#be honest did i just try to turn you into emily gilmore

[cassiepotter]

having old money ceo!james thoughts.

imagine you guys going to the country club and he's there to chat business with people and you're just there for the spa and middle aged lady gossip. imagine you guys in a big fancy victorian mansion in the rich people suburbs, going to charity balls and galas, always being the youngest, prettiest couple wherever you go. imagine going to his massive skyscraper office and getting glared at by his secretary because she's so jealous of you.

[scoopsgf]

hi! so as everyone knows, rory isn’t the most loved character out there. The common conclusion is that she went completely downhill after season 4. Or in other words: “She was always an entitled brat that everyone spoiled rotten, and it became obvious in college”

ik you’re a rory defender (cause that’s what people who like her are lol), so i’m kinda curious what your opinion on this take is. I’ve also noticed people like to point out it was “how she was always going to end up” which i really disagree with tbh

i’ll be honest this take is so stupid and reflects really bad critical thinking skills. rory was never spoiled. i know we like to point this out a lot, but she spent the first eleven years of her life living in a garden shed. i think it’s emphasised a lot amongst the tumblr circle bc the show didn’t focus too much on it, but we know it for a fact and i mean—just think about that: they had one room and probably only one bed that rory and lorelai shared, and clearly no money to their name. emily and richard may have been her grandparents, but anyone who thinks that relation brought about any financial benefit for rory before chilton seriously needs to go back and re-watch the first few eps of s1, where it’s very clearly established that they’ve been estranged for years and they’re all just starting to get to know one another. anyway, i think that debunks ‘spoiled’, but i also just wanna point out that everyone putting rory on a pedestal was absolutely detrimental to her in the long run, had no benefit, and was never anything she asked for. however, the townsfolk and lorelai believed she could do no wrong for a reason: because she was a good kid. she did well in school because she was smart and because she put in the effort; she helped out during dorky town events without complaint; she helped luke at the diner after his uncle died, she helped her mom out at the inn, etc etc. she cultivated a reputation as a responsible, kind person, because that’s just who she was. this interpretation of her character was not fictitiously created. that being said, rory was never perfect by any means. everyone is human and everyone has flaws (which is largely what gilmore girls is about—anyone expecting to find ‘perfect’ characters here should go watch another show). people in her life turning a blind eye to those flaws is ultimately what caused her to spiral—because everyone in her life had told her that she could do anything, she could be anyone, she was a great writer, etc etc., and then to be told by the head of a media conglomerate that she couldn’t and wasn’t? that would be crushing. that would be horrible for anyone to hear. should she have stolen a yacht? no. should she have dropped out of yale? also no. but do i understand why she did those things? yes. as for it ‘becoming obvious in college’, I really think this has more to do with logan’s influence. not to pin everything on him, but it’s not like s4 yale rory was living a privileged lifestyle. she was regularly visiting the hollow still and trying to make good grades as a freshman. her first big mistake was really the thing with dean, which i’ve talked about a lot but: imagine you’re rory and your boyfriend of almost a year who you were in love with just up and leaves without any explanation, and you can’t talk to your mother/best friend about it because said mother/best friend hated your boyfriend’s guts, so you have to shove everything you’re feeling down and hide your pain and internalise it. then your first boyfriend who has a fiancé/wife keeps showing up in your life and you think “oh, he’s steady, he’s reliable, he stayed. maybe i made a mistake, maybe i chose wrong.” then said ex comes to your house and convinces you he and his wife are through, and he’s leaving her, and he essentially begs you to sleep with him. i mean, seriously: no she shouldn’t have done it, but there was a lot of coercion involved in what happened that night (as well as a lot of unresolved feelings toward jess). in the fight with lorelai she asks something like: aren’t you glad it was with someone who’s good? someone who loves me? because that’s what rory wanted: someone who wouldn’t leave, someone who was obvious about their love for her. anyway, i’ve gotten completely off track but the gist is: no she isn’t spoiled, and no that isn’t always how she was gonna end up. she made some mistakes just like everyone else does and the majority of the audience crucify her for it because they, like all the people of stars hollow and lorelai herself, bought into the idea that she was a faultless angel.

