amberhippocampus · 2 years ago
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hey anna, just wondering if you've seen the new lockwood and co netflix series??
I haven’t watched it yet, I need to do more research into if it’s good or not. I tend not to watch adaptations of books if I hear they don’t at least try to do the books justice. That’s why I never watched the Artemis Fowl movie either, because I love those books a lot and wouldn’t want them ruined for me.
If you’ve watched it I would love to hear your opinion!
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dollxkill · 3 months ago
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𝐖𝐘𝐁𝐌?
“𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞?“
pairing: niko omilana x black! fem! reader
genre: fluff
cw: cursing (barely)
summary: after years of hidden feelings, you finally ask niko to be your boyfriend.
a/n: my first niko fic!! enjoy🫶🏾.
Niko has always been your best friend ever since you moved to London. The day you met, you two instantly clicked and have been talking ever since. He’s such a good listener, is fun to be around, and is just a good person in general.
Over the course of your friendship, you’ve started to develop feelings for him. You never thought you would have a crush on one of your best friends but honestly, you couldn’t help it. He treated you with care and has never done anything disrespectful towards you or anything to put you in harms way. Today, you were finally going to tell him how you felt.
He was on his way to your house and to say you were nervous would be an understatement. You were BEYOND nervous. All these crazy thoughts were flowing through your head. “What if he rejects me?” “What if I look like a fool?” “What if-“. Your thoughts were cut off by a knock on your front door.
You open the door to see none other than your best friend himself, Niko. “L/N.” He says with a mock serious tone. “Omilana.” You say in that same tone as it is soon cut off by your laugh. You two always greet each other like this yet it gets better every time.
“What have you been up to?” He asks as he gives you a quick hug before walking in and plopping down on the couch. “Nothing much, same shit I usually do. Do nails, go out, watch movies, nothing too crazy. You?” You reply as you plop down next to him and lay your head on his shoulder.
“Filming videos with BetaSquad. They keep telling me to invite you to shoot with us one day.” He says with a soft laugh as he looks down at me. “Really? I’m down honestly, I like hanging out with you guys.” You respond as your eyes meet his. The room is silent for a few moments before you speak again. “Niko, can we talk about something?” You ask hesitantly.
Niko must’ve noticed the tone in your voice because a look of worry quickly covered his face as he turned to look at you more. “Of course Y/N. Are you okay?” He says softly. “I’m fine…I just…have some things I need to get off my chest.” You say nervously as you lift your head off of his shoulder. “Ok, well…I’m listening.” He states.
You take a deep breath before beginning to talk. “Niko…ever since I came to London, you’ve been nothing but kind to me. Originally, I came here thinking I wasn’t going to meet a lot of people or make friends but when I met you, my whole perspective changed. You’re so supportive, you’re a great listener, you always pay attention to the little details. You make me so happy and I don’t know what I would do without you. Over the course of our friendship, I started to develop feelings for you.”
“I never told you until now because I kept overthinking about it and thinking you wouldn’t feel the same. Soon I realized that I couldn’t wait anymore. So with that being said, Niko…will you be mine?” You say as you search his face for any sort of reaction.
As soon as you stop talking, Niko’s face goes completely blank. In your head you’re thinking “fuck, I ruined our friendship didn’t I?” second guessing your entire decision. The room was silent again until he finally replied.
“Y/N…I have feelings for you too. I’ve had them since the day you came to London. I didn’t know how to tell you and I didn’t think you liked me all this time. I would love to be yours.” He says with a soft smile on his face.
Your eyes light up as you jump into his arms and hug him, starting to tear up as you hug him tight. At first, you were regretting this whole plan. But now that you know he feels the same way, you’re glad you faced your fears and spoke up. He’s finally yours, and you’re never letting him go.
*not proofread or spell checked*
a/n:hii! I love this fic so much omgg. Requests are open and very appreciated (only because I have no fucking ideas other than this lmfao😭)
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sulkybbarnes · 4 years ago
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I just saw your post about misinterpreting characters. It was tagged with Adam and Bucky (two of my favorite fictional characters) and though I feel like that when I sometimes read fanfics, I can never just put my finger on it and I'd love to read your take on it!
Oh lord where do I even start... alright, this might get long so apologies in advance, but I have nearly a decade’s worth of thoughts on this. The short answer is: both characters often get severely over simplified, stripped away from essential characteristics, and their understandable reaction to their respective trauma gets overlooked in order to make them more “palatable” and to favor other characters in fics. 
The long answer: 
Let’s start with Adam Parrish. We meet Adam when he’s only 17 years old and we learn that he is an abuse survivor who comes from severe poverty, and along the way we witness trauma that leads to Adam having a disability, and later on learnt hat Adam is bisexual. Adam’s character is very realistic to someone in his position, so that he’s flawed and has issues to work through as the series goes along. These issues are presented at the start of the series through two unreliable narrators: Gansey who is proud and often self-victimizing, and Adam himself who is very introspective and lives in fear of turning into his father. Thus the characteristics the text gives us is that Adam is “cold and calculating” which is courtesy of Gansey, and that Adam is lonesome and prone to anger/arguing with his friends which is Adam’s own worries and insecurities manifesting in his chapters. And yes sure Adam at the start is -understandably- angry with the world at large and feels as if he’s ten steps behind everyone and playing catch-up, but he’s also visibly self-aware and constantly trying to curb any anger and moderate his reactions (even when they’re justified). The book also shows us through actions that Adam is sweet and thoughtful from how he acts around Blue, and shows that he develops as the books go on to be more aware of his actions, more confident in his own goodness, and more willing to show love and allow himself to be loved in return. The later books (BLLB, TRK, Opal story, CDTH) all show an Adam who is kind (his interactions with Opal), thoughtful (his constant thinking about Ronan’s feelings and not wanting to act before he knows he’s as serious/sure about them as Ronan is), a good friend (I’m just gonna.. gesture at the whole Blue/Gansey thing and how gracefully Adam handled it when they didn’t even deign to give him the benefit of the doubt), and a very loving person (which we see in his every interaction with Ronan from TRK onwards). So that’s Adam Parrish, complex and flawed but inherently a good person and a good character. 
However, Fanon Adam Parrish is a different story all together because he is often stripped to whatever bare essentials would serve the fic he is in. SO, in fandom you see an Adam who is either cruel and cold, as to serve some infantilizing hurt angsty version of Ronan. You see an Adam who is angry and prone to lashing out, to serve posts about Gansey being an angel who’s faultless and constantly hurt by his friends. You see an Adam who is disrespectful and hurtful to serve posts about why it was okay for Blue and Gansey to behave the way they did to him. Or on the complete opposite end, you get an Adam who is demure, shy, and almost disgustingly helpless to serve in a fic where he needs saving or some misguided hurt/comfort thing. Adam also often gets stripped away in the latter fics from any rightful anger or sharpness that relates to his trauma. Said anger is treated as something that makes him an unlovable or annoying character (you can find these takes everywhere in trc fandom), and therefore people need to overlook it to make him more palatable to them. Adam’s anger, as we see in CDTH, is often turned inwards and is an on-going struggle for him because it still feels at times as him against the world. It’s one of the best things about his character if you ask me, because it is what he grows out of the most, and what he continues to face and develop against. This trait makes him human and shows his vulnerability. Adam in canon is touch starved and loves fiercely, but in fanon the anger he displays gets used to paint him as unfeeling or constantly angry. Even though Adam shows anger only as much as any other character in the series, and often in a way less explosive (Ronan) or hurtful (Gansey) or entitled (Blue) manner. And so the point is that fandom takes away the complexity that makes Adam Parrish who he is, and molds him into whatever is easiest to digest and shove into a box that works better for the other characters. Adam’s development and arc get completely overlooked most of the time. He is often misinterpreted as one shallow thing, when he is a beautiful mix of emotions that make him Adam Parrish, and make him endearingly and painfully human and real.
Bucky Barnes, my original fave guy, follows strongly along the same lines. All you have to do is change names and events from what I said before and you’ll get how fandom treats Bucky. What I adore about Buck’s character is that he was established instantly as fiercely loyal, loving, fun, a good friend, and someone who is so important to Steve that we see Steve take on a suicide mission to get to Bucky. The progression of the other movies deals with Buck’s trauma and shows all the new aspects to his character that stem from said trauma, while maintaining the undercurrent of goodness and humor that we saw from pre-war Bucky. But once again, the complexity of Bucky’s character and his storyline; the trauma, the PTSD, and the fact that m*rvel never lets him heal, all boils down to fandom only choosing what they find palatable about Bucky and leading with that. I have less to say about this only because I’ve been a fan for too long, and have learned to conduct myself so that I don’t run into upsetting posts anymore, and read fics with a tone and characterization that works for me, but there’s a lot of content out there that strips Buck of his characteristics so much that he might as well be an OC. I will say that you might get more leeway with content based on a movie, than you do with content based on a book (where everything is glaringly obvious in the text), but I still have to roll my eyes at most content I see for Bucky, where he’s either helpless and waiting for someone to save (did we watch the same movies??), innocent and naive in how he conducts himself (...did we watch the same movies?!), or he’s unflinchingly cool and cold and unfeeling (seriously, DID WE WATCH THE SAME MOVIES?!). So once again the endpoint is that Bucky’s misinterpretation comes from a shallow understanding of his character, or complete lack of care about how he’s portrayed so that only one trait -whatever is needed for a fic or a post- is central and amplified while everything else he is falls away. I’m not pretentious enough to say that people can’t just have fun with a character and write whatever they want about it, because they absolutely can.. I’m just saying that it’s not my cup of tea and I wouldn’t read it. In fact, I only made a couple of attempts years ago at writing Bucky myself and then decided that I would rather read well-written things about him, than try and get it right myself because I’d get all in my emotions about his character. 
Tl;dr The theme of having your autonomy taken away and fighting like hell to get it back, and remaining good along the way is what makes both Adam and Bucky so close to my heart. Their respective trauma and complexity is what makes me love them both a lot, and I wish fandom didn’t often strip them away of their complexity to make them easier for fandom to digest.
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smokeybrandreviews · 3 years ago
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Smokey brand Select: Deck the Halls
I don’t know if you can tell by my blog, but i f*cking love Christmas. It’s my absolute favorite holiday of the year. I love t more than Thanksgiving, more than Halloween, even more than my f*cking birthday and that’s a lot because I'm kind of a f*cking narcissist. I love the festivities, the decorations, the music, the objective purity of the whole season. Christmas time is the one time of year that people decide collectively to suck less. Recently, with all of the stupid conservative boycotts and soapbox rants, that less is a little less than usually but still, it’s hard not to love the Christmas season. It’s so inspirational and has inspired some fantastic films. Here's a list of some of my favorites. A lot of these, the majority of them, probably aren’t “traditional” Christmas fare but i assure you that they are, indeed, Christmas films. To say otherwise would just be disrespectful.
10. Edward Scissorhands
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Tim Burton is going to be all over this list, man. Edward Scissorhands came out during a time i was incredibly infatuated with the striking visuals of Burton. I’m an Eighties kid and he kind of had his coming out party during that decade. Almost all of those films he released back then are favorites of mine. I remember seeing Scissorhands as a young kid and being absolutely mesmerized by it’s beauty. As an adult, i appreciated the underlying messaging just as much.
9. A Christmas Story
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You’ll shoot your eye out! I used to hate this movie, man. It was a staple in during my elementary school Christmas parties. I never paid attention to it because, as a kid, i hated anything that wasn’t a cartoon. One day i was sick at home and caught it offseason TNT. This thing played, like, every day for some reason. I heard it was a favorite of Ted Turner but that’s just rumor. Anyway, i watched it and completely fell in love with this earnest, absurd, flick. It’s a really good watch and deserves it’s title as a classic.
8. Home Alone
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Home Alone was the very first Christmas flick i remembered actually loving for being a Christmas flick. Like, when the season starts and Mariah Carey hits the airwaves, Home Alone is what i thing about. It’s the very first film that i unequivocally associate with Santa season. It’s funny because it’s not that great a film but i still love it dearly. I think that’s more because of nostalgia, though. There are fr superior films in the honorable mentions which probably deserve this spot more but Home Alone makes me genuinely smile.
7. Die Hard
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I mean, how can i not put this on the list? It’s a classic. One of the best action films ever made. One of the best performances Bruce Willis has ever given. Plus, it introduces the late, great, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber. Now, my favorite of the lot is With a Vengeance but Die Hard would be nothing without this holly jolly first entry.
6. Scrooged
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One of my favorite Christmas narratives is A Christmas Carol. Dickens was a prolific writer and, among his works, the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s crisis of conscious is my favorite. I almost always love it when ever it makes it to screen but, for my money, the best version of this story took the form of the Eighties classic, Scrooged. It’s so Eighties in all of the ways. I love the overall narrative, the changes made t fit it into a then modern setting, and those incredible practical effects. It’s a feast for the senses while hitting all the necessary Dickens notes. Also, this version of the Ghost of Christmas Future is a whole ass nightmare. Like, f*ck, dude!
5. Trading Places
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I love this movie so much, just on it’s own merits as a film. It’s so good. Eddie Murphy is excellent in this film and Dan Akroyd is just as brilliant. Jamie Lee Curtis was incredibly hilarious, too. This was the second thing i had ever seen her in, after Halloween so, you know, going from that to this really caught my attention. Trading Places is a classic and should be seen by everyone.
4. Gremlins
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Gremlins is just generally one of my favorite films. I love this f*cked up movie, man. It’s SO good and this version is the tone down one. The original vision for this movie was just an R rated murder fest. I mean, the one we got wasn’t a joke wither It’s the reason we have the PG-3 rating. SH*t is just that violent Now, juxtapose all of this little green monstrosity anarchy against a dreamy white Christmas and you have all the makings of worming your way into my heart. Honestly, i prefer the gremlin shenanigans from the sequel, Mohawk is my favorite, but Stripe definitely left an impression.
3. The Long Kiss Goodnight
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I had a massive crush on Geena Davis when  was young. Can’t tell you why, but i was absolutely infatuated with the chick after i saw her in The Fly remake. I followed her career afterwards. She dropped several gems along the way, Beetlejuice, Thelma and Louise, Earth Girls are Easy, A League of their Own, but my absolute favorite film of hers is definitely The Long Kiss Goodnight. This thing is peak Nineties action excess. Shane Black in his prime. Die Hard III but John McCLane is a hot ass amazon woman who can beat you to death with her mitts. It even has Sam Jackson as a smart-mouthed side kick! I love it!
2c. A Charlie Brown Christmas
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I adore Charlie Brown. If Spider-Man, Godzilla, and Transformers are the foundations of my childhood, Snoopy is foundation adjacent. My Paternal grandma had all of the Peanuts films and i would watch them on repeat when we were forced to go over there. I say forced because she was kind of terrible and none of us really wanted to visit her ever but, when we did, and she wasn’t trying to exploit our labor or feed us rotten food, we did get to watch dope classic sh*t. She owned every Disney movie from the Renaissance and every Peanuts special on VHS. I hated visiting that woman but i loved those Charlie Brown adventures so kind of bittersweet memories.
2b. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
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This one is associated with my other grandma, the one i actually liked. We used to sit down every year and watch this one together while sipping egg nog. Man, it’s hard for me to type this out. It breaks my heart remembering those times so I'm going to stop. I just really love How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s very, very, special to me.
2a. The Nutcracker
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The Nutcracker is in the same situation as How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I have a lot of love for this thing, in ll forms, but the one i remember so vividly is the opera they used to show every season. My grandma really loved opera and orchestral music. I miss her.
1b. Batman Returns
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I told you Burton was going to be all over this thing. Bro, how can this thing not be on the top of this list? Batman Returns left a real impression, man. Michelle Pfiefer’s Catwoman did things to me that would have reverberating effects through the rest of my life! She is, more than any other reason, why i have an unhealthy infatuation for crazy chicks. Also Nancy Downs but The Craft isn’t a Christmas movie. Outside of the way that patent leather catsuit ruined me for normal relationships, Batman Returns is just a force of f*cking nature. It’s Pure Tim Burton and i adore that man’s eye. He is one of my favorite creators and Batman is one of my favorite heroes. How can this thing not make my list? Batman Returns couldn’t take the number two spot, mostly because it jockeys for position with Nightmare pretty actively. I love them both so much, it’s hard to give the number one spot to either of them so, you know, split the difference.
1a. The Nightmare Before Christmas
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This is Halloween! I remember being so hype about this movie. Nine year old Smokey was super into this film and that love carries through to this day. Every time it airs, i catch it or, at least, i used to when i had television. I saw this thing day one in theaters, made my mom buy the VHS, it was one of the very first DVDs i ever purchased with my own money, and was the third Blue ray i got after picking up my PS3. The wild thing is, it’s not just me either. Nightmare has become a pinnacle of the cultural zeitgeist. This thing is all over the place. People get tattoos of Jack. Halloween Town even made it into a few Kingdom Hearts games and it wasn’t even a Disney movie at first! It was banished to the subsidiary of Touchstone when it first released because the Mouse House didn’t believe in it! Talk about a miscalculations.
