#don’t ask me how or when Arturo would have learned about history

[green-meanies]

Okay I'm done being cute, gonna rapid fire the rest of these headcanons let's gooooo

Ace

Ace is a jerk, yes, but he does show moments of kindness that are reserved only for his gang. He genuinely does care about them as they're the only family he's ever had. These moments only happen when they're alone, though, and that's because...

He's insistent on them keeping up the appearance of menacing troublemakers. That's what has gotten them by for so long, and he doesn't want anyone exploiting a weakness (especially after Aspirations)

On a brighter note, Ace thinks he knows all there is to flirting until he actually does it. In his head he's a suave smooth-talker, but in reality he comes off as an awkward dork at best (but in an endearing way, so it still kind of works lol)

He got into a lot of fights as a kid. It started out as self defense from bullies, then turned into him deliberately picking fights to discourage others from targeting him. Hurt them before they can hurt you and whatnot

Big Billy

He actually looked pretty normal as a baby, aside from his one eye and green skin. He began having growth spurts a few years later, and getting a lot stronger

As a child he had a habit of snacking in his sleep, as a result of the growth spurts he was going through. This is not good when your friends are trying to maintain a food supply. Luckily he has since curbed this habit, though it still happens every once in a while

Billy doesn't take well to being abandoned. He gets nervous when left alone or if someone he likes leaves without him, and gets visibly upset if they don't come back.

Of the gang, he's the most open about his issues, but because he has such a childlike mind, it can be difficult to articulate his feelings

Grubber

Like Billy, he looked like a normal baby despite the green skin. The grotesque appearance that we're familiar with didn't start developing until a few years later

He never went to school because his parents were embarrassed about him, but he still managed to teach himself how to read and play several different instruments

He's naturally curious and likes to explore and experiment. He's usually the first to find a new place or object of interest

Grubber dresses in rags because good clothes are hard to come by without stealing, so he lets his friends have whatever they find. He's very insistent about it

Lil Arturo

Being practically raised by Ace, Arturo picked up a few habits from him. He puts the most effort into his appearance after Ace, and developed a more pragmatic demeanor, taking advantage of his small size to lower the guard of the gang's victims (Buttercrush and Bought and Scold being notable examples)

Despite this, he's actually pretty chill when they're just hanging out. He's really only malicious to those outside his gang, but it does rank him as second meanest

Arturo is a known prankster. As a child he was always teaming up with Grubber to mess with the others, which marked him as the annoying little brother. He clearly hasn't lost his touch, since he did win the pranking contest in that one comic :)

Random headcanon, but Arturo has at least a passing interest in history. My only evidence for this is in Buttercrush as he was the one who specified it was a Mesopotamian vase, and the way he said it seemed like he wasn't just reading off the label, like he knew exactly what it was

Snake

It's obvious that Snake looks up to Ace a lot and will do anything to impress him. I headcanon that he went as far as adopting Ace's bad boy demeanor growing up. Unlike Arturo, this was a conscious choice rather than influence, especially once Ace started praising him for it

On his own he's actually pretty quiet and nicer than most of the other members. He's also a smartass who likes to crack jokes, but since this get suppressed by Ace, it's only ever seen when he's left to his own devices

He's surprisingly self-sufficient and resourceful when the need arises. There were a lot of times as a kid where he had to take care of himself. Snake can manage on his own but doesn't like to be by himself for long periods of time. It makes him anxious, but he won't admit it

As a result he's the most knowledgeable in first aid. He's the one who patches up the gang if their injuries are bad enough

He also knows how to drive and operate heavy machinery (witnessed in Buttercrush and one or two comics). When he's bored, he'll find a vehicle in the dump to fiddle around with. Boy definitely knows how to hot-wire a car

[lambourngb]

For the first line meme: It's later than he thought when the knock on the door interrupts another night of staring at the computer screen.

the heart is a muscle - post season 2, mentions of forlex , getting back together malex fic for you dear @jule1122, and @haloud, and @christchex.

It's later than he thought when the knock on the door interrupted another night of staring at the computer screen.

Mr. Jones and his last words to Michael, before he was forced back into stasis, still haunted him. “You really think there was just one ship? We were in formation, kid. What you should ask yourself is, where did everyone else go? Did they just keep zippin’ on their way to the colony? Or did they stop and take a gander at this planet and what they did to the survivors?” 

The tiny bit of hope that this Max-lookalike psychopath didn’t represent the last of his species, had Michael diving back into his research behind the crash of 1947. The online conversations about Roswell had moved on to other topics since Michael had abandoned the message boards in the wake of Caulfield, but with some effort, he had found new threads detailing neighborhood folklore regarding newcomers with eerie talents, like the ability to grow food in droughts. Stories that peppered all over the world. Stories that might mean an alien colonist on Earth.

The thirst for knowledge about his planet and his people would never leave him, even if the actual urge to go had quieted down into just a soft whisper. Life was finally good in Roswell. After the mind games of Mr. Jones, Michael could admit now that he did have a family here, even if they weren’t related by blood. Sanders, Arturo, Mimi, Michelle Valenti had all stepped in at various times to offer a guiding hand to him, or just a quiet nod of reassurance that he was valued. Max and Isobel would always be his siblings, but now he could count Liz, Rosa, Kyle, and even awkwardly in their new friendship, Maria, as extended his family now.  

It didn’t escape Michael that not even in his thoughts could he attribute his feelings for Alex as brotherly. There was still a vacant place at the head of Michael’s overflowing table of family for a partner, a spouse. That somehow, the seat even as other people came and went, only seemed to fit Alex. 

Except they were still just friends.

Another knock, more impatient this time, rattled the Airstream’s door. Michael sat up, placing his ancient laptop on the counter and rolled off his bed to get to his feet. His life was had changed so much in the last couple of years that he had enough people in it, friends, who dropped by his trailer at all hours of the day, not just Isobel, that he couldn’t even guess the identity of the visitor. 

Backlit from the auto yard’s security lights, stood Alex Manes holding a cardboard drink holder from ‘Bean Me Up’.

“Alex,” Michael greeted, a smile already at his lips. He glanced at the coffee and back to Alex, “Couldn’t wait until tomorrow I take it?” This was part of the new normal for Michael, meeting Alex for coffee, three or four mornings a week. It was something that had grown out of a happy coincidence, Alex’s gym was near the Boys and Girls Club that Michael volunteered at, serving breakfast in the mornings and tutoring kids in math in the afternoon.

Same place at the same time, once, then twice, became a standard thing. Not a date. Just, taking advantage of the mutual collision to talk. And at first, it was awkward to share news with each other, like Alex’s dating experiences with Forrest or Michael’s attempts to recover his memories of his planet, but later things had softened into a routine. Order coffee, find a small table, and then spend the next hour playfully fending off Alex’s attempts to foist food on Michael’s side of the table while also stealing sips of his caramel lattes. 

Perhaps one day Alex would realize that Michael had only ordered the ridiculously sweet coffee drinks because he knew that was what Alex preferred to drink. It was still a damn toxic hold over from Jesse Manes that Alex still persisted in ordering black coffee with no sugar. Dating Forrest might have helped Alex be open with his sexuality, there were still lessons for Alex to learn in being gentle with himself, Michael observed. The act of indulging in pleasures, instead of engaging in deprivation, it was something he struggled with as well.

In the meantime, Michael could at least help Alex in this small way, letting him ‘steal’ his lattes.

“Alex?” Something about Michael had robbed Alex of all speech as he just stared up at Michael in response, still holding the drinks dumbly in his hands. “Are you okay? What’s wrong-”

The switch from teasing to urgent concern finally snapped Alex out of his apparent stupor. “Right, nothing, um, just- since when do you wear glasses?”

Michael’s hand went to his face automatically, realizing belatedly that he was still wearing his reading glasses. He started to pull them off, blushing in embarrassment, when Alex blurted out, “They look good! On you. The glasses. Um great even.” 

