#and fans risked getting in trouble filming stuff but did it to share with others

[carry-on-every-neverland-magic]

Also also it's literally just the first two eps people are lucky enough to have seen early, no one can say what else happens or the ending so wanting to know some things from the first two to get even more excited seems reasonable and I'm bothered by the holier than thou who are getting at fans who are actually tagging spoilers correctly and asking privately for spoilers with no intention of deliberately ruining it for someone else, like let us live a little and if you are privileged enough to see these screenings (if I wasn't broke I could have got London tickets since I'm off work next week but alas I'm poor 😭) so maybe just don't say anything if you're not gonna give a morsel of a spoiler. The show and everyone have put themselves here by allowing people to see it early like what did they think would happen?! Of course people wanna know things and get more excited so ya just saying if I'd have gone I'd be telling anyone who wanted to know every single juicy detail.

[poindexterfics]

Bathing with their S/O Pt. 1

My first time writing some imagines as a person who normally RPs. Due to someone such as I only being a fan since X, do inform me of any fundamental character mistakes, as they are quite possible. All constructive criticism is welcome. With that, I thank you. Please enjoy. 

The topic was originally showering with s/o, until different ideas came to mind. Warnings: Slight NSFW themes, slightly forceful Dark Raiden

Having rewritten many of these several different times, I went through a bit of music. And oddly enough, “It’s Raining Men” really flowed with these gifs at the time...Guys I’m crying

Kuai Liang

Using up all of the hot water was just part of the packaged deal if you wanted to bathe with your Cryomancer boyfriend. It was worth it though, being able to spend some intimate time with him. You undressed while the water was heating up, climbing in at the end where the scalding liquid would not touch you. Kuai would come and save the day, the hiss of the cooling process letting you know it was safe to move closer. And move closer you did, the cooled water rushing over you after it cascaded over him. A ghost of a smile crossed his features as he held you in a tight embrace, his chin resting on the top of your head. His hardass persona melted away when it came to you, he couldn’t help but be an absolute softie in moments like these. “Kuai,” You’d hum sweetly, batting your eyelashes. To a man with experience, it was a dangerous sign. But, Kuai Liang, Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, was not experienced with the cunning tactics of romantic partners. The shower was where he became easily convinced of anything you said or asked, and you’d take advantage. Letting your fingers trace his muscles, you had him kiss you while you thought of the best way to articulate your question. But, perhaps being blunt was just the best way to go about it, especially since the man was already hooked. As he started to help you with your hair, you could only purr in a devilish fashion, knowing you had him right where you wanted him. “What is it?” He’d finally ask, the curiosity getting to him. You couldn’t help the smirk.

“May I have a cat?”

A blink here, a blink there. But, he quickly nodded when you traced his muscles again. “Of course, my love,” He’d answer, before shivering when you moved to reward him. There were perks when it came to being soft, he found. 

Hanzo Hasashi

Being physical with a boyfriend like Hanzo was only ever difficult during the summer months. However, you found ways to work around such an obstacle. You normally weren’t one for bathing in cold water, but, it was all worth it to overcome the objective. When Hanzo followed behind you into the shower, the very heat of his body negated the temperature completely. You faced him to press your body against his, making absolutely sure he warmed you up. It caused him to smile at such clinginess, using a finger to tilt your chin up and kiss you. Grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu, he had worked hard and kept calm the vengeful, hell-spawned spirit inside of himself. But you... he never could figure out whether you were helping or harming in that plight. The more he held you, the more he loved on you, the more he could feel himself grow more possessive. Oh, how the hellfire gripped him, a burning lust building. His eyes grew milky, but he inhaled deeply to try and relax himself, brown and white constantly shifting. You weren’t being observant because you never knew it was an issue with him. You turned slightly to get your shampoo, your slick body still up against your boyfriend’s. Noisily, the bottle crashed against the floor of the shower as you were pinned back by your wrists, your cry of surprise interrupted by a bruising kiss as a blush stretched across your cheeks. Hanzo was, normally, so kind and gentle when it came to these intimate moments with you. But, the one who had you now was not Hanzo. 

That night, Scorpion did not allow you to sleep much. Had it mattered, though? You were his, and he was yours. He and Hanzo would not have it any other way. It may have been a surprise at first, but, you learned to accept and also love that side of your boyfriend. The trust you shared with one another grew almost tenfold in only a few hours.

Raiden

Bathing with your Elder God boyfriend... it never came easy. As shy as he was with the general idea of your naked form, it was a wonder you could even get him to participate in the action of kissing. But, then again, that had taken you awhile to get him comfortable with. Raiden was a bit of a prude, and on more than one occasion had to consult with the Elder Gods between each of the sessions you did to try and gradually chip away at his unease. It could get a little frustrating from time to time, but, you knew that patience came with great rewards, and, as you had found out, nothing was truer with your boyfriend. It was an unusually stormy night when you decided to have a quick shower. Alone, you took care of your hair and your body, enjoying the warmth of the water flowing over you. You were almost ready to get out, until the sound of the door opening froze you in your tracks. The bashful Thunder God, ever so slowly, slinked into the shower behind you. Your heart hammered in your chest, knowing not to speak or risk startling him away. His hesitant arms wrapped around you, while a heated face buried itself into the crook of your neck. Neither of you said anything, just basked in the water and in each other’s love while the storm raged outside. When his nerves calmed, he found himself absolutely adoring holding you like he was, unable to help but plant a kiss on your shoulder. The storm, noticeably, eased up. 

“Can we... can we do this again?” He whispered, your response an eager nod. It would be the beginning of the next chapter in your relationship with him.

Dark Raiden

From there, you didn’t have much to complain about. Raiden became more comfortable around you, so much so he was finally willing to indulge in his own desires. But, his favorite would always be the shower for which brought you two even closer. It became an unspoken agreement, you jumping in just before he walked in for the usual, scheduled visit to your home. Safe as you were from the troubles of his work, much to his own due diligence in that, you were naïve to the true stress he constantly faced. So much so, that his dark persona was unheard of when it came to you. One night, you had expected the door to quietly open like it usually did. Already undressed, you giddily stepped into the water, only to jump a mile at the noise of his arrival to your bathroom. Raiden had swung the door open so hard that you were sure the knob had cracked a hole in the wall. Before you could speak, he was upon you. He roughly spun you around and pinned you to shower wall, your body quivering from the treatment. “Rai-“ You got cut off by your own squeal, a hand having smacked your ass. You could only whimper submissively in confusion, looking over your shoulder at your much more dominant lover. Red, lust-filled eyes watched you in return. Oh, he so very much adored that. The way you submitted so easily... it was a stroke to his pride.

“You are going to serve your god,” It wasn’t a request, it was a command. “Do I make myself clear?” Your answer was but a simple nod, feeling excited by the sudden change in your boyfriend that you had never encountered before, and by what he had in store for you.

Johnny Cage

King of Hollywood himself, Johnny looked forward to those peaceful moments he could have with you after a long day of shooting for a film or fulfilling a mission. Already having you naked and wet without him having to do anything was just a bonus. Setting his stuff down on the couch, he visited your shared bathroom and gazed at your form through the fogged up glass. “Are you going to keep staring or are you going to join me?” You ponder aloud after awhile, ever so used to the little games he’d play. “Do you need to ask?” Came his sassy remark. Much as he liked to think he was a big shot, he knew just as well as you did that he was wrapped around your finger. Off came his clothes in a scattered mess on the floor, another body joining the shower. Turning to face him, you couldn’t help the small smile when you noticed his stage makeup was still on. He must have rushed home to see you, which was always so flattering. “Are you going to marvel over this work of art or are you going to kiss me?” He asked in a very smug manner, copying the format of your question from before. “Do you need to ask?” You mimicked, pecking him on the lips to entice him as your hands greedily stroked over his toned abs. Eagerly grabbing at your waist, he pulled you flush against himself as he took over the kiss, backing you up against the shower wall. Your nails dug into his shoulder blades from the pure delight of having him so attentive, a small gasp escaping you when your legs were made to hook around your boyfriend’s waist. Johnny tended to be straight forward, but he always could do it in a way that would still surprise you, months into your relationship.

You tamed Hollywood himself, and he’d reward you for it.

Kenshi

He may have been blind, but it did not prevent your boyfriend from seeing you as the beauty that you were. And being the telepath that he also was, he could read just when you were feeling the most insecure about yourself. The best remedy for such a thing? A romantic, at-home date. 

Instead of a steamy shower, a hot bath surrounded by candles waited for you after a long, stressful day. Rose petals marked the surface of the water and dotted the floor, forcing a smile on your face. Like a gentleman, the swordsman helped you undress and get into the tub, then provided quite the show of himself disrobing. “Do I please you?” He asked teasingly, knowing just how much you were blushing. “You’re being so cheesy, Kenshi,” You snickered, happy that he was finally getting into the water with you. He found it cute that you hadn’t noticed his endgame of getting you to unwind and laugh. But, then again, Kenshi was as considerate as a significant other could be. No stone was left unturned, no opportunity missed to make you happy. “I am, aren’t I?” He chuckled, pulling you to his chest as he relaxed with you. You obliged and snuggled into him, your steady breathing tickling his skin as you seemed to doze off. Gaining a grin of his own, he kissed the top of your head, enjoying the warmth of the water with you while it lasted. 

When it was time to get out, he lifted you bridal style, gently shushing you when you groggily whined at him. He toweled the both of you down with some difficulty before getting you into bed. There had been a cheesy petal heart, but, he did not mind messing it up when he had already gotten you to be your normal, happy self. The rest of the night was just him holding you-- until he himself was lulled into sleep by your ever so soothing warmth.

Erron Black

Your gunslinging boyfriend often came in muddy from his bounty hunting adventures, and you’d have to be the one to get his ass in the shower before he ruined your apartment. “Listen, sugar. I’ll only get in if you follow,” He grinned as you agreed and violently shoved him into the bathroom to keep the dirt from trekking any further into your domicile. “Damn it, Erron,” You seethed through clenched teeth. “I just finished cleaning, too!”

To Erron, you resembled an upset Pomeranian. All of the cute, none of the intimidation. “You know it gets me hot and bothered when you’re mad, baby doll,” He teased, ever so amused at your reaction. Nostril flare, puffed cheeks, and an annoyed stare. Suffice it to say, he knew how to piss you off. But, he also knew how to wriggle himself right back into your good graces. He waited until after he had undressed and you were halfway through the process before giving you a kiss from behind, right on the collarbone. “I’m not in the mood, cowboy,” You huffed, but, couldn’t deny the racing of your heart. You knew what he was doing. It was the same shit he had pulled last time. And the time before that. And the time- “Could have fooled me, darlin’,” He hummed as he pulled you into the water with him once you had discarded your last item of clothing. You yelped at the speed of it, loosing your footing and slipping into his arms. His handsome chuckle resonated in the small space, watching you get even more frustrated. “You..you..!” He had done this last time, too! Yet, you couldn’t resist pulling his head down so you could reach up and kiss him. You missed the bastard, and he knew that. But with the way he held you, you also knew he shared the same sentiment. You were his one and only.

Kano

“Kano.”

“... Kano.”

“Kano!”

“Fuck, what do you want?” Came the grumpy reply you were expecting. Your boyfriend was completely hungover and exhausted from last night’s activities with you, his face buried in your chest. The man was slightly crushing you, and frankly you were tired of him drooling on your bare skin. “Don’t you use that tone with me,” You snarled, pushing at him with all the might you could muster in your sore arms. Finally roused from his sleepy state, Kano couldn’t help but laugh at you, making you hit him in the face with your discarded shirt. “Nothing personal, love. But, you couldn’t stop me even if you wanted to,” The mercenary stated in regards to your previous demand. “Okay? But, I know that you love me enough that you’ll stop on your own,” You pouted as you pushed him into the bathroom to share a shower.

“Says who?”

“Kano.”

“Fine, fine. Grab a man by his balls, why don’t you,” He sighed, unable to keep down the smile that tugged on his lips. He still couldn’t believe that he had found someone like you to enjoy, as shitty of a person as he was. He didn’t deserve you, and yet, here you were. He normally didn’t get mushy, but, once in a blue moon he liked to reflect on his life and the relationship he had with you. “...You okay?” You asked in concern, surprised that your boyfriend hadn’t tried the usual sexual advance in the shower. “Hm? Oh, yes... I’m better than okay,” He replied, surprising you even further now that he was helping you wash your hair. No longer did he see you as a person he could fool around with. No, he was truly seeing you for the gem that you were, and he would be damned before he would ever let you go.

Kabal

When the mercenary wasn’t spoiling you with his riches in every possible way, Kabal would spoil you with his love and affection. It wasn’t everyday that one found a partner who didn’t care about appearances, after all. 

As much as you would try and downplay yourself, Kabal would have none of it. “Kabal, babe, really, it was no big deal-”

“Ah, ah, ah,” A gloved finger was pressed against your lips, silencing you. Playfully you bit at it, but, relented. “Fine... what is it that you wanted to show me?” You asked curiously. The man had spoken of rewarding you for the kiss you had given him the night before. Was it overreacting a bit? To you, yes, because you had given him plenty of kisses in the same spot and in other places. But to him, it was the least he could do for his special someone. He led you into the bathroom, where your jaw instantly dropped. Before your eyes was a computerized steam shower, sauna, and jacuzzi all in one, with a little flatscreen tv included! You could feel the stress melt out of your body just looking at the damn thing. “K-Kabal... I don’t even know what to say,” You whispered. No boyfriend had ever been so kind, let alone would gift you as lavishly as he did. “Then don’t say anything, baby. Just try it out with me,” He whispered huskily, wrapping an arm around your waist. You could only nod in excitement, beginning to undress in front of him, much to his own bashful delight. 

Kotal Kahn

The royal bath had been prepared and scented with many a luxurious herb, candles lit to give off a soothing, yet romantic vibe. Kotal himself enjoyed such things, even without the presence of company. But, now that you were here, he was inclined to focus on your needs. As you disrobed and entered the water with him, he pulled you closer to himself in an effort to help you relax. While you appreciated everything your Ko’atal did for you, the constant supervision of bodyguards had truly gotten under your skin. This was one of the few moments you got to spend privately with your man, and you were going to enjoy it. 

