#I feel like found footage movies get WAY too much hatred

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

You know how 80s slashers had a big comeback in recent years among younger horror fans who werent really alive for when they were coming out. I wonder if those like 2010s haunted house movies like the conjuring and such are gonna have a similar thing happen to them in a couple years. Like pretentious gen alpha horror fans are all gonna be sharing gifs of paranormal activity basically any second now

[strawbrygashez]

Isaiah and a few Larsaiah headcanons :3 these r subject to change or whatever tho cuz the show is still going \(O_o)/

————————————————————————

Isaiah

•His parents are absent in every sense of the word. They don’t care about his health (his dental health for example), his mental health, his emotions, or anything. They rarely talk to him and he doesn’t go out of his way much to talk much to them either.

Not only do they don’t care about him, they don’t care enough to clean up the house and never really have so he’s just used to walking around and living in filth. He got so used to it he completely forgot it’s not really normal until Lars & Fug came over and didn’t wanna walk around barefoot.

•He’s a bit of a gamer! His absolute favorites are the Postal series, Hatred, Doom, and silent hill. He’s up to try any kinda horror/violent video game.

•His taste in movies is similar to his taste in games. Whatever seems ‘edgy’, he’ll give a try. He likes weird and disturbing generally unheard of movies but he’s also a sucker for the classic slashers like Michael Myers, Leatherface, and Freddy.

•Self h*rms and smokes every now and then. Steals a few of his mom or dads cigarettes since they never notice.

•Definitely is part of the t/c/c. I feel like it’s obvious what kinda cases he’s most interested in. He can talk about the cases he’s interested in for hours and likes learning all he can about them.

•Can get pretty smelly because his depression can make it hard for him to take care of himself at all. plus his parents don’t care enough to tell him to take better care of himself.

•He cries pretty often when he’s alone at home.. because he’s insanely lonely, gets trapped in his thoughts, and doesn’t get why he can’t get closer to Lars. He cries at school too but only in private.

When he’s crying at home, it’s not uncommon for his cat to find its way over to him to cuddle up :,) sometimes it really helps, sometimes it doesn’t.

•Speaking of his cat, I feel like he puts more care into them than himself. He’s not the best at yknow.. making the living spaces comfortable or clean but he tries. It might just take him a while to get around to it because he’s always so wrapped up in his own thoughts and negative feelings, he kinda forgets what’s going around him or what he needs to do.

•When he’s not writing out his feelings in his journals, he’s drawing whatever comes to mind. Which mostly ends up being logos of bands he likes, ships he has (Caldre for example), and just edgy things in general.

•He considers the day he found a trench coat (the one he wears now) at a thrift store, the second best day of his life. First is still Lars coming over to his house.

Larsaiah

•Isaiah loves showing Lars the usual t/c/c movies like Zero Day during sleepovers. Though he wishes Lars seemed more interested in the dynamics of the main relationships in those type of movies. Like hes wishing and praying Lars will say something about how Cal and Andres whole thing was so romantic but he’s just going on about how he thinks it’s cool it’s filmed like found footage 🤦‍♀️ He does think the movie was interesting and all but he won’t really ‘get it’ in the way Isaiah hopes him to.

•Isaiah can talk a mile a minute especially when he’s nervous or he’s worried he’s being awkward but Lars is always there to listen and doesn’t generally mind. He’ll only stop him when he can tell he’s getting way too worked up.

Aware of it or not, Lars is really good at keeping Isaiah grounded. Like when Isaiah is threatening to hurt people, Lars just has to say something like “.. uhm. But we couldn’t really see each other anymore if you did that.” and that will usually make him stop and think 💀 Isaiah realized pretty quickly after they got together, that he would rather have Lars be with him than getting his ‘revenge’ (not saying the feelings aren’t still there. But ultimately he cares about Lars more than anything else and is terrified of losing him.)

•Before they got together, he followed Lars home a few times. Sometimes he got caught but Lars didn’t make a big deal out of it. He just asks him if he’s heading to a certain store in the same direction or whatever and Isaiah quickly tells him yeah before sneaking off once Lars turns back around.

•Pre-getting together, Isaiah would write lots and LOTS of love notes and poems for Lars but would never give them to him. He always thought they weren’t good enough or Lars would think he’s even more of a weirdo for them. He knew Lars could never feel the same way he does so he’d just crumble them all up and toss them. (Wouldn’t it be sweet tho if Lars found a old crumbled up one about him one day while visiting and genuinely thinks it’s sweet :) even if maybe it’s a little creepy lol)

•Fug would be upset in the beginning when he finds out they are together because he knows that means less time for him and Lars to hang out but he’d eventually somehow learn to be happy for his friend & that Lars is still his best friend lol.

When Moe learns they are together, he clarifies he’s not homophobic before he begins to ‘roast them’ both like usual

[whosscruffylooking]

The Purest Things-A New Home

Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader

a/n: this is a repost considering it didn’t show up in any of the tags yesterday. have i mentioned how much i despise tumblr sometimes :) again, i want to give a special shoutout to @avengersbau for giving me a second set of eyes on this one.

word count: 2k

warnings: canon-typical violence and descriptions of injury.

The Purest Things Masterlist

gif is not mine! credit goes to @hqtchner

au! october 2007

Bookend: “It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

++++

"I am SSA Hotchner. Welcome to the team Agent Y/L/N," his voice reminds you of the transatlantic accents of Hollywood stars of old. The kind you used to hear in the old black and white movies you would watch as a child.

"It's an honor to be here sir," you stare directly into his brown, soulfully deep eyes.

"J.J., get us started, please," SSA Hotchner suggests.

Sitting down, you look to the screen that displays the frightful footage of bombs detonating in various locations.

"Yesterday, an 81-year-old woman was severely injured when a bomb exploded in the toilet of a women's restroom," J.J. informs.

"Interesting spot to hide a bomb," Agent Prentiss sneers.

Jennifer flips through the slides and shows another bombsight located in a subway station, "Last year a similar bomb that had been attached to a phone box detonated. No outstanding injuries were reported. However, the bombs' similar makeup alerted detectives to dig into other bombings throughout the years. They have positively identified attacks over the past twelve years as perpetrated by the same bomber."

Spencer adds, "His M.O. is similar to George Peter Metesky, better known as the Mad Bomber. He terrorized New York City over a period of 16 years. He planted bombs in theaters, subway stations, libraries, and offices. They were left in phone booths, storage lockers and restrooms."

"Do you think we are looking at a copycat?" Derek questions.

"If we are, we need to stop him soon," declared David.

"He's escalating-becoming bolder and more vicious," you say, scanning the report.

"Tell Boston we can be there by 9:30," Hotch notifies J.J...

++++

"It seems like he's a textbook paranoid schizophrenic. People suffering from this disorder may think that other people are regulating them or plotting against them. They tend to be reclusive, antisocial, and obsessed Hwith hatred for their presumed enemies," you twist a loose string from your shirt around your finger, unwind it, then repeat the process.

It's a nervous tick you developed over the years that has worn down numerous tops before achieving their intended lifespan. You glance at Agent Hotchner, seeking a sign of approval. His eyes meet yours, and he poignantly nods.

Did I say too much? No. Don’t overthink this. They can probably smell fear.

"In his letters left at the bombsights, he uses words like 'broad' and 'chick' to signify women," Dr. Reid chimes in.

"Do you think the unsub is motivated by hostility towards women? "

"It's possible," he continues, "These speech patterns age him significantly, however. Phrases such as these were mainly used in the 30's, 40's, and 50's."

Agent Hotchner begins to delegate tasks before the jet lands, "Morgan and Reid, I want you to head to the bombsights and see if you can't work out the motive. J.J. and Prentiss talk to the victim's families, determine our victimology. Y/L/N, Rossi, and I will head to the precinct and familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land and see if we can't formulate a geographical profile."

++++

At the precinct, you observe Agent Hotchner's ability to singlehandedly transition an entire police force's obligation to under his jurisdiction.

"Captain Moreno, this is SSA David Rossi and SSA Y/F/N Y/L/N," the Unit Chief introduces you.

The captain tilts his head at you, "Aren't you a little young to be in the FBI? How old are you anyway?"

You nail him with a you're-full-of-crap look. 

Everyone gets to be young once; your turn is over, old man.

Choosing to take the high road, you say, "I'd like to get my hands on the bombers handwritten notes. There has to be something in those letters that can give us a clue into the who, what, when, and where of this case."

Skeptical of your request, he narrows his eyes and looks to David and Agent Hotchner.

"You hear her," Dave exclaims, "Lead the way!"

Your enigmatic smirk no doubt gives away the great pleasure Dave's gibe brings you.

++++

"Agent Hotchner," you hand him your preliminary geographical profile. With his arms crossed, he intimidatingly peers into your research.

Don't burn a hole in my paperwork; I worked hard on that.

He is impressed by your work, taking in your comprehensive outline of proof that details the unsubs point of origin. For someone so young, your attention to detail puts even his most observant profilers to shame. "How did you come to this conclusion?"

"My family is from Chicago. When I was little, I used to read through my grandfather's old newspapers that he collected throughout the 1950's. On the jet, I knew some of the phrasings that Dr. Reid was using sounded familiar, so I cross-referenced it with some of the particular articles I remember from my childhood and found his wording to be exact iterations of the Chicago Crier."

Without taking his eyes off of the paperwork, he commends you, "Impressive use of your prior knowledge. Often, the information drilled into us through education is lackluster compared to that of real-world experience."

You turn to walk back to your makeshift desk when he calls out to you, "And Y/L/N, call me Hotch."

Your shoulders relax from the tension you hadn't even realized you'd been clinging onto, "Alright. Hotch."

++++

You immediately regretted your decision. In pursuit of the unsub, you had wandered off down an abandoned subway tunnel and cornered him.

"Harold Watts, FBI. Gently place the remote detonator on the ground," You shout. Grappling to keep your gun from slipping between your clammy palms, you grip the weapon tighter.

Ordinary people's first days of work are uneventful; they're given a series of mundane tasks at most. Me? Of course, my first day involves being secluded in a subway tunnel facing down a man decked from head to toe in explosives and wires.

"D-don't come any closer. I have my finger on the trigger! I'm not afraid to die, and I will not hesitate to take you up in flames with me," he stammers.

The stampede of footsteps, no doubt from your colleagues and half of the Boston police force, resonate through the echo chamber you're standing in. Watts spooks and loses his balance. You begin shouting for the people behind you to stand down.

"The tracks are live, one wrong step, and we all blow up. I repeat, stand down!"

Turning your attention back to Watts, you attempt to soothe his irrationality. You slowly return your gun to its holster, raising your hands up in surrender. Hotch yells something unintelligible from behind you, but your focus is on the unsub and trying to prevent any more casualties.

"Harold, let's just talk this through for a couple of minutes. My men behind me will leave us alone. It's you and me now. Before this, you never wanted to hurt yourself. You wanted to be heard. All of your life you felt like you were forced into the shadows, and you began to fester there in your pain and rage."

He tenses up; you have his attention now.

"Those girls who teased you and ripped your masculinity from you needed to be taught a lesson. But you didn't just stop there; you decided to do all women a favor and demonstrate to them the kind of pain they could cause, hoping to prevent them from making the same mistakes. In fact, you helped me to see what I can do better. I never want to make someone feel the way you did."

"Y-you learned that...f-from me?" Harold quietly sobs.

You nod, "Yes! Yes, Harold. And you can still be heard, but not if you die today. I could be your greatest advocate. If we walk out of here right now, think of how famous you could be. Harold, you will never be stuck in the shadows again."

It is crucial to your survival and your teams that you are brave just long enough to analyze the situation and keep your self-control. Panic won't do anyone any good right now.

Your mouth dries as you await Harold's next move. Suddenly, he hunches over, extending the hand gripping the detonator. Pausing for a moment to be sure he isn't making any drastic moves, you promptly hurry to his side and gently pull it from his clutch.

As the police officers and your colleagues rush to your aid, Harold looks up at you with hopeful eyes.

"Make me famous," he murmurs with a grin that churns your stomach.

Hotch ushers you away from the unsub, backing you up against the wall of the tunnel, "You actively defied my orders."

Searching every inch of his face for an accurate reading of his emotions, you are unsure of how to respond.

"I'd like to think it won't happen again," his eyes studying you just as intently.

You swallow hard, aware of the lump in your throat and take a deep breath, "You have my word, Agent Hotchner."

"Good," he affirms, eventually freeing his hold on your arm.

You let out a shaky sigh of relief and relax your spinning head against the wall.

Opening your eyes, you observe your new team tieing up all loose ends. They're safe. You are safe. Despite this first day not being as mundane as others, you wouldn't have it any other way. This feeling is what you signed up for, and it's already fulfilling you in ways you couldn't fathom before stepping inside the BAU office this morning.

++++

Aboard the jet, you tuck your legs underneath you and open up a book to read.

A cup of steaming hot coffee appears on the table in front of you.

Hotch sits across from you with a similar cup and offers you a subtle smile, "Impressive work out there today. I'm sorry your first day of work couldn't be more eventful."

A joke? I didn't take him as the joking kind.

Rolling your eyes, you put on a disappointed tone, "God...if you guys drag your feet like this every day, I might have to consider a transfer."

In a more serious nature, he asks, "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I guess. You were right, you know, no amount of studying or lectures can truly prepare you for what it's like when you're staring into the eyes of a killer. I've learned the negotiation techniques and memorized the textbook 'put the gun down' speech, but all of that flies out the window when you're in the moment."

"You will find that improvisation at times is the key to success in this job. Just know that this team is a family. You will never face this alone or be at a loss for anything. Your career is in its infancy, but I can tell you have a long and triumphant journey ahead of you. We will do whatever we can to ensure that you are at home here and can use this team as an opportunity to refine your abilities. All I ask in return is that you work with us, not against us. You have nothing to prove. They see your resourcefulness. So do I. You are one of us now."

Some gazes are the promise of protection; his is all that and more. The words "at home" resonate in your mind. You've spent your whole life searching for a home, and here it is, its doors being opened to you. After a lifetime of running from place to place, perhaps this is where you can finally settle down.

"Get some rest," Hotch whispers to you. And with that, you lean your head against the chilled window and shut your eyes.

++++

Tag List 🏷

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[aconboyindependent2021]

‘Now and Then’ - current state of play

My film is a re-imagining of the site of Brighton General Hospital next to my home. Until around 70 years ago, a workhouse operated on the site (for details, see: Gardner, J, (2012) A History of the Brighton Workhouses). Aspects of the austere workhouse are still evident on the site today. I began to think about the stories of the residents of the workhouse – what did they have to endure? With this in mind, I bought the above book by a local author about the history of workhouses in Brighton.

I have always been fascinated by the idea that traumatic events in a particular location can be recorded and replayed at a later time in history and that this might be a basis for ghosts and hauntings – for example, in the blockbuster, Poltergeist, and the BBC drama from the 1970’s The Stone Tapes (Sasdy, 1972). This is one of the key concepts behind the film.

After a lot of thought, I settled on the story of the workhouse being told by a single woman, Agatha, whose infant child was taken from her illegally and sold to a rich couple living in Brighton. This is a variation on the common Victorian  practice of unmarried women being compelled to give their children to a foundling home.

The film starts with Aggie telling her story in largely neutral terms and comparing the workhouse and the site’s positive use today as a hospital, but it climaxes with Aggie screaming with the loss of her child, and we see that she is a tormented spectre.The film ends with her anguish fading into a sign on the present site, promoting a nursery for infant children.

The film will be around 5-6 minutes long and will consist of edited original footage taken on the site in the present day. The film will be treated with video effects to alter the pacing, colour and atmosphere of the original footage. I have asked for a drama-trained friend to narrate the film as Aggie and will be using original and library sound effects and music motifs, or possibly drones to punctuate the soundtrack.

Now and Then – influences from other artists

1. Brian Percival - About a Girl

Female voice-over revealing a terrifying truth about motherhood at the end of the film. This film gives a cold dead feeling inside from the casual yet downcast demeanor as the leading character talks about her dysfunctional life and especially the ending, where the girl is revealed to have secretly miscarried a baby and we see her dump it into the canal (“I’ve become good at hiding things”). Both my film and About A Girl attempt to humanise the female main character outside of their tragedies.

2. Tobe Hooper - director of Poltergeist Paranormal activity centred around past events and the presence of aggrieved spirits. This was a film that made an impact on me from its non-stop tension, even before the presence of the supernatural becomes apparent. Tobe Hooper, ever since creating The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) has achieved many awards, and after this film, it is easy to see why. It also has a similar plot to my initial idea for my film - where a great wrong done in the past creates a ‘haunting’ by aggrieved spirit(s)..

3. Peter Sasdy – Director of The Stone Tape (1972)

The original idea from the film was stones “recording” traumatic events from the past. While the current draft has drifted away from this concept, it still lives on with how Agatha remembers everything about the past as if she died yesterday, despite the superficial veneer of the current day hospital. However, Agatha is a real soul though in my film.

4. David Lynch - Eraserhead, The Elephant Man His black and white films – particularly The Elephant Man In the latter, view of Victorian England shot in black and white featuring cruelty and time-specific sounds, sights and atmospheres. The film always seems to have a sense of foreboding, even when the scene is uneventful, and with a deeply engaging soundtrack. Eraserhead will always always be an influence due to its deliberate disturbing monochrome style, investigation of altered perception and the anxieties of parenthood.

5. James Gardener- Author of: A Complete History Of Brighton Workhouses A detailed and easy-to-understand book centred around the original workhouse in my area. It includes the Brighton General Hospital Site. It helped give a real-life grounding to my supernatural tale.

