’ll see what this club is myself. I’ll see you later, Dad and Shining!

Night Light: Bye, Twilight!

Her father and brother wave off to Twilight as she heads off looking for her mother and Cadence’s table. Though as it turned out, many of the Moms of Equestria coincidentally went off right after Rara’s performance finished. Windy Whistles, Cookie Crumbles, Posey Shy, Cloudy Quartz, Twilight Velvet, Princess Cadence, Stellar Flare, and Mrs. Cake. All of them told their husbands they planned on doing this, or in the case of Stellar she just went herself since her husband is still far away.

Soon though, Twilight finds them all at one large-sized table off on their own. Twilight approaches the table, and her mother is the first to notice.

Velvet: Oh hey Twilight! I’m happy to see you here! You’re just in time for Cadence’s first meeting with our little club!

Twilight: About this club, what exactly is this?

Windy: We’ll give you a guess, what do we all have in common… besides the obvious that we’re all mares.

Twilight ponders for a moment looking at the ponies at the table. And it becomes increasingly obvious with each member.

Twilight: You’re… all mothers?

Windy: CORRECT! Princess Twilight, and daughter of our very own co-founding member Twilight Velvet… you are looking at the M.I.L.F. club!

Twilight: …M.I.L.F. club? Should I even ask what that means?

Windy: Gosh! Why does everypony assume it’s something questionable whenever we mention our club’s acronym?! M.I.L.F. stands for Mothers In Loving Families!

Twilight: OOOOOOOOOH, okay… though how did this club even get started.

Velvet: Me and Windy Whistles are the founding members. We first met on another of my barrel riding and bungee-jumping escapades! And when things settled down, I Iearned Windy was Rainbow Dash’s mother.

Windy: And I in turn learned Velvet was your mother!

Velvet: So we thought of possibly rounding up the rest of the Elements of Harmony’s mothers that are still around and some of a few friends of yours as well. That’s why Stellar Flare, Mrs. Cake, and our newest member Princess Cadence are here too.

Cadence: Thank you all for letting me join! I’m not sure if I can be there for every meeting with an entire empire to run, but I’m more then happy to be a member.

Twilight: Not that isn’t cool that you’re all meeting each other, but what exactly does this club do?

Velvet: Simple! We just gather around, talking about what happened with our families lately. Maybe a little gossip, and sometimes even have field trips to stuff like zoos, bowling alleys, and more! I’d get more then Windy to also join me on some of the escapades I get into if I could, buuuuut I understand the others aren’t quite adrenaline junkies *grins sheepishly*

Twilight: That sounds great, but this doesn’t sound much different from just being friends.

Windy: Let’s be honest, most clubs are basically a group of friends hanging out. There’s not really much of a huge difference other then clubs perhaps being more narrow in it’s scope on what we do. But really, we just wanted to have a fun thing to ourselves.

Velvet: Besides, some of our husbands sort of have their own club together, though they deny it. And that’s when a big sports game is happening! Some of us are also into sports like me, Windy, and Cookie

Cookie Crumbs: I even married a former hoofball star!

Velvet: But we want to be fair to every member if they’re not so much into the big game, and can make some of them feel a little less left out. Besides, with enough scope... maybe our club will kind of find a purpose other then simply being a group of friends who also happens to be moms like… maybe… hm… I’m trying to think what our group could accomplish… but I can’t quite put my hoof on it…

Twilight decides to try to think and help out her mom, and comes up with an idea.

Twilight: Well... what if you used your club to the full extent of the Loving Families part of your acronym. Promote good parenting, list the do and do nots for young mares looking to become mothers, tell your stories of what it was like to raise me and my friends… though try not to share foal pictures too often…

The whole table giggles madly at that last sentence.

Velvet: Regarding our many, many combined albums of our kids’ foal pictures. We make no promises… *winks*

Twilight: Oh no…

Windy: But you are right! That is something we could end up doing as our club gets older and reaches out more.

Stellar Flare: That does sound like a good plan for the future.

Posey Shy: Sounds wonderful!

Cloudy Quartz: I’m not sure everypony’s going to take much from my experiences raising a family on a Rock Farm as it’s... an acquired taste of a lifestyle. But I’d be more then welcome and do my part.

Cookie Crumbles: I’d absolutely love to do what I can

Mrs. Cake: I’ll do my part as well!

Velvet: Yes, thanks for the wonderful idea Twilight. Though you know, this reminds me…

Twilight’s mothers looks smugly at her daughter

Velvet: You’re a mother too, Twilight. How would you like to join us?

Twilight: Huh? Well, I could… but aren’t I kind of unusual? You all gave birth to your children, I hatched Spike out of his egg and only years later I would consider him my son and adopt them, and I’m also a lone parent. That won’t feel… out of place?

Windy: Of course not! An adopted mother is still a mother, and so are single mothers.

Velvet: And at least some of us personally know how close you are with Spike. You very much embody what we’re looking for, you have a loving family even if it’s just you and Spike.

Twilight smiles as she looks around at all the mothers on the table eagerly wanting her to join.

Twilight: Ok, I’ll join. Is there some kind of initiation thing?

Windy: Weelllll… we do have an oath of membership. Albeit it’s just kind of a silly semi-professional thing we tried out, and nothing that necessarily needs to be said for us to consider you a member.

Twilight: I’ll still say it, if this is going to be a longstanding club. We should absolutely have some official wording and rules when including members. So please, let me take the Oath.

The mothers huddle all together and whisper

Cookie: So… who’s going to hold the initiation book

Windy: I think it’s only appropriate that Velvet takes this one. Twilight is her daughter after all.

Velvet: Yes, I’d be more then happy to do it!

They’re out of the huddle and finally Twilight’s mother faces her daughter, levitates a book.

Velvet: Please put one front hoof on the cover of this book, and with the other keep it raised next to your head. And repeat after me… I solemnly swear…

Twilight: I solemnly swear…

Velvet: That I have and will continue to …

Twilight: That I have and will continue to…

Velvet: Raise and support my children through thick and thin…

Twilight: Raise and support my children through thick and thin…

Velvet: Maintain a happy home to the benefit of myself and my children…

Twilight: Maintain a happy home to the benefit of myself and my children…

Velvet: And will to the best of my ability…

Twilight: And will to the best of my ability…

Velvet: Love, support and defend my loving family.

Twilight: Love, support, and defend my loving family

Velvet: I promise I will help prepare them for the future, that they so choose.

Twilight: I promise I will help prepare them for the future, that they so choose.

Velvet: To motherhood!

Twilight: To motherhood!

The initiation is over, and the entire rest of the table claps for Twilight. Who is now an official member of the Mothers In Lovely Families.

Stellar Flare: Very nice! That’s two royals in a row, they’re even going to be the only remaining active Princesses come next year.

Windy Whistles gets a jokingly sinister face

Windy: Yesssssss… mua ha ha ha ha! Our club now penetrates the highest levels of office, we’re like a… secret society or cabal who’s ultimate goal is…

Then she suddenly goes all cheery again

Windy: Raising happy families!

The entire club at the table laughs

Windy: But in all seriousness, welcome to the M.I.L.F. club Twilight, we’re glad you decided to join us. Come on everymother, let’s give our newest member a big, group hug!

They all rise out of the chairs and surround Twilight with one big hug. Twilight smiling getting some love from her mother along with many of her friends own loving mothers.

Twilight: I suppose while I’m a member now, I can point you all to another good choice for you to recruit that I just met at this ball.

Velvet: Oh? Who is it?

Twilight: Trixie’s mother, Dandy Lion! I met her after Trixie’s show ended, she’s an absolutely peppy mother that Trixie herself loves very much. She’d be perfect for the club. I suppose there’s also Sultana Elona, but I imagine there’s a reason you haven’t got her down here right now.

Windy: Yeah, we tried to access the Sultana but they have guards to the halls towards the balcony where she’s sitting and might be awkward asking a royal to come down. Maybe one day we’ll see if we can get the Sultana to join us. That just isn’t going to be today, but we’ll more then happy to have both you and Trixie’s mom added to our ranks! Do you think you could get Trixie’s mom over here yourself?

Twilight: Sure thing!

Twilight sits up and starts on heading to Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst’s table. Dandy Lion has been there the entire time getting to know Trixie’s friends and proving to them without a doubt that Trixie’s description of a cheery, supportive mother was accurate.

Twilight: Hey there!

Starlight: Oh hey Twilight, what brings you back to our table?

Twilight: Is it ok if I bring Trixie’s mom elsewhere for a little bit?

Trixie: Depends, where exactly are you taking her to and why?

Twilight: There’s a club of mothers of Equestria that includes my mother, and many of the other mothers of my friends. Including yours, Sunburst.

Sunburst: Ahhh right, the M.I.L.F. club. I recall my mother mentioning it to me.

Dandy: M.I.L.F. club… this isn’t some weird club that will want me to do provocative things will it?