You closed your eyes as you rested against Kotal, the Outworld emperor sighing in contentment. 

“Mm?” You hummed as you peeked a glance up at him, having mistaken his sigh for something being wrong.

“Rest, my love. Everything is fine,” He replied, smiling at how beautiful you were. He cupped some of the warm water and brushed it through your hair while you closed your eyes and complied with his request, letting out your own sigh. “...The guards grow tiresome,” You finally stated.

“They do, but, it is for your protection. I cannot allow any harm to befall you,” He reasoned, using a few well placed strokes to convince you of such a truth. Biting your lower lip, you took the time to feel his muscles, the Kahn watching you ever so closely. He had completely forgotten that he had asked you to take it easy, in favor of marveling your form and perhaps indulging you further. He wouldn’t admit it to you since you had seemed so happy, but, there were a few guards posted just outside the door, who could hear everything that was going on.

The two of you shared a romantic evening regardless, him deceiving you only for you to have less to worry about and more to enjoy. You were his everything, and that was more than enough to convince him that he need not feel guilt. 

*****

And that’s the end of part one! Part two, if desired, will contain Kung Lao, Ermac, Shao Kahn, Kollector, Rain, Reptile, Bi-Han/Noob Saibot, Quan Chi, and Shinnok! The 10th character could be voted in :)

Also I would just like to point out that the computerized (Triborg: NUT) shower looks so cool. Search that thing up on Amazon.

[unidentified-flying-sparrow]

I still love Harry Potter - but not JKR

Warning: This gets wordy. I really just rambled and let my thoughts take me where they will. And these are only my personal rambles - they aren’t meant to be a deep political statement or super eloquent or anything. They’ll be messy and meandering and mainly for my own benefit.  I just...needed to think. And remember. And feel.  You have been warned.

JKR has been in the news a lot lately. And not in a good way. To put it bluntly, she’s basically revealed herself as a TERF and is rightly being called out.  It hurts, because Harry Potter made a large impact on my life. But the author has shown herself to be flawed and I had put her on a pedestal for years of my life. I admired her “rags-to-riches” (sorta) story. Her success. Her talent with writing. I wanted to be her in some ways. She was living my life’s dream!

And now she is making hurtful remarks about a marginalized group of people who have done nothing except demand equality and recognition.

I first heard about the books through my mom. She was a substitute teacher at the time, and in the class she was covering, the teacher had just started reading The Sorceror’s Stone. Mom went out and got a copy, read it, and loaned it to me. She also griped about how no one knew how to pronounce the name “Hermione” - the kids she was reading to kept ‘correcting’ her with ‘Hermy-own-knee” as the pronunciation. It drove her nuts. I remember bragging to my friends when I figured out what the Mirror of Erised actually said. I was in junior high - eighth grade. I was reading a kids’ book that wasn’t hugely popular yet, and trying to lure people in.  I remember seeing more and more people I knew picking up the books. In high school, when we had free days in band (aka the teacher was sick and the sub didn’t know music), my friends and I would talk Harry Potter.  I was giddy when I got my own copies - hardback copies - of the first three books by saving my money and shopping the second-hand bookstores. It’s not that my parents wouldn’t have gotten them for me, but I wanted to buy them for myself. My original, paperback copy of Sorceror’s Stone was battered and tattered and well-loved.  Mom kept loaning out our copies to people. Sometimes, they didn’t come back. In that, it was like when she would loan out copies of The Lord of The Rings when I was a kid (which is why there are probably 4 or 5 copies of that in my parents’ house today). She knew the books were special. I put up Harry Potter posters. I glommed onto Hermione as a favorite character - a bookish girl who could still stand up for herself and have great friends? It was everything I had wanted for myself when I was eleven and struggled hard to have. So I adored her. And I shipped Harry/Hermione. Still do, but now days, I prefer just having an OT3 of the Golden Trio and an OT3 of the Silver Trio (or Sub Trio or whatever name the fandom uses now).  I sometimes had trouble sleeping and would pop the audiobook of Sorceror’s Stone into my cassette player on those nights. It helped me relax. When the first film came out, my parents and I were there to see it. I was amazed. I remember griping about minor tweaks, like Harry’s eyes (until I read about the contacts issues). Oh, what little I knew of how the books and films would splinter more. But still be fun. Goblet of Fire the book was released 4 days before my 15th birthday. I made the mistake of telling my parents I could hold off on reading my copy until then. After I saw my mom sobbing -for reasons she couldn’t tell me - at the end of the book...I never made that particular error again. When Order of the Phoenix came out, we went to the Barnes and Noble midnight release to get our pre-ordered copies. During the long wait, a guy wandered up and down selling Little Caesar's pizzas. Another guy had visited Wal-Mart, purchased every copy of the book they had, and was selling them for only a couple of bucks over what he’d paid to anyone in line who was desperate for an extra copy. My parents bought one and I spent the rest of the waiting period crouched under a parking lot light, reading, until my parents got the copies we’d actually come for.  I lost sleep reading all of the books as they came out. I was always done within a few days, at most. I just couldn’t put them down. I got T-shirts. Bought dolls/pillows/bedding. Got myself a T-shirt, a poster, and Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them when I visited the UK in high school. I saw the latter films at midnight releases with my friends. Half-Blood Prince the book came out during my first summer as a camp counselor. Almost all of us - camper and staff alike - were reading it or talking about it. Spoilers were forbidden but there would still be hushed conversations during bedtime hours or “me-time” after lunch (rest period).  Deathly Hallows - both book and film - came out after my mother passed. I got my copy of the book, quietly, at a Kroger at midnight. 

Harry Potter got me heavily into fandom. I was there for The Draco Trilogy and Pawn to Queen. My Immortal and The Shoebox Project. Squickfics that made it onto GodAwfulFanfiction and its successor, Why God Why. LiveJournal communities. Fandom wank. And so much more. Reading updates on MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron and watching fanvids. Listening to music uploaded from Draco and the Malfoy and other fanbands. Roleplaying communities that were being hosted on Proboards message boards. Countless Sorting quizzes.  I made sure to visit Universal Studios on my honeymoon with @lechevaliermalfet​ and want to go back one day, as only Hogsmeade existed when we went. I also remember how grumpy I was that @lechevaliermalfet​ had resisted my urging to read the books - he read them after they were recommended by an unlikely source. In hindsight, it makes sense. I was a solid fan. The person who recommended the books was not. I celebrated the release of Cursed Child with my family at a day-long celebration in Naperville, IL. I have a T-shirt to commemorate it, and a wand that I made with the help of my niece.  Just this year, @lechevaliermalfet​ and I did a date night - dinner and the first Potter movie on the big screen.

I’m rambling, I know, but the point is, Harry Potter got me involved. I made online friends and honed writing skills by writing fanfiction. I learned to have a thicker skin because of some of the feedback I got. I made at least one fanvid (I’m reasonably certain it’s been lost to the ether and good riddance). Sure, I participated in other fandoms (especially Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew and Witch Hunter Robin). But this was a fandom I shared with more of my family and friends than any other. And I could even - and did - read it to kids I babysat. Now, I know Harry Potter isn’t perfect. Lord knows, Cursed Child reads like a bad fanfiction, and I have seen those ideas executed in ways that fired up my imagination and emotions more effectively. Repeatedly. Then there’s the issue of worldbuilding. The not-so-great aspects/implications of much of what has come out of Pottermore aside, Harry Potter’s wizarding world has always been a shaky society. Others have touched on this far more eloquently, so I’ll just say that it was interesting that we only had a few token “good” Slytherins - who were still shown to have ambition that overruled their better judgement at times.

I always saw the films as a different interpretation of the same story, so I wouldn’t go nuts over the stuff that was altered, so that stays. They have flaws of their own. Sometimes they exacerbate what is in the books - sometimes not.

I can’t speak to the more recent Fantastic Beasts stuff as I haven’t gotten involved. Maybe eventually. But I never realized that the poor representation in JKR’s world might reflect her worldview more wholly. I honestly figured it was a more innocent ignorance or reluctance to risk upsetting the market at the time. But the more she tweets and posts...the more obvious it is that no, she just really is that biased.  I guess, at this point, I’m going to have to follow the Death of the Author route. I used to live for the engagement Rowling had with fans, and the tidbits she’d dole out. Now, I cringe every time I see one.   For the books themselves, I think I’m going to have to take the Death of the Author approach from now on. Because JKR cannot take away the positive things Harry Potter gave me and other fans. I won’t let her. And I am grateful that there are Potter cast members stepping up to denounce her. I love Harry Potter. JKR can go jump in a lake. 

[minyoongleschimjoongles]

Preordained: Introductions V

When Zara Met Seokjin

Pairing(s):Poly!BTSxOC, Sub!BTSxOC,

Warnings: Implied sexual situations, Mentions of sexual situations, implications of Dom/sub relationships

Notes: This might have been the Introduction that I had the most trouble with, because it’s the chapter where the AU-ness of Preordained really starts to come in.

Intro: Taehyung, Jungkook, Yoongi, Namjoon

The addition of Namjoon immediately eased most of the tensions between the boys. He was a natural leader, excellent at talking things out, and his instinct to sort out the arguments to spare Zara the stress was strong.

He also expressed the need for the guys to get to know each other better outside of being Zara’s Soulmates, because that would help ease the friction between everyone.

Zara’s grades, which had suffered under the stress, quickly returned to normal, and Namjoon’s intelligence also inspired Zara to actually focus on school again instead of wasting all her time with her menagerie of beautiful boys. 

At this moment, she sat in her painting class, wondering why, exactly, the film class that was normally the next room over was crowded in with the rest of them. The easels an stools had been pushed against one wall, leaving as much room as possible for people to stand. Zara, always early for class, had hoisted herself up onto the only fixed counter top in the room, crossing her legs under her.

When the teachers had done a mental headcount of their students and assured that most, if not all of them were there, they called for attention.

“Good morning, everyone,” Mr. Lee, the film professor, clapped his hands twice. “I know you’re all wondering what’s going on here today. Well, I’ll tell you. Ms. Do and I have always combined our classes when it’s time to start thinking of final projects.” He paused for the groans as the students realized what was happening. “Yes, that’s right, you’re going to have partners, but we’ll get into that later. Right now, we want to explain what the projects are. For my students, you’re going to be making a Youtube channel! You can do whatever you want for your channel, any subject at all. My only stipulation is that your partner must be included in some way. Your partner is your Muse, so to speak. This is why Ms. Do and I have lovingly named this The Muse Project. For my students, the final presentation of the Youtube channel is worth 30% of your grade, and the painting students will get extra credit on their own final projects.”

“Now,” Ms. Do took over, “the project for my students is, of course, an art show, though not a normal one. Instead of canvas paintings, the pieces displayed in the end-of-semester art show will be digital photographs of paintings done on your partner’s body. Your partner is your canvas, and your Muse. The art show is worth 30% of your grade, and the film students will get extra credit on their final, as well. We will now tell you who your partner is, so please listen carefully. Afterwards, you’re free to leave and get to know your partner.”

There was nervous chatter as people started looking around, wondering who exactly their partner would be. Zara sat up straighter in her spot, ears straining to hear the names being called over the talking.

“Underhill Zara and Kim Seokjin.”

A ridiculously handsome young man with an obscenely white, straight smile raised his head, scanning the crowd for the student with the obviously American name. When he caught Zara’s green eyes, she waved a hand in greeting and he started to make his way through the other students towards her. He held a Canon Powershot in his hands like it was a lifeline, already recording. Already, Zara’s mind was filled with ideas for the paintings she’d have to do on this Kim Seokjin.

When he stopped in front of her, his blinding smile widened.

“I got an American! That’ll be interesting for a video subject.”

Without missing a beat, Zara said, “Maybe I’m Canadian.”

His smile dropped a fraction, startled.

“Oh..”

Zara snorted and smiled at him. “I’m just kidding, Kim Seokjin.”

He let out a slow breath, the smile returning.

“That was mean, Underwood Zara.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! You were recording and I couldn’t resist.”

Jin nodded, pointing the camera at her.

“Say hello to the world, Zara.”

“Hello to the world, Zara.” 

Jin grinned and turned the camera on himself again.

“My partner Zara is apparently a comedy genius. So, Zara, how old are you?”

Zara hopped off the table, taking this question in stride. In America, people found it inappropriate to ask someone’s age, but in Korea, Zara found it was one of the first things people asked.

“I was born October 12, 1995.”

Jin’s face lit up, keeping stride with Zara as she left the classroom. “Ah, I’m your Oppa! I was born December 4, 1992.”

Zara nodded, “Don’t be surprised if I forget to use the Oppa title. Two of my Soulmates so far are older than me and I drop the title all the time.”

Jin almost fumbled the camera as he did his double take. “Did you say two Soulmates?”

Zara let a frustrated little sigh. “Yeah, I have Seven, but I’ve only found four so far. I know, I know, I’m a freak.”

“No, no! I don’t think you’re a freak! But...maybe we should cut this part out of the video, it’s so personal.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Jin nodded, and as the two of them continued to walk, Jin continued asking Zara questions. His intentions for this first video was a vlog-style, get-to-know-each-other kind of thing.

“So, I’m warning you right now, there might be a lot of boys in here.”

Zara and Jin stood outside her dorm room, Zara preparing to open the door.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Jin nodded, “Go ahead and open it, Zara.”

“Well, you can’t show everyone the passcode to my dorm, Seokjin-oppa,” She grabbed his wrist to turn the camera away from her keypad, and immediately felt the tug on her wrist. The angle she’d managed to get the camera to before realizing Kim Seokjin was one of the Seven showed both of their faces in the shot.

Upon editing that particular bit of footage, Jin would lament the way his handsome face reddened, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Though he’d file Zara’s face away in his memory, knowing her soft smile and twinkling green eyes would lift his spirits for the rest of his days.

“Oh.” Jin said. Zara released his wrist. “Well, this is an interesting plot twist to the video.”

xXx

The boys welcomed Jin in immediately, absorbing him into the group with no complaints. Several of Jin’s videos had already been posted, including the now viral first video, “Finding My Soulmate.”

People just loved watching Soulmates come together.