“Oh.” Now that. Michael did not know what to do with that. 

In the yellow-wash of light, Alex was clearly the same man from yesterday’s coffee visit physically. His soft mouth was there, but it came with his standard closed expression that he must have picked up abroad, wearing it now as Michael’s least favorite souvenir. His posture was the same too, forever changed from losing his leg, straight-backed and rigid but just then, he was someone Michael hadn’t seen in a long time. That awkward stuttering response was Alex Manes, the seventeen-year-old boy who had whipped off his visor nervously in the museum, the same boy who touched with soft gliding palms newly revealed skin before snatching his hands away at the first sign that it was unwelcome. 

Aware that it was his turn to stare at Alex, Michael forced himself to smile naturally, “I guess not even my alien physiology can beat back the glare of a computer screen. I forgot I had them on.”

“Did I interrupt something? I can go if you want,” Alex stopped, probably hearing the past echo between them but not in the benign way of before. “Or I can stay and help, even if it’s with surprise coffee?” This time he lifted the tray up between them, an offer or a barricade of politeness, Michael wasn’t sure.

“I’m looking for other survivors,” Michael admitted, before looking down to avoid Alex’s sharpened gaze of interest. “On the internet, obviously, since I don’t think I can trust that I could sense them with my mind.”

It was clear that Alex hadn’t forgotten any of the various tactics Jones had employed against them, but Michael in particular. A frequent repeated taunt was about how damaged their psychic abilities were for adults, to the point no one had sensed Caulfield, but that from his pod prison Jones could hear Nora calling for help nightly right until the end. The twisted knife of how Michael had grown up waiting for someone to save him. Alex pursed his lips to object, “Michael-”

“Jones was full of shit about a lot,” Michael assured him quickly, “but I think he was right about the ships, that it wasn’t just one that crashed. I’m just combing through stories, basically internet mythology, looking for clues about strangers who might have some sort of power. It’s a lot of ‘world’s biggest cucumber’ stories right now, but hey, come in, you’re the computer genius and I could use your help and your coffee.” He placed his hands on the coffee holder, carrying it for Alex and backed away from the steps to let Alex have as much room as possible to navigate the cumbersome metal steps into the Airstream.

The seating area of the Airstream had been folded away and stored in order to make room for the drying rack of his clothes from laundry day, leaving only his narrow bed for seating. Michael had half-a-minute’s pause in reconsideration. They could relocate outside to his fire pit with the cheap camp chairs, and sit pressed together elbow-to-elbow around the dim screen of the laptop between them. Or. Or they could squeeze together on his bed, a place where that sort of contact between them had always led to sex. What was the safer option for their friendship? 

His heart always strayed too far from the safety of his bones when it came to Alex. 

Ignoring his pounding pulse, he grabbed the coffee cup marked “Alex” and pulled it to his lips to drink and made a gesture to the bed. At least he had made the bed up earlier with clean linens, the spread was neatly tucked into the corners, almost military sharp. That made it feel slightly less risqué to him than inviting Alex into warm mussed sheets that reeked of Michael’s skin. That rain and bourbon scent that Alex had pointed out.

“Um, your coffee was the other one.” Alex picked up the abandoned cup marked with a ‘M’ and followed him over to the bed. 

“No, I’m drinking the coffee I always end up with. Your black tar juice.” 

Alex smiled slightly, caught out by the observation before gingerly sitting next to Michael as Michael scooted over toward the wall of the Airstream. “Yeah, I guess I do end up stealing yours.” He brought his left leg up easily on the mattress and then passed his coffee cup over to Michael’s waiting hands as he brought his prosthetic up with both hands for balance. The smile faded, as Alex reclaimed the ‘M’ cup to sip from deep in thought as he seemed to review the history of their morning encounters. “I’m sorry-”

“Alex, come on,” he teased leaning his shoulder against Alex’s. “You haven’t caught on by now? I only order that sugar monstrosity because I know you won’t let yourself do it. I don’t even like caramel that much.”

“What? Come on, that’s what you ordered that first time-”

“I ordered that for the director at the community center.” Michael placed his coffee on the window of the Airstream and concentrated on bringing the laptop back up to rest on his knees between them not daring to look at Alex. He would never be able to confess the next bit and see Alex’s too-expressive gaze at the same time. But. As he had reminded himself earlier, he needed to work on indulging in pleasures as well, not just holding on to the pylon weight of depriving himself, of never believing he was worthy of good things. And being Alex’s friend was that. A pleasure. A good thing. The best thing.

“Once I saw you though, I kinda forgot the errand I was on in the first place. Then, I might have gone back at the same time the next day. And the day after that. For reasons.” He glanced to the side, meeting Alex’s wide eyes briefly before turning back to the laptop. “So I guess it's my turn to apologize? I might have had an agenda.”

It was quiet between them, as Michael clicked through a few different forums. He wasn’t paying any attention to where his cursor landed, he just kept scrolling through window after window as a distraction because the urge to pull back, to crack a joke, to do anything but let Alex process in silence was hard to suppress but needed. That was a part of becoming friends, learning that Alex needed extra time to formulate a response, something that came from needing to shut all emotional responses off during a drone operation at work.

“Me too,” Alex replied softly. “About the agenda. I mean, I don’t even have a membership at that gym.”

Michael frowned, the words not making any sense to him.

“That first time was dumb luck, I mean, I stopped in that morning because I had stayed the night at Forrest’s for the first time and I found out he doesn’t drink coffee. Doesn’t even own a coffee maker.” Alex scoffed quietly, before leaning against Michael affectionately, “I should have known that it was doomed from the start, just on coffee alone but what really put the nail in the coffin was the fact I pretended to go to that gym for two months because I had a bag of clothes with me when you saw me.”

“That was your clothes from staying over with him,” Michael said slowly, almost to himself, before he frowned even deeper as the connections fell into place. He didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or not, but this was a new level of avoidance of an awkward subject for Alex.  It did make sense considering the timing, and maybe that was why he was confessing now to Michael because not that Michael allowed himself to show it, the early days of Alex’s relationship with the historian were difficult for him. He didn’t begrudge Alex being happy or being with someone else, but there was still an old, gnarled bit of Michael’s heart that pinched painfully at seeing the romance play out for everyone in Roswell to see. “Alex, I know you guys are dating, you didn’t have to lie about that and pretend you had gone to that gym.” 

“Were dating,” Alex patiently corrected. “Pay attention, Michael. I just said it was doomed from the start.”

“Because he didn’t drink coffee?”

“Because I was engaging in a deep cover operation that involved a fake gym membership, rescheduling my appointments to the afternoon and blocking out time in my mornings all, so I could see you.” The gears were still turning too slowly for Alex’s liking as he rolled his eyes at Michael and continued, “I ended it with Forrest about a month ago. Or well, he ended it with me because I was always too busy in the morning for breakfast and I never wanted to stay over at his.”

Michael blinked, then looked down at his laptop. The ancient fan and processor were making a soft whine of effort, much like his own brain at the moment. Alex was single. Alex has been single for over a month. A month where he didn’t mention it once during their get-togethers. 

Alex exhaled slowly, draining the latte before placing the cup out of range. “I’m really trying to use my words here, but you have exactly one minute to understand what I’m saying before I have to get creative-”

“Are you saying that you-”

“Yes-”

“Still want me?”

“I never stopped,” Alex reached for Michael’s hand, stilling the rapid clicking. “I came here because I wanted to be honest with you. It occurred to me that somewhere along the line, those meetups for coffee had basically become the most important part of my day. I … I was turning them into dates in my head. With you.” He licked his lips, his eyes drifting down to Michael’s mouth, causing Michael to bite his own lip in response. The anticipation between them thickened, until Alex groaned softly, his head briefly ducking toward Michael’s. “In the past, I’ve been guilty of thinking we were on the same page, and we weren’t, so I’m- Michael, I will still be your friend no matter what, but I want-”

This time, Michael didn’t let him finish and closed the scant distance between them on the bed to kiss Alex. The laptop fell to the side of their legs as Alex surged into it, pushing Michael down flat on the mattress in his eagerness. Michael opened for Alex, letting him have whatever he wanted and buried his fingers in the soft, black hair as they traded kisses.

