#and the ending... evil michael emerson is just best

[linusbenjamin]

Person of Interest 4.06 'Pretenders'

[darkwing-katy]

I…can live with that, I guess? Thoughts on Evil’s final episode under the cut (aka SPOILERS)

-I’m sad in general that this show is ending and it will take me forever to recover from this show in the best way

-I guess my dream where I shoved Leland into a bathroom to keep him alive kinda worked???

-the main trio reliving their cases as they burn them was fucking adorable

-I’m gonna miss those girls so much

-the fuck are we gonna do about Lexis???? She seemed normal this season but, like, she had fangs and a tail and was born from a place tainted with demonic stuff. I wanna know how that resolves.

-okay so I guess since Timmy was baptized he can’t be the Antichrist? They were just gonna pivot and make another one? That’s fun.

-the sheer bureaucracy of the online meeting of the 60 had me cackling. “Norm. You’re muted.”

-NORM. IT’S THE BUTTON SHAPED LOKE A LOZENGE poor Leland has to deal with so much shit with these incompetent demons

-“you’ve protected Kristen for four years, Leland.” Uhm. What? He’s been protecting her? Why????? I NEED MORE OF THIS EXPLAINED TO ME????? It can’t just be the whole mother of the Antichrist thing, right???? THERE’S MORE TO IT.

-all things considered, I firmly believe Leland would not have actually killed Timothy. I dunno why; I can’t explain it. But I don’t think he’d do it. Not after that nice little drop of David’s goodness in him.

-Leland putting in earphones while creeping into the house to murder Kristen?? And singing and bopping along in the basement? Iconic. Iconic and adorable. I love him. I have a problem, I know.

-I WAS TRYING NOT TO FREAK OUT WHEN SHE CAME AT HIM WITH THE CORD (“oh shit, guess the bathroom didn’t work after all” was what I told my husband)

-but also the hilarious irony of Kristen strangling him with a red cord like that when that’s how Michael Emerson’s character kills John Locke in LOST???? Like I was stressing but also giggling like a psycho

-the reveal of the meaning behind the countdown was so on point for this show. This fucking show. (What about the bricks, though? Why did they want people to remove the bricks in Kristen’s basement?????)

-DAVID I DON’T THINK LOCKING HIM IN A CABINET IS ANY BETTER THAN STRANGULATION WITH A CORD???? IS HE JUST GONNA ROT IN THERE????

-(okay but all things aside, Leland technically didn’t die on screen and I love to imagine that he was released somehow) (o shit did I just come up with another fic idea????)

-FENNA!!!!!! FENNAAAAAAA!!!! THAT LIL SHOULDER BUMP!!!!!!!

-Kristen’s Dutch counterpart convincing her to move???? Wonderful

-Kristen and David in Rome??? With the girls and Timmy? And cool Italian sunglasses? Wonderful. 10/10. They get to be together but David doesn’t have to choose between her and God. Sure, there’s still sexual tension, but, they’re TOGETHER and not all meaningful relationships have sex as an active component

-BEN SHOULD HAVE GONE WITH THEM AND I STAND BY THIS

-THAT ENDING???? And the fact that Katja decided that was how Kristen should react on the fucking day of filming???? 10/10 no notes, only undeniable curiosity as to what would happen if we miraculously got a season 5

-that cliffhanger is satisfying but also I need a season five. And six. And seven eight nine.

Anywho. That’s, uh, about where I am right now. I’m extremely sad. I ate sushi and ice cream and it helped until it didn’t. I’m gonna continue rewatching the whole dang thing. I’m gonna finish rewriting my Leland fic. I might actually make the shirt I was joking about in an earlier post. Hell, I think the idea of a circle skirt with the map of the different demonic sigils would be amazing. And then I’m probably gonna wanna write more fanfic because I’m still in denial that it’s actually over.

But hey! In my head, Leland is not dead! That’s a win!!! Good job, Dream Kate! You sorta succeeded in protecting your favorite character!

[breadboylovin]

NEW POST FOR MY 95060 PLAYLIST!!! complete with explanations of every song choice under the cut because i love explaining my own creative decisions for some reason (PLEASE DO NOT FEEL COMPELLED TO READ ALL OF IT IF YOU DONT WANT TO ITS VERY LONG LOL). i may add a few songs here and there later on, or more likely rearrange what i've already put in slightly, but for now i consider it done.

alright now heres a look into my twisted mind

PART 1: TEMPTATION

Franz Ferdinand - Michael: It's a song about seducing someone named Michael. What more can I ask for (serious explanation is that it’s also very homosexually charged like you just have to listen to it… also feels taunting in a way where it’s like ‘oooooh you want me so bad’ and he’s RIGHT Michael DOES want him so bad). Also credit to this post for letting me know this song existed and inspiring me to make this playlist in the first place :-3

Mystery Skulls - Paralyzed: Just another song about how Michael is awestruck by David and feels compelled to follow him for whatever reason (the reason is that he wants him so bad)

TAEMIN - WANT: This is one of three Taemin songs on here because I think if David survived until present day he would fucking LOVE Taemin. Anyways this is a song about knowing you’re hot shit and everyone wants you and I think after seducing Michael through fucking?? Fatal motorcycle races and evil noodle mind tricks??? David deserves to feel that

Glass Animals - Gooey: OHGHGHGHFH THIS SONG… the vibes are impeccable on this one, Dave Bayley’s alluring voice feels like a slight remix of what David is going for and the way it feels like the singer is trying to convince the listener of something (even though it’s purposely vague) just FEELS like David with Michael. The line “I can’t take this place, I can’t take this place/I just need to go where I can get some space” especially fits when imagining how Michael is new to Santa Carla and may want a place to belong that David and the boys are happy to provide

TAEMIN - Impressionable: I see this as the moment that Michael downs the bottle of “wine”, where this song is David’s internal monologue reveling in how easy it was to charm Michael and get him to join. I always thought this sounded like a taunting villain song so it just fits. Also it’s like ridiculously horny which is a plus

PART 2: THE RELATIONSHIP ITSELF

MGMT - Me and Michael: In my head this is directly after Michael drinks the “wine”, and if it were an actual song in the movie, it’d play instead of Cry Little Sister in that scene. I already made art related to this but I really just love the juxtaposition between something that Michael will later see as horrible (becoming a half-vampire) and David seeing it as a perfect slow-dance moment. Also “Me and Michael, it’s not a question now” because the blood drinking has now linked them together… mmmmm. Credit to this post again for making me find this song!!

ALI - DESPERADO: This one is less about David and Michael specifically and more about how the night in the cave went down for everyone there, starting with a soft slowness as they ate and then descending into chaos as Michael downs the wine and they celebrate a new addition to the pack. The bacchanal energy is off the charts

Dorian Electra - Man to Man: This song is just one that I attribute to all of the boys because I think they do a lot of homoerotic sparring. Also the part of the movie where Michael punches David in the face and David just goes >:-3 back at him

Chase Atlantic - Friends: I don't know what it is about this one but it just Hits… The chorus kinda sounds like David and the boys trying to convince Michael to stay with them instead of coming back to human society after drinking the blood, in the same sort of taunting manner that they had when David (presumably?) made Michael hallucinate the bike lights and sounds outside of his house

Taking Back Sunday - You're So Last Summer: THIS SONG IS JUST REALLY GOOD. I don't know what it is about this one either… I guess the “Maybe I should hate you for this/Never really did ever quite get that far” part could represent the first glimpse of Michael’s more conflicted feelings about David. Also the second half of verse 2 not only fucks so hard but could also be indicative of Michael’s repressed gay feelings, lying to himself about how he wanted to be around David because he’s cool or whatever but he actually just has the hots for him and would let him do anything if he asked to

MGMT - Little Dark Age: Mostly here just for vibes. Have y’all seen that one edit set to this song? Yeah

The Neighborhood - Prey: I feel like this song captures the general unease that Michael feels right before he sees the boys kill for the first time, knowing that he’s probably turning into a vampire and something horrible is happening… especially with “Something is wrong, I feel like prey” just generally describing what it must feel like to be a human among vampires (though he’s not fully human anymore at this point)

PART 3: REALIZATION + FIGHTING BACK

TAEMIN - Criminal: YET ANOTHER TAEMIN SONG!!!! It’s all about realizing you're with someone who’s like, an evil manipulative villain and genuinely bad for you but you can’t escape just yet because you’re kinda into it. I don't think David is THAT bad of a guy, but Michael could be like “I need to get out of this situation because this man is a vampire but I feel attracted to him and it’s hard to really get away”. Also the line “My hands holding yours that stabbed me are not clean either” just HITS cus Michael hates David’s vampirism but HE’S a half-vampire now so it’s not like he’s innocent either. This is just a really good 95060 song AND a good song in general, listen to it even if you don't normally like K-pop cus it slaps

Glass Animals - Wyrd: This would be the moment where Michael snaps out of it and just starts running away, but to no avail, because he’s still a half-vampire (“You can’t run so you must hide” meaning that he can’t outrun his new monstrous nature, the best he can do is hide it until it eats him alive). Meanwhile David laments over how this is a stupid decision from his perspective (“So, my friend, our time is done/You and I could’ve had so much”)

Moonface - Minotaur Forgiving Theseus: This is a very veeeeery bitter song from Michael’s perspective about David being a vampire… with the “You’re just a hitman” repetition referencing how David. Y’know. Eats people. And the “I heard you're coming for me now” references both how David first approached him and the impending confrontation

The Neighborhood - The Beach: This song goes from the bitterness of the previous one to a pseudo-acceptance of the end of their brief friendship and what’s inevitably going to happen next. However, I think the bridge of the song illustrates the little bit of Michael that doesn’t want this to happen, that wants this relationship to somehow work out because he cares about David even if he is a vampire (unfortunately he ends up repressing this because he feels a duty to kill David now)

Gorillaz - Rhinestone Eyes: This is mostly in here because of the music video, the buildup to a battle just echoes in my head whenever I hear this song now. In the context of this playlist it makes me imagine David looking up at the Emerson’s house from the hotel (and Michael doing the opposite) knowing that something’s about to happen and it’s going to be horrible

Glass Animals - JDNT: This entire song feels like the climax of the movie. Verse 1 feels like the Emersons and Frogs getting ready to attack the cave (“I’m all armored up”) with “I feel that final poke” being when Marko gets staked, and the chorus right after is a tinge of regret that Michael feels once the plan starts to take shape. Verse 2 is the other boys waking up to see that Marko is dead + them dying themselves (“Where my funny friends gone?”) and the bridge is Michael and David’s fight before Michael finally gores David on the antlers. The outro of “You can’t breathe without me” VERY much feels like David taunting Michael from beyond the grave, knowing how much Michael loved him and how horrible what he’s just done is

PART 4: GRIEF

The Brazen Youth - Burn Slowly/I Love You: Ooooooghghgh the conflicted feelings about their relationship is STRONG in this one… The “Burn Slowly” part being him trying to convince himself that he did the right thing by killing David while the “I Love You” part is him realizing that he really did love David and it fucking hurts

Sufjan Stevens - The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us: MAN. MAN… Everything past “I can’t explain the state that I'm in” is just so… it’s Michael realizing what he had even more and just how much it hurts that he’s lost it. He knows he was in love now and it fucking hurts SO MUCH!!!!!

Sufjan Stevens - The Only Thing: [head in my fucking hands] Michael moping around Santa Carla because it feels empty without David. All the “should I tear my eyes out now?/Should I tear my heart out now?” parts oh my GOOOOOOOOD sufjan stevens i'm going to slap you on the head.

Paramore - Tell Me How: THIS SONG HURTS SO MUCH ITS SO. It’s another one about conflicting feelings so theoretically it should be earlier in the story but I always envision something very morbid when listening to this (and have now written a fic about it so check that out)… Michael going back to the hotel where he put David’s body and musing to no one, asking how he’s supposed to feel now, the “And always coming to your defenses” where Michael keeps defending David and their relationship to his family who all think David was a horrible monster… this song fucking hurts. Also I unintentionally drew a parallel between JDNT’s “You can’t breathe without me” and this song’s “Do I suffocate or let go?” and now that I’ve realized that it hurts even more. Fuck this song

[glassvines]

Thoughts on 2020 Favorites

Thoughts on all my favorites from 2020! Sadly, I witnessed what is most likely the demise of one of my favorite hobbies: going to the movies. I hope all my local theaters don’t close up for good this year, and I start going more regularly again in 2021 but. I don’t know if it’s ever going to be the same again. TV Shows 1. Battlestar Galactica (2004) - Getting into this one rather late, but I just discovered I can watch it for free on Peacock haha. Absolutely loving it. Been meaning to finish it ever since I watched the 2003 mini series a few years ago. Stylistically brilliant, and I love that the theological-laden dialogue appears to have a plot-driven point to it. 2. Evil (CBS) - I love this show! Hope it gets another season. It manages to pull off that fine line between silly and creepy most of the time, and all the actors come off as sincere. Also Michael Emerson is there which makes everything even better. Also, also a plus: I'm used to the media portraying Catholics in two different ways: lapsed or bigoted. Muslims? Devout and spiritual or terrorists. It's nice to see a series centered around a devot Catholic, a lapsed Catholic and an ex-Muslim who are all the good guys. Fantastic central characters dynamic. Animation 1. Hilda, season 2 - One of Netflix's best imo. The new season was gorgeous, and even got me to shed a tear at one point. I want to read the comic it's based on. 2. Infinity Train, seasons 2 + 3 - Excellent follow-ups to a great first season. Both were good seasons, but I really enjoyed s2 for Jesse and MT's instant chemistry. 3. Castlevania, season 3 - This show is going to end up breaking my heart but damn if it isn't a really fun watch. Fight scenes continued being top-notch in s3. 4. Bee and Puppycat, season 2 - Yeah, this isn't getting an offical Netflix release until 2022 (what the fuck), but I watched the leaked episodes and enjoyed them a lot. The show feels un-polished and the plot is surrealist nonsense, but those aspects of the show also make it creative and original. I'd like more seasons in the future, but given how disorganized to the point of incompetence the s2 release is, I'm not counting on getting anymore. I don't like seeing the popularity of this show squandered so it's a huge shame. 5. Amphibia, season 2 - Best Disney show airing right now. Characterizations and animation continued being great and I'm looking forward to s3. 6. Wolfwalkers - We all needed a beautiful Cartoon Saloon movie in 2020. It did not disappoint! Hope it has a bluray release soon so I can rewatch it somewhere other than Apple TV+ :/. 7. The Willoughbys - More Kris Pearn directed films please. This movie's character design style was so charming and cute. Loved the Ricky Gervais Cat Narrator. I watched this one with my family after having been separated from them for some time due to the lockdown. It was probably one of the happiest evenings of this year for me. 8. Soul - I enjoyed Onward quite a bit, but Soul hit me in that old-school Pixar feels way. A film about inspiration and finding purpose, so it had a message very similar to Ratatouille. Only Soul ponders on one's worth if they are "not doing what they're meant to do". This movie really knocked that message out of the park.

