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zepskies · 6 months

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Why We Love the Boys

As promised, here is my review of Supes Ain’t Always Heroes. I actually used to write book reviews in my high school journalism days, so here we go!

What this book is: A masterful deep dive. A study on character psychology, the source of the comic and show’s inspiration, and the narrative themes illustrated in The Boys that parallel American culture and our real lives.

It includes interviews from one of the comic’s creators, Darick Robertson, The Krip himself (Eric Kripke), and actors Jim Beaver (Robert Singer), Aya Cash (Stormfront), Chace Crawford (The Deep), Jessie T. Usher (A-Train), Nathan Mitchell (Black Noir), and of course, Jensen Ackles (Soldier Boy).

It also includes a small but significant ode to the creativity of fans and fandom (with a mention of fanfic writers)!

I’ll admit, I felt seen. 😊

Who wrote it: Psychologists Lynn S. Zubernis and Matthew Snyder. Zubernis is a self-proclaimed fangirl of not only this show, but Supernatural and Eric Kripke in general. (That aspect definitely comes through in her writing.)

She is also editor of Family Don’t End with Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Changes Lives and There’ll Be Peace When you Are Done: Actors and Fans Celebrate the Legacy of Supernatural. Both of which I now want to read.

Several other authors also contributed to this book, as their expertise and backgrounds lend to the subjects they’re covering, such as racism, sexism, the entertainment industry, the comic’s inception, and more.

Who wants to read this book: Anyone who enjoys learning about what makes characters tick. What drives their choices, their sense of morality and justice, and their trauma and strife that lead them to do heinous things. This book will help you better understand your favorite characters (and how to write about them).

Perhaps most importantly, this book is for anyone who wants to read it put into words, why many of us love The Boys, as well as Supernatural.

In a way, the latter is more escapism entertainment than The Boys. Because in this show, there isn’t much, if any escape.

Despite this being a “superhero show,” as we all know, it’s so much more than that. It’s a mirror held directly into our own faces: about why we enjoy heroes and antiheroes, and excuse the “bad behavior” of the ones we like.

About mental health, grief and loss, nature and nurture, coping mechanisms and the importance of choice in dealing with trauma; of racism, sexism, misogyny, weaponized social media, politics, corporate greed, and the power (and cruelty) of good marketing.

This book explores the true villain of the story (and it ain’t Homelander).

I’m going to get into my favorite aspects of this book—as well as an amazing chapter on Soldier Boy’s character study (and why we love him, perhaps too much).

Though in my opinion, it was missing one small, but key thing…

The Mirror of The Boys on Screen

This world is a gritty, bloody, and at times all-too realistic take on how superheroes would be if they lived in our world.

They are the worst of celebrities, professional athletes, and politicians all rolled into one. They are the shiny products of a company and are marketed as such. And they often buy into their own hype.

Some of my favorite quotes on this topic:

“The Boys often reflects darkness in our real world that is uncomfortable to watch. While we go through the tedium of our daily lives, trying to get by and using television or comics as an escape, it can feel difficult and overwhelming to confront the very real and insidious sources of authoritarianism, nationalism, and corporatism that are not just part of a story. “This show holds up a mirror and forces us to catch a glimpse of things we need to question, and asks us why we so easily believe the talking points of systems with marketing departments and press flacks behind them that carefully massage every word in order to get us to feel enamored with their product or policy.” (p. 227-228)

“The Boys works to reveal the nonaltruistic, sociopathic nature of contemporary US corporate culture. In a sense, The Boys uses the behavior of its characters to diagnose not an individual, but a culture.” (255)

In studying narrative I’ve learned that the best fiction and art serve to reflect the human experience. In this case, it’s something The Boys does expertly, even though it’s packaged in extreme, shocking, and often uncomfortable ways. But also in brutal, hilarious satire that’s fun to watch.

It “exposes real-world abuses, revealing many” of our own frustrations in American culture and in life in general (267).

Major Themes & Questions Explored

Several Boys themes are explored from a psychological, cultural, and narrative point of view, as I mentioned earlier. These are some of my favorite segments:

Toxic Masculinity & Narcissism

A whopper in The Boys, and the main theme of season 3. This book defines clearly what both of these words actually mean from a psychological point of view.

It also takes the bad taste out of your mouth that you might get from just hearing the words “toxic masculinity,” as it’s a phrase that can be carelessly thrown around to describe men and character traits that aren’t truly toxic.

How being emotionally available to your loved ones and not repressive of your feelings doesn’t make you weak, or less of a man. And how “being strong” doesn’t mean being physically violent and domineering. (AKA: the Big Swinging Dick™️ in the room.)

Narcissism is explored in a very interesting way. The book gives a diagram of different aspects of narcissists and how each character (Soldier Boy, Homelander, Butcher, and the Deep) falls into them.

Soldier Boy, for example, is classified as a “Classic Narcissist,” while Homelander a “Malignant Narcissist.” <- This will play into SB’s character study, and the main difference between SB and Homelander.

Butcher, however, displays narcissistic tendencies but is not, in fact, a narcissist. (More of an antisocial sociopath. Yay for him.)

Misogyny & Sexism

The classic superhero world of comics dates back to the 1930s and ‘40s. It has been, and in many respects still is a (White) male-dominated industry, where in narrative, female superheroes typically work under a male leading the team, as in Justice League, Teen Titans, and the Avengers.

As much as I love DC and Marvel comics, female characters have also been drawn wildly sexual for male readers and the male gaze, and non-supe characters have been written primarily as love interests and damsels for the hero to save. (Think Lois Lane, Lana Lang, and Mary Jane.)

Modern adaptions have given female characters more agency, but their foundations were rooted in underlying sexism and the mythic hero—an Odysseus-type with certain characteristics of male strength and heroism. And that goes all the way back to classic literature, like The Odyssey, Beowulf, and the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In The Boys, the female supes go through the same issues as their comic counterparts. And they are treated how women are treated in the real world—marketable as sexual objects. (Starlight’s forced costume change is a prime example.)

Author Danielle Turchiano argues in the book that the women in power at Vought (Madelyn Stillwell, later Ashley) are given only so much power as men like Stan Edgar and Homelander give to them.

Stillwell, Ashley, and even Stormfront “drink the Kool Aid” of the misogynistic infrastructure of Vought, but they’re not truly “powerful” in and of themselves. (112)

And I would add that the only female characters that have or find true agency are Grace Mallory, Annie January/Starlight, and Maggie Shaw/Queen Maeve. Even Victoria Neuman is trying to work the political schematic and Vought by operating “within the system” Vought has created.

Mental Health, Trauma & Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

This is a huge section, and rightly so. It kind of spans throughout the book, really, because all of these characters have traumas that inform who they are as adults making the (often grotesque) choices they make.

For many of these characters, it stems from their upbringing and fraught relationships with their parents, whether explicitly or implicitly explored in the show.

Butcher: Is an antisocial sociopath with narcissistic tendencies. Arrogant, emotionally manipulative, violent, and obsessive. He was also physically and emotionally abused by his father, led to use drinking and violence as a means to cope and express himself. His rage is so deep under his skin—he loathes himself for it (and his father), but struggles immensely to escape it.

Homelander: A malignant narcissist, the height of arrogance, and emotionally manipulative. He lacks empathy for others' pain, and in fact enjoys inflicting it. Yet he was a sensitive, gentle child who only wanted connection and love. Vogelbaum raised him like a lab rat and fostered him in a cold, detached cell. He was raised to be entitled and to believe he was an all-powerful god, the lord of his own kingdom within his mind, excused from the responsibility of his actions.

Soldier Boy: Also a narcissist; violent, arrogant, misogynistic, and often indifferent to the damage he causes, emotional or physical. Yet he was also emotionally abused by his father, who set impossible standards for what it meant to be a man. It drives Ben to try and prove his worth to his father, though he’s never able to. It fosters the lack of self-worth he feels as he seeks validation through fame and what he believes power to be.

These three characters have many similarities, but also notable differences that set them apart from one another. And both Butcher and Soldier Boy use substances like drugs and alcohol to cope with their traumas—ones that their forced stoicism and sense of manhood won’t allow them to easily express.

“We see Soldier Boy use substances almost continuously in season three to deal with his PTSD from the childhood emotional abuse he received from his father, the betrayal and assault from his team, and the torture he endured from the Russian scientists.

“In the short term, the use of drugs and alcohol to avoid thoughts and feelings about traumatic experiences can be felt as helpful, but in the long term, it hinders one’s ability to process emotions and can cause a deeper depression from the guilt and shame of both avoidance and substance abuse.” (27)

Heroes, Antiheroes & Villains

This book explores two key questions that the show encourages you to think about:

Who the hell is the hero of this story?

And who is the villain?

The surface-level answer is that Homelander and other supes like him are the villains, and Butcher and his band of bros are the heroes (or antiheroes). But they commit just as questionable, sketchy, and downright murderous acts as the supes they’re trying to take down.

“Butcher is not really a good guy. He’s manipulative and self-centered. His reasons for wanting to take down Homelander are utterly personal. That it serves the greater good is almost a coincidence.” (9)

And if Butcher is not a hero, but a vengeful vigilante, then why do we root for him so much?

Well, we see his incredible flaws. But I sympathize with his struggle in losing his wife and the life he could've continued to have with her. I root for the underdog going against the hydra head of Vought and the psychopathic Homelander.

And I see in Butcher, as I also do with Homelander and Soldier Boy, their traumas and their internal conflicts, their deep-rooted self-loathing, and a desire, deep, deep down…to be loved.

(And to foster connection with others, even if they’re unable to sustain them.)

On the flipside, we have antagonists in this show who do truly heinous things. What makes them compelling and even sympathetic, yet again, are their painful upbringings that have shaped them to be who they are. The supes of this show are byproducts of being treated like products.

Like the saying goes: Villains aren’t born, they’re made.

That’s why the real villain of this story is Vought International. It’s an allegory, and an indictment of the ruthless corporate greed that pervades American culture—and much of the world.

It’s why Stan Edgar is sometimes scarier to me than even Homelander (and was the true villain of my story, Break Me Down), if far more insidious.

Speaking of BMD, let’s get to it, shall we?

Here’s a (lot) bit about the Soldier Boy section of the book.

Soldier Boy: Why We Can’t Hate Him

I had to laugh out loud at the title of Soldier Boy’s chapter:

Loving the Villain: The Confusing Case of Soldier Boy

I’m not gonna lie. I felt called out. 😂

It is a confusing dichotomy. Soldier Boy is an absolute asshole. Misogynistic, narcissistic, arrogant, callous, violent��

But also deeply traumatized, a man-out-of-time, emotionally abused, byproduct of the historically and culturally different time he was raised in, a man who just doesn’t get it…

And also charming, adorably grumpy, and undoubtedly attractive.