Suddenly, a bubble of laughter burst from Michael’s chest, the lightness of the situation that felt almost too good to be real spread through his veins. “Oh my god, you brought me coffee to tell me that getting coffee together wasn’t just getting coffee for you, Alex-”

“Shut up!”

“You need a new job, nothing in intel, sweetheart-”

“I am, I did, that is.” Alex lifted his eyebrow at Michael’s too-still pause before he sweetly brushed the long stubborn curl out of Michael’s face, “Done with the Air Force as of next month.”

“Fuck me.”

“I can do that too.”

[prouvaireafterdark]

Appetite

Here’s my Malex Secret Santa gift for @djchika, who asked for some domestic Malex with one of them teaching the other how to cook! I hope you like it, Deej!

Also on AO3!

***

“Hey, Alex?”

“Yeah?” Alex asks without looking up. He’d moved his laptop to the kitchen table at Michael’s request, but he still has a little work to finish before he’s free for the evening.

“Can you grab me the cumin from the spice cabinet?” Michael asks, and when Alex tears his gaze away from the screen, he sees Michael staring back, head turned over his shoulder to look at him as he stirs a pot of something on the stove that smells absolutely delicious.

“Sure, one sec,” he says, typing the last few lines of code as quick as he can.

When he’s done, he shuts his laptop and sets it to the side before straightening up and heading to the spice cabinet. He digs around a little, shifting bottles here and there to try to find what Michael needs, but he comes up empty.

“Bottom left, behind the paprika,” Michael supplies helpfully after a minute of Alex’s fruitless shuffling.

Alex looks over and sure enough, there, behind the paprika, right where Michael said it would be, is the cumin. He isn’t sure when exactly it was that Michael made the transition from feeling like he wasn’t welcome to stay the night to being intimately familiar with the inside of his spice cabinet, but the fact that he feels so at home in Alex’s space makes affection bloom warm in Alex’s chest as he plucks the bottle off the shelf.

“Thanks,” Michael smiles when he hands him the bottle, and Alex is helpless against the impulse to lean in and kiss him.

Michael welcomes the kiss without hesitation, humming softly against his mouth as he turns to face him more directly, the bottle of cumin still gripped between his fingers. Alex smiles, a little smug that he’s able to steal Michael’s attention so easily even when he’s in the middle of something.

It’s not until he feels the tip of Michael’s tongue flick against his bottom lip that Alex pulls back, not so eager to be the reason Michael burns whatever he’s cooking when they inevitably drive each other to distraction.

“Any time,” Alex says when he’s managed to put a few inches of space between them.

Michael blinks at him, his brain taking a moment to come back online, before he huffs a laugh, shaking his head.

“Tease,” Michael accuses lightly, and Alex rolls his eyes affectionately even as he steps behind him and wraps his arms around his waist.

“I don’t think I’ve earned that title,” Alex tells him in a low voice, lips barely an inch from the shell of Michael’s ear. “Not yet, anyway.”

Michael groans softly at the thought and Alex can’t help but chuckle and press a fleeting kiss to his cheek.

“Are you done with work?” Michael asks, leaning back against his chest a little in a way that makes Alex feel warm and protective. He knows it’s impractical, but he could hold Michael like this all day.

“Mhmm,” Alex hums. When Michael doesn’t say anything else, Alex hooks his chin over his shoulder and watches as he adds some cumin to the ground beef browning in the pot, not bothering to measure it. “What are you making?”

“Chili,” Michael answers, stirring the meat to incorporate all the spices. “You want to try some?”

Alex’s stomach growls audibly at the question, making them both laugh.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Michael says, and after a moment of more stirring to make sure the beef is all browned, Michael reaches into the cutlery drawer to his left and takes out a clean spoon without looking. He dips it into the pot, scoops out some seasoned ground beef, and feeds it to Alex over his shoulder.

Alex can’t suppress the pleased sound he makes when he tastes it. The beef is delicious—savory and a little salty with a strong kick of spice that lingers on his tongue.

“What do you think?” Michael asks, twisting in his arms to try to see his reaction.

“It’s really good,” Alex tells him, and he doesn’t need to see Michael’s face to know he’s warming under his praise, but it’s always nice to watch it happen anyway. If Michael isn’t careful, Alex will need to kiss him again.

“How’s the spice?” Michael asks. “I could add some more jalapeños before I add the rest of the ingredients if you want.”

“No, the spice is perfect,” Alex insists.

Michael beams at him before he turns back to the pot. With one parting peck to the back of Michael’s head, Alex steps away and gives him some space to work, leaning casually against the side of the fridge while he watches Michael push the spices toward the back of the counter and start assembling the remaining ingredients.

“How’d you get so good at this anyway?” Alex wonders as Michael squeezes in some tomato paste, once again without needing to measure it.

“What?” Michael asks, eyes on the pot while he mixes it in.

“Cooking,” Alex explains. “You’re so confident you’re not even following a recipe.”

“Yeah, I am,” Michael says, and Alex hasn’t seen a piece of paper or anything lying around with instructions on it, so Michael must have just memorized it, which is… not surprising for Michael as much as it is crazy for Alex to imagine doing himself. “I’m just… being creative in my interpretation of it.”

“So…” Alex starts, cocking his head, “you looked at the ingredients and now you’re winging it?”

“A bit, yeah,” Michael admits.

“Damn,” Alex says with the gravity that deserves.

“It’s really not that impressive,” Michael insists.

“Improvising a dish you read the ingredients for one time isn’t impressive?” Alex asks incredulously.

Michael is silent a moment while he thinks about it.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just used to it,” Michael says at last. “I didn’t exactly have a recipe book growing up, so I’d just do the best I could with what I could get my hands on, which didn’t always turn out so good.”

“Yeah?” Alex asks, curious to hear more.

“Mhmm. Learned the hard way not to use ketchup as a replacement for tomato sauce.”

“Oh my god,” Alex says, pulling a face at the thought of pouring a squirt of Heinz over some pasta.

“Yeah,” Michael laughs. “Not my finest moment.”

“Did you cook a lot when you were younger?” Alex asks, surprised he’s never heard about any of this before. In high school and that summer that followed it, he and Michael would usually meet up either in the afternoon when Alex had to be home by dinner, or far later when Alex could sneak out in the middle of the night, so food wasn’t really something they’d shared or talked about a lot.

“Depends where I was,” Michael answers. “The addicts never had any food to cook and the Fundamentalists were big on ‘family dinners,’ but cooking was ‘women’s work’ so I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen. When I was on my own though, I bought what was on sale or, well—” Michael cuts himself off, shifting his eyes in Alex’s direction before he sighs and says, “Let’s just say I had to get creative with my ingredients for a while in more ways than one.”

“You don’t have to talk in euphemisms, Michael,” Alex tells him kindly, reaching out for his hand. “I know you did what you had to do to survive. I’m glad you did,” he says, and he means it. He might have been judgmental about Michael’s criminal history at first, but they’re a long way from that disastrous evening at the Drive-In.

Michael tangles their fingers together and squeezes once, his smile a little brittle.

“Anyway, yeah,” Michael continues, “once I got access to a fire pit I was actually able to teach myself how to cook.”

“Wait, seriously?” Alex asks, eyebrows lifting in sudden surprise. “The fire pit?”

Now it’s Michael’s turn to look confused.

“Alex, I’ve made you dinner on the fire pit like a hundred times,” Michael says.