Video Games 1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - I played this rather religiously. Definitely kept me from moping during those times when my work hours were cut. 2. Creaks - Amanita Design is offically one of my favorite indie game studios at this point. I adore the atmosphere and music in this game; it's one of the most chill puzzle games I've ever played. 3. Hylics - This game is so bizarre. I've never seen anything like it. Really want to play the sequel.

Films 1. Emma - May officially be my new favorite Emma adaptation. I loved everything about it. The stylized look to the cinematography, the costumes, the music, the actors. Everything. 2. Doctor Sleep - Was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one, as I completely missed it in the theaters. An excellent sequel to a classic, and a well-done good vs. evil story. 3. The Vast of Night - Fun little sci-fi/indie/1950s period piece. I hope streaming services start distributing more films like it. 4. Prospect - My dad recommended this one to me and we watched it together. I was blown away by the dedication to detail; how everything worked in this future setting. Pedro Pascal's character was constantly surprising me too. (Also see: very handsome.)

Podcasts This is only here so I can mention that my favorite new thing was 100% The Magnus Archives. I listened to a lot of new stuff in 2020, but it all paled in comparison to TMA. Good spooky times, great characters and character dynamics, interesting plot direction. The lore is so, so good; I'm impressed with how thorough it is with explaining the seemingly unexplainable, without fully taking away the air of mystery.

Honorable Mentions 1. The Mandalorian, season 2

Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2021 1. Hopefully we'll finally be getting that PacRim series?? 2. The French Dispatch 3. I just want to go the movies again sighhh

Some Creative & General Goals for 2021 I actually managed to do a proper job this year with the journaling and taking more photography! I've started serveral journals, as well as a digital one. So, at least I managed to keep up with one of my creative goals. Managed to have a fairly successful deck garden this year too. My sugar peas didn't die on me haha. Hope to expand on it more this spring/summer. Moving forward this year: 1. Continue to keep up with journaling: drawings, gardening, travel (fingers crossed) and tv/film commentary. 2. Seriously organize my photography this year, as well as post online more often. 3. Help my brother this year with some of his own creative projects! He's always asking for art and I'm usually too busy, but this year I want to get more serious and contribute to his projects. 4. Maybe get back to an old goal of learning how to play the guitar. I want to drop some cash on one this month so I can practice at home.

[flippyspoon]

hello girlyy 💞 i was hoping you could help me i’m trying to expand my mind & all that during quarantine, could you give me some of your fav book recs? thanks ;))

OK. Well, these are probably tragically obvious but oh well lol:

The Raven Cycle by Stiefvater: Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why - either he is her true love or she has killed him. Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower - a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour. -That summary does not do it justice. Trust me. if you haven’t read it yet.

The Captive Prince series by C.S. Pacat: Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else… 

-Some people have trouble getting through the first book because everything in book 1 is sort of reframed in book 2 but in 1 you’re very much like…this dude is so evil how…It’s kind of genius how everything later turns upside down.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon:

  A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. From the shared fears, dreams, and desires of two teenage boys, they spin comic book tales of the heroic, fascist-fighting Escapist and the beautiful, mysterious Luna Moth, otherworldly mistress of the night. Climbing from the streets of Brooklyn to the top of the Empire State Building, Joe and Sammy carve out lives, and careers, as vivid as cyan and magenta ink.

-It’s been a long time, I’m due for a reread. But this is probably one of my favorite books. Especially great if you’re at all interested in comics history which I’m not especially and it’s still one of my favorite books.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - This is Kazuo Ishiguro’s profoundly compelling portrait of Stevens, the perfect butler, and of his fading, insular world in post-World War II England. Stevens, at the end of three decades of service at Darlington Hall, spending a day on a country drive, embarks as well on a journey through the past in an effort to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving the “great gentleman,” Lord Darlington. But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness,” and much graver doubts about the nature of his own life.

-This is in my top 3 of all time.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang - Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he’s making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…

-A romance so good I was once trying to read it while in line for rides at Disney Land lol.

A Room with a View - E.M. Forster - A charming tale of the battle between bourgeois repression and radical romanticism, E. M. Forster’s third novel has long been the most popular of his early works. A young girl, Lucy Honeychurch, and her chaperon—products of proper Edwardian England—visit a tempestuous, passionate Italy. Their “room with a view” allows them to look into a world far different from their own, a world unconcerned with convention, unfettered by social rituals, and unafraid of emotion. Soon Lucy finds herself bound to an obviously “unsuitable” man, the melancholic George Emerson, whose improper advances she dare not publicize. Back home, her friend and mentor Charlotte Bartlett and her mother, try to manipulate her into marriage with the more “appropriate” but smotheringly dull Cecil Vyse, whose surname suggests the imprisoning effect he would have on Lucy’s spirit.

-One of my books since I don’t know…8th grade or something.

Hope this helps!

[lookninjas]

seldnei and lookninjas cast the Sandman Netflix series

So Netflix doesn’t have to.

Dream of the Endless: Adam Driver

Death of the Endless:  Tessa Thompson  (@seldnei), Ruth Negga (@lookninjas)

Desire of the Endless: Ezra Miller

Destruction of the Endless: Jason Momoa

Despair of the Endless: I’m going to really go against the comic books here and say the best modern illustration of Despair needs to look a hell of a lot like Kellyanne Conway.

We haven’t figured out Destiny yet -- I know Tilda Swinton is the obvious choice but I feel like that’s a little too obvious and we need to go weirder.  Also, Delirium should probably be played by a wide assortment of actors/actresses because she changes appearance the most, I feel.

Also:

David Tennant as Matthew the Raven, who I don’t think is Scottish but please let him use his real accent just once and same for

Michael Sheen as Lucien.

If they do The Doll’s House, we would also like to suggest

Brie Larson as Rose Walker

Emilia Clarke as Unity Kinkaid (when she shows up at the end)

Matt Bomer (@seldnei) or Andrew Rannells (@lookninjas) as Hal

Lupita Nyong’o as The Corinithian (this was @seldnei‘s idea, btw, and it is inspired and also terrifying.)

But we would still need Fiddler’s Green, Ken and Barbie, Chantal and Zelda, Jed, Brute and Glob.  And Nimrod (please not Michael Emerson he’s been evil enough) and the rest of the Collectors.

Although obviously not everyone has to be super-famous either.  But it’s harder to find photos just by searching “talented unknown actors who would be perfect in the Sandman Netflix series.”

[moviegroovies]

so to me, one of the hallmarks of a good piece of media is people willingly thinking about the characters after it’s over.

obviously, this isn’t like, a 100% success rate kind of thing. there are objectively good, enjoyable pieces of media out there that have no “fandom” type presence on the internet, because, while it exhibited great worldbuilding/storytelling/framing/what have you, it just wasn’t made up of the kinds of characters that people latch on to; the joke about avatar (2009) having less than 100 fics on ao3 despite being the best selling movie of all time for a solid decade is well known because of this phenomenon exactly. amazing cgi, solid plot, but at the end of the day, not that many people cared about jake sully. even still, i think this character-imprinting thing has an important, often overlooked role in intrinsically endearing people to movies that, outside of this factor, might be easily forgettable or even outright disliked. 

case in point: my movie of the day/week/month (how often do i post on this blog, anyway?)....

that’s right, lads, today i’m going to talk about the lost boys. 

if you’ve seen the lost boys, you’ll probably know that it’s not like, objectively, a masterpiece. in fact, if i were feeling particularly uncharitable, it would be easy for me to describe it as a fairly straightforward, low-budget horror b-movie, with a aesop-heavy and simplistic plot and a penchant for cheesy special effects, saved only by its rockin’ soundtrack.

...but i won’t.

i won’t, because using that description would leave out a detail i think it’s completely unfair of me not to touch on: the characters. i love them!! i was hooked from just about the very start of the movie by david’s creepy, affably evil leadership style, sam’s dorky little brother-ness, and michael’s 3cool5school airs. each of the characters, down to the frog brothers (named edgar and allan after the esteemed mr. poe, which really tickled me), the other lost boys, grandpa, lucy, and max, have their own distinct quirkiness that makes them memorable and draws me to want to explore more of their world, more of their stories. 

not enough to watch the infamous direct-to-dvd sequels, of course, but you get what i’m saying. 

there’s an old tip in writing that says something along the lines of “good characters can save a bad plot, but a good plot can’t save bad characters,” and that pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly on this movie. like, the plot itself is pretty much the message ‘peer pressure is bad’ wrapped up in some ugly monster makeup; not exactly cult classic material. however, like i’ve said, the characters and the fact that we get genuine, endearing interactions between them outside of just furthering the plot save it from the dumpster fire and, together, put together a story greater than the sum of its parts. no, it’s not a fuckin’ cinematic masterpiece by any stretch of the words, but it’s a fun movie, and there’s a reason i’ve watched it four times in the past three days, you know? 

(a good chunk of that reason was me slowly losing my grip on my sanity as i frantically put in the dvd over and over again, desperately trying to make myself attracted to kiefer sutherland so i could enjoy the movie to the fullest extent of my ability. i’m proud to announce a perfect success rate, and a slightly degraded sense of taste in men, reflecting the completion of that goal. 

if you too want to find something to lust after beyond his objectively ugly as sin face, trust me when i say it’s all in the voice. mmmmm) 

my favorite thing that the lost boys did was the exploration of different types of friendship and familial bonds. that’s the most striking thing about the movie for me; not only are the characters individuals whom i would like to explore, their interactions with each other are touching and worth exploring in their own right. there’s definitely something about some stories that drives people to write fanfiction (or is that just me? ha ha), and imo, the lost boys totally has it. in fact, while the fandom is sitting pretty at 600+ fics on ao3 (take that, avatar), i was honestly sort of surprised there weren’t more, exploring all the interesting ‘what if’s’ the film presented, and expounding on the bonds that we got to see the effects of in the limited screentime we had. 

what i liked about those bonds was that there were such a multitude of them. there were quite a few platonic bonds making up the crux of the movie (being, in my opinion, much more interesting than the main romantic bond which was explored through star and michael, although isn’t that kind of always the case in these 80′s teen movies? i can’t think of a single designated couple i was actually invested in except for veronica sawyer and jason dean... ferris bueller and sloane peterson, maybe? but i also feel like those two were making a cameron sandwich, so idk if it counts lol), but the way they were treated was cool in that they were unique: we got to see two different kinds of sibling bonds, with michael and sam emerson joking around in an easy, teasing way that totally screamed “wow, this movie was written by someone who actually has a brother” to me (isn’t it sad that some people have clearly never so much as seen a set of siblings in their life, judging by the way they write them?) while edgar and allan frog seem to take themselves more seriously, like a pair of army buddies, we got to see the pack-like bond of the lost boys and the (mostly) good-natured way they hazed michael into their group before things went to shit with them, we got to see star (and some of the lost boys, if you pay attention) being protective and maternal around laddie, and we got to see the uneasy alliance turned nerdy friendship between the frogs and sam. there are also three parent-child bonds that get explored, between lucy and her father (it’s a pretty sweet take on the kindhearted grown child taking care of senile-ish father thing) and lucy and her boys, each of which she has a distinct relationship with: sam is the baby, while michael she seems to level with and trust more, even after he starts getting into trouble and acting up. 

then of course there are two (three, if you count the widow johnson/grandpa emerson subplot, which.... i totally do) romantic relationships: star and michael falling in a sort of love-at-first-sight passionate relationship that soon dooms mikey and eventually saves star, while lucy tries her best to get back into the dating game with max, who is nefarious, of course, but also a little bit sad. remember what i said about what-ifs? i would love to see a fic exploring what might have happened had max’s plan worked out after all, but i guess that’s neither here nor there.

not to be a blatant slash shipper jumping on any two male characters who move or anything, but i think possibly the most important/influential relationship in the whole thing was that between david and michael; michael, obviously, got drawn into the lost boys’ circle by his insta-attraction to star, but he sticks around because of david. he pretty much ignores star once they get to the cliff that night, his attention focused on david because he’s there, and he’s intense, and michael is kind of a dumb bi bitch totally captivated. he drinks max’s blood at david’s taunting, and in direct opposition to star’s advice. there’s a lot i could say on this subject but tbh i’m running out of steam, so that might be a thing for a whole different post.

basically, there are a lot of cool interactions in this movie, and i think a lot of film makers could take note of that. even critically acclaimed, award winning movies being made in today’s world tend to fail to hit that special note, that character-imprintation which makes the audience not only stay engaged to the end, but also to care. not every movie needs that, of course; not everything can launch a darkhorse fandom the way the lost boys has, and honestly, not everything should... unless it’s trying to cater to my interests, in which case, well. 

if all movies were made to cater to my interests, i would have the time of my fucking life, but it’d probably be dark days for the rest of y’all.

thinking about it now, the lack of that element is kind of what makes me wary of the horror genre in the first place; i find so many of those movies just boring as all hell, because they’re too into the “scaring” thing without any of the “caring” thing. people, if we don’t care about the characters we’re watching, then who the fuck gives a shit if they get devoured by shitsucking vampires, anyway? finding the lost boys, a “horror” (i guess i use the term loosely) movie which relied heavily on those character interactions was honestly a godsend, because THIS is what i want to see more of. going down that line of thought, i think it’s honestly a shame and a half that the sequels which joel schumacher planned never got to see the light of day (and, of course, that we were instead left with the tribe, which for the life of me i refuse to fucking watch). the interactions between the lost boys could have been the most interesting part of the movie, if only they had been spotlighted a bit more. that would have been the case in the proposed prequel, the beginning, which would see the boys start out before they became vampires at all. reading about the script for that is honestly sending me, tbh. we could have seen that, and what we got instead were “sequels” that focused mainly on the frogs, when they connected to the original movie at all? where’s the fucking justice?

whatever. that’s the one thing about this franchise i never could stomach; all the damn frog brothers.