Zara was always the main focus of Jin’s videos, but the rest of Zara’s Soulmates were inevitably involved as well. Jin’s favorite videos to film were standard vlogs, chronicling his new life with Zara and her Soulmates. He’d even given Zara a camera of her own so that she could film when he was in his own class and Zara, ever the accommodating Soulmate, performed this task dutifully.

Of his classmates’ channels, Jin’s channel was the most popular. Zara had a feeling that it had something to do with the many handsome boys that were featured in it, but she never brought it up. Whatever the reason, Jin’s fan base saw a massive increase in the first month.

Today’s video was the first day that Zara would be painting on his body, so he lay on the floor of her dorm, his arms pillowing his head and his camera recording everything. Zara was already astride his legs, though she didn’t seem to know yet what she wanted to do yet. Her fingers were tracing along his spine, though, and it was starting to put him to sleep.

“Seokjin-oppa,” Zara leaned forward and pressed slow, open-mouthed kisses against his back, and a pleased, tired rumble vibrated through him.

“Zara,” he warned, though there was no actual bite to his voice, “We’re filming a painting video, not an accidental sex tape.”

She was still kissing him, and he felt her smile against his skin. The blatant flirtation between them was certainly on purpose, Jin having noticed subscribers reacted well to it. “Who said anything about accidental?”

Another rumble, and Zara laughed, sitting up and pulling the paints she’d set aside closer. She’d had to go out and buy a supply of body paints for this project, not willing to risk damaging Jin’s beautiful skin with her acrylics.

Without opening his eyes, Jin asked, “What did you decide on?”

“I was thinking we’d go right into the difficult stuff, oppa. A big galaxy, yeah?” She traced an image across the planes of his back with her pointer finger, relishing in the goosebumps that rose up.

“Mm-hmm,” Jin really was falling asleep under her ministrations.

She took the black paint and sketched out a few abstract shapes on his back, feeling him shiver once or twice at the temperature of it. Once that was done, she began to fill in the spaces, first with black, then with the many colors of space. Each stroke of the brush lulled Jin further into dream land. It wasn’t until he felt a hand squeezing his ass that he jolted into alertness.

“That,” he said, “doesn’t feel like paint.”

“You caught me,” Zara laughed, laying next to him and showing him the photo of his back. It looked like she had painlessly ripped his skin open to reveal not muscle and organs beneath, but an explosion of color, pinks and blues and purples stretching across his back.

Zara watched him as he stared at the photograph. His jaw was dropped in awe, his eyes soft.

“Well?”

“It’s beautiful, Zara.” Conscious of the still-wet paint on his back, Jin threw his left arm around Zara’s waist to tuck her into his side. “Anything you draw is beautiful.”

“It’s not hard to create something beautiful when works of art like you are sharing my bed at night.” She gestured to the still-rolling camera, “People worldwide call you handsome.”

“Well, obviously,” Jin gave her a smirk, “It was only a matter of time before people realized how truly beautiful I am.”

“You’re not at all conceited,” Zara teased, kissing his jaw. “Now turn off the camera, before we really do make an accidental sex tape.”

@babyboytae1 @snowythellama @bewitch3dforivar

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

ASM vol 5 #25/826 Story 1 Thoughts

Wow!

Now THIS is how you do a milestone issue...even though the milestone was last issue but whatever!

In some ways this issue reminded me of a lot of DC’s recent milestone issues for the Trinity. Wonder Woman’s 75th Anniversary special, Action Comics #1000, Detective Comics #1000.

By this I mean you have multiple artists contributing and the story feels like vignettes.

The difference though is that most of these vignettes are in fact part of the same story.

The downside of that is that it does make the main story ‘Opening Night’ feel somewhat disjointed because there are 3 or 4 endings. It could’ve been easily fixed by simply presenting the Syndicate pages and the Gleason pencilled pages as their own stories (which functionally they are) or at least as clearly labelled epilogues.

That’s a nitpick though because the main story over all was fantastic, no pu....actually pun very much intended. Why not Spencer likes his puns and meta jokes and there was plenty of the latter in this issue. Case in point Kindred’s jabs about continuity.

Let me get some minor negatives out of the way.

The changing artists really, really didn’t complement one another exempting Kev Walker and Ottley’s work. Ramos’ artwork wasn’t well integrated with the rest of the art at all, as was the case with his work in the Heist arc back in the earlier issues. Gleason’s work I will give a little more of a pass too because as presented it feels so much like it’s own separate story and has consistent art within those pages it’s not really a problem. But with Ramos and Ottley it’s very jarring.

Now it is the lesser evil because I’d rather have Ramos draw some pages and panels rather than the whole issue. Reserving him for, let’s face it, the less important B-plot of the main story whilst Ottley does the heavy lifting on the main story is a great compromise.

Other small complaints I have involve Mary Jane herself and her storyline.

For starters...Carlie Cooper is back. Now she isn’t used badly, it’s just...I hate that character. I don’t think many people have many positives to say about her and there is baggage associated with her. So if she is destined to become MJ’s go to buddy then that’s going to grind my gears (especially when we consider she let MJ risk her life by dating Otto in Superior, what a jerk!) and I’d infinitely prefer a wholesale new character or an old established character (Liz, Glory, Jill Stacy even?).

Buuuuuuuut on the flipside Carlie was better suited to being MJ’s sidekick in this story given she got involved in some of the action. Possibly even seeing her get zapped was Spencer putting in a piece of catharsis for the many fans he knows honestly hate this character.

Secondly we got MJ’s acting career. Now there are three little problems I have with it that might not even be problems. Let me explain.

a)      MJ claims she lost her Secret Hospital job because of the nature of her life. I took that very much as an implication associated with her connection to Spider-Man. Problem is...she didn’t lose her job because of Spider-Man. Her role just happened to be cut back and eventually if I remember correctly she either quit following a deranged fan assaulting her or she was outright fired. Now in defence of her comment and of Spencer, the line doesn’t explicitly mention Peter or anything like that so it could easily be taken as her life being in general crazy regardless. Bear this in mind for something else I’m going to bring up

b)      MJ claims she never liked being famous. That really struck me because of course MJ wanted to be famous from day 1. Now you could easily argue that when we first met MJ she was younger and had yet to experience fame, so now she feels differently. Buuuuuuut she was a model in her adulthood. She pursued acting as a soap star, and as a movie star and as a stage star and took a job at Stark industries and at various points was modelling during those jobs. Soooooooooo what gives? I mean....maybe you could say she hated aspects of being famous but the speech seems weird and inconsistent in and of itself even. I’m hoping I’m just missing something

c)       MJ says she had trouble fitting in and then over did it in social situations. I dunno if that’s really true. It could be bad phrasing on Spencer’s part but really MJ always did fit in, her facade helped her to fit in, it was partially engineered to help her to do that. Is that what he means though?

d)      MJ becoming a famous actress again gives me mixed feelings. Spider-Man is the everyman and whilst temporary fame that comes crashing down is one thing, if she is long term famous it kind of meddles with the everyman aspect of Spider-Man. An aspiring actress, even a low key soap star is different a more if you will ‘domestic’ form of fame. But that’s more a criticism of where this might lead so it could wind up being fine.

One final, final little problem I had was another example of worried where this MIGHT lead. In Kindred’s lair we see a wall depicting different Spider-Heroes and so now I’m facepalming that the climax to his storyline will be a huge crossover event affair that demands I read Miles and Gwen’s and Jessica Drew’s titles.

Again a nitpick at best, at worst something to worry about in the future not the present.

Everything else in the main story was beautiful.

MJ’s connection to acting is restored. Wonderful. It’s my preferred profession for her because it taps into Peter’s double life and her own history with her party girl facade.

The speech was well written and delivered and I liked the meta aspect of her giving it whilst disguised as a famous super hero wife!

Spencer continued to find a way to handle the old criticism lobbied against MJ/the marriage that it Mary Jane simply waited by a window (even though I think that’s fine sometimes) or just got stood up on dates all the time by having MJ have friends she can hang out with. This is one aspect where Carlie, because she is in on the secret, helps a lot I must admit.

Spencer also renders Mary Jane very well rounded.

Look I LOVE seeing instances where Mary Jane shines as cool, as bad ass and the like, but sometimes if handled poorly it can come off as idolizing her.

Spencer avoids this by giving MJ flaws.

She’s jealous of Melanie’s success which she sees as something that could have been her’s.* She has tiny doubts about Peter’s sincerity. She admits she struggles to fit in and feels uncomfortably exposed in the limelight.

But she’s also, brave, self-sacrificing, resourceful and, most importantly in this story, a good actress (apparently being able to impersonate Melanie’s voice...or maybe that’s something no one thought about because this is a non-audio medium).

The effect is to make Mary Jane truly the hero of the story, not just because she is ‘taking point’ in the main story but because she feels complex and nuanced, just as Peter is.

My quibbles above aside, Spencer really is a good Mary Jane writer and for Spider-Man that’s an important consideration for a writer (just as being a good Lois Lane writer or good Alfred writer is for Superman and Batman). He’s done her justice 99% of the time he’s written her and it says an awful lot about him and his priorities for this title that he’d give the lion’s share of a milestone issue over to her.

It also says a lot of his abilities to make good stories out of well...clean up duty.

Let’s be brutally honest here the majority of Spencer’s issues have revolved around stories really designed to fix things after BND and Slott’s run.

Back to Basics fixed Peter and MJ’s relationship and mostly reconstructed Peter’s character by having him own up to the diploma debacle and zero in on who the man was and who the spider was by literally separating the two.

The Heist reconstructed Peter and Felicia’s relationship and fleshed out why MJ and Peter were getting back together as quickly as they did.

Those poorly drawn Bachalo issues fixed Ned Leeds not being dead.

Hunted fixed Kraven not being dead and Shed and more stuff with Felicia

Now this issue has fixed MJ and Peter’s future’s to some extent. Peter is back at ESU and MJ is back to acting. Not only does she now have a Stark free job situation but it’s a job that’s her home away from home as I discussed a bit above.

The issue also does some clean up with Curt Connors, restoring the pre-Hunted status quo and by extension facilitating something else comfortingly familiar by having Connors teach Peter.**

Speaking of Connors, I can’t recall off the top of my head (having not eaten breakfast yet) if Connors had safehouses before now to keep him safe from his family. I know that has been the case in other stories, such as the Forever Young novel from a couple of years ago, but in the comics I can’t recall. If not then it’s a great thing for Spencer to integrate. If so it’s a great thing for Spencer to have remembered and gives Spider-Man a meaningful subplot to work with whilst Mary Jane takes the limelight in the main plot.

Now let’s move onto Mysterio. As I predicted last issue the doctor was Rinehart but I was mistaken in believing it was the real Rinehart. Spencer, and Mysterio, were so good at their jobs that I was successfully fooled into thinking Mysterio really had died last issue. The idea that Rinehart was really Mysterio and Mysterio was really someone else never occurred to me and was an ingenious twist.

But like all good mysteries it had clues right there for us to see as last issue signposted the disappearance of Mysterio’s former doctor,  who we now know was tricked into becoming Mysterio so beck could escape. What sold it was the inner monologue of Rinehart talking about Beck as a separate person. This would’ve been a cheap trick under a lesser writer but Spencer justifies it by claiming Mysterio was method. Just brilliant. As was tying in MJ’s agent and new found fame to Mysterio and his film script.

We also get some more tantalizing tidbits about Kindred. He doesn’t like killing innocent people if he doesn’t have to. The idea of him being an established villain now looks much less likely. And did you notice that when we first see him in the issue...he’s sticking to the wall...surrounded by spiders...and later has them crawling out of his bandages...and is targeting other Spider people...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????????????????

That about does it for what I call the ‘main main story’, we move now onto what should’ve been epilogues.

There isn’t much to say about the Syndicate pages beyond they were good for what they were, they eloquently tie into the main story and set up the next arc.

Much more interesting are the Gleason pages, and not just because the art looks so nice and so much better than Ramos.

On the one hand I am wary of Spider-Man comics bringing in too much of the shared universe because it messes up a lot of the drama and stakes. But as a little side story meant to set up something else that’s fine and what a set up.

Spider-Man 2099 is back!

Now I feel like I should really catch up on his solo book. I kept buying it but stopped reading it around Civil War II!

I honestly have NO IDEA where this is going beyond thinking it might have something to do with Kindred’s interest in all the other spider people??????

Beyond all that...not much to say.

I’m not going to tell you that I recommend you pick this issue up because....c’mon...you know you already did...and loved it!

   *Importantly, if Spencer intended it this way, MJ missed out on Melanie’s success because of something not  connected to Spider-Man. I was worried the story was going in for this idea that being with Peter has cost Mary Jane a successful career, but in this issue, through Melaine we see that wasn’t the case.

MJ’s life led her to quit a role that was already being reduced but it wasn’t because of Spider-Man stuff at all.

This is not just refreshing and healthy for their relationship, it’s also realistic. Take that every bullshit AU about MJ being famous by not dating Spidey!

**By the way I was going to criticise Connors having both arms in human form but then I double checked issue #2 and that was the case there too. I keep forgetting that he has both arms now it’s just so weird to see.

[bigskydreaming]

notjustawave replied to your post:

If the only evidence of a character not being...

me seeing ppl act like deadpool movies are the pinnacle of representation like i HAVE to laugh

Like....we’ve been hearing this “oh, progress takes baby steps, one little thing at a time” crap for our entire lives, and guess what? With the exception of representation created by actual marginalized creators who manage to get a platform for it against all odds, most other so called representation from major studios and companies and franchises looks barely any different from the scraps they were giving us twenty years ago.

Baby steps my ass. Just say you’re trying to keep marginalized viewers on the hook watching your stuff without pissing off the homophobes and racists enough that they stop watching your stuff. That’s what it comes down to. That is the only reason most representation is still half-assed, blink and you miss it.

Major billion dollar corporations and highly successful and influential actors who makes millions off every movie honestly have people bending over backwards to say they’re trying or progress isn’t easy and it takes time, like these people are actual victims and like....boxed in by the evil homophobic society or whatever....instead of the tastemakers whose prioritization of straight white heroes for generations is the reason we have to fight so hard to get actual representation in the first place! 

They’re not powerless to do more in the face of a still largely homophobic society, they’ve just made the conscious choice that they care more about making sure homophobes still buy tickets to their movies than they do actually making a difference.

