#Wells Fargo Near Me

[mfi-miami]

Latino Wells Fargo Employees Accuse Bank Of Anti-Latino Bias

Here We Go Again! Latino Wells Fargo Employees Accuse Bank Of Anti-Latino Bias In A Predatory Lending Scheme A group of current and former Latino Wells Fargo employees has filed a federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo. The employees from the company’s bilingual mortgage sales team are alleging race-based discrimination.  The suit alleges:  “Wells Fargo forces its employees on the Bilingual team…

[darkarches]

Help protect Weelaunee Forest and stop the construction of cop city!

There was a conference last night for the Stop Cop City week of solidarity coming up February 19th-26th.

The main takeaway is that if people are interested in taking action, the best thing to do would be to target the construction company that the police have contracted, the funders of the project, and the insurance company insuring the project. The cops are the ones who want cop city built, but they can't do it without the groups mentioned above.

The construction company is Brasfield and Gorrie. My understanding is the company itself probably won't turn a huge profit from the project and is mostly doing it to strengthen relations with the police. If we can show them they will lose money from this project they may pull out. One way to show them how unprofitable this venture would be for them is to make it harder for them to complete other projects they're working on. One suggestion from the conference is that those who live near construction projects being done by Brasfield and Gorrie could try to obstruct progress on these projects to show there will be repercussions if they don't pull out of cop city.

The main funders of the project are big banks and corporations. I've included a link at the bottom with more details but some of the groups funding this are Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Target, Home Depot, and Chik-fil-a. The Atlanta Police Foundation is also helping fund and support the project. Below I've linked a map that shows the locations of these funders and offices of members of the Atlanta Police Foundation.

The insurance company signed onto the cop city project is AXA. At the conference last night it was emphasized that AXA is the main target we want to go after during the upcoming week of solidarity. The destruction of the forest cannot continue without an insurance company covering them. I did a quick google search and was able to find several AXA offices near me. Like with Brasfield and Gorrie, if we put the pressure on AXA they will hopefully realize this project is simply not worth it and pull out.

This is a list of targets which includes a map of where these targets are located throughout the US. There is also a list of actions that people can take, but be creative.

Nobody wants cop city except the police and corporations. Let's help save the Weelaunee Forest!

[stonathandreamer]

Married!Stonathan with a daughter headcanons to brighten your day ✨

🔸 Masterlist

🔹 You can read part 1 here | part 2 here | part 3 here

A/N: I've been thinking about Steve and Jonathan having a kid a lot lately! Also, might've turned this into a semi-fanfic, but I don't care!

--------------------------✨✨--------------------------

✨ First of all, I want to tell you that I headcanon Jonathan as being a photojournalist (because that's his dream job and I want my baby boy to be HAPPY!) and Steve... Well, I imagine him as a police officer (maybe because of the fact that Joe Keery played a cop in the 5th Season of Fargo, but it also opens the possibility of imagining Steve working with Father-in-law!Hopper!);

✨ Their daughter's name is Elizabeth Harrington-Byers, but they call her Lizzie or Liz (because I love the name "Elizabeth," and it's definitely a name Steve and Jonathan would pick);

✨ They only call her "Elizabeth" when they're mad at her (which is pratically never);

✨ Steve tries teaching her how to say his name as her first word (because "daddy" could be either of them), so Jonathan tries teaching her his name;

✨ Joyce watches over her when they're at work. Steve and Jonathan (mostly Jonathan) call her every hour or so to check on Lizzie;

✨ Jonathan takes thousands of pictures of Lizzie and proudly shows them to Nancy;

✨ Nancy and Robin proudly take on the role of the "cool aunts";

— Robin: [Holding Elizabeth and pointing at Steve] Say "dingus", Lizzie!

— Steve: [Taking Elizabeth from Robin's arms] Don't come near my daughter ever again, Robin.

✨ One time, Elizabeth babbled something that sounded eerily similar to "mama," and it sent Steve and Jonathan into a spiral of panic;

— Steve: Did she just say "mama"?!

— Jonathan: No, no, no, no! It’s just baby talk... Probably.

✨ Her first word was, obviously, "dada," and she said it while pointing at both of them;

✨ Thanks to Steve's lack of a baby filter, Elizabeth knows a couple of bad words;

— Joyce: [Calling Jonathan] Your daughter just said "shit." You, Steve, and I are going to have a talk later...

— Jonathan: But, mom! It's Steve's fault...!

✨ Uncle!Will has a special nickname for his niece - Lilibet - and no one else is allowed to use it, not even Mike;

✨ They often get confused whenever Elizabeth calls dad because they don't know which one she's calling;

— Elizabeth: Dad!

— Jonathan: Yeah, sweetie?

— Elizabeth: No, Dad Steve!

✨ Elizabeth, in turn, gets confused when Steve and Jonathan call themselves "dad;"

— Steve: Okay, Lizzie, dad's going to work now, and your other dad's staying here with you.

— Elizabeth: Which one?

— Steve: Me.

— Elizabeth: So... You're staying home with me?

— Jonathan: [Sighs] No, sweetheart, I'm staying home with you.

✨ These are life long confusions, by the way;

✨ Uncle Will and Uncle Mike, who are a comic book illustrator and a writer, respectively, make several special comics for their niece;

✨ Elizabeth calls every member of the Party "Uncle" or "Aunt" much to El, Will and Mike's (her real uncles and aunt) annoyance;

✨ The party definitely teaches her how to play D&D - they haven't played that game in years, so they're a little rusty;

✨ As his daughter gets older, Jonathan starts to worry if she'll stop seeing them as her parents because they're not biologically related, or if she'll start asking for a mom;

✨ They're terribly concerned if she'll suffer bullying when Elizabeth starts at school;

✨ Jonathan is a bit more overprotective than Steve, and also a bit more strict too (but just a tiny bit);

✨ But he also has a huge soft spot for her. All Elizabeth needs is a "puppy eyes" stare, and Daddy Jonathan will do anything she wants;

✨ One time, Elizabeth got into a fight at school because some students were making fun of her for having two dads, and Lizzie, being Jonathan Byers' daughter, kicked their asses.

— Steve: Ha! She has your fighting prowess, Jon!

— Jonathan: Don't encourage her, Steve.

— Steve: Oh, come on, she was just defending our honor!

— Jonathan: [Sighing] Alright, fine... It was kinda cool.

✨ They freaked out a little bit (actually, a lot) when their daughter had her first period;

— Steve: [Holding two different brands of pads at the pharmacy] What's the difference between this one and this one?

— Jonathan: Uh... This one is regular and this one is ultra-thin.

— Steve: Ok... So what's the difference?

— Jonathan: [Sighs] We should've called Nancy... Or Robin... Or any woman...

— Steve: We're taking both!

✨ Jonathan teaches her photography and even buys her a Polaroid camera for her birthday;

✨ Steve teaches her basketball, but Elizabeth's favorite sport is soccer. They watch soccer matches together, and Steve lets her curse freely, much to Jonathan's chagrin;

✨ They enjoy torturing Elizabeth's boyfriends. After all, a boyfriend's worst nightmare is meeting his girlfriend's dad, and Elizabeth happens to have two, so double the nightmare;

✨ It's Jonathan who teaches her how to drive because, and I quote, "your dad Steve drives like a cop chasing robbers";

✨ They love embarrassing her with stories of when they were younger;

— Steve: Hey, Liz, have I ever told you how I fell in love with your dad?

— Elizabeth: Ugh. Not again...

— Steve: He kicked my ass in high school! That's when I realized, "This is the man I want to marry!"