Twilight: Don’t worry, Dandy. The acronym stands for Mothers In Lovely Families.

Starlight lowers her head and she looks away from the table and whispers to herself.

Starlight: In that acronym, is two things I don’t have right now…

Twilight: Did you say something, Starlight?

Starlight: No no no no, it’s nothing Twilight. Go ahead and go along with Trixie’s mom to that club’s table. Ahehheheh... (I will be seeing you tomorrow though, to help me out with this…)

Dandy: Alright, I’ll go! I’ll be back soon Trixie, dear!

Trixie: Ok mom! Seeya back soon!

Starlight watches Twilight lead Trixie’s mom to a table where other Moms are seated. She didn’t want to admit it, but even though she plans to get the situation with her Mom solved as soon as tomorrow, she still couldn’t help but feel a little envious of the members of the M.I.L.F. club and their children. Even if it turns out her Mom is around, and there was actually some misunderstanding of why she’s been gone for so long, and they have some happy reunion. She wouldn’t have had her mother for her entire childhood like most of the Elements of Harmony and Trixie have. She can’t redo her entire childhood, even if she does find her mother.

So as she watches the club’s table, and already she can see Trixie’s mom is laughing and probably already being set up to join this club. She just sighs and tries to look away, though suddenly she catches the sight of somepony who might at least be feeling similarly. She sees Applejack is on her lonesome, perhaps Big Mac and Sugar Belle left to have a little bit of a honeymoon by themselves at a different table. She too is looking at the club of mother’s table with a rather sad face. Starlight decides that maybe talking with a friend that feels similarly, even if not for the exact same reasons, since Applejack’s mother is known to be deceased.

Starlight: Sunburst and Trixie, I’m going to see Applejack for a little bit if that’s ok.

Sunburst: Sure, no problem Starlight.

Starlight walks on over and sits next to Applejack. Applejack still kind of staring at the M.I.L.F. club’s table doesn’t make her realize it until Starlight speaks up.

Starlight: Hey uh… Applejack…

Applejack yelps a bit in surprise

Applejack: Oh! Uh… Howdy… Starlight… Whatcha want from me?

Starlight: You feeling kind of left out, as the only one out of the elements that can’t have a mom over there?

Applejack: *sigh* ….Yeah, mah face made that pretty obvious didn’t it.

Starlight: I came over here… because I actually feel somewhat similar.

Applejack: Oh, is ya mother… deceased as well? Ah’ve never heard ah thing about her, come t’ think o’ it…

Starlight: I… actually don’t know… she disappeared 2 weeks after I was born. And there’s been no real hints or clues to where she is now. There is at least still a possibility she’s still around, but even if she is. I would of never had her around for my childhood like all the other mothers over there had been or at least will be.

Applejack: Oh gosh, Starlight. Ah’m so sorry t’ hear that… wait, ya’ll still have ya father right? Why hasn’t he told ya?

Starlight: To add to my frustration he refuses to tell me who she was. He finds every excuse in the book to get out of telling my mother’s name...

This makes Applejack angry.

Applejack: How dare ya father do that t’ you! He’s failing one o’ the most basic things ah good parent should be doing… Ah ought t’ go over t’ his table and buck him in the face right now…

Starlight: Exactly, that’s how I’ve felt for much of my life towards my father. Though please, don’t harm him. I don’t want my family drama to ruin a night like this.

Applejack: How many other ponies have ya told this t’?

Starlight: I’ve mostly held it secret for a long while. As I’ve had other things to focus on. But now that we’re finally in a place where we can get a bit of a breather. Perhaps it was time to finally take the time to tell more of my complicated past. 2 weeks ago, I told Trixie and Sunburst that I never knew my mother, and I then also told your little sister Apple Bloom and the other 2 Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Applejack: Ya’ll told Apple Bloom about this? That sounds like ah rather heavy subject t’ tell ah filly like her…

Starlight: AJ, you and her parents are dead. Kind of hard for her to avoid heavy subjects. Though I admit I would of spared telling her… If it didn’t turn out that my mom is likely connected to my Cutie Mark in some way.

Applejack: What do ya’ll mean by that?

Starlight: I told them how I got my Cutie Mark, and I knew that their group talent would perhaps help me at least understand things a little more. I could tell you too, but I think if I tell you it’d be better that the rest of the Elements, or at least just Twilight so she can share it with you later. And after the ball, so I don’t end up just dragging you all into hearing about my personal drama, while all of you are just here to have a good time.

Applejack: Gotcha, ah can wait t’ hear the story. But at least tell me what the CMC deduced afterward?

Starlight: Well… I suppose first I should just give the short version for proper context. Basically, I had a magic outburst in the basement of my home that was similar to Twilight’s during her entrance exam after trying a super powerful spell from a spell book only meant for top unicorns.

Though unlike Twilight, I hadn’t been studying magic for hours upon hours as a filly, I just simply was born with raw power. And the CMC deduced that if I hadn’t worked for my raw power, then I had inherited my magic power from someone in my parents lines. My father’s line is however full of average unicorns, so that unfortunately points to it likely being connected to my missing Mother in some fashion.

Applejack: Oh well ain’t that one heck of ah summary… Starlight, Ah wish ya’ll had told me and mah friends this ah lot sooner. We would o’ absolutely been sympathetic… Ah bet Twilight would gladly do something with her genie magic t’ help ya’ll find ya Mother’s identity.

Starlight: I did actually finally think about that a little while ago, while talking with Sunburst and Trixie here at the ball. And I absolutely plan on getting Twilight to help me but again... I don’t want to force my family drama while she or anypony else here is having a good time. So, I plan to get her help tomorrow. The fact that I’ll have it solved one way or another has helped calm me down on this matter, though at the same time it means the day is moving more slowly. Because now I’m only just less then 24 hours from knowing the answer to a mystery that’s loomed over me my entire life.

I may need a sleeping spell in order to even get some rest tonight, cause while I don’t know who my mother was. Whoever she is, I’ll get some actual solid answers about myself and the full context of my past.

Applejack: Yeah, that’ll be good. Ah hope ya’ll find ya mother, and ah also hope she’s ah good pony.

Starlight: I’m kinda scared about the latter if she is indeed still out there somewhere, but... Somehow or someway, I’m getting answers tomorrow... And I can’t wait.

Starlight and Applejack look on over to the M.I.L.F. club table one more time. Trixie’s mother by this point already having taken the same oath and received the same group hug Twilight received when she joined. Starlight looks over at Applejack, and proceeds to ask her a question.

Starlight: Applejack, what was your mother like?

Applejack just looks over to Starlight, tears welling up but also smiling

Applejack: Mah mother was the sweetest pony in all o’ Equestria…

Applejack would proceed to tell Starlight some stories about her childhood back when her mom Pear Butter was still alive to Starlight. If nothing else, being some of the few ponies there that couldn’t have their mom around for one reason or another. Starlight and Applejack gain a stronger appreciation between eachother, as they bond over similar circumstances.

UP NEXT: Chapter 18: The Royal Ball, Part 6 - Sweetie Belle’s Performance

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snovyda · 4 years

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Out of context quotes from the 100th episode of the Light the Fuse Podcast

(With guests Christopher McQuarrie, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell and Lorne Balfe)

Christopher McQuarrie:

There will be a hundred of these movies! […] And Tom will still be very young.

Communication is impossible. Nobody means what they sound like they mean.

We were imagining Tom running to his plane, going, “Just get on the plane, just keep going! We’ll get other friends! Just flee! We’re fleeing the virus zone!”

It can’t just be me doing my same old shit.

A movie is not finished, it’s abandoned. And in a case of a Tom Cruise movie, it is actually torn from your hands and released into the theatres.

Mission is not going to space, thank God.

We have learned to separate fantasy from delusion.

No script, no outline, we’ll see you at the premiere.

I think the police have arrived at Simon’s house…

Simon has left an empty chair, and there is, indeed, a cow staring at us from where he was sitting.

I now know, for the first time, what other people’s jobs are.

[Tom Cruise] is not the kind of guy to sit back, eat Bon Bons and wait for a pandemic to blow over.

I came on to Ghost Protocol and blew up the movie.

Benji grows up by committing murder.

Simon sent me a text in the middle of the night that said, “Buddy, can you spare an arc?”

The bed was the only place where you could not be trampled in that room… I am making it worse…

We got better at preparing and said to Hayley, “train, don’t prepare”

It’s not a vibe, it’s literally a vibration.

[Tom] came to me and said, “I’ve got this idea where Hayley does X”. And on the list of “REALLY?!”-s that Tom has given me this was a 10 on the scale.

You’ve missed it, Lorne, there were stories about Simon and I in bed together. I’ll just leave it to your imagination.

Yeah, maybe. That’s going to be my answer about everything.

I’ve got bags of mail here. BAGS OF MAIL ABOUT THE SCARS ON JACK REACHER!

We’re going to shave [Hayley’s] head. She doesn’t know about this.