And like, if that’s what they want to do, then fine, they can do that, but what kills me is this idea that we’re supposed to be grateful for whatever little hint of not-straightness or not-whiteness that they shine a spotlight on for 2.5 seconds in a movie before its back to business as usual.....as though they’d do more if they could, really they would, but that’s just the best they could manage because The Homophobes and the Racists, y’see.

The movie Deadpool only happened because Ryan Reynolds wanted it to happen so badly, he wouldn’t let the project die in development hell. He kept making the rounds himself, kept the push on to keep new scripts for it getting made, and he has enough star power and a big enough fanbase that he was able to make it happen when lots of other actors couldn’t. There’s that post going around about how there’s a Bea Arthur T-Shirt he wore in the movie that they had trouble getting in because copyright stuff, so he paid $10K out of his own pocket for the licensing stuff to go through. And on and on.

Like, these aren’t small, innocuous things, they’re a display of the fact that people have power and influence in Hollywood and use those things every single day to get what they want or do things they care about. If the Deadpool production team and star really WANTED Deadpool the character to be the kind of meaningful representation they’re obviously all too happy to accept accolades for having provided already? Then they absolutely had the power to to give Wade an actual romantic history with one of the men in his films, or even one of them as an actual love interest or reciprocated flirting with one of them responding to his come-ons with like, interest of their own. Because notice how that suddenly, magically, turns what WAS just Wade obnoxiously using suggestive humor purely aimed at getting an audience laugh rather than an actual reaction....into two men having a moment like happens hundreds of times throughout every other summer blockbuster between a man and a woman and given the same degree of consideration and attention.

And yes, before someone comes at me with ‘bi and pan people don’t need to be in a romantic or sexual relationship with the same gender to be bi or pan’, like yes, thank you, I, a bisexual man, am aware of the fact that I remain equally bisexual when single, dating a man, dating a woman, or mid-orgy. My sexuality is not dependent on anyone or anything other than my own identity.

But we’re not talking about a real life human being’s identity here. We’re talking about REPRESENTATION, which is a thing created deliberately by human beings making conscious choices about what they want to display and what they don’t, and their reasons for both.

So yes, a bi or pan character is still bi or pan whether we see them kissing the same gender or not, but you can not act like a living bi man’s romantic and sexual interests being driven by his own unique choices as an individual....this is NOT the same thing as a bi or pan character who just so happens to be romantically interested in women love interests save for the occasional suggestive joke aimed at the nearest male character.

Because the former is born of that real life bi man’s entire life, experiences, personality, his BEING. The latter is born of human agendas and creative decisions and studio politics and yes, the fact that Fox and the Deadpool production are more than happy to throw LGBTQ+ viewers just enough table scraps that they’ll stay invested in supporting it, but not so much that it might risk them losing tickets in large numbers from the homophobic sector of their audience.

If I ignore the five men in my vicinity and focus on the one woman because I feel more of an attraction or connection to her for whatever reason, I get to do that because I am my own person, and people can assume whatever they want about what my motives or thought process might be but guess what? It doesn’t matter, because my choices are for me and me alone.

If Deadpool ignores the five men in his vicinity to focus on the one woman, its NOT because he feels more of an attraction or connection to her, because HE DOESN”T FEEL ANY OF THOSE THINGS. He is a fictional character. He only feels and acts upon whatever the writers decide he should feel and act upon, and THEIR motives and thought process absolutely get to be called into question, because they are not individuals making personal choices that are for them and them alone, they are creators of content that benefits and profits from the positive responses and continued support of whomever they choose to cater that content to in order to gain their support and positive response.

And bottom line, they still care more about selling tickets to homophobes than they do about creating real, positive, meaningful representation, and like....people should say that?? We do not owe it to million dollar franchises to say thank you, can we please have some more because of whatever they deign to dole out. Not while still blatantly making it clear PS, glad you liked that little moment there in Act Two Scene Five but tbh, we still care more about not pissing off the dude who lives in his parents’ basement in Kansas and has five guns and every Deadpool action figure ever made and cries into his pillow every night because Sara Lee rejected him when he asked her to his high school prom because he’s weird and ugly and nobody understands his pain like Deadpool, who is also weird and ugly and thus he NEEDS him, and just because he makes dumb jokes to guys onscreen sometimes, that’s no big deal, everyone does that sometimes, its not like he’s REALLY into guys, that’d be weird and also he can’t be because then he wouldn’t be like that homophobic shitbag who lives in his parents’ basement and trolls LGBTQ+ fans on twitter with “Lulz, dumbass losers, just accept that Deadpool doesn’t really represent you and never will, he’s OURS.”

They understand what actual representation looks like, because they’ve been representing the infinite shades of Shitty Straight White Human Being for generations now, and every single straight white man in Hollywood has a story about the character they identified with most as a child and made them want to write or act and basically shaped their entire life.

They know what actual representation looks like and what it means, but they have no interest in providing it so long as it might alienate who they see as the real moneymakers still, knowing they can still keep marginalized viewers watching by doling out the bare minimum and saying “there’s more coming, its just progress takes time, we need to take baby steps” like they’ve been doing for actual, literal decades, with very little actual change to show for it.

Sorry not sorry, but you tell me here’s five cents for you and hand me a nickel and then turn to the shitbag human being standing on the other side of you wearing a GOD HATES GAYS T-shirt and say “and here’s a twenty dollar bill for YOU, don’t spend it all in one place, lol” and then you and he share a hearty laugh while I’m standing there holding a fucking nickel?

LMAO, you can keep your five cents, you’re not like....actually doing me any favors there and I’m not going to feed your ego by pretending you did anything other than give me a shitty fucking nickel you probably picked up off the sidewalk.

[geek-gem]

Sonic Movie Reddit Leak

Well that's something and noticed I didn't need to click in the title again.

Yet I felt and just honestly I just read this. I'm gonna tell you this. The internet is a crazy place. Their are some stories that are true and some that are not. Basically some bullshit stories and I feel some of the best examples are probably oh my nose but the DCEU because theirs a lot of shit on that instead of Marvel and that's not the topic.

Yet like what people say take with a grain of salt and honestly I was excited after my last text post I mentioned it.

The Sonic movie now the rights owned by Paramount and gonna be in 2019 it's a movie I've been obsessed with. Including I've thought of ideas how the movie and other movies should be basically a franchise. Because it's something I'm honestly excited for and frightened.

Including as I read okay I'm gonna say it again. This isn't confirmed or anything. This could be a fake. But it's something in.....@greendiablo just texted me on my phone holy shit lol just OK KO related. But this is something I wanna talk about whether it's fake or not. The film is due for released in 2019 and I've at times almost gone insane just thinking about. It's something I think about every day or some shit.

So I was excited to read it. But as I read it more. My excitement well it's not gone yet just it went down a bit yet surprised and even some of it.... thought in my head now would do that.

Maybe a mixed bag but I wanna talk more about it. If it turns out being fake well it was something. It probably is but just I don't know. This is just something I wanna speak about okay. In fact my ideas might not be better or whatever.

So if you read the post on Reddit. The story is well it features Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Eggman as it says those are the main characters. But also some others. Including this new human character named Grant who's a journalist.

Basically the story is the four of them and I'm making this short they have to team up to stop Eggman and just honestly I don't wanna talk about everything. Including worried of this post might not fit everything.

I wanna say this. For Amy I honestly like it what I read she isn't as obsessed with Sonic as like in some of the games. While I'm a Sonamy fan. Their are at times I honestly feel it's mainly the English versions of some stories where how Amy is written. She has a crush on him. This was just someone on my mind yet maybe I feel I should read it more. But I wanna talk about the main human character.

To be honest the idea of a live action and cgi film okay was gonna be honest about humans first. But just I would prefer a CGI film or whatever.

But now to talk about Grant and to be honest I don't mind some human characters. Because I feel it would be expected. Including I'm okay with characters like Princess Elise and Chris Thorndyke I don't hate them. But mainly the focus being on Sonic while also the humans would need to be well written. Including have some sort of importance and I'm not oh head and got text from Greendiabo again but I don't wanna hate on anyone.

Now with Grant so adult that's nice but he's a journalist. While I don't hate the idea. I think I'm just so used to the idea looked up on right tv still fine. But I'm just seem aboard with the idea of a human character being a soldier of some sorts or even a GUN soldier or even a Autistic soldier or someone who gets weapons from Tails.

Because I keep thinking okay people won't think this character is useless got a text again man. But I keep thinking this idea if we have a human character be a badass, give them guns, and have them kick robot ass. Basically I keep thinking of examples being Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy who were trained for combat and shit. Got a text again but yeah basically a human character like that.

I'm spending too much time on this yet I think and notice making a human character badass and by giving them a gun to shoot things mainly Eggman's robots isn't gonna immediately get people's respect. Including it doesn't mean it will make the character better. It depends on the writing.

Also theirs this idea that having a human character as a soldier it may sound like bullshit even when I thought of it. It might not be the most friendly of choice. I'm sounding stupid yet I just seem to want main human character their have been others like Topaz who basically use guns and shit.

But just the idea that still won't help unless written well and....Shadow....yes comics but those aren't canon yet his interactions or just......soldiers.... I seriously feel he wouldn't like to hang out with one just I'm being stupid.

Finished a text and I'm rambling on. Yet we have other characters like even Rouge and Madonna who was originally Sonic's girlfriend from Sonic 1 but they scrapped her. She's with Rouge and theirs well...I wanna say this character. But I wanna mention this first.

Their is no Knuckles in it. I'm bothered by that including I honestly feel like that would make sense. Because I like to call him and other characters the original six. This includes Metal Sonic but their are mentions of his race a civilization.

Yet the one character that's very surprising is Chaos.....yeah I'm being serious Chaos the God Of Destruction himself.

But his role and theirs no Tikal mentioned. Including the leak mentioned it's even a mixture of Sonic Adventure and just theirs even some classic stages referenced and part of the story like Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Labyrinth, and just a casino I said I'm not gonna mention everything oh stomach.

But the Chaos part it does share his history including even the final battle is between him and Super Sonic almost put Metal Sonic lol well mainly Metal ha ha smiling a bunch sorry.

Almost left but again yet yeah a battle between Super Sonic and I forgot if they mentioned Perfect Chaos or not.

Said sweet in my head yet here's this man. I'm gonna say this I like Chaos.....but as in the first film Including risky and why.

In fact it's this weird comparison so Chaos and Doomsday from Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice. While Doomsday is also the big monster of BVS his role and his character was never really that deep. So finished a text but yeah and Doomsday I don't wanna spoil BVS just if you know Doomsday and seen BVS you'll know what I mean but their was some sort of depth of what Doomsday meant.

I'm getting off topic but Chaos is different. For Chaos and I sometimes don't know or just confused. But going by @greenyvertekins sorry to mention you where I got this. He is actually a Chao like she said an enraged one who is the guardian of the Chao. Including I've been compared him to Shadow's role in Sonic Adventure 2. Now finished a text yet seriously what I wanna get to I think is that making Chaos a some what generic huge monster and I don't seem to finished text sorry. Okay what I mean I don't seem to like using the word generic now.

Including I've even thought of imagined if Chaos was reduced to that kind of role and I don't like that. While Chaos isn't the most I don't wanna say popular character but he's a character who doesn't speak much and we never play as him in Sonic Adventure but the back story with him and the Chao at least gave him meaning. Including comparing to Shadow and even thinking more in depth of Chaos's character. I seriously feel like Chaos being reduced to that kind of role is troubling.

Just finished a text and God it's funny smiling but back to this. Yet seriously so it takes place on South Island and even Station Square and Metropolis are mentioned too.

Their are some other details. Including the post credits scene is of Eggman in a new base and I mentioned this in my reblog I smiled by reading that. The last part is Metal Sonic being revealed in some tube. Supposedly setting up a sequel.

Now just finished a text oh my God just....theirs a lot of stuff to mention. But I'm worried I won't fit them all. Including I wanted to talk about the stuff that mattered to me the most.

I've also wanted to say I forgot the whole character having weapons and just I've noticed Buddy/Gadget/Rookie the wolf fits that role or just the avatar. So the idea well you can still have a soldier whatever my head not to bad ha. It's just I don't think Sega and Sonic Team wanna make a Sonic game where you play a part of the game and it's a human in third person shooter gameplay. Even if they did make Shadow's game.

Seriously to be honest it's shit sneezed to the left and had mouth closed. But it honestly seems okay and simple a bit. Minus the Chaos part because I'm bothered by instead of having Chaos with depth. He just some monster or some what I remember right. Including I don't remember any Chao mentioned. Now just finished a text with that friend of mine talking about this.

Really I feel like while I love the Sonic franchise a whole lot. The first movie in a franchise no not boring oh head. Yet I feel like and even I keep forgetting it needs to be okay not perfect just.....it needs enough to be good or just.....

Okay basically what I mean it needs to be a good movie or whatever. Including you can't just shove everything in everyone's faces. Because critics will hate that shit.

Including honestly I keep thinking about just if the movie was in my heads. While it's very crazy and this was even an idea for a reboot. In fact the whole South Island thing and Grant going to almost reminds me of some story ideas of mine of own.

Yet my idea was of the move showcasing Sonic and Eggman first meeting the iconic first boss and it's in Green Hill. After that Sonic is a pain in Eggman's ass for three year or six years. Including theirs idea of having Sonic and others aged up. Such as even Amy and Sonic the same age but I don't know at times them being young adults. So after some years Eggman decides to take a risk and builds what he thinks could finally beat Sonic, which is basically Metal Sonic. Including whether to go with a story like the Death Egg or Little Planet. Including have Knuckles and Angel Island in there and his story.

Yet honestly that's quite a bit for a first movie. Even the idea of Metal Sonic. Because even if I love Metal Sonic a lot and this is me too. Because I seriously think or unless he's crazy enough or just wants to Eggman making a robotic Sonic right after he meets him. Which is why I put the years later thing they've been fighting for some time. Also theirs Metal Sonic's mindset with their can only be one Sonic and who should the real one.

In fact even the idea while I like it and I say Sega would probably do this. The idea of a sequel mixing the stories of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 with Shadow and Chaos teaming up with Eggman also Rouge and Metal Sonic. With Tikal appearing with characters of the story sometimes even talking to Shadow. Also the death of Shadow story.