[humansofstarshollow]

If gilmore girls came out today, i think rory would be a booktuber. Max would like and comment on every video and would be a very avid reviewer on Goodreads. and paris would harass anti-vaxxers/q-anoners on twitter. lorelai would be really into instagram and she would show emily the wonders of pinterest. emily would have sooooo many home decor boards. actually, i think emily would be really good at instagram too and she’d gain a little following showing home decor, etiquette, flower arrangements, diy stuff, that kinda thing. Kind of like Martha Stewart for 2021. Sookie would make cooking videos on tik tok. Dean would become an incel on reddit (okay just kidding).

Oh my god, a rory/jess/lane/paris podcast. Now THAT is a “four friends sitting around and chatting” podcast that i’d actually listen to. What do you think they’d talk about?

anon, you really came into my inbox to drop this bomb and then nonchalantly walked away?!

GIVE US GILMORE GIRLS 2K21 but make it better than ayitl because that was just painful

literally everything you've said is so on point.

I'd also like to add that kirk would be that person that doesn't understand the memes and tries tiktok but fails miserably; luke would have a ig account but only because lorelai forced him so that she could tag him (his post counts always and forever at 1 and only because lorelai did upload a damn image of the diner's entrance). taylor would spam everybody's fb dash with clickbaits and fake news, while lane would run quite successful accounts on every platform because of her music.

(Young adult 2nd generation)-- gigi is a travel vlogger, steve and kwan are tiltoks sensations, april lives on reddit (and, let's be honest, she's a tumblr gal). martha runs a successful food/healthy lifestyle/gym ig account while davie is most active on..idk, discord? twitch?

speaking of the podcast-- i feel like that would just be a chaotic encounter of personalities lol I believe they'd try to start out with a plan and a soecific topic to discuss but then it would easily turn into a hanging out situation where everyone just says whatever goes through their mind. mostly, tho, music and books discussions, some politics, movies reviews. idk but i am sure it would be popular! they'd already have all of us as followers, right?

[calcetineys]

Theo fails.

Note: There’s some references in here that are kind of important, but if you’re not familiar with it, basically all you need to know is that the people they’re talking about are snakes and they love each other.

Stiles hadn’t expected to get rid of Theo like this. 

To be honest, he was sort of hoping for something a little more poetic, unexpected but completely expected, something ridiculous like the rest of this goddamn mess. The scenario he thought most likely would be Scott standing over Theo like he had with Belasko and telling him that he could either run or get something else broken.

Stiles would even be there a few paces behind Scott and say his dutiful line again: “I’d run.”

But something even more expectedly unexpected happened. 

Theo was dying because he was a failure. 

After what- nine years of doing just fine, suddenly his body decided ‘yup, that’s enough of that’, and started to shut down. And at a very inconvenient time too, when they were fighting (trying to survive) the Doctors. 

Probably the only reason that those sons of bitches hadn’t offed this other son of a bitch was because they didn’t have their usual offing equipment. Stiles supposes Theo should count his blessings, but then he remembers why euthanasia is a thing, because Theo breathing is disgustingly damp and his ears are bleeding silver. 

He figures the whole thing has to be pretty painful. 

Then Theo does that thing he does where he makes things difficult for Stiles, and calls his name, despite how clearly it hurts him to speak, what with all the blood and bile and mercury Stiles is sure is building up in the back of his throat.

“Stiles,” Theo says again, this time trying to lift a hand slick with mercury. 

“Yeah, alright,” Stiles says, ducking down to avoiding getting hit by the Doctors and crawling his way to the dying chimera, because he really does not want to hear his name bastardized by that squelching voice again. 

But Theo never does what Stiles wants, and he says his name again as he leans over Theo, his voice horrifying and relieved that Stiles actually came to him.  

Stiles really doesn’t want to look at the matching expression.

So he tries lifting Theo’s shoulders to get him into a sitting position, which is a lot harder than Stiles thought it would be, and he only started doing it because he figured it wouldn’t be an easy task and thereby take up a lot of Theo’s Dying Hour and relieve Stiles of having to, you know, deal with that. 

