#anyways!!!! 1984 has been really good so far!!!!! i got busy and had to return it tho so i have to wait for it to become available again

[mandoalorian]

People Can See [Maxwell Lord x F! Reader] SMUT

Request by @luvzoria​: hey sweetpea! i have a req! you obviously don't have to do this but it's my birthday today and it gave me the idea of surprise sex? with any pedro character (personal favs tho : max lord, pero tovar, frankie, marcus moreno, and javier peña)surprise birthday sex 👀 in a risky public place maybe? public teasing? if you're okay with that!! again thanks hun!!

Rating: 18+

Warnings: SMUT— unprotected p in v, public sex, exhibitionism, creampie, Max has a daddy kink, a lot of teasing, fingering, and also mention of food.

Word count: 2.6k words

Authors note: Happy birthday lovey!​ Michelle, I'm sorry this is a few days late but this is for you angel! I hope it's okay and I hope you had a fab day all things considered. I send you all my love. Xx 

Masterlist

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," the guests at your annual birthday gala hummed in unison as your favourite chef brought over your cake. Courtesy of your boyfriend Maxwell, it was a three tier chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and your name delicately placed on top in intricately detailed fondant.

"Maxie," you whispered, tears pooling in your eyes. You placed your hand on your boyfriend's thigh, rubbing it under the table. "This is too much. You shouldn't have." 

"Anything for you, my princess," he whispered, his warm breath fanning over the shell of your ear. Leaning in further, he pressed a kiss into your lobe, before giving it a small and teasing kitten lick. You grabbed his thigh even harder, your fingernails digging into his skin and giggled at your gesture. When he pulled away, he quirked an inquisitive eyebrow, as if to ask why are you giggling? He knew fine well. "Make a wish." he mumbled as he interlocked his fingers with yours.

There was no way you could possibly wish for anything. Dating Maxwell Lord meant that you could never want for nothing. He provided you with a beautiful home, lavish and luxurious clothes and jewellery, but most importantly he provided you with his love and warmth. You closed your eyes and wished that this happiness would last forever. There was no place you'd rather be, surrounded by your family and friends on your birthday— but most importantly, with Maxwell, the love of your life.

"You kept teasing me at the table." you muttered with a joking roll of your eyes. You and Maxwell were walking along the table filled with little bites to eat. Picking at the finger food, you both filled up your plates.

"Now sweetheart, you know that wasn't teasing," he chastised with a smirk. You nodded, knowing that he could do much worse. "Teasing could be you rubbing my thigh all night, huh? Did you think about that?"

As a matter of fact you had. Maxwell looked so handsome in his three piece tuxedo. The black pants and matching Armani jacket with the white button down suited him so well, but it didn't change the fact you desperately wanted to peel off that bow tie and have him gag you with it. You supposed it could wait until you got back to your hotel suite. You didn't answer, picking up a small item of food and shoving it into his mouth. He took it willingly, but stopped to wrap his lips around your finger, sucking teasingly.

"Maxie," you groaned wantonly. "People might see." He pulled off you with a pop.

"Let them watch." he shrugged casually before picking up another piece of food to go onto his plate.

Your birthday gala was a massive success, but you had no doubt it would be. Maxwell was always the best at hosting events. Your favourite part of the night was when he held you in your arms and you slow-danced to Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis, which was one of Max's all time favourites. You rested your head into your boyfriend's chest as his arms held your waist, swinging your hips in time with the music.

"You look absolutely stunning in that dress," Maxwell growled in your ear. You recognised that lilt in his voice immediately. Leaning back, you caught a glimpse of that primal look on his face, as well as a glint of lust in his already darkened eyes. "So glad to call you mine."

His hand maneuvered round to the curve of your ass and you felt your cheeks begin to heat up as you slowly looked around the ballroom, hoping nobody had noticed Maxwell's sudden onset affection. Thankfully, they hadn't. Other couples were too busy gazing into one another's eyes, or feasting upon the buffet on the other side of the room. In a crowded room, all Maxwell could focus on was you, his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend.

"I love you." you confessed with a happy hum.

"I love you too darling." 

The night was still young but it seemed most people had taken a break from dancing, filing back to their tables to chat some more. You were making your way around all the different tables, wanting to make sure to speak to everyone and thank them for coming and bringing gifts. You slid into an unoccupied seat at the Black Gold Cooperative table, a huge smile on your face as you began talking to your old colleagues, and Max's employees.

Max approached you, holding a tired Alistair in his arms. Alistair, his son, was hugging one of your balloons tight to his chest as he fell in and out of sleep. "I'm gonna take Alistair back to our hotel room, he's exhausted," Maxwell announced and you nodded in affirmation before gently pressing a kiss into Alistair's forehead. "I won't be long." he promised before walking away.

"Mr Lord is so sweet for doing all of this for you," Raquel, Maxwell's assistant gushed.

"You know you can call him Max when he's not here." you giggled and Raquel blushed.

"Well I remember when Mr Lor- I mean Max first met you. He changed almost instantaneously. Less miserable, more polite. We all think you made him into a better person." Raquel revealed.

"Really?" you questioned, your eyes going wide at her revelation. The rest of the table nodded their heads in unison, confirming your question.

When Maxwell returned, his bow tie was slightly wonky and his hair had fallen out of it's style. You tucked a loose strand back into place. "You okay?" you pouted, letting your fingers trace the buttons on his shirt. You pulled out a chair next to you so he could sit down at the table.

"Yeah, Alistair couldn't settle so I had to sing to him," he frowned. "You should've been there," he chastised you teasingly. "You're usually the one who sings him lullabies."

You giggled, resting your head on Maxwell's shoulder. "You're such a good daddy."

Daddy— it was the word that set a fire in Maxwell's stomach and you knew it. Everytime you said it, you said it deliberately. You said it to gain a reaction out of him. You felt his body stiffen up and you watched as his hand slowly glide over his crotch, covering his hardening cock. It was crazy how just one word spoken by you could get him going. The rest of the table cooed and awed in delight at how sweet you both were, but even Max knew that your intentions were far beyond sweet. He'd been teasing you all night at your own birthday party, but two can play at that game.

Maxwell stayed silent for the next few minutes as you laughed and joked with your friends, telling them about how brilliant your birthday had been. He fidgeted awkwardly, his dark eyes watching you intently as you took small sips of your champagne and fumbled with the gold rings adorning your fingers. You were truly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky.

When you were deep enough into conversation with Raquel about the brand new 1984 Polaroid camera Maxwell had gotten you, he took his chance to slide his hand up the hem of your dress. He peeled back the thin glittering sheath and drew small circles into the inside of your thigh. His actions almost took your breath away but you kept your cool, acting unfazed, like it wasn't even bothering you.

It would be okay. His hand was under the table cloth and nobody could see anyway. If he just wanted to stroke the soft skin of your legs, that was fine too. As long as you acted normal, pretending like your boyfriend wasn't touching you in front of all these people. You were doing a good job of seeming unbothered, it actually irked Max. He was doing all of this to see your reaction. He maneuvered his large, ring clad hand to the apex of your thigh, rolling the pads of his middle finger and index finger along your slick wet folds. You were evil for not wearing panties tonight. He couldn't believe how soaked you already were from just the slightest of touches, but, to be fair, you two had been teasing each other all night. His finger inched up to your clit and he began to swirl it around in tight circles.

The gasp you let out was almost inhumane and you felt your cheeks heat up. Maxwell kept working at you, trying to hide the smirk that graced his lips.

"Are you okay?" Raquel asked inquisitively.

Before you could even reply, Maxwell slid one thick finger into your aching core, doubling down until you felt his knuckles against your skin. "Y-yes," you choked out, reaching for your glass of champagne. "Think I just need a drink."

Your boyfriend continued to pump his finger in and out of you whilst sitting at the same table as his own employees. You kept taking sips of your drink to try and hide the longing moans that escaped your lips as he stretched you out. You felt wonderful around him, and he couldn't help but slip a second finger in. You made a fist, bunching up the material of your dress in your hand. When you began to feel your walls flutter around him, you knew your orgasm was approaching and that you wouldn't be able to stay quiet for him. You grabbed his wrist and shot him a knowing look. Slowly, he removed his finger from your core and you groaned at the loss of his fullness.

"Want more?" he whispered into your ear. You nodded quickly and he took your hand, whisking you away from the table and into a dark corner.

You began to palm at him through his pants, already eagerly trying to tug off his tuxedo jacket and pull off his bow tie. "C-can we go to the hotel room?" you asked, giving him your best puppy dog eyes. You pushed your body against his as his hands stroked your bare arms, relishing the moment.

"Oh honey, but Alistair's up there sleeping," Max cooed, shaking his head. You furrowed your eyebrows together in disdain.

"Maxieee," you groaned, pressing your thighs together. "But I need you."

The three words made Maxwell's cock twitch. He needed you too. He could already feel his precum begin to leak out from the tip of his manhood, staining his underwear. He looked around the ballroom. Everyone was too busy dancing and talking to notice you and Max had even left the scene. "Do you think they can see us?" he asked quizzically, his voice low as he brought his hand to your breast. He began to massage it through the thin material of your dress, giving it the occasional squeeze.

You contemplated his words. You were under a canopy, in the shadows. They probably wouldn't be able to see you from where they were standing, but if anyone approached this area, you'd soon become visible. "Right now? No, I don't think so." you hummed, weighing the scenario out in your mind. Max nodded his head in agreement before bringing his hand to your face. Under the dim light, his fingers still shone with your arousal, from when he had fingered you under the table earlier.

He brought his index finger to your lips, tracing them gently before pushing it into your mouth. You whimpered, sucking on his finger (just like he'd done to you earlier), and lapping up all your juices. Your bodies were pressed together and you began to run your knee over his erection, earning a few strangled moans from Max. "Now now Maxie, what are we going to do about this?" you hummed around his finger before he eventually pulled it away from you.

He looked around the ballroom once more, astonished that it had been a few minutes and no one had yet to see you both. He placed his hands on your hips and pressed you against the wall, unzipping his pants and pulling them down to his knees, along with his black pair of boxers. Your eyes widened when you saw how hard he already was for you, how desperate his thick cock was for your pretty little cunt. You dropped your hands to the base of his manhood and gave it a small stroke.

"Ngh— no," Max shook his head as he choked out a groan. "Just need to be inside of you." he confessed.

He pulled up your dress so it was bunched around your waist and propped up one of your legs, wrapping it around him. He pressed the blunt head of his cock against your entrance and you gasped wantonly, spreading yourself as open as you could and running your fingers through his hair.

"People might see." you whispered, grinding your pussy along his cock in desperation. He kept nudging himself against you, teasing, as always.

"You're so fucking hot," Maxwell whispered, gently pushing himself into you. His hand snapped up to your mouth, trying to silence your moans of pleasure as his thickness stretched you open. "You're so tight for me, aren't you princess?"

You couldn't even reply, and instead just nodded as the lust clouded your every thought. He doubled back before pushing himself completely into you, enjoying the way felt around his manhood. He couldn't believe how lucky he was, having you all to himself, not having to share you with anyway. He couldn't believe was fucking you in front of hundreds of guests at your own birthday gala— and you were letting him. "You- fuck, you take me so well." he praised.

"Oh Max, I don't think I'm gonna last long." you admitted, digging your fingernails into his dress shirt as he increased his speed. He was hitting that sweet spot inside of you everytime. 

"I'm gonna make you cum at your own birthday party," he announced with a low, gravely chuckle. "Gonna cum around daddy's cock, aren't you princess?"

"Mm, yes daddy. Please let me cum on your cock— ah!"

You bit down on his shoulder as his hips snapped into yours and you felt your climax undo, nothing but pure satisfaction washing over you. As Max felt you quiver around him, it spurred him over the edge and he spilt ropes of his seed inside of you, painting your pretty walls.

You stayed there for a few moments, against the wall, both heaving and panting, until Max's cock eventually softened and fell out of you. He sighed, carefully dropping you back to the ground and tucking himself back into his pants. You smoothed out his hair and he used his thumb to swipe away any of your smudged makeup.

"Happy birthday princess," he mumbled, pressing a sweet kiss into your lips. "Are you ready to go back to the party?"

You nodded happily, kissing him back. "I am. I love you so much."

Maxwell took your hand and held you close, the both of you heading back into the light and walking over to the dance floor. "I love you too." he revealed as he wrapped his hands around your waist and began to slow dance with you again.

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Max Lord: @mrschiltoncat​

[violetwolfraven]

Willie Headcanons

So I actually came up with this like a month ago and forgot to post it. Anyway enjoy my headcanons about our favorite sk8er boi. Be ready for feels.

Tw: death, car accident mention, emotional manipulation.

...

In my mind, Willie had a good relationship with his parents. They were supportive and everything. They both loved Willie very much.

And Willie has youngest child energy so I’m saying he has a sister who’s 2 years older and a brother who’s 5 years older. Their names are Delilah and Austin.

AND ALL THREE OF THEM ARE ADRENALINE JUNKIES.

Seriously imagine the worst possible combination of head empty only skateboarding and you’ve got Willie, Delilah, and Austin.

Austin started skating when he was 7 and got Delilah hooked on it a year later.

Their parents kinda didn’t like the idea of it but those two had already started teaching Willie basic stuff by the time he was 3.

But... the other two had other interests. Delilah was into art (painting) and Austin played piano (like, really well).

For Willie, skateboarding was his thing. And it always was.

He had fun with it when his big brother would put his hands on his and teach him to play a bit, or his sister would give him some paint and a spare canvas and they’d doodle together, but it wasn’t like skating.

As far as I’ve seen (which admittedly isn’t that far) it’s widely accepted that Willie has ADHD so I’m leaning into that here.

And Willie inherited his brain from his dad, who had a bad experience with meds and so wouldn’t let any of his kids go through it.

So Willie grew up unmedicated but probably better off for the time period. His dad taught him coping mechanisms. Him and Austin. Delilah didn’t inherit it but she was taught to empathize with her brothers and recognize when they needed her help with something.

She’s a badass who can and does beat up anybody who’s mean to her brothers for missing social cues.

But anyway while Austin had piano (and skating as a side thing) Willie got even more hooked on skateboarding than either of his siblings because his brain latched onto it from a young age and couldn’t let go.

We all have our outlets. The chaos in our brains has to go somewhere. For Willie it goes into skating.

When he’s young he and his siblings will skateboard to school and then after school they’ll skate all around Hollywood for hours.

They do their homework in random McDonalds and Denny’s and tbh become local cryptid customers. Like they’re just these 3 super friendly skater siblings who tip really well and visit every fast food place within a 20 mile radius of their house with varying frequency.

They also find e v e r y skatepark, empty pool, and vacant lot in that 20 mile radius that they can possibly find.

Their parents have to bail them out of jail for trespassing and the occasional vandalism every so often.

Sometimes one of them has stuff to do and it’s just two of them out skating but if two of them are busy the other one never goes out alone cause it’s dangerous. We’ll get back to that later.

So anyway when they’re 17, 14, and 12, Delilah comes out as a lesbian.

And the family is supportive of course because they’re a good family.

But her coming out gets Willie thinking. About how some of his friends have crushes on girls but he just... doesn’t see the appeal.

Like he has a couple friends who are girls and they’re great and he likes hanging out with them at recess but he doesn’t get the hype. They’re just more friends. So he doesn’t really see what his big sister is so interested in either.

In my mind Willie actually is from around the same time as the boys (dying in like 1999) so one day while nobody else in their house is home he and Delilah are watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Willie’s again wondering why people think Leia is so hot cause she’s cool and all but Luke is right there and he looks really good and—

Willie: I think I might be gay.

Delilah: Yeah I know.

They talk about it and Willie does decide to tell the rest of the family but he’s a bit wary about anyone else because he saw how some of Delilah’s friends turned on her after she came out. He doesn’t want that to happen to him.

He does end up telling a few of his friends but he doesn’t quite not care what people think of him the way his big sister does.

Austin is the only straight one and he’s like. So awkward about it but in a sweet way.

Austin: So, Britney Spears is hot, right?

Delilah: Stop.

And

Austin: So I saw you hanging around Chris the other day are you two..?

Willie: ...no...???

Austin: Cool, yeah I didn’t think so. Just had to make sure. Not that I’m doubting your ability to get boys but I’d have to shovel talk him if you were.

Willie: If I ever do get a boyfriend, please don’t.

He tries. He’s a himbo if that wasn’t clear. Where did you think Willie learned it?

So anyway fast forward a couple years and they’re 22, 19, and 17. Austin and Delilah are both in college and Willie’s the last one left at home and things between their parents start getting... tense.

Like they don’t fight exactly but they’ve fallen out of love and things are awkward.

Even Austin and Delilah can tell and they’re only home on breaks and some weekends but for Willie it’s right there and he’s watching it happen. He has no option but to see.

They used to have a rule that they don’t go skating alone because it’s dangerous but Willie just can’t make himself stay home so he goes out skateboarding.

At first it’s never too far from home or anywhere where there’s too much traffic but as things get increasingly awkward at home he goes out farther and farther, chasing the adrenaline high he used to get from going anywhere and everywhere every day after school with his siblings.

Then his parents officially tell him they’re getting divorced and

And it’s not like he couldn’t see it coming, but... it still hurts.

And neither of his siblings are coming home any time soon so

So he goes out skating on his own, way too far from home. He keeps going until he doesn’t even know where he is anymore.

He isn’t really paying attention the way he should but that’s not why he runs into trouble.

The driver of that red pickup is drunk and he rounds the corner out of nowhere.

If Delilah or Austin had been there they could have yelled for Willie to jump out of the way, or maybe up on the hood so the impact wouldn’t be as bad, but he’s alone.

So he gets hit, and the car was going fast enough that he’s dead before he even hits the pavement.

After that there’s a lot of confusion but once Willie figures out he’s a ghost... it’s too painful to think about going home, so he just... doesn’t.

He doesn’t want to see his family mourning him, so he just distracts himself, skating everywhere he couldn’t before without getting busted.

Plus some old routes where he used to go with Delilah and Austin, just for something that’s familiar but not too familiar.

He’s on one of those more familiar routes a few weeks after his death when he’s skating down Sunset Boulevard one night, singing along to Toxic by Britney Spears blasting from a nearby club and a man dressed in a purple suit comments on how he’s got a good voice.

Honestly Willie is just so relieved to have someone to talk to that he forgets about stranger danger completely.

Plus he recognizes an Elder Gay in Caleb and assumes he can trust him because the Elder Gays he met at pride that one time he went with Delilah were so nice and understanding of how reassuring it was to see queer people of older generations who got a happy ending.

Caleb barely even has to try. He just lets this 17-year-old obviously-queer ghost rant at him for a few minutes, asks a few questions and finds out that he also can play piano, and convinces him to come to the Hollywood Ghost Club the next night.

From there it’s not like Willie has anyone to save him so of course he has to join the club.

At first he’s completely alone because the other performers scare him almost as much as Caleb does.

Then slowly, he sees how they give him space because they know he’s scared of them. How they turn a blind eye when he leaves the club without permission. How they don’t critique his mistakes with the same sarcasm they show each other.

Willie starts to realize that the other performers are doing their best to look out for him, and he starts being less afraid.

They’re all too concerned with their own survival to really protect him but if they draw some attention to themselves occasionally so Caleb doesn’t notice Willie being slow to pick up some tricky choreography, that’s not too risky.

The others are all like 21 at the youngest and they really don’t appreciate Caleb tricking a literal child into working for him no matter how talented said child is. (Cause Willie is good at singing and piano. It’s just not his passion.)

The twins are 22 but they died in 1925 and before that they were performing to support a younger brother who they never got to say goodbye to so maybe they see Willie as a kind of second chance.

Lyssa (what I decided to name drummer woman because I don’t know her real name if she has one) is 25 and she died in 1984. She had a daughter who’d be about Willie’s age now and... who knows? Maybe they were friends.

Fuego is 24 and from 1951 and he had a childhood best friend who enlisted and died in WWII that he thought he might get to see when he died but that boy moved on and so... well, Willie’s just a little younger than his friend was the last time he saw him.

In short Willie becomes everyone’s baby brother and they do what they can to look out for him even if they’re just as scared of Caleb as he is.

And the better adjusted Willie gets to (after)life at the HGC and the better they get to know him, the guiltier the others start to feel about him being stuck there.

Eventually a combination of guilt and worked-up courage leads Fuego tells him about the whole unfinished business thing, in hopes maybe he can figure his out and get away from Caleb.

It doesn’t take Willie long to think of his family, how hopeless he felt about the divorce, how worried he was it would change everything and then how scared he was to see his family in pain because of his death.

He realizes his unfinished business is probably seeing them. Letting himself say goodbye.

He almost gets away with it.

Caleb catches up and stops him in the driveway of his house and poofs them back to the HGC.

He convinces (gaslights) Willie into believing that saying goodbye was never his unfinished business and even if it was it’s not like it would matter because Caleb wouldn’t let him do it.

The next morning he ships the HGC out to Tokyo. They stay on the move for a long time and when they are in town, Willie is basically locked in his room.

The next time he’s allowed out in Hollywood, his parents don’t live in their old house anymore and he has no way to find them.

As a coping mechanism, he just starts making the best of a bad situation. Becoming better friends with the other ghosts. Helping soften the blow whenever someone new comes along.

None of that means he stops checking the faces of passing skaters or keeping eyes on restaurants his folks used to like, but it does mean he more or less gives up hope.

That’s what he’s doing when he bumps into Alex.

Look, Willie loves his friends at the HGC. He really does. But there’s a big difference between 17 and 20-something. Like the others will drink alcohol some nights and technically Willie was born over 21 years ago but he still feels weird enough about it that he doesn’t drink.

He hasn’t talked to anyone his age in a long time so Alex is a breath of fresh air.

Also he’s like. Really cute. And sweet. And funny. And shit, Willie’s fallen for him before he even has time to think about it.

He keeps thinking about how Alex doesn’t seem like he’d be physically capable of hurting someone on purpose so Austin would approve and every once in a while there’s that sarcasm that pops out which means he’d get along great with Delilah.

In general Alex is the kind of guy he would’ve loved to take home to meet the family. Them not included, he’s kind of... everything Willie’s missed about Hollywood in the form of one person.

Then they hang out more and Alex is still everything he’s missed but he’s also so much more than that and...

It almost feels like a part of Alex is still alive. And for the first time in years, a part of Willie feels alive, too.

They’ve known each other for like a week tops and Willie is already in love.

Not that he’s admitting that to anyone, because he’s learned the hard way that anyone you care about can be used against you.

Still... when Alex asks for help getting revenge on Bobby, he can’t bring himself to say no because he needs to keep Alex in his (after)life and the only way he knows how to do that (or to make people be nice to him in general) is to be as useful as possible.

That turns out to be a big mistake, because Caleb sees right through him in an instant, targets Alex to confirm it, then immediately starts the process to trick the boys into committing to eternity at the HGC.

Willie feels like an idiot for thinking he could actually get away with it. Doing something good for someone he cares about.

He hadn’t thought Caleb would be interested in them because he’d never actually heard them play. The assumption was that he’d make them do some small favor and then let them talk to their bandmate for 5 minutes. A clean deal where they never have to commit to anything. Willie forgot to take magic into account.

He almost manages to convince himself it was all a bad dream, but when he seeks out Alex and his friends to check on them, he can almost feel the jolts himself, and seeing Alexthem in pain feels terrible.

Willie knows that theoretically they could figure out their unfinished business and cross over, but that all depends on finding it and doing it fast enough and if they failed...

People you care about can be used against you. And Willie does not want to be used against Alex again. He doesn’t want to see Alex used against him.

So he keeps his distance, in hopes Caleb will think he lost interest. He’s pretty sure once the boys find out about the stamp they’ll hate him, anyway.

And plus, as he’s been taught by his friends at the HGC, you have to look out for yourself because no one else will do it for you. Maybe you hurt somebody by not standing up for them, but you can apologize later and hope they forgive you. You can’t apologize if you’re gone, and it’s not like it would make a difference anyway because Caleb is too powerful for anyone to beat.

The thought of how spending eternity with Alex might not be so bad even if it has to be at the HGC does come up, but ironically that’s what makes Willie decide to screw his courage to the sticking point and tell them.

Because he has seen what decades at the club has done to his friends.

They’re all great performers, and they perform happiness well even to each other, but Willie knows them enough to know how tired they all are. How they have been doing the same thing over and over again for decades and they are sick of it.

