#I think if it was a pre-2000s movie it wouldn’t have been subjected to so much real-time mockery

[maddie-grove]

I rewatched The Butterfly Effect a couple weeks ago (or, rather, watched it all the way through for the first time because it was always on cable when I was a teen but I only saw it in pieces), and (a) it’s pretty solid (I really dislike it in terms of the messages it sends but I found it compelling), (b) I’m not surprised that it was critically panned (Goofy Sitcom Actor/TV Prankster in ACEs: the Movie would have been a hard sell at any time, but the mid-2000s was maybe the worst possible time), and (c) I’m surprised it made so much money (it’s so relentlessly depressing and everyone seemed to hate it so much at the time).

[magicwithineleteo]

ok so below the cut is me addressing my feelings about the “drama” in the fandom. i would just like to mention that i am hesitant to post this out of fear of receiving backlash and being attacked/harassed by those who disagree. if you are as mature as you believe yourself to be, then please act as such and try to have a healthy discussion instead of just jumping on me for speaking up.

tw: pedophilia, bullying, swearing

i honestly don't have words for what’s happening in the fandom. i joined this fandom out of love for an amazing show, and was pleased to find a community of like-minded people who enjoy it just as much as i do. but i was not expecting this toxic element. i agree with the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and they are free to ship whatever they want to. usually, i wouldn't give a fuck. but i do care when the ships are morally wrong. to reiterate, this is NOT a matter of opinion, this is a matter of MORALITY, which if someone wants to go ahead and say is subjective, at the end of the day, there are basic definitions of what is morally right and wrong. these ships are gababel and esteomi. (i am against cedfia too, however i’m not in the sofia the first fandom. only the eoa fandom so this is primarily about these ships.) i do not understand how one can comfortably ship these ships. at the beginning of the show, naomi is 15 and esteban is in his mid 50s. i don’t get how so many people don’t see the issue with that??? and at the beginning of the show, isabel is 10 and gabe is 18. again, a big issue. there is only one context in which esteban and naomi would morally work, if naomi was around pre-amulet. so by the time elena is freed, naomi is a similar age to esteban. but she’s not. regarding gababel, i don’t see how aging up isabel makes it any more acceptable. gabe has known isa since she was 10, i don’t think he’s just gonna immediately get feelings for her when she turns 18. that just sounds like a bunch of bs. other excuses for these ships are also a bunch of bs. dang, i didn’t know that not shipping gababel was because i’m not imaginative enough to think about the future of that ship. at least i'm imaginative enough to see that it's not even worth imagining because why would anyone even want to picture it? 

treating people with kindness and living by the golden rule means a lot to me. that people should be nice to each other, no matter if their beliefs clash or not. so why is it that when a young minor calls out these morally wrong ships, they are targeted? once again, this is a young MINOR. A CHILD. and not to mention, they were targeted by a bunch of adults. this child has called out something that’s morally wrong and adults came for them. i feel like these adults were aware that they are a child, but only to a certain point. they used the fact that they are a child to prove the point that they don’t know what bullying is, or that you were once in their shoes, an opinionated teenager. didn't know having an opinion was exclusive to teenagers, but i digress. however, a lot of you failed to recall that this is an actual child. not to mention, a handicapped child who has expressed time and time again how negative criticism affects them. at the end of the day, this context shouldn't even matter, because no one should be treated like that anyway. this child was bullied. this child felt invalidated and hurt. i don’t care what you think the definition of bullying is. they were bullied. imagine you’re in their place. a young (at the time 14 year old) who is receiving replies from  several adults telling them that they are wrong about pedophilia. you wouldn’t feel so nice either. their mental health went down because of this. you all failed to realize that this is a child, and that you need to be respectful to them. they are an equal member of the fandom, and they deserve several apologies. 

going along with this whole dialogue of age, i would like to point out that your age has nothing to do with your level of maturity, understanding, or comprehensibility of matters. just because someone is younger than you doesn't mean that automatically you are more correct or have the upper hand or whatever it may be simply due to your age. sure you may have more life experience, but what about your level of decency? empathy? awareness? sense of morality? these matter just as much, if not more. you can be 15 and wise and be 80 and be less knowledgeable. your actions and character display these things, not your age.

also with the whole “woke/woke teenager” thing. it's funny how it was said that buzzwords are being thrown around yet here we are, throwing this word around too. anyways, being “woke” is about being aware, having an open mind, and being able to not only recognize when something/someone is wrong, but being able to shed light on it and call it out. if you think i’m “woke” for calling out your pedophilic fantasies (which yes it is pedophilic i don’t think i need to explain to adults how that is so; and no, just because you aGe tHEm uP in yOuR hEad doesn't make it okay) then i’m damn proud to call out your shit. and i'll be damned if one of my friends or i get scrutinized for standing up and doing the right thing. no one deserves to get attacked for this, especially not with superficial strawman arguments that go after the person themselves rather than their “argument”/point of view. you can do all the name calling you want to, that does nothing to enhance your argument. all it does is shine a bright light on your character. and thank you for that, so we can see what kind of people we have in this community. it’s not about being sensitive or “woke” or whatever useless argument you want to use to steer away from the fact that you are MORALLY WRONG. i would understand if this discussion was about something lighter but this is so much deeper. this is not about “not being able to imagine/not being creative enough to imagine” i mean seriously? is that the argument here? that would be laughable if it wasn't as sad. what a substanceless argument that shows there is no viable justification for these ships. and it is not just about these pedophilic ships; it's also about how people are getting treated, specifically how adults on a power trip are attacking younger members of the fandom (wrongfully) with their petty posse of people. i mean seriously? can none of you (just a one on one not one of us versus your gang) have a decent conversation without needing your other friends to attack along with you? just childish honestly. and i wouldn't even say that because children aren't low enough to act like that. they are aware enough of others' feelings and know how to solve problems without hurting each other.

the fact that this is being deemed as “policing” and “telling the fandom at large what to do” is just ridiculous. first of all, no one is forcing our stances down people’s throats. second of all, who said you suck? you said it, not me. third of all, think of it like this. we have laws, yes? sure, the laws are written and yet some people still choose to break them. the law is enforced but yet still people have the option to follow it or not (even though they should follow it, duh). now say someone is breaking the law. would law enforcement be wrong to call them out on it? would they be wrong for charging them? no, because your actions have consequences. someone can “believe” they were not breaking the law but if their “belief” is objectively illegal and morally wrong, then by all means they should be called out on it. just because *you* personally don't find you shipping a 10 year old with an 18 year old (a fifth grader and high school senior for context) doesn't mean it's not problematic. and it doesn't matter if you're aging them up, it's still weird like why? it’s like you’re trying to justify pedophilia? and then you have the nerve to collectively attack ONE younger person who called out your foolery? this analogy was not to make it seem like we are the police of the fandom and are high and mighty or whatever, but simply to try and get across the point that just because *you* think it's not wrong, does not absolve you of it actually just being wrong. 

the way this matter has been addressed (and i wouldn't even say that because it is more like a one sided conversation/scolding where the opposite side of the discourse is either silenced because of fear or silenced after being attacked) has been absolutely petty, snarky, condescending, and catty; you really give yourself a sense of superiority over people because you are older and therefore more mature and more able to understand things on a deeper level? then understand this. handle this discussion in a more mature way. allow others who disagree with you to at least come to the table and share their feelings and see from their perspective. do not immediately pounce on them with your similarly-aged clique like this is some early 2000’s high school movie. it's funny because you are invalidating us by belittling us as just “high schoolers”, but if anything you guys are the ones acting like what you are projecting on us. literally bullying children. how depraved do you have to be to sit here and behave like this with actual children. it's funny because some of you actually have children and here you are, being a keyboard warrior for a pedophilic ship. is that the hill you are choosing to die on? at least try to open your eyes and see why we are addressing this. to your point, yes, you are adults. ADULTS. so act like it.

i would also like to mention that there is a big difference between notps and morally wrong ships. notps are ships that you do not ship because that’s just not what you like. an example of that for me is elenaomi. i don’t ship them like that, that’s one of my notps, and that’s okay. however when there are ships like esteomi and gababel, those are more than notps. those are morally wrong ships because they are pedophilic. i am not gonna call these my nOtPs; these are HELL NOTPS.

some of you are also big hypocrites. you say to scroll on, and to ignore it if you don’t like it. yet you feel the need to respond to things you don’t agree with. yes, it’s your blog, but if you’re not going to practice what you preach then, what’s the point? this reminds of the whole dialogue surrounding “if you don't like it here (your country), then leave.” this phrase is used to invalidate people who call out issues within their country, whether it be the societal structure as a whole, or the government etc. it's like you are only patriotic if you have 0 complaints and love everything about your country. you don't care if things are ruined; it's your country so you love it. in my eyes, true patriotism is when you are able to recognize and not be in denial about issues in your country; you are willing to not only acknowledge them as a problem, but are actively trying to address and fix it. similarly, i believe that you shouldn't have to just scroll on or leave the community because you are uncomfortable because of a genuine problem. why should we just be silent and accept what's going on? us scrolling on while recognizing the problem and not saying anything, letting it thrive, is being complicit. it's like being a bystander, and we are not going to do that. we want this community to be a great place for all of us to get along because of our shared interest of eoa. but that doesn't mean that these things should be excused or ignored. if you are having an issue with people calling this out, if the shoe fits, that's your problem, and moreover, you are part of the problem. i am not calling out specific names in this, so if you have an issue with it, then….hate to break it to you.

i understand that i’m usually a lot nicer on my page. however, i feel that i have been silent for too long. but i’m not a hypocrite and i know that i’m right. how people respond to this just reflects their character more than mine. i am a 13 year old child, and i am hesitant to discuss this because you guys did not hold back at a 14 now 15 year old. that is not okay, especially when this is supposed to be a loving community about a show that is aimed at children. that was all. please have some empathy, understanding, and especially respect.

[amplesalty]

Day 16 - Ring (1998)

Dalad Jelly?

Oh yeah, more globetrotting again. Seeing the difference in the layout of Japanese homes is interesting, the idea of them being smaller I feel is well known but something just struck me about the layout of this one cabin.

I dunno, just the idea of this fireplace being stuck in the corner seemed really weird to me? Maybe it’s the reversal of the tv and the fire, normally here it would be fireplace more central and TV in a corner. Or maybe it’s the faux brickwork mixed with what looks like a more plain wall and wood panelling? I know, I focus on weird things sometimes.

Anyway, It is just Ring, right? Like, I know the American remake is The Ring but something in my head wants to call it Ringu. Certain places online seem to refer to it as Ring and some as Ringu so I’m not sure which is correct. Ringu just feels kinda wrong, like people adding an o to English words to try and make it sound Spanish. Or maybe Ringu was just established to differentiate between the original and the American remake.

I say original, there’s a 1995 TV movie that pre-dates this but that’s a story for another day. Maybe...probably not.

This feels like another of those movies where you’ve already seen it, even if you haven’t. I dunno if this became a thing in pop culture in the early 2000’s when the remake came out or if it’s just down to the easily relatable premise. There’s a rumour doing the rounds that there’s this weird video tape that, if you watch it, you’ll receive a phone call and then die seven days later. That’s something that’s very prevalent today in spam emails and posts in online communities and social media. Even before the internet you had chain letters, maybe of a lot of these were more attempts at making money but you do get some that threaten harm if the message isn’t passed on. Hell, just recently you had that whole Momo thing and apparently that is being made into a movie. I can see that being a similar thing to this, obviously slightly different with the evolution of technology.

What I find weird here is how readily the characters involved subject themselves to the video. There is that thought that you would find it silly to think a video tape could kill you so you wouldn’t worry about watching it but our protagonist, Reiko, is investigating this video and finds out that the 4 kids that watched it all died on the same day a week later like the story says. That’s a little too coincidental to not make you question watching it yourself. But, whilst she does appear slightly hesitant to watch it, there’s also this impression that she has this compulsion to watch it, she’s almost in a trance at times. There’s suggestions later on that there is some outside influence going on so maybe it’s not all her choice.