“Alright, well, now you’re less likely to suffocate by your own internal fluids,” Stiles says once Theo’s in a more or less seated position against the wall. “Now you can, um, die with dignity? What do doctors says here?”

“Stiles,” oh, well, there goes that hope. 

“Uh, yeah, I’ll listen if you quit saying my name,” Stiles says, wincing because he should be gentler, because Theo’s dying but well. It’s Theo. 

He reminds himself that Theo did call out to him, literally with one of his dying breaths, and he can’t imagine that the dying boy next to him thinks there’s anything to gain from doing such a strange thing. 

Stiles wonders if that means that everything Theo’s tried to convince him of since the whole ‘hey, I’m actually a chimera and you were right about me all along, but now let me tell you why you were also wrong’ reveal happened. 

Unless he’s going to ask Stiles to avenge him or something.  

Yeah, Stiles tells himself. That’s really more likely to be the reason.

Except- Theo doesn’t ask for Stiles to go kill someone for him, or draw an X on the dusty floor with his blood or breathe out any names that Stiles should definitely remember and find the people to whom said names belong and make a nightmare of said people’s lives. 

No, he says a different name for a very different reason and reaches his hand towards Stiles again, more up than out, because his position really was on the ‘less’ side of ‘more or less sitting’. 

He’s so pathetic that Stiles lets him take his hand, and doesn’t even fully wince at the wet feeling of Theo’s skin.  

“I-” Theo says, heaving a big, horrible breath. “I wanted to be your Richard.”

“…is that some weird way of saying you wanted to be my dick?” Stiles asks, because he doesn’t understand what Theo could be talking about, especially when he’s dying. Although, maybe Theo would have had better results if he pretended to be someone named Richard instead of pretending to be the same boy Stiles and Scott knew in grade school. “Because, Theo, depending on which meaning of the word you’re going with, you definitely are.”

He looks up at Stiles, a pained smile on his face and grips his hand tight. “I wanted- wanted to be your Richard. I wanted you to be my Emily.”

Stiles blinks at him. 

“Gilmore Girls references? Now?”

Theo nods, the motion seeming difficult. 

“Wait, why are you Richard, aside from the dick discussion, and the fact you have more facial hair than me? Because I meet more of the criteria,” Stiles says, not completely sure why he’s humoring the awful person slumped in front on him. “I’m taller, and Emily was the main one scheming which- come on, is a you thing more than it is mine.”

“Because,” Theo says, voice wet, likely due to the blood bubbling up at his lips. “Emily outlives him.”

Stiles stares at him, sort of expecting those to be his final words, because they are sufficiently dramatic- a favored quality for Theo. It would even be sort of poetic, because the last thing Theo would say before death was something about life, and well, Stiles didn’t think he’d see the last of Theo without some sort of flair. 

But Theo’s eyes don’t roll back or go dark, his chest still heaves and he keeps looking at Stiles, waiting for a reaction. 

“Well… I appreciate the sentiment,” Stiles says, and it’s not really a lie, because that’s probably the nicest thing Theo’s ever said to him. That Stiles believed, anyway.  “Uh, did this revelation come before or after the whole- choking on mercury thing?”

Theo makes this god-awful noise, and Stiles is pretty sure it’s supposed to be a laugh. 

“Before,” Theo says, sucking in a sharp breath and clutching at his side with his free hand. “Way before.”

“Ah.”

“Stiles,” Theo says, somehow managing to sound amused instead of sounding like death. “I’m dying. Give me a little more than that, please.”

“You know, I would have thought it more likely that someone would beg me to shut up with their dying breath, not to talk more. I’m going to tell people about this when they say I talk too much.”

“Glad to be of service,” Theo sounds like he means it. 

“Uhh…” Stiles says, the sound more like a groan than a word.

“I know you don’t believe me-” Theo starts to say, only to choke off and yeah, maybe the Doctors were actually merciful to put their chimeras down when they started leaking mercury. 

“Oh, if I had dime for every time you said that to me,” Stiles says, partly so Theo doesn’t have to speak and mostly because it’s true. “Might be able to get the Jeep out of the shop.”

Theo sucks in a breath, grinning, teeth grotesque.  

“New seat covers too. Or well, seat covers period.”

