#also ratatouille mention

[harrys-strutting-dad]

[httpsclarye]

my favorite sanji’s headcanon is that hes the type of person who would spend 15 minutes in a fight just because someone called remy (that rat of ratatouille) of ratatouille

like he would be like: HIS NAME IS REMY, RATATOUILLE IS THE FOOD

[mbirnsings-71]

To the seven (7) people liking my Bernard Dowd vibes playlist I must ask why? I get it I do, but also it was a jumpscare to see it had 7 likes-

[your-local-leslie]

Y'all this is a reminder to ask your substitute teachers questions about themselves because this 6'4 Anton Ego lookin ass sub had a degree in human development, acting, could fly a plane/had an aviation degree, almost died via skydiving, could reconize students who came from dysfunctional families and tell how their families were dysfunctional, and was a salesman who taught us negation tactics

[disc0bandit]

I believe it was @a-wild-golden-gryphon who mentioned the idea of Matthew ratatouilleing dream around

Also:

[agendabymooner]

newsflash ! pierre g. x ofc (singer!ofc)

“i ain’t interested in being a pretty name on your list.”

summary: somebody’s got to humble pierre gasly; enter ensley soleil, a musician who happens to be a friend of a friend of a friend. OR ensley has already written a line or two in songs about a boy like him, but pierre wants to prove to his crush that being ‘liked by pierregasly’ also means that he’ll pursue her like a man she never knew existed.

content warning: willne and rich brian appearance, middleman!lando, “liked by pierregasly” 🤓, use of explicit language, mentions of cheating/past relationship (unnamed ex)

note: talking to a guy so here’s a content hehe (also i noticed you guys liked the sebastian vettel one… good because i would have cried tbh. might update colour me your colour next, then i’m gonna try to update the daniel ricciardo wedding mini series).

masterlist

liked by pierregasly, wroetoshaw, brianimanuel

view 3102 more comments

willne you should come back to uk tbh 🙈 liked by ensoleil

ensoleil i’m quite happy here thx :)

user1 WELCOME BACK TO LONDON ENSLEY !!!!

user2 ok but that man fumbled real hard though 🚩

user3 that man bagged a baddie and cheated on her??? a shame smh

user4 “liked by pierregasly” 💀

user5 as a henny and f1 fan, wtf pierre

user6 pear noticed her post??? bruh. landonorris ain’t that your friend?

user7 how are henny and lando connected?

user6 ensley is friend’s with willne, who is lando’s friend. she’s made an appearance or two in a quadrant video before.

user7 ok but like she lucky tho

user8 she and many girls alright.

liked by willne, charles_leclerc, estebanocon

view 21039 other comments

user1 how far out*** OOOH YOU FUMBLED THIS ONE PIERRE

charles_leclerc i am so sorry for the chances that you will never have after messing up her lyrics

user2 the tote bag, the booktok and LANA DEL REY??? mans down bad fr liked by pierregasly

user3 you’re really working hard huh pierre 😭 liked by pierregasly

pierregasly take every shot you are given, am i not right? 👌

yukitsunoda0511 you’re working too hard pierre 👎

maxverstappen1 because you’re already her favourite 🤣 pierre isn’t even allowed to breathe in her direction

user4 it’s true; i was the glass of daiquiri whenever henny sent him a death glare. mans v persistent tho so mad respect to him

ensoleil you really won’t stop will you, you baguette? liked by pierregasly

pierregasly that’s the least stereotypical shit i’ve ever heard from you and you called me remy from ratatouille

ensoleil sorry 🤓 do u want me to kiss it better

pierregasly no 😊 a date would be really nice though

user5 NAW THIS MAN THINKS HE SLICK

[radiofreederry]

Dorothy's Top 5 Games of 2023

2023 was a remarkable year for gaming. The number of major, high-quality releases was truly astonishing, both in the AAA and indie scenes.

2023 was also the year I started leaning more into gaming as a hobby, beginning to do Twitch streams in April. Because of this, I thought I'd go through a few of the best games I played this year, and talk a bit about what made them so enjoyable. Consider this my "games of the year" list, like I know so many people are going to be doing this year.

My list is reflective of my own preferences and tastes; I tend to play a lot of RPGs, action-adventure games, and platformers, so you won't find a lot of fighting games or shooters in contention here. Feel free to comment or reblog with your own list - you don't have to write little essays about everything like I did, but it'd be fun if you did!

Honorable Mentions:

Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment): Released in November 2022, but didn't play until this year. One of the most gripping and original RPGs I've ever played.

Persona 5 Royal (P-Studio): Released in October 2022 for Xbox, but I've been streaming it and having a lot of fun with @lakemojave and others.

Katamari Damacy Reroll (Namco): Released in 2018 for Switch, but played it for the first time this year and had a blast.

And now, the list proper.

Fifth Place: Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks)

There was a sort of game prevalent in the sixth generation of consoles which doesn't exist much anymore outside of the indie space. These were bold, bright, games which were unapologetically "video gamey," and wore their medium on their sleeve. Playing Hi-Fi Rush, I felt as if I was Anton Ego eating the titular dish in Ratatouille, and being transported back to that forgotten era of gaming. Hi-Fi Rush is stylish, hilarious, and deliriously fun, mixing the rhythm and action genres to create an experience unlike anything else currently on offer in gaming.

With addicting timing-based combat, a killer soundtrack featuring a suite of certified bangers (such as a cover of "Free Radicals" by the Flaming Lips, one of my favorite bands), and a delightful cast of colorful characters, Hi-Fi Rush carries the off-beat spirit of games like Jet Set Radio and Viewtiful Joe in its DNA, and had it been made 20 years ago, I do not doubt that it would have an animated adaptation airing on Kids WB.

By evoking the spirit of a bygone era while remaining utterly unique, and by virtue of its slick presentation and impossible-to-put-down gameplay, Hi-Fi Rush manages to punch far above its own weight and snag fifth place on my list.

Fourth Place: A Highland Song (Inkle)

A Highland Song came out of nowhere at the tail-end of the year and forced me to completely reevalute my game rankings. It is one of the most delightful and charming games I've ever had the chance to play, and has managed to do what I thought was impossible: create a roguelike experience that I actually want to see through to completion.

A Highland Song does this through its emotive embrace of the Scottish Highlands as a setting, with those ancient hills acting as both the main antagonist and a stalwart companion in main character Moira's journey to cross the mountains and reach her uncle's lighthouse by the First of May.

The Highlands are your dear friend. They will provide you food, shelter, and the tools you need to complete your journey. The Highlands are your worst enemy. They will deny you a safe haven when you're exhausted, out of energy, and being soaked through by torrential, bitterly-cold rain; they will give you tools long after you've passed the point where they would have been useful. The hills will preserve you. The hills will kill you.

It is in these contrasts that A Highland Song shines. It is a game about finding yourself, and pushing forward in the face of impossible adversity. There is an indescribable joy to spending days in-game exploring a section of the Highlands, trying to find the way forward, and finally running through one of the game's rhythm-based sections, triumphant Celtic folk music blaring in your ears as you finally find your way. All the while, Uncle Hamish's warm, fond recollections of Celtic folklore and Moira's descriptions of her family life make you want to push on, to learn more about this magical place and the people who inhabit it.

