#and then wound up watching the entirety of books 2 & 3 in a few days

[only-lonely-www]

So basically ATLA brain rot has hit me like a truck

[daleisgreat]

Old Joy

2006’s Old Joy (trailer) is the longest 77-minute film I have ever seen, but I mean that in only the best kind of ways. Director Kelly Reichardt intentionally establishes a deliberate, plodding pace about two distant friends who fell out of touch meeting up to go on a road/hiking trip to find a tucked-away and highly reputable hot springs. The film opens up with Mark (Daniel London) meditating at home when he gets a call from his free-spirited old friend, Kurt (Will Oldham), with an invite for a last-minute weekend trek to discover these mystical hot springs. That opening scene does a masterful job with its minimalist dialog and awkward body language to indicate how Mark is still not quite settling into married life with a kid on the way and comes off a little too eager to jump at the opportunity to get out of the house last minute for the weekend.

The film jumps to sitting in on an extended driving scene with Mark listening to political talk radio, and when he meets up with Kurt is when the intentionally long scenes start to take hold. I like smartly written films with smooth-flowing dialog filled with edgy quips and retorts, but I also appreciate a complete 180 as seen here and in movies like Slacker where the dialog sounds….uncomfortably natural. When Kurt and Mark start off driving, there are many advertent pauses during the conversations where it seems like the two are trying to think of topics to bring up to talk about and catch up. I can 100% relate to that, and it is insanely rare how often I run across that in average big-budget films and pull it off so well like it is done in Old Joy. Highlights from the road trip part of the film include how well shot little moments are like a gas station stop with oblique camera angles that somehow capture the subtle but noticeable moments of the excitement of getting out for the weekend as Kurt and Mark amusingly toss beverage koozies at each other. Watching the pair drive around aimlessly while Kurt tries to remember how to get to the springs and eventually resorting to a makeshift campsite while exchanging philosophical stoner verbiage is another memorable scene of their journey.

I would be remiss to go this long without giving a shoutout to Lucy, Mark’s canine pal tagging along for the journey. In the bonus feature interviews, it was enlightening to hear that it is actually Reichardt’s dog who she had no choice but to include in the film because she could not find a dog-sitter while filming. Reichardt stated she was anxious about how it would work out since Lucy had no film training. Lucy wound up as a perfect third wheel for the adventure. She blended in perfectly, especially with some smart improving with Oldham, where he would instinctually play with her during the hiking spots of the movie. Eventually, the trio found the hidden turnoff to their destination and go on a hike to see the hot springs. The film once again, through exquisite cinematography and intentional drawn-out shots with very little dialog, shows how all the hassle to reach their endpoint was worth it. It is a boldly ambiguous, memorable scene. The film not-so-climatically wraps up with Mark dropping Kurt off, and the movie goes out of its way to capture another little thing so well that few other movies have pulled off in the form of the malaise-filled drive back home and the dread of the return to the normality.

I have the Criterion Edition of Old Joy, and it has four bonus features totaling about an hour altogether. Daniel London and Will Oldham reunite for the first time since production wrapped in 2006 for a conversation filmed in 2019. They exchange many interesting production stories, with the one standing out the most to me being the warning from the park ranger escorting them to the hot springs on how brave they were to go in there because of all the gunk they have fished out of there over the years. An interview with Reichardt is a must-listen on how she decided to film this movie after taking a sabbatical from filmmaking. An interview with the author of the original short story the film is based on, Jim Raymond, on how he met Kelly and how satisfied he was with her treatment of the adaptation and changes she made for the big screen. Finally, Director of Photography Peter Sillen shares a fair amount of production factoids and insights. This being a Criterion release, there is the requisite booklet included, which has a 14-page essay by Ed Halter that thoroughly dissects the film and its production and the entirety of the 22 page original “Old Joy” short story from Jim Raymond. I accidentally stumbled upon this movie browsing through the latest Criterion releases, and the description of the film made it sound right up my alley by how unorthodox it is. This style of filmmaking may not be for everybody with its different structure and laidback style of dialog from the average theatrical movie. I wound up absolutely loving Old Joy, and was thrilled to hear how this film was a hit with critics and was the catalyst for Reichardt directing more beloved indie films following this like Wendy & Lucy, First Cow, and Night Moves. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Endgame The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve The Clapper Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Inglourious Basterds Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut) Last Action Hero Major League Mallrats Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Nintendo Quest Not for Resale Payback (Director’s Cut) Pulp Fiction The Punisher (1989) The Ref The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT Trauma Center The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[doctor-who-hears-a-horton]

Above Ground (Ten x Rose)

Rating: Teen

Summary: On Gallifrey, the humans who were born there are subjected to live below the surface in an underground society, separated from the Gallifreyans. School teacher Rose Tyler aims to change things, even if it costs her her own life.Prince Theta of Gallifrey has always thought there was more to the humans than meets the eye… And Rose Tyler proves him right.

Chapter 3/?

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 

Read it on AO3 here!

Being led into town by the crown prince didn’t garner as much attention as Rose expected that it would.  He nodded to a few shopkeepers, but they seemed to be more interested in Rose than him.

“Ah…” he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and looked at her apologetically, “We should probably get you something to wear so you blend in a little more.  The grey… it’s not doing us any favors.”

Rose looked down at her clothes. “But I don’t have anything else. And I don’t have any money.”

He looked at her a bit like she was stupid, and then pointed at himself. “Crown prince.”

“Oh, shut up.”

He took that as a ‘yes’ and grinned widely at her, leading her to a shop that was partially down an alley.  Rose recoiled at first, but he didn’t seem nervous and showed no signs of betraying her so far, so she reluctantly followed him in.

It was a cute little place, with dark mahogany furniture and red accents.  There were only one or two other people in the store, but the clothes themselves were also impressive to look at, and she instantly knew that even if she lived above ground, what was sold here would never be anything that she was able to afford.  She was also starting to wonder if it was possible to overload from just looking at colors for too long.

“Oi!  What brings your sorry arse into my shop, your highness?” A redheaded woman called out from behind the counter, hands on her hips as she scowled at Theta.  Rose balked. Was she allowed to talk to the Prince of Gallifrey like that? “Donna!  I’ve got a new friend for you to meet.  Want to quit hiding behind the counter?”

“I’m not hiding, I’m doing my job.  Something I pray to the gods you’ll eventually be decent at.”

He had the good sense to look a little wounded at her comment.  “Now, come on, I’m just trying to give you business.”

The woman sighed, and did come out from behind the counter to approach him. “Well, sweetheart, if you are his friend, you’d better watch out.  This one’s got a huge nose for trouble.” She extended her hand. “Donna Noble, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Rose Tyler.”  

They shook hands and Rose was left having to bite back more and more questions.  Was this woman Gallifreyan? Was she a Time Lady?  Rose had never heard of the Gallifreyans speaking casually to one another, and here a shop lady was speaking casually to the prince?  She wasn’t sure the books they were forced to read did justice to the people here at all.

“I can see why his highness brought you in here, Rose, your clothes are a little… Drab. If you don’t mind me saying.”

Rose looked down at herself again. “No, I don’t mind, it’s… True.”

Donna set about picking out a new set of clothes for Rose then, and Rose, who had absolutely no input to speak of since she’d never seen such colorful clothing before, simply sat down on an ottoman and watched the woman work.  She jerked in surprise when Theta plopped down next to her.

“I’ve known Donna forever,” he confided, leaning towards her a little bit. “Childhood friends, us! They were going to matchmake us but we both put up such a fuss that the Council decided it wasn’t worth it.”

Rose laughed at that. “So you don’t get your own choice?”

“Mm… I do, in a way. I have a voice, but ultimately if there’s someone Rassilon likes that he wants to rule with me, then that’s who I have to marry.”  He extended his legs, scuffing his heels along the floor. “What about you?  Is there a Mr. Rose Tyler back home?”  He was being a little too casual about asking, and Rose wasn’t necessarily sure what that meant.

“Well.  Um.  No.” 

“That’s it?  No, really, somebody must be chasing after you.”

Her cheeks colored pink and she looked away from him. “Well, not to my knowledge. There’s not a lot of time to date where… Where I’m from,” she covered up, just in case anyone was listening to them.  She could only assume that since he hadn’t told Donna where she was from, Theta thought it safer to keep her identity a secret for now.  That was fine by her.

“I’m a teacher,” she continued, “So by the time I get out of school I want to go right home.”

He hummed.  “I suppose that’s fair.  Still,” he lifted a shoulder, “Must be lonely.”

She turned where she sat to face him head-on.  “Are you speaking from experience?”

Dark eyes settled on her, and for a moment she lost her breath at the sadness in them.  “You have no idea.”

Before Rose could ask anything else, Donna swept back over. She was holding a simple red rob that cinched at the waist with a golden belt.  It looked like it would fit loosely everywhere except the waist, and it had charming golden details around the hem of the skirt and the sleeves. 

“Oh… Oh, that’s beautiful,” she said, reaching out to touch the fabric but then wrenching her hand back. 

“No, go on, try it,” Theta nudged her shoulder.  “It’s for you.”

Rose blinked.  She still wasn’t sure she quite believed that Theta was going to buy her beautiful, expensive clothes just so she could fit in, but to wear something so extravagant… She at least wanted to try it on, even if the dream would be ripped from her.

“Come on, then, there’s a room back here where you can change.  We’ll have to get you out of those old things no matter what.” Donna smiled at her and helped her up off the ottoman.  Without meaning to, Rose grinned back.  

Donna led Rose to the back of the store. “I’ll just wait here while you try it on.”

Rose nodded and went through the curtain into the rather large dressing room.  She found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror.  She looked scared and out of place with the finery around her, and taking the opportunity to look at her clothes, she could see why it would be something that would stand out.  Her plain grey dress may be the standard fare underground, but here?  There would be no mistaking her for a Gallifreyan.  

She started to undress and heard Donna ask her a question from outside. “How’d you end up with Theta, anyways?”

She didn’t call him ‘Prince’ at all, Rose noticed.  “We… Bumped into each other, when I first arrived here,” She said, wincing before reminding herself that that’s not a total lie.  “He said he’d show me around, since I’m visiting and don’t know anything around here well.”

Donna snorted. “Well, much as I hate to admit it, you ran into the perfect person.  Not only can that man get you into every exclusive place on the map, he’s also got the bug for travel, so he knows the entirety of this place inside out.”

“Yeah, I got the idea that he doesn’t want to be the prince,” Rose admitted, settling the crimson garment over her shoulders before fumbling along with the belt.

Donna sighed quietly. “No, no he doesn’t.  But he’ll still be a great leader.  That big fool can’t do anything without doing it full out.  It’s a blessing and a curse, I think.  That’s probably why he was so eager to help you. Well, that, and you’re a beautiful young woman.  Gallifrey has plenty of those and none of them have interested him so far.”

Rose’s hands faltered at Donna’s words. “That’s- that doesn’t mean anything at all!  He’s just helping me out, really.”

“For now. Don’t blame me if he ends up falling in love with you, he already seems very interested in you.”

Rose felt her cheeks burn.  It wouldn’t do her any good to let Donna’s words get to her. Theta seemed ‘interested’ in her because she offered helpful and interesting information about a new place, and according to Donna and Theta himself, new places were very much his favorite thing.  That didn’t mean anything!  She forced herself to laugh before the silence became palpable.

“I really doubt it. That’s kind of you to say, though.”