(till next time!)

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 7 October 2019

Quick Bits:

Batman & The Outsiders #6 concludes “Lesser Gods” from Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, and Clayton Cowles. We get another “Batman’s doing something naughty” hint as Ishmael and co attempt to turn Cass and Duke to Ra’s al Ghul’s cause. This is less a hard end than a twist to lead into what might be coming next.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Hammer / Justice League: Hammer of Justice #4 gives us an explanation for what the Stranger did to zap the heroes across their respective realities, even as the more hot-headed Justice League members continue to cause problems on DC’s Earth. I’m still loving the eerie darkness that Michael Walsh is bringing to the art. It keeps it more consistent with the feel established by Dean Ormston and Dave Stewart, making it feel more like a Black Hammer story.

| Published by Dark Horse & DC Comics

Blade Runner 2019 #4 concludes the first arc. Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Andres Guinaldo, Marco Lesko, and Jim Campbell have done a great job capturing the overall feel of the Blade Runner franchise and it pays off here with one hell of a harrowing end, with a nice twist for what’s to come.

| Published by Titan

Buffy + Angel: Hellmouth #1 begins the event in earnest, even though you really do need to read the prelude issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to get the real first part of this story, from Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, Eleonora Carlini, Cris Peter, and Ed Dukeshire. It’s good. As Spike and Dru’s first step in opening the Hellmouth causes havoc through Sunnydale, Buffy and Angel team up to try to stop what’s coming next.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Catwoman #16 has some truly stunning, beautiful artwork from Joëlle Jones and Laura Allred. It might also have a huge change on Selina’s status. Though, how exactly it fits in with “City of Bane” or anything else is anyone’s guess. Still, very nice artwork.

| Published by DC Comics

Coffin Bound #3 is even darker and more disturbing than what we’ve seen in the first two issues, going deep into some of Izzy and Cassandra’s past, while Cassandra’s sister learns how to be a peeler. Dan Watters, Dani, Brad Simpson, and Aditya Bidikar are doing something very different with this series.

| Published by Image

Collapser #4 feels like both a test and a turning point for Liam, one that almost seems like he failed. Liam’s new manager turns out to be a “Star Person”, and it feels like she’s leading him into temptation, as we seemingly can’t trust what we see. Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter, and Simon Bowland are continuing to delivering one of the best, strangest trips out there.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Contagion #2 keeps this largely street-level, only reaching out to the Avengers as more or less support for the moment, as Iron Fist tries to deal with further eruptions of the contagion. Ed Brisson, Stephen Segovia, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit certainly make this feel grim as everything continues to go wrong.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics #1013 reveals more of what Mister Freeze has been up to, pushing some rather disturbing experiments as he continues to try to find a cure for his wife. Including a rather troubling cliffhanger that looks like it might upend a lot of what we think we know about Freeze’s situation. Very entertaining story here from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, David Baron, and Rob Leigh.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Doom #1 is an offbeat debut from Christopher Cantwell, Salvador Larroca, Guru e-FX, and Cory Petit. While it shows us some of the day to day runnings Doom does for Latveria, it sets up a mystery as his countries missiles and more launch an attack on a moon project designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Nice bits of humour in this one.

| Published by Marvel

Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror - Season Two #1 is a welcome return of this series, with a fun lead story playing through many of Poe’s luminary tales in “The Tell-Tale Black Cask of Usher” from Dean Motter, Alex Ogle, and Julie Barclay. Really great seeing new work from Motter. This issue is rounded out by the usual poetry, prose pieces, and the return of Hunt Emerson’s Black Cat.

| Published by Ahoy

Event Leviathan #5 works further at the identity of Leviathan, throwing a few more suspects on the fire, along with the possible death of an important character. Also, you’re probably never going to guess who this issue points at being Leviathan. Gorgeous artwork from Alex Maleev as always.

| Published by DC Comics

The Flash #80 continues to dismantle the new forces and characters built up recently as Zoom and the Black Flash separately try to eliminate the force users. Great art here from Scott Kolins and Luis Guerrero. Kolins is the perfect choice to usher in this next stage in Zolomon’s story.

| Published by DC Comics

Gotham City Monsters #2 is even better than the first issue, working through Melmoth’s resurrection and gathering the team with invested purpose to bring about his end. There’s also added depth in that Melmoth may very well be right about part of his plan, just not necessarily in his execution. It could add some modicum of moral quandary depending on which way this goes. Steve Orlando, Amancay Nahuelpan, Trish Mulvihill, and Tom Napolitano are doing some very nice work here.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #2 continues the confrontation with Woodrue, building on elements from Justice League Dark, even as something is very, very wrong with Poison Ivy. There’s a more refined, controlled humour here than what we see in the Harley Quinn series itself and it seems to fit the more serious tone of the subject matter. I’m really liking the art from Adriano Melo, Mark Morales, and Hi-Fi.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #17 brings Carter’s battle with the Shadow Thief to a close, but he takes a turn for the worse as the title runs deeper into the “Year of the Villain” event and the fallout from The Batman Who Laugh’s infected. It’s interesting how Robert Venditti, Pat Olliffe, Tom Palmer, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft deal with these multiple spinning plates. Especially that very nice cliffhanger.

| Published by DC Comics

Ice Cream Man #15 is one of the stranger issues, which is really saying a bit considering that the series itself is regularly very strange. It’s dark, with a protagonist who seems to be suffering a psychotic break. W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran, and Good Old Neon continue to work magic with this horror series.

| Published by Image

Invaders #10 continues “Dead in the Water” from Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham. Some interesting complications here as Roxxon is further added to the mix and Roman starts making more problems for Atlantis. A really nice set up for something new from Steve and Namor too.

| Published by Marvel

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1, like Harleen #1 before it, surprised me. There’s a current saturation of Joker and Harley Quinn stories at the moment, spurred on by the movies, and it kind of tempers expectations. Thankfully, though, the start to this story from Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew, and Richard Starkings is really rather good. It sets Harley as a criminal profiler, trying to figure out Joker’s murders, really getting inside this new take on her character and developing a more grounded crime thriller. The art from Mico Suayan is gorgeous, presented in greyscale, in contrast to the full-colour, photo reference of Mike Mayhew for flashbacks. I thought it was an interesting choice to present it that way, bucking convention for the flashbacks taking on a faded appearance. It gives the overall story a grittier feel for the present.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #1 is kind of a slow start to this intermediary step between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker from Ethan Sacks, Luke Ross, Lee Loughridge, and Clayton Cowles. There’s an interesting bit of showing just how evil the First Order really is, but a lot of what we get here is a regathering of the team. Gorgeous artwork from Ross and Loughridge.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #14 sees Dan Abnett, Chriscross, Cliff Richards, Le Beau Underwood, Danny Miki, Scott Hanna, Rain Beredo, Pete Pantazis, and AndWorld Design keep building this new team to confront Darkseid and his “new gods”. I really quite like the inversion of what we saw at the beginning, as Jessica Cruz is now working with villains attempting to do something heroic. We also get a reveal of Okkult, who is probably who everyone thought he was in the first place.

| Published by DC Comics

Livewire #11 gets at a point that was seemingly dropped in the wake of Harbinger Wars 2 in what the US government and their arms-length black ops group did in the Massacre, of how problematic rounding up and murdering a group of people are via American laws. I love that Vita Ayala, Tana Ford, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Saida Temofonte pick it up here and incorporate it into another angle for this political warfare.

| Published by Valiant

Loki #4 concludes “The God Who Fell to Earth” and Loki’s conflict with Nightmare in fairly inventive fashion. Daniel Kibblesmith has been delivering some fairly interesting ideas here while planting more seeds for different permutations.

| Published by Marvel

Oliver #4 was well worth the wait. Gary Whitta, Darick Robertson, Diego Rodriguez, and Simon Bowland pack this confrontation full of action, with some absolutely beautiful artwork from Robertson and Rodriguez. Some very harrowing character moments as the story takes its next turn.

| Published by Image

Outer Darkness #11 is insanely good as John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau give us the first part of the two-part “season finale” to the series. The crew take shore leave as Rigg goes about interviewing what we think are replacement crew and a meeting with his superior, and then...well, you’re really going to have to read this issue. Great stuff.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Pretty Deadly: The Rat #2 is magnificent, delving into more of the existing mythology from the previous volumes, while still continuing on the new narrative for this era that started last issue. The repeated incorporation of visual motifs inspired by the film industry is a very nice touch. Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles are giving us a very compelling mystery here.

| Published by Image

Ronin Island #7 pushes the bandits and the Shogun into confrontation and...none of it goes exactly to Kenichi’s plan. Greg Pak, Giannis Milonogiannis, Irma Kniivila, and Simon Bowland continue to unfold this story in interesting ways, while Hana and Kenichi’s childhood lessons come back to both haunt and empower them.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Shoplifters Will Be Liquidated #1 is an interesting debut from Patrick Kindlon, Stefano Simeone, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Set within a rather expansive big box store, it presents an extreme look at consumer culture and the lengths that this store’s loss prevention staff goes to in order to get their man. It’s rather cutthroat, literally.

| Published by AfterShock

Sonata #5 unveils a bit more about the planet and the Lumani, revealing an interesting depth to their technology that’s seemingly been abandoned and their method of reproduction. Mixing that in with the action of trying to save members of the two colonizers in conflict keeps the pace moving along. Gorgeous artwork from Brian Haberlin and Geirrod Van Dyke.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Spawn #301 continues the story and structure of #300, with Todd McFarlane, Greg Capullo, Jason Shawn Alexander, Clayton Crain, Jerome Opeña, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Peter Steigerwald, Matt Hollingsworth, John Rauch, Greg Menzie, Jay Fotos, and Tom Orzechowski breaking it down into numerous chapters, dealing with the various different elements. Some interesting new characters revealed again, even though we only get a bit about them.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Dark Temple #3 reveals a few more secrets in the past, even as the Inquisitor searches for them in the present. Gorgeous artwork from Paolo Villanelli and Arif Prianto. It definitely feels like something weird is going on here.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #2 is another great entry into this series, with a central story illustrated this time by Kelley Jones and Michelle Madsen. It’s a wonderful monster story with one of Tarkin’s experiments, showing us what really makes up a monster.

| Published by IDW

Supergirl #35 sees Marc Andreyko, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano juggling about as many plates as they are over in Hawkman. There’s “Year of the Villain” stuff and a rather deep tie-in to Event Leviathan as Leviathan makes a pitch for Kara to join him.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #16 reunites Jon and Damian one last time before Jon heads off to join the Legion in the future, from Brian Michael Bendis, David Lafuente, Paul Mounts, and Dave Sharpe. It’s a fun, heartfelt send-off with some very funny moments, including a renaming of Leviathan that will hopefully stick.

| Published by DC Comics

These Savage Shores #5 brings an end to one of the most beautifully told stories in comics in the past few years. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar have done an incredible thing with this story, giving new depth and nuance to tragic romance and the vampire story. This conclusion is heartrending as we see how far Bishan will go for love, in an epic confrontation between vampire and raakshas. Everyone owes it to themselves to read this series. Simply phenomenal.

| Published by Vault

Thumbs #5 is the conclusion to what has been a wonderful series from Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. There are some really interesting ideas, subverting the ideologies of both factions, showing realizations that maybe there might just be a better way.

| Published by Image

Triage #2 delves deeper into the three multiversal versions of Evie, contemplating how they came about while trying to figure out a way to stop whoever it is that’s hunting them. There’s some sweet and funny character moments with the main “normal” universe’s Evie and Tab. Phillip Sevy is doing a great job of juggling both the ordinary and extraordinary in this story.

| Published by Dark Horse

Vampirella/Red Sonja #2 is more fun from Jordie Bellaire, Drew Moss, Rebecca Nalty, and Becca Carey. The issues between Vampirella and Sonja become greater, even as they get a spell to understand one another. There’s a really nice mix of humour and action here.

| Published by Dynamite

Web of Black Widow #2 is another great issue. What Jody Houser, Stephen Mooney, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit are doing here feels perfect for Black Widow, giving us an action-packed story full of intrigue, even as it keeps us off-balance as to what exactly is going on.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #8 throws in a prison break and a high school reunion into the reasons why you should be reading this series. Mark Russell, Mike Norton, Cris Peter, and Dave Sharpe deliver another humorous chapter to this series, with some rather interesting heartbreak.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #3, Age of Conan: Valeria #3, Amazing Spider-Man #31, Animosity #24, Batman Universe #4, The Batman’s Grave #1, Battlepug #2, East of West #43, Future Fight Firsts: White Fox #1, Ghosted in LA #4, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #267, Go Go Power Rangers #24, Gwenpool Strikes Back #3, House of Whispers #14, Immortal Hulk: Director’s Cut #5, Joker: Year of the Villain #1, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #5, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #8, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #9, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11, Oblivion Song #20, Postal: Deliverance #4, Power Rangers: The Psycho Path, Powers of X #6, Reaver #4, Redneck #24, RWBY (print) #1, RWBY (digital) #4, Secrets of Sinister House #1, Star Wars: Target Vader #4, Thought Bubble Anthology 2019, TMNT: Urban Legends #17, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #49, Unearth #4, Usagi Yojimbo #5, Wonder Woman #80

Recommended Collections: A Walk Through Hell - Volume 2, Baltimore Omnibus - Volume 1, Battlestar Galactica Classic: Counterstrike, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command, Black Hammer ‘45 - Volume 1, Blossoms 666, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos, The Silencer - Volume 3: Up in Smoke, War of the Realms: Punisher, Wizard Beach

d. emerson eddy is ready for some shashlik.