You will not make it to the sea in time in your first run through A Highland Song, nor likely your second or third. Yet each time Moira passes through the mountains, you learn more about them, become more familiar with the slopes and pathways that carve through these lands that are older than time. You will stumble, you will fall, and then, eventually, you will make it to the sea by Beltane.

Third Place: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD)

How do you follow up one of the most important and well-regarded games of the 2010s, improve almost everything about it, and even correct its flaws? Tears of the Kingdom manages that and then some. The direct sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom follows that game's version of series lead Link through a melancholy journey through a world ravaged by unnatural weather, blight, and time. Link is himself nearly torn apart by the corrupting influence of returning series antagonist Ganondorf (voiced in this installment in fine fashion by Matt Mercer), and the hastily replaced arm granted to him by the sage Rauru grants him new abilities, which replace and improve upon the ones he possessed in the last game.

With these new powers, the game becomes a truly open sandbox. Link is able to build almost anything with his Ultrahand ability, and the Fuse ability not only virtually eliminates the previous game's major flaw, its weapon durability system, by allowing the player to turn virtually any weapon top-tier by properly leveraging fusion materials, it also creates a resource management loop that discourages being stingy with strong resources - since they can be used to create very powerful weapons. Meanwhile, the Ascend and Recall abilities open new avenues in traversal and speed up exploration through Tear's of the Kingdom's massive map, which not only uses the previous game's world map as a base - with lots of altered and added locations to signify the passage of time, including a host of explorable caves - but more than doubles it by also adding floating islands in the sky and a dark, hostile undergound below.

The intense focus on exploration, not to mention some of the best dungeons and bosses in Zelda history, make this a game I had genuine trouble putting down at times as I sunk hundreds of hours into it, as I always felt like there was something new to find around the next corner, or some new treasure to find deep in the underground. Tears of the KIngdom is a masterclass in crafting an open world experience, and easily secures a spot in my top five. It only places so low on this list as a consequence of some blemishes on an otherwise extremely polished and technically impressive product - specifically its story and progression, which feels too much like retreading the structure of Breath of the Wild and not enough like it's blazing its own trail.

Second Place: Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)

Let's get this out of the way first: Cyberpunk 2077 originally released, infamously, in late 2020 in what was essenitally an unfinished state. However, with its 2.0 update that fundamentally restructures how the game is played, as well as the massive Phantom Liberty expansion dropping this year, I feel comfortable regarding this game as a 2023 release.

I didn't expect to have Cyberpunk 2077 on this list. I certainly didn't expect to see it so high on this list. And yet, here it is. I went in with almost no expectations, and came out with one of my favorite games of the year, and one of the most thoughtful RPGs of the decade. Cyberpunk 2077's great strengths lie in its richly detailed game world and its extremely strong writing, both of which impressed me beyond any preconceptions I may have had, especially given how the game originally launched as a broken, buggy mess.

Cyberpunk 2077's Night City is as fully realized a game world as I've ever seen, brimming with detail and things to both see and do. It is incredibly immersive, and I often found myself forgoing the game's fast travel system in order to simply cruise the moody, neon-soaked streets on my motorcycle as I sped from one gig to the next, taking in little details like the ethnic enclaves in different districts, or how infrastructure differed in poor areas compared to rich ones.

Cyberpunk 2077 tells a story about struggling against impossible odds, and finding hope and beauty in a hopeless and ugly world. In a future where capitalism's atomization and hyperindividualization rend the flesh of society at-large, the life of protagonist V is enriched through the human connections they are able to make as they race against time to save themselves from the biochip in their head eating away at their existence - a piece of technology stolen and then impulsively inserted during their first big job, a job taken in pursuit of the ephemeral and ambiguous glory that comes with being a legend of Night City. Their deteriorating condition throughout the game, and the ever-present acidic commentary of rockerboy Johnny Silverhand, serve as constant reminders of the folly of chasing such impermanent glory.

Whether it's Johnny's former bandmate Kerry, whose insecurities lead him to ostentatious acts of violence and destruction, or Judy, who has suffered loss after loss and desperately tries to find a situation she can control and someone who won't use or leave her, my journey as V centered around finding these connections, and using them not only to save V's life, but preserve her humanity. These themes carried through with the Phantom Liberty expansion, which explores such topics as freedom, survivor's guilt, and governmental corruption and exploitation, and features a delightful turn by Idris Elba as a weary government agent burdened by regret. There are plenty of bombastic setpieces, cleverly-written quests, and moments of intense action, but the things I think I'll always remember are quiet, intimate, human moments, from sitting with and comforting a girl whose girlfriend just killed herself, or meditating with a monk who has no ulterior motive but to bring V a rest in the midst of a grueling situation.

All that to say that while I had a lot of fun with the gameplay, the game world and the writing were what made me fall in love with Cyberpunk 2077, what will likely keep me coming back to the game on replay, and what landed it at number two on the list. The only reason it didn't end up at number one was because there's just one game I played this year which impressed me just that much more - and even then, it’s a thin margin.

First Place: Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Here I must confess not only have I never played the original Baldur's Gate games - early works by BioWare, a company whose work I generally respect - I had until this year never touched Dungeons and Dragons or any ancillary media. Total blind spot! Never even saw the movie this year! I'd played plenty of tabletop, but never any DnD.

What a treat, then, to be introduced to the world and mechanics of DnD through such a game as Baldur's Gate 3. This game glistens with careful and thoughtful design, and proves the vibrancy and potential that still remains in the classic CRPG style. Baldur's Gate 3's great strengths shine in two major areas, which I will go in more detail about now.

Firstly, the game offers a truly remarkable amount of freedom to the player in allowing them to resolve a situation in a myriad of ways, emulating the flexible nature of tabletop storytelling to an extent I've rarely seen in the video game medium. Want to defeat a boss that's giving you grief by running up to him and shoving him off a cliff? Sure, that works! Want to stealthily surround an enemy camp with explosive barrels and then cast fireball? Ok, go for it!

The other side of this coin is that the game permits a lot of flexibility in permitting the player to truly fuck up royally, while keeping the narrative going and not forcing them into a game over because they "played wrong." Took too long to save some gnomes from a cave-in? Too bad, they suffocated to death! Allowed an important NPC, whose spell was protecting a community from a curse, to be defeated in battle and captured? Tough luck, all those people have died a horrible, agonizing death! It's your fault! Now keep moving. In Baldur's Gate 3, all of your decisions, good or bad, have consequences, and you have to live with them.

Baldur's Gate 3's other great strength lies in its character writing. Every major character, and many minor characters, are written with such depth and nuance, with varied motivations, backstories, and moral alignments, which the player can both influence and be influenced by. Notable standouts include Astarion, the cynical vampire whose acid tongue is a defense mechanism to not let anyone get too close and who delights in thumbing his nose at others and seeking power for himself, but who can be guided towards a more empathetic and caring place; and Shadowheart, the cleric of the dark goddess Shar who finds herself torn between what she sees as her duty to her goddess and what she knows deep down to be the right thing to do.