They’re young, talented tragedies lost to drug overdoses, or AIDS, or accidents, or suicide, and they should’ve gotten to rest after everything they went through in their lives. Instead, they got a curse disguised as a blessing. They got to stay on a stage, got to keep performing and soaking up applause, never got to stop.

Willie has been there a shorter time than most of them and he feels it. The exhaustion, because ghosts are supposed to haunt for a few years then figure out their unfinished business and move on. They’re not meant to be trapped for decades, used as party tricks.

A part of Alex still feels alive and being trapped in the Hollywood Ghost Club for years on end would kill that part of him.

Willie can’t let that happen, so as hard as it is...

He tells the boys what’s wrong with them. And by that hurt, betrayed look in Alex’s eyes, he’s honestly expecting him to never forgive him.

But then Alex does. And that almost hurts worse because whether he figures out his unfinished business or not, Willie doubts he’s ever going to see him again.

He honest to God almost cries when Alex hugs him because... shit, he hasn’t gotten a hug since he was breathing.

He goes back to the HGC and tries to go about his day, and keeps replaying how good it felt to have Alex’s arms around him, hoping that memory will get him through the next few decades on his own.

The ghosts at the club do actually gossip a fair amount and by this point all of them know about the 3 dead members of Sunset Curve.

So when Willie admits to Helen (what I’m calling one of the twins) that Alex hugging him was the first time he’d gotten a hug since he died, she hugs him tight for a good 20 seconds, telling him she’s sorry he has to lose him, and if Willie closes his eyes he can almost pretend it’s Delilah.

The next thing he knows, he’s locked in a closet.

Caleb comes to talk to (intimidate) him a few hours later, saying he knows what Willie did.

He’s magically locked in his room alone for a couple weeks after that and it’s essentially psychological torture.

Helen, Anna (what I decided to call the other twin), Dante, Fuego, Lyssa, and everyone else tell him not to test Caleb for the next couple years, but Willie has a heart full of love and a head full of fuck it, so he doesn’t listen.

He gives it exactly one day of being/acting scared and obedient, then goes out without permission again, fully intending to scream in a museum alone to let out all his feelings.

Remember: Willie didn’t see the Orpheum performance. He doesn’t know the boys didn’t cross over but by Caleb’s mood he has a feeling the outcome of that scenario was not in the magician’s favor.

He gets there and it’s literally this comic by the very talented @williessweatycherrysocks

He can’t stay long but he and Alex scream in each other’s faces, talk a bit, maybe sing a duet.

After that, they sneak to see each other when they can but don’t get to see much of each other for months.

It’s hard on both of them but they don’t give up on their relationship.

Through long and complicated events which I will outline later, Willie eventually gets free of the HGC, hugs his friends goodbye already making plans to take down Caleb for good to free them, too, and promptly declines an offer to stay in the Molinas’ garage.

As much as he wants to be close to Alex he’s done being confined to one place.

He still comes and visits like every day tho.

He knows a lot more about ghosting than the other boys do so he and Carlos get along amazingly like:

Carlos: So do you know who Jack the Ripper was?

Willie: No? How old do you think I am?

Carlos: I dunno but I thought it might be Caleb cause that would explain how he never got caught.

Willie, taking notes in his Things To Potentially Use To Take Caleb Down notebook: You’re a tiny genius.

No one was expecting it but everyone is in awe of how well he and Carrie get along. Between the two of them they know so much celebrity gossip. (and it’s definitely a good thing he’s on good terms with her cause she and Alex are close)

On the angsty side, Willie also bonds with Nick over how they both know how it feels to be manipulated and used by Caleb.

Also it takes a long time before he’s able to trust him, but he does get adopted into the Molina clan by Ray.

Ray reminds him a lot of his own dad, once Willie’s able to see that he’s nothing like Caleb.

Ray’s honestly just 100% happy to Dad™️ anyone who needs a dad so it works out great once Julie and the boys figure out how to make Willie visible.

But anyway back to important stuff.

Now that they don’t have to hide for any reason, Willie and Alex can both breathe a little easier. Or... they both feel better. Ghosts don’t really breathe.

Willie can finally let himself get used to feeling alive again.

The whole ghost gang goes (invisibly) to the Los Feliz Homecoming dance and maybe it should make him feel a little on-edge with the kind of club-like environment but...

He’s got Alex there, and they’re dancing to some corny pop love song from the 90s that Flynn probably put on because she knew the ghost boys would be there so how could he feel anything but safe?

For a minute it almost feels like actually being alive and there’s yellow and pink and blue lights coming from everywhere reflecting in Alex’s eyes and Willie is suddenly very aware of the fact that though they’ve been together for a long time now, they haven’t had their first kiss.

Then the Cha Cha Slide starts up and the atmosphere switches and Willie totally forgets about the whole romantic tension thing because it’s the Cha Cha Slide everybody has to dance along.

Dirty Candi performs towards the end of the night and the ghost boys cheer the loudest despite how Julie’s laughing at them. They don’t care that Carrie can’t even hear them, they’re being supportive!!!

Everybody screams even louder when Flynn runs up on stage and kisses Carrie and Willie feels a big burst of affection at how Alex shouts ABOUT TIME!

Then he gives Willie a quick hug and leaves cause he and the rest of Julie and the Phantoms have to go get set up for their performance.

Since Alex was able to flip Carrie’s hair in All Eyes on Me I’m saying that ghosts can touch lifers if they focus and believe it will happen hard enough, so the ghost gang has developed a system for alerting their non-Julie lifer friends to their presence.

So while they’re waiting in the crowd Willie taps Carrie on the shoulder like: • - - one short tap, two long taps, a Morse code ‘W’ and Carrie lets Flynn know that he’s there.

(Nick can see him too but Nick’s off somewhere with his date {one of his lacrosse teammates you know the one})

Anyway so Julie goes out and starts up the song and then the rest of the band poofs in but

Something’s unusual.

Cause it’s not Luke on the lower main vocals.

It’s

Alex

Singing while he plays the drums and fucking killing it.

Willie totally bluescreens for a second but then when he actually focuses on the lyrics...

It’s a new song about beating the odds and being with the person you love in spite of the challenges that come with them.

And yeah there are Julie elements in there, (and she’s definitely making heart eyes at Luke even as he sticks to backup vocals) because of course there are since she has to start the song up, but

But Willie might not have any formal music training, but he was at the HGC long enough to know his stuff about music and recognize different artists’ styles.

And there’s a time signature switch on the bridge that’s a little off from how Luke would write it. There’s a swing to the melody that’s a bit more ‘pop’ than the band’s usual songs. Julie’s harmony doesn’t go as high as it normally would, as if whoever wrote the song didn’t have as high of an upper range to work with as she does.

The song is so unmistakably Alex that no one else could have written it.

Flynn and Carrie are quietly making smug comments on what they bet his face looks like right now but Willie’s not listening to them.

On the last chorus, Alex fucking winks at him right before poofing out.

Willie has whiplash like how did they go from him having to psych Alex up to break into a museum even when there’s zero chance of getting caught to Alex openly flirting with him from the stage?

He poofs backstage right as the boys get back from dropping their instruments back in the Molinas’ garage and he honestly doesn’t know what he even wants to say to convey how amazing that performance was.

Then Alex just smiles at him.

Alex: So I take it you liked the song?

Willie: Can I kiss you right now?

They both kinda freeze after he blurts that out and Reggie goes wow really quietly before he and Luke poof out to give them some privacy and whoops now they’re both flustered but

Alex: Wow, didn’t expect that. That’s... um, wow. But yeah.

They kiss and it’s a total romcom moment.

And the story’s far from over, but to Willie this definitely feels like happily ever after.

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Steve//i can see a better time, when all our dreams come true

hey! last part! i just want to say thank you to everyone who’s read, liked, reblogged and supported this series! you all mean the absolute world to me. i know this is gonna sound cringey or whatever, but this series is more than just that. i was originally supposed to write and post this last christmas. but something that i can’t really remember stopped me and i was so disappointed in myself. then this hell hole of a year happened and i had a major mental health crisis (something i am still recovering from) meaning i couldn’t do anything but watch the same three tv shows and scroll through instagram for about 3 months, as well as a bunch of other awful things. i thought it would be a miracle to just start writing requests again, but then when i was going through a notebook, i found this idea and remembered how much i loved it and how upset i was that i hadn’t done it. so i thought i’d try and do it, and after many, many days and nights of me stressing about the littlest things and driving my girlfriend absolutely insane by only talking about this (sorry, i love you!), i’d done it! and i am so proud of myself! i know its not the biggest achievement of the year, but it’s mine. so again thank you to not only everyone whose read this series, but also thank you to everyone who has read and supported everything i’ve done this year. i really do hope that next year is a better one for all of you! happy new year my loves! 

They say that time moves in different ways depending on the situation. 

For example, the day you spent hours driving to the beach with Steve and Robin felt like it was over in five minutes. But the time stuck under ground in a really crappy elevator with them felt more like a week. 

From the time it takes Steve to take his bandana and goggles off and to walk the three steps to you, it feels like days and seconds all at once. He wraps his arms around you, pulling you tight to him and the two of you let out a breath you feel like you’ve been holding for the past week. Finally you feel like you can breathe again, and finally the weight on Steve’s chest shifts a little. 

Your hair is matted, your clothes dirty and torn and there’s a cut on your cheek, blood slowly trickles down your cheek, staining your face and your t-shirt red. But you’re you, and you’re alive and you look like you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” You’re the first to speak, your words stumbling over each other. A chuckle mixed with a sob passes your lips as you hug him again, you hold him tighter than he’s ever been hugged before, it feels like his ribs are being crushed but he doesn’t care. He just presses a kiss against your forehead, and runs his fingers through your knotted hair. 

Hot tears land on the top of your head but you don’t feel them, you’re too busy crying into his shirt and the two of you stand like that for a few minute, thankful and very overwhelmed that the other one is alive and well. 

“I think I do.” He sobs and you let out a short laugh. “I love you so much Y/n. I am so fucking sorry. I’m such an idiot.” 

“No, no. It’s fine.” You cup his cheeks. “I was overreacting and I shouldn’t have stormed off. It’s fine.” You say and press a quick kiss to his lips, they’re salty because of the tears but neither of you care. “I love you Steve.” You finish and he breathes deeply, his shoulders sagging and the only thing that keeps him from falling is you. 

“I thought you were dead.” He cries. 

“Nah. You can’t get rid of me that easy.” You try, nudging his shoulder but he doesn’t smile. 

“I thought I’d never see you again. I thought...I thought.” 

“I’m fine.” You cut him off before he can finish his sentence. “Look. I’m good.” 

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He teases and you stare at him offended. 

“Rude. You do know that I almost died right?” 

“You’re so dramatic.” He rolls his eyes and yours widen. 

“Excuse me? I’m sorry who came all the way into an alternate dimension just to save me? Oh right. You.” 

“I only did that because I had nothing better to do. You know after boxing day things got a bit boring.” He shrugs and you slap his shoulder. 

“Asshole.” You mumble making him laugh. “How did you find me?” 

“Do you really think I’d forget the place we first met?” He replies, sending you a look and you squint up at him, the light from his torch blinding you slightly. “Sorry.” He mumbles and quickly turns it off.

���I thought given the circumstances you would have at least tried.” You shrug, staring at the floor. 

“Nah. Surprisingly it was the best day of my life.” He confesses and it surprises not only you but himself. That’s something he never thought he’d say. 

He thought Halloween 1984 would be a day that always hurt to think about. And yeah, thinking about what Nancy said to him still stung, but then he remembers you. 

You, in a costume he didn’t quite get. Your expression full of irritation that only softened when you saw him crying. You who asked what was wrong and stayed with him until he decided he wanted to go home. You who the next day found him to make sure he was okay. 

“Will you marry me?” He asks and your eyes widen.

“What?” You splutter and he stares at you hopefully. 

“I love you more than I have loved anything ever. You’re my favourite person ever, you make every day brighter. On days where I think I can’t do anything, when I think my dad is right about all the the shit he’s said and that little nagging voice in my head is shouting, you’re always there to tell me I’m wrong. You’ve helped me when I’ve been broken up with, beaten up and drugged. You fought a Russians for me and beaten up creatures from another dimension without even knowing what it was. I’ve never felt safer or happier with you by my side. I know I’m an idiot, but still...will you marry me?” 

“Steve.” You gasp, tears roll down your cheeks mixing with the blood and goo. “Yes. Yes I will marry you.” You reply and he lets of a sigh of relief. “Although, you didn’t get on one knee, and I don’t see a ring.” You tease and he rolls his eyes. 

His hands cup your cheeks delicately, he ducks his head down and presses a gentle kiss against your chapped and sore lips. 

“Steve? Steve? Are you okay?” Robin’s voice crackles through the walkie-talkie and you jump apart, suddenly remembering where you are. A loud crash comes from just outside and you and Steve freeze and stare at each other.

Thunder booms so loud it rings in your ears for a few seconds after and Steve feels the weight come back, only this time its shared with you too.

“I’ve got her.” He says slowly and eyes the bathroom suspiciously. “If you’re not already at the portal, go now. We’re on our way back...over.” He says and you hear a collection of relived sighs. 

“Yay! You said it!” Annie cheers and Steve rolls his eyes.

“What she means is we’re glad you’re both okay. Now get your ass back.” Robin adds and you and Steve don’t need to be told twice. Steve grabs the bat he dropped on the floor and reaches for your hand. He starts to pull you but is instantly stopped when he hears your cry in pain. 

“What? What’s wrong?” He’s in front of you instantly, looking you up and down for any injuries, and then his eyes land on your leg, and you watch him pale. 

“Stupid ugly thing got me.” You mumble and glance down at it, you cringe at the sight of the now brown blood, and inflamed scratches. Yeah, there is no way you’re going to be able to get that stain out.

“Can you walk.” He asks and looks around for anything to help. 

“I’ll be fine Steve. I just need to get used to it.” You reply. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes.” You nod. “Come on. I don’t want to be in Tina’s bathroom anymore than I already have been.” 

“Same.” He huffs and wraps his bandana around you. 

“What about you?” You ask while he puts the goggles on you. 

“I’ll be fine.” He waves you off. “It’s only a bit of dust.” He smirks and you roll your eyes. “Now come on.” He says quicker and wraps an arm around you. The two of you hobble towards the front door, tripping on a few vines and branches.

Steve helps you balance against the wall and the front door creaks as he pulls it open. 

“Okay.” He nods and looks back at you. “Nothing is waiting to kill us so I think we’ll be fine.” 

Famous last words.” You smirk and he rolls his eyes at you while helping you walk again. 

As soon as your outside, the door slams closed making the two of you jump. Wind rushes around the two of you and brown and black works its way into the cracks of the sky. Buildings tumble down around you, almost as if an invisible force is stomping on each of them. You and Steve share a look as the chaos seems to get closer and closer to you. 

“Shall we go then?” Steve asks, his eyes wide with fear and you quickly nod. 

“Yep.” You reply. “I hate parties anyway.” You say and a small smile twitches on your lips. Steve returns it and the two of you make your way down the steps and onto the street. 

Thankfully, Tina doesn’t live that far from you. In the past that was something you hated because it meant you couldn’t get out of parties, this time however, you’re very grateful for the closeness of your homes. 

In an ideal world, it means you’ll be able to get back to the right and semi-safe world in less than twenty minutes. However, if the past seven years have taught you and Steve anything, it’s that you don’t live in an ideal world. You live in the opposite in fact. 

Like you said, the habitants of The Upside Down, don’t care much for cleaning, and it’s only made worse now that the entire things seems to be collapsing around you. Either it’s doing it on purpose so none of you can escape, or all of you just have some really bad timing. 

“So this whole place is dying?” You ask and look around. It certainly looks like it’s dying. It has done since you woke up and its only gotten worse. You also thought it was strange that you hadn’t been eaten by now. 

“Yep.” He replies. “Apparently all those times we thought we’d won but hadn’t. Did actually do something. It just took a while for it to feel the affect.” 

“And I’m in here because?” 

“Annie said that whatever dragged you in, was probably looking for anything to eat.” He replies and you think about it for a few seconds. 

“So why didn’t it eat me?” 

“How the hell am I suppose to know.” He says. “Do I look like the scientist here?” 

“Furthest from actually.” 

“Exactly.” He smiles. 

“So what’s the plan?” 

“We get out as quickly as we can.” 

“The more detailed plan?” You roll your eyes. 

“Dustin and Lucas got a bunch of explosives and fireworks. We’ve dumped them in here and as soon as we get out, El and Will’s going to explode them!” He says proudly and you look at him impressed. 

“Wo-Watch out!”

You and Steve narrowly miss being hit by a falling tree, only to trip over some sort of decaying monster. 

“Gross.” You huff and look down at your hands, now covered in blood and guts. “Are you okay Steve?” You ask while trying to stand back up. 

“No.” He mumbles and you frown as you turn around to face him. He’s hunched over in the middle of the road, dry heaving and your eyebrows furrow as you watch him. 

“What’s wrong?” You ask, however instead of answering you’re just met with a groan. “Steve? We haven’t got all day.” 

“It went in my mouth!” He exclaims and turns around, throwing his hands up in the air. “That things guts were in my mouth. I can taste blood. Oh god. I’m gonna die. Or turn into one of those. Y/n, if I turn into anything like that please just kill me. You have my permission to take a baseball bat to my head...just please, bury me somewhere nice.” He rambles making you snort a laugh. “It’s not funny Y/n.” 

“It kind of is.” You reply and he glares at you. 

“It’s not.” He mutters and slowly walks towards you. However he freezes when he notices your eyes widening. “What?” He asks. “Y/n? What’s wrong?” 

“Don’t move.” You whisper and he feels his blood run cold. 

“What?” He squeaks and watches you slowly limp and pick up the bat lying on the floor. 

“Oh god. It’s happening isn’t. I love you Y/n. Tell Robin it was me that broke her Walkman. I told her it was Dustin, but it was me.” He closes his eyes, expecting the worst. 

Something scratches at his legs and he breathes in, this is it. He’s going to die, so are you and everything is going to be for nothing. He wants to reach out for you, to hold you close and then at least you’ll be together, but he can’t he’s frozen. 

And then he hears a thud, a small whine and your heavy breathing. Slowly he opens one eye, expecting to see some sort of toothy monster staring back at him. But instead he’s met with the back of your head. He watches you drop the bat, the noise echoing into the darkness and slowly he looks down. 

He’s not entirely sure what tried to kill him, it’s unrecognizable now that’s been beaten into the ground, but it looks scary anyway. 

“It’s the same fucker that dragged me in here in the first place.” You look over your shoulder and wipe your forehead. 

“I love you so much.” He stares at you in awe. “That was hot.” 

“Shut up.” You huff but wink at him anyway. “Are you okay?” You ask and glance at his leg. 

“Oh, yeah.” He shrugs and looks at the small scratch. “I’ll be fine. What about you?”

“I’ll live.” You shrug. 

The two of you stumble around the corner and into the forest and you watch as your friends climb through the glowing doorway to the real world. 

“Guys!” Steve shouts making everyone freeze. The kids have already gone through, leaving just Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, Annie and Joyce behind. Tears form in your eyes as you stare at your friends. 

“Hurry up!” Jonathan shouts. 

“I’m trying! It’s a bit difficult though with my leg hanging off!” You shout back and watch as Jonathan pushes Nancy through the goo before running towards you. 

“Jonathan!” Joyce shouts, her voice can barely be heard over the wind. It blows through your ears and makes you shiver. Trees move wildly around you and you watch as the sky starts to fall away. 

“Well that can’t be good.” You gulp and walk a bit quicker. Jonathan stands on the other side of you, holding your waist and the three of you stumble towards the portal. 

They let go of you and push you through, you land on the forest floor with a loud thud and small groan escapes your lips. 

“Y/n!” The group shout and everyone moves to help you stand. You’ve never been so happy to see everyone. Robin and Annie pull Jonathan, Steve and Joyce through. And as soon as Joyce is stood up, El and Will press the detonators. There’s a loud bang that makes you all jump back, and you watch as the portal vanishes, leaving the brown of the tree trunk behind. 

“Is everyone here?” Joyce asks and scans the group. 

“It’s a bit late if they’re not.” Robin replies. “But yes...I think we did it. We actually did it! Yes!!” She cheers and jumps up and down. Everyone shares a look before looking back at her and even Annie looks a little concerned. 

“I can’t believe you all came for me.” You pull the goggles and fabric off of your face, and tears roll down your cheeks. 

“Of course we did.” Dustin hugs you. 

“You didn’t think we’d leave you in there did you?” Nancy asks also wrapping you up into a tight hug. The res of the group follow and soon you’re in the middle of an eleven people hug...not that you’re complaining though. 

“Jesus Christ. How long were we in there?” Steve asks and looks at the now dark sky.

“Who the fuck cares. Let’s go home.” 

Fireworks crackle and explode above your head. The sky lights up with red and oranges, leading the way home for the 12 of you. 

The residents hope that the bright lights will keep the darkness at bay, but from now on, they won’t have to.

“Happy New Year love.” 

“Happy New Year Steve.” 

[mostlymovieswithmax]

Movies I watched in September

I skipped a month again. But not to worry. This is a wrap-up of all the movies I watched in the month of September (2021). I think I maintained a steady ratio throughout but perhaps there’s not as much on the list this time because I wanted to get on with other things, be that work-wise or just trying to get out to the beach as much as possible and make the most of the last dregs of summertime. I went swimming in the sea a lot! But I also got to catch the new James Wan movie, Malignant (twice!) as well as the new James Bond, No Time To Die. Not to mention a couple of classics! My hope again with this list is to introduce people to new movies that they may otherwise not have seen or perhaps have never have heard of. These short reviews are my own subjective opinions on each individual movie. I’m thinking maybe a more informal approach to movie criticism can help include others who are just passing through. So here is every film I watched from the 1st to the 30th of September.

Fanny and Alexander (1982) - 8/10

Coming from Ingmar Bergman, I was surprised to see just how warm this was. I’m a big fan of the Swedish director and while this isn’t my favourite from him (perhaps due to it needing a second watch, or the fact I watched it in three chunks because it’s about three hours long and I overestimated how much time I had in the day) it’s still an interesting departure from what I’ve come to expect from him. Fanny and Alexander is a dreamy Christmassy movie that presents an overarching theme of love, spending a large portion of its runtime just hanging out with this big family on Christmas and showing how close they are. I would love to watch this again at some point in December and see how my opinion shifts but for now, while it could meandre in places, I can’t deny how unique a movie it is.

Another Round (2021) - 10/10

I had seen Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film before this point but this was the first time I got to see it in a cinema. Luckily for me my local independent cinema was showing it one night and while they had a few technical hiccups with setting everything up, the movie itself was still fantastic. Following a handful of school teachers who experiment with whether they can maintain a certain level of blood alcohol throughout the day, Another Round demonstrates a sense of unease and sadness throughout an otherwise comedic tone. These emotions are balanced perfectly, boosting an already intriguing concept that examines our relationship with alcohol from every angle.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - 4/10

Straight after Another Round, I made my way to the chain cinema to meet up with friends to see the new Marvel movie. At this point, having had my second dose of the Covid vaccine that morning, I was starting to feel the effects and I was not doing well. But I watched the movie anyway, all the while wanting to be in bed. Shang-Chi was massively underwhelming and I’d go as far as to say it was even incompetent. Truth be told,  I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe but from the get-go I already wasn’t hyped for this movie and I was expecting it to be about mediocre but what I got was something a lot worse. I won’t rehash what I’ve already said on this film so if you want to hear me rant about it a bit then I would recommend checking out episode 47 of my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon.

Your Name. (2016) - 6/10

Ultimately this was a fun little romance movie but I can’t say I understand why people adore it, nor do I understand why it needed to be animated. For what it’s worth, I found it cute and entertaining but nothing much jumped out to me.

Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang (2021) - 7/10

I’m always stumped on what to say about stand-up shows. It was good! I enjoyed Phil Wang talking about different things in a funny way and it got some laughs out of me. Admittedly I’m writing this a couple of weeks after watching it but it’s certainly a decent way to spend an hour if you’re looking for something light and fun.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - 6/10

I remember seeing this in the cinema with two of my friends and the theatre wasn’t exactly packed but those that were there were either children or parents. But I like The Lego Batman Movie! Clearly this was made by fans of the character as it’s packed with a lot of details and references from old comic runs but as someone who has never read the comics or seen those older movies, it still managed to be entertaining and while I won’t say it’s quite as good as The Lego Movie, the animation is still top notch and the voice actors are certainly giving it their all, especially Will Arnett as the titular character. It’s just a bit of fun!