“No, I know, it’s just—“ Alex pauses, searching for the words. “I guess I never thought that that was how you learned how to cook.”

“Well, Sanders let me use his kitchen sometimes too,” Michael says.

“Right,” Alex nods. Michael’s mentioned before that Sanders is the reason why his omelets are nearly as good as Arturo’s. “So after cooking like that for so long, winging it is easy?”

“I guess, yeah,” Michael shrugs. “And, really, at the end of the day, cooking’s just chemistry—except things don’t generally explode as much when you mess up.”

“Mm, I don’t know about that,” Alex disagrees. “You should’ve seen me try to make brownies when I was a kid.”

“That bad?” Michael cringes.

“Oh yeah,” Alex answers. He’ll never forget that icy chill that ran down his spine when he’d seen what he’d done to the inside of the oven. If it wasn’t for Greg’s help cleaning everything up before their father got home, Alex probably would have been torn to pieces.

“Well, if you were making brownies, that’s baking. Cooking’s much more forgiving than baking,” Michael says. He gives Alex an assessing look before he says, “Come here, I’ll show you.”

Alex hesitantly closes the short distance between them, helped along by Michael tugging him by the hem of his shirt.

Michael must catch the reticence on his face because a second later he says, “Oh come on, you got this. I’ll talk you through it.”

“If you say so,” Alex sighs. “What do you want me to do?”

“Well, you can start by opening the cans of crushed tomatoes and kidney beans,” Michael says.

Alex laughs. “Okay, I think I can manage that.”

In the time it takes Michael to run to the fridge to grab a bottle of beer and an opened container of beef broth leftover from the stroganoff he’d made the other day, Alex is already done.

“Do I add all of it?” Alex asks, holding the can of beans over the pot.

“Not those yet,” Michael says. “They need to be drained and rinsed. Do you know where the colander is?”

That Alex does know—he may be culinarily challenged, but he’s got his shit together enough to know how to boil water and follow the directions on a box of Kraft like every other red-blooded American.

He fishes it out from the cabinet under the counter in front of him and takes it to the sink along with the can of beans.

“So I just toss them in the colander and rinse them?” Alex double-checks.

“Yup!” Michael answers, upending the bottle of beer over the pot for a few counts before taking a long drink. “Bring ‘em over when you’re done.”

Alex rinses the beans thoroughly and shakes them over the sink to get rid of the excess water before carrying the colander back over to where Michael is standing by the stove. There’s a cutting board set up with a knife and two green bell peppers when he gets there. The can of crushed tomatoes he opened is already empty, so Michael must have tossed that in too while he was waiting.

“Do you want to dice the peppers?” Michael asks.

“Um,” Alex says, looking at them suspiciously. “Sure?”

“Here, I’ll do one and you can do the other,” Michael says, stepping in front of Alex to get at the cutting board. “Just watch what I do.”

Alex stands at his side and watches intently.

“You’ll want to start by cutting the stems and the bottoms off,” Michael tells him as he slices them off one of the peppers. “Then you should slice it down the middle and remove the seeds and this white stuff inside.” Michael runs his knife along the inner flesh of the pepper, cutting away the white until there’s nothing but green. “And now we can dice it.”

Michael cuts the pepper into strips and then pushes them together horizontally so he can dice them with another swift pass of his knife, leaving the pepper in uniform squares.

“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Michael says, moving aside so Alex can take his place.

Alex picks up the knife and follows Michael’s instructions. He thinks he’ll be able to manage it okay, as long as he doesn’t let Michael’s gentle encouragement in his ear distract him too much—He knows his way around a knife after all, albeit in very different circumstances.

He’s doing fine until he gets to the actual dicing part. His fingers can’t seem to keep a steady enough grip on the pepper strips to make the kind of uniform cuts that Michael had been able to execute.

“Hang on,” Michael murmurs, and a moment later Alex feels him warm and solid against his back.

Alex swallows as Michael’s palms travel down the length of his forearms, not stopping until he covers Alex’s hands with his own. He feels caged in like this, pressed up against the counter a little, Michael’s breath fanning over the back of his neck, and suddenly Alex’s thoughts are very far away from the chili he’s supposed to be helping Michael make.

“You want to let the knife do the work here,” Michael tells him, grabbing Alex’s attention once again. “It’s sharp, it’ll slice through it much easier if you don’t add so much pressure.” He guides Alex’s hand as he slices through a row of peppers, the motion much smoother now. “See? Much easier that way. Now try it on your own.”

Michael drops his hands to rest on Alex’s hips as he watches over his shoulder. Alex tries not to be distracted by the way his fingers are edging up under the hem of his shirt, the way Michael’s low hum of approval when he passes the knife over the peppers again makes his heart beat faster.

He thinks he has it handled until Michael drawls in his ear, “Perfect. Just like that, Alex. Nice, even strokes,” and Alex nearly chops his own finger off.

“Michael,” he says sharply, head spinning a little.

“Hm?” the bastard hums lazily, like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

“Are you fucking with me?” Alex asks, and he can feel Michael’s chest rumble with laughter against his back.

“Not yet,” Michael says, nuzzling into the side of his head a little to press a kiss over his pounding pulse, and Alex has to let go of the knife before he really does hurt himself.

He can feel Michael smile against his neck when he takes a deep, calming breath, bracing his hands on the counter.

“Go wash your hands,” Alex tells him, needing a minute to clear his head, “and then tell me how to finish this.”

“Yes, sir,” Michael says, and then the hands on his hips and the warmth at his back are gone.

Once he hears the sink running, Alex makes short work of the peppers and adds them to the pot.

Michael comes back a short moment later and stirs the diced peppers into the pot with one hand as he fiddles with the burner knob with the other. Alex leaves him to it while he washes his own hands.

“Perfect,” Michael comments when he’s satisfied. “Now it just needs to simmer for an hour.”

Alex doesn’t waste any time stepping back into Michael’s space, not even bothering to dry his hands on the dish towel Michael left by the sink. If Michael is upset about the water soaking into the thin fabric of his t-shirt where Alex grips his waist, he doesn’t say so. Instead, his hands slide up Alex’s shoulders, one of them finding a home in the short hair at the back of his neck.

“A whole hour, huh?” Alex asks, eyes drifting down toward Michael’s mouth.

“Mhmm,” Michael hums slowly, a coy smile spreading over his lips.

“That’s a lot of time,” Alex muses. “What do you think we should do with it?”

Michael’s grip on Alex’s hair tightens just a little. “I’ve got a few ideas.”

Michael manages to set the timer on the stove before Alex drags him back to his bedroom.

It’s a good thing, too. By the time the alarm goes off, they’ve worked up quite the appetite.

[wunderlass]

I’m feeling so deflated to be writing this post. S1 had its flaws but those could be placed at the feet of a freshman showrunner who could learn from her mistakes going into S2 and up her game. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and S2 was a mess.

S1 had a clear central plotline: the mystery of Rosa’s death, leading to justice in the form of Noah’s death and Rosa’s resurrection. S2’s central plotline was…um. The kidnappings? Leading into the plot to blow up Crashcon? I think? But there was so much other stuff gong on it’s hard to tell.

Carina – if you happen to come stumbling into the tags for reactions – you’ve already acknowledged that you struggle to edit your scripts down for length. And it does show in the finished product. But you also struggle to edit your ideas down to fit into the episode count you have. There were too many extraneous plot threads this season, too many guest characters, and the ideas you had were shoddily and sloppily executed.

There were shining moments scattered here and there and the occasional good episode, but for the most part this season lurched from badly paced episode to badly paced episode. Stuff was crammed into each episode and yet somehow the plot also treaded water until 2x11 when it all kicked off – and this was because so much of what happened in the earlier episodes didn’t feed into the main plot. Even Max’s death, the overarching motivation for many characters at the beginning, was shoved to the side for other ideas.