Honorable Mentions: Tokyo Godfathers, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Bad Santa, Elf, Carol, Anna and the Apocalypse
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jonahswife · 5 years ago
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Alma Julieta Castillo
Here’s my ikevamp OC no one asked for but I’m giving you anyway :)
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img/picrew credit here
“Yo no necesito su pena.”
General
Full Name: Alma Julieta Castillo
Reason for name: Alma = Kind, Julieta = Spanish for Juliet, Castillo = Castle, No meaning put together but she bears three different names from three different family members. Alma = Mother Given, Julieta = Aunt Given, Castillo = Father Given.
Nickname: Julie
Reason for nickname: Family use only, would much rather be called Alma.
Age: ???
Sex: Female
Gender: Female
Place of Birth: Valencia, Spain
Birthday: March 14th, 1615
Currently living in: Malaga, Spain
Species/Race: ??? (*)
Ethnicity: Spanish
Blood Type: AB+
Occupation: Criminal Investigator
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual
Social Status: Working Class
Relationship Status: Single/Doesn’t matter
Status: Alive (*)
Appearance
Body Build: Toned & Flexible
Height: 5”8
Weight: 158 lbs.
Skin colour: Caucasian
Hair style: Usually Braided or tied up.
Hair colour: Red
Eye colour: Green
Distinguishing Features: Mole under her right eye, discolored skin on her elbow, a strange tattoo over her heart, little remnants of scars on her leg
Preferred Clothing: Modern and comfortable clothing, classy but fit, wears heels no higher than 4”, despises long and loose garments and dresses. Owns a lot of coats and scarves but rarely uses the scarves, prefers clothing that has a moderate amount of coverage.
Accessories: a gun holster, a silver anklet engraved with the initials N.E.C
Health
General health: Healthy
Posture: Prim and Proper
Any physical illnesses?: Controlled Anemia
Any mental illnesses?: Unknown
Take drugs?: Only takes Iron Supplements
Smoke?: No
Mental/Emotional State
Archetype: The Creator
Act before thinking/Think before acting?: Thinking before acting.
Emotion-wise, generally: Frequently masks emotion and bottles everything up, if things are particularly rough she tends to be prone to rather irrational thoughts
Conversation
Way of speaking: Borders the line between Formality and Casual depending on who the person is, tends to match her way of speaking with what she glimpses people would enjoy hearing the most- especially with people she is going to interrogate. When in a personal silence her natural way of speaking is to be curt but quiet, and she doesn’t talk much.
Common conversation starter: “I find it’s a nice day outside, what about you?”
Swears?: Absolutely.
Made-up words?: No
Made-up language?: No
Likes/Dislikes
Likes: The thrill of danger, dark alleyways and suspicious nights, the misplaced romanticism in the night sky, intelligent debates and games of wit, playing ISpy with passerby.
Dislikes: People who willfully throw their lives away, those who discard loyalty, people who tamper with things they shouldn’t (be it murder, alchemy, etc.), the mountain of paperwork in her office, people who cross the line of respect entirely.
Hobbies
Reading
Singing
Collecting jewels
Going on long runs
Exercising
 Habits
Bites the tip of her pen when she’s stressed
Stress exercising
Nail tapping on the desk when impatient
Always has lemon tea every morning
Ties her hair into a bun before sleeping
Always walks near the street instead of the buildings
 Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths: Calm, Hardworking, finely trained ability of perception, actually trained in both shooting and CQC, strong sense of justice.
Weakness: Morbidly Curious, Extremely shut in emotionally, doubtful of others,
Secrets
*Has died twelve times total, and has been brought back every time due to alchemy, the resulting mark above her heart bears twelve rings, one for each time they had carved her out. No one still knows how exactly she comes back, and she doesn’t remember the people who do it. Alma is vaguely aware of her multiple lives, and begun a practice to keeping journals in order to recount the story of the Alma that came before. The current Alma is the thirteenth generation, and is the most aware of her other lives of what occurred in 1628.
*Alma’s current status in layman's terms would be a Chimera but instead of different Animals it’s people using pieces of the older version of the original person.
Fears
Mannequins with a Head
Illness
Failure
Complete Isolation
Dreams/Goals
To live a life free of stress
A warm night in with her pet snake
To live somewhere simple and vibrant
Views/Opinions on...
Government: Necessary, flawed but able to maintain society in a relatively peaceful state.
Religion: Ex-Religious Catholic, unknown why exactly she stopped.
Economy: Hates being poor, wishes she was richer, loves shopping at discount marts and cutting costs.
Technology: Adores technology except when it comes to reading, prefers to read books on paper, really likes the convenience of having a phone.
Favourites
Food: Chorizo
Colour: Blood Red
Animal: Snakes
Number: Eight
Holiday: Halloween
Season: Fall
Time of day: Twilight
Thing to watch: Movies
Movie: Film Noirs
Type of art: Sculptures
Genre of music: Opera/Musical
Genre of literature: Gothic/Mystery
Genre of shows: DocuDramas
Genre of movies: Mystery
History
 Eldest child of the Castillo family, Alma was born in Valencia, Spain, to a rich banker’s family. From her youth she was always a brilliant mind, and took a keen interest in the culture that had begun changing around her. Alma was an obedient child who rarely disrespected her family, and up until her death in 1628 she was very much beloved by the community for being a sweetheart. The Almas that came after, however, each bore fundamental differences, mostly in appearance and how their lives played out until the 9th “reincarnation” of Alma came about: Elizabeth Alma Castillo (18th Century) was the first to come up with writing a diary, and the first to establish her personal love for protecting the people. All of the following lives have passed through and read her diary, believing it to be a great grandmother of some sorts.
Alma (21st Century) joined the police force when she was 29, graduating from the academy just a few months prior. Ever since she was little she was fascinated with the force, and very much often watched a lot of crime dramas. While a lot of her life was spent in the same town she was born in (Valencia,) her new work as an officer moved her to Malaga, where she picked up the hobby of singing thanks to one of her coworkers introducing her to a group of musicians that performed on the weekends late at night. Her growing interest in the arts eventually leads her to visiting the various museums that Malaga has to offer, and at the behest of one of her friends, to use her vacations to travel. 
Personality
 Alma is a firm and determined person, very toned down in her emotions and reactions. At first many will assume her to be strict but the truth is she just keeps to herself for the most part. However she is not cold, rather she is lukewarm in how she talks to people- and a first conversation with her will always be more formality than anything. Alma is incredibly focused and tends to get caught up into her work and her thoughts fairly easily, often doing more than what she needs to. This extends into her emotions, as she’s prone to bottling things up and leaving them to resolve themselves instead of actually talking things out. While she’s not as expressive as most, she’s definitely able to catch onto jokes and respond- and often times once she starts laughing she has a hard time stopping.
Family
Maria Castillo (Mother) Nicholas Castillo (Father) Diego Callejo (Brother) Stefanie Callejo (Sister In-Law) 
Trivia
Yes she likes James Bond, no she won’t tell you this.
Nicholas was in love with Shakespeare’s works when he was alive, thus giving Alma her middle name: Julieta
Alma is one of the many souls killed by the Spanish Inquisition
Alma is a wheeze-laugher
Alma keeps a diary where she writes a brief summary of every week of her life- starting from when she entered the training academy
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fortheheavenssake · 5 years ago
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PG MM Anon Interpretation Collection- 10
65: Sept. 20
💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜
💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜
MM Anon
MM ANON … it’s a bird’ it’s a private plane ‘ it’s an Archificial!!!!!…… Canada why?…… three weddings and a numeral …… an unnecessary company …… not buying the lying ……” Rome , Bloody Rome!!”…………” one makes ones bed Philip”…… tabloids ‘ mud sticks, it’s official!!…… hated ‘ not rated …… This spotty leopard is def!! …… “ To boldly go……… “
it’s a bird’ it’s a private plane ‘ it’s an Archificial!!!!!
It’s Superman!!! Was the original third part. The ever elusive doll baby with magic powers to change size, hair colour, eyes, eyelashes etc etc all while wearing a Christening gown🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 Again MM ANON are you confirming this? Private planes have been used because as we all know, there is no baby in her care, it’s always been a doll, and/or actors getting on/off private planes and or going to their local. For some reason EJ and ED are lying! Allegedly.
Canada why?
Canada Dry🤣🤣🤣😂😂MM ANON are you teasing me because l didn’t know that rare song🤣🤣😂😂? Seriously, l wonder if this is about Cameron Ortis and enquiring why Canada’s issue occurred and who was given what information.
three weddings and a numeral
Movie Three Weddings and a Funeral. Interestingly the write Richard Curtis is working with Catherine DOC , a new mental health initiative. It was in the paper the other day, if l recall there was a suicide he experienced, sibling? I cannot recall exactly. So Three weddings and a numeral. Let’s review what a numeral is, its a figure, symbol, or group of these denoting a number. MM ANON are you affirming something for us? Oh pretty please!!
Madam alleged annulled 1st marriage, divorced second and PH was the golden door number three, let’s make a deal, who remembers that game show? Does numeral represent a part of the law which denotes annulment and was it done legally? We know the divorce was legal because TE has remarried or is engaged. Oh my stars, are we getting affirmation?l have said awhile now why did PH hold the book when he was ‘signing’ the register after the wedding ceremony, he held the book so the camera couldn’t see it. Oh this clue has me buzzing! I know it’s can’t be III. Roman numeral three for three weddings they have attended as a married couple, the horrible blue and white dress, Princess Eugenie and Jack B and now MN?
an unnecessary company
Is this the Sussex Foundation? They could have worked as a team with the Cambridges but her jealousy and craving of $$$$$££££££££€€€€€ far supersedes any philanthropic or truly real humanitarianism.
not buying the lying
No one is believing anything she says or does except sugars and celebrities who share management or SS PR.
” Rome , Bloody Rome!!”
Again PP, disgust continues to rile his anger. Raging at yet another trip, how many flights is this now in six weeks or so? If they are all true it must be close to ten. He is a strong man, served his country for decade upon decade, to see this madam, l cannot imagine his blood pressure!
” one makes ones bed Philip”
HMTQ and PP , or maybe LG, the phrase you made your bed, now lie on it. This means your life choices have consequences and you have to deal with them The speaking if first person here, in a manner, leads me to believe this is HMTQ talking to her husband and the incredible burden of a booty call turning into this horrendous mess and PH playing his role, in his due to HMTQ, his grandmother is him having to deal with his poor choice. We still love and pray for him, as do his family. It must be desperately hard to watch him , but it will all be worth it, once justice is served, and make no mistake, it may not be tomorrow or next week, it will come! My word for madam, she will not understand this but Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for the.
tabloids ‘ mud sticks, it’s official!!
Monster Meghan nanny tells all, TMZ shows fake photos of pub visit days and days after it allegedly happened, the pub owners denied they were there, the meta data on the photo said it was taken September 17,2019. More and more in the tabloids both paper and online tabloids, the truth is coming out and people are believing it more and more thus the term the mud sticks. MM ANON, the other riddle you used ‘ stick and stones’may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. I added the rest, after the part she mentioned. So in this case, the ‘names’ which in fact is truth are most definitely hurting her already bad reputation. Way to go SS!! You’re really earning your $$$$£££££€€€€! NOT !😂😂😂😂🤣
hated ‘ not rated
If one goes by social media et al, she doesn’t rate as a royal, but oh my the level of absolute disgust, anger, has built into hatred. Rightfully so, she blew in, rather flew in on her 🧹, paid backers. Manipulated a marriage, a ‘fauxmegnancy’, wastage of money on an epic scale, disrespecting the British and Commonwealth every step of the way. Trying to Americanize the Royal family and the biggest of all is the complete vile disrespect to HMTQ. To me, all the misdeeds, ? maybe illegal, those are all left for LG to manage. The thing of HMTQ at this stage of her Reign and her life, to be so utterly disrespected, repeatedly is utter gall. Yet another major reason she is hated so much by so many!
This spotty leopard is def!!
Def Leopard…awesome band and takes me back to hockey games music and after parties. She is def, not physically def,but tone def in an abstract meaning. She doesn’t accept any opinion except her own. Any questions she immediately cries troll, racist, hater, a plethora of descriptors. I still cannot believe all the time twitter was going last night either in Italy or as leaving to go there. Who cares if l or others misread the riddle. I am not embarrassed to acknowledge l misread something! Hey this is for fun, if it angers or irritates someone, perhaps reset this or take a break. In saying that, l work very hard in processing what the options are that a clue may mean and then writing it, in a manner that is as clear and concise as l can do.
“ To boldly go……… “.
To boldly go where no man, since changed to no one , has gone before, from the opening of Star Trek episodes. So madam has boldly gone to Rome sans archficial, and the Africa trip is pending shortly. Wonder why the journalists flight to Capetown has been cancelled?? She sees herself as the worlds answer to anything and l am sure she will display her narcissistic brilliantly while there. Oh this is going to be fun to watch!
As an aside, the HMS PRINCE OF WALES was taken out of drydock in Forsyth, Scotland. Some interiors are still being constructed. This is a massive beast of a sea faring ship. Check it out!
GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
Wow! How do you do this dear PG! You take so little and turn out a masterpiece! So impressive, thank you so much! As always, greatly appreciated! Thank you!😃💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
Ask Skippy submission
Sep 20th, 2019
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66: sept. 21
💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜
MM Anon
skippyv20
MM ANON …The wedding r/deception … the bigger picture …… easy does it! but do it…… weasel words …… not an option …… a collection of miss-fits…… heads or tails?……… home alone 7…… A sensible emptiness …… “don’t forget to wind the clock”……… no public appearances …… a good WHO-done
The wedding r/deception
So, this variety of people gather for big wedding number two in less than five years for the same bride,,different groom. It looked like a political conference with the level of security and who was there. Why did they attend, as far as l know the paper said they weren’t part of the evening prepared, l didn’t see them there in the photos from that evening. They were at the wedding, why? If you’re all close friends why not go to the fun bit and socialize, have a few drinks and a dance. I’ll tell you why BECAUSE THEYRE NOT A COUPLE THATS TOGETHER, it’s a charade. There must have been some reason they went, especially l enjoyed the cheeky photo of Harry where he SOUGHT out the camera and grinned. That told this girl all l need to know. Something was up, and we may never know what the agenda was but something was up!
the bigger picture
When one says look at the bigger picture here, it means take a step back from your situation, look at pros, cons, what you have invested into the issue and make the best decision that way. Here l think it’s literal, look at the whole picture, who was at that we’d and why. I have no answers but l think that’s one option.
I also think this is PH, going to the wedding was one small part of his time with mm, MM ANON is telling us don’t yippity yap about who was wrong or right about them going to the wedding or not. I admit it freely, l completely misread the clue about the wedding. Am l still lived?🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂💜💜💜💜💜 l hope so😊. Seriously now, look at the big picture who set him up, what’s happened since then and so forth. I feel we need to continue to brain storm and put forth opinions here, this is fascinating and sometimes what we have talked about is in the paper the next day and l think wow! So let’s keep our eye on the prize and on the bigger picture!
easy does it! but do it
Slow progress in extraction from this sordid tale. Many many things have changed and been revealed l he is back to being called PH in the media no more DUKE🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂. There is so much negative PR it’s incredible and SS has only made things worse. So easy do it with the extraction but DO IT ! HMTQ and LG have this. The thing l fear presently is that speech she is going to give shortly after landing.
weasel words
Weasel words are words or statements that are intentionally ambiguous or misleading AKA word salad. That’s how she speaks, gobble de gook , just all kind awesome kind, yet kind but also awesomely kind, but kind of awesome, yet kindly kind. You get it, you know it. As l said , my massive fear is that first speech with the domestic murder rate off the charts, she goes in there yammering like that, there is serious damage that she could do. This is no joke, l worry about this. She on the other hand thinks she’s so awesomely kind that her speeches save the world and just her presence there will make things all better especially if she uses a darker bronzer!
not an option
Giving up is not an option. There were years invested into planning this and years have been invested into investigations. This must be allowed to play on as long as it needs to. They cannot afford to not pull out and follow every piece of yarn they unravel, this is too internationally important to just give up now. The general public is angry both at home and the a Commonwealth, its an incredible game being played but we have God , HMTQ and LG and PW and PH on ours! Let’s remember to keep them in prayer 🙏🏻💜🙏🏻.
a collection of miss-fits
Well l could say the stolen name SmartSets was a collection of things that fit a very select few and a bag, that cost more than the clothes that the fit on was terrible. The trousers she woke had a big bit of extra fabric right in the front lower area yikes! I do think, the almost inbred crew that was at that Italian wedding was a bunch of misfits. I am not judging but my reading tells me, her first marriage took place in Venice and was a massive affair, that marriage didn’t last three yearsish. Here we have a massive affair in Rome, l don’t get this flaunting of wealth. I just do not get it. The guest list, why are the Kushners, be it Jared or Josh always at any event? The connections in that guest list that was posted in the paper again reminded me of a genealogical family tree. This all so bizarre. Has she grafted her way into money as well? They keep saying she’s a fashion designer, l keep myself pretty in the know of stuff like that because it interesting to me. Before mm, l had NEVER heard of mn and her stupid white shirt. That’s her big contribution to fashion a white shirt? Okay then…..moving swiftly along…….
heads or tails?