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - 10/10

A friend of mine told me to go to the screening of Terminator 2 at my local because they themselves weren’t able to attend. The first Terminator movie is a real gem and one of the most 80’s-type movies I’ve ever seen. I was excited to watch T2, remembering next to nothing about what I watched of it when I was a child. So it was just me in this screening, with one person in a row in front of me, and one other person behind me. If I had it my way, I would have been the only person there because this is honestly one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and it was very hard not to yell out every time something incredible happened, especially when it’s so action-packed and basically goes all out at every opportunity to deliver some of the most jaw-dropping effects or choreography. Truly there is never a dull moment and I was grinning like a lunatic the entire time. This film rocks!

Mirror (1975) - 7/10

Andrei Tarkovsky is one of my favourite directors and the new Criterion release of his film, Mirror, had been on my shelf for a while. My friend and fellow podcast co-host, Chris, was also interested in watching this movie so we decided we’d give it a watch and review it on the podcast. But this is such a weirdly structured film that the entire way through, neither of us knew what on earth was happening. What we got from the experience is reflected in the episode we made and I would love to watch this again at some point, hopefully with more context and a better understanding of what I’m in for. But in the meantime, you can hear the discussion on episode 46 of the podcast.

The Night House (2021) - 6/10

The Night House is David Bruckner’s follow-up to his previous movie, The Ritual and while I’ll say I prefer The Ritual, this is still a decent watch, just don’t go in expecting horror. More of my thoughts can be found in episode 46 of the podcast.

The Ritual (2017) - 7/10

After watching The Night House, I decided to go back to the director’s previous film, The Ritual and I got a lot more out of it this time around. Themes of guilt and grief permeate the movie and the result is this weird and unnerving film about a group of guys who go hiking in Sweden after the death of one of their friends and encounter dark forces beyond their comprehension. It can be drawn out at times and probably could have been boosted with a better script but there are so many interesting and strange ideas presented that culminate in a haunting third act that it’s worth watching just to see what on earth they’re being hunted by.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - 10/10

Straight after recording an episode about our favourite movies on the podcast, I returned to one of my all-time favourites. Holy Grail is such a fantastically funny movie with so many memorable lines and moments that it’s become a staple in the comedy genre. Setting it in Arthurian England is a surefire way to make sure it stands the test of time, making use of the budget in a way that heightens the comedy, for example: not being able to get horses and so resorting to having a man banging two coconut halves together as they skip through the grassy terrain. It’s the writing that really takes centre stage here; the guys from Monty Python were/are geniuses. A couple more points were made on my podcast so please do listen to that to hear more: Episode 46 of The Sunday Movie Marathon

Malignant (2021) - 7/10

The new James Wan movie was bonkers! I saw this one twice in quick succession without hesitation. To find out why I love it so much, listen to episode 47 of the podcast.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 8/10

We got a marathon of the first three Nightmare on Elm Street movies on the podcast so we watched them in quick succession within a day. This first movie is a true masterpiece of its time. For more insight, listen to episode 47 of the podcast.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) - 2/10

Quite an embarrassing departure from the genius and fun of the original. Elm Street 2 is not only technically unfulfilling but a wholly unentertaining movie to boot. More thoughts in episode 47 of the podcast.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) - 3/10

While only a few hairs better than its predecessor, Elm Street 3 is still a mere shadow of the original. All in all, these second and third instalments in the franchise have put me off watching any of the others. More thoughts in episode 47 of the podcast.

Her (2013) - 10/10

Her is at once a beautiful love story between a man and an AI, and a scarily accurate look at how technology is expanding and moving forward. It uses warm colours and smooth camera work to create something that feels homely and safe, juxtaposing the often cold and dark feeling of science-fiction films to tell an intrinsically human story. What would it be like to go through this and what are the hurdles that need to be overcome? Her is a masterpiece of filmmaking and it left me emotionally exhausted in all the right ways.

Alien (1979) - 10/10

First time I’ve seen Alien in the cinema (as I was too busy not being born yet to see it on an initial release) and it was amazing! This is cosmic horror at its best. With all the eerie sound design, slow and deliberate camera movement, and outstanding effects, there’s no wonder as to why this is considered one of the greats and seeing it on the big screen was enthralling.

Aliens (1986) - 8/10

I had never seen Aliens before so the opportunity to see it for the first time in a cinema was one I could not pass up, especially since I was able to see it straight after the first. This is more of an action movie than the first one and as that, it was really something to see. While I don’t think it quite measures up to the original, James Cameron does bring a style to it that makes it something completely different while still feeling in line with its predecessor. A problem I’ve found as time goes on is that I don’t find myself thinking much about Aliens whatsoever and that’s probably down to its characters who generally I found quite weak. I’m already not big on standard action flicks and this is a clear cut above those but it does still fall victim to the trappings. That being said, I would in no way call this bad or even mediocre because it was a lot fun and being able to see it in the cinema is an experience I’m very grateful for.

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) - 6/10

Gunpowder Milkshake is trying very hard to be John Wick and although it never really manages it, there is still fun to be had with its action (because really that’s all this movie has to offer). There’s a very creative scene in which Karen Gillan has to fight some goons in a hospital with a gun taped to one hand and a scalpel taped to the other, with the caveat being that her arms don’t work. Despite that and a good enough performance from Gillan, the rest is very goofy, with a villain about as intriguing as an advert for life insurance and a story that to say the least, leaves much to be desired.

I Lost My Body (2019) - 10/10

Another one for the podcast, I Lost My Body is a glorious cerebral animated piece that hits every nerve in my body. Listen to episode 48 for more.

Alice In Wonderland (1951) - 10/10

Perhaps the best early Disney movie in my humble opinion. Alice In Wonderland is complete insanity, doing things simply for the sake of it in a beguiling dreamlike take on Lewis Carroll’s classic book. Listen to episode 48 of The Sunday Movie Marathon for more.

WALL-E (2008) - 9/10

WALL-E is one of Pixar’s best. It is a cautionary tale of where the world is headed wrapped in a sweet story about going to the ends of the solar system in order to help those you love. I do however have one big problem with this movie and you can find out more in episode 48 of the podcast.

Killing Them Softly (2012) - 6/10

A lot about America’s economy at the time, Killing Them Softly goes about showing the lengths people will go to for money and yes it is generally solid with a fantastic speech by Brad Pitt to cap it off, but it cannot avoid meandering scenes of listless dialogue that neither engage me nor make me care about the characters it presents.

The Dirties (2013) - 6/10

Funny! The Dirties is a mockumentary about two guys making a movie about bullies in their school. While often it was generally chugging along and making me laugh, it tended to err on the side of plain as regards its presentation. A lot of scenes happen for the sake of it and in a movie that’s around an hour and twenty, it’s amazing I still managed to dip out in the latter half. More thoughts in episode 49 of the podcast.

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2009) - 3/10

Ah, I really hated this. I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. Just listen to episode 49 of the podcast to hear what I had to say.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - 10/10

This is my favourite movie! I got to talk about it on my podcast! Listen to episode 49 of The Sunday Movie Marathon to hear what I have to say!

No Time To Die (2021) - 8/10

Best Bond movie? Perhaps. I’ve not seen every Bond movie but of the ones I have seen (which does include all of Daniel Craig’s run), this is as good as it gets. Despite a near three hour runtime, No Time To Die felt as though it wasted very little. I’ve always complained that I could never follow the plot to these movies because often I simply didn’t care about it; for me it’s more about the action and seeing Daniel Craig be James Bond. No Time To Die does not escape some of the general tropes that often don’t leave me thinking I’ve watched something masterful but what I will say in its favour is that it’s fucking fun! Don’t expect to love it if you already dislike these movies because generally it stays in the same vein as the others before it, but for Bond fans it’s something totally enjoyable. Captivating cinematography, biting fight choreography and action set-pieces, a core struggle for James who actually goes through relatable hardships his time round, coping with being part of a family and trying to keep them safe.

I was happy to see a bit more attention paid to female characters this go round; in a franchise that often glamorizes Bond’s sexual promiscuity and ability to woo any woman he likes, it was much more refreshing to see that he often did need help from a lot of badass, well written female characters.

No Time To Die has been waiting to be released for a long time now and now it’s actually out, I’m pleased it’s not hot garbage. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The final swan song for Craig’s fifteen-year tenure as one of cinema’s most recognisable heroes outdoes all that came before it. Bravo.

[justkeeptrekkin]

Not making this too specific because there's a lot of fun directions it could go, but here's a fic I've been dying for: Ineffable Husbands at a gay club and one of them gets REALLY jealous of all the attention the other's getting from the patrons

Anon, you’ve inadvertently triggered my very niche interest in the 1980s Manchester music scene. This is so so long... apologies for that. This is also very relevant to another anonymous ask I got about dancing/letting loose, so I’m screen-shotting it here- anon, I hope you see this!

***

The year is 1984. Margaret Thatcher has won her landslide victory, and the miners’ strike has started sweeping the United Kingdom. Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) is beginning to make its mark in the papers. Madonna has taken over all radio stations worth listening to. Manchester United and Brighton drew 2-2 in the FA Cup, and the CD is now available in all good music stores. 

Aziraphale is in Manchester. The North is currently filled with civil unrest due to the current political situation. Crime is rising, jobs are dwindling, people are scared for their futures. Aziraphale doesn’t often venture to The North, but when he does, it’s because something’s either gone terribly wrong or terribly well. For example, the Industrial Revolution (which had been both good and bad). 

Crowley is in Manchester, too. He is in Manchester’s coolest club, The Haçienda. Nowadays, rather shockingly, Manchester is the place to be. It’s where New Order and The Smiths come to play. It’s the epicenter of British sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. It’s Crowley’s creation, and for the first time since the city’s inception, he’d been- in his own words- ‘more than happy to come and check up on it and see how it’s doing’. 

The two of them run into each other one night, on a busy street outside The Haçienda. 

It’s eleven-thirty in the evening when Aziraphale turns a corner and walks directly into his best friend, whom he hasn’t seen since 1975. At first, he doesn’t recognise him for the lack of handle-bar moustache, begins apologising profusely. But the apology fades away on his tongue as he takes a step back and sees Crowley, giant Ray-Bans hiding most of his face. A black suit that’s too large for him- shoulders padded. Sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The ankles of his trousers rolled up too, and slacks without socks. And a painfully loud red and black Hawaiian shirt. 

Crowley’s eyebrows shoot up above his considerable sunglasses. “Aziraphale?”

“Crowley! Fancy running into you here.” Aziraphale brushes off his cream, swede, double-breasted suit jacket. “What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Crowley spends a moment trying to re-roll his sleeves. Ever the perfectionist, he isn’t happy with how purposefully dishevelled he looks, and shrugs off his jacket, trying again. As he faffs, he continues, “This is my city. And it’s only just started getting really interesting. What are you doing here? What’s an angel doing in Manchester of all places?” 

“Well. All this Thatcher business.”

“Oh,” Crowley nods. “Yes. Her. Coming to try and tidy up after her, are we?”

“Sort of. Lots of unhappy people, thought I’d try and perform a miracle or two.”

“Fair enough- except- except, doesn’t really answer my question,” Crowley drawls, stepping closer, sliding his hands into the pockets of his loose trousers.

The streets of Manchester are filled with party goers. Music from The Haçienda booms out, cigarette smoke pouring through the half open doorway. The bouncer eyes them suspiciously.

Aziraphale feels transfixed on the spot, Crowley’s gaze fixed on him and an amused smile playing on his lips. 

“What’s an angel doing in Manchester at 11:30 on a Saturday night?”

Aziraphale stares. That hair. Some sort of miracle has gone into that hair, the way it’s been swept back and sprayed to an inch of its life to keep its hold. There’s so much volume to it, so much life that it looks like it might leap right off Crowley’s head and run away. But what’s more distracting is the way Crowley begins to pace around him, the way he always seems to do. Like he’s orbiting Aziraphale- the sun around a sunflower. And Aziraphale turns to watch him.

“It’s- you’re right, it’s not my preferred thing to be doing,” Aziraphale begins, feeling very thoroughly watched. Crowley is looking at him like he’s enjoying himself, as if he’s impressed. “I’d much rather be reading my book back home, but I’m actually here to lend some support.”

“Support?” Crowley repeats, smile still there, brows raised in interest. 

Aziraphale glances at him as he continues to circle. People pass them by on the street without a second glance. The bouncer, however, looks like he’s about to shoo them away from the outside of the club. 

“Support,” he emphasises. How is he forgetting his words so easily tonight? Crowley doesn’t always have this mind-numbing effect on him, but when he does, it’s awfully embarrassing. “I’m here to support the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. They’re having a party to gather allies in the gay club here. Just down the road.”

Crowley stops at that. And if he’d looked impressed before, now he looks positively elated, smile huge and brows flying to his hairline. “You what? LGSM- that was you?”

“Of course,” Aziraphale says quietly. Smiling to himself, feeling pleased. And quite frankly, flourishing a little under Crowley’s smile. “Two subjugated parties, coming together for a common cause. Equality.”

“And riots.”

Crowley smirks. Aziraphale frowns at him.

“Peaceful protest,” Aziraphale amends. 

Crowley bows his head in concession. “Of course,” he says insincerely. 

“Anyway,” Aziraphale says, before Crowley can begin lecturing him. “I’m heading over there now, just to show my face. It would be very rude not to, as they had invited me. Although…”

Aziraphale swallows. Looks about the dark, lamplit streets around him and sees the people stumble along, beers in hand, empty bottles of Lambrini rolling down the pavements. People chanting football anthems as they run through the deserted roads. The red-brick, converted factory buildings illuminated by club lights.

“You’re lost, aren’t you?”

“No,” Aziraphale asserts. Then, after being stared at for a few moments, “Yes.”

Crowley snorts. “Well, there’s only one good gay club that I know of round these parts, go there quite a lot myself.”

That brings his attention right back to Crowley’s Ray-Bans. “You do?”

Crowley shrugs enthusiastically. “Yeah, why not? Good fun.”

“Oh, yes?”

“Absolutely.”

“Ah- good. Well…”

“You don’t strike me as the type to go to clubs often.”

“And you’d be right.”

“So, let me get this straight- you live in Soho, gay centre of London, and haven’t been to a gay club?”

“Not knowingly, no. You’ll have to show me the ropes.”

Crowley looks at him. He looks at him with an intensity that makes Aziraphale’s neck shiver strangely, and not altogether unpleasantly. And then he sniffs, looks away, begin walking away from the club their hanging outside of. Their steps falling easily in sync, as if they haven’t been apart for more than five minutes.

“You know it’ll be loud.”

“Yes, of course.”

“And you probably won’t like the music.”

“Well, I’ll judge that for myself.”

“And people will try and flirt with you. Even in…” Crowley looks him up and down. “That.”

Aziraphale glares at Crowley and side-steps a little as they walk, brushing off his jacket again defensively. Looks down at his outfit- he’s sporting a very soft, very comfortable turtle neck. And some well-fitted trousers, thank you very much. Aziraphale has never seen Miami Vice, but he has seen posters and he knows that Crowley has taken the vast majority of his fashion inspiration from the show (at least he’s now emerged from his Saturday Night Fever phase). Aziraphale thinks he has rather better standards.

“What’s wrong with this?”

“You look like a Philosophy teacher.”

“And- excuse me, what is wrong with that?”

“You’re going to a gay club.”

“Well, my lesbian and gay friends don’t seem to take issue with my fashion choices.”

This is not, distinctly, true. They had tried to give him a makeover last week, and it had ended up with him looking like a lost member of Adam and the Ants. 

“Alright, well, how about this.”

Crowley snaps his fingers- and then Aziraphale’s in a white silk shirt, buttons undone to his clavicle, the collar turned up and sleeves rolled up. White trousers- oh, Lord, no, they’re white jeans. And, well. 

A little snug, at that. 

“Good God,” he remarks.

“There. Suits you.”

“White jeans, Crowley. I mean, really, I think I can be classier than that.”

Crowley links arms with him and grins eagerly. Aziraphale’s back straightens and he returns his smile, a little giddily. 

“Tonight, we aren’t doing classy, angel.”

***

Three hours and several cocktails later, and Aziraphale has found himself dancing something that isn’t a gavotte. 

Some song about ‘needing a hero’ is playing, very upbeat and jovial it is, too. He’s dancing with the LGSM crew, glass half empty in one hand. It’s hot in here- he’s sweating horribly. And it’s incredibly loud. He doesn’t know what anyone’s saying, but they’re all having an excellent time. Cigarette smoke lingers in the air. And there are men in shorts so absurdly tiny that he doesn’t know how they keep everything in. The outfits get far more outrageous than that, too- people in full leather, people in full feathers, people in full glitter. 

Gay clubs are fantastic, Aziraphale has decided. 

He’s several drinks in, and Crowley has gone to the bar to buy a round for them all. Meanwhile, Aziraphale is jumping around with reckless abandon, knowing that, sooner or later, Crowley will come back. Crowley will come back and look at him in that way he does that Aziraphale doesn’t understand but makes his heart jump- a look that’s intense, yet soft, frustrated yet affectionate. 

Aziraphale will do almost anything to see him look at him like that. 

In the loud of the club, he hand signals something to his friends- something very inarticulate and nonsensical that’s meant to convey ‘I’m going to go look for my age-old friend Crowley, whom I have associated myself with for roughly six thousand years even though it’s technically against the rules, but I do it anyway because he’s probably the only person in this universe who understands me. Also I’m going to go help him with the drinks.’ And so he steps further into the crowd of the club- he’s lucky he’s drunk enough that he isn’t bothered by the sheer number of people- stepping on the sticky floor to find his friend. 

And there. 

There is Crowley, two cosmopolitans in hand. Being chatted up by a stranger. 

A very large, lumberjack looking man leering at him. He has even more hair on his head than Crowley does, piled on top of it like a rodent. And then there’s the huge beard and the frankly alarmingly hairy chest, poking out of layers of denim. Crowley stares at the stranger with slightly raised eyebrows and pursed lips, listening to whatever pick-up line he’s being given with a look of heavy judgement. 

And at first, Aziraphale doesn’t know what to do.

There’s no reason to be jealous, of course. Because, they aren’t together. In the coupley sense, anyway. Are they?

No we aren’t, we can’t be, he thinks. Aziraphale would know if they were. And they’d probably see each other more often if they were, rather than parting ways every decade or so only to accidentally run into each other. 

But he thinks about him all the time. All the damn time. He’s the only person in this universe that he misses, really truly misses. And Aziraphale knows beyond doubt that what he’s feeling right now is jealousy- a burning, horrible possessiveness that makes his stomach churn and his chest ache. A furnace inside him that makes him square his shoulders and march over to Crowley through the sea of sweaty bodies. He knows it’s jealousy- which is not good news at all, for an angel.

Bad bad, very bad indeed. Not heavenly. Problem is, I think I love him, and there’s not much to be done about that, Aziraphale thinks to himself. Lord, I’m very drunk. 

The song about needing a hero continues, its fast rhythm giving him momentum as he approaches the enormous man and an unintimidated Crowley. And then, Aziraphale hesitates. Because, he really shouldn’t be interrupting this, if Crowley enjoys this sort of thing- and he’s said he does like gay clubs, so by proxy he probably also likes the attention from other men. Which means that Aziraphale has absolutely no room to disturb that enjoyment, even if it hurts him. 

And so Aziraphale stands and watches, heart breaking a little in the middle of the dance floor as Crowley smirks at the lumberjack man. Lumberjack man leans a hand on the bar and continues talking. Leans in to say something in Crowley’s ear. 

Aziraphale burns. 

He watches helplessly as Crowley’s smirk becomes a grimace, and he begins searching the crowd. The disco lights catch his Ray-Bans, flash a bright green. And then he seems to spot Aziraphale, because his face softens in relief, his body slumping so he almost pours the cosmopolitans down his shirt. Aziraphale watches his lips as he mouths something to him.

Help? Please?

That’s all it takes. Aziraphale doesn’t question the fact that Crowley could easily miracle himself out of this awkward situation. If it crosses his mind that actually, Crowley may want Aziraphale to come save him, it’s quickly dashed away. Yes, that thought is considered for all of point-five of a second, before being locked away and buried somewhere deep in his mind. 

Aziraphale rocks up to the bar. Crowley smiles at him, extends an arm to Aziraphale and gives him one of the drinks. Then, he snakes said arm around his waist.

Oh, golly, he thinks in sudden alarm. 

The song changes to something about ‘spinning me right round.’ Not that Aziraphale’s attention is on the music right now- no, it’s on Crowley, who’s wrapped himself around Aziraphale and is leaning against him sinuously. 

“Sorry, love, this is my boyfriend,” Crowley shouts over the music to the disgruntled looking stranger. “Go bother some other twink.”

Aziraphale has absolutely no idea what that last part means, but it does make him laugh nervously. Crowley looks at him seriously, raises his eyebrows at him over his sunglasses. From this close, he can see the slits of his snake eyes. 

“Oh,” Aziraphale says out loud- one step behind Crowley’s thought-process, as drunk as he is. 

He wraps an arm around Crowley’s slim waist, and gives lumberjack his best intimidating stare. Straightening to his full height and tilting his chin imperiously. Lumberjack waves a dismissive hand at them and moves onto his next conquest. 

The two of them hover at the bar for a long moment, annoying the rest of the club-goers who are trying to get to the front to make their orders. They stand there, arms around each other, both of them seemingly frozen in surprise at what has just occurred. And, apparently, not knowing what to do next.

Crowley is the first to untangle himself. His cosmopolitan sloshes down Aziraphale’s shirt, and he instantly miracles it better, without a care in the world who can see. He stands back a little- not very far. There isn’t enough room to stand that far apart. And he looks him dead on. Purses his lips, as if nervous. As if trying to figure out what to say. 

Then he dips his head to Aziraphale’s ear to speak. The closeness of it-

Lord, the closeness of it. The heat of Crowley’s breath against his ear is something else. It freezes him on the spot.

“Fancy a dance, angel?”

Crowley leans back again. He looks tense and relaxed all at once. Lips parted, as if dazed. Cheeks red from the heat of the club. A sheen of sweat on his brow, shoulders creeping up to his ears. 

Aziraphale nods. And then Crowley beams a sharkish grin at him- something far more apprehensive than it is happy or confident- and takes his hand. 

He takes his hand, and Aziraphale lets him take him to the dance floor. 

They dance. They dance to the song about spinning right round, to a song about being together in electric dreams, and then something by the wonderful Mr Bowie. Because yes, even Aziraphale knows David Bowie. And if he notices the LGSM gang waving and leering at him, making rude hand gestures and mouthing words of encouragement at him from across the room, he ignores them as best he can. Rather, he waves a shooing hand at them when Crowley’s back is turned. They’ve heard him talk about Crowley too many times for them not to put two-and-two together, apparently. 

How mortifying.

That doesn’t stop them from having the most enormous fun. Crowley is absolutely delighted by the fact that Aziraphale can dance something other than the gavotte. Within the first three minutes he’s laughing uncontrollably, grinning like an idiot with how amusing it apparently is to see Aziraphale dance. When Crowley dives in to talk in Aziraphale’s ear again- a hand on his arm-

A hand on his arm-

He tells Aziraphale that he dances like a granddad. Aziraphale shouts something about Crowley being very rude and mean to him- he doesn’t remember the exact words, he’s too tipsy- and Crowley just smiles wider. They dance and shout and Crowley sings lyrics at the top of his lungs like his life depends on it, with utter dedication that makes Aziraphale’s heart swell. They continue to drink and laugh and let the night take them somewhere they haven’t experienced together before. With every song, with every terrible dance move that he shares with Crowley, he feels some weight lift of his shoulders.

And then something with a heavy beat starts playing. Something that stops the crowd from jumping and flailing. It takes too long for Aziraphale to notice, drunkenly swaying on the spot with a dazed smile pulling at his lips. And then he sees the way Crowley is standing stock still, arms awkwardly at his sides like he’s forcing them to stay there. Lips pressed together and eyes scanning the room. 

Aziraphale doesn’t think about taking his hands in his, he just does it. Crowley’s eyes snap up to him, lips parting in soft surprise. 

The music plays. 

‘You’re out of touch, I’m out of time- but I’m out of my head when you’re not around…’

They move closer. And then they move even closer. And Aziraphale holds Crowley’s hand, holds his waist like he’s leading him in a waltz. And Crowley looks at him with brows pulled together, Adam’s apple bouncing as he swallows. And they shuffle terribly awkwardly, as if they’ve both forgotten how to use their mortal bodies, forgotten what legs are. And Aziraphale supposes he should feel embarrassed, that this should feel strange. To hold his best friend like this and stare into his eyes like he has no intention of ever leaving this moment. And in a way, it does feel strange.