6. Richard Boden - director of the Blackadder series 4 finale, Goodbyeee The series as a whole has very little to do with my film, but this is a powerful episode whose fade-out ending and closing-sound inspired the cross-dissolve effects and soundscape in my film - coincidentally both are centered with the cruelty of the past and atmospheric sound. Present and past merge at this point. One of the most popular scenes in TV drama/comedy and understandably so too.

7. Piotr Obal – various films and still images Obal is an independent artist who works with art, music and still photography. Occasionally, he teaches youths how to work at the computer like me (!) when he was helping out with an arts award I was studying for. Below is one of his images that has been an influence on me and the film. I love his Photoshop collages and the wonderful images he posts from his native Poland.

                                                        Work by Piotr Obal

8. Nalini Malani- for her immersive installations, ‘disgraced’ women under partiarchy, history and mythology, miscarriages of justice. I found out about Malini when I was writing my essay on her work in the  Diversity module: what started off as just finding out about an artist for the sake of my writing became a long-lasting admiration and inspiration from an artist who not only knows where she is coming from (from her upbringing hugely affected by India and Pakistan’s partition) but willingly sticks her neck out for those oppressed by society and history, and confidently shows her creations to the world. A particularly relevant aspect of her work is her use of the supernatural and mythology stories and myths to highlight aspects of women’s oppression throughout history.

9. Chris Butler- director of ParaNorman A key influence, supposedly aimed at children, I used the same of the spectre in this moving animation, and I was influenced by its themes about the cruelties of humanity and how we “moved on”. The spectre is a ghost of a falsely accused of being a ‘witch’ who wreaks her revenge on those who persecuted her.

It was also a strong influence that is more powerful at its climax and twist. In-depth look at how prejudice destroys lives that are never regained - even  death provides no relief. Butler is a part of Studio Laika, creating animated films that go beyond the norm.

10. Jacqueline Wilson - the writer of the Hetty Feather trilogy and other such Victorian novels such as Clover Moon.

A part of Jacqueline’s writings is her commentary about how unjust the past could be compared to today: even though her protagonists speak in ways that were customary to Victorians, she keeps them relatable the same way she keeps her modern-day protagonists relatable. The writing style of her books inspired certain characteristics of Agatha’s narration, because it was easy to understand yet engaging.

11. David Lean  - Director of Great Expectations (1946) This film, based on the Dickens book,  also brought to mind the cruel period of the Victorian era, and the acting and emotions continued that spirit and my inspiration around my project. I love that it is black and white as well as dialog-centred - I particularly like the formal style of speech - even to express negative emotions- for example:

“Let me point out the topic that in London it is not the custom to put the knife in the mouth for fear of accidents. It's scarcely worth mentioning, Only it's as well to do as others do”.

Miss Havisham, an almost ghostly older woman, in a similar way to Agatha cannot move beyond the terrible wrong done to her - she was left at the alter and devoted her life to training her adopted daughter, Estella, to get revenge on men.I use s similar obsessive, sing-minded hatred to motivate Agatha.

12. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

This film involve a man becoming the object of affection of a former silent movie star, Norma Desmond who overtake his life little by little until she kills him. Norma suffered with the times when silent movies went out of fashion and she is unable to move on, alone in her great house: people told Norma that she had no value and it had an impact on her psyche. She loses all sanity when arrested for killing Joe Gillis as she believes she is back in show business. The film also explores facades; Norma may live a glamorous if not lonely life, but her mental state torments her, like Aggie has with hers as she wanders around the hospital site driven ‘mad’ with grief and anger.  

13. R D Laing: ‘anti-psychiatrist’

'Here was someone explaining madness, showing how the fragmentation of the person was an intelligible response to an intolerable pressure”

Quote from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/25/rd-laing-aaron-esterson-mental-illness

 In discussing the concept of my film with a member of my family, I was directed to the psychiatrist/anti-psychiatrist, RD Laing. In the 1960’s and early 1970’s Laing wrote about how a person’s so-called ‘mad’ behaviour was in fact intelligible when their entire situation and experience was taken into account. He and other writers (like David Cooper) talked about the concept of the ‘double-bind’ where a person’s opportunity to make a decision to resolve the way they were being treated was blocked – perhaps by a member of their family saying that it was not in their personality to be assertive or angry.

This reminded me very much of Agatha; she tries to express her outrage at the great wrong done to her, but she is judged as unworthy and undeserving, so the wrong is seen as justified and her punishment for being the ‘low-life’ who would have a child and have to live in a workhouse. It is circular – she is treated badly because she deserves to be treated badly and so this means that her hatred and insanity brings the great wrong up herself.

Laing is largely forgotten today, but his ideas resonate with certain ideas in feminism and anti-racism. ‘Gaslighting’ is everywhere, both back then and now.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NnBonXPLJM

[silenthillmutual]

horror/thriller movie recommendations based on your fave Danganronpa 1/2 character

the series in general: Saw (2004, dir. James Wan) - i can’t give much of a reasoning for this as i haven’t seen it but the “punishment fits the victim” trope appears to be a thing in Saw?

Makoto Naegi: It (2017, dir. Andres Muschietti) - as much about the power of friendship as it is about a fear beyond all others. the premise is probably relatively well known by now for the fact that there’s a big clown in it. content warnings: clowns, unsanitary, implied incest and csa.

Sayaka Maizono: Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - this suggestion is an incredibly cheap shot, please forgive me. famous film, not sure if i can talk too much about the plotline without giving away the most important part.

Mukuro Ikusaba: Us (2019, dir. Jordan Peele) - doppelgangers show up to wreak havoc on an american family. themes of identity theft. much bloodier than Get Out. 

Leon Kuwata: Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven) - admittedly haven’t seen this either yet. i know, i know, i’m a fake horror fan. but i know that it was made as a sort of tongue-in-cheek homage to the tropeyness of horror films, and i didn’t want to put any movie too blatantly humorous here. i thought this would fit Leon.

Chihiro Fujisaki: A Quiet Place (2018, dir. John Krasinski) - monsters that attack based on noise terrorize a family. most dialogue is delivered through sign language. also has a really touching family dynamic, especially between the father and his children.

Mondo Oowada: Pet Sematary (1989, dir. Mary Lambert) - haven’t seen this one either, whoops. all i know is it’s about, like, bringing people back from the dead or something, and that it’s based on a Stephen King book.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru: The Stand (1994, dir. Mick Garris) - technically a miniseries, but i wasn’t really sure what other horror story fit him. it’s the world at the end in a final battle between good and evil, and nothing says Ultimate Moral Compass more than that to me.

Hifumi Yamada: Strangers on a Train (1951, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - the whole “i’ll do your murder if you do mine” kinda hits for chapter 3 i think. i also remember his hostage being his sister, so he’d probably like the relationship between Anne and Barbara.

Celes Ludenberg: Crimson Peak (2015, dir. Guillermo del Toro) - there’s a line the main character says that’s something to the effect of how she’d rather be like Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley because she died a widow? that’s Celescore. content warning: incest.

Sakura Oogami: Hereditary (2018, dir. Ari Aster) - both in the way that her dojo is a family business and in the themes of being afraid of hurting your loved ones. content warnings: child death, car accident, decapitation, possession, drug usage.

Toko Fukawa: Rebecca (1940, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - again haven’t watched or read the book on which it is based but the fact alone that it is based on a book? and it’s not directed by stanley kubrick’s book-ruining ass?

Byakuya Togami: Rope (1948, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - based on a play which itself was probably based loosely on the Leopold & Loeb case, it’s famous in part for its protagonists being gay. also they have superiority complexes and think that the privileged few should be allowed to murder inferior people because they’re above morality.

Yasuhiro Hagakure: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. Wes Craven) - i feel like this is closer to what his brand of horror would be, but also people not really believing that what’s happening is actually happening is kind of his m.o. too. content warning: i don’t remember if this is explicit in the original or not, but Freddy Krueger was a pedophile.

Aoi Asahina: Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham) - again i just think this is closer to what Hina’s brand of horror would be, but also i feel like the summer camp aesthetic would be for her.

Kyouko Kirigiri: The Secret in Their Eyes (2009, dir. Juan Jose Campanella) - i don’t totally remember it but detective going off the rails trying to solve a rape & murder case. Very intense, but very good.

Junko Enoshima: Midsommar (2019, dir. Ari Aster) - gaslighting people into joining a death cult? yeah, that screams junko. content warnings: graphic suicide, drug usage, gaslighting, people on fire, nudity, sex.

Monokuma: Child’s Play (1988, dir. Tom Holland) - creepy toy carrying the soul of a murderer. still need to finish watching this one, other than “creepy doll” i don’t have anything to offer in the way of content warnings. 

Hajime Hinata: Get Out (2017, dir. Jordan Peele) - reluctant to go too much into details because i wouldn’t want to spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it, but the experiment done on Hajime vibes w this movie. content warning in that this film is about racism.

Twogami: Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - too many details would give away spoilers but the identity theft theme of the film fits for a guy whose talent is in identity theft.

Teruteru Hanamura: Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter) - had a hard time thinking of a horror movie for Teruteru, but Halloween (and 80′s slashers in general) have a tendency to punish the horny.

Mahiru Koizumi: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997, dir. Jim Gillespie) - would it be too much of a spoiler to say there’s similarities between this film & what gets Mahiru killed in-game?

Peko Pekoyama: The Purge (2013, dir. James DeMonaco) - people using masks to enact what they feel is justified revenge on the one day of the year when all crime is legal.

Hiyoko Saionji: The VVitch (2015, dir. Robert Eggers) - based on colonial-era folk tales about witches. very atmospheric, features the same kind of abusive slut-shaming verbal assaults Hiyoko hurls at others. content warning for briefly implied incest, some nudity, and parents being shitty.

Ibuki Mioda: Green Room (2015, dir. Jeremy Saulnier) - still need to see this one; punk band tries to survive to the end of the night after witnessing neo-nazis commit a murder.

Mikan Tsumiki: Carrie (1976, dir. Brian De Palma) - another film based on a stephen king novella, and also a pretty famous story. a longtime bullying & abuse victim starts to lose her shit after she begins developing telepathy. content warning for some nudity, fire, and an abusive mother.

Nekomaru Nidai: Les Yeux Sans Visage (1960, dir. Georges Franju) - wasn’t really sure where to go with him either, at first, and settled on body horror considering what happens to him later in-game. a doctor attempts to find a new face for his daughter after she is left disfigured from an accident. 

Gundham Tanaka: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1921, dir. Robert Wiene) - a mad scientist claims his hypnotized ‘somnambulist’ can see into the future, including the deaths of carnival-goers. highly influential silent film, german expressionist so peak aesthetic.

Nagito Komaeda: The Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme) - it’s probably well enough known for Hannibal the Cannibal being in it, but it’s worth noting he’s not the primary antagonist of the film. he is the most memorable part of it, and his psychoanalysis is what made me think of Komaeda. content warnings for gore, sexual harassment, referenced cannibalism, period-typical transphobia (period is the late 80s/early 90s).

Chiaki Nanami: V/H/S (2012, various directors) - a horror anthology film of found-footage type shorts, not shown in chronological order of events. i don’t really remember the contents enough for warnings, check at your own risk.

Akane Owari: The Blair Witch Project (1999, dirs. Eduardo Sanchez & Daniel Myrick) - don’t really have a good reason for this one other than “they all go feral, which Akane is seconds from doing at any given moment.” i think she’d dig it. no real content warnings to be had, the original found footage film.

Kazuichi Souda: Jaws (1975, dir. Stephen Spielberg) - i’m not even entirely sure i know what would make him like it, maybe just the mechanical shark? i think we all know this as the movie that made people double down on their hatred of sharks. i don’t particularly care for it, but it’s popular.

Sonia Nevermind: Perfume: Story of a Murderer (2006, dir. Tom Tykwer) - follows a would-be perfumer as he murders women in an attempt to create the perfect scent. in retrospect i probably should have picked something based on a real crime, but i still think she’d like this one.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu: M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang) - when the police fail to catch a serial child murderer, the criminal underworld steps up to take action into their own hands. fitting, no?

Usami: Trick ‘r Treat (2007, dir. Michael Doughtery) - another sort of anthology film that follows what happens to townsfolk when they don’t abide by Halloween traditions. i put it for Usami because i thought it was actually kind of cute, as far as horror films go.

[catch22inareddress]

Sassafrass

 Chapter Three:

 Third Times a Charm

Previously:

"The truth is.... I can't. The one time I did try to go in...it was exceptionally hard. I thought I could help him. There are so so many dark places in his mind. He feels so lost and has so much hatred placed on Winter Soldier that it's problematic for him to separate that because it so compartmentalized. I know that he cares for you. But I don't know in what capacity. I'm sorry." She was silent a moment and then continued. "I can't just feel it when only you are together. He has it when he is with Steve too and but no one else. At least not at that intensity. He's connected to you. It could be because he feels like you are the only other friend he truly has here or he that he has other feelings. I just. .. I don't know." She was so focused and lost in thought that you had to touch her hand to bring her back.

"Love you witchy witch. Thank you. I needed that. So now I know he would at least save me from a burning building. That's something and the ego boost I need." She smiled and leaned into your shoulder. "One day you will have to have a serious conversation with him."

You took a shot of tequila. "Serious? Highly overrated my dearest."

You decided to find a nice quiet place and just drink and relax by the pool to get out of the metal man funk you were currently in.  However, to your dismay, Tony decided to come over after about an hour and sit next to you in your little fortress of solitude. So your metal funk continued, and you sighed at the turn of events.

"Please don't---not right now Stark. Unless you want a fun-filled afternoon of a testicle retrieval. If that be the case, then I'm happy to oblige." He put up his hands in surrender and just shook his head and slid his sunglasses up, pushing his hair back. "No, it just looked peaceful over here so I thought I could hide out. Is that ok?" You thought it over for a second but couldn't say no to a friend, especially when said friend wasn't being a douche.

"Sure." You two sat in comfortable silence for some time before you spoke up.

"Pray tell, Tony. What's going on in the Salt n' Pepper head of yours?" He let out a deep laugh and it made you smirk. You missed this camaraderie with Tony that you once had. It had disappeared after he had gone into self-destruct mode. He and Pepper were on again and off again and you hated watching him struggle but it had gotten to the point that you also couldn't be around him. Almost as if reading your mind he spoke aloud then. "Have I fucked it all up Y/L/N?"

You took a swig of your drink and looked at him finding that he was already looking at you, desperation almost spilling out of his eyes. "It's never too late to make amends. Besides you've only annoyed the hell out of me. That's easily forgiven. Just grovel a bit and get me a few beers." You shrugged, and the tension melted away from his shoulders.

You laughed at the thought of Tony groveling for anyone. Other than Steve that is. He even smirked. "Alright noted Y/N. Now how do I fix this Pepper debacle." You knew the answer and weren't going to sugar coat it, least of all him. He deserved to be manhandled.

"Easy. Stop fucking around. The woman loves your shit for brains self for whatever reason, unconditionally. I know you think you are not worthy of her but you are. I'm so sick of all of you men thinking you are never worthy of the women who love you. Also, Keep it in your pants and stop looking at everything in a skirt. It's insulting. Pepper is hot as hell, not sure why you would even feel the need to look elsewhere." You paused before you continued on. " Look, I know the job that we have leaves us in a fucked up place but when you find someone that is willing to share that darkness with you, don't take it for granted and sabotage it, man. "

He stopped staring at Pepper and just looked at you for a moment. "You think I could really fix it?" You nodded in Peppers direction. "She's here, isn't she?" He smiled, and you could've sworn the only way to describe the look on Tony's face was bashful. Had you not seen it you would've called the person a bold face fucking liar.

"So, Barnes. Huh?" You snapped your head in his direction causing a shift in wind to actually blew his glasses off of his head and his eyes widened. "Hey. Just because we had a little girl talk doesn't mean I'm talking about Barnes, iron head." He laughed and took a drink. You looked out at Bucky and he was staring a hole into Tony which made you blush at the possible meaning behind it.

"How'd you get Manchurian to come out without a shirt on?" Your smile was from ear to ear. "Easy. We had a come to Jesus meeting. " You paused a moment and thought what the hell. "Say I did want to dazzle the man. What would I do? I mean with the blonde titty monster ready to attack him, how do I compete?"

He sat up and looked at you. "You're fucking Y/N. An Avenger, he doesn't want anyone but you. HE may piss me off from time to time, but the man is  loyal to a fault and trust me when I say that he only has eyes for you." You hated letting vulnerability shine through, but you didn't know what do you with him. He was a mysterious riddle but you fucking hated riddles, no patience for the damn things.

"Don't toy with me. If I put myself out there again and he ...." He took your hand and for the first time in a long time, you let him. "If he hurts you, Steve and I will hurt him. But I know that he has feelings for you. Hell, Friday caught him jerking off in the common area and it wasn't my name he was saying." To that, you lost your words and were silent, then started laughing and turned 3 shades of red.

"I'm not kidding. Do you want to see the footage?" He pulled out the video on his phone. "Holy fucking shit you HAVE to send it to me." You thought for a hard moment. "I've got an idea." You heard your phone ding and smirked while looking out at the pool. "Ahhh. There's my girl. I love it when you've got that devious shit-eating grin. Tell me how it works out darling." You smiled as he got up and looked towards Pepper. "Go get your grovel on, Stark." He pulled his sunglasses back down and took the walk of shame towards Pepper who kindly smiled at him in her traditional manner and had a look of concern on her face as he just scooped her up for a hug. 

Your jaded heart swelled at the moment and looked towards Bucky who saw the exchange and just smiled at you and winked. Fuck. He was going to be the death of you. Then you remembered a particular video of a soldier that deserved a viewing for your next plan of action.