— Jonathan: And did you know your dad used to work at an ice cream parlor called "Scoops Ahoy"? Steve, go grab the photo album, show her the pictures I took of you wearing that cute sailor uniform!

— Elizabeth: Please, no!

✨ Elizabeth would never do even half of the stupid things Steve and Jonathan did when they were teenagers. Still, they worry she might do something dumb;

— Jonathan: But Liz is such a good kid...

— Steve: Yeah, but she's also our daughter!

— Jonathan: ... Fair point.

✨ When Elizabeth turns into a teenager, Steve realises his dream of having "six little nuggets" would be a nightmare, so they decide to stick with just one kid... For now.

[seancekitsch]

Wow, I can get sexual too: An Adrian Chase x reader fic- Chapter 3

series masterlist here

warnings: eventual smut, masturbation, twitter nude culture, the very slightest dub con but not really just saying this to be safe, mutual pining, idiots in love, perv!reader but also perv!adrian

Shit, you think as you throw the door to headquarters open. You’d spent all morning wondering and worrying and sitting in your anxiety that you made two wrong turns after getting in your car ten minutes later than you usually do.

“Finally!” Leota shouts and you practically throw yourself onto the piano bench, not even bothering to take off your sunglasses. 

“And just where the hell were you?” Emilia’s voice cuts across the room. 

“My phone died,” you offer, a lie and a lame excuse, “So I woke up late.”

“Okay, slut,” Chris mutters, rolling his eyes. You fling your sunglasses off your face and in his direction.

“Sexist!” Adebayo yells, and Chris immediately apologizes. 

“She’s not a slut, she was with me last night!” Adrian pipes up.

“With you?” Chris’ eyes widen and you honestly wish for the first time in your life that Adrian would shut up. Even though he was defending you it just fuels his best friend’s fire. 

“Yeah, it was Fargo night,” Adrian pushes up his glasses and gets up. You decide to tune out whatever happens next. It's a tactic you and Economos have figured out by now, that if you start playing on your phone the others will stop bickering and lose interest.

“Dude, I thought you were practicing how to lie,” Chris says, and you open up twitter to mindlessly scroll. Adrian gets up and starts pacing, and you tune out the following argument as you try to read people’s shit takes on whatever is happening now on week two of the #Scandoval fiasco. Adrian circles the room around your chairs and the bench mindlessly, and you can already feel their argument die down under Emilia and Economos’ glares. 

You swipe your thumb awkwardly until you come across a video. It takes you three seconds to notice that it's another video from @mattvtweets and to recognize Adrian’s footsteps coming up behind you.

You quickly hit the like button with your thumb and try to scroll as quickly as possible to avoid being caught. 

A near miss of disaster as Adrian’s path lets him pass behind the pulled out piano bench to see what exactly you're looking at. You're in the clear, you're safe, you have quick thumbs.

“Why are you even using the word slut?” King of the hour John Economos chimes in. He sounds just as bored and over this conversations as everyone else- save for Chris and Adrian.

“It sounds like you both need to work on your internal misogyny,” He snarks, and it shuts them both up almost immediately. You figure yourself safe to tune out and drop out of the attention of the team, tuning back in when Emilia sounds serious and scrolling your phone the rest of the time.

The hours pass slowly, but all at once at the same time. The old clock on the dingy wall ticks as it moves, counting your minutes here even though you've lost track. You've scrolled your entire Instagram feed, and caught up on all of the Twitter drama you can find. The only thing left is…. Well, you're not going to touch that twitter account with a ten foot pole right now.

You lock your phone and discard it only to be faced with the rest of the team looking at her expectantly. 

“Well? What do you think, Cowgirl?” Adrian asks, his eyebrow quirked so hard you can see it over the rim of his glasses. Your eyes widen and you can feel yourself heat up just at the nickname. How can you not after what you saw this morning? The tweet? The use of your emoji in it? The way he fucking laid himself out on the couch you had just been on and sloppily, hastily jerked himself off like he was pent up and thinking of you. Fuck, you’re hot all over from a simple word, pathetic and needing and he’s never even touched you like that. Never even tried.

“Yeah sure,” you respond, not missing a beat but not at all knowing what you’re agreeing to. 

“Good! I’ll pick you up after patrols tomorrow,” he confirms, and you nod. 

Sure. You’ll go with him wherever this is tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s plan, as it turns out, is nothing dangerous or insane. 

Your Number: Hey so…. Don’t kill me…

Adrian’s Number: Why? Did you graffiti that one froyo place?

Your Number: Listen, they would deserve it

Your number: It's not ice cream. 

Your number: I wasn't listening when we were planning for tomorrow.

Fuck you're annoying, you think, just say it all in one text.

Adrian’s Number: Silly 🤠. That would be a crime. 

Adrian’s Number: We’re going to the bar for something Adebayo calls “Team Bonding”

Adrian’s Number: Apparently it’s what A.R.G.U.S. did before Harcourt and Economos got demoted to our team. 

At least you're not the only one who triple texts.

Your Number: So we’re going drinking?

Adrian’s Number: Yep. Picking you up around 9 tomorrow 🧜‍♂️

You sit for a second and think about that. He’s ending patrols early for a Friday to pick you up, something he never does. Oh fuck. What if, God forbid he knows about you knowing about his online activities and he’s getting you alone to get on you about it? Oh but then he should have just blocked you or asked someone higher up that you switch teams… 

Or what if it’s chill? Your overthinking stops because this is Adrian. Adrian says what he means and means what he says. If he wanted to yell at you or wanted you gone he’d have made that known. It’s okay. Like Han Solo says, fly casual. 

Your Number: Sounds good! 🤠

You toss your phone to be devoured by the duvet and your mind flies into overdrive. 

You decide almost immediately you have to make a move.

His last twitter video that you had liked at work had no mention of you, or anyone really, but it was enough to push you over the edge both physically and emotionally. You can't keep living like this. You can't spend this much time yearning with your hand between your legs. You have to do something one way or another. 

If this fails, you can always get yourself transferred to another team or even go back to Gotham. No matter what though, you have to do something.

You let yourself slip into another uneasy sleep without plugging in your phone, your only thoughts being of Adrian again, a common occurrence these days. Dreaming of his lopsided smile and his hard body, on you and under you and everything in between. Of standing in the mirror with him, then on your knees in front of him, watching through the mirror as he fucks you from behind, one hand on your throat and the other holding his phone. Fuck, you’re a goner for Adrian Chase.

The next morning you're restless, knee bouncing when you're perched at your breakfast bar on a stool. You spread cream cheese on an onion bagel in a haste as you think over your options. You can't keep going on like this.

But how do you make a move on a guy like him? How do you make a move on a guy who you know has never been in a real relationship and has you so sexually frustrated you feel desperate even when he’s not around?

Obviously, tonight has to be when you make your move… if the opportunity presents itself. If you cant get him alone at the bar then you can't flirt, and that will leave you exactly like you are now; horny, nervous, restless.

You can't believe you're like this. You’re actively losing sleep at this point over looking at a nude twitter. Part of you feels like a fucking creep. Its Adrian, for god’s sake. What would that say about you if he ever found out? You’d never live it down. Youre a fucking pervert. 

Maybe this isn't a good idea, you think, do you really want to risk your friendship with Adrian?

No, you realize as you finish off your bagel, you want to at least try. Back in Gotham you’re sure they could call you a lot of things, but a quitter is certainly not one of them. It’s not much of a stretch to think that his tweets could be about you, especially with those captions and how he’s been acting lately. Last nights almost-cuddling and almost-flirting were enough to tell you that there isn’t nothing between you. Adrian seemed like he wanted to be closer, maybe if it hadn’t been so late he would have even put an arm around you. 