But more than that, it feels wonderful.

And if the song changes to something faster again, neither one notices. If the club starts to get quieter, people going home, neither one cares. And if the world really is going to end someday soon, with fire and flame and the armies of Heaven and Hell using Earth as its battle ground, neither one will leave each other’s side. 

The year is 1984, and although they’re both too afraid to say it out loud, they know that they belong together.

[starkrogerrs]

you don't have to say you love me; [chapter 2]

catch up: chapter 1 //

pairing: stevetony - modern/college au/ fakedating

warnings/tags: tooth-rotting fluff, Tony can't adult, steve is a cutie

word count: 2k+

a/n: really sorry for the late update but i hope you like the chapter!

"Can't. Breathe," Tony muttered as Sofia crushed him in a bear hug. For a five foot tall person, Sofia surprisingly packed a lot of strength. Tony smiled when she finally released him. 

"It's been so long, Tones!" she beamed from ear to ear. Tony nodded, his mouth twitching into a grin in spite of himself and took the two, heavy bags she'd bought along. Yup, she was definitely staying for a while. 

The ride home consisted entirely of Sofia filling Tony in about everything and nothing at all, with the brunet nodding here and there to let her know he was listening. While, in reality, he kept zoning out and thinking what would have happened if he had merely said, No, Sof. I don't have a boyfriend so please stop irritating the fuck out of me about it. 

He also wondered if he had it in him to be the one to invent time travel. 

"It's not much but I love the place," he said, unlocking the door, once they had reached his apartment and held it open to let Sofia through. 

His apartment consisted of one bedroom, a smaller living area and the kitchen. It was spacious enough for two people but since Tony lived alone it looked massive. Normally, there would be all sorts of metal scraps, circuits and random textbooks lying around but Tony had (with help from Rhodes) cleaned it all just this morning. 

Sofia let out a delighted yelp. "It's so pretty!"

For a college student, Tony did have a pretty decent living space. The walls were a dull ochre and almost all of the furniture that came with it, midnight black. Since his course at the university was fully funded, he could afford to pay the rent of the apartment with the earnings of his part time job. It was only an added bonus that the apartment's owner was deeply impressed by him. What could he say? He was a born charmer. 

"It's a bit noisy because it's near the road but I don't mind," he said, placing her bags by the couch.

Sofia plopped down on one of the beanbags that surrounded the tiny center table of the living area, letting out a drawn huff. 

"God, the flight was long," she mused. She looked tired now; she'd probably spent the last of her energy chatting away. 

"D'you want to eat something?" Tony asked, trying to remember if he had food in the fridge. He had stocked up on some groceries last night and could cook up quite a decent meal if required. 

"I had a good lunch on the flight," she answered. "I think I'll just sleep for a while."

Tony nodded, understanding. Flying all the way from Italy was bound to make even Sofia, practically a ball of energy, exhausted. 

"But anyway, tell me, how are you? How has college been? How is Steve?" she asked, pulling her long, dark hair into a ponytail and wriggling her eyebrows at him. 

Not this again. Tony had been dreading this since the moment he had spotted her waving at him at the airport entrance. He'd questioned every decision he'd made, questioned his own smartness and beliefs, questioned everything that led him to this very moment. Nothing like a good old existential crisis on a cold winter afternoon.

"I've been aces, Sof. College has been a breeze so far and uhh.. Steve is hot," he answered, and he knew this was crossing lines but hey, Steve wasn't here. 

Sofia was only a year older than him but she was the most motherly of all his cousins. In a way, her visit was refreshing because Tony did miss his mother at times but still, the thing with Steve outranked all of that. By a large margin. 

"I think I'll lie down for a while," she said, touching her forehead. "If you've got any plans," she added suggestively, "—please don't let me keep you."

Tony winced internally. "Nahh, it's alright. Haven't got any plans. I'll uh, be right here," he muttered, throwing her a fake smile and hoped she would drop the subject. 

Sofia frowned at that. Here goes. 

"We are meeting him today, right?"

Tony tried to hide the surprise on his face. Meet him today? 

"Uh—" Say no, Anthony! "— yeah. Yeah."

Fuck. Fuck. 

When had it gotten so easy to sway him? How was he suddenly incapable of saying the truth?

Sofia grinned excitedly at that and Tony returned what he hoped was at least half of that enthusiasm in his smile. Anthony Edward Stark when will you stop screwing yourself over?

He didn't want to admit that some part of him did want to see Steve but the other (major) part of him knew he was asking a lot from him. 

Fifteen minutes later, Sofia was dozing on the bed as Tony quietly shut the door behind him. He then ran to his couch, mind racing and rang up Steve, praying to the gods above that he wouldn't be pissed. 

He picked up on the second ring. 

"Hey, what's up?"

Tony massaged the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. 

"Please, please don't be mad, but we have a problem."

*

Sofia woke up just as the sun was setting; the sky a myriad of colors ranging from a dark purple to a brilliant orange. 

Tony was still sat on the couch, textbook in lap, half distracted by his own wandering thoughts. He gazed at the birds chirping on the telephone line that ran outside the window, thinking of the conversation he'd just had with Steve. 

Thankfully, Steve hadn't been busy but there was something else in his voice which made Tony wish he'd never asked him of this favor. Was it hesitation? Regret? He didn't know. Really, what had he been thinking? 

"Jet lag is real," Sofia declared as she waltzed into the room, smile turning into a frown when she spotted Tony. "Are you seriously studying right now?"

"Just thought I'd get ahead on a couple of chapters. You know I've got to be the best, Sof," he joked as she settled down beside him, on the couch. 

"Whatever, nerd," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. 

Tony grinned, shutting the books. He hadn't got any studying done though, he was far too distracted. 

"So what's the plan? Are we going out or..?"

"He's coming over. We can watch a movie, eat and call it a night. Sounds okay?" he informed. 

They had decided it was better to keep their- his- stupid idea as much under wraps as possible. Which meant, they couldn't let her see them around their friends. Or anyone for that matter. 

"Sweet," she chimed, bringing out her phone. 

The doorbell rang just then and Tony felt his heart fall into his stomach. He glanced at the clock, it was only half past six. Hadn't they agreed to meet at seven? 

He stood up, breathing deeply and opened the door to a visibly awkward Steve. Steve, who was dressed in comfy jeans and a dark leather jacket thrown over a plain white t-shirt. Tony tried not to stare too much. 

His brain at the moment didn't want to tell him how couples greeted each other, so he just smiled and let him in, and let Steve shut the door behind them. 

Steve, however, had other plans. Before he could process it, the blond was pulling him into his side and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Tony felt the soft brush of his lips on his cheek, Steve's body flush against him and he thought his soul was going to leave his body. 

What the fuck. 

It was a long second later that he realised that Steve had already let go and introduced himself to Sofia. 

"Oh god, Tony has told me so much about you!" Sofia squealed as Steve reached over to hug her as well.  

Tony's brain was still lagging like a 1984 Macintosh but blushed at the mention, nevertheless. 

"Well, I am a good boyfriend," Steve replied, glancing at Tony, a grin playing at his lips. 

How in the world was he so good at this? 

"Ah.. oh.. um yeah," Tony said intelligently, as Steve sat down on the opposite end of the couch from where Sofia sat. Tony flopped beside him, their hips touching accidentally and he forgot how to breathe. He was still reeling from the kiss, and if he'd pondered over it any longer, it would've sent him into shock. 

"I am going to just go freshen up a bit," Sofia announced, and Steve nodded. She smiled at him, clearly excited and Tony cringed internally.

The moment she had locked the door to Tony's room behind her, Tony jumped away from Steve. 

"Jeez, would you relax?" Steve hissed, eyebrows knitted. "Why are you so nervous?"

Tony looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "What do you mean why am I nervous? This is fucking weird!"

"It was your idea, shellhead!" 

"I know but-"

"If you want her out of your hair, act natural man. You're gonna blow your own plan."

Tony sighed. He did have a point. And if Steve had no problem acting like this, why was he being weird? Well, he knew exactly why but he would ruin things with Steve if— You're thinking too much, he chided himself. 

Sofia returned just then, having changed into different clothes. She was also holding a small package in her hand. 

"Hey, I bought this for you," Sofia said, handing the package to Steve who looked somewhere between awkward and shocked. 

Tony nodded at him assuringly and also hoped he could see the apology in his expression. He had forgotten to tell him about how Sofia could be a little over the top, but knew Steve wouldn't mind that much. 

The blond accepted the gift gratefully, lips stretched into a thin smile. God, this was torture of the purest form. If Steve stopped being his friend after this, Tony wouldn't be surprised. 

"So.. should I put on the movie?" Tony asked, enthusiastically, reaching over for the remote. The room had a weird energy now and Tony wasn't exactly a big fan of awkward silences. 

Sofia nodded, as did Steve and Tony silently maneuvered to the Netflix app. He settled back into the couch, in between Sofia and Steve as the movie loaded. 

The title track blared into the room then, and Tony felt himself relax a little. He didn't know his muscles had been tensed all this while. 

As luck would have it, he spoke rather, thought, too soon. 

Steve reached over just then, his right hand finding Tony's and laced their fingers together. The brunet tensed at his touch immediately, eyes wide. Now, Tony and Steve had held hands before but this, this felt so different and oh, so much better.

Steve looked up at him then, bright blue eyes peeking out from under the long eyelashes. Relax, they seemed to whisper. 

Tony's body uncoiled, as if on command. He felt himself sink down further into the couch, aware that they were holding hands but it felt almost... natural. 

Steve shifted in his place a little then, adjusting himself so he could comfortably rest his head on Tony's shoulder. They were pressed together now, almost cuddling, Tony realised. He was cuddling. Cuddling Steve. 

He didn't know what the movie was about, didn't really comprehend what the protagonist was saying. He was too fixated on the way their legs were touching, the way Steve's large hands clasped his smaller ones. He flicked his gaze to Steve then; eyes trailing over the golden bangs, down to his long lashes, to the bridge of his sharp nose and then to the cupid bow of his perfect lips. 

There were little things about Steve that not many people noticed, like the fact that he had a little green in those sparkling blue eyes or that he wasn't as shy when he was with his friends or just how kissable his puckered lips looked right about now. 

He had to look away when Steve glanced up, pausing to look at him for a moment. His breath stilled when Steve relaxed back into his shoulder, sighing deeply. Tony's heart was beating really fast and he was sure Steve could hear it. 

A part of him wanted to believe that Steve had feelings for him too but the casual ease with which he was sat beside him right now, told him the contrary. 

Tony, unlike the boy leaning against him, was a nervous wreck. His thoughts spun around Steve and Steve only, in spite of him trying to switch his focus to the device in front of him. This sudden and close proximity with Steve had thrown his senses into a dizzy but... he wasn't sure if he wanted anything to make sense again. What he was sure of though, was that he wanted to live in this moment forever. 

He dared to glance at Steve again and a feeling, thick as cement, settled into the base of his stomach because, with a start, he realised that he was in deeper waters now. 

Because this wasn't an average crush. 

Because Tony had never, ever, ever felt this way before. 

Because when Sophia "awww"ed at him when she noticed him gazing fondly at Steve, he was doing anything but pretending. 

Because he had fallen for his best friend and fallen hard. 

[paunchsalazar]

hey!! bro ur my number #1 source for lupin III content so can I ask like how in the hell I go about watching all the series / movies / etc for it in order??? I’m really pumped for the live action so I wanna at least dip into all the other stuff. thanking ya kindly //tips hat

hello!!! what an honor!! oh my… ok I’m so sorry in advance… I’ve gotten a few similar asks and I started writing out a list and it was getting over 1500 words long so I had to try to chill out…so…

LUPIN III CRASH COURSE

I’m sorry that this is so long.. and consider I cut it down! but here is my intro because I know this franchise is huge and confusing!! (I’ve had multiple instances of friends being like ‘I tried to find that Lupin thing you like but I could only find the third one?’) 

I kind of liken it to Scooby Doo? it stretches some 60 years and has been handled by many different writers, directors, and animators across very different eras? most important to know! the order doesn’t really matter and things aren’t really sequential (save for where the three most recent shows) so you can jump in and explore whatever seems compelling! it’s overwhelming because there is so much but also nice because there’s something for everybody! if you like fun and pure, edgy, etc. etc. 

feel free to disregard everything coming… I will say my personal priority order is

- Castle of Cagliostro

- some episode of part 2

- part IV, ideally all of it! there’s filler but it’s hard to know which ones

- part I (or some episodes of it? up to you!)

- Fuma Conspiracy

- part V 

- part III (it’s great too!! just not as sequential as IV and V)

- First Contact… truly indulgent but its so cute!

(below I broke down a little about each and my favorite episodes, where to find them, etc. and there’s so much more but just doing everything below is a whole lot)

TV (All the shows except for The Woman Called Fujiko Mine are on Crunchyroll!)

Part 1 (1971) - crunchyroll!

The beginnings kind of a weird feeling because the first half was directed with one vision vs. the second half being co-directed by Takahata and Miyazaki, there’s a shift in Lupin’s personality and most significantly they sought to shed his ‘sense of apathy’ and make him more of a hero? something that’s echoed later on! honestly, I don’t think the transition is as dramatic as some people find it? but it does shift across the episodes and end on a sweet note!

truly they all have something to enjoy but I made note of 

episodes 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 23 

for some reason? really really suggest watching the last episode! but get a bit of the first and second half beforehand!

Part II/Red Jacket (1977-80) - 155 episodes - on crunchyroll dubbed and subbed

there are a lot so I tried to narrow it down to a few of my favorites/ particularly noteworthy ones? I bolded my absolute favorites! I’m sure I missed a few but save for a few two-episode arcs you can jump in anywhere and it’ll be fine.

episodes 1-79 are dubbed on Crunchyroll! In my personal opinion the script makes it worth it!! there are a bunch of non-dubbed episodes anyway if you want to get a feel for both

(these episode titles are often hilarious, misleading, and/or horribly embarrassing?)

1 - ‘The Return of Lupin the Third’ - just a good starting point!

5 - ‘Will the Leaning Tower of Pisa Be Standing?’

6 - ‘Tutankhamen’s 3,000-Year-Old Curse’

7 - ‘Venetian Super Express’ - I want to say this is a cute little road trip episode? it’s been so long

9 - ‘Steal the FIle M123’ - this dub… madness. very strange Christopher Walken impression for absolutely no reason?

10 - ‘Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix’

15 - ‘Crude Reproduction, Perfect Frame’ - Lupin keeps committing strange and uncharacteristic crimes, but he has no memory of doing so!

29 - ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ - Lupin has some mysterious Levitation Technique and everyone is after it 

32 - ‘Lupin the Interred’ A famed hitman is after Lupin!

34 - ‘But Your Brother Was Such A Nice Guy’ - this episode is one of the zaniest ones and that’s saying a lot… Vampires? Jesus? Really really funny moments though especially in the dub

42 - ‘Cruisin’ in Drag’ Lupin infiltrates the ship of a wealthy bachelor disguised as a woman 

45 - ‘Diamonds and Minx’ kind of a mess of people stealing from each other? 

46 - ‘The Island of Dr. Derange’

57 - ‘Alter-Ego Maniac’ - Inspector Zenigata goes criminal

62 - ‘Church of the Poison Mind’ - Jigen and Goemon stumble into a religious cult

69 - ‘Zenigata Getcha Into My Life’ - this title is awful but this episode is great. 

78 - ‘Ice, Robot’ - an inventor has made a machine that can cry diamonds!

79 - ‘Baton Death March’ 

81 - ‘Fujiko, Men are a Sorry Lot!” - Fujiko gets engaged to a Prince, the rest of the gang goes after the monarchy’s Golden Bell

96 - ‘Lupin’s Gourmet World’ tbh this is a vore episode but there are some great gang moments here and a really fun third act

99 - ‘Fighting Jigen’ - first anime episode (I think like in history? but I could’ve misread) in stereo! And I believe the first to air of the TMS staff’s work, you can tell because the style shifts to a more Miyazaki/Cagliostro look and this will keep happening for the rest of the show

101 - ‘Fervent Love at Versailles’ - a crossover episode with Rose of Versailles! 

103 - ‘The Wolf Looked at an Angel’ - Goemon is an angel I can say little else

104 - ‘The Most Dangerous Golden Bed’ - debut of perhaps the best opening! I love this episode?? so much?

112 - ‘Danger! Goemon’ 

122 - ‘An Unusual End to an Expedition for Napoleon’s Treasure’ 

143 - ‘The Miami Bank’ 

145 - ‘Wings of Death: Albatross’ - ah yes, one of the famed Miyazaki-directed episode, truly so worth it

151 - ‘To Arrest Lupin, the Mission at the Highway’ - another not exactly Miyazaki episode but a lot of the people he trained? They depart from the part 2 style(s) again but its a good bit of fun all around! Really lovely character animation

152 - ‘Jigen and the Hatless Pistol’ - Jigen loses his hat and thus his ability to shoot

155 - ‘Thieves Love the Peace/Farewell, Dear Lupin’ - the finale episode! Miyazaki-directed as well, and just beautiful 

Part III (1984) - 50 episodes - crunchyroll!

I’m still very early in this one so I can’t say much yet! But it gets a bad rep? Perhaps for being more inconsistent stylistically and a bit on the zanier end! But I really like it!! these drawings are such a blast! I think each bit has its merits and this one is no exception. Plus with all their freedom animation-wise they can do a lot of fun stuff!

The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (2012) - 13 episodes - on kissanime for certain and I think animetake?

this is the most dramatic departure from the rest of the shows/films/specials. Fujiko Mine is the star of this part! It definitely has less obviously plot-important episodes but it’s one narrative from start to finish. I must note that it’s by far Lupin’s edgiest, I think it’d be safe to deem this part as R-Rated. There’s sex, violence, sexual violence, abuse, bodily mutilation, obsession… a gay character who gets a pretty tragic fate (at first I was excited by the very existence of an LGBT+ character but he really goes through the wringer and never gets a resolution.. I don’t want to spoil). This is probably Lupin at his ickiest? I do like Jigen’s personality here! And his dynamic with Fujiko, but it’s a lot more disjointed than the other parts. She meets each of them separately and towards the end, Lupin and Jigen interact more but there’s barely a time when they’re all together. That’s not meant to be a deterrent but personally, I’m a sucker for their friendship and love them as a group so it’s a bit of a bummer. Sequential plot-wise though! This one is definitely captivating, a bit disturbing, and there is a plot-twist that really got me. The villain design is really cool too!

Part IV (2015) - 26 episodes - on crunchyroll, also dubbed on Funimation

This part is narrative-based and sequential! It still has some more standalone episodes but there’s definitely an overarching story throughout! I think they’re all worth watching and might leave little important bits that’ll be confusing later on. Essentially this part takes place in Italy for the most part and starts with Lupin getting married to a multi-millionaire heiress/model/celebrity who wants to get into the thief business. This one feels like a good combination of old and new, it’s not quite as silly as the earlier parts can be, but it’s full of nostalgia while still feeling original. I really had a good time!

This dub isn’t bad but!! It comes with a different opening and soundtrack, I guess Lupin’s pretty big in Italy and perhaps there were licensing issues? I’m not sure? But it’s a bit of a bummer to be without the Yuji Ohno soundtrack. The alternate opening feels more like a collection of stills and footage found throughout the show? It’s not horrible, just different! Regardless, the Part IV Japanese OP (vs. the Italian/US one) is worth a watch!

Part V (2018, airing on Adult Swim right now, summer 2019!) - 23 episodes 

I’m actually not done with this part but its good fun! more directly tied to part iv then the others are to each other. It’s more sequential as well with a few sub-arcs and since it fell on the franchise’s anniversary it has callback episodes with Lupin in various jackets in various tones. Interesting Lupin characterization here… he seems… sadder, wistful? and we get hints of Lupin lore! Lots of fanservice but… I love it! I still think they could’ve pushed it more? it feels somehow more reserved than part IV in some ways, which is already different from the 70s and 80s, but it’s got a lot of lovely moments!!

Films/TV Specials

From 1989 to 2011 they had a special every year!! So much!

Castle of Cagliostro (1979) - Available on Netflix! 

perhaps the best-known piece of media in the Lupin franchise? And rightly so. This film is Hayao Miyazaki’s directing debut and a blast from start to finish! This characterization of Lupin is definitely Miyazaki’s more than Monkey Punch’s but that seems to be the strange nature of the Lupin franchise! I could really go on forever… please watch it!

The Fuma Conspiracy (1987) - 

perhaps harder to find, but it’s on Kissanime! Goemon is getting married but before the ceremony is over the bride is taken by the Fuma ninja clan and the gang helps him to get her back as well as learn the story of a family heirloom? Really great stuff from everybody! Adorable Zenigata, the fluffiest and most handsome Goemon, cute Jigen, Fujiko, and Lupin interactions, a really really incredible car chase! Even with Cagliostro’s fame, this one has got some serious pizzazz

Episode 0: The First Contact (2002) - on Kissanime as well! 

A journalist asks Jigen how he met Lupin III, this is probably my favorite TV special? And features one of my favorite opening scenes in the whole franchise. The instrumental!! Perhaps each member of the gang at their purest, whatever that means, really great moments between everybody and peak Lupin and Jigen meeting and somehow signing up to be life partners

[tomeandflickcorner]

Movie Review- Ghostbusters

The 1984 film Ghostbusters was the brainchild of Dan Akroyd, who had been a long-time believer in the paranormal.  When he first started writing the script, his intention was to have the movie center around three people traveling through time and space to hunt down ghosts.  He also planned to have the movie star himself and John Belushi, his close friend and fellow SNL alumni.  Unfortunately, Belushi’s untimely death in 1982 made that impossible.  However, in spite of the tragedy, Akroyd decided to press on with his project, and he presented his proposed script to Ivan Reitman, who convinced Akroyd to revise the premise to take place solely in modern-day New York City and then brought in Harold Ramis to help Akroyd rework the script.  Eventually, they were able to pitch the revised project to Colombia Pictures. The studio saw the potential of the proposed project and, even with the absence of a final script, they greenlit the film with the understanding that it would be ready for release in the summer of 1984.

So, I’m sure we all know how the movie opens, with the middle-aged librarian at the New York Public Library simply doing her job in reshelving some books before she gets terrorized by the sight of the old card catalogue’s contents flying out of their individual shelves and nearly running headlong into something that makes her scream in terror, right before the instant dissolve into the iconic Ghostbusters logo, accompanied by Ray Parker Jr.’s classic theme song.  But even in that opening sequence, I was quite impressed how well the effects hold up, considering this move was made in the 80s. It still looks good when the books float across the shelves on their own. Although, it occurred to me while writing this that there might be some mild confusion among younger audiences watching this movie now, considering many of them have probably never had to use an actual card catalogue in their lives.  Boy, I feel old.

We then shift focus to the movie’s protagonists, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, a trio of scientists who study the paranormal at Columbia University.  At the moment, Peter is seemingly in the middle of conducting an experiment in ESP by having two people guess what’s on those ESP cards.  Basically, the gist of this experiment is to deliver a mild electric shock on the subjects every time they guess wrong.  I guess this is done in an attempt to trigger the test subjects’ clairvoyance or something. But it becomes obvious rather quickly that he’s fudging his data, as he’s only delivering the electrical shocks to the male test subject while refusing to extend the same treatment to the female test subject.  Peter’s obviously a bit of a womanizer in that regard.  When the male test subject finally has enough of the constant electrical shocks and storms out, Peter proceeds to try and charm the young woman out on a date.  However, he’s quickly interrupted by Ray, who bursts into the room in a fit of excitement. He announces that they’ve been called out to the New York Public Library in order to investigate the strange happenings that were shown in the movie’s opening.  Peter, despite trying to make an excuse to sit this one out, is pretty much dragged to the library.

It was at this point in the movie that I started to raise an eyebrow at the very presence of Peter in this movie.  Don’t get me wrong, because the whole franchise certainly wouldn’t have been as popular without this character, or the characteristically phenomenal presence of Bill Murray.  But I do question why Peter, as a character, is even here.  Yes, a deleted scene indicated that he was the one who introduced Ray and Egon to each other, meaning they might not have ever met if not for Peter.  However, Egon and Ray seem legitimately interested actually studying and researching the paranormal.  Peter, on the other hand, comes across as someone who really doesn’t want to be there. He can’t even conduct a legitimate unbiased experiment, choosing to instead use said experiment as a front for getting dates.  It’s almost like someone who hates the performing arts going to Juilliard. Like, why are you even here?