It’s hard to indict “Ben” as an unredeemable villain in the same way I do Homelander, the psychologist-labelled Malignant Narcissist.

Therein lies the main difference between Soldier Boy and Homelander: Soldier Boy doesn’t take joy in harming others the way Homelander does. But he still harms people, whether he means to or not.

Zubernis confirms many of my own conclusions and ideas about Soldier Boy, and why I still rooted for him to be better, and didn’t want him to die at the end of season 3.

As Zubernis rightly exclaimed during her own watch of the finale: “Noooo, don’t kill the Danger Grandpa Baby Murder Kitten!” (175)

Because Jensen did what he does best in his roles: He made us feel Ben’s pain.

“What’s funny is, in regard to Jensen playing Soldier Boy, you know he’s fucking fantastic, he’s just so good at bringing the audience, and it’s almost like—what I laugh about is, he was probably a little too good at his job!” Kripke said. (180)

And he continues, “In part it’s because of the fandom. So many people took his side in the finale, they’re like, Were’s on his side, fuck everyone! And you’re like, but he’s the bad guy and he’s trying to kill a ten-year-old.”

Were there fans who held this viewpoint? I’m sure. There are some radicals who don’t give a fuck and will side with their favorite character, come whatever. But while I can’t speak for others, that’s not how I interpreted that moment in the season 3 finale.

Yes, I think Soldier Boy was (wrongfully) willing to fight Ryan. Do I think he would’ve killed him? I’m not sure. I think he would’ve done what he had to do to get Ryan out of his way in his fight with Homelander. Maybe he would’ve been more violent than he intended, in the callous collateral damage he’d shown throughout the season, or maybe he would’ve gone that far, if provoked.

It’s a tough call, as I think this character can go one way or the other in terms of his “villain” nature. We just haven’t seen enough of him in the series yet for me to make that conclusion on the canon-version of Soldier Boy. (In fanfic, I’ve explored my own interpretation.)

But overall, I think The Krip once again underestimated the power of Jensen’s acting.

…And the ardent nature of his mostly female fanbase. 😂

Why We Love Soldier Boy

The author cites multiple reasons for why we love Ben more than we probably should:

It’s Jensen Ackles. Fair enough. His talent speaks for itself.

Soldier Boy’s backstory: He was emotionally abused by his father and as a result, he has a complex regarding his self-worth, “something to prove,” and a secret need for attention, validation, and praise.

He has trauma and PTSD: He is displaced from what is familiar to him and confused when the boys find him, and that is the least of it. He’s been tortured for 40 years. Can you even conceive of that?

He’s charming: in a sexy grandpa, adorably grumpy, lovable asshole kind of way.

We’re drawn to danger: dangerous “edgy” types are fun, especially when you’re physically attracted to the character.

He has his moments of vulnerability: Jensen’s ability to play the nuance in the character is the ultimate draw. I felt his pain, could see his torture, and his resulting PTSD. He longs for a family, even if his ability to bring up those children is questionable at best. 😅

But I think the one aspect the author doesn’t consider is the character’s capacity for change.

Soldier Boy’s Potential

Again, I don’t think you can write off Soldier Boy’s potential for positive character development the same way you can Homelander, or even Butcher.

For one thing, we just haven’t spent enough time with the character. A lot of his collateral damage after he escapes imprisonment has been accidental, or PTSD-induced. Though we can’t discount how he murdered M.M.’s grandfather via collateral damage (and was callous about it).

I think this is what drew me to write about Soldier Boy. “For all his arrogance, his chauvinism, his massive ego and general bastardry, there’s still humanity in Ben.”

In the book, Nathan Mitchell also says something amazing about his own character (Black Noir) that resonated with me about Soldier Boy as well:

"One of the ingredients of a compelling character is contradiction. How does one aspect of our personality contradict with one another? [...] Who is he underneath? How might his true nature contrast with the demands of his job?"

Or coded for Soldier Boy/Ben: The pressures he puts on himself to be the type of man he thought his father wanted him to be.

Again, his sexist, misogynistic ideals are shaped by the time he was raised in, by being a product of Vought, and of his father’s emotionally abusive upbringing. Does this excuse or justify all of his behavior? Of course not.

But I think those 40 years in captivity changed him from the careless alpha dog we saw in 1984 Nicaragua…

He admits to Crimson Countess, with tears in his eyes, that he’d loved her. That he waited for her and his team—arguably the only social system he has in his life—to save him. He’s gutted to realize that not only did she and the rest of the team never love him, they hated him. They traded him for nothing. Just to get him out of their lives.

For all he claims to be afraid of nothing, tough as shit, he is afraid when he goes to face Mindstorm. He knows what the supe is capable of, and he visibly takes a shaky breath and tries to steel himself.

For a moment, he drops the “Soldier Boy” persona that he wears like a fine tailored suit. And he tells Butcher that the backstory Vought created for him was a lie; he grew up a rich kid who got sent to boarding school, but flunked out, because "he was a fuck up." And his father couldn’t be bothered to discipline him, implying he didn’t care enough about his own son to even lay a hand on him.

He is reluctant to kill Homelander when he finds out he’s Ben’s son (sort of). He even claims that he would’ve been willing to share the spotlight “with his own son.” — Something I doubt even Homelander would do.

Ben even seems to be fighting tears when he levies the same vitriol at Homelander that his own father did at him:

Homelander: “Weak? I’m you.”

Soldier Boy: “I know. You’re a fucking disappointment.”

Let me be clear. I don’t think it’s up to someone to change him (like a love interest). I don’t subscribe to that thinking, that a woman can “change” a man.

For example: In season 2, Butcher tells Becca, “Who was I before you? Nothing.”

And yet, she tells him that he put her on an unrealistic and unsustainable pedestal, in which she felt like she wasn’t allowed to fully be herself, unable to keep him from flying off the handle in rage. That kind of relationship (where one is dependent on the other to “keep them in check”) doesn’t work as a lasting, satisfying redemption arc, and it doesn’t work in real life either.

I do think, however, that a person is capable of change if they’re broken down enough (pun intended), and if they themselves have a desire to change. Someone they encounter can inspire them to be better, like Butcher with Hughie. That person can help support the other.

At the end of the day, however, it’s Ben that has to want to change.

If he wants love and connection, he’ll have to somehow want it, and try (and sometimes fail) to get it, thereby giving him agency and a redemptive character arc.

Now, obviously, it’s up to The Krip where Ben goes from here. He seems to have a more indicting vision of the character than I do (at least, so far). But we’ll see! The fan demand to bring back the character has already had Kripke confirming that Soldier Boy will be back.

Maybe it will encourage him to give the character a more satisfying ending than Dean Winchester got in Supernatural. Though granted, that one wasn’t his doing, apparently he was in favor of the ending the writers came up with.

Comparing Dean & Ben

In his interview segment, Jensen talks about what, if any, are the comparisons between Dean Winchester and Soldier Boy. AKA: Wanting a father’s approval, and an undercurrent of “John Wayne”-esque masculinity in John Winchester that Dean sought to emulate.

Jensen also talks about where he drew from to not only embody the character of Soldier Boy, but bring nuance to him—and show the peeks of vulnerability under the bravado and stoicism.

“He’s so fragile and his ego is fragile. Just like Homelander. These bigger-than-life powerful heroes really have a glass jaw… “And everyone walks on eggshells around him [Soldier Boy], and they tell him that they love him, and it’s the same with Homelander. Then when all of a sudden he faces his old team and Crimson Countess says we never loved you, we hated you—that’s a gut punch for him. Because even though on some level he may have known that, he never thought he would hear it. “And he probably propped himself up around trying to believe otherwise, because how can you walk around knowing everyone you’ve ever cared about hates you? It’s too painful.” (191)

It really is. And I inherently felt this about Soldier Boy/Ben when I watched season 3 for the first time. That’s exactly what I got from his performance and thought, there’s more to this guy than the toxic masculinity he represents.

This guy just wants to be loved, like everyone else. He wants to feel important, and even after his father’s dead, “show him” that Ben is the man his father wanted him to be. And so, he bought into the illusion Vought painstakingly crafted for him.

Whether he can come back from that remains to be seen. But I choose to be optimistic until evidence points to the contrary. 😅 (We’ll see in season 4!)

So that’s my personal take on Soldier Boy and this awesome book. 💚 Thank you again @kaleldobrev for recommending it to me! I hope you all enjoyed my long-winded review and want to check this out.

And if you do read it, I hope to read your thoughts as well!

Tagging people who said they wanted to read my review on this book: @venus-haze @jessjad @kristophalis @sl33pylilbunny

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samueldays · 2 months

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I don’t know if you’ve seen the news about the federal lawsuit against the Sheetz convenience store chain charging them with hiring discrimination. Apparently refusing to hire people who fail a criminal background check is racist. Do you think there’s any chance of this rolling back some disparate impact hiring rules?

Almost no chance, good luck with that! Most of the reporting I can find seems to agree on this example of tone:

Federal officials said they do not allege Sheetz was motivated by racial animus, but take issue with the way the chain uses criminal background checks to screen job seekers. The company was sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin.

“Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue,” EEOC attorney Debra M. Lawrence said in a statement.

Finding evidence of wrongdoing is too hard work for the EEOC, so they find evidence of Bad Percentage and prosecute people for that instead!

Disparate impact is a totalitarian insanity of American law, for which the EEOC should be prosecuted by the successor regime.

And it's also well established in precedent of the current regime that disparate impact law gets to micromanage hiring, reverse the burden of proof, invent a Numbercrime, create contradictory obligations on employers to fill racial quotas and also not do that, and contribute to even more problems as side effects such as university diploma mills and inflaming racial taboos.

#all #asks #rant #racepol

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angywritesstuff · 2 years

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Feeding the U.S Army

summery: You’re a Masterchef contestant, and during the team challenge you and your team have to cook for 100 army men. Easy right?

Pairing: Captain Syverson x reader

Warning: very bad english, no proof-read. ENGLISH IS NOY MY FIRST LANGUAGE SO IF THERE ARE ANY MISTAKES I’M SORRY.

I don’t even know what this is but I hope you like it

Masterchef! You had just passed the last selection and finally were going to cook in the Masterchef kitchen.

You didn’t really know what you were expecting when you send in your request to partecipate to the new season of Masterchef, the only thing you knew was that you loved cooking.

You had started cooking when you were really young: you were only eight when you helped your mom baking your dad’s birthday cake for the first time and you hadn’t stopped ever since.

It could seem strange for some people but, growing up in a farm, it was normal for anyone to help as much as they could: you had started with tidying up your room, you had learnt how to collect the eggs from the chicken goop first things in the morning, you had gone with your father to take care of the cows; but as soon as you and your family had found out how much you enjoyed spending your time in the kitchen, that had become your kingdom. You still helped with any other task if help was needed, but most of the time everyone left you do what you did best and what you loved the most: cooking.