Every character in Baldur's Gate 3 has a story to tell, and they're all good ones. That alone would land it on this list, but combined with the astonishing freedom it allows players and its infinite replayability rocket it to the top spot. Baldur's Gate 3 is my game of the year.

[s-aint-elmo]

digging out the eah content i created in a frenzy during last year’s summer of obsession part 1: my personal sapphic multishipping guide (created to explain to my friends which of these dolls i think should hold hands)

(more in-depth discussion of the ships below the cut)

the polycule that will take over ever after

kitty/lizzie; kitty/maddie; maddie/lizzie

self-explanatory. frequently purchased together do not separate. bonus shoutout to maddie canonically giving kitty a little kissie on the cheek and getting off scot-free in the books though. a wonderlandiful world was a banquet to me

cedar protection squad

once again a wonderlandiful world and once upon a time i owe you my life. kitty ESP being so adamant abt not giving a shit then turning around and fucking up those boys who were mean to cedar...... i love friendship

kitty/cerise

also self-explanatory. she was a catgirl she was a wolfgirl can i make it anymore obvious. also doribuki’s phenomenal fake dating fanfic....... transformative foundational transcendental

cerise/raven

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND. i entered eah a rapple shipper and exited the book series ready to burn at the stake for cerise/raven. book two was SO MUCH. it had everything. raven befriending cerise despite her attempts to isolate herself. texting in class. winking at each other. raven meeting the parents and hearing embarrassing baby cerise stories. cerise putting it all on the line to save raven. i’m ambivalent about shadow high but cerise gets literally one (1) mention and it’s in raven’s internal monologue wherein she equates cerise’s hood w feelings of warmth and safety. like how was that in any way necessary. i rest my case 

raven & maddie

self-explanatory as well. dabesties. the ride or dies. it means so much to me that raven always has a friend in maddie no matter how many clowns and jokers (derogatory) treat her like the antichrist. maddie the character ever

raven/apple

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. the gelphie dynamic is a classic and i am EXTREMELY vulnerable to it. they are THE ship and i will pay my respects to the end of time. i am a big fan of how they trade their roles throughout the franchise and how rich the drama and history are between them. it’s pure fucking poetry.

raven/darling

TBH. a serve. the only thing juicier than evil queen/damsel in distress is evil queen/princess charming. big big fan of darling giving raven the five star princess treatment after a lifetime of being feared and shunned and vilified. equally big fan of raven’s momentous act of rebellion giving darling the courage to be true to herself. ALSO. the absolute archetype-subversion slay of the Pure-Hearted Hero(TM) confronting the Mistress of Evil(TM) and dropping their sword. looking through the smoke and mirrors and the will of Fate itself to see the girl who has wanted nothing but to be kind beneath. swearing their heart and soul and sword to the one true good they have found. picture it. i can almost see the 100-word drabble

raven/apple/darling

now THIS is just THE fairytale couple. the evil queen, the damsel in distress and the princess charming ALL holding hands and riding off into the sunset together. dappling on its own doesn’t do it for me but raven in the mix just makes everything gel perfectly. she’s the tomato in the ratatouille the cornstarch in the spring roll water, etc etc

darling/holly

this is one of those ships where i read a really convincing fic and the more i thought of it the more it just made sense. like they'd read swashbucklers and tales of courtly love together. holly would 100% write a darling placeholder in her self-insert romance fanfic pre-relationship as a way to express her feelings. darling would 100% find out and gently pull her out of the pit of sheer mortification she drilled into the ground to escape. also the height difference is a thing of beauty

safe from the polycule

duchess/poppy

they have one singular episode to their name and it was enough. it was Everything. the dynamic you can extrapolate from that one single interaction is so incredibly appealing to me. duchess’s bitchiness belied by her palpable air of vulnerability coming up against poppy’s spine of steel tempered by her skill in gaining perspective. poppy can challenge duchess into being a better person and duchess can be poppy’s character flaw like idk she just has shit taste in women that was the price she had to pay to be moisturized and unbothered by destiny. i just think they have the potential to be the unexpected, inexplicable power couple of eah

briar/faybelle

do i even need to say anything they had a whole movie to make their case. they’re rapple if rapple got their shit together before armageddon, with the bonus of a potential curse-breaking true love’s kiss for the fanfic authors to thrash between their teeth. truly unlimited. also unlike rapple where raven is 100% against being a villain and therefore it’s apple who has to do the mental gymnastics to open herself to the possibility of a relationship w raven, faybelle is just chomping at the bit to make her momma proud and presents a compelling perspective for the whole “falling in love w your fated nemesis” thing

blondie/cupid

they are icons, they are legends, and they ARE the moment. these two are so chaotic individually, what with blondie’s criminal skillset and habit of menacing innocent woodland creatures and cupid’s matchmaking powers combined w her shitty aim, that putting them together can only mean good things. there’s this whole element of their shared passion as public figures who at their best seek the truth and guide others through matters of the heart respectively that’s always interesting as a point of irony/obstacle when they start catching feelings and have to decide what to do with them. their joint youtuber/podcaster slay can level nations

[kimbap-r0ll]

Showing housewardens their counterpart Disney movies

Let’s say that one day, somehow, the housewardens went to your universe instead of you going to theirs (a reverse!au?)

While there you decide to show them Disney films because why not!

I think it’s a given that all of them would be upset about the ending (the Great Seven basically are portrayed as villains) if they knew who the villains of those movies were, but overall some of them might like it!

Riddle

He thinks the vintage animation is pleasing, but can’t stand some of the over-the-top animation

Really likes the song “Golden Afternoon”

Wasn't sure how to feel about the Queen of Hearts overall, but liked the movie

He would want to watch other Disney films and would grow to like films like Fantasia or Bambi

Leona

He might’ve thought he could sleep through this, but he probably got invested -_-

 Secretly liked “Be Prepared” along with “Hakuna Matata” but won’t say anything (he lies he didn't care about the film but did)

He isn’t the type to watch children’s films or films he considers for kids, but probably has a soft spot for them

He would end up liking a few movies, but won't tell you them (he probably liked something wholesome like Ratatouille)

Azul

Really liked the music in the movie! Super catchy tunes!

Liked the portrayal of the Sea Witch until she basically got stabbed by a boat he wasn’t prepared for that

He doesn’t watch a lot of movies but will occasionally do, so this was a good one to show him

He’ll branch out to see more films and like Finding Nemo or anything else that’s aquatic

Kalim

He is bringing snacks to watch the movie before you even ask him

He is probably trying to sing along to the songs in the movie, sometimes bringing you to sing with them “A whole new woooooooooooorrrllllddd”

The ending wasn’t bad, and he honestly didn’t even notice the ending because he was talking with you (Jamil saw it was a bit confused however)

Watches a ton more movies afterwards and grows attached to more than half of the movies (really liked 101 Dalmatians and the Beauty and the Beast!)

Vil

He is judging cinematography, voice acting, music choice, etc. the whole time but really liked the animation overall

The ending probably made him upset, but he won’t say much about it. He can’t stand the mining song by the way.