She looked at herself in the mirror, marvelling at how tiny her waist appeared with the billowing fabric both over and under the belt. She smiled a little.  Red looked good on her, complimenting her pale skin and the gold looking almost as if it had been brought out from her eyes.

Red was pretty.

She’d never really known that before.

She pulled back the curtain and looked at Donna. “Will I do?”

“Oh, will you, those robes were made for you!” Donna clapped her hands. “Let me see if I can swindle that dusty prince out of a little more credits to get you some accessories.”

They headed back across the store and Rose pretended not to notice that Theta’s jaw loosened a little bit when he saw them. He got to his feet, still staring.

“Rose.  You look-”

“Like she could use a headpiece, your highness,” Donna offered sweetly.

Theta’s attention snapped back to Donna and he laughed out loud.  “Well, alright. I suppose since you’re taking the time out of your clearly busy day, I can line your pockets some more.” “What else am I supposed to do with your friendship, if not exploit it?” Donna teased.

Eventually, Rose settled on a pretty gold chain that rested atop her head, with a tiny, cloudy gem hanging down between her brows.  Donna secured it in place and smiled at her own work.  “Yep.  I definitely would’ve remembered seeing you around here before.  You’re beautiful.”

Rose noticed that Theta didn’t say anything, but then again, she wasn’t sure she wanted him to.  He took what appeared to be just a stick (what Rose assumed held credits) and passed it over to Donna.

“I’ll pay you back someday,” she said earnestly, grabbing his arm.

He looked down at her, startled.  “Nah, don’t do that! Think of this as your welcome gift!  Erm, welcome to Gallifrey, that is.”

She let go of him and nodded a little, still feeling unsure.  Her stomach growled and she placed a hand over it, blushing.

Theta laughed. “I did promise I would get you something to eat, too.  Well, in the case you’re ever in this area again, you can always come and see Donna.  She’s just about adopted you, I think.”

Rose smiled a little, but she wasn’t sure what to think of that concept.  ‘Should she ever return’.  Should she ever return because soon she’d be escorted back through here to be sent back down below?  Or because… She was a citizen?  She shook her head, dismissing that thought immediately.  That was an impossibility, and she’d do well to remember that.

Donna returned and gave Theta his credit stick back. “Well. Don’t be strangers. You know where I am.”

“Never.  Thank you, Donna.” Theta shot her a charming smile that just made her roll her eyes.

“Yeah, thank you so much,” Rose said, hoping her voice sounded as genuine as she felt. 

Donna smiled at her, eyes soft.  “Of course, dear.”

They left then, and Theta led her back up the alley and back into the main roads. “Ah, now that people will quit staring at you, we should find something to eat.”

Rose was having trouble keeping herself focused.  There were so many questions she had, and she wasn’t sure where to start.  The people bustling around her were staring at her less, but she was admittedly still staring quite openly at them.  Her clothes were beautiful, but many other peoples’ were gaudy in comparison, and she was glad that Donna had picked something that was so tame.  She grabbed Theta’s arm, trying to keep up with his long strides and not lose him in the crowd, completely missing the surprised look he was giving her. 

She looked around as they walked along and was suddenly hit with the smell of something meaty and savory, her mouth watering.  “Do you smell that?”

“Yeah.”

“I want whatever that is.”

Theta laughed, guiding her towards the stall where the smell was originating from.  “Those are meat pies, but let me tell you, they’re the best in the city.  You’ve got a good nose on you, Rose Tyler.”

She decided that if the worst happened from today, whatever happened right now, the food she ate and the clothes she wore…

She deserved to enjoy it.

[koholinthibiscus]

My Tumblr Journey and mental health

What the hell is this?  Where am I? What do I do and how do I do it?

You often hear of people getting to their 30′s and feeling more comfortable in their skin and just owning, accepting and loving themselves.  Well, maybe it’s because I need psychotherapy, and maybe it’s because I’ve come into adulthood in a period with huge economic and political upheaval as well as a pandemic; but I don’t feel that way.  I feel simultaneously old and young.  clueless about young things (like tmblr) and clueless about old things (like mortgages... even though I have one) 

I’ve deleted Facebook and use twitter sparingly these days so the reason joined this site is to purely vent.  To write my thoughts out and send them into the internet ether to languish, probably ignored.  But just getting it out might make all the difference to my physical and mental well being so I’m just going to give it a shot and see where things go. 

I feel terribly alone and isolated.  I have a type of social anxiety that you probably wouldn't notice.  You might just think I’m an idiot or a bitch.  You might barely acknowledge my existence.  I’m pretty average so I may not register.  But when I’m done talking I will think and think and think about it.  How did I come across?  why the fuck did I say that?  You think I’m a fucking idiot don’t you?  I will simply torture myself forever and ever.  And I avoid social interaction, especially with new people, as much as I can.  I can just about manage in a workplace setting but all my energy for this is taken up with that. 

I feel unheard, unseen and unsatisfied.  I feel a lump in my throat and a weight in my chest.  I feel exhausted and headachey most of the time.  I can’t bear this current situation.  I have a visceral hate for my country.  I can’t bear sad news.  I can’t cope with news that implicates humans as ignorant, unsympathetic, inhumane creatures.  I feel deep sadness at the existential threat our planet faces and confusion and sadness when I realise that barely anyone in my real life feels the same urgency and guilt.  I have changed my lifestyle (probably not enough) to try and alleviate the guilt but it hasn’t worked.  

So I get into things to try and distract myself; fandoms, stories, subjects, video games, novels and I feel sad about it because I feel useless “not good at it” or that they’re a waste of time.  I hate myself so much that my hobbies make me sad. How stupid is that?  I’ve recently been getting into DnD during lock down and watching critical role.  I enjoy it but it makes me sooooo sad and jealous that I don’t have a strong friend group like that who can enjoy playing DnD with the same level of fun, ease and camaraderie.  It literally hurts my heart and I’ve been feeling weird for days.  So I’ve tried to make myself better by consuming things.  I’ve bought a new set of dice and bought some unrelated books.  

I skip from one subject or thing to the next feeling unsatisfied and discontent.  I don’t practice things, I don’t finish things.  I give up. And I feel like I’m giving up at life. I am lazy and stupid.  My hobbies, likes and interests feel like a plaster over a gaping wound and was working but it’s not any more. Getting lost in a fantasy world just makes me feel sad I can’t create my own or be with a group of friends, either on line or on person where I can create together. 

I am petrified of parent hood.  I have an amazing 3 year old.  She is a marvel. But I have a constant dread of failing her. Doing too much, doing too little.  I want her to strive for happiness.  Take on hard things, work at things till she’s good at them, whatever it may be.  I honestly don’t care what as long as she enjoys it, has a passion for it and is ultimately happy.  I want to push her, but I don’t want to push her too much.  I worry about sending wrong messages.  I worry about not doing enough with her.  I do not want to bring her up the way that my mother brought me up. I am terrified of repeating the same mistakes. 

I’m ultimately a kind person who is trying their best but can’t unleash my true potential due to depression, anxiety and self-confidence issues.  I get so angry and sad at people who don’t follow the same ideals as me.  which.... isn’t ideal.  I can’t stand TERFs, racists, ableists, misogynists, right wing people, climate change deniers, ignorant people.  I can’t stand it when people think that poor people only have themselves to blame.  I hate capitalism and colonialism.  I want to change the way the world operates even if it is to my detriment as a white CIS English women living in comfort.  I feel trapped in suburbia where nothing changes and no one looks or is different.  

I don’t mean to fetishize certain communities with that statement and I reliaze that it’s probably ignorant of me to suggest that everyone is the same too, given that I struggle to interact with people.  And I’m not suggesting that I’m some sort of special flower  or that ‘I’m not like other women’ (eeww) either, I know there are people out there I would probably get on with but like I say, I struggle.

It frustrates me when people don’t feel the same way politically.  I think that people’s politics are based on their morals so I struggle with conservatives for example.  I don’t understand them or where they come from.  I want things that people need to be owned by the public and free at the point of access, healthcare being the main one and I fear for the future of the NHS.  Yes, even if it means higher taxes (but I obviously want the super rich taxed more) I don’t believe billionaires should exist.  I want universal basic income.  If the human race keeps breeding, if we keep suffering from pandemics, if we progress technologically to the point where mechanization is even more prevalent, we will not need people to have jobs.  We need UBI to level the playing field.  And I want a vegan world.  All of the above makes my head swim with anger and despair.  What type of world will my child have to endure when she gets to my age?  I fucking hope it’s better than this.  I can honestly say that I believe I am on the right side of history with my politics.  It is ultimately about being kind and humane.  But no... I’m probably seen as a soft SJW snowflake keyboard warrior twat by my family (which is why I went off facebook).  Even though I have a masters in Gender studies and a career in social justice work, but sure, I’m just after the ‘internet points’ or want to look ‘woke’.  I feel like not many people truly know me and if they do know all of the above and don’t like what  they see,  I don’t know man, that kills me.  I want people to think well of me. I want people to think I am a good person. 

I could yap on for ages about this honestly but it would make little sense.

I think I wanted to start this as a place to get my feelings down because I am starting a journey of therapy soon.  My sessions should begin in September but I feel the need to get stuff out now.  I’m having a bit of a shit time in my head right now and I felt like I would burst. 

I’m already worried that I will appear stupid and self centered.  There is nothing particularly wrong with my life.  I have a good job that I love but am also petrified of it and of getting it wrong so I self sabotage, worry and don’t believe in my abilities and I’ve been doing that since college.  (I need to un pack how I feel about work and my actions around it, I have a lot of thoughts, maybe for another time) 

I pick the spots on my face till they become angry red welts, I pick the skin around my nails till they get infected and then I hate myself for how I look, even though it was my fault in the first place.  I don’t shower, don’t wash my face, don’t get enough sleep then look in the mirror and see my greasy lank hair, baggy grey eyes and bad skin and I just hate myself.  Is this an analogy for the entirety of my personality? I am my own worst enemy and I need to give myself a fucking break.  Easier said than done. 

Things to unpack in therapy: 

My work 

My politics and how I interact, deal with people who don’t feel the same way as me

My child hood and family dynamics - It’s fucked up y’all. 

My Child

My husband 

My past relationship

The sick thing I do at night when i think about horrible things, like the death of my child for no god damn reason. (Is it punishment?) 

It’s frustrating being so aware of my issues and not feeling able to do anything about it. 

It’s probably an effect of lock down but I have been feeling really bad consistently for a very long period of time now and it’s exhausting.  I always have peaks and troughs, feel great to OK for sometimes a good few months then it just comes down on me like a bag of hammers and I feel like death for 2-4 weeks.  

I’ve been having those hiccups more often and for longer.  I’m so fucking tired man.  A couple of months ago a I had a terrible headache for 4 days, could barely move and felt tearful all the time.  I just thought it was a migraine attack at the time (which I very very rarely have) but I coincided with a particular event that I’m not ready to talk about (It’s really not that juicy it’s quite fucking pathetic actually) and I think it was a major depressive episode. 

I think I’m done now, I’m emotionally exhausted after reading this through and my throat hurts from trying not to cry.  Maybe this is the start of my tumblr journey maybe I’ll delete it all in a few days I don’t know.  I had to try something. 

[fibula-rasa]

You’re traveling through another dimension…

The place is New Jersey, the time is 2001, and the journey into the shadows that you’re about to read is my journey. My journey in committing myself to see every episode of The Twilight Zone.

I grew up watching Twilight Zone reruns on TV; loving the style, imagination, and colorful characters. In or around 2001, as a high-school freshman, I saved up to buy The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree. It shocked me to learn how many episodes of the show I hadn’t seen after years of faithfully watching reruns and the bi-annual marathons.