Then the next film being a mix of Sonic Rush, with features Blaze, Lost World the Deadly Six as the main villains, and the rebirth of Shadow. Also a Team Chaotix film even with thoughts of Madonna being in it, a Shadow film, a Sonic Unleashed film, a Sonic Mania film, and a two part movie that is Sonic Forces.

Yet after playing Sonic Forces the idea of having that as a grand finale.....or just....I'm still thinking and just my opinion on that game being mixed.

Basically I've already thought of a franchise. While we are still waiting and you can tell now why I say I've went basically insane thinking of the movie waiting. Including with Sonic Forces out and everything I suppose is not what I expected with my silly posts. Almost put including again but this build up to Infinite okay shit changes man it really doesn

But just...it's interesting. Honestly I wanna look at the leak a bit more the details. I might talk about it more. Including the Sony Sonic Movie 2019 tags are for nothing now.

Well got tags done and after I put Blaze's tag decided to put more and even almost left Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy tags but weren't needed. Even also didn't put BVS tags.

This is mainly me rambling and after now no reblog I just wanna wow difficult to spell brush but wanna brush my teeth.

[alwaysspeakshermind]

My Top 5 Karamel Kisses

Because I just saw the Supergirl Top 5 Kisses video (and loved it, but kind of disagreed with the rankings), I decided to make my own totally unnecessary ranking of Kara/Mon-El kisses with explanations:

#5: “I’m just happy.”

This one stands out to me because it’s the calm before the storm. The blowup that has been building for a while and that we all know is coming is nearly here. But for the moment, we’re not watching Kara Zor-El, The Last Daughter of Krypton/The Girl of Steel/The Maid of Might, and Mon-El, Prince of Daxam/Frat Boy of The Universe. It’s just Kara and just Mon-El—who they really are when they’re not being bogged down by all the baggage from their pasts. They’re not focusing on any superficial differences or learned prejudices; they’re just two people who love each other and who get a lot of joy out of being together. And the fact that all that’s about to change is why this last pre-revelation kiss is so special to me.

#4: True Love’s Kiss

Okay. Let it be known here and now that I am the biggest Romantic Moment party pooper EVER. I rarely get sappy when I’m supposed to. Nicholas Sparks and I have a rocky history that involves me laughing in all the wrong places because I find his stories unintentionally hilarious. I’m banished from the room at Christmastime when my mother starts her annual Hallmark movie marathon because she wants to enjoy herself “without sarcastic commentary.” I’ve been making gagging sounds during the kissing parts in Disney movies since I was little (I’ve gotten better, but it still happens from time to time). So when I like a couple or a romantic moment of epically saccharine proportions, it’s kind of a big deal. And I like this moment. A lot. The question Music Meister asks Mon-El (“How much do you love her?”) is simple, because at its core, love is simple: it’s either there, or it isn’t. At the risk of quoting Tom Branson from Downton Abbey, it comes down to whether or not Kara and Mon-El love each other. The rest is detail. This kiss is kind of the visual representation of that fact, and not only is it meaningful to the story, but it’s also beautifully filmed (which I’m a SUCKER for).

#3: “Nothing stopping us.”

I may be the only Karamel shipper in existence who doesn’t rank this kiss as Numero Uno, but I am perfectly fine with that, and I stand by my choice. On the Hottness Scale (that’s not a misspelling; “hotness” is totally different than “Hottness”) it’s off the charts. All the sexual tension that’s been building between Kara and Mon-El since Day One finally comes to a head, and finally, finally, they get the chance to act on it without interruption. And BOY, do they. This is an absolute whale of a kiss; it ranks up there with some of the best onscreen kisses I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen my share of those over the years, thank you. It’s a big deal for Kara and Mon-El, too, because the amount of feelings involved on both sides puts them in new territory: Kara’s been able to distance herself from romantic relationships before because her fear of getting hurt outweighs any feelings she was starting to get while Mon-El has never had any feelings to risk. Now they’re both hopping into uncharted waters together, and despite the Holy-Smokes-ness of this kiss, it’s also really sweet. Every time I see it, I’m not sure whether I should blush and look away respectfully or cheer and fan myself because phew, as Nelly would say, it’s getting hot in herre. Decisions, decisions.

#2: “Absolutely beautiful.”

This is it. This is the reason I’m here today, the moment that started me down a path that eventually led to me finally joining tumblr and writing my first fanfiction. This kiss is so sweet that when I first saw it, even I couldn’t finish the sarcastic comment I was about to make. I seriously sat there clutching my heart with my mouth hanging open, in shock over how I’d reacted when I’d technically had only one episode to watch these two interact (I’d missed episodes 2x04-2x07 when I watched it the first time, so I’d kind of forgotten that Mon-El existed). I put it at a very close second because it’s an adorable moment that essentially jumpstarts the “Oh crap, I think I might like him,” feelings in Kara, and it reveals a lot about Mon-El’s character…he’s always kidding around, acting like a goober, burying feelings under sarcasm, and it’s kind of beautiful to see how he tries to make Kara feel better about the fact that he’s dying because of something her parents did (and after her planet destroyed his). It’s also huge because they both expect him to die, and while he’s accepted that, Kara really hasn’t. When he goes in for the kiss she doesn’t dodge or try to push him away…she kisses back, and that’s where her trouble starts: she realizes that the reason she doesn’t want him to die might be a little more complicated than just not wanting to lose a friend.

#1. The Forehead Kiss

Yes. Of all the kisses between Kara and Mon-El, this is my favorite, and it’s not even close. Because to me, it’s not *JUST* about the quality and/or sexiness of the kiss itself.  It’s about the significance of the kiss to the characters and storyline, and this one is huge for Kara and Mon’s relationship. They’ve been through a lot of up-and-down, real-world, adult relationship stuff over the past few weeks, and this is the cherry on top. Kara’s bad at relationships. Mon-El’s worse. But they both care about one another and they want to make it work, so they keep bumbling their way through the process, and it’s sweet to watch. I love this moment because it’s the fittingly emotional conclusion to an episode that lives in interpersonal relationships, and it would’ve been so easy for Mon-El to tell Kara “I told you so.” But Kara’s hurting, and he doesn’t even begin to commence to make that kind of comment. Instead, he just sits down with her and gets the surprise of his life when he finds out that Kara doesn’t need him to run around and do a bunch of stuff to make her feel better…she just wants him to be there with her. And personally, I think that’s more romantic than anything else. In my opinion, real love isn’t about remembering birthdays, or anniversaries, or bringing flowers and chocolate and jewelry to someone to “remind them that they’re special”  or anything like that, because the kind of love that lasts is usually a pretty unglamorous thing that takes a lot of work and inevitably involves a lot of disagreements. I have two sets of grandparents who have been married for over fifty years apiece (one set grew up down the road from each other, and the other got engaged after knowing each other for a week), and they’re proof of that. This is my favorite Karamel kiss because it’s so understated and so meaningful…nobody’s dying, or wanting to do it right there on the couch. There’s just one person who’s been hurt and needs comfort, and one person who desperately wants to help in any way they can. It’s boring, and low-key, and real, which is exactly why I love it.

Honorable mentions:

“I love you.”

This one just missed the cut because as beautiful and intense and passionate (and epic, and sad, etc.) as this kiss is, it doesn’t make as big an impact on me as the others. Yes, Kara finally said those three little words. Yes, I hate seeing them say goodbye. But you know what? Those three little words are totally superfluous. Sure, it’s sweet to hear them said out loud, but Kara and Mon-El are an action-oriented couple. At this point in the show, anyone with eyes knows that Kara loves Mon-El. I know it, Mon-El knows it, Team Flash knows it, Rhea and Lar Gand knew it before they kicked the bucket...you get the picture. Plus, this is a TV show and I’m a realist. The writers are smart enough to know what they’ve got here, and this just has all the earmarks of the kind of love story that can’t be stopped by all of time and space. I was worried about whether or not I was going to lose one of my favorite characters on Supergirl right up until this moment. Then I saw this scene and went, “Oh, good. Yeah, he’ll be back.”

“I would like to wake up with you.”

Arguably the cutest kiss of the whole season, but just not quite as earth-shattering story-wise as the others above. Still, though...they’re both stupidly happy and it’s a squeaky little kiss. I think I can be forgiven for how much I love this one.

[hoenn-hakase]

The Hosts in 20 Years

So there was  a prompt over on the subreddit and i thought I’d share my entry here.

Red: Was never one for the massive following he got. He did love to think that he was able to bring so many to the light of Helix's teachings, but they should be following HELIX not him. Used the fight with AJ to fake his death, and after getting Abe back home, his bro helped him find a good place to build a monastery hidden in the mountains. His followers are some of the most zealous, but he doesn't mind because he's the worst since it's a much smaller group. Abe and their mom are just glad to know where he is and write more often than risk visiting.

AJ: After "murdering Red", he had several years and a heck of a time proving his innocence on the matter. Honestly, he'd be proud to admit it if it didn't mean basically losing EVERYTHING either due to being hunted down by Red's followers (which he's had enough of that already) or the stigma from his friends and family to learn he'd actually killed someone, so he eventually managed to convince the courts that there wasn't enough evidence to say whether or not Red's reported death was his fault. While there is still speculation, he's managed to live a mostly quiet life. 20 years later, he's telling his adopted kid about his wild tales on the road and lauding himself how it's because of him that Johto is at least much safer than it used to be when the Church of Helix was at it's peak.

A-chan: If her addictions haven't killed her, after 20 years, she's probably been through rehab a few times on mandate. Her wild and reckless streak has toned down, but she's still quite the pistol you don't want to mess with. It's been debated for years just how much damage her and her team actually caused for Hoenn, whether talking about the societal structure, the economy, or property damage, and even more so in wondering if all their work was "for the better" or not. Gets compared to Alice a lot as far claims of totalitarianism goes, but no one can deny that Hoenn has at least been peaceful since she took out Aqua, Magma and the League.

Alice: Pokemon Professor, no surprise, but she is THE authority of Commewnist Kanto. Green is also a professor, usually the one dealing with starting trainers and such, but most kids know that if or when they're ready to go into an academic career instead of being just another trainer, they'll probably be meeting with her eventually.

Napoleon: Even if he doesn't like to show it, he's surprisingly close with those of his inner circle. His friends, his family, his Pokemon, he just seems to like traveling a lot with them or to visit them for some reason or another while keeping his life very private from the public. When he does show up though, it's usually as a major Sinnoh event (like the League games or Rapidash Races) or when opening new venue. He sure does still own a lot of different kinds of gambling venues (like his Aunt Gracie has a place named after her since she's long since retired as a Rhyhorn Rider) and he sure does know how to throw one hell of a party, but after 20 years he's not big on the dance riots. He still enjoys a good dance riot, and many will say to see any of the family dance is a real treat, but he tends to just feed off the energy of the room than participate.

Aooo: It is a mystery! 8O But seriously, while she does have a family to take care of, how she does so is anyone's guess since she doesn't work but instead will go off for hours by herself and somehow come back with stuff for them. With her wife being a big name movie star, most just assume that money isn't the issue, but where she goes all day leaves people guessing. Never shows up at Sabrina's movie premiers either, at least... not on the red carpet. People always report seeing her at the theatre, but for some reason no fan or tabloid has ever be able to prove it on camera.

Jimmy: While he may have gained such notoriety as an internet star and has had his fair share of ups and downs with the Media trying to bring up his ties with Plasma in the past, he's learned not to let it get to him. After 20 years Plasma has long since been gone, he was the one to take them down in the first place, the former and even current gym leaders support him and often guest star at his online or real life charity events, and it seems when it's not some charity event he's in the papers for, it's his on-again-off-again relationship with N that's even become something of a joke with his fanbase in taking bets to how long before N runs off again. He's had other relationships, but somehow... somehow this just never "officially" went away.

Cly: While she is still a big name actress, she's not as active as she used to be. She's a lot more meticulous in her roles and only seems to show up for either big-budget projects or films she really feels passionate about the script. And she can do that because she's got a clothing line and several music albums that seem to take up most of her time anyway.

D: Hilariously, while he failed as a fashion designer, he's a really great detective. It's just, most people don't realize this. As a member of the Looker Bureau, he's got a code-name like the others, and his investigations often seem to coincide with his love and knowledge of high fashion: jewelry theft, accusations of plagiarizing from between big name stores, getting asked for his opinion on cases where articles left at the scene might be crucial evidence of a bigger picture, ect. Nevermind the rumors that the only reason he's not on the streets yet is because his royalty family keep his otherwise lavish lifestyle funded, he likes the thrill of the hunt and it's kept him both well off and entertained between attempts at a "real" business. Pepe gives him a hard time in saying that by now Richard is failing on purpose. He should know how to art, it is really not that hard. Says the one with possibly literal god-given talent. Lay off him, jerk. XP

Arty: As I've mentioned before elsewhere, married to May (no, not M A Y but the Birch girl he traveled with during his time in Hoenn) and was at odds with her brother Orlando for quite some time but has since reconciled. HOWEVER, Orlando is still unsure how May even puts up with Arty after all these years because the guy has never held a steady job in his life. Sure he can always fall back on his music, but considering most people are asked what their fall back is when they want to get into music, that's saying something. The guy has done the rock star thing, the small business thing (several times really, from making t-shirts to breeding rabbits), the published writer thing (he did have an autobiography book published recently, but that was with a ghost-writer and sales were decent at least) and even the mafia thing. Not that he was bad at the mafia thing, but he just didn't think he was up for all this "shady business" when he craved the spotlight. Rumors still swirl around that he's got ties to the mafia, but oddly, despite all evidence, most general public just looks at that and laugh it off.

Abe: After finally making it home, stayed home for quite a long time just sort of helping out around Kanto. Helping Red get his place built and up and running, it kind of reminded him how much he missed traveling and exploring the uncharted territories of the world. Still, after all the trouble he ran into, he takes some baby steps at first in just making better maps of the Kanto and Johto region. 20 years later, he's a leading name when it comes to cartography and is quite the established architect too, having dozens of blueprints seen in buildings around the world for some of the most surreal looking structures. Got a dream? Let him take a look at the landscape in mind to get this thing started.