“Maybe an air freshener to hide the smoke smell?” 

Stiles has to look away, because he doesn’t want to think about that night. 

Except, Theo makes a sound that Stiles guesses is a whine, and his eyes are pleading as Stiles looks back at him, as though Stiles turning away pained him.

“Stiles-”

“Hey, we had a deal, remember? I listen to you dying and you don’t say my name in your truly horrific dying voice.”

“Guess I won’t be-” Theo says, trying to sit up more, “-keeping my end of this deal.”

Stiles presses his lips together and looks away again.  

“I would have, though,” Theo says, like he wants Stiles to look at him again. And Stiles doesn’t want to admit that he sounds genuine.. “I would have- mm- been a good Richard.”

“I can never watch this show again,” Stiles mutters. 

“No- ugh- watch it-” Theo seems really determined and Stiles starts to panic. That can’t be a good sign. “I would have been.” 

“Would, could, should,” Stiles says quietly, not even to be cruel, looking at Theo’s hand in his.  

“I should have,” Theo chokes out, and the tears on his face are clear now, instead of silver. “I should have.”

“Yeah, well,” Stiles says, glancing towards the sounds of the fighting. He’s sort of surprised that when he looks back, Theo’s still alive, because, again, he’s still expecting clichés. “Nice to know you realize I’m at least the consolation prize.”

“You’re not,” Theo pants. “I should have- huug. Should have realized- ahh- that the rest didn’t matter.”

“I’ll say I believe you,” Stiles says, now not knowing if he’s the one lying or not. 

Theo smiles, and it’s not all grotesque teeth this time. It seems happy, so maybe Stiles is telling the truth, or maybe Theo’s too gone to listen for a lie. 

“You know, this is probably the worst thing you’ve ever done to me,” Stiles says. 

“Dying?” Theo asks, holding an amused expression for a longer than Stiles would have thought possible. 

“Like this. Clutching my hand, telling me all your regrets. Ruining Gilmore Girls for me.”

“That’s- what you’re worried about?”

“I guess. I’m still not great at handling the whole death thing. I should be, considering how much I have to deal with it.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“I am, Stiles.”

“Again, with the name! I’m going to have to start going by my given name, okay?”

“Mi-”

Stiles puts his hand over Theo’s mouth. “Don’t.”

Theo just closes his eyes. Then Stiles feels his mouth move, hears a little sound and there’s not much he’s ever been certain about with Theo, but he knows the dying boy is mouthing sorry again.  

“Thanks,” Stiles says, because it’s more than he expected. 

And Theo starts throwing up. Right into his hand, which is- 

“Lovely,” Stiles says, no heat in his voice, because he’s way past that point. “You know, that wasn’t even really throwing up? It was more like a waterfall coming out of your mouth. God, I thought I had enough nightmare fodder before.”   

Stiles didn’t think Theo could make a more horrific noise than he already had. 

Stiles should have known better.

It’s a laugh, he knows, but it’s little more than a gurgle and then Theo does something even worse.

“God- gah- I love you.”

“Well, now, this is the worse thing you’ve ever done to me.”

“I wanted- a life with you.”

“And I want you to stop talking about this.”

“I do.”

“Stop.”

“Okay,” Theo gasps. “I will. Just- ugh- hold me. And I’ll stop.”

Stiles stares at him. He should just crawl away.

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t expect Theo to actually stop talking, and he’s finds he’s right, because as soon as he has Theo leaning back against his chest, he looks up at Stiles and starts speaking again.

“I love you- if you believe one thing- that’s it.”

“Okay,” Stiles says, not thinking it will actually get him to stop.

“Look at me,” Theo pants, his face slick with sweat. “You are loved. You.”

Stiles pauses, because putting it that way- putting it that way-

“By you. You’re one of the only people to ever say that to me. What does that say about the kind of person I am?”

But his eyes are stinging, because right now the kind of person he feels like is someone powerless. Someone who couldn’t do anything, and he’s tired of it. He can’t even save the bad guy’s life and those are notoriously easy to save.