You sat down inside the room and pulled up the footage and you felt rabid, vicious butterflies in your stomach. The video started out with Bucky watching a movie then picking up his phone ....then out of fucking nowhere the man started lightly palming his cock through his low slung sweats. It was like a random porno with no storyline. Some shit that Wade would watch except you were watching it in this case, unapologetically. Then it hit you. "Shit Stark, he's just watching a porno." You said to yourself, but when you squinted at his phone, the image wasn't moving. You zoomed in. "Fuck me." It was a picture of you, and it wasn't an indecent one at that. Just a simple pic of you with Buck that Steve when all of you had gone out to Coney Island for some quality time. The man was like a gentleman to the core, he wasn't even a total creeper having found a nudey pic somewhere. You were speechless.

Before you knew it Bucky had escalated from palming himself to his metal hand in his sweatpants jerking himself off to your image. You could hear his grunts and moans, leaving a wetness pooling between your thighs. When you heard your name roll off of his lips, you were done. Out of nowhere, your phone started ringing startling into you screaming thus launching the damn thing across the room like it was an atom bomb. "FUCKITY FUCK!?"

"Hello?" You must've answered the phone in the process of the death launch and went to pick it up. "What gives apple bottom?" You sighed into the phone and laid down on the bed. "Wade...you scared the shit outta me." He laughed into the receiver. "That means you were doing something naughty, my girl doesn't scare easy. So tell Daddy Wade what you were doing?" You couldn't help but laugh and told him what you were watching while he giggled with delight. "I knew that fucker had a thing for you. I saw his Hungry Eyes watching you when we were at Stark's BBQ. Oh and PS why the fuck am I not invited to your family shindigs anymore?" You laughed. "One: because you were caught jerking off in one of the Ironman suits and got jizz all over the repulsor blasters. That shit doesn't just wash off man, Tony wanted to burn it. Two: You hacked into FRIDAY so she would have AI phone sex with you. You're banned from the Tower, cockgoblin. Your fault, not mine. Now, what am I to do with my Winter Soldier problem?" He tsked you repeatedly. "What problem. I can hear your sexy thighs clenching from here. The man wants you and you want him." You mumbled your response to him. "I'm sorry kitten breath...what did you say?" You grumbled loudly. "HE WON'T MAKE A MOVE ON ME." The man laughed too loudly at your predicament you put the phone down. He even clapped- Prick.

"You mean my sister from another mister whom I have trained with blood and sweat and taught my Casanova ways, can't get this fucktard to put out?" You wanted to flick him off but he wouldn't be able to see so you refrained. "Hey, I don't recall Casanova looking like a  dancin' California Raisin' that got fucked by Trump so shut the hell up and help a lady out." He continued to giggle but conceded. "Torture the man. I know you got moves woman. I've seen you torture a man so hard that his balls nearly packed up and left they were so blue. He'll cave. Make daddy proud. So perk up those tits of yours and get going!" He pumped you up a few more minutes and then you ended the call. Asshole but he was your asshole.

You decided to take a shower to clear your thoughts and flick the bean to get the video out of your system. After the disappointment of the shower that wasn't as fulfilling as a certain soldier you came out and got dressed and went to the common area and found everyone either out drinking in bikinis or lounging and drinking in the house. You sat next to Steve while he put his arm around you and you snuggled in. Sharon kindly smiled at you knowing that there was no threat in your friendship with him. To be honest she was very chilled and relaxed and if you had a thing for Steve she would no doubt hit you up for a three-way.  That would be one interested and fun-filled evening but you wanted Bucky to make an honest woman out of you.

"Where's Buck?" You shrugged and bit your lip. "How would I know?" He nudged you playfully. "He went to the bedroom not long after you, I assumed that you two ran into each other." You sat up slightly alarmed thinking about your shower rendezvous with your hand.

"Fuck." You looked around for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Steve just looked at you while you got up on a mission to find him. What if he heard you in the shower? Shitty fuck fuck. Keep calm. HE did it first, right?? You checked the room, the kitchen, and the basics and then went outside. You were nearly gutted when you walked out and found came upon him lounging in the chair with slutty mcslut leaning over from the arm next to him. You stopped short and paused, while you were about to flee the scene you noticed he looked quite uncomfortable and tense but you thought that was just hopeful on your part. Just as you were about to turn and leave, he called out. "Hey, doll. I was wondering when you would come out. I went to check on you, but you were getting cleaned up. Missed you, yeah?" Well, that's new. Very very new.

Your eyebrows stitched together while your stomach just straight up packed and took leave. "C'mere." He opened his legs for you to sit and you could see a slight plead in his eyes and started to put it together. Maybe he didn't actually want her there,  perhaps he didn't really want you either. But hey, anything to help a friend out and get her out of the way. Plus your body ached to be pressed against Bucky even if it was a ruse. You would take it.

You walked over and decided to put on a show. You climbed in between his legs and snuggled in your ass up against his cock and you could feel his warm breath fan on your neck. You rested your head on his shoulder and his flesh hand found a home on your hip. "Sorry, it took so long, love. Had a nice shower. Thought of you." Wasn't a lie and when he let a groan escape you smiled. "You should've just let me come in there doll. I could've taken one with you." He all but ignored the broad next to you two and truth be told at this point all you had was nicknames for her and her forgotten her damn name. Susan, Diane. Fuck... What the hell was it??

She cleared her throat. "I didn't know you were together. You smiled. "I guess we're comfortable enough not to blast it around everyone?" He leaned in and kissed your temple. Wow, he was all in? "True. Although sometimes it's fuckin' hard to keep my hands off this dame. " Laura..Lisa groaned and got up. "Well, I'll leave you two to it then. I'm started to lose my buzz." You could feel Bucky lean into your ear and smile when she got up and left.

You started to shift to move. "Where ya goin doll? You move right now she'll know she was played. Stay a few. Then we can go inside and sit somewhere else." You nodded and didn't argue you didn't really want to move anyway.

"You're welcome, by the way." He chuckled, and you could feel the vibrations through your body to your core. You stifled a moan and prayed he couldn't hear your heartbeat start to pick up. "Thanks. She's been hassling me all day, and I didn't know how to let her down easy. I just don't know how to handle women anymore." You nodded. "That a confession?"

He hummed in response. " Yea. I suppose it is. Hard to talk round women anymore. Not that James anymore." You shrugged in response. "Doesn't matter to me....or anyone. Besides Steve, no one knew that James. You get to be whoever you want to be. Besides chicks dig the mysterious types these days." He flashed you a genuine smile. "Ya think I'm mysterious?" You tilted your head to get a better view of him. "You want to know what I do know?" He paused and tensed. "Please?"

"You are loyal and think you aren't worthy of any love or friendship beyond Steve's. On missions, you always stay behind to make sure everyone is aboard and safe before you get on the jet. When anyone is injured, myself included, you always make sure to stay near to help out. I remember once you even helped make me get dressed when you heard me grunting in my room after I broke my arm. I looked ridiculous and was pissed off stuck in that damn shirt. To me, you were a knight in fucking armor coming to my rescue. The metal arm was the perfect accessory. You love Disney movies and steal mine but always put them back thinking that I don't know. But they help with your nightmares, right?"

You weren't sure of the look on his face. He was confused and unsure why you would've seen such details in the mundane...in him. "Why?" You looked out at the others playing some sort of game in the main room and sat up. "Because your worth knowing Buck. Now get your ass up and let's go get out game on." Despite being in the open air, you felt like you couldn't breathe and you needed to get out.

When you walked inside, there were few seats left but you found one nestled between Clint and Steve. You sat down and risked a glance at Buck who stood against the wall with his arms crossed. Clint leaned in and in a sing-song voice taunted. "Looks like someones got their metal all twisted. I'm so proud of you. Nat taught you well." Nat was at his feet and hit him in the balls." He grunted and bit his lip. She smirked. "Girl talk?" She looked over at Wanda who was enamored with Vision, "C'mon Steve, we need your womanly views." His brows stitched together. " You got up and followed her. "You heard me. Up, Soldier Boy." He followed you all to the kitchen and Sharon just chuckled at you.

"Remind me why I am here with you two?" You all took a few shots. "Y/N needs a pep talk about your geriatric friend and his difficult nature." He took his shot. "Oh, that...again." You swatted his rock hard abs like it would actually do a damn thing. Like a Fiat hitting a tank. "I don't need a pep talk. I was doing a damn good job."

Nat hopped up on the counter. "Fuck off. You looked awkward and he looked pissed." You rolled your eyes. "He always looks pissed. I mean when was the last time he was actually laid. Although I did see him jerking off on a video..common room too." They both got silent while you blushed and chuckled. Oh fuckity fuck. What were you thinking? "Forget I said that." Nat narrowed her eyes. "Never. Lets put a bookmark in this and come back later."

"So what's the game plan you two. My Bucky gurus? My only rule is I don't want to get drunk. I know he can't but I don't want to either." Steve nodded. "Fair enough. Any reason though." You blushed and found the floor interested. "Fuck...if you must know Rogers, noisy bitch...if something happens I want to remember it. Plus its less likely to happen if I'm drunk, you guys may be assholes at times, but you're gentlemen. He wouldn't touch me if I'm drunk." Steve nodded and Nat took another shot.

"Alright...You go out there and get close to your man. We will take care of the rest." You scoffed. "Fuck that Nat. Last time said to trust you in that tone I ended up stuck in an Ironman suit and Tony had to help me out with fucking lube and Wade had jacked off all over the outside of it!!" You turned and started to walk out into the living room. Steve was right behind you. "Well, that's because you were also in my suit, doll. What the hell did you expect? You looked like a damn hobbit in it!!" You flicked them both off and stalked over to Bucky who was sitting in the chair now.

He looked up at you while you swallowed hard. "Need something, doll?" You did your best at a seductive smirk. "A seat." He patted his thigh and smirked. "C'mon then." You paused while he took your hand and led you down to his thick thigh, and you sat. You could feel his warm breath on your neck sending that familiar shiver to run through you. "Where'd you go to for so long?"

"Just for a few shots, miss me?" He moved your hair off your shoulder and you tried to hide your tell. "Laura tried to talk to me. Can't be leavin' me alone like that." You turned to him. "You're a big boy. You can say no." He shrugged. "What if I like your company then?" You smirked. "Maybe you should ask for it. Be bold."

Nat broke up your conversation just as it was getting interesting. "Alright, you dirty bitches!!! Truth or dare time." Several people, yourself and Bucky included said, "OH Fuck." While Tony and Clint hooted. This was going to get messy. Wanda smiled as she brought you a drink.

-No Wanda.

-Calm down. It's a Shirley Temple flashing you a knowing smile about you wanting to stay sober.

-Stay outta my head Witch.

She smiled

-Thank you and I love you woman.

-Love you too. Y/N.

Nat smirked and spun the bottle on the table and it landed on Steve. Fucking hell....thank Odin. Steve's laugh echoed in the room. Nat smiled. "Truth or dare Cap?" He smiled. "Dare." She thought it over for a minute and said eeny meeny miny moe between all of the girls in the room.....and it landed on you. Your heart was a flutter and Bucky's hands were leaving bruises on your hips. "Y/N, you have to undress our dearest Cap here and then he has to streak buck ass naked through the house." You knew her intention was to make Bucky jealous and for shits and giggles to embarrass seemingly shy Steve. To her surprise, modest Steve hopped right up and grabbed your wrist. "Have a beautiful woman undress me? Best dare ever!"

You could hear Bucky growl and felt his fingers tear away from you. OH fuckity fuck...this was going to get interesting. .....

I hope that everyone enjoyed this section. Tumblr kept making me redo it, and I was just about to give up. So excuse any typos, please. I will recheck it tomorrow. 

Hit me up if you want a tag or tag yo-self on my homepage. I have a link to my google doc. Happy, ready and love to all!!!

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[makeitquietly]

We had a good thing going but you had this big chip on your shoulder because I did a picture with someone else.

So the trailer has Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) and Hal Roach (Danny Huston) looking at Harry Langdon (anyone know the actor?) like they’d found a perfect replacement for Stan Laurel and were ready to start filming the first movie in a planned new Langdon & Hardy series. While I haven’t found any footage/photos of Babe and Hal posing with Harry (please tell me if such exist!), Zenobia (1939) got made and plenty of promo photos starring Langdon and Hardy were taken too. 

Rumours about Laurel and Hardy breaking up had been around at least since 1934, and some of the speculation in the papers suggested that it was due to the two of them not getting along, though most fans, at least those who write books, insist on all the problems having been creative ones (plus the usual pissing contest type of thing) between Laurel and producer Roach. When they weren’t about Stan’s personal life intruding his work. Or everything combined. And let’s not forget fights about money & contracts in general.

Whatever the trouble, I’ve never seen a single piece of writing saying that Hardy showed any interest in siding with his on-screen partner at any time during those disputes, which I think is not just a little weird. It’s like they never discussed about their career together or made joint decisions about what to do in the future. At least not when the going was good. I guess Hardy had no opinions about their career, or if he did, he always agreed with Roach rather than his partner. Likewise, it seems that Laurel had no qualms about doing whatever he felt right, without consulting Hardy. Yes, Babe was “just” an actor, while Stan was involved in the other aspects of movie making too, but seems to me that it would’ve been all the more important and quite easy to agree on how to proceed together without having one partner constantly arguing with the boss while the other one waited for whatever the outcome each time might be. Not that the news about breakups followed by reconciliations were all bad publicity-wise.

In any case, Stan got fired in 1938, after (almost) finishing Block-Heads. Not so much because of creative differences but either because he had been drinking at work, absent from work, or in too many scandalous headlines with his wife Vera (Illeana), possibly some sort of combination of these and other reasons, or maybe Hal Roach just needed an excuse to get rid of him in order to try something else. Babe of course still had his contract (because they weren’t a team in that sense either) and doesn’t seem to have minded getting a new partner. Or if he ever protested against any of it, I haven’t heard about it. Long story short: Stan and Hal sued each other, Stan eventually got divorced, and Zenobia got made but evidently wasn’t as big a success as had been hoped, so during spring 1939 everything was settled and writing for A Chump at Oxford began. With Harry Langdon in the writing team, as he had been for Block-Heads and would be for The Flying Deuces and Saps at Sea.

Of course it’s all plenty more complicated but my point is that even though Stan could hold a grudge as well as the next person, I very much doubt he was doing so in 1953 because of a movie Babe made with Harry Langdon in 1939 like the trailer for Stan & Ollie suggests. And if the alleged chip on Stan’s shoulder affected the good thing they had going before Zenobia, I’d love to know how. If anything, Zenobia proved that Langdon and Hardy wasn't the new Laurel and Hardy, or else they'd continued working together. Well, maybe the movie will tell how and I’m jumping to conclusions (speculation is fun) but I feel like there’d been more truth in trying to include whatever caused, according to Stan, “personal grievances” between them in 1949 when Babe made a stage tour with, amongst others, John Wayne and then appeared as his sidekick in The Fighting Kentuckian.

Anyhow, the trailer looks better than I expected, and I understand that they want to acknowledge Laurel and Hardy’s movie career together and that there has to be some drama in the movie, I just wish they had found another way to do it. Biopics take liberties but who even wants to draw attention to Zenobia when there are great Laurel and Hardy films to remember? And I don’t just mean Way Out West and The Music Box.

Here’s the highlights of this long and interesting document, which tells Hal Roach’s side of the story and what he thought, at least officially, of Stan and his escapades:

Answering paragraph III of the plaintiffs’ complaint, defendant admits that in the past the said Laurel was an outstanding and successful comedian. Defendant denies that the said plaintiff was the creator of Laurel and Hardy and in this connection alleges that, in truth and in fact, said two players were placed together in acting by defendant studio. Defendant denies that said two players constitute a team and allege the fact to be that the contracts between the defendant Studio and said Laurel and Hardy are, and have been separate and apart, and no provision is made therein for the combination of the two, and that under the contracts attached to plaintiffs’ complaint, defendant has the right to produce photoplays, if desired, with Stan Laurel alone, and without connection with Hardy.

***

In this connection, defendant alleges the fact to be that although the defendant was attempting to locate and talk to the plaintiff LAUREL, that nevertheless when the said Laurel returned to Los Angeles, he refused to talk with or communicate with the defendant herein, and wrongfully and willfully continued to remain away and went again from the City of Los Angeles to Catalina Island, California. Defendant admits that on or about the 12th day of August, 1938, it notified plaintiff that it had terminated and ended said agreements between defendant and plaintiffs and that it would no longer be bound thereby.

***

That since said October 8, 1937, said Stan Laurel on numerous and divers occasions has been intoxicated in public; that he has had public quarrels and contentions; that there have been many public scenes; that the police have been called to his home and to investigate him. That he has carried on continuous public reconciliations and public quarrels, and marriages, and re-marriages, charges and counter-charges with his wife “Illeana” and they have had between them numerous public scenes and disturbances, and that the said Stan Laurel has continued to have quarrels, contentions and disturbances with his former wives and one woman who claims to have been a wife and whom Stan Laurel claims was not a wife. That he has from time to time publicly committed strange and unusual and peculiar acts of various kinds and character. That as a result thereof there was from October 1937, to August 11, 1938, almost continuously a great amount of adverse newspaper and other publicity throughout the United States and foreign countries, all of which was very degrading to Stan Laurel in society, and brought him into and kept him in a public hatred, contempt, scorn and ridicule, and which set forth the said Stan Laurel as ridiculing public morals, decency and conventions. That all of these actions of the said Stan Laurel greatly prejudiced the producer, the defendant, Hal Roach Studios, Inc., and was very prejudicial to the motion picture industry in general.