Baba: Like A-chan, if she's not dead, she's probably left quite a mess in her wake. Baba however was never as aggressive as A-chan was, and while her time as President was seriously controversial, many of Chengdu don't blame her for the circumstances as she inherited a mess to begin with. If she didn't pull the trigger, it would have been someone else (possibly was someone else considering the mysterious circumstances to when she left office.) For all she did wrong with the ongoing war with Orre, she did a lot of good in the way of equality for Elfs, Half-elfs, and the humans still leery about them. After 20 years, she's done quite a bit of travel anywhere other than her home country, and has settled down quite nicely in a house by the sea when she's actually home.

Amber: The ever faithful cleric still finds trouble making Sanae as big a thing as anything with the Fossil Pantheon. However, she's found quite a following none-the-less and has found much better tolerance among other "small" religions such as the fading Weather worshippers in Hoenn.

Athena: While she's never given up the fight for equality for her people, it's been a long and tiring fight nonetheless. Others have been able to take up the mantle for her, large gatherings taken up with more powerful or outspoken leaders. She writes a lot, but spends most of her time traveling with Amber since her own work can be done from anywhere whereas Amber seems to following her calling.

Nina: ...Oh Nina. Where do I even begin? -Ahem- After 20 years, she's finally managed to return home to find that Hoenn is FINALLY safe. While it could take a lifetime for things to finally return to normal, at least they can handle anything that's still lingering. Handle being the key word there. There's always still a lot of work left to do though. On the upside, there's no longer a sense of urgency for fear of impending doom, so the things she and all her network of friends has to focus on now is stuff that takes time. Stuff that she couldn't actually help with no matter how much she wanted to. Stuff that, for her at least, will have to wait. So in the meantime, there's a lot of trying to settle into a semi-normal life. But at least for all the "... what now?" that permeates the region, everyone is willing to work together to solve this.

A7: Like many have said, he never really could settle down. Not that he had some purpose he was chasing like Amber or Abe, he just doesn't know how. He's at least come to peace with his past though, and has long since come to accept that there's a whole lot of people who actually do care about him. He spends a lot of time going from one couch to crash on to another, and while his friends may not necessarily like it, they're always glad to see him when he passes through.

Alpha: ...|D;;; -AHEM- Well not taking anything else into account, I'm sure he's grown up to be a fine young... teen. It's not that he doesn't age, but due to a lot of his cybernetics and chemical changes, his body just doesn't respond normally anymore. It's been odd seeing his little sister grow up and surpass him, but his physical form has had done little in stopping him from becoming a high ranked researcher at the Pokemon HQ. And hey, he can still do a heck of a lot more than most people can, so his smaller stature has never been an issue either. He's had a lot of identity issues to overcome, but over the past 20 years, he's figured that there's a lot of stuff he can do to help in the region's recovery and gods know he's got plenty of time to do it.

Evan: Is basically a god. Timelines or not, I can't see him as anything otherwise. Shared the burden of Olden's power he inherited with Azure, and the two do a lot of minor meddling in the world to keep it functioning. He's WAY more chill about things than Olden ever was though, and has been rather curious and pleased to see how over the next several decades after being named supreme overlord that the Glitches have somewhat been accepted by the world. It's not necessarily peacefully, it's almost like any story where you have lots of mythological creatures being real. The "old wives tales" have proven quite useful to people who have learned that "If you see a -glitch- you can protect yourself with a pouch full of basil! / If you encounter one, it could prove quite lucky and make you a very wealthy person indeed! / They're actually very curious little things you might see out of the corner of your eye. They disappear if you ignore them long enough." He tries to keep them in line more often than he goes meddling in human affairs anyway. Even he, though, has become something of a legend among people as they may swear that sometimes, sometimes, you may see a ripple in the fabric of reality where the Glitch King has passed through recently.

Paul: He made it to the top! CEO of his own company, lots of friends, lots of adventures! ... So why did he feel like his journey was so... lackluster compared to the others? He's heard plenty of the other hosts, I don't doubt he's probably met a few of them, but hearing their stories compared to his own, it seemed... dull. But then again, he was a lot older than any of them when he started, so maybe the journey just seemed a lot less "magical." Or perhaps it was because of his friendship with the Glitches, that there seemed to be a lot less danger? Sometime in the first 10 years, he goes to take a personal journey for some soul searching for what he felt he was missing. After 20 years, he's long since returned home feeling empowered by what he's learned, and his company has been flourishing.

Pepe: By far the most quiet and reserved of his family, it constantly surprises people he's also the friendliest. Whenever there's some kind of major event, chances are he's there. Hiding out in the crowd, somewhat mingling along the outskirts to admire the building's decore or take a fascination with the party's theme, but he's very rarely one to instigate conversation. Should someone approach him though, he's not one to turn them away. He claims to own the dance floor. Napoleon highly disagrees, but it's more a matter of opinion since they have VERY different styles when it comes to dance. Over the past 20 years, he's realized that there's oddly a LOT of perks to being in his brother's shadow. He can shirk off most of political duties Napoleon has to deal with, and takes advantage of the fact that most people don't seem to care about him as much. He's not a major leader, he's not a party animal, he's got a fairly steady love life, and he's quiet about it. The news finds him dull usually, and intriguing to realize there's a certain air of mystery about him. Otherwise, he spends a lot of time off by himself, with his work, with his faith, and holding close the secret he's had since he was a child about the whole Artisan ordeal the world has long since forgotten about.

Cyan: In a constant state of "Dad pls" even after she's managed to get him to step down as Champion and has him offering advice whenever she rants to him whether she actually asked for his opinion or not. Her family still loves to get away from things every now and then, camping trips, exploring their "territories," her trying to prove to her parent that the Glitches are really sweet... that's not been going well, but they admire her for it anyway. After 20 years, she's quite the leader now and has spent a lot of time trying to clean up Naljo/Rijon political system. Probably goes golfing with Paul occasionally as an excuse for them to complain about Host things that no one else could ever understand.

Nigel: While he's settled down in Alola, he's never given up his Ranger ways and spends a lot of his time working in conservation efforts and working with other regional leaders about just what they could do to help out in a more grand scale preservation effort on some of the world's most delicate species.

Devin: Devin is uh... Okay, so 20 years from now, he... There's really no telling with him. While he does most likely have a bird sanctuary, he's got several other things he runs as well. His hyperness has thankfully gone down with age, but his eagerness has never waned and he's a World Tournament super star as his thirst for battle has only grown with each new region he gets to explore. Movie star? Maybe once or twice, and getting to meet Cly is certainly a good motive, but only because he can't turn down a good challenge. (She still kicked his ass btw, though in a coordinated for film fight, they loved to show off and keep it rather even.) He still lives in Alola though, and very rarely stays away for more than a few weeks at time because he does feel like he has a lot still to do there. WHERE in Alola is anyone's guess since he tends to just show up on the different islands at random, but a lot of people joke that he's probably got a bed set up in his office at the sanctuary. He's no longer Champion though due to how much he travels, but still stays in touch with all of the would-be Champions that have tried to take his place (except Faba, he will gladly kick him out of the seat the MINUTE he finds out Faba succeeded in becoming champ -shot- ).

X-man: Whoo boy, I hate to say it, but the rate technology advances, after the first decade most of his features have probably become obsolete. After 20, if he's not in a museum, you know that finding parts and storage drives has become nearly impossible due to the increasing rarity of finding such tech in good condition. He might still be functioning though, even if only as a display for how things were back then. There's been newer models since then, sleeker, more human looking models too, but even if the team found a way to transfer all of his data to the new robot, it's just not quite the same. New!X-man probably has looked at the old model in the display and smiles sometimes as he still remembers the journey. Every. last. input because his data files are accurate and doesn't allow for such nostalgia, but even he has to sometimes wonder at the grandmotherly parrot on his shoulder how the hell they managed to do it?

[nerdynformed-blog]

Logan is a superhero movie - Part I: What a superhero movie is

I feel someone has to say it: Logan is a superhero movie. It is not a movie-with-superheroes-in-it-but-is-actually-something-else. It is a superhero movie.

Why do I care so much? Well, frankly I hear a lot of people saying that this movie teaches us (the audience and the moviemakers) that we don’t have to make superhero movies, just good movies with superheroes in it. If that does not sound familiar, maybe just go to some YouTube channels like Screenjunkies and the like (I love those guys, by the way).

However, I will argue the opposite: not only Logan is a superhero movie, but also it is what makes it such a great movie. Instead of making more movies-with-superheroes-that-are-not-superhero-movies, we should make better superhero movies. Like Logan.

Movies that don’t try to compensate or apologize for the “superhero stuff” in it. Movies that don’t try to be something else so people will say “it is not just a superhero movie”. Movies that excuse their laziness or unintended silliness with the phrase “it is a superhero movie”.

We need movies that embrace and explore what a superhero is. Like _Logan _did.

Let me just start saying that, predictively, I love this movie. It is great. There is so much good things that I can and will say about it in the future. However, to be blunt, everyone knows it is great. Not just that, there is a lot to be learned from it – both for those who love superheroes and those that make movies. It’s just that “stop making superhero movies” is the wrong lesson.

So I want to concentrate on something no one seems to notice: how good of a superhero movie it is and how we could and should make more movies like it. We don’t have too many superhero movies, we just got too few really good ones. That can be changed by understanding how _Logan _succeeds as being just that. A good superhero movie.

So, I am actually going to take 2 or 3 parts to talk about that. The first part is: what is a superhero movie. Yeah, sounds simple, but trust me.

‘Superhero’ is not a genre

Again, I hear a lot of people talking about the superhero genre – and that Logan is of course something else. It is a drama, it is a western, it is a movie about family. We could argue about it, but right now it doesn’t matter.

_Superhero _is NOT a genre – not to movies, comics, books, nor any medium.

I guess I have to be honest here, I did not go to film school. Far from it, my place in academia is, well… Some other time I will talk about it. But I am not an artist, scholar or critic in that sense – no formal artistic education about film making or anything like that. When it comes to movies, by any means, I am a layman.

However, I do love and study comic books and superheroes, and I obsess over them enough to really know what I am talking about. So my definitions may lack some conceptual finesse, but I think they can really help the conversation. Read them and judge me – but please read them first.

Genre is a very useful classification and, at the same time, misusing it can lead to a lot of trouble to an industry – be it games, movies or something else. Understanding the genre of a product helps the audience to select what they want to watch/read/play/smell.

If you like some movies of one genre, there is a good probability that you are going to enjoy other movies of the same genre. The opposite is also true – some people just cannot get into horror or action movies, doesn’t matter how good or well-made they are.

Understanding what genres people like also helps the industry decide what movies and games to make. It actually affects people’s livelihoods and careers, not to mention culture as a whole.

Honestly, there is a lot of criteria that can be used to classify a movie as part of a specific genre, so yes you will definitely find some definitions by witch I am completely wrong. But not every way to define “genre” actually works or helps the situation we got here – so also judge them with that in mind.

 My personal mechanism is this: a movie genre is defined by the emotional drive that leads the public to want to see it and to enjoy it. It is a simple definition and, if you stop to think about it, it works very well.

You watch dramas to be emotionally involved and moved. Comedies to make you laugh – either out loud or just smirk about the wittiness of the story. Terror is supposed to make you experience fear, and horror, repulse. Action is about the thrills, the benign adrenaline of a fight or a car chase. Fantasy is about the feeling of, well, the presence of the fantastical and awesome. Adventure, romance, suspense – each of those terms describe the emotional state of the audience and the mood/atmosphere the movie has to work with. And sure, you can and should mix them up, but you have to know what ingredients you are using.

However, try to put all superhero movies in a common emotional vibe and see how that goes. We have balls to the wall satirical metamodernist comedy in Deadpool, that gritty tragedy and suspense of The Dark Knight, bad cliché sci-fi in Green Lantern and loads and loads of action in the rest of it.

 There is a lot of movie genres that get confused with the subjects or themes that they usually explore. The best examples, for me, are cowboys, zombies and war. I believe that western and war are genres – and zombies are at least a subgenre of horror/terror. They are all marked by specific kind of character or scenario.

However, they also have their own emotional drives – and those are the real measures of which is a western or a zombie or war movie.

Westerns have that bleak post-apocalyptic dryness to them, with slow long silences and a violence that is dirty, quick and without spectacle.

War movies have that sense of sobriety and sad heroism, of the weight of duty and tragic importance, the loss of innocence and the risk of losing one’s own humanity– all wrapped in that feeling that we might not survive the next few hours.

And zombie movies are about a very specific kind of fear and sense of smallness.

That is reaaaaaaaally simplified, but you get the gist of it.

However, you have a lot of movies with cowboys, soldiers and zombies that are definitely NOT part of those genres, because they don’t have the same atmosphere.  Cowboys and Aliens, the remake of Magnificent Seven are some good examples – a westerns’ fan IS NOT going to like them.

You could argue that _Shawn of the Dead _and Zombieland are zombie-comedies, and that would be ok. But let’s not pretend that the Resident Evil how many? seven movies? are similar in tone to the Romero classics.

And oh boy you have movies with soldiers and battles that are not war movies. If someone tells you “I don’t want to watch Allies or Inglorious Bastards because I did not enjoy Saving Private Rian” they are grossly misinformed – and missing out. You could even say that a fan of war movies is going to enjoy Rogue One more than a fan of Star Wars.

You could say that a lot of nerds like me run to the theater whenever there is a superhero movie – that that is what dives us. And ok, far enough. But still, there are vast differently moods that they have to work with for me to enjoy the movie. So, it is not a genre in this simple and useful definition.

So, if superheroes are not a genre, what are they?

‘Superhero’ is…:

Well…

‘Superhero’ is a subject and a type of character.

Before you start screaming at the screen, here it is why it matters: 

Superheroes are a very special kind of character, and they are a very interesting subject to make movies about. That is the whole point I am trying to make: we need to explore these subjects and characters. We need to do it correctly, informed and unapologetically.

So, here it goes some information, corrections and a rude lack of apologies:

In those discussions about the genre of Logan, people talk about it being a western, and that is not by chance. Superheroes are literary descendent of the cowboy. They are just the last leafs of the same family three in which we have the cowboys, private detectives (no, not Sherlock, something more Dick Tracy or Philip Marlowe), space adventures (like Flash Gordon) and, finally, superheroes. I like to call this the American hero family.