So yeah.. you loved cooking: you cooked when you were happy, wou baked when you were stressed, you cooked when you were stuck in your own head, you went to the kitchen when you needed a moment to yourself knowing that very few people had the guts to follow you in your place in the house.

Anyway the idea of participating at Masterchef first come out while the previous season of the show was on air: you were in the kicthen (surprise surprise!), you were preparing everything for that night gathering; your father was keeping you company while preparing a fruit salad (the only thing you had given him permission to touch, he had pretended to be fed up with your behavior but you both knew it was just for show). You were talking, the tv was on in the background when a new episode of Masterchef had began and your father had stopped answering your question.

“Dad?”- you had asked while still chopping the onions; there was so much to do in so little time you didn’t have time to pay attention to what your father was doing

“You are so much better than him”- your father hadn’t been making any sense

“What are you talking about?”- you had taken your attention from the onions to finally look at your father

“You should try and get on Masterchef”- your father had insisted still looking at the screen where Joe Bastianich was talking to a man in a black apron.

“You’re crazy”- you had simply said before getting back to your cooking.

You hadn’t talked about it again that day, but the idea had lingered with you and even though you had kept your thoughts to yourself, your father knew you better than anyone else, so one day you had found the Masterchef application on your bed with a post on it

‘I know you can do it honey- dad’- the post had said

You had had a lot of fear: the fear of dissapoint your family, the fear of being on national television, the fear of leaving your family that needed your help at the farm every day, the fear of not suceeding, the fear of not being good enough,the fear of not pass even the first selection. Your father had come to your help once again “Honey the only way you could lose is if you didn’t even try. What’s the worst that could happen? that you don’t get in? Who cares? You will always be our favorite chef”

Your father’s words had been the push you needed, so you had send you application and when you had been called for the selection you had been excited.

You had survied the first couples eliminations and now you were going to be the captain of your team, the red team, in the first team challenge and you were scared shitless: not only you could go home if you made any mistakes, but the future in the competion of your team mates depended on you too, and as if that wasn’t enough you had to feed one- hundred army man. So yeah you were panicking and trying not to show it because you needed your team to trust you and to be calm enough to serve good food.

You took a deep breath and focused on what the judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Aaron Sànchez were saying.

“Each team will have to devise a menu that includes a protein, two vegetable and a sauce”- Joe said

“Now remeber, at the end of the day one of you will be eliminated and this will be last time he will be cooking in this competion”- Gordon’s words kept your anxiety spiriling but you tried to keep your focus- “All right, are you guys ready? let’s go”

You and your team sprinted as soon as Gordon had done talking. Once what you wanted to cook had been decided, you gave a task to each and everyone of your team mates and you all started cooking.

Managing between doing your own prep and making sure every team member was doing ok and didn’t need your help, wasn’t easy but you made it; the judges tasted your dish after half an hour and, aside from some suggestions to make it better, they liked it.

So you were on cloud nine: the judges liked the dish your team had devised, your prep had gone alright, your team was doing ok. But then service started and YOU PANICKED: you had to serve 100 army men and women and you had no idea how to prepare 100 dished that were perfect and that looked all the same. Your team was looking at you for direction but you had no idea what to do: you had never worked in a restaurat, none of you ever had, and when you cooked for your family gathering everyone made their own dishes, you were so out of your comfort zone.

And that’s when things started to go even worse: service had started, the army men and women had arrived and had a very clear view of your stations, you had no idea how you wanted to plate the food and Gordon Ramsay came to you and he didn’t look happy.

“Red team come here, all of you, RIGHT NOW! We need a system, your tray is cold, the food is cold, I’m not letting you serve fucked up food. Take your food back in, warm it up, warm your tray. Y/n come here. YOU ARE THE TEAM CAPTAIN, SO FUCKING WAKE UP, DECIDE HOW YOU WANT YOUR FOOD ON THE PLATE AND START A PRODUCTION LINE. RIGHT FUCKING NOW Y/N”- Gordon pratically screamed in your face, you knew he just wanted to make sure the food that came out was perfect, he only wanted for you guys to succeed, but you had never liked when people screamed in your face even if you knew they didn’t mean any harm. Your eyes watered but you weren’t going to cry, you were going to do this, but when you thought things couldn’t go any worse..... you found out you were obviously very wrong.

“HEY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”- a voice boomed behind Gordon and once you raised your gazed to see what was going on, you saw a mountain of a man, dressed in uniforme, coming towards you.

It was clear not even Gordon knew what was happening

“Can I help you, sir?”- Gordon asked, you couldn’t sure but his voice sounded a little bit unsure

“You wanna help me, why don’t you start by not screaming at a woman?”- the army-man’s voice was much calmer now but he wasn’t any less intimidating. Gordon didn’t know what to say and you knew it, so you took a step forward

“It’s really not a problem.. ehmm”- you read the name of the man on his uniform - “Captain Syverson, sir. Chef Gordon was just giving me a pep talk, everything is good. We will be serving you your food very soon”

As soon as you had started talking the man’s eyes had moved from Gordon to you and for the first time, since he had come over, you noticed how bautiful they really were. His eyes had become gentler when he had started looking at you, you had almost shivered when his attention had been on you and you only.

“Mhhm”- Captain Syverson said like he was still assessing the situation before deciding - “You can called me just Syverson”- he said before turning around and going back to his men.

You stood there for another second, all eyes were on you and you were sure your cheeks were burning

“Back to work guys”- you said. There was no way you weren’t sarving your best food to that hunk of a man.

Everything had gone smoothly after that, you had felt eyes on you some time during service but every time you had looked up you had never been able to pin point who was looking at you, so you had always gone back to work.

Once the judges had annouced your team had received 70 votes against the 30 of the other team and you had won you couldnt’ been happier, you had been sad for the contestant that had had to leave the show, but it was a competition and that was how it worked.

You were still celebrating with your team when you heard someone clearing their throath behind you

“Hello”- captain Syverson was behind you

“Oh Captain, hello”- what was happening?

“I thought I told you to call me Syverson, or Nathan if you prefer, but none on that Captain crap”- his raspy voice was doing things to you that shouldn’t be possible when you had just met the man.

“Right. Was everything ok with your food?”- you asked because why would he be here, if not because there had been something wrong with his food

“The food was amazing, you’re a fantastic cook, sugar”- he said and your cheeks burned once again at the name. What was this man doing to you

“Oh thank you, it was a team effort”

“Well you are the team captain, so I think you deserve some credit, sugar”- he said before looking back where a man was calling for him - “I need to go, but I really hope to see you again sugar”- he winked at you before leaving.

“uh”- you stood there staring at his back not sure of what had happened.

Everyone had joked about what happened between Gordon and the captain for the rest of the season, but you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the man that had screamed at Gordon Ramsay (GORDON- FUCKING- RAMSAY) for you.

The competition had gone on and without even knowing how you had arrived to the grand finale and to your surprise YOU HAD WON!

So yeah when you sent your application for Masterchef you didn’t know what you were expecting, but in the end it was clear you had left the show with so much more you had even though you could win.

liked by masterchefus, gordongram and 234,567 others

itsMeYN When I sent the application for Masterchef, because my father conviced me to, I never thought I would even passed the first selection, let alone win the finale. This journey has given me so much, I learnt from every single one of the other contestat, some of which have become really good friends. I don’t even know how to start thanking the judges, Gordon, Joe and Aaron, They have taught me so much and always known when I needed a nudge to wake up and start believe in myself. Thank you, thank you this competition has given me so much

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yourmominsta I’m so proud of you honey

jennifer So happy for you, I was rooting for you since the first episode

haley234 Congrats! can we please talk about the team challenge with the army man ;)

austin Oh my god! that episode was the best, that army captain was totally hitting on her

felicity Does Captain Syverson have instagram? Please does anyone know?

austin I dont think so, I’ve been looking for him too

rachel Guys I was watching her story the other day and I swear there was a very familiar scratchy voice in the backgroud

yourbestfriend Oh my god... @itsmeYn I think you got busted

itsmeYn @yourbestfriend shut up

haley234 wait what

liked by masterchefus, gordongram, yourbestfriend and 345,678 others

ItmeYn Had the pleasure to dine at @gordonndram restaurant, and wasn’t that an experience. Also I think the second meeting between Gordon and at certain someone went a lot better

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austin “Certain someone”... yep she is totally dating Captain Syverson. Is it normal being so obsessed with the idea of them together when I have only seen 5 min of them together on tv?

haley234 Same sis, same.... and maybe it’s not normal but who cares

gordongram We still yelled at each other so I wouldn’t say it went so much better

itsMeYn “We” is the key word here, you yelled at Sy too, i think it’s mostly out of love now

austin Sy... I repeat she wrote Sy... My ship is real

Yeah Masterchef had given you so much…

Masterlist

All around taglist: @jwspiter

Henry Cavill and characters taglist: @xxxkatxo @mansaaay @thorins-queen-of-erebor @maan24 @grounded-in-light @omgkatinka @xprettyqueenx @marytudorbrandon

#captain syverson x reader #captain syverson #herny cavill #henry cavill imagines #captain syverson imagine #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill characters #captain syverson x you #masterchef contestant reader #masterchef!reader x captain syverson #masterchef reader #angywritesstuff #reader insert

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morallyinept · 4 months

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A full character analysis on MAXWELL LORD from the film WONDER WOMAN 1984

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to learn more about the character. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

FULL CHARACTER STUDY:

Basic Details:

Full Name: Born Maxwell Lorenzano, known as Maxwell Lord (he changed his last name to Lord when he created Black Gold Cooperative)

Nickname(s): Max

Appears in: Wonder Woman 1984, 2020 (voice heard on screen via TV screens at approx. 11:15. First appearance on screen at approx. 31:41)

Age (if known): Unconfirmed, suspected late thirties/early forties, based on appearance

Sexuality: Straight - Max was previously married and had a wife

Nationality: Not confirmed. His original surname Lorenzano is of Italian origin, however it is never confirmed in the film Maxwell's nationality. He appears to live and work in Washington DC in the United States.

Family: 1 Son, Alistair

Spouse/Partner: No mention of a current partner

Relationship Status: Divorced, he and his ex-wife share custody of Alistair

Current Living Status: Alive

Languages Spoken: English

Education: Presumed at least college educated as he started his own business

Occupation:

Job Role/Title: Owner/Director of Black Gold Cooperative, a failing oil company

Special Skill(s): Granting wishes

Notable Colleague(s): Barbara Minerva, Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)

Distinguishing Features:

Tattoo(s): None

Piercings: None

Scar(s): None notable

Other Markings: None notable

Prominent Feature(s): Clean shaven face

Injuries: Maxwell is drained each time he grants wishes becoming weaker. His eyes become bloodshot in the scleras and he suffers intolerable headaches and nosebleeds

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Caramel/honey blonde

Personality:

Traits: Unlucky, persuasive, misguided

The film is primarily set in Washington DC, where Max's Black Gold Cooperative Offices are.