She gets her ex husband to watch it as well so he can help analyse it and figure out the meaning behind it. But what’s odd as well is that their son then finds it and watches it, providing them more reason to figure out the mystery and undo the curse. Just feels unnecessary, like they didn’t have enough motivation to save their own lives. I feel like it should have been the son finding it first and them watching it after, though there are plot reasons later on where it makes more sense for her to have watched it first.

The video itself is unsettling with it’s weird imagery and soundtrack of weird noises and strange chanting at times. It feels very influential in that a lot of these type of videos now exist on Youtube and the like, weird unrelated clips cobbled together between edits with a VHS filter over the top.

I love that during all the subsequent replays of the video throughout the movie, when it gets to the well at the end you see slightly more of the figure crawling out before the video ends. I don’t know if subtle is the right word since the movie makes a point to focus on it visually but it’s not explicitly mentioned by the characters and I feel like the replays are spread out enough that it makes you wonder slightly if the figure was there the last time you saw it.

There is a slow pace to the movie when it’s just Reiko and hubby going around doing their investigating, but when more supernatural elements start creeping in later on, it starts picking up. Reiko has this flashback to a certain event, like she’s in the room witnessing it, and when she’s grabbed in the flashback, a handprint appears on her arm in the real world.

I really like the ending here. It introduces this very sinister element and ties back to that idea of the chain letters.

[mcmissileproof]

I have been tagged

tagged by @fruity-pies

assorted information under the cut bc long

1.) Real name:  wouldn’t you like to know 2.) Nicknames: MC, Xenon, absolutely anything you can think of that starts with M and C 3.) Zodiac Sign: Gemini 4.) Male or Female: Female, but like with an asterisk and the asterisk leads to a question mark 5.) Nursery: I was never a baby 6.) Primary School: depends on your definition of “primary school” 7.) Secondary School: :) 8.) Hair Color: brown 9.) Long or Short: short 10.) Loud or Quiet: quiet 11.) Sweats or Jeans: jeans for sure 12.) Phone or Camera: phone 13.) Health Freak: nah 14.) Drink or Smoke: I drink occasionally but I don’t think I’m actually capable of getting Drunk, just slightly tipsy. no smoking bc it’s nasty 15.) Do You Have A Crush On Someone: I’m in a relationship if that counts 16.) Political orientation: I’ll give the same answer here as I do to everyone who asks: I am tired 17.) Piercings: nah 18.) Tattoos: nope HAVE YOU EVER [BEEN IN]: 19.) Airplane: yep 20.) Car *Accident*: yeah, once 21.) Fist Fight: nope FIRSTS: 22.) First piercing: don’t have any 23.) First Best Friend: a girl from my 3 year old class, closely followed by another girl from kindergarten. I haven’t talked to either of them very much in a while, but every once in a while we catch up 24.) First Instrument played: hmmmmm piano? unless we’re talking instruments I actually know how to play, in which case trombone 25.) First award: I think I was top of my class in pre-K 26.) First Crush: a kid in pre-K who I literally never spoke to. he told me he was married when I tried to talk to him, and I never tried again 27.) First Language: English 28.) First Big Vacation: the beach, probably. we used to go every couple of years. LASTS: 29.) Last Person you talked to: irl friend chat, not any single person 30.) Last Person You Texted: my mom 31.) Last Person You Watched: myself? 32.) Last Food You Ate: pasta and toast 32.) Last Movie You Watched: A Quiet Place 34.) Last Song You listened to: some homestuck remix I think 35.) Last Thing You Bought: groceries 36.) Last Person You Hugged: my mom, I think FAVES: 37.) Food: proooobably pasta? 38.) Drinks: passionfruit juice man 39.) Clothing: jeans, sneakers, cemetery business shirt. alternatively, just the weirdest thing I think I can pull off on any given day 40.) Book: tough choice, but my first impulse is to say The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 41.) Color: Purble. also red 42.) Flower: sunflowers 43.) Music: literally just whatever. currently a mix of 2000s emo/edgy rock, meme mixes and joke edits, indie something-or-other, and a handful of random songs that don’t fit into any of the above 44.) Movie: god. I don’t watch movies anymore. justy put Interstellar in my head and that’s the best movie I can think of right now 46.) Subjects: art and chemistry

IN THE PAST YEAR I… 47.) [ ] Kissed in the rain 48.) [x] Celebrated Halloween. 49.) [ ] Had Your Heart Broken 50.) [x] Went Over the Minutes on Your Cell Phone 51.) [x] Someone Questioned Your Sexual Orientation. (I mean I don’t remember specifically but it happens often enough, right) 52.) [x] Used a Weapon (fencing boiiiii) 53.) [ ] Breathed fire 54.) [ ] Had an Abortion 55.) [ ] Done something you’ve Regretted   56.) [ ] Broke a Promise 57.) [x] Kept a Secret 58.) [x] Pretended To Be Happy 59.) [x] Met Someone Who Changed Your Life (that feels pretty dramatic to say but I’ve made a lot of friends lately and that’s pretty significant so) 60.) [ ] Pretended To Be Sick 61.) [ ] Left The Country 62.) [ ] Tried something you normally wouldn’t like, and liked it. 63.) [ ] Cried Over The Silliest Thing 64.) [ ] Ran a Mile 65.) [ ] Went To the Beach 66.) [ ] Stayed Single CURRENTLY: 67.) Eating: nothing 68.) Drinking: grapefruit sparkling water 69.) Getting Ready To: chill out, draw some stuff, who knows 70.) Listening To: nothing 71.) Plans For Tomorrow/Today: go to work, do chemistry things 72.) Waiting For: inspiration YOUR FUTURE: 73.) Want Kids: nah 74.) Want To Get Married: hmmmm maybe. but I wouldn’t be bothered if not 75.) Careers in minds: chemist, with a side of art/writing if I ever get my shit together to make that happen WHICH IS BETTER ON A GIRL/GUY: 76.) Lips or Eyes: eyes 77.) Shorter or Taller: slight preference for taller 78.) Romantic or Spontaneous: romantic, I guess 79.) Nice Stomach or Nice Arms: arms 80.) Sensitive or Loud: sensitive 81.) Hook-up Or Relationship: relationship 82.) Troublemaker or Hesitant: ...a healthy mix? HAVE YOU EVER: 83.) Lost Glasses/Contacts: I don’t have any to lose 84.) Ran Away From Home: nah 85.) Held A Weapon, For Self Defence: once, when I heard a sound outside in the middle of the night and walked around the house with a softball bat. I was like 12, I don’t know what I thought I was going to do if anything happened 86.) Killed Somebody: no 87.) Broken Someone’s Heart: not... to my knowledge. not that I’m particularly perceptive about such things, but I doubt it 88.) Been Arrested: nah DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 90.) Yourself: somewhere between YEAH!! and I’m... trying to 91.) Miracles: possibly 92.) Love at First Sight: nope 93.) Heaven: uncertain 94.) Santa Claus: no 95.) Easter Bunny: no 96.) Magic: why not ANSWER TRUTHFULLY: 97.) Is There One Person You Wanna Be With, Right Now: not to any significant degree, no 98.) Are You Seriously Happy With Where You Are, In Life: working on it 99.) Are You Happy With The Person You’re With: yee he’s pretty cool 100.) Post as 100 Truths and Tag five People: as always I am unable to remember who likes these things and hasn’t been tagged yet, so fill this out and say I tagged you if you want

[born-to-serve-the-light]

You have set this message to be sent automatically to <Cronus-Vrettos@GSec.Tower> every day at 11:00:00 CST. You may edit or cancel this setting in the Preferences menu.

Why bother?

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Let’s say the Darkness breaks Atmo tomorrow and tries to eat 4,000 of us in one bite.

Halfway through #3237 it remembers a particularly funny knock-knock joke.

It laughs, it chokes, and none of its minions know CPR.

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Let’s say the Fallen and the Hive decide to settle their differences once and for all. Lets say they bring every Dreg, Thrall, Kell, and Worm God shows up.

Let’s say the ferocious fighting opens up a wormhole, which closes and we never see either of them again.

Only downside is that we never find out who wins, but I think we could deal with that.

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Let’s say the Traveler gives us a superweapon.

Let’s say we use it to burn every single splotch of darkness from the entire system, where it’ll stay out for the rest of time.

   And let’s say we still die screaming.

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Why bother?

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December 6th, 4230. One of my few days off in winter.

I drank milk straight from the carton, looked at the expiration date after. It should have been expired for a week, but nope. Still fresh.

8:00 AM. Freyja and Alyosha were off to school, and they didn’t forget to give me a hug before they left. Laine told me she had some study sessions scheduled with Vadim and a few other Warlocks. I made a joke, something about shoving nerds into lockers. She shocked me.

9:00 AM. Grainne and I watched old Sesame Street episodes. Some enterprising warlock managed to find the entire discography somewhere in the old US and gave it to a bunch of TV stations. I watched my daughter count to ten for the first time.

2:00 PM. I get a call from Principal Weinburg, telling me Alyoshas been in a fight. I get dressed, get Grainne dressed, and head down to the school. Aly took on three 11th years by his lonesome because they wouldn’t leave some other kid alone. Boy had a bloody nose, but you should have seen the other guys.

2:30 PM. Alyosha Vrettos is suspended from school for fighting. I took him and his sisters for ice cream. I asked him why he did it.

He said, “Well isn’t that what we’re supposed to do, pops?”

I just smiled, and dabbed his nose with my cone.

6:00 PM. Grainnes in bed early, Laine, the kids and I watch some stupid Pre-Golden Age movie about an elf. I didn’t get it, but Freyja was wheezing by the end.

8:00 PM. Kids are in bed, tucked in despite the half-hearted protests of near-teenagers.

9:00 PM. Pretty sure I can’t go into detail on Official Tower servers, but I’ve still got it after 12 years. Sorry if anyone was down a Warlock on their fireteam the next morning.

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You want happy endings?

Fuck you.

You want sad endings?

Again, fuck you.

If serving for 2000 years in an organization dedicated solely to keeping the Dark from snuffing us all out like a guttering candle has taught me anything, it’s that “good” and “bad” are subjective. One mans life-changing disaster is another mans payday.

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So. 

Why bother?

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Because sometimes, everything goes right.

However bad your day is, however dark things get, you can always have a good day.

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You’ve got this, Cronus.

You’re making Laine and the kids proud, you’re keeping your men alive.

Don't let the deserters and cowards sway you. There will be more December 6th, 4230's if you can keep the wolves at bay.

If you can help it, don’t bite it until Grainne graduates highschool.

-Love,

Lieutenant Colonel Cronus Vrettos

Commanding Officer, 5th Firebreak Battalion

[theastrophilearchitect]

WandaVision series review part 1.

Because I have some things to say.

This is going to be posted on March 19th, at which point the WandaVision (WV) finale will have been out for two weeks; also the day Falcon and the Winter Soldier (FatWS) begins, which I have, for whatever reason, begun to think of as WandaVision's sequel, despite being a completely separate series. In 2019, FatWS was actually scheduled for before WV, so that makes no sense.

Anyway, I'm going to begin with a spoiler-free review of the series as a whole, then I'm going to go into an episode-by-episode breakdown as I re-watch the show, but the spoiler-free section will contain spoilers for the rest of the MCU. This part will cover episodes 1-3, part 2 will cover 4-6, and part 3 7-9. I’d love to do this in one post, but it’s just a little overwhelming.