Anyway, Peter and Ray soon join up with Egon at the library to investigate the disturbance, starting with the interview with the terrified librarian.  At first, the interview seems rather straightforward, with Peter asking if she has a family history of mental illness, or if she’s currently taking any medication or drugs that might cause her to hallucinate.  This, I find, is rather smart.  From what I’ve seen, the best type of ghost hunters approach each case with an air of skepticism and try to find a more rational explanation for the supposed paranormal activity.  It’s the only way to determine if you have a legitimate haunting.  However, Peter then asks the librarian if she’s menstruating. To which the library administrator wonders why that should matter.  In response, Peter simply states ‘back off, man. I’m a scientist.’  Um, no. I’m sorry, but that was a legit question.  I’m asking as a female.  Why would the librarian’s menstrual cycle be of any significance?  Last I checked, menstruation does not trigger hallucinations. So, what’s the joke here? I don’t get it. Unless Peter is suggesting that the librarian’s emotional state might have influenced her to think she saw something due to PMS? Because that’s quite a leap in logic.  Not to mention rather sexist.  Just saying, if there was supposed to be a joke here, the fact that I have to think about it so hard makes it fail as a good joke.

Iffy attempts at jokes aside, Egon interrupts the interview to inform them that he’s got a read on the specter with his PKE meter and that it appears to be moving.  So the trio proceed down to the lower level of the library, where they find a bunch of books stacked up between the shelves, as well as the card reader completely drenched with ectoplasmic residue.  And once again, while Ray is approaching the while situation like an excited kid and Egon is gathering samples for further study, like a proper scientist would, Peter is just hanging around in the back, visibly bored and all but rolling his eyes. (Side note, really awkward line in this scene.  Ray says ‘listen, you smell that?’  Normally, when someone says to listen, they want you to hear something.  So if Ray was inquiring about a particular scent, shouldn’t his statement have started with ‘hang on’ or something?)

Eventually, the three of them come face-to-face with the Library Ghost.  However, they’re all a bit stumped on how to proceed.  Because this is apparently the first time they’ve actually seen a full torso apparition in person.  Not even Peter’s attempt at establishing communication with the Library Ghost seems to work.  Because, hey, it’s a ghost of a librarian.  They insist on people being quiet in the library.  But then Ray gets an idea.  Only his idea is to charge at the Library Ghost, shouting ‘get her!’  Needless to say, this plan doesn’t work, resulting only in the Library Ghost to instantly shift her appearance into a menacing looking creature that sends Peter, Egon and Ray running completely out of the library in terror.  (So much for the famous Ghostbuster motto of ‘I ain’t afraid of no ghost.’)

Interesting tidbit about the transformed Library Ghost, though.  The original design of the puppet they used in the scene was deemed too scary for the movie’s PG rating, so they had to set it aside and start from scratch.  But they later repurposed the initial design of the ghost for the original Fright Night, which came out the following year.

Sometime later, the trio return to Columbia University, with Peter teasing Ray about his impulsive plan. However, it comes out that the data Egon managed to gather on the Library Ghost during the brief encounter has led him to an interesting prospect. Through some technobabble about ionization rates, they theorize that might be possible for them to actually catch and permanently confine a ghost.  However, when they get back to their lab in order to report their findings, they are confronted with the college dean, Dean Yeager.  It turns out that the college’s board of directors has decided to terminate their grants, which means they’re being kicked off campus.  Thing is, I can totally understand why they’re giving Peter the boot.  Because as I said before, I have no idea why he even bothered getting the same parapsychology degree that Ray and Egon got.  Unlike them, he seems purely uninterested in actually researching the paranormal.  And the brief glimpse of his fake experiment on ESP demonstrates that he will willingly fabricate his data.  Everything we’ve seen from Peter so far seems to support everything Dean Yeager is accusing him of.  So yeah. I totally support them terminating Peter’s employment at the university.  But…why are they kicking Egon and Ray out?  They seem like the legit scientists here.  I haven’t seen any indication that they’re abusing their positions as paranormal researchers the way Peter is, and they appear to believe 100% in what they’re doing.  Is it just a case of them being guilty by association?  It would be one thing if they showed Ray and Egon trying to stick up for Peter, being all ‘if you fire him, you’ll have to fire us, too!’  And then immediately cut to them sitting outside on the curb, with boxes full of their stuff.  But they don’t do that.

Regardless of how it doesn’t make much sense, all three of them are now out of a job.  And Ray is taking it particularly hard.  Because without the money and facilities the university provided them with, it’s going to be quite difficult for them to continue their research.  Or something to that effect. However, Peter seems quite cavalier about the whole thing. Seemingly on the fly, he comes up with the idea of him, Ray and Egon opening up their own business as paranormal exterminators by running with Egon’s theory about catching ghosts.  The only thing is, for them to fully realize the ghost containment system that they have in mind, they’ll need to have a substantial amount of money.  Because the necessary materials and power system they need to keep it running don’t come cheap.  Of course, Peter’s got it all figured out, and he manages to coerce Ray into mortgaging the house his presumably dead parents left him in order to obtain their start-up loan.  Something that Ray isn’t pleased with, but Peter is confident that the franchise rights of being paranormal investigators and eliminators will make them super rich, so there’s no need for Ray to worry about losing his childhood home.  

Next up, they have to find a center of operations, so to speak, so they turn to a realtor to help them locate a vacant building they can utilize.  The realtor ends up bringing them to the iconic Firehouse, which has apparently been sitting empty for a while and is in a state of disrepair.  So much so, the ever-serious Egon finds nothing but faults in the old structure.  However, Ray, ever the optimist, falls in love with the place, particularly when it comes to the fire pole.  So, despite Egon’s objections, they end up purchasing the Firehouse.

We then cut to a rather fancy looking apartment complex, where a woman named Dana Barrett lives. We join up with her as she’s returning to her apartment with a bag of groceries.  Before she can reach her apartment, she is briefly held up by her dorky neighbor, Louis, who works as an accountant.  And he, I guess, has a bit of a one-sided crush on Dana, as he keeps inviting her over to his place for some refreshments.  While Dana is clearly not interested in him like that, she continues to graciously turn him down, though she does noncommittedly state she’ll ‘try’ to stop by at a party he’s planning on throwing for his clients in the near future.  Right before Dana retreats to her apartment in order to get ready for work (she’s a professional musician who plays cello in a symphony orchestra), Louis informs her that she accidently left her TV on when she went out, which greatly puzzles Dana as she doesn’t remember leaving it on.  This does end up being beneficial, however, because when Dana enters her apartment, the TV just happens to be playing an advertisement for Peter, Egon and Ray’s new business, Ghostbusters.  Dana, briefly watches the commercial in bemusement, but then turns the TV off, continuing to the kitchen in order to put away her groceries.  

And that’s when the disturbance happens.  While Dana is putting things away, the eggs she set out suddenly start flying out of their shells and proceed to cook on the counter.  While it takes Dana a few seconds to notice this, she is visibly stunned by the phenomenon.  Before she can recover from the strangeness of this, she hears a menacing growl emanating from her refrigerator.   Deciding to investigate the growls, Dana opens the refrigerator to see the interior has been replaced by some dimensional portal to a demonic looking realm. Before Dana can slam the door with a scream, she witnesses the image of a bear-sized creature roaring out the word ‘Zuul!’

Quick question before I continue. I know that the movie pretty much implied that Dana really had simply forgot to switch off her TV before heading out to the store and all, but was that really what happened?  What if the TV being switched on while Dana was out was another paranormal happenstance?  I know it was probably the more rational explanation, but Kid Me always kinda wondered about that.

Cut to two days later. The Ghostbusters are still trying to get their new business off the ground.  They’ve got a rather basic sign for the front of the building, which Peter isn’t too impressed with, and Ray has purchased an old hearse to function as the company car, even though the car is in need of some serious maintenance. They’ve even found a secretary in the feisty and intellectual Janine.  She seems to have a thing for Egon, though he seems to be a bit bewildered by her at first. Just look at the way he’s looking at her when she’s rabbling on about how much she likes to read.  Maybe he was expecting her to give up on making small talk with him when he retorted that ‘print is dead.’  Maybe this is the first time he met a woman who wasn’t immediately scared away by his overly serious demeanor, and he wasn’t sure how to handle that.  In case you couldn’t tell already, I ship these two so hard.

That’s when Dana enters the Firehouse.  It seems she has remembered the commercial she saw and has come to the Ghostbusters office to seek their help in figuring out what happened at her apartment two days ago.  (Side note, I do get a chuckle over how Peter popped up like a Jack-in-the-Box when he overheard Dana talking to Janine.)  Since the Ghostbusters haven’t had any other prospective clients yet, they are quick to offer her assistance.  After hearing about what she experienced, Egon and Ray immediately start formulating their hypotheses on what might have caused Dana to witness the things she did and decide to get right to work on researching the history of Dana’s apartment building and searching for any information on the name Zuul.  However, Peter volunteers to go to Dana’s apartment and take a look around.  Though it’s made very clear that he’s only doing so because he finds her attractive.

Of course, when they get to Dana’s apartment, Peter is unable to find any evidence of paranormal activity.  Even though the remnants of the eggs are still on the counter, everything else is completely normal, with the refrigerator being just an ordinary refrigerator.  Not even the ghost sniffer that Peter brought along seems to be detecting anything unusual. This frustrates Dana, who begins to partially question her sanity. However, Peter decides to be Peter and proceeds to lay on the charm, even going so far as to confess his love, even though he only met her that day. Last I checked, this isn’t a Disney movie.  I don’t think the Disney Corporation even owns Columbia Pictures (yet).  Dana, of course, is not having it and instructs him to leave.  Peter complies to her request, but not before vowing to prove himself by solving her case.  Dana simply rolls her eyes at his declaration and practically has to push him out the door.

That night, our protagonists are sitting down to a dinner of Chinese takeout, where they toast Dana as their first and only customer.  Peter, not giving up on his intent to woo the lady, voices his intent to take her out to dinner in order to keep her invested in their services.  However, Ray informs him that the food in front of them has effectively used up what was left of their funds.  It seems that the necessary repairs they had to do on the Firehouse and their chosen vehicle, not to mention the advertising costs and construction & upkeep of their equipment, has taken a sizable chunk out of their monetary account. If they don’t start making some revenue soon, they’re pretty much sunk.

As luck would have it, at that very moment, Janine answers a phone call at the reception desk.  And I do get a chuckle out of her ‘yes, of course they’re serious.’  It makes me wonder if they were getting a lot of prank calls after their advertisement started to air.  However, this particular phone call ends up being legit.  It turns out there’s a disturbance at the Sedgewick Hotel, and the hotel manager has decided to call in the Ghostbusters. Prompting Janine to excitedly press the alarm bell to announce the Ghostbuster’s first official call, which they respond to almost instantly, driving out to the Sedgewick Hotel in the newly-dubbed Ecto-1.  (Question- how much time has passed since Dana approached the Ghostbusters?  When she first walked in, we see Ray hard at work in fixing up the car’s multiple mechanical issues.  And now it’s apparently been repaired to full working order, complete with a new paintjob.  I find it doubtful that they could have completed all that work in only a day, so there must have been a small time jump at work here.  Also, there are two arcade games and a pinball machine in the Firehouse.  Which of the three purchased them?  Inquiring minds want to know.)

Upon arriving at the Sedgewick Hotel, Peter, Egon and Ray are approached by the hotel manager, the one who called them in.  The manager explains that the twelfth floor of the hotel has always experienced the occasional disturbance over the years, but it’s always been easy for the hotel staff to cover it up so the guests wouldn’t notice.  However, two weeks ago, the paranormal activity has intensified, which has left him no choice than to try calling in the Ghostbusters.  After the brief discussion with the manager, the Ghostbusters head to the elevators in order to head up to the twelfth floor. But first, we get a possibly dated joke where a hotel guest takes in the appearance of the Ghostbusters in their coveralls and proton packs and asks if they’re cosmonauts.  I had to look up was a cosmonaut was because I was not familiar with that term.  FYI, it’s basically the Russian equivalent of an astronaut.  Which basically means that the hotel guest was suspecting them of being Russians.  That only makes sense when you consider the fact that this movie was made during the time of the Cold War, when there was strong tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Moving on, as they make their way up the elevator, Egon and Ray admit that they never properly tested their equipment. Meaning this first mission is going to be a crash course, so to speak.  Of course, they basically do have their chance at testing out their proton packs when they impulsively fire off Proton Streams at a housekeeper who just happened to be passing by.  (Thankfully, she wasn’t harmed and only her cart got toasted.)   After the slight mishap, the trio decide to split up in order to cover more ground. As such, Ray is the one who comes across the ghost first. As those of you who are familiar with the franchise knows, it’s the green potato-shaped entity that will eventually be dubbed as Slimer.  (Although the creature was originally called ‘The Onionhead Ghost’ by the film crew, as the ghost was supposed to emit a particular odor.)  At the moment, Slimer is stuffing his face with the food on a room service cart.  Because Peter and Egon are out of earshot, Ray decides to try and catch Slimer himself, but his attempt only ends up spooking Slimer, who zooms off and escapes through a wall, leaving behind a bit of green ectoplasmic residue.  This results in the green ghost crossing paths with Peter.  To his credit, Peter seems to take it a little more calmly and contacts Ray over the walkie-talkie.  But before anything could be done, Slimer flies toward Peter almost menacingly, prompting Peter to scream (which is probably the most emotion we’ve seen Peter display so far. He didn’t even scream during the scene with the Library Ghost.)  By the time Ray appears on the scene, Slimer is once again gone, but Peter is lying on the ground, drenched in green ectoplasm.

At this point, Egon manages to contact them, announcing he witnessed Slimer entering a ballroom elsewhere in the hotel.  So the Ghostbusters head down the ballroom in question, instructing the manager to wait outside while they deal with the matter.  Eventually, they do manage to capture Slimer, but only after causing extensive damage to the ballroom, including destroying a rather expensive looking chandelier.  Although, this scene does contain a moment when Egon informs Ray and Peter of an important safety precaution involving their Proton Packs.  Because of the nature of the Proton Streams they use to restrain the ghost while the Ghost Trap is being set up, it is vitally important that they don’t cross the streams.  Because if they do, it would result in a total protonic reversal that would cause every cell in their bodies to explode.  Which is obviously a rather gruesome way to die.

Upon the successful capture of Slimer, the Ghostbusters exit the demolished ballroom and approach the hotel manager, seeking the payment for their services.  But the manager balks at the knowledge that they’re asking for $5,000. (Because I’m a nerd, I actually took the time to adjust this amount for inflation.  That price is equivalent to $12,326.42 now.)  At first, the manager refuses to pay that much.  Until they threaten to release Slimer back into the ballroom.  Now, on the one hand, I can appreciate that the Ghostbusters are in desperate need of funds at this point, and they need to be properly confiscated considering how expensive it is to maintain their equipment.  At the same time, they could have offered a slight discount, seeing as how the hotel is now going to have to pay for the damage to the ballroom. Still, we do get a nice moment of seeing Peter and Egon playing off each other.  If you watch carefully, you can see Egon trying to covertly signal Peter in how much to charge the hotel for trapping Slimer.

And thus begins the montage scene of the Ghostbusters doing their thing in busting the various spooks that continue popping up around the city as their popularity continues to grow, with them making the front page of newspapers, appearing in various magazines and even scoring TV interviews. (Along with brief cameos of Larry King and the now-late Casey Kasem.)  Of course, there is one moment in this montage that appears to be a dream sequence of Ray’s, in which he’s visited by a ghost lady who, despite not actually showing anything (the movie was rated PG, after all), clearly performs oral sex on him.  It’s a bit of a weird moment, to be honest.  Of course, that brief sequence was actually recycled footage from a scene that didn’t make it into the final cut.  The scene in question had the Ghostbusters investigating a haunting at the fictional Fort Detmerring.  Though knowing that doesn’t make the scene any less weird.

As the montage wraps up, we get introduced to our final main character, Winston Zeddemore.  He arrives at the Firehouse in response to an ad the Ghostbusters put out, asking for additional help.  It seems that the ghostly activity in the city has gotten to be too much for Peter, Ray and Egon to tackle on their own, and they’re hoping to get more assistance.  So Winston has decided to come by and apply for the job out of a desire to have a steady paycheck.  And because Peter and Ray are particularly exhausted over how busy they’ve been lately, they hire him on the spot upon returning from a bust.

Now, I probably should acknowledge the fact that Winston seems to get the short end of the stick among the Ghostbusters fandom, with him being regarded as the odd one out due to the fact that he doesn’t join the team until halfway through the movie and isn’t actually a scientist like the others.  There was even an episode of Stranger Things that brought this up.  But honestly, I think Winston is one of best members of the team.  Because he’s the everyday guy.  The one who pretty much gave us ordinary folks the hope that we could be Ghostbusters, too. And, as an adult, I can appreciate Winston’s whole attitude when he straight up tells Janine ‘if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.’  This is a guy who just wants a job that will help him get food on the table, and just happened to end up landing the coolest job on the planet.  That is awesome!  I wanna be Winston!

The movie then cuts to Carnegie Hall, where Dana is just getting out of work after a rehearsal. She and a fellow member of the orchestra, a male violin player who Dana later describes as one of the finest musicians in the world, are complaining about the guest conductor who oversaw the rehearsal, and how the conductor in question seemed to prefer shouting at them in German rather than actually do any real conducting.  Their conversation is cut short when Dana spots Peter a few feet away, and she goes over to talk with them.  Strangely enough, Dana seems to be rather taken with Peter now.  The last time we saw these two together, Dana seemed a bit annoyed by Peter and his unwanted advances.  But here, she seems to have warmed up to him.  Were there additional scenes that showed further interactions between the two that wound up on the cutting room floor?  Because if the movie really wanted to sell these two as the main couple, they could have really benefitted from showing them interact a little more.  While the actors do play well off each other, it seems a bit odd that Dana seemingly went from viewing Peter as an annoyance to her regarding him as a friend without showing us how she got to that point.  Granted we saw her appear a few times in the movie’s montage segment, but that was only her reacting to the various news stories about the Ghostbusters’ rising fame.

Anyway, Peter reveals he was true to his word.  Even though they’ve been busy dealing with other hauntings and whatnot, they’re still working on figuring out what caused the paranormal activity at Dana’s apartment. Their research has found some information about the name of Zuul, who was a demi-god worshiped by some various ancient cultures around 6000 BC.  He was also said to be the minion of a being called Gozer.  Of course, they’re not quite sure why Dana seems to have been targeted by Zuul and Gozer, so Peter suggests they could get together Thursday night around 9 to discuss the matter more thoroughly.  Of course, Dana sees this for what it is and knows Peter is just trying to trick her into a date.  But she ultimately agrees to the arrangement, because she is now apparently charmed by his advances now.  Not sure why, but whatever.

It then cuts back to the Firehouse, where Ray is busy showing Winston how to load a captured ghost into their custom-made Containment Unit, which basically works as a jailhouse for the imprisoned ghosts.  Meanwhile, Peter is upstairs, dealing with a visit from Walter Peck from the Environmental Protection Agency.  Basically, Peck is there to investigate the Ghostbusters and check if their operation is creating a significant impact on the environment.  As such, he wants to inspect their equipment, particularly the Containment Unit.  Ultimately, Peter refuses to comply with his demands.  Now, as someone who actually has a BS in Environmental Studies, I have to admit that…. Peck is not necessarily in the wrong here.  He’s simply doing his job in investigating the Ghostbusters and making sure they’re not releasing any toxic substances into the environment.  So I don’t fault him for what he’s wanting to do.  However, I don’t think he went about it in a good way.  Especially since he really does give a pretty big veiled threat to Peter during their conversation.  Not to mention that he seems to indirectly accuse them of purposely releasing noxious gas into the atmosphere with the intention of making people hallucinate into seeing ghosts.  Because of that, I also don’t blame Peter for refusing to comply with Peck’s demands. If Walter Peck had just been a bit more professional and respectful about his intentions, things might have turned out differently.  After Walter Peck storms out, Peter rejoins Egon, Ray and Winston down in the basement, where the three of them inform him of some fresh concern of Egon’s.  The Containment Unit, it seems, is getting close to maximum capacity due to all the ghosts they’ve been catching.  To make things even more concerning, the data he’s collected from their various missions throughout the city suggests that something much bigger is on the horizon.  Which he explains with a Twinkie analogy.

However, I have to pause for a moment to really look at these last few scenes back-to-back.  This is probably a nitpick, but the continuity of these scenes seem a bit off.  If you look carefully, you see that Peter is wearing his Ghostbusters jumpsuit during his meeting with Walter Peck.  And that the jumpsuit is stained with ectoplasmic goop.  Which is exactly what he was wearing when he and Ray returned to the Firehouse during Winston’s job interview with Janine.  So, taking that into account, it seems like the correct order of events would be 1) Winston being hired into the Ghostbusters, 2) the meeting with Walter Peck, 3) Ray instructing Winston on how to operate the containment unit and then 4) Egon’s Twinkie analogy. Based on the characters’ wardrobe throughout those scenes, it seems like they all occurred simultaneously. Of course, that would put into question where Peter and Dana’s meeting outside Carnegie Hall would fall on the movie’s timeline.  Especially since Winston later will state that, as of the movie’s climax, he’s been with the company for a few weeks.  So, since the climax really starts to kick off on the night of Peter and Dana’s Thursday date, it makes sense for the Carnegie Hall scene to come after Winston was hired.  But if they had aired the scenes in the proper order, we wouldn’t have gotten that dramatic cut that the movie gave us.  Because the way the movie plays out, we immediately cut from Peter saying ‘what about the Twinkie?’ to the top of Dana’s apartment building, where a pair of stone statues of demonic creatures (known as Terror Dogs) start to break open, revealing there are real Terror Dogs encased inside the statures.  Apparently, they’ve been lying dormant until the opportune moment and are now being unleashed.  (Which is that big thing that Egon saw coming on the horizon).

As the Terror Dogs are emerging from their stone statues, Dana arrives home in order to get ready for her date with Peter at nine.  By coincidence, her neighbor, Louis, is also holding his party on the same night and, despite Dana’s best efforts at sneaking past his door, he somehow hears her moving down the hall and comes out to greet her.  Louis is crestfallen when he hears that Dana scheduled a date on the night of his party, but quickly takes in in stride, suggesting that Dana can bring Peter to the party, too.  (Dude, take the hint.)  Dana, more to appease him than anything, states that they’ll try to make an appearance. However, it doesn’t really matter either way.  Because when Dana returns to her apartment and starts to get ready, demonic hands burst out of the chair she’s sitting in and forcibly hold her down so the Terror Dog known as Zuul can possess her.  I don’t have to tell you that it is a really chilling scene to witness.  To this day, I cannot sleep with the closet light shining through the door gaps, and I blame it on this scene.

While Zuul is possessing Dana across the hall, Louis is having some paranormal issues of his own. It turns out that the second Terror Dog, this one named Vinz Clortho, has targeted Louis as his chosen vessel. Because both Terror Dogs need to possess a human vessel in order to prepare the way for their master, Gozer. Not really sure why Louis was selected, however.  Sure, he’s the only other character we’ve really been introduced to so far, outside of the actual Ghostbuster crew (and I’m including Janine in that).  But to our knowledge, Louis didn’t experience any sort of paranormal warning the way Dana did with the eggs cooking on the counter and her refrigerator becoming a portal to the demonic realm.  Unless the running gag of Louis constantly getting himself locked out of his apartment was his paranormal ‘warning.’

Anyway, Vinz disrupts Louis’ party, terrifying the guests while Louis runs out of his apartment, prompting Vinz to give chase.  (Is that why Louis got selected?  Because he was the only one who ran out of the apartment? Do Terror Dogs hunt by movement?)  Despite Louis’ best efforts to evade the demonic creature, Vinz eventually corners him outside Tavern on the Green, the well-known restaurant in Central Park.