***

Defendant alleges that on the contrary, the said plaintiffs, and each and both of them, and particularly the said plaintiff STAN LAUREL, acting for himself and for the said plaintiff Stan Laurel Productions, Inc., willfully failed and refused to cooperate. That on many and divers occasions the plaintiff STAN LAUREL arrived at the studio for work in an intoxicated condition; that on many and divers occasions the defendant STAN LAUREL drank while working during the day; that on many and divers occasions Stan Laurel was late for work and left work early; that on many and divers occasions plaintiff Stan Laurel appeared in scenes under the influence of intoxicating liquors. That during the course of a day’s work, on many and divers occasions, said Stan Laurel would delay in appearing for a scene or in assisting or directing the same. That said Stan Laurel would not and did not properly cooperate and assist in the cutting of “Swiss Miss”. That on many and divers occasions the said Stan Laurel, without right, absented himself from the Studio. That said Stan Laurel from time to time made depreciating and belittling remarks about the Studio and the officers thereof, all of which was calculated to, and did, affect the morale of the employees of said Studios. Said Stan Laurel would not cooperate with the director on “Swiss Miss” and would not work with or cooperate with the other employees of the Studio in connection with the making of the picture. That the said Stan Laurel would not cooperate with the Studio in the hiring or employing of the actors and other employees that it desired to use in “Swiss Miss” and “Blockheads”. That the said Stan Laurel would not and did not in any wise cooperate in the completion of said photoplay “Blockheads” and without the consent, and without the knowledge, of the said defendant Studio, this said Stan Laurel, before the completion of the picture “Blockheads” absented himself not only from the Studio, but from the State of California, and failed to return for the completion thereof. Said Stan Laurel has been in the motion picture business and an actor in the making of photo plays for many years, and well knows the great expense, damage and loss that can be and is sustained by a Studio in the holding up in the finishing of production by reason of the absence of one of the necessary performers or other employees. That the said Stan Laurel well knew that he was employed for the purpose of acting in, participating in the writing, and participating in the directing and in the cutting of all of the photo plays to be made under said contract, and of the photoplay “Blockheads”, and knew that his absence during the making of said picture and before the final and entire completion thereof, would necessarily cause great inconvenience, loss and damage to the studio, defendants herein. That during the wrongful absence of said Stan Laurel, the said Studio did not know where he was or when he would return, if ever, or his plans, or what he intended to do, and it was necessary for the Studio to proceed without the said Stan Laurel in acting, writing, directing and cutting of said photoplay “Blockheads”. Said Studio did so proceed to its great loss, damage and injury. Said Stan Laurel also had full knowledge that the said Studio had employed writers for the purpose of writing, under his direction, the script for the next photoplay, “Devil’s Island”, and that the said script was to be completed on or about August 1, 1938. That, notwithstanding said knowledge upon the part of the said plaintiff, said Stan Laurel wrongfully and willfully left the State of California and the Studio of the defendant, and without Laurel and his direction in said writing the said writers were unable to proceed with said script for “Devil’s Island&”, and all to the great loss and damage of the defendant.

Sounds like Stan almost managed to ruin the whole motion picture industry or at least the Roach studios with his behaviour, doesn't it? 😍😁😂❤

Seriously though, if he was drunk during the filming of Block-Heads, it didn't affect his acting a bit, and the best scene in all of Swiss Miss is the one in which Stan tries to get drunk, coincidentally. Also, I don’t think Hal cared about Stan’s marital headlines nearly as much as it seems, they just were convenient for his case. It could actually be argued that he made everything worse by drawing extra attention to them, not to mention how he himself was repeatedly doing the same argument/reconciliation thing with Stan.

[brendancorris]

Thundercats Roar thoughts...

So a friend of mine showed me this trailer a few weeks ago, and for a second I didn’t believe it was real. But, before I get further into my thoughts on this thing everybody else on the internet has already covered, let me go into my history with Thundercats.

Despite never drawing much fan art for the series, Thundercats is a property I love, and one of the biggest parts of my life in my earliest years. Born in ‘86 with three older siblings, I was just in time for the original Thundercats. My family already consisted of die-hard fans, so it was naturally one of the first franchises I got into. From the time I was born to when I was about 4, Masters of the Universe and Thundercats were what it was all about. It wasn’t until ‘89 that I got my first TMNT toy, and about a year later that was literally all I cared about. 

But before my TMNT obsession, there was Thundercats. While I do have many fond memories of watching the show, my most beloved memories of it are simply being a fan. Collecting the action figures, listening to my siblings talk about the show, and playing Thundercats. Not a video game, though. On nights when my Mom was out, my Dad would host He-Man or Thundercats games where he’d be either Skeletor or Mumm-ra, my oldest sister and brother would be She-Ra and He-Man or Lion O and Cheetarah (while my other sister would be... somebody) and I, being the baby, would always get stuck being Orko or Snarf. All us kids would wrestle our dad and beat up on him as he’d try to defeat us. Epic stuff. Some how the younger of my two sisters would usually end up horribly injured after each game, though...

Simply put, Thundercats was the real deal with my family when I was little. The action was great, the evil beasts were awesome, the toys were a blast, and Cheetarah, along with the He-Man girls, made me feel things my tiny self wasn’t yet ready to feel. 

It wasn’t until I was in high school that I revisited the show, and, honestly, I was surprised how much it held up. Especially considering in high school I was “too cool for everything” yet I still acknowledged its quality. Yes, it was corny in the way all old children's’ shows were at the time (I have nothing but love for that tone, but I can see how it would be hard to digest for later generations), but it still had great, smart, sophisticated writing for its time, amazing animation and artwork, good characters, and one of the most hype intros ever.

In 2011 a reboot was made. This reboot was far darker and more built on political commentary. It was an understandable progression. The fans had grown up, so the franchise did too. While I wasn’t a huge fan, I can respect the quality of the writing, art, and over all work that went into it. It was a sophisticated piece of art. I felt it went a bit too extreme with the tone it was pushing, and as a long time fan of the original, found lots of the changes and design choices hard to digest. But again, it was a good show, and I respect what it attempted to accomplish. 

However, the show was canceled before season 2 could air. This left a lot of fans mad, confused as to whether it was low ratings, low ratings as a result of its switched time slot that was far from ideal, or just a business decision to sacrifice a popular show just to make way for a potentially more popular future show. While I can understand the upset from fans 100%, I didn’t feel it as I wasn’t a regular viewer. 

So, fast-forward to earlier this month when my friend shows me this trailer. As I said, at first I thought it was a joke, like College Humor or something. Then when the realization sunk in that it was real, I hated it. But, quickly I told myself that I don’t know enough about it yet to fully judge. I haven’t seen an episode. Sure, it looks awful from what I’ve seen, and I can clearly see the “monkey see monkey do” going on here with the copying of other successful modern cartoons. But, again, I haven’t seen it. Before I get into my final thoughts thus far, I need to address the elephant in the room...

...the similarities everybody has seen in this and Teen Titans GO!

While I wasn’t a die hard or anything, I did watch the entire first two seasons of the original Cartoon Network Teen Titans series when it was new, and I did like it. I thought it was very well-written, well-acted, had great characters, great character development, great stories, and great action. The characters worked off of each other beautifully. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I had some issues with it.

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS AHEAD - PREPARE TO HATE ME

Since its release I have always found the art style to look very under-developed and unappealing. It looked like an awkward imbalance of the (already bland in my mind) Justice League cartoon style and a newbie anime style. The best way I can describe it was it resembled the artwork of a junior-high kid who just started drawing anime. Also, I found a lot of the anime-inspired elements to feel forced. When characters would mutate into chibi disasters or tropes like sweat drops scrolling down their faces would happen, it was always a bit cringy and out of place. It felt like it was shoehorned in rather than rightfully fitting in.

But the most notable thing about the show was it was a pretty huge departure from the original DC comics. Gone was the realistic art style of the comics. Now the characters all had big, round heads, twig-like limbs, huge hands and feet, and big anime-eyes. Everything was very simplistic, sharp, and jagged. There was far more comedy, some great, and some that cringy chibi stuff I mentioned. The integration of anime tropes and far more kid humor was a huge departure from the comics. So, basically, despite being a good show, Teen Titans, the show, was a huge departure from its source material.

Then comes Teen Titans GO! and overnight it becomes one of the most hated (and most popular) cartoons of this age. I didn’t quite hate it, but wrote it off as crap without seeing it. It is a shame that the original show was canceled before it got to be finished, but putting fans’ anger towards that aside, the creation of TTG makes perfect sense. The characters proved extremely popular and marketable, largely because how comedic they could be when bouncing off each other (and the original show had been canceled. Continuing a canceled show years later is a difficult task, regrouping the team, dancing through the legal BS, and finding enough staff and people to fund it to be on board, as well as a network to accept it). More simplistic art styles were becoming more popular, and after the post-Adult Swim days, hyper, wacky, odd comedies have become the norm.

To be honest, any time I have seen Teen Titans GO!, which has only been about three episodes or so, I laughed. I don’t care what people say, the show is legitimately funny. Is it the greatest show ever? Not by a long shot. Is it better than the last TT show? Probably not. Is it a shame it exists while the original never finished? Kinda. But is it a bad show? Honestly, no. 

TTG knows exactly what it wants to be and delivers. It may not be the sequel show old fans wanted, but if you put aside the hatred, you’ll see it’s not only a funny cartoon bursting with energy and very well-defined and appealing character designs reminiscent of shows like Dexter’s Lab, but also a huge love letter to the Titans, the last show, and all things DC. It is clearly made by DC fans. I may be biased because I love Weird Al and The Golden Girls, but, man, this is funny right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ICmOMLX3rQ

Admittedly, even the movie trailer looks funny, and I’ll likely see it, despite not really being a fan of the show. Just like the 2011 Thundercats, I see what the TTG team is intending to do, and I appreciate how well they do it, despite not being a regular supporter of it.

And, well, that brings us back to ‘Roar’. Will I like it? Based on what I’ve seen so far, likely not, but who knows. It could end up being the next Sonic Boom. I do strongly dislike the art direction for Thundercats Roar, and the footage shown thus far did not make me laugh (except Mumm-ra learning about the cats being on Third Earth by reading it in the newspaper. That actually got a chuckle from me). But, as much as my gut is telling me to hate this show, I won’t pass judgment until I’ve at least seen a couple episodes. It’s definitely not the Thundercats I love, but to be honest, I didn’t want a TC reboot. I was fine with it just being as it is. So if somebody’s going to reboot it for a new generation, I’ll be glad to see my favorite franchises get passed down, so long as it is done lovingly. If the show truly is a love letter to the history of the franchise as it claims to be, and if it’s a decently quality product that obvious care went into, I’ll be fine with it.

It would be so easy to tear it apart and hate it, but as I get older I find myself growing more accepting of such change. I’m not EXPECTING to like it, but who knows, I also wasn’t expecting to like Sonic Boom. Basically, so far I’m not digging what I’ve seen, but I’ll keep an open mind and stay hopeful. Here’s hoping they can change my mind with the final product.

The End

[trans-shuichisaihara]

Oumota Week Day 5 - AU

“alright I’m just doing AU for today“ *unintentionally sprinkles in little bits of Ending*

anyway I guess odd days are this new vr au and even days are tragedy au, that’s just how life is lmao

---------------

Surprisingly, there was a visitor before Momota made his promised return.

Amami walked in uninvited, a lazy expression that hid stress and anxiety behind it on his face. "Hey, what's up?"

He wouldn't admit it, but he liked Amami. Not in a romantic way, but he was interesting, and from his video in the Ultimate Suvivor's lab, probably not a murderer or the mastermind. Which made him one of the more trustworthy people in the group.

"I'm in pain and Momota-chan just finished bullying meee," he whined, not entirely for real but also not entirely fake.

Amami chuckled. "Did he really? From the way he looked when I passed him earlier, I would've assumed you were the one picking on him." He pulled himself further from the door, approaching the bedside and grabbing a bottle off the nightstand. "These your pills? They give you any yet?"

"Hm~ I dunno!" They were his, he hadn't taken them and had no intention of taking them. "But that was a lie, about me being in pain. I feel perfectly fine."

"If you say so." He didn't seem to believe him as he opened the bottle and pulled out two of the pills, placing them by the new (plastic) glass of water the doctor had left. "Take them when you need them, then; I know from experience that the pain will spike throughout the day, especially at night."

He chose not to respond to his advice. "So, why is Amami-chan here? I'm sure the others have told you allllll about my nefarious deeds while we were all alive."

He frowned. "Ouma-kun, do you think we're dead?"

"Of course!"

Amami's eyes searched his expression, before sighing. "Well, I'm here to show you footage from the rest of the simulation after you died. If you'd like to see what happened afterwards, that is."

Did he want to know? The answer was both yes and no. Unfortunately, curiosity won out. "Well, if you're going to beg to show me, I suppose I have no choice." Realistically, he didn't; Amami could take the remote away and turn it on, playing the fourth murder and trial and execution on loop until he begged for forgiveness.

Not that he would.

"Alright, I'll put it in then. Do you want to see the investigation, or just skip to the trial?"

He hummed, thinking it over. "I'd actually like to see what the others were doing before I died. Momota-chan and I were locked up in the hanger, soooo..."

He didn't protest, inserting a USB into the side of the TV and accepting the remote from Kokichi, flipping through menus. It was like selecting a scene on a movie. He frowned.

"Ah, here it is." Amami clicked on a scene, and it opened up onto Harukawa walking into the dorm, pulling the others out of their rooms one by one. Just the sight of her irritated him. "She found a flashback light and is grabbing the others..." He skipped forward a bit to them standing in the cafeteria.

"So, who recorded this?"

"Team Danganronpa, technically. It was edited, of course, but just in cutting and pasting the different shots together. The raw footage of any particular camera is stored on the main computer hooked up to the VR machine." Ah yes, he totally trusted that not to be edited too. He rolled his eyes and instead focused on the footage that may or may not be real.

Hours flew by.

They ended up having to skip a lot of the trial, as the video he and Momota recorded sent phantom pain coursing through his body. He still managed to see enough to deepen his hatred for Harukawa - seriously, planning to kill all of her quote-unquote friends just to kill him?! - and enough to tell that none of the others would care if he was alive. Even Momota, who pretended to care, said that he hated him. Kokichi especially hated that his words and his death hurt almost as much as dying himself.

"Do you want to continue?" Amami asked, pausing the scene at the group sluggishly shuffling into the elevator, tears rolling down all the faces that were human. Momota told them not to cry and only Kiiboy was able to follow his last request, though not by choice.

"Yes." He wanted to see which of his classmates was the mastermind so he could finally solidify his trust ranking.

He stood up and stretched, tossing the remote onto Kokichi's bed. "Let me just go get some dinner then, you can continue on your own while you wait. Want anything?"

Was he hungry? "No, I'm fine."

Amami looked skeptical, but said nothing as he left. Once the door was closed, he pressed play, skipping past all of the pity party they were throwing for themselves until, suddenly, Kiiboy was blowing stuff up. Wow. Why couldn't he have made himself this useful when his lab first opened up? So useless.

He was skipping through Saihara and Harukawa rudely digging through his room when Amami returned, a bowl of soup in one hand and a healthy serving of sushi in the other. He set his food down and pulled the bed's tray out in front of Kokichi before placing the soup onto it. "You should eat some."

"Fineee, but if this is poisoned I'll kill you, Amami-chan!" He reluctantly ate, and while he did so, Amami took charge of skipping the boring scenes.

"You know, Momota-kun's been waiting outside your door for a few hours," he commented offhandedly, causing Kokichi to cough as he sharply inhaled soup into his throat.

"Oh?" He tried to nonchalantly respond, "I didn't realize Momota-chan was the stalker type. How scary; do you think he's going to go yandere and kill you for being in here with me and then kill me again so no one else can have me?" Not that anyone would want him, but jokes were funny! Him dying was funny!

"Let's not joke about that," Amami laughed, although clearly uncomfortable, "I think he was wanting to talk to you again, but I told him that you were watching the footage still."

"He's persistent. And too needy."

"He just cares a lot."

Kokichi scoffed. "Well, not for me. Anyone but me." He returned his attention to the TV, blocking out any objections Amami would try to make. He hated that sort of lie the most.

[jerevino]

Sink In - Chapter 4

Pairing: Ryan/Gavin Plot: Vampire AU based on the post “vampires always like “i could kill you if I wanted” like? yeah? so could another human being. so could a dog. so could a dedicated duck. you arent special”

Chapter 1 / 2 / 3.  AO3 here.

Ryan wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting.

He knew that his incredibly ludicrous plan had been a long shot, forming a list of possible outcomes in his head until he’d watched Gavin Free flee the bar. The first option had been the police; it was the most sensible solution for any normal man, but the slow reaction time had given Ryan hope. He was grateful that he hadn’t had to pack up and leave again, but it meant that the clearer options were slowly being crossed off.

The second had been blind hatred. Gavin had not seemed entirely angry, although Ryan also assumed that the Brit didn’t have much of a hateful bone in his body, from the few minutes they’d spent talking. The third was cool hostility, bribery, and manipulation to test and play at how much of a non-killer he really was.

What Ryan hadn’t anticipated was the cold shoulder.

He knew that it would take Gavin time to process all of the information, and that he likely wouldn’t hear from him at all for a few days. But days turned into weeks, and after twenty long days of no contact, Ryan was beginning to question his choices more so than he already had in the days previous.

Seriously - What kind of childlike dickhead cut off all contact after all that had happened. In all his years, and all the times he’d foolishly tried to let someone in on his lifestyle, not once had anyone been catty enough to ignore him without a big blowout first. It was getting on Ryan’s nerves, and he wished he could just track Gavin down and confront him. But intruding on Gavin’s life would only do the opposite in gaining his trust, so Ryan succumbed himself to a tense game of waiting in frustration.

Ryan hadn’t told someone in eight years. He hadn’t told someone because of what happened eight years ago; the discovery, the explosion of rage, the fear, and then -- the running. He’d had no choice but to up and leave, horrified by the disgust he’d caused in his girlfriend’s eyes. Since then, he’d always considered the best option to be silence and seclusion.