Yes, this is that same copy of The Twilight Zone Companion.

Setting a goal for myself to see every episode, checking them off in the book as I went along, was a daunting task back then. Not only were there no streaming services, but also no complete home-video release. (For the longest time CBS Home Video only released collections of episodes in no discernible order on VHS and DVD.) On top of that, a few of the episodes were not in syndication. Praise be to Serling, my parents owned one of the compilation tapes that included one of these episodes (The Encounter). Of course, I then understood why it wasn’t in syndication… It has since returned to the airwaves for some reason.

In the end, it took me a little over a year to see all of them with the help of timed recording on my VCR.

I wasn’t lying about checking off the episodes...

It’s great that The Twilight Zone is now available on multiple streaming services in addition to The Scifi Channel still playing reruns. Now none of you need to have my single-minded dedication to seemingly pointless tasks to discover television shows that were cancelled forty years before you were born.

Over the next two days, in honor of the marathon, I’ll make a series of posts to help all of you make the most of your first journey into imagination of 2018.

Below the jump, you’ll find a little bit about each of my favorite episodes. That’s the signpost up ahead--

--your next stop, The Twilight Zone!

The Invaders

Season 2, Episode 15

Director: Douglas Heyes | Writer: Richard Matheson

A woman living in an isolated cabin spends a terrifying night with tiny spacemen.

Agnes Moorehead is undoubtedly one of the best and most under-appreciated actors of the last century. The Invaders is a great episode from a technical and stylistic standpoint, but Moorehead’s performance still stands out. What a wonderful stroke of genius it was to take a woman so known for her radio work, for her inimitable voice, and cast her in a role with no dialogue. It’s a testament to how well this episode is made that the titular invaders are honest-to-goodness hand puppets but it’s one of the series’ most tense and terrifying entries.

A Stop at Willoughby

Season 1, Episode 30

Director: Robert Parrish | Writer: Rod Serling

A harrowed Madison Avenue ad man, dissatisfied with his life, begins to dream about another, quieter life in a town called Willoughby.

Nostalgia is a common theme throughout the entirety of the series and this is examination of sehnsucht the best execution of the theme. Gart Williams (James Daly) isn’t wistful about his own past (as with the simpler, but also great Walking Distance). Instead he yearns for some nebulous summer in the late 19th century, some nebulous place in America, unknown to him but relaxed enough that he’d have all the time in the world to “live his life full measure.” James Daly portrays Gart as someone who is too tired to continue functioning professionally or personally. His turn to nostalgia is driven by depression and the exhaustion that depression always seems to have at the ready in its handbag.

Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

Season 2, Episode 28

Director: Montgomery Pittman | Writer: Rod Serling

When a UFO crashes into the woods on a snowy night, two state troopers track footprints to a roadside diner filled with bus passengers stuck by a bridge gone out. Will they be able to figure out who doesn’t belong?

Serling takes a classic mystery premise and adds a science-fictional spin with Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? It’s a lively episode with well-limned character work. Serling loves karmic retribution, especially when it takes the form of a twist on top of a twist. This episode illustrates the concept in spades, though I won’t elaborate further in case you haven’t seen this one yet!

Where is Everybody?

Season 1, Episode 1

Director: Robert Stevens | Writer: Rod Serling

A man arrives at a small town with no idea how he got there or who he is. Unfortunately, there’s not a single soul in town to clear things up for him.

The origins of The Twilight Zone lie in a TV drama Rod Serling wrote called The Time Element (which is on the complete series home video release btw). That story certainly contains the necessary ingredients we’ve now come to associate with the show, but it’s with the pilot Where is Everybody? that Serling hammers out exactly how he plans to approach short speculative stories: Human dramas that often deal with the interior life of a person when they’re faced with extraordinary circumstance. Earl Holliman’s acting is often rightfully lauded as well as Serling’s writing. The camera work by Joseph La Shelle is incredibly artful for TV photography of the time, using camera angles and movement to reflect the feelings of the main character or to emphasize the feeling of being watched by an unseen observer.

Nothing in the Dark

Season 3, Episode 16

Director: Lamont Johnson | Writer: George Clayton Johnson

An elderly, fearful woman is faced with a conundrum when a young police officer is wounded on her doorstep.

I always marvel at how beautifully executed Twilight Zone episodes are that take place in a single cramped space with a small cast of characters. This one happens to be a meditation on the nature of fear and death in a basement apartment with an old lady and a young man. George Clayton Johnson is one of the first writers outside of Serling to write for the series and Nothing in the Dark proves he was very capable of handling the tone, style, and themes of the series. Gladys Cooper stars in a few episodes, but this is her most tender and heartfelt role. She has great chemistry with Robert Redford, who plays the ailing baby-faced cop.

The Hitch-Hiker

Season 1, Episode 16

Director: Alvin Ganzer | Writer: Rod Serling (story by Lucille Fletcher)

Nan Adams starts continually seeing the same strange man hitchhiking along the roadside as she drives across the country.

The original version of this story was a radio play written by Lucille Fletcher. In the radio broadcasts of the story, Orson Welles plays the lead. It’s worth a listen after viewing the episode both because Welles is an excellent radio actor and because of how much of the mood of the story in light of the gender swap. When Serling bought the story from Fletcher to adapt it, she did not approve of gender-swapping the protagonist. It’s an interesting point to reflect on. Stevens’ Nan is instantly vulnerable as a young woman traveling completely alone; a strange man maybe stalking her is a real and common danger. Her fear is reasonable and it adds to the anxiety of the gradual revelation that the danger may actually be supernatural. With Welles, a man with such an imposing figure (that comes through in his voice) so quickly disquieted by a random man along the side of the road instantly signals to the listener that there may be more going on than meets the eye (or ear). They’re practically telling two different stories.

And When the Sky Was Opened

Season 1, Episode 11

Director: Douglas Heyes | Writer: Rod Serling (story by Richard Matheson)

Three test pilots are hospitalized after a crash landing. One by one they lose their grip on their very existence.

Speculative fiction stories dealing with space travel in the early days of manned space exploration are such a treat. They’re a window into our collective fears about the speed of our move into unexplored territory; physically, theoretically, and philosophically. This episode wastes no time getting deep into the unexplained. Rather than starting with the crash, it’s a few days later and one of the pilots (Charles Aidman) has already disappeared along with any evidence of his existence; except of course for the memories of his colleague (Rod Taylor). And When the Sky Was Opened is also a great example of what my SO refers to as a “Weird, ain’t it?” episode, where you’re presented with a concept and not given any resolution.

It’s a shame Rod Taylor wasn’t in more episodes. He’s clearly tuned into The Twilight Zone’s frequency.

The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank

Season 3, Episode 23

Director: Montgomery Pittman | Writer: Montgomery Pittman

When a young Jeff Myrtlebank wakes up at his own funeral, he’s not quite the same as he used to be.

Confession: when I was a kid, I hated the folksy episodes of The Twilight Zone. I didn’t relate to the oft idealized, fictionalized version of the American Middle West. I can’t say I relate to it exactly, but as I’ve traveled more and met a lot more people from the Midwest, the South, & Appalachia, I can appreciate it better now, albeit from a distance.

The episode begins with an homage to Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and then moves into an imagining of what would happen if the devil showed up in St. Petersburg. The musical cues are often a little over the top, but the performances aren’t. All the supporting characters are very realistic* and it makes Jeff (James Best) stick out all the more. Best will go from sprightly to morose to furious in a single scene. He does great work varying his voice, facial expressions, and posture to convey that he’s not quite Jeff and it’s genuinely scary at times.

*(note: not insultingly backwoodsy or prone to superstition as stereotypes might dictate)

Eye of the Beholder

Season 2, Episode 6

Director: Douglas Heyes | Writer: Rod Serling

A woman recovering from extensive plastic surgery is hoping against hope that the procedure will make her “normal-looking” so that she can have a regular life in her repressive society.

Technically, this episode is exquisite. The lighting and cinematography turn the plainness of a hospital into a ghastly limbo. The point of the story might be a bit overwrought, but the monologues are delivered by Maxine Stuart as Janet Tyler are powerful, especially paired with the acting she does with her hands. If you already know the twist of the episode, it’s a whole lot of fun to track how the director and DP work around the reveal.

While Maxine Stuart plays the role of Janet beneath the bandages, Janet is played by Donna Douglas of Beverly Hillbillies fame post recovery. Originally this was rationalized as the director wanting Janet to sound a certain way and look a certain way and it would be easier to cast by voice and looks separately then just dub the actress with the looks. Then, when Douglas showed up to film, she insisted she could sound like Stuart and, lo, she does.

I Sing the Body Electric

Season 3, Episode 35

Director: James Sheldon & William Claxton | Writer: Ray Bradbury

When three children aren’t coping well with the loss of their mother, their father tries out a new robot grandma service.

I Sing the Body Electric has a truly unique atmosphere compared to other Twilight Zone episodes. It could be that it’s the only story Ray Bradbury wrote for the show. It could be the edge of artificiality created by the lighting in many of the scenes. Or that the presentation of a loving man-made grandmother emerging from a void is more theatrical than usual. It’s likely a mix of the three, but it’s a strange one no matter. As the grandmother emerges from a void, she retires to a room of grandmother voices. It hints at an amazing AI concept.

Honorable Mention:

The Masks

Season 5, Episode 9

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Season 5, Episode 22

The After Hours

Season 1, Episode 34

The Big Tall Wish

Season 1, Episode 27

[avalonbayblog]

Availey Encyclopedia Part 2 - Bailey

Background

Abigail Bailey Rose Mitchell was born *February 28th in Canberra, ACT, Australia to William Mitchell and Eleanor ‘Ellie’ Mitchell (nee Howe). At the time of her birth, William and Ellie were not married, though marked Bailey’s last name as ‘Mitchell’ on the birth certificate. Bailey was born on time at 6 pounds and 2 ounces. Since then, she’s had a habit of being punctual at nearly every turn.

When released to her parents, Bailey was a little delayed in her milestones, especially in comparison to Avalon. However, it was nothing of her parents to be worried about, the doctor explained, she didn’t have any developmental problems, Bailey simply moved at her own pace. She preferred to watch those around her and learn before grasping concepts and taking a stab at them herself. It is that natural curiosity that followed Bailey through the rest of her life, aiding in her academic pursuits as she got older. While William and Ellie were excited to have Avalon to bring them close together in their relationship, as such relationship started out in an affair as William Mitchell’s wife was dying of cancer unbeknownst to Ellie, Bailey was an accidental pregnancy. Something of which Bailey didn’t learn until much later.

Much like Avalon, when growing up Bailey was a curious baby, wanting to understand how everything worked. Unlike Avalon, she didn’t throw many tantrums and continued to sit quietly while watching those around her. However, when she started to walking, she did nothing more than follow her sister around, wanting nothing more than to be with her. Avalon, in turn, was excited for her baby sister to play with and protect. Their parents treated her with as much love and adoration as they showed Avalon when she was an only child.

Avalon doted on Bailey since she was born, playing with her as much as possible, hugging her, kissing her, changing her, feeding her, and watching her whenever asked with little to no complaint. Ellie was over the moon with her second daughter, still there was no marriage between her and William Mitchell. (Unbeknownst to her, William already had children of his own; eldest Ryan and daughter Dana only a few years older than Avalon). Avalon took her role as the older sister needing to protect the younger one very seriously.