If for whatever reason you don't know vaguely what WV is about, you've been living as a hermit for literally the last six years. But if you don't know: in 2015, Marvel Studios released Avengers: Age of Ultron (AoU), technically the second movie in the 'Avengers' franchise, but the eleventh movie set in the MCU, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. AoU introduced three main characters to the MCU: Vision, a synthezoid-human-robot-AI-android thing, who I would call a person but it's complicated - his consciousness is derived from the mind stone, one of six infinity stones, JARVIS, Tony Stark/Iron Man's AI assistant, Tony Stark himself, Bruce Banner/the Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Ultron, the villain of the movie, who's more of a robot than Vision, but he's not the point. The movie also introduces Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, known in the comics as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, though they are never called this in the movies. The Maximoffs are twins who volunteered for experimentation from HYDRA, an evil Nazi organisation who provide the main antagonists in the Captain America trilogy. We are told they each gained superhuman powers from the mind stone - Pietro has an increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis, and Wanda can do neural electrical interfacing, telekinesis and mental manipulation, or, in the words of Maria Hill, 'He's fast and she's weird.'

Pietro Maximoff is promptly killed by somehow failing to dodge bullets, while Wanda and Vision join the Avengers, and eventually fall in love. I'm not explaining Avengers: Infinity War. Or Avengers: Endgame. If you haven't them, why are you reading this?

Anyway, so Avengers: Endgame is the third-to-last movie in Phase Three of the MCU, but is the last part of Wanda and Vision's story pre-WandaVision, and wraps up with Vision dead and Wanda grieving.

So, should you watch WandaVision? Yes. Absolutely.

We already know our two main characters and several of the other characters, including Monica Rambeau from Captain Marvel, grown up, Darcy Lewis from the Thor franchise and Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man and the Wasp, but we're also introduced to a cast of new characters, mainly new villains (but then superhero movies so rarely use old villains), who are well-developed and intriguing - you'll either love them or love to hate them.

The plot leaves you on the edge of your seat - nearly every episode ends on a cliff hanger, and leaves you with a thousand questions. It answers the bare minimum, the final episode leaving us still with some questions, but it is the perfect way to milk our investment.

On the other hand, if you aren't familiar with the MCU, Wanda and Vision, you may have quite a hard time understanding every aspect. So long as you have a vague idea of the context, you can follow the plot, but you won't enjoy it nearly as much. I really don't think it's worth watching the entirety of the MCU solely for this show, but I also think it's worth watching the MCU movies, full stop.

The series is only available on Disney+, which absolutely sucks. I've had a Disney+ subscription since it was released in the UK, so this wasn't an issue for me, but it does generally suck. Even if you are up to date with MCU movies, if you don't have a Disney+ subscription, you can't watch it. The streaming service stopped offering free trials in July 2020 due to the release of the Hamilton pro-shot, knowing they'd get an influx of new subscribers, but not wanting people to be able to watch it without paying. Capitalism at its finest.

Whether or not the cost of one month's subscription for WandaVision is worth it is subjective - though now all the episodes have been released you could easily watch it and only have to pay once.

Ultimately, I would argue WandaVision is absolutely worth watching, though someone who isn't up to date on MCU films wouldn't enjoy it as much as someone who is, and with its runtime of just under six hours, broken into nine episodes, it may not be worth the Disney+ subscription for you personally, especially if you're not up to date on the MCU. However, I would like to end this section on a positive note: I cannot get over how awe-inspiring the storytelling on this show is. Marvel has its issues with storytelling, with things often feeling disjointed in an attempt to remain unpredictable and prevent actors (*ahem* Tom Holland) spoiling events, but WandaVision doesn't feel that way at all. It's unlike any superhero show I've seen before, plays on morality and plays with sitcom formats from the last 70 years, meaning you'll love it even if, like me, you're not a fan of action-focused media - the only long action scenes occur in the last episode.

So, yes. five stars.

~SPOILER ALERT~

Beyond this mark, I'm going to go into an episode-by-episode breakdown, and it will be basically all spoilers from here. If you haven't seen the show and care about spoilers, go away. Please don't spoil yourself.

Also, in each episode's breakdown, I may point out foreshadowing and things I only notice because I've watched it already, so unless you've seen all nine episodes, you may find spoilers even if you only read about the episodes you have seen.

I watched WandaVision episode by episode as it was released, and since the first two episodes were released nearly two months ago, I'm going to re-watch the show and break it down as I go.

Episode One: 'Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience' This episode was released on January 15th along with episode two, and I didn't actually watch it until the Sunday because I wasn't invested yet, and, of all the MCU shows announced, this was kinda the one I was dreading. Before this show, I loved Wanda, but hated Vision, so I also hated their romance. I'd also seen the sitcom-style trailers and was absolutely terrified it would be terrible, so I wanted to finish the season of the show I was currently watching before watching the episodes.

So let's get into it.

The episode is only 29 minutes along, including the nearly-ten-minute credits, which is pretty standard sitcom-episode length. We open with the Marvel introduction, but as the camera zooms out, we're shown the logo in a fuzzy, monochrome, early-1900s style. The aspect ratio also decreases, which is a nice touch but very annoying because the show itself has a larger ratio, meaning there's a lovely thick black border all the way around the frame. But that's just a formatting complaint.

We move into a 50s-sitcom-style song-montage in which Wanda and Vision, looking human like that single scene in Infinity war are coming home, just married. Wanda magically buys the house and with some weird Vision-power stuff, he carries her over the threshold to their new house, and we see the logo.

Thoughts at this point? Just what? How is Vision alive? Why is it black and white? Why is there a musical song? Why are we in the 1950s? How are they married? Why aren't they being Avengers? Just sheer confusion.

Wanda uses her powers in this episode without her typical red-smoke-sparkles, and they make a lot of gags, received with a laughing track, about their powers, but generally follow a sitcom formula, with the plot of having Vision's boss for dinner and needing to impress him.

Also, it’s noteworthy that what little was left of Wanda’s Sokovian accent by Avengers: Endgame has completely vanished.

It's very odd to see Vision as Vision, as in synthezoid would-be-red-if-it-weren't-in-black-and-white face, dressed in regular clothes instead of his cape and superhero get-up. It seems like his superhero clothes aren't actually a part of him, but when he walks through things, they go with him, though he can't take other objects with him. This could be because they were made at the same time as him, but he also takes his other clothes with him. That's just a question as to the limits of his capabilities, though.

We're quickly introduced to their new neighbour, Agnes, cast in the role of Nosy Neighbour, but the cast of this episode stays incredibly small. Agnes mentions her mother-in-law being in town and talks about her husband Ralph, though neither of these characters are introduced.

Vision goes to work, raising the question of why a superhero synthezoid needs an office job, especially one he apparently doesn't know the purpose of.

Later, Vision calls Wanda from work, and she answers the phone as 'Vision residence', which is confusing on a number of levels. Wanda is a perfectly normal name, perfectly able to blend into this setting - Vision is not. Especially when he has no surname and this answering gives the impression Wanda has taken his name, and literally become 'Wanda Vision,' which is likely the point, but confusing nonetheless.

Here comes a 1950s style advert, advertising the 'ToastMate 2000'. In the ad, the two people put bread into the toaster, which toasts and beeps for an unnervingly long time before coming out. We're then told it's made by Stark Industries (Iron Man's company) with the slogan: 'Forget the past; this is your future!' Ominous, and clearly playing into the fact we seem to be on an alternate timeline.

Towards the end of the episode, Vision's boss's wife, Mrs Hart, begins asking questions about their past - where they moved from, how long they've been married, children, etc. - and Wanda and Vision freeze, trying to answer, but apparently unable to remember. Mr Hart, Vision's boss presses, but they fail to answer. Mr Hart begins to choke, and Wanda and Vision freeze, while his wife laughs, telling him over and over to stop it, until he falls out of his chair, and Wanda tells Vision to help him, which he does using his powers, though neither Mr nor Mrs Hart question this, and quickly leave, having barely eaten. Overall, the dinner is apparently a success.

Wanda and Vision realise they don't have wedding rings, and Wanda makes some, in a clearly cut-together shot reminiscent of the intended style. The camera then pans out to 50s-style credits, crediting the two cast members, producer, director, writer, photographer, music director, production manager, supervising editor and several other roles, with names I'm sure have some relevance, either to real cast members or some comic reference, but don't mean much to me.

The camera continued to pan out, showing the episode playing on an old fashioned TV in some kind of technological/industrial room. A hand presses a remote button, and we cut to the real credits, against a background of warped shots of screens, which then zooms into the pixels and we see a load of formations, such as of their house. Credits which are seven minutes long, though the length has nothing to do with the show itself.

One more thing: it's hard to notice during the episode, but during the credits we see a warped shot of Vision, in which his eyes appear human, where previously they've been fairly robotic.

This episode brings up a million questions and answers literally none, so, glad there's another episode, we move on. I enjoyed this episode, and enjoy it more the second time round, now knowing the answers to most of my questions, but it's so frustrating.

Episode Two: 'Don't Touch That Dial' This episode is 36 minutes long including credits, which is still fairly standard sitcom length. I watched this one directly after the first, and my frustration only continued.

Something I've only just noticed watching this the second time through: this episode opens with a recap of the first, and it recalls the events without including character introductions--except for Agnes. The recap includes her introduction, but nothing else of her, which, even though she's technically irrelevant in episode one, clearly means the writers are trying to make the audience remember her.

The comedy-style intro to this episode is in a cartoon-style, which opens with an image of the moon surrounded by six stars which light up in turn, a nod to the infinity stones.

Here, Wanda and Vision--Wanda especially--are wearing less traditional-50s clothes, though the first time round I didn't question this because Wanda's hair was nearly the same--just a little longer and more relaxed--and so was the way it was shot, the black-and-white, and the aspect ratio. I didn't quite make the decade-jumping connection, though looking back it is fairly obvious we've shifted to the 1960s.

Since this episode still follows a comedy formula, in which every episode has its own arc which rarely intersects others, the plot of this episode is Wanda and Vision participating in a town talent show and attempting to blend in. After the intro, we see Vision practising, and Wanda brings out a cabinet of mysteries for their act, which has an image reminiscent of the mind stone on the doors.

With Wanda acting as Vision's magical assistant, he gives her the name 'Glamour,' a nod to her powers, and 'glamour' in the more magical, less-celebrity sense. It also matches Vision's magician's name, 'Illusion,' from which it becomes a nod to the fact this whole set-up seems so abnormal, and, an illusion or glamour.

Before the intro to this episode, we see Wanda and Vision getting woken up in the night by some banging. Later in the episode, we hear whirring and another bang, which prompts Wanda to go outside to investigate, where she finds a crashed toy helicopter, in colour. The helicopter has a sword symbol on it--the first time we see this.

Agnes then brings Wanda a rabbit for the magic act, who she calls Senor Scratchy, a reference to Nick Scratch, a colloquial name for the devil. This was part of what led to initial speculations about which character was actually comic-villain Mephisto in disguise - WandaVision also draws heavily from comic series 'House of X', in which Mephisto is the villain. Obviously, people began assuming Agnes was either Mephisto in disguise, or working for him.

Agnes then advises Wanda about Dottie, the leader of some organisation Wanda is apparently trying to join. Skip to the meeting, Wanda emulates Dottie’s actions to appeal to her. Dottie is then rude to a woman giving some sort of account, but she forgot to ask about the chairs, to which Dottie says ‘Devil’s in the details, Bev.’ Agnes then says to Wanda, ‘That’s not the only place he is,’ which added to the speculation about Mephisto.

The committee Wanda is with is working on the talent show to raise money for the elementary school--’For the children.’ This phrase is repeated throughout the episode, and foreshadows Wanda’s motivations as the show progresses. Wanda meets a woman named Geraldine, who says she feels out of place, foreshadowing her true identity, and how she, personally, came to Westview.

Meanwhile, Vision attends a neighbourhood watch meeting and one of the men offers him a stick of gum, which he takes despite the fact he can’t actually eat food, as a synthezoid. One of the men slaps him on the back fondly, and Vision swallows the gum, which we see as a cartoon of it going down his mechanical oesophagus. 