Max Lord is famous for being an extremely charming, charismatic, and powerful individual as well as a motivational-esque speaker with addition to being highly manipulative and cunning in order to obtain what he seeks, using his vast influence over people to get them them believing him and his words.

Max's original surname is Lorenzano which is Italian, however his nationality is not confirmed in the film.

Max comes from a poverty stricken family background with a violently abusive father. Max has a son of his own, Alistair, whom he seemingly pushes aside for the Dream stone and it's power, fearing that Alistair will see him as a loser father figure without it, only to realise in the end that his son loves him regardless of how successful he is, and he should be a better father to Alistair rather than seek success and fortune.

Max feigned interest in Dr Minerva to gain control of the Dream stone by tricking her into giving it to him under the guise that he could "help her in her research.” Max then wishes to become the embodiment of the stone itself, granting him its wish-granting powers, but at the price of draining his lifeforce with every wish he grants.

Due to it being the 1980's, the fashion back then for men's suits were larger padded shoulders in the suit jackets, of which is evident in Max's suits.

Fashion/Outfits:

Outfit 1 - (Opening scene on TV commercial) Light grey/cream suit suit, white shirt with red stripes, red, black and grey tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief (On the boat in the commercial Max wears a open collared white and blue striped shirt)

Outfit 2 - (Meeting Dr Minerva scene) Blue pin striped two-piece suit, white/pink striped shirt, silk tie and matching breast pocket handkerchief, gold tie clip

Outfit 3 - (Museum benefit party scene) Black tuxedo, white shirt, dark gold bowtie and matching breast pocket handkerchief, black dress shoes

Outfit 4 - (Simon apology scene) Blue three piece suit including waistcoat, white pinstriped shirt, yellow patterned tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief, black shoes

Outfit 4 - (In Egypt scene) Cream plaid patterned two piece suit, white shirt red patterned tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief, dark shoes, sunglasses

Outfit 5 - (In office capturing wishes scene and remaining film scenes) Grey three piece striped suit, including waist coat (which he is later seen not wearing with the suit), white shirt, navy pattered tie with matching breast pocket handkerchief, black shoes, blue patterned braces

Accessories: Gold Rolex watch, gold ring on left pinky finger, sunglasses when in Egypt

Weapons Used:

Weapon(s): (Exact weapons pictured below)

Maxwell's main weapon is the Dream Stone, which he becomes himself. Through the power of wishes he is able to garner strength, more fortune and becomes almost invincible.

Modes of Transport:

Vehicle(s):

Maxwell's personal chauffeur driven car appears to be Lincoln Town car

Dialogue:

🗨 See Maxwell's full dialogue from the film, including deleted scenes.

Further Character Links (if any):

Wonder Woman 1984 Behind The Scenes, Meet Maxwell Lord, Max Lord DC Wiki Page

Info on ring & watch via Styleofpascal IG

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

#pedro pascal #maxwell lord #pedro pascal characters #wonder woman 1984 #Maxwell lord wonder woman 1984 #pedro pascal character database #pedro pascal character study #pedro pascal character analysis

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filipinfodump · 4 months

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Kabesang Tales - Isang Rap en Rol Musical

A Filipino Musical that hasn't left my mind since the mid 2010s

Poster for Kabesang Tales posted by Palakat Batangas City via Facebook

Although the Philippines is known for its many talented singers which include many that had crossed over to Broadway such as Lea Salonga, and Rachelle Ann Go, alongside many other Filipino-American talents like Conrad Ricamora, Arielle Jacobs, George Salazar, and Darren Criss just to name a few, the musical scene in the Philippines itself isn't as popular nor as successful in the country as it really should be.

Even with Filipino-majority musicals in states like the controversial Broadway musical "Here Lies Love" which narrates the life story of Imelda Marcos, one of the most controversial figures in Filipino politics and history today, and with Filipino stars often taking in lead or secondary roles in major productions, the musical boom of the 2010s did not come with a boom for the musical industry in the local level compared to the sudden popularity of American musicals like Hamilton, Heathers, Dear Evan Hansen, or Be More Chill to name a few.

The very few musicals that did garner the spotlight did not receive the same notoriety of these foreign productions save for one of the few musical movies to have gotten major media acclaim Loy Arcena's Ang Larawan (2017) (en. The Portrait) based on the 1997 play of the same name by National Artist Nick Joaquin which became a media frenzy as being maybe one of the few if not the only original movie not based on major series or created by a large production company to be released that year for the Metro Manila Film Festival. One of the things that had skyrocketed it to media attention was the fact that most theaters did not screen it and it was only shown in very few cinemas, but that's a story for another time.

Despite the time and devotion Filipino musical fans may have for theatre, rarely do Filipino made and produced musicals ever enter the pop culture zeitgeist due to many factors like the lack of advertising, accessibility issues, and honestly the lack of cast recordings. Out of the many throughout the 2010s, one of the few I was able to watch that I still think about at times is Ricky Lee's very own rap and rock musical Kabesang Tales.

Background

Photo of Ricky Lee, the writer of Kabesang Tales the Musical via Inquirer

Kabesang Tales - Isang Rap en Rol Musical) (en. Captain Tales - A Rap n' Roll Musical) is a rap and rock musical first performed in the year 2015 and was written by renowned Filipino writer and National Artist Ricky Lee. The musical was directed by Alejandro "Bong" Ramos, with music by Jeffrey Hernandez and Alfredo Ongleo, and produced by Red Lantern Production (Inquirer, 2015).

Photo of John Arcilla, the lead actor for Kabesang Tales the Musical via Inquirer

The musical stars John Arcilla as the titular character Telesforo Juan "Kabesang Tales" De Dios, famously known for his breakout role as Hen. Anotnio Luna in the historical film Heneral Luna released the same year as the musical, alongside other talents such as Dio Marco as Karyo, Kevin Posadas as Tano de Dios, Alecx Lorica as Juli De Dios among many other talented actors (Inquirer, 2015).

A cover of one of the book's translations posted by twitter user El Filibusterismo (@/joseriz15155899) via X/Twitter

The play is based on Jose Rizal's El Filibusterismo (en. The Filibuster) and more specifically, the character of Kabesang Tales, the head of his barangay (a sort of Filipino village) and father of Basilio's main love interest Juli, who had turned into a guerilla bandit after his family and life were ruined by the Spanish friars. He becomes the feared Matanglawin (en. Hawkeye) who terrorizes the countryside. He plays a minor but important role in the books, being the father of one of the main secondary characters as well as being one of the main allies of the primary characters as they tried to start a revolution in the country.

The play primarily focuses on his perspective throughout the whole book with some scenes focusing more on the main protagonists Simoun and Basilio as well as his daughter Juli.

Performances and Releases

The musical had limited performances throughout some parts of the CALABARZON Region or Region IV-A, with some select performances in Metro Manila as well as some other provinces like in Mindoro, sometime during the years 2015-2017 with some being done in local cultural centers and schools throughout the region with very limited promotion outside of news stories.

The only promotional material I could really find are some posts on Facebook and a trailer in the Red Lantern Production's YouTube channel which could be seen here:

youtube

Trailer uploaded by Red Lantern Production via YouTube

There are no original cast recordings that I could find of any of the songs and the only material that I could find besides this are uploads on YouTube of scattered scenes from different parts of the play:

youtube

Full Playlist uploaded by YouTube channel pheejaypi here

I was also able to find a collection of clips of Karyo, a character possibly named after Karyo from Mga Ibong Madaragit which is a continuation novel of the El Filibusterismo written by Amado Hernandez, played by Terrence Guillermo.

youtube

Video uploaded by YouTube channel pinoy music maestro here

I remember some time in the 2010s seeing uploads of members of the cast singing in interviews I believe but I could no longer find any of these videos.

As of now, it is unknown if the production will ever come back with the last post on the Facebook page having been in 2021 with a post prior to posted on July 2019 calling for auditions in August 2019, possibly hinting that there was a planned 2020 tour for the musical before the pandemic hit.

Photo of the audition announcement posted on Facebook

The Plot (mostly from memory)

As there's barely any material of the live musical, I'll do my best to recollect what I could remember with the aide of the actual books to guide me. Of course, spoilers for Rizal's books Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo if you haven't read them.

The plot follows the events of El Filibusterismo but mainly from the perspective of the titular character Kabesang Tales. It begins with an extremely happy and optimistic scene with him, his family, and barangay as well as the visit of Basilio, Tales's daughter's lover to their house. I remember that there was an extremely cheesy song here between the two that a lot of people squealed over.

Photo of the mentioned musical number between Basilio and Juli posted by Jayson Pascua

The perspective switches over to Basilio and his visit to his mother's grave where he is shocked to see a man there who is revealed to be the thought to be dead fugitive Crisostomo Ibarra who now goes by Simoun, a jewelry merchant from the United States. The two have a bit of an argument where Simoun tries to convince Basilio to join him and his rebellion and I don't recall exactly if there was a song, but it seems likely.

Perspective switches back to Tales as tragedy strikes as his entire family gets struck with malaria resulting in the death of his wife. I don't remember all the details here or if there was a song, but I remember a sort of depressing atmosphere for the rest of this part.

Photo showing all of the actors playing the De Dios Family posted by Jayson Pascua

The family struggles with money and friars come over to cause even more problems for them. There's a rap battle here between Tales and a friar. Here starts his downward spiral as he struggles to make ends meet as well as handle the friars that had been trying to gain his land. I don't recall if it's shown that he has to pay for a lot of lawyers, but he starts paying more and more for legal fees because of the legal drama with the friars and the government.

My sister tells me that there's a song about how good the friars are before they get properly introduced and I have a hazy memory of three friars wearing varied outfits typically associated with friars posing for the stage as people sing songs of praise and goodwill. My sister tells me that Basilio was in the ensemble here.

His son, Tano, gets drafted to the Guardia Civil (en. Civil Guard) and sent to the Caroline Islands because Tales could not pay money to prevent his draft due to their financial struggles. This is shown as a heart wrenching scene in the play where the rest of the family is left distraught.

He starts guarding his property in fear of bandits possibly taking his fields and taking whatever he has left.

Tales then gets taken by these bandits who demand ransom money for his return. There he meets Karyo, one of its leaders who tells him about the struggles of the working class and why he and the others had resorted to being bandits in the first place (?). I don't actually remember if this is the first they meet or what since I do remember that the two have a philosophical discussion about violence later and that Karyo is definitely a member of the bandits but there are scenes where he acts as the emcee during Tales's rap battle with the friar.