But something about Gavin Free had stuck, the stupid taunting and the reluctance to just turn him over ingrained in his head on a loop. The Brit was obviously horrified by the entire situation, but there was something else, something Ryan had clung to, something he hadn’t seen in years. Beneath all the disgusted looks and gulps of fear (something Ryan was used to) had been a layer of curiosity. And that was more than he’d gotten a taste of in decades.

Ryan needed Gavin to know, to understand, and he wasn’t even sure where the strength of his need had come from. He was desperate, and impatient, and just really goddamn lonely.

And so he waited.

~

Gavin was losing his mind.

After his meeting with Ryan, his world had done a complete one-eighty. Geoff was concerned by the entire situation, but seemed wary of bringing it up with Gavin. He dropped subtle hints, wondering what Gavin was going to do - He couldn’t stay with Geoff forever, and if his apartment wasn’t safe, what then? But Gavin was an expert at deflection, and promised Geoff that things were being worked out.

Things were most certainly not being worked.

His thoughts were plagued by this sudden new reality he was living in; a world where vampires might exist, and serial killers could be surprisingly friendly, and that someone as simple as Gavin Free could end up in the middle of it all. He wasn’t sure what to think, and the more he thought, the more he panicked. The problem was that he was being forced to think about the situation at all, to consider the possibilities and make a decision from there.

And the worst was that he was starting to believe it. Belief was conditional, though, for his own sanity. Maybe Ryan Haywood was the anomaly, a freak of nature and the only one of his kind. He could handle one strange being, one person with a curse found only in young adult novels and horror stories. His thoughts strayed to something else Ryan had said, you might be a lot safer knowing we’re out there.

No. One vampire. He could stomach one vampire. Start there, Gavin.

The next issue was his apartment. While some of his concerns had been quelled, Gavin still wasn’t sure just how safe he’d be on his own. Maybe Ryan insisted that there was no need to worry about him, but Gav figured it was smart to wait before trusting the words of a deadly killer. Maybe he could get some new deadbolts, or a machete, or a guard dog. That would put some of his unease to rest.

He knew he should have called, if he wanted to sate the rest of his curiosity. Ryan had given him a number for a reason, and Gavin should have taken advantage of his new source of information. But the very thought of making any contact just yet made his stomach turn, so instead, he focused on other things; friends, work, vampire research. His film shoot had gone well, and he’d gotten some uncut footage back from the director. It might have only been a small indie film, but this was a step in the right direction. He wondered briefly if his career would come to an end if he got tangled up in the lives of vampires. That was another thought that put him off.

So he’d called up Jeremy for real this time, asking him to go for drinks. Anything for a distraction. Anything to get away from Geoff’s silent judgement. Anything to forget about Ryan bloody Haywood and his shitting vampire curse.

~

“The movie’s gonna be ten times better with your slowmo, dude. How much are they paying you, anyway?” Jeremy was grinning at him over a rum and coke, cheeks tinged red as he trespassed into drunk territory. It was nice to see him, Gavin decided. It had been far too long, and Jeremy had a way of making people feel a lot lighter. Bouncier. Good.

“Its nothing spectacular, but its more than the last shoot. A much better film, too, from what I’ve seen. They hired a couple of bigger actors, who’ve actually been on TV. Should be pretty good - might make it into a few festivals, even!” Gavin nursed his own drink, shrugging softly. He hadn’t signed on to the shoot for the publicity of it all, even if it was a bonus. He just loved filming, and hoped to do it on a more professional scale some day.

Jeremy tilted his head thoughtfully, although there was a glazed look in his eye. Must’ve been the rum, Gavin decided, before a split second later Jeremy spoke again. “How long was the shoot? You look exhausted, Gav, must have taken a lot out of you, huh?”

That threw Gavin for a loop. The shoot had ended a few weeks ago now, a detail he’d conveniently left out. It was easy to mistake Jeremy for being a bit slow - the muscles, the occasional frat bro attitude, and his tendency to use like as often as he breathed. But in truth, Jeremy was incredibly observant, and Gavin shouldn’t have as been surprised by the comment as he was.

“Oh, uh…” Gavin started, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his head. “It sure did.”

Jeremy raised a brow, sipping noisily at his drink, and Gavin suddenly felt like he was being scrutinized with an all too careful eye. “You good, man? If you’re too tired, we can head home. I’m pretty fucking gone, so I don’t mind.”

Gavin had never wanted to tell the truth so bloody bad in his entire life. Jeremy was good, and kind, and understanding despite what appearances might suggest, and he was one of Gavin’s best friends. He would get it, he would help figure out what Gavin was supposed to do. He ached with the strength of it, words getting lost in his throat.

Instead, he flashed Jeremy a brilliant smile and ignored the urge like usual. “That might be a good idea. Lookit your little cheeks, all red, ooooh Jeremy, you’re right buggered up, aren’t you?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, but it was with good humour. He plopped a bill down on the table for the drinks, and moved to shrug on his jacket. Gavin was grateful that the conversation had moved away from him, because he wasn’t as strong as he wanted to be, and a slip-up like that could be costly.

“We should do this again soon, Gav. And you should get more drunk, ‘cause I’m doing too much of the work. You good to get home?”

Gavin nodded, already requesting an Uber. He smiled, waved at Jeremy as he left, and then instantly deflated. He shrugged off his jacket, and decided to order another drink to gather up the right amount of bravado needed to go through with his decision.

To Haywood, 9:42 P.M: Clementine’s, on Government. Now. We need to talk.

~

Geoff wasn’t fucking stupid.

He knew there was something going on, because as much as Gavin tried to pretend that he was a ball of god damn sunshine, Geoff could see right through it. He didn’t know what exactly, but he had a pretty strong sense that it had to do with witnessing a fucking murder. Which, for the record, Geoff still thought he should have reported. Who doesn’t do that? Who sits on it and lets it eat them up inside?

Gavin fuckin’ Free, that’s who. And it was driving him crazy.

Geoff didn’t want to push it, because he knew that as much as he could be stubborn, Gavin had a surprising resilience himself. But the Brit’s stupid mind was set, and Geoff wouldn’t be the one to tattle; he just wished Gavin would. Staying at his place was fine, but Geoff couldn’t house him forever, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Gavin hadn’t thought of a solution just yet.

And now he’d gone out for drinks with Jeremy again, and while Geoff wasn’t the jealous type, he couldn’t help but wonder if Jeremy was in on it, too - and the thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. Was Gavin sharing information with him, because he trusted Dooley’s opinion more? It didn’t seem fair, considering all that Geoff had done already. He wanted inside Gavin’s head, so that he could stop fuckin’ worrying, but Gavin was a conniving little shit and his ideal end goal seemed pretty impossible right now.

He supposed he’d just have to give it time.

~

Gavin was far too many drinks in by the time Ryan showed up.

The more he drank, the more his brain muddled and the less he thought about the possible implications of his decision. He’d briefly considered that Ryan might not show up at all, but he’d washed away the thought with another Moscow Mule. Gavin had no game plan, no structure to follow, aside from the questions raging in his head and the bravado of a lot of alcohol. He was lost in thought, staring deep into his drink as though it could solve his problems, when the clearing of a throat roused him from his inner monologue.

“I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me.” Ryan said smoothly, sliding into the chair opposite him where Jeremy had been sitting an hour beforehand. “You seemed pretty urgent. Has something happened?”

Gavin stared at Ryan for a few seconds to long, eyes bloodshot. When he spoke, his words were slurred and slow, betraying his current state. “You’ve driven me bloody mental, is what’s happened. I can’t stop thinking about it all. You… You’re an arse, Haywood, and I think you owe me a flippin’ drink for this.”

Ryan quirked a brow, devilishly so, and it pissed Gavin the ‘eff off. “You asked me here… To buy you a drink?”

Gavin spluttered, reaction time slow and sluggish. “No! Well, yeah, that’s part of it, but I’ve got questions, too, and you owe me for the mess you’ve made.”

Ryan nodded sagely, forgoing a response in favour of flagging down a waitress. Gavin was too busy fuming to hear what he said, but when he turned back around, the git was smiling.

“What do you want to know?” He asked finally, offering Gavin a casual shrug as though to say, ‘I’m an open book.’

“Well, I… For starters, I want to know how many bloody people you’ve killed. I’m trying to see both sides here, but its hard when I know people die, innit?”

Ryan paused, lips pursed in discomfort. Gavin couldn’t believe he’d struck a nerve so early, but the other man was quick to recover. “I don’t know. I used to keep count, but it… It did me more harm than good. I’ve lost track.”

The sorrow in Ryan’s voice might have been a trick of Gavin’s drunk ears, he decided. Losing track of how many people you’d killed sounded awful to him, but it led into his next question. “So… How long have you been one, then? A vampire, or whatever.”

Ryan gave a wry smile at that one, waiting until the waitress had set their drinks down before answering. “Twenty four years. I was turned in 1985, and the rest is history.”

Gavin’s eyes widened. “You’re thirty-two, then? You said last time you’d be fifty-six. Thirty-two’s not a bad age to be forever, is it?”

Ryan was surprised that Gavin had remembered that detail, given the glassy look in his eyes, but he decided not to comment on it. He supposed the shock of something so foreign would make anyone analyze all the details. “Its not awful. I’d rather this than twenty-two, or sixty-eight.”

Gavin tilted his head, expression thoughtful. “So.... You were alive in the seventies? You experienced disco, and the wars, and - You’re ancient.”

Ryan scoffed, taking a long sip of his drink before answering. “Fifty-six is not that old. You’re basically a child, anyway, so you don’t get to talk.”

“I’m twenty-four! That’s completely adult.”

Ryan laughed unabashedly, a sound that had Gavin spluttering all over again. He knew inwardly it was wrong to enjoy this, because odds are that the Brit would turn tail and run the second things got uncomfortable again. But it was nice to laugh, and forget, and enjoy himself for a few moments.

They went silent for a while, Gavin carefully sipping his drink and Ryan alternating between watching him or the people around them. When Gavin spoke again, his voice was far quieter than it had been previously, and there was a distant look in his eye.

“Do you have to kill them?”

Ryan did his best to hide the flinch, hoping that Gavin was drunk enough not to notice. His voice was tense when he responded, and hoped that that was also lost on the inebriated Brit. “What do you mean?”

Gavin frowned, shifting nervously in his seat. “Well, I mean - Do you have to suck all their blood out? Couldn’t you just… Take a little and go? Why do they have to die?”

Ryan supposed that was a fair question; one that he himself had wondered time and time again, after each and every kill. Why did they have to die? “The curse, it’s… It’s not easily controlled. After I’ve fed, I feel pretty normal. But the desire builds, and becomes hard to ignore, and when I finally do taste the blood, its - I can’t control it. And I’m not satisfied until I’ve had every last drop.”

Gavin grimaced, slurping up the last of his drink with a disgusted look on his face. “Oh… So it’s like taking a piss.”

Ryan balked, brows high on his forehead in confusion. “I-- What?”

“You know! Like, when you really gotta piss, it’s hard to ignore. And once you start going, stopping is super difficult. Its like piss, but you’re sucking up instead of spewing out.”

Ryan stared at Gavin with a gaze so intense, it made the Brit shift uncomfortably in his seat. In truth, Ryan couldn’t believe how carefree the response was, disgusted but not horrified. Gavin had taken it so easily, and maybe that was just the alcohol talking, but Ryan had not experienced something so close to acceptance in decades. He clung to it like a lifeline, soaking it in for as long as he could before something terrible happened.

Finally, when Gavin looked as though he was ready to run out of the sheer discomfort of it all, Ryan laughed. It was hearty and good, and the relief that flooded across Gavin’s face only made him smile more.

“Yeah, sure. Its just like taking a piss, if you want to put it that way.”

They talked for a long while after that, Gavin getting progressively more drunk, asking Ryan a plethora of ridiculous vampire related questions that shouldn’t have been as funny as they were. Ryan obliged him each and every one, taking the obscurity of them in stride. Gavin grew increasingly more interested, words slurring together, but never losing his enthusiasm.

Finally, two in the morning rolled around and they were forced to pack up and leave. Ryan offered their server a kind smile, and paid off the whole tab, while Gavin struggled to get his jacket on. Ryan hadn’t realized the extent of the Brit’s intoxication, because he couldn’t stand without wobbling dangerously, and the look in his eyes was far away from there.

In a moment of poor judgement, Ryan reached a hand out to steady him. Gavin tensed, but did not push him away, so he took that as his chance to carefully lead Gavin out of the building and into his car.

“You can’t drive…” Gavin said in a moment of clarity, glaring down at the vehicle.

“I’m not drunk.” Ryan said simply, carefully lowering Gavin into the passenger seat.

“But-- You were drinking.”

“Diet Coke. I don’t drink alcohol.”

Gavin looked like he was about to protest, but Ryan was already circling the vehicle to climb into the driver’s side. The Brit didn’t say anything else, on the verge of sleep in his seat - And didn’t say anything again until they pulled up outside his apartment, and Ryan was helping him out of the vehicle. “Wait - This is my place.”

Ryan frowned quizzically, guiding Gavin into the elevator. “Yeah, I’m taking you home. You’re very drunk.”

“I-- Okay.”

Ryan had to wait for Gavin to pull out his keys, but he managed to get him inside and into bed with his shoes off, and a glass of water on the night stand. Maybe he was pushing his limits, but he wasn’t an asshole, and leaving Gavin to suffer in his drunken state wasn’t in his nature. He turned to leave, when Gavin grabbed his wrist.

“You’re real.” He said firmly, before his eyes closed and his hand fell limp against the bed.

Ryan smiled, turned heel, and let himself out of the apartment, while Gavin dreamed of a smiling face with canines glinting.

[ssnakey-b]

Okay, this isn’t the sort of content I’d normally post on the blog, if only because I know better than to discuss controversial topics on Tumblr, but I feel this needs to be seen by as much people as possible. Now, the topic is about a video game, but this shit would be abhorrent no matter what or who the target were.

In short, a fear-mongering “news” channel ran an almost entirely fabricated story about an android game that they declared to be a “variation of Grand Theft Auto”, despite it having nothing to do with GTA or Rockstar Games (the “journalists” don’t even know who Rockstar Games are!) and went on and on about how it’s a game that allow you kill citizens and police in the city of Adelaide, Australia and how it was “too close to reality” for some people.

Oh yeah, you thought this sort of paranoid nonsense died as gaming became more mainstream, first-generation gamers grew up and started having their own families and the public at large became wiser about what video games are? HA HA! NOPE!

Now, without even getting into the absurdity of getting outraged at the fictional violence being portrayed in real settings (don’t tell these people about the Die Hard or Purge movies), or the absurdity of getting outraged at fictional violence at all, what these people did can only be described as wretched:

- They took an early, pre-alpha build of the game dating back to 2013 that they found on a random forum post and completely represents what the current version of the (still unreleased) game is like, meaning that’s not even a real game;

- They showed footage of it to random passers-by so they could have a few shots of middle-aged people acting indignant. This, by the way, is the extent of the “outrage” they are reporting on. It was entirely fabricated and stirred up by them, as the only people who had ever heard of this game up to that point was the few members of that forum. I can only presumed they did that because they’re not tech-savvy enough to post random tweets of people being offended, the modern way to pretend a made-up outrage is a bigger deal than it is;

- they spliced in some GTA footage modded to include Australian police (of course without mentioning that they’re from a different game or that the content was modified) to make people who don’t know any better think it’s the same game;

- they straight-up lied on multiple occasions, including claiming that the developers did not reply to requests for comments. He did, and of course they didn’t publish that. Ironically, THEY have failed to answer any of the multiple requests Jim Sterling sent their way for comments on their vignette;

- but the most nauseating part, was them exploiting terrorism, by drawing a connection between this and London bombings. Of course, said connection boils down to them saying “this game exists. Terrorism exists too. COINCIDENCE?!!”. I especially love how they say this footage was found days after a terror attack in England despite, again, the build they’re showcasing being 4 years old at the time of the report.

That last part is truly unforgivable to me. How pedantic moral guardians can keep convincing themselves that they are some sort of keepers of decency while they themselves exploit real tragedies, defame people, lie to the public in ways that can have very strong and long-lasting effects as it’s actively trying to hurt someone’s reputation (and indeed it has had such effects on the dev), and overall incite hatred, is beyond me.

And again, I can’t stress this enough, but the game as they describe it doesn’t exist, the outrage they report on doesn’t exist, the police investigation they claim is going on doesn’t exist, the footage they inserted is irrelevant, as are the references to terrorism. They created this entire thing from scratch. This is as close to literal fake news as we can have

To make matters worse, the developer of the game reached out to 9news, pointing out that the current version of the game is nothing like the footage they have shown (he abandoned the violent material entirely and is now focusing on creating the most accurate recreation of Adelaide possible for people to simply walk around and drive in) and they refused to use footage from that and according to the dev, they flat-out said that they wanted to make the game as unappealing as possible.

And here’s the thing, it’s an indy game still under development here. It’s very low-key, and it already had horrible consequences, but if these people are willing to do this to a random person for no reason, they can and will do this to far more people, they’ll keep inventing outrages and assassinate people’s characters, all to make a quick buck off sensationalist horseshit. You or people you love could be next.

I honestly hesitate to call this sort of people journalists. The world needs journalists, as in people informing the masses about major events that could affect their lives and that of everyone around them. People who expose facts that society would have remained unaware of if it weren’t for them. People who risk their own lives so everyone else can know the truth about what goes on thousands of miles away from them. THOSE are journalists. And they are fucking heroes.

But the people at 9news and their ilk, they’re not journalists. At best, they’re lobbyists. They don’t report news. They don’t even report facts. They corrupt their medium by instead using it to spread lies and push their own agenda, and they don’t give a fuck who gets hurt in the process. At a time when terrorism can hit at any moment, Nazis are creeping back into the political spectrum, social freedoms are being set back decades and a White supremacist sex offender who usurped power thanks to a massively anti-democratic loophole has the power to launch nukes, these shitheads have decided that the best use of their status was to lie to the public for their own petty interests.