Lorne, the lockdown and no access to a hair stylist has given you quite a baronial look. You look like one of those old paintings.

Lorne, you don’t know anything. You can tell everything you know.

There was never a discussion about a bongo, let alone fifteen bongos.

What happened? THIS WAS THE MONEY!

And Eddie [Hamilton] is so fabulous, but then he’ll do this, and you just want to cold cock him when he does it.

I don’t buy a pair of shoes without consulting Eddie Hamilton.

Lorne starts with compliments, and next thing you know is he owns your house. I’m renting this house from Lorne.

I would hug Lorne, but I would need permission from Simon Pegg.

Simon Pegg:

I just got a text: “Are you up and available?”

When I was doing press for Fallout, I got asked what Tom was going to do next, and I was like, “Oh, he’s going to jump off the Moon”. And now everyone is like, “Oh, Simon was right”.

For the three movies that Chris has directed, Chris and I have had a dinner or a meeting prior to the film. And Chris would sort of act out the entire movie for me. And then we’d go and make a completely different film.

I’ve got a great picture of a cow here. Just watch this.

I just say funny things and reveal important plot details.

(To Hayley Atwell) Wade showed me a video of your training. You were super fast. Like, proper Matrix shit going on. I downloaded it. I can do kung fu now.

We can’t give spoilers, cause nobody knows what the fuck’s going on.

I hate you, dad! (makes a gunshot noise)

So Chris and I were fucking…

Hayley, if you just cycle through all the Mission Impossible characters by tearing your face off…

Hayley Atwell:

What can I say about my involvement in this independent little movie that we’re hopefully going to make someday…

I was glammed up from the waist up, similarly to my situation right now.

Tom is in the hotel and we didn’t know? He’s amazing! He’s a ninja!

I’ve been living in an existential crisis since October, going, “Who am I?...”

Isn’t this pandemic the plot of Mission Impossible 2? Haven’t we done this?

I’d like some 90’s R’n’B there…

It says here “hairstyle tutorial”… it’s all one block of hair, like a Lego man…

Hi, McQ. Any time you want to throw me any pages, you’re very welcome.

Lorne Balfe:

I’m dyslexic, you see, that’s the problem.

(Playing the Mission Impossible theme on the piano) We’re not discussing The Last Jedi, are we?

… Wowzers…

My motto in life is, just let it grow.

My mum cuts my hair.

Next time, let’s do this equally. Put my name on the title of the podcast and let’s see where it goes.

#mission impossible #christopher mcquarrie #simon pegg #hayley atwell #lorne balfe #light the fuse podcast

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uomo-accattivante · 7 years

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Much is made in Hollywood of chameleons – actors who have the ability to “disappear” into a role, appearing “unrecognisable” – while less is said about versatility. At rest, the faces of the best movie actors contain multitudes. Robert Mitchum had the broken-nosed face of a brute but the sleepy, languid eyes of an angel – “Bing Crosby on barbiturates”, in film critic James Agee’s phrase. Bette Davis could switch from glam to dowdy with the angle of her head and a couple of fill lights. And Robert De Niro’s ability to frown and smile simultaneously is legendary. Oscar Isaac has that kind of face. His low-lidded eyes can smoulder, but there is also a quickness behind them, and a touch of disappointed calculation. It made him perfect for the hapless, couch-surfing folk musician soaking up disappointments like a wet sock in the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, the 2013 film that put him on the map at the age of 35. He has been working since, playing the hotshot pilot Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the slinky, tactile, tech-era Mephistopheles in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. He is at his best playing ambitious, slightly myopic men whose own movement quickens their fall: a Queens oil importer struggling to stay the right side of the law in JC Chandor’s excellent A Most Violent Year, a doomed politician brutally felled by civic machination in HBO’s Show Me a Hero. He has made a career playing men for whom careerism doesn’t work. “You know what it makes me think about,” asks Isaac when I put this to him. “I just read in the New York Times about how to throw a ball. There was a thing in it from JD Salinger’s Seymour: An Introduction, about aiming. They’re playing marbles, and one of them goes: ‘Don’t aim.’ Isn’t that the point, that you want to aim? He’s like: ‘No, because if you hit him when you aim, it’ll just be luck.’ ‘How can it be luck if I aim?’ ‘If you’re glad when you hit somebody’s marble, then you secretly didn’t expect to hit it.’ You just do the thing, and so that when you get accolades and all this stuff, it feels good but it doesn’t make you glad because you’re like: ‘This just as easily could have not been.’ It’s that kind of thing.” Isaac still lives in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, in the same one-bedroom apartment he had before he caught the Coen brothers’ attention – but meets me in a suite at the Crosby Street hotel in Manhattan to talk about his new movie The Promise, a first world war period drama in which he plays an apothecary swept up in the Armenian genocide. It is the first time in the modern period that Hollywood has approached the genocide on screen, and director Terry George, whose taste for geopolitical injustice was honed on In the Name of the Father and Hotel Rwanda, invokes it through our memory of other onscreen cataclysms. There is a love triangle with the beautiful Ana (Charlotte Le Bon) and an American journalist (Christian Bale) that recalls Doctor Zhivago, the three of them struggling to make their hearts heard against a backdrop of trains and dead bodies straight out of Schindler’s List. The film is, to be frank, something of a clunker, but the role is a slam dunk for Isaac, who broods like Omar Sharif and vents impassioned, politically on-point heartbreak about the fate of refugees. They are his favourite type of role: the ones where you get to see “a lot more of the beauty and cruelty of life … The emotional hook of it was reading the scene when he finds his family killed. This wasn’t just war as usual, this was a systematic execution of people of Armenian descent. It’s very clear – you go back, and it’s like the Turkish government was saying: ‘No, now it’s going to be Turkey for the Turks. Turkey first.’ Unfortunately, you hear a lot of the same kind of rhetoric again and again and again – about refugees, about immigrants, about silencing the press. None of it’s new.” Isaac himself is chipper, energetic, charming – about as undoomed a man as you could imagine. He has the crisp lines of someone who knows himself well. He plays well with others. A recent clip reel at Vanity Fair invited readers to “Watch Oscar Isaac charm the pants off every single Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast member.” He completed shooting on the new Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, last year, and can offer only the usual heavily redacted clues. “The characters that you know already: their specific character flaws or their weaknesses get tested. And out of that, I think, you get to see a bit more of who they are. The best way to learn about somebody is to see them in a crisis.” One of the more interesting features of Isaac’s career is that, thus far, he has avoided the typecasting that can befall actors of Latino heritage. His Wikipedia page lists the nationalities he has played: European, Egyptian, Polish, English, French, Mexican, East Timorese, Welsh, Indonesian, Greek, Cuban, Israeli, and Armenian. X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer has called him a “global human” He is actually Guatemalan, born to a Guatemalan mother and Cuban father, who brought Isaac to the US when he was five months old. His full name is Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada but he changed his name to Isaac in his teens as his acting career took shape – “for any number of reasons but also because the marquee, you know, it’s a little easier,” he says, simplifying what must have been a complicated renegotiation of his identity. I ask if he has ever felt under any pressure to “represent” either his Guatemalan or Cuban background. “No, I don’t want to represent,” he says. “I don’t represent anybody except this organism that I happen to be. I have a love for Guatemala, a love for my family there, a love for a place that I was born, a place where my mother was born. For Cuba, as well. But, yeah, I’m always wary of people that say they speak for a large group of people because I’m always like: ‘Really? How do you know?’ To speak for a group of people is not something I’ve ever felt comfortable doing.” His upbringing was so peripatetic that it practically screams “actor”. As his father completed his medical training, the family moved from Baltimore to New Orleans, where in kindergarten in Louisiana, he got it into his head that his family had come from the Soviet Union. “I don’t know why. This was in the 1980s. I remember going to the playground and being like: ‘Hey, guys, I’m Russian! Let’s play, you guys are the Americans and I’ll be the Russian.’ I remember I went home and I was like, ‘So Dad, we’re Russian, right?’ and he was like: ‘What?’ ‘We’re Russian.’ ‘We’re rushin’ in the morning.’ Such a dad joke. ‘But that’s about it.’ And I was: ‘Aww!’ It was a weird kind of Dylan-esque thing that I just kept changing the story of where I was from or what we were. It was a form of storytelling, or a form of excitement, or a form of fun, mixed with this sense of something missing, which is a sense of place. We were never in one place for more than, I would say, three to four years.” After their house in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew – “I remember having dreams about that house,” he says – they resettled again in Miami, where Isaac funnelled his Dylan-esque longings into music, joined a Florida ska-punk band, and acted. “It just hit in a very specific way that when I found play-acting – mimesis, imitation – suddenly, that felt like a way of understanding the world. Even now, the play’s the thing, always. As soon as things get really confusing emotionally, or personally, when I look at a play, it suddenly makes sense. I don’t know if it’s right, I don’t know if it’s healthy, but I know myself enough to know it’s definitely a necessity. That’s what I do. I go to that stuff to help me understand. Or for solace. And maybe it is a form of hiding. Music can have that a little bit, but lately it hasn’t as much.” Last October, his mother became ill, and he took time off work to be with her for what turned out to be the final six months of her life. “I was really fortunate to be able to just be with her the entire time and not be off on some set somewhere. At first, we didn’t know how ill she was, and she didn’t either, but as things progressed, it was much easier to say no to things. At a certain point, it was like, clearly: ‘I’m not going to be doing anything.’” She died in February, although not before he had taken her to the Golden Globes as his date, flying her to Madrid to see The Promise being shot and showing her a cut of the movie. “It’s like a great movie for moms. I have to say when I first watched it, I said: ‘I think moms are really going to like the movie. I showed it to her, and sure enough, she’s like: ‘I love it, Oscar. I love it.’” He has since returned to work, appearing in Dan Fogelman’s Life Itself, a multigenerational love story, spanning decades and continents, in which Isaac’s character deals with the loss of his wife. “It was just a two-and-a-half-week shoot,” he says. “It was my first thing back, and we shot here in New York. I was very nervous about it because I was like: ‘I don’t know if I can get it up for anybody.’ You know? Or if I want to, and it ended up being so necessary in much the way that I said to you – the mirroring my own life. It’s very dark and yet I found joy in it.” Which of his roles does he feel closest to? “They’re all pretty close to me,” he says. What would his friends say? “Maybe Nathan in Ex Machina,” he says, but quickly retracts it. “I think they would say none of these were actually like me. Maybe this last one.” He pauses. “Possibly.” • The Promise is released in the UK on 28 April. ### This is a really great interview with Oscar. He opens up about his mother in this one.