Flip a coin, choose a side, you win or lose the bet.
home alone 7
Home Alone aaaaahhhhh Kevin!!! Love it, the sequels not the same. Is this now, the trio to Italy, the 7th time archficial has left left alone by his ‘parents’. Well yes l sure Nannyficial has things all in hand, in fact maybe they will Nannyficial to take care of Archficial in SA??
A sensible emptiness
Emptiness can mean a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy, which means a
lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
Sensible can be a statement or course of action chosen bearing in mind wisdom and prudence, and is likely to be of benefit. It can also be something that is practical and functional rather than decorative. Well we know mm is not the latter definition of sensible. So sensible emptiness, PH has made a life changing, mane lives actually, decision that night at soho, and here we are today. I truly believe this description of sensible emptiness could apply to him, HMTQ, those who live both, their families and all of us who are loyal to the Crown and love our royals. We know justice has to be brought to bare or is it bear, you know what l mean. So these feelings we talk about with our 💜🐼💜 and we share here are normal. We need to pray for justice seekers and truth seekers in all forms, they are doing Gods work.
“don’t forget to wind the clock”
Old clocks need winding to keep them running. To wind somebody up means to get them excited in a good or bad way. I think this means quite literal don’t forget to take care of yourself, PH, sleep, exercise, eat well, check your emotions with those you love, do what you need to do to stay fit (and oh is he fit,😁) so as the clock needs to be wound to function well, these things are essential to him being able to function well.
no public appearances
Amw will stay MIA, this is stupid ridiculous, but the lie has to continue. There has to be a reason and we must pray for PH , HMTQ and LG. Especially PH, he will have to maintain his composure. How they are going to keep this lie going l don’t know but l read they are taking 12 staff, that is NOT counting RPOS!!
a good WHO-done it.
This clue has a double meaning. It can mean a really good storyline in a book or film or tv really, that doesn’t tell us straight away who the criminal is but lays clues to figure it out….kinda like your riddles MM ANON. WHO is the World Health Organization. I don’t know if anybody noted the article l put on my blog last night or read it in the paper/saw or heard it on the news, this is a run on sentence for the ages, my goodness! There has been a spate of relationship homicide in SA, with 30 women being murdered in the last month alone. There has been a dramatic rise in statistics of violence. The WHO commenting means this is a severe issue needing addressing! With great dread do l await madams first speech shortly after they land, where she will speak on the topic of violence against women. This is a very dangerous decision with a lot of potential blowback!
GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
Wow! Amazing….so appreciate this dear PG! Things are getting interesting now! Thank you so much!😃💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
———————
67: Sept. 22
💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜
I have had a massive increase in my sciatic pain, that’s been building since flu last week, today was brutal. But better now so l thought l would give the riddle a go. Please continue praying for me, l really am in need of it. Lots of love and gratitude 💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻PG🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜
MM Anon
MM ANON … Azurelee Drive…… “ we are interested” … … between 6 and 10……🎼 California scheming 🎼……((wedding gems…… “ SA ‘just a fuc#@g nuisance”…… “£uck the press, we can do anything I want”…… “ I don’t lie, I embellish”))……” is on our watch list “……… “HEADS ‘ I win”…… a draconian solution … “when The devil drives”. 🎼 “over and over and over again my friend”🎼………(🤫🤫🤭💎💎💎💎👩🏽‍💻👷🏿‍♂️👷🏿‍♂️👷🏿‍♂️👷🏿‍♂️ when in Rome!!!!)
Azurelee Drive
Azure is the bluest of blues it is a gorgeous colour. As l suspected, Azurelee Drive is in Malibu, another clue to reenforce her long term plan is Malibu. Are there any prisons with an ocean view in Malibu? Maybe someone could let me know if there are, l am serious!
“ we are interested”
Again with the first person royal”we”. HMTQ is very interested in what’s going on. I think we are nearing some sort of climax with this trip. I have said this before, l trustmyngut, l have a very strong feeling something is going to happen. Perhaps the reason they flew to the wedding for such a short time, hardly worth it, was for her to use someone else’s computer to engage in a blood diamond deal? Again does she not get she is being monitored? Obviously not!
between 6 and 10
7, 8, 9, are between 6 and 10 literally. But l think this is the amount of time they spent at the wedding. They weren’t part of the party the night before, the next day wedding breakfast or the second night party the night after the wedding. Wow besties eh? Isn’t it awesome to have such great best friends?🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
🎼 California scheming 🎼
This is a play on the song California dreaming, MM ANON has used this before, so it’s reenforcing for her plan to live there after all this is over. Yes perhaps in a dark cement building! Her plan, get all the $$$$€€€££££££ she can, set up her blog again and divorce rebuilding her life in Malibu was the last place l read was the mansion search. She is scheming her way into the marriage, during the ,arriage, out of the marriage and after the marriage
((wedding gems…… “ SA ‘just a fuc#@g nuisance”…… “£uck the press, we can do anything I want”…… “ I don’t lie, I embellish”))
Gems has an obvious meaning, which is also involved in this riddle.Gems can also be snippets like best song on an album etc. These are the gems of conversration/comments she made the night of the wedding. She really is stupid, has no filter and no judgement whatsoever!
” is on our watch list “
Of course, with the international security issues at , her past involvement with many, many individuals of dubious character during her yachting decades, and the current work LG has been doing l am certain she is on a watch list. Here l assume everyone knows what a watch list is, a person, or persons, group, or items requiring close surveillance, most usually for legal or political reasons.
“HEADS ‘ I win”
We had heads or tails yesterday. HEADS all caps, what’s the meaning? Who has HEADS and is the winner? I found one definition but nothing in all caps, heads a shouted warning that something is falling from above one’s head.
a draconian solution
We had a case, few years ago where l live, they wanted to build a casino in part of a local pub. Our city had a by-law preventing gambling and alcohol on sale in the same establishment. I can still see AND hear the owner when he was interviewed on the news about how Draconian our laws were. The definition of draconian is of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe. I might add old law not updated. Many many places have old laws in the books that are never used anymore but still would be enforceable because they still exist as binding law. So LG and his team may have found just such a law or set of laws that they believe fit this situation and can be utilized to the benefit of the Crown. Oh please, please pretty please, let this be so!!
“when The devil drives”.
There is a novel by Scottish write Chris Brookmyre, with this same title. A dual plot, one a Shakespearean play being performed outdoors and a sniper kills someone, second plot a terminally ill woman wants to find her missing sister. The first is obvious, we don’t want that but security will be very tight on the tour l am certain. The second plot, are we being told there is a sister that is missing and still being searched out? Or is this nothing to do with the novel and the obvious meaning, once you’re riding with the devil nothing good and only reviled happens. I am inclined to think maybe a bit of both.
🎼 “over and over and over again my friend”🎼
This song has been performed and covered by many. The endless ways one tried to do things to be loved and keep someone happy. This is PH over and over and over,he is publicly acting this out, the loving supportive husband and “anything Meghan wants Meghan gets”. He has done such a great job and this has resulted in him taking lots and lots of media heat!
(🤫🤫🤭💎💎💎💎👩🏽‍💻👷🏿‍♂️👷🏿‍♂️👷🏿‍♂️👷🏿‍♂️ when in Rome!!!!)
Blood diamonds! We have had this in a previous riddle. Shhh, diamond, laptop, four workers with hard hats of colour. Did she order, or pick up her diamonds??. Or sell some??? I suspected from an earlier riddle blood diamonds were on the table for her, here l have confirmation . I am thinking with the use of laptop she communicated the deal and will pick up in Africa. Oh kids, this is getting good. HANDCUFFS CLANG CLANG,
GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
Fantastic PG! Things are heating up it seems! Thank you, we so appreciate all the work you put into this….especially on your days! ThNk you🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️
Ask Skippy submission
12 notes
Sep 22nd, 2019
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68: sept.28
💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜
IT IS SOOOOOO GOOD TO BE BACK!!
MM Anon
MM ANON …… a slippery halo… … AFRICANT …… 🎼” you must have been a beautiful …” 🎼……… faux mother… no British archificial …… a crowd of booooos await……” so’ she Hates the bloody Brits”…… PB will destroy her thunder …… “ Malibu-hoo welcome “…… a $6 million drive in …… an uninterested Africa … PR pays for local hysteria … a white black imposter … well paid unimpressed mothers feel used …… “beef it up for Pakistan”
a slippery halo
The Halo Trust, the anti landlmine charity that a Princess Diana was such a part of and still thrives today because of her work . I remember 1997 , the land mine on the news, her walking, seems like yesterday. This is a double entebdré by our dear MM ANON. Harry has been slaughtered by the media for being a spoilt petulant entitled man. The halo or crown of the Prince 🤴 is slippery now in public opinion. LET’S PRAY FOR OUR HARRY🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
AFRICANT
Can or can’t, the version of cannot. Nothing has been good, happy, meaningful about her presence on this holiday, it’s not a royal tour. Just wonder what other stunts she is going to pull, because we are going to get another video of amw with oh happy day in the background music. By the way, is she paying royalty rights for using that music , the performers? Catherine cannot and does not put a foot wrong. This one cannot even put a hair right!
… 🎼” you must have been a beautiful
You must have been a beautiful baby, you must have a beautiful child! Singing as l type, great old song. Drive all the girls wild, l think is one line. He sure is a cutie, that’s for sure!
faux mother
As below, she doesn’t possess an ounce of mothering instinct. She can’t because that takes away from attention on her. This is exactly why amw was not at the play date.
no British archificial
So is he born in SA? Not royal, less than that not even British. Good God this woman is moronically stupid! Makes sense that he was in SA, that’s why the dolls have been in use, Christening photo, photoshopped, first photo that was barred by the palace from being used after June, can’t recall exact date. She picked this child up while in SA so she could throw him up in the air, climb up steps in five inch heels to copy Catherine , show off a real baby, who didn’t respond to her at all except when she dug her hands into him and he involuntarily winced. THIS US MADNESS PEOPLE!! This poor child, now his face is forever plastered. In one photo, l thought l noticed a strong resemblance to papa TM!
a crowd of booooos await
Oh Kuwait, l am rubbing my hands together, wait until the return to the UK! NOW the gloves are off, she will be booed and booed, good luck to her on any engagement or public appearance. Boo boo boo are coming. People are beyond furious in the UK and Commonwealth!
” so’ she Hates the bloody Brits”
This is PP, piping in his comments l oh Sir, l feel so bad for you having this to deal with. HMTQ needs your love and sumore than ever! Steady on Sir, steady on!
PB will destroy her thunder
I am so happy for Princess Beatrice and Edo, their engagement photos both the colour ones that Eugenie took, and the black and white ones, l cannot recall the photographers name just now. I was soooooo happy to see the news and what a payback for her stealing the thunder meaning spoiling someone’s excitement, on Eugenie and Jack’s wedding day by wearing that huge coat to stir attention to possibility of her being pregnant. Who knew how that fauxmegnancy would turn into such a mess. As does everything with her!
“ Malibu-hoo welcome “
Will she be welcomed with hoos or boos in Malibu when she just leaves once she has her nest padded, or so she thinks. I don’t see her living the high life in a mansion. She might check into hotel California but she may never leave. Justice is coming! The IRS will want it share of the 250K as well as all she has purloined. The US , l believe is the only country in the world where no matter where you live you still pay taxes on EVERYTHING!!!
a $6 million drive in
Ha ha, reminds me of summertime, movies st the drive-in, l think the place she will eventually live will be mouth many tens of millions, have the best security and the best staff. It will also require wearing of an orange jumpsuit or its equivalent!!
an uninterested Africa …
As l have written below, NOBODY CARES ABOUT HER, People are struggling to get by. SA has had water problems for years! Droughts, poverty, the sky high murder rate and domestic abuse, she isn’t even in the radar of importance.
PR pays for local hysteria
The ‘crowds’ on the tree stump she stood🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂 the great Plato sharing infinite words of wisdom and insight. The video with DT was privately arranged, paid for. People have been bussed in as paid extras so it appears she has people who adore her. I saw an interview with three regular women walk-in down the street, he asked if they knew of a big event, they looked at each other , nothing. He said royal, then they came out with Harry but not a one of them knew her name. Ooooooo the sting!The burn! I hope she saw that!
a white black imposter
Blackface used to be a thing decades ago, Al Jolson, in the first talking picture/movie made it famous, well it already was actually. White people putting black on their faces and pretending to be black to perform or at parties etc. Here we have the screamer of racist, troll, racist troll, her two twitters that l follow are.CcccRrrrraaaazzzzyyyy. She talks to herself, to Sam, sometimes tweeting from both alternately. She of the racist card, has spent her life identifying as Caucasian, her immense use of bronzer gets worse day by day, except it seems to me on this ‘tour’ her makeup is less, her clothes are dishevelled, she looks a mess. She is trying to pass as black so it’s fits her narrative right Sister?!? Passing, years ago meant someone of colour who appeared Caucasian could appear or pass as being white and avoid the racism. She disgusts me 🐍.
well paid unimpressed mothers feel used
These women who allegedly paid 50K to have a half hour ‘lunch’ with her, made to sit on the floor, which culturally is soooooooo inappropriate given that is done when grieving or in mourning. God please bring the Justice and remove her from this family right into a nice colour of orange, she seems to like jumpers or whatever they are called in the UK, that one piece thing she wore, so orange to match her bronzer which she has amazingly used so much less of, in the photos l have seen.
“beef it up for Pakistan”
To beef something up, is to make it stronger, better more secure. The Cambridges are heading off for a Royal tour, let me say that again, A ROYAL TOUR😁 to Pakistan. Security issues have been in discussions and this trips itinerary will be not be as publicized due to those issues. Now it is sounding like, by this clue, that they have had to increase the already planned security measures. There is always the possibility the risk is too great and things would have to be cancelled. That would be a disaster in relationship building but safety first! Remember Harry is #1 on the Taliban hit list and that risk is by extension a factor.
GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
Fantastic! Thank you PG! You are right on your game! So appreciate this!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
Ask Skippy submission
Sep 28th, 2019
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69: Sept. 28
Is this a new thing MM ANON. Two riddles in one Day?🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂
💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON, ITS SO AWESOME TBE BACK DOING THESE🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜
MM Anon
skippyv20
MM ANON …… second son walks alone … bonfires of PR. …… a great rip off … another archificial field trip… a home run …… a lot of backlash back home …… sugar coated photos……… “is it time to go it alone “…… “THE TAPE HAS BEEN SOLD” …… “ for posterity old thing”…… burying it with the rest. ……… 🎼 “ riders on the storm” 🎼
second son walks alone
Our Harry, walks alone, many in the public have been so critical of him, they can’t see the truth or haven’t taken the time to inform themselves. He is our Harry, l don’t care what anyone says, he is a man literally physically fading away, he’s so thin, dishevelled, being with her, l cannot imagine. To me, he deserves a medal for serving to HMTQ ! He has been and will remain in my prayers. Literally speaking he was walking alone in that minefield, or former minefield. What a metaphor for his life eh? 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
bonfires of PR.
I remember being in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 for Bonfire 🔥 night as we called it or Guy Fawkes day . Old history about Scottish rebellion and a bomb being placed in parliament etc etc look it up, its interesting. Anyhow it’s still great fun in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 every November. So MM ANON is using bonfires to describe the PR , basically it’s all explosive!
a great rip off
The fee she is charging especially that lunch just using people for maximum cash value. I am positive she has other side deals going on. I recall that last riddle l dud days ago with the clue being diamonds, workers in safety coloured vests, men of colour, a woman at a laptop. You remember it, lead me to think she is sourcing blood diamonds for resale. Everything with her is a rip of, all a grift, capsule collection, using people even a baby for her personal gain!
another archificial field trip
Oh as l said in the other riddle, we are going to see another privately filmed, ore arranged appearance of amw, l bet she is being paid for these appearances. I just hope his socks fit this time and may a pair of shoes, a blanket, a toy/stuffier and a bib or rag for drool.
a home run
Baseball, America’s game. Home run, hit the ball out into the stands, run all the bases until the final base which is called home base and you’ve made a home run. But MM ANON you sly lady🤣🤣🤣, you are not talking baseball. She is going to do a runner and head home! Be gone, be gone, go face the IRS🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂🤣
a lot of backlash back home
Oh my oh my, showing him publicly live in the flesh for the first time in SA and not in the U.K. has lit a match under a huge pile of 🧨 dynamite. She is and has been playing with fire. People are FURIOUS and they already hate her! I cannot wait to hear the boos. I think the English politeness is gone, as MM ANON has said in other riddle, she has made her bed or beds🤣🤣🤣, she must lay in it. But the sad thing is she doesn’t give a whit of care or respect for HMTQ, the BRF nor the public of the U.K. or the Commonwealth!
sugar coated photos
Oh the sugars have literal gone crazier seeing archficial , like Pinocchio is now a real boy, not rubber anymore but flesh and blood. No seeing what’s so obvious, no relationship, the child doesn’t know her, climbing those steps in stilettos , holding him, unsafely, then roughly, tossing him in the air, the look of concern on DT daughter she even put her own arms up lest amw get dropped. Oh heavens how tacky were those cookies, sweets with words written on them, banana-gate2.0!