This scene, admittedly, confuses me to this day.  When Louis is cornered and subsequently possessed by Vinz, he is in full view of the people eating at the restaurant.  But even though they all look up when they hear Louis screaming outside, they immediately go back to their meals as if nothing happened.  Did they not see Vinz standing outside with Louis? Was Vinz invisible to everyone except Louis?  That doesn’t make much sense, since Louis’ party guests, his elderly neighbor, the apartment building’s doorman and the number of people who happened to be driving by clearly saw Vinz as well.  So was this supposed to be a bit of social commentary about how New Yorkers often don’t lift a finger to help people in distress? Because I can see the reasoning behind such a thing.  After all, there was that famous news story about the homeless man bleeding to death on the ground and how nobody stopped to help him.  And there was a similar story back in 1964, when a 28-year-old woman was raped and killed while at least 38 bystanders didn’t bother to intervene or respond to her screams.  Even so, you’d think that someone in that restaurant would have reacted to the sight of Vinz.

Back at the apartment building, Peter has just arrived for his date with Dana.  While he does react to       the presence of the police who have been called out to investigate the disturbance at Louis’ party (as people had mistook the Terror Dog for a cougar), he makes his way to Dana’s apartment.   Unfortunately, by the time he arrives, Dana has already been possessed by Zuul, and is now wearing a rather provocative orange dress.  (Can’t see Dana having something like that in her closet based on what we’ve previously seen her wearing, so I’m wondering where that dress came from.)  Despite Peter’s best efforts at reaching out to Dana’s consciousness, Zuul’s hold on her mind is too strong.  Which of course leads to the iconic ‘there is no Dana, only Zuul’ line.  Though it’s important to note that Zuul refers to herself as ‘the Gatekeeper,’ and that she’s waiting for ‘the Keymaster.’  I’m sure we all know the sexual undertones of those monikers, so there’s no need for me to comment on it.

Meanwhile, Louis, now possessed by Vinz, has been picked up by the police because he’s been causing a bit of a scene in Central Park with his search for ‘the Gatekeeper.’  But since the cops aren’t sure what to do with him due to his erratic behavior, the police captain has decided to bring him to the Ghostbusters.  (By the way, I love Janine’s immediate response when she opens the door to find the cops standing on the doorstop.  This woman is awesome.)  Egon, upon seeing how the possessed Louis is making the PKE meter spike, agrees to bring him inside the Firehouse, where we get this awesome effect of Vinz’ true form appear on an infrared monitor.  Upon being questioned by Egon, Vinz explains that he’s waiting for a sign from Gozer the Traveler, who will come in a pre-chosen form.  Janine, growing a bit worried by what she’s hearing Vinz say, briefly pulls Egon aside to voice her concerns, stating she’s got a terrible feeling that something awful is going to happen to him.

The tender moment between the two is broken when Peter calls the Firehouse to inform Egon of Dana’s possession by Zuul.  At present, Peter has managed to knock Zuul out by injecting Dana’s body with 300 cc of thorozine.  (Does Peter normally carry around thorozine?  Particularly when he’s planning on going out on a date?  Do I even want to know?)  Egon instructs Peter to return to the Firehouse straight away, also warning him that they cannot let Zuul and Vinz meet.

Elsewhere, Ray and Winston are off in the Ecto-1, apparently coming back from a call.  Strangely, Winston is still wearing his civilian clothes while Ray is in his Ghostbusters jumpsuit.  As previously stated, Winston is supposed to have been with the Ghostbusters for a few weeks by this point.  So where’s his jumpsuit?  How long does it take the uniform store to design a Ghostbuster jumpsuit?  Anyway, Ray is busy studying the blueprints for Dana’s apartment building, currently unaware of what happened with Dana and Lewis, and is taken aback by how the top of the apartment complex was constructed by a magnesium-tungsten alloy, which is apparently very peculiar.  Winston, seemingly out of nowhere, interrupts Ray’s musings to bring up God and Jesus.  However, the reason behind Winston’s choice of subject becomes clear when he asks Ray if he remembers what the Bible said about the last days, when the dead would rise from the grave.  To this, Ray states he remembers Revelations 7:12 and proceeds to recite a Bible verse.  However, if you actually look at a Bible, you’ll see that the verse Ray recites is NOT Revelations 7:12.  It’s actually Revelations 6:12.  You got the wrong chapter, Ray, but points for trying.  Either way, Ray basically shrugs and states all ancient religions have their own myths about the end of the world.  But his mood shifts when Winston points out that perhaps the reason why they’ve been so busy lately is because the dead HAVE been rising from the grave.  While this particular scene doesn’t really contribute much to the plot, it is still a good scene, and one of my favorites in the film.

Back at the Firehouse, Egon is awaiting the return of his fellow Ghostbusters and performing a few tests on Vinz while he’s waiting.  Because of course Egon would want to gather some data on the possessed Louis. Unfortunately, that’s when Walter Peck returns.  This time, he’s brought in the cops and a worker from Con Edison.  Janine does her best to stop them, pointing out that she knows they can’t barge onto the premises without a writ or warrant (which is further indication that Janine is highly intelligent and not just a pretty face), but Peck counters her denial of entry by showing he does have a warrant.  Upon storming into the basement with his reinforcements in tow, Peck demands that the Containment Unit gets switched off.  Egon urgently warns the Con Edison man against turning off the protection grid, as does Peter when he arrives on the scene.  However, Peck is persistent and forces the Con Edison man to comply with his order, despite the Con Ed Man’s hesitations.

Of course, the moment the Containment Unit’s protection grid is switched off, alarms start blaring, and everyone is forced to run out of the Firehouse before the Containment Unit explodes with such force, it blasts a hole into the Firehouse’s roof.  The instant this happens, Zuul/Dana snaps awake. Because this was apparently the sign she and Vinz/Louis was waiting for- the release of all the ghosts the Ghostbusters had previously caught.

As a crowd gathers around the damaged Firehouse, Ray and Winston return back from their bust.  As such, they are present when Peck angrily charges forward, demanding that the cops arrest them for being in criminal violation of the Environmental Protection Act.  To Egon’s enragement, Peck even tries to blame them for the explosion.  Which was really a jerk move on Peck’s part.  While I won’t deny that he was just doing his job at first, it was his refusal to listen to Egon and Peter’s multiple warnings that make him lose my support. They TOLD him repeatedly that shutting off the Containment Unit’s protection grid would have led to disastrous reproductions.  But he refused to listen to them out of what I can only imagine was the result of him having a chip on his shoulder because Peter ‘insulted’ him.  To make matters worse, Vinz/Louis manages to slip away amidst the chaos.  And throughout the city, the newly released ghosts proceed to wreak havoc.

Sometime later, the Ghostbusters are confined to a rather large jail cell, which they’re sharing with some other prison inmates.  I admit I don’t know much about prisons, but… do jails often have cells large enough to hold up to ten people?  Regardless, Egon and Ray are busy studying the blueprints of Dana and Louis’ apartment building, commenting on how bizarre the structural framework is.  Long story short, it turns out that the building was actually designed to be a super-conductive antenna designed specifically to pull in and concentrate spiritual energy.  Egon then goes into storytelling mode, explaining to his compatriots (as well as the other inmates, who also seem interested) that he has previously discovered that the building’s architect was a man named Ivo Shandor. In 1920, following WWI, Ivo had decided that society no longer deserved to survive, so he formed a secret society.  He and his many followers began to worship the ancient god Gozer.  And, atop the high-rise that would eventually become Dana and Louis’ apartment building, they conducted many rituals that were intended to bring about the end of the world.  Now, it seems like the rituals they performed might actually succeed.

Clearly, this is really bad, and the Ghostbusters know they have to do something about it.  Even though Winston seems doubtful that they convince a judge to believe their tale and let them go.  Thankfully, luck is on their side, and a jail guard, portrayed by the same actor who played Carl Winslow on Family Matters and Sgt. Al Powell in the Die Hard movies (that man loves playing law enforcement, doesn’t he?), appears to announce that the mayor has asked for them.  So the Ghostbusters are all brought before Mayor Lenny.  And not a moment too soon, as time is running out- Vince/Louis and Zuul/Dana have already found their way to each other.

When the Ghostbusters arrive at Mayor Lenny’s office, he’s already in a meeting with his advisers, discussing all the turmoil that’s been going on because of the escaped ghosts now running amok.  Of course, Walter Peck is also there, once again accusing the Ghostbusters of being con artists who have been making people believe they’re seeing ghosts by releasing a hallucinogenic gas into the air.  Thankfully, Mayor Lenny’s advisors are skeptical of Peck’s accusations.  The Fire Commissioner states he has no explanation for what he witnessed when the explosion occurred at the Firehouse, despite seeing every form of combustion known to man. And the Police Commissioner points out there’s no rational explanation behind the walls of the 53rd precinct bleeding.  Eventually, the Ghostbusters present their case to Mayor Lenny, warning him that if they don’t act quickly, a disaster of biblical proportions will occur.  The Mayor is ultimately convinced to give the Ghostbusters a chance when Peter presents a wager of sorts.  He tells Mayor Lenny that if they’re wrong, they will willingly go to prison.  But if they’re right, and they’re allowed the chance to stop Gozer, then the city will view Mayor Lenny as the man who helped save the city by not preventing the Ghostbusters from doing their job.  Like most politicians, Mayor Lenny is all for the option that could get him re-elected.

And so the Ghostbusters are off to the Ivo Shandor building, complete with a police escort.  Only now Winston is finally sporting a Ghostbuster jumpsuit.  That was convenient timing.  Did his jumpsuit arrive at the exact moment they returned to the Firehouse to pick up their Proton Packs and whatnot?  Either way, upon their arrival, a sudden earthquake erupts, breaking up the street and swallowing up the Ghostbusters.  I guess Gozer sensed the Ghostbusters arrival and, recognizing them as a threat, attempted to get rid of them.  Somehow, they survive falling into the gaping hole and manage to enter the building.  But the elevator is apparently out of order as they’re forced to climb up the stairs to reach Dana’s apartment up on the 22nd floor.  When they do reach the apartment, they find the place in a shambles, as the whole side of the building exploded during the earlier sequence where the escaped ghosts were terrorizing the city.  Although, they do locate a staircase that leads them up to the roof, where the Temple of Gozer now resides.

It’s too late, however, as Zuul/Dana and Vinz/Louis have already started the ritual to summon Gozer. (It’s somewhat implied they had sex on a stone alter).  The Ghostbusters arrive on the scene just in time for the pair to complete their transformation, shedding the appearance of Dana and Louis and becoming full Terror Dogs, and they can only watch as the temple doors open, revealing Gozer in the flesh.  After another iconic moment where Ray attempts to instruct Gozer to leave only to get blasted backwards for not identifying himself as a god, the Ghostbusters attempt to take Gozer out with their Proton Packs.  To their astonishment, Gozer vanishes when they fire their Proton Streams at the alter Gozer is standing on.  For a few seconds, it looks like they succeeded in defeating Gozer, but of course it’s not that easy.  As Vinz stated earlier in the movie, Gozer typically takes a pre-chosen form before beginning his destruction.  And that proves to be the case here, as a disembodied voice instructs the Ghostbusters to choose the form of the destructor.

Peter, stepping up to the plate, takes the initiative.  Realizing they’ve only got one shot at tricking Gozer into taking a form they can easily overpower, he encourages his teammates to clear their heads so they can think of something.  But unfortunately, not quick enough, as a thought has already entered Ray’s head- Mr. Stay Puft the mascot of an in-universe brand of marshmallows.  A minute later, a 50-foot-tall Mr. Stay Puft manifests down in the city streets below and begins making its way toward them. In order to try and stop Mr. Stay Puft, the Ghostbusters attempt to fire their Proton Packs at the creature, but this only makes Mr. Stay Puft angry, and it begins to climb up the side of the building, King Kong style.  So now the Ghostbusters are in a bit of a tight spot.  Obviously, they have to defeat Gozer’s chosen form, but how?

That’s when Egon gets his last-ditch idea.  He suggests, since the door to Gozer’s temple swings both ways, perhaps they can close it and therefore put a stop to all of this by reversing the particle flow through the gate.  Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish this is by crossing their Proton Streams- the very thing Egon warned them against doing on their first mission as Ghostbusters.  Peter is quick to remind him of this, pointing out how that plan would put them all in danger.  But he quickly shifts gears and becomes in full agreement with the plan when Egon suggests there’s a slim chance they’ll survive.

Egon’s plan ultimately works, with the four Proton Streams merging into one big one that helps close the gate.  This results in the Temple of Gozer exploding, with Mr. Stay Puft getting incinerated and melted marshmallow raining down onto the streets below, with one particularly large mound of it falling right onto Walter Peck.  (There are some deleted scenes that show Peck was still trying to get the Ghostbusters arrested, even after seeing Mr. Stay Puft.)

As the smoke clears atop the building, we see the Ghostbusters have all miraculously survived the explosion.  Though they’re all drenched with marshmallow fluff.  Except for Peter, who only got some in his hair.  How he accomplished that is anyone’s guess.  As the Ghostbusters check up on each other to make sure they got through the ordeal in one piece, Peter steps away to take in the charred remains of Zuul and Vinz, who were also consumed in the explosion. Ray, realizing that Peter’s thoughts are of Dana and how she had transformed into the creature, offers his condolences.  Of course, the movie didn’t want to go out on such a depressing note, and it’s quickly shown that Dana and Louis both survived as well, as they slowly break out of the petrified remains of the Terror Dogs, a bit battered but still alive and well.

And so the movie ends, with the Ghostbusters emerging triumphantly to the cheers of the crowd of New Yorkers.  Peter even gets to share a kiss with Dana in full view of everyone.  Which would be awesome if the movie had actually shown us more of this pairing’s development.  Then again, the fact that Peter seemed particularly upset when it looked as if Dana had died does suggest he does genuinely care about her.  So I guess I can buy this kiss.  And we also do get one final scene with Egon and Janine, as the latter had actually came out to the site of the final battle and embraces Egon upon seeing him unharmed.

Dana then gets to essentially ride off into the sunset with the Ghostbusters in the Ecto-1.  Which is a bit odd, since we see Louis is escorted away by some Red Cross employees.  What’s with that?  Why does Dana get to ride off in the Ecto-1 while Louis has to stay behind to receive medical care?  Dana went through the exact same ordeal as Louis.  So if Louis has to get checked over at the hospital, then Dana should be, too, right?  Especially since she was the one who seemed to be the most disoriented after she was freed from the petrified remains of Zuul.

Despite the few issues that arise with the movie, I still enjoy it.  It’s easy to see why Ghostbusters took the world by storm. While I wouldn’t say it’s a laugh-out-loud comedy, the jokes they work in are really smart and clever.  The effects are impressive, even by today’s standards.  The ghosts featured in the film still look amazing (excluding this one moment when Vinz is running across the street.  I admit something looked off at that moment).  And there are so many iconic lines that I’m pretty sure this movie is right up there with Star Wars in terms of quotability.

In fact, my only real complaint is the character of Peter and how we never got any indication on why he even got involved in parapsychology like Ray and Egon in the first place.  Instead, he comes across as a bit of a jerk who is only in it for the money, and to pick up good-looking women.  Admittedly, that seems to be a trend of Bill Murray- playing a jerk character.  (I’m looking at you, Groundhog Day and Scrooged.)  But at least with those movies, Bill Murry’s character underwent a character arc, and by the end of the movie, he had stopped being a jerk.  But that’s not the case with Peter.  While he didn’t display any of his jerk-ish qualities by the end of the movie, we never saw any real indication that he’d undergone some sort of character development.  I know no one had much in the way of character development in this movie, but the point still stands.  It just would have been nice for the movie to give us some indication why we were supposed to root for him.  Because the only thing we really got was that he had a thing for Dana, and that’s it. All the other characters are all very likable, though, so that does help balance out any negativity Peter’s presence might have caused.

One thing that stuck out to me while watching this movie now, apart from the presence of the 80s-style technology (case in point that huge 80s cellphone a movie extra was using in one scene), was all the product placement that cropped up throughout the movie.  As I watched this movie, I saw appearances of Cheez-it crackers, Coca-Cola, Perrier, Oscar-Mayer bologna, Wise Potato Chips and Hi-ho crackers (which are now called Ritz crackers).  And, of course, Twinkies.  I might be wrong, considering I don’t normally watch for this sort of thing, but I don’t think we generally see this much product placement in movies coming out today.  So seeing that many recognizable brands was quite interesting to me.

That pretty wraps up my review of the original Ghostbusters movie. I’ll be sure to review its sequel, Ghostbusters II on a later date.  But first, I think I’ll look at the episodes of the movie’s animated spin-off, The Real Ghostbusters.  Even though the series technically takes place in a separate continuity, I do remember there were a few callbacks to the events of the movie, so that should count for something.

(Click here to read more Ghostbusters reviews)

[wrestlingisfake]

Evolution preview

Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella - Rousey, a former UFC bantamweight champion best known for a 12-0 streak in mixed martial arts, is defending the Raw women’s title.  Bella is a two-time WWE divas champion (once holding the belt for 301 days), and probably the best representative of the WWE women’s division from 2006-2015, after Trish Stratus and Lita retired but before the “divas revolution/women’s evolution” angle.  Rousey is the latest effort to build upon the new era, and Nikki is the veteran of the previous era out to prove she’s still on top.

This matchup symbolizes a lot of the problems with the way WWE books women’s wrestling.  Rousey runs down Bella for being promoted for her look and implies she benefited from dating John Cena, with the gist being that Nikki isn’t a “real” athlete because she’s too pretty and/or a slut.  On the other hand, Nikki’s heel act involves whining that she isn’t given enough credit for building the platform Ronda just waltzed into (the implication being that Nikki actually deserves no credit) and making light of Rousey’s losses in UFC (which was a legitimate mental health issue for her, at one point).  We’re expected to decide which side is more awful and root for the other, but the entire spectacle becomes revolting in a way that (for example) Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman would not be.

In general I think WWE has a very disturbing mentality about top women’s bouts, where the basic trash talking we’re accustomed to in pro wrestling has to be distorted into this hateful, passive-aggressive metacommentary on what is wrong with types of women.  Rousey and Bella aren’t fighting each other so much as what they each allegedly represent--carpetbaggers and starfuckers, respectively--and it just feels like it’s less important which woman wins than which type of woman is deemed acceptable.  This has been a creative problem within WWE for at least 20 years, and getting past it is the last great roadblock for gender parity in wrestling.  Unfortunately it doesn’t feel like WWE even recognizes the problem, because this match could have been the division’s John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar but they’re determined to turn it into a Jerry Springer segment.

A title change could be interesting, as a way to legitimize Nikki and level-set Ronda, but I doubt either of those things are goals for WWE right now.  Rousey’s role is to steamroll through everyone in her path, and Nikki’s role is to pass the torch.  Rousey is going to retain, probably by tapout; the only real question is whether it’s a brtually one-sided squash or if Nikki gets to employ enough heel tactics to make a real fight of it.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair - Lynch is defending the Smackdown women’s title under “last woman standing” rules, so anything goes but the first woman who fails to answer a ten count loses, and the woman left standing will be the champion.

So this program manages to be the opposite of what bugs me with Rousey vs. Bella.  That may be because it’s a secondary concern, or because it’s on Smackdown where Vince McMahon is paying less attention, or both.  The vibe here is very much Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin from 1996, when Bret was still technically the babyface, but Austin was catching fire, but Austin couldn’t just be a babyface without losing the edge that was getting him hot.  There is far less of a sense that this feud is substantially different just because the combatants are women, because the feud isn’t about “which of these women is the right kind of woman?” but rather “these two wrestlers are gonna fucking kill each other.”

I’m sure there will continue to be hand-wringing about WWE mismanaging Lynch and the wisdom of her heel turn.  But what’s done is done and at this point, they’re on to something with her and it would be foolish to alter course.  I can’t even recommend booking Charlotte as a heel because right now her “I just don’t understand why my best friend would treat me like this!” act plays perfectly against Becky’s bad attitude.  If Becky’s going to be Steve Austin, it’s not time for a Vince McMahon to screw her over; she needs a Bret Hart who is aghast and scandalized that she would tarnish the principles of good sportsmanship, and WWE is shitty at packaging that sentiment in a heel unless it’s transparently conniving.

Lynch ought to win.  I don’t know where that leaves Charlotte in terms of her direction for Wrestlemania.  It’s starting to look like whatever feature role they had in mind ought to go to Becky anyway.  But the right thing for the business as a whole is to figure out how far they can take Lynch’s new act.

Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Alicia Fox & Mickie James - Trish and Lita dominated the WWE women’s division circa 2000-2006, and they’ve come to be regarded as the living legends of women’s wrestling.  This started as a feud between Trish and Alexa Bliss (one of the top women in today’s division), with the intent of adding Lita to make it a tag match (that Alexa’s sidekick James happens to be a veteran from the tail end of theTrish/Lita era is a bonus), but Alexa couldn’t get medically cleared for this show so Fox is filling in for her.  What had been designed to be a clash of then vs. now has become kind of then vs. then slightly later.

I would expect this match would have originally been about giving Alexa the rub against two legends, but now that she’s just cornering the heel team it’ll probably be an easy win for Trish and Lita.

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler - Sane won the NXT women’s championship from Baszler in August, so this is the rematch.  Not much has changed in this feud because Baszler acts like the title loss was a fluke, so it’s still a battle of a big MMA bully and a little joshi underdog.  They occasionally tease that Sane is going to hulk up (asuka up?) and bust out some epic strong style shit, but we may not be at that point in the story just yet.

Originally WWE acted like the entire NXT women’s roster would be on this show, but as of this writing the only NXT representation is this match.  That, plus the fact that Baszler is one of the Four Horsewomen of MMA with Ronda Rousey, makes me think that there could be a reason they went out of their way to get Baszler on the show.  Sooner or later WWE will want to do an angle based on that--if not now, when?

I could easily see this going either way, but Baszler really has nothing left to do in NXT, so a second title run feels pointless.  She should probably just lose and pick a fight with the Raw or Smackdown women to build to her moving on up.

Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm - This is the final match to determine the winner of the second annual Mae Young Classic tournament.  I haven’t heard of any particular stakes in the tournament; it stands to reason the winner will automatically be added to the NXT (or NXT UK) roster, but that’s probably true of the loser as well.

I honestly haven’t followed any of this tournament, so I don’t have any useful insight on the match.  All I really know about Shirai is that she was the ace of World Wonder Ring Stardom and is frequently considered one of the best wrestlers in the world today, male or female.  Storm was a semifinalist in last year’s tournament, and also the first women’s champion in Progress.  This could go either way but it feels like WWE is more into pushing Shirai as a major acquisition, while Storm is earmarked for the fledgling NXT UK brand.

Sasha Banks & Bayley & Natalya vs. Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan - Banks, Bayley, and Natalya have been out of the title picture for months, leaving them with little to do but feud with Ruby’s Riott Squad stable.  At one point it looked like losses to the Riott Squad were going to trigger a Banks/Bayley breakup, but apparently WWE couldn’t figure out what to do with that so they just made up like it never happened.  Natalya has been playing the role of Ronda Rousey’s sidekick, so she’s handy to round out the babyface team.

Banks has only just been cleared to compete after being sidelined with a concussion, so this match will be a litmus test for where she’s headed.  If she scores the winning fall, that suggests WWE is confident about putting her back in the mix at the top.  If she’s pinned or submitted, I think that indicates that they’re still concerned about her durability and want to hold her back a while longer.  Unfortunately I’m not all that confident in WWE’s confidence in Banks, so I’m picking the Riott Squad to win.

Battle royal - This will be a standard battle royal where all the participants will enter the ring at the start of the match, and the last one that isn’t eliminated will win.  Eliminations will presumably occur when someone exits the ring to the floor over the top ring rope.  (Historically many women’s battle royals have dispensed with the “over the top” part, making eliminations easier, but WWE seems to have moved away from that.)  The winner is supposed to be awarded a future title match, presumably for either the Raw or Smackdown championship.

This is largely designed to make sure everyone who didn’t have a match on the card still got to wrestle on the show.  For Raw that means Ember Moon, Nia Jax, Tamina, and Dana Brooke. For Smackdown that means, uh, basically everyone except Lynch and Flair: Asuka, Naomi, Carmella, Lana, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, and Zelina Vega.  Maria Kanellis is also involved, even though she’s on 205 Live now and has been doing a non-wrestling role since returning to WWE in 2017.

Returning to WWE for this match are Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Ivory, and Alundra Blayze.  Ivory was around during the Attitude Era, but her pre-WWE career goes all the way back to GLOW.  Blayze is the only woman on this show who wrestled in WWE before the women’s division was reactivated in 1998.  Interestingly, both Ivory and Blayze are a bit older today than the Fabulous Moolah was during her iconic feud with Wendy Richter in 1984.