[amplesalty]

TV Binging: Wild Wild Country (2018)

Is it really TV binging if it’s on Netflix? Serialised content binging?

This is not a story that is entirely new to me, having previously watched a video by Fredrik Knudsen as part of his ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ series on Youtube. These are documentary type pieces that seem to flip between weird historical events/figures from history (The Collyer Brothers, Plague Doctors or The Austrian Wine Poisining) and more contemporary oddities from the internet age (Furries, The rise and fall of Spoony or TempleOS). The internet stuff in particular often deals in an individuals spiralling psychological state and this delicate subject matter mixed with some eerie background music and the pace/tone of Knudsen’s voice lend the videos a very creepy quality. I will give Knudsen credit though in that it could easily become a rubber necking way to point and laugh at people with genuine problems, he always seems to approach it in a mature and respectful manner.

His video on the subject of Rajneeshpuram is currently down at the time of writing due to a copyright claim from Osho International, one that I assume is spurious and done only as a means of public image control. At nearly 40 minutes it’s amongst the longer of his episodes (massively dwarfed by the ones on TempleOS and WingsOfRedemption though) but doesn’t have anywhere near the running time of this series which has 6 episodes in the region of 60-70 minutes.  I remember at the time of watching it there were points I felt needed expanding on. I can’t remember the detail exactly, I think it was either a mention of the Rajneesh becoming heavily armed or how they gained control of the town through the elections that felt glossed over, presumably for the sake of brevity. I’ve had this saved to my watch list since then hoping for a more detailed exploration of the events.

02/07/20 EDIT: Found an alternative version of Knudsen’s video that apparently had some minor changes made to it in order to skirt around the copywright issues. https://archive.org/details/20180123rajneeshpuramdowntherabbithole

Ep 1

It’s immediately obvious the difference between Knudsen’s work and this, Knudsen being very much outside whilst this has the budget to be able to speak to people directly involved, from the people of Antelope to Sheela herself. There’s a foreboding opening from the Antelope citizens talking about how at the time they became aware of the situation and what was about to happen, even if they could never have imagined how it would turn out. The show hints at the events that are yet to come with shots of court cases, talk of thousands of felonies being committed along the way.

Which is something to keep in mind because throughout the first episode, things are covered in a rather positive light from the Rajneeshies point of view.  Rather understandable stories of how people were drawn to this when they talk about their fractured relationships or reflections on their own existence, wanting to commit to something greater than themselves and the shallow, materialistic life they lived. Even Sheela’s backstory has a rather sympathetic light shone on it, speaking of her admiration of the Bhagwan, being in awe of him during her meetings with him and how she became a widow after moving to America at a young age.

That opening teaser of crazier things yet to come is perhaps necessary as I feel the first episode starts out a little slow, it does have to establish everything and since everything is being told fairly chronologically, there’s nothing massively dramatic going on in the early goings.

Ep 2

Things continue much in the same vein, the construction of the group’s city seen as this very virtuous mission. It is admirable what they were able to accomplish, turning to the best and brightest minds amongst their community in order to build infrastructure, to build roads, houses, farms, even a bloody airport!  In their minds they just wanted to build their own community free of the of the materialism and hatred in normal society and instead build upon the principles of sharing, peace and love. Only, in the eyes of the people of Antelope, not the kind of love they want to see. A lot of the archived footage of those residents paints them as these old fuddy duddies looking down on these outsiders with their wicked ideas of free love and open marriages.

There’s a rather dramatic shift about a third of the way through the episode when William Gary, serving as the Deputy Attorney General in Oregon at the time, talks about how they were looking into the situation at the time and were worried about the possibility of another incident similar to the Joneswtown massacre in 1976. This was a settlement established by a new religious movement founded by Jim Jones in Guayana and culminated in the loss of over 900 lives including a congressman who was visiting the area at the behest of concerned family members of people who had moved to the settlement. I’ll need to find another documentary on this story as well as this only gives a basic outline of it. It’s interesting that there’s a strong link between the two given that the daughter of the congressman is one of the people that moved to the new city but she actually speaks out at any comparisons between the two.

From here, the tension between the group and the locals of Antelope escalate as surrounding farmers worry about the effects on their land that erecting a city might have. They start getting politics and lawyers involved and you think that might be the end of it but that’s when the Rajneesh get smart; if they can’t build their own town, they’ll just buy another one. And by sheer chance, that other one just so happens to be Antelope. Sure is a lot of houses and land on sale in that town for dirt cheap prices. Lot of old folk too that talk a big game about never selling up but when someone comes around flashing the cash, it’s kinda hard for them to resist.

Maybe it’s just that modern, leftist way of thinking but it does sound kinda bad when you have a bunch of old, white American’s going on TV, telling an Indian based group to get out and openly making threats of violence towards them. Meanwhile, the Rajneesh just take the calm approach of questioning how can the locals tell them to get out of ‘their town’ when this is everyones town and make accusations of bigotry. Some of the Rajneesh followers try and defend their actions by essentially saying it’s a free country but Sheela is a bit more blunt about it when she says that they were exploiting a loophole. There’s something really chilling about how measured and calculated everything is as they slowly infiltrate the town by buying up more and more of the land. It’s like something out of a horror movie, this whole town can see this threat coming but they’re just powerless to stop it. Even when they take the drastic measure of trying to disincorporate the town, the Rajneesh manage to out vote them. There’s a shot in the aftermath of the results where the Rajneesh are celebrating and the townsfolk look utterly crushed that is quite haunting.

There’s a lot of talk of the townsfolks’ slogan in the build up to the vote; ‘better dead than red’, making reference to the robes that the Rajneesh dress in, the idea that they’d rather see the town dead than have the Rajneesh take over. After the vote, one woman makes a rallying cry that someone has to step in before the entire state turns red. I can’t help but feel that the whole red part can be read into a little bit given that they probably weren’t that far removed from the worries that communism might overthrow America. And it’s not like Americans have any history of forcibly taking the land of a native people associated with the colour red or anything...

Tensions only promise to escalate from here though as the episode culminates with footage of the bombing of Hotel Rajneesh in Portland, a Rajneesh spokesman saying they will take any steps necessary to defend themselves in the face of such violence and Sheela talking about how at that point they had to go out and arm themselves in order to defend themselves when no one else would. Maybe those Antelope folks were wrong, clearly going out to arm yourselves with assault rifles in the name of protecting ones self and their family is as American as apple pie.

Ep 3

It’s a little unsettling to go from this peaceful community to the sight of several people in fatigues practicing their arm with machine guns. Something that Sheela is very quick to frame that they were pushed to, that they never had a single gun in their community until their hotel was bombed.

The Rajneesh council take hold but give some token seats to traditional residents, not enough to do anything about the sweeping changes brought forward like renaming the town, streets and introducing a new police force called the ‘Peace Force’. They are likened more to a ‘harassment force’ by the natives though, patrolling the streets with flashing lights late at night, arresting people speaking out about the Rajneesh and openly carrying their weapons. For a town of less than 100 people, it’s a little heavy handed but presumably done as a show of power or even just to rub people’s faces in the fact that they won. There’s a continuing sense of something bubbling under the surface just waiting to explode with talk of civil war, news reporters being monitored by the Peace Force and gun stores in neighbouring cities recording record interest.

There’s something delightful to watching Sheela in all the archive TV appearances she was involved in, very confident and smug at times. When one critic speaks of the wealth of the Rajneesh and the fleet of some 13, 14 Rolls Royces that the Bhagwan has, Sheela quite happily corrects them that it is in fact 17 and it’ll be 20 come next week. She’s very strong minded in the way she defends the Rajneesh and challenges those interviewing her but at the same time she can be rather brash and impulsive. There’s a moment when one lady is criticising her and her rebuttal is just a rather blunt ‘Oh fuck you’.

It’s so far a rare flaw into was has always seemed like a very calculated plan, almost to the point that has me questioning just how much research did they do into this whole plan. It’s been portrayed like they’re always just reacting to what other people are doing and only out to defend themselves but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Case in point, they start bussing in wave after wave of homeless people from around the country under the guise of providing help to the needy. A noble endeavour and another ringing endorsement for their PR. These are people who have been shunned by society, war veterans in some cases who have sacrificed so much for their country only to have nothing to show for it. Now the only people standing up for them are the Rajneesh, a people who in their own mind are being persecuted themselves. All they ask in return is that you vote for them in the upcoming county elections...

Part of the news footage shown is one of the officials being questioned on voting laws, the point being raised that it’s the easing of voter regulations that will allow these out of towners to come in and vote against them. There really is something super villainy how the Rajneesh are systematically using all these different American laws and ideals and turning them back on their own people. But that point about more lax regulations and Oregon being seen as one of the more lenient states in that regard does make me wonder if it was picked out specifically in order to run this plan or whatever it’s all just coincidence.

Officials see where this plan is heading, especially when they figure that the Rajneesh will have thousands upon thousands of voters that will outnumber them so when a bus load of Rajneeshi homeless turn up to register to vote in Oregon, they’re promptly told that all new voter registration has been suspended. In context you see why they’re doing it but it’s kind of a bad look for government officials to suddenly deny people their right to vote. Especially when it’s suddenly African American’s that are usually the ones on camera as examples of the Rajneesh homeless. Again, is that just a coincidence, selective use of footage by the film makers or a calculated move by the Rajneesh as another example of the bigotry they’ve faced?

Sheela really is becoming more and more a figurehead of the movement with her TV appearances and rallying of the supporters. There’s a point as well where it’s mentioned she has private meetings with the Bhagwan each night before returning to inform everyone what has been discussed and what their next moves are. Just how much control does the Bhagwan have though, whos to say she isn’t just making up all the plans herself and telling everyone it’s his command?

By now, the presentation of the Rajneesh and Sheela particularly is starting to shift as their actions become increasingly drastic. With the homeless voter loophole closed, their ace in the hole isn’t so valuable anymore and when reports of some bad apples come to light, orders come down to sedate the homless by spiking the beer supply issued to them with their evening meal. It comes a little out of nowhere and isn’t really reflected on by anyone in the documentary. Then the episode ends with talk of Sheela wanting to escalate matters in order to win the election, even if it means murder...

Ep 4

Starts with inspector talking about a visit to view some of the construction, how they’re initially blocked getting into the city as a road is closed off due to an ‘accident’. Then, when they do get in, they’re fobbed off when they start asking to look inside some buildings. ‘Oh, there’s nothing important in there. Just janitorial supplies.’ ‘Oh, it’s locked and I don’t have the key’. The man reveals that it later transpired that the building he was intending to look in turned out to be their lab so he wonders how things might have played out differently had he pressed the issue. This sounds very cinematic, I can imagine it in my head playing out as a henchman is sneakily cocking a handgun behind his back ready to take out the inspector before he uncovers the truth, smiling politely when the inspector goes along with the story and decides to head home instead.

There’s something very ominous about the Bhagwan finally breaking his silence of 4 years to denounce the now departed Sheela, basically throwing her under the bus for any number of things with accusations of attempted murders within the commune itself and the surrounding communities. It almost feels like a reversal of one of my earlier thought, now she’s not here to defend herself, who’s to say he isn’t using that to make himself look better? Blame her for all this stuff in order to bring everyone back onto his side.

Also pretty chilling with the final statement of ‘If the police will not take action, then my people will take action’ as the footage immediately cuts to a shot of a Rajneesh security guard complete with assault rifle. It’s weird that all this build up of potential violence has suddenly shifted into a civil war of sorts.

Ep 5

Feels like we’re literally going down a rabbit hole when they search Sheela’s old house which seems to have a network of secret rooms that each contain multiple other secret doors and tunnels with switches hidden away in things like air coniditioning units.

There’s a fantastic shot of her paperwork including a book titled “How to Kill (Vol. V)” by John Minnery and a book titled ‘Techniques of HARASSMENT’ which has a delightfully cartoonish front cover. I would encourage you to look up the aforementioned ‘How to Kill’ if only for some of the accompanying blurb and reviews related to it.

Lousy Obama government, cracking down on our freedoms! They’ll put you on a watchlist just for buying this book, like when you ask your school library for a copy of Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto. If Forest Whitaker taught us anything though it’s that Ghost Dog didn’t have any trouble killing.

A rather scathing review from Drew who demands more detail in his murder instruction manuals. It’s just another example of ‘the man’ censoring our attempts to teach the unwashed masses how to make their own homemade guns. This was before the advent of 3D printers though, I’m sure every Tom, Dick and Harry has their own downloaded rifle these days.

There’s also an amazing story of potential tampering of the local water supply, a unverified story mind you, where someone had heard that beavers are ridden with bacteria so they had sought to introduce beavers into the water supply. However, after finding that the potential entry point had a mesh covering preventing directly putting the animals in, they then killed the beavers, liquefied the bodies and then poured that into the water. Again, only allegedly. Granted that took a rather sour turn once the killing of the beavers was introduced but I can’t help but be amused at something that ridiculous. I guess it reduces the possibility of connecting it to anyone is they were to be discovered. You might find a paper trail for chemicals but you find a few beavers swimming in a dam and you might chalk that up as bad luck.

In what seems to be a running theme in this series, there’s even more talk about the stockpile of arms that the Rajneesh have assembled and the possibility that the government might end up having to mount a full scale assault on this community in order to enact their plans to arrest the suspects in their investigations. One news report suggests they have 96 AK-47 rifles and 1 million rounds, with one of the Antelope contributors suggesting their arms outnumbered that of the entire combined police forces in Oregon.

But it’s all for nought when the Rajneesh basically smuggled the Bhagwan out in the middle of the night on a jet. It does feel a little sensationalist of the producers of this series to keep building up to these supposed skirmishes that will take place but never actually do.

Ep 6

Another thing that seems to be consistent throughout is the reserved manner in which the apparent crimes of the Rajneesh are handled. Talk of assassinating politicians, the sudden outbreak of food poisining or highjacking planes in order to use them on a suicide mission to crash into a county building very quickly comes and goes, never really being focused on or allowed to settle.  Maybe it’s a way of underlining just how causally the Rajneesh ultimately viewed these acts, thinking nothing of hurting other people so long as they gained from it. There is some hesitation and remorse from the people recounting these stories but with the overall sympathetic slant of the series in my view, it can come across a little apologetic.

Thankfully, the final episode seems to indicate it was more of a pacing or story telling choice, with them now really going all in on everything once the government has access to the inner workings of the Rajneesh and have an informant ready to tell all. Whilst Sheela was prosecuted for all manner of poisonings, arsons, assaults and conspiracy to commit murder, the Bhagwan himself rather tamed in comparison with only charges relating to immigration fraud that was eventually bargained out to him agreeing to the leave the country.

The part that stands out though is Jane Stork or Ma Shanti B. Hiding out in Germany in order to avoid extradition to America for prosecution for her part in Sheela’s plans, she receives news of her son having a terminal illness over in Australia but due to the outstanding warrant for her arrest, she’s unable to travel unless she goes and faces the music back in the US. She describes herself as throwing herself at the mercy of the court, something she’s given as she’s sentenced to time served and becomes a free woman. It’s all told in a very triumphant tone, something you’d normally get in a story with an innocent person finally being exonerated. Like there’s all these drawings peppered throughout the footage with a very cold, shadowy look to them up to the point where she is essentially freed, where the colours become much warmer and clear. It’s very odd, not least because that freedom is now tinged with the fact that it’s not much of a celebration considering she has to go watch her son die.

Being the finale, the episode looks at the ramifications on the Rajneesh community itself, with both its spiritual and admistrative figureheads gone, it’s position becomes untenable and people start to move away. It’s quite a sorrowful piece, with people reflecting on their time there and one person even being reluctant to go in spite of what’s happening, insisting he’ll be the last person out of there and that they’ll have to have to come and physically remove him. Even the talking heads within the series still seem very attached to the community all these years later, with Philip Toelkes (Swami Prem Niren) speaking passionately about the continued success of the Bhagwan’s teachings to this very day and being visibily moved when talking of his passing.

It’s one of things I’m taking away from this show, how surprisingly positive it’s looked at by those involved and even the show itself. Maybe I’ve just interpreted it in a different way then it was intended but this was ultimately a group, or at least niche sections of it, responsible for the largest bioterrorist attack in the US. It’s a shame that the Knudsen episode is down as it would be interesting to look at it again for comparison, I can’t seem to find a mirror of it anywhere either. He is quite clinical and matter of fact though so I suspect it would be more damning as I think it covers a lot of food poisoning and plotted assassinations.

I think the most interesting parts to me though are the middle block of episodes covering the growth of the Rajneesh community and its interactions with the wider community around it. Again, the fact that the producers could draw upon all of this archived news footage gives you the chance to see what reactions were like to the saga at the time. There’s even a clip of Johnny Carson leading a goodbye song to the Bhagwan when news comes out of him being deported. I was just really fascinated with the way that Sheela manipulated the virtues of American society, the supposed land of freedom and opportunity, to her own ends.

I would encourage anyone to give the show a watch, if only to witness the crazy turn of events as the Rajneesh go to greater and greater extremes to reach their goals. It’s a lot like 2020; each time you think you’ve reached a new low and have bottomed out, the floor suddenly gives way to new unthinkable depths.

[itslakishaa]

On Saturday, August 12, 2017, what began as a rally for the rights of a visible majority to be heard resulted in disgraceful, anti-American display of animalistic hatred. White supremacists rallied together in Charlottesville, Virginia protesting their rights to be heard… and a whole lot of other things – resulting in a head-to-head party riot; left wing vs right wing. Countless video footage of the protest attack were posted online and the videos are very graphic.