#oscar isaac #interview #the promise #life itself #the guardian #article

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mittensmorgul · 7 years

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Bon Jovi rocks... on occasion...

I found it REALLY odd and jarring that, while testing Dean’s memory in the motel room after the LAMP incident, that Sam chose BON JOVI, of ALL bands, to see if Dean could remember the band members’ names.

I mean??? We know for a fact from 4.18 that Dean’s two favorite songs were both by Led Zeppelin. My first thought was confusion over why Sam didn’t ask him to name the members of Led Zeppelin, because that would’ve been the obvious choice here... but no. He picked Bon Jovi.

And that told me something SIGNIFICANT. And I’ll explain why.

Bon Jovi has been referenced in a small handful of episodes.

2.14, Born Under A Bad Sign

The first Bon Jovi reference in the series was this:

Dean: You checked in two days ago under the name Richard Sambora. Of course, I think the scariest part about this whole thing is the fact that you're a Bon Jovi fan.

The name Sam used while he was possessed by Meg and had no memory or awareness of what he’d done, was a member of Bon Jovi. 12.11 reminded me strongly of Dean trying to help Sam recover his memories by revisiting the places he went while possessed. Sam did the same thing for Dean in 12.11.

Their conversation with Elke STRONGLY reminded me of Dean’s conversation with the gas station market cashier. WHO EXAGGERATED WHAT SAM APPARENTLY STOLE TO GET MORE MONEY OUT OF DEAN. Like Elke exaggerated her story to Sam trying to elicit SOME sort of reaction out of Dean.

So we already have a connection to memory loss, deception, attempting to recover memories that have been manipulated or altered by outside forces.

3.16, No Rest For The Wicked

While driving to make one last attempt to stop Lilith and save Dean from going to Hell, Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive” plays on the radio. Sam and Dean sing along to it. Sam gets into it, and Dean looks like he’s already dead inside.

(aside to say that the face Dean makes while singing it reminded me STRONGLY of the face at the end of 7.11 when he was trying to use Frank’s advice to paste on a smile and be “professional” or just give up. In other words, the most horrible smile in the history of smiles)

Because even in that episode, Sam seemed surprised:

DEAN: You know what I do want? [He reaches down to the radio and starts up Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive". SAM looks a bit "eeh?"] SAM: Bon Jovi? DEAN: Bon Jovi rocks, on occasion. He looks over at SAM to underline this statement. When SAM looks away DEAN turns back to the road and begins to sing along with Bon Jovi. [...] [DEAN begins to lose the will to sing and his smile is beginning to fade. SAM just continues to sing, laugh and smile, not noticing how DEAN is suddenly taking in the lyrics, realizing how much they actually fit him and what is about to come. The camera zooms on him as his smile completely vanishes, as he's staring out on the road.]

DEAN WAS NEVER THE BON JOVI FAN. THE BON JOVI FAN WAS SAM. They were driving to Dean’s likely death and a one-way ticket to Hell, AND THIS WAS DEAN TRYING TO PUT ON A BRAVE FACE AND DISTRACT SAM WITH SOMETHING THAT SAM LOVED.

This was Performing Dean trying like hell to keep that mask in place for Sam’s sake.

7.05, Shut Up, Dr. Phil

Once again, it’s Sam who chooses the alias “Agent Sambora.” We never learn what Dean’s FBI alias was in that episode. Dean wasn’t even WITH Sam during the conversation where Sam used the alias. Dean was busy having a chat with Chris the Hairdresser (played by the same guy who played Akobel in 12.10).

After those two separate respective interviews, Sam and Dean are shown walking down different streets while swapping info over the phone about what they each learned independently.

Aside again, because I love this exchange Dean has with Chris in the salon:

DEAN: Oh. Basically, you're saying that this couldn't have happened. CHRIS: Basically, I'm saying it couldn't have happened.

While standing there looking at the physical proof that yes, it did actually happen.

DEAN: [...] Of course, they don't have pockets in those robe thingies that they make you wear. SAM (on phone): [laughs] I didn't realize you were such a spa expert. DEAN (on phone): Shut up. I observe with my eyes.

Again, Dean floundering to keep up his performance while Sam teases him for knowing that spa robes don’t have pockets... >.>

Dean might observe with his eyes, but he’s prevented Sam from seeing a lot of things over the years with that heavy-duty Performance mask.

Plus, 7.05 was all about witchcraft, deception, and misunderstandings. Remember poor Jenny? Who’d been hexed into finding hearts in her cupcakes? HEARTS?! IN MY CUPCAKES?! Because Maggie thought her husband was having an affair with her? Sam and Dean thought so at first too, but Jenny cleared that misunderstanding up:

JENNY: Don Stark is my boss. That's it. He's married, for God sakes. DEAN: Yeah, well... JENNY: Me and Don Stark. Ew.

8.03, Heartache

It’s again SAM who uses the alias Agent Sambora. In an episode about loss of identity via transplanted organs asserting the personality of their original owner on the recipients, DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF AN ANCIENT CURSE.

After his long, long life, not wanting to live on after his true love eventually died of old age, a woman who was already old enough to pass as his mother, Brick chose to end his own life instead. After generations of being forced to reinvent himself every few decades and essentially reinvent himself because he didn’t age or die...

But then the recipients of his organs inherit his curse and lose themselves to his identity.

Loss of identity was huge in 12.11.

And again in 8.03, we never learn what alias Dean was using while Sam again chose a Bon Jovi reference.

11.11, Into the Mystic

Dean muses on how nice the retirement home is, mentioning that maybe they should look into it, and again IT’S SAM WHO BRINGS UP BON JOVI:

Dean: So no retirement, huh? Sam: Hey, you're the one who's always wanted to go out 'blaze of glory' style, preferably while the Bon Jovi song is playing. Dean: I am a candle in the wind.

“Blaze of Glory” is a Bon Jovi song, and “I am a candle in the wind” is one of the lines from the first verse.

But this is all part of Dean’s “I’ll die hunting” refrain that we’ve been seeing again in s12. Because Dean just believes he’ll go out that way. Because every hunter he’s ever know does go out that way.

All this in an episode where Cas has been taken over by Lucifer, and Dean’s REALLY unsettled that there’s something wrong with Cas. He’s being deceived, manipulated, and used as bait, yet he doesn’t even know it. He’s just got a weird feeling at this point.

It’s the “something’s wrong and I can’t put my finger on it” feeling that keeps hunters alive, frankly.

Then we have Dean’s entire conversation with Mildred about finding happiness and following your heart:

DEAN [Chuckles]: You ever miss life on the road? MILDRED: Nah. Nah, I had my fun. You want to know the secret to living a long and happy life? DEAN: Actually, yes, I do. MILDRED [Placing her hand on Dean’s chest and patting it] Follow your heart. You do that, all the rest just figures itself out. I did that. I followed my heart. Traveled the world, made people smile, forget about their problems for a while. And then my heart said, “Well, you're done”. I had my fill and... And I retired. And I love it. [Mildred pats Dean’s knee for emphasis]

Which is doubly interesting when compared with Sam and Dean’s lines at the very end of 12.12:

SAM: You know, I gotta be honest. I was actually, ah, a little jealous at first. DEAN: Of what, the curse that nearly killed me? SAM: No, just... you know. Some of the things we’ve done. We’ve had this... weight. Forever. And seeing it gone... you looked happy. DEAN: [he looks down, doesn’t meet Sam’s eyes, and seems uncomfortable] Huh. Well, look, was it nice to drop our baggage. [he shrugs and looks up at Sam] Yeah, maybe. Hell, probably. But it wasn’t just the crap that got lost. I mean, everything. It was us it was what we do, you know. All of it. So... if that’s what being happy looks like... I think I’ll pass.

BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT DEAN ALREADY KNOWS THE SECRET TO A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE IS TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART. And without his memories? That’s not happiness. That’s delusion. It’s a lie.

A performance.

12.04, American Nightmare

This wasn’t a direct Bon Jovi reference, but I wrote a thing trying to explain the difference between the “Butt Rock” that Sam has always been a fan of, that Dean was so disdainful of when they were talking about Vince Vincente.

http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/154601623940/brainfuzz-mittensmorgul

Even the Superwiki pointed this out in the reference notes for the episode:

It can be assumed with Sam being a fan of Bon Jovi and Vince Vincente, that his musical tastes veered more towards '80s hair/glam metal growing up, which is in contrast to Dean and John's classic hard rock and heavy metal tastes.

BECAUSE BON JOVI ONLY ROCKS ON OCCASION. I think Dean grudgingly liked a couple of their songs.

BON JOVI IS NOT DEAN’S KIND OF MUSIC. IT’S SAM’S. WHICH DEAN HAS SUFFERINGLY TOLERATED FOR SAM’S SAKE. FOR YEARS. Because Dean knows Sam FAR better than Sam knows Dean.

Lizbob wrote a thing yesterday before 12.11 aired that said that this was going to be something KEY to this episode, this disconnect between the brothers, and the fact that Dean has functioned as a pseudo-parent to Sam.

http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/157037949755/i-cant-wait-for-dean-to-enter-the-amnesia-phase

And my absolute rant of a post about the promo:

http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/156996781305/oh-god-sorry-but-thats-a-clusterfuck-of-promo

Because that’s pretty much how the episode panned out.

An exposition on Performing Dean.

#spn s12 spoilers #spn 12.11 #performing dean #sanitized for sammy #the story became the story #spn 2.14 #spn 3.16 #spn 7.05 #spn 8.03 #spn 11.11 #spn 12.04 #the rashomon effect #here have my belated thoughts on the whole love... and love #parallels #spn music

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vergelle · 7 years

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Takeaways from Studying in Singapore

I’ve lived independently abroad for most of 2016 while I studied full-time for my master’s degree. Although I am still waiting for commencement later this year — an event Mama has bought plane tickets for long before I wrote the first word for my dissertation — the coursework is all done and I’m now back in Manila for good.

As I begin a new chapter of my life, jumpstarting a career in environmental management after years of work in industry, I’m making a proper conclusion of that period of my life by summing it up in life lessons and curating events both memorable and mundane. In case you would now be in the same shoes, I hope you get to learn something from them.

Going abroad, for study or otherwise, means letting life happen back home while you’re away.

You’ll have to let go a part of your life when you leave. If you’ve been working for some time, your job would be it. You may not love it all the time, but when it goes, so will the community you’ve grown accustomed to. You will miss having lunch with colleagues who’ve turned into friends, and your discussions about anything under the sun - from politics and spirituality, to childhood cartoons, life events and the occasional (gasp) office gossip.

Months later, you will see photos of team building activities, christmas parties, and outings you are no longer a part of. That’s just part of going out of your comfort zone. Suck it up and look around for all the wonderful things to appreciate - you might miss all these by being too busy feeling left out.

Touring the urban classics of Singapore like The Shoppes at Marina Bay, December 2015

Discovering cultural hotspots like Kampong Glam, January 2016

Appreciating the garden city’s environmental wins like the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, February 2016

You will also miss important family and barkada events because birthdays and traditions will still happen even while you’re away. Acknowledge that the world would go on without you. Wear your comfiest sandals and explore because you ought to make your own life events, wherever you may be.

Night life at Haji Lane, February 2016

Visiting my sister, Ate Cheenee, and cousin, Kuya Janno, in Jakarta during Reading Week, April 2016

Experiencing Bali with Sanjala, Aijie, and Lisa during Recess Week, September 2016

There could be some things that people back home would not tell you, just to spare you the worry if there isn’t anything else you can do. Keep in touch. Thank God for technology, because Skype and Facebook will be your lifeline.

Your friends will have their own lives and so will you, but let them know they cross your mind. Don’t be too proud or lazy to be the first one to say “What’s up?” Update each other and be present “in spirit.” Send postcards.

Unexpected virtual get together with my college best friends, Diana, who’s based in Australia and Kathy, who was visiting from NZ, November 2016

As Dr. Seuss said, “Alone is something you will be quite a lot.”

While you have yet to find your community, you will find more alone times than you usually have. If you’ve been used to being surrounded with people, it may not be such a welcome change. Embrace it still and learn how to be comfortable being alone. In those quiet times, get to know yourself more so when you go out there, it will be easier to be your own person.

Going solo to see Bon Iver Live, February 2016

You’ll start to notice the things people would otherwise do for you. Acknowledge that you now have to do them for yourself. Cook when you can. Discover the countless things you can make with a microwave oven.

Take care of your health.

Gastric scare after many times I would delay eating alone, March 2016

Watching the sunset at NUS UTown Residence, September 2016

When you’ve got no permanent address, you realize that you can get by with less stuff.

When you pack for your first one-way trip, it will seem that 30 kg is not enough. Thank your parents if they offer to go with you that first time so you get more check-in weight, but you’ll probably just bring more than you’ll ever need. Pretty soon you’ll be fine with a few basic pieces to mix and match with your more fashionable clothes.

You will still find joy in retail therapy, but be practical. Is it easy to wash? Does it get easily creased? Do I really need it? Eventually, your impulse buying would be down to things you can easily consume, like food, and things you find timeless value in, like books.

There will be numerous packing and unpacking. Learn to do them efficiently - bringing only the essentials and just enough nice things to make your place less of a cage and more of a respite.

View from my first room in Nanyang Girls Dorm, January 2016

View from my second room in Nanyang Girls Dorm, August 2016

UTown Residence, September 2016

At the end of it all, you will still find so many things collected over a few months. Give the unnecessary stuff away. Thank your Resident Assistant when they offer to collect your dorm stuff to give to the next resident. Keep only the essentials.

You will experience your adopted city deeper than a tourist, but it is important to stay fresh and not let it harden you.

At one point, the city will feel small that it chokes you. Walk around more. Get lost. It will actually never run out of things to offer you. There are places that are not teeming with tourists, and you won’t even have to pay to enjoy.

The Green Corridor at Bukit Timah with JD, August 2017

Pinnacle@Duxton at Tanjong Pagar with JD, December 2017

Books Actually at Tiong Bahru with Tereza and Yuji, January 2017

You’ll see the city do well in delivery of public services. Appreciate it more than the average local who may take it for granted. You’ll hope that your government could do just the same back home. Your kababayans deserve it too, you’ll say. Hold on to that hope; you’ll need it to hold your public servants to a high standard.

Appreciating a model of Singapore’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, NEWater Facility, March 2016

Enjoying when I had the bus all to myself (and the driver), March 2016

At some point, you will be a tour guide to your friends. Keep tabs of all the great places and give them this service with much pleasure.

Taking my parents to Mt Faber Park, February 2016

Taking my high school batchmate, Mark, to Kampong Glam on his birthday, February 2016

Touring Alchemists, my orgmates from college, in NUS, October 2016

Your like-minded friends will be your indispensable support group.

Your first impulse is to flock with your Filipino kababayans. Do not resist; Filipinos are the best. More than anyone else, they will understand your homesickness and your food cravings, because, alas, the Filipino cuisine has not yet made its mark in the global scene (probably because it’s satisfying for all the “wrong” reasons - gooey sauces, eating with hands, boodle fight, you name it).

But don’t stop there. Find more things you have in common - course, career, personality, a liking for eye-candy men (woops) - and they will be all the more indispensable.

Spending Valentine’s day with my Chem Engine PH friends Ate Tin, Alex, and Ate Ivon (we are all chemical engineers pursuing different graduate studies in NUS), February 2016

Ate Tin’s wonderful tokens, October 2016

Still, don’t stop there. Living abroad is meant to expand your horizon. By God’s wonders, you will meet people who are different yet the same. Different nationalities, but same faith. Different professions, but same passion for the environment.