And the payoffs for each of these storylines was too often underwhelming. Max can’t come back because he’ll be full of dark energy and a destructive force! Resolved in 30 seconds by him blowing up a pile of stuff. Max can’t remember Liz! Fixed in the same episode. That pattern continued with the finale feeling like it was trying to wrap up all these storylines without really having a story of its own. The various cliffhangers from Crashcon were tied up before the title card and then let’s spend the next 40 minutes treading water again.

There were good moments in the finale. Max and Isobel’s discussion, the Maneforrest kiss, Rosa and Helena’s reunion. But as for the rest? Hear me whine:

-          Jesse’s death was anticlimactic. His line about “no more Manes men” makes no sense given as far as he knew Flint (and maybe Clay?) is still alive. His death should have been poetic because one of his son’s killed him but it didn’t hold the weight it should have, possibly because it came so early in the episode.

-          It would have been far better if Jesse had discovered that Harlan killed Tripp and buried him beneath the shed. How awful would it have been for his entire worldview to be shaken by that revelation? How perfect would it have been if he discovered that Tripp loved Nora? If he died after learning all of that, becoming desperate and sloppy in whatever scheme he was trying to pull off (self-immolation via the bomb?), it would have been a fitting ending.

-          So many characters this season were badly served. Alex, Michael, and to a lesser extent Max, had real arcs and progression. Alex especially you can see them setting up his growth for a payoff in the finale. 

-          Kyle was shafted, shoved to the side for the Steph storyline that didn’t feel like it was going anywhere, and I suspect we got a lot of that cut away to make room for other stories.

-          Rosa’s story started off strong and then mostly got tied into rehab or helping Isobel. Them having her out and about in public in Roswell is complete nonsense.

-          Max had a line for Isobel about her becoming her “entire self” this season, and that rang false to me. We’ve only seen Isobel develop her powers. Her personality has shifted each episode, fractured and inconsistent, dependant on what the writers needed her to do. She didn’t get much of a storyline of her own – the abortion was redundant, serving as a political soapbox for Carina rather than anything that served the character – and while she’s found out more about her heritage, that’s never been as important as Michael or Max finding out about theirs. She said she wanted to become more like her mother and that never went anywhere.

-          I was so hopeful that Carina had listened and understood the criticisms with Maria’s handling in S1 and worked to improve it. She certainly gave her increased screentime. Except, so much of that screentime was tied into Michael, and latterly Isobel. She lacked interactions with Liz or Rosa. She was in two whole scenes in the finale and after she broke up with Michael, she disappeared from the story, and if that doesn’t say it all…

-          And that break-up was contrived bullshit. I’m not saying this as a shipper. It felt like they’d planned to have them break-up in the finale and wrote it even though the motivations hadn’t been properly established. Seeds were sown but they were communicating well as a couple and resolving their issues as they went along. Suddenly those issues got un-resolved and were enough to break them up.

-          The most galling part is that so much of what follows comes from Tripp’s diary, and Maria is excluded. This is her story too! Louise was her great-grandmother! Rather than sitting around her in the hospital room reading this stuff, they do it in the Crashdown.

-          Which fits the pattern of what’s happened all season. Maria found out she was part alien and it was about her powers, rather than her legacy, rather than what happened to her great-grandparents.

-          And it became clear that it was done so they could do the Nora/Tripp and Malex parallel.

-          Which completely solidifies for me where Carina’s priorities lie. She’s been clear that Malex is her favourite ship on the show and Michael is her favourite character. But this season has shown that she’s incapable of ensuring her favouritism doesn’t screw over other characters.

-          The sad thing is this really does show up in marketing. Carina always pushes and praises Vlamis and barely ever mentions Jeanine on her SM. Media outlets write about Malex as the centre of the show and they aren’t supposed to be. We have a sci-fi show with a Latina leading lady and nobody cares – not the showrunner, not the media (outside of Latinx-centric publications), not the fandom. I’m not Latina and it frustrates me so I can’t imagine how actual Latinx people feel about that.

-          Maria was dragged into a love triangle that Carina never had any intention of doing justice to. Maria and Michael were always only ever meant to be a pit-stop on the way to a big Malex reunion. Sadly it’s clear the same goes for Maneforrest. Why write something if you’re only going to do it half-arsed? And it clearly was. That’s why the Maria and Michael break-up was so perfunctory and illogical.

-          While I’m on the subject of Maria – last season Mimi was clearly deteriorating and didn’t recognise adult Maria anyway. Now that seems to have shifted to Mimi’s mind moving through time. It’s still unclear if this is the alien DNA or what was done to Patricia Deluca in Caulfield. I don’t understand why they introduced both elements – apart from being able to give Maria a line about unethical science which OH BOY what a contrast with Liz.

-          Speaking of Liz.

-          Wow.

-          If the central storyline was the kidnappings and Crashcon shenanigans, she really had no involvement with that all season apart from the very end. All the investigation went to other characters. Her mother was involved, but not Liz.

-          Let me repeat that.

-          Our lead character was not involved the central storyline of the season.

-          Alternatively, if you think Max learning about his history, and all of the reveals about 1948, and Maria’s heritage etc etc were supposed to be the main storyline…

-          Doesn’t matter because Liz wasn’t involved in any of that either!

-          Liz was a subplot in her own show after they brought Max back. Hell, she was a subplot even when she was working on that.

-          The narrative focus really has centred on Michael, Alex, and later Max.

-          I wonder what they have in common with each other.

-          If you don’t believe me, check out the screentime figures for this season. Liz had the fourth largest amount of screentime in the finale, and she’s only had majority screentime in a handful of episodes all season (2x01, 2x07, 2x11).

-          And then realise that the plot kept moving after Liz left Roswell. She’s just not part of it anymore.

-          I watched the finale and kept asking myself where Liz was because she kept disappearing for whole chunks of time.

-          She was in her own subplot about science for the back half of this season, and honestly, I’m going to have to write an entirely separate post about Liz and ethics in science because NOPE.

-          Max was right. Liz deserved to follow her calling but she had options that didn’t involve risking the aliens.

-          As such the Echo break-up was stupid but whatever, based on this season I guess it needed to happen.

-          Did Max even care that Liz left? He loved her for twenty years and then when he had her, it didn’t matter anymore? What the fuck? Are we ever going to get answers as to why he fell so hard and loved her for so long, or is the “Malex is cosmic” story more important?

-          Also the whole thing about the Genericorp lady not being interested in Liz based on meeting her at the Crashdown was stupid. You hire scientists based on the previous work they’ve done and their credentials. Diego’s word should have been enough to convince her, and then maybe an actual proper job interview to make sure she was a good fit. Not “let’s sneak into her secret lab to look at what she’s working on”.

-          When Liz does leave, she only says goodbye to Rosa and Kyle. Arturo is mentioned but not seen. Which means the whole ICE sequence this season, which should have been a solid motivation for Liz to take the Genericorp job on its own, has been resolved without a proper payoff. All that stress – scenes that I know felt genuinely stressful to some viewers because of how close to home it hit – and we don’t even get to see Arturo seeing his “genius daughter” leave with his future secured.

-          It’s plausible that Liz said goodbye to other characters – Maria, Isobel, Michael – off screen BUT SHE’S YOUR LEAD CHARACTER AND HER LEAVING TOWN SHOULD CARRY SOME EMOTIONAL WEIGHT FFS

-          Compare Liz leaving and arriving at the ocean to Buffy Summers leaving Sunnydale in Becoming Part 2. There is no contest.

-          It’s clear to me that the audience Carina writes this show for is herself. And that’s fine. Plenty of writers do that. But that means she’s writing a show for the women in fandom who like epic mlm romances with lots of angst. And the problem with that is that this show has a Latina lead who is not being done justice.

-          This is not me railing against Malex. There is space in the show for both things. This is me expressing my frustration at a showrunner and creative team who are not taking care with all characters equally.