The bandits later lets him go back to his family where he finds that he has no one left.

Juli, in order to help with her family's financial struggles as well as pay for her father's ransom, leaves home and asks for loans and find work.

If I'm not mistaken, his father Tandang Selo goes mute with the grief of the continuous tragedies that had struck the family as well. It's hard for me to remember if this was shown in the musical.

When Tales returns, he finds himself at a loss for what has happened to his family. He is left with his daughter forced to work and his father mute. He is then met with Simoun, who comes to him as a jeweler. Simoun tempts him with some ideas of radicalization against the friars and he refuses at first before spiraling further and joining Karyo and his bandits, becoming the feared Matanglawin.

I genuinely don't remember if his meeting with Simoun was also in the musical or not but it's important context for the story.

The musical then switches perspective to Basilio, who gets implicated with a conspiracy against the government and gets arrested. A heartbroken Juli goes to Padre Camorra, a creepy priest that's been trying to corner her, to beg for his help since she saw no one else that could help her. This leads into a rather intense scene acted in shadows and lights where it is heavily implied that Juli gets assaulted.

After this, Juli sings a song about her assault where she contemplates getting revenge or retaliating but instead chooses to jump off to end her life.

The scene switches back to Tales who, unlike in the books, meet with his son again who has returned to the Philippines. This one, I know had a song in it since I remembered the extreme daddy issues punk rock vibes the scene gave off. He sang about how he no longer respected his father and that it's too late to repair things if I recall as he's now a bandit and he's a member of the Guardia Civil.

Photo of the confrontation between Tales and Tano where Tano sings about his frustration with his father posted by Jayson Pascua

Desolate and distraught at the loss of his family, Tales gets visited by a diwata (a forest spirit/fairy) and this part was extremely out of left field and absolutely not in the books.

Here, the diwata shows Tales visions of the future (???) and directly tells him, without any sort of subtlety, that the working class, and especially farmers like him, will continue to struggle in his country in the future. He is then shown a scene of farmers in a protest who were then taken down by police in what I remember as riot gear. He contemplates the future and is further given resolve to continue his rebellion.

Photo of the mentioned scene where Tales first meets a diwata who will later send him to the future posted by Jayson Pascua

Photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is sent to the future by a diwata to witness farmers being taken down by cops in riot gear posted by Jayson Pascua

Another photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is sent to the future by a diwata to witness farmers being taken down by cops in riot gear posted by Jayson Pascua

I need to cut in and say that this was so on the nose and is by far the weirdest and personally maybe the worst part of the show. I'm not even against the message, it just ruined my immersion and just left a weird taste in my mouth. I think the play was doing a plenty good job driving that point across already without the time travel diwata scene but maybe that's just me.

The scene cuts back to the climax of the story where Basilio, distraught over then death of Juli, finally joins Ibarra as they plant a bomb in a wedding reception that the Governor-General of the Philippines was attending. The scene plays out like it was in the books where the lamp gets tossed out by Isagani and the revolution doesn't start.

It goes back to a scene of Tales and his men trying to fight the Guardia Civil where he is shot and killed in action, by the gun of his own son. Tano realizes what he has done and is horrified. This leads to a song which later leads to a finale that sings about Tales as the cast come together for the curtains to close.

Photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is shot and killed by his son Tano posted by Jayson Pascua

Another photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is shot and killed by his son Tano posted by Jayson Pascua

The musical ends and the cast is called on to the stage one by one, with the loudest applause going to Basilio who a lot of the girls found hot, and of course, the man himself, Kabesang Tales.

Photo of the closing song with Tales being shown front and center posted by Jayson Pascua

After the play and final thoughts

Ricky Lee actually attended the performance I watched and I remember so many people crowding around the actors to get their autographs. My sister bought one of Ricky Lee's book, his script writing guide "Trip to Quiapo" and had it signed but she genuinely can't find it anymore sadly. My sister also got the autograph of some of the actors and the director on that same book so I'm a little miffed that we can't find it.

I would discuss more things and even show off my old ticket but I'm pretty sure that I would end up doxxing myself if I speak any more details.

That's all I remember from it and I would love to say more or even discuss the songs but as you can see, I could barely remember them, with only maybe a solid grasp in about maybe four songs.

It's a shame that it doesn't have as much of an established release and media presence because despite that one glaring issue I had with the weird diwata scene, I quite enjoyed the musical and it remains one of the few that I actually got to experience live.

It isn't Les Miserables or Hamilton, but it's still a musical I'll probably fondly remember especially since El Filibusterismo is one of my favorite books of all time with the character of Kabesang Tales being one of the most interesting — a man of honor and virtue who slowly descends into extremist violence because society had failed him. It's sad to see this musical barely recognized and very little talked about today and I do hope that it will one day return to the stage.

References

Introduction

Palakat Batangas City. (2015, May 29). "The Batangas City Government and Red Lantern Production present Ricky Lee’s KABESANG TALES - Isang Rap en Rol Musical." [image]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://web.facebook.com/palakat.batangascity/photos/a.1543377512565520/1636600273243243/?type=3&_rdc=1&_rdr

Background

El Filibusterismo (@joseriz15155899). (2019, November 13). "#TheFilibuster Ventura's salvificact made Rizal gave his original manuscript of El Filibusterismo, a pen and an autograph printed copy." [image]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://twitter.com/joseriz15155899/status/1194459895657041920

Inquirer. (2015, December 12). John Arcilla stars in Ricky Lee ‘rap en rol’ musical ‘Kabesang Tales’. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/215824/john-arcilla-stars-in-ricky-lee-rap-en-rol-musical-kabesang-tales/

Inquirer. (2015, August 29). Ricky Lee writes rap, hip-hop libretto for new musical ‘Kabesang Tales’. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/204943/ricky-lee-writes-rap-hip-hop-libretto-for-new-musical-kabesang-tales/

Lee, R. (2015, August 29). Ricky Lee: “I have been longing to do a musical, music being a driving passion in my life.” PHOTO FROM RICKY LEE [image]. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/204943/ricky-lee-writes-rap-hip-hop-libretto-for-new-musical-kabesang-tale

Red Lantern Productions. (2015, December 2012). John Arcilla. PHOTO FROM RED LANTERN PRODUCTIONS [image]. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/215824/john-arcilla-stars-in-ricky-lee-rap-en-rol-musical-kabesang-tale

Performances and Releases

Kabesang Tales - Isang Rap en Rol Musical. (2019, July 27). Picture of the audition announcement posted on Facebook [image]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://web.facebook.com/kabesangtalestherockmusicale/photos/a.459803204196123/1309076952602073/

pheejaypi. (2016, October 3). Kabesang Tales: Isang Rap en Rol Musical clip 1 [video]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jftRyZOpxAA&list=PL1Yv-w-s-ETvRYsDWtaMPw2q0QO0q8Nfc

pinoy music maestro. (2021, January 1). Kabesang Tales excerpts feat. John Arcilla and Terence Guillermo [video]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlOkDi8_D_A

Red Lantern Production. (2015, August 15). Kabesang Tales Trailer [video]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CKKJsuBiuc

Plot

Pascua, J. (2015, October 11). Various photos [images]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://estranghero.weebly.com/photo-blog/john-arcilla-on-ricky-lees-kabesang-tales-isang-rap-en-roll-musical

#filipinfodump #filipino #philippines #filipino theatre #filipino musicals #musical theatre #musicals #filipino music #el filibusterismo #kabesang tales - isang rap en rol musical #kabesang tales #jose rizal #ricky lee #violence tw #sa tw #police brutality tw #police violence tw #mod maya

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littlewestern · 1 month

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okokok this is really vague but i simply must know more about jenny and texaco

excellent character design

Of course! Thanks for your patience with this ask, I wanted to draw them special for it.

Jenny and Texaco are two more of the little planes that live in the Transportation Hall, the JN-4D Curtiss (nicknamed Jenny, though all models of this plane carry the nickname) and the Travel Air Model R Mystery Ship (nicknamed Texaco 13).

the Curtiss JN was the first mass-produced airplane, originally made to train pilots during WWI. After the war, the surplus planes made their way to the civilian market where they were used in everything from mail service to stunt shows. We talk about how the Zephyr service tried to make rail travel accessible to the average person, the Jennies functioned in a similar way, being abundant and simple to train in on account of their original built purpose. Jenny at the MSI was used for aerial stunts, $5 rides, and barnstorming displays. She was flown at the 1933 World's Fair and was then donated to the museum, so she was hanging around when Pioneer and 999 were too, although they wouldn't have interacted back then.

As a stunt plane and strictly commercial engine, Jenny is competitive, shrewd, and occasionally very blunt. She comes from a background and a time period where mincing your words was a waste of precious seconds and good airtime. While retirement has sanded down her more daredevil tendencies, she's not above challenging the other planes to handstand contests or merely just calling them out when she thinks they're acting cowardly. She likes the warplanes well enough, but thinks they're a bit dim for not simply settling their differences with tests of skill rather than might. In a perfect world, 727 would like to confer her powers of delegation to 40B for when she can't be everywhere at once, but given that no one listens to him, that responsibility usually falls to Jenny, whose commanding presence simply cannot be ignored.

In contrast Texaco (affectionately "Tex" to 2903) is a streamlined racing plane. One of only 5 ever built (in secrecy, hence the name of the class being Mystery Ship), the goal of the Travel Air company was to build a civilian plane that could match or surpass the speed of military aircraft and win the National Air Races. In this they succeeded wildly, Texaco broke more than 200 speed and distance records around the world during her time in service for the Texaco oil company.

As you might expect of a former racing plane, Texaco is energetic, relentlessly positive, and highly driven. A fellow student of the school of streamlined construction, she has a great deal of respect and admiration for Pioneer and loves challenging him to race with her, which he graciously bows out of every time. She does show up "racing" alongside him on the big exhibit screens, which they both find highly amusing. In contrast to Jenny's straightforwardness, Texaco sometimes lets her mouth run ahead of her and might take a few tries to get to the point if she doesn't lose track of it entirely. The other planes don't mind though, and in-fact love her for it (Jenny especially).

Glad to be able to talk about these two. They're great additions to the cast and a treat to draw. Thanks for the ask!

#asks #texaco 13 #jn-4d curtiss #the future is still silver and black #amber-is-gay

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fans4wga · 11 months

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'Hollywood Is on Strike Against High-Tech Exploitation' - by Alex N. Press

"LOS ANGELES — Before she appeared on HBO’s White House Plumbers and Fox’s New Girl, Stevie Nelson hosted a television show on Nickelodeon. On Crashletes, she and her cohosts, along with an audience of kids, reacted to viral videos of people failing at sports. The production ran for three seasons, wrapping at the end of 2020 with a total of sixty episodes.

