#and i had hot cash to spend that was going to expire otherwise and basically covered half the cost so

[maddisandy]

that moment when you. when you.

[vcg73]

Kadam Fic: Greetings From Las Vegas

Decided I should probably answer at least one or two of the Kadam Week prompts before too much time passed.  :)

The prompt was this one   The story is pure fluffy fluff.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Come on, come on . . . just one more little crossbones . . .   Eeee . . . YES!  Oh my gosh! Come to papa, you lovely little doubloons!”

Adam grinned at Kurt, who was bouncing in his chair and pumping both fists. He leaned over to look at his boyfriend’s blinking, clanging slot machine and his eyes opened wide with surprise. “Oh my goodness. Kurt, you’ve just made $500 on a single spin!  If I’d known you would be so lucky, I’d have brought you to Vegas ages ago.”

Bouncing on his red leather bar-style chair, Kurt pondered the cartoon pirate that had just popped up daring him to spin again and double his winnings. He had been slightly reluctant to try the ‘Pirate Booty’ slot machine at first, a little turned off by the ‘buxom wench’ decorating it, but since Adam was already playing the Haunted House game next to it, he had decided to give it a whirl. Much to his delight, the machine had proved to be a hot one. He had built his original twenty dollar investment into nearly six hundred dollars over the course of an hour. He had been making small steady gains until he finally got a chance at a bonus round.

Adam had not done as well with his own machine, but he had managed to make a slim profit, and he had picked up a hundred dollars playing blackjack that morning so he had no complaints.  Watching Kurt’s growing delight over an amazing streak of beginner’s luck had him enjoying their shared casino experience even more.

Kurt poised his finger over the Spin button, bit his lip, glanced at Adam, and abruptly changed his mind and punched Cash Out instead. “I just can’t,” he explained. “It’s really tempting, but I feel like all the littler wins were just leading up to this one, and I would be so disappointed in myself if I pushed my luck and lost everything.”

“A wise decision,” Adam agreed, pleased to see that Kurt’s sensible side had not been overridden by the lure of easy money. “I seem to be at an impasse with this machine. I’ve been winning and losing the same five dollars for the last thirty minutes, so I suggest we try something different. Would you like to play another game, or should we go somewhere else for a while?”

Eyes shining, Kurt replied, “I didn’t actually expect to win any money on this trip. I brought along the cash from my tips, figuring I could stand to lose that much, but instead I’ve been winning like crazy!  And since I did win, I think we should let ourselves be frivolous for once, and blow some of it on something completely fun and Vegasy.”

Adam laughed. “An excellent idea, and I agree. I also assumed we’d do no more than break even, so I’ve been careful to insure that my own funds would still stretch far enough to cover our hotel room and meals.”

“I’d be happy to share the costs,” Kurt reminded him. “Don’t forget, you covered the flight too.”

Shaking his head at Kurt’s offer, he said, “No, no, darling. I don’t want you to do that. As I told you when I booked the flight, I had a few air miles I needed to use up before they expired, and this is my gift to you. I won’t have you paying your own way on your birthday. I’ve got us.” 

“All right, I won’t push. Just know that the offer stands if you do need help. ”  Kurt sighed happily. “I still can’t believe you overheard me telling Rachel that I’ve always wanted to see Las Vegas, and saved up your money and those air miles that I know you were going to use to visit home, just so you could bring me here for my birthday.”

Adam shrugged, as if the sacrifice had been nothing at all. “Don’t think I had enough to reach Heathrow, and mum and dad are going to be in Madrid for a combined medical conference and couples retreat this summer, so they wouldn’t be disappointed if I skipped. Besides, my gesture wasn’t entirely selfless. I’d been longed for a holiday with just the two of us.”  

“Me too, just don’t even try to tell me this isn’t amazing,” Kurt said, giving his hand a squeeze. “Because it is, and so are you.” 

He did not say it out loud, but the grandness of the gift itself meant less to him than the knowledge that Adam must have spent months planning and budgeting just for the joy of giving it. His last boyfriend had loved making grand gestures, but they had largely been empty spectacles designed to make Blaine look good, and deflect any anger or hurt that might justifiably be aimed at him. Adam had no such ulterior motive. He was caring and thoughtful to everyone, and he hadn’t even told anyone what he was planning until it came time to book the airline tickets, and then he had confessed his plan in time to make sure that going to Vegas was something that Kurt actually wanted to do. 

Adam gave him a quick peck on the cheek and brushed away the admiration with a bright smile and a cheery, “All right then, big spender. If you’re going to treat us to a night on the town, what shall we do with it?  Sky-high roller coasters, Cirque du Soleil, a comedy act, the wax museum, Thundah From Down Undah...”

He hitched his eyebrows as he spoke the final suggestion in an exaggerated Aussie accent, clearly joking, and something about it brought out a streak of mischief in Kurt. “Oooh! That sounds fun!  Let’s do that!”