“is it time to go it alone “
Is the her or him going it alone? I doubt at this point, if Harry ended it, there would still be screams of racism. I think she is padding her nest in SA and planning her post-divorce life. Good luck with that project Rachel!
“THE TAPE HAS BEEN SOLD”
The infamous tossed salad tape sold at last. All uppercase. I am certain either the BRF has it, or a good friend of the BRF has secured it for them and they have it!! Who hoo !! Happy day! 😂😂😂😂😂just reminded me of her abuse of that beautiful song Oh Happy Day. I really wish she took those words to heart, the second line is when Jesus washed my sins away. I want no soul condemned but she has to choose.
“ for posterity old thing”
Again our PP, speaking, saving the video and dossier perhaps for posterity. When you save something for posterity, it means you hold onto it, keep it safe because you never know when you might need it!
burying it with the rest.
Wondering did the BRF buy the video, and just keeping that and all the other things in her dossier burying it in the secret files. I highly doubt they will reveal too much species publicly. The marriage will dissolve as a natural course, she can’t adjust etc etc. The BRF and PH. Publicly have done everything and then some to welcome her, they are spotless in this!
🎼 “ riders on the storm” 🎼
The Doors, classic album. He died in Paris and is buried there, it’s a place to visit for many fans.This is a classic song but dark in lyrics. Speaks of home one is born into poor ie dog no bone, don’t want lyric infringement so l adjusted that. Speaks of a killer , a family dying in a car crash. Speaking in the chorus that a woman needs to love and support her man. Put these all together at , pardon the pun, but they are a perfect storm for describing what’s Harrys life has been and is. Lost his mum is a car crash, his wife born into grifting family allegedly. Certainly getting no love and support from her. Today, well yesterday now, but seeing him sitting where she sat, with the now woman who was the girl she comforted, him all alone by the tree, didn’t you just want to take him in your arms and comfort him? Tears now……
GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
Thank you dear PG! I am in awe! You are brilliant! A very rough day for Harry I am sure….🙏🏻💜💜💜
Ask Skippy submission
Sep 28th, 2019
————————
70: Sept. 29
💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU SO MUCH DEAR MM ANON, I KNOW YOUR TISK IN DOING THIS FOR US, TO SEEK THE TRUTH AND GET IT OUT IN THE OORN🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜
Did l ever tell you all, l do the riddles from bottom to top? I don’t know why, l used to look at the Sears catalogue from the back too, l still look at magazines back to front. A fun wacky PG fact!🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂
MM Anon
skippyv20
MM ANON …… Cape Town closure ……bells and whistles farewell … on returning, a tour… an unpopular reluctance …… disinformation …… the fence that won’t mend…… club class flying isolation …… Heathrow paps…… no rest for the wicked …… “Hello Boys”…… “He needs a parade”…… “ not another bloody investigation” …… now D&G not H&M. …… cosmetic records!!!! O,no
… Cape Town closure
They officially closed the Cape atone part of the tour and flew out September 29,2019. I was going to say today but l know this is a worldwide blog so l thought l would put that in there. The itinerary has them leaving from Johannesburg, and returning to London. I am sure most of Cape Town citizens had no idea they were there, if they did, no one cared really.
bells and whistles farewell
This whole entire holiday has been just bizarre, her behaviour, a real live baby, was that baby really a boy or just presented as such. We all know the baby shower was for a girl baby, the BRF/LG so so so clever!!! Turned things around that it was a boy baby, that video of them showing amw to a few selected UK and US/CBS reporters was bizarre, at Windsor Castle. She looked so nervous, and PH said they grow so much in two weeks, the glare she gave him!! You know it, you all saw it! Will there be a whiz bang goodie doo? I think likely, paid, bussed in, waving goodbye. I have visions now of O showing up!
on returning, a tour
Oh my goodness, is SS already planning a return trip, as she has been showered with love and praise by thousands and thousands , the crowds have been massive and amazing , kind, amazingly kind, and kind of amazing! NOT!!! I hope you got my attempt at using her favourite words and l tried her amazing kind of word salad, so kind and amazing of me to be so amazingly kind!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂
an unpopular reluctance
Reluctance means unwillingness or disinclination to do something. She is unwilling in any way shape or form to put celebrity aside and take on her proper duchess role. But this makes sense because there was never supposed to be a wedding let alone a baby. Using the word unpopular putting it mildly.
I do think this may refer to PA and his reluctance or downright refusal to be part of the F.B.I. requests for an interview with him regarding his friendship with JE, GM. and other things like VRG allegations. I do not know how long his refusal can go on.
disinformation
PR PR PR PR constant disinformation. One might use the word lies!! It’s been sickening to see and read in the papers. It has Albee’s thus wth her and it will forever be. Oh l just had to let out a big sigh because it’s so sad, and the baby ring used, disinformation about his age, everything about him is one huge example. There is nothing worse than using a child. Scripture says “Suffer the children to come unto Me, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven “ the exact is
Matthew 19:14 King James Version (KJV)
14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven..
the fence that won’t mend…
Mending fences has an obvious meaning, fix a broken fence. However it can be used as a metaphor, fixing a brook relationship for example. I think this is what MM ANON is referring to. Madam, initially when she came on the scene was ‘a breath of fresh air’, marvellously inclusive and welcomed into the U.K. and Commonwealth, and into the ‘family she never had’. Many , including PW had grave concerns. It didn’t take very long for the bloom quickly began to fade. There is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE IN A MILLENIA INFINITY! that her relationship with the British public, most members of the BRF, the Commonwealth and many around the world , can ever be mended. It has been irrevocably broken. Complete disregard and blatant disrespect for HMTQ! And a laundry list of grifting, disgusting behaviour, plus her complicated filthy past. No mending of this fence is even wanted, never mind attempted. GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
club class flying isolation
The return flight, again commercial l am sure, back to London should be interesting. She and her team, will again be prattling on about how successful and awesome the tour is, IF BY THE WAY, she and her smuggled alleged living diamond , amw, if she wants baby in London, or just leave is SA. and carry on with dollies. My sentence structure is horrendous but IF BY THE WAY, l meant IF she can get through customs. Do babies need passports, Royal Allegedly babies? Was he sleeping on arrival and she got archficial through that way. I don’t know how, strict customs are with royalty.
On the flight, Harry will be alone, not involved in anything because it’s all about a madam. I noted today how sloppy he looked catching that flight in t shirt and jeans, wrinkled, he has been wearing those ratty brown suede shoes the entire time. He suited up well though earlier and l an certain when he means the High Commissioner he will hopefully be dressed for it. I keep repeating myself, but his looks and behaviour are SCREAMING FOR HELP, HE HAS COMBAT FATIGUE! I am so worried, he’s wasting away, remember the interview when he was in uniform and something urgent was happening, he took off his mic and ran to see what needed doing? Remebhow fit and muscular he was? Look now, dishevelled clothes, those brown shoes😩, looks like he cannot sleep etc etc etc. I know l keep repeating myself but please LG, l know he is getting help behind the scenes, but our Harry is at such risk now, in his depression, l do worry greatly for him!!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Heathrow paps
Oh my my my my my!!!! The media and paparazzi will be waiting at Heathrow, if that’s where they land, they might be cheeky and land at Gatwick or elsewhere. The media when they return and subsequently is going to be scathing!!!!! Again read her twitters, petal is in SA talk about the Sussexes non-stop but denies being her, petal calls her baby bubs has done for quite sometime. In SA, big reveal, amw nickname is Bubba ☺️☺️☺️🤣🤣🤣. We are not talking about Einstein here! It would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous!
no rest for the wicked
She had all her private things planned during this holiday. Yet she still manages centre stage by foisting herself via IMessage or Skype l think to be with the classroom where PH was in Malawi. All about CAMFED campaign for female education . She just cannot let him go, except when he could have really needed love and support, in Angola, the mine field, him sitting all alone by the tree named after his mum. Oh self seeking narcissistic behaviour, she lives a Master Class of it.
“Hello Boys”
I can’t remember the name of the film, it might be Hello Boys actually! It’s fantastic Bette Midler at her finest, set further war, WWII, she goes on tour to entertain the troops, she would appear on stage all gussied up looking gorgeous and sing for them, she is amazing. Great film! I wonder MM ANON are you relating madams behaviour to the character in the film?? Going on tour and putting on a show!!! I might be way off but that’s a great film!
“He needs a parade”
Support and love for Harry! Agree wholeheartedly! Yes he made a bad choice of bootycall that was his choice,who of us is without sin and can cast the first stone? This was all pre-planned, they would have kept at it, until it worked. I think he needs medals of the highest order for service to the Crown, HMTQ, his granny. He needs away time, months of privacy, therapy, perhaps medication, he ,Ishtar we’ll be on anti-depressants already! HE NEEDS PRAYER🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻. This is evil at work, it’s a nefarious web planned, he was shared in it.
“ not another bloody investigation”
What now? What’s the next thing? Well PA is in a spot of trouble, putting it mildly. He has hired a new PR guy, Jason Stein, former Amber Rudd’s bulldog, lost his job when she quit recently! The paper says he is a ‘master of the dark arts’! The same was said about SS. What are the ‘dark arts’ these PR people use??? Anyhow, there are more accusers , resulting further Epstein investigations in America. The F.B.I. are more insistent upon an interview. The palace statement and PA years ago when this first came up, were emphatic he had NO sexual contact or interaction with VRG. They are not commenting today, read the article in the Daily Mail, if you’re inclined. They are saying, royalty is not an issue, years ago it was swept away. Since the #metoo movement the world has changed. Many many famous men have been charged, Bill Cosby, many famous American media personalities, actors, Weinstein, . This week l was chuffed to hear Wexner been charged in connection with Epstein! If you don’t know Les Wexner, look him up. He’s an American billionaire, one of his many businesses is Victoria’s Secret! Buy from them, you give money to an alleged sexual predator! I am not recalling just now his other businesses, but very very wealthy men have been and are being brought to justice. PA is in serious trouble. The ,ore he refuses to cooperate and scream he’s royalty, he is dragging out the inevitable. Poor poor HMTQ, l just feel so bad for her!
now D&G not H&M
Baby Archie wore H&M to meet DT, which was subsequently marched and appeared officially on H&M advert and website l think website. Now baby Archie will appear wearing D&G. Dolce and Gabbana highend designer Italian clothes. This woman never fails to put a foot wrong. I don’t know if Archie was wearing it while she carried him to catch the plane to Johannesburg , the photos again captured through a clear glass walled corridor. Did anyone else think the ‘baby’ she was carrying looked a lot smaller than amw who met DT? Or was it just me? I would love a side by side photo. Maybe l am totally off.
cosmetic records!!!! O,no.
I am not sure if these two clues go together but this is how they appeared to moi. Are there records surfacing or in possession of the BRF and LG’s team of investigators that show the extent of work she has had done, especially since coming onto the scene with PH? We know something was up at U.S. Open, she had that invisible medical tape over her nose 👃🏻, yes l purposely use that colour of nose! We all have seen her nose appears to be collapsing, those darn hobbies can show up in real physical manifestations ie wide eyed , dilated pupils, agitation, hyperness, just read the twitters feeds that will show you bizarre behaviour, also noted the times tweets are sent!
As far as O, no…..PH is/ has reportedly been working with an O on mental health programs for a fruit tv channel. I have no idea where things are st with that. Is she going to come back on the scene in Africa. I know she has sponsored a school there, where there had to be some firings of l think the administrator , look it up!! I have visions now of her showing up for a surprise appearance with madam. Oh gracious, make it stop! PLEASE😩😩😩😩😫😖😖😖
GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦
Thank you so much dear PG! Seems much coming….Seeing your humour and wonderful personality shining through….is wonderful, you are BACK! Thank God for our Dear PG!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜. Sept. 29, 2019
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smokeybrand · 3 years ago
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Smokey brand Select: Deck the Halls
I don’t know if you can tell by my blog, but i f*cking love Christmas. It’s my absolute favorite holiday of the year. I love t more than Thanksgiving, more than Halloween, even more than my f*cking birthday and that’s a lot because I'm kind of a f*cking narcissist. I love the festivities, the decorations, the music, the objective purity of the whole season. Christmas time is the one time of year that people decide collectively to suck less. Recently, with all of the stupid conservative boycotts and soapbox rants, that less is a little less than usually but still, it’s hard not to love the Christmas season. It’s so inspirational and has inspired some fantastic films. Here's a list of some of my favorites. A lot of these, the majority of them, probably aren’t “traditional” Christmas fare but i assure you that they are, indeed, Christmas films. To say otherwise would just be disrespectful.
10. Edward Scissorhands
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Tim Burton is going to be all over this list, man. Edward Scissorhands came out during a time i was incredibly infatuated with the striking visuals of Burton. I’m an Eighties kid and he kind of had his coming out party during that decade. Almost all of those films he released back then are favorites of mine. I remember seeing Scissorhands as a young kid and being absolutely mesmerized by it’s beauty. As an adult, i appreciated the underlying messaging just as much.
9. A Christmas Story
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You’ll shoot your eye out! I used to hate this movie, man. It was a staple in during my elementary school Christmas parties. I never paid attention to it because, as a kid, i hated anything that wasn’t a cartoon. One day i was sick at home and caught it offseason TNT. This thing played, like, every day for some reason. I heard it was a favorite of Ted Turner but that’s just rumor. Anyway, i watched it and completely fell in love with this earnest, absurd, flick. It’s a really good watch and deserves it’s title as a classic.
8. Home Alone
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Home Alone was the very first Christmas flick i remembered actually loving for being a Christmas flick. Like, when the season starts and Mariah Carey hits the airwaves, Home Alone is what i thing about. It’s the very first film that i unequivocally associate with Santa season. It’s funny because it’s not that great a film but i still love it dearly. I think that’s more because of nostalgia, though. There are fr superior films in the honorable mentions which probably deserve this spot more but Home Alone makes me genuinely smile.
7. Die Hard
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I mean, how can i not put this on the list? It’s a classic. One of the best action films ever made. One of the best performances Bruce Willis has ever given. Plus, it introduces the late, great, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber. Now, my favorite of the lot is With a Vengeance but Die Hard would be nothing without this holly jolly first entry.
6. Scrooged
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One of my favorite Christmas narratives is A Christmas Carol. Dickens was a prolific writer and, among his works, the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s crisis of conscious is my favorite. I almost always love it when ever it makes it to screen but, for my money, the best version of this story took the form of the Eighties classic, Scrooged. It’s so Eighties in all of the ways. I love the overall narrative, the changes made t fit it into a then modern setting, and those incredible practical effects. It’s a feast for the senses while hitting all the necessary Dickens notes. Also, this version of the Ghost of Christmas Future is a whole ass nightmare. Like, f*ck, dude!
5. Trading Places
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I love this movie so much, just on it’s own merits as a film. It’s so good. Eddie Murphy is excellent in this film and Dan Akroyd is just as brilliant. Jamie Lee Curtis was incredibly hilarious, too. This was the second thing i had ever seen her in, after Halloween so, you know, going from that to this really caught my attention. Trading Places is a classic and should be seen by everyone.
4. Gremlins
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Gremlins is just generally one of my favorite films. I love this f*cked up movie, man. It’s SO good and this version is the tone down one. The original vision for this movie was just an R rated murder fest. I mean, the one we got wasn’t a joke wither It’s the reason we have the PG-3 rating. SH*t is just that violent Now, juxtapose all of this little green monstrosity anarchy against a dreamy white Christmas and you have all the makings of worming your way into my heart. Honestly, i prefer the gremlin shenanigans from the sequel, Mohawk is my favorite, but Stripe definitely left an impression.