[hitchell-mope]

Ok I’ve been working on something for years that I hope to make it into a tv show one day but probably can’t because once upon a time beat me to it

So imagine

Michael darling single handedly stopped a war that was never meant to end at the cost of his life and to correct “something” the universe sees fit to tear open a hole in the fabric of reality which all cartoons bleed through. Disney Pixar Simpson’s marvel dc blue sky laika everything you can think of are now inhabiting the real world the only humans left are Wendy darling and her close family and friends

Disney’s taken over Great Britain and Ireland. Mickey and Minnie are the king and queen until they see fit to retire

Simpson’s are now in Hollywood Bart is filthy stinking rich and the Whitehouse is his mansion

So on and so forth

Main characters

Jane Ophelia Emerson: now known as Jaime aster blonde hair blue eyes around 5 foot 8 inches. Has magic like the whole of her mothers side of the family. Unlocks it when she meets Peter Pan for the first time. Like her mother and grandmother before her she fell for him hard. So imagine the bitterness when she discovers she wasn’t the first to fall for him and she won’t be the last seeing as he’s fated to be her son in law. She stops her and her friends physical aging process when she’s 16 because she’s terrified of growing up and having to leave everything behind. Gets married to three guys. James pleiades Hawkins from treasure planet. An evil bisexualversion of superman she was forced to create out of two variations of kryptonite (black and pink). William smees illegitimate son that he got from a hooker on the neverland pier. Padraic hutchins. And together they’ve adopted three kids not much younger then them. Youngest to oldest. Timothy Tiberius Turner. Horrid Henry. Alice Liddell. Preferred drink is olive oil until she decides to stop aging then she goes all out on the booze. She really does not like using mjolnir but that’s exactly why she can use it. She killed her own cousin after Peter Pan was taken advantage of. Speaks how she was raised. Posh. But the angrier she gets the more common she sounds.

James pleiades Hawkins: nicknamed Plei shoulder length brown hair turquoise eyes five foot nine. Space cadet. Made a little mistake in that he wished he had magic when holding an empty lamp. This means he’s now a genie but he can appear normal except when angered and he turns an olive green. His lamp stays hidden in Jaime’s blood stream. Very protective of his kids. From montressor but speaks with a middling California accent

Kal: under duress Jaime creates him by combining black and pink kryptonite (according to what I’ve read black turns him evil and somehow pink turns him gay I don’t know why so please don’t ask) so imagine a five foot eleven inch evil bisexual superman built like a tank flirting with anyone he sees. There are limits. He cannot go after anyone younger then Jaime or older then Wendy. Or anyone she is directly related to. Has a side thing going with she hulk (cause of that man of steel woman of Kleenex problem). Looks so much like Clark Kent (blue eyes jet black hair) that once the bitterness has subsided they eventually declare themselves twins. Actually talks with a Kansas accent (it’s a pet peeve of mine) hair goes to his shoulder blades

Padraic Hutchins: five foot ten. Mixed race but unless he showed you a picture of his father (mr smee who is like really white) you wouldn’t be able to tell. Dark black skin (think terry crews) dark blonde waist length hair. Emerald green eyes. Met Jaime when he was working as cabin boy (and hooks personal stool master) on the Jolly Roger. Jaime offered him a deal. Sword fight just him and her. She wins he becomes her butler and all that entails. He wins she becomes his butler and all that entails. It comes to a stalemate. He decides to go with her though. (If you had to wipe hooks ass wouldn’t you leave given a chance) invents a new method of killing when getting revenge on a racist homophobic cop in Springfield. He may look like terry crews but speaks like Katie McGrath (his accent is Dublin posh)

Merida: jaimes best friend. Scottish. Really really curly bright orange hair halfway down her back. Grey blue eyes. 5”8. Harsh rivalry with Clarabelle cow Clarabelle keeps calling her fat by accident. She is not fat. The slightly barrel like figure she has is pure muscle. Moved in with Jaime after an absolutely blow out fight with her mother and hasn’t looked back since. Met Parker through tragedy. The were on an excursion with the parr children and dash died in front of her. Completely destroyed her for months. Tried to change everything about herself to feel better. None of it worked. Cut and straightened her hair. Tried to lose weight (just became addicted to caffeine). She even gave up archery (which if you know her is a serious cause for concern). And through it all Parker was there

Peter Benjamin Parker: the group calls him Parker because there are one too many Peters in the world and they needed to differentiate. Brown hair that grows out to his chin. Brown eyes. 5”9. Splits himself so he can have a somewhat normal life. There is now three of him. The original with Merida. Petey living with aunt may. Spider-Man. Parker actually grows to like the venom suit and through magic is actually able to control it. Realised he was bi when he kissed Padraic to cheer him up after Kal was being a jackass. Then harry arrived. Still has his native New York accent but it interchanges with a British accent after he’s lived in Kensington for some time.

Melody: Danish princess. Daughter of Ariel and Eric. Granddaughter of king triton. Black hair blue eyes. 5”8. Has a thing for blonde men. Was attracted to Cody before he told her he was asexual then she layed off him. Eventually gets with zephyr. Non practicing catholic except in one respect. Jaime gave her her own trident. Loves to swim. She’ll shrink herself down and use a wine glass if she has to. Always wears her hair in a ponytail

Zephyr: French Romani. Blonde shoulder length hair in a pageboy style cut. Green blue eyes. 5”9. Always wears the outfit he had on in his film only now it’s in an older more mature style. Smitten with melody when they met but she had a thing for Cody so he couldn’t say anything. He just got steadily more drunk. Scarily flexible. Likes to hang from chandeliers with his toes. Bit like a blonde Dick Grayson. Non practicing catholic in the same way melody is.

Cody Anderson: Swedish but has spent a lot of time in Australia. 5”11. Blonde hair long enough to braid. Keeps it in a man bun 90% of the time. Asexual. Much rather run climb or play video games then date or sleep with someone. Poor thing has been conscripted as Kals wingman. He absolutely hates it. He just tells the intended targets the truth and if Kal can’t seal the deal on his own merits it’s not Cody’s problem. Apparently can survive on one hour sleep.

Alice Liddell: one of Jaime Plei Kal and Padraics adoptive children. 12 years old. 5”5. Reality warper. Mostly this means she can make a portal to wonderland through any surface. But then she gets magic and all bets are off. Adopted because we birth parents were about to have her committed to an asylum because she kept insisting wonderland is real (it is of course but they have literal Victorian sensibilities and to them Alice has cracked) favourite Dad is Plei. Blonde hair half way down her back. Blue eyes. Actually does look like Jaime a little bit except Jaime’s hair is more of a tawny gold colour and Alice’s is more yellow. Like Jaime defies the dumb blonde stereotype. Uses her powers in very creative ways. Eventually ditches the pinafore

“Horrid” henry: except not really. His biological parents are just jackasses who scapegoat him so the worm is the professed golden child. Reddish brown hair and definitely fulfils the firey redhead stereotype. But manages to use it in helpful ways after Henry’s his own magic. Loves his chemistry set. Many a stink bomb was made from it. 5”4. 11 years old. Green eyes. Favourite Dad is Kal. Again like Zephyr, he always wears the same outfit. Adopted because Jaime could see that he was miserable at his own house and was always happiest when she was babysitting him.

Timothy Tiberius Turner: brown hair blue eyes pink hat. Still has his fairy godparents because Jorgen Von strangle is terrified of Jaime (the girl unionised death). Not stupid per-say but he doesn’t think things through. Favourite Dad is Padraic. Adopted after Jaime went to talk to his fairies and saw his babysitter strapping him to a torture wheel. Definitely the baby of the group being 10 years old

Harry Osborn: 5”9. Black hair blue eyes. Bi. Enters a relationship with Parker and Merida. Hung up on Parker for longer then he’d care to admit. But always believed (as Parker did) that he was straight. Strikes up an odd friendship with Jaime over the “Peters who have ruined their lives” (Parker and Pan) the only difference Osborn is now with his Peter and Jaime doesn’t love her one anymore. He revels in the fact Parker feels the need to protect him and their respective positions in the relationship have changed. Was dying before he used magic to cure the unknown disease that would ravage his body. Couldn’t use his fortune to find a cure because his fathers will stipulates that he’d be disinherited if he tried to cure himself. That and he wanted to defend himself properly should the need arise

Ashton Darling: Jaime’s cousin born in the same hospital month day and the exact same time. Shoulder length tawny gold hair blue eyes same height as Jaime. It’s a running gag that he and Jaime look so much alike they could easily be the same person cloned and don’t think that before puberty when her hair was shorter they didn’t pull pull a twin switch. They even have the same taste in men. Fictional with bright eyes. Expected a bigger reaction from Jaime when he came out to her. She knew and they carried on as normal. Eventually starts dating Jack Frost from rise of the guardians. His parents are fans of that 70’s show. His younger brother is called Topher

Jack Frost: pure white hair blue eyes. 5”9. Always in the same outfit. Guardian of fun. Has a sibling like rivalry with Elsa. She thinks he’s annoying and he thinks she’s boring despite them having the same powers. In Jack Elsa sees what she could have had. Yes Jack was lonely but he made the best of it for centuries and he had people to talk to (North toothania bunnymund and Sandy) whereas Elsa retreated into herself scared of going near others. Though they come to an understanding and when Jaime gives the shovel talk to Jack Elsa gives the shovel talk to Ashton. Ashton and Jack met in similar circumstances to Merida and Parker except the Ashton and Jack’s weren’t nearly as tragic as Merida and Parker

Taran: 13 years old. 5”6. Red hair green eyes. Dalbens ward but somehow ends up staying at Jaime’s (admittedly insanely cavernous) flat more then necessary and everyone knows why except him. Alice has taken a shine to him. He doesn’t quite know why. Gurgis still attached to his hip. He and Eilonwy drifted apart but they are still friends. Has next to no idea what’s going on more than half the time

Felicia Hardy: old friend of Harry and Parker. The friend that would not leave. Her father died and she still is not over it. Cinnamon colour hair hazel eyes. 5”8. Hapless. That is until the symbiote infects her and almost starts a war with the galactic federation.

Johnny Storm: like Parker the group just call him storm. 5”9. Mid length spiky blonde hair. Blue eyes. The human torch. Enters the group by happenstance. Works at Oscorp on an intern. When Parker took the fall for what Felicia was blamed for harry had a bit of a panic attack demanding that he and Parker weren’t separated again so to assuage him Parker takes him on a holiday in a private suite in the death hotel. But then Storm arrives with this contract he needs harry to sign and it escalates from there so now Merida has three boyfriends who are also dating each other one of which is in intergalactic jail.

There are a multitude of alternate realities that are accessed through a full length mirror in Jaime’s flat. Some have diffoerent circumstances or flipped morality/genders or different outcomes. For example

Different circumstances: Clark crashed into the Wayne’s greenhouses and the shock set off Martha’s labour. Clark married a one Diana prince and had two children. Oliver Kingston Wayne and Barry Allen Wayne. Bruce is the drink uncle who accidentally joined a big brother program and Clark is making damned sure Bruce is honouringthe commitment. Oliver dances at a club to be self sufficient. Barry meanwhile is obsessed with chemistry. Clark stayed home with a sick Alfred that fateful night and has never forgiven himself. So he became superman to make sure something like that never happens to anyone else. Bruce however became a preteen alcoholic. Chardonnay is his drink of choice. Their pool cleaner a mr Arthur curry and their chauffeur is a mr Hal Jordan

Different outcome: Professor farnsworth took over New New York with an army of bending units aided by his insane son Phillip. Leela is Phillips personal slave. An impoverished Amy Wong is his public slave (Leela is a sewer mutant). Carol Walt Larry and Igner are incarcerated for trying to throw a coup

Flipped morality: Snow White, jealous of her fathers affection for his new wife, killed her father and blamed grimhilde for it. She learned dark magic and killed the queen in a mirror storm then took over the kingdom with only seven diamond armoured dwarfs. All when she was fourteen.

Flipped gender: Cendrillon used as servant in his own home until he’s able to go to the ball aided by his fairy godfather. The princess saved him with a glass slipper

You get the idea

The characters relation ships with their parents:

Jaime and Wendy had a major falling out because Wendy kept trying to put her solutions in alignment with Jaime’s problems. Eventually Jaime moved next door into a flat in Mickey and Minnie’s castle. And now Jaime’s the queen. Wendy is 5”10 tawny gold hair almost always in a bun. Blue eyes and always dressed in blue. Mid to late forties. Edward Emerson. Think Henry cavil in prime superman mode greying at the temples in either army fatigues or black denim. One year older than Wendy. Besides George he is the only mortal in the family and being mortal he can use a magic wand (no one quite knows why only mortals can use wands)

Plei’s mother Sarah looks the same as in the film. Now you need to go through trauma for your magic to settle. And Plei’s trauma is seeing his father Leland a gain in god know how long. It does not go well

Kal have a rivalry with Clark because Kal sees Clark as a wimp who is wasting his powers on helping people and Clark thinks Kal is a no good miscreant. Their parents though treat Kal the same way they treat Clark. Doesn’t matter if he’s a close W he’s their son. In return Kal values them and does not hate them like he hates Kal (high praise in deed)

Smee just wants Padraic to be happy and if that means Padraic being in England in an entirely different dimension then so be it.

Elinor got impatient with Merida taking so long to choose a suitor and then Merida decided to try and find a boyfriend from non options (read as she doesn’t love the clans sons). So they had a hard he blow out fight which led to Merida moving in with Jaime and she’s barely looked back since

May doesn’t know Parker is no longer st school and he is not planning on telling her. And besides she’s got Benji

Ariel and Eric know everything and as long as melody isn’t hurt they’re fine with it

Phoebus and Esmeralda are just like Ariel and Eric

Cody’s mother isn’t in the picture anymore

Alice’s parents tried to have her committed so their relationship is next to nonexistent

Henry’s is his parents scapegoat so his brother retains a veneer of so called “perfection”

Timmy’s parents are negligent and let him be babysat by a psychopath who repeatedly tries to kill him. His fairy god parents are crazy but at least they care

Norman put a stipulation in his will that if harry seeks a cure then he will be disinherited. So try to gage their relationship from that

John darling came out as bi and his wife couldn’t handle it so she divorced him and took Ashton and Topher to New York. John remarries Casey mulligan. Casey is actually Jamie’s ex husband (don’t get worried it was some stupid new law that all marriages in England are legal. Including playground marriages. Jaime and Casey’s happenedwhen she was five and he was nine). So they got a quickie divorce. And as it turns out Casey has a son from his ex girlfriend. Casey junior (get it?). So now John is a 42 year old divorcee remarried to a twenty year old with a 10 month old step son and two teenage children. Annalise got remarried to Ashton’s high school crush, his Australian swim coach

Jack’s family died a couple centuries ago so what accounts for his family are the guardians a boy who remembers him less and less every year. Elsa who sees him as who she could have been and Anna who just wants everybody to get along. Then there’s kristoff who just wants peace

Taran still goes to see Dalben henwen fflewder and eilonwy when he can

Felicia’s last words to her father were “piss off” so she desperate to make amends with his ghost

Well you know about the fantastic four.