Wanda stays behind at the committee meeting to help Dottie clean up, and Dottie tells her she’d heard things about Wanda and her husband, which Wanda responds she ‘doesn’t mean anyone any harm,’ and Dottie tells her she doesn’t believe her, as though she’s mentally returned to reality, continuing to foreshadow the reveal in the next few episodes. The camera zooms in, the music intensifies, and a voice comes from the radio beside them, asking if Wanda can hear him. Dottie asks, panicked, who it is, and who Wanda is. The radio short-circuits, and Dottie breaks the glass she holds, cutting her hand, and the blood is red.

The advert in this episode contains the same actors from the previous one, this time advertising the Strucker watch--a reference to Wolfgang von Strucker, a Nazi villain from the Captain America franchise; also the head scientist on the experiments which Avengers: Age of Ultron claims gave the Maximoff twins their powers. The slogan is ‘He’ll make time for you,’ which, even now, I’m not completely sure what it’s a reference to, or who the ‘he’ could be, but it seems to further suggest Mephisto’s involvement, despite that not actually being the case.

Cut to the talent show, Wanda panics because Vision is late. He shows up, walking and acting as if drunk, and we’re shown the gum is stuck around some gears in his gut. On stage, Dottie makes the audience chorus ‘for the children’ again, and Wanda and Vision come out. Because of the gum stuck in Vision, the act goes sincerely wrong, and he uses his powers out in the open, but Wanda manages to use hers to apparently hide this from the audience. They bring out the cabinet of mysteries, and Agnes asks sarcastically if they’re sure they don’t want an audience volunteer named ‘my husband Ralph?’, the second mention of Ralph in the series. 

Vision taps the box with his wand before Wanda gets inside, and the audience starts chanting ‘What’s in the box?’ Wanda panics, does something with her powers, and opens it to reveal a very confused Geraldine inside. Their act ends, and Wanda uses her powers to find and release the gum stuck in Vision, and he seems to ‘sober up’. They try to leave, but Dottie calls them up on stage, praises them and presents them with a trophy for their comedy. Wanda calls up Geraldine, who asks what happened, but they play the ‘magician never reveals his secrets’ card.

They get home, and joke about it, repeating ‘for the children’. Wanda gets up, deciding to get popcorn, and is suddenly quite pregnant, where she very much wasn’t before. There’s a thud outside, and they go to investigate. A manhole cover in the road shifts, and somebody in a beekeeper’s suit, with the sword logo on the back, emerges, face in shadow. Wanda merely says ‘no’, and we rewind to before the thud. Colour then begins to bloom onto the screen, and the episode ends, with an echo of the voice from the radio.

Looking back, I think the shift to colour on Wanda’s part may have been a decision because of the helicopter, and the blood--the beekeeper prompted it, but she’s trying to hide the fact that the things which do not belong are so obviously out of place.

This episode holds no more answers than the last, and has the same comedy tone with the ominous undertones as the last, but also contains significantly more characters and locations, as though this sitcom world has expanded.

And then we had to wait a week for episode 3.

Episode Three: ‘Now in Colour’ And we shift to the seventies. This episode’s recap recalls all the major points of the last episode, including Geraldine’s introduction. This episode is only 32 minutes including credits; longer than the first, but shorter than the last, so we’re still sticking to the comedy format, and the episodes aren’t yet lengthening.

Just a point a little irrelevant to this: WandaVision’s total runtime is about six hours, and we’re getting six FatWS episodes, which is probably about the same runtime but a little disappointing (though that’s mostly because it means there’ll be a couple weeks where we get nothing between it and Loki).

The introduction to this episode is more classic sitcom, with the long pop-style song over a montage of the characters--exactly what you’d expect from the seventies. The episode opens with a doctor at their home, who tells them she’s about four months along, which she obviously isn’t. Vision questions how this happened, but it becomes fairly clear to the audience this is Wanda’s doing. Vision asks the doctor not to tell people about the pregnancy, and sees his neighbour to the non-Agnes side, Herb, trimming his hedge, but the hedge-trimmer is going through the garden wall, and he hasn’t seemed to have noticed. Vision points this out, Herb verbally acknowledges him, but keeps going.

Vision returns inside, and Wanda’s pregnancy has progressed even further. Wanda uses her magic to prepare the baby’s room, and her magic is still missing her signature scarlet, a continuing sign something is wrong. The baby kicks, Wanda describes it as ‘fluttery’, and accidentally makes the butterflies on the baby’s mobile real. 

Vision mentions the name ‘Billy’, and Wanda says ‘Tommy’, ‘a nice, classic American name’, returning emphasis to their efforts to fit in. Wanda gets Braxton-Hicks contractions, and her powers turn on the tap, open the window, flare the lights--the pregnancy causes her to lose control of her powers, and the block’s power goes out. Wanda mentions the people of Westview ‘always seem to be on the verge of discovering [their] secret’, and Vision says something seems wrong there. The music intensifies and the camera zooms in, then we cut back to before he said that, but without the rewind sequence we saw in the last episode.

And Wanda goes into real labour, sending Vision in a panic. Then it begins to rain inside, and Wanda comments she thinks her water has broken.

Cut to commercial! Same actors again, this time for Hydra Soak--’find the goddess within’. It’s a bath product meant to take you away from your problems--a reference to Wanda’s apparent escape from what she was left with after Endgame. I’m not completely sure what all the HYDRA references are about, even after watching the whole series.

It stops raining inside, and Wanda opens the windows to dry out the house, and I cannot get over how perfect her hair is in this episode. It’s perfect in the others, too, but this time, it’s perfectly straight, not a strand out of place, and I just can’t get over it.

Vision goes after the doctor, who was about to go on vacation when he left, and the doorbell rings. Wanda puts on a coat to hide her belly, and welcomes Geraldine in, but tells her it isn’t a good time. Wanda gets a contraction, and her coat transforms. And again. So she throws it off, and uses a fruit bowl to disguise it, but Geraldine doesn’t leave. 

A stork appears behind Geraldine, apparently the one Vision painted on the nursery wall earlier, and Wanda has to do her best to keep Geraldine from seeing it. She tries to make it vanish in a cloud of red smoke, her typical magic, but fails, and Geraldine eventually hears the stork, but Wanda tells her it’s the ice maker. 

The baby, however, it very quickly coming, and Geraldine sees Wanda’s belly. She lays Wanda down, and she births the baby, while light fixtures break and paintings spin, before Vision arrives. My God, her hair is so damn perfect. The baby’s a boy, and Vision concedes to Wanda’s name choice of Tommy. Then Wanda screams again, and Billy is born. For the children.

Vision goes outside with the doctor, and asks about his trip. The doctor tells him that small towns are ‘so hard to... escape,’ yet another ominous implication. The doctor leaves, but Herb is still outside, now without the hedge-trimmer, but with Agnes. They whisper about something, then Vision goes over. Agnes says ‘Ralph looks better in the dark, so I’m not complaining,’ when he asks if they lost power, too. And Agnes asks if Geraldine is with Wanda, as though she is suspicious, though knowing how episode seven ends, her true concern is clear.

Inside, Wanda tells Geraldine she’s also a twin, and the music intensifies. Geraldine says, ‘He was killed by Ultron, wasn’t he?’ in reference to Pietro--Quicksilver.

Agnes says Geraldine is new to town, no husband, and no home.

Wanda asks what Geraldine said, but Geraldine goes back to complimenting her. Wanda presses, but Geraldine’s sudden clarity seems to have gone. Then we zoom in on Geraldine’s necklace, and it’s the Sword logo.

Herb tells Vision Geraldine ‘came here because we’re all...’,but Herb can’t get the words out.

Wanda asks about the symbol, who Geraldine is, but she says she doesn’t answer.

Agnes makes Herb stop talking, and leaves. Vision returns inside, and Wanda tells him, rather monotonously, that Geraldine had to return home. But the camera cuts to the Westview sign, suddenly with a wider, more modern aspect ratio. It’s night, the air ripples like TV static, and Geraldine comes flying out, as though pushed. She collapses on the ground; cars approach, a helicopter casts a spotlight on her. We pan out to some kind of camp, and cut, to that dreaded ‘Please stand by’ credits screen.

And episode three ends, leaving us still without answers, but at least a little confirmation of something malevolent occurring. 

So, that’s my initial overview and breakdown of episodes 1-3. Part 2 will contain episodes 4-6, and part 3 7-9 plus my final thoughts.

But that’s that for this week’s post; the next two parts should be up next week and the week after, unless I have something I want to post more.

Anyway, go drink some water, eat something if you haven’t eaten in the last few hours--you’re amazing, you’re beautiful, and you so deserve everything you have, and more.

Bye!

[trashforprincipalhoney]

Have been in a tailspin of excitement ever since reading this article where Skeet fancasts Neve Campbell as Gladys Jones.

But I wasn’t born yesterday. I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I like options. So I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of 1990s/early 2000s pop culture and found MY TOP 10 PICKS FOR GLADYS JONES! AND RANKED THEM!

Now to be clear, my top 10 is not based at all on acting ability or anything silly like that. It’s mainly based on whether they played an ICONIC role in teen drama back in the day. Oh, and if I could find a picture of them with dark hair. 

10. KATIE HOLMES

Is she ICONIC enough? Way before the whole TomKat FIASCO, she was Joey Potter. She always will be Joey Potter. Joey Potter is iconic, don’t @ me.

Cast Connections? Zilch.

Is she available? Hell no. It doesn’t matter if she hasn’t been in a hit since Batman, the woman is still in the A-list and wouldn’t be seen dead on The CW. I’d say the only hope of her being on the show is if 11 year old Suri Cruise is obsessed with Riverdale and wants to meet Cole or KJ or whoever.

Also she’s only recently escaped the cult of Scientology too, wouldn’t want to subject her to this crazy ass fandom, would give her flashbacks. Lol jk, but nt rlly.

I only included her because of my love for Dawson’s Creek, they wouldn’t be able to get her. Unrealistic pick.

9. SHERILYN FENN.

Is she ICONIC enough? Not really, I feel like most people reading this will be asking Sherilyn who? But she was in Twin Peaks back in the day with Madchen.

Cast Connections? Madchen obviously!

Is she available? She isn’t a series regular on anything and gets guest roles on all kinds of shows. I’m sure she’d be down!

8. RACHAEL LEIGH COOK.

Is she ICONIC enough? She’s. All. That. Insert clapping emojis.

Cast Connection?  None immediately spring to mind. Apart from the fact that she was Josie McCoy in the Josie & The Pussycats movie from 2001. AN UNDERRATED GEM.

Is she available?  She wrapped up her last main role in a series in 2015 and has been doing TV films ever since. And she knows there ain’t no shame in a CW paycheck, her husband has been Elijah Mikaelson for the past 7 years.

7. KIM RHODES.

Is she ICONIC enough? To the Zack and Cody generation, I’d say yes. But they seem to cast the parents to appeal to the parents of that generation. So iconic.. but to the wrong demographic.

Cast Connections? Cole and her go way back.

Is she available? I think it’s guaranteed that the Supernatural spin-off will get picked up for next season, so she’ll probably be busy with that. Although on the off chance that it doesn’t go ahead (I seriously doubt it though) I’d say the chances of Kim being cast would go up. The CW has a habit of recycling actors who appeared in failed pilots or series.

6.  SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR.

Is she ICONIC enough? How dare you ask? This is Buffy freaking Summers. Buffy the motherfucking Vampire Slayer. Icon. Legend. Queen.

Searched for a picture of her with dark hair just so I could include her.

Cast connections? If you pay close attention, you’ll have noticed that Madchen and SMG and Madchens daughter are all up in each others instagram feeds. I think they are legit friends. Or at least friends of friends.