Really liked the scene where the Evil Queen runs down the stairs because her cape just f l o w s

Is a theater kid man of film so watches more and really likes the Hunchback of Notre Dame

Idia

Man, he wasn’t prepared for all the songs and the colors and the jokes and etc. In fact he actually really liked it!

He couldn’t really geek out about anything, but it’s fine! He was able to hang out with you and watch something new!

Also, congrats! You managed to get him out of his room (unless you watched it with him in his room)!

Watches some other films when he’s doing something else and likes Big Hero 6.

Malleus

A movie? How interesting! I wonder if he’s seen films before?

He watches the movie and just goes “...oh” when Maleficent gets killed off, but overall enjoyed the film

He really likes the darker colors they chose for the animation, not to mention the music! Will find himself humming “Once Upon a Dream” later on during the day/night.

Won’t watch a lot more films, but if he does, he will really like the Black Cauldron

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part ten] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, alcohol, mentions of sex (18+ mdni)

word count: 2.6k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

series masterlist | early access to the next chapter on ko-fi

“Just that you’re not technically a chef yet,” Minho explained defensively. “You’re not certified.”

“A chef doesn’t need a piece of paper to call themselves a chef,” Leo countered. “Anyone can be a chef. But don’t tell the WAC I said that.”

“Yeah, Minho haven’t you ever seen Ratatouille?” you teased.

“Great movie,” Leo added. “Jisung, great job on your dough,” he reiterated.

Jisung stuck his tongue out at his brother across the table who rolled his eyes in response as Leo picked up his ball of dough and rolled it in his hands.

“Minho, yours is still a little tough. Keep working on it.”

He nodded and took his dough back to continue kneading it. You noticed his jaw clenched subtly in frustration, but he didn’t say anything else. You watched as he rolled the pasta dough with a little more force, maybe a little too much.

Leo checked yours next and gave you similar feedback to Minho’s, even though Jisung had helped you with yours. You didn’t want to think about what kind of feedback you would have gotten on your own.

Your dough was still flaking apart when you went back to working on it, and you tried desperately to hold it together with little success. Jisung had left your side to help his mom so you were on your own.

At least Minho was also struggling. You felt a little better knowing he was miserable too.

You were starting to sweat with effort, you were so out of shape that even cooking had you catching your breath. You had thought this was going to be fun, but instead you were having flashbacks to high school P.E. class.

Leo made his way down the rest of the table and checked everyone else’s dough before circling back to you and Minho. He took over for Minho and instructed Jisung to finish kneading yours so that he could move on with the lesson. It was embarrassing to be singled out, but Jisung assured you it wasn’t your fault. He wasn’t making much progress with yours either.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with yours,” Jisung whispered to you.

“I probably did it wrong,” you hissed back.

“I watched you do it, you did it the same way as everyone else.”

“Then why is it being like this?”

“Sometimes food has a mind of its own,” Leo interjected, making you realize the entire class had been listening to you and Jisung’s back and forth. “This is good enough, though. We can set it aside with the other balls of dough to let them rest while we make the fillings.”

You and Minho set your sad pasta balls on the counter with the others before moving to the sink to rinse your hands.

“I think they’ll still taste good,” Minho said thoughtfully as he offered the bottle of soap to you and pumped some into your hands.

“I hope so.”

“It’s pasta, it’s almost impossible to fuck it up.”

“Yet somehow we still managed to.”

“Some would say it’s talent,” he said and shrugged.

You bumped his shoulder with your own as you fought over the water stream. You managed to stick your hands in first and Minho put his above yours only for you to shove them away.

“Hey!”

“You’re completely ruining the purpose of washing my hands!”

“I have soap on my hands, you have soap on your hands, what’s the issue?”

“And you’re washing off your germs and they’re going on my hands now!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll wait my turn,” he seceded and let you finish washing your hands before he rinsed off his own.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Making the fillings for the pasta was a much simpler process than making the dough. All you had to do was mix certain ingredients together. It didn’t matter what order you added them, if you whisked fast or slow, the only important thing was that everything made it into the bowl one way or another.

You worked in pairs for this step. Jisung mixed together the pesto filling while you did the parmesan-truffle one.

“This is different than the pesto I make,” he said, looking at the mixture in his bowl.

You frowned. “But I like your pesto.”

“It’ll still be good, baby,” he assured you with a kiss to the forehead. “Don’t worry.”

When the fillings were done it was time to revisit the balls of dough and roll them into pasta. Jisung explained it to you like rolling Play-Doh, but it was far more difficult in your opinion. Play-Doh was nowhere near as stubborn as this. The pasta dough somehow retained tension, and would bounce back every time you tried to stretch it.

Jisung ended up having to help you and Minho because both of you were starting at a disadvantage with your fucked up dough.

“I never want to hear you say I have it easier than you ever again,” Jisung warned as he folded your strands of dough into raviolis.

The class had moved on to the final step, shaping and filling the noodles, but you had already tapped out. Jisung was done with his portion before you had even finished one so he had taken over for you.

“I’m sorry for saying that,” you said, remembering all the times you had teased him for stressing out over his ‘soufflé final’ or ‘crepe labs’. “I would much rather be writing a paper right now.”

He shrugged. “Everyone has their strengths.”

“I’m starting to think that Ratatouille movie was bullshit,” you groaned.

“How ironic,” Minho snorted across from you.

He was really starting to get on your nerves. But you let his comment go, not allowing your temper to get the better of you. He was still Jisung’s family, even if they had a… complicated relationship.

When the class finally settled in the dining room of the restaurant to eat you were sweaty, sore, and exhausted. You could feel your skin sticking to the leather seat, and you felt severely underdressed. Back in the kitchen you hadn’t been so self-conscious. But now you couldn’t stop thinking about your appearance.

The atmosphere was much more sophisticated. The lights were dim, and soft music played in the background. All of the other guests were following an unspoken black-tie dress code while the fifteen of you were still wearing your disposable aprons, only now they were covered in flour and egg yolk.

And to make it worse-

“Smile!”

Nikki held up her phone and motioned for you and Jisung to scoot your chairs closer together. You took a deep breath and complied, leaning your head against your fake boyfriend’s and managing a grin. You really didn’t want this moment to be immortalized, but you didn’t want to be difficult either.

The camera flashed once, then again. Jisung wrapped a hand around your waist and pulled your body against his, pressing a kiss to your cheek for another picture. You scrunched up your face as the flash went off, the tickle of his breath against your skin and the feather-light touch of his lips making you squeeze your eyes shut.

“That’s a good one!” Nikki complimented, even though you were sure it wasn’t as flattering as she was making it out to be.

The pasta was served with a glass of red wine for everyone. Jisung was right, the pesto was different from his, but it was still good. It was no match for his recipe, but the handmade pasta did give it a few bonus points. You were sure you hadn’t gotten any of the noodles you made because all of the ones on your plate were perfect. It didn’t feel fair that you got to enjoy somebody else’s hard work while they got your shitty excuse of a ravioli.

But as the wine dwindled from your glass the negative thoughts began to ebb away too. Your muscles, though still sore, relaxed slightly and you rested your head on Jisung’s shoulder as everyone else finished their meals around you. The conversation carried on without your contribution. Your social battery had died hours ago, but you were content to listen to the Hans chat with other students at the table.