However, once William started to treat Avalon differently, wanting her to be as structured as possible, Bailey didn’t notice as much, William then turned his adoration and affection to her, to Bailey’s delight, then making her daddy’s little girl. Ellie, on the other hand, continued to treat her daughters the same, giving them enough cuddles, hugs, and kisses while spending as much one-on-one time as she could with both her daughters.

William, moving up the ranks of his government position, determined it was time for Bailey to go through the same planes of work that Avalon had; spotless cleaning and straightened beds, Avalon tried to help as often as possible. Bailey, on the other hand, took to it and her academics like a duck to water, always seeing a new challenge and tackling it head on. Intellectually, she knew there was a reason for everything to be spotless and in its place so she took to the new measures in stride. It wasn’t long before Ellie and William both noticed Bailey’s intellectual advancements, they were sure to nurture it; giving her as many books for grades higher than her as the time passed. However, it was when she started school that her love of academics and her advanced stage in school made her a target for bullying.

At first, she took it in stride, keeping her head held high. But with fragile emotions, Bailey couldn’t keep it quiet for long and whispered her secret to Avalon. Quickly, Avalon made it her mission to protect her little sister form bullying as much as she could. She’d walk Bailey to school, holding her hand the entire way, and waited for her when her classes ended to stave off any teasing she received.

Bailey never noticed the mounting tensions between her sister, her father, and her parents, living blissfully and naively unaware that her life was about to change forever. Behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Avalon and Bailey, it came out that Captain William Mitchell had not been forthcoming about his life to Ellie, thus making it difficult for them to continue their relationship. With the parents unmarried, a custody battle came to fruition with Captain Mitchell being the more financially stable to take their daughters while Ellie fought to keep them. The girls were used as leverage against each parent and as things become heated, were sent away to live with their aunt in Angel Grove. However, said aunt did not currently live in Angel Grove, thus leaving Avalon and Bailey alone.

Knowing their parents are fighting and having had her parents bad mouth each other to her, Avalon is reluctant to go back home thinking neither of their parents want them. She starts to harbor hatred for them by the time they land in Angel Grove and vows to protect Bailey. Bailey, on the other hand, continues to reassure her sister that their parents will come back, not knowing the truth that was being hidden. But she loved her sister and trusted her dearly, too young to know what to do herself. For their first few months in Angel Grove, Avalon and Bailey lived in women’s shelters, trying to avoid any mentions of where they came from and talking to the police. Avalon looked for jobs, working under the table at a few places, but found money came in slowly.

Bailey watched her sister as she met Chase, Summer, Skye, and Lance, the current members of the Vipers who had been ‘watching her for a while’. From the very beginning, Bailey disliked the gang members. Even before knowing they were in a gang, she had a bad feeling about them and voiced it to Avalon every chance she could. Nevertheless, when hanging out with them, Bailey did notice that Avalon did receive a lot of money…as well as the bruises and open wounds she tried her best to hide. It didn’t take long for Bailey to figure out what was going on, that they were a gang and trying to initiate Avalon into it. She begged and pleaded for Avalon to stay away from them but Avalon reassured her she knew what she was doing. That the money was worth it.

Understanding Avalon was simply trying to protect her, trying to provide for them, Bailey made sure to keep herself safe and away from them, going to the library every day. She noticed the looks the librarians gave her, often having to field away questions of why she wasn’t in school—“I’m homeschooled,” to keep attention off her. With Avalon in the Vipers, she continued to make enough money for them to live in a one bedroom apartment that quickly became a home to them as well as Angel Grove.

She couldn’t help but notice the sudden appearance of the rainbow colored super heroes—the Power Rangers—that appeared one day and saved them from the monsters that showed up like clockwork. It was the most exciting thing she’d ever seen, and wanted to learn more about them. She rattled on and on to Avalon about them and while she knew Avalon didn’t care so much about the Power Rangers, she talked about them as well, theorizing on who they could be.

It was during that first year of monster attacks that, on her way to and from the library, Bailey noticed a group of teenagers who were always together in the park and at the youth center. She didn’t pay too much attention to them, other than seeing they wore the same colors nearly every day.

Bailey’s noticed Avalon slowly cut herself off from everyone around them, only trusting her. Bailey, on the other hand, tried to stay as positive as she could, wanting to be the bright spot for her sister to rely on. But all the while, she had the need, the want to go to school. She wanted friends, someone to talk to. Avalon denied the possibility at first, then gave in, as Bailey knew she would. Her sister loved her and would do anything for her.

Avalon and Bailey enrolled into Angel Grove High and Angel Grove Middle School where Avalon soon ran into a bunch of teenagers who had a very peculiar fashion sense and Bailey meets a boy her age who she can’t seem to ignore…

Personality

Bailey’s personality stays stagnant throughout most of her run as a ranger. She’s very bright, inquisitive, happy, loyal, curious, naïve, and willing to do anything for a friend though not quite confident. Unlike Avalon, she doesn’t become too jaded and cynical once moving to Angel Grove, wanting to keep the faith their parents would come for her. Though Bailey’s aware of the trouble they’d get into if it were revealed they lived on their own, if it was revealed Avalon was in a gang, so she keeps quiet. All the while, Bailey continues to hold out hope that their parents would come for them. She continued to hold them in high regard.

It isn’t until they visit Australia on Avalon’s school trip that Bailey starts to realize what her father is truly like. She starts to become a bit harder but continues to hold love for her father. Over the years, Bailey becomes more confident in herself and her abilities as a ranger, making her speak up more rather than continue to be everyone’s ‘little sister’.

Throughout the entirety of the Avalon and Bailey series, you can see her personality shift as she becomes grows into being a more confident and self-fulfilling young woman though continues to hold her bright and bubbly personality.

Other notes

* - I am still unsure of what Avalon’s and Bailey’s birth years as well as the exact gap of age between them. In New Beginning, Avalon is 25 and Bailey is 18, thus making them at least seven years apart. However, at the end of their high school years Avalon is a 18 year old senior and Bailey is in Middle School and about 13. I’m aware of the discrepancies in ages and am working to fix it.

Part 1

Part 3

[suitairbus3-blog]

Cassie.net

Based on numerous requests from you (my loyal followers!) I’ve put together a recap of my 2 weeks in Maui. This is basically a (super thorough!) review of everything: from where I stayed and what I did, to places I ate, what I liked, didn’t like...and more.

Before we head to the island:

This trip was unique and special to me for a few reasons. I booked this trip just 5 days before I left because I hit a wall. So, you’ll notice that this quickly-planned excursion runs the full gamut of Hawaiian experiences—for example, I stayed in both a hostel and a high-end resort while I was there. It’s all about balance, right?

Quick backstory on WHY I booked this trip: I was completely burned out, I’d never been to Hawaii and always wanted to go, and I had a decade’s worth of credit card points to use before they expired (that would cover this trip in its entirety).

Quick backstory on HOW I booked this trip: When I was in Utah the prior weekend, I made a new friend named Beth. She and her family were going to be in Maui, and my friend Jeff chimed into our conversation saying that he’d be there the weekend after. It made sense to bookend my trip with the plan to meet up with each of them, and fill in the time in between. That’s why I stayed in Lahaina (to coincide with Beth’s trip) and Wailea (at the same resort as Jeff). Also, the original plan was to do this trip solo, but to my (joyful!) surprise, my friend Maddy decided to join me for 4 nights, which was a blast, and we packed a lot of adventures into those 4 nights, which I’ll share with you.

The BEST resource throughout my trip was Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook. My friend Roger gifted me with this gem and it made all the difference! Highly recommend it.

Lastly, this is not a sponsored post. No one has paid me to mention or review any product or locations. I simply wanted to give my honest review to help you plan your amazing (and healthy!) trip to Maui, whenever the mood strikes YOU!

Okay, onto the fun stuff!

Where I stayed (The Lodging):

Over my 14-night vacation, I bounced around 5 different hotels, hostels, and resorts. Phew! That was a lot (too much) unpacking, repacking, and repeat. But the good news is that you get the inside scoop about multiple lodging options instead of just one!

1) Hakuna Matata Hostel: I realize the hostel life isn’t for everyone, but if it’s your thing, then I highly recommend this place! They have everything you need from free parking to excellent wifi to breakfast. I also love that they have a beautiful backyard with hammocks and free rentals of bikes and I think even surfboards.

I stayed here my first couple of nights in hopes of making some friends at the beginning of my solo trip. It’s a nice community feel... and only a block from the ocean!

I remember crashing at hostels the month I backpacked across Europe back in 2011. Even though I really enjoyed my stay here, I realized that I might just be “over” the hostel experience. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the fact that I’m older and highly value my personal space (2 bathrooms for 24 people is ...well, an experience), but I doubt I’d stay here again. If you’re in your twenties or just love rocking out the close community feel, then this is your joint!

2) Puunoa Beach Estates: From the hostel I landed here. Talk about a night and day comparison!  The condo is incredible. I even felt a little guilty about how much space I had! I stayed here 4 nights and had the entire place all to myself— with a full kitchen, outdoor patios, separate wing with extra bedroom and bathroom (which didn’t even get used). I think this place is perfect for families. This was at the beginning of my trip, so I was still taking work calls on the patio near the beach (however, the wifi was a bit spotty.) If you’re looking for more of a secluded experience, then you might consider this place. It has a beautiful beachfront property and a lovely hot tub that I almost always had to myself. Just be warned that there is a lot of coral at this beach. While I was jumping waves and swimming in the ocean here, I got into a battle with some coral reef, and hurt my leg. A week later I almost went into urgent care since it was still throbbing and didn’t look to be healing very well, but that same day I was introduced to 2 wound nurses staying at the same hotel. Love how life works!

3) Royal Lahaina Resort: I am a sucker for the ocean, and while I enjoyed Baby Beach at the Puunoa Beach estates (until the coral got me), I’m glad I stayed there first, because once going to Kaanapali, it’d be tough to go back! It’s crazy how this beach—located in technically the same city as the other 2 places I stayed—felt completely different and so much nicer.

By this time, my friend Maddy had joined me. The one night we stayed here we took advantage of everything, including a great dinner (food was good, service was better), yummy drinks, beach time, hot tub time, and a jog around the golf course on the path. The ocean was cleaner, bluer… I witnessed dolphins come out of nowhere and start swimming with people on the beach! I watched whales jumping from the comfort of the hot tub which overlooked the ocean. The only downfall is that the bungalow room was super tiny—the smallest room of all of the places I stayed, and the hot tub was small too. That said, the grounds were incredible, and I wish I’d had more than a night here!

4) Kohea Kai Resort Maui: I don’t really have too much to say about this hotel, other than it was very average. Perhaps I was spoiled after staying at the Royal Lahaina Resort, but I think even with an unbiased set of eyes, I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t nearly as nice as I thought it’d be, and for the price (credit card points), it felt like a pretty big letdown. I did appreciate that they had a hot breakfast in the morning. I’d get scrambled eggs and also grab some hard boiled ones for snacks later, fruit, peanut butter and they even had gluten free bread. This resort is just across the street from the ocean, but the beach wasn’t nearly as nice as the previous and next resort. There also weren’t as many people around, but maybe for some people that would be a positive. The hot tub was small, but there was never anyone else around, so that was nice.

5) Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui: Hands down my favorite place to stay—by far. The service was exceptional, room was enormous (all rooms are suites), had a balcony (I think all rooms do), they have a nice hot tub and several pools. The grounds are gorgeous and the ocean views and sunsets are to-die for. I think a lot of people come to the island, check in and never leave the resort- which is totally cool if that’s your type of vacay. Part of me can see why that’s so appealing, because after checking in here, it was hard to leave. I had many activities planned over the time I was there, and would have loved to just chill and have a couple legit “beach days” there with the sole purpose of reading and relaxing. That’s my one regret: not being able to enjoy this resort more! But I’m so glad I ended my my Hawaiian vacation here. The perfect grand finale. I’d start my day with yoga near the beach, and end it watching the sunset from somewhere on the beautiful grounds —or one night I ended it with the (free) lavender body mud mask in their spa! While paradise is a word that could be used to describe the whole island, this resort fully embraced it in every way.

What I did (The Adventures):

Nearly every activity I did was based on a verbal recommendation, a suggestion from an Instagram follower (thanks for all those!), or something I read about in the Maui Revealed Guidebook.

Surfing: One of the main highlights of my trip! I’d never surfed, and honestly never really had a huge interest in it, but after the first minute or two, I pretty much considered myself hooked.

I love the ocean, I love being active and I love a challenge. This was an epic combo of all of these things. I especially love how present and mindful you need to be when surfing, and I learned a really important lesson that I shared in this short post.

I did a group lesson through Maui Surfer girls, which was a great experience. They ended up rescheduling my lesson twice (once because they didn’t have enough people signed up, and once due to windy conditions). But thankfully I was able to still make it work. There were 4 of us in my group lesson, and the instructor was great. They had a portrait package option with the lesson, which was totally worth it to get footage of my first time surfing.

After my lesson, I felt comfortable going out by myself, so I spent a couple more days surfing, and am seriously considering moving near the ocean to get to make this part of my lifestyle.

Whale Watching: My hairdresser in Minneapolis recommended I do this, and do it through the Pacific Whale Foundation. It’s a non-profit, so the proceeds go back to the whales. He said to make sure to do the raft—not the big boat. I’m so glad I followed his advice! This was INCREDIBLE. Like, WAY cooler than I’d ever imagined! Obviously your experience would be different if you didn’t see any whales, but I did! In 2 hours, we must have seen 40 whales, several which came almost too close to our raft for my comfort! The guides leading the excursion were super knowledgeable and passionate. I learned a lot. I highly recommend doing this.

The Grand Luau at Honua'ula: I was told that in Hawaii, the one thing I MUST do is attend a Luau! After chatting with both locals and visitors and doing my own research online, the consensus is that the top 2 luaus on the island are Old Lahaina Inn and The Grand Luau at Honua'ula. Both are booked quite far in advance due to high demand, but thankfully The Grand Luau at Honua'ula had tickets available, and happened to be within walking distance of the Fairmont. It was a great outing to do as a group—me, Maddy, my friend Jeff and our new friend Jason all went together. And while I’m glad we went, I don’t feel the need to do it again. It was entertaining and a neat experience, but $108 for so-so food and drinks, I’d probably pass and go for a nice dinner. Also, I’ve been asked on social media if it was family friendly: absolutely.

Nakalele Blowhole: This was recommended by a young couple I met, and I’m sooooo glad we took the time to do this. The Blowhole was spectacular, and the drive up to the north end of Maui to get there was crazy. I’ve never been standing in a windier place in my entire life. As I attempted to take photos and videos, my phone practically blew out of my hand! I’m glad I waited for Maddy to do this, because I wouldn’t have hiked down as far without someone else with me. It’s a bit of a sketchy hike to get very close to blowhole, but I recommend it if you can. Protip: be sure to not wear flip flops!

So, what is the blowhole? “A blowhole is a hole in the ground that connects to an underground, partially submerged ocean cave. The cave and opening are shaped in such a way that when the ocean rises or waves crash into it, a jet of water and air is violently forced out through the hole,” according to MauiGuidebook.com. The guys from Maui Revealed Guidebook said once they were there when it wasn’t blowing a thing, and four hours later they returned and found it viciously shooting 70 feet into the air every few seconds. There are signs all over saying that you are risking death if you get too close… and while we were the most adventurous out of anyone else that was there at the same time as us, we kept our distance. The wind was so crazy that it made it hard to communicate (and even hard to think)! After about a half hour of hiking down, hanging out, attempting to get some pics and videos, I was definitely ready to head out! So the other nice thing about this excursion is that this does not require a lot of time (just depends on how far you need to drive). We saw one couple get out of their car, take a peek, have her dress blown up to her neck, and leave...hehe.

Haleakala National Park Sunrise Tour + Cycle Downhill:

The sunrise was majestic... but it ended up being my least favorite excursion. Allow me to explain... 

The sunrise at Halekala, the 10,023 foot summit, is the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen… You’re watching the sun rise above the clouds from the rim of the crater, and you can feel the temperature warm up as the sun rises. Incredible. But you have to work for it. First of all, it’s VERY cold and windy up there. And even with my Minnesota blood, I didn’t bring enough warm clothes to make this comfortable—even with hats and gloves! We froze. Secondly, in order to get all the way up the mountain in time to see the sunset, you need to get up EARLY (or just don’t ever go to bed… like we did…). Commit to leaving extra early because we saw cars pull up just after the sun had risen. That would be such a bummer to have not been there in time!

The tour we booked drove us up there in a bus. On the way back, they dropped us off part way down the volcano, where there were bikes and motorcycle helmets (you read that right!) waiting for us on the side of the road. We then cycled 23 miles down the mountain. As cool as this sounds (you know I love to bike!!), I did not enjoy it. The road is one single lane and it wraps around the mountain, which is not the safest to begin with. Plus, you’re biking down as cars try to pass you. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for a workout in any way, this isn’t it; you have to pump your brakes the entire way down! My experience was staring at the biker in front of me and trying to gracefully brake without hitting them or braking too hard and flying off my bike… for 23 miles. I was going very cautiously at first, until the tour guide told us we had to speed up—it’s too dangerous to go too slow. I did not like trying to go down this mountain in the first place, and with speed—no thanks! The bikes were already old and rickety, and to me, it was more dangerous and tedious than it was worth… and that’s coming from someone who loves to skydive, cliff jump, rock climb and do plenty of other risky things. Plus, it was cold.

Overall, this excursion was talked up more than it was worth, and also waaaay longer than we anticipated: by the time all was said and done, we were dropped off at our hotel 10 ½ hours after we were picked up. This whole sunrise/bike tour lasted that long! There was waaaaay too much downtime and waiting before, after and between the activities. Okay, this Negative Nancy is done.

Crossfit: Exercise is a priority for me—even on vacation. I enjoy moving my body. I never feel like I “have to” workout. It makes me feel good. Beach runs along the shoreline were amazing. Also, one of my favorite parts of traveling is trying new gyms and meeting new people. During my time in Hawaii, the Crossfit open was happening. It’s an annual worldwide competition that practically everyone in the crossfit community participates in. There are 5 workouts to be done over the course of 5 weeks. You have to do them in a certain time frame and be scored by a qualified judge to submit your score. So, I attended 2 different gyms based on the location of where I was staying, and had awesome experiences at both! It was such a great way to connect with other active people with similar interests—many of which were local. And from my experience, Crossfit gyms always cultivate a warm, welcoming community (more on that in this post). I enjoyed visiting Lahaina Crossfit and Makena Crossfit in Kihei.

Photoshoots: I regularly do photoshoots for our brand, and the look and feel we aim to achieve with our photography is freedom, confidence and beauty...and what better place to accomplish this than the island of Hawaii!? The very first thing I did after booking my plane ticket was start researching photographers on the island (and there are a LOT). I also had to decide what type of photoshoot I wanted. An amazing thing about photography on the island is the endless range of scenery available. Sunrise shoot on the beach? Sunset photos in the rainforest? Lava rocks? Sea turtles? Waterfalls? Black sand? Red sand? How to decide!?

I narrowed it down to doing a sunrise shoot, and a jungle shoot, and I couldn’t decide between 2 different photographers, so I decided to book one shoot with each. I’m so glad I did because the experiences ended up being so different—in both style and scenery!

Both of these shoots were absolute highlights of my trip. Both photographers took me to places off the beaten path that I would have never known about or experienced on my own, and helped me see Hawaii through their unique lens (pun intended!)—as transplants who moved to the island and are now residents.

Love + Water Sunrise Shoot: Rated one of the top wedding photographers on the island, I knew I couldn't go wrong. They lived up to the hype! Adam made a 6:15am land + sea photoshoot not just tolerable, but actually super fun! He made me laugh, came up with really creative pose ideas, and we just had a great time. He also took me to a secluded location with lava rocks that I wouldn't have known about, had me splashing and swimming in the water, and the photos turned out gorgeous.

Amy Jayne Photography Jungle shoot: Amy was amazing—not only did she offer to drive to the location for this jungle shoot, but she even went out of her way to show me some other spots in the area after we were done with the shoot. This shoot was much more strenuous than the other one: I climbed rocks and trekked through mud, swam through streams, splashed through waterfalls and really got the full jungle experience. We hiked back so far through the mud into the jungle that there wasn’t another soul to be seen. It was a really spiritual experience. Amy was so patient with me as I changed my outfits behind bamboo stalks, and took my time carefully climbing to the boulders she wanted me to pose on. It was a hardcore workout, which got pretty intense, even on the edge of dangerous at times—between the slippery rocks, rain and mud—which is right up my alley, but I will warn you: this type of photoshoot is not for the light hearted. I love adventure so I was all for it!

Colie Lennox: For hair and makeup, I can’t recommend this sweet human more! I would hire her again and again. She did both my hair and makeup for both shoots, she came to ME where I was staying (in 2 different cities both times), both at the crack of dawn (4:30 & 5am!), and was much more reasonable than anyone else I’d contacted. Plus, she was such a joy to work with. Not only is her work great, but so is her personality. I’ve stayed in touch with her since leaving, and would seriously come back to the island even just to work with her again! (I can actually say that about not just Colie, but both photographers, too: I’d come back to Hawaii just to work with all of them again!)

Where I ate (The Food):

I love food, but I love food more when it’s with good company. So, the first leg of my trip (when I was by myself the most), I didn’t eat out much (I bought groceries since I had a full kitchen in the condo). I did experience some restaurants, so I’ll share my feedback on these with you. Despite what I’d heard and the expectations I had, I found it to be rather easy to eat healthy. There are so many options!

Choice Health Bar: This was a recommendation from someone on Instagram, and it was a great one! I had lunch here once—a delicious “plate meal”— I can’t even remember what all it contained, but it was all delicious, along with a really yummy iced coffee. Everything looked fresh and healthy, there were SO many options, and I only wish I’d found out about it sooner.

Kimo’s Maui: I met up with Beth for a delicious fish dinner at Kimo’s. We loved the food, and the environment (outdoor seating is always my fave!). Afterwards, we stopped at Dirty Monkey with the intention of having a drink and doing a little dancing, but we ended up not staying very long. The vibe felt a little… dark(?) for our liking, and we just weren’t feeling it.

Cool Cat Cafe: This rooftop cafe is on Front Street In Lahaina, and the atmosphere was fun! It had a diner vibe and was a little noisy, but it was a fun place to go after surfing, and my hunger was satisfied with some fish tacos.

Coconuts Kitchen: This place was recommended by Colie, who said the food was amazing and the owner, Brian, is super nice. Maddy and I both had the fish tacos, which were tasty, but after having a taste of Jason’s macadamia-nut crusted mahi mahi, I swore I’d be back. (I didn’t make it here a second time on this trip, but perhaps later this year. :)) We also had the pleasure of meeting Brian, who was just as friendly as expected, and I love supporting places run by good people!