Biking with ladies from Hillcrest, a spiritual formation center I frequent, January 2016

Lantern making with Hillcrest ladies and the elderly for Mid-Autumn Festival, September 2016

Snapshots from our (top to bottom) Spanish, Italian, and Peruvian nights at Hillcrest

Goofing around with my MEM friends Sadia, Joey, Au, Aratrika, and Sanjala in Environmental Planning, March 2016

Friday night out with MEM batchmates - Aijie, Sanjala, Tereza, and Ho Man, April 2016

Saturday potluck of Asian cuisines with Sadia (Pakistan), Manjari (Sri Lanka), Sanjala (India), Yuji (Philippines), and Ho Man (Singapore), September 2016

Allow yourself to be vulnerable. It may be tempting to show the world you got it all together, but friendships form when you ask for a little help.

Friday night heart to heart at Boat Quay with my best friend Sanjala, September 2016

What’s-next-after-masters talk with Adilah and Aratrika, December 2016

Some people might be convenient to keep but are not healthy for you.

Sometimes, it could feel like a competition while you’re carving your place in the world. Some people could put you down intentionally, or unintentionally just to lift themselves up. In these trying times, lean on your family and friends-turned-family because they will be your backbone and make you strong.

My cousin Kuya Janno’s visits in September, October, and December 2016

Treasure the friends you have back home, and the ones you’ve made where you are. You will notice the deepest friendships because more than the fun nights you’ll spend together, they will offer you emotional heimlich you when you need it. More importantly, they will make you accountable for your dreams. It takes some ounce of discernment, but trust your judgment without being prejudiced. And when you know for sure, seriously keep them forever in your heart.

Farid and Adilah’s wedding, September 2016

Ladies’ Night with Sanjala, September 2016

Christmas light-up with Yuji, Muriel, Sanjala, and Manjari, November 2016

Your perceptions of the world and your passions will be challenged.

Cultures are different, so however different you do things does not make you a better or lesser person. Perhaps you’ll discover you are actually a bit racist at worst, a fool at best. It’s okay, you didn’t know any better before. Remember to be proud of your identity, like your Filipino culture’s fixation with morning showers and bidet, but never let it make you vain.

You know a lot about your chosen field, for sure. That’s what got you a place in your university after all. Share what you know and educate people. But don’t ever let this stop you from learning from others. They’ll offer you answers to questions you would probably never think of asking.

CNY Lunch with MEM cohort, February 2016

Last day of Environmental Technology with Prof Joshi, April 2016

Last day of exams, November 2016

Grades are not important but school is still what you came for.

You will spend a lot of time in lectures, and still a lot more in libraries and study rooms. That is what you came for. Be productive and get as much stuff in your head as possible. Draw from your experiences to make them more meaningful and stickier to memory. Treat lessons like they are the real thing; hinge projects, papers and your thesis to real problems from home - the very same reasons you wanted to go abroad to study.

My study tables in Nanyang Girls Dorm (top) and UTown (bottom), snapshots of my different states of mind.

The many floors of National Library, February 2016

One of the many sunsets watched from YIH Study Room

You are your own worst critic when you are by yourself.

When you spend many an hour doing independent study, it could only lead to two things: you could be too lax, or you could be too hard on yourself. If you are disciplined, you are well prepared. But if you are struggling, this period will be an important life lesson.

When quarter-life crisis collides with schoolwork. Thanks for capturing this, PHD comics.

It’s going to be a major growth zone, and there will be growing pains. As one good friend of mine have said, just power through. And don’t forget to message your friends. Independent study sucks without a buddy. She will be a help as much as you are to her.

Emotions fluctuate, but it’s important to keep the faith.

Bored Panda captured it best.

Being abroad is a rollercoaster of extreme euphoria and borderline despondency. It’s normal so don’t overthink it. When your programme’s almost over, you’ll look back and wonder how it all went by so fast. And years later, the only thing left to feel is gratitude that it happened. :)

There’s a reason for being privileged enough to study abroad. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” While you carve your place in the world, keep a lookout for that which you are called to do.

Overlooking my window from the Old Bukit Tiram House, Retreat in Johor Malaysia, May 2016

Keep the faith. :)

(In 2016, I took my Masters in Environmental Management at the National University of Singapore under the MEM ASEAN Graduate Scholarship.)

#personal #travel #SG2016 #MyASEANStory #ASEAN2017 #yearend

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glamodasite · 6 years

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Travel Tips (And Products) For Your Toiletry Bag

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a very, very, very bad packer. Overpacking is an understatement. I envy those who are able to pack for longer than a week — in a carry-on! My toiletries take up my entire carry-on — And that’s without the full size skincare products that must be checked because of the TSA no-liquid rule. Needless to say, I am over-prepared with my beauty products when traveling. Do I actually use all of it? NO. Do I actually need all of it? Definitely not. Then why pack it? I’ve been asking myself the same question.

So, on a recent trip, I decided to put my money where my mouth is — and pack just ONE bag for everything — makeup, skincare, and haircare products! It was tough; I’m not going to lie. But keeping in mind these tips, I did it — and I felt pounds lighter because of it!

PACK A PALETTE

One palette with everything you need to make you pretty — that’s the only way to travel (and save space!). My current choice for shadow palettes is Nars Narsissist Wanted Eyeshadow Palette ($59). This palette has everything you need to create a variety of pretty summer eye looks, from shimmers to mattes, bronze and golds to the season’s It hue, burnt brick red. For the face and cheeks, I’m still feeling Becca’s winter drop, Apres Ski Glow Collection Face Palette ($54). I told you it would last you through spring and summer, so if you haven’t picked one up yet, do so before it’s gone. With shimmery blushes and highlighters in rosy and golden hues, this is the ideal every day face palette. Some other great face-saving palettes are Nars Narsissist Wanted Cheek Palette Vol II ($59), with six punchy spring-approved blush shades, and Tarte Tartelette Toasted Eyeshadow Palette ($46), the 12 most wearable shadow shades you can find, from barely-there to earthy browns and beyond.

BRING YOUR FAVORITE FACE PRODUCT… SANS THE BOTTLE

Perhaps you knew this tip and I’m just late to the game, but I was always under the impression that shampoo, conditioner, and maybe a face wash went into the travel-size bottles that you buy at the drugstore. But, um, what I really can’t live without are my random face potions. So, I just change out the bottle to make them travel-friendly! For example, Bioderma Crealine H20 ($15) is one of those desert island must-haves. You can use it as a cleanser – -without water! — or a makeup remover. It’s my favorite micellar water, and the only one that has earned permanent residence on my bathroom shelf. When traveling, the trick is to pour it into a TSA-approved bottle. A little goes a long way so this will last for 3-4 weeks, with daily use! I do this with my Bioderma Recherche Lotion P50, too.

MULTITASKERS ARE MUSTS

One product that can do two (or three, or four…) things? Yep. Pack it. In fact, make sure that almost everything you pack has plethora of purposes… even your makeup brushes!

I can’t live without foundation (current must is Oxygenetix Oxygenating Foundation ($66)), and I used to travel with multiple foundation shades (what if I get a tan? What if I run out?). The what if’s never actually happen, so it’s better to bite the bullet and travel with a single shade, and then, perhaps, two cover-ups (as they are smaller and can be used for multiple uses). I like the Lorac Double Feature Concealer and Highlighter ($9), a multi-tasking wonder that can cover a blemish or under-eye circles (just dab a bit of highlighter to the cover-up to make it an illuminizing concealer!) and, a new favorite, It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Anti-Aging Concealer ($10) — in travel size (!!!), so it won’t take up any additional room, and you can actually keep it in your purse for on-the-go touch-ups. The full-coverage formula is fab and it’s waterproof, so you can even swim in it.

As far as brushes are concerned, I usually travel with an entire bag devoted JUST to makeup brushes. It’s a nightmare. I really only ever use 3, 4 max. But I don’t like to have to use the same brush for bronzer and blush — it’s an OCD thing. Then a friend told me to travel with face wipes and clean the brush after each use. This totally changes the game! It’s so easy and allows me tout my brushes in half. After all, one brush has multiple uses. My makeup wipe of choice is Simple Kind to Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes ($4) — and it’s travel-size! As for the brushes, I need my Bare Minerals Smoothing Face Brush ($28), a blush brush that can double as a bronzer brush (try this one), and a blending eyeshadow brush that can apply multiple shades from the lid to the crease (this one is my current favorite).

SAVE YOUR SAMPLES

I have a basket filled with solely sample and travel size products. Whenever I’m packing, I look in there for a face wash, moisturizer, and even face mask. Most of your favorite brands have their best-sellers available in travel size versions. For cleanser and moisturizer, I’ll usually bring two of each and trade off depending on how my skin is reacting. Some favorite travel/ sample size products: Tata Harper Tata’s Daily Essentials Kit ($70), everything you’ll need, all in TSA-approved packaging, Tammy FenderOily/Active Treatment Kit ($165), a recent discovery and, although pricey, these products last for three weeks (considering an extended vaca?), even the coveted Glam Glow masks ($24) are available in mini 1.7 oz pots. That’s so small, you’ll have room for two! Next trip to Sephora — take them up on their “two free samples offer,” and keep them unused until your next bon voyage. A dry shampoo is a must – I’ve been traveling with my trusted travel size Ouai Mini Dry Shampoo ($12) and it’s saved me many a bad hair days. Virtually any product that your heart desires can be found in a travel-friendly version, and when it can’t, just change the bottle!