Jaime has become a children’s advocate. Simple stuff like babysitting and making sure the recess gang isn’t split up. But she isn’t up to date on slang so when a mourning 13 year old Angelica pickles drunk dials her, Jaime has no idea what’s the girls saying. And she takes it upon herself to punish the “evil children” ie DW Reed, 3 year old Angelica Pickles, manny heffley, Francine nebulon the children the make their older siblings lives a living hell.

Simpson’s:

Jaime aged up the child population of Springfield by ten years. Barts twenty Lisa’s eighteen Maggies twelve and so on. She also given them special powers. Bart has super speed Lisa HAD telekinesis (she abused it so she losed it. Painful rhyme I know) Maggie has electrokinesis milhouse can ghost through objects Nelson can put national monuments on his pinky nail. Ralph can bend reality to his will. Sherri can teleport Terri can fly. That sort of thing. Though some have non active powers. Moe can not die no matter how hard he tries. Homer and barney have regenerative livers (so they can be sozzled all the time) Bart has inherited Montys fortune and company

[apicturewithasmile]

LOST rewatch (season 4):

[follow the entire rewatch-tag here]

episode 1 – The Beginning of The End:

Okay I have ABSOLUTELY forgotten about this season opening

Hooooly fuck like seriously I had forgotten about Hurley’s entire s4 plot apparently

Bloody Ben tied up to a tree is my aesthetic.

Sawyer offering to talk to Hugo about Charlie, Sawyer being there for the people he cares about, SAWYER HAVING THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT HE DESERVES!!!! *cries forever*

Ben making fun of Jack while at the same time acknowledging that Kate was right? Abso-fuckin-lutely my jam!!!

Wait… where did John go?

Oh there he is.

“All I have ever done has been in the best interest of all of us.”

Has a season opening ever been more heart-breaking than this one?

Ben: “Jack, with your permission I’d like to go with John!” – Jack: “He’s all yours.”

DANIEL!!!

episode 2 – Confirmed Dead:

I can have never enough John-standing-in-the-rain-with-his-angel-smile-and-predicting-the-weather scenes

“The bullet went in one side, came out the other. I’d probably be dead if I still had a kidney there.”

“Karrrrrrllll. Now if you gonna sleep with my daughter I insist you call me Ben!”

When did Sayid get a haircut?

VINCENT!!! I feel like we haven’t seen him at all throughout season 3

Frank Lapidus – the best pilot in the world.

Oh Ben, as if John would really kill you.

episode 3 – The Economist:

That episode already?!?! Ooookay!

Naveen Andrews is so beautiful even khakis and a polo shirt can’t make him look bad yet that straightened hair?!??! That’s a problem we gotta talk about!

I’m very bitter that their “Berlin” doesn’t look like Berlin at all. You already know just by the café they’re in: that could be anywhere but sure as hell not in Berlin! Have you ever seen a café in this entire city that has... wallpaper? Matching furniture? Windows??!?!

Oh God that distorted voice of Ben on the phone so we don’t know it’s him is so unnecessary. They could have done the scene without adding the voice of the person on the phone.

The fact that the first time we see off-island Ben is in a vet clinic gives me the strong headcanon that he always wanted to become a veterinarian and now being off the island he’s finally able to #live his dream.

And he’s back at it with that Voice. Which is hot but... really... you still know it’s Michael Emerson.

episode 4 – Eggtown:

I cannot believe that’s a title of a LOST episode

“So here we are just like old times except I’m locked up in a different room and you are more lost than you ever were.” – fuuuuuck him up Ben!!!

Kate’s lawyer is hot

“If I was a dictator I would just shoot you and then go about my day.”

episode 5 – The Constant:

Fjsjfjggs this episode is one of the best ever!!! (as Desmond episodes usually are!!!)

Sayid and Desmond are the curlepower couple I always needed without even knowing I needed it

2.342 – I don’t think I ever noticed that’s The Numbers

The scene with rat Eloise makes me think of Flowers for Algernon

episode 6 – The Other Woman:

Oh, a rare scene of Ben being not injured, cut up or bruised <3

“This didn’t have a number on it, did it?”

#Locke sarcastically gives Ben a dollar

Honestly… I don’t get how there are people who actually doubt that Charles Widmore is the evil incarnate.

It’s the dinner scene!

episode 7 – Ji Yeon:

Oh fuck…. Is that THAT episode. The one where we end up thinking Jin’s dead?!?!? I’m not ready, okay!?!??!

Oh Bernard….

Who needs a heart, right?

episode 8 – Meet Kevin Johnson:

From all the sorta-stand-alone episodes this is by far the best.

I remember the first time around I didn’t like Michael that much until that episode came and I was like “woah, fuck yeah Michael, I miss this guy so much!” which is great because in every rewatch I did since I could appreciate him so much more

“and it’s getting betteeeeeeer…”

Sayid: You’re working for Benjamin Linus?!?!?!??!?!? – Me: Don’t throw stones, my guy!

Noooooo, DANIELLE!!!!

episode 9 – The Shape of Things to Come:

 I have never been more #not ready

Oh right… they had to take away Ben-screentime for that useless plot about Jack’s appendix -.-‘

Oooooowwww I forgot about Ben’s cut off shot gun. Exactly my jam!!!

fhfosdlfnfafdöa another incredible appearance of the phallic baton

“I need you to stay close to me.” – yeah, I also need John to stay close to Ben! Thanks for catering to me.

Goodbye @ all the red shirts on John’s team

Dean Moriarty! So subtle!

So… Ben did a time jump of about 9 months, do I get that correctly?

I also didn’t remember that is was this episode in which Ben “recruits” Sayid

Fuuuck Ben looks so good with that sand coloured scarf – really makes his eyes pop

I cannot believe the last thin Alex had to hear was that she means nothing to Ben. I hope she knows he was lying because that’s what he does!

And I am so here for Ben switching to auto pilot and I’m convinced he never leaves this mode until Hurley asks for his help in the finale

“He changed the rules.”

Ben’s off-island hair is the reason I am attracted to men!

Sayid calling him “Benjamin”? My jam, too!

That smirk on Ben’s face after Sayid agrees to do the dirty work for him? Here for it!

SMOKEY!!!!

Can you tell this is my favourite episode by the amount of bullshit I have to say about it?!?!?!

FUUUUCK THAT SEXY LONDON OUTFIT SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!!!!

The red shirt, the leather gloves… THE HAIR!!! Fuuuuuuck meeee!

“I’m here, Charles, to tell you that I am going to kill your daughter. Penelope, is it? And once she’s gone, once she’s dead then you’ll understand how I feel and you’ll wish you hadn’t changed the rules.”

fuck me this is the best episode ever I wanna cry myself to sleep because it’s so good an Michael fucking Emerson killing the careers of every other actor in the history of motion picture is what I’m here for

episode 10 – Something Nice Back Home:

Why are Sawyer, Claire and Miles surprised to find Danielle and Karl dead? Like… Alex said it through the walkie that they got killed and they all heard it, didn’t they?

Seriously Jack, stick your hero complex where the sun don’t shine – nobody needs it right now

Oh Jack stfu you never learn, do you? Let Kate have a private life in which you are not the centre of her attention

“I’m the one who saved you.” – yeah if it hadn’t been for Sawyer jumping off the helicopter you’d all be dead now so SHUT YOUR FUCKIN MOUTH!

episode 11 – Cabin Fever:

Oh of course…. John is getting another flashback <3 I was trying to figure out what the fuck kinda flash forward he’s gonna get but it’s not a flash forward at all – it’s about baby John!!!

Ben watching John as he sleeps? Be still my fucking heart.

“I used to have dreams.”

“These things had to happen to me. That was my destiny. But you’ll soon understand that there are consequences to being chosen. Because destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.”

Hurley sharing his chocolate bar with Ben is the beginning of a wonderful friendship

episodes 12-14 – There’s No Place Like Home:

It’s okay. They’ll think that we’re in shock.” – “We are in shock, Jack.”

Sawyer carrying the baby - *cries forever*

Fuck yeah @ Sun buying her father’s company

That Hawaiian birthday party for Hugo tho

“I wasn’t being entirely truthful.” – “When were you ever entirely truthful?!”

Ben surrendering himself to Keamy breaks my heart. Ben doing the right thing for once fndangdgn

“How many times do I have to tell you, John, I always have a plan.”

Also when Ben says “Anthuriums” you can already see in John’s face that he doesn’t have a fucking clue what Ben’s talking about.

Terry O’Quinn is looking hotter with each passing season tbh

“Well, Jack… you put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones.”

“It’s not an island. It’s a place where miracles happen.”

John and Ben acting like an old married couple.

Ben is regretting big time that he even started the whole magic box metaphor because John just can’t let it go

“If you mean time-travelling bunnies, then yes.”

Sawyer jumping off the helicopter djfgoidshgsdogh

Jack just cannot live with the fact that Sawyer’s been the true hero in this situation

I hate Keamy so fucking much

I mean… I know Ben wasn’t doing the right thing by stabbing him but I support him getting his revenge for Alex. Keamy deserved to die for what he did! And likewise, Ben didn’t deserve to be a better human just yet for what he did.

And yet here I am also supporting Sun for wanting to kill Ben. This show really fucks with my moral compass. But then again… Benjamin fucking Linus is my fav character so what moral compass are we even talking about?

“Well, John, I really wasn’t thinking straight. Sometimes good command decisions get compromised by bad emotional responses. I’m sure you’ll make a much better job at separating the two and I ever did.” – I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!!!

“Goodbye, John. Sorry I made your life so miserable.” – HELP ME!

“I hope you’re happy now, Jacob.” – I can’t anymore, okay, it’s all too intense and I am feeling too much for Ben right now. This guy will be my demise!

I’m not ready for that Desmond and Penny reunion scene

BEN IS LOOKING SO FUCKING HOT!

“It’s dark, Jack. Very dark.” – oh the shade

[aion-rsa]

Evil: Did Kristen Kill Orson?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Evil season 1.

Kristen Bouchard, played by Katja Herbers, was as surprised by the Evil season 1 finale as any viewer. Something drew the normally cynical psychiatric trial expert to test her fate. The moment before she sees the acrid burn of sin on her flesh, she is relieved. Everything is normal for too short a moment. Evil season 2 will open on another side of a rabbit hole. The supernatural suspense drama already cast an all-seeing eye into demonic connections in international conspiracy. Their new unsolved mystery is an inner crime. A lone act. Did Kristen kill Orson LeRoux (Darren Pettie)? All the clues are there. Some may have been repressed, like a tell-tale blood stain no one wants to see, but malicious intent tends to rise to the surface. What could have possessed Kristen to do such a thing? Perhaps only the show’s resident therapist, the goat-headed demon who primarily tends to Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), knows for sure, and he’s known as the father of lies.

As the designated Doubting Thomas in a group of Catholic Church-affiliated paranormal investigators, Kristen has made it her mission to get to the bottom of elusive truths. As a citizen she lends her expert testimony to keep the most dangerous criminals from re-entering society. She fought very hard to keep Orson in prison. But when the convicted serial killer’s sentence was overturned, Kristen’s first concern was as a mother. Not only did she fail to keep a multiple murderer off the street, she fails to keep him from showing up on her own block. Orson does this just as Kristen is escorting her daughters aboard the school bus. She dials 911, but Orson is the one to file a police complaint. Their neighborly squabble is settled with a conciliatory fruit basket.

Orson LeRoux is a gift that keeps giving. He was on the ninth rung of a 12-step program to hell, and looking for something short of redemption. The newly freed serial killer was just getting on our good sides when we overheard the call from Detective Mira Byrd (Kristen Connolly) saying he wouldn’t be making it to season 2. “He was bludgeoned,” Byrd says. “We are thinking it was by his wife. Your troubles are over.” But “Book 27,” the title of the final episode, doesn’t shut the file on the problematic psychopath. It throws a whole library at undue process.

The night Kristen came home to find her daughter Lexis asleep on the floor near an open front door and Orson’s gift basket, she put the kid to bed and went out in a hurry. Before she left, she grabbed a climbing axe. Kristen and her husband are both avid and expert mountaineers, and the instrument is pristine. It looks brand new and still has its shine. The axe looks like the walking stick Claude Rains used to kill Lon Chaney Jr. in The Wolfman. His son had a terrible secret. When the moon was full, he became a murderous beast. Like Orson, the werewolf is very vocal in expressing regret for his violence but shows no outward signs of his affliction when he’s not possessed by his lunacy. 

Evil has its own character with a unique gait. The Demon Therapist is made to look like an all-male version of the Goat of Mendes, also known as Baphomet. There is some evidence he may be setting Kristen up for a fall. Not only as a suspect in the murder of the legally exonerated ex-con, but from grace itself. And then, after Kristen gives the appearance of murderous intent before the crime, she also blatantly covers up evidence right in front of one of her most trusted colleagues.

The sequence where Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) notices the blood on Kristen’s leg reminds me of the scene where Lou Costello walks right into Boris Karloff’s character in the 1949 suspense comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer. In that film, Karloff’s killer hypnotically suggests to the surprised witness “You didn’t see me. I wasn’t here,” and pulls a mental disappearing act. When Ben asks Kristen why she has blood on her leg, she cleans it right in front of him and simply says “I don’t have blood on my leg.” She makes it clear that her leg is currently blood-free, providing a loop-hole for a legal disappearing act. Jedi mind tricks are not admissible in court, though, so it appears she is skirting more than ethics.