Adam blinked. “Darling, that’s  . . . you do know it’s a male strip show?”

“Of course I do. I saw their poster in the lobby of our hotel. They’re all sewper hawt , and Rachel will be so jealous, and I can’t wait to tell everyone back home! Can we, Adam? Can we, can we, please?”

Adam had been staring at him blankly, looking as if he was not quite sure he was hearing right. But when Kurt began play-begging, he laughed. “For a moment you had me going, love. I assume you are joking, but if I’m wrong and you really do want to go and see what those fellows are packing down under, we can absolutely do that.”

For a split second Kurt was tempted to accept, suspecting that it would be fun to watch Adam get all overheated and squirmy at the sight of a dozen nearly naked Aussie hunks, but then he laughed. “Who am I kidding? The minute some oiled-up beefcake started thrusting his g-string at us, I’d be so embarrassed I’d spend the rest of the show hiding my face in your shoulder.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Adam said with a fond smile.

“No,” Kurt agreed, “it doesn’t.  But if you don’t mind, the only handsome hunk I want to spend time with tonight is you. Do you mind if we go see Cirque?”

Adam wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I don’t mind at all.  What do you say we go grab supper first, then we’ll hunt up tickets to whatever performance is playing closest. Or did you have your heart set on a particular one?”

“LOVE?” he said hopefully.  

“The Beatles show?” Adam asked.  When Kurt nodded, he smiled. “Makes sense, given what a fan you are. All right, then. I believe the tourist guide you picked up at the hotel showed a 9 pm performance at the Mirage. You don’t suppose they offer a native Englishman’s discount, do you?”

Kurt beamed. In spite of his country of origin, Adam was not a major fan of the Beatles. Just the same, the idea of seeing a whole show centered around their music clearly did not bother him. It was so nice to be with someone who was willing to give the things Kurt liked a fair try, without immediately arguing for something they liked better. It made him eager to return the favor whenever he could, and he had been rewarded with a number of interesting experiences that he otherwise might have missed. “Probably not, but we can give it a try.”

“All right, then. Let’s go cash in your fortune and grab a bite. Maybe we’ll make one last pass through the casinos on our way back tonight and see if your lucky streak is still in business. How are you at craps?”

“I’m better at poker,” he confessed as they began winding their way through the aisles of slot machines and oblivious gamblers. At Adam’s questioning glance, he said, “I used to play with my dad and his mechanics. They taught me the basics, but Dad says I have a pretty good poker face, and I could usually bluff them all by the time I hit my teens.”

Adam pondered that, studying his boyfriend’s innocent looking features and recalling a few stories he’d heard from Kurt’s former school chums about him backing down bullies twice his size. In his unguarded moments, everything Kurt felt showed in his face, but when he had his guard up?  “I believe it. And I think I’d like to witness your skill at the tables for myself. Just don’t let yourself get caught up in any all-night poker tournaments, hmm?”

“Why not?  Got other plans for me?” he asked with a smile, giving Adam’s waist a firm squeeze. 

“Always,” he returned with a teasing wink. “But in fact, I want you to get a good night’s sleep tonight so you’ll have lots of energy for tomorrow.”

Excitement flared in Kurt’s eyes. “What’s happening tomorrow?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said with maddening nonchalance. Seeing Kurt’s pout, he smiled. “I won’t give it away, but I’ll give you a little hint to chew on. This particular surprise is not mine. The daytime portion comes courtesy of Rachel and Santana. And for the nighttime half, you can thank your dad and step-mum.  Since you couldn’t be with them on your birthday, they all wanted to be sure that you would spend it doing something you’ll love. The girls helped me pack you up an appropriate outfit for tomorrow, since I had directed you to bring only casual wear.”

Equal parts puzzled and intrigued, Kurt fell silent for the rest of the walk out of the casino and out into the warm spring night, as Adam steered him safely along the Strip with a hand planted at the small of his back. 

They made a striking picture walking together. Adam, with his golden blond hair and newly-acquired suntan, firm muscular body showed off to good effect by a tight white cotton button down and jeans; and Kurt with his reddish brown hair and still-pale skin catching the rays of late evening sunshine, tall and slender in his tight black jeans and patterned navy shirt, its sleeves rolled up to show off a pair of nicely defined biceps. 

“I can’t think of anything Dad would get excited about in Vegas,” Kurt admitted at last, coming back to earth as Adam pointed to a neon sign garishly blinking advertisement for a buffet restaurant. He nodded, then finished his thought, “unless they got us tickets to Caesar’s Palace, and I know he’s not sending me to a boxing match!”

Adam’s face remained utterly innocent, but a twitch in his cheek had Kurt asking, “What?”

“Promise you won’t tell Burt I let the cat out of the bag?” Kurt nodded eagerly. “Right location, wrong event.”