-          Carina uses her platform to throw in politics and use characters as mouthpieces without considering their impact. She thinks she’s educating the straight white people in the audience without thinking about how scenes of ICE intimidation, homophobic violence, and racism will affect the people who are impacted by those things in real life.

-          Am I done with the show? Probably not. I’ve got fics I want to write and while I’m not hubristic enough to think I can write better than a team of professional writers, I’m going to at least try and do some of these neglected elements of the show justice.

-          Hubris. Remember when I thought that was going to be a theme of this season? Apparently not. There was no theme, unless “no editing, we die like men” counts..

[fallout4reactsblog]

How would the companions react to curie just randomly saying "fuck"? (Because she NEVER curses)

Cait: Cait leans over Curie’s workbench, eyeing what she’s writing down. “Whatcha doin’ there?”

“Oh! Madamoiselle Cait.” Curie looks up at her with a beaming smile. “I am attempting to synthesize a new compound for sole’s use. Similar to a preferred chem of theirs, but without so many drawbacks. What is the fuck up with you?”

It takes Cait all of two seconds to figure out what’s going on. First, Curie has decided to start cussing. Good on her, it’ll help her blend in a little. Second, she is undoubtedly, irrefutably, bad at it.

So she does what any good friend would, and bursts out laughing.

“I do not understand,” Curie says over Cait’s giggles. “Have I done something humorous?”

“Absolutely not,” she replies, gasping for air. “You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect. You’ve gotta show everyone that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just go up to them and ask them exactly what you just asked me,” she says, finally catching her breath. 

“But why would I-”

“Please? Just this once, listen to me?”

Curie’s eyes are suspicious, very clearly so, but she nods anway. “Very well. But I hope you do not intend to use me to upset them.”

“Nah, just the opposite! Promise.”

So Curie stands and begins to walk away, and just imagining to look on everyone’s faces has Cait laughing all over again.

Danse: “Hello, Paladin.”

He looks over to see Curie sitting beside him, a nervous look on her face. She hands him the wrench he needs before he can ask, which instantly makes him suspicious. One, Curie doesn’t typically approach him and two, if she did, it definitely wasn’t to help with his power armor.

“Do you require my assistance with something?”

“Ah, I wanted to ask you, um, what is the fuck up?”

He squints at her. Is this a prank? He has to be being pranked. “Sorry?”

“I asked you what is the fuck up?”

“I don’t-” He shakes his head. “I’m not sure what you’re attempting to ask.”

“What is going on? What are you doing?” she clarifies. “What is the fuck up?”

“Ah,” he nods sharply. “You mean what the fuck is up.”

“Is the order important?”

“Yes. your reasons for adding this new word to your vocabulary are unknown to me, but if you insist on using it then I insist you know how to use it correctly.” He grabs a pen and a piece of paper. “When you ask, ‘What the fuck is up?’ you’re asking what’s going on. When you ask, “What is the fuck up?” you’re asking what is the person who has messed up, or fucked up, a situation.”

“So that is why Mademoiselle Cait laughed. I had wondered.”

“Yes. Where you place the expletive can greatly affect the meaning of your sentence.”

“Please,” she nudges the paper toward him a little, “continue. If i am going to use such language, I must do it properly, otherwise it is not intimidating in the slightest, no?”

He sighs. “Correct. Suppose you want to tell someone that what they’re doing is ill-advised…”

Deacon: “Deacon.”

He turns to Curie with a wide grin on his face. “What’s up, Curie?”

She eyes his outfit, a bright pink dress paired with a lime green feather boa and gold stiletto heels. He looks like a goddamn walking disaster and he knows it, but sole never lets him wear stuff like this usually, so he has to do it when they’re not around.

He smirks at Curie, who seems to be desperately trying to rationalize his choices. “Something I can help you with?”

“Deacon, what the fuck are you wearing?”

“Anything I want!” He announces triumphantly, giving a little spin to put some volume into the skirt. “Sole’s not here to tell me what to do, so I’m cutting loose. You wanna match?”

“Ah, no thank you.” She takes a few hesitant steps back. “I do not think that is safe for the lab, and I have work to be doing…”

“Come back if you change your mind!” he shouts to her retreating form.

With a snicker, he turns back to his previous task, which was reorganizing all of sole’s workshop drawers in reverse alphabetical order. They’d never see it coming.

And then he realizes what exactly Curie had said to him, and nearly falls off his stool.

Gage: “Nah, put more feeling into it. Speak it from your chest.”

Curie takes a deep breath. “Monsieur, I do not know how necessary this is. Surely, if I have survived to this point, I will be fine in the future.”

“You’ve gotten lucky so far,” he says, putting a hand on her shoulder “Most of the time, you’re with sole or somebody who looks just as scary. But you gotta learn how to blend in with the rest of the Commonwealth.”

She nods begrudgingly and folds her arms, dropping her voice to try again. “Fuck you.”

“Good. Try it a little angrier.”

Her brows pull together tightly. “Fuck you!”

“More snarly.”

“Fuck you!”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“And that’s what I say when someone has done something I do not like, oui?”

“Right. And when you want someone to go away?”

“I tell them to fuck off,” she chirps brightly.

“Not… exactly that sweetly.”

“Ah, mes apologies. I should be more explosive.”

“And if they’re really pissing you off, just give ‘em the finger while you’re at it.”

“You mean the, ah,” she drops her voice conspiratorially, “the middle finger?”

Her embarrassment makes him laugh. Oh, he’ll make her into a proper citizen of the Commonwealth yet. 

“That’s the one, yeah. You ever flipped someone off, Curie?”

“Absolutely not!” She looks deeply offended, visibly recoiling at even the suggestion. “That is beyond rude.”

“And telling someone to fuck off is the height of polite society, huh?”

Her cheeks flush bright red. “Well, no, but it is for my safety, as you said.”

“You’re right. It is for your safety, so let’s try a new one. How about, ‘go fuck yourself’?”

“Go fuck yourself!” she practically sings, and he has to resist the urge to sigh.

This is going to be way harder than he thought.

Hancock: Hanging around Curie’s chem station has gotten to be a bit of a habit, he supposes. It’s not that he’s trying to irritate anyone, he promises himself that much, but there’s nothing wrong with trying to score an extra hit here or there, right?

Today is no different, and the noon sun finds him leaning up against the table as Curie works. The sun’s too bright in his eyes, and he pulls his hat down low as he chats with the girl carefully mixing chemicals.

“Whatcha makin’ there?”

“A stimpack,” she replies curtly, swirling the test tube in her hand. “Sole runs out of them quite frequently, I have noticed. I should like to be prepared for when they return needing more.”

“Y’ever make anything else?”

“Occasionally. But only for sole.”

“Aw, come on.” He swings his body around to fully face her, sitting on the makeshift lab table. “No exceptions at all?”

“Non, monsieur. No exceptions.”

“It can’t be that hard to make,” he whines, hoping to elicit some sympathy. She’s a sucker for the suffering, he knows. “I just need one box of mentats, that’s it! Somethin’ to help me keep up with Preston when he gets to talkin’ about history.”

She pauses, and he’s sure he’s hit gold. A celebratory grin is already spreading across his face when her mouth opens.

“Hancock, fuck off.”

He’s stunned into silence for a moment. There’s something absolutely horrifying about the way she says it, with her cute little accent, forming the word like it’s foreign to her. His mouth gapes open.

“You can do that?”

“Do what?” she asks, already turning back to the chemicals before her.

“Cuss! Curie, baby girl, who hurt you?”

She blushes. “I have been working on becoming more intimidating. I am told such a face leads people to attempt to take advantage of me.”

He feels the briefest spike of guilt, because that’s what he’d just been trying to do, but it’s not for long. “How’d you learn to swear, though? Who taught you? I know you didn’t just start it on your own.”

“It’s a secret,” she giggles.