Is she available? Her last series regular role was in 2014 and she was involved in the Cruel Intentions pilot that didn’t get picked up last year. She’s rebranded and is selling cookbooks and cooking supplies now, so I don’t know if she wants to act. COME BACK TO UR TEEN DRAMA ROOTS SARAH MICHELLE.

5. SHANNEN DOHERTY.

Is she ICONIC enough? Heathers, 90210, Charmed. ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF PRE-2000S TEEN DRAMA.

Cast Connections? Google Brenda and Dylan.

Is she available? I know she’s been having health issues the past few years. But she’s apparently filmed a small role in the TV adaptation of Heathers coming out next year. Still feel like it’d be a longshot though.

4. SELMA BLAIR.

Is she ICONIC enough? Maybe? Cruel Intentions was big, right?

Cast Connections? None spring to mind.

Is she available? Lowkey that Heathers TV show is trying to pull a Riverdale by casting all the throwback actors, because she apparently has a big role in that.

I think it’s just me, but I think Selma Blair looks the most like Cole.

3. ALLY SHEEDY.

Is she ICONIC enough? The Breakfast Club ain’t just a radio show you know. Ally Sheedy played the OG “i’m weird i’m a weirdo” in the form of Allison Reynolds AKA ‘the basketcase’.

Cast Connection? Molly Ringwald obvi.

Is she available? Still working as an actress and doing roles here and there. So yeah, seems like she could be available.

2. FARUIZA BALK.

Is she ICONIC enough? I googled her because of her starring in The Craft with Skeet, I know that’s a big thing but I’ve never seen it. But then saw on her wikipedia that she played Dorothy in Return to Oz and Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch, ICONIC ROLES BOTH. Return to Oz is my jam, that film honestly fueled so many nightmares during my childhood but I love it now. Anyone who plays Dorothy Gale is ICONIC.

Cast Connections? The Craft with Skeet. But I’m sure her and Cole can bond over their stolen childhoods.

Is she available? Her last TV gig was an arc on Ray Donovan in 2015. She’s recently wrapped a horror movie. I’d say she’s available. CAST, CAST NOW.

1. NEVE CAMPBELL.

Is she ICONIC enough? She is Sidney Prescott. From Scream. BITCH, SHE’S ICONIC. Jughead Jones being the son of Sidney Prescott and Billy Loomis. I’m dusting off my typewriter now for the crossover fan fiction.

Cast Connections? During my Skeet obsession over the summer I watched some of his convention appearances on Youtube, and he’s been doing panels with Neve for the 20th anniversary of Scream. And they seem like good friends and have a good rapport and everything and I’m not crying you are.

Is she available? She’s currently filming a blockbuster with The Rock in Vancouver. So she’s ok with working in Vancouver!!!!! But her last gig on TV was House of Cards, so she may not be down to do a show on The CW. Once you get that streaming service dollar it’s hard to come back.

Neve Campbell is far and away my number one choice for the role.

If they cast Neve or Faruiza and don’t immediately shift the focus of the show onto the FP/Gladys/Alice dynamic. I will throw the entire writing staff off a cliff.

[pinelife3]

Whatever happened to Lainey Gossip?

Lainey Gossip was the smartest celebrity gossip site on the internet. I was an avid reader for most of my adult life. You may recall my April 2016 blog post about gossip and, in particular, blind items. Well, it’s been nearly a year since Lainey posted a blind item. In the site’s heyday (pre-2017), she posted a blind roughly once a month.

Beyond the drop-off in blind items, the site has decayed in a number of ways. It’s become smug and self-aggrandising. They rolled lifestyle content onto the main blog feed, so now I have to scroll past posts about, I kid you not, baby names. (Caring about baby names is so inherently stupid to me, I feel genuinely irritated just being exposed to that content. Just name your kid something out of the primary religious text for your culture/region/family. Adam can never go out of style.)

The main thing which has turned me off Lainey Gossip is the writers’ misapprehension that the site is some kind of arbiter on social justice issues. Every other day there is a post with some insufferable moralising about feminism, equality, systemic racism, Rowling’s transphobia etc. It’s not that these are bad takes - I actually agree with what they’re saying. But I don’t want to hear it on this site. I don’t refer to gossip writers for guidance on this. Lainey is not a political activist. The writers on the site are just regurgitating ideas and lessons they’ve learnt elsewhere. This post from June was the final straw for me. The relevant part of the post is Alia Shawkat’s apology for saying the n-word during an interview in 2016. The clip of her actually saying the n-word seems to have disappeared from the internet, but basically she was describing a time when she and some of her friends arrived in a very nice hotel and how she thought of the lyric: “Nigga, we made it" from the Drake song “We Made It”. 

Here’s Lainey’s analysis:

As people have pointed out on Twitter, 2016 isn’t that long ago. And Alia was in her 20s. Whether or not you decide to cancel her, as many are doing, is up to you. 

I can’t fully account for it, but the phrase ‘Whether or not you decide to cancel her is up to you’ rubbed me the wrong way. Whether you decide to cast her into the fire for not correctly censoring herself when quoting a Drake song. Whether she is destroyed as a person forever. A worthless husk. Irredeemable. Whether her soul should be torn out and her body fed to crows. That’s up to you. The new god? It’s you, the reader of this gossip blog!

This was during the peak of the Black Lives Matter protests and discussion this year. So, in the second half of the article Lainey gets high on her own farts, like so:

While I have never used the n-word casually, and many of you may say the same, we do all engage with Black art, we do all borrow from it, consciously or unconsciously, in the ways we express ourselves, in the way I have expressed myself here, from fashion to language to GIFs. Think of how much cultural colloquial vocabulary comes from the Black community – recent examples include “lit”, “snatched”, “shady”, “flex”, “tea”, and phrasing that’s become commonplace and permanent in our language like “chill”, “dope”, “extra” – all of this comes from the creativity of Black minds. And they’re almost never credited for it.

So yes, of course, call out people like Alia for their irresponsible use of the most egregious words, but at the same time, let’s all consider how much we owe to the Black community for what they’ve given to us and for little we’ve given back in respect, appreciation, and credit. Because while the immediate urgency of Black Lives Matter is to prevent more senseless killings of Black people, the broader focus of BLM is Black dignity in all forms, and all of this is related. We can’t say that we honour Black humanity if we are erasing their contributions in all aspects of our lives.

Thanks Lainey. To be clear, I wouldn’t mind if this was the only time she’d shared an opinion like this - but this type of argument is repeated ad nauseaum across the site. She’s a therapist. She’s a civil rights activist. She knows what’s good for you. She speaks with great authority on how to solve racism. 

Fast forward a couple of weeks and Lainey is apologising for the hideous shit she used to write on her blog in the early 2000s where her takes were often racist, homophobic, and/or misogynistic. In her apology post, she wrote:

Many people object to cancel culture. My personal opinion on it is that while cancel culture is not always judiciously applied, it does have value. Sometimes people should be cancelled. And if you visit this website often, you might be thinking about whether or not to cancel me. That’s fair.

...I have been conditioned in white supremacy, and I have enabled white privilege, even as a person of colour myself, because we too, given that white supremacy is so dominant, can have bias... When I started this site back in 2003/2004, I wrote misogynist things and slut shaming things, and racist things. And as the site grew in popularity, it served as confirmation bias, that there was an appetite out there for this kind of content, and I wanted to keep delivering it. Over time, I learned and grew, along with many of you who have learned and grown. And through it all, I have talked about my progress, calling out my past mistakes and leaving much of that content on the site instead of deleting it. There are some things, though, that have been deleted because I was embarrassed and I didn’t want to be part of it and obviously didn’t want to perpetuate those thoughts. But in the process of doing that, I realised that that would be erasing history – and for marginalised people, their pain and trauma is constantly being erased and invalidated. My leaving it there to be eventually called out is nothing compared to their experience.

Many gossip blogs were like this in the nascent stage of online journalism. They called it snark - and it was very popular. I think in some ways this was to differentiate blogs from the content and coverage in traditional gossip mags. Most gossip magazines are toothless - because they want celebrity interviews and exclusives. But, in 2006, a website was never going to get an interview with anyone worth interviewing so why bother to be nice - especially because being cynical and mean was more entertaining for the average reader. A lot of the gossip coverage that occurred back then would never fly now: ridiculing Britney for shaving her head, fat shaming, cruel coverage of celebrity eating disorders, slut shaming. The edgelord humour of the early blogs was crushed beneath the wheels of progress.

I don’t care about what Lainey wrote in 2006 - I don’t think it’s nice, I don’t think it’s interesting or funny, I wouldn’t have chosen to read it. But it doesn’t change my view of the site as a whole. What it does do though, is highlight how hollow all the talk of respecting women, honouring Black culture, working to be better, being good allies, etc. is on this site. Because it’s not really about doing that shit - it’s about telling other people off for not doing it. Lainey has weaponised wokeness as her new snark. 

After the fall out around Lainey’s embarrassing old articles, a banner was added to all of the articles on the site which were published before 2013: 

She’s effectively disavowed half of the blog’s history. Lainey Gossip launched in 2004. Is it really fair to say that articles published in 2012 were posted during an early period of the site?

What is Lainey doing when she toys with Alia Shawkat’s fate like Anton Chigurh tossing a coin? She knows in her heart of hearts that she has also said things she regrets, also said unsavory things in public that she didn’t really mean. It’s so weird: can’t you see the parallels between yourself and her? Lainey is pretty clear in her apology that she’s acknowledging the problematic history of the blog because people were exposing her on social media. Were it not for this, she likely would have continued writing about problematic shit other people did 10 years ago without acknowledging that she is no better. 

Again, I want to be really clear: my issue isn’t with the articles she wrote in the early days of the site. It’s the weirdness around publicly criticising people when your own behaviour is comparably bad. What could you gain from doing that beyond reveling in the snark? Destroying someone else before the mob you helped create comes for you?

Let me remind you: THIS USED TO BE A GOSSIP BLOG with analysis of celebrity culture, movie deals, blind items, industry insider stories. Now it’s just been sucked into the culture war vortex. Ruined by the discourse. 

Gossip used to be talking about other people’s business: Speculating about which Victoria’s Secret model DiCaprio would pick up next. Investigating rumours that Jennifer Lawrence faked her tumble on the stairs at the Oscars. Analysing why a celebrity filed their divorce papers in California rather than Texas. Waiting to see which celebrity would be the first to wear Marchesa on a red carpet after the fall of Weinstein.

Gossip is a way of learning what is acceptable in society, a way of observing how others perceive and react to the decisions people make - and how behaviour which violates societal norms attracts backlash. It’s even more interesting when the subject of that gossip is rich and famous. Lainey Gossip is no longer turning out this kind of content - so where can we go for these insights?

The best barometer for conservative public opinion on celebrity movements and the related enforcement of societal norms is the The Daily Mail comments section. The Daily Mail itself seems like something of a journalistic agent of chaos: I would have assumed that they swung right, but they post pro-Trump articles and anti-Trump articles. They do not seem to have a dog in the fight: the world turns, empires rise and fall and The Daily Mail persists. 

In the ‘entertainment news’ articles on the site, no impassioned arguments are made, no particular analysis is shared: the journalists position themselves as impartial observers just reporting the facts. Occasionally a piece is clearly designed to bait the readers - for example, any time they mention the price of someone’s home in the headline... “Celebrity in $13 million mansion reminds fans to appreciate the small things” or that kind of crap. But the article itself is just a list of facts. No analysis, no reflection - just positioning. 

Also interesting to observe is that The Daily Mail comments section is typically quite harmonious. Readers generally have similar take-aways from articles and it’s very rare to see an argument break out in the comments section. It’s as if Daily Mail readers think with one mind:

Stay with wife many years? Very good. Society like this. Daily Mail readers approve.