Nelson worries that soon, a studio could use that body of work to train artificial intelligence (AI) to create a likeness of her to be used in perpetuity: a digital Stevie Nelson, doing things that she has never done, saying things that she has never said, yet indistinguishable from the real Stevie Nelson, based on her past on-screen work.

“There’s enough footage of me that they could technically have me host other shows for the rest of my life without ever having done it, and I’m sure I would not be fairly compensated for it,” said Nelson. “The idea of not a real person hosting shows is scary. The magic of acting, and of hosting, is its impromptu nature. I can’t imagine how soulless it all would be to replace it with AI.”

Nelson and I were speaking on Monday, July 17, a few feet from the picket line outside of Netflix’s corporate office in Los Angeles. She’s a member of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), one of 160,000 such members who were then on their second day of a nationwide strike. In walking out, the performers joined roughly 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), who have been on strike since May 2. The last such double strike was in 1960, when Ronald Reagan was SAG’s president.

Unlike less accessible studios in the Los Angeles area — the standout being NBC Universal, which currently lacks pedestrian walkways and shade thanks to studio machinations — Netflix is in the heart of Hollywood. On Monday, morale was high: hundreds of union members picketed while music that sampled news coverage of the strike blasted from stereos and union staff supplied workers with beverages, snacks, and sunscreen as the temperatures soared above 90 degrees.

Nelson’s fears that an avatar of herself will host television shows indefinitely in a digital purgatory might sound far-fetched, an idea more fit for a Black Mirror script than the real world, but such a possibility is central to what is now the largest strike in the United States. In negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for a new three-year TV/theatrical contract, SAG-AFTRA is seeking to regulate the use of AI to protect performers like her.

Writers want to regulate the usage of AI in their own negotiations with the studios, but the technology poses an even more immediate threat to performers. SAG-AFTRA proposed provisions that would require the studios to get informed consent from a performer before using her likeness and fairly compensate her for that use. They also offered proposals concerning the use of generative AI for training purposes.

The AMPTP didn’t agree. While the organization called its AI counterproposal “unprecedented,” SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland characterized the studios’ offer as unacceptable.

“In this ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal that they gave us yesterday, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation,” said Crabtree-Ireland at a press conference on Friday, July 15, announcing that the union’s board of directors had voted unanimously to call a strike. “If you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”

“The companies have responded to a number of the proposals we put on the table, but the problem is that the devil is in the details,” explained Crabtree-Ireland on The Town, a podcast about the entertainment industry. “We had reached some agreement on there being a requirement for consent but from our point of view, it has to be informed consent. Consent is not a boilerplate provision at the time you’re first hired on a project that says, ‘The company can create a digital replica of you and use it for whatever purpose they want, forever.’”

[continue reading]

#sag-aftra strike #sag strike #ai #union solidarity #current events #actors strike #fans4wga #wga strong #wga strike #writers strike

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ammonitetheseaserpent · 1 year

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Alrightee, so, after seeing many others’ thoughts and theories on ATA, after watching many different playthroughs, noticing new things and drawing new ideas each time, I think I finally have a full narrative of what I personally think the whole situation of this game could be.

It seems like Hameln is dabbling in the demonic arts from multiple sources, by using some sort of magic from Celtic symbols/sigils and making sacrifices to demons in the Ars Goetia (maybe even other dark creatures as well) to gain their favor. But first they need a subject to practice this magic on, and a reliable way of getting sacrifices without raising too much suspicion toward the company. So, when they see how popular Amanda the Adventurer - especially Rebecca - is with neighborhood kids, well… if they could syndicate this show to a national level, their plans just might go better than they could have expected…

So they do just that, and secretly coerce Rebecca into helping them with their experiments with dark magic practice and attempted demon summoning - after all, she is the heart and soul of the show, and they definitely want to keep that appeal for the sake of their plans. Sam begins to catch on that something suspicious is going on, though, so they make him disappear, and leave Rebecca (and the public) with the impression that he abandoned her. Soon after, they have her sign a contract that seals her fate and traps her soul in the show.

Now, who do I think Wooly is… I don’t see him as bad himself - I think he’s a vessel being spoken through by some living being, like Rebecca’s speaking through Amanda. I think there are two opposing entities behind the screen in this show; Rebecca and the being (or one of the beings) Hameln actually managed to get ahold of via their experiments: the demon Balam. Unlike Rebecca, he was put in the show willingly and may have some ability to act outside of it (part of me thinks the “Amanda demon” might be him or some other demon/sinister creature). He plays Wooly’s part while also trying to keep Rebecca steered away from recounting anything disturbing/anything that might hint toward her true identity, but in a subtle way that an everyday viewer may just chalk up to Wooly’s timid/cautious personality. When that doesn’t work, though, he may manipulate the background of the show (i.e. he butcher shop scene in the second In Your Neighborhood tape), or even Rebecca herself (i.e. her levitating/having that wool over her eyes if we refuse to help the kitten). I also think he’s (at least to some degree) our Pied Piper here, and is compelling children who watch the show and sending them to Hameln for more of their experiments. Speaking of these experiments, I think the buildings/trees/other structures with eyes are other children that have been trapped in the show, and I also like the theory that the butcher shop contains the remains of children who got sacrificed.

With Wooly/Balam keeping an eye on her, Rebecca is forced to come up with more subtle ways to ask for help in order to get them past the demon’s radar. Using the kitten as a parallel to herself twice, possibly trying to get Kate for help in the second tape, and I’ve even seen someone point out that Mr. Fox could be a parallel to her dad Sam, wondering what could have actually happened to him (“what made you die?”/“what made you disappear?”). Eventually, she reaches a point where she’s had enough of sending these coded cries for help and decides to do something to fight back against the demon, hopefully getting rid of him or at least slowing him down. So, she first does this in a more subtle way by turning Wooly into a non-sentient sheep, and then later, she takes a more direct approach by capturing and killing off Wooly. Getting to the last tape, something that’s different abt the intro to this episode (besides the absence of Wooly) is that Amanda hesitates before introducing herself, and I personally like to think this is Rebecca considering using her real name for a second, now that she may be at least somewhat in the clear. She’s also drawing Mr. Fox, which I thinks lends some more credibility to the Mr. Fox-represents-Sam theory, as the fox and the kitten are the only fully animal characters to appear in two different tapes. She opens up directly about her situation for the first time, and I think the TV screaming and glitching out is from Balam finally catching up and. basically throwing a fit over being semi-thwarted.

I want to mention one final thing. I’m not completely sure it means anything that we have to specifically trap and kill a mouse to get meat for the meat pie, or if it’s connected to Hameln as their logo is a mouse. But if it does have some sort of meaning, I think it might be that we/Riley are going to take down/help take down Hameln - probably by giving them a dose of their own medicine and leading them into some sort of trap - and set Rebecca free. Aunt Kate has gathered a bunch of information, but (supposedly) wasn’t able to do much with it. Now that she’s passed on this info to her niece, though, and we’re up to speed, we (probably along w/ the raincoat figure if they’re an ally) can finally put it to good use.

#amanda the adventurer #amanda riley #rebecca colton #ata wooly #wooly the sheep #sam colton #aunt kate #hameln #theory #long post #random snippets of my day

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church-of-lilith · 1 year

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Honestly what does give me a little comfort in kind of a messed up way is the fact that us sapphics aren't exactly alone-they pretty much screwed over EVERY minority lmao: Nate's storyline wasn't really explored and mostly centered around his relationship with Jade, Keeley could have had a whole fish out of water storyline like Ted about winning over her coworkers but instead the focused on her relationship drama, completely wasted Edwin and Shandy's potential for cheap laughs, gave a half assed attempt at writing Sam's storyline only to call him literally getting hate crimed a "big whoop" and never address it again, never actually giving Dani a storyline, like the list goes on and on XD its honestly kind of impressive how they managed to lowkey tear down their entire legacy Omg if you can edit your reddit post you should also mention how the only other sapphic character on the entire show is that creepy dog breeder..

This is so true. It feels like they dropped the ball for every single minority character and the longer you think about it the worse it gets.

Let’s talk Nate for a second because his whole storyline really baffles me. They had him coaching at Westham, and then they had him quit (or was he fired?) from Westham OFF SCREEN? And then suddenly an episode later he’s back as the assistant kitman for Richmond? I’ll never understand why these writers were so dead set on him coming back to Richmond, all so he could just fade into the background. And while I do believe the whole kit man decision was a temporary one, and that going forward they made him a coach again, I don’t like the implication that he worked through his issues this whole season to just end up back where he was. There’s no reason Nate couldn’t have gone off and gotten another coaching job at another team! He’s still the Wonder Kid, clearly has mad skills and credibility, you can’t tell me there isn’t a team who would have wanted him! I understand he had to return to Richmond briefly to have closure and make his apologies, but then he could’ve gone off to coach elsewhere and continued to spread the Lasso Way and change the lives of other people! We didn’t need him at Richmond when basically all the work has already been done. I wish they would’ve given me any indication that he’d really been impacted by this whole arc he went through & then gone off to be the change he wanted to see in the world.

Keeley’s whole storyline being about Jack & the business was such a waste of Juno Temple’s amazing acting, and an underutilization of the fan favorite character we know and love. Most everything about her seemed so off this season? And as you pointed out, she really didn’t even become Miss Independent until the very end when Rebecca took over financing and she was able to make decisions about her own business finally. I would’ve much rather they had Rebecca funding it from the start (or at least earlier in the season) so we could have seen her adventures and misadventures through running her own company that didn’t have anything to do with her messy, exploitative relationship with Jack.

The way I feel about them trying to tackle racism with Sam’s storyline is the same way I feel about them trying to tackle homophobia with Colin’s. If you’re gonna half ass it, don’t do it at all. And they certainly didn’t put half the amount of time and effort they needed to into thinking up how to properly handle Sam’s storyline. We went through the whole hate crime that was never addressed again. And then we had this big problem with Edwin in the final episodes where he was like “I’m going to destroy your entire life and you’ll never make money with the restaurant and you’ll never play for the National team.” And then that was just NEVER addressed again?? Not even a throwaway line about Rebecca taking care of it or something?? He was suddenly playing on the Team and the only explanation we were given from Brendan during the AMA was that it was due to ‘national outcry’ like give me a break. Not to mention we never saw Simi again and so we never got to see if she and Sam ended up together. We were sort of just left to infer that everything worked out for Sam, and that just doesn’t work for me.

Poor Dani Rojas was doomed to be nothing more than a joke from the very start. He deserved more, but at the same time I’m almost glad they didn’t give him more because the storylines this season were awful.