3. The Long Kiss Goodnight
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I had a massive crush on Geena Davis when  was young. Can’t tell you why, but i was absolutely infatuated with the chick after i saw her in The Fly remake. I followed her career afterwards. She dropped several gems along the way, Beetlejuice, Thelma and Louise, Earth Girls are Easy, A League of their Own, but my absolute favorite film of hers is definitely The Long Kiss Goodnight. This thing is peak Nineties action excess. Shane Black in his prime. Die Hard III but John McCLane is a hot ass amazon woman who can beat you to death with her mitts. It even has Sam Jackson as a smart-mouthed side kick! I love it!
2c. A Charlie Brown Christmas
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I adore Charlie Brown. If Spider-Man, Godzilla, and Transformers are the foundations of my childhood, Snoopy is foundation adjacent. My Paternal grandma had all of the Peanuts films and i would watch them on repeat when we were forced to go over there. I say forced because she was kind of terrible and none of us really wanted to visit her ever but, when we did, and she wasn’t trying to exploit our labor or feed us rotten food, we did get to watch dope classic sh*t. She owned every Disney movie from the Renaissance and every Peanuts special on VHS. I hated visiting that woman but i loved those Charlie Brown adventures so kind of bittersweet memories.
2b. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
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This one is associated with my other grandma, the one i actually liked. We used to sit down every year and watch this one together while sipping egg nog. Man, it’s hard for me to type this out. It breaks my heart remembering those times so I'm going to stop. I just really love How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s very, very, special to me.
2a. The Nutcracker
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The Nutcracker is in the same situation as How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I have a lot of love for this thing, in ll forms, but the one i remember so vividly is the opera they used to show every season. My grandma really loved opera and orchestral music. I miss her.
1b. Batman Returns
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I told you Burton was going to be all over this thing. Bro, how can this thing not be on the top of this list? Batman Returns left a real impression, man. Michelle Pfiefer’s Catwoman did things to me that would have reverberating effects through the rest of my life! She is, more than any other reason, why i have an unhealthy infatuation for crazy chicks. Also Nancy Downs but The Craft isn’t a Christmas movie. Outside of the way that patent leather catsuit ruined me for normal relationships, Batman Returns is just a force of f*cking nature. It’s Pure Tim Burton and i adore that man’s eye. He is one of my favorite creators and Batman is one of my favorite heroes. How can this thing not make my list? Batman Returns couldn’t take the number two spot, mostly because it jockeys for position with Nightmare pretty actively. I love them both so much, it’s hard to give the number one spot to either of them so, you know, split the difference.
1a. The Nightmare Before Christmas
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This is Halloween! I remember being so hype about this movie. Nine year old Smokey was super into this film and that love carries through to this day. Every time it airs, i catch it or, at least, i used to when i had television. I saw this thing day one in theaters, made my mom buy the VHS, it was one of the very first DVDs i ever purchased with my own money, and was the third Blue ray i got after picking up my PS3. The wild thing is, it’s not just me either. Nightmare has become a pinnacle of the cultural zeitgeist. This thing is all over the place. People get tattoos of Jack. Halloween Town even made it into a few Kingdom Hearts games and it wasn’t even a Disney movie at first! It was banished to the subsidiary of Touchstone when it first released because the Mouse House didn’t believe in it! Talk about a miscalculations.
Honorable Mentions: Tokyo Godfathers, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Bad Santa, Elf, Carol, Anna and the Apocalypse
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recentanimenews · 3 years ago
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Memoirs Most Charming, Part 1
I’ve read a handful of charming memoirs lately, and more are on the way!
I’m a Lucky Guy by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. This was a reader suggestion from Anne!
Here, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. (writing without sister Ernestine, his sometime collaborator) recounts various happenings and misadventures from his early adulthood, beginning in 1929 when he’s headed off to college and ending somewhere around 1946, when he has returned from serving in the Navy and resumed his career as a newspaperman. These include things like going out for football whilst scrawny, being mistaken for a gun-toting gangster whilst attempting to hide booze (prohibition was still on) from the cops, pranking an odious professor (and, later, an odious superior officer), and repeatedly failing to live up to the standards of a demanding admiral to whom he has been assigned as aide.
On the whole, I found all of these stories entertaining, though the sole moment that made me laugh out loud was when Frank’s soon-to-be wife and mother-in-law completely excused the lascivious behavior of his friend, which a moment before had scandalized them, upon learning he was Methodist (their preferred denomination).
“You don’t think he’s a Ten Commandment breaker?” I asked. “Why, I’d trust him any place,” Liz said indignantly. “So would I,” said her mother. “I’ve always said that people shouldn’t be judged by circumstantial evidence.” “You’re so right,” I assured her. “Probably,” she continued, fishing around for a likely excuse, “probably—well, probably the doctor sent that girl over to your apartment to change the boy’s bandage, again, before he went to bed.” I was tempted to break into a high-pitched giggle, but I looked at Liz and caught a warning. “That’s probably just the way it happened,” I nodded gravely.
Unfortunately, it does seem Frank shares a little of the antipathy toward overweight people that his sister possesses. I don’t mind when he accurately describes a person’s physical characteristics—if a bosom is ample and an abdomen abundant, there’s really no getting around that—but when he makes comments about fellow student Sallye—whom he later proclaims to be “a real friend”—like no “male student in his right mind” would give her their fraternity pen, it’s just unnecessarily mean. True, Sallye has a tendency to be loud and overbearing, and I’m fairly sure that’s part of what he meant, but not the whole of it.
That criticism aside, I did enjoy this book and I’m glad I read it. Thanks, Anne!
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle Initially, although it was an enjoyable read, I wouldn’t have classified this “sortabiography” from the Monty Python co-founder as charming. Idle recounts his childhood, school days, introduction to the world of comedy, the formation of Monty Python, the run of the original series, and the Python movies without a tremendous amount of detail. He does elaborate more about his independent endeavors, and I especially appreciated learning more about the creation of The Rutles. Using the song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as a sort of framework, Idle chronicles the various circumstances after The Life of Brian where he was called upon to sing it, ranging from Graham Chapman’s funeral to the Royal Variety Performance to the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
As is common for a book of this type, there is a lot of name-dropping, but in this case a lot of the names were people I genuinely like, like Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, David Bowie, Stephen Fry, Peter Cook, Robin Williams, and Eddie Izzard. And, too, Idle toots his own horn rather frequently, which is admittedly justified when you’ve accomplished as much as he has, and makes sure readers know there were times in his life when he was having loads of sex.
Where he really shines, though, is penning touching tributes to friends who are no longer with us. My husband and I listened to Idle read the unabridged audiobook version together, and by the end of the chapter entitled “George,” we were both in tears. The chapter about Robin Williams is no less lovely. I cannot stress enough how wonderful these two chapters are; they alone are worth the price of admission. It does make one wonder why he doesn’t delve so deeply into the character of his comedy partners, and only makes a few mentions of Terry Jones’ dementia, but perhaps it is because they were all still living in 2018, when the book was published. I shall have to find out whether Idle penned any tributes to Jones on the sad occasion of his passing last year.
Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson I’d heard such good things about these books, but my reaction to Life Among the Savages wasn’t what I expected. True, some of the “lightly fictionalized” anecdotes Jackson relates are somewhat amusing, like the family’s struggle to find a house to rent in Vermont, or insisting to the hospital intake person that her occupation is “writer” as opposed to “housewife,” or her son’s fascination with all the gory details after he gets hit by a car. But the vast majority of the stories involve her children behaving badly, and I had very little patience with these at all.
I imagine that other mothers sympathize with these episodes. Perhaps they see their own experience reflected, and so they laugh but also feel all warm inside, in a loving, maternal way. Not so me, I’m afraid. No, whenever the son showed arrogant condescension toward his mother, or her daughter became intolerably fixated on proper decorum, or one kid or the other was insolent and disrespectful, it just made me angry. In fact, I might have said “Shut the fuck up!” aloud a time or two. This is why it is probably a very good thing that I am not a parent.
Thankfully, Raising Demons contains less of that sort of thing (though significantly more than none). I really loved the section in which Jackson waxes nostalgic about her adolescent obsession with making clothespin dolls and her snarky description of life as a faculty wife (who is expected to have “hemming dishtowels” among her hobbies). The story of how she got a new refrigerator was a highlight, as well.
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar Having seen and adored whimsical clips from The Amber Ruffin Show, I was very excited to see that Amber Ruffin and her older sister Lacey Lamar had written a book together. Although the topic is racist incidents the sisters have endured (mostly Lacey, who lives and works in Omaha), the approach at least attempts to be light-hearted. These aren’t stories where someone gets hurt or dies; instead, they elucidate the kind of crap Black people are just expected to swallow or forget.
I did laugh a few times, particularly at Ruffin’s effervescent line delivery—I listened to the unabridged audiobook read by the authors—but after a while, the unrelenting wave of absolutely flagrant ignorance and hate becomes overwhelming. The commentary on the stories is funny, but the situations themselves are stressful and horrible and eye-opening in the most abject, despair-inducing kind of way. I have never been one to deny that racism exists, but I admit to being surprised and horrified by a lot of these stories, espcially the awful things done to kids. A beautiful drawing torn to shreds, a group of teens accused of stealing car keys when none of them is old enough to drive, kids threatened at gunpoint by a crazy neighbor but nobody calls the cops because who will the cops believe… I also feel terribly naive for being surprised.
I’m glad I read this.
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay and Nuts in May by Cornelia Otis Skinner Note: The former was co-written with Emily Kimbrough.
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay recounts the three months in the early 1920s that two young American women spend abroad in Europe, written when they are older (“Emily and I have now reached the time in life when not only do we lie about our ages, we forget what we’ve said they are.”) and nostalgic for more innocent days. It’s written in Cornelia’s voice, though Emily provides many of the details, and tells of the time their ship ran aground, the time Cornelia caught the measles and evaded quarantine, the time they met H. G. Wells and Emily made an embarrassing first impression, the time they mistook a brothel for a boarding house, the time bedbugs gave Cornelia a swollen lip “shining like a polished tomato,” the time their dogs piddled in a swanky Parisian restaurant, etc. For the most part, it’s quite amusing, but there are a few comments that expose the girls’ ignorant attitudes regarding people of other races and sexual preferences.
Rather than focusing on one particular adventure, Nuts in May is a collection of humorous yet unrelated anecdotes Skinner wrote for publications like The New Yorker. Topics include but are not limited to: actors being asked to lend their talents in aid of charitable organizations, a Protestant family’s audience with the Pope, people who laugh at anything, dizzying real estate transactions, and being interviewed by Dr. Kinsey. Occasionally, the tone turns more domestic and reminds me some of Shirley Jackson, such as in “Bag of Bones,” when Skinner’s son insists that the bones they find on a Colorado trail belong to a dinosaur, or “Those Friends of His,” about her son’s reticence on the origins of his friends who come to visit. The latter also makes reference to a car “teeming with hamsters,” which is a phrase and a visual that I adore. Indeed, there were quite a few giggles to be had, and I reckon I might seek out more of Skinner’s work in the future.
By: Michelle Smith
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felicitousfaceclaims · 4 years ago
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Hey just letting you know, please don’t tag white Latines as POC, like Ana de Armas (she’s a white Cuban), thinking Latinos = POC or brown is a misconception, there’s white Latines and she’s one (“Latino” is not a race itself, Latines can be from any racial background, Latin American countries are diverse as well, not just the US). It’s important to say this because when white Latines are read “as brown” or POC, it takes up space for representation of POC Latines, like when in the movie New Mutants two originally black Latines in the comics were whitewashed by casting in their place white Brazilians (which was a huge lost opportunity for very underrepresented groups, very neglected in their countries of origin).
Hey, I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to approach this issue. I understand completely where you are coming from, I am by no means qualified to know the ins and outs of every ethnicity and run this blog as a mostly a place to organize my likes for roleplays. Though from an outsider’s input and all of the articles I have read about this ask, it seems kind of subjective to me. More based on their skin color than their ethnicity (please keep in mind I use Latinx as just a way to organize Hispanic/Spanish/Latin American people as I have seen other faceclaim directories do this) and on my directory, I do tag Latinx with POC because they are not Caucasian/White. I try not to think of the skin color because I do not want to categorize people like that, though I know that these communities have further ways of categorizing each other. But since I am not apart of these communities I do not want accidentally offend someone because their skin tone is lighter than others.
I really hope this doesn’t sound really insensitive, but I cannot figure out a way to actually approach this without getting more comments about who and what I should tag. I am grateful for the explanation, please do not think this is a compliant thing, just me trying to explain how my brain is taking in this information. The way my brain is interpreting this issue is like when some people “white-wash” kpop idols, but we are all still aware that they are East Asian. I am not trying to discredit what you pointed out, but I do not feel comfortable removing the POC tag when it would be based on me judging by someone’s skin whether they are or not.
It is not the most logical approach I understand, but looking at my directory, there are maybe five out of the almost 1,000 faceclaims that fit what you have pointed out, but I do not think it is appropriate for me to judge whether they are a POC or not based on their skin. I really hope this post does not come off as disrespectful or anything because I basically said that I was not going to change the tags, but at the end of the day. This is just a side-blog for fun and I am not the end all, know all. I will make mistakes and I am always willing to fix them. But if the issue is calling me to judge someone by their skin color when I am not qualified to do that, I am not going to do it. Thinking that way can cause more harm than good and I really hope you guys can understand.
Thanks!
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vivi-tran · 7 years ago
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Problematic Disclaimers
I am incredibly biased towards David Fincher’s work, and that in itself comes with a few other more specific disclaimers we’ll get into later on in this review.
This is a largely historical piece, taking place during the 1970s-80s. If you’re looking for groundbreaking representation for POC/LGBT+/female characters, you may be disappointed.
This show famously deals with the analyses of behavioral science, specifically in dealing with serial killers. This kind of subject matter can be tricky: it’s one thing to be intellectually fascinated by the psychological aspects of these cases, and another thing entirely to sympathize or rationalize these murderers. Mindhunter, of course, makes this type of tightrope act the centerpiece of their story. However, real life serial killers are depicted and dramatized in the show. This could ultimately play into the kind of dangerous romanticizations the show attempts to subvert.
I encourage audiences who correctly assess the character of Holden (Jonathon Groff) as a pretentious shithead to watch till the end.
You could probably make the argument that this series is riddled with ableism. Given, again, the historical background of these analyses, however, mental illness is not something assumed to be well understood in this context. But how we should approach mental illness in storytelling such as this is not my area of expertise, and I am open to anyone bridging that gap for me if I’m being too tone deaf in that respect.
Trigger Warnings
The only instance of gore that you see actually happen in real time is in the first scene of the first episode.
This show is about researching serial killers. There is blunt and often irreverent discussion about murder, gore, torture, masturbation, incest, pedophilia, and sexual violence. 
Even protagonists who are regarded as the “good guys” in this show are expected to put on a front in order to coax information out of their serial killer interviewees. Lewd, inappropriate, and disrespectful language is used in these contexts.
Some nudity and sex scenes. 
Drawings and photography of violent images from serial killers’ case files are shown.
Final Verdict: I loved this show.
As to be expected with a story of this subject matter, there’s a lot of ground to cover with disclaimers and triggers. This is exactly the kind of taboo audiences love to indulge in at a distance, telling each other that it’s the psychology of examining a serial murderer that makes these sorts of films and shows so exciting. But these dark and horrendous accounts, interesting as they may be to so many viewers, have to come with a certain amount of responsibility.
This is something I realized with a cold flush while in vacation in Los Angeles, perusing the Museum of Death. I examined a series of figurines modeled after a number of real life serial killers such as Charles Manson and John Wayne Gacy. I tried to imagine what kind of mindset drives a person to buy these kinds of collectibles, much less manufacture them for purchase. 
Putting such a far distance from these murderers and placing our attractions in the same realm as a hobby takes away from the true horror of what these criminals have done. There’s a line between wanting to learn more and becoming part of a subculture that turns monsters into celebrities. 
Luckily for us, that is exactly what Mindhunter addresses.
The story begins with bright-eyed bushy-tailed young FBI agent, Holden Ford. Ford, initially specializing in hostage negotiation, is discouraged by a recent failed case. Behavioral science calls to him, and in pursuing this trade he joins forces with FBI agent Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) and psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv). Together they pioneer a new wave of behavioral science methods in order to better understand the way these murderers think, and, ideally, find them before they can take any more victims.
As I said before, engrossment in this field of study is, as I have come to recognize it, not uncommon. The rise of a show like Criminal Minds, a prime time television series dedicated to the analysis and capture of fictional serial killers, is a strong indication of this. Most of us would find it difficult to wrap our heads around the idea of somebody with such perverse and twisted desires to be as mundane as you or me. We form this distance maybe to avoid the other side of this obsession that the living can afford: that it could have been us. Because it is far easier to gawk at a monstrous form of evil, than to imagine ourselves as their victim.
Mindhunter attacks this line of thinking at its origins and its source. Based on a book by the same name that details the true events of real FBI investigations, the show uses fictional stand-ins to perhaps convey more dramatic representation of these ideas. But I haven’t read the book, so this is just speculation. 