Mama’s Fish House: “If you only eat at one restaurant, eat here” was the advice I was given by many! I called to make a reservation and in my entire two weeks on the island, they had one available for two people on a Friday for lunch, so that made the itinerary! It was an awesome experience—from walking the beautiful grounds to a few surprise tastings and special touches. Overall, the food was decent, but nothing I’d rave about… although I would go back for the experience.

Paia Fish Market: This place was on our to-do list because of the raving reviews, and it lived up to the hype. Fish tacos seemed to be my thing on the island, and they were as yummy as I’d hoped. It was also quick and reasonable. There are a couple locations, and the one I went to and liked is in Ono/Kihei.

MonkeyPod: This place was highly recommended, and it was only okay. I wouldn’t go back unless it was for Happy Hour (we weren’t there for this, but that may have been the main reason it was recommended), but I will say the outdoor seating is lovely.

Four Seasons Spago: My nicest dinner on the island was here, at Chef Wolfgang Puck's Hawaiian restaurant, with the company of my friend, Jeff (thanks, Jeff!). We ordered the Chef’s Tasting menu, a 1989 bottle of wine, all accompanied by sunset views. We got to try everything from sushi to risotto to 4 different kinds of desserts. It was an amazing experience, and I’d definitely go back.

Food trucks: There were a few food trucks that I had a bite at, and while I can’t remember which ones, they were all great. I’m still surprised at how some of the best food seemed to be from the food trucks, and was excited to enjoy a couple great meals from ones that popped up when I was hungry.

Coffee:

You know I love my cup o’joe, and just like my love for checking out new gyms when I travel, I love checking out new coffee shops—especially on foot! So, coffee gets its own section.

To my surprise, cute yummy coffee shops are something this island is absolutely lacking. Thankfully, I did find a couple awesome spots, but not until the end of my trip.

Now, full disclosure is that I’m a little picky when it comes to coffee: they need to have either heavy cream (first choice), coconut milk (second choice), or oat milk or hemp milk (or I won’t order).

I tried several different coffee spots, and instead of reviewing them all, I’ll just tell you my top three picks! My favorite coffee drink ended up being at the cafe at the Fairmont (which was convenient and unexpected)! The other place I found and visited a couple of times was Hawaiian Moons Natural food, a pretty awesome health foods store. This was also a great spot to pick up some groceries: they have an awesome salad bar, all sorts of fun snacks, and kombucha on tap (love!) And when I was in Lahaina, my favorite spot was Cafe Cafe Maui, which was the best place to hang out—either outside or inside, and use wi-fi and chat with the baristas. I ordered breakfast here a few times, too—options are limited, but it was nice that they had eggs, smoothies and a few other items.

On my list for next time (things I didn't get to do):

There’s so much I didn’t get to do that my next trip could be a completely different experience! From snorkeling to ziplining to the Road to Hana.. I can’t wait to go back!

Here are 3 things for sure making the list for my next Maui trip:

Snorkel at Seafire Charters-Molokini: I was told that this is like swimming in an aquarium, and that I’ll love snorkeling after this! (I am a bit afraid of the whole breathing while underwater thing)

Road to Hana (maybe): I know people say you HAVE to do this when you’re in Maui… and maybe I did miss out, but I feel like I got a good taste of the drive from my trip to the Blowhole, and the jungle from my photoshoot with Amy. And, while I loved the adventures I had and exploring I did on this trip, I was content with just one day of that road and the jungle, and spending the rest of my time near the beaches, in the ocean and under the sun.

Sunset Dinner Cruise: I really wanted to do one of these, but we just didn’t have enough evenings! You can find some really good deals on these, especially if you’re willing to listen to a little pitch—like you would a timeshare (I think).

A few Personal Takeaways:

1) I’ll be back! I will most definitely be back… perhaps even later this year. I knew Hawaii would be amazing, but it was even better than I’d imagined. From the scenery to the vibes to the good energy and friendly people.. I loved it all.

2) Length of this trip: Everyone said I needed at least 10 days in Hawaii, and they were spot-on right. Two weeks felt waaaaay too long to me at first, especially since I’m not used to taking vacations. But, I realized I needed a solid 5-7 days to get into “vacation mode.” I know it’s a luxury to be able to take a 2-week vacation, but a week wouldn’t have sufficed.

3) Next time: more relaxing. I wish I’d hunkered down a bit more… maybe had 1 or 2 actual beach days. Between all of the excursions we booked and the photo shoots (which took a lot of prep, and half to full days on the actual days), it didn’t leave a whole lot of downtime. I don’t regret doing anything, but next time I’d make sure to tack on a couple days to just chill.

4) I vow to love myself more. Like, *really* love myself to the point of booking a 2 week vacation on an island by myself or even with a friend (or both) to take some time to breathe and reconnect with my inner child and play and laugh and journal and pray and be grateful and learn something new and meet new people and relax and be inspired and refreshed and play some more and pray some more and fall in LOVE with myself.

Sometimes we need to hit the RESET button. I say this when we do our 10-Day Reset program every 4 months. But, it’s not just your body, nutrition and hormones that we need to reset! I’ve come to believe that we need to do this with our pace of life, too —> for our mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical health. It’s all connected! I was practically 100% burned out in every possible way before arriving in Maui. And to tell the truth… I shouldn’t have let it get that far. I wish I’d allowed myself to hit the reset button earlier, and more often in my daily life. And now, after 2 weeks of hitting that reset button HARD, I’m rejuvenated, refreshed and back into creative mode!!!

I hope you were able to take something from my experience—whether it’s taking note of places you want to visit, getting the epic guidebook, or even just the inspiration to put some self-care on your calendar, whether that’s a 2-week adventure to Maui, a weekend staycation, or a 30-minute massage.

Let’s remember to take time for ourselves, and prioritize rest (and play!), even (*especially!) in the midst of our hectic, fast-paced world. Mahalo!

Source: https://www.cassie.net/feed/

[carterhaughs]

2016 fandom meme

thanks for tagging me @cassanabaratheon !

1. Your main fandom of the year? Preacher! Wrote more analysis of it than just about anything I’ve ever written analysis for, changed my url for it, wrote fic, started a podcast based around it (which I’m going to continue this week as my partner freed up some time)...it’s been a wild ride and I can’t wait for season 2

2. Your favorite film watched this year? Hard to pick just one as they’re from such different genres so - Rogue One (doesn’t pull any punches or balk at moral ambiguity but ultimately conveys a message of hope), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (a stunningly beautiful mediation on femininity and female suffering that is only romanticized in the right ways), and Belle (a gorgeous film that doesn’t shy away from any and all racial and socioeconomic issues of the day in which it is set and the great sisterly relationship and the romance are the cherries on top)

3. Your favorite book read this year? I loved Longbourn by Jo Baker, which I’m rereading now. It’s a retelling of Pride & Prejudice from the servants’ perspectives (and focuses mostly on their lives with the plot of the original book on the margins) and stylistically, it’s got some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read! I highly recommend it. 

4. Your favorite TV show of the year? Preacher again. A sadly timely and darkly humorous look at the deficiencies and ugly realities of the American dream and what it means to deal with the Jungian shadow that hovers over so much of this country - on an individual as well as a collective level. Also filled with tons of well-sketched, memorable characters with poignant, carefully-constructed arcs - these characters are deeply damaged, and the narrative acknowledges it. 

5. Your favorite online fandom community of the year? The friends I made in the Preacher, Poldark, and Rogue One fandoms, to be sure. Can’t pick just one bc I made so many good friends in all of them!

6. Your best new fandom discovery of the year? Fleabag doesn’t really have a fandom but I wish it did! My favorite comedy (which is also very much a drama) in a long while. Also greatly enjoying Mozart in the Jungle, which I finally got around to watching. 

7. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year? The Poldark fandom is truly one of the most annoying fandoms on the planet for so many reasons I won’t get into here but mainly gatekeeping. It’s a small but very cliqueish fandom that’s very good at making people feel unwelcome if they don’t think a certain way. The racism in a lot of people’s interpretations of Tulip O’Hare as well as the way in which she was so frequently sidelined - in fan-based as well as press-based analysis of Preacher - was also awful. 

8. Your TV boyfriend of the year? Proinsias Cassidy from Preacher, George Warleggan from Poldark, Sidney Chambers from Grantchester, and Jamie Fraser from Outlander

9. Your TV girlfriend of the year? My url’s namesake - Tulip O’Hare from Preacher! Also Elizabeth Warleggan from Poldark.

10. Your biggest squee moment of the year? Sidney and Amanda finally kissing on Grantchester! Elizabeth tending George’s wounds on Poldark! Basically the entirety of Rogue One, even the (many, many) parts that had me in tears. And I did a lot of writing this year - more fic than I’m usually able to come up with that is better than anything I’ve written previously probably and an obscene amount of analysis. Now that I’m back in law school I’ll have less time to write but I feel like I’m more creatively inspired than I’ve ever been in my whole life, so I’ll make room for it.

11. The most missed of your old fandoms? I miss The Walking Dead bc I haven’t been participating as much given that the last few seasons really wore me down...I’ll probably go back at the end of season 7 and watch it, but I’m never watching that awful season premiere. I also miss chatting about the MCU fandom with my MCU friends about certain unpopular pairings but there will be a time for that again soon enough. 

12. The fandom you haven’t tried yet, but want to? I’m sort of on the margins of the SW fandom...I’ve made good friends within it and written some analysis (mostly for the Knights of the Old Republic games and Rogue One and a tiny bit for TFA), but I’d like to contribute fic at some point.

13. Your biggest fan anticipations for 2017? The new seasons of Preacher, Poldark, and Grantchester, the new Star Wars movie, and the new Alien movie, as well as American Gods and Emerald City. There’s probably a lot of interesting stuff coming up soon that I’m not aware of though.

I’m tagging​ @customerservicebotdolores @chocksawaychaps and anyone else who wants to do it! 

[gadgetsrevv]

Garth Crooks’ team of the week: De Gea, Maguire, Tomori, Buendia, Abraham, Mane

Defending champions Manchester City suffered a shock 3-2 defeat at Norwich City after Liverpool maintained their 100% record with a 3-1 win over Newcastle.

Chelsea picked up a 5-2 win at Wolves, while Tottenham cruised past Crystal Palace 4-0.

Manchester United returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 win over Leicester as Watford recovered to draw 2-2 with Arsenal.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth won 3-1 against Everton, Southampton secured a valuable 1-0 win at Sheffield United and Brighton drew 1-1 with Burnley.

Here’s my team of the week – have a read and select your own below.

Goalkeeper – David de Gea (Man Utd)

David de Gea: The save from Leicester’s James Maddison with only a few moments gone was superb and the tip over the bar from a Ben Chilwell strike that was dipping viciously under the bar dealt with an effort that had real menace.

De Gea took some ferocious stick towards the end of last season from people who should have known better. The suggestion that the Spain international keeper should have been left out of the Manchester United team line-up was as hysterical as it gets.

Reports that De Gea is close to signing a new contract puts some of those comments in to their proper perspective and it will be the best bit of business United have done for some considerable time.

Did you know? David de Gea has already kept as many Premier League clean sheets at Old Trafford this season (2) as he did in the entirety of the 2018-19 campaign.

Defenders – Serge Aurier (Tottenham), Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Man Utd), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)

Serge Aurier: Every time I have seen Aurier play for Tottenham I have been left desperately disappointed and quite often angry. Disappointed because of his lack of performance and angry because of his inability to respect the depth of quality in the Premier League.