KEEP YOUR BAG PACKED

I learned this trick from Kourtney Kardashian: Always keep your travel toiletry bag packed and ready to go. Then you can actually GO on a moment’s notice — without stressing about what to bring and what you may forget. In other words, buy doubles of your favorite concealer, foundation, mascara, bronzer, and anything else that’s not the travel version of itself, and keep one set packed, immediately restocking when something runs out so that you’re never without your must-haves. Trust me, this trick is a serious time-saver!

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theperfectorpage · 6 years

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Travel Tips (And Products) For Your Toiletry Bag

PACK A PALETTE

BRING YOUR FAVORITE FACE PRODUCT… SANS THE BOTTLE

MULTITASKERS ARE MUSTS

One product that can do two (or three, or four…) things? Yep. Pack it. In fact, make sure that almost everything you pack has plethora of purposes… even your makeup brushes!

SAVE YOUR SAMPLES

KEEP YOUR BAG PACKED

Shop The Post:

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elisehu · 7 years

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In general, my experiences during these short bursts of time in the states are always memorable because they are so abbreviated, and therefore I have to really make the most of every moment. In my brief moments of downtime I a.) kept going to the Au Bon Pain next to my DC hotel to get giant iced teas and breakfast sandwiches and b.) watched some domestic cable news, which let’s face it, is pretty terrifying these days. The programming is interrupted by catheter and other medical device commercials, which are clues I should not be watching.

Highlights that I can piece together through the jet lag:

The Washington Half

Finally visited the Blacksonian — the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — on the day I landed in DC. Eyes still bloodshot from the flight and jet lag setting in, Matt Thompson, his partner Bryan and I powered through and saw crazy amazing stuff like the Parliament Funkadelic MOTHERSHIP. Yes, yes we did.

Friend Claire came down from New York for a hang. We lingered over a three and a half hour dinner at a mezcal place, not because of the meal but because we had some epic catching up to do.

Hanson, you know, of mmmmbop fame from 20 years ago, played a Tiny Desk Concert on the first day I went back to work in DC. They actually played two, because they recorded their very special Christmas Tiny Desk, too. Taylor (the middle one) and I joked around a bit about how the dinosaur on his Christmas sweater was wearing the same sweater, creating some sort of ugly Christmas sweater matrix.

One of my ex-work spouses, Javaun, took a train up from Lynchburg (where he now lives) to spend Tuesday evening hanging out and eating barbecue and drinking beers together. I can’t even remember all the ground we covered because, beer.

Don Gonyea gave me advice about work and life, which is always much appreciated.

Finally ate at the State Department cafeteria in Foggy Bottom — a bucket list item.

Because I am support the notion of spending money to save time, I hired April Yvonne, friend of my always glam friend Angie Goff, to shop for me. She picked out racks of clothes in a few Georgetown shops in advance, so all I had to do was try things on and make decisions. The whole excursion only took two hours in total and I was hella wardrobed for the weekend and work by the end. Endorse.

The Austin Half

Met the following babies who have joined us since I’d last been in Austin: Baby Adaline. Baby Thomas. Baby Marcella. Baby EJ. Baby Franklin. Toddler Hattie. Toddler Emma. Missed Baby Sam, who is fattening up in a NICU right now, but boy was I overjoyed to see his parents.

Sam’s dad Jimmy is my ultimate favorite eating partner. He also cooks delicious food and personally catered my engagement party with Spanish tapas since he trained to be a chef in the kitchens of Spain and Charleston, SC. Because of serendipity, the weekend I was in Austin was also the Far East Food Festival, in which some sixty Austin restaurants served up healthy portions of various Asian creations and Jimmy was judging the food. He added me as a judge so we CHOWED DOWN until the heat and the food consumption did us in. I had to quit early because I just couldn’t eat anymore. Embarrassing, but true.

Due to the abbreviated time, there were extra meals sandwiched in. On Friday I had a cheeseburger appetizer at P Terry’s while en route to Cooper’s barbecue where we disappeared pounds of brisket, sausage and ribs plus jalapeno mac-and-cheese, potato salad and the standard vat of pickles plus white bread. (Also Cooper’s offers free beans!) This was my favorite meal because of the strong appetizer IN THE CAR ON THE WAY to BBQ and my reliable eating buddies, Blake and Justin, joined to work up some serious meat sweats. I probably could have recovered for third lunch after this but we had do disperse.

Reunited with the dim sum club on Saturday morning to eat our faces off.

Did not see my oracle, Harry Whittington (the guy Dick Cheney accidentally shot in the face) but did see Bachelor Brad, who we seem to run into in Austin pretty much all the time. Is he everywhere? Is it because he’s a twin?

Surprised my goddaughter Marion Cass at her school, which led to second graders drawing me a bunch of butterflies and teaching me how to play a game called Sleeping Queen (need to get this for my daughters). Marion Cass also had me over to her house Sunday afternoon where she showed me how she can do things like SPLITS IN THE AIR because, gymnastics and being seven.

The purpose of this Austin return was to attend Friend Todd’s wedding. Did it, and so glad, because I love weddings! I also get to take partial credit for this union in the butterfly-flaps-its-wings kind of way, because I brought Todd to the Texas Tribune in 2009 as we were starting it. Here’s what happened: He was a weirdo who was teaching me Final Cut Pro as a part of a class I took at Austin Film School. I decided he was adorable even though I’m pretty sure he didn’t wash his hair at the time and was always railing about the dangers of aspartame and fluoride. Started calling him Hot Toddy behind his back (he later confronted me about this and yep, guilty) and convinced our boss Evan to give him a job at the Tribune because we were in wild wild west days of throwing jobs around. It was through this job that he met Carsi, his bride.

Reeve and I ran the hike and bike trail and joked around the whole time, just like the good ol’ days.

Sent up a flare in DC, and again in Austin, for big group happy hours. Both led to the happiest reunions, predictably. In Austin, April, my BFF from those halcyon days of my partying/Texas lege-covering twenties in Austin, HAPPENED to also be back after moving away to Toronto a few years ago. We got to see each other for about twenty minutes. I’ll take it.

The last time I was in America, I was two people. This time it was just me and my pump, which had to be used every few hours for the duration of the nine-day trip, the bottles and bags of expressed milk piling up in my respective hotel freezers until I had so much that I paid $400 in heavy baggage fees to bring all that liquid gold home. In order to keep it frozen while flying, I snuck in a trip to Ace Hardware in DC and got a giant padded cooler bag, which ended up being perfect. Thanks, Ace Hardware.

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First stop upon getting home: Matt Thompson

Blacksonian.

Mothership!

Hanson’s Christmas sweaters.

Kevin and David at work

Tuesday night drinking club reunites

Javaun and Chris

Don Gonyea, everybody.

Nate Rott put this cooler together for my milk.

My work product after three days.

With my god baby, who’s so big now

Surprising second graders.

The girls liked the Korean crayons

Worth flying 8,000 miles, yknow?

We cleaned up for Todd.

Snack at Todd’s wedding

Just married

Watching Austin’s pride parade from the wedding venue

Baby EJ’s first dim sum.

Reeve meets baby Thomas at a brunch

Baby Adaline, one of many babies I met

Hotel room hang with Nurse and the brood

Hattie in my Austin shower.

First Time To Trump's America In general, my experiences during these short bursts of time in the states are always memorable because they are so abbreviated, and therefore I have to really make the most of every moment.

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thisaintascenereviews · 7 years

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Album Review by Bradley Christensen Accept – Balls To The Wall Record Label: Portrait Records Release Date: December 5 1983

My last review, which talked about Europe’s The Final Countdown, ended on a note that talked about metal’s limitations. That album was pretty decent, especially for a glam-metal album in the late 80s, but that was mainly because they went into a direction that other glam-metal bands didn’t – prog-metal. It wasn’t completely there, because they leaned way more on the accessible and commercial glam-metal sound, but they had elements of prog-metal. It was there, and it was interesting to listen to, but I can’t say that I got a whole ton out of the album. It’s pretty good, but not quite a great record at all. Not my favorite out of the classic metal albums that I’ve been listening to. I could still respect it, though, and I got into the album a decent amount. I talked about how metal is very limited in itself, because a lot of subgenres are very restrictive of their ideas and sounds, so bands are very limited on what they can do. That’s something that can help certain bands, but it also restricts them a lot. I love metal, especially in the last few years, but there are a lot of bands that I’ve found to be just okay, since they’re very generic, formulaic, and meandering at best. Their sound is very typical, generic, and bland, but that can help a band sometimes, like I said. Generic doesn’t always mean bad, and when an album is very straightforward, it can help if that’s what you’re looking for. Sometimes you don’t want any bullshit, so it’s okay when bands are more simplistic and straightforward in their delivery. I might appreciate a band like Virvum, who mixes prog-metal and death metal, because they have a diverse and unique sound, but I might also want something more straightforward, too. That’s the beauty of heavy metal – I can get both of those kinds of bands, even if the latter is more common in this day and age, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad, either. I have no shortage of straightforward, brutal, and heavy bands to listen to. That means it’s more interesting and special when a unique and diverse band shows up in my ears.