You weren’t a huge fan of wine, but the one served with dinner was palatable, and to be honest you weren’t one to turn down complimentary alcohol anyway. It tasted more expensive than anything you had ever drank, like the equivalent of velvet on your tongue. You finished your glass and the rest of Felix’s.

-

The next few days in Florence passed in a similar fashion. You ate a lot of carbs, drank a lot of alcohol and let the business of the itinerary overwhelm you. It was getting tiring, living in an act. Trailing along behind the Hans like a dog, worn on Jisung’s arm like an accessory.

You had known what you were getting into, and you were trying your best to enjoy the experiences- because who the fuck knows when you’ll ever get to go on such a nice vacation again, but pretending to be in love with your best friend was a harder feat than you had thought.

It felt like being in a school play. Every move and phrase had to be intentional. You tread the lines of your relationship with rehearsed expertise. And you had to watch what you said, because everyone’s eyes were on you. At least that’s what it felt like.

Jisung’s parents were easy. They fully bought into your lie, seeing what they wanted to. They usually left you to your own devices, too. His brothers were the ones who needed convincing. Not even Felix, though. Minho was the problem. Minho was always the problem.

You were in Rome now, walking back to the hotel from the Colosseum. Jisung had his arm slung around your shoulders and was talking his twin brother’s ear off about the Gladiators and inaccuracies in films about Ancient Rome.

You didn’t think you’d seen him this excited the entire trip. It was cute, the way he talked with his hands and looked off into the distance whenever he was really engaged in something. Felix was also cute. He was trying his best to keep up with Jisung, nodding his head at all the right points, asking questions when there was a pause in conversation.

“Yeah, gladiators fucking unionized,” Jisung explained. “They put their lives on the line all the time, ya know? Might as well get benefits.”

“If I was a gladiator I’d join their union,” you said, adding to the conversation for the first time in a while.

“There were women gladiators too, babe! You totally could’ve been one.”

You laughed. “You remember my season on the intramural dodgeball team? I wouldn’t last a day. But I appreciate the thought, Ji.”

You had dinner in the restaurant attached to the hotel lobby. Nikki passed around her Canon for everyone to look through the pictures from the day while a bottle of limoncello was passed around the table.

You’d scarfed down your pasta and passed on dessert in favor of another shot of limoncello. Rookie mistake.

In the past the sugary drink had always tasted like cough syrup to you, but this batch tasted like straight-up lemonade. You were tipsy, bordering on drunk, but nowhere near blacked. Nikki and Dom turned in around shot three, leaving the tab open for the four of you. Jisung went upstairs next, having gone too hard too fast on the limoncello (he was on shot five when his parents went back to their room).

Then it was just You, Felix, and Minho. You told Jisung you’d join him in a bit after the pianist played a couple more songs. In all honesty, the music reminded you of Jisung. Back at school you could always find Jisung in the music hall if he wasn’t in the culinary building. You’d always hear him playing as soon as you walked through the double doors. You could always tell it was him at the keys by the way the playing sounded. He was self-taught, but still a genius in your mind. He didn’t need any formal training to make beautiful music, and that’s what you loved about it.

When he moved out of the dorms and into an apartment he bought a keyboard, and you’d spend nights together in his room illegally pirating sheet music for him to learn new songs. He’d play whatever you requested, and if he didn’t know how to play it he’d teach himself.

The pianist in the restaurant played with a little more expertise. The notes sounded refined, perfected. Jisung always told you that perfect music was restrained music, that real music had flaws, that a song should sound a little different every time it was played.

After an encore of Beethoven the man at the piano stood from his bench and took a bow, passing his hat around the room to collect tips. Minho dropped a bill into the hat and you did as well, handing it back to the man afterwards. He dumped the contents of the hat into a briefcase and closed the lid of the piano, thanking everyone in the audience for their donations.

“Well, I think I’m going to head up now,” Felix said, yawning for emphasis. “We still have to get up at the ass crack of dawn even though we’ll all probably be hungover.”

“Speak for yourself,” Minho said cockily, then turned to you. “One more shot?”

The bottle of limoncello was almost empty anyway. Might as well finish it off, it’d be a shame to let it go to waste, right?

“Hit me.”

“God, you’re both going to be so fucked tomorrow,” Felix groaned.

“We’ll be fine,” Minho insisted, rolling his eyes at his younger brother.

“Good night, Felix,” you sang, waving at him as he walked off.

“Yeah whatever.”

Minho wasted no time pouring you both a shot of what was left of the limoncello. The restaurant was beginning to clear out so he worked fast, filling the glasses up to the marked line. You both took one and clinked them together before throwing them back.

You winced at the burning sensation in the back of your throat and put the glass back on the table, searching for something to chase the shot with. Your eyes fell to Minho, lingering on his cheeks, his lips, both pink from the alcohol or something else. You flicked your gaze down to his neck, his collarbone that was peeking out from the neckline of his shirt. You thought about how it would feel to kiss him there, to run your tongue over a love bite you’d given him.

You forced your gaze back to his eyes, hoping he hadn’t caught you staring. You had to act uninterested, you couldn’t let on to- but he was staring back. His eyes were intense, and almost impossible to read in the darkness of the room. You knew you should look away, knew you had to keep up appearances, but you couldn’t.

Later you’d blame it on the alcohol, but in that moment you knew the limoncello wasn’t what was making your head spin, or your what was making your vision cloudy.

You were about to leave the table, about to rush to the elevator and back to Jisung but then suddenly Minho was kissing you. He cradled your head in his hand and tilted your chin up to meet his lips. It wasn’t desperate or messy like most drunk kisses were. Instead, it was delicate. You swore you could feel every line of his lips against yours, feel his heartbeat through his hands on your cheek.

It was only for a second, not enough time for you to react or reciprocate and then he was pulling away, eyes wide with panic.

“Please don’t tell Jisung.”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

no taglist today bc my laptop is broken but if you’d like to add yourself to the taglist you can do so here!

[aliceismypixie]

The villain of my story ∥ Ten days granted

Summary - "The villain will always be the villain if the hero tells the story" or atleast that's what they say. No one knew why you became what you are. But you wanted your revenge on Isabella Marie Swan and you were ready to do anything to have it.

Pairing - Twilight x villain!reader

Pronoun - she/her (but can be read as a male reader or gn reader)

Warning - The reader is an immortal child, swearing, talk of kidnapping, brief mention of killing, my poor writing skill for hunting, mention blood, Edward being full of himself

Words count - 1.66k~

Set - After Breaking-Dawn Part 2

Chapter 2 - Masterlist

You were annoyed. You had Ratatouille Renesmee in your lair for five days now and honestly, she was slowly making you regret ever kidnapping her.

"So you don't want to kill me ?"

"No."

"But you want my mommy ?"

"Yes."

"Why ?"

"Because."

"Because is not a reason. Really you could have targeted someone with a family weaker than ours.".

"I have good reasons."

"What are they ? It's kind of boring here don't you think ? You should add some colors on your wall !"

"No."