So yeah, feels like all of the minorities on the show lost. I don’t know how the writers managed to do this in so little time, but you’re right it is really impressive.

#thanks anon!#how did every character manage to lose #ted lasso #nathan shelley #nate shelley #keeley jones #jack x keeley #sam obisanya #colin hughes #dani rojas

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lenbryant · 11 months

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(Long rePost) "Blood in the water"

How SAG-AFTRA strike will create global havoc for Hollywood - Los Angeles Times

SAG-AFTRA members picket outside Netflix in Hollywood on Friday, the first day of the union’s strike — and first such walkout in 43 years.

(Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Hollywood top executives figured they could ride out a skirmish with screenwriters reeling from technology’s changes to the industry.

But few executives were prepared for — or wanted — a strike by the industry’s largest union, SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors and other performers.

After talks over a new contract collapsed last week, throngs of performers joined writers on picket lines — plunging Los Angeles’ signature industry into chaos and further complicating what some fear could become a long and devastating strike.

Movie shoots have ground to a halt. A-list stars have bailed on film and TV marketing campaigns. Matt Damon, Cillian Murphy and other actors walked outduring Thursday night’s London premiere of Universal Pictures’ highly anticipated “Oppenheimer.”

The upcoming fall TV season could sputter, devoid of new scripted episodes of “Abbott Elementary,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “NCIS.” And media companies that were already struggling to compete in the streaming era could see their fortunes further sink.

“There’s going to be a lot of blood in the water,” Jonathan Taplin, director emeritus of USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab, said. “This is not going to end well.”

Simultaneous strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — the first joint work stoppage since Ronald Reagan led SAG in 1960 — couldn’t come at a worse time for traditional entertainment companies.

Their businesses haven’t fully recovered from pandemic shutdowns. Walt Disney Co., Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery have been grappling with heavy debt loads due to mergers, and also from ordering dozens of shows to ramp up their streaming services. All the while, linear broadcast and cable TV networks have witnessed a precipitous slide in viewers to Netflix and other streaming services.

“The economics of the industry are very challenging — the worst that we’ve ever seen,” veteran media analyst Michael Nathanson said. “A prolonged strike will only make things worse.”

Amid a nationwide rise in labor activity, Hollywood’s discord has taken on the trappings of a larger cultural clash, ostensibly pitting everyday workers against top wage earners, America’s 1%.

On picket lines and social media sites, richly compensated industry leaders, including Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav, are being portrayed as cartoon villains.

Outside Disney’s Burbank headquarters on Friday, a striking worker hoisted a sign that depicted Iger’s face superimposed on a hand-drawn Marie Antoinette figure, holding a raspberry-colored confection under the words: “How about sharing some of that cake, Bob?”

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, center, and SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, left, outside Netflix on Friday.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, best known for starring in the 1990s sitcom “The Nanny,” has been celebrated among striking workers after her rousing speech Thursday to announce her board’s unanimous vote to call a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the organization that negotiates on behalf of the media companies.

Actors are seeking higher minimum pay, increased residuals and revenue sharing with the streamers. They’ve demanded protections against the use of artificial intelligence to simulate background actors, known as “extras.” Writers have made similar demands, saying since the rise of streaming, midlevel writers have struggled to make a living wage.

“The entire business model has been changed because of streaming, digital and AI,” Drescher said. “At some point, you have to say ‘no, we’re not going to take this anymore.’”

The AMPTP defended the offer the group had made to actors, including what it said was the highest percentage increase in pay minimums in 35 years and a “groundbreaking” proposal for AI protections.

“A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life,” the AMPTP said. “The union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry.”

It’s not clear when bargaining sessions with the actors might resume. No talks are currently scheduled.

AMPTP negotiators haven’t met with the WGA in more than two months.

Taplin, a former film producer who wrote a book about artificial intelligence, “The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires Are Selling Out Our Future,” said the threat posed by technology “for all artistic production is gigantic.”

“People worry, in the abstract, about AI replacing workers but here it is, it’s actually happening,” Taplin said. “They don’t want to have to pay for extras anymore, so they could have a scene that has 5,000 AI extras in the background.”

Technology also has upset Hollywood’s hierarchy. AMPTP’s shifting makeup now includes tech giants Amazon, Apple and Netflix — companies that don’t have a tradition of collective bargaining.

Veteran executives said the group, even in good economic times, formed an uneasy alliance. Member companies, including Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Netflix, are more accustomed to battling one another for viewers and revenue.

And some in Hollywood have wondered whether the AMPTP’s shifting makeup will stand in the way of a deal.

When reached for comment, AMPTP spokesperson Scott Rowe said: “The companies remain completely united.”

But unlike past strikes, including the 100-day standoff between writers and studios in 2007-2008, no leading executive has emerged to help broker labor peace.

Director Steven Spielberg, left, Disney CEO Bob Iger and director James Cameron in January.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Wall Street already has placed its bets, punishing the stocks of legacy media companies.

Since the writers’ strike began in May, Disney’s stock has fallen 13% to $88.62 a share. Paramount has dropped more than 30% to $15.96 a share, and Warner Bros. Discovery has declined nearly 7% to $12.40.

Shares of WBD, which owns HBO and CNN, closed at $12.40 on Friday, down nearly 50% since April 2022 when the smaller Discovery absorbed WarnerMedia — a deal that saddled the company with more than $45 billion in debt.

In contrast, Netflix shares have soared 36% to $441.91 since the writers’ strike began.

Netflix now boasts a higher market value — nearly $200 billion — than Disney, the world’s largest entertainment company, which is valued at $162 billion.

“Investors are saying Netflix can weather the storm,” Nathanson said. “They make a lot of shows, and stack them up because of the binge-viewing model. They also have a lot more international production that they can import.”

Disney’s boss, Iger, appeared on business channel CNBC last week from the annual media mogul conference in picturesque Sun Valley, Idaho. The executive, who returned to the company in November, acknowledged that he underestimated the challenges confronting his company — particularly in the traditional television business.

“The disruptive forces that have been preying on that business for a while are greater than I thought,” Iger said. “We have to come to grips with that.”

Disney already has slashed nearly 7,000 jobs this year in an effort to save $5.5 billion. And in a nod to the changing winds, Iger suggested Disney might consider shedding linear channels, perhaps even the ABC television network.

The company, he said, also is open to taking on a strategic partner for ESPN.

Disney’s sports empire remains lucrative, but it is plagued by the trend of consumers ditching cable and satellite subscriptions in favor of streaming apps. At some point, the company plans to offer ESPN directly to consumers — but Iger didn’t say when.

“We’re seeing accelerated cord cutting as people are dropping the cable bundle,” Nathanson said. “And advertisers are no longer supporting the networks as they have in the past.”

Broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — are expected to be hit hard by the twin strikes because they are most reliant on fresh programming. Late-night comedians, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and CBS’ Stephen Colbert, have been off the air since early May, when the writers’ strike began.

If the two walkouts are not resolved before October, there probably won’t be any new scripted shows produced until next year, according to company insiders.

And that could be devastating at a time when traditional networks are struggling to hold on to viewers.

“The networks have sports and news but a lot of their constituents are there to watch the prime-time shows,” said Neil Begley, a senior vice president for Moody’s Investors Service. “Among those viewers, there’s an expectation that fall is the start of the new season. The networks are going to have to reach far and wide for content to fill those hours.”

Compounding matters, this year’s annual TV advertising market, when TV networks sell their commercial time for the new season, has been sluggish.

“Advertisers don’t know what type of programming they’re going to get with these strikes,” Begley said. “They’re saying: Why commit?”

Privately, company executives say their businesses won’t feel much financial pain for several months. Without widespread production, costs will be lower, which translates into higher profits — at least in the short term.

Studios also are expected to begin canceling TV writers’ overall deals to find more savings.

But eventually, networks and streamers will run low on original episodes and media executives will be motivated to reach a detente.

“You can’t get by without actors,” Begley said. “The actors’ strike gave more leverage to the writers.”

Analysts and veteran executives said the market is straining to support all of the streaming services — and shows to stock them — launched in the last five or so years. Hollywood, they say, could look dramatically different after the strikes get resolved.

“Consolidation is going to happen,” predicted Nathanson. “Perhaps the strike will accelerate those moves as the weakness sets in. Some of these players are going to get weaker.”

Times staff writers Richard Verrier, Yvonne Villarreal, Ryan Faughnder, Stephen Battaglio and Anousha Sakoui contributed to this report.

#refrigerator magnet #wga strike #sag/aftra strike #hollywood #labor #pay your writers #pay your actors #union strong

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mensusaonlinestore1 · 6 months

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egginfroggin · 1 year

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For your iced tracks au, who is the Hans in this situation?? And the Kristoff? And how do the gods play into it???

Your aus and fics are super cool by the way!!!!! Thank you for writing and sharing them :)

First of all, thank you so much! I'm so glad that you like my fics, and you're very welcome! ♥️ I really like writing all these things, and I'm glad that you like them!

I will say, before we get into the characters and who is who, that romance is very, very much in the background of the fic. Like, there is basically none until the end.

The Hans is... kind of a combination of a couple of characters, you could say. The main source of antagonist activity comes from internal strife in Unova. Essentially, Hans is a combination of two people: N, who is the one who befriends Emmet, and Ghetsis, who is the actual antagonist.

Essentially, at first Ghetsis wants to take Unova for himself by usurping the princes. To do so, he needs to get close to them, somehow, and uses N as a way to sort of insert himself into their lives.

N is, similar to Emmet, a rather isolated, and while he doesn't crave human interaction as much, he does hit it off with him pretty well and becomes a good friend. He is a kind boy, though, and his naivete is what lets Ghetsis push him into doing such things as disingenuously befriending the younger prince. He feels terrible about it, but surely his father has a good reason... right? He wouldn't do this if it wasn't a good thing, right?

... Right?

Kristoff, as both a love interest and a companion, is best being played by Evelyn, a foreign royal visiting Unova with her sisters for the coronation of Unova's crown prince. She helps Emmet find Ingo, as a way to strengthen international bonds between Kalos and Unova by helping during a time of need and showing goodwill.

(I am a fan of doublebattleshipping, but any romantic stuff will be very much towards the end of the story, and very minor; after all, the focus of the AU is on the twins and bonds, and Emmet and Evelyn are a bit preoccupied with finding Ingo when he bolts, anyway)

They're kind of dorks together. And Evelyn's Entei keeps them warm. He is a Good Boi, and Emmet is glad to have company and a large, warm, fire pupper to help him look for his wayward brother.

Dragon exposition below the cut:

The Dragons... well, Kyurem plays a more direct part than either of the other two. It actually has a decent amount of screen time, later on. It is an enigmatic Dragon, one who is regarded with frightened respect and a good amount of fear.