That settles it, you think. You want his arm around you. His twitter driving you up a wall be damned, you want his fucking arm around you on Fargo night. You want the weird little nickname and you want everything Adrian can offer you. It’s decided, Operation Mermaid is a go.

The rest of your day passes calmly, you read a little, you scroll Instagram and Twitter, but nothing really happens. It’s odd, especially for you, to hear the absence of noise like this. Gotham never seemed to dull below a shout, and the silence of Evergreen now sets you on edge. It’s probably why you busy yourself whenever you aren’t with the team with mindless phone games or social media. Honking or screaming or whatever the fuck Batman’s looney tunes are up to became something you didn’t even register after the first week. But here, it’s been months of silence. That’s why you started watching Fargo in the first place. Adrian spent an entire morning talking your ear off about his television routines before Chris shut him up, but you absolutely didn’t mind. It’s like Adrian had known you weren’t adjusting well and his suggestions came at the perfect moment.

You start getting ready four hours early, totally not out of anxiousness or anything like that. You showered, shaved, washed hair, and did everything you could to make it look like you tried but also like you absolutely didn't try. The others would absolutely call you out if your tried too hard appearance wise, except for your ace in the hole. You have an idea that you know will absolutely kill without earning the weird looks from the others.

You search for your ace in the hole everywhere in your drawer. You find the bra. It's a vintage bra, black and satin with teal stitching from the Dita Von Teese collection. Its full coverage but it cups you in the best ways, accentuating any curve you have with the vintage cuts, but the color scheme was supposed to be the piece de resistance. It's fucked that they arent' easy to find.

Where could it be?

You search your second drawer from the top, and its all full of workout leggings and barre bodysuits. You search the next drawer and all it contains is your favorite sweatshirts. You have the bra but the matching panties are nowhere in place. Fuck. 

Okay, you have a black lacy pair that can be an alternate. They don't need to match exactly even though they do, they really do.

You even go as far as to look at the Dita Von Teese website and see if there’s same day shipping, but there's not. You're stuck with a bra that's exactly his suit colors and a high waisted thong that's close enough but not what you wanted. It's fine, you tell yourself as you get dressed the rest of the way, casual enough to be inconspicuous but flirty enough to hopefully drive Adrian wild.

And then your watch pings. 

@mattvtweets: This is dedicated to somebody very special.

You freeze as if struck by lightning. Adrian is in front of his usual mirror, but the lighting is darker than usual, you can tell that his kitchen lights are off. It's not just his own hand wrapped around his cock this time, he's got some kind of cloth. 

You check the time, 8:30 pm, and you crash back against your couch as you watch Adrian work himself.

If you ignore your feelings, they'll go away.

Ignore it, you tell yourself. 

But you dont listen to yourself, and your thumb strokes your clit through your sweatpants as you continue to stare at the video, continue to stare and-

Holy Fuck.

Those are your panties. The black cloth in the video is your panties. He pulled too hard on the fabric,  he showed his hand by doing it. It's him, those are your panties, it's him holding your panties around his cock, there's no mistake. The teal stitching is too clear, too obvious. 

It's everything I wanted. It's everything I fear.

Your hand unconsciously circle your clit and then your watch pings again.

Adrian’s Number: Hey! 🤠

Your Number: Hey you!

Adrian’s number: Ready? Be there in half an hour.

Your number: Sure.

How were you to face him now? Still wearing the black and teal bra and still worked up? Still knowing he had your matching panites at his place? Fuck. Any Evergreen lady woulda said this was a honky tonk dream come true. Adrian doesn't honky tonk though, and your job is on the line. You throw off your sweatpants in honor of the replacement panties and a pair of your tightest jeans, matched only with a top that complemented the Dita Von Teese you already tried wearing. A spritz of your sexiest fragrance and you guess that enough to send you out the door. 

He honks the horn of his Sebring not twenty six minutes later and while you're still struggling to wiggle a skirt on in lieu of the jeans from before after taking a look in the mirror and hating the outfit

Fuck!

You work yourself together, plan almost be damned, as this isn't the outfit but an outfit you liked, disheveled and thrown together but hopefully in a way that's charming and not trashy.

You would have liked it more if Adrian didn't have half of your matching set. You would have like surprising Adrian with it, watching his face as your unwrapped yourself lie a gift for him.

It's no worry, you tell yourself, as you brush a comb through your hair one last time and look at your outfit, your bra sort of  matching those panties practically peeking out. Fuck, it has to be me, right? You ponder and worry and yell, but you sit and do your eyeliner and you wait for Adrian to text. 

He knocks at your door, four, then three, then two, then one. 

Time’s up.

“Hey, Ade!” you greet him warmly as you open the door, as if you'd pregamed but you haven't.

“Hey, Cowgirl!” He puts an arm around you and leads you towards the car, and you glady let him guide you. 

Here goes nothing! You think.

[metaldeputy]

Layover in North Dakota by littlebitofkeery

Rating: Explicit Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson/Gator Tillman Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Timelines, Post-Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2, Stranger things meets Fargo, No Fargo spoilers, Gator Tillman - Freeform, steddie, Lots of Sex, all the sex, did I mention there’s sex?, Gator Tillman is a little unhinged, Post-Vecna (Stranger Things), Not Beta Read, Lust at First Sight, Eddie Munson Loves Steve Harrington, Love Confessions, Threesome - M/M/M

Summary:

The crossover that a very select group of people will look for, I’m here to serve 😉 This fic ignores the timelines of both shows involved, meets somewhere in the middle of the two. Eddie Munson needs to get the fuck away from Hawkins. He has survived a near death experience, has been acquitted of the murder charges brought against him, has had maybe the toughest six months of his life. But the cherry on top of the mountain of shit, the straw that finally broke the camels back, was Steve Harrington getting a girlfriend. Pathetic as it is, Eddie could handle the monsters, the lynch mob, the nearly being eaten alive. But he could not handle seeing Steve with someone else. With $500 of government hush money in his glove compartment, he bids the party and uncle Wayne goodbye. Tells them he needs a break from Hawkins for a while. Tells them he will be back but he doesn’t know when exactly. Steve hugs him, holds him, tells him he gets it, tells him he wishes he didn’t have to go.

Short little blurb under the cut!

He leans in close to Gator, whispers in his ear “you wanna escort me to my chambers, Deputy?” The flirting has been cranked up to 100 because Eddie wants this guy. This fucking, pretty-eyed-Steve Harrington lookin’-bad boy- potential-psychopath with the Metallica shirt.. who’s also a.. basically, a Cop? What a heady mixture, Eddie’s dick is already half chubbed beneath his ripped jeans. Truth is, he hasn’t fucked anyone in seven long months. Too busy pining like a pathetic prick for the straight guy back home to even attempt to get his dick wet. Well, that ends tonight. He’s gonna dick this guy down so fucking good he’ll be walking with a limp for a good while after.  Gator tilts his head, their faces now mere inches apart. His eyes are even more incredible this close up. “Well now, what kinda Deputy would I be if I let ya wander these strange streets all by yourself huh?” He murmurs, wetting his bottom lip before biting it into his mouth.

[fizzigigsimmer]

Fargo Season 5: Gator Speculation

Y’all I am starting to fear for this man’s life. 😂 If you have not watched episode 5 yet, warnings for spoilers ahead.