"Why not ?"

"Because I say so."

"But it's boring !"

"Shut up."

"That's a bad word !!"

"SHUT THE F― oh my God, kids nowaday."

"You look younger than I though."

"I'll burn the kid today." A groan escaped your lips as you turned away to grab your coat and out on your hood.

"Imma go on a little hunt. Stay in your cage and try to find something to distract you in your tiny space." You walked out as the girl started to speak again.

"Hey, don't leave me alone ! That's not very kind !"

The moment you closed the door, you finally felt like you could breathe. How was that kid Isabella's daughter ? She was so talkative while her mother was probably the most awkward introvert you've ever got to meet. But when you were younger, people always prefered a shy introvert who loved to read than a loud extrovert who jumped on trees.

Rolling your eyes at the thought, you made your way toward the entrance of the wood and jumped on a few trees. It was always better up there, that way you could see your prey any human much better. And as if your thought summoned them, a couple walked in the forest. They were dressed in a bunch of hiking equipment so they were probably here to see the awesome view the mountain offered them once they reached the top. Sadly they would never get the chance to.

Following behind them quietly, you always vomit your dinner hearing their cringe lovey-dovey discussion. The couple was talking about their movie date a week before and it was an awkward date and also an annoying one. Because honestly, who goes to the movie theater to watch a documentary on otters ?

"I love you bug-a-boo~"

"And I love you more winnie poo~"

"No ! Me bug-a-boo !"

"Me winnie-poo !"

"No―"

"Both of you are dead now anyways." You jumped off the trees you were on and you pinned them both on the ground with your feet smoothly.

"Who am I going to eat first ?" You smirked at their horrified expression and lowered yourself before taking a deep breath.

"You love alcohol don't you ?" You asked the man and his eyes widened while his girlfriend glared at him.

"What !? I thought you stopped ?!" She claimed and you rose and eyebrow surprised.

"Man you lied to your girl ? That's kinda low." You pointed out and the woman huffed before looking away from her boyfriend and you smirked.

"She cheated on me three times with all my boys !" He claimed and you looked at the girl in surprise.

"Damn, low blow girl." You acknowledged and the girl gasped dramatically before glaring at her boyfriend or ex-boyfriend whatever.

"Both of you are dead anyways."

Screams echoed through the forest and then there were two bodies, lying lifelessly on the ground, a bunch of claw marks on their bodies along with a few burns but no blood coming out of their injuries. Their blood got drained and the bear that clawed them was already jumping from trees to trees to go back home.

On your way back, you crossed a deer drinking some water and you stopped on your track. For the past five days she was there, Renasberry didn't eat all because she was brainwashed into their weird aff vegetarian diet or because the hybrid weird kid wanted human's food. But you needed to keep her alive somehow. A silent groan escaped your lips as your eyes the deer before you and prepared yourself to kill it.

Snapping its neck was an easy part honestly, especially since you just feet, carrying it to your super villain's lair was also an easy part, opening the door though, was kind of harder. But you were a super villain so you guess what you did ? A badass kick in the door and busted in.

The weird hybrid kid named Rasputin turned toward the door in shock and you rolled your eyes before dumping the deer in her cage and creating a new fire door for your lair.

"Eat up. You're paler than your mom when she was able to be sick." You glared before turning away and the kid looked at you with a teasy grin.

"You got me some food ! It's because you care~" Renesmee teased and you rolled your eyes annoyed.

"No I don't."

"You so do."

"Do not !"

"So do !"

"Do not !"

"Do not !"

"So do !" You replied and the kid smirked at you while you realized what you just said and a groan escaped your lips once again.

"How the fuck did I fall for that stupid two year old trick ?" You muttered.

"You said a bad word !"

"SHUT UP AND EAT !"

The Cullen's household wasn't happy anymore. You know how Bella used to say that her life was a nightmare before meeting Edward because now she has a handsome rich vampire husband ? Well now she thought that her life was worse because she lost her beautiful super rare hybrid daughter.

"We couldn't find her anywhere." Jasper announced seriously as him, Emmett and Seth arrived in the living room and Edward rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Seeing his brother's reaction's Emmett felt his own anger starting to rose up. Yes, Emmett wasn't the type to get annoyed or angry, except if you won against him in video games, but he wasn't annoyed for that. No, the big bad himbo vampire was annoyed because Edward was acting like he was the only one affected by the disappearance of ReNameMe, sorry oh my goodness, your author may have a problem with Razzel Dazzel's real name, Renesmee. Edward was acting like Rosalie wasn't isolating herself in her room out of guilt and refused to face anyone. See Emmett was usually very playful. That was until his wife was hurting and everyone just ignored it.

But was Emmett McCarty Cullen the main character ? No, you guessed it. He was probably the most underrated sibling of the Cullen's family but let's not talk about that.

Reading the thoughts of his brother, Edward glared at him from his seat on the couch and scoffed.

"Well I'm sorry, if your wife would have kept a eye on my daughter we wouldn't be here !" The golden brunet expressed and Emmett growled.

"Hey ! Rose did what she could ! You should have kept on eye on Renesmee she is your daughter after all ! Don't put everything on my wife !" Emmett's eyes turned darker as he was ready to jump on his brother.

Seeing the outbrust about to happen, Alice decided to take Jasper out of the room. The empath was already overwhelmed enough by everyone in the room, he didn't need to feel the emotions of the fight as a plus. Seth followed shortly after them, believe it or not he thought of them like his second parents. Leah followed her brother obviously, leaving Esme, Carlisle, Bella, Jacob, Edward and Emmett in the living room.

"Everyone calm down." Esme tried to sooth the atmosphere miserably.

Poor woman hated to see her children hurting and she hated even more to see them fight each other. Over the past few years, it has been hard for everyone between the hunters, the newborns army, the pregnancy and all the drama following the Volturi, Esme's caring nature couldn't help but worry for her children. But people oftenly forget that she existed too. She was Dr. Cullen's wife, not Esme, just Dr. Cullen's wife, so let's not make a big deal about her and how she might feel after all those years, yes ?

"No Esme, I'm sorry but Edward here needs to know that he is not the only one being hella worried about Nessie." Jacob butt in and Edward growled at him before getting up and face the alpha.

"If you were so worried you would have run faster !"

"And if you were so worried you wouldn't have let your daughter in the guard of other people ! Especially if you're not gonna assume your mistake after it !"

"I'm going to―"

"Boys ! Please ! Don't fight each other. Not now." Bella begged and the two turned toward her pleading eyes before getting off each other.

Like usual, Bella was the peacemaker between the two boys. Were they supposed to be adult now ? Yes they were. But the main character is the hero in every situation am I not right ? So let's make Bella act like the perfectly not-awkward-anymore-super-powerful-vampire-newborn main character that she is.

"Emmett, go check on Rosalie yes ?" Carlisle told his second son who simply huffed before being taken out of the room by his adopted mother.

"Edward, I know that you're frustrated but we're all soing our best to find her. And Jacob, I know that your imprint link makes you act up but we need to calm down and sit to think about a way to get Renesmee back without any harm." Carlisle announced when suddenly Seth ran back into the room, a familiar type of half burned letters in hands and a horrified expression on his face.