Stay with wife many years and maybe wife is slightly overweight? Oh yes - this guy is the best. International hero. Daily Mail readers all agree: we love.

Stay with wife many years and then divorce her? Hmm let’s see how this situation develops before we judge...

Stay with wife many years and then divorce her to be with younger woman? You die now.

The Daily Mail comments section is a glance into the void. A pit of human misery where people say exactly what they think. No subtext. No analysis required. 

They like Pierce Brosnan because he is a straight-forward nice male celebrity and he has been with his wife for a long time - his wife is a little overweight so it makes readers feel good to imagine that he might not be repulsed by the average woman.

They do not like Emma Roberts because in 2013 she was arrested for beating her boyfriend in a hotel room. This was a long time ago and not many people think about it now. She has a successful career and is well liked on social media. But that’s because those youngsters forget. 

The Daily Mail comments section does not forget. Their memory is long and their pity is scarce. They are society’s hive mind. The majority. A snapshot of what 95% of the planet’s population would think on any given subject - which actually makes for very interesting reading.

Forget about Lainey Gossip, trawl The Daily Mail comments section with me.

[marvelandponder]

In the Shipping Biz, We’d Call This a Crack Ship

Well now, isn’t this adorable? Two characters who, before now, haven’t had screen time together get to share an adorable nose-boop (which in kids show terms is third base). And yet my mane 9 ships sit on the shelf. There really is no justice. 

So, I’m a bit behind on episode reviews thanks to midterms and finals, but with a few days before the season comes back on air, I at least have a chance to catch my breath.

Which would be a good time for a breath of fresh air.

And I wouldn’t quite go that far with this episode, but I still find it fascinating in its own way. 

For me, the episode itself isn’t as memorable as I think it could be, and with both Big Mac and the CMC participating in a romance plot it’s hard not to draw comparisons to Hearts and Hooves Day, but there are a number of entertaining elements in there that make it a decently good episode.

That said, as someone whose held discussions about shipping and canonizing ships before, the subject of romance in Friendship is Magic is one I find myself coming back to a lot (like I did for Pride month). 

Because friendship is and rightly should be the main focus of the show, romance is relegated to either married couples, or weirdly enough, the boy characters.

... Yeah, no, not kidding.

Apart from Rarity’s two fleeting crushes (and not counting the EQG movies), Spike and Big Mac are the two characters most frequently and profoundly affected by romance plots. I think there’s a bit of role reversal, in a way: The two most prominent boy characters are the ones who either have an ongoing crush that lasts multiple seasons, or get involved with different romantic interests at different times.

But, anyway, no matter the character, in episodes dealing with romance, the plot is structured in such a way that a friendship lesson can be learned. I think that’s why this and Hearts and Hooves Day ended up having so much in common: Big Mac is both minor enough to not require multiple episodes per season, but major enough for a romantic development to have some significance. 

And of the characters who are close to him, the CMC do seem like a good choice to learn the lesson about fairytale romances being vastly different from reality. 

I’d actually argue Spike might’ve been an even better choice than those three (what with his ongoing crush and all), but since Sweetie Belle is the best choice of all and you couldn’t have her going by herself, boom, the crusaders as a whole unit.

There’s just enough to differentiate this from Hearts and Hooves Day, but I definitely wouldn’t want a pattern of episodes that are this similar to past episodes emerging. Tread lightly, writers.

So, yeah, apart from Equestria Girls, this is the first ongoing relationship to be started with a Mane Cast member, and I’ll be interested to see where they take it from here! 

Will we see their relationship take center stage in an episode going forward? Or, maybe just a few moments sprinkled throughout episodes showing us that their relationship is developing in the background?

Either way, definitely neat to incorporate a romance that isn’t pre-determined to end with marriage. 

But, anyway, let’s talk more about the episode itself!

One aspect in particular that seems to be a lot more divisive than I expected was this little shit:

Hellooo, Vincent “Waifu Stealer” Tong (for real, though, he’s honestly such a great voice actor, I’m glad to have him back any time)

Now on the the one hand, I can understand the sheer loathing this bugger produces. I survived the days when Justin Beiber was a popular young tween on the road to super-stardom despite many eardrums screaming no.

But then again, I survived the days of Justin Beiber. I’ve earned this parody. Plus, being born in the late 90s, I grew up in the early 2000s, which is a time I lovingly refer to as 90s backwash.

Oh sure, the 2000s had their own emerging... “Style” (she said, as if she doesn’t still enjoy it unironically on occasion), but the days of manufactured boyband pop groups with frosted tips and a deep love for their gurls was still clinging on, to the point that there was a lot of parodies, loving or otherwise. Those parodies are what I lived off of.

For those of you who grew up with Fairly Odd Parents, Chip Skylark. Any of you Simpsons fans might remember an episode with the Party Posse, a boyband composed solely of 4th graders with the dubbed voices of dreamy teenage boys.

Even just recently Gravity Falls featured a boyband called Sev’ral Times, and Star Vs. The Forces of Evil has Love Sentence.

So I guess what I’m saying is, there’s a special place in my heart for boyband or girl group parodies, and Feather Bangs (god, what a name) is no different.

I can get the malice, but I enjoyed him way too much.

And they even made him a likable character in the end. Who knew cloned boyband pop sensations could be socially anxious? Good twist on an already funny character.

As to the moral, I really enjoyed it. It’s the perfect thing for the target demographic to learn because they’re the ones currently being surrounded by all those fairytales Sweetie Belle was reading.

Plus, no matter what you’re age, I think you can appreciate the sentiment that the constant onslaught of perfect, storybook romances in media doesn’t translate to reality---and not even in a pessimistic way. I’ve seen shows that take that moral to sad, but real places, as in, even if you try it can be near impossible to get it right with someone.

While a dose of realism has it’s place, I also like what FIM has to say about it. That fairy tale romances are unrealistic, but real romances are about caring for another person in the way they want and need to be cared for, and in the end that’s something just as magical.

 It’s just... real nice.

Also, D’AAAAAAWW.

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. 

Details, Thoughts, and Whatnot

It’s the little things that make me smile.

The line delivery on “A spy pirate. A spyrate” sums up my sense of humour 

I love that you can go back and see Sweetie Belle reading the book of fairy tales on the trip

I think this is a rather nice way to give us more ways to develop the ponies of Our Town/Starlight’s Village, if we so choose to revisit this place; nice that these characters can have connections to the outside world now

The CMCs continue to be adorable children. Just, like, the urgency in Applebloom’s voice when she says “Ya gotta tell her!” as she’s, like, shaking her big bro and being all supportive... these three are precious

When Big Mac goes for the kiss while Sugar Belle’s sleeping, I’m just sitting here like

The duet is a lot of fun! I wouldn’t say it’s one of the classic MLP songs, but it’s a delightful sequence, and gives the animators a chance to throw in some more inventive and colourful imagery in an episode that’s largely set in a drab desert town

Oh! And it looks like Sugar Belle isn’t the only one hooking up with someone. Night Glider and Party Favour, huh? As someone who can ship pretty much anything it comes as no surprise, but like, I can ship it

I like the shelf thing. Sure, you could see it coming, but it illustrates the moral really well, so what the hell: when it’s cute, it’s cute.

And I think that’s a good phrase to sum up this episode. It’s not a true standout, but it’s got a few charms here and there to make it a worthwhile episode. another good entry in the season.

It’s good to be back. But hey, I’ve done other stuff before! Here’s the link to my reviews, my editorials, and hell, here’s the last three things I’ve done, to make it even easier for you:

LGBT+ Editorial, Trailer Analysis, and Comic Con Coverage

Year of the Pony

Special Thanks to Millennial Dan on Deviantart, who made the Microphone vector for the logo!

Huh. Big Mac Really Does Get All the Mares

[amontilladont]

Character solidifying: Lucien

So I used this handy list to create a good masterpost of headcanons about my lucien! I will ofc put this under a Read more, but if you want to know more in-detail about my specific Lucien, this is a good read!

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

Lucien has a super close relationship with his dad, but Due to being a teenager, he at times Prefers to act neutral about him. Lucien knows his Father has struggled, being a single father, struggling balancing a job, dealing with his, at times, reckless behavior, and pursuing his passions of historical life. He looks up to him, and is proud of his father's journey, and success in living as somsone he is comfortable with, and loves him alot.

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

Lucien have very, very few memories of Damien pre-transition, but he doesn't look back on those years, as he knows the person from back then is not his Father, and his father prefers to not think of that time, other than remembering his birth. It's a silent agreement in the small family to not bring up those years, unless talking about Lucien's birth, and childhood.

3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings?

Lucien is an only child.

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

Lucien was raised rather leniently, as Damien believes more in diplomatic parenting than authoritarian parenting. however, he can get upset if Lucien endangers himself or others, and understands that most times, Lucien has no ill intentions.

5. Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?

Lucien, being an only child, is of course Damien's Treasure, but he's never been extremely sheltered, and more allowed to experience life himself. Of course, he'd not get left alone for hours, but he wasn't sheltered, or hidden away.

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

Lucien, when he was 5-6 years old, was very alone, seeing as his Father got very busy with transitioning, therapy, and work, so Lucien spent most of his very young years alone, with Mary, or other babysitters, rather than with his father. Lucien doesn't remember alot of this time, but he do remember when things got from lonely to better, and when his father started to change, appearance wise and mood-wise, when he got more confident, happy with himself, as due to his transition going well. He does not remember feeling very rejected, but he does remember loneliness, or late nights of staying up and waiting for Damien to come home, often staying up long past his bedtime, just so he could see Damien before going to bed. The very few times he didn't, he had nightmares, or bad sleep.

[AVAILABLE TO BE CHANGED DEPENDING ON WHO I AM ROLEPLAYING WITH]

7. What was the economic status of their family?

They are currently rather well-off, but there are often mishaps coming along with being a single parent.

8. How does your character feel about religion?

Lucien doesn't like religion when used to spread hate, homophobia, etc, but he is very open to people from different religions, not judging people, and tries his best to respect people with dietary needs due to religion.

9. What about political beliefs?

Lucien strongly believe in anarchy, he doesn't like politics dictating people's lives and choices. He'd also beconsidered a liberal, but he never claims he is either or another.

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

Lucien is very street-smart, and due to his upbringing, has a lot of historical knowledge, but sometimes people think he is uneducated due to his uncaring attitude to what he considers "useless" subjects, aka math, and of course, sociology.

11. How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

Lucien sees himself as a free spirit, willing to do whatever for his self-expression. his sense of self is extremely important for him.

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

Due to Lucien's upbringing, he CAN, if he has the needs to, dribble out a speech that could Rival Orcar Wilde, but in daisly conversations, he has a rather single way of speech, keeping his sentences short, unless he has to explain things.

13. Did they like school? Teachers? Schoolmates?

Lucien's feelngs when it comes to school in general is that it's a sort of prison, with forced education, and removing of indvidulity, and in a sense, he sees teachers as the ultimate authoritary, and he is very anti-authority. He often is very defiant when it comes to school, causing troule, skipping classes, vandalizing, and pulling pranks that ends up getting him suspended, and a few times risk expulsion. His classmates aren't very noticeable for him, except his close friends, or the other kids at the cul-de-sac.

14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected?

Lucien strongly refuses to join clubs, or partake in activities that are established by others.

15. Did they graduate? High-School? College? Do they have a PHD? A GED?

Lucien is still in high school, but did go through elementary and middle school with no trouble. Only last year of middleschool did he start getting difficult.

16. What does your character do for a living? How do they see their profession? What do they like about it? Dislike?

Lucien goes to school, and has no part-time job, but he does sell Oregano for Molly, who works at the record store downtown, which evolved due to an incident that started as a joke on Ernest, and now has evolved into a scam, and sometimes selling actual weed. He keeps that as a deep secret.

17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When?