So my theory that Gator and Dot may have previously been romantically involved went from an itch based on tiny clues that might have been circumstantial, to a full on burn last night.

Up until now we haven’t had any confirmation of Dot/Nadine’s age. The actress is only a few years older than Joe, but Hollywood is notoriously gross about women not looking their age, so it was entirely possible Juno was playing much older than she actually is. But now we know Dot was a teenager when she was brought into Roy’s little cult and when she married him.

For me that pretty much confirms that she and Gator are peers, and that he was a teenager when his father married a child near his own age. 🤢

Another thing that went from an itch to a burn for me: During the home invasion, when Dot first sees Gator she says “shame on you there’s a baby in this house”. This struck me because it’s the first time that I can recall Dot using such infantile language to refer to her daughter. While it’s not strange at all or uncommon for people to infantilez children in general, typically that kind of perspective becomes part of your regular speech patterns. “Gotta get home to my babies” that sort of thing. But to my memory Dot has always referred to Scotty with very particular language, possessive language at that. Scotty is always her child, her cub - and they even have her remind us there isn’t anything a mother lion wouldn’t do to protect her cub.

Dot might have chosen to refer to Scotty as a baby in that moment out of calculation, in the hopes that it would prick Gator’s conscience - which naturally infers that she has reason to believe he has one to work over. It also can’t be ruled out either that the specific use of the word baby was an unconscious slip, due to her shock and the vulnerability of the moment. Because the last time she saw Gator she was pregnant with what might be his baby.

The other hint we got this week is Dot confirming that Roy is an abusive piece of shit. She says something along the lines of what is obvious about Roy - that when he’s happy and feels in control things were good, but the minute he feels challenged or insecure he’d hit her and climb all over her just to feel strong again. Only when she’s describing this behavior she specifically uses the word ‘they’. They don’t hit you at first. “They” turn on you and push you down when they need to feel strong.

Now of course, Dot could just be talking about men in general. Men like Roy. But well, Gator IS a man like Roy. He’s desperately trying to walk in his father’s shoes and be all of the things he’s not, and he lashes out on other people to build himself up. We know from his own lips what he did to another teenager who accidentally injured him during a high school football game and stole his (most likely imagined) future in football. Given how close he and Dot are in age and all the hints that we have that he feels something for her, I think it’s highly likely that something happened between them.

I think it’s very possible that they connected, and were able to be vulnerable with each other. Gator seems just as surprised that Dot has become a “tiger” as Dot was that he has become his daddy’s lacky. I think in the past, at first they were able to find comfort in each other and things were good but eventually Gator did something that scared Dot and she decided to run.

At this point, I am confident at the very least that Gator’s feelings for/about Dot are romantic. Whether or not Dot has ever reciprocated them is still 50/50 for me. Regardless I think Gator held a candle for her and that as the tensions rise in the final episodes and he sees just how far Roy is willing to go to hurt and control her it’s going to force him to take a hard look at Roy, the kind of man and father he is, and really ask himself if that’s what he wants to be.

The part that scares me is Roy. Because when he’s in control and he feels like he has power over you, he’s loving. But the minute you do something to rock the boat… 😩 I have this really bad feeling that Gator is going to make an effort to be his own man, just in time to learn a final lesson about just what type of monster he narrowly avoided becoming. That scene with the blindfold and the rope keeps coming back to me.

Of course, my anxieties about that little clip aside there is always the possibility of the narrative going full Shakespeare on us. Gator, bringing about the downfall of his father’s kingdom by falling in love with his step mother and killing his father. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Full on Oedipus.

[offender42085]

Post 1101

The judge could have given him 40 years in prison, but the inmate got a 'golden ticket' instead.....

The victim hugged him after court.....

(The 'fair haired lad' defense must still be in vogue... -Editor)

Caleb Weston Bernhardt, Montana offender 3034859, born 2003, intake August 2023 at age 20, on probation for a term of 36 months

Robbery, Accountability for Robbery

In a court proceeding in August 2023 with a judge describing it as an an exceptional case, the judge agreed with a prosecutor’s recommendation and gave a Kalispell man who robbed a Wells Fargo bank in Butte in September 2022 a three-year deferred sentence.

District Judge Robert Whelan said he was giving 20-year-old Caleb Weston Bernhardt a “golden opportunity” and “golden ticket” that only the teller who was robbed made possible.

Bernhardt gave the teller a note saying, “I am armed and I will shoot you” unless she handed over money, but according to prosecutors, she has since expressed compassion and concern for the defendant and his future.

Whelan noted that Bernhardt had no prior criminal history but said, “I would not even consider this if the victim was not in agreement.” He could have sentenced Bernhardt up to 40 years in prison.

“I hope you go on to do something miraculous with your life given this opportunity,” he told Bernhardt, who must also pay $2,350 in restitution for the money he stole that day.

Bernhardt said he was deeply remorseful, and after the hearing, the teller he robbed hugged him and talked with him as his parents looked on.

The Prosecutor said she struggled with recommending a deferred sentence for such a serious crime but several factors, including the victim’s wishes, made it appropriate in this case.

Bernhardt admitted going into the Wells Fargo bank on Harrison Avenue on Sept. 1, 2022, and demanding money while two others waited in a car.

According to prosecutors, the three were in a black Toyota Camry near the bank before it was robbed. One got out while the other two stayed in the car.

Bernhardt walked into the bank wearing a baseball hat and a mask and asked a teller to make a withdrawal. He then handed her a piece of paper that said, “Give me $15,000 or anything in your draw, I am armed and I will shoot you.”

The bank employee gave him three bundles of $20 bills and some money that she later figured totaled about $1,700. When the teller asked if he wanted the money run through a counter, he said, “No, ma’am” and was very polite, prosecutors said.

A witness took a photo of the Camry because it was parked in a suspicious place and wrote down the license plate number, which police later traced to Bernhardt and a relative in Kalispell. Police called the relative, and she confirmed Bernhardt had the car.

Bernhardt later met with a Butte police detective and said he was the one who went into the bank and demanded money. He also identified the two other men who assisted.

The police said Bernhardt committed a very serious crime but was young, had no prior criminal history, cooperated with police and had supportive parents.

3v

[vixen-academia]

Vixen Academia: Femme Fatale meets Dark Academia

That’s actually my own personal aesthetic BUT if you read this and says “hey, that’s actually quite like me”, feel free to call yourself a Vixen Academia person :)

SO I was reading a little about aesthetics and subcultures and I just realized I feet both Dark Academia AND femme fatale aesthetics and I though... Why not create a name to my aesthetic? Basically, Vixen Academia would be a little close to Romantic Academia, but less idealistic. It’s about confidence about your looks AND your academic skill, not letting anyone ashame you for been who you are, been feminine but quite dark at same time. 

MOVIES & SERIES

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Chicago (2002)

The Love Witch (2016)

The Pink Panther (1963)

The Tourist (2010)

Clue (1985)

Rebecca (1940)

Girl from Nowhere (2018-present)

Black Swan (2010)

Mean Girls (2004)

Heathers (the musical, please. The movie is so… meh)

BOOKS

Rebecca, Daphine du Maurier 

Junji Ito’s Tomie 

Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu 

Lady Killers

They Never Learn, Layne Fargo

If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio (Meredith is 100% Vixen Academia)

THINGS 

Cheerleading, fencing, martial arts or any sport that make you look badass af

Learning French just for the aesthetic

Always been the “too well dressed” friend of your group 

Having THAT red lipstick 

Knowing that your social life don’t make you less academic 

Pearls, gold/silver neackless, hoop earings

“Carrear over romance” type 

Reading layed down on your couch with a wine glass near by

(Comfortable) high heels, oxford shoes, mary janes etc

Hand fans to hot days

Readings about fashion and cosmetics

Sunny day = sunglasses day 

Been a little mysteryus just for the fun

Always with a hand mirror on the bag 

The “C’mon, I heard about a new place that’s seems amazing and nobody knows yet!” friend

Feminist studies and books

Skincare routine 

Police & spy thriller books

“Villain Era” playlists 

Usually hearing you have the “resting b face”

ALWAYS with something red (a bracelet, your shoes, a dress… anything, but always in red)

I also made a playlist you can hear clicking here!