"Carlisle ! This was by the entrance of the wood. The child's sent is all over it." The young shifter exclaimed and Edward snatched the letter from his hands before that his expression fell and the words of the letter rolled off his tongue.

"'Fighting each other for five days, losing her more for five days. You had ten days granted. Tic, tac, fire and flames'."

Chapter 4

[lunar-years]

i wonder what jamie’s favourite movie is, like we know he’s seen the fault in our stars, and he doesn’t seem to like ratatouille very much. or maybe he just disapproves of sam mentioning ratatouille on a dating app idk. but then he also mentions the “three kates” (beckinsale, hudson, winslet) in the rom-communism scene, so maybe a preference for romcoms?

this is SUCH a fun question!! And I was going to say I don't have a good feel for the answer, but I thought about it over breakfast and came up with a whole thing, as one does (😂).

So, I think Jamie is generally one of those people who will watch just about anything and probably find most of them entertaining if not "good." And he is going to have very strong passionate opinions one way or another that he will voice to you during the movie (Since we know he was shouting things about the play down at the actors when Keeley took him to the theatre, I definitely think he's a talker during films lmao. And because of his total disdain for Ratatouille, I know he's very opinionated. But I also think if someone was like 'hey let's watch Ratatouille' Jamie would readily agree to it even though he hates the film, because he enjoys the opportunity to tell them during the movie exactly why he hates it.)

Jamie is my age and Fault in the Stars indicates to me that he was into all the popular YA movies of the 2010s, so I think he definitely likes like, Hunger Games, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Divergent, Marvel... all the classics hehe. The romcoms I think come from Georgie! When Georgie finally managed to get a night off work to spend with Jamie they would do film nights and curl up together by the TV. Jamie always let her pick the movie because it was a small way to make her happy, and she introduced him to all the classic romcoms :)

With Keeley I think he would happily watch reality tv with her just as readily as he'd watch whatever weird arthouse indie Film™️ she suggested to expand their cultural palate or whatever. He doesn't understand a single thing that's happening in those ones (especially if its a foreign film subtitles situation, because he can't read the screen fast enough) but it's okay because Keeley always patiently explains it to him afterward and doesn't ever make fun of him when he misses the point :)

Also, I wrote in Waterfalls that he loves the Fast and Furious franchise and I stand by that. I think a lot of like, objectively stupid and nonsensical movies are his favorites 😂 Brett apparently thinks Phil has terrible taste in movies, and I like to think Roy thinks the same about Jamie, except that it's very surface level because no matter how much Roy complains, he always ends up getting drawn in my how stupid the plots are kdngjka. And when Roy refuses to watch something Jamie and/or Keeley want to watch, Jamie gets to throw back at him, "don't act like you're better than us, Roy, I know you watched all of Lust Conquers All" and that shuts him right up 😁

Jamie never actually cares what they watch when he's with Roy and Keeley, but he nevertheless puts up a fuss about how it's his turn to pick and dramatically dive-grabs for the remote just to mess with roy hahahah.

[eldhuug]

omg rdr2 post on my dashboard yay 👀👀👀 *starts kicking legs off the edge of my seat* PLEASE tell me more on how u thought arthur morgans character couldve been done more justice by the singleplayer video game medium, i am genuinely super interested

Alright Anon U ASKED, I have a lot of thoughts about how the medium of videogames can be used to make the story reactive as well as interactive when we're given a guy who's supposed to be a fully formed guy we ratatouille

Now I want to lead into this by saying, these are just my opinions. rdr2 is enjoyed by people with a lot better taste than I, and who wholy enjoyed the experience provided. Some of my favorite artists and dear friends disagree with me, and I love them all dearly for it. I attempt to be concise with my issues, specifically the fact that for a game that is so thematically strong and eager to tell its story, it tends to forget that it is a video game. Now, a story in a video game is differently experienced, and has to be differently told. The cutscenes are also a hard cut between player control and the unfolding story. You, the player, passively watch the enacting dialogue. To me, there isn't any problem regarding the fact that you can't pick speech options to affect how the dialogue goes. We're not supposed to be able to do that, Arthur says the things he says, and while we can affect his actions we do not affect his thoughts. This is interesting, and does make us Arthurs allies in his adventures rather than getting the feeling of having an avatar for ourselves. However, we run into two problems. 1, that dialogue in the game doesn't reflect arthur's actions and causing a disconnect between what we're being told and what we, the player, experience arthur doing. 2. We DO get to pick how arthur acts, and it allows us to pick between good guy nice dialogue, or being a complete raging asshole that mocks and belittles the people around him. You can't create a scenario where the actions the player makes in Arthur's story are supposed to matter, and not have the people around him notice how he changes. Instead of having a sliding morality scale, keeping a tally on what actions were done and in what way, who sees Arthur doing what and remembering how he acted before, commenting on his changing nature for the better or for the worse would have been a MUCH more engaging way to keep track on your characters progression, not to mention it would open for more meaningful camp conversations and build meaningful relationships. This however, does NOT align with the story rockstar are telling, they have a story to tell that isn't open for that level of flexibility, because they have a tale to tell that needs to go down brick by careful brick, in a domino stacked before we were allowed to join in the play, and now we simply have to watch the emerging pattern. I'm not claiming there aren't parts of rdr2 that aren't moving, or heartbreaking and wonderfully performed and paced, but to me, that complete lack of being even a LITTLE engaged in the unfolding events makes it pointless to experience through the videogame format, which is uniquely situated to react to player choices.You do not need to change arthur morgan, but you need to let the actions taken by a player show in a way that is more refined than in the ending scene, or by an openly accessible slider of good boy bad boy when the entire point of this ragtag outlaw band is their tightrope walk of morality, that gets completely undermined by its own karmic system.

Summarizing, I'd remove the pop up of good/bad, let the dialogue of the camp encounters indicate what direction arthur was leaning, as well as letting antagonization be an option arthur could do in scenarios where scaring someone might be a good option to beating them the hell up. allow him to exist within the gray specter in a way that didn't make the player feel directly bad for their actions, and allowing arthur his shades of gray.

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

Ratatouille TBT things

Poppy does still convince Branch to go with JD, and ofc she comes along, but she’s toned down her enthusiasm quite a bit. She thinks the bros deserve a chance of course, but where were they when their baby brother got trollnapped? And Branch of course has never mentioned them, which only brings up so many more concerns for her

Also, when JD reveals that they’ll have to hit the perfect family harmony, Branch knows they can’t do it. How could they? His own voice is destroyed, and without being able to sing well… it’s basically an impossible task. Poppy somehow talks him into it anyway (girlfriend puppy dog eyes) (telling him he sounds perfect and angelic and she loves when he sings) (insisting that he’s not broken, never broken, he’s just him)

[cowboytarlos]

Tarlos headcannons pt. 3

-When Carlos was 16, his appendix ruptured after a week of pushing himself to go to school with a ‘stomach bug’. He spent two weeks in the hospital, and scared his parents sick. Andrea told TK this story after he woke up from his coma, and all he could think was ‘that explains the scar there’.