Kristen is also ducking a culling scythe. David Acosta (Mike Colter), the ex-journalist, pre-ordained priest who assesses supernatural events for the Catholic Church, also indulges in mind tricks. He routinely mixes brews of hallucinogens to open himself up to mystical visions. At one point towards the end, we see him fingering a baggie of magic mushrooms which fades to a hallucination. He envisions himself in the middle of a field of wheat, which the Demon Therapist is separating from chaff. Kristen walks right past David straight to the agricultural reaper. She has a smile of beneficence on her face and is unconcerned. That’s more than you can say for David, who is so worried he drops the untouched bag of psychedelic experience to the floor. He didn’t need chemicals to see the signs. But what do they mean?

David could have seen an allusion to Kristen’s mortal sin, which would lead her to a path of perdition. He may also be seeing a warning, in which case, she has not yet fully given in to the temptation of the most dramatic of maternal instincts. Who is to say Detective Byrd isn’t involved in the murder?  Kristen Connolly has been playing much of the role ambiguously. Maybe the detective figures it will help the book sales she had to admit to under oath. Orson’s death could be one of collusion. It is most probably a mere step on the downward spiral Kristen’s arc is taking.  

David is very good at reading signs. He recognized the symbol to the RMS fertility clinic which is churning out demon babies by the test-tube-full from one he’d seen in his vision of an ancient occult text. But the hottest clue to the mystery which surrounds him doesn’t come from a burning bush. It comes from a scorched palm. The very last scene of the Evil finale changes the paradigm of the show. In what looks like a whim of scientific curiosity, Kristen holds a crucifix in the palm of her hand. She’s been to enough exorcisms, and even saw the effects reading “The Lord’s Prayer” had on the possibly-possessed Orson. Kristen is performing an ad hoc experiment. And she is positively relieved at the initial results.

Kristen’s relief lasts less than a second. The experiment is apparently a success, but it’s not a happy conclusion. The skin which touched the crucifix is branded with the mark of the cross. By the logic of Hollywood since the beginning of celluloid, this would indicate Kristen Bouchard is at least possessed, if not already some kind of demon. That fertility clinic David connected the dots to was the same one she’d gone to after she’d suffered a miscarriage. Her daughter, the psychically gifted Lexis Bouchard (Maddy Crocco), was born after in vitro fertilization procedures done at their facilities. Besides the Boys from Brazil conspiracy Ben revealed at the connection, this also brings in another aspect of Kristen’s maternal instinct. Would she kill to protect her demon spawn?

We know Kristen is fiercely protective of her children. We’ve also seen evidence she can be fairly quick to violence. She had no qualms about carving her initials into the neck of Leland Townsend, the defense expert who has become her most annoying nemesis. She also seemed to savor twisting a blade into the demon George. A prosecuting attorney might bring these incidents up to tarnish her character in a trial for killing Orson. But they also open an easy gateway to Kristen’s inner darkness. David’s head priest says a person has to invite a demon before they can be possessed. Lexis not only invited the Demon Therapist into her hallway, she jumped at the chance to go the “next level,” and punched in the security code for him. Kristen accepted the demon when she followed through on the path laid out for her.

While it remains unclear whether Kristen is possessed or in an early stage of possession, her openness to demonic forces may have been foreshadowed in episode 1. It happens after one of her earliest night-terror incidents with the demon George, when Kristen is lying in bed with her daughters. She breaks the fourth wall with a knowing grin to the camera. While some of her actions might indicate a weakening of moral standards, leading to her being open to committing a mortal sin, there are no overt signs of encroaching demonic infestation. But the road to hell is an insidious one, paved with the very best of intentions.

Those who are condemned to hell don’t display their designations with signs like the burn marks left by crucifixes and other holy residue. If Kristen had become possessed, she would have shown signs during some of the exorcism rites she’d witnessed during the season. But Orson’s murder may have been a climax to a seduction which began when she was first introduced to the holy work. She has increasingly become more secretive to the people around her, both professionally and personally. She doesn’t give out easy explanations, and keeps too many details too close to her vest. Kristen often looks like she’s hiding something even in the least necessary moment. She even does it against her own self-interest.

Because Evil is an intentionally and happily effective confounding series, the mystery of Orson’s death will probably not be what is most readily apparent. It is hidden in the occult clues we might have overlooked, just like a gas leak may be hidden by some plaster in the room of a seemingly satanic crime scene. Kristen is indeed primed to be suspect, but Detective Byrd has motive and opportunity. It would almost be a shame if Orson’s wife got to him first.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Evil is available for streaming on Netflix.

The post Evil: Did Kristen Kill Orson? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3eyCBSn

[thenerddess]

Maggie Says Stuff: Arrow 6x04

This is one of the best episodes of Arrow we’ve been given. Season six as a whole is killing it and this episode is a perfect example that when Arrow gets it right, this show is incredible on every level. Here are my highlights and a few predictions as always at the end:

➴ Date, Dessert and Role Reversals (Oh my!)

Let’s be real, the majority of this is going to be me gushing over Oliver and Felicity. And there is so much to gush over and unpack. Let’s do it!

Sitting through three seasons of of angst, hurt and lies, it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when it came to Olicity. But I am so happy I hung in there because we have come full circle and it is a masterpiece to watch it unfold like this. This feels earned and it’s given a depth to their relationship that wouldn’t have been there had they not been through all they have endured. Oliver and Felicity have both grown so much and this episode encompassed all of that growth and character development beautifully.

We open the episode with Oliver and Felicity on a date and get an open honest discussion about their past (including the infamous first date) and the acknowledgement from Oliver that he wasn’t ready three years ago, not like he is now. Felicity still wants to take it slowly and do it right and Oliver is all for it. Their date is cut short when Felicity is called away by Team Arrow which Oliver humorously acknowledges what it must be like to be Felicity all those years when Oliver was called away on GA business. 

After Team Arrow business is handled, Felicity heads back to her apartment, calling Oliver to come over for “dessert”. Uh-la-la! But an intruder interrupts Felicity night in the form of Alena, Felicity hacktivist ex-friend from Helix, who needs Felicity’s help to stop Cayden James from destroying the internet. I think. Felicity is reluctant to trust her but feels obligated to stop Cayden James since she helped free him. They come up with a plan but are held up by a dessert seeking Oliver who immediately wants to help Felicity. But Felicity has got this and tells Oliver as much. 

Of course old habits die hard and Oliver follows Felicity and Alena to an underground club where they are trying to acquire a piece of tech that can help them stop Cayden. Oliver busts in taking out a room full of muscle and almost jeopardising Felicity’s mini mission. Here we get a heated discussion between Oliver and Felicity. Both trying to protect the other. Oliver is throwing his body on the line to protect Felicity, as always there is no choice to make. And Felicity is trying to protect Oliver from himself and the FBI who have Oliver on 24/7 surveillance. 

After Felicity and Alena’s plan is thwarted by Cayden James himself (hello Michael Emerson), Team Arrow comes to the rescue and saves the day. But Alena is shot in the scuffle and Felicity is left feeling hopeless and guilty. Oliver shows up and gives her an incredible Felicity Smoak-esk pep talk. Felicity questions how Oliver managed being the Green Arrow, Mayor, boyfriend and brother for all those years. Oliver sweetly tells her that it was because she was always in his ear, figuratively and literally, telling him never to give up. Oliver just wants to do the same for Felicity and he does an incredible job. Even when Felicity is called away again on TA business, Oliver tells Felicity how proud he is of her. You can see it means the world to Felicity to hear that from Oliver, especially when in the past Felicity felt like Oliver didn’t trust her and wasn’t there to back her plays. It’s such a sweet yet incredibly important moment for these two.

Felicity and the team head out into the field to stop Cayden James from unfolding his evil plan. As Team Arrow holds off Cayden James’ minions, it is left to Felicity to save the internet. At least, I think that’s what was happening *shrugs* Felicity has to make her way solo through a building of baddies but never fear because Abs Watch is here! In the most perfect and amusing role reversal to date, Oliver takes over comms and guides Felicity to the server room. There are a few bumps along the way but Oliver does a pretty good job and Felicity is able to make it to the room and stop Cayden’s programme from attacking. We even get an iconic Olicity callback when Oliver tells Felicity that she can stop James and that he believes in her. At which point I was on the floor. It’s everything that is right and that works when it comes to Olicity and I was thoroughly delighted.

There were a few Olicity kisses this episode. We got the adorable apologetic goodbye/apology kiss when Felicity has to leave their date early, kissing Oliver all over the face. Awwwww! We got a sweet, heartfelt kiss after Oliver’s pep talk. And then we got dessert. Kind of. Oliver finally makes to to Felicity’s for “dessert” where we have Oliver pushing Felicity up against the loft wall and Felicity trying to climb Oliver like a tree using his tie as leverage. It’s incredibly hot and intense and we were all living our best Olicity lives in that moment. They make it as far as the couch when Oliver phone interrupts them. It’s Slade who needs Oliver help. Of course he does! 

➴ Stray Arrows

- Michael Emerson is so good as Cayden James. There is this quiet menacing creepy vibe about him. He seems in control but also at any point he could snap. I love it! 

- I was weary of Alena at first but it seems like she’s okay. I was happy that she pointed out to Felicity that mass producing the chip in her spin should be the first project for her and Curtis tech start up. Thank you! Helix Dynamics is no Smoak Tech but it will do. For now. Queen Inc here we come :)

- Rene continues to bring the humor and delight me. I seriously love his character this season. As I’ve said before, I really like the way they are using the newbies this season. They are back up and there to serve Oliver, Felicity and Diggle’s story. I’m sure we’ll probably get an episode or two centred on one or more of them at some point but I really don’t mind if we do. 

- MVP holy trinity = 1. The woman at the restaurant who was excited about Oliver and Felicity being back together and is voting against the anti-vigilante bill. Me af! 2. Curtis the self proclaimed biggest Olicity shipper. Oliver and Diggle will fight you, Curtis. :) 3. Alena who is happy they are back together. She’s a fan!

- Dear Oliver and Felicity, When you are travelling to the Island of Multiple Orgasms, for the love of google, put your phone on airplane mode or turn it off completely. Love, The entire Olicity fandom.

- Black Mold is epically underwhelming. I know her fans are here for a redemption arc but I think it’s too far gone. She snapped the neck of a dude begging for his life on behalf of his kids. I know Slade killed Moira but at least he had the mirakuru as an excuse for his murderous crazy pants. I think the most her fans can hope for is a frenemy relationship much like Malcolm had with Team Arrow. 

➴ Predictions

- Cayden James tricked Felicity into leaving her signature on the hack he forced her to stop. Agent Watson is going to be all over this and I’m pretty sure Felicity is going to be in big trouble at some point. Probably around the mid season finale.

- We know Cayden James and Black Mold are working together. I think Richard Dragon is also working with them but we’ll won’t find that out for a few more episodes.

➴ Final Thoughts

This was honestly my favorite episode in a long time. It’s top five material. Oliver and Felicity were perfect. This is what we’ve always wanted for them and we are finally here. I am excited about Slade coming back next episode and Felicity is going to be on the Flash next week. Yay! I’m so happy to be super excited about Arrow again. What a delight! 

[couchmonkey]

PILOT season!!

When I was young, Brandon Tartikoff was a hero of mine. I always fancied myself a closet programmer, so I love pilot season. THR published a list of the projects moving forward and as I was procrastinating, some are already on the air.

Let’s start with Stumptown. Inspired by the Oni Press graphic novels, Dex Parios (Cobie Smulders), a strong, assertive and unapologetically sharp-witted (but, let’s face it, hot mess) Army veteran working as a P.I. in Portland. Michael Ealy plays the cop because there must always be one. His boss is Camryn Manheim (yes!!), and the whole reason I heard about the show is Tantoo Cardinal, a powerful local Native American tied to Dex’s past. Oops, almost forgot the best friend, JakeJohnson of New Girl. His past is a little messy, too. He now owns a bar and employs Dex’s brother Ansel (Cole Sibus). It’s a tight cast, and Dex really is a hot mess nut she gets things done.

All Rise, it looks like, was originally pitched as Courthouse, good thing they changed the name! Simone Missick is a former DA who just became a judge and is encircled by Ruthie Ann Mills as her assistant, Lindsay Mendez as her stenographer, J. Alex Brinson as the deputy in her courtroom, and Marg Helgenberger as her mentor. I was not familiar with the first three when I started the show but they are a strong team. The 2 main lawyers are Wilson Bethel, a DA and old friend of Missick’s judge, and Jessica Camacho, a VERY determined public defender. I like the dynamics of the show, it’s very seldom a case of the week situation (even though there is one). Viewers get little snippets of most of the characters’ lives organically so, in my opinion, you enjoyed the show more the more you watch.

Evil is one of the most unique shows on the air this season. It pits science and religion, Katja Herbers plays a skeptical clinical psychologist who joins a priest-in-training (Mike Colter) and a blue-collar contractor ( Aasif Mandvi)  to investigate supposed miracles, demonic possessions and other extraordinary occurrences to see if there's a scientific explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work.The give and take between science and religion is truly engaging and Michael Emerson is truly creepy and possibly playing for the other side in this battle.

Bob Hearts Abishola follows Bob (Billy Gardell) who, after having a heart attack, falls in love with his Nigerian nurse (Folake Olowofoyeku). I think I saw the pilot, the rest of the episodes are on my DVR at the moment and thanks to some of the promos and Christine Ebersole, I do plan to get to them. ETA: I’ve watched a couple.  Folake Olowofoyeku is really great but because this whole thing seems to involve the progress of their relationship, it runs a little slow for me.

Carol's Second Act is also piling up on my DVR.  I’ve been on bedrest because of an injury and have been mostly streaming. But, like Bob, I do plan to get to it. I do like that Patricia Heaton is the lead, a med student of all things. I have to think it’s also still on the air because it also has a strong male lead, Kyle MacLachlan, although I’ve never personally seen him do comedy.  Cedric Yarbrough is a strong motivator for me as well as I saw every episode of Speechless. ETA: Well, plans change. I erased them all. I thought if I hadn’t gotten to them by now, watching them would be a chore.