He laughs, too, less enthused, and resolves that when he finds the bastard that did this, they are gonna have a harsh lesson to learn.

MacCready: “Sole’s been gone awhile,” he says, handing Curie a can of purified water he’d pilfered from their workbench. “Where do you think they went?”

“I thought they were going to Diamond City, were they not? They wanted to see if Monsieur Arturo had any shotgun shells.” She pops open the can to take a delicate sip.

“I thought they went last week.”

“Ah, non. Last week they went to Goodneighbor to ask KLEO. That is why they took Monsieur Hancock with them.”

“I wish they’d taken him this time,” he grumbles. “I don’t like it when they go out on their own like this. Commonwealth’s dangerous without an extra gun.”

She nods. “I agree. In such a world, It is fucking stupid to go anywhere alone.”

MacCready chokes on his water.

“Monsieur!” She’s at his side nearly immediately, patting his back. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” he chokes out, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

“What happened? Did you have a case where you inhaled as you were swallowing by accident and thus drew water into your trachea?”

“Yeah, you surprised me.” He coughs again. “Never heard you use that kind of language.”

“I am working on it,” she admits. “Was my usage inappropriate? It is still a very strange concept to me, that the words one chooses would enable others to perceive them as less of a threat., but I am doing my best to embrace it.”

“You’re cussing to seem tough? C’mon, Curie. Saying those kinds of things doesn’t make you tougher. I mean, I don’t swear.”

“This is… true. However, you will forgive me for saying this, but you are not the most intimidating figure. Deadly, oui, but not the kind of person that people see and think, ‘Oh, do not mess with him, he is very dangerous.’ Or am I incorrect?”

He can feel a bit of a blush rising, and he tugs his hat down over his face. “I’m still a good shot, though,” he grumbles.

“Oh, please do not be offended! I do not mean to wound your pride, only to say that perhaps, for such small and inexperienced people as myself, I must use whatever methods I can to seem intimidating.”

He hums in agreement, albeit reluctantly. He’s in no place to judge, he supposes. If he can choose to not cuss, then Curie has every right to cuss as much as she wants. Everyone else in the Commonwealth sure seems to.

Still, he’s gonna miss having his clean-mouthed buddy, if for no other reason than that she was always good at keeping him on track.

Nick: He squints down at the paper in his hand. Sole had given him a list of things that he needed to do while they were gone, like keep Preston and Gage from murdering each other, but unfortunately, most of their talk had been cut off by a super mutant attack. So now he’s stuck peering down at the paper copy, trying to decipher sole’s handwriting. No easy feat.

“You seem to be struggling,” a familiar French voice pipes up beside him. “Perhaps I can help?”

“Maybe.” He gives Curie a welcoming smile, handing her the paper. “Don’t suppose you can decipher any of this.”

She inspects it, pursing her lips. A small divot appears between her brows as she twists the paper this way and that, as if a different angle is going to make the words more legible. Finally, she gives up, shaking her head, handing it back to him, and saying, “What the fuck, sole.”

He raises an eyebrow. “That’s a new one for you.”

“My apologies. I do not mean to offend, I am merely practicing. Please, rest assured that I am not attempting to protest your company, nor-”

He holds up a hand to quiet her with a soft sigh. “Who put you up to this?”

“No one,” she says, but she’s not a good liar.

“Curie, I’m not trying to start trouble. I’m just curious.”

“Well,” she sighs, “if you insist, it was Monsieur Gage’s idea. I am trying to seem more intimidating. Is it working?”

He looks over this small, unassuming girl, with her cute little accent and wide, bright eyes, and quickly determines there is nothing in this world that could make her seem intimidating.At least, not with any of Gag’es methods.

“Maybe talk to X6 instead,” he suggests. “His methods might be more suited to you.”

Her eyes light up, and she nods enthusiastically. “Oh, that is a most excellent idea!”

He smiles at her excitement, knowing full well that X6 probably won’t do anything to help her. Still, anything to keep her away from Gage, right?

Preston: “And so they we are,” Curie says to him, “in the labs, and sole says to me, ‘Don’t worry, I already cleared out all the mole rats.’ Of course, I have not been there, so I believe them.”

“Oh, no,” he chuckles, already seeing where this is going.

“Oh, no, indeed, because out of nowhere, one of the mothers jumps from the ground and latches right onto my fucking face!”

Even as he laughs, he raises an eyebrow. It’s not like Curie to cuss, and in fact, he’s pretty sure she’s never done it around him before.

“Trying something new with the language?” he asks. “I hope you didn’t pick that up from Gage.”

He’d noticed the two of them talking, and the way Curie turns bright red only confirms his suspicions.

“I just-”

He just shakes his head. “I’m sure you’ve got your reasons, but be careful who you hang out with, Curie. Gage isn’t a good influence on anyone.”

She nods. “I will… keep that in mind.”

“I know you will.” He pats her shoulder, smiling. “You’re a good person, Curie. just a little naive. Nothing wrong with that.”

X6: The idea of being around Curie is still very uncomfortable to him. All of his training dictated that he should be bringing her in, like any rogue synth. Every time he saw her, it felt like a warning bell went off in his head, along with a voice screaming, “Get her!”

But that wasn’t what sole wanted. They wanted all their friends to play nice together, and so that was what he was going to do. So when Curie bounced up to him with her typical enthusiasm, the only move he made toward her was a subtle nod to indicate that he’d seen her.

“Monsieur, might I have a moment of your time?”

“Very well. I have some duties to attend at a weapon workbench, but we can talk on the way there.”

She smiles unnervingly brightly, falling into step beside him as he strides toward the work area. For a moment, all is quiet.

Then, Curie trips.

It’s not a hard fall. No blood drawn, no real injury other than perhaps some damaged pride, but it’s her reaction that gets him.

“Fuck,” she spits, with a degree of hostility he didn’t think her capable of. She rocks back on her toes to dust off her hands, glaring at the ground. “Fucking sidewalk. I simply must tell sole this needs fixing when they return. It is a hazard.”

“I thought you didn’t curse,” he says plainly. “Something about old world manners.”

“Ah, yes. That is what I wanted to talk to you about” She stands, straightening her shirt. “It has come to my attention that I am not a very intimidating figure, and that establishing myself as such would be beneficial. I have begun incorporating new behaviors to aid this, however, I think it would be best to ask your advice. You are quite intimidating, non?”

“So I’ve been told. What advice have you been given?”

“I should say ‘fuck’ more often. Swearing is intimidating.”

He raises an eyebrow over the edge of his sunglasses. “Is that the only word you know?”

She glances down, clearly embarrassed, a blush of red creeping over her face. “Well, yes, it is the only one I know how to use properly. The context of many of these words eludes me, I am afraid.”

He allows himself a chuckle at the idea. Trying to cuss with only one word? That’s like trying to modify your gun with only a screwdriver: ineffective and bound to fail. “If you want to be intimidating, I can help. A lot of it revolves around your behaviors and how you carry yourself, but there are a few attributes we can start with.”

“Ah, most excellent!”

“Start by getting yourself a set of these.” He taps his sunglasses. “People fear you when they can’t see your eyes. When they can’t tell what you’re thinking. The unknown is always more frightening than the familiar.”

“Glasses, yes, understood. I will talk to sole.”

“Second, we’ll need to expand your list of curses. One is not going to be nearly enough.”

“Monsieur Gage did not say anything about that.”

“Gage is an idiot,” he replies. “I’m shocked you went to him for help at all.”

“He more or less confronted me.”

“Well, let’s expand your list with one of my favorites: shit.”

She nods enthusiastically, and X6 catches himself thinking that this might not be so bad.