Lucien is a bit of a freeroamer, and often disappears during long weekends or schoolbreaks, and oftentimes doesn't talk about where or why, but often he goes with friends, getting in trouble or going to concerts out-of-state.

18. What did they find abroad, and what did they remember?

^see above answer

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

smallest disillusion: That the Victorian era was filled of happiness and beauty. He learned later on about all the horrors and discomfort of the old era.

biggest disillusion: That people could be evil enough to hurt, attack, or even murder people just for who they were born as. When he discovered Transphobia and Homophobia he at first believed it was a rare event, but later learnin that there were full-on political movements trying to stop people from being happy as themselves, he realized the world is not so accepting.

20. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

The first time his father 'passed' with him, aka the first time people immediately called Damien Lucien's 'Father' intead of 'Mother'.

21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate?

Lucien was raised to be very polite, but he intentionally acts rude as it fits into his personality more, but he seldom pushes it, and often only needs to be told once to behave himself. he does often behave in a sarcastic manner, but a quick frown from Damien can stop him from insulting anyone.

22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?

Lucien's friends at school is the stereotypical 'goth gaggle', a group of five other kids that share his interests, and style. He is also very close to all the kids in the cul-de-sac, but Ernest is considerd his closest friend, living next door to each other and getting in trouble together means they have bonded to the point they are inseparable, and often, i you find one of them, the other is not far behind.

23. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?

Lucien doesn't really care about relationships, seeing as he pefers to be alone, but if he would have a partner, he'd mostly just ook that they wouldn't stray too far away from his personality. He'd not want to date someone who's a big snitch. He wouldn't demand they matched his aesthetic, or is lifestyle, but he'd want them to be open-mined, and obviously, not transphobic/homophobic.

24. What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

Lucien's social life mostly involvs his goth group, and with them he often either hangs around at Maple Bay mall, outside the school to cause trouble, or at times goes to concerts with them. With Ernest, or any of the cul-de-sac kids, he's often very different. being the oldest he ften ends up sort of guarding them, despite being very incapable of fighting, he watches over them. They mostly spend time during Joseph's Barbeques, talking to each other, and trying to avoid the grown ups.

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

Lucien has some hobbies he only shows with certain people. If he's alone at home, he can easily get sucked into a book, ending up reading for hours. He does like going to the movies with his dad, but he would much prefer going with his friends. Lucien has some musical hobbies as well, going to concerts, hanging around the local record shop and sometimes even spending time at the coffe spoon with Ernest to study together.

26. What does your character’s home look like? Personal taste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?

Due to Damien's aesthetic being victorian gothic, Lucien's style has ened up in a more modern way of life, dressing more like the late 2000's gothic, or punk style, but he also fits into the grunge scenery. He's very into body modification in the form of pircings and tattoos, and dyed hair. Lucien's bedroom is actually very unlike the rest of their house, Damien working hard on the home's aesthetic, making LUcien's room, and even door, shine out as odd.

27. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

^see above answer

28. Who is your character’s mate? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?

N/A

29. What is your character’s weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling?

Lucien has a bit of an over-expecting personality, expecting others to have the same views as him on alot of things, and sometimes, when he pushed his pranks onto others, he doesn't understand why someone would get offended at his michief.

30. Are they holding on to something in the past? Can he or she forgive?

Lucien can never for give any person who has ever insulted his dad, wether minor or major insult.

31. Does your character have children? How do they feel about their parental role? About the children? How do the children relate?

No, Lucien is 16. He does not have children yet.

32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

When lucien gets stressed he tends to have two reactions. He either gets agressive, answering people in a quick, angry tone, which often means he snaps at well-meaning people, like his dad or his friends. Other instances though, he goes quiet and locks himself away, aviding socialization until he feels better.

33. Do they drink? Take drugs? What about their health? [DRUG USE TW]

Lucien tends to sometimes drink wine, when he's alone at home, but he does so very rarely, and nly very little. He has only gotten drunk twice in his life, during weekends out with his friends. Lucien has smoked weed a few times in his life, smokes cigarettes at times, and when with Ernest, vapes, but he tends to avoid doing such around Damien, not wanting him to worry, or get angry.

34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous?

With everyone describing Lucien as different things, he often is contemptous about being put into labels, such as 'Rebellious', 'delinquent' or other Negative phrases, but he's also very apathetic to them, as he has ore of a sense that, people can think what they want, but he knows what he truly is, and if they are right or wrong.

35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures?

Lucien often tries to avoid failures, due to his pranks, failure can mean ending up getting in trouble, and he has a sort of anxiety about failing, and tries to plan ahead to avoid it. Smetimes he fails though, and he can end up getting slight anxiety attacks when it happens.

36. Do they like to suffer? Like to see other people suffering?

Despite Lucien often pranking people, he's not a spiteful person, and doesn't like t see anyone suffer, except if they have hurt his dad, minor or majorly. He tends to prank people in a personal vendetta, but tries his best not to cause genuine harm. Of course, sometimes things go roughly, and he ends up harming someone, and he ends up often feeling extremely bad about it, unless he talks to his dad about it.

37. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

Lucien has a habit of when he listes to music, he phases out, and disappears in a sort of trance. His imagination isn't verly imaginative, as he doesn't really enjoy fantasy, so his daydreams often ends up being more realistic, and the few times he does end up on a bit of a surrealistic side, he often tries to steer his daydreams into a more realistic zone.

38. Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic?

Lucien is a bit of a mix between hostile to new things, and enthusiastic, he values the outcome of the new thing, it can be listening to a new music band, travelling to a new place, pranking a new person, etc. He tried his best to figure out a plan to get the best utcome of trying new things, and when it goes badly, he shuts down and refuses to try it again to try a new outcome.

39. What do they like to ridicule? What do they find stupid?

gullible people, he often takes advantage of people not knowing things he does know, to twist things and cause confusion, r scare people. He also liked to be mrbid and clzim, ex. that the cul-de-sac is buit over graves of innocents, or that his home is haunted, or that he sometimes sees people dragging bodies around and burying them in their yard.

40. How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?

^see above

41. Is your character aware of who they are? Strengths? Weaknesses? Idiosyncrasies? Capable of self-irony?

Lucien is aware that he can be rather selfish at moments, and in other moments that he cn react rather harshly to small matters, but the problem is he can be very apathetic to the damage he may potentially cause, via being rude, or harming people. he can also come off as rather reckless at times, and the few people who are allowed to see his vulnerable side, can see him as gentle and sympathtic, or even kind. Lucien denies all of it, though.

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Lucien wants understanding, and acceptance. His wants mostly go with being who you want to be, and not being forced to do certain things based on who you are. He mostly just wants a right to express himself freely.

43. Does your character have any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

Lucien's secrets are mostly secrets he hs because the truth would get him in trouble, such as his Oregano scam-weed dealing, his troublemaking, or his wanderlust tendencies.

44. How badly do they want to obtain their life objectives? How do they pursue them?

Being a teenager, he doesn't have a lot, or barely any lifelong goals.

45. Is your character pragmatic? Think first? Responsible? All action? A visionary? Passionate? Quixotic?

Lucien can be called irresponsible, reckless, quck-tempered and very ill-temepered at times, but he ften change based on who he is around. Damien often clls Lucien responsible and well-mannered, but most people only know him as grumpy.

46. Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight? Posture? How do they feel about their physical body?

Lucien has a tall-slender build, having had some problems being underweight. He is 5'7" at age 16, and is still growing. he desn't feel too bad about his body, other than that he doesn't have enough body modifications, aka  piercings and tattoos.

47. Do they want to project an image of a younger, older, more important person? Does they want to be visible or invisible?

He wants to be consideed mature, but often fails due to his quick temper, and his apathy.

48. How are your character’s gestures? Vigorous? Weak? Controlled? Compulsive? Energetic? Sluggish?

Lucien moved very slowly, and isn't very epressive on his bosy language other thn facial expressions, and while there aren't alow of significant expressions, he doesn't stop himself from expressing what he feels.

49. What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm of speech? Pronunciation? Accent?

Lucien' voice is often very low, and he doesn't like speaking long sentences, preferably using shrugging of the shoulders, nods, and grunting noises rather than long phrases.

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

Lucien's expressions are few, and he has a very significant scowl on his face most of the time. He does have some smug expressions, but thse are rare, and only really Damien is able to get a genuine smile out of him, or seen him cry.

[superanimationthingsba2b]

Proposal Draft 3 Final

Proposal:

Could Presenting Mental Health Issues to Children, Through Animation Help Reduce The Negativity Around Mental Health Issues?

The main focus of my research report is on Mental Health issues,“Mental Health problems effects about 1 in 10 children and young people.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). The question I am considering for the report is “Could Presenting Mental Health Issues To Children, Through Animation Help Reduce The Negativity Around Mental Health Issues?”. For my research report I intend to write a 10,000 word extended essay as it will be the best option for me to present my findings and there my argument. I feel that I will be able to collect a lot of information on this topic as it is are people should start to talk about more and have a clear general awareness of all of effects it has as opposed to the stereotypes they know. I have chosen this topic as I feel it is an area that people are uneducated about, as there is so much information to learn about different issues. Symptoms can also present differently depending on the person as well as their age, their background and gender. I feel that it is important to educate children and have complex issues such as mental health, shown more in day to day setting. This could be demonstrated in movies and TV shows with a positive outlook ensuring that these issue are not something negative they will learn from societies pre decided views, especially as it could become something that effects them or a family member. 

Mental Health is a serious issue that can often be overshadowed or given negative connotations in society due to stereotyping and the way it can be presented, “violent representations are becoming more common in films and television—one in four mentally-ill characters kill someone” (Beachum, 2010). It is reasonable to suggest that people are not as enlighten on the subject as they are with other issues such as physical health. Large amounts of people are unaware of the effects different mental health issues can have on a person and even less so with the effects it can have in children. “depressed children will often show more irritability than depressed adults, who more typically show sadness.” (Mayo Clinic, 2018). 

Research Question:

In this research report I intend to look at how mental health can affect children, as well as how it may “help reduce the negativity”, presenting the topic in an everyday life manor may remove the stereotypical views already in built by society. I would like to see if this is something that could help or whether it would be too much to present to a child and would it more appropriate to show to different age groups. To “present Mental Health Issues to Children” I am going to look at whether it would be an appropriate tactic to use animated shows and if it could be the best way to present this topic.

Aims:

To answer my research report question there are a few aims I will need to achieve. 

To Show that there is existing negativity around Mental Health.

To examine whether it is appropriate to present mental health issues though animation media.  

To explore alternative ways to present mental health issues.

To explore the positive effects presenting mental health issues to children may have.

Research methods:

I will need to do extensive research to be able to achieve these aims. I have chosen these aims as they link to my question and they are necessary elements. I need to look into to being able to develop my argument and investigate both sides to make an appropriate conclusion. Whist thinking about my aims I wanted them to cover every aspect of my question and the different areas I want to focus on when writing my essay even the parts that have not been stipulated within my question. 

The research I intend to carry out mainly revolves around secondary research methods and will look at professional reports or medical sites, utilising prior research in order to identify the effects mental health issues have on children and how they may be identified. “70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). Another area I would like to do secondary research on is the already existing representation on mental health issues in the media and the affect they can have especially with stereotyping. I will need this research as it will assist me with my aims I have set for this project. I will hopefully be able to seek professionals advice on mental health issues and their effects on people and they best ways to cope with them. For the secondary research I intend to look into a range of different sources such as websites, books, leaflets and podcasts to insure I am getting a range of views and that wouldn't be as biased should I just stuck with one type. Some examples of books I want to look in to are, “How Mental Illness is portrayed in children Television” (Wilson, Nairn, Coverdale and Panapa, 2000) and “Psychiatry and The Media” (Byrne, 2003). One area I want to look at is if there are mental health issues that children could be presented with that aren’t as sensitive topics for example, suicide, eating disorders and self harm. These areas are very emotionally distressing and would not be suitable. However Issues like OCD, ADHD and Anxiety could be slightly easier to present and could be less emotion damaging to children, “Symptoms of ADHD typically first appear between the ages of 3 and 6.” (Healthline, 2018), Also “Many anxiety disorders begin in childhood and adolescence, and the average time a person waits to seek help for their condition (particularly for OCD and chronic worrying or GAD as it is known) is over 10 years” (AnxietyUK, 2015). An additional area of secondary research I would like to cover is the charities that raise money for mental health awareness. I think it would be interesting to look into what the charities do to help raise awareness and the different ways they do this. I would like to be able to think about how these could be pushed further and targeted more at the younger generation. 