The Unicorn is a sitcom I actually have been watching. I didn’t want to at first because, although I’d heard of Walton Goggins, I had never actually seen him in anything. But it’s kind of like Seinfeld in that there is such an impressively strong group playing the couples who are his friends. Omar Benson Miller (yes!!) and  Maya Lynne Robinson are a couple with 4 kids and essentially a no nonsense approach and Rob Corddry and comedy goddess Michaela Watkins are the white color kid with a single kid who is well on her way to nerdhood.  These four a Goggins’ lifeline after his wife passes and he becomes a single father. The whole widower thing is handled well. His wife is mentioned or remembered in a completely organic way and allows the show to stay away from a trajectory that could have become maudlin.

Prodigal Son is another fairly unique concept for this season. Tom Payne plays Malcolm Bright, the son of a notorious serial killer called The Surgeon (Michael Sheen) who understands how killers think. The criminal psychologist uses his skills to help an NYPD unit led by Lou Diamond Phillips, a cop he’s known since his youth. What is interesting for me so far is that Bright’s mom, Bellamy Young, is her own kind of nuts, and Malcolm, who started off as a little nutty (I mean consider his past), is well on his way to possibly off his rocker.

Bluff City Law is a case of the week legal drama set in Memphis. The viewer is getting smidges of the character’s private lives each week but character development seems a little slow. I like Caitlin McGee’s performance but I’d never heard of her before watching this. The anchor for the show and the law firm in it is Jimmy Smits. The supporting cast, especially Barry Sloane who’s mostly navigated a single case for the first part of the season, is just starting to get noticed. It’s not something I race to watch but I like it. ETA: It has gotten cancelled. Poor Barry Sloane.

Emergence was a show I was waiting for as it marked the return of Allison Tolman.  She plays a sheriff who takes in a young child that she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has no memory of what has happened. The investigation so far has been weird and sometimes violent and definitely is affecting her family, including father Clancy Brown and ex-husband Donald Faison. But, bless her, she is nowhere near ready to give up. The cliffhanger before Christmas break was very illuminating.

I have watched a couple of episodes of Perfect Harmony (the rest are on my DVR). I love that Bradley Whitford is doing outright comedy although his character, an Ivy League music professor, is quite cranky. But I’m not in a rush to get back to it because it doesn’t seem like there’s enough material for it to run for multiple seasons. ETA: Like Carol’s Second Act, these got dumped off my DVR.

While we’re talking about enough material, Sunnyside was one of the first casualties of the season and, I have to say, I saw it coming. The pilot was well done, Kal Penn played Garrett Shah, a disgraced former New York city councilman who finds his calling when faced with immigrants in need of his help and in search of the American Dream. I know the immigration and nationalization process in the US is a lengthy process but it just didn’t seem like there was enough to keep people coming back despite the presence of talent like Diana Maria Riva.

Almost Family revolves around Julia Beckley (Brittany Snow) having her life turned upside down when it's revealed that her father, a pioneering Nobel Prize-winning fertility doctor, used his own sperm to conceive dozens of children over the course of his career. She connects with two “sisters” in particular and I think that’s what they’ve built the show on but I had a hard time believing any of the negative effects of all this coming from Snow and chose to stop watching. I do have the Australian show it’s based on as part of my Netflix list, I think I will probably end up watching that first.

I did start watching Batwoman before my injury, it being female led and all. Ruby Rose does inspire a bit of monotony in the voiceovers that populate the show but I get it, she’s tired, she’s working hard and only making minimal progress, I understand she’s not full of pep. It is kind of weird to watch her slip into the suit and try to make it work for her and watch Camrus Johnson, the steward of the life Bruce Wayne abandoned, do his best to both avoid and become her Alfred. ETA: That got dumped off the DVR, too. There’s SOOOO much TV.

FBI: Most Wanted is a spinoff of FBI (somebody may have to stop Dick Wolf) featuring 
Julian McMahon of Nip/Tuck as the head of team tasked with hunting down fugitives. Sadly, it’s been pretty run of the mill so far except for McMahon’s in-laws, which include Nathanial Arcand as his brother-in-law and a member of his squad.

The CW did reboot Nancy Drew and while I did not hate the concept, I’m still loyal to Pamela Sue Martin and chose not to watch it.

These are the shows that are on the air. Some mid-season shows are still ready to roll out. Some are already being bolstered by promos like Deputy. I am looking forward to that one and watching Stephen Dorff unexpectedly be made the sheriff of LA County. I think and really hope Yara Martinez, last seen and underutilized on Bull, will get to be a meaty part of this drama. ETA: Yara has gotten some featured episodes and done well but she’s essentially in the same boat as David Conrad on the Ghost Whisperer and Jake Weber on Medium.

Tommy is another cop show but thankfully Tommy is Abigail Thomas’ nickname and Edie Falco is front and centre as the first female chief of police for Los Angeles. She got the position as part of a court mandate after some ugliness in the department and often has to deal with the mayor, Tom Sadowski. Tommy’s assembled a pretty tight circle so far and, of course, does things her own way, so I’ve been trying to watch this live.

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist is SOOOOOO good. I’ve missed Jane Levy so much and this has not only a lovely story but singing and dancing (with choreography by Mandy Moore). After an accident in an MRI machine, Levy’s character can hear people expressing their feelings through song. Her supporting cast is top notch. Alex Newell of Glee plays her neighbor who is trying to help Zoey figure this out, Skylar Astin of Pitch Perfect and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is her BFF, Lauren Graham is her boss, and Mary Steenburgen and Peter Gallagher are her parents. Some of the most touching scenes (and songs) have involved Levy and Gallagher, who has lost many functions, including speech and a lot of movement. Thanks to Zoey’s condition, he is able to express himself to her through song and Gallagher’s voice is so sweet.

Geniuses has become Outmatched and features Maggie Lawson and Jason Biggs as parents of 4 children, 3 of whom are geniuses. I’ve seen 3 episodes so far. Everyone except the “normal” child seems to be waiting for a rimshot. I did enjoy Tony Danza as Jason Bigg’s dad but I am not going to be busting my butt to watch it. 

Uninsured has become Indebted. Adam Pally and Abby Elliott end up having to take care of Dave's parents (Fran Drescher and Steven Weber), who have mismanaged their finances and need help paying down a sizable debt. Sadly, like Outmatched, everyone seems to be waiting for a rimshot and the jokes seem really repetitive. Weber’s character, for example, is constantly talking about spending extravagant amounts of money even though he is deep in debt and I doubt they’re going after a dementia storyline with him. When the name Dan Levy popped up on the credits I did a lightning fast search on IMDB to make sure it was not, in my mind, THE Dan Levy of Schitt’s Creek, and thankfully, there are 2 of them.

Lincoln Rhyme, who was played on the big screen by Denzel Washington, is now Russell Hornsby from Grimm and Fox’s failed Proven Innocent. There’s still an Amelia Sachs, there’s still a Bone Collector, and Michael Imperioli is always a strong utility player but I’m finding it collecting on the DVR because of the plethora of good stuff available on Thursday and my need to get through that because sampling Friday’s mostly guilty pleasures.

Katy Keene has made it air. It’s a Riverdale spinoff on the CW and they are spending a lot on advertising but not enough to rope me in. Not that I think it’s not a good show, I’m just not the target audience.

Of the rest of the list, I know the planned reboots of New York Undercover and NYPD blue did not make it out of the gate. 

I’m never going to get this post finished if I included all of the pilots on the list I still haven’t talked about, so I’ll go with bullet points about the ones that stood out to me:

Nana: Katey Sagal playing a grandmother. Yeah. 

An untitled comedy pairing Leslie Odom Jr. and Kelly Jenrette: GREAT team, well matched I think.

The Republic of Sarah: Sarah Drew of Grey's Anatomy goes from mayor to president. So much story potential there.

Broke: Jaime Camil and Natasha Leggero plus Pauley Perrette - uh, yes please. Sounds like a very strong team to me. 

Next is a vehicle for Jon Slattery of Mad Men, who I adore, but I don’t recognize much of the supporting cast, which could be a problem if none of them are able to rise to his level.

Filthy Rich features Kim Cattrall and Gerald McRaney, a very strong base but I’m wondering how the religious community will respond to a story about how imperfect true believers can be. Another plus for me, it’s supposed to be filmed in New Orleans.

Richard Lovely is a vehicle for the uber talented Thomas Lennon, who plays the disgruntled author of the best-selling children's book series, Mr. Mouse. It looks like he’ll have Wendie Malick as a frequent scene partner and I believe that to be an ideal pairing.

Council of Dads is getting a lot of advertising but will involve death. If they handle it as well as The Unicorn has, I think it might have a chance.

That’s all I’ve got. I wish I’d finished this sooner. My DVR is 63% full. I’m going to match more TV.

[fuckyeahyesband-inactive]

Yestival, August 29th, 2017; Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California

Yestival was announced early this 2017 year; a prog extravaganza of Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, Todd Rundgren, and Yes all in one night. Never was there a more even mix of opportune and inopportune time for me, a young prog fan without that much money to her name, than now. Three big names in one show—it must cost a fortune! How was I ever expected to scrounge up enough cash to take Mom and I in a short amount of time? I had no job, and no stable source of income. I would just have to hope and pray…

Tickets went on presale an early April morning. Mom and I had decided on getting tickets, which were priced not quite as much as I was expecting. But hey, I’m not complaining. I had my laptop all set up and loaded for the presale to ensure we would be quick enough to get good seats. But… We were never given a presale code.

Oh, no. We were in trouble. How could we get into the presale? I clearly remember searching online desperately in case I had missed a presale code announcement. I must’ve had almost thirty tabs open at the time, but no—nothing. I was almost in a blind panic by the time Mom suggested we just guess the code. We gave obvious answers like “music,” “Yes,” “festival” and the like, but we were fresh out of luck.

“Try ‘prog,’” Mom says.

“That’s too obvious, isn’t it?”

“Just try it.”

Well, there was no harm in trying at least. P-r-o-g, enter key.

The ticket sale interface booted up. We had managed to guess our way into the presale.

August rolls around in unexpected silence. Amidst the stress and worries of beginning a new semester bubbles the excitement of another show. Yestival is finally here.

The second school day of the semester promised a show with the lineup of a lifetime for someone like me after my classes finished. By the time I left campus that morning, I was filled with a slew of emotions that in just a handful of hours, I was going to be seeing three of my favorite acts in one night. It still hadn’t quite processed with me; I wasn’t ready yet.

Mom and I spent our time getting ready and looking nice, as well as a friend of mine and my twelve-year-old cousin—I introduced her to Yes, you’re welcome—and double checking to make sure we were prepared for the trip down to the venue. Considering traffic, it could be a long drive to Los Angeles.

But this was my big night. I had to make sure I had everything down to the dot. Camera, check. Portable charger, check. Water bottle, check. Ticket, check. Lipstick in case a refresh was needed, check. Vinyl copies of Fragile, Oops! Wrong Planet, and Emerson Lake & Palmer just in case… Check. And of course, two working sharpies—one black and one metallic silver—check.

With only a little sweat and a few tears, the four of us safely made our way down to the city, only with a few small scares, of course. LA drivers can be scary for us small city folk.

But we arrived right on time, and lucky that because of our assigned seating, else we would probably end up being pushed towards the back of the venue. People were being let in just about a half-hour after we arrived. Lines weren’t a problem for us tonight.

Once we were inside the building of the Microsoft Theater, everything seemed to set in for me. The day was here; this was actually happening. After a quick trip to the merchandise stand, I checked my camera for what must’ve been the tenth time just to make sure it was in proper working order, and to figure out exactly which camera setting was the best for where we were sitting towards the middle of orchestra center, and the lighting we were going to be in. Because of venue rules, I couldn’t take my actual professional camera with me, so I was stuck borrowing Dad’s point and shoot. But it’s gotten me some good concert pictures before, so this show might not be so different in that regard.

Within perhaps another half hour, the lights dimmed and my heart skipped a beat. Carl’s group was up first, his amazingly large and precise drum kit already having been set up the moment we walked in those doors. The large television screens beside the wings of the stage lit up, and…

“This is… Jeopardy!”

Wait, what? What was going on? Why would a clip of Jeopardy be on display during Yestival?

“Actor Michael of Lost, silver screen siren Veronica, and Hall of Fame Baltimore pitcher Jim.”

“Emerson Lake and Palmer.”

Then the Cheers theme.

“I’m an attorney. I work for the… Emerson Lake and Palmer law firm.”

The Simpsons.

“A disc?” Cut to Homer in his car. “Oooh, what a lucky man he was.”

ELP references in other pop culture. An interesting and fun way to introduce the band; I’d never seen anything quite like that at a show before.

And of course, the man of the hour walked out on stage with surprisingly young guitarist and bassist whose names escape me—it was Carl Palmer. He looked the same as I’d always seen him; getting up in his years, but visibly takes good care of himself. Carl had always been in good health ever since he was young, and it certainly showed during his performance.

Their set began with a lively performance of none other than one of Keith Emerson’s masterpieces, “Hoedown.” And let me tell you, Carl’s performance has not downgraded a single percentage—he still plays like a fiend at the age of sixty-seven, and his bandmates were great too. He even kept his shirt on through his entire portion of the show. I suppose he stopped doing that years ago.

They rocked each song, though they had a short set of only five or so songs. “Hoedown,” “Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2,” “Lucky Man,” “Knife-Edge,” “Fanfare for the Common Man.” None of them were sung, except one.

Carl began to speak about how one of their most known numbers, “Lucky Man,” came to be. “I said to Greg, ‘when did you write this?’ And he said, ‘when I was about twelve-years-old.’ I said, ‘well, it’s pretty good!’ And we have a surprise for you as well.” The band began to play, but under the dimmed stage lighting, a fourth man walked out. It was Todd. Todd was singing “Lucky Man.” He put on a new twist that fit more of his vocal style than Greg’s, but he still did a lovely job. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was on the verge of tears throughout the entire number.

Carl and his band’s set soon came to an end, though I would’ve loved to hear more. But during the short intermission, a voice over the PA system announced that Carl would be out signing autographs in the lobby for those that have purchased merchandise. I can’t remember ever springing to my feet so fast.