It’s tough to guess who would win this match.  If the winner goes after the Raw title, I would expect her to get squashed by Ronda Rousey at some point before the end of the year, and I don’t see any of the Raw names fitting into that narrative.  If we’re setting up a Smackdown title match, Asuka would make sense, although you might want to keep Asuka and Lynch apart for a while to build to something bigger.  Naomi vs. Lynch would be good, even if I wouldn’t give Naomi good odds of winning.  None of the returning veterans strike me as being groomed for a “coming out of retirement for one last title shot” storyline, but you never know--maybe they think Blayze chasing the title could be big at the Royal Rumble or something.

If I gotta pick somebody, Asuka is a safe bet, but I don’t really think this match will be about safe bets.

[missaphelion]

Oh I'd love it if you could write something about Sam and Steve reconnecting after Sam gets to the tower, maybe talking about Bucky but if they don't that's great to. Or if that doesn't strike your muse maybe what lead to sams realisation about Tony "everything that says you're self centered has got to be way off the mark,” Or both. Both is good.

Oh, cool prompt! This is sort of both? Mostly the first! It ended up Sam POV, I hope that’s alright!

Dig No Graves: Timestamp #3 (Sam arrives at the Tower, Chapter Twenty Missing scene)

“How the hell did I get here?” Sam asked himself. 

A couple weeks ago he was living in D.C., working at the Veteran’s Center, waving at the neighbors when he came home. Now he was standing outside the Avengers Tower, his head leaned back as far as it could go just so he could try to see the top.

“Life comes at you fast,” Clint said sympathetically, resting a hand on his shoulder, and then fucking abandoning him, because he was sort of an asshole.

So now he was in the tower lobby alone, holding a bag of broken wings, wondering when his life had spiraled so far out of control. Was it that morning run? Was it when he let them in? Was it when he, inexplicably, offered to help them rob a US army base and then question and threaten a US government agent?

“All of the above,” Sam muttered to himself.

The lobby was about as ostentatious as Sam would have expected from Tony Stark, but there was an order to it that didn’t seem to quite match up. People walked back and forth in business attire like pretty much any other office in New York, though he noticed a heavy locked metal door off to the side that wouldn’t have been out of place in a bank vault.

“Mr. Wilson?” a man called. He looked like a pretty regular guy, but Sam watched him warily anyway. Maria Hill looked like a nice lady, if you just glanced at her, and she was terrifying as hell. “Mr. Stark has been expecting your arrival. I’m Happy.”

“Yeah, man, sure, I’m happy too,” Sam said warily.

“What? No, I’m—nevermind,” he said, shaking his head, before motioning to an elevator located off to the side from all the rest. “The residential elevator is this way. If you’re ready?”

Sam followed the happy man to the elevator, and watched half in awe and half in disbelief as he had to use both a palm scan and a retinal scan in order to get it to open.

“Jarvis, please take Mr. Wilson to Captain Rogers’ floor,” he said.

“Of course, Mr. Hogan,” Jarvis said.

Clint had warned Sam about Jarvis, the AI that apparently ran the entire building. Because of fucking course.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Wilson,” Jarvis told him once the elevator doors closed.

“Yeah, you too, Hal,” Sam said.

“Ah, a joke,” Jarvis said. “2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1984. I’ve certainly never heard that one before, Mr. Wilson. Very funny. I’m laughing on the inside.”

The AI was sassing him. He regretted everything.

“We have arrived at Captain Rogers’ floor,” Jarvis announced, as the doors opened. He hadn’t even felt the elevator move. “At the moment, you have access to return to the lobby, or the training floor. Anywhere else will require an escort. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask. I assure you, I’m far more obliging than Hal.”

He exited out onto the floor with a snort. Out snarked by an artificial intelligence, he should have stayed retired. Maybe it wasn’t too late to just turn around, no one really knew he was involved with the fall of SHIELD, he could still—

His train of thought broke when he caught sight of Steve.

He looked like he hadn’t slept since the last time he’d seen him. For once, he wasn’t clean shaven. He had the makings of a beard, which may have looked sort of distinguished if it had been properly groomed. As it was, his hair was flying out in multiple directions like he’d been running his hands through it, and the beard was patchy and uneven.

And that’s when he remembered why he was putting up with all this madness. Steve Rogers wasn’t gonna fall apart on his watch.

“Steve,” he said quietly.

Steve’s head shot up like he hadn’t actually heard him come in, and his eyes looked a little wild even as he broke out into a relieved grin. “Sam,” he said. “You came.”

“Well, you left without goodbye,” Sam said wryly. “Had to make sure you were doing okay. Not feeling entirely reassured, I gotta admit.”

Steve winced, reaching up to run a hand though his hair, which pretty much made it worse. “Yeah, I—“ he started, before trailing off.

Sam stepped closer, finally noticing what Steve had spread out on the table in front of him. It was a mixture of drawings that looked like police sketches, old black and white photos, and what looked like mission reports written in Cyrillic. “What’s going on, Steve?”

“Bucky’s alive,” Steve said, and he seemed to almost choke on his own words, but somehow he was still smiling as he said them.

Sam understood the words. He knew who Bucky Barnes was. He may have visited that museum exhibit more than a few times prior to his chance encounter with the main attraction. But that didn’t help him comprehend it.

“What?” he asked, ineloquently.

“He’s been Hydra’s prisoner for the last seventy years,” Steve told him, his smile dropping away. He reached up with both hands and covered his nose and mouth, like he was trying to hold something in.

“Shit,” Sam whispered, dropping down to sit across from him. “And he’s still…he was still alive?” He would have to be in his nineties, Sam figured. He couldn’t imagine. It was almost too terrible to think on.

“Yeah, he’s…” Steve trailed off for a minute. “He’s alive. Hydra gave him a version of my serum. He looks just like he did in the war.” He pulled out a piece of sketch paper from under one of the files, and dropped it to the top of the pile.

It was unmistakably Bucky Barnes, though his hair was a little longer. He was wearing a t-shirt instead of the iconic uniform, and smiling at someone off the edge of the page. Sam reached out and spun the drawing towards him. “That’s…incredible,” he said.

He wasn’t sure if he was talking about the incredibly lifelike drawing or the fact that any of this was even possible. His mind seemed to be having trouble processing it all. It was both, probably.

“I left him there, Sam,” Steve said brokenly.

Sam looked up worriedly, and suddenly the fact that Steve was sitting here sleep deprived and wallowing when he’d just gotten himself a miracle made a whole lot more sense. “That’s not how I’ve heard that story,” he said gently. “Way I heard it, you did everything you could to try to save him.”

“It wasn’t good enough,” Steve said. “I let him fall, and then I didn’t even go back for him.”

Sam remembered reading about the mission that had cost Bucky Barnes his life in school. He’d fallen from a moving train in the Alps. He can’t imagine there was anything else that Steve could have done. Sam was still having trouble believing it was even possible that Barnes had survived at all. “That wasn’t your fault,” he said.

“Everyone keeps telling me that,” Steve said, “but you don’t understand. You weren’t there.”

“No, I wasn’t there,” Sam admitted. “But I was there with you at SHIELD. I was there with you on that highway when he had an entire Strike team on our tail. So I know you.”

“He doesn’t,” Steve admitted quietly. “He doesn’t remember me.”

Which, shit. Sam was way out of his league with this. “Steve, maybe—“

“He knows all the right things to say, but it’s like he’s playing a part,” he continued. “I don’t know what I’d do without Tony.”

That threw Sam for a loop, and he blinked back at him. “Tony?” he echoed. “Tony Stark?”

They hadn’t really talked about Iron Man before, but Steve had made enough snide little remarks about Stark that he hadn’t figured the two were really friends.

“He’s the one that saved him,” Steve admitted. “Bucky killed his parents.”

“Wait, what?” Sam asked incredulously.

Steve looked up with wide pain-filled eyes. “Oh,” he said. “I forgot to mention that part. Hydra brainwashed him to kill for them.” He paused for a minute. “Don’t tell anyone that, okay?”

“Jesus,” Sam muttered. “So Bucky Barnes killed the Starks. And Tony saved him?”

“It wasn’t Bucky’s fault,” he said quickly. “He didn’t know what he was doing.”

“I mean, okay, yeah, I get that,” Sam said, but he didn’t actually get it at all. Now that he had the backstory, he could remember seeing the man that had pulled Steve from the water as Natasha forced him into the helicopter. Now he realized it had obviously been Bucky Barnes, which, what a head trip.

But he also remembered seeing the way he and Iron Man had kept looking to each other. They had not been using the sort of body language one would expect from a man and the murderer of his parents.

Sam leaned forward, watching Steve in concern. “What do you need?”

“They came for him, here. They tried to take him from me again,” Steve told him, before glancing back up. His eyes were cold and unpenetrable, and Sam wondered if this part of Steve was new, or had just been hidden. “I’m going to stop them.”

It was like the moment they met, the moment he opened that door, the moment he took back his wings.

His life was at another crossroads, and there was only one road he could take.

“When do we start?” he asked.

[antiques-for-geeks]

Game Review : Beach Head

US Gold/Access / 1985 / Originally £5.95 / Commodore 16 & Plus/4

Access were in at the start of the home computing revolution. They’re one of those companies that you probably know the games better than the company that made them; Raid over Moscow was one of theirs, as well as Leaderboard and later, Links. Before any of those arrived though, there was Beach Head.

The game was based on some classic World War II style Pacific Ocean theatre action. Everything about the game suggested it; the cover art bathed in the imagery with it’s fighter planes strafing the beach as the landing craft deposited their human cargo ready for the onslaught. The map that greets you at the start of your campaign could be of any Pacific atoll. You can almost hear Douglas MacArthur shouting “I shall return”.

undefined

General Douglas MacArthur, yesterday.

The game was a hit, and was picked up for distribution in Europe by US Gold, conquering this side of the Atlantic. Players who didn’t have a Commodore 64 or Atari home computer soon wanted in on it so US Gold commissioned conversions from other developers, with Ocean notably handling the well received Spectrum version. That sold well too.

So when the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 came along in 1984, US Gold decided to treat owners of those systems to their own version of the game. Beach Head was given to Anirog to convert, who were gaining a bit of a reputation as platform specialists. The game arrived in 1985, two years after Access had released the original.

Firstly, the developers had their work cut out. Anirog had to contend with a target machine with far less resource than the other systems Beach Head had been converted to. Compromise was inevitable.

Just missed ‘im. This happens a lot.

On other systems, Beach Head is made of four stages - you start with a fleet of eight ships and from a map screen you can choose to take them through an underground cavern, threading your boats between mines and torpedoes to make the later levels easier to complete.

This is then followed by the first shooting gallery section; your fleet has been intercepted by enemy ships and you must launch a defence against incoming bombers who will eventually sink your ships if you don’t shoot them down first. Once the enemy is out of fighters (or just bored, it’s never clear which) this then turns into a second shooting gallery round where your attention passes to trying to sink the enemy’s fleet of shops.

Do that and it’s back to the map screen and charging your ships towards the beach and unleashing your tanks over an obstacle course so they get a chance at the fifth level - destroying the big gun at Kuhn Lin in another shooting gallery level. Inexplicably on this level, the enemy gun takes a long time to aim at you and bizarrely, you have to shoot targets at the base of the weapon. This is what causes the gun to blow up - maybe this is what happens when “we’re tired of experts” extends into the military.

Anyway, can you start to see where this is going?

On the Commodore 16, Gone is the map screen and the underground cavern where you thread your way through mines and dodge torpedoes to bring your boats through. Most significantly, the final level is truncated, removing the tank advance, which was a favourite for many players. Anirog focussed on the three which shared the most in common. What remains is still the core of the game however - protect your fleet first from incoming planes, sink the enemy fleet before they sink you, take on the big gun.

Being so significantly cut down was of course necessary for the small memory of the Commodore 16. It could have been done as a multi-load, but then the flow of the game would have been compromised. Plus/4 users, with their 64k of memory get the same thin gruel as everyone else, the size of that market unable to support two separate versions. It could barely support one, but that is for another time.

With the reduced footprint, it is still not enough.The graphics measure up to the C64 original, the sound is serviceable, but there has been a significant compromise in terms of playability.

Your gun turret - your main interface with the game is incredibly difficult to control. You can aim it just fine, adjust the height just fine and a fire just fine. But not all at the same time.

On other versions, combining actions was taken for granted. Sink a ship in the sea-battle level and you’re already moving across the screen changing your weapon’s angle as you go. It’s part of the game. Every fraction of a second counts. However here, try combining things and the turret just stops. Then there is the disappearing turret; when this happens, you really don’t have much idea of what is going on. It’s like conducting a war via seance. Except you’ve not got the plant in the room banging the table leg with their foot when the fake medium wails “is there anybody there”.

This bizarre situation just about works with static targets once you get used to it, but when defending the fleet from incoming fighters and taking on the big gun? It just doesn’t work. You end up just resigning yourself to keeping the gun in one position and elevation and keep firing, hoping that the planes fly into your shots like a blundering toddler into a set of closed patio doors. The element of skill is removed from the game completely and it becomes a weary battle of attrition with you hoping that you don’t lose too many ships to make it to the later levels.

The fighters gone, a ship starts shelling me. God knows what is going on. Press fire and hope for the best.

Why there is a such a glaring hole in the game is inexcusable and smacks of the kind of half-arsed platform exploitation that US Gold were infamous for. Compare this to literally any other game on the Commodore 16 and it really feels like an unfinished budget title rather than something crafted and worthy of your £5.95.

But! Bill Herd who designed the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 said they were never intended to be games machines. They were meant to be more basic machines that extended at the top end into the business market. They were meant for text editing. Give Anirog a break! Oh yeah? Played Trailblazer?

Buying it today

From what we can make out, it does not seem to appear that often so does have a certain uniqueness to it. The C64, Atari and Spectrum copies are ubiquitous but other platforms a lot less so. It was re-released on the Americana label, though this seems to be rarer than the full-price version. Expect to pay anything up to £10.

Commentariat

Tim : Sad to say, but Beach Head has not aged well. While not a bad game, it is very much of its time regardless of the system you play it on. The game is a nice walk down nostalgia lane and in some ways is one game you yearn to return to, but when you do it’s not as good as you remember. This stands in stark contrast to Raid over Moscow...

Liking this version is doubly hard. The cut-down nature of the game I can understand, being fundamentally unable to play I can’t. Don’t waste your time or money unless you are a completist or masochist or both.

Score Lord : How did you get my number? Don’t call again.

Meat : Back during Christmas 1983, my next-door neighbour’s big present was a Commodore 64. He and his brother were given the machine and also had two games, Gorf which came on cartridge and was great for a quick blast and Beach Head which came on cassette which to begin with, they couldn’t play. Their Dad having only seen a Spectrum and thought he’d save a few quid using by a household tape recorder instead of the necessary Datasette. The idiot.

When we finally got to play it, we loved it. So much so that the following Christmas I got the Spectrum version for my poverty-spec gaming experience.  Imagine my surprise when I found out a version of Beach Head existed on the equally poverty-spec Commodore 16.

After eagerly loading it, I was hoping for a smart conversion that played to the strengths of the machine. The reality could not have been further from the truth. Disappointed was not the word. Just for comparison I checked out the Spectrum version again and yeah, the problem wasn’t rose-tinted glasses.

Between them, Anirog and US Gold had managed to take a decent game and make it both uncontrollable and dull. Send for the Inspector, a crime has been committed.

Score card

Presentation 5/10

You get the full-price experience for the time, which is quite nice. At least this is an area where they could be arsed.

Originality 2/10

Coming in 1985, the novelty factor of the original was two years passed. With the compression of the game, it’s lost even more in these stakes. It’s now basically just a shooting gallery game, with the fun sucked out of it.

Graphics 4/10

Not going to win any awards, but tidy enough. Hold on, are those blobs supposed to be ships?

Hookability 1/10

You can’t really play it effectively.

Sound 3/10

There isn’t much, but what there is has been done satisfactorily.

Lastability 1/10

No hook into the game, no point in playing.

Value for Money 1/10

Not worth £5.95 of anyone’s cash in 1985 and certainly not worth that today.

Overall 2/10

A conversion so wretched that at the time you’d have been better off putting the money towards a second-hand C64 and picking the title up on budget. Today, it’s for the collector only.

[generouslyteenagealpaca-blog]

all americans insured under the affordable care act

"all americans insured under the affordable care act

all americans insured under the affordable care act

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all americans insured under the affordable care act

all americans insured under the affordable care act

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all americans insured under the affordable care act

all americans insured under the affordable care act

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all americans insured under the affordable care act

all americans insured under the affordable care act

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I was wondering whether it is possible to be put on a classic car insurance policy at 18. I've looked around and nearly all say you have to be over 25. I would like to somehow be insured on an Escort XR3i or RS turbo. I understand that because of may age this isn't going to be very easy. would it be cheaper to be a named driver if my dad owned the car ?

1965 Insurance Estimate/quote?

Listen it has crossed my mind, since i live in an area with many, many 1965,66 mustangs (that are half restored, with okay engines) for sale for like 1200$ right, pretty beat up, but motor is fine. and i am 16, and i see these mustangs fly by, unnoticed and un-bought, and i thought i might want one for myself, for personal use. so what would be a average yearly (monthly also if you can) insurance cost, for personal use, say 5000-12000 miles a year, don't give me crap about mpg, or safety, or you won't find one for that price (looking at local paper, 8 listings, lowest one 750$ runs!, highest 1500$ runs!) okay THESE ARE ALL COUPES!!! NOT FATBACKS, (But try and list if you can, sepretly of course) PS: DON'T ANSWER THIS IF YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, PREFERABLE MUSTANG INTHUSIST, OR OWNER PLEASE!!! i am 16, no bad driving record, curently male, white, kentucky citizen, well another question, how much do you think a passenger and drivers side door for a 1965/66 coupe would go for, and what about a seat (passenger/driver) saw one that was close to restored missing a few things. thought i might ask as well. please help!""

Do I need car insurance...?

I have a car that will not run at my residence but is still in my name. Do I still need to have car insurance on it? I have a personal insurance that just covers me but not on any specific car. I live in Florida if that helps.

Can I get Motorcycle insurance for a hired motorcycle in Thailand?

I am planning to spend two weeks in Phuket and intend to hire a motorcycle. Is there anyway i can get compriensive insurance for this? Thanks Phil

Car insurance for teen help?

So am buying a car and my parents don't have a driver license But i Do But i am only 17 which makes the insurance a lot . So my moms friend said he would put me under his insurance but he isn't Driving but he has a valid new your license . So is there a way for me to be under his insurance with the title of the car in my name ? or does it have to be in his name does he add me to the policy as a Additional driver & The car Or just me alone and not the car ? what would happen if i get pulled over and the title is in his name ?

What is the best car insurance company for a graduate student?

What is the best car insurance company for a graduate student?

Are you in favor of getting rid of health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions?

Are you in favor of getting rid of health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions?

Doing a school project and need health and car insurance cost?

Okay so I am doing a school project (Im a junior in high school) and I was given a pretend life where I am a 33 year old divorced mother of 4. I just need an about range for how much car and health insurance I would need to pay monthly.

How much does insurance cost for a 2004 white dodge stratus ?

Please help me ?

Is it cheaper for me and my girlfriend to get insured on the same car?

Hello, I'm wondering If anyone could help me, I am a 17 year old that is learning to drive and am looking into insuring a car. I'm currently searching to get insured on a 2002 1.2ltr Renault Clio, and was wondering if the insurance will be cheaper if I get my girlfriend who is also 17 and learning to drive insured on the same car, I'm not sure if 2 people on the same policy makes the insurance go down or not and could really do with knowing. Thank you for your help :)""

Cheap insurance?

i am looking to buy a chevy camaro RS and i know the insurance will be high does anyone know how much it will be? if there is a way to get less then i will buy the Z28 which would be more because of the V8 right?

Is there car insurance for people who don't own cars in Ontario?

My parents are taking me off their insurance as an occasional driver. I don't own a car and don't plan on getting one. I was wondering if I need insurance in order to drive someone else's car? I haven't had any luck finding info relevant to Ontario. Thanks!

What's a good insurance company to sign with?

I'm 20 years and pay $800.00 every six months for my insurance. I want to find a better and much cheaper insurance company. Please help me out.

Is car insurance expensive?

Im about to get my driver licence and my mom told me that car insurance is really expensive and that's the reason why she wont buy me a car.

Does anyone know any good cheap insurance companies to insure my car?

Does anyone know any good cheap insurance companies to insure my car?

Switching car insurance...?

my car insurance policy expires in March and I have full coverage. I had full coverage because I was financing my car. I recently paid it off and would like to switch to a lesser coverage. Can i do this before my policy expires in march or do i have to wait??

Will a 'C' Licence make my insurance cheaper....?

I currently hold a normal car licence (I'm 18) But I passed my Category C test today. For those of you who don't know what a category C vehicle is. I doubt you will know the answer to the question so please don't make up some rubbish... Will this make my car insurance cheaper considering I can drive a vehicle about 5 times the size? Also, I'm hoping to get my Artic licence next year, Will this make my insurance go down even further? I mean for my car, I already know my Lorry insurance is going to be INSANE. But I've got in the army as a Driver anyway so that doesn't really matter.....""

Does drivers ed effect ur insurance ? in Texas?

Does drivers ed effect ur insurance ? in Texas?

Car insurance first time driver?

Where would the cheapest place for car insurance be i am 18 and live in the uk my car is a hyundai accent 1.3 ltr Si coupe M reg and i have a drive way where should i go for best deals and what can i do to lower my premium .

Can my car insurance company drop me for having not at fault accidents?

I had Go Auto insurance on my 2 cars. Well over the courseof about 1-1 1/2 years (a year to a year and a half). I had about 3 wrecks. All not my fault. The other drivers were 100% at fault. After the third wreck, which was not to long ago. My insurance company (Go Auto) sent me a letter saying they weren't gonna let me renew my insurance with them because i was considered poor risk . Can they do this or should i contact insurance commissioner. No rude comments.""

How much would insurance be on these cars ( average ) 1st time driver ?

saxo vtr vw golf mk2 anybody help need a rough estimate of the insurance as these are my dream cars and wanting to kno the average insurance price, if to high i dont want to get my hopes up""

Where is a good place to get a car and cheap car insurance?

My husband is in the navy... does the military have a car place we can go to or car insurance we can get?

all americans insured under the affordable care act

all americans insured under the affordable care act

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/powell-insurance-high-risk-quote-line-michael-adams/"

[yourcertainstudentlight-blog]

Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

"Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

Jw if I get a 125 or 250 quad if the insurance will be similar to a bike or car same with tax Cheers

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://saleinsurancequotes.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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Anyone know of an car insurance company that doesn't require the vehicle to be in your name?

Geico cancelled our policy because our car is in our grandmothers name.Also if she gets a policy, the addys have to all match.Are all insurance companys this strict?the car is about to die soon, so we dont wanna spend more money on transferring the title, but I guess we will if we have to.We are getting another car fixed soon that we will be driving.""

Do I have to buy health insurance in New Mexico?

I recently moved to New Mexico and started a new job. Now I am being told that I have to buy health insurance from my employer, or prove that I am covered under another policy. I am only 21, but I am a smoker and I know this will be expensive. I do not go to the doctor, and have not since I was 10. Do I have to buy coverage I won't use? Is there a way around this?""

Retiring at 62 need health insurance?

I live in Florida, work at Walmart. How can I get health insurance if I retire at age 62?""

Is there a non-owners motorcycle insurance policy available from any insurance company anywhere?

Is there a non-owners motorcycle insurance policy available from any insurance company anywhere?

How long until I lose my health insurance?

I left my job on August 17, 2012. I had Cigna Health Insurance. How long until I get the letter that says I don't have it anymore?""

A question about car insurance?

This chick hit my car but I have a feeling I'm going to be found guilty due to a faulty witness. I'm on my boyfriends insurance will it raise his rate? Also can he just remove me and put the car in his name? I'm so upset because this whole situation is the other drivers fault!!

Life insurance for my parents?

Hi i am interested in taking out a life insurance policy on my parents in the UK just wondering if this is possible and whether it can be shared between me and my siblings many thanks.

Do any one know where to get a business vehicle insurance?

hey anyone i am try and look for a business vehicle insurance for me to have 4 car's and vans on the same insurance so all i do call up and add my staff to the insurance there than can Driver any vehicle on this one insurance. ? please help me out

""Trying to save on car insurance, who should I go with?""