[kaijusdream]

Pigeon Scratch Music Update, Late 2023 Edition!

Wasn't intending on not posting a single update on how things are going for over half a year, but that is just how the turn tables I suppose. A little bit of laziness and procrastination, a little bit of art block, stressing myself to near breaking point on multiple occasions, both in music making and overall life stuff. Summertime this year was pretty damn rough, the lowest my mental health had been for a while, and the next couple of months were just trying to bounce back from that. During that time at least I've been able to have a healthier relationship with music. Both in how I feel about my own work, but also in how I enjoy music by others. I've been able to get back into the swing of things. Now it's just procrastination. Let's start with some of the tracks for Northern Minnesota, Part II.

The most recent song I've been working on is with the working title "Fargo Breakdown." About five minutes long, the general gist for this song is to be a slow build with more guitars and drums added onto itself with every repeat. A really big shoegaze-y, post-rock, wall of sound style crescendo that just abruptly ends and sharply transitions into the next song. Current plans is to have this be the first song on the album, with "Pretty Pink Eyes," what I used to affectionately call "The Long Song" going right after it. Can't call it that anymore because now we got at least two songs that are over ten minutes long.

As I've grown more comfortable working on Ableton, and understanding how to more properly produce on it, I've grown accustomed to a more wall of sound approach for this album. It fits perfectly with the genres of music I am making here. Working on this song, as well as The First Snowfall (more about that track and Pretty Pink Eyes later), has actually been helping me determine the kind of style and tone I want, something I'm more comfortable settling on than I was with what I had for Pretty Pink Eyes and The First Snowfall a year ago. One thing I've realized while working on this album is genuinely how well Post-Rock goes with the concept of suffering with OCD, escapism, gender dysphoria, stuff along those lines. And I'm really excited about the idea of mixing my style in more with that genre. Post-Rock has always been such a massive inspiration for me, so I hope I can do it justice with my own little spin on it.

"Muni" is one I can't exactly remember if I did ever post about it here on Tumblr. I did scroll through my entire blog and checked my tags just to make sure, but I didn't see anything. Started working on this track earlier in the year, I believe after my Vancouver trip. About seven minutes long, this is definitely more of a two-parter of a song, in vain to Pretty Pink Eyes and The First Snowfall being multiple parts in a track. Starts off as a slow somber piece with a ton of reverb and cymbals crashing, and the second half being another breakdown. Plans is to have this track on the latter half on the album, almost right before the final couple of tracks. Honestly not much more to say about this, it's just a damn solid track that really came out of nowhere. I think a good thing about Northern Minnesota, Part II is that it's more focused on longer songs than amount of tracks. Focusing on a couple of songs at a time instead of a bunch of one to two minute long tracks really lets me work on the smaller details of these songs to sound exactly how I want them too. I'd also have to assume it's easier for some listeners to listen to a ten track long album than a twenty-five track long album, even if they are about the same length. I just think it's cool I can actually make longer songs.

"Actually Leaving" Is the only song that has been released in full, albeit as an old demo version on EFMC Vol. 2. It also has been shown in full on my Tumblr page as well, over a year ago. Track used to only be two guitar tracks and a drum track, but I decided for the breakdown bit at the end to double the tracks just to get that wall of sound I desire. Still planning to have this be the last song of the album, since it's such a great end piece. Especially now, since Fargo Breakdown and Actually Leaving both have the same vibe, and I like the idea of all the tracks being similar enough to each other to really feel like a concept album. These tracks have different chord progressions and arrangements, different pacings, but very similar ideas for the base. My main concern with Northern Minnesota, Part II is just making sure nothing is filler, and nothing sounds too samey, while also sounding like it all belongs on the same album. All the main songs I've been working on as of late, the ones that have and will be shown here, are very much based on some sort of build up and breakdown, crescendo type of song. Personally though, I think each breakdown I've done in these songs are different from one another. Each showcase a different style of crescendo. At the end of the day, its okay for some of these songs to sound similar to each other because this is a concept album in heart. And it's especially okay since I'm planning on these songs to be related to each other's concepts. Lyrics, arrangements, even song titles. I want to go crazy with the song titles especially, because I'm a fan of complexity in titles. There is gonna be a lot of part II's in parenthesis and reprisals in brackets, vice versa. Just makes me stupid giddy over the idea of it.

The First Snowfall is one of my absolute favorites on this album. The arpeggio melody in the beginning, the first breakdown with the noisy leads similar to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the jam session in the middle, and the wall of sound, noise, and reverb at the end as it just gets faster and faster in each second. This song was an absolute blast to make, as well as incredibly difficult and painful. Specifically at the end with the increasing tempo. Playing that on guitar and drums and trying my damn best to keep up was really hard, but I think the sloppiness at the end works really well in its favor. Planning this to be the second to last track of the album, right before Actually Leaving. About ten minutes long. I'm a little concerned that going from the wall of sound to another breakdown might screw up the pacing a little bit, but the times I have listened to the transition, It works pretty well. If I do need to put a trick in between, I'm sure I can figure something out, but we'll see later on when I got more songs to work on.

I remember talking about "Pretty Pink Eyes" on my Tumblr literally a year ago, at the time I'm writing this. That image of Ableton didn't have this many tracks, that's for certain. For the past year I've been struggling with how this song sounded in comparison to everything else. That struggle only got worse as time went on, when I started songs like The First Snowfall, Muni, and especially Fargo Breakdown. This was the first song I started working on alongside Actually Leaving, back in late June of 2022. That was during the time I was still learning how to use Ableton, and how to use it exclusively, no Audacity. Because of that, it just sounded completely different no matter what I tried, and my confidence in music making severely plummeted. There came a point where this song no longer sounded like a song to me, and it sounded worse each time I tried.

At the end of last month I finally realized what my big problem was. It was how I was trying to fix it. Working on old varnish doesn't make things better. They don't mix well. I was working on set ups for tracks that I did a year ago, give or take. It didn't matter if I added another guitar track, or if I changed the distortion or the amount of reverb, or even if I included audio recordings of the song through my speakers into the mix, it wasn't gonna sound like how I wanted it to. I had to start from scratch. I kinda knew this for a while, but I was so afraid to do so due to how hard of a task I thought that would be, and I was afraid I wasn't gonna get exactly what I wanted. There were parts I thought that fit the album well already, and there was the thought it'd be pointless to just restart in that department. But again, there came a point where I just said screw it, and just do it. Wouldn't hurt to try. So I created a copy of the project, got rid of all the audio effects, and reset all the volumes and channels, and started from scratch. And holy hell, the entire song sounds so much better, and more accurate to what I wanted for the album. The amount of relief I felt after finishing the base of the mixing in just a week was literally indescribable, and it felt really good to have been able to do it without that much hassle. Three part song, with three breakdown parts. About eleven minutes long. It's finally the wall of sound I've always wanted it to be. And that makes me incredibly happy. Plans for it to go right after Fargo Breakdown. Whenever this album release, remind me to never work on the same song for over a year and a half ever again. That shit was fucking brutal.