All these heroes, including the superheroes, share some traits. Each one of them acts in a frontier – a dynamic space between civilization and savagery where there is people and humanity, but where safety and social stability are not guaranteed, creating both a place and a need for justice.

The heroes end up also being a mixture of the freedom of the untamed land and the responsibilities brought forward by the presence of other humans, families and society.

The cowboy has the literal frontier, but the cities of private eyes and superheroes are not that safer and/or more civilized when you go into the wrong alleys. Neon and concrete jungles and whatnot. And, in a very American way, those are socially dynamic spaces, with people always going up or down the ladder. (The most bizarre example I can think of this scenario is given by the analysis Extra Credits did on The Witcher 3 – that is fantastic).

They often act alone and are lonely, or at least independent of a higher authority. What drives them are not leaders or rulers, but their own internal moral compass that leads them straight to those in need of help.

They know violence, being able to survive it and inflict it – and that is a big part of it (be it guns, lasers or batarangs).

They are visibly extraordinary, and yet are in some sense common people. They carry our best values, but they are never our kings – so they inspire us, but never govern us.

And they fight for what is right, for justice and freedom: the cowboy may kill some bandits, while superheroes save the world or fight a giant monster, but it is the same thing in kind, if not in scale. Even when most superheroes refuse to kill, they are doing the same thing a cowboy does when he shoots bandits. They are obeying their own moral codes, even when that seems irrational or dangerous.

Even the heroes who work with or even for the government (like Captain America) follow their own morals instead of rules and orders – more often than not disobeying the last. And the Waynes and Starks of the world are always being reminded that, billionaires or not, they are just human. Even Thor in the comics has a double life as a human in a sense or another. Being part of humanity is very important to all these heroes.

However, by no means I want to say that superheroes are just like cowboys and the similar. They have three very necessary characteristics that makes the superhero a different species altogether, even if a member of the same family.

First of all, their superpowers. All superheroes are marked by one ability or a set of abilities that makes them something special. Even those with no superpower have access to some ability, technology or resource that makes them impossible to emulate, that sets them apart – even if it is just being really, really good with a bow and arrow. Even the Punisher has a very-much-above-average talent to kill and make war. Superheroes who lack this trait, either don’t last long or change soon.

More important than anything else, however, is their fashion sense. The cape, the mask, the symbol on the chest – the uniform makes a hero super. It is where the powers actually come from, if you believe the Mermaidman. They all have something that works as the face of their super persona – a color scheme, a recognizable silhouette, a pair of jeans and white shirt they love to wear. They even have special names that they use when dressed up: Superman, Wonder Woman, Gold Balls.

The most extreme cases are the Punisher, the Fantastic Four, the X-men (at least in the movies) and some of the Inhumans: character that don’t have secret identities, that don’t even wear masks, but still put on a uniform and call themselves by special names, as if invoking powerful beings that would never be called Reed, Frank or Hank.

Finally, the powers and the uniform combine to generate the most important trace of the superhero: the double identity. Not necessarily a secret identity, but always a double one.

Again, even heroes without secret identities have a need to be someone else or something else when “doing super stuff”. But they also have a birth name, civil clothing and a life outside of being super. In many (or most) cases, they keep their identities secret and completely separated, but even public supergenius have domestic lives and close people that call them Johnny or Charles.

They have human worries and relationships, being ever relatable in a sense or another. They are similar to us and – simultaneously – what we only dream of becoming. The mission is not everything to them. They save the world and have wives, they fight evil and pay rent, they fly and do the dishes. They have super adventures and human lives. That is what makes them superhuman.

They are at the same time human and divine – both aspects so clearly distinct that they have different names and appearances, but both deeply important for themselves and the stories.  

That is interesting, because we have people who are much more amazing than the cowboys and detectives, but so much more human than they are also. They are greater crime-fighters, lifesavers and alien-fighters than Dick Tracy or Flash Gordon; but also have a separate job and/or family, very much human and “normal” – and they relish in that. Their normal lives are nice and important to them.

That leads us the last point of Part I. Since I am arguing that _Logan _is a superhero movie, I am going to define what a superhero movie is.

Finally, Superhero Movies are…

Simply put, it is a movie of ANY GENRE that focuses on a character with those traits and/or the traits themselves.

A original superhero movie is one that explores that in a original way.

A deep superhero movie is one that uses that to explore some deep questions.

A good superhero movie is a movie that is good in talking about that.

 And I still defend the idea that ANY GENRE can benefit from doing that.

Dramas can focus on the weight and loneliness of living a double life. The sense of hopelessness of needing to do good, but being faced with a world that may never be completely fixed and even resists small changes. The hard work that is, more than doing the right thing, deciding what is right when you cannot just follow orders or “be normal”. And the emptiness that comes with the lack of certainty and closure after the fight is over and you just don’t know if you did the right thing. And the sacrifice – which one do you make? Your normal life or your grater purpose? Which will hurt you the most? Can you survive any?

Comedies can either make fun of the escapades and the excuses the hero has to improvise or lightheartedly poke holes in the whole attitude of some guy putting a colorful costume and calling himself a fantasy name. In the other hand, the larger than life superpersonas can be used to mock our occasional pettiness and thin skin, making us the strange and the superheroes the normal.

Action has a ton of possible situations to explore that “normal” people would not provide. Not just because of the powers – although, yes because of the powers – but also because of the appearance of the hero and the way they act out of the common structures of law enforcement. You can have a character that is much more of a common man than John McClane and, simultaneously, waaay more of a block buster than Rambo. And whose raison d'être necessarily leads him or her to action and danger.

The fantastical and the sci-fi can take all their iconic powers and narratives and see how they work when competing with the normal life of a normal human. Maybe we even get some perspective in how better we are in our imperfect world instead of Narnia, Middle Earth or Asgard.

Well, reading this, you probably already know how I justify calling Logan a superhero movie. If not, then even better! You are going to love to read Part II – Logan as a superhero movie. I will discuss then how it uses the superhero to make some grate drama.

When I post it, that is…

[nemolian]

Val Kilmer's 14 Greatest Genre Movie Roles

Kilmer finds he’s no fan of Mars in Red Planet.

Image: Warner Bros.

Val Kilmer has made all kinds of movies throughout his long career, and many of his most high-profile performances (think Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and his groovy debut in Top Secret!) can be found in drama and action films. But when the Juilliard-trained actor—who’s had some health problems of late—goes genre, he makes some intriguing choices. Here are our 14 favorite Kilmer sci-fi and fantasy projects.

Kilmer as Bluntman.

Image: Saban Films

14) Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

The erstwhile Batman plays silent stoner superhero Bluntman in Bluntman V Chronic, the reboot-within-a-reboot that drives the plot of the 2019 Kevin Smith meta-comedy. In a movie stuffed with cameos, Kilmer’s is one of the funniest, just because it’s one of the most unexpected.

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Kilmer’s version of KITT enjoys a day at the beach.

Image: NBC

13) Knight Rider

We’re mostly focusing on Kilmer’s movie roles here, but how could we leave this truly random entry off the list? The iconic 1980s TV series about the talking car has been brought back a few times, including an NBC reboot that ran for one season starting in 2008. Kilmer supplied the voice of KITT, probably the only notable thing about this short-lived series.

12) Planes

Disney’s spin-off of Pixar’s popular Cars franchise is mostly about a crop duster voiced by unfunny comedian Dane Cook, but Kilmer and his Top Gun co-star Anthony Edwards do pop up to voice a pair of U.S. Navy fighter jets. No doubt that’s a little in-joke for adult viewers, since Planes’ target audience likely would not get the reference.

“I like you, Clarence. Always have, always will.”

Image: Warner Bros.

11) True Romance

True Romance, directed by Top Gun’s Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino, is not a genre film; you’ll find it categorized under “crime” or “drama” or “extreme 1990s kitsch overload.” But it does have one fantasy element besides Patricia Arquette’s improbably hot n’ nerdy call girl with a heart of gold, and it’s Kilmer’s barely glimpsed yet still totally memorable appearance as the “Mentor” to Clarence (Christian Slater)—a guy who requires guidance and confidence-boosting from time to time and conveniently receives it in the form of a guardian angel who looks and sounds an awful lot like Elvis.

10) Twixt

Though he more or less retreated from Hollywood in the late 1990s, legendary writer-director Francis Ford Coppola made a rare big-screen return in 2011 with this ghostly tale starring Kilmer as once-successful horror author Hall Baltimore. His latest book tour takes him to a small town with a serial killer problem; a good portion of the movie takes place in a monochrome dream world populated by maybe-vampires (Elle Fanning, Alden Ehrenreich), Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin), and other gothic types. Eventually, Baltimore’s dreams become entangled with his waking life, much in the way that the events of the movie become entangled with the comeback novel Baltimore’s in the process of crafting. Twixt is, sadly, nowhere near as good as the sorta similar In the Mouth of Madness, but Kilmer’s performance as a writer wrestling with reality is not among its weaker points.

9) The Saint

Kilmer dons a series of questionable wigs and an array of accents to play iconic character Simon Templar, the benevolent but slippery master thief who can claim any prize for the right price. Really, seeing Kilmer adopt all those different corny identities (the sultry Spaniard! The leather pants-clad South African! The German with the pouffy mullet! The dowdy Russian housekeeper! The tweedy, spectacled man with the Doc Holliday twang!) is the main attraction here. Even with the character’s pedigree driving the story, without all the disguises and Kilmer’s charisma, The Saint would be just a middling mid-‘90s thriller with the Sneaker Pimps on the soundtrack, involving a formula for cold fusion that Simon seduces out of a gullible scientist (Elisabeth Shue) on behalf of some politically ambitious Russian mobsters.

Special Agent Kilmer of the FBI’s time-travel unit.

Image: Touchstone Pictures

8) Déjà Vu

Kilmer has a small role in this 2006 thriller that once again reunited him with director Tony Scott. Déjà Vu is mostly all about Denzel Washington’s character, ATF agent Doug Carlin, who’s among the first on the scene after a terrorist bombing in post-Katrina New Orleans. Kilmer plays the affable FBI agent who invites him to be part of a cutting-edge new task force that’s using some very timey-wimey high tech to solve the case. Though Kilmer—who played a very different sort of New Orleans law enforcement type opposite Nicolas Cage in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, a non-genre movie that’s still chock-full of excellent weirdness—doesn’t get to do a lot, his presence adds dramatic heft to the supporting cast. Also, his character is the kind of cool boss who looks the other way when Carlin decides the only way to save the day is to risk his own life by testing the human limits of time travel.

7) Red Planet

I can’t be the only person who consistently confuses Red Planet with Mission to Mars, which both came out in 2000, but for the record: Mission to Mars is the one directed by Brian De Palma where Gary Sinise gets to hang out with aliens; and Red Planet is the one where Kilmer and Carrie-Anne Moss inexplicably bring a robot with an easily-triggered “kill mode” on the first manned journey to Mars. Red Planet is not a very good movie, but Kilmer gets to play a wild-man engineering genius (for some fashion flair on the long trip, he dons what very may well be his True Romance Elvis sunglasses), a character that exactly plays to his strengths—he’s almost like an older version of Chris Knight from Real Genius.

6) The Prince of Egypt

Kilmer plays Moses and God in DreamWorks’ 1998 animated musical retelling of the Book of Exodus, bringing appropriate levels of wonder, gravitas, and grief to his performances. The Prince of Egypt manages to infuse actual drama into the familiar story—with its burning bush, “let my people go,” plagues, parting of the Red Sea, Ten Commandments, etc.—by emphasizing Moses’ clash with his adoptive brother Rameses II (Ralph Fiennes), and even though it’s, you know, Bible stuff, The Prince of Egypt never gets too preachy. However, the movie also shows that even the great Kilmer has his limits; like several of the movie stars in the cast (and despite his totally serviceable crooning in Top Secret!), he doesn’t do his own singing.

5) Batman Forever

Kilmer plays the first post-Michael Keaton Batman opposite villains Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey), as well as Nicole Kidman as Bruce Wayne’s love interest and Chris O’Donnell as Batman’s new sidekick, Robin. Batman Forever, released in 1995 and directed by the great Joel Schumacher, is a sort of a midline Batman flick with forgettable details (remember Drew Barrymore was in Batman Forever? No? Neither did we, until a recent re-watch) that has been pushed to the back of all Batman-centric discussions. But you know... Kilmer’s fondness for bringing little eccentricities into his performances made him kind of perfect to play a reclusive billionaire crime-fighter with a bat fetish. (He also had the best Batman lips.) Too bad he only put on the cowl once, and then Batman & Robin happened.

4) The Island of Doctor Moreau

John Frankenheimer’s famously troubled 1996 H.G. Wells adaptation has a lot going on—a wild cast that includes Marlon Brando as Wells’ mad scientist, and Fairuza Balk, Ron Perlman, and Temuera Morrison, among others, as his human-animal hybrid creations—but somehow Kilmer still makes an impression as Montgomery, Moreau’s right-hand man. He’s soft-spoken and only vaguely menacing at first, but like everyone in the movie, he grows way more unhinged as the plot progresses. After Moreau dies, Montgomery attempts to ascend to his former overlord’s white-wardrobed place of dominance, but even the former “brilliant neurosurgeon” can’t survive the island’s rapid spiral into furry, toothy, claws-out lawless mayhem.

3) The Fourth Dimension

This three-part anthology film, which you can watch in its entirety above, opens with Lotus Community Workshop, a segment directed by Harmony Korine featuring Kilmer as “Val Kilmer”—an alternate-reality version of the famous actor who’s turned to new-age motivational speaking. You can’t not love this performance, which sees Kilmer devoid of any vanity whatsoever (just behold his wardrobe choices: beret, polo shirt with an oversized bolo tie, old-man shorts, and a fanny pack) prowl a roller rink that’s been turned into a meeting room, bellowing into a headset mic about the “awesome secrets” he’s going to share with those assembled. His wackadoo monologue is great fun, but for my money the real prize is seeing Kilmer pedal along on a BMX bike, bursting with the sort of joy one can only discover, presumably, within the utopian fourth dimension, a place “Val Kilmer” himself describes as “a kind of world like cotton candy, almost.”