Kurt chewed on that clue while Adam paid for two all-inclusive dinners and they took their place in line.  After a moment, he gasped, and by the time they had filled their plates and found a table, he was trembling with suppressed excitement. Staring Adam straight in the eye, he nearly whispered, “Adam, they didn’t. They couldn’t have. Did they?  Adam, are . . . are we going to see Celine tomorrow night?”

A grin he could not keep at bay anymore spread across Adam’s handsome face. “I should have known you would guess it.”

“Oh my God!” Kurt shrieked, clapping a hand over his mouth when the exclamation startling an old couple walking past their table. He called, “Sorry!” then turned back to Adam. “Are you serious?”

He laughed. “Absolutely. The ladies have prepaid a luxury package for you at the day spa attached to our hotel, and I will leave you to their tender mercies for a couple of hours while I check on certain arrangements that I’ve made. Then in the evening, we’ll head over to Caesar’s to see the show.”

The smile on Adam’s face was rather smug, as well it should have been. Kurt could not imagine what he had done to deserve such a wonderful boyfriend. He did not doubt for a moment that it had been Adam who put the thought of buying tickets to one of Kurt’s all time favorite divas into Dad and Carole’s heads. His parents were wonderful people, but their musical taste rarely ventured past the 80′s classic rock station. 

Wishing he felt daring enough to lean across the table and plant kisses all over Adam’s face, Kurt settled for squeezing his hand and saying, “I love you, Adam. Thank you so much for giving me this. And I don’t just mean the concert and things.”

Clearly knowing just what he was trying to say, Adam lifted Kurt’s hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “You’re welcome, darling. Happy Birthday.”

THE END

A/N: I ended it here because I’ve never seen either of the entertainments they’re about to experience, nor do I know how to play poker. So we’ll just imagine they had an amazing time at everything, went home to New York richer in both money and experience, and that Adam is going to get very very lucky for many many nights.  :)

[samleheny]

The good that can come from this crappy Ghost in the Shell remake

I’m a big Ghost in the Shell fan. I love cyberpunk, transhumanism, Eastern design sensibilities, all that good stuff. It’s no surprise I didn’t expect this Hollywood remake to be any good, nor that critics so far are pretty unanimously reporting that it isn’t, nor that I’m not interested enough to find out for myself and send the message “Yes Hollywood, my curiosity will get the better of me and you will end up getting my money regardless of whether or not you did a good job”. Whatever. The word is it’s visually engaging but that the action is dull and it’s emotionally and philosophically desolate (the very latter is a death knell for any GitS project as far as I’m concerned). I’m less sad that it had to happen to this franchise in particular and more so because I yearn for those days when Hollywood sci-fi knew how to be both thrilling and intellectually stimulating at the same time. Now days it’s one or the other, or sometimes neither. But I’m trying to look to the good, and I think there is some good. About this whole white-washing controversy of casting Scarlet Johanson as Major Motoko Kusanagi. We all should understand that people are less pissed off about the particular instance of casting a white person in the role of an east Asian character than they are about the larger issue it points to. No movie executive at any point sat down and said “This 1995 Mamoru Oshii classic is brilliant! But it could be even better... It could be... white!” No, they just wanted a big star in the lead role and they valued that more so than artistic authenticity, which only becomes a practical issue when one realises that when it comes to big names in the English language film space, the only actresses of Asian ethnicity with that kind of ticket selling star power are... um... Lucy Liu, and... uuuh... ...that’s about it I guess.

How did we get here? The implications aren’t nice to think about unless you want to make unfounded claims that “Dude! White people and a smaller contingent of black people are just genetically more inclined to pursue a career in acting! I know science, I have the best science!” But the studio has actually bent over backwards to try and placate an internet crying bullshit. Do you think just five or ten years ago said studio would have given a shit what we thought on the matter? Probably not. Reports were that they at one point considered ‘yellowing’ Ms. Johanson up in post production, but quickly decided away from that, since unless you’re Cloud Atlas, that’s only going to make things worse. The solution they actually attempted in the end is a bit more... amusing.

I’m going to spoil the twist of the movie here. So they ended up renaming the character Mira Killian for this adaptation, perhaps reasoning that it’s slightly less damning to rewrite the character then to have people sitting in the theatre shuffling uneasily in their seats, subconsciously wondering “Why does seminal Japanese heroine Motoko Kusanagi look remarkably like white as hell Scarlet Johanson?”. This time around she has amnesia and can’t remember who she was before having her brain put into a prosthetic body. I’ve seen people in forums already taken to referring to the character as “MINO” (Motoko In Name Only).