This is not France where there are only a couple of decent teams in the league but the toughest and most demanding league in the world. Against Crystal Palace the former Paris St-Germain defender woke up to that fact and finally played like it. And about time.

Did you know? As well as providing an assist, Aurier made more crosses from open play (4) than any other player in Spurs’ win over Crystal Palace.

Fikayo Tomori: What a goal. What’s more he meant it. This performance by this youngster was outstanding and his goal only tells half the story.

Playing in a back three, he was amazing. Tomori’s confidence to take the ball into the danger area and provide the assist for Tammy Abraham suggest this lad is no ordinary defender. This is someone I intend keeping my eye on.

As for Wolves’ Raul Jimenez, it’s hardly surprising their centre-forward looked dead on his feet – he only returned from Mexico City on Thursday morning and expects to bother Chelsea 48 hours later? Wolves can’t handle Europe and international breaks. Ditch Europe.

Did you know? Tomori’s long-range strike against Wolves was only his second English league goal in his professional career, in what was his 81st such appearance (excluding play-offs) for Chelsea, Brighton, Hull and Derby.

Harry Maguire: Some players actually look forward to playing against their former clubs – I don’t know why because I hated it. Maguire not only seemed to enjoy playing against the players he once called his team-mates but hardly gave them a kick.

Why Leicester fans felt the need to boo their former player having given them wonderful service and made them a vast sum of money by agreeing to be sold to Manchester United makes you wonder what was it about the move that actually upset them!

Did you know? Against his former side Leicester, Harry Maguire won six of his 10 duels, four of his six aerial duels, made five clearances and won possession six times to help his side to a clean sheet.

Andrew Robertson: It must have been excruciating for Steve Bruce to watch the player he brought to English football tear his resurgent Newcastle apart.

The Scottish international was outstanding yet again for Liverpool. Robertson was so effective down Liverpool’s left-hand side and almost entirely responsible for Sadio Mane’s brilliant opening goal. My only criticism of Robertson is someone who strikes the ball as cleanly as he does should be having more shots on goal. He has the firepower, now apply the confidence.

Did you know? Robertson has made 17 assists in the Premier League since the start of the 2017-18 season, the most of any defender in this period.

Midfielders – Moussa Djenepo (Southampton), Emiliano Buendia (Norwich), Todd Cantwell (Norwich)

Moussa Djenepo: The goal was just wonderful. If this had been scored by David Ginola, Thierry Henry or Gianfranco Zola we would be showing this goal every week for the next three months.

It was Djenepo who produced a little bit of magic in Southampton’s 2-0 defeat of Brighton recently but this is becoming something of a habit. Have the Saints found another Sadio Mane? I think they might have you know.

Did you know? Against Sheffield United, summer-signing Moussa Djenepo netted his second Premier League goal for Southampton courtesy of just his third shot on target in the competition.

Emiliano Buendia: I have seen Norwich in this mood before when they beat Manchester United some years ago and the Canaries gave United superstars no respect whatsoever on that day either. It was like watching history repeat itself, only this time it was against United’s arch rivals and neighbours.

Manchester City were blitzed by Norwich but this time it wasn’t Anthony Pilkington who stunned the visitors but Emiliano Buendia. The Argentine, a £1.5m signing from Getafe, was magnificent. What a contrast to his fellow countryman, the £28.5m Nicolas Otamendi who had an absolute shocker.

Did you know? In their win over Man City, Buendia won more duels (10), had the joint-most touches (61) and tackles (4), completed the most dribbles (5) and won possession (9) more than any other Norwich player.

Todd Cantwell: Well what do we have here? Another England Under-21 international who looks like a player?

Cantwell wanted to be involved in everything Norwich did and if you’re an attacking midfielder it doesn’t get better than that. There was something about Cantwell’s performance that reminded me of a young Frank Lampard but with a sprinkle of arrogance – and I liked it.

It took far too long for this star-studded Manchester City side to get the jet lag out of their system. It looks like the international break may have already robbed City of another Premier League title.

Did you know? Todd Cantwell has already been directly involved in more Premier League goals in 5 games this season (4 – 2 goals, 2 assists) than he was in 24 Championship appearances last season (3 – 1 goal, 2 assists).

Forwards – Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Son Heung-min: I can’t believe Son has not scored a hat-trick in the Premier League. If anyone deserves to have that statistic firmly emblazoned on his CV it should be the South Korea international.

Son was electric against a Crystal Palace side who are blowing hot and cold these days and, against Spurs, were freezing. I understand manager Mauricio Pochettino spent an hour in a “clear the air” meeting with his players. If that’s the response, would he mind saving those discussions for the really big games?

Did you know? Son Heung-min is Spurs’ top scorer across all competitions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, netting four goals in seven home appearances there.

Tammy Abraham: His first goal against Wolves was alright, his second better and his third outstanding. I said recently said that Frank Lampard had seen something in this kid and we are clearly starting to see the same thing.

If he can remain fit, stay out of the pubs and clubs and look after himself Chelsea may have found a new Peter Osgood. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an English centre forward of Abraham’s size and stature move around the pitch so comfortably and be so competent on the ball.

Osgood was a genius and Abraham has some way to go to get close but all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are there. They just need to be put in the right places.

Did you know? Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has become just the third player in Premier League history to score two or more goals in three consecutive appearances aged 21 or younger, after Cristiano Ronaldo in December 2006 and Dele Alli in January 2017.

Sadio Mane: It was quite fitting that Mane’s two goals against Newcastle placed the Senegal international with other illustrious African names who have scored 70 goals in the Premier League.

It was also nice to see Mohamed Salah congratulating Mane on his goals after their recent spat at Southampton. Salah’s goal was magnificent but even he must realise that he has to concede the spotlight to team-mates on the odd occasion.

Did you know? Liverpool’s Sadio Mane has never lost a Premier League home game in which he’s found the net, winning 33 and drawing two of his previous 35 games in the competition when doing so.

Now it’s your turn

You’ve seen my selections this season. But who would you go for?

Crooks of the matter

Howay the lads! The unseemly spat between two of England’s greatest finishers made me smile at first and then realise that not much changes in football. For two players, especially strikers, to “have words” with each other is like having a row with you wife. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

In Michael Owen’s recently published book; Reboot – My Life, My Time, he seems to have reopened an old wound with England team-mate and now Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer. It’s clear Michael desperately wanted to get something off his chest when he claimed in his book that he never really wanted to go to St James’ Park.

I suspect Shearer could have let that go. However, what Newcastle’s record goalscorer could not let go was the claim by Owen that his beloved Newcastle was “only a big club because they have lots of fans and a big stadium”.

I have no doubt that Alan and Michael will find a way past this public disagreement but Newcastle fans will find forgiveness a little more difficult.

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[johnhardinsawyer]

Freedom is Coming. . .

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

6 / 2 / 19

Acts 16:16-34

“Freedom is Coming”

[Sung:  Freedom is coming. . .  O yes I know.][1]

There are so many stories of freedom in the Bible – going all the way back to when God led the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt up through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, and on up through stories like the one we have today from the Book of Acts.  In this story, we see the ways that God grants people freedom – “freedom from” and “freedom for”.  Most of us are familiar with the idea of being “free from” something – freedom from fear, or want, or tyranny.  But – and this is an important distinction to make – just as we have been given “freedom from” things, God sets each and every one of us “free for” something – some great purpose or calling that is to be lived in the world, some way that we live out our gratitude for being set free in the first place.

The entirety of the Book of Acts is the story of what happens to people who respond to the freedom they have in Christ Jesus. In today’s story, we find the Apostle Paul – a man whose entire life and identity were changed when he met Jesus. Jesus set Paul free from his old way of life and set him on a new path – a path that led him, along with a man named Silas, to the town of Philippi, in Macedonia, a land that we now know as Greece. You might remember from a few weeks ago the story of how God helped the early church come to a decision that the good news of Jesus was for all people, not just one group of people.  Paul and Silas had been sent to tell everyone this good news, and there were those they met along the way whose lives were being turned upside down[2]because of the liberating message of Jesus.

We meet one of these people early on in today’s story. As Paul and Silas are going to pray near the river in Philippi,[3]they meet a slave-girl who had a “spirit of divination or prophecy,” not unlike the kind of thing seen by people in those days at the world-famous Oracle of Delphi or seen at a local ventriloquist show.[4]  This slave-girl is a fortune-teller who made a lot of money for her owners, but when she sees Paul and Silas, she starts saying something strange, but true:  “These men are working for the Most High God! They’re laying out the road of salvation for you. . .  [for us]!”[5]  She repeats this same message over and over every day for many days, until Paul finally gets annoyed and orders the spirit that troubled the girl to trouble her no more. According to the story, “It came out that very hour.” (Acts 16:18)  Or, as Eugene Peterson writes, “And it was gone, just like that.”  This slave-girl had been oppressed and manipulated and coerced for long enough – by her mental illness and by her owners – and, in one liberating Holy-Spirit-filled moment, she was set free.

[Sung:  O freedom, O freedom. . .]

Our God is a God who is about the business of freedom – freedom from cruel and unjust systems that enslave people, freedom from illnesses that torture our minds and hearts and spirits, freedom from abusive relationships, and the things that hold us back from being our full selves.

Paul and Silas had been set free like this and they wanted everyone to know what this freedom was like.  There was something about the way this slave-girl was held captive that went against the freedom that comes from God.  Paul found this fact annoying.  It got under his skin and he had to do something about it. “In the name of Jesus, be free,” he said.  And suddenly, she was.

This made owners of the slave-girl angry.  Paul and Silas were dragged into the marketplace and the local judges were told, “These men are disturbing the peace – dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order.”[6]  God’s freedom issubversive, at times, especially when it comes to subverting unfair structures.  And sometimes, God’s freedom doesn’t feel so good for those who oppose it or don’t understand it. Sometimes, the freedom of one person – or a whole group of people – might feel a little like oppression to those in places of privilege who are used to having power over others.

The story tells us that after a brief “trial” (if you want to call it that) by the angry mob, Paul and Silas are stripped of their clothing and are beaten with rods – shepherd’s staffs and walking sticks.[7]  This wouldn’t be the only time that Paul was beaten like this.[8]  The Romans referred to this form of punishment as verberatio, as in, one’s body would reverberate with the blows.  As the story goes, “after they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.”  (16:23)

Sometimes, in what we do for God to be about the business of freedom for all people, God calls us to give up our personal physical freedom with the knowledge that our spirits – which have been freed by God’s Holy Spirit – are never truly and fully bound, especially by the structures and systems of this world.  We see this idea alive and well in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in which he wrote:  

. . . I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.  Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.  Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid. . . Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states.  I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.  Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.[9]  

God has set us free for others, but this freedom can be downright hard and risky at times.  It could land us in jail with bruises on our bodies – like Paul, Silas, and Martin – or without a job, or with a loss of status because we stood up for what was right.  But God knows that none of these things are permanent.  God’s freedom has a way of shaking the foundations of the seemingly-permanent things of this world.  Only God, “the foundation upon which all foundations are laid,”[10] cannot be shaken.  But, God is willing to shake everything else up for the sake of freedom.