-When TK is nervous around Carlos, he’ll fiddle with Carlos’ fingers, running fingers up and down them etc. Carlos thinks it’s sweet, and has been able to easily pick up when he’s nervous. He just sticks his hand out subtly for TK.

-Andrea absolutely adores TK. Every time She calls or Carlos calls, she’ll always ask how TK is, sometimes before she asks how Carlos is. Carlos jokes about how she’s got a new favourite son.

-Carlos is a huge great british bake off fan, and immediately gets TK obsessed with the show.

-Andrea did wind up having a very serious conversation to TK over breaking up with Carlos. After the conversation ended, Carlos whispered to TK ‘I’ve never heard her so mad before’.

-Carlos has the world worst hay fever.

-TK could barely remember his own phone number, but knows Carlos’ off by heart.

-Carlos is a mitski fan. He also listens to a lot of Hozier.

-TK blushes easily. Like a teenager in their first relationship. Carlos recorded a show he very briefly mentioned so he wouldn’t miss it? Bright red. Carlos made him a cup of coffee without asking? Flushed for an hour. Carlos randomly bought him something? Never forgets it. Carlos compliments him? Flustered, extremely flustered. People think Carlos is doing this on purpose, but Carlos doesnt realise he doesn’t have to try.

-Carlos can be completely oblivious. One time, Carlos was grocery shopping with TK, and a women started subtly flirting with Carlos. TK noticed immediately and made it very obvious who he was to Carlos without saying it. As she walked away, TK pointed it out to Carlos and all Carlos had to say was ‘i thought she was being nice,’. 

-TK was a theatre kid in high school. Carlos was on the football team.

-Carlos doesn’t know how to use emojis. He texts like an old man.

-TK is a huge Pixar fan. His favourite Pixar movie is Ratatouille.

-Carlos bruises super easy. He’s absolutely covered in bruises, just all over. Loads on his shin. TK comments about the possibility of Carlos having an iron deficiency, cause no normal person should bruise this easy. But after a blood test, turns out he doesn’t. Still a mystery to this day.

-Despite being a paramedic, TK has a crippling fear of other people being sick. Like throwing up. He’s fine (as fine as one person could be) when he’s sick, but can’t do it with other people. Gets incredibly tense and anxious. When Carlos caught a horrible flu for the first time with TK in his life, it was a slight disaster. TK wanted and was very determined to look after Carlos. But when one of his new symptoms was not being able to keep anything down, it became a little harder from him to stay focused.

-Carlos was pretty short for all of middle school, but during the summer before high school, he had a very sudden and huge growth spurt. Like almost an entire foot sort of spurt.

-TK was a massive one direction fan, whilst they were band. But if you ask him now, he’d deny it.

-Carlos has incredibly sensitive hearing. Can’t not stand loud noises. Terrified of fireworks, likes the concept of concerts, can’t actually go to them.

-TK’s phone is literally never charged. But always has enough battery to answer Carlos. Drives the team insane.

-TK had a adult onset allergy to pineapple. He would eat loads as a kid. Always in his lunch box, gallons of pineapple and tropical juice in the fridge, loves pineapple sweets. So when he has a horrible reaction to eating pineapple, it really threw him through a loop.

-When TK moves to Texas, that’s when he learns how easily he burns. Carlos just tans, TK is extremely jealous.

-TK s is left handed. Carlos is right handed. So Carlos will hold TK’s right hand, so he can use his left hand.

[thenarddogmeister]

Everything Everywhere All At Once. The Daniels. 2022.

I love this film and have watched it three times so far so it’s about time I wrote this review.

First of all, I think the main themes I see being explored in this film are the different outlooks/ philosophies a person can use to live in a world like this. Everything Everywhere is a daunting film to write about because it’s postmodern to the maximum, there’s so much to talk about. Firstly, the absolute hybrid of genres and intertextual references (ranging from Disney’s Ratatouille to Wong kar-wai’s In The Mood For Love) makes this a staple of post-modernism and reflects the chaos of the world we live in today. We have access to everything and we can see so many things (especially with the rise of social media) and just like this film proves, it can provide beauty but it can also cause chaos and destruction. The movie is beautiful in its variety of colours, creative costumes, and allowing Evelyn (Joy’s mother) to understand her daughter’s sexuality better by jumping to a universe where she is in a relationship with Jamie Lee Curtis’s Deadre. However, it is also immensely destructive as by having a surplus of meanings and universes, Joy finds that she feels now, nothing has any meaning and she can’t trust anything she sees because she has seen everything. To use a perfect quote from the film, “She no longer believes in an objective truth.”

The Daniels like to draw contradictions in the film to highlight this distrust we feel in our modern culture due to having access to so many juxtaposing “truths.” For example, they comically use phallic and yonic imagery to reinforce the binary opposite drawn between nihilism (nothing matters) and absurdism (represented by Waymond’s whimsy throughout the film). This imagery is funny when we see Joy fighting with large dildos but it also allows us fresh perspectives when Evelyn and Joy put their hands together to create a vaginal-like shape, allowing Evelyn to see what Joy sees. This juxtaposition of humour and deep understanding supports the theme throughout the film that in this culture of media oversaturation, we cannot find an objective truth or an objective way of living anymore. It’s all about choice. This is also inferred as Evelyn is seen at the beginning of the film choosing to either stick to her laundry and taxes or go into the mysterious janitor’s closet - at one point, the screen even explicitly cracks into two perspectives to anchor this idea of choice. 

Another part of the film that I love, is the soundtrack/score, which also expertly contributes to the point of the film, that we are all confused and scared in this overstimulating postmodern world. Clair de Lune is used as a musical motif throughout the film, which perfectly sums up the point the Daniels are trying to make. This is an old, classical song used in possibly the least classical movie ever, showing how we have access to content spanning over literal centuries (due to streaming platforms like spotify I can listen to the 1905’s Clair de Lune and seconds later listen to the 80’s She Goes Down by Motley Crue). This overwhelming level of choice can be beautiful as we can watch Everything Everywhere All At Once and hear the magnetic and majestic Clair de Lune but it can also create so much disillusionment and confusion as how do we decide what is true and how we should live when there are million and millions of contradicting answers to those questions out there. 

The last thing that needs to be mentioned is the motif of the Bagel. The bagel represents Joy’s nihilism. It sucks everything in and leaves nothing in its wake. Moreover, it is black which is what you get when you mix all the colours together, surplus resulting in nothingness. However, the room we see the bagel in is overwhelmingly white, which is what you get when all the colours of light are added  together. White has happier connotations like heaven and purity, adding to this idea that the same situation (all the colours added together) can be interpreted positively by us or negatively. Will we see the black-hole bagel or the googly eyes that Waymond leaves around the house? 

Lastly, I love the match cut at the end where Joy and Evelyn share a mother-daughter hug, which then transitions ,through this match cut, into planets colliding. It really anchors this point that we can either focus on the massive destruction in this world (planets colliding) or the intimate moments of love (the hug). And each is powerful. 

The theme of this movie is so masterfully explored in the film’s editing, sound, cinematography, genres, imagery etc and so in my opinion it might be a perfect film.