Here is the current tracklist. For clarification, this is nowhere near a finished tracklist, both in order and amount. I want to fill in the middle part of this album more. I just tend to focus on the beginning and end the most. I got plans for a song that will also be ten minutes long that would go right before The First Snowfall. A more slower piece, similar to Snow Globes right before Basketball Shoes by Black Country, New Road. All of these songs shown here, except Actually Leaving, will include lyrics or at least vocals of some kind. I will probably release an instrumental version of this album in the future, whenever the album comes out. I really thought I was gonna release this album this year. That's kinda funny. Soon, I'll probably release some snippets of these tracks onto here, just for fun. Don't expect anything much, probably just thirty second pieces of my favorite parts of these tracks. I might as well tease a little bit more than I have been, eh? Thanks for reading this painfully long post. I appreciate it.

[mfi-miami]

CFPB Spanks Wells Fargo With Yet Another Fine

CFPB Spanks Wells Fargo With Yet Another Fine

The CFPB Spanks Wells Fargo With Yet Another Fine Yesterday For Ripping Off Consumers. This Time It’s For $3.75 Billion The CFPB spanks Wells Fargo with another fine by the CFPB yesterday. The CFPB has ordered Wells Fargo Bank to pay $3.7 billion for violations across several of its largest product lines. This includes mortgage and auto loans that resulted in thousands of customers allegedly…

[alloffer2023]

Empire Today’s TV Jingle Is Nothing Short of Iconic—But Is It Actually Worth Buying Their Flooring?

Empire Today, which some may know as simply Empire, is a long-standing flooring company with decades of experience selling and installing various types of floors. The company boasts transparent, all-inclusive pricing estimates, available next-day installation, and unique flooring designed to minimize noise. But is Empire Today a good option for customers looking for a flooring company? This Empire Today review will explore the ins and outs of the flooring installation company so customers searching for “Empire flooring near me” can determine whether it might be the right fit for their needs.

Empire Today Review: Claims

Empire Today offers a wide range of flooring options, free in-home estimates, a nifty room visualizer tool, and several customer service options to help customers meet their flooring goals. But does it live up to its reputation?

About Empire Today

Empire Today started in 1959 as a family-run home furnishing business in Chicago, Illinois. The company was originally called Empire Plastic Covers, but changed its name in 1965 to Empire Home Services to better describe its mission. The company kept that name until 2003, when it was rechristened Empire Today after being sold to new owners.

Today, the company offers its services in more than 70 locations nationwide and is one of the best-known names in the flooring industry. It’s also known for its distinctive Empire Today commercial featuring a catchy jingle and a character known as “Empire Man.” The first TV commercial aired in 1978, and Empire Man was a live-action character; however, today he is portrayed in cartoon form instead. Thanks to the jingle featured in the ads, customers have likely heard of Empire Today even if they have never used the company for their flooring needs.

However, Empire Today is more than a jingle and a fun cartoon character. The company offers numerous types of flooring, at-home consultations, all-inclusive pricing quotes, and in some cases, next-day installation.

Cost, Offers, and Financing

With so many flooring options to choose from, the final cost of flooring installation with Empire Today can vary depending on the size of the installation space and the type of floor chosen. Empire Today provides customers with free quotes after they meet with a representative who will help them find a flooring option that will work for their needs and budget. However, the company doesn’t list any prices on its website, which can make it hard for customers to estimate the total cost before scheduling an in-home estimate. This may be off-putting for some customers, but it will result in a more accurate estimate based on the customer’s precise requirements.

Empire Today does offer two financing options through Wells Fargo Bank and Synchrony to help homeowners pay for their flooring project. Customers who choose 12-month financing may qualify for a 0 percent interest rate, though if the customer does not pay in full by the 12-month mark, they will be charged interest on their balance. Customers on this financing plan can choose to pay in the way that makes the most sense for them, whether that’s in monthly installments or several lump-sum payments. There is also a 48-month financing option that offers interest rates from 11.99 percent with fixed monthly payments. Using this option, a customer financing $2,000 will pay $53 per month for 2 years, with a total amount of $2,528 including interest.

[killingsboys]

jamie help i have thought of books for all of the september readathon prompts except autumnal romance and set in september (i literally went through so many of my physical books looking for early references to september and was incredibly unsuccessful). do you have any recs for those two categories?

hi mae!!! so for book set in september i chose carrie soto is back because google says it's at least partly set in september! so the book you choose definitely doesn't need to be fully in september <33 if you're in the mood for a reread, i believe blue lily, lily blue spans from august to september. and any book that includes the beginning of a school year should have at least a little bit of time set in september! all that's left to say by emery lord spends some time in the month of september, and i believe shirley jackson's hangsaman begins near september as well. they never learn by layne fargo also starts out at the beginning of a school year. agatha christie's crooked house is a bit ambiguous about the month but it takes place in the autumn and near the end of wwii, so september is certainly a possibility and i wouldn't argue with its inclusion!

as for autumnal romances, i have personally chosen the dead romantics by ashley poston, but there are a lot of options! i know a lot of people enjoyed the ex hex by erin sterling, and payback's a witch by lana harper is an autumnal wlw romance that has pretty good reviews! legends & lattes by travis baldree also looks very cozy (i'm using it as my cozy fantasy!), and if practical magic by alice hoffman is anything like the movie, who couldn't love it? plus, if you're looking to go a more classic route, there's always jane austen's northanger abbey, which looks like a blast! it's my choice for autumnal classic<3

i hope this helps!! if anyone else has suggestions for these prompts (or any of the others) feel free to send them to me!! i hope you all have a blast <33

[inapat17]

Text-screen relationships 1/4 - No country for old men: a book to a movie, a movie to a book

I'm interested in the relationship, in a broad sense, between text and image. In this case, I'm looking at the case of a book brought to the screen. One is a book written by Cormac McCarthy, and the other is a movie directed by the Coen brothers. For me, No country for old men is a special case of a book adapted to cinema, because the Cohen brothers’ film respects McCarthy’s original work while transcending it to create a new one.

A book with cinematic qualities

No country for old men tells the story of the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong near the Mexican border in southwest Texas. This tragic circumstance sends the three central characters in pursuit of each other: Llewelyn Moss has found and taken a suitcase full of money; he is being pursued by the killer Anton Chigurh; and their two intertwined leads are being followed by old Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. In No Country, McCarthy writes about the depravity of America by capitalism, and about a world irreparably destroyed, broken and torn apart by the violence of wars (all three characters are war veterans: Vietnam or WWII).

The Coen brothers like the book for its darkness and noisy violence, as well as for being set in American space.

For them, the setting plays a central role. Whether it is Arizona in Raising Arizona, Minnesota in Fargo, Los Angeles in Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski, New York in The Hudsucker Proxy or Texas in Blood Simple.  Each film defines a territory, and this is often what justifies the action. So, the story is always intimately linked to the setting and the protagonists are thus regularly captive of their environment.

In No Country, it’s Texas and its scorching plains, which is both a concentration of the country’s historical memory and the birthplace of the Western. The evocations of the frontier and the wilderness run through all the Coen brothers' films. Indeed, they join McCarthy in depicting Texas as a frontier, a primitive and violent space that bears the legacy of the conquest of the West and reminds us that the United States was built on violence. And here it’s both the historical border, that of the settlement of the West, and the contemporary border, that of the 1980s. So, here, man’s main adversary is indeed the country, as evoked in the title: a primitive territory haunted by the ghost of past violence and the spectre of future violence.