I mentioned in the disclaimers that our supposed hero of this tale, Holden Ford, explicitly presents himself as an utter jackass. Nothing drives the point home harder than Ford’s development which sees his confident rise and his perplexing downfall. Like many rookies in your stereotypical crime story, Ford wants results. He wants to make a difference, and he wants to see the fruits of his efforts now. He thinks that by acting on instinct and asserting himself, he can change everything around him to his favor. This kind of brazen naivety is nothing new and also not inherently wrong. It’s Ford’s intentions, however, that complicate things.
“Why are you here, Holden?” “I don’t know.”
What starts out as a justified practice meant to stop serial killers in their tracks becomes a battle of the minds where Holden Ford manages to put himself on top time and time again. And yet, even after outmaneuvering and coercing valuable information out of several different murderers, Ford’s life crumbles around him. His long-term girlfriend leaves him, he is formally reprimanded by his superiors for his actions, he confronts the consequences to his impulsiveness, and a tell-tale press release puts an almost complete halt to his investigations. 
The first season ends as Holden Ford hits rock bottom. We realize, seeing him fall this far from grace, that by jumping through all these intellectual hoops in order to get the information he so desperately craves, Ford has played right into the hands of some of the most notorious serial killers in history. He’s in too deep. In his hubris, he placed himself so far above these murderers in his own mind because he believes what he is doing is for the sake of justice, that he actually sunk down to their level.
It probably isn’t too difficult to see this progression throughout the first season. We, as the audience, start out rooting for Ford. Yes! We should study these serial killers and put clearer terms to their behavior in order to catch these criminals early on in the game. Horrid as their crimes are, they are actual human beings and as such we need to understand what went wrong as well as when and where. And then Ford’s behavior becomes deplorable, cringey both in and out of interviews. The show poses the question: is it worth it to stoop so low so as to gather this information?
And in reverberating response, the show also answers in the same breath: no.
In some instances, we are drawn to resent characters like Tench and Carr when their bureaucracy stands in the way of Ford’s justice. But, ultimately, Ford becomes unhinged as he learns that by trying to locomotive his way into success, he has shrunk that distance I had previously stressed and learns he has never been fully in control. 
The moral comes effortlessly enough. And while he isn’t the sole director or writer for Mindhunter, we see this kind of thing a lot in David Fincher’s work: well-intentioned men being crushed by a weight they did not take the time to fully grasp in scope, all under the guise of something thrilling and grisly. Fincher’s most famous work, Fight Club, is perhaps one of the most widely misinterpreted pieces of film in cinematic history thanks to every knee-jerk reaction-having male who came out of those theaters wanting to start their own fight club or project mayhem. Fincher himself has advised his own daughter from associating with young men who romanticize the movie. Fincher takes on these topics all the time. I’m having trouble finding the interview that cites this, and I’ll update this post if I find it, but there has been a point in his career where Fincher has been accused of producing torture porn. But this brings me to the meat of what I love about this series.
Mindhunter is told masterfully. The most disturbing and action-packed part of the show is at the very beginning of the first episode when Holden Ford is trying to talk down a man at the forefront of a hostage situation. But, even then, the way the situation is presented is crude and somewhat sad - you immediately understand there is an inherent problem with how criminals with complex mental faculties are treated and handled from this opening scene. After that? The most unnerving images are shown in photographs and drawings, but never played out for the audience. In fact, when was the last time you saw Fincher play out half the gore he alludes to in his films aside from Fight Club? And thus we can be certain this show was not made for the serial killers, but for us. This is a cautionary tale. There’s no reason to show the whole terrible ordeal - just the effects.
At no point did I feel this series was dragging on either. You forget that what you’re watching is mostly comprised of dialogue. There’s no compulsion to show exploitive material. The characters and their responses compel the story forward. You don’t need a SWAT team to break down an unsub’s door and catch the perpetrator mid-dynamic-action. You’re already amongst some of the most ruthless real-life villains in our country’s history. Anything more than that would be jarring. This is not a show for the serial killers. This is a show for how we react to such a tragic brand of evil, or how we should react. It needs to be said because it’s important that we tell the difference.
In the disclaimers, I also mentioned there being little to no ample representation for POC/LGBT+/female characters. While I don’t necessarily retract that statement, I do need to point out that we are given two supporting female characters in the series who play a significant role in both the story and Holden Ford’s life. The first we see is Debbie (Hannah Gross), Ford’s long term girlfriend. Debbie is a smart, independent woman who is able to banter intellectually with Ford and initially finds his thirst for knowledge to be charming. Gross does a wonderful job with this character, but I felt she wasn’t fully done the justice she deserved, especially when she abruptly displayed disloyalty that was never actually addressed in one of the episodes. Had it not been for this scene, it wouldn’t be as obvious that she was probably just a placeholder made to show all the aspects in which Ford’s life was falling apart. 
More prominent than Debbie is Wendy Carr, a well-established psychologist as well as a lesbian. Carr is perhaps the better-written of the two female figures, being decisively driven by her own moral compass and toting the kind of calculating patience that Ford could have afforded to learn from. Torv plays the kind of character we never question, that we trust, that we know is making the most diplomatic calls possible. And even here, I am left wanting more out of her story, out of where she found herself towards the end of the first season other than just a ghost of Ford’s consequences.
Maybe it is for personal reasons that I felt the need to praise this show for distinguishing the difference between feeding a killer’s ego and not losing sight of what is truly important under these investigations. Maybe I am just a fanatic for whatever Fincher touches. And to be sure, it certainly does have his trademark cinematic touch - from seamless and compelling editing to the intense portraits of its characters. But, in any case, this show far exceeded my expectations in its mindful storytelling and is an important piece in a society obsessed with the grotesque.
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decoding1432 · 8 years ago
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The Art Behind Manipulating & Guarding a Fandom (p. II)
Here it’s the second part guys, take time to analyse it...
NOTE: *Most of the posts I direct you to, are SHORT & in my opinion not too dense to read. In fact, the great majority are Q&As. I’ll identified every post with a letter, it means that throughout the various parts you’ll see them repeated, so no need to read one twice*
If you missed or want to re-read the first part here it is: The Art Behind Manipulating & Guarding a Fandom (p. I) – decoding1432.
Now, the astroturfers & how to identify them.
I would say that identifying some astroturfers with exactitude is very hard to do, I mean we are talking about professionals. Not even the directioners who have spent years dealing with them are able to fully assure when they are being invaded by some. Nevertheless they have learned to recognise them & some types are obvious.
*link A*
Basing it on an article by The Consumerist, astroturfers are primarily known for two things:
Vague or anonymous identities. The identities of the people, or     group of people, are very minimal or completely anonymous. Their profiles     would either be generic, unorganised or have few or no posts. If you’re     tech savvy and use tools such as Statcounter, you might notice that they     frequent certain pages that cater to certain topics and/or suspicious     recurring IP addresses.
A specific discussion path is  followed/repeatedly brought up. Since one of the main goals of astroturfing is to support one side and discredit another, most  astroturfers usually follow a certain discussion path,
ie. Opening -> Segue -> Main Topic Being Pushed
I’ll be using their examples to show you.  I’m sure Camren blogs will be like: “relatable”. A lot of shipping involved. Try to exchange “Larry” for “Camren” & “Ziam” for another ship– Laucy, Norminah, Tyren, whatever you want– I promise it won’t become tedious (I’ll keep it the OG way, to avoid confusions). Here I present you what could be the various types of astroturfers (a.k.a. sneaky little bitches):
Example 1: *link E*
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“You astroturfing trotters with your generic anti messages are such a fail. If you really read this blog you would also know I don’t “ship”. Never have. I support two couples I believe have been harshly closeted. Why would that upset anyone? Even if you disagree, I’m all about the love baby. I’m all about consenting adults being able to love each other openly, happily and free from hate and discrimination. What kind of a monster takes issue with that? You can ponder that while you lick your wounds and trot to the next blog to spread your venom. You’re a real credit to humanity making excellent use of your time”
As I see it, our first specimen is the aggressive type. During my research, I found several bloggers talking about this kind of astroturfer. Apparently, it’s a very common one & usually driven by hostility but SOMETIMES WITHOUT BEING RUDE. Pay attention to the description below:
*link F*
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“I follow a bunch of Ziam blogs, and I heard talk about aggressive Ziam astroturfing of two kinds: (1) asking for masterposts and analyses, and (2) asking very specific factual questions. I talked with that-regular-chick about it, and she described it like this:
“…today we chatted and realized we all got very specific asks from the same “dummy” tumblr account: REDACTED. This account hit at least four of us in the past day. Each time they asked for our analysis and masterposts. Friday, I was blitzed with anon asks about Ziam, Zerrie and Sophiam. Initially, I was answering. But as I progressed through my Inbox, I noticed a pattern: careful not to offend so they throw some false praise in, a few “xx” or sometimes “thank you”. Always very specific about what they want know. Several claimed they were new to the fandom. I got so many, I felt they were really being aggressive and definitely had an agenda.”
Personally I tend to receive these type of anons on a daily basis. I would consider it’s the hardest one to recognise since I understand there are fans out there who tend to be very gentle when asking & simply with the purpose to learn & no one wants to be disrespectful toward any anon when answering, right? Nonetheless this is an advantage they take to camouflage. Note also how that-regular-chick said, ironically enough, the aggressive astroturfer is careful not to offend. Nonetheless I’m also aware that at times there are pretty intense anons which break that pattern of softness & jump straight ahead into using a harsh approach like the one shown in the first pic. Just look at the way that-regular-chick clarified she’s a victim as well despite not being about shipping. I know most Camren blogs get the infamous “why do you assume someone else’s sexuality when it’s none of your business… SO ANNOYING OMG” anon. Well now you know it’s an anti message mainly seeking for you to stop. Since now it’s all about killing Camren no wonder why we’ve seen many of these lately.
Example 2: *link G*
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 “Both my suspected astroturfers have responded, and their messages are overlapping under the two different URLs in question. And neither likes to use capitalization, coincidentally enough. And if you can’t send asks under your sideblog, why not just change the settings? Also, why is your main blog hella inactive? And why do you think you need a blog to lurk on tumblr? So many questions…”
Our next kind, is the non-anon type. These shameless astroturfers couldn’t bother less in going unnoticed.
Not all of these are about not using capitalization, this ultimate aspect is a pattern the blogger found in that particular case. Here are a few elements you could lean on to identify them:
*link H* (THIS LINK IT’S NECESSARY TO BE OPENED .IT SPEAKS ABOUT FANDOMS MONITORING IN GENERAL. Apparently t’s explained by an insider the directioners had contact with but I’ll address this with more detail almost by the end. If you want to read it now, by all means go ahead.)
“The best way that I’ve seen to get a handle on tumblr is to set up what basically amount to burner accounts. You create a tumblr account with an unassuming username and do nothing to the actual account. You leave the layout at default, don’t change the icon, don’t make posts, and don’t reblog or favourite anything. But you use the account to follow the blogs that control the conversation in whatever fandom you’re trying to monitor.”
Funnily enough, I was followed by a burner account (or maybe more but I did spot one) in the past 24 hours, LOL:
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Example 3: *link I*
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“People also ask questions they could easily google, like what's Zayn’s Instagram? I mean, you can google that faster than I can answer you. LOL”
Our third type, is the lazy astroturfer. I believe this one is pretty self-explanatory. The description provided is more than sufficient. Characterised by a lethargic tone & vibe.
Another example I could add is: “What is Dinah’s full name?” It’s the first thing I came up with since it’s something you can type in the google searcher… Besides a fan knows DJ’s full name it by heart, right? Lol
You might be wondering, why would they send these type of generic questions, why do they obtain with a generic answer. Well they come with three different objectives, it depends: Either gathering information or steering the conversation or merely keeping an eye on the blog (as in fan engagement).
Example 4: *link J*
I would classify this astroturfer as the… the Inception type, maybe? Excuse me, I’m getting Inception teas here (fun fact: Inception is my favourite film lol). As I understand an idea is put on a target (blog) by this specialised team (astroturfers) just like in the movie. Here I leave you a scene of the film to illustrate it better, min 1:05- 1:32 :
youtube
Saito (Ken Watanabe): If you can steal an idea from someone’s mind why can’t you plant one there instead?
Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt): Here’s me planning an idea in your head, I say to you, don’t think about elephants, what do you think about?
Saito: Elephants
Arthur: Right but it’s not your idea, because you know I gave it to you. The subject’s mind can always trace the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake--
Cobb (Leo DiCaprio): *interrupting Arthur* It’s not true.
What we can appreciate in the scene is how DiCaprio contradicts Levitt’s statement of how the subject can’t remember the origin the thought seeded.  As I understand this example of astroturfing works like this. The target will not be able to remember where the original question came from since it’s supposed to be passed to others. If I put into perspective this is the way I imagine the original OT4s & Cnizers were created. A constant brainwash pulled by the same negative comments, to an extent that they can’t tell who were the first accounts that influenced them. “The virus got to them & they’re spreading it”.
Example 5: *link K*
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Blind astroturfing. How many times we’ve seen repeated questions on another blog? Or from one day to another? Or when we just answer the same thing a couple of asks ago?
Example 6: (if I were you I wouldn’t bother in opening this link since the rest is about their timeline & I didn’t understand what they were talking about but if anyone is curious enough *link L* )
“astroturfing anons will usually give us a heads up that something is coming down the pipe too (that happened with haige 2.0 - people got anons about her for weeks and then she popped up again in her weird mainly one sided stunt with harry). it happened again with babygate but none of us wanted to believe it.”
This is a very weird but not entirely foreign type. If I can call it the “physic” astroturfer. Raise your hand if you have received the “next month (x ) will do (x) thing… bla, bla, bla” sort of message in your inbox more than once? Yep. I see several hands raised in the back lol. It doesn’t mean all it’s necessarily fake, like we saw with the 1D blogger above. BUT it doesn’t mean it’s ALL true either. Watch out for that.
Example 7: *link M* (IMPORTANT TO READ)
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“It’s becoming harder for fans to hold onto the illusion that the internet is a secret club and that the management team of a multi-million dollar boyband that built on its success on social media wouldn’t be interested in what fans say on social media.
So it’s awfully funny that there are now anons popping up heavily dropping implications that if we talk openly about what we see on the internet, that management will punish the boys and it’ll all be ~our fault~ and so we need to shut up if we truly love the boys....
Guilt trips–everything is your fault and your responsibility, including the actions of the management and record companies with clear motive and power for their actions–are just another form of attempts at control and manipulation. 'Don’t you care about the boys? You don’t want to hurt them, so if you care about them you will protect them and shut up and say nothing’. That is emotional blackmail. Bullshit.”
When I read this the first time, I was not surprised that they would reach this level. In all seriousness, I had already thought about this. What if one day an anon pops into my inbox & claims the girls will get in trouble due to my “big mouth”? Let me tell you something *starts getting heated* if that happens in the nearest future, I’m going to send them right straight to hell. THAT IS UTTER BULLSHIT. I’m not allowing anyone to use my girls in order to bribe the fuck out of me & my blog. If anything it just proves the amount of manipulation they are willing to carry on in order to save & cover up their asses because they’re threatened. & I don’t want to have to say this ever again… Listen carefully, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO THE GIRLS BECAUSE OF US. So if anyone receives or has already gotten this type of anon, IGNORE THEM, BLOCK & MOVE ON.
Just look at the date that post was written: 2014… 3 years later & the directioners are still there. Hell, stronger than ever. We are NOT GOING TO TOLERATE THAT EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL ON OUR TERRITORY. Their biggest weakness is seeing us fighting harder against them, let’s not give them the power & satisfaction of witnessing us falling one by one like dominoes.
Example 8: *link N*
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This one seems slightly tricky to me. I don’t know if can be considered a “normal” example or standard in this list since it’s reversed-astroturfing but I’m taking the time to mention it, it’s important.
“...astroturfers infiltrate with the ultimate end goal of dumping stuff on us, and monitoring how we’d respond to it, whereas (real) shady anons infiltrate with the intention to /warn/ us of stuff they know we’d respond negatively to…
the fake ones are always so ominous, and “be ready” or whatever but the real ones are just straight to the point and cautious-sounding and it’s crazy because many things we’ve been warned about are literally things we probably shouldn’t even /know/, much less prepare for...”
I’m still trying to process this last one tbh. I interpret it as the astroturfers (the fake ones) test our reactions but we can tell it’s them because we get this feeling that something is wrong. On the other hand, the real shady anons are to direct with the way they approach, it’s like if they were slapping us in the face but without harming us because they know how are we going to respond. Is it clear? Cause I have to admit, I even confused myself…
Example 9: *link O* (& last example lol)
I’m not sure if we could classify the following as part of astroturfing exactly. I would consider so because it’s so similar & incredibly interesting the way these work that I had to include it:
“Plant blogs”. What is a plant blog? This is the name directioners have christened with those blogs that are sent by the team in order to plant seeds (info) with the purpose of spreading it & ultimately achieving their goal which could be to distract, separate or influence the fandom.