[Sung:  Freedom is coming. . . O yes I know]

In today’s story, in the innermost, maximum-security, cell, Paul and Silas are in chains, singing hymns through cracked lips in the night while the other prisoners listened to them.  By the way, sometimes God’s freedom is just that:  a song of hope in a hopeless place that lifts the spirits of all. Paul and Silas keep singing until an earthquake comes, literally shaking the foundations of the prison.  Immediately all the doors are opened and everyone’s chains are unfastened.  (16:26) Once things settle, the jailer starts sifting through the rubble and thinks that his prisoners have escaped.  He knows that he will be punished for his failure – demoted, perhaps imprisoned, himself – and he doesn’t think he can live with the humiliation, so he takes out his sword and is about to kill himself, when Paul shouts:  “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”  (16:28)

Our God is a God who is about the business of freeing us from ourselves – from our worst impulses and desires that happen when we are at our lowest, and most vulnerable, and most weak of spirit.  There are some who are unable to accept that God sets them free, who keep getting sucked back into themselves and their own fears and worries about the world.  But God never stops offering us freedom from the things that are killing us and those we love. When you – like Paul – tell someone, “Do not harm yourself. . .  I am here with you,” these are words filled with love, spoken with the hope that they might somehow bring peace, and healing, and wholeness, and freedom with them. . . freedom from depression, and addiction, and self-loathing, and insecurity.  God wants to free us from these things and others from these things through us.

[Sung:  Freedom is coming. . .  O yes I know]

In today’s story, God frees Paul and Silas from prison and frees the jailer from his own worst impulses.  God grants the jailer the freedom to be “for” God.  The jailer is transformed in mind, and heart, and spirit.  His former prisoners are brought out of the rubble, their wounds are washed, and he welcomes them into his home, and sets food in front of them, and there is great rejoicing.  (16:33-34)  The jailer is set free for God to use him for healing and hospitality, for washing and welcoming.  God does the same thing for us – granting us healing, washing us in the waters of baptism, welcoming us to a Table where there is great rejoicing.

What has God set you free for?  What has God set us free to do in the world, to do for God, to do for God’s kingdom?  Very often, we make the mistake of thinking that because we are free it means that we are somehow free from responsibility or obligation.  There is nothing that we have to do to receive God’s grace – no way to earn it.  But, what do we do once we have received that grace – that freedom?  Does it spark something within us?  If it hasn’t sparked anything yet, watch out, because the Holy Spirit has a way of lighting a fire within us – a fire for the things that are of God, a fire for working toward those things so that we see them in the world. . .  no matter the risk and no matter the cost.

You know, the Bible never tells us what happened to the slave-girl or the jailer – whether the slave-girl lived a good life, whether the jailer kept his job. . .  But we do know that they were set free. . .  God’s freedom speaks to the heart of every person who is longing to be free. . . and every personis longing to be free.  Freedom is coming.  How will God work through you to make this so?  How is God working even now to make this so?

Sung:  Freedom is coming.  Freedom is coming.  

Freedom is coming, O yes I know. . .”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

----------

[1]Text and Music:  South African © 1984 Utryck (admin. Walton Music Corp).  Glory to God – The Presbyterian Hymnal (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2013) 359.

[2]See Acts 17:6.

[3]See Acts 16:13.

[4]Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. . .(Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 728.

[5]Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition(Colorado Springs:  NAV Press, 2002) 1518.  Other ancient authorities read “to us” or “for us.”

[6]Eugene Peterson, 1519.

[7]Walter Bauer, 733.

[8]See 2 Corinthians 11:25.

[9]Martin Luther King, Jr.  “Letter from Birmingham Jail” – April 16, 1963.  https://swap.stanford.edu/20141218230016/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular%5Frequests/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

[10]Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations(New York:  Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948) 9.

[mrmichaelchadler]

Thumbnails Special Edition: War of the Worlds

Thumbnails is a roundup of brief excerpts to introduce you to articles from other websites that we found interesting and exciting. We provide links to the original sources for you to read in their entirety. This special edition of Thumbnails commemorates the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast on October 30th, 2018. Special thanks our Editor-at-Large, Matt Zoller Seitz, for the idea.—Chaz Ebert

1. 

"The Fake News of Orson Welles: 'The War of the Worlds' at 80": Peter Tonguette of Humanities Magazine chats with filmmaker John Landis and Welles scholar Marguerite Rippy about the historic broadcast. 

“It’s easy to imagine why Welles might have been tickled pink at the public’s purported panic over The War of the Worlds, which celebrates its eightieth anniversary this month. While retaining the basics of Wells’s original tale, Welles and scenarist Howard Koch tinkered with its setting: What had been 1890s-era England became 1930s-era New Jersey. Even more devilish—and, frankly, potentially confounding to the public—was the choice not to dramatize the story but to dish out its details newscast-style. In a cast full of talented voices, Frank Readick played a reporter from the made-up Intercontinental Radio News and Welles was a university professor attempting to reckon with the news of the interstellar invaders. ‘We made a special effort to make our show as realistic as possible,’ Welles said in an episode of the 1955 BBC television series Orson Welles’ Sketch Book. ‘That is, we reproduced all the radio effects, not only sound effects. Well, we did on the show exactly what would have happened if the world had been invaded. We had a little music playing and then an announcer coming on and saying, ‘Excuse me, we interrupt this program to bring you an announcement from Jersey City. . . .’’ In fact, Welles was accustomed to courting a kind of danger in his productions. About a year before The War of the Worlds, the Mercury Theatre had put on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which was marred when Welles, seeking a particular lighting effect, demanded the use of a real dagger, rather than a fake, when he, as Brutus, stabbed Caesar (played by Joseph Holland). During one performance, Welles managed to wound Holland, an incident recounted by Mercury actor Norman Lloyd in my book Orson Welles Remembered. ‘These things happened with Orson,’ Lloyd told me. ‘I never checked again, or even thought about checking, whether Orson kept using a real dagger. But I know that was the end of the dagger with Joe Holland!’”

2. 

"Us and Them: Leo Goldsmith on 'War of the Worlds'": An excellent essay published in a 2012 issue of Reverse Shot.

“Precisely what fears these sinewy tripods are intended to represent—or, indeed, whose way of life is being threatened—remains ambiguous, even as it seems clear that Spielberg wants us to think something important about our lives during wartime. For H. G. Wells, however, there was no such ambiguity. An avowed socialist and advocate of ethnic and regional self-determinism, Wells deployed his novel at the twilight of a long and bloody century of British imperial expansion. Wells’s novel supplies a grim, detailed account of occupation at a time when the British Empire was engaged in violent insurgency management around the globe (especially in Africa, where resistance raged from Egypt to South Africa, and a half-dozen places in between). Wells’s unnamed narrator, who’s rather more reflective than Ray, frequently ponders what he calls a sense of humanity’s ‘dethronement,’ ‘a persuasion that I was no longer a master, but an animal among the animals, under the Martian heel. With us it would be as with them, to lurk and watch, to run and hide; the fear and empire of man had passed away.’ Wells’s story has a Darwinist bent that is social as well as natural—humanity’s complacent masses find themselves crushed and enslaved, reduced to livestock by the alien occupiers, and the microbes that ultimately prove the most effective weapons against this occupation suggest an inevitable, if unexpected insurgency at the smallest level.”

3.

"'Special Bulletin': Transfictional Disavowal": Jump Cut's Tijani El-Miskin analyzes Edward Zwick's 1983 TV movie, currently available on YouTube.

“Many of War of the Worlds' approximately 12 million listeners (a figure based on the 1930 census, American Institute of Public Opinion survey six weeks after the broadcast, and Hadley Cantril's research) who heard the Sunday night (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time) Orson Welles' broadcast knew that it was Welles speaking. If some did not, they were told at the beginning of the broadcast by the announcer, but they had to have tuned in on time: ‘The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the air in War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.’ The announcer added further ‘Ladies and gentlemen: the director of the Mercury Theatre and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles…’ All the signs of fictional formalities were observed by the announcer, such as mentioning the name of Orson Welles, clearly not a newscaster, and appealing to a famous science fiction writer, H.G. Wells' name, evoking the name of the Mercury Theatre, and mentioning fiction-related words like ‘star,’ words not associated with news bulletins. This bracketing of fictional conventions did not lull the audience into a sense of fantasy. Not even the four spoken reminders from the beginning of the broadcast to the end achieved that purpose. The operation of transfictional disavowal should force them to demand a separation of fact and fiction. Of course, not every listener would be frightened into believing the invasion was real. Some may have known the fictional story. Others may have had other dispositions. But the impact of manipulating the resources of one convention so as to mingle it with other conventions had a concrete effect. Needless to say, the director Edward Zwick was fully aware of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds (see Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1983). Indeed even the name ‘SPECIAL BULLETIN’ appears to have been taken from Wells' 1938 broadcast's manipulation of ‘factual’ radio conventions. Very early in the beginning of Wells' broadcast, the announcer, as part of the fictional ‘drama,’ informed the listeners that the station would ‘bring you the music of Ramon Raquelo and his orchestra.’”

4. 

"'The War of the Worlds' review in The New York Times": Byron Haskin's 1953 screen version received a solid recommendation in the respected paper. 

“There's no point in smugly rusticating behind the protection of the hydrogen bomb and jet planes. Those Martians, first reported in 1898 by H. G. Wells and terrifyingly revived for radio listeners by Orson Welles some forty years later, descended, with an assist from Paramount, on the Mayfair yesterday via ‘The War of the Worlds.’ Now it's either a mad dash for the hills or to the theatre. And, after calm deliberation, it would appear that the movies is the better bet. Make no mistake about it, science-fiction, like comic books, is a part of our culture, and George Pal, who produced this latest amalgam of fact and fantasy, is no tyro in this field. Like his previous sorties into interplanetary space—‘Destination Moon’ and ‘When Worlds Collide’—‘The War of the Worlds’ is, for all of its improbabilities, an imaginatively conceived, professionally turned adventure, which makes excellent use of Technicolor, special effects by a crew of experts and impressively drawn backgrounds. Equally important is the fact that Director Byron Haskin, working from a tight script by Barre Lyndon, has made this excursion suspenseful, fast and, on occasion, properly chilling.”

5. 

"'War of the Worlds' review by Roger Ebert": The critic was less than enthused by Steven Spielberg's 2005 version of Wells' classic. At his Scanners blog, Jim Emerson examined the film's Scientology-related subtext.

“The problem may be with the alien invasion itself. It is not very interesting. We learn that countless years ago, invaders presumably but not necessarily from Mars buried huge machines all over the Earth. Now they activate them with lightning bolts, each one containing an alien (in what form, it is hard to say). With the aliens at the controls, these machines crash up out of the Earth, stand on three towering but spindly legs and begin to zap the planet with death rays. Later, their tentacles suck our blood and fill steel baskets with our writhing bodies. To what purpose? Why zap what you later want to harvest? Why harvest humans? And, for that matter, why balance these towering machines on ill-designed supports? If evolution has taught us anything, it is that limbs of living things, from men to dinosaurs to spiders to centipedes, tend to come in numbers divisible by two. Three legs are inherently not stable, as the movie demonstrates when one leg of a giant tripod is damaged, and it falls helplessly to the ground. The tripods are indeed faithful to the original illustrations for H.G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, and to the machines described in the historic 1938 Orson Welles radio broadcast. But the book and radio program depended on our imaginations to make them believable, and the movie came at a time of lower expectations in special effects. You look at Spielberg's machines and you don't get much worked up, because you're seeing not alien menace but clumsy retro design. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to set the movie in 1898, at the time of Wells' novel, when the tripods represented a state-of-the-art alien invasion.”

Image of the Day

Medium's Grovers Mill Podcast illuminates "a few things you may have missed about" about Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio landmark.

Video of the Day

The complete hour-long broadcast of Orson Welles' brilliant "War of the Worlds" adaptation for radio.

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