Reshiram helps later on by holding the ice that Emmet winds up hit with at bay, keeping him from freezing too quickly.

Alas, Zekrom doesn't really have much of a place in what I have planned out at the moment. If there is every a sequel to the main story, it will probably show up then, but at the moment, it is simply the Legendary who was initially expected to bless Ingo, before they figured out that Ingo had "gifts" from Kyurem, not Zekrom. I would love to have it have a presence, definitely, though, even if it doesn't get to play as direct of a part as what Reshiram and Kyurem have.

The Twin Dragons are revered as guardians of Unova, and as manifestations and representations of the Truth and Ideals that guide the nation to prosperity. Kyurem, the third sibling, is generally considered with much less warmth, and is seen more as a source of misfortune -- hence its ties with winter, the season of dearths and death, as mentioned in my author's notes for The Other Side of the Door.

I have so much stuff that I could talk about with folklore and how the Dragons and even the Forces of Nature tie into the seasons, but I think that I'll put that in a different post.

Thank you so much, again, for the ask! Have a good day!

#submas #zekrom #reshiram #kyurem #ghetsis #natural harmonia gropius #battle chatelaine evelyn #iced tracks #pokemon #pokemon au #eggin's writings #egginfroggintalkin #asks #this was fun to answer! thank you!

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terendelev · 2 years

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WOL as NPC - 1. Background and Basics

Name: Calian Thorne

Alternate Name or Alias?: Windcaller (idk lmao)

Race & Job: Hyur, Bard later Dark Knight (learned from Granson in the First between SB and ShB)

Nickname: Cal

Default Tarot Card: The Moon

Do they have the Echo? If so, how did they discover it?: He has and discovered it during a discussion between him and his mother by seeing a vision of his real father.

How/where does the WoL meet them?: He will act as a guide to the Scions and the WoL during the Sylph questline as an acquaintance of Commander Vorsie. Then he will show up again during Haukke Manor quests and will be available as a Bard in the duty support system for the dungeon.

How are they recruited into the Scions?: Papalymo will mention they have met while spending time in Gridania and will suggest him as a potential Crystal Brave candidate. However, he will refuse and offer his services to the Scions instead.

Romanceable?: (Can your character be romanced by the WoL?) Yes. He will break up with the WoL if the truth about his father isn’t revealed and only will commit a long-term relationship if it is revealed.

Where they are in the open world:

During 2.0: He stands outside of the Adders Nest

After being recruited: Mor Dhona near to the markets.

Default saying:

As an NPC: Don’t you think it is awfully hot today?

As a Scion: Who would guess one day I would get out of that damned forest? I suppose I should thank you for it.

What do they typically do off-screen?: Helping the Dalmascan Resistance and learning espionage from Thancred.

Things they Generally Approve of:

- Aiding the nations under Garlean rule.

- Researching history

- Second chances

Things they Generally Disapprove of:

- Someone threatening him

- Strangers calling him Cal

- The Elementals

Are they in a Grand Company? Which one?: No <3

Friends:

Within the Scions: Thancred, Alisaie, Riol, Lyse, and G’raha

Outside the Scions: Leih, Guydelot, Foulques

Small side mission(s): If the Wol have done Ivalice Raids one day a middle-aged man will ask for their help as a representative of the Dalmascan Resistance. If they accept the quest in the end they will learn that he is Calian’s uncle and he will reveal the truth about his father which unlocks his full romance.

(He also shows up in Gangos briefly to deliver extra tools for Cid.)

In addition to this Calian has a quest where the WoL assists him to help the Duskwight kid outside of the Lancer’s guild –who is bullied by the Wood Wailers- by convincing Ywain to take him into the guild and then training him by themselves instead.

Potential tarot card changes:

If accepted into the Scions: The World

If romanced by the WoL: Temperance

Thanks for tagging @azure-dragonsinger It was really fun to do and helped to improve my mood hehe. I am tagging @zahra-hydris @avallachs and @engferth but only yo would like to!

#i thought about adding 'will commit a relationship with riol if isn't romanced until the end of SB... lmao #anyway it was really fun!

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sug4rsweet · 8 months

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[ GET TO KNOW … KAORI ! ]

[ BASICS ! ]

BIRTH NAME ! takahashi kaori

ENGLISH NAME ! kimberley ava takahashi

KOREAN NAME ! yoo do-hee

CHINESE NAME ! liu xiaoyan

NICKNAMES ! kashi, kaorin, ri-chan, kim, kimmy, kimbo

BIRTHDAY ! february 6th, 1995

ZODIAC ! aquarius

BIRTHPLACE ! aoyama, tokyo, japan

HOMETOWN ! yanaka, tokyo, japan / new york city, new york

ETHNICITY ! japanese

NATIONALITY ! japanese-american

SEXUALITY ! lesbian

[ PHYSICAL ! ]

HEIGHT ! 5’7” 1/2 (171.5 cm)

WEIGHT ! 113 lbs (51 kg)

BLOOD TYPE ! AB

PIERCINGS ! none

TATTOOS !

— the letter k (on her right wrist !)

— iris flower (on her left upper arm !)

— lotus flower (on her right upper arm !)

— cluster of stars (on her right upper arm !)

— a crescent moon (on her neck !)

— a star (on her right ankle !)

[ CLAIMS ! ]

FACE CLAIM ! hirai momo (twice)

VOICE CLAIM ! nishino kana (soloist / japanese), jeon somi (soloist / korean, english)

DANCE CLAIM ! chaeyeon (soloist / ex-iz*one)

[ CAREER ! ]

COMPANY ! avex trax / jyp entertainment

OCCUPATION ! idol, songwriter, producer, actress, model, fashion designer, dj

DEBUT DATE ! december 7th, 2011

TRAINEE YEARS ! none

YEARS ACTIVE ! 2011–present

SURVIVAL SHOWS ! produce 48 (2018 / ranked 13th), produce camp 2020 (2020 / ranked 9th)

FANDOM NAME ! bonbon

COLORS ! #FF69B4 and #FFBF00

[ BACKGROUND ! ]

TAKAHASHI KAORI was born on february 9th, 1995 in aoyama, tokyo, japan. born into a wealthy family, she was the first and only child of TAKAHASHI HIDEHIKO and NAKAMURA MAMIKO. her father is a businessman, while her mother is a socialite, designer, and former idol—having been a member of shōwa era girl group ONYANKO CLUB from 1985 until 1987, and having her own short lived solo career until 1991.

originally a competitive roller skater, kaori took an interest in music through her mother, who would play kayōkyoku throughout the house. kaori would dance to more modern j-pop songs with her mother, and took up choir at her school for fun. she would discover k-pop shortly after, and would begin posting dance covers to YOUTUBE in 2008. prior to that, in 2004, kaori’s life drastically changed, as her parents were forced to divorce. her father’s family often expressed disapproval towards their son’s marriage to a woman from a low income family, and tried to unsuccessfully convince hidehiko to divorce mamiko himself in the past. following her parents’ divorce, kaori and her mother were forced to move out of their upper class neighborhood and move into a smaller apartment, and mamiko—who was unable to pay rent on her own—had to take up jobs as a receptionist and kyabajō. kaori was initially allowed to stay with her father, but after a few years, his family was granted permission to cease her visits. kaori wouldn’t see her father in person again until 2012.

in 2006, kaori and her mother moved to new york, as her mother had gotten a higher paying job at HARPER’S BAZAAR magazine. kaori lived in new york for five years, finding work as an actress and model, and continuing to skate in the meantime, before moving back to japan to attend high school—and completely on her own. she would begin modeling for gyaru magazines such as EGG, VIVI, SEVENTEEN, and RANZUKI and for brands such as JSG and DIAMOND LASH, and that same year, she made her debut as an actress, starring in her first big screen film. she would have a supporting role in a j-drama, and the show’s subsequent success caught the attention of AVEX TRAX. kaori accepted their six album contract, and would spend the next year recording her debut album. on DECEMBER 7TH, 2011, her debut single—“TREAT ME (AKACHAN O ATSUKATTE)”—was released.

kaori’s debut was a success, and over the next few years, she would grow to become one of japan’s most successful idols. she would make a successful chinese debut in 2013, and would try her hand at the american market in 2014 with a decently successful album. that same year, she would launch her own clothing brand, JAZZY. in 2018, looking to break into the korean market, avex would send kaori onto PRODUCE 48, hoping to get her into the show’s final group. neither from an AKB group or a korean agency, kaori was an independent trainee with zero training under her belt. despite that, her pre-existing popularity and experience prevailed, giving her a high grade, consistently high rankings, and a center position. unfortunately, she ended up at 13—just one place off from the final spot.

regardless, kaori moved on, releasing a successful album in japan later that year. in 2020, in order to increase her presence in china, she was sent to compete on PRODUCE CAMP 2020. yet again, she ended up at 9th place—failing to make it into the final group. like before, though, she moved on. and in 2023, kaori would return to korea again, signing with JYP ENTERTAINMENT and making her official debut with her album SALTY+SWEET. she has garnered a sizable fanbase in both korea and the united states, and is one of asia’s most WELL KNOWN singers.

#🍬 … KAORI !#PROFILE !#kpop oc #fictional idol community #kpop oc soloist #koc soloist #kpop soloist #kpop solo artist #jpop oc #jpop oc soloist #idol oc #idol soloist #idol oc soloist

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archeroryw944 · 9 months

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10 No-fuss Ways To Figuring Out Your Cuisine Whatsfordinner

Among the greatest obstacles you will encounter when starting a dining establishment service is the absence of certified labor. With the growth of the food solution industry there is a strong need for professional workers in an already diminished labor force.

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• The Manager-- This setting is one of the most crucial position in your restaurant. The best selection will be somebody that has actually handled one or more dining establishments in your location and also concept. They will know with local supply resources and methods of obtaining materials. Your manager needs to have excellent management abilities and also the ability to efficiently oversee workers. They need to remain firm yet pleasant and also fair with the workers.

The Best Kept Secrets About Kilkenny Restaurants

If you want to get as well as maintain a quality manager, you will need to pay them a great wage. You can expect to pay a supervisor with valuable experience $30 to $40 thousand a year plus a perk. A supervisor that is just out of institution and also joining you in an entry level position will certainly gain $22 to $26 thousand a year. If you offer earnings sharing you will certainly discover it is a fantastic motivation for staff members to make your restaurant a success.

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• Servers-- The servers that you work with when starting a restaurant business, require to make an excellent perception and job well under pressure. They are the workers who will have the most contact with the client, as well as need to meet their needs while maintaining a pleasant mindset. Servers are typically paid somewhat more than minimum wage due to the fact that they earn a lot of their revenue from tips. Ensure your servers get along with the customer and also have the energy as well as stamina to do the work well.

#Takeaway Athlone

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