Another idea that I wanted to express is that it’s okay to venture into other areas of metal that you might not be familiar with, let alone listening to bands that you’re not familiar with. I made a Facebook status about this a couple of years ago, but I said that you don’t have a diverse taste in music if you just listen to different subgenres of metal. I still think that, honestly, but it does help a little bit. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s an elitist that only likes one form of metal over everything else, and thinks all other forms of metal are inferior (and / or thinks some of them aren’t “real” metal, either). It’s understandable to enjoy one kind of metal over another, or have your favorite subgenre, but it’s good if you listen to more than one kind. Metal is an interesting genre, because there are other plenty of styles. I mean, a lot of music has more than one style within it, but metal has endless possibilities. Hell, metal is a cousin of rock music, if you really think about it, and there are lots of rock music, too. For a long time, my favorite kind of metal was death metal. That’s because I used to listen to a lot of deathcore, but I wanted to listen to actual death metal. I’ve listened to more kinds, too, such as prog-metal, alternative metal, nu-metal, and even the various kinds of death metal (such as melodic death metal, technical death metal, and progressive death metal), but I would have to say I have a new favorite kind – well, two favorites, but those would be power metal and old school metal. They’re quite similar, and power metal was an offshoot off of older metal, but this is the kind of metal that I really like. It’s accessible, catchy, and ear-pleasing. Metal doesn’t always need to be heavy, brutal, and intense, but power metal and classic metal have the same effect. I’ve been listening to older metal for the last few years now, but I recently got into power metal last year, mainly out of curiosity, since I wanted something different.

I might have been listening to classic metal for a few years, but I’ve only kind of scratched the surface of that stuff. When I say “classic metal,” I don’t mean that in the same way as classic rock, which is an umbrella term used to describe that era of rock music, because there is such a thing as straightforward heavy metal. These are the bands that paved the way for other styles of metal. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and many more, but I’m also talking about bands like Anthrax, Slayer, and Metallica, some early thrash metal bands that helped to influence other genres that started in the late 80s and early 90s. They would still fit the label, because they helped to define metal, so they’d be considered “classic metal” to me, despite having more of a specific label. There are a lot of bands that came up around the late 70s and early 80s, and I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of this stuff. One band that’s come up a lot in conversations about great classic metal bands is the German heavy metal band Accept. I’ve only heard their name in passing, but when I went on a classic metal binge last week, I decided to check out some stuff that I wasn’t too familiar with. I know that I wanted to listen to albums from Slayer, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, all of which I’ve enjoyed, but I wanted some more outliers. I wanted to dive something different, and when I came across Accept’s fifth album, 1983’s Balls To The Wall, I thought I’d take a look at it. I mean, with a name and cover that ridiculous, I had to listen to it for myself, but I can’t say that I care for it that much. I mean, the album’s just fine, but it’s not my favorite out of all the albums that I picked up. It’s just a bit too lackluster, forgettable, and “meh” for my tastes. I know I’ve talked a lot about other stuff, but that was intentional, because this LP isn’t that interesting. Sure, it has a silly cover, the name is over the top (and the title track, too), but it’s very generic, basic, and lackluster heavy metal. They essentially remind me of a metal version of AC/DC, as their vocalist definitely has the same sound as Bon Scott or Angus Young of that band.

That’s not a bad thing, I guess, because if you like AC/DC, you’ll like this band, too, but AC/DC is one of those bands that I only like a few albums from. They’re a good example of a band that has a very tired, repetitive, and generic formula. For diehard fans, it works, and they love it, but most people only care about the classic albums, and everything else is “meh.” I listened to a couple of their later albums a few years ago, and yeah, I wasn’t horribly impressed with them, but they were decent. They were generic, but they were alright for what they were, and that’s how I feel here. Nothing is bad on Balls To The Wall, but nothing really goes above and beyond for me, either. There’s nothing all that impressive or awesome here, it’s very basic, by the numbers, and generic. That’s not a bad thing, either, like I mentioned earlier, but this is the downside to bands being more generic – if you don’t have anything more interesting, or even well-executed, that’s when I’m not as enthusiastic about a generic band. If there’s nothing interesting, or an element that sticks out, because it’s done so well, I’m less apt to care. That’s how I feel here, because as decent as it is, I just don’t care about this album. The vocals aren’t all that amazing, the instrumentation is lackluster in a lot of places, and the lyrics are things I’ve heard many times in this style of metal. These guys just don’t have anything that makes them stand out from the other bands that I’ve been into. They remind me a lot of Quiet Riot, and if you remember that review, I thought Metal Health was a decent album that was fine for what it is, and if you’re into that kind of thing, you’d like it, but I was very underwhelmed and unimpressed by it. Accept isn’t bad, and they’ve done a lot for heavy metal, I’ll admit that, but there’s a reason why I’ve only heard their name in passing. This album isn’t proclaimed as a classic in the genre, and their name is one of the most recognizable in metal, but Balls To The Wall is a decent enough album, and it’s worth listening to if you want something more straightforward.

#accept #balls to the wall #ac/dc #metal #heavy metal #traditional heavy metal #80s metal #1980s metal

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theperfectorpage · 7 years

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Travel Tips To For Your Toiletry Bag

PACK A PALETTE

One palette with everything you need to make you pretty — that’s the only way to travel (and save space!). My current choice is Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look in a Palette Beauty Glow ($75). This palette has everything you need to create a variety of pretty summer faces: bronzer, highlighter, two blushes, and three eyeshadows. I also use the bronzer to sculpt and define. Some other great face-saving palettes are Stila Perfect Me, Perfect Hue Eye & Cheek Palette ($39) and Lorac LA Palette Malibu ($24)

BRING YOUR FAVORITE FACE PRODUCT… SANS THE BOTTLE

MULTITASKERS ARE MUSTS

One product that can do two (or three, or four…) things? Yep. Pack it. In fact, make sure that almost everything you pack has plethora of purposes… even your makeup brushes!

I can’t live without foundation (current must is Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation ($64)), and I used to travel with multiple foundation shades (what if I get a tan? What if I run out?). The what if’s never actually happen, so it’s better to bite the bullet and travel with a single shade, and then, perhaps, two cover-ups (as they are smaller and can be used for multiple uses). I like the Lorac Double Feature Concealer and Highlighter ($9), a multi-tasking wonder that can cover a blemish or under-eye circles (just dab a bit of highlighter to the cover-up to make it an illuminizing concealer!) and, a new favorite, It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Anti-Aging Concealer ($10) — in travel size (!!!), so it won’t take up any additional room, and you can actually keep it in your purse for on-the-go touch-ups. The full-coverage formula is fab and it’s waterproof, so you can even swim in it.

As far as brushes are concerned, I usually travel with an entire bag devoted to JUST makeup brushes. It’s a nightmare. I really only ever use 3, 4 max. But I don’t like to have to use the same brush for bronzer and blush — it’s an OCD thing. Then a friend told me to travel with face wipes and clean the brush after each use. This totally changes the game! It’s so easy and allows me tout my brushes in half. After all, one brush has multiple uses. My makeup wipe of choice is Simple Kind to Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes ($4) — and it’s travel-size! As for the brushes, I need my Bare Minerals Smoothing Face Brush ($28), a blush brush that can double as a bronzer brush (super into this one), and a blending eyeshadow brush that can apply multiple shades from the lid to the crease (this one is my current favorite).

SAVE YOUR SAMPLES

I have a basket filled with solely sample and travel size products. Whenever I’m packing, I look in there for a face wash, moisturizer, and even face mask. Most of your favorite brands have their best-sellers available in travel size versions. For cleanser and moisturizer, I’ll usually bring two of each and trade off depending on how my skin is reacting. Some favorite travel/ sample size products: Tata Harper Tata’s Daily Essentials Kit ($70), everything you’ll need, all in TSA-approved packaging, Dermalogica Oily Skin Kit ($40), even the coveted Glam Glow masks are available in 1.7 oz pots. That’s so small, you’ll have room for two! Next trip to Sephora — take them up on their “two free samples offer,” and keep them unused until your next bon voyage. A dry shampoo is a must – I’ve been traveling with my trusted travel size Ouai Mini Dry Shampoo ($12) and it’s saved me many a bad hair days. Virtually any product that your heart desires can be found in a travel-friendly version, and when it can’t, just change the bottle!

KEEP YOUR BAG PACKED

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