The twist? Turns out she really is Motoko Kusanagi, and her brain was put into a Caucasian body and she was renamed by your standard big evil corporation, robbing her of her past and identity. ...Wait, what? You can see what they were going for, attempting a clever meta-narrative, shaking a finger at the internet and saying “Isn’t it what’s on the inside that counts?”. But it just amounts to the studio basically calling themselves out for their casting inflexibility. The evil corporation taking a Japanese character and dipping her in Caucasia being noticeably, almost deliberately analogous to what the film makers did with the character in the first place. Are they trying to tell us they know they did wrong by vilifying themselves in their own movie? Drawing attention to the issue, without actually doing anything about it?

To be fair, it isn’t a bad idea for a story, in the abstract. Highlighting things like race as being rendered truly tertiary and unimportant by cybernetic augmentation separating the identity and the flesh further apart then ever before in the human experience. But it’s depressing that they didn’t write that first and then reason “well that means we perhaps need an actress who doesn’t match Motoko’s traditional appearance.” But instead only conceived of this plot point as a way of retroactively justifying their casting choice. Just like it’s all well and good to talk about how The performance is what matters, and if race really shouldn’t separate us, then why do we insist a character’s ethnicity must remain rigidly consistent across the various reimaginings? But as soon as it’s the other way around, and a historically white character is being reimagined as black, or Latino, or what have you, then that philosophy gets switched out for a very different one. One that says race isn’t important, but race issues are, and when the western and usually Caucasian perspective already dominates huge chunks of the international pop culture, then it’s good, perhaps even necessary for concessions to be made to welcome people of other backgrounds into that dominant culture (a philosophy I find much more agreeable.)

Because this was never about white or Asian or American or Japanese or Japanese specifically or will any East Asian actress do? It’s about sharing the spotlight. Hence why taking one of the few international properties widely recognised and celebrated outside of its country of origin, sucking out the ground breaking Eastern philosophical tones, and bolting Scarlet Johanson onto the project because ‘She’s so hot right now!’ may not be a travesty or the end of the world, but it’s a disappointing waste of an opportunity. It feels like taking gruel from hungry orphans and feeding it to Bill Gates.

Plus... you know. A lot can be forgiven if the end product turns out really really good.

But the good in all this? Well like I said: even if their efforts just made the situation all the more laughable, they did go through pains to try and placate the backlash, which means they do care. Okay. Yes. The thing they care about is protecting a brand’s profitability in the face of an audience whose wallets are proving harder to seduce than anticipated, but now as opposed to yesteryear they might see that issues of diversity in the arts shouldn’t be shoved off to the side just because we gotta get dat sweet Scarlet Johanson money!

Because the cash-cow of Hollywood now, for better or worse, is the nerd. And nerds by definition care a lot about the minutiae. But perhaps more importantly than that, Hollywood is increasingly aware that the future looks a lot less western and a lot less white than the present. Why do you think Marvel is introducing all these Black, Latino, Middle Eastern, Mixed race, Gay, Asian, etc, characters into the comics? It’s because in ten years, when they still want to be making big superhero blockbusters, they’ll need new characters to replace the expired contracts of Captain America and Iron Man, etc. And they figure it behooves them to build into their future a lot more appeal for the increasingly diversifying movie going public.

I believe (with no small amount of chagrin) that we’re only going to see more and more adaptations of classic anime. Hollywood has a horrible track record with them of course, but consider that Hollywood is increasingly interested in courting the ever growing Chinese market, and making more films with Eastern themes, settings, and styles is a pretty good way to accomplish that. And consider also that there’s nothing the Hollywood genre-film machine fears more than spending money on new and untested ideas. With both of those factors in mind I think the solution for Hollywood will become obvious in time if it isn’t already, and it involves a crappy Akira remake, a crappy Sailor Moon remake, a crappy Evangelion remake, and crappy Studio Ghibli remakes (Oh you don’t think they'd dare? You wanna make a wager?). Japan is, after all, the most successful entertainment producer on an international scale outside of the English speaking countries. (Hmmm, possibly after France. Vivendi has its tendrils all over the place.) I don’t look forward to it, because I don’t look forward to a lot of remakes, because I find the current landscape of aversion to new ideas and forced franchise perpetuity incredibly depressing. But as far as learning how to do a better job of adaptation in the future, for once the studio didn’t just notice the backlash to white-washing a beloved foreign classic, they actually fretted over it. And perhaps they will next time. And with the memory of this “MINO” character fresh in their minds, hopefully they’ll have those frets before making a casting choice. At which point I hope the solution will be as obvious to them as it was to the fans.

Live action Akira will probably happen (it already almost did, and they wanted to move it from Neo-Tokyo to Neo-Manhattan) it will probably suck despite being a big blockbuster, but at least there’s a better chance now it will be a blockbuster that could be the breakout role of some talented young Japanese American somewhere who doesn’t otherwise have much hope of being offered a role as the latest superhero. And some young kid from Asian immigrant parents might see him on the silver screen and feel impassioned.