Currently I pay $122.00 for car insurance with State Farm. This is going to go up I am sure since I moved back to a larger city and when I lived here before I was paying a lot more. That is two cars, a 2008 Dodge 4 Door and a 2002 Focus all full coverage 100,000/300,000 Limits with a $500 deductibles you get the idea. Oh and I also have renters for about 10 bucks a month.... okay so I just was quoted by Gieco with lower deductibles, from the more expensive city and I was quoted at about $68 (without the renters) Thoughts on the matter, is this possible should I make the switch? Is $68 too low for two cars and are they baiting me and will they get me later with the higher rates?""

Cheap used cars and cheap insurance?

i need a cheap used small car anyone have any ideas where it would be reliable to get one..? not auto trader because i cant exactly trust a randomer selling a car which is probly going to break down 2 days later.... any ideas of something or places plz

How would the insurance companies treat mounting a smaller sized engine inside a sport model car?

If i were to for example, mount a 1.4 vauxhall astra engine inside a GSI model car, would the insurers treat it as a 1.4 vehicles insurance rate?""

Is it cheaper insurance for a classic car?

I am hoping to pass my driving test soon and I was wondering whether it would be cheaper insurance on a classic car. I would like a Rolls Silver Shadow, though this is probably too ambitious.""

Is there drivers insurance for infrequent drivers?

I'm currently in LA, and my family is here too. So, I've been an insured driver since I was 15, for the last 13 years... In August I will begin grad school in Boston, and will be without a car. But, perhaps during winter break, Thanksgivings, summer, I may return to LA to visit family and friends. I can easily borrow one of my parents' cars while I'm visiting, but I don't want to have to maintain car insurance year round for several hundred dollars just to drive a few times a year. Are there any reasonably priced options for someone in my situation? As far as I know, most car insurance terms are 6 months. Thank you!""

""CAR QUESTION: If a car is registered in my name, will it be costly for my INSURANCE?""

I am 21 years old and I am planning to buy a used on so that it will not be expensive for my insurance. WHICH OF THESE IS BETTER: -Register the car with my name and pay like 3 thousand dollars for the insurance or. - Register it with the name of my Dad. If it is registered with my Dad's name in it, will that be cheaper to my insurance?""

Is there anyway I can get insurance coverage for a vehicle if I don't have a license?

I am a senior citizen and have never driven. I need transportation desperately. I can purchase a car but find I cannot get insurance for any driver of my car if I don't have a drivers license. I have not been able to find anyone I would really trust to put the car in their name. Any suggestions?

What types of insurance are required in Minnesota?

I have a permit test in about an hour and I forgot what kinds of insurance are required in the state of Minnesota? There are 2 of them I think it's liability and no fault? Help please?

How much would insurance be on a 1993 mazda miata mx-5?

i am a 17 year old that has already had one speeding ticket if that helps.....but how much do you think the insurance might cost?

What height/weight ratio will get me best life insurance rates?

I want to replace some ART life insurance with level term. But I'm worried my weight relative to height might keep me from the best rate. Is there some way to find out what numbers trigger higher risk? If so I might wait another year and try to lose 10-20 lbs.

Insurance????? Help please ?

I'm 18 thinking About insurance and just wondering if I get my mum to go under the insurance do I still get my no claims discount after a year? Cheers rob

How much would my insurance cost? Or about how much. (Info listed in detail)?

Age: 17 Gender: Female Car type: 1984 chevy silverado side steps. Sitting on 35s. Jacked up. I HAVE taken Drivers Ed I will be added onto my dads insurance Any more info needed just ask.

I'm 18 and need auto insurance.?

I'm 18 and am about to buy a new car. I'm still under my mother's insurance, but am planning to get off of her insurance. I'll probably end up buying a clunker car that doesn't cost much. Here's my question: Do auto insurance companies allow drivers to get off their parent's insurance plans and get one of their own? My mother isn't very cooperative about paying for car insurance. I need to buy my own insurance. She WILL NOT cooperate. Will this be expensive? How would I go about changing the plan?""

If you are on someone else's car insurance?

I was put onto a friends car insurance policy for 6 months... Is that the standard policy time frame or could you make it longer or shorter etc. based on your situation?

Auto Insurance Price?

Does anyone have a rough estimate of how much my auto insurance would cost per year? I'm a 19 year old female purchasing a 2000 Toyota camry.

""I have a company car, who should pay for the car insurance?

I have a year contract with this company and they are giving me a car for the duration of my employment. they told me i can use it for personal as well as work use. they told me i have to pay for my insurance though. is that fair?

Car insurance question?

I recently passed my test, and was looking at car insurance quotes and they're all pretty expensive. I was wondering if I were to just wait until I'm about 23 or 24 before I purchase a car, would the insurance be cheaper, even if I didn't have any driving experience? Thanks in advance.""

Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

Jw if I get a 125 or 250 quad if the insurance will be similar to a bike or car same with tax Cheers

""What is a good site for getting a quote for insurance on a moped, 50cc?""

I need to insure a 50cc moped, does anyone no anywhere I can get some good quotes""

What is the cheapest auto insurance i can get?

i got a v8 mustang, the insurance per year is 2,300 im 17 male""

Cheap car insurance for first time driver in new jersey?

Cheap car insurance for first time driver in new jersey?

Health Insurance for kids?

I have health insurance through my employer, I have a baby due in July and I have looked into adding her as a dependent but it is way to costly. It jumps from 88.00 a month for Keystone Health Plan East to 400 a month if I add her. Can anyone recommend any health insurance companies that will just cover her by herself. Iam not interested in CHIP or Keystone Mercy or any other state facilitaited health insurance. Thanks for the help.""

Gap insurance on new auto?

what is the cost for gap insurance for honda acord 4 door sedan 06 year

Lease- car insurance rate?

What is the ball park range of car insurance for an 17 year old girl leasing an Acura TL? say 2004?

Is insuring a road legal buggy cheaper than car insurance?

I have driven loads of buggies before in off road conditions and have been thinking about getting a road legal one myself to use instead of a car seen as insurance is ridiculous for a young driver like myself. Anyone know or have a rough idea of how much it would be to insure say a 250cc road legal buggy? I've tried the internet but can't get an online quote off anyone and don't want to have to spend ages on the phone enquiring. If anyone could give me a rough idea that would be awesome! Thanks :)

I am in phoenix arizona. What insurance company is best for a 18 year old driver with a DUI?

I know he should not be allowed to drive but he needs to get to college. No he is not going to take the bus!

""Had one car accident ,went to the e.r.Primary health insurance wont pay visit.wants car insurance to pay.?

Pirimary health ins.wants me to file claim with car ins.I did not have medical ins on car policy.They just took care of vehicle totaled.Now what?

How does car insurance work?

so how does car insurance really work? im 16 and just got my license my parent's already have insurance on the cars and i plan on driving those cars, but why would i need insurance when those cars are already insured?""

HEY TEENS! How much are you paying for car insurance?

Anyone under 20, what do you pay for auto insurance? And what do you drive? Are you on your parents insurance? Did you use to pay more or less before?""

Cheapest auto insurance?

Cheapest auto insurance?

What are other sources of towing insurance?

Besides AAA and getting towing insurance from your insurance company, are there any other good sources? thanks""

""Iam 55 I need a small policy for life insurance around 10,000?

any suggestions?Who to call?

Car insurance.....???

What is the best Insurance Company for young adults? I'm 23 years old. Who can save me the most money??

Will Geico raise my insurance?

I recently got a ticket for going 30mph over and I will most likely get 4 points on my license if I choose not to hire an attorney. If I take the 4 points, how long would it take to get the points erased for my license? And will Geico raise my insurance rate? I'm in Florida""

What are some affordable Health Insurance Options in NYC for Latin American father and his child to be?

My friend doesn't have health insurance and is planning on putting his new baby (born around Oct.) on his policy with him. He's Latin American and has his permanent residence card, but is not yet a citizen. Anyone know of any affordable plans for him to look into in the Manhattan area?""

Car insurance?

how much can it increase by having one point on your driving record?

Can I get insurance now that my wife is pregnant?

My wife is 35 weeks pregnant. I graduated from Respiratory therapy school this past spring. At the time my wife, son and I were on Medicaid. Now that I have a good job I make too much money and am going to get booted off Medicaid. Can we get insurance for my wife?""

Which is a good website to get an online auto insurance quote?

and which company has cheap rates

How much will my insurance be affected by a ticket and will my parents have to know i got the ticket?

I am 16 and i just got my first ticket for going 75km in a 50 zone will my insurance go way up now? and will my parents have to come with me to pay my ticket or anything like that?

Health insurance question?

so i just got health insurance for me and my family for the first time ever and i dont understand what the deductible is, will the insurance cover anything until we pay the deductible?""

Term life insurance policies?

if i buy a term life insurance policy and three month later i die, will my family get the money?""

""I am going to study in Ontario but I am a US citizen, how much is it to register my car and get car insurance?""

I live in Texas and i'm an 18 yr old female. I will be studying in Canada but I need to take my car to get from place to place. Does anyone know how much it costs to register the car, get car insurance, plates, License and whatever else needed? Thank you (:""

What's the cheapest car insurance rates?

I wanna know the absolute cheapest car insurance someone you know pays and what their life situation is. I'm just curious where I would have to be in life in order to get the cheapest ...show more

Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

Jw if I get a 125 or 250 quad if the insurance will be similar to a bike or car same with tax Cheers

How can you get insurance on a car that is not in your name?

What steps should be taking to get insurance on a car in your name that is in a relatives name? But, you are taking over the car payments and paying them the money on a car that is still in there name.""

What insurance companies are cheap for young drivers that have 6points due to non insurance?

What insurance companies are cheap for young drivers that have 6points due to non insurance?

What's the average price of a Doctor's visit without health insurance?

My eyes are yellow.

How much will insurance be now?

I'm 16, I got in a big car accident.. I flipped over my car twice. Fortunately, I was untouched and I was the only one involved. Naturally, I was taken off the insurance policy and lost my car. Before, I had the good student discount so we paid $350 for half a year as a full time driver. How much would I have to pay to be a full time driver now after the accident? My dad said $2000 but it can't be that much? Will they strip me of my good student discount? How much will it cost to be put on as a part time driver now? Will it go down after a year? Please help?! I've been very depressed as the whole experience was very traumatizing. My mom keeps giving me a tough time about it and I just cry randomly throughout the day and eat all the time to cope. I don't understand how it could happen to me, I'm a model student, I have straight A pluses in all advanced and AP classes and I was even following the law when I had my accident. Tips on coping would be appreciated as well. Thanks.""

""Which costs more, feeding a horse or paying for car insurance?""

Which costs more, feeding a horse or paying for car insurance?""

Im Looking for cheap auto insurance in NJ?

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Can you get medical or medicade if you are pregnant and MARRIED?

My friend is married and pregnant but she recently lost her job and her insurance. Her husband is the sole provider and he makes 45,000 a year before taxes but she is not on his insurance. can she still get her pregnancy covered by a government program. We all live in California if that helps. Anyones stories would be greatly appreciated.""

Will my insurance be higher if my car doesnt have airbags?

I'm about to buy a mustang and I know how much insurance will be already, I've talked to my insurance agent and there is a mustang with low miles, and its a nice deal but needs a little work. The main thing it needs is Airbags. Will my insurance be higher because it has no airbags? And how much does it cost to get airbags replaced?""

""What car has low insurance fees, cheap parts, and is some what fast stock?""

I get a car in a little bit and I don't know what to get. I have some ideas such as a Nissan 350z, Mustang Cobra, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo or a Subaru Impreza but I don't know how much the insurance would be to cover those for a 16 year old male.""

How much does learning to drive cost roughly?

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How much would the insurance on this car be?

It's a 2007 Toyota solara silver with 63000 miles on it...how would full converge be per month? Just an estimate.

""Im 18 and i live in mississuaga, im buying a car but im not sure of a cheap insurance?""

hi, i just got my g2 i live in mississuaga ontario, im looking into buying a new car but insurances are going crazy high here, do u guys know any cheap insurances ???? thanx for the help""

What is the best dental insurance company to get for a low income individual?

I'm getting by on a min wage, part time job....However, we really need dental care. Does anybody know of a good company to look into?""

How do I save on auto insurance?

I want to save on auto insurance.....what factors can lower your rate? I need to know things such as an alarm, and kept in the garage, but what other factors can help me getting a low rate? Thanks everyone""

Auto Insurance discount along with online traffic school course?

I got a traffic ticket, want to remove it. I heard some where that online traffic school course offers auto insurance discount along with traffic ticket dismissal. Can any one suggest me the source where I can get information on this?""

What automotive insurance companies insure right-hand drive cars in Ontario?

I'm looking to get insurance on a right hand drive import (Nissan Skyline) in Ontario, Canada. Prior to January 2012 this wasn't the hardest thing to do. It's gotten increasingly difficult. Anyone know of a company that still insures these imports at a reasonable rate?""

Auto Insurance?

I have a 1981 Chevy Silverado that I have poured money into over the years. I was wanting to full coverage seeing as how much money I have put into it. These trucks are very common so they aren't worth a lot. I'd say the going rate for a nice specimen would be $3,500 in my area. I have somewhere around $10,000-$12,000 invested in mine. Can I have it insured for what I have in it or just what its worth? I've never had full coverage insurance so I have no idea. Thanks for any input.""

Health insurance for your car?

I own an auto repair shop, and I had an idea that I would like you all to help me with. What if there was a program where you paid a monthly premium like health insurance. Then, When you needed an oil change, fluid flush, light bulb, new alternator, new tires new brakes, new engine, or needed to fix an oil leak, you wouldn't have to pay anything you would just go in to get it fixed. What do you think would be a good rate for that monthly premium in everyone opinion? The rate would depend on whether you owned a car or truck, and wether or not it was 4wd. What do you all think?""

Car insurance question?

my car insurance was due yesterday.. i'm 17 years old and yesterday the difference between my dads car insurance and mine was due and i forgot to pay it.. am i still allowed to drive my parents car? im going to pay it on monday thanks.. let me know

Average cost of insurance for mother and two children?

Right now I am a single mom and a cashier. Both of my kids are on medicaid bc we are low income. Within the next month I will be starting a new job as a CNA and will no longer be eligible. I cannot get my companies insurance until after 90 days. any suggestions on what to do 4 my kids in the 90 days, and how much does insurance normally run. We are all healthy no health problems in the past and non smokers children ages 15 months and 2 months. Thank u!""

""Got in a car wreck w/ no insurance, and was at fault.?""

I don't work, and don't plan on working. I don't own a house or car that's in my name, and don't plan to. Everything will always be in my boyfriends name. How will the insurance company ever get money from me. Even if they sue me.""

Average price for public libility insurance?

Average price for public libility insurance?

How a car insurance works? minor car accident?

Hi, everyone. This morning, I had a minor car accident in the grocery parking lot. A lady's car hit the front seat door on the right side of my car. The lady's car is fine, but my car door got dented. For your information, the lady's car was parked in the parking space and I was backing up behind her side-way when she reversed and hit my car. I think she was careless. Anyhow, We exchanged year, make, mode, plate number, insurance information, personal info(name, phone number) each other. Now, I don't know what would happen if I report the accident to my insurance company, GEICO. If I report the accident, I get repair money for the lady's insurance company? if so, how much would I get from the insurance company? and if it's not enough I have to use my own pocket money? Does this count as my fault and would increase my insurance payment? And, I did not take any photos of the cars at the time. How can I prove the accident if the lady insists the accident did not happen? Sorry, it's a lot of questions. It is my first time ever to get into a car accident since I started driving. I'd really really really thank you if you can please give me your advice or share your experiences. and one more thing, if you get your car to a repair center, how long does it usually take to get your car repaired? I live on California, and it's very inconvenient without a car. Thank you so much for your help. and also I didn't not call the police to file a legal accident report. and I didn't call the insurance agent yet. I'm really worried that I have no proof of the accident. Thank you for your help""

I was rear ended a few months back and had no insurance?

Me and my wife and a friend were driving in california and we were rear ended we pulled over and so did the other people. I looked at our car and there was no visible damage. i took pictures to show. and the guy who hit us had major front end damage he just wanted to drive away and get no information but we took his info so he asked for ours. four months later i get a letter from the dmv saying he is coming after me for insurance to pay him for the damages . i am assuming he is lying and said i hit him or something but i have two witnesses who saw everything my wife even had a ****** up neck problem for a while and still does but we didnt want to go to the hospital because of the no insurance thing. i was hired for a job at a dealership but cant get my salesperson license because of this and my license will be suspended next month what do i do to fix this whole mess. and if i can be lucky come out of this with some money because he is lying through his neck to attack me. I had a perfect driving record as well.

I need health insurance as a student! Help?

My parents had the COBRA. Plan until my mompassed. Since then my dad and i have been self insured. My dad has some veterans insurance but i dont have anything. Im 18 and will be a full time college student in september. Are there any affordable plans out there? I make around 10,000 a year for my part time job..""

Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

Jw if I get a 125 or 250 quad if the insurance will be similar to a bike or car same with tax Cheers

""As a 21 year old unemployed college student, do I need to buy health insurance?""

I'm an unemployed senior in college and I don't have health insurance. I live with my mother, who is currently unemployed and uninsured. We're pretty much just getting by, ...show more""

How to get my stolen car's value back from insurance?

Hi, my car was stolen from a repair shop that I had left overnight for maintenace work. I say they are negligent for not securing the keys. I filed a claim through their insurance and through my insurance thinking mine would go after them and give me a fair price for what I payed, not the current market value. I heard about the arbitration. Any suggestions on steps I can take to recover more money? plus why should I pay the deductible? Shouldn't I receive money from both insurances? I also incurred other expenses, I had to spend money on notaries, lost time from work, gas money making all these trips for the investigators etc. Thank you very much for any advice.""

How much does a psychiatrist cost without insurance?

I will not have insurance to give for going to a psychiatrist. How much would you think something like this would roughly cost?

How to get cheap car insurance ?

I have just passed my driving test 2 weeks ago and im 18 ive been searching forever to get a cheap quote but its not working anyone know what to do and who to go with

What happens if you get caught without auto in card in Texas in an accident in an insured car?

What happens if you get caught without auto in card in Texas in an accident in an insured car?

Are fire insurance mandatory in California(near Los angeles)?

If a house is all paid for, is fire insurance still mandatory? If your house catches on fire and gets completely burned down, when does fire insurance pay you? Also how does fire insurance determine how much to pay you?""

What auto insurance are in FL? I been through almost every single one of them and no one will take us. help?

I need some names of FL auto insurance companies who will take someone whose had PIP claims.

How much would Car Insurance cost?

I've been given a Ford Focus 1.6, 5 Door Zetec 03 Plate.. First of all it has a year Insurance can that just be transfered into my name? & also how much would Insurance cost for a new 19 year old Male driver?""

If i was to buy a 1.4litre car would my insurance be cheaper than what it is just now?

I am driving a 1.6litre at the moment

Is this the big health insurance lie?

The legislation would impose several new fees on firms in the health sector. New fees would be imposed on providers of health insurance and on manufacturers and importers of medical devices. Both of those fees would be largely passed through to consumers in the form of HIGHER PREMIUMS for PRIVATE COVERAGE. Congressional Budget Office An Analysis of Health Insurance Premiums Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act November 30, 2009 BUT..... The average premium for an unsubsidized, nongroup policy will cost 27-30% MORE. (same report) So won't private coverage decrease sharply ... And so too the fees collected from them ... which are suppose to pay for the subsidies . Or will really caring people flock to buy this extra expensive insurance?""

Does anyone know how much Sr 22 car insurance can cost?

Does anyone know how much Sr 22 car insurance can cost?

What is the best Pregnancy Insurance Available to a already expecting Mom w/no health coverage at the moment?

Health Insurance for Pregnant Women!

Is my car legal to drive in California?

I bought a '79 El Camino in Oregon this past summer. They don't have any smog laws there, but in California they do. It hasn't passed a smog test because it needs a catalytic converter, and I can't afford that now. The tags don't expire until March, the car is registered to me, and I have insurance. And it still has the Oregon plates.""

What is the average cost for international health insurance?

I plan to go to china for a few years and would really like to know what the average cost to a major medical insurance policy.

""If I make a claim using my company car insurance, does that affect my personal insurance reputation?""

I recently got into a little fender bender using my company car. The other driver wasn't present, so I left a note. He called, and I followed through by filing a claim with the insurance company. I'm worried, though, that my personal insurance reputation/rating is going to be affected because of this claim with my company car. Any information you can provide would b helpful.""

Homework / car insurance question?

I have to do a budget for the next 5 years of my life and im lost on how to get the car insurance part figured out. I have to figure out hom much i would be paying for car insurance if i was to buy a car in the future? can someone please help, i'm so lost. and plz dont just give me a website to go to, plz explain it a little. thanks""

Will conservatives send back the refund on their health insurance to protest the Affordable Care Act?

Americans all across the country are receiving refunds from their health insurance providers (mine was $166). Included with the checks are letters explaining that the refund is the result of the Affordable Care Act. The Act requires health insurance companies to spend at least 80% of every dollar received on actual health care (I.e. not on administrative costs or CEO salary). Companies who fall below that cutoff must refund the difference to their policy holders. Will conservatives who receive such a refund send it back to protest the Act?

How Much Would A 2001 Trans Am Cost On A 18 Yr Old Males Insurance?

How Much Would A 2001 Trans Am Cost On A 18 Yr Old Males Insurance?

Do i need insurance to hire 16yr old to work on my farm?

My son wants to work on a horse farm, we have been asked to sign a release by his employer , saying he will not be held responsible if anything happens to him under his employment.. is this legal?""

When do car insurance rates drop?

At what age do car insurance rates drop? Currently I am a 20 year old male living in Kansas. Also what else will cause insurance to go down. If you get married, have kids, etc....? Thanks.""

Car insurance in new York city vs age and area?

Im making payments on a car $190 I'm paying full coverage for the car $695 a month and I'm 21 do you think its possible To switch to liability while I'm still paying the car note? Due to my age and new to insurance and live in NY I'm guessing that's y it's so high and can't get help from others so I wouldn't mind striving for myself.

What is the average price of insurance and cargo on a Semi truck and trailer? Specifically for my own?

authority and getting loads off load board and running all 48 states?

Cheap Car Insurance for my first car?

My dad owns it but hes giving it to me technically he wants me to pay insurance and I want something cheap, the majority of insurances say im underage to be reliable for it. I'm 17, is there a cheap insurance for my little chevorlate cavalier car?""

Has anyone used or made a fake car insurance card?

Okay I will be honest. I have been unemployed since September so money has been very tight and i havent been able to afford my car insurance. I have court tomorrow and when I was pulled over i didnt have my insurance card on me. I have court tomorrow morning and I have to bring my card with me. I still dont have valid car insurance. I am freaking out because I can lose my license over this. If i do how will i take my daughter to school how will I be able to look for work. I just cant bottom line! Now I have heard of people getting away with fake insurance cards for situations like this. Has anyone ever done anything like this before? If so can you please help me. Look i know this is very stupid and breaking the law. I have never had to deal with anything like this before. I could buy one of those cheap policies right now for the future. I told the officer though i was insured just didnt have my card on me. So thats why i need help right now. Please anyone a lot is at risk for me right now just because i had some officer on a power trip pull me over because I pulled into a tow zone to pick my daughter up from school one day. Please anyone it would be very much appreciated! I have my old card i can upload and tweak on photoshop but i dont really know how to use it im not very tech savy. Also idk if that would pass wouldnt the judge be able to tell?

How much should i settle my auto injury claim for? please someone help me out!?

Question Details: i had an acccident about a year and half ago and i was a passenger. i have no health insurance and have been footing all medical bills thus far. i am writing a demand letter right now but am wondering how much should be my compensation request. here's a brief summary. the other driver is at complete fault. i have all soap notes from doctors,bills and reports. we were hit head on while on our way to my root canal surgery, i was having my permanent put in. i had to go in 2 weeks later wearing a cervical collar. i have choronditis, back sprains and horrible knee contusions still left on my foot. my doctor has recommended physical therapy for up to 3 months but i can't afford to go anymore thus why i am trying to settle. total medical bills is about 12,000 not including other misc like pills. i just don't want to ask too high or be taken for a fool,so please help. thanks. also the insurance company has never made an offer they said it was a hard hit. both cars in""

Quad insurance abd bike insurance ?

Jw if I get a 125 or 250 quad if the insurance will be similar to a bike or car same with tax Cheers

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/insurance-high-red-cars-cassiopeia-najera"