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“it means that we believe her blog was ‘planted’ by someone behind the scenes working for/with the boys rather than being an organic blog run by a real fan.”
Not all plant blogs are poisonous since not all the people behind them have bad intentions. I know it’s hard to believe this latter but from what I was seeing the 1D fam had once a blog on their side educating them & never disrespecting or influencing them to hate on any of their boys:
*link P*
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“yes a ‘plant’ blog in the way that we’re using the term would be someone who joins the fandom with a deliberate agenda.
in our case, the agenda was beneficial to us as we learned a lot (especially about image manipulation in the press and how to limit the effect of astroturfers on us/the fandom conversation).
there are also hypothetically negative plants whose main role and goal would be to gaslight the fandom from within and make us doubt ourselves/our own observations.”
So...
This were some examples that I consider we have already encountered in the past. I believe the list can continue to go on & on but we’re beginning to study this new concept. I guess with time the experience will shape the “astroturfy” messages adequately enough so we can recognise them with more ease.
Don’t worry, on Part 4 I will give you recommendations I found on how to deal with them...
DON’T BE NAIVE KIDS.
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joshhutchsource · 8 years ago
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Josh Hutcherson shows his new face–
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He tells us, exclusively, his plans to venture into the field of film directing, in addition to acting.
This article was translated for Josh Hutcherson Source by @vega-sheliak​. Please credit if you repost.
I always wanted to be a director … It gives me the tools and space to create and it is something that is often more attractive than any paycheck, at least for me.“ - JOSH HUTCHERSON
Having starred in four ‘Hunger Games’ blockbusters; now, without Jennifer Lawrence or Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson finds a new way to stand out in the cinema. And to demonstrate the experience he has accumulated in more than ten years working, this young 24 year-old, is determined to cross the other side of the camera to follow the path of the greatest in film, as a director.
Have you gotten used to the title 'Josh Hutcherson, film director’?
I always wanted to be a director, and to mix with experienced people and to work with other young directors who I also admire.
Is it time to show the world that you really consider yourself a film veteran … at 24 years of age?
Since I was very, very young, they tried to keep me out of the movie studio, although I wanted to stay, which went against the schedule child actors had to follow. I wanted to learn all the elements of moviemaking. I was in the camera truck and nobody could find me, just because I was learning a little about the lenses or I was going to the scenery truck to learn how to build a studio, I was fascinated by the whole process. I was always a sponge, absorbing all the elements of a shoot. And now, I will be able to apply it.
Do not you feel too much pressure to sit in the director’s chair, being so young?
Yes, it’s a new challenge for me, to direct other people who I also have to act with, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve worked with many directors who also started as actors and those are also the directors that I like the most, because they always come with a story based on the character. And when I have to direct, I’m going to concentrate on the characters as well.
Read the full article under the cut. (This is a long one!)
Are you also going to work as an actor in the movie you are directing?
Yes. I’ll start with a short film, because they say it’s easy enough. You can act and direct at the same time. We’ll see what happens. But yes, I will act too. The title is 'Ape’, it’s a rather dark film, about a young man suffering from schizophrenia. It’s a very complicated story that ruins the family. It’s very dark, but it’s a genre that has always really attracted me.
Have you ever wanted to change the direction of any of your movies?
In any performance, one always wonders what would happen if we did something different, but we can’t say that because it’s disrespectful to the director. And now, I can say what I always thought, while still being respectful, of course.
With directing a short film, do not you also make much less than a real movie?
In this case, I have the opportunity to become the director so that I can add my voice to the project. It gives me the tools and space to create, and is something that is often more attractive than any paycheck, at least for me.        
Does it mean that, at this point in your career you are choosing creative control over a million-dollar paycheck?
Exactly, yes. The good thing about film is to be able to make blockbusters to then have the opportunity to move away a little, and concentrate on something much more artistic that really matters to you, as a form of expression.
The idea is quite original, in Hollywood. Together with Indigenous Media, Josh Hutcherson plans to create a series of short films, with new directors, as an original way of presenting ideas to film studios about future films, instead of working only with the script and a list of possible actors. It is similar to television, where TV producers usually create a pilot episode so that after a TV channel gives the OK, they can produce the full series. And just as the idea of ​​a movie, with a trailer, is being sold to us, Josh Hutcherson tries to sell to the big film studios the idea through the filming of the short version of the film.
Could you explain in your own words the idea of ​​this new project?
I think it’s a very good concept. The idea is to take the script from a full-length and make a short version. And just after making it, the full-length would be produced, because it often takes years to develop a script, because people commit and then pull out. And after you realize it, ten years has passed since you got the script for a movie.
Is there an example of an important movie that has started with a short film first?
'Whiplash’ with Miles Teller (JK Simmons won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). They made a short film first. Only when people understood the idea, did they go forward with the movie. It’s also much easier to attract actors, producers, and get funding. It’s like an incubator to create a movie. I think it’s a great idea.
Is it also a way to find your own films to star in?  
It’s hard to find roles that are interesting for my age range. I starve for them, that’s my Hunger Game. They keep offering me characters that are still in high school, or just fresh out of college, and I’m stuck in that bracket all the time.
Are you going to try to keep your adolescent fans or 20 year olds?
We definitely want to talk to that audience, which also exists in Turkey or Italy. It exists all over the world. We want to create human stories where people can identify beyond language and culture. That’s the good thing about film. Sometimes it works … but sometimes it doesn’t.
And from the point of view of a young director, what do you think about the debate about the lack of women like Jennifer Lawrence in the most important positions of the cinema?
I am very aware, and personally I want the film industry to represent a diverse group of people. And, at least one of the projects we have is by a woman. It’s good to have a woman’s voice, and it is necessary that the younger female screenwriters and directors have enough confidence to represent themselves in film and television. I say this, because it surprises me when I see that a female screenwriter or even on TV writer write a typical female stereotype, when there are so many interesting women in the world. The greatest achievements and also biggest mistakes…always have to do with a woman in your life.
Nothing can compare to the success of having played the role of Peeta Mellark in the 'Hunger Games’ series with Jennifer Lawrence.
Does it upset you when in Hollywood you hire a foreign actor for the role of an American character?
Well, there are enough Australians and British taking away my roles. But the accents are very difficult for any performance. That’s the truth. Having an accent doesn’t let you focus exclusively on acting. It is a challenge. And I think there are actors who do very well and others who don’t. I just think that the characters should be open to those who can interpret them the best way. If you are a British actor playing an American, or vice versa, whatever, what matters is that you feel authentic doing it.
Taking into account the idea of ​​creating a short film to present a full-length movie script, have you ever finished one of your films and it’s turned out completely different than the original script?
I remember when we shot ’The Kids Are All Right’, we were at Sundance and when I first saw it, I was surprised when the audience laughed, because I thought we had made a dramatic movie. I had no idea that it was literally a dramatic comedy about a very strange family. When I read the script, it seemed like a drama on all sides. We filmed it as such, but when it was shown, the audience thought it was funny. I didn’t know if that was good or bad at the time, but I guess it worked.
What is the most fun thing about directing your own movie?
When the first scripts arrive. That’s the most exciting part, because there are so many. The Black List is an organization that collects these incredible scripts that have never before been produced and have an amazing library with great content from totally unknown filmmakers. I was surprised to see how good they were. And being a director for the first time, I also immersed myself into everything, calling my friends, people I worked with before, asking for favors to help me bring my vision to life. That part is really fun, too.
Now the actor stars in a half-hour comedy of 13 episodes, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. In the series, Josh Hutcherson is Josh Futturman, a depressed gamer who is strangely summoned to become a hero. 
And the hard part?
The most difficult part is transforming the script of a feature film into a short film, keeping the tone and heart of the story, without the audience feeling unsatisfied.
Can we imagine a world of filmmaking where instead of paying fifteen dollars to see a two-hour movie, we can have a shorter version that costs much less?
I have many friends who literally don’t watch cable. They use other services like Netflix or Hulu. And when you can get that kind of content, you don’t need to spend too much money to generate a giant event where everyone has to go to the movies and pay $15 for a ticket plus another $3 for popcorn. It’s like getting to a new audience in a way, it’s interesting. 
Does the emergence of new media like Snapchat or YouTube, turn the short films into a new system of cinema?
Short films, for me, were always a platform for true artistic expression and the best way to discover filmmakers. That’s the good thing. If I could get people to pay attention to young, fresh voices, that would be the biggest success of my life.
If this is a good way to reduce the risks, how come the film industry didn’t use this system before?
I don’t know, it’s interesting. I guess it’s because everything is still new, like Netflix or Amazon, so it’s something we’re also learning to use.
Are Netflix or Amazon the new film competition?
I know people in parts of the United States who love movies, but they don’t live near a movie theater. So they are forced to jump in the car and drive an hour and a half to watch a movie, when they can view Netflix at home. A few years ago, I had a movie that never had a huge release beyond 'On Demand’ (on cable TV) and some movie theaters. And in my mind, I thought it was a failure, but not because the subject wasn’t interesting, but because it didn’t really get exposure.
Josh’s popularity came in 2005, when he starred in 'Zathura: A Space Adventure’
What movie was the one that never got to theaters?
’Escobar: Paradise Lost’, the story of Pablo Escobar.
How big is the gap between the artistic side of cinema and the commercial profile, where today they make a film with the sole objective of raising millions?
Without being too philosophical or annoying, cinema began as pure art. They didn’t care about the money made…they filmed exclusively as a form of artistic expression. But when filmmaking became more popular, big companies realized they could make fortunes, like the Marvel world that is so lucrative, but in the end, it’s pure business. And now that there are new platforms, it feels like we can go back to the big reason why the films originally came out, trying to get a true artistic expression. That’s very cool.
So does media like Netflix and Amazon that charge less than the cost of a movie ticket to see an unlimited number of movies per month, help or hurt the film industry?
The reality is that there is no business model. And basically what we say, is that if we do something good, people will watch it. And now, that there are so many options, we will always be able to do that.
[source]
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article21 · 6 years ago
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Really serious Perceptions with Stupid Movies
Flicks became one of the important issues around society. Out of establishing innovative fads so that you can studying the normal people today, flicks without any doubt win over the average user. Ever since the uncovering of the very most initially film around 1890s, flicks became your vision documents for incidents with individuals trend. Preaching about the flicks that happen to be manufactured to get fun applications, here's some of the line, with the Pulitzer Prize successful flick critic Roger Ebert:
"We are now living your common box with space or room plus time frame. Flicks will be windows 7 around it has the outer surface. People allow for united states so that you can enter into alternative imagination not only around sensation with distinguishing together with the character types, nonetheless by way of witnessing the modern world when some other person encounters them. inches
-Roger Ebert
Roger one time reported this craft is a nearby that him and i may possibly reach focusing on how your wierder believes plus flicks for an amalgum with acoustic plus vision method of artistry, would make quite a elaborate plus stylish method of craft. You can find a strong undeniable outcome this flicks currently have in the way of thinking. When we finally departure your theatre just after looking at your dvd, most people go away together with the defined types of opinions more than a dvd most people witnessed. With these assignments with life most people neglect by myriads with public plus emotionally charged areas this continue to keep united states gentle. Most people are now living any by using a great deal of colorations plus adaptations with individuals areas nonetheless most people do not discover and luxuriate in, when fast paced in the obligations. And that is certainly when flicks absolutely are a sugary reminder with whatever we will be plus whatever we currently have. I want to bring "Forrest Gump" by way of example this shows a chasteness on the male, together with the mindset in making a little something outside him self inspite of many of the flaws. And also better recently available a person "Happythankyoumoreplease", which will reveals character types, virtually no more advanced than the techniques in the location. A character types while in the fishing reel community will be virtually no more advanced than all those in the real-world as well as complications people facial area are found your release of your models most people facial area. Plus flicks enable united states have an understanding of everyday living by several aspects. solarmovie sc
I want to bring present day old phase flicks plus good old timeless models, they can be your interpretation with the best way elements ended up being while in the the past. When standard people today people are often your reminder one's tradition, your method of obtaining memory plus nostalgia. You can also get flicks for instance "Blade Runner" which will present united states your view within the best way elements may just be when you need it, plus there are actually models which united states have fun plus make merry. Studying united states, tickling all of our crazy halloween bones so that you can cautioning united states for the long run incidents that might autumn with united states, flicks present an undeniable have an impact on for all of our opinions plus methods.
You can find minimal terrible by using any minimal fine
Dvd for a know-how will continue to expand originating from a very simple fast moving collecting snap shots to the tricky field. Together with the technology's possibly escalating global recognition, flicks have right now develop into an inclusive part of all of our life. Whether it's inside of a favorable discussion concerning associates and also a each day news flash over the air, flicks will be among the list of content with discourse. Principally some sort of fun, flicks as one is likewise posted for an simple method of obtaining instruction. Most people are inclined to study on flicks above almost every other basic reference, however which could feel like a strong overstatement. In a great many less than made locations flicks plus television system set are being used as being the method for studying the citizenry to get public change plus get a standard switch. You cannot find any denying for a wide arrive at with flicks, the following having said that may possibly have a very good terrible outcome, when don't assume all dvd includes precisely the same gentle principles.
Flicks this get into a styles for instance old performance, old showdown flicks plus biopics are sometimes belittled to bring freedom together with the old points. They can be accused with twisting a narrative so that you can dramatize incidents plus generate helpful flicks. An example of these flicks is definitely "Pearl Harbor", that's published less than a great deal criticism. By using filmmakers consuming these freedom together with the old matter makes a difference, its either disrespectful plus unforgivable. Resulting from these flicks easily fooled target demographic proceed to trust your fiction that they are the truth, that is certainly not a good element. On the flip side there are actually flicks this get into measures plus scary styles which have been belittled to get thrashing belongings. Company directors for instance Quentin Tarantino around Movie plus Anurag Kashyap around Bollywood currently have its respective rationale plus sensible reasons pertaining to these belongings. Inspite of its acceptable reasons you cannot find any denying the fact that experience of assault will cause identity illness around young people and various receptive group. You can go to good methods with personality plus allotting grouping your dvd explains in advance of it has the put out to decrease these adverse effects. Having said that its position is simply practically a inclusion.
Flicks will be Mindless
"The factor will not be to protect yourself from all of Mindless Flicks, nonetheless to protect yourself from being Mindless Moviegoer, It's just a trial breaking up favorable Mindless Flicks with the terrible models... inches -Roger Ebert
Normally flicks will be deemed mindless waste material of one's. A impression will not be improper naturally nonetheless we certainly have to remember there presently exists pretty much scores of flicks which represent your category plus you can find styles. While never they all have earned all of our particular attention yet not they all have earned all of our not caring frequently. Consequently, the obligation reduces with united states to find the dvd that will be truly worth plenty of time. The fact is traditional with flicks can vary by using each individual. Plus each one category with flicks is definitely aimed on the way to a specialized types of visitors.
Any must-see is definitely controlled by people's private assumption plus presentation, flicks will be virtually no several. Similar to every craft, each one dvd is likely to currently have it has the view plus plans. Flicks could be the a lot of significant concerning all of styles of artistry so , its perfect for covering up a large group devoid of propensity with colouring, time and also district. The following added benefits a filmmakers together with the capacity to fantastic a substantial at risk society utilizing their strategies. Having said that, them reduces with a customer to find the perfect dvd.
Relating which includes a dvd
Your dvd with out using defined track results in being an emergency, so , many of the moments it is the director who seem to can help determine the specific overall tone of your dvd matter. By using good co-ordination along with bloke peers director keeps going to brew a masterpiece this resonates with these everyday living plus frame of mind. This is certainly when we finally is sucked to a several community once and for all. And that is certainly the best total satisfaction with looking at your dvd. Often may well turn into a mindless waste material of one's.
Having said that it is necessary detailed aspects while in the development on the flicks on its own, there are plenty of issues this is affecting it has the reference to a visitors. The kind of instance is definitely "The Room" which will published around 2003 for an third party dvd. A dvd appeared to be authored, manufactured plus redirected by way of Tommy Wiseau, who seem to as well behaved while in the dvd. A dvd appeared to be wholly slaughtered by critics even though it have an effective business enterprise. You can also get a DC flicks for instance "Suicide Squad" plus "Justice League" which will quick grown timbers . significant hiting proceed to build up a lot of money. The rationale now there remaining the subject topic while terribly completed is definitely cherished to your admirers with DC comics.
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the-kool-kyle · 6 years ago
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BumbleBee Review
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Transformers is consider one of the best franchises of the 80's it's success of the show spawned action figures, comic books, video games and of course movies. Over the last decade we've been given 5 Transformers movies all directed by Michael Bay and have had something of a controversial and mixed reception from fans and movie goers alike. Now in this new Transformers spinoff/prequel “Bumblebee” we are (surprisingly) treated to a great, entertaining and heart warming tale full of action, humour and tear jerking moments that actually make you have feelings for this franchise again. To put it simply this movie is the best live action Transformers movie to date.