My friend, my cousin, and I all quickly made our way back out to the lobby to wait for Carl to step out and meet us. Being so quick, we luckily beat the majority of the large group of people wanting to meet one of the geniuses behind Emerson Lake and Palmer. Now I was truly glad that I had brought my vinyl with me.

As I approached the table, I felt surprisingly calm in the presence of one of my favorite drummers of all time. He was still sweating from the show, fresh off stage, but he offered me a very warm and friendly smile.

“Hello! How are you?” he asked me as he quickly signed both my vinyl and my ticket—which I’m giving to my best friend long distance.

The meeting was quick since there was a line and people were being ushered along, so I couldn’t talk to him much. But at least I can say that I now have a signed copy of Emerson Lake & Palmer and a gift for a friend from the man himself. He was a sweetheart though we couldn’t stay long.

Now it was time for Todd’s set. I knew full well that most, if not all, of what Todd would be playing would be his newer material including songs from his recently released album, back in May. The wall lights dimmed again but the stage lights turned on. Kasim Sulton, Jesse Gress, Prairie Prince, and keyboardist whose name I also can’t remember walked the stage to their designated spots, followed by Todd’s backup dancers. After a moment, Todd himself joined the group.

Todd’s set was longer, but a good one. It was fresh and new, the majority of it I hadn’t previously heard. What was also a nice plus were the stage lights, which added to the effect of the music itself. His singing is so different now from what it started as, but he’s still a powerful and dynamic singer and musician in general. Famous or infamous for it, Todd is always changing. He and his band brought a real drive to the show with both his presence and his music, but it was certainly different from what Todd fans might be used to, but I don’t hold that against him. Even Kasim got his own bass solo, which I loved.

The band closed with three of his more popular gems both with Utopia and as himself, “One World,” “Hello It’s Me,” and “Just One Victory.” He put almost a new spin on the way he performed these three, but he kept the spirit of the originals at heart, and of course, it was fun to sing some songs I actually knew the lyrics to. For my first ever Todd Rundgren show, I wasn’t disappointed.

But now was time for Yes, the band we were all waiting for. And as a special treat, Dylan Howe, Steve Howe’s son would be joining along for the tour. I myself am a huge fan of percussion, so to know that I was going to be seeing a double drumming experience from my favorite band, it excited me to no end.

The band was introduced not by their usual “Firebird Suite” intro, which is a tradition among older Yes fans and those that have seen them more times than I, but with a different classical song that I didn’t previously know. The overhead screen above them glittered in red and white lights, the cover of their eponymous album released in 1969 outlined in blue. The band walked out and the audience surged with energy that didn’t previously seem quite there with Carl or Todd. The show was now alive.

Jon Davison with his usual smile, Billy Sherwood with a slight strut that almost reminded me of Chris, Steve Howe with his recent beard—and revered presence of course, Geoff Downes with his almost quiet but bold poise, Dylan Howe with fresh-faced excitement, and Alan White with a kind but perhaps just a bit tired expression. The six men took their places onstage, Dylan right beside his father, and the show began.

For their set list, they had picked a song from each of their first ten studio albums. For Yes, “Survival.” For Time and a Word, the song of the same name. For The Yes Album, “Yours is No Disgrace.” For Fragile, “South Side of the Sky.” For Close to the Edge, “And You and I.” For Tales from Topographic Oceans, “Leaves of Green” from “The Ancient.” For Relayer, “Soon,” the ending movement of the album’s epic “The Gates of Delirium.” For Going for the One, the song of the same name. For Tormato, “Don’t Kill the Whale.” And finally, for Drama, “Machine Messiah.” And as everyone loved, the encore was none other than “Roundabout.”

Personally, I’m actually pretty happy with the set list. Some of the songs they played were some of their lesser played songs (from what I know of the two Yes shows I’ve attended), which gave those songs a chance to shine. “Don’t Kill the Whale” even featured an extended intro which highlighted both Dylan and Alan on drums, which added to the song and gave it a fuller sound. It’s not even one of my favorites, but their performance made me warm up to it a bit more.

[Death mention in next paragraph]

Yes sounded much tighter as a band this time seeing them compared to my last time, which was the North American tour in 2015 with Toto. With Chris Squire’s recent passing at the time, Yes was left with less time to rework the band around to fit Billy Sherwood in as a full time member, change the set list around, and shape the general show to honor Chris’s life and his work, so I do not judge them as harshly for that performance. It caused a void within the band when he left us.

[Death mention ends here]

But the show as a whole did nothing but please me. Aside from the sound of the venue seeming a bit off, I was still more than satisfied with what I was given. Jon Davison’s vocals did justice to the originals taking into account that his voice has a different kind of sound—I don’t compare him to Jon Anderson because there could never quite be a “true” replacement for Jon Anderson. Billy’s form on bass shows his tutelage under Chris himself, and he even exudes a personality similar to Chris’s onstage. Like master, like apprentice. Steve’s style never diminishes for me, though he may play things just a little bit differently. Like Todd, Steve has his own changes; he never plays a song the exact same way twice. Geoff did justice to Yes songs originally featuring Rick Wakeman as always, including the song he himself was originally a part of, “Machine Messiah.” Dylan was a great addition to the band in adding some complexities to accompany Alan’s drumming to give it a nice extra layer. Alan only worries me a little; he still plays well, but he just looks a little tired. Maybe a little bit of a longer recovery for him after his back surgery is in order, but he still delivered that night.

But this isn’t where our story ends.

Four hours of prog music obviously left the four of us quite tired, but not tired enough for my friend and I to search around the back of the building for any lurking musicians, just in case we’d be lucky to run into someone. As we made our way back to the loading area, a small group of people stood together and spoke with one another. The two of us didn’t really think anything of it as we walked towards them to meet back up with Mom who had stayed behind. She had set us on a time limit since we had a ways to drive home, and our limit was coming short. Yet, one of the people within the group looked familiar from a distance. We got closer and—

It was Billy Sherwood.

In my mind, Billy was still something of a “new member” to me and I didn’t have a previous attachment to him, so for a very short moment, I almost kept on walking. But I still liked Billy, so when the group dispersed a bit, I stepped forward.

“Hi, nice to meet you!” I began, receiving a kind, happy smile and a ‘hi’ from Billy in return. “This is my second time seeing you with the band and you guys really brought the house down.”

“Thank you very much!” he said, still smiling.

Copy of Fragile and my metallic sharpie in hand, I continued on, “Alright, now, I know you weren’t on this album.”

“No, I wasn’t,” he teased a slight grin in his features. “I was about… Five?”

That made me laugh. Billy seemed quite easy to talk to. “Well, I’m gonna have you sign it anyways.”

He readily obliged, cheerful as can be, and asked me my name. “With a ‘K,’ right?” Making sure his writing was neat, he wrote out the words “Hello, Krista” with his signature and a smiley face next to it. And as far as I know, Billy doesn’t always write smiley faces either, so I held that little fact with pride.

He asked my friend for her name as well, to which I added that I had dragged her along to the show with me. She was not a prog fan originally, but I’m slowly introducing her to the music and hoping to turn her into one. Fingers crossed.

“It’s very different, huh?” said Billy. “Nothing like Jay-Z!”

Once she had her ticket signed, we almost went on our way, but I stopped when two women asked Billy if he had a pen to sign with. He didn’t.

“Oh, I have one! You can borrow mine!” I quickly offered, rifling in my bag for the black sharpie instead.

Billy’s smile showed again. “Krista has one!”

After having their merchandise signed and offering me their thanks for letting them borrow my sharpie, and my “have a good rest of your night” towards Billy. My friend and I quickly made our way back towards where Mom and my cousin were waiting, Billy sending us off with an “I like your dress!”

From a distance, I could see that Mom was waving, but she looked almost frantic. My brows furrowed and I almost felt a little worried, so we walked a little faster. But I noticed that as we walked closer, out of the corner of my eye, someone stood out in my vision. A man stood a head above the medium-sized group of people nearby, long limbed, with long black hair that was partially bleached platinum-silver, distinctive features, and a large pair of sunglasses. Todd Rundgren. It was the Todd Rundgren.

I hadn’t expected Todd to be out meeting fans that night, especially since he had a scheduled meet and greet you had to pay for earlier in the day. Usually with scheduled VIP meet and greets, it’s near impossible to meet any of the musicians for those who couldn’t afford the VIP package. Instead, I had been expecting to possibly run into Kasim Sulton instead; he’s known for always meeting his fans. But I never would have expected to run into Todd.

According to what Mom had told me later, he and his wife Michele were out walking the area by themselves when they were stopped by a thankfully smaller-sized group of fans, bless them. But Todd was his usually cordial and gracious self. As far as I’ve heard, he’s always kind to his fans.

As I waited for the people who had gotten there before me to finish taking pictures and their conversations with Todd, Michele approached me with a bubbling kindness, as is her personality.

“Would you like me to take your picture for you?” she offered, her tone brimming with happiness and excitement. “And what’s your name?”

The two of us made idle conversation as we waited for Todd, including her glancing over my Utopia copy of Oops! Wrong Planet, my favorite album of theirs and one of my favorite albums that Todd has been a part of. She turned the vinyl over to the back side, looking over the pictures of Todd, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell, and Willie Wilcox. “He looks like our son!” she spoke happily, pointing to Todd’s picture.

But whenever she could, Michele tried to get his attention. “Todd, you need to take a picture with Krista!” It made me happy that she had my interests at heart and made sure that I got my picture in the end.

Eventually, the majority of the group left and it was my turn. Todd and I took our picture together as first order of business with Michele’s help. She took multiple pictures using my Mom’s phone, which I was glad of because it ensured that we got a good picture, and we did. Taking my picture with Todd was actually more personable than I expected it to be. Todd is surprisingly a bit of a shy man offstage, so I was under the impression that he wouldn’t be as outwardly friendly as he was, but I was happily proven wrong. He didn’t seem to mind the closeness, and taking our picture almost felt like a hug from the side.

But of course, I had to have Todd sign my vinyl as well, which he happily agreed to. But before we left, my friend having also gotten her picture and ticket signed by Todd, I had to get a picture of him with my cousin. I had turned her into a Yes fan, but I had yet to bring her into the world of Todd’s music. But he was here, so she might as well get proof of meeting him, right?

“Just one more picture,” I told him, gesturing to my cousin who was standing right next to him. However, Todd thought I was meaning myself, so he reached a hand out to me.

“Oh, no, not me. My cousin.”

He looks confused for a moment, glancing right past where I had pointed considering the height difference between him and my cousin. Yet, he soon glanced down and jumped a little when he noticed her with a bit of a laughing, “oh!” Picture taken. Same old song and dance.

“We’re introducing her to the world of progressive rock,” I had told him.

He showed the smallest glimpse of a smile before folding his hands together. “Be gentle with her,” he said to me with a slightly teasing tone to his voice. “There’s a lot of crazy stuff out there.”

“What did you say about not meeting Todd Rundgren?” my friend quipped to me.

I was happy, Mom was happy, my friend was happy, my cousin was happy—we were all happy, so that was our signal to head on home. But for me, I was on cloud nine. Someone that hadn’t been with us would have hated me during our drive home from how much I gushed about meeting Todd, Carl, and Billy. But I didn’t care. This was certainly going to be a night to remember. One that might even top the Yes featuring ARW, but I don’t like to list those types of things on scales. I don’t pick favorites.

But one thing is for sure: I’m keeping the picture of me with Todd as my lock screen for a very, very long time.

[minnamarie1983-blog]

Quotes for Thursday July 27,2017

Appreciation  quotes Appreciate what you have, accept the blessings waiting for you to need them, and above all - realize that Source from which it all comes.--Michael Rawls Appreciation can make a day--even change a life, Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.--Margaret Cousins Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.--Voltaire Appreciation, not possession, makes a thing ours.--Marty Rubin Jesus, please teach me to appreciate what I have before time forces me to appreciate what I had.--Susan L. Lenzkes Just about the only interruption we don't object to is applause.--Sydney J. Harris Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.--Abraham Joshua Heschel =========== Attitude quotes Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.--Winston S. Churchill Attitude is the mind's paintbrush, it can color any situation.--Unknown The attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.--Alan Watts Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better.--Jim Rohn Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits.--Fulton J. Sheen Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious.--Bill Meyer ========= Eleanor Roosevelt quotes Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that’s why they call it the present. You must do the things you think you cannot do. When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor. Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth. It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. ========= Encouragement quotes Any man's life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.--Booker T. Washington Appreciation can make a day--even change a life, Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.--Margaret Cousins As it is our nature to be more moved by hope than fear, the example of one we see abundantly rewarded cheers and encourages us far more than the slights of many who have not been well treated disquiets us.--Francesco Guicciardini Children may forget what you say, but they'll never forget how you make them feel.--Parker Palmer (from The Quotable Teacher, comp. by Howe) Correction does much, but encouragement does more.--Goethe ============ Faith quotes Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.--Mahalia Jackson Faith begins where Reason sinks exhausted.--Albert Pike Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.--Voltaire Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the window which hope has opened.--Charles Spurgeon Faith is a continuation of reason.--William Adams Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe.--Mitch Albom (Have a Little Faith: a True Story) Faith is a knowledge within the heart beyond the reach of proof.--Kahlil Gibron Faith is affirming success before it comes. Faith is making claims to victory before it is achieved.--Robert Schuller ========= Happiness quotes Happiness is a butterfly which when pursued is just out of grasp... But if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.--Nathaniel Hawthorne Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy.--Gretta Palmer Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.--Samuel Levenson Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.--Ralph Waldo Emerson Happiness is a present attitude--not a future condition.--Hugh Prather Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.--Eleanor Roosevelt Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.--Thomas Merton Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.--Margaret Lee Runbeck Happiness is not found by searching for it, because you find it only when you realize you already have it.--David Charles Happiness is not in having being; it is in doing.--Lilian Eichler Watson Happiness is not the end of life: character is.--Henry Ward Beecher (Life Thoughts) ========== Prayer quotes If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. -Meister Eckhart The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. -Søren Kierkegaard Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. -Corrie ten Boom Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow. -Benjamin Franklin You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. -Kahlil Gibran God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil. -E.M. Bounds We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. - Oswald Chambers A prayer couched in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual. -Paulo Coelho