He couldn’t save the people he did love and he can’t save the ones that-

But Theo’s still dying and he can’t do anything about that. He can’t lie, and won’t lie and tell Theo things he’s not even asking to hear. But-

Stiles presses his mouth against Theo’s wet forehead and keeps it there because he can’t handle pulling it away and having to acknowledge that the blood and mercury on Theo’s skin is now also on his own.  

“Best person-”

His voice makes Stiles believe he means it.

“Best,” Theo breathes again.

“Stop,” Stiles whispers back, the metallic taste finally forcing its way into his mouth.  

And Theo does.  

Later, Stiles will tell himself that he doesn’t know when Theo actually dies, that it was too loud, his ears too weak, his mind too distracted.

He’ll tell himself that he believes it.

[clayray3290]

Clayray Closeout 2017

Time once again to reflect on a year of media consumption, heh.

Music - Artists

The Maine

Michelle Branch

B.A.P

Dashboard Confessional

Sam Hunt

Taeyeon

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Ed Sheeran

The All-American Rejects

Britney Spears

Honestly, the only reason The Maine is #1 on this list is because they have a lot of songs on Spotify, and when I see an artist in concert, I listen to their entire discography, and I must have let that go a few times through. I don’t particularly feel that strongly about them, to be honest, and couldn’t really sing back a song of theirs to you, so this is a dubious title.

As I said, I saw The Maine (as an opener) in concert, and I also saw Dashboard Confessional, Sam Hunt, and The All-American Rejects. I also saw Jesca Hoop, Brooke Annibale (Err, well I didn’t actually see her open, but I still listened to her discography anyway), Kawehi, Jean Michel Jarre, Emily Wells, Chris Janson, Maren Morris, The Social Animals, Baio, Sun Seeker, Canyon King, Soft Pyramids, Michael Christmas, Dutch Rebelle, Grace Mitchell, and St. Lucia. If some of these artists sound random to you, it is because I have a weakness for entering giveaways and so sometimes I end up at concerts for artists that I know nothing about.

My emo-ness was in full force this year. I went to a live band emo karaoke thing, and then of course I saw Dashboard Confessional/The All-American Rejects/The Maine/Social Animals.

I haven’t listened to that much K-Pop this year, despite BTS actually blowing up stateside, which K-Pop has been trying to do for ages. I only really paid attention to Taeyeon’s solo album and TS artists (which, Sonamoo’s been putting out some great releases lately).

Music - Albums

Hamilton OBCR

Dear Evan Hansen OBCR

Taeyeon - My Voice

Hamilton Mixtape

Michelle Branch - Hopeless Romantic

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Zombies on Broadway

Ed Sheeran - ÷ (Deluxe)

Glass Animals - How To Be a Human Being

Sam Hunt - Montevallo

Dia Frampton - Bruises

I went to a bunch of musicals this year. The first half of the year, it feels like I went to New York almost every month. I saw Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Bandstand, Great Comet, Company (in the Berkshires), and I saw Newsies in theatres. Also Blue Man Group? Lol.

The rest of the albums on this list are all mostly artists that I’ve listened to for a long time and had a comeback. Michelle Branch, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, and Dia Frampton (back from Meg & Dia), for example, are artists I’ve been longtime fans of, and I listened to their new albums a lot in an effort to really like them, but unfortunately, while I liked these albums, I didn’t love them.

Also, I know I complain about Ed Sheeran to my friends, but I do actually like his music in general (though I like his earlier stuff better). It’s just that there are a couple of songs of his that just really really get me irate. “New Man,” as catchy as it is, is the outdated entitled male version of T. Swift’s “You Belong with Me.” But I really like “Galway Girl” and I enjoy “Eraser”!

Movies

Like last year, this is a subjective ranking and not numbers-based.

Get Out Absolutely brilliant. Who’d’ve thunk that Posh Kenneth, possibly the most useless character in Skins, would end up in such a knockout film.

Gook This year I started volunteering for the Boston Asian American Film Festival, and through it, I got to find a great community and watch some incredible films (Shout-out to The Apology, an excellent and important documentary. I conducted an Q&A with the director!). I had actually first seen Gook at the Boston Independent Film Festival, and met a few of the producers afterwards. It turns out that I went to college with one of them and lived in the same dorm for three years! Personal connection aside, Gook is artistic and emotional and at times, hilarious.

Lady Bird I actually just watched this on Friday haha, and I saw it with one of my college roomies, and she was the perfect person to watch it with. We both saw so much of our relationships with our mothers on the screen, and also just the state of being a high school girl. I had only seen Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha as an actor, and with such a great debut work as this, I can’t wait to see more from her.

The Big Sick I knew going into it that it was a movie about an interracial romance based on Kumail Nanjiani’s real-life love, but I somehow missed why it would actually be called the big SICK lol. But regardless, this was a touching and adeptly witty film that was such a delight.

Wonder Woman I mean, not a perfect movie, but I’ve been waiting for this movie. I wrote in my grad school paper about female superheroes in 2014 that this movie was supposed to come out, and so I felt even more invested in this. More female superheroes!

Note to self: Still really really wanting to see The Disaster Artist, Call Me By Your Name, and The Florida Project.

Television

I’m ashamed; I only watched like 5 new 2017 television shows, so I guess I have no choice which shows to highlight. There are a number that are on my list that I haven’t watched yet: Big Little Lies (I want to read the book first!), Legion, Dear White People (I thoroughly enjoyed the movie), Mindhunter, Godless, the Magic School Bus reboot (Still would love to work for it, so if anybody has any connections, let me know)...I think I just felt so tired through a lot of this year, and so I would find myself going back to good ol’ standbys.

The Handmaid’s Tale Considering, well, the state of the country and the world, The Handmaid’s Tale was a wrecking ball coming straight for your gut. Coupled with the fact that it’s set in Cambridge/Boston, it felt genuinely terrifying to me. I had read the book back in high school, but had forgotten much of the details. Incredible performances (Alexis Bledel and Samira Wiley!!!) really make the terror of it all really sink in.

Las Chicas del Cable This show contains practically all of the elements I enjoy in my television. Beautiful period costumes! Antique telephones! Independent ladies! A chance to practice my Spanish! And *SPOILER* in the second season, ~MURDER~. It’s not an excellent show, per se. It often falls on tropes and flimsy plotlines, but it is positively enjoyable.

13 Reasons Why I’m still not perfectly sure where I stand on this in terms of a developmental psychology/health point of view. I do think it is a dangerous, dangerous thing to be messing with the topic of suicide in the form of enticingly palatable and powerful television. And I recognize I was fortunate enough to be in a good place to watch this and be okay. I had read the book when I was younger, and so my ears had perked up in recognition upon hearing about this show. From an entertainment point-of-view, yes, this drew you in and was compelling. However, I really don’t think there needs to be a second season.

Riverdale The little I’ve seen of the second season feels a little bit off-the-rails, but the first season was delectable. I love the dark take on the Archie-verse and I also love seeing heartthrobs from the 80′s as the grown-ups. I also just love a good teen drama.

Introvert Boss I really wanted to like this. It has Yeon Woojin! And also Hyosung! And has to do with mental health! But it unfortunately fell flat and became a bit of a tangled, convoluted mess. I didn’t actually watch any other Korean dramas this year, except for a little bit of the Korean Criminal Minds. I need to get back into watching some K-dramas.

Some great shows returned as well this year: Search Party, Master of None, Stranger Things, Superstore, Black Mirror, Skam, The Good Place...And Insecure, bias aside (It’s Issa Rae’s production company that had the contest of which I became a semi-finalist earlier this year).

I was on a cruise with my family for the holidays, and television options were limited, but I did watch a lot of in-depth pieces on Al Jazeera, like about sand and Chinese embroidery and such...

I have been continuing (or starting!) my watch-from-the-beginning’s for several shows as well. Gilmore Girls is still my gym show, and It’s Always Sunny was my doctor’s appointment show, but that’s not on Netflix anymore. So now I just watch Suits at the doctor’s. The Wire has become my plane show, as I decided it wasn’t my gym show. (I’m not sure if the plane is much better of a venue, but oh well) I’ve also started watching from the beginning Parks and Rec, Mad Men, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and I finally finished Pushing Daisies. Which I absolutely loved.

Alrighty, I have now egotistically reflected on my tastes of the year. Onto another year of entertainment!