The opening of No Country for old men, reminiscent of John Ford’s westerns (The Searchers, 1956).

The Coen brothers’ film is therefore the result of the understanding of a literary universe, its specificities, its atmosphere, its tone, and its style that gives the illusion of fidelity.

The Coen's adaptation was incredibly successful, especially because the film is considered to be very faithful to the novel. Indeed, the brothers are guided by respect for the authors, but they don't stupidly adapt classic literary works, they are rather in the same line as François Truffaut who spoke of "establishing an intimate relationship" between literature and cinema.

Indeed, the particularity of No Country is that it was a script before a novel. The text is therefore placed under the sign of orality. The dialogues are relatively short and not very punctuated. This is a point that strongly contributes to the film's fidelity to the text since the Coens did not need to rewrite scenes or dialogue.

However, the rhythm of the film contrasts with that of the novel. Indeed, the film is slower: the scenes and shots are long, whereas the novel has a more breathless rhythm.

And what the Coen bring to the original text is above all their dark and offbeat humour. This can be felt in the astonishment of some of the characters and in the transformation of certain situations. Also, by the camera angles, the editing, the music (or lack thereof).

But since it is impossible to turn 309 pages into two hours of film, the Coens had to cut out some of the subplots, thus creating many ellipses. But these ellipses are often related to the character of Chigurh, which makes him even more enigmatic than he is in the novel. So I would like to try to study Chigurh as a figure. I think he is the most interesting aspect of the film from a cinematographic point of view, since he is the very best example of the intermediality between literature and cinema.

From the literary figure to the cinematographic figure

Indeed, in McCarthy’s novel, Chigurh is presented as an allegorical personification of evil incarnate. Sheriff Bell refers to him as a “prophet of destruction”.  Chigurh is thus presented as an elusive figure, as a “ghost” (to quote Sheriff Bell again). And throughout the film, Chigurh is consistently associated with extreme shots, unnatural angles and perspectives, which give the character a supernatural quality. Most significantly, Chigurh is introduced as a faceless figure filmed from the back, then he is repeatedly filmed as a silhouette or a shadow.

And it’s through the power of cinema that Chigurh can fully embody himself as a spectre, a figure of the in-between, both actual and virtual.

Anton Chigurh is thus already a purely cinematic figure in McCarthy's novel.

Chigurh regularly appears in reflections: on mirrors or car windows for example.

[just-a-bookish-reader]

In These Hallowed Halls - Full Review

disclaimer: I did not post the full review on my instagram, only the ending overview

⭐⭐⭐

1000 Ships by Kate Weinberg ⭐⭐⭐

While finely and well told, I don't believe that this story was the right choice for the first story post the foreword by the editors. Early on I had certain expectations for the story to come full circle in a specific way, and when it didn't, I was left extremely disappointed. Mind you, I didn't need a specific ending, there were a couple different ways that the story could have been brought full circle but I won't list those here as there would be no way to avoid spoilers.

There's also the fact that this short story - as stated in the author's note at the end - acts as a prequel to The Truants by the same author. There are ways that one can write a short story that takes place within the same story or even with the same characters as a series - or as this one is, a prequel, without relying on the reader to know anything about the main story, but this short story does not do that well enough. I felt as though I was missing something so when I came across the author's note it made sense, but sadly didn't clear anything up about the story itself.

Pythia by Olivie Blake ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Out of all twelve of these stories, Blake's ranked among my absolute favorites. With a unique and honestly terrifying take on our future - whether near or far off - in regards to artificial intelligence and super computers, I enjoyed the easy back and forth snippets of unconventional dialogue and the main character's own recollection of events revolving around the sudden death of a girl, one suspiciously close to the disappearance of another.

So many wonderful yet unnerving ideas filled the 30+ pages - from cults around technology, a type of magic that links both technology and magic together, making technology mimic humans. A few lines of binary, a few softly muttered spells would then complete such tasks. But the most horrifying element of Olivie Blake's story is the idea of being able to - in a way - resurrect a person's soul, and insert it into AI, much less more than one someone's soul. Blake's writing style oddly reminds me of Veronica Roth's in the Chosen Ones, which only made this more enjoyable to read. To wrap it all up, there was an unsettling undertone throughout and I felt uneasy the rest of the work day.

Sabbatical by James Tate Hill ⭐

Sadly, this story was incredibly boring (I kept stating so to my coworkers while reading even), that I found myself trying to hurry through the story and honestly I don't think I retained much of anything from my reading of this story.

The Hare and The Hound by Kelly Andrews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was pleasantly surprised by the execution of this story, and how the writing kept my attention and hoping that the stories to come would be just as good if not even somehow better for the rest of the anthology. While most of my thoughts contain many spoilers and I try to not spoil ARCs, I will say that I was so happy that my own theories that I began to have quite quickly after Arlen was introduced weren't just revealed as correct, but merely implied, suggested that I had been right through my reading and analysis of the story.

I would love to see more to this story from Andrews in the future, maybe even in Arlen's point of view, and then picking up after the short story ended or even before. This story left me with so many questions and so many thoughts - and in the best way possible.

X House by JT Ellison ⭐⭐

This one was alright. I did find the idea of hazing so extreme that both a student and teacher ended up dead to be interesting though. I do wish that there had been more to this story than what almost felt like a "don't do drugs" PSA but for hazing.

The Ravages by Layne Fargo ⭐

So I genuinely remember nothing about this story.

Four Funerals by David Bell ⭐⭐

While the writing was fine, the topic didn't feel particularly dark academia. This is just something that can happen at any time, any school, for any reason, in any class. It happens frequently. If school shootings were more rare in the US then maybe I could consider the topic more dark academia. Otherwise it feels like it's just a dark real life topic. I also wasn't really a fan of the point of view it took, and there were too many things left unanswered and I really disliked our POV character.

The Unknowable Pleasures by Susie Yang ⭐⭐

The writing was actually really good here but the story felt pointless. It didn't even feel specifically dark academia - though I suppose a mystery and an academic setting is really all that's needed for something to be considered. I think the only thing that really made this an interesting story was the main character's mental health and I wish there was actually more discussion about that, instead of the story ending the way it did.

Weekend at Berties by ML Rio ⭐

This is so distantly related to academia - with the murdered person being related to the characters academically, this was boring and odd.

The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant ⭐⭐⭐

Not really sure what to rate this one, as it did a particularly good job of scaring the living shit out of me and leaving me uneasy for the rest of the night - but in a different way than Pythia did. Though I'm not sure that is particularly a very strong compliment as I'm very easily scared and given nightmares, plus I still had Pythia's unease running through my veins at the time of reading. I will say the writing was excellent, but I also wish that the pacing had been different, not exactly faster or slower, just… different.

Phobos by Tori Bovalino ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One of my other favorites in this anthology, I found Phobos to be excellently written and felt like a true dark academic story! I really liked the discussions of class and privilege had in this story as it related to the main character, and felt that they were only "quick" due to the nature of it being a short story and I would absolutely love to see a full length novel, or even just a novella diving into the whole story before and during and after.

I also really loved how she ended up committing her murder of a lower ranking student in the end, and god I could go on and on, and while I know most of these aren't linked to a bigger work I would just die for a full length novel or novella of this one, and I will repeat that until the day I die. (I also think this should have been swapped with Playing in order to close out the anthology)

Playing by Phoebe Wynne ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The plot twist of this one was great! And to be honest the plot twist is why I'm giving this story four stars. I really liked how the main character started to think about the funerals she played at, and even had moments that made it seem like she didn't know what she was doing (ha me trying super hard not to spoil), but in the end fully knew what she was doing, and someone else at the funerals seeming to catch on as well. A delightful story, though I feel like this should not have been the closer.