Now for some people they find these movies as guilty pleasures but to most people they are just straight up hated mainly due to the many cliches and tropes that Michael Bay uses in each of his films like: Slow motion shots, extreme american patriotism, racism, stereotypical and annoying characters both human and transformers, low angle shots of people getting out of cars, glistening face sweat, terrible toilet humour, product placement, objectifying and disrespecting women and of course unnecessary and unrealistic explosions. But now we finally have a Transformers movie that has none of those things.
This Transformers movie takes place in 1987 before the first Transformers movie from 2007. It's about the Autobot Bumblebee who's on the run from the Decepticons and the US military and along the way he is helped and befriend by a young girl named Charlie who throughout the film builds an powerful relationship with the gentle robot and the two of them become the best of friends. It also has a lot of child friendly humour and no lazy racist, sexist and toilet jokes like the Michael Bay movies.
Bumblebee is well known for being the little yellow Autobot who transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle. The one thing that makes him unique and so loveable is that he is portrayed as the young inexperienced soldier/scout of the Autobots but never gives up and never backs down thanks to his courage and bravery but also shows moments of light hearted innocence. All of which is done very well throughout the film and really brings the character from the 1984 pilot of transformers to life brilliantly. However one thing that people are divided on about this character is that in these movies he is a mute after have his voice modulator damaged in battle and communicates by using sounds from the radio. For some fans of the franchise this is seen as a disrespectful feature for the character as they prefer him as grunt scout who talks and acts like a young kid who fights along side his bigger and more mature comrades. But some think this makes him more of a fun character so whether or no that the whole mute Bumblebee is a good or bad thing is all within the eye of the beholder. So this version of the character is actually a lot better than the version from the Michael by films cause his look and vehicle mode closely resemble his Generation 1 appearance from the original 1984 show.
Hailee Steinfeld stars as Charlie the films female protagonist. Who is a typical brash and impulsive 80's teenager that really knows cars. Throughout the film she is shown to have some what of a rocky relationship with her family and feels alone most of the time due to the lack of friends and finds happiness by working on cars. This leading character is a strong young woman who has both a soft side and pushes back when life pushes her. She actually shares a more realistic, dramatic, caring, loving and powerful bond with Bee than Shia LaBeouf did in the previous films since they end up changing each others live's forever kind of like the Iron Giant story. I can honestly say that this is a completely amazing and inseparable friendship between human and robot.
One particular reason I found this film enjoyable was it finally gives us Transformers that finally look like the robots we fell in love with back in 1984. Apart from Bee himself there were scenes where we got to see some of the original Autobots in their Generation 1 forms like: Wheeljack, Arcee, Cliffjumper, Brawn, Ironhide, Ratchet and of course Optimus Prime who is voice by the legend Peter Cullen. As well as the Decepticons like: Soundwave, Blitzwing and Shockwave. Mostly the movie focused on Shatter and Dropkick who aren't as memorable or likeable as the some of the others and felt boring and under use for most of the runtime. So yeah this films main villains are just generic and forgettable. While the other Transformers looked awesome causing a rush of nostalgia they felt unused and only got a few minutes of screen time. While the film is mainly focused on Bumblebee they could have done a lot more with the other Transformers and felt like a wasted opportunity and didn't make that much of an impact like they should have. But still may have great potential in future films. But over all it's good they took the characters back to their roots.
One thing a feel I should mention is that this film finally gives us fights scenes between the Transformers that are actually easy and fun to watch where you can see what's going on. Cause let's face it in the previous films all the fights scenes looked like digital junkyards doing Kama Sutra in a hurricane
John Cena stars in this film as Jack Burns a generic military guy from Sector 7 who shoots first and never asks questions at all. This is something we've seen before a solider who thinks that the Transformers all need to be destroyed even though some are not trying to hurt anyone and always end up aiding the Decepticons. This character didn't offer anything new to the formula. One big problem is that John Cena seems to only be good at being tough gruff solider and not much else at acting so they could have had a better casting choice.
Now one thing a saw that could be used to build on from this movie is Transformers home world of Cybertron. While we only got a few brief scenes of the planet it looked very similar to it's G1 appearance and I gotta say they really should have used it more. Basically if they set an entire movie with this style, tone and story entirely on Cybertron these movies maybe more entertaining, fun to watch and maybe award material. This is a chance for the Transformers movie franchise to start fresh and provide us some quality entertain and actually trigger a rush of nostalgia fans of the original series can appreciate. Just a thought.
Final Verdict: Bumblebee is the best live action Transformers movie to date because it returned to it's roots, gave us loveable and relatable characters, provided great action, humour and love and best of all got rid of Michael bay! But still could have done a lot more with it's unused characters, missed opportunities and let's face it the whole franchise should have started out this way to begin with so it hasn't completely redeemed the franchise but is still a fun movie to watch overall. Final Score 7/10.
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drtanstravels · 7 years ago
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I’ve been living in Singapore for almost 10 years now and I’ve probably mentioned this before, but not a whole lot happens here. Sure, it’s a great place to live and extremely safe, however, most things that are fun are either exceptionally expensive or just straight out illegal. Hardly any bands tour here, movies and TV shows are censored, you are even blocked from buying records from ebay.com that are deemed offensive! I once tried to buy an old, beaten up, albeit cheap copy of Blag Flag’s Nervous Breakdown e.p., but the sale was blocked because some punk dude back in the day had scribbled a swastika on it.
But there are also a ton of things to love about living here and one of the main ones is how convenient it is to travel around the area, something we do a lot. If I were still living in Melbourne, you could tack an extra seven or eight hours on to the flight-time for any trip that we make, so for most people back in Australia, a trip to stay at a resort in Phuket, Thailand is something you could do maybe once a year at most, whereas it is only a 90-minute flight from here. This might make me seem like a spoilt bastard, and I guess in many ways I am now, but when Anna initially asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to come on a trip that she had planned with a few friends just to hang out in a villa in Thailand, I had to think about it at first. It’s not that I didn’t want be able to sit in a private 5-star resort with personal chef’s and masseuses, complimented by unlimited day-drinking and our own pool, it was more the process of getting there that made me apprehensive. In 1994, an Australian band called Dave Graney ‘n’ the Coral Snakes released an album titled You Wanna Be There But You Don’t Wanna Travel and until several years ago, the title never made any sense to me. Now I totally get it. We have been doing a lot of traveling over the past decade, but especially in the last three years as Anna has become more respected in the field of ophthalmology, and the idea of going to the airport, dealing with all of the hassles of flying and airport staff on power-trips, coupled with the physical pain I go through when sitting on a plane just made me shudder, especially when we have some very long trips coming up over the next few months. Also, there were four other people going on the trip besides Anna and myself, three of whom are doctors and when the medical-talk starts, it can sometimes take a long time to end and I just can’t contribute to the conversation. That, and hearing medical horror stories just scares the crap out of me. On the other hand, there was day-drinking and Thai food, plus it was only a short flight. Screw it, let’s do it.
Cleaners betting on which flights will be delayed
Friday, October 13 I understand that Friday 13 is supposed to be an ominous day to do anything, but I’m not a superstitious person, everyone loves Fridays and hates Mondays so I have no problem with doing anything on Friday 13, although I’ve already shown in the past that a Monday 13 can suck! Anna had Thursday and Friday afternoon off so we were flying out at 3.00pm and, factoring in the one-hour time difference, we’d land in Phuket at around four. I took Kermit down to the dog hotel, Anna arrived home and we made our way to Changi Airport. We checked in, laughed as some cleaners were kicking back and watching the flight info like it was the World Cup (right), had some lunch and boarded our flight. We arrived in Phuket hassle-free, no problems with immigration, Anna bought a couple of bottles of duty-free wine and when we went outside there was a chauffeur waiting to take us to the resort. Screw Friday 13, I had been checking the weather and, yes, it was supposed to be absolutely pissing down with rain and just constant thunderstorms the entire weekend, but if that is the arbitrary peanut in the turd, I think I can handle it.
The traffic was terrible and on our way to to the resort we asked the driver if he could stop off so we could buy some beer along the way, but he told us that might be difficult for reasons that we completely forgot to even consider — It was exactly one year to the day since the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol the Great and alcohol was not technically allowed to be sold. We were last in Thailand in December of last year, less than two months after the King’s passing, and a lot of places still weren’t selling alcohol because, although citizens were asked to refrain from taking part in “joyful events” for 30 days immediately following his death, there was still an official mourning period of 12 months. I guess the one-year anniversary was going to be the same as that first 30 days and we didn’t want to be disrespectful. As for the traffic, that was people making their way to temples to pay their respects to the King. Our driver kept apologising profusely and explained that the major stores won’t sell any and, despite us reassuring him that it was okay and not his fault, he then began making phone calls to the resort and we soon pulled over to get petrol. Anna and myself looked around all the convenience stores there to see if any were selling, but to no avail. Looks like another entry in the ‘T-Factor‘ series. We got back in the car and before long our driver received a call, he answered and then turned around and asked how many cases we would like. It turned out that the resort had manage to find a small store nearby that would sell beer to them and they wanted to know how much we wanted and if we would prefer Singha or Chang. “Two cases of Singha, please” was my reply. Take that, Friday 13!
It took about an hour due to the traffic, but we eventually arrived at our resort, Villa Yin:
Privately situated on an exclusive hillside estate near Kamala Beach, Yin is a five-bedroomed haven that blends modern Thai architecture into the lush forested hillside.  As far as possible, the original tropical landscape has been left undisturbed, as can be witnessed by the three-metre boulder that juts up through one of the villa’s terraces.  Captivating interiors are adorned with antiques from across Asia and a daring, carefully curated art collection featuring pieces as diverse as the instantly recognisable pop art of Andy Warhol to the compelling human struggles depicted by contemporary Chinese artist Shi Lifeng.
The villa comprises a series of pavilions that cascade down the hillside to offer fantastic sea views from every room, with stylish and comfortable furnishings providing inviting places to relax and entertain.  The large, open-plan living and dining pavilion features a dark-wood peaked ceiling and black flooring but the tone is far from sombre with three walls of glass, fascinating art accents and plush leather sofas.
Villa Yin’s expansive terraces, including a sun-lounger-topped deck alongside the 18-metre pool, are picture-perfect spots to relax and unwind, or to stage an intimate wedding or special event.  Other top-notch facilities include an outdoor dining area with built-in barbecue, a large sauna, a media room with projector screen, and a wine cellar.
The awe-inspiring king-bedded master suite, with its stunning artwork, enormous dressing room and exotic bathroom, will be coveted by couples, while two bright guest bedrooms offer private retreats with king-sized beds, ensuite bathrooms and ocean-view balconies.  A guest pavilion with a king-bedded room and a living area that converts to a fifth bedroom, sits on the villa’s top level with superb views from its wide furnished deck area.
Guests at Villa Yin are treated to the service of a talented team of full-time staff including a friendly and efficient manager and Thai chef.  Dining is an absolute delight here; mouth-watering meals are served with flair by the skilled chef.  If you wish to explore the island, your villa manager will be happy to help you book golf tee-off times, yacht trips or dinner reservations, or to hire a taxi to take you to the nearby beaches of Kamala or Patong.
About to eat dinner
I think we can handle that for a weekend and Anna and myself had the master-suite! This place was enormous, too, the main lounge area was larger than our entire apartment in Singapore and our place is considered quite big. We had a little bit of time to explore, but it was dark and raining outside. The villa itself is 750 m² (8,073 ft²) and to get to our room we had to walk through the main living area and kitchen, past the pool, go downstairs through the cinema, walk past the other bedrooms and the sauna and finally we were at our suite. The suite consisted of an office, a bathroom with two rainforest showers and huge bath, and two toilets facing each other. Yes, they were in their own rooms, but if we were so inclined, we could both sit there face-to-face with the doors open and have a chat during our most private moments. After the bathroom there was a massive walk-in wardrobe with motorised cabinets and shoe-closets, however, I only brought a few t-shirts, some shorts and a bunch of underwear with me so it was kind of redundant. Once in the bedroom we were in luxury, however, the only thing that bothered me was that there was a huge window up near the ceiling that had no curtains or blinds, meaning that it would be really bright early in the morning and I’m not much of a morning person. Fortunately, I had my eye-mask from the plane so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Take a look around (most of these were taken the following day because it was already dark when we got there):
Anna on a seat in the cinema room
The view while we had dinner
Looking at the rest of the villa from the master suite
The weird office bit, complete with creepy painting
looking through part of our bathroom
Another part of our bathroom
The wardrobe
I could only get a panoramic shot of our bedroom because it was so big!
The view from our suite’s balcony
The cinema room
Where the drinking happens, minus the kitchen
Oh, and it happens here, too
We dumped our bags in our room, I cracked a beer, Anna and Elaine had some wine, the others grabbed a scotch and soon it was time for dinner. When the website described the food here as “an absolute delight,” that was somewhat of an understatement. We were served fresh fish, crabs, tom yum soup, pad thai, and vegetables, all freshly cooked in front of us in the villa’s kitchen. It was at that point that we knew we would more than likely not just be drinking too much on this trip, but horrendously overeating as well. Anna’s colleague, Yvonne, got in a little later that night as she was working late, but there was still plenty of food and drink when she arrived. When dinner was done, we got comfortable, put on some music and just drank and chatted for the rest of the night while the rain came in at a 45-degree angle and belted the windows, thunder cracking in the background.
Saturday, October 14 It was our only full day here and my greatest fear became a reality; my eye-mask slipped off during the night and both Anna and myself were wide awake at 7:30am due to the light coming in through that window. I managed to get back to sleep, but it was that feeling where you’re not really awake, but not totally asleep either until you manage to snap out of it, which happened to me at again about 9:00am. I watched a bit of a pre-season NBA game in our room for a bit before joining the others for a huge breakfast of sausages, bacon, an omelette, and soup noodles with chicken. When breakfast was done, the others had arranged massages and champagne at midday that would last for two hours, followed by lunch. I can’t stand people touching me, thus I don’t like massages so I sat in the cinema room and read a book the entire time, although I did surface to join them at one stage, however, they were all laying face-down and topless so, to avoid seeming creepy, I went straight back down the stairs and continued reading until it was time for lunch.
Lunch was spectacular again, although we had to ask them to cook about half as much as they were going to, especially when you consider that I don’t usually eat breakfast. The bulk of the afternoon was just thunderstorms, but as soon as they let up we immediately went outside. Anna, Yvonne, and Elaine jumped straight in the pool, I just kicked around on the porch because I can’t swim, and Emily and her boyfriend, Jun Ming, went and took a nap for the afternoon. Definitely a great way of unwinding, but we knew those storms would be back soon and we weren’t wrong:
This cool painting was in the cinema room
A boat caught in the storm
Now we can come out and play
Elaine, Anna, and Yvonne hanging out in the pool
This is what was fuelling them
And now they are “synchronised” swimmers
Fairly certain the unicorn was just an inflatable one
Still going
Okay, time to go back in now.
The storms returned, but soon it was time to eat again anyway, so we came back in. Anna, in typical form, may have gone a little too hard too early and struggled to keep her eyes open during dinner. This isn’t unusual, rather it’s kind of expected. It happened when we were in a Michelin-star restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil and it’s just part of the routine every time we go to my mate Owen‘s place for his Boxing Day party whenever we’re back in Australia for Christmas. In fact, his mother now just sets up a place for her to sleep in advance. In this case it was nothing a two-hour power nap on the couch could’t take care of, then she was back onboard again.
Just resting her eyes for a bit…
The rest of the night was the same as the previous, just chatting, listening to music, drinking, all interspersed with the occasional bout of improvised interpretative dance from myself when a song that is so bad that it’s good, ie. George Michael’s Careless Whisper, came on. It got to about midnight, we’d all been partying since the morning and we knew it would be hard to sleep in with that window in our room so it was time to call it a night.
Sunday, October 15 As expected, the light woke us up early, Anna still recovering from the nightmares she had when she awoke earlier to see me with my eye-mask twisted around, leaving weird lines across my face. She and the others had breakfast, but I decided to just try and sleep a little longer. Our flight was at around 3.30pm, which meant we would have to leave Villa Yin at about 12.30, something we managed to pull off and successfully make our way back to Singapore.
Thanks to all the staff at Villa Yin for giving us such a great weekend away and to Yvonne for finding this place! If you get the opportunity, definitely treat yourself and stay there. I have a feeling we’ll all be doing it again.
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I look like I’m photoshopped into the background of this picture
A Stormy Couple of Days In Phuket I've been living in Singapore for almost 10 years now and I've probably mentioned this before, but not a whole lot happens here.
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