The protest quickly escalated when a car driving at least 40 km down a crowded street, ran over everyone in its way, only to back up and do it again, leaving numerous injured and 1 dead.

Someone had lost their life yesterday because of someone else’s act of hatred.

Now, all day, I did not have my phone on me so coming home around 5 pm, my phone went off with alerts from all of the News blogs I follow. I first saw the footage on Instagram and was totally confused. I had no idea what was going on or why people were rallying, cursing at each other in front of a College campus in an otherwise quiet town.

But what I really wanted to understand, was why these people were protesting in the first place. I found this thread on Twitter.

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So this was still one sided, so that did not help. I was still questioning what was going on and why people were protesting in the first place. I wanted to hear both sides before drawing any conclusions. So of course, I went where any information hungry millennial who wants to get down to the bottom of things would go.  I went to YouTube.

I found this video of the actual white supremacists who were protesting.

It is the right of every citizen to participate in peaceful protesting for their voices to be heard. Every citizen has the right to stand up for what they believe in and speak out against unjust actions towards them.

Activist David Duke spoke out on Periscope in the aftermath saying that their intentions were to conduct a peaceful protest. He said that they never to harm anyone, or hurt anyone. They had a permit to be present at the park in Charlottesville, and military personnel and local authorities prevented them from conducting their public meeting. To the point where they were cornered with plexiglass shields, kicked and sprayed with pepper spray.

I’m sure everyone can admit that these alleged actions taken by authorities were uncalled for. In really, the actions taken by all sides in Charlottesville yesterday were wrong.

David Duke paints a very grave picture where one particular group of people have been singled out and prevented from exercising their rights. According to Duke, they are the victims of unprecedented prejudice and systemic racism on all levels.

However, let’s just make one thing clear. These are White Supremacists. For those of you who don’t know, white supremacy is the erroneous belief that the white race is superior to all other races in many ways.

White Supremacy is a historical belief that inspired the enslavement, mutilation, disenfranchisement of black people. The belief that inspired the Nazis to eradicate an entire race of people during the Holocaust. The belief that inspired the laws of Jim Crow and the KKK to further prevent black people from utilizing their American right to vote.

The belief that inspired drawing new lines on the map to mark US territory out of their own volition, by claiming someone else’s land and calling it Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Nevada, then calling the very people who lived there illegal immigrants on their own land.

The belief that threatened to chase an entire group of people out of the country they call home, the country they were born in, and separate a happy law abiding family; simply because they wear Hijabs and call themselves muslims, by association.

White Supremacy is the reason “white” has been and still is seen as the standard. Standard of beauty, standard check box on a survey, standard staring role in a movie, the standard President.

You want to talk about unjust? You want to talk about unfair? You want to talk about racism? Okay, lets talk.

Had the rally yesterday been a Black Lives Matter peaceful protest, the occurrences would have turned out much differently. Countless black people would be dead and these people, that means you too Mr. Duke, wouldn’t so much as give it a second look. People would go on about their day and tell us to shut up with our protesting because “All Lives Matter.”

Now, by no means am I stomping on the problems that exist in the white community. I feel for you. Your entire life, the world has told you that you are best. You are the standard. You are the essence of perfection. And so you believed it. You never saw the things minorities lived through, fought for and triumphed.

You did not have to claw your way through Harlem to make it through the concrete jungle, finally rub shoulders with coveted middle class crowd only to find you make 70% less then your counterparts for the same job. Only to find that you cannot speak out against harassment in the workplace. You never learned to internalize your problems and put on a brave face just to not be called an “angry black woman”  only to be told by the next 100 men you pass on the street to “smile.” Only to be kicked out of the workforce because your afro, braids and dreadlocks are deemed “unfit for the professional work environment.”

You didn’t, so I understand. All of a sudden, people that you really never knew existed (I mean they were always there but you never cared to really acknowledge) are speaking up for the wrongs they’ve faced.

You have problems two. To society, mental issues are still not seen as an actual issue. The media tells you to come forward with your problems and when you open up and you let people know that you’re depressed, they call you a wuss and tell you to get over it because its not a “real problem”.

All of a sudden, you aren’t allowed to complain, you’re not invited to the coveted minority in-crowd, not allowed to speak up on certain issues because you are not included. (I mean, when Beyonce makes a public statement about the racial profiling of black young men during a Superbowl half time show and you’re told to sit down because it isn’t about you, that is a major blow).

All of a sudden, everything that your great grandfather (whom you’ve never met) did to the great grandfathers of people who don’t look like you (whom you’ve also never met) is now on your shoulders. And it seems you can do nothing right, and can’t speak out because you are quote-un-quote privileged, it’s hard to cope when your whole world is turned upside down.

The truth is, we need you in the conversation just as much as everyone else. But we also need you to understand that no one thinks they’re better than you. We know we are equal and we want to be treated as such.

#BlackLivesMatter does not mean that black people think we are the only ones that matter in the world, it means that for centuries our lives have never mattered in the eyes of the rest of the world. Centuries later, its 2017 and we are still being shot to death and nothing is being done about it. We want to let you know that our lives matter, too.

Gay Pride doesn’t mean that society wants to kill off all white cisgendered males. It just means that years ago, people were literally burned alive because they loved someone beyond the normal gender binary. And today, they can finally legally get married and move on with their lives like everyone else. And they are proud of that; that they don’t have to hide who they truly are out of fear of being ostracized. You have always been able to get married. They just want to, too.

Anti-Muslim ban does not mean that muslims want to claim America for themselves. It means that American citizens don’t want to be kicked out of their home. They love their country and don’t want to be judged and kicked out simply because they resemble widely broadcasted terrorists who share their religion.

Being Mexican does not make you an undocumented, illegal immigrant that is prone to crime and lives off welfare getting by on the backs of the working class. It actually means that you are among some of the hardest working Americans who are willing to do the jobs no one wants to do because you want to provide for your family the best way you know how. And you’re proud of where you come from… and are tired of being called Spanish.

And lastly, being a Feminist does not mean you hate all men. It means that for years women have not been seen as equal, not had the right to vote, have been passed over for promotions even when they are more qualified than their male counterparts and the moment they try to negotiate for higher wages, they find themselves out of a job. Now there are always extremists in every group, but just like you fine folk, they don’t want to be judged for the actions of a few who share a common denominator. They want to be seen as equal; equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work.

I get it, you’re tired of being judged for the acts that you did not commit, years ago. But when you’re marching down the street with torches and Nazi flags not caring about who you offend, that’s a problem. And that’s not okay.

Hate can only bring hate. If we ever hope to solve the problems we face in our community, for all parties, we have to communicate with each other. Stop undermining each other. Stop telling each other to shut up and stay quiet. We have to start listening to each other, speaking up for one another and learning about each other.

We were not born to hate, hate is learned. The same way we learned to hate is the same way we can teach ourselves to love.

    From the POV of Privalege: Equality Looks Like Discrimination On Saturday, August 12, 2017, what began as a rally for the rights of a visible majority to be heard resulted in disgraceful, anti-American display of animalistic hatred.

[mymoviesnob]

A Movie Snob Predicts the Oscars – 2019 Edition

Hello fellow movie lovers! It’s been another busy award season. There were 121 nominations and I got to see all but 9 of the films this year.  Not too shabby, all things considered.  

This season, like the ones before it, was full of pleasant surprises, a few hours I can’t get back and films shining a bright light on topics which were painful to watch.  

Now, for the four of you who still read this each year, let’s get to the movies! J

 Best Picture:

·         Black Panther – The first Marvel movie to be nominated for Best Picture. I don’t see this as the winner.

·         BlacKkKlansman – Based on a true story, about a black cop, impersonating a white cop, to infiltrate the KKK.

·         Bohemian Rhapsody – I loved this movie. I love Queen. I wish Freddie Mercury had been able to grace us with his presence for more than we were lucky enough to receive.  I would love to see this beat Roma but unfortunately, the Director’s alleged shenanigans will get in the way.

·         The Favourite – Dark and witty, full of strong performances. This however, was not my favorite. (Yes, pun intended…I know, I’m hilarious)

·         Green Book – Another based on a true story, about a black performer in need of a driver/ body guard as he tours the deep South and how their friendship was formed.  I really enjoyed this film. Mahershala and Viggo were both fantastic. I kept wondering how I had never heard of these men before watching this.

·         Roma – While I can’t call this my personal favorite film in the bunch, I do think it will take the top prize this year. It’s been so lovingly received by critics while others on this list have been subject to controversy moving Roma to the top of the pile.I did enjoy it, just not as much as others here. 

·         A Star Is Born – I loved this too and when I saw it, I thought it would be a lock for Best Picture… until I saw the competition. I was equally surprised by Lady Gaga’s acting and by Cooper’s singing. I’ve seen the previous versions of this film and while I typically dislike remakes, this was well done. Cooper should have received a Director nod here.

·         Vice – Based on the life and career of the notoriously private Dick Cheney.  Something tells me he will never endorse this one, or confirm any of its story line. If you like Cheney, you will hate this movie. And if you hate him, it will make you question just how awfully distasteful you can find another human being to be.

 Lead Actor:

·         Christian Bale – Vice –When I first read that Bale was going to play Dick Cheney in a movie, I thought Central Casting was delusional. Then I saw it. If anyone is going to give Malek competition, it’s Bale. You literally forget it’s him buried behind the makeup.  

·         Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born – Cooper will get his Oscar one day and I thought he was fantastic in this movie, but this is not his time.

·         Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate – He’s always great, this time as Vincent van Gogh

·         Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody – Malek became Freddie Mercury. Every detail of his iconic performances, recreated to the letter. He must have studied Mercury’s every move. The commitment to getting that right is stunning and I think this win will be well deserved.

·         Viggo Mortensen – Green Book – Another great performance by an actor who seems to be able to play anyone.

 Lead Actress:

·         Yalitza Aparicio – Roma

·         Glenn Close – The Wife – I didn’t want to like this one. I don’t care for her, ever since she boiled a bunny back in the day, but she was amazing.

·         Olivia Colman – The Favourite – I have a sneaking suspicion that we’ll be seeing much more of her.

·         Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born – She was surprisingly great in this movie, but it wasn’t really much of a stretch… playing a singer and all. Don’t get me wrong. She’s an incredible talent and deserving of this nomination, but I’m curious to see how her film career progresses playing roles outside of the scope of her ‘day job”.

·         Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Another true story and another surprise. McCarthy in a serious role as the caustic (not to mention desperate) author, Lee Israel, as she resorts to forging letters for profit. If you haven’t seen this one, watch it. And someone please sign her up for more roles outside of the comedic space!

 Supporting Actor:

·         Mahershala Ali – Green Book – Everything I’ve seen him in has been excellent. This was no exception.

·         Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman – I love, love, love Driver.

·         Sam Elliott – A Star Is Born – About time you nominated him, Academy!

·         Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me? – I’m not sure I’ve seen him before but watching him here made me want to find everything else he’s ever done. I don’t think he will beat Ali, but if he did, I wouldn’t be disappointed.

·         Sam Rockwell – Vice – Another consistently consistent character actor, this time as a weirdly convincing G.W. Bush. I love it when the Indy guys get the attention they deserve!

 Supporting Actress:

·         Amy Adams – Vice – We get it… the Academy adores Amy Adams. She did not blow me away in this movie.

·         Marina de Tavira – Roma

·         Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk – I must confess that this was one of the films I was not able to see. It left the theater too soon, and as you may know, I won’t use bootlegs on this journey each year. I’ve chosen her for a few reasons… one, she’s won virtually every other award known to man for this performance. And two, this has been a long time coming. She’s always great!

·         Emma Stone – The Favourite – Stone and Weisz here a glorious team.  

·         Rachel Weisz – The Favourite  - She’s married to Daniel Craig so she’s basically already won at life.

 Director:

·         Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee is finally nominated here! I do believe he will take home a statue one day but I don’t think it will be this year.  

·         Pawel Pawlikowski – Cold War

·         Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite

·         Alfonso Cuaron – Roma

·         Adam McKay – Vice

 Animated Feature:

·         Incredibles 2 - this gets my kid’s vote, just for the record. 

·         Isle of Dogs – Another year where I have the opportunity to declare my love for Wes Anderson. Another year where he will go home empty handed.

·         Mirai

·         Ralph Breaks the Internet

·         Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – I can’t believe I’m choosing a non-Disney / Pixar for the win, but I am. It’s visually stunning.

 Animated Short:

·         Animal Behaviour

·         Bao – Pixar for the (predictable) win. Every one of the films in this category is a gem! Watch them all!!

·         Late Afternoon

·         One Small Step

·         Weekends

 Adapted Screenplay:

·         The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would recommend it.

·         BlacKkKlansman – This category is tough. I think this may be where Lee picks up a win, but…

·         Can You Ever Forgive Me? – … I really loved how this was written… and I think it can bump Lee out of the top spot.

·         If Beale Street Could Talk

·         A Star Is Born

 Original Screenplay:

·         The Favourite – The quick witted dialogue may push this one over the top to win.

·         First Reformed – I want my two hours back

·         Green Book – The Favourite is the favorite in this category, but I think the story line in our current climate will give this screenplay well warranted votes

·         Roma

·         Vice – Another film where the writing definitely shined!

 Cinematography:

·         Cold War

·         The Favourite

·         Never Look Away

·         Roma - There is just something about the way this movie was shot which immediately grabbed me at the opening scene. The very things I loved about it are things that others found to be a turn off, but the crisp black and white, tight, artsy shots were mesmerizing. Maybe it’s my love of photography, particularly B&W, but this film made it easy to see the beauty in the mundane.

·         A Star Is Born

 Best Documentary Feature:

·         Free Solo – Will probably win, but…

·         Hale County This Morning, This Evening – A film about regular people doing regular things. I hope the point is not lost on those who see it.

·         Minding the Gap - This is an interesting narrative on the leap into adulthood and just how hard that is to navigate.

·         Of Fathers and Sons – Watching this literally made me feel physically ill. If you question whether or not hatred can be taught, this confirms it.

·         RBG - … I’m rooting for RBG, tonight and every single day for every single reason! Someone please put this woman in a bubble and preserve her for all of eternity... or at least until the next administration.

 Best Documentary Short:

·         Black Sheep - The Shorts this year were difficult to watch. This is about a young black man and his experiences growing up in a suburban white British town.

·         End Game –This film is about the painful process of helping a loved one through the last days of their life and the humanity of the doctors and nurses who are walking alongside them. This is my vote.  

·         Lifeboat –About refugees fleeing their war torn home in the hope of a better life. 

·         A Night at the Garden – Actual footage of a 1939 Nazi rally at “The World’s Most Famous Arena”. The fact that this actually happened in this country, and so long ago, hurts my heart.

·         Period. End of Sentence – About young women in India just trying to survive being a girl in a culture that demonizes something which is utterly (and biologically) out of their control.

 Best Live Action Short Film:

·         Detainment – A reenactment of the interrogation of two ten year old boys in Ireland, accused of murdering a toddler. Terrifying. And true.

·         Fauve  - this won at Sundance, but…

·         Marguerite – my pick to win

·         Mother – As a parent of a 6 year old boy, this one kept me up at night.

·         Skin

 Best Foreign Language Film:

·         Capernaum

·         Cold War

·         Never Look Away

·         Roma – If this doesn’t win I’ll be shocked, but since it’s a likely winner in other categories, voters may spread the love and throw Cold War a bone.

·         Shoplifters – I really liked this one, about an unlikely group of outcasts in Japan, trying to survive on stolen items while flying under the radar.

 Film Editing:

·         BlacKkKlansman

·         Bohemian Rhapsody

·         Green Book

·         The Favourite

·         Vice

 Sound Editing:

·         Black Panther

·         Bohemian Rhapsody

·         First Man

·         A Quiet Place – I’m selecting this because of how profoundly important sound was to the entire concept of the film. I know I’m probably wrong... it will probably be Black Panther

·         Roma

 Sound Mixing:

·         Black Panther

·         Bohemian Rhapsody – Because of the music

·         First Man

·         Roma

·         A Star Is Born

 Production Design:

·         Black Panther

·         First Man

·         The Favourite – Period piece + Castle = Win

·         Mary Poppins Returns

·         Roma

 Original Score:

·         BlacKkKlansman

·         Black Panther

·         If Beale Street Could Talk

·         Isle of Dogs

·         Mary Poppins Returns

 Original Song:

·         All The Stars

·         I’ll Fight

·         The Place Where Lost Things Go

·         Shallow – if there is one certainty about tonight, this is it.

·         When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings

 Makeup and Hair:

·         Border

·         Mary Queen of Scots

·         Vice – Because I forgot Christian Bale was in there….

 Costume Design:

·         The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

·         Black Panther – This is hard because any one of these could take it, but this is my gut feeling

·         The Favourite

·         Mary Poppins Returns

·         Mary Queen of Scots

 Visual Effects:

·         Avengers: Infinity War

·         Christopher Robin

·         First Man

·         Ready Player One

·         Solo: A Star Wars Story

  I’m sad to see this season come to an end as the summer blockbusters approach. Here’s hoping there are some hidden gems among the moneymakers this summer to keep me company! 

Thanks for sticking with me to the end, all four of you. :) 

[weekendwarriorblog]

56th New York Film Festival Preview Part 1

This year’s 56th New York Film Festival will be my 15th time covering the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual festival if I’m doing my math correctly, and it’s certainly gone through a lot of changes in that time with the departure of Richard Peña as its director a few years back and lots of personnel changes behind the scenes. The selections tend to be geared towards the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s older clientele, rich Upper West Siders who want to make themselves feel more special at dinner parties by saying they’ve seen the latest movie from this foreign director or another that most Americans a.) Do not know and b.) Do not give a flying fuck about. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but this is my blog and as long as I’m not getting paid to write it, I will do and say whatever the fuck I want. Got it?