Overall

With an interesting premise, and many big name authors in the genre, In These Hallowed Halls promises much, but sadly doesn't deliver on about half of it. I found only about three stories that were five stars, with the majority of the stories being three or less, mostly less and less frequently three.

I really wish that they had been able to get the five star stories first, and then take them and go "we want the rest of the collection to match these vibes" even if it meant replacing some of the three and four star stories, because if I could get stories like Pythia, The Hare and The Hound, and Phobos for the entire anthology, I can sacrifice Playing and The Professor of Ontography. I will say that while this anthology was largely disappointing (I had extremely and possibly way too high of expectations for this collection) - I would love to see more anthologies in a similar vein.

Anthologies about other trends in literature right now, maybe light academia, cottagecore, fairycore, etc. Basically I would love lighter stories but I could also accept a second volume of dark academia inspired stories, if we got more authors.

While I loved that not a lot of these authors were well known, I would also love a second volume with other authors such as Leigh Bardugo (Ninth House), Mona Awad (Bunny), Dona Tartt (The Secret History, The Goldfinch), Antonia Angress (Sirens & Muses), even Daisy Alpert Florin (yes I did just write a review for her book My Last Innocent Year).

Generally, the concept and premise was spectacular, the execution - not as much, but also not as badly as it could have gone.

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

MOTHERS, SONS, DAUGHTERS

Opening this weekend...

Evil Dead Rise--This fifth feature in the beloved horror series that began in 1981 moves most of the action out of the woods and into the city. An earthquake uncovers a copy of the "Book of the Dead" in the bowels of a decaying L.A. apartment building. Near the tome are a couple of vinyl records on which a priest has recorded the incantations necessary to invoke the evil spirits that re-animate dead bodies to torment the living. The kid who finds all this is an aspiring DJ, so he has turntables, so...

Through this laborious set-up, the lissome tattoo-artist single mother (Alyssa Sutherland) ends up possessed by a malevolent force. It's up to her guitar-tech sister (Lily Sullivan) to defend her nephew and two nieces. Gruesome mayhem ensues, hitting on the obligatory tropes of the series--grinning, leering, levitating corpses, oceanic amounts of gore, hurtling demonic POV, the repeated phrase "dead by dawn!"--as well as nods to Kubrick's The Shining and to Fargo.

I'm afraid I've run out of patience with this style of horror flick. Watching a woman's corpse terrorize and murder her children probably wouldn't be my idea of entertainment in any case, but here it's not only unpleasant but tedious. I've grown weary of films in which characters stand transfixed as something ghastly happens in front of them. After a while one begins to suspect that all the interminable gasping and whimpering and slowly backing away may not even really be about generating terror or heightening suspense, but rather about padding a thin script out to feature length.

Sam Raimi's original Evil Dead trilogy was not inconsequential cinema. The "shaky cam" techniques that Raimi and his cronies developed on those indies, out of economic necessity, were highly influential on the Coen Brothers and Barry Sonnenfeld and others. But beyond the realm of technical innovation, Raimi's movies, especially the marvelous Evil Dead II of 1987, had a low-tech vigor, a whimsical sense of macabre comedy and a guileless campfire-story gusto that, combined with the one-of-kind slapstick acting of star Bruce Campbell, made them classics.

Raimi and Campbell are listed as executive producers on Evil Dead Rise, but almost none of the twisted magic of their early work can be felt here. There's some elegance to the production design, and leading ladies Sutherland and Sullivan are stunning, Bukowski-style L.A. goddesses. There's a sweet line in which the youngest niece tells her aunt why she thinks she'll be a good mom someday. And the Hieronymus Bosch-like horror into which the demon's victims conglomerate themselves is a decent Raimi-ish idea, though the CGI renders it soulless.

I'm told that this film, directed by the Irish Lee Cronin, was originally slated to open on cable TV but got a theatrical release after test audiences took to it. So it may be that I've just aged out of this sort of thing, and the movie will truly please audiences. If so, even though it's not for me, I nonetheless find it cheering that people still want to scream in company.

Somewhere in Queens--Less than a month after opening the Phoenix Film Festival, Ray Romano's feature directorial debut opens theatrically here in the Valley. Romano, who co-wrote the script, also stars as Leo Russo, a bedraggled hangdog sad sack who works for his family's contracting business in the title borough. Leo isn't the favorite son, however. His father (Tony LoBianco) shows more respect to Leo's slick brother Frank (Sebastian Maniscalco). Maybe everybody loves Raymond, but nobody loves Leo.

Well, that's not true. His siblings and his wife Angela (Laurie Metcalf) love him well enough, but they don't take him seriously, or listen to him. A sultry widower (Jennifer Esposito) on a jobsite seems to take a shine to him, but he's not the adulterous type.  Leo does have a source of pride, however: his quiet son "Sticks" (Jacob Ward) is a high school basketball star. One night at a big game, Leo and Angela are surprised to learn that Sticks has a girlfriend (Sadie Stanley) they didn't know about. The same night, they learn that he may be good enough for a college scholarship.

Though it's often funny, a forlorn atmosphere hangs over the early scenes of this movie that had me bracing for some sort of wretched tragedy that would leave the characters standing around emergency rooms or something like that. But the story, though it stings, doesn't drag us through the mud; it takes off in unexpected and painful yet believable and sometimes exhilarating directions.

The feel for the setting is convincing, and so is the large cast. The ensemble scenes are well-executed, especially the girlfriend's debut at a big family dinner, where she both irks and impresses the relations with her nerviness. Romano plays Leo as a toned-down version of his stage and sitcom persona, cowed and slow-witted, and his tentative, apologetic boyishness is poignant, even when you can see how his family could find it irritating.

For a while it seems like the film is underutilizing the mighty Metcalf, but finally Angela gets her big moment. Romano lets her articulate the theme of the movie, admitting probably the most frequent emotion of the parenting experience: Fear.

Also opening this weekend, at Harkins Chandler Fashion 20 and Harkins Arrowhead, is Tom Huang's fine comedy-drama Dealing with Dad...

It's slated to play at Harkins Shea and at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre in Sedona starting April 28.

I reviewed it last year, after it made the rounds of several festivals including Phoenix Film Festival. It's very much worth checking out.

[sawthefaeriequeen]

Tagged by: @greentea-avanti! Thanks!

First ever ship: Oh, probably Tommy/Kimberly on Power Rangers, though I remember also liking Jason/Kimberly. (Come to think of it, that would make a good OT3.)

Last song: Oceanic Feeling by Lorde. I don’t like the album it came from as much as her others, but I do love that song.

Last film: My brother made me watch Fargo. It’s not usually my kind of film, but I did enjoy Frances McDormand.

Currently watching: I am watching Boy Meets World for the first time and loving it a lot! I didn’t expect it to be really good right off the bat. I am also slowly watching Andor, which is the best Star Wars thing I’ve seen since Rogue One.

Currently consuming: Homemade cheesecake.

Currently craving: Well, the trusty Jollibee near us is closing which really makes my brother and me sad, and we’re going for one last Chicken Joy sometime soon.

Tagging @dreamingthroughthenoise @wantedtourist @caffeinatedmuggle @natural-blue-26 @pathless-wood and anyone else who wants to do it!