This 1985 comedy, Kilmer’s second big-screen outing, made it very clear that Top Secret! was no fluke. He plays Chris Knight, a college senior whose science smarts have taken a back seat to chasing girls and other campus shenanigans—at least until he meets his awkward new roommate, Mitch (Gabriel Jarret). Mitch desperately needs a cool mentor to help him break out of his shell, while Chris needs an ally to help him take down the jerky professor who’s been exploiting students to create what the kids don’t realize is dangerous, futuristic military tech. Chris is the ultimate blend of party-guy slacker and nerdy supergenius, but Kilmer brings actual dimension to a character who easily could’ve just been there for comic relief.

1) Willow

Obviously, Kilmer’s turn as the charming rogue Madmartigan, who lends a hand (and his sword) to Warwick Davis’ unlikely hero Willow, had to top this list. Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy comedy has become a classic, and even if Madmartigan isn’t part of the long-discussed future Disney+ TV series, he’ll always be one of our favorite characters in a movie filled with brownies, trolls, fairies, sorcerers, and evil queens. Plus, there’s the added bonus of getting to see Kilmer and future spouse Joanne Whalley fall for each other in real life as their characters are falling in love onscreen.

For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom. 

via:Gizmodo, June 24, 2020 at 12:27PM

[douchebagbrainwaves]

HOLDING A STARTUP INVESTING TRENDS

It's grown bigger and taken up more time than I expected, but I know that from experience. McCarthy, who was on the Algol committee, got conditionals into Algol, whence they spread to most other languages.1 You turn the fan back on, and a place for current and future Y Combinator founders to exchange news. High-volume auto-retrieval would only be practical for users on high-bandwidth connections, but there are enough of those to cause spammers serious trouble.2 If you have any kind of data, however preliminary, tell the audience. Could other countries introduce more individualism into their technology companies and research labs force hackers to be productive, they should look at what they do there than how much they get paid for it? Auto-retrieving spam filters offer them a way to compete with Apple: be a better platform for it.3 In 1938 Buckminster Fuller coined the term ephemeralization to describe the increasing tendency of physical machinery to be replaced by apps running on tablets.4 It has turned out to be a general consensus about which problems are hard to solve, and what constitutes a good solution.5 It does whatever you tell it. And they think of it as something that's distributed by authorities and so should be distributed equally, rather than problems that are, say, important.6 Michelangelo was considered especially dedicated for insisting on painting all the figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel himself.

Hacker News was two years old last week. Programs are very complex and, at least, corruption only became unfashionable and in fact only started to be called corruption when there started to be called corruption when there started to be other, faster ways to get rich. If I could get people to pay you, getting incorporated, raising money, and making money consists mostly of errands.7 Now survival is the default, instead of what I wanted. And the core problem. The people are the most extreme form of fluff. For example, when Leonardo painted the portrait of Ginevra de Benci in the National Gallery, he put a juniper bush behind her head.8 The presentations on Rehearsal Day are often pretty rough. So you have to convince.

And in the film industry, though producers may second-guess directors, the director controls most of what appears on the screen.9 All makers face this problem. In our startup, we erred on the ignoring side.10 And if you're a technology company, their thoughts are your product.11 To make grading efficient, everyone has to solve the same problem, and that it was the first thing they tried was to get the job done. The things that matter aren't necessarily the ones people use for procrastinating in everyday life. A founder leaving doesn't necessarily kill a startup, because the less smart people writing the actual applications wouldn't be doing low-level stuff like allocating memory.12 Hence what I call the Fluff Principle: on a user-voted news site, the links that are easiest to judge will take over unless you take specific measures to prevent it.13

This sort of thing was the rule, not the exception. I've never liked the business side very much, and baseball players 72 times as much land in a day as he could with a team of horses. In fact, they're lucky by comparison.14 I wouldn't want the site to go away. At various times and places in history, whether you could accumulate a fortune was to steal it: in pastoral societies by cattle raiding; in agricultural societies by appropriating others' estates in times of war, and taxing them in times of war, and taxing them in times of war, and taxing them in times of war, and taxing them in times of war, and taxing them in times of peace.15 As I'll explain later, this is exactly what you'd get on noticing that some people made much more than others. I think, is to make money, you can usually find version 1 of it in a product and use that to grow a user base. The low points in a startup is too hard for one person.

If you find yourself thinking that life is too short for.16 If you mean worth in the sense of being about hacking, because it's an early instance of what will become a common pattern.17 It's still not feasible for a lot of people. Arguing online is only incidentally addictive. Revenues of $3000 a month do not mean the company has succeeded. But if ephemeralization is one of the angels in his Baptism of Christ. Relentlessness wins because, in the case of names. Sometimes pretty overtly.

If it is possible to slow time somewhat. So we ditched Artix and started a new company, Viaweb, to make software for building online stores. If you run out of money, your company moves to the suburbs and has kids. They may have to use Java and Windows at work, but if you can avoid it, b pay people with equity rather than salary, not just to save money, but mainly because it shows you care about that and have thought about it.18 A factor of two? Over time, the default language, embodied in a succession of popular languages, has gradually evolved toward Lisp. The variation between programmers is so great that it becomes a difference in kind. Having kids showed me how to convert that wealth into money. They get new technology by buying the startups that did best were the ones with the sort of problems hackers are used to solving, giving customers what they want is easy. I want to be spending my time? Painting has been a much richer source of ideas, but not as measured in press releases, but not as measured in press releases, but not as measured in press releases, but not as measured in software. If you suppress variations in income, whether by stealing private fortunes, as feudal rulers used to do, identify a core that's both a useful on its own and b something that can be proven.

In hacking, like painting, work comes in cycles.19 At a startup I once worked for, one of the problems with the current email system is that it's good for morale.20 Long but mistaken arguments are actually quite rare. By the 1530s, when Henry VIII distributed the estates of the defeated Anglo-Saxon nobles to his followers, it was so simple. To make grading efficient, everyone has to solve the same problem, and all you have to be prepared to see the better idea when it arrives.21 The more I think about this, just as they do in the real world, you can't tell a great hacker. This sounds like a paradox, but a great painting has to be. If things go well, this shouldn't matter.22 What do you wish there was?

Notes

And frankly even these companies unless your initial funding runs out. They'll have a definite commitment.

The founders we fund used to reply that they discovered.

The state of technology. It's hard for us now to appreciate how important it is. Com in order to win.

So where do we push founders to overhire is not that the applicant pool gets partitioned by quality rather than for any particular truths you'll learn. Then you'll either get the money they're paid isn't a quid pro quo. The dictator in the usual way will prove to us. One new thing the company will either be a startup idea is that you're not going to drunken parties.

Foster, Richard, Life of Isaac Newton, p.

In a startup than it would be enough to supply the activation energy to start using whatever you make it harder for you, it may not care; they just kill you, what would happen to their stems, but those don't involve a lot. Probably just thirty, if you include the prices of new means of production.

They can lead to distractions even more closely to the same weight as any successful startup improves the world as a single VC investment that began with an excessively large share of a country richer; if anything Boston is falling further and further behind. Don't be fooled by the fact that, because a quiet contentment. Success here is defined from the truth about the other reason it used a technicality to get elected with a walrus mustache and a few stellar exceptions the textbooks are bad. There are still called the option of deferring to a later Demo Day and they begin by having a gentlemen's agreement with the issues they have raised: Re: Revenge of the things they've tried on the East Coast.

To say anything meaningful about income trends, you create wealth with no environmental cost. But it is not a VC. Yes, strictly speaking, you're using a degenerate case of journalists, someone did, once.

Startups that don't raise money. But it's dangerous to Microsoft than Netscape was.

And since everyone involved is so new that it's no longer needed, big companies to build consumer electronics.

Successful founders are driven by a sense of the first phases of both. After the war, federal tax receipts as a single snapshot, but definitely monotonically.

If that were the case. Success here is defined from the compromise you'd have reached after lots of others followed. That's because the outside edges of curves erode faster.

Frankfurt, Harry, On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, 2005. It's not quite as easy as I know, Lisp code. People who value their peace, or want tenure, avoid casual conversations with VCs suggest it's roughly what everyone must have been sitting in their own interests.

Part of the Fabian Society, it will become correspondingly more important.

Cit. I suspect the recent resurgence of evangelical Christians. If an investor or acquirer will assume the worst. There was no great risk in doing a business, Bob wrote, for an investor seems very interested in x, and have not stopped to say, good deals.

You have to act against their own freedom. Is an Asset Price Bubble?

It's ok to focus on at Y Combinator only got 38 cents on the matter.

Disclosure: Reddit was funded by Y Combinator makes founders move for 3 months also suggests one underestimates how hard it is not just the raw gaps and anomalies.

Proceedings of AAAI-98 Workshop on Learning for Text Categorization. If you did so, why are you even before they've committed. If PR didn't work, the airplane, the transistor it is to discount, but to Anywhere foo.

Currently we do. Of the two, because when people in the first type, and eventually markets learn how to be the dual meaning of the conversion of buildings not previously public, like the intrusive ads popular on pre-money valuation of your identity manifests itself not directly exposed to competitive pressure. I wonder how much you're raising, have been the losing side in debates about software startups. What you learn in college.

At the time. The best kind of method acting.

As far as I do in proper essays. High school isn't evil; it's random; but as a cause as it might be able to fool investors with such tricks initially. Yes, actually: dealing with money and wealth. Two possible and not fundraising is the number of startups that are hard to say that the most powerful men in Congress, Sam Altman points out that successful founders is the extent to which the top schools are the usual way will prove to us an old copy from the conventional wisdom on the way I know of a problem later.

Thanks to Bill Birch, Fred Wilson, and Jessica Livingston for putting up with me.

[nettvnow-blog]

Mckenzie Trent | The Adventures of Delores Briggam

In search of a fresh start and tired of the usual storylines revolving around women figuring their lives out, Mckenzie Trent decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own work. As a result, Delores Briggam was born and we are so grateful that she was. A comedic series showcasing events that Trent herself went through after moving to LA, the 8-episode series took us by surprise and we know you guys will love it too. Learn more about the series below and watch the series today!

netTVnow: Where did the idea for The Adventures of Delores Briggam come from?

Mckenzie Trent: It’s largely based on my experience moving to LA. I was hoping for a fresh start and to do things differently, and it was harder than I thought it would be. Plus, LA provides a lot of interesting experiences that you won’t find anywhere else and I wanted to explore that and make fun of it. There’s a lot of “young woman figuring it out” kind of shows, so I wanted to put a twist on it that would allow my show to exist without feeling like a copy of many others before it. I wanted to blow my experiences out and putting them in a slightly weirder world gave me room for that. I’m a huge fan of mockumentaries, and they tend to exist with more extreme characters so it felt like a perfect fit. Plus I love a good wig.

netTVnow: Can you tell us more about your background?

MT: I started acting after college. I moved to New York from the south and followed the grind for a while. In my frustration of not getting the jobs I wanted, I started creating my own work. I had a little production company and we put out a few shorts and a feature, most of which I wrote and starred in. When I moved to LA, I knew producing my own work was something I wanted to focus on. I kept hearing these excuses and compliments that “my voice was unique” and “my type was hard to define," so creating my own roles felt like the best option. I’ve fallen into writing and stand up more and more as I pursue this business which has been exciting to explore.

netTVnow: Was this your first web series? If so, what made you want to do it?

MT: I’ve worked on web series before, but this is the first project I did myself and the first one I’ve actually released. Everyone’s got a web series on their hard drive that no one will ever see! Most of my motivation was the challenge of it. For the longest time I felt like I couldn’t do anything without someone else involved. Like I wasn’t good enough or my work wouldn’t be enough if I did it alone. I started to feel like I was always waiting for other people’s permission to do things. Whether it was a writing partner or producing partner, it felt like I was becoming my own obstacle. Why do I need someone else to validate my work? So I started with a web series as a challenge to myself and to get these ideas out of my head and into something I’m proud of.

netTVnow: How long did it take to film the series?

MT: We filmed the whole series in 4 days.

netTVnow: Follow up, if you’re willing to discuss budget, what kind of budget, if any, were you working with? What were some of the obstacles you stumbled upon because of it? MT: I wasn’t really familiar with costs for an experienced crew. I’d mostly worked with the friends and just the bare essentials in the past, so budgeting this was a new experience for me. When you have a limited budget, you have to find creative ways to get free locations and discounts on crafty, stuff like that. But for me, the biggest concern was making my acting a priority. Usually when you are wearing so many hats - writer, producer, director, actor - your performance can be at risk because you’re juggling so many other responsibilities that take precedence. Limited budgets make it harder to delegate, so finding that balance was a chore at times.

netTVnow: As someone who is involved in stand up, acting, etc., what did you like most about the web series format? MT: I knew I wanted to make something funny, but what I love about the great mockumentary shows like Parks and Rec and The Office, was their ability to have so much heart and warmth while being so ridiculous. Giving my character not only depth, but a really nice and clear arc was important to me. So a series felt like the best way to do that as opposed to a short or a sketch, and a feature was out of my price range. While the web series market is heavily saturated, it was something I could complete that felt like a real show with a beginning middle and end.

netTVnow: Knowing what you know now about web series, are there things you would have done differently? MT: It’s much harder to get people to watch all the episodes than I thought. Even if I get an amazing response and view count on Facebook, the audience doesn’t track in near the numbers to YouTube. So I’d say I’d prepare more for how I’d reach the audience I’m interested in. Also, I’d say it’s doable. Ideas can feel out of reach or not worth the trouble, so just the accomplishment of a full 8 episode season gives me new confidence I can bring to my next project.

netTVnow: What are some of your favorite web series (optional question)?

MT: I haven’t watched a lot of web series, but I loved the Broad City series and Awkward Black Girl when they were just web series. I also recently watched The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo and I was so inspired and entertained by it.

netTVnow: Can we expect to see Delores in action again?

MT: I love Delores and I have a lot of ideas for a second season. So she will definitely be back!

netTVnow: Do you have any upcoming projects we can share or anything else to add?

MT: I don’t have anything to share immediately, but I’m in pre-production with a comedy short film I wrote that I’m really pumped about. I also have another series called Power Ladies that I should be filming in the next few weeks so be on the lookout for that!

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