Anyway, the festival offers enough variety and diversity and movies that haven’t played at previous film festivals like Toronto (TIFF), which I missed for the first time in over 13 years sadly.

The 56th New York Film Festival kicks off on Friday, Sept. 28, with The Favourite, the latest film from Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, whose early film Dogtoothwas nominated for an Oscar in the foreign language category, followed by The Lobster, which received an Oscar nomination for screenplay. I didn’t like the former and didn’t much care for the latter either. Lanthimos’ last movie, 2017’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer I walked out of it at TIFF because I was hating the fact that everyone was talking like a robot. I haven’t seen The Favourite yet – see my note above about missing TIFF – but this one is getting even more raves. It’s a period comedy starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, three actors who I absolutely love, and I’m happy to see Colman, who will take over as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown season 3, getting lots of attention for her performance, which is either lead (going by the credits) or supporting (depending on who you’re talking to).  I’ll be seeing this early Friday morning and hope to have some thoughts in the second part next week.

I’m even more excited about seeing Roma, the latest film from Alfonso Cuarón, which was selected as this year’s Centerpiece and has also been getting raves out of Venice, Telluride and Toronto. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near a premiere of any kind for the NYFF. What’s exciting about Roma is that it’s Cuarón’s return to his native Mexico (at least on camera) for the first time since 2001’s Y Tu Mama Tambien, which for many was their introduction to Cuaron. It’s also his follow-up to 2013’s Gravity, for which he won an Oscar, and it’s likely to be another visual spectacle that few others could master.

This year’s Closing Night film is the North American premiere of New York artist Julian Schnabel’s new film At Eternity’s Gate, which reunites him with Willem Dafoe as well as with making films about artists, this time being about Vincent Van Gogh. I loved The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was nominated for four Oscars but not Best Picture, sadly, and many people I know still love his first film Basquiat, so maybe this will be Schnabel’s return to greatness after the disappointing Miral. The movie skipped TIFF and Telluride, so it will indeed be the first time many will be able to see it.

I’m also looking forward to the Coen Brothers’ Netflix series-turned-movieThe Ballad of Buster Skruggs, which will play during the festival’s second and third week; that’s also a North American premiere. Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight follow-up If Beale Street Could Talk is also playing later in the festival, and I hope to get to that review sometime later in Part 2. I’ve also heard good things about Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey into Night and Claire Denis’ High Life, the former I’m not sure I’ll have a chance to catch before its theatrical release by Kino Lorber. Other returning filmmakers represented are Jafar Panahi with 3 Faces, Oscar winner Pawel Pawlikowski with Cold War, Korea’s prolific Hong Sangsoo’s Grass and Hotel by the River, Louis Garrel with A Faithful Man and more. (I can’t even THINK about making the time to see Mariano Llina’s 13 ¾ hour – yes, you read that right -- Argentine film La Flor, which will be shown in three parts or eight parts depending on your patience and free time, neither which

I tend to focus on the Main Slate films and documentaries, but the festival has grown rich with revivals and even a VR Arcade as part of its Convergence slate. If I only had time….

So let’s get to a couple mini-reviews of films I’ve seen so far…

Her Smell

Director: Alex Ross Perry

I’ve long had a strange love-hate relationship with the indie filmmaker who continually makes inroads into the mainstream (like writing Disney’s Christopher Robin, for instance). He’s a regular at my local theater, the Metrograph, and I’ve interviewed him a few times, and I just find him to be a fascinating filmmaker and interesting guy in general. What got me excited about this one is that Elisabeth Moss (who starred in his earlier films Listen Up Phillip and Queen of Earth) plays punk rocker Becky Something making a comeback with her girl group Something She, which is set for disaster due to her self-destructive behavior. Perry really takes a different approach to this than his last film Golden Exits, making a movie a bit like Birdman where the camera flows smoothly from one room to another in the various locations. The film begins in a club where Something She are playing their comeback gig, then follows them into the studio a little later and then to a club where Becky is trying to play with a bunch of younger female musicians. It’s not gonna be for everyone, and to be honest, I’ve worked with musicians/rock stars as nutty as Becky gets at her worst, so it was hard to watch sometimes. Moss is amazing but the rest of the cast around her is also amazing including Dan Stevens as her ex-husband, plus Eric Stolz as her manager, Virginia Madsen as her mother and all the unrecognizable women as various musicians in Becky’s circle, including Amber Heard, Cara Delevigne but particularly Gayle Rankin from Glow as Becky’s put-upon drummer Ali.

The Other Side of the Wind

Director: Orson Welles (kind of)

There’s been a lot of ballyhoo about this film which Welles was working on up until his death in 1985, and the fact that Netflix will be releasing it after it was finished by others is kind of a big deal, I guess. Honestly, I’m really not sure why stuff like this is done with filmmakers’ work even thirty years after their death. The plot involves a filmmaker played by the late John Huston who is throwing a party to show a rough cut of his latest film and all of the drama that surrounds the movie and the filmmaker’s entourage. My biggest problem with the “movie” was that it’s clearly edited together from stuff filmed at different dates, possibly even different years, and it uses the pretense of being a “found footage” movie cut together from various video cameras around the filmmaker documenting this party and the movie’s release. It certainly sounds like something Welles might do, putting him well ahead of The Blair Witch Project when it comes to “found footage.” Because of that, I had the same problems with The Other Side of the Wind, which could have used some color correction to make the editing between characters in the party scene not quite as jarring. The actual film within a film (also called “The Other Side of the Wind”) was much more interesting as an artsy and trippy film with two very attractive and frequently naked actors. (The NYFF is also screening Morgan Neville’s related doc They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, which documents the 15-year history Welles spent trying to make and finish this movie. Both will play as a Special Event at the NYFF before Streaming on Netflix on Nov. 2)

American Dharma

Director: Errol Morris

Having just seen Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 the day before, I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to sit through Morris’ new movie about Steve Bannon. I mean, I don’t have the hatred some of my colleagues do for Bannon, since I literally have no opinion of Breitbart and what goes on there. I certainly would never go to a right-wing site for any reason, let alone one that promotes the alt-right’s racism. As I expected, the movie is a lot of Bannon bragging about himself, but Morris comes into this story in an interesting way, since Bannon has respect for the filmmaker due to his Oscar-winning film The Fog of War. Maybe it’s that respect that gets Bannon to open up about what was involved with getting Trump elected as well as his involvement with Breitbart’s exposing of Anthony Weiner (sorry for the pun) and other endeavors. What I like about the film is that Morris is a true artist, accompanying Bannon’s boasting with clips from classic films (many which Bannon references) but also some beautiful visuals including the set which was based on the airplane hangar in Twelve O’Clock High, one of Bannon’s favorite films. This is playing as part of the festivals’ “Spotlight on Documentary” which includes fourteen films, but not all of them will have press screenings, sadly. I hope to catch at least Carmine Street Guitars, Ruth Beckerman’sThe Waldheim Waltz (Austria’s Oscar selection!) and Charles Ferguson’s Watergate in this section.

Non-Fiction

Director: Olivier Assayas

I’ve long been a fan of the French filmmaker since seeing Irma Vep many, many moons ago. While not all of his efforts have been masterpieces, he has enough great films under his belt that I’ll always give his movies a chance. This one worried me because it looked like another movie about French people talking about movies, books, relationships ala Summer Hours and just about every other French film made in the last couple decades. Surprisingly, the movie about an author (Vincent Macaigne) who tends to base his fiction on real life and his off-and-on publisher (Guillaume Canet) ended up being far funnier than I was expecting. It’s Assayas’ third film with Juliet Binoche, although her role is more of an ensemble one and more of the focus is on the two men. She plays the wife of the publisher who has an affair with the author, and if that seems like standard French fare, then not the way Assayas handled it. The entire cast is good but Macaigne is particularly funny, since he’s the perfect caricature of a schlubby and unapologetic writer. I guess in some ways, this is Assayas’ first official comedy even though he’s often played with satire and dark humor in his past films, and ultimately, this ended up being quite enjoyable for one of his talkier films.

Ash is Purest White

Director: Jia Zhangke

China’s Zhangke is another filmmaker whose work I’ve heard praised so much over the years, but I haven’t been able to get into either of the previous films of his I’ve seen (Still Lifeand Mountains May Depart). Not sure why I haven’t been able to get into his work, especially with the osmosis that comes with living in Chinatown for 26 years, but Ash is Purest Whitedeals with things I’ve liked in other Asian films. It starts out a bit like a Johnny To film with its look at the jianghu gangs of a small mainland mining town run by the beloved Brother Bin (Lao Fin) and his girlfriend Qiao (Zhao Tao). Things are going well until something happens that gets Qiao thrown into jail trying to protect Bin. When she’s released, things have changed, and she has to find her own way, but then Bin eventually needs Qiao’s help and she puts their differences in the past. Even though there’s definite genre aspects to the film including a section that reminded me a bit of Park Chanwook’s Lady Vengeance, this is still very much a character piece in the vein of Zhangke’s other work, but I think this one works better than some of his other efforts, mainly since the director has two fantastic actors in the leading roles, particularly Zhao Tao, who goes through such a transformation from one section of the film to the next and then into the final act, as the film covers a good ten to twelve years in their lives. Ash is Purest Whitewill be released by the Cohen Media Group, although I’m not quite sure when.

Burning

Director: Lee Chang-dong

It’s hard to call the latest film from the Korean director of Poetry and Secret Sunshine a “genre” film even though it has genre elements, because it’s more of a strange character drama involving three people. Mind you, I wasn’t a fan of Secret Sunshine even though many of my critical colleagues had raved about it, but Burning is a much stronger film even if it’s tougher to explain what it’s about (mainly due to possible spoilers). A young man named Jong-su Lee (Ah-In Yoo) runs into Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon), a girl from his old farmland hometown in the middle of Seoul and she convinces him to feed her mysterious cat while she’s travelling to Africa. Jong-su thinks that he might have a new girlfriend until Hae-mi returns with a rich and charming guy named Ben (Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead). Jong-su continues to hang with the duo even though he feels like a third wheel, although both men are clearly enamored with the strange girl. And that’s pretty much all that I can say about the movie. It’s a fairly long 2 ½ hour film where Jong-su gets more and more suspicious of Ben’s intentions, and there’s an odd exchange when Ben tells him that he likes burning down greenhouses. I think the film might be somewhat frustrating to those always looking for clear answers to all the questions the film raises, but it’s still a strong film from Director Lee that’s going to be South Korea’s selection for the Oscars. I’ll be curious to see if it’s too weird for the Oscar foreign language nominating committee. Well Go USA will be releasing Burning.

That’s it for Week 1 of press screenings, and I hope to get to some of the other movies. Here’s the official trailer for this year’s festival:

[njawaidofficial]

'Awards Chatter' Podcast — Common ('13th')

http://styleveryday.com/2017/08/27/awards-chatter-podcast-common-13th/

'Awards Chatter' Podcast — Common ('13th')

“The biggest blessing is the platform that it creates,” the rapper and activist Common says of the widespread awards recognition that his music has received over the past few years, as we sit down at the offices of The Hollywood Reporter to record an episode of THR‘s ‘Awards Chatter’ podcast. The 45-year-old, whose first album was released 25 years ago, continues, “To win an Academy Award [for writing, with John Legend, the song “Glory” for the 2014 movie Selma]]? To get an Emmy nomination for “Letter to the Free” in 13th? The things that we get to talk about, the people that we get to reach, the lives that we get to change — that’s the most important thing for me.”

(Click above to listen to this episode or here to access all of our 174 episodes via iTunes. Past guests include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Lorne Michaels, Meryl Streep, Eddie Murphy, Lady Gaga, Robert De Niro, Emma Stone, Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Louis C.K., Reese Witherspoon, Harvey Weinstein, Natalie Portman, Jerry Seinfeld, Jane Fonda, Ryan Reynolds, Nicole Kidman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Taraji P. Henson, Justin Timberlake, Elisabeth Moss, Michael Moore, Kristen Stewart, J.J. Abrams, Helen Mirren, Denzel Washington, Brie Larson, Aziz Ansari, Stephen Colbert, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Warren Beatty, Jessica Chastain, Samuel L. Jackson, Kate Winslet, Sting, Tyler Perry, Amy Schumer, Jay Leno, Mandy Moore, Ricky Gervais, Kris Jenner & Jimmy Kimmel.

Common was born Lonnie Rashid Lynn and raised on the South Side of Chicago. He found his calling when hip-hop blew up in the eighties and he saw people around him rapping and break-dancing. “I related to it so much,” he remembers, noting, “I initially got into music because I was a break-dancer.” As his voice matured, he began rapping, as well, and soon adopted the moniker “Common Sense,” something his mother always had urged him to use more of. At just 19, his first album, Can I Borrow a Dollar (1992), was released and put him on map with the underground hip-hop community, but not with the masses as he had hoped. He named his second album Resurrection (1994), feeling as if he needed to come back from the dead — and he did. On the back of the controversial single “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” which suggested that hip-hop was losing its purity, and which enraged Ice Cube and other West Coast rappers, it proved a hit.

Meanwhile, the rapper, who had been raised with a great “belief in God,” was “reading a lot” and beginning to realize that “music has an impact.” His already existing positive outlook and his growing social conscience combined to steer him in the direction of making “conscious music,” music that informs and enlightens those who hear it. One bump on the road was having to change his stage name, after a group from California that also called itself Common Sense sued him. He reluctantly dropped the “Sense” — “That was the period I lost my hair,” he says, noting he was “stressed out” that his music identity would be lost — and began going simply as Common. With the benefit of hindsight, he says he’s happy the change happened, since Common reinforces the way that he sees himself: as a man of the people.

Common’s fourth album, 2000’s Like Water for Chocolate, proved his biggest hit yet. On the back of the single “The Light,” it went gold, he won a Grammy for best rap solo performance and his public profile changed entirely. “It was a totally different level,” he explains. “It was going from an underground artist that other artists appreciated and getting some critical acclaim, to mainstream people knowing the song, at least.” Shortly thereafter, he and a younger, up-and-coming rapper from Chicago, Kanye West, began working together. In 2003, Common was featured on Kanye’s breakout album The College Dropout, and in 2005 Kanye was featured on Common’s album Be, which eventually became his second to go gold.

Also in 2003, Common began to get into acting, first with parts on TV (starting with Girlfriends in 2003) and then films (beginning with 2007’s Smokin’ Aces). “After the album Like Water for Chocolate,” he recalls, I hit kind of a creative ceiling musically, and I really felt that there was something more for me to do, creative in another way, to dig into the divine aspect of art and expressing myself, but I didn’t know what it was. I started working on trying to play instruments, and it just didn’t feel natural. But I went to my first acting class, and I felt like the heavens opened up. I was like, ‘Wow, I never knew that I could express myself in this way.'” He soon was appearing in roles and films of increasing significance, and winning strong notices for his contributions.

In 2012, having come through a period of being relentlessly slandered by Fox News, generally, and Bill O’Reilly, specifically, with suggestions that he had supported “cop killers” and therefore should not have been invited to read poetry at the White House, as he was in May 2011 (“That was obviously to bring down our president, Barack Obama, and our first lady, Michelle Obama,” he says now), he entered one of the most fruitful chapters of his career, which continues to this day. That January, he attended the Sundance Film Festival and met the fast-rising filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who was there with her film Middle of Nowhere. They hit it off and, not long after, she cast him in her next film, Selma, as James Bevel, a radical member of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s inner-circle.

DuVernay also welcomed a music contribution from Common for Selma‘s soundtrack. He reached out to John Legend about collaborating on a song called “Glory,” Legend sent back his proposed chords and chorus, and then Common, shortly after leaving his father’s memorial service, set to work adding rap lyrics. “I was in a real open-hearted space,” he says, and finished his work within a week-and-a-half, lyrically tying Selma to more recent race-related confrontations, specifically, Ferguson. “We made a period piece feel like now,” he says. “Glory” cracked the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was awarded Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe and Academy Awards. Common looks back on his Selma era as “life-changing” and “life-enhancing,” and adds, “There’s no other movie or song that I would want to receive my first Academy Award for than Selma and ‘Glory.’ It gave me more responsibility and work to do.”

Legend’s portion of the Oscar acceptance speech for “Glory,” in which he noted that “there are more black men under correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850,” had a profound impact on Common that is visible even in footage of the moment. “It shook me, it really shook me,” he acknowledges, “and from there I started to seek out more information,” including Michelle Alexander‘s 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. And when he later learned that DuVernay’s next film would be a documentary about mass incarceration, he reached out to her and pleaded for the change to contribute a song to it. “I just wanted to write something that was emotional, something that was spiritual, something that was moving… and gave information but also was hopeful,” he says. The result was “Letter to the Free,” a portion of which he first sang to DuVernay at a White House celebration to which they both were invited near the end of the Obama Administration. “She couldn’t deny it,” he says with a chuckle, adding, “She ended up changing the ending of the film because of the song ‘Letter to the Free.'”

Even with his music being recognized left and right, Common’s focus remains firmly on activism (he jetted off from our recording to a rally in Sacramento) and bettering himself, both as an artist and as a person. “I know I have to grow,” he says. “I’m gonna work and give 150 percent, 360 degrees of me, to grow to become a great actor — but I do believe I can be a great actor,” he says. “I love theater and I really would love to act on Broadway, and write for Broadway, and write music for Broadway and produce for Broadway.” And, he says, in response to a question about the Donald Trump era, he says, “No government is greater than the people, no government is greater than God,” adding, “What I’ve observed is it has awakened a lot of people to want to do more. The pain and the hatred that exists in America — as it’s surfaced, people who want to see good in America and want to see love have surfaced, too.” He closes, “Whatever your passion is that’s spreading love to yourself and other human beings, we have to pursue that with all that we got right now.”

Primetime Emmy Awards

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