I intend to carry out some primary research, as my focus for the essay is on children I would like to get parents opinions as well as teenagers. I intend to send a letter out with a link to my surveys to my local primary and secondary schools and ask if they could hand them out to their students and parents. The letters will explain what the survey is about so participance can make an informed decision on whether they are willing to answer questions on this topic. Hopefully this will prevent anyone being offended by the questions or feel uncomfortable. I believe it would be interesting to have parents opinions on the matter and to see if it is a topic they also feel should be present in their lives or if it is something they would prefer to have addressed later in life. It would be interesting to have these opinions which I will collect through a survey. With this information I will be able to see their opinions on the matter as well as why they have come to this conclusion. Being able to have parental opinions would be really beneficial as they will be deciding if shows are appropriate for their children to watch and to know where they stand on this kind of issue being presented though animated media or shows in general. 

To help either support or counter act the arguments of the parents I will also run teenagers survey, which I hope will be completed by students, as mental health is a big factor in their lives. I would like to see if teenagers would have liked to have been presented with these issues when they where younger child. It is desirable to have these answers as I am intrigued to see their opinions on the matter. I have taken into consideration that teenagers may not have all the answers for the survey, so I am prepared to write the research report without their response. The results will be used to see where parents will fall in this argument as they will be the ones that make discussions for children and the results of that teenagers will give me an idea of how having or depriving child of this information at a younger age could be an advantage or disadvantage as they grow older. I am aware that this could be a sensitive issue to talk about so I will be sure to give enough notice to all participants of the survey about what they will be asked and I will be sure to ask for permission to quote and use the results. I do not wish to offend or cause any emotion distress to any participant if they do wish to take part. To reduce concern about identity, I will ensure the whole survey is anonymous. The questions I would like to ask do not require personal experience or to reveal private information. Having two sets of surveys will hopefully be able to help me avoid biased opinions as having a range of people complete the surveys will present a range of answers and opinions not just from the different age ranges but also different people and their backgrounds.  

Table of Contents: 

When dividing up my essay for chapters I am considering having five separate chapters,

What is the state of our mental health as a nation, it affects everyone.  

How Mental Health is being negatively presented in the media. 

The use of YouTube and social media when talking about mental health and the benefits it has for teenagers. 

Are certain Mental Health Issues suitable to present to children such as OCD, ADHD and Anxiety. 

Is animation an appropriate format to present these issues to children in a positive manner? 

Potential Outcomes:

I found that mental health is a big topic to try and cover so I wanted to make sure that my chapters covered the areas I specifically wanted to focus on and can involve the kind of information I am going to be looking at. I have chosen to use separate chapters for how movies and TV shows present Mental health and the use of social media and YouTube for teenagers as media is a strong platform that is presenting to such a wide range of people. Depending on how the medium presents the issues this could cause an increase of stereotyping thoughts. Also YouTube and social media is a platform that is constantly growing and become a big part of children and teenagers lives. Being able to see how they are potentially benefited by this topic is important to look into, “eMarketer estimates that 17.5 million social network users between the ages of 12 and 17 will use a social network at least once per month in 2016, with that number growing to 18.2 million by 2020.” (Duran). These chapters are suitable topics for my research report and achieving my aims. 

Overall, I am confident in my research plan, as well as my different topics and how I can use them all to answer my research report question. I feel that I will gain a better understanding of these issues and the effects they have on people individually as well as society’s view on mental health. I believe that if people agree mental health is an area that should be shown in a more positive light to children and teenagers not just in live action shows but also animation then it could be something to consider in the industry when creating representative characters to help show everyone and to help reduce marginalization of people.  

This is my final draft of my proposal. I am really happy with how it has turned out and I was able to include all the information I wanted to talk about in my research report. I am also really happy with my chapters I feel like I will be able to talk about more of a range with in this subject but I wont get to lose and end up going off of my main topic. 

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The Perils of Determinism

“If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?”

To almost every one of you reading this, and to me, time is a linear concept. We perceive one moment to occur after another. We represent this on an axis running from left to right in the countless graphs we draw. Humans talk about things that happened back in the year 2000 and we look forward to the future. The human experience characterizes time in a perfect straight-line.

Despite the obsession with time travel in pop culture, the science available to us has not been able to produce anything that speaks to its practicality. Given this, the conclusion any rational person would come to is that we cannot change past events (that is, what has happened will always continue to have happened, think 12 Monkeys) and that our actions in the present will shape what comes of the future.

But, what if time was not linear? What if we could bend and shape it to our own will? or at least, have access to our past, present, and future conveniently?

In fact, the concept of non-linear time is not alien. To the Yupno tribe in Papua New Guinea, time flows uphill and is kinked. The Pormpuraaw aborigines in Australia perceive timelines from East to West. Some Mandarin speakers in China have been known to represent time in vertical axes. But, even these interpretations convey the flow of time in a general direction; and do not imply in any way the possibility of us becoming Time Lords.

What if time was circular instead? Where would time begin and where would it end? Would we perceive time differently, and would we know beforehand what’s yet to come?

Among the many profound themes addressed in the brilliant sci-fi movie Arrival is this concept of time. It plays with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (which speculates that language shapes how we perceive reality, and maybe even space and time), and extends this concept to the unraveling of events in the story. If you haven’t watched the movie yet, please do. While my intention here is not discussing the science of Arrival; the movie was indeed one of my key motivations to write this post.

Through the study of an alien language, by building a Tesseract, or by some other fancy way, let’s assume that you had access to any part of your life; that you would know what you would be doing and where you would be in ten years; that you would see who your children would grow up to be in their future. What would you do? Would you change things?

Note that this is different from the concept “what has happened will always continue to have happened,” because now it means your future too will happen in some sort of pre-determined way. Arrival ends this conversation in an abrupt, non-controversial way when Dr. Louise Banks passively accepts the future that she’s seen. She is not resorting to consciously change any of her actions so that she can design a different future.

Unlike in Arrival, we cannot see into our future. Yet, the belief that our future is pre-ordained looms large in almost all known civilizations.

This school of thought is known as determinism and has had a significant influence on science and philosophy. Put simply, determinism is the belief that all events that happen around and within us (including our thoughts and decisions) are in accordance with a fixed reality that is dictated by the universe.

(Image source: wisdomthroughmindfulness.blogspot.com)

For example, according to determinists, what you’d eat for breakfast in exactly 365 days from now is already determined, or to be more dramatic, when and how you’d die is already fixed. All you can do is work up to it, albeit unintentionally, by living each moment after the other subject to the order of time.

I find this incredibly demoralizing

The most disturbing element of the possibility of a determinate universe is the absence of free will it implies. If you are simply a recipient of a predetermined experience, incapable of making one for yourself, would you passively embrace that life? Would you accept to live through your days as that vegetable?

On the other hand, is there really such a thing called free will? Isn’t every one of our actions a product of our experiences, and in some way or the other influenced by external factors?

The debate between determinism and free will is a rabbit hole I wouldn’t go down right now

Indulge if you are so brave and you will find yourself having an existential crisis. But I do want to talk about detrimental effects caused by deterministic ideologies.

The concept of determinism is deeply rooted in our culture thanks to the ubiquity of astrology. Even the Buddhist teaching or Karma draws heavily from the deterministic unraveling of events. In theology, the determinate world is also often attributed to be the work of a divine entity, such as the God of Abraham.

“They too affirmed that everything is fated, with the following model. When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity, but if it does not want to follow it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too: even if they do not want to, they will be compelled in any case to follow what is destined.”

– Long & Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, 62 A.

If everything we experience was supposed to happen anyway, why bother putting in any hard work, at all?

This passive acceptance of fate is why we still see tricksters making millions off fortune-telling and astrology. It’s why we casually assign to Karma all things that befall us. It’s why we ascribe our accomplishments to the Grace of God. That’s why we accept our failures as destiny, discounting and discouraging genuine effort in the process. It’s why we shy away from responsibility, and it’s why we, especially in Sri Lanka, don’t celebrate individuality and seek validation in the divine instead.

The universe is a vast and intricate place

It’s more elaborate and far expansive than our most creative imaginations. While we surely do not know all its secrets, believing that it operates as a clock wound up in the beginning of time to which we are supposed to “tick” away until the end is rather dehumanizing.

In fact, quantum mechanics has already dealt major blows to the deterministic school of thought

Werner Heisenberg, a pioneer in the field, made a notable contribution to this backlash against determinism when he popularized his celebrated Uncertainty Principle. Based on this principle, which in its most basic sense states that the position and momentum of a particle cannot be simultaneously measured with high precision even with perfect instruments and technique. physicists argue that uncertainty is inherent in nature. This introduces fuzziness (and in my mind, a little more color and craziness) to the clockwork universe popularized by the likes of Newton and Einstein. It takes away the degrading fait accompli of a determinate universe. That’s the thing about the future.

It fuzzy, and cannot be predicted with certainty.

It’s not a bad time to burn your horoscopes and have faith in yourself.

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Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.

Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.

There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.

Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.

"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."

When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")

"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."

Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.

One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It’s the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that’s twice as deep as she is tall.

Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don’t provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there’s a decent chance you’ll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It’s not that he’s doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it’s not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5’7”.

There’s just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There’s an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they’re doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Though he still has to, as he puts it, “finesse” his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he’s won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we’re in the “everyone is good” era of skateboarding: “Anyone (well, anyone who’s good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand.” Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.

Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show’s 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in “mega” adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women’s beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—”I’m like, how do people even watch these videos?”—the show is more entertaining than you’d expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like “gosh” and “heck” to intensify the “unreal”-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it’s possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that’s been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the ’80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.

“I wouldn’t say my life is the typical 16-year-old life,” Jagger admits. “I mean I’m living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I’m stoked where I’m at.” There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet’s destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it’s easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he’s famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. “I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I’m some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I’m stoked to have a following off it, but I don’t think I’m famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends.”

When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—”You’re a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?”—Jagger tells me that, “Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We’re not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang.” And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. “It’s always important to make new friends,” he laughs, but adds, “I don’t ever let it get to my head. I’m just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me.”

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he’s sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he’s not a household name. To change this, he’s spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater’s most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament’s “Flashlight” isn’t too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. “I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half.” He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it’s known as the “skate bible.” He feels confident they’ll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they’ve expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. “He’s obviously a good skater,” he says, but their involvement “would most likely start towards the end of the project.”)

“Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We’re not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang.”

Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they’re filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia’s Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he’s managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, “Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers.”

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

There’s a foundational paradox in skate culture: It’s an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he’s anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn’t care. “[Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don’t really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it.” Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek’s empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn’t have his own Nickelodeon show.

One might think Jagger’s contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a “sport”) revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he’s more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it’s about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it’s clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding’s foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he’s 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver’s license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that “I would love to compete for my country.” It’s true that the name “Jagger Eaton” seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he’ll be competing against dozens of the world’s best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you’re 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, “I just have to prove I can hang in the streets.”

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[flauntpage]

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.

Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.

There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.

Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.

"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."

When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")

"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."

Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.

One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[flauntpage]

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.

Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.

There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.

Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.

"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."

When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")

"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."

Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.

One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv