#david is obviously an excellent hugger

[mizgnomer]

David Tennant hugs!

See also: Behind the Scenes Doctor Who hugs: [ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ]

[redpensandgreenarrows]

HVFF Nashville wrap-up!

I think the shock has worn off enough for me to remember most of what happened ^_~. So, let’s dig in to the story of my first con!! :-) 

Sorry if this gets a little long, but I’m going to gush! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS so be warned! ^_^ Also, any pics I post are mine, please do not use without credit!!

HVFF Day #1

@ireland1733, @emmilynestill, @jedichick04, @laurabelle2930, and I all met up and headed into the con. I was so thankful to have a few HVFF veterans in our group, because I was able to follow their lead! Heading back to the autograph booths, we met up with @scu11y22 and @quant-um-fizzx. Stephen’s line was filling up quick, so we went to David’s booth because there was no one in his VIP line yet! 

Poor David. All the hugs to that man, because he didn’t fly in from Vancouver until that morning. Combining that fact with a flight delay, DR was running late (we were able to get the complete run down of his schedule from his con agent who we befriended while waiting in line X-D). In total we probably waited 2 hours or so for David to show up, but we found ways to pass the time. Hanging with this group of ladies is always a good time with many laughs and craziness. Plus, Stephen showed up during the midst of our waiting and since his booth was right next to David’s we got to stare at the pretty for as long as we wanted!! It took a few minutes for it to sink in that I was seeing the pretty IN PERSON. *sigh* it was lovely. 

--SIDE STORY-- While waiting for David, we got to watch Stephen take a picture with adorable little baby who was dress up in a green arrow onesie that was made to look like the Arrow jacket. It was precious! And the best part, we found out thanks to @hope-for-olicity - who was also waiting with us - that the baby’s name was Oliver! ADORABLE!

Finally David arrived! Immediately, he tried to grab SA’s attention, and wadded up a piece of paper or something and threw it at him. As Stephen slowly made his way over, David turned to all of us and said, “I gotta go hug my boyfriend.” A+ moment. I will forever live for the David/Stephen bromance.

When my moment finally came to meet David, I asked for a hug and he was all for it. I can back up everyone’s claim that David 100% gives the best hugs. They’re so big and teddy-bear like. For how muscly he is, David is super cuddly. I told him it was my first con and he said I was a natural. He signed the picture I picked out and I asked for his favorite Diggle quote (Stephen also signed this pic, so you’ll see his autograph too):

David: “Oliver, don’t.”

I also asked for a S6 spoiler. I never mentioned anything about Olicity or that I was an Olicity shipper. His immediate response was “Do you like weddings?” ;-)

This man is a precious cupcake and completely worth the wait. We bonded; it was beautiful. ^_^

Once we finished up with David, Stephen’s line amazingly had no one in the VIP section, so we jumped at the chance and he was even taking selfies that day!! Stephen’s line obviously moved more quickly due to the number of people, but he was super sweet as well. Similar to David, I asked for one of his favorite Oliver lines.

Stephen: “Suit up.” 

Once he signed the pic, he shook my hand, held it during the picture, and then complimented my Star Wars phone case ^_^. I know it’s silly, but I will never be over that!

Finishing up with Stephen, our group grabbed a bite to eat and then waited to be seated for Stephen’s panel. (Shout out to @hotcookinmama and her adorable daughter - dressed as Felicity - who we ran into before the panel!!)

@jedichick04 asked the very first question of Stephen’s panel, and it was the “two truths and a lie” question which has been floating around tumblr and twitter. His panel was as fun and humorous as they normally are, and it was so fun to see it in person.

Following his panel, we walked back to the autograph booths to see who we could hit up next...

- Echo Kellum: SUPER sweet <3. Similar to David he’s very much a hugger. His hugs are great too. Echo is just a lovely person and so thankful to his fans. And he was also the first person who got the “Have you all been kidnapped?” question (aka THE QUESTION) that @ireland1733, @emmilynestill, and @laurabelle2930 forced me to ask the actors. He was definitely shocked by the question and wondered why I didn’t want to know if they were even alive! It was pretty funny. He claimed that he didn’t know and wasn’t sure what was happening quite yet. So, I’m not sure if he truly knows, but I didn’t get a definite ‘No.’ 

- Rick Gonzalez: OMG, THIS PRECIOUS PUPPY. I JUST WANT TO HUG HIM ALL THE TIME. Okay, so Rick is the sweetest, most humble person ever. @laurabelle2930 and I walked up to say hi and get a pic, and he was just so thankful! You can tell he is so happy to be a part of Arrow, and just so thankful to his fans. Super sweet, A+, I wish I had the chance to go back to his booth before the weekend was over. Rick was asked THE QUESTION as well, and his reaction was too funny! His lips pressed together and bulged like he was trying to keep the words from spilling out. He said that he was trying really hard to tell us, but they just wouldn’t come out!! Hilarious. Again, no ‘No.”, but maybe a slight hint?? Who knows *shrugs*.

After Rick, most left to prep for the Nocking Point party, but @jedichick04 and I had time to kill because our photo ops with SA weren’t until later. So, we bopped around the vendor area and ran into @jbuffyangel and her daughter, who too was dressed as Felicity. We chatted about spoilers, and Jen said that she was told there was going to be a conflict between Oliver and Diggle this coming season (almost Civil War style), and I revealed what David told @emmilynestill - how Diggle was going to be the Green Arrow for part of the season. (What is happening on S6 of Arrow!?!?!)

My photo op with Stephen was lovely. I wish I had asked for a true hug, than just the side hug, but I think I still had first con jitters. Plus, IT’S STEPHEN FREAKIN’ AMELL. I touched him in some capacity, and it really hasn’t sunk in yet. 

After the photo, Rachel and I met up with the ladies again, and added @mel-loves-all, @vaelisamaza, @smoakingbabbles, @tdgal1, and a couple others to the group for dinner before the NP party. Good friends, good food, A+ time ^_^.

Nocking Point Party

WHAT a blast! I sampled some excellent wine, and danced the night away with my friends. The band was great! Their name was The Remedies, and the were just having a ball! They were an excellent cover band, playing lots of 80s and “fan favorite” songs (think wedding reception band). They were so happy the crowd was getting into it and dancing. 

We ran into David’s con agent - Mary - again, and BOY was she having fun!! She was dancing with us, and when David finally showed up to the party, got us a group picture with him! @jedichick04, @emmilynestill, @ireland1733, @laurabelle2930, and I were posing with David when he suddenly lifted up his leg and yelled, “Someone hold my leg!” Like the 5 women around him wouldn’t do that! ;-) It was so much fun!

There was a hilarious Q&A session with Stephen, Drew, Cassandra, and Rick! Highly enjoyable. AND STEPHEN SANG!! He belted out Summer of ‘69 with the band. I love that song, so it was great to hear!! I have a video of the last half of the song, so hopefully I can get it up soon. :-)

However, the best part of the night - coincidently - was the end. Stephen was on stage, saying thank you and good night everyone present. He started to walk off stage when SUDDENLY A WILD DAVID RAMSEY RAN UP ON STAGE AND GRABBED THE MIC!! Because were they done yet!? According to David, not so fast!! He had a few words for the crowd: 1.) Thanking the fans over and over again for their support, because “according to the producers” he was told that viewing had gone UP this passed season thanks to all the fans, 2.) Thanking Stephen for being an amazing leader, and how he loves getting to work with such a great guy, 3.) “Can I get an AMEN!? We are in Nashville after all.” (yes there was an AMEM! ^_~), 4.) CHEEK KISS AND BRO HUG WITH STEPHEN. IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER! 

And then just before my storage ran out on my phone, I got one last pic that I think is my favorite from the night: “NAAAAAASHVIIIIIIIILE!”

HVFF Day #2

Arrow panel up first!

And guys... I ASKED A QUESTION. 😱😱😱 I might have been shaking a bit, but I made it through! I asked Rick if the Rene/Lance relationship/moments would continue in S6, because I enjoyed them last season, and will Lance still help Rene get his daughter back. Rick said he hoped so, because he loved working with Paul and their dynamic on the show. And being a father himself, he enjoyed that Rene was a father too, and getting to play that part of his character on the show. Because as Wild Dog, he’s such a “bad ass”, but then you get this different side to him when he interacts with his daughter. I hope we get it too!!

Many hilarious moments, but I think the absolute best question was when a woman asked David what cologne he was wearing the previous night at the NP party, because her friends thought he smelled wonderful and wanted to buy the cologne for their husbands. David’s reaction was priceless! (But he did answer: Tom Ford - Wood)

After the panel the rest of the day was autographs/selfies with the crew, and a couple more photo ops! So lets break it down...

- Katrina Law: First was an autograph and selfie with her - I had a photo op later. She is just a precious sinnamon roll, who is sweet, super friendly and energetic. She complimented my style and was super sweet during the selfie - we did a “normal” one, then she made us do “diva” poses ^_^. I want to be her BFF4LYFE. We asked her THE QUESTION as well, and she just shrugged it off saying “Naw... everyone’s hamburger meat.” Haha! ^_^

- John Barrowman: Similar to Katrina, I had a photo op later, but we hit his line for an autograph and a group selfie. John takes his own selfie, and MAN does he have it down to a science! “Okay, everyone squeeze in, find an opening, you crouch down, look, and smile!” He took like 5 normal ones before yelling “Ugly one!” John and I are the only ones making faces, because the rest just cracked up ^_^. He gives a good hug too. 

We hit up Echo and David again for group selfies, and then the end of my day was just checking out the vendors and my 3 photo ops. 

The last bit of my story I have to write out is about my last photo op, which happened to be David. When it was my time for the photo I said to David: “You started my con and now you’re ending it too, can I get one last hug?” He said absolutely and gave me a great big bear hug. The photographer took the photo, and then David refused to let me go. Hugging me for a few seconds longer, he did a little rocking motion (like when you give someone a really big hug), and then when he let me go he said he’d see me next con!

Damn. Straight.

So, to say my first con was a success I think would be an understatement. I had SO MUCH FUN, met many of my favorite actors, and hung out with so many of my fandom friends... truly I must be blessed. Everything I did, and every cent I spent was completely worth it. 

And I can’t wait to do it again. <3

[lookattheseassholes]

Alien : Covenant is rubbish

Alien is one of my favourite films. In fact it might be my all time favourite. I feel the same way about it as Ash feels about the titular Alien

“You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility....I admire its purity.” 

Alien is a pure film. There’s no waste in it. Every character, shot, line, piece of sound has purpose and when it gets scary the film becomes hostile towards the audience forcing you to watch. And you do because deep down you, like Ash, admire it.  

                                               Spoilers below

I do not admire Alien: Covenant. In fact, I feel rather hostile towards it.

Alien: Covenant promised great things, A strong cast of characters, unique new creatures and locations and most importantly a return to the horror and tension and hostility of the original, helmed by Ridley Scott himself. What you get instead is a formulaic greatest hits.

The Crew of Covenant is made up of seven couples and their Synthetic Walter, travelling to a new planet to colonise it. Their cargo thousands of people in hypersleep and thousands more embryos to start a new perfect world.

The film starts like an Alien film as the crew are prematurely woken because of an emergency. The ship has become damaged by a pulse in space tearing the energy absorbing sails off. After the obligatory deaths to make you feel sympathy toward the characters and give them an emotional and personal crisis they get to work repairing the damage. While Tennessee (played by Danny McBride) is repairing one of the sails on the outside of this ship the radio in his helmet intercepts a distress beacon from a nearby planet and the crew decides to sack off their original destination in favour of this new planet which coincidentally would be perfect to start their colony on. What then happens is a paint by numbers Horror/Sci-fi. Investigate, someones infected, radio’s break up, people scream and die, the characters that are given slightly more screen time are saved by a mysterious stranger, mysterious stranger is not what it seems and on and on and on.

Right off the bat I don’t care about these characters. In Alien the crew of The Nostromo are blue collar working class, they talk shit and take the piss out of each other and complain. I might not have been in love with them but I can at least identify. The crew of Covenant are elite Scientists specially selected to further the human race and fuck me do they know it. Instead of sticking to the plan and heading to the thoroughly researched and selected planet, they jump at the first opportunity for an easy ride. You don’t stop off at funland, on your way to Disney World do you? The actions of the crew are frustrating, they have no common sense or logic and they put their lives and the lives of thousands of unconscious others at risk out of laziness, emotions and arrogance - a theme that pops up in Scott’s work regularly (which I’ll probably write about another time, what with Bade runner 2049 out at the end of the year). They literally trod and stomp their way through the film to their own demise.

I didn’t find the Neomorph interesting at all. It’s basically an anemic albino Xenomorph. It’s not a threat long enough to become frightening and its design is to bland to leave a lasting impression. H.R Giger’s influence is sorely missed.

The wonderful thing about the Xenomorph, apart from the design, is that you don’t know what it is. It’s Alien, it’s life-cycle is terrifying and the closer you got to it the stranger it became. Alien queens laying eggs, Face-huggers violating the hosts to impregnate them with a parasitic embryo which then burst out of the chest of the victim. You see it unfold but its never explained to you. Where does it come from? How old is it? Does it have a plan? We never find out. That Mystery kept you coming back for more. Well like all good things, this too comes to an end.

The Mysterious stranger that rescues them is David from Prometheus and after saving them reveals that he led them to the planet and has been experimenting all the years he’s been stranded on the planet hoping to create a perfect creature. All he simply need was the last piece - a host.

And there it is all of the mystery, everything that made it special, gone. Alien vs. Predator handled the mythology better than this, giving you little easter eggs and references in the set design. The Xenomorph’s now a McGuffin.

There are still positives though they are few. The film looks beautiful you really feel like the crew is exploring a planet that hasn't been touched in years. The sets, props, and costumes all feel like the fit and belong in that universe.

Danny McBride comes out of nowhere to give surprisingly good performance he’s easily the most relatable member of the Covenant crew. I’ve always liked him in comedy roles, especially Eastbound & Down, so it was great to see him tackle something completely different. Katherine Waterston as Daniels is given more character development than the rest of the crew and it feels like there really was potential. Daniels really starts to come into her own at the end of the film and is involved in the best action scenes in the film (particularly the rescue from the planet) but theres restraint to give her more. Obviously the character Is going to get compared to Ripley a lot and its understandable if the filmmakers want to distance themselves from that. Michael Fassbender Is again excellent as David/Walter but, has so much screen time you could have easily titled the film Alien : Fassbender or at this point have him play every character.

The film Doesn’t deliver on the promise of a return to it’s roots. Theres a lack of tension undermined by the poor pacing, and there isn’t anything scary from the film until the very sinister ending. I acknowledge that the franchise is being taken in a different direction, like every Alien sequel before it, but ultimately its a disappointment and poorly executed.

David tells Walter he had a choice to “Serve in Heaven or reign in Hell”. I’m not sure which one Scott has chosen.

[flauntpage]

Arc, Elbow, and Footwork: Brett Brown Details Dario Saric’s Sophomore Improvements

Sometimes Brett Brown will drop incredibly detailed pregame quotes that get lost in the shuffle of the actual game itself.

For example, on Monday evening, he was asked a simple question about Dario Saric, and why the second-year power forward has improved so much this season. Brett sort of perked up and went into a three-minute answer about shooting mechanics and footwork and defensive stance – all really good stuff to think about.

But then Dario went out and shot 2-9, finishing with only his third single-digit scoring output in the past 40 games.

That’s the irony of the whole thing; sometimes you talk a guy up, then he goes out and has a clunker. It’s the curse of the commentator (or the coach, this time around).

So I decided to save the quotes and put together a Saric sidebar, since he’s just crushing his rookie season output. Dario is hitting at 45.5% this year and 39.7% from three, numbers that are way up from the 41.1% and 31.1% he posted as a rookie.

Here’s the verbatim from the other night:

Kyle Neubeck (Philly Voice): Brett, is there anything with Dario that has stood out to you as a surprise, whether that’s his defense this year, his shooting improvement, obviously – what’s the one thing that stands out?

Brett Brown: Two things. First, the most blatant – his shot. That’s the thing that changes his world, and certainly our world. He really is now shooting the ball with legs, (with) air time, and less of a dart, and with confidence, not like rocker-step, rocker-step, shot – just rise up and shoot it. We’re still trying to get him to minimize his long twos. He has historically been a long two guy. We’re trying to have him go one more dribble to the rim, in that paint to (inaudible, I think he says “great”) mentality. But his three-point shot is one thing on offense. The defensive improvement in relation to the knowledge – like he’s not going to come out and all of a sudden be quicker – but his stance on a wing, his stance in the middle cylinder, his stance in those slot drives, which are now the NBA’s most difficult iso spot to guard, the catch/go on that sort of lane line, the slot drive. So if you were to look at a wing drive, just a stone cold, top of the key, he’s guarding somebody that he switched out on, or a catch/go slot drive, he’s improved with his feet. He’s improved with his spacing. He’s improved his ability to understand, “these are my physical limitations, or gifts, and this guy is quicker than me, and I’ve got to give him a cushion.”

Because the sport is still, let them beat you with long, contested twos. Once you sort of get that in your head both offensively and defensively, well if they pull up and hit some long contested twos, you kind of shake their hand sometimes. His footwork and his three have stood out to me as the two (things) that are most important to his growth, offensively and defensively.

(a few more questions, then a follow-up about his shot)

David Murphy (Inquirer): You mentioned the trajectory of Dario’s shot. Is that, mechanically, more legs, the angle of his release?

Brown: It’s all of that. I go right to his starting point, instead of playing out of a telephone booth, how do you load? If you were to come to our court, I tape a four-point line on the floor. You’ll see it. So we space far, you’re gonna space outside the four-point line on the flight of the ball. Are you gonna be a hugger? No. You’re going to be a stepper. You’re going to step into your shot. So as the thing’s in the air, as I step into my shot, the left/right mentality, I now have a base. I’m not going to catch it, give, (Brown makes a downward motion) then shoot. The NBA won’t let you get that shot off. So his preparation has improved dramatically. If you look at his elbow, it’s completely under the ball. It’s not a flying elbow. Therefore you get your legs and your elbow (under you) and his release point is about two inches above his forehead. He probably gets about a foot more of arc of airtime on his ball. It’s the mechanics of shooting. He’s embraced it and he’s improve doing it. He spent a lot of time with it.

There’s a lot to unpack there, so we’ll just go item-by-item.

Long twos

Let’s take a look at his shooting charts over at NBASavant.com, starting with his rookie year:

Dario finished below the league average in most areas.

He rarely shot corner threes and instead took most of his looks from wing and straight-on positions, an area where he finished 30.6% on the season, just 88 for 288. He shot well inside the paint in short-range situations and finished respectably around the rim, but not much flew off the page in year number one.

Year two:

Three-point shooting is up across the board. Look at him hitting at 39.2% from that same high/wing area of the three point line. That’s his spot, and it’s the same thing this year in avoiding the corners. He just doesn’t operate from there.

He’s still below average in the blue circle, that 32.4% mark in two-pointers taken outside of the paint. The good news is that he’s only tried 102 of those shots in 81 games (1.26 per game), while he tried 170 in 68 rookie year games (2.5). So he’s cut down on those longer two-point looks by a full one attempt per game as a sophomore.

His finishing at the rim is also up 6.4% this year. And free-throw shooting is up from 78.2% to 87.4%.

Across the board, you see better shooting and smarter shooting. The analytics guys approve.

Legs and air time

Brett mentioned the rocker step in his quote, which is the quick jab that guys like Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose used/use with a ton of success.

A quick primer:

Brett thinks that Dario is showing more confidence to catch and shoot, rather than throwing that jab step at defenders.

In the beginning of the year, when Saric was coming off the bench, he seemed to have a harder time getting into a shooting rhythm. In the play below, he finds himself in his favored wing area, but can’t seem to decide if he wants to shoot or drive:

With Daniel Theis guarding him, Dario throws a rocker step, then puts the ball on the floor and loses the handle. When he gains control, he throws a cross-court pass that’s deflected and almost leads to a turnover. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot doesn’t do a great job of keeping space there, either, since he walks Jayson Tatum right into the paint.

I honestly think a lot of Dario’s early-season issues had to do with playing on the second unit, but that’s beside the point.

To contrast the play above, here’s a similar sequence where he finds himself in the same position. No rocker step, no second-guessing, just a confident catch and shoot for nothing but net:

No hesitation there at all. Michael Beasley isn’t exactly yards away from him, and Ben Simmons spaces the floor by going down into the low post.

As far as “stepping into the shot,” as Brown mentioned, this is a really nice example here:

Again, look at how Ben Simmons creates space by taking his 6’10” frame into a pseudo-post position and allowing Dario to trail the play, catch the pass, and step into that shooting motion. The Sixers do a really nice job of getting open three-point looks on trails from their 4 and 5 men, which isn’t the case for about 85% of NBA teams. Dwight Howard isn’t ghosting into the front court to knock down a three-pointer, ya know? Andre Drummond isn’t doing it.

Mechanics

Looking then at Dario’s form, it matches what Brown was talking about.

Elbow under the ball?

Check.

Release point a few inches above the forehead?

Looks like it:

Sorry for the blurry images, that’s the best I can do while trying to crop and zoom.

As far as the differences from last year, I think you see it in the clip below, where the motion looks mostly the same, but the release point appears to be a little lower. His shot was a little more flat last year, I think because the elbow motion was just a little more “loose,” if that makes sense:

He front rims that ball but gets a shooter’s bounce for the bucket. Go back though and look at his shooting from last season and during his time at Anadolu Efes, and you’ll see that the arc isn’t the same. He’s now getting the ball up nicely and showing a lot of consistency in his second NBA season.

Defense

Brown talked about Dario’s defensive improvements in relation to understanding his physical limitations and providing the proper cushion to accommodate for that.

We know Dario is probably the least athletic among the Sixers’ starting five, and that’s reflected in his 104.4 defensive rating, the worst individual number of an overall excellent grouping. But he’s up from a 106.9 rookie year DEFRTG, a product I think is the combination of his solo improvement and just simply playing with better teammates this time around.

He’s definitely moving his feet better.

This is kind of a weird example, and it’s not what Brett was talking about specifically, but I pulled this clip from the season opener because it shows good footwork in a transition sequence where he finds himself defending a charging John Wall:

It looks like he’s on roller skates there, and could end up on his rear end, but he keeps his feet really well and then times the swat perfectly, turning transition defense into an offensive opportunity for his team. I don’t think that’s a play he makes as a rookie.

Brett mentioned in the quote that Dario isn’t going to be any quicker on defense, but that he compensates for that with a better stance and better spacing. That seems to be the case, but sometimes he’s just going to get stuck in bad situations, like this one here:

In that clip, he winds up on D’Angelo Russell in transition, a total mismatch.

So the Nets try to run a pick and roll, Joel Embiid hedges the screen, and Russell starts towards the lane line, the slot area on the right side of the floor. Dario’s footwork isn’t bad here. He actually keeps Russell in front of him, makes him go left, and forces a one-handed floater. It helps when a 7’2″ defensive player of the year candidate is standing behind you.

But when Brooklyn gets the offensive rebound, he has trouble keeping up with Russell, who slides back out to the three-point line for a triple.

That’s one of the few defensive issues Philly has this year. The starting unit is athletic enough to switch 1 through 3, and even Embiid can come out to the perimeter and defend admirably in mismatch situations. Dario is a different story, and sometimes he ends up on smaller and faster guys that he has trouble keeping in front of him.

On this play here, it’s a basic catch and drive:

Not great help from Richaun Holmes, but DeMarre Carroll isn’t exactly 2010 Monta Ellis  when it comes to catch and drive situations.

So the defensive side of the ball is probably where Dario lags a little bit, but there’s no doubting his offensive improvement this season. It’s been really enjoyable to watch.

    Arc, Elbow, and Footwork: Brett Brown Details Dario Saric’s Sophomore Improvements published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/