[daughterofelros]

Hey so I saw your post about Alex and his resilience and how he's rate on a scale and how this relates to his childhood trauma etc and was really curious to know/understand more on the topic and how it manifests with alex but also you mentioned rosa? And the other characters too. If you're happy to elaborate otherwise no worries of course. What interpretations do you make from what we've seen on screen? ☺

Oh my gosh Nonnie, thank you for the juicy, delicious ask!

The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Commonly abbreviated to CD-RISC) measures, in its full version, 25 different statements. Some of the ones that stand out to me in thinking about a bunch of the RNM characters include being able to adapt and change, having close and secure relationships, able to make unpopular/difficult decisions, know where to get help, but they’re all pretty important.

As established in my earlier assessment, Alex Manes = Super Resilient, and that definitely has an effect on the ways he handles the traumas he’s faced over his life.

Let me dive into Rosa little bit more first— Rosa, despite not enduring the specific type of abuse that Alex and Michael did as kids, might actually score in a lower percentile than either of those characters on the resilience scale. Part of this is because adverse childhood experiences, though cumulative, aren’t exactly ranked and scaled. Trauma impacts people differently, and you can’t really say whether growing up feeling abandoned by an alcoholic parent in an otherwise supportive context, or never having a safe parental figure, or having a parent die will impact someone “worse”—they’re all adversity, and they all have an impact on our health and capacity for resilience. (Also, inequality isn’t a fixed experience in our brains—for more reading on how weird our brains are in this regard, check out “The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die”  by Keith B Payne).So Rosa definitely has adverse childhood experiences that impact her relationships. At the point when we’re first introduced to her, she’s probably in about the worst place she could be there—Her friendships are being proven to be based on what drugs she can score, her relationship with her mother is shredded, and she’s just learned that Arturo isn’t her father. Even though Arturo’s love and support for her wouldn’t budge an inch, she feels separated from the most supportive relationship in her life, and she’s spiraling. She struggles to adapt, her coping mechanisms mess with her brain chemistry where she’s already contending with dopamine issues due to the mental illness she’s battling , and it’s pretty clear that she doesn’t have a strong read on where to get help (Though she’s willing to accept it—Valenti’s help getting clean, having met once with a therapist, leaning into her artwork).  Pressure doesn’t make her think very clearly, and she doesn’t seem like she takes high levels of pride in her achievements, or trust that she can achieve her goals if she works for them. Traumas are going to hit her hard. They’re not going to roll off her back easily. When she comes back to life, she gets a partial reset button, and handles some big trauma pretty well…but she also is terrified of messing it up, and breaks down if anything gets derailed (see: “I Ruined my Miracle”). I’d say she’s doing a great job coping with what she’s got…but her resilience score isn’t the highest. Things hit her hard.

Let’s look at Michael then. He’s got every reason why his resilience score might not be high. He’s dealt with so damn much. But the thing that’s helped him get through is that his resilience score actually seems like it would be pretty well up there. He doesn’t have good parental figure relationships (understatement of the year)—But he’s got a couple of relationships (Max and Isobel) that won’t abandon him, no matter how he pushes, even when everything is burning around them. Michael clearly believes that working toward goals means he can achieve them. He’s been trying to build the spaceship to take him back home since he was, like, eight. That’s goal-oriented right there! He’s not going to score well in the “getting help” vector at all, but he does work extremely well under pressure (his genius increases when he’s pissed off). Michael also clearly believes that he can deal with whatever comes his way, he ultimately doesn’t give up when things look hopeless (alien pacemaker in 7 hours), and I’d bet my bottom dollar that he would agree that coping with stress has made him stronger. He’d probably rank himself pretty high on the “Can make difficult or unpopular decisions” factor—choosing to take the blame and protect Isobel, volunteering to be the alien who gets turned into the authorities…there are flaws in his reasoning on the last one, and definitely some internalized feelings of his life not being as important…but he shows a clear propensity for being willing to make unspeakably challenging decisions. He probably won’t rank high in the “Pride in my achievements” vector, and that hits up against the things he’s internalized from the ACES he’s had piled on him—from childhood abuse and abandonment right up to Jesse Manes, crippling injury, and covering up murders. His resilience is high, but he’s coping with a lot, and he doesn’t have as many tools to keep coping as, say, Alex does.  We can also see that there’s a pretty debilitating impact when he shifts to the knowledge that his Mom was alive and he watched her die… and then starts to question why she didn’t take him out of the Pod to be with her in 1947. He starts to have thoughts about abandonment that he hadn’t had when he just thought his Mom died in the crash…and that paired with Max’s death really, really throws him. He rejects connections that have ever been tied up in pain and abandonment, and we see him spiraling. His resilience definitely dips when those circumstances occur…and as we see him trust in some of his relationships again, we see his ability to cope return as well. With the right tools and support, he can actually do a lot of healing yet too.

Isobel probably scores pretty high on the scale at the beginning of season 1. She’s had some adverse childhood experiences from waking up from the pods, from being attacked in the desert as a teen., but she’s made it through all of that without a ton of trauma responses (given that the blackouts turned out to be mind control) She’s confident in her goals, her relationships, she’s strong in her decision-making, she believes she’s built herself a good life. She has a supportive family, Max is her person, she’s got Michael, and her husband is amazingly supportive. We don’t see much in the way of friends, but she’s got a Boss-Ass support structure. Until she realizes she doesn’t. That Noah is a thread of rot through all of it, and she’s been deceived on an inconceivable level. And then she loses Max.

Isobel at the beginning of Season 2 would fill this assessment out very, very differently. And the sharp drop in some of the factors of her resilience really make her struggle. Her confidence in herself as a strong person is deeply under review, and she’s leaning a little hard into the god-like powers aspect of herself. Knocking Rosa out with a book is a really alarming manifestation of how her reasoning and coping skills are out of alignment. She’d probably use it as evidence for her ability to make unpopular decisions though. She’d score really high in the vector regardless though—because choosing to terminate a pregnancy in a town like Roswell…that takes so damn much resilience, ability to make decisions under pressure, etc.  She’s still got the resilience that comes from her goal setting and working for things she values though—her training with her powers shows that pretty clearly.

Isobel definitely isn’t going to score high in the “Knows where to get help” vector though. She refuses therapy, refuses help from family, doesn’t seek medical assistance, and almost dies as a result of her abortion, when she would have had all kinds of support from people around her if she’d been able to reach out. Even when she’s struggling, she has a history of resilience to draw on though.

Let’s talk Cam for a moment—we don’t have a lot of info on her childhood, but Cam actually seems to be a character with high scores across the board—for only having 2 years in Roswell, she forms connections pretty readily, goes to people for help, is focused on goals, takes pride in her work. She handles most things with aplomb, and isn’t easily manipulated. Jesse Manes has to work pretty hard on her to get her to bat an eyelash. That’s particularly interesting given the relationship that resilience has in attenuating depression effects and PTSD effects on people with combat experience.

Max is hard to talk about, because we don’t know a lot about where he is this season, and what the trauma of dying and being kept in a pod in constant pain is going to do to him. He seems reasonably able to deal with the hardships he’s faced prior to this, shows a propensity to be able to make unpopular decisions, and is probably the character who is most consistently and intentionally shown investing in relationships. I’d imagine that his resistance score is at least in the middling percentiles. Max is also pretty much the character it’s hardest to wrap my brain around when I’m writing, so that’s why I think I struggle in guessing how he’d assess himself here too.

Kyle is so interesting, because he’s a character who seems to know himself really well, and has maybe also changed the most over 10 years. Kyle these days really values and invests in his relationships—His Mom, Liz, rebuilding a friendship with Alex, trusting Cam. He’s dedicated in pursuing goals, takes pride in his accomplishments, has a reasonably good idea of where to seek help, works well under pressure. He’s had a lot of advantages in life, and while med school definitely tests his resilience and endurance, I don’t know how much his resilience has had to help him get through trauma before this.  I do know that the scene where he almost buys a gun is one of my favorites, because it shows him trying to cope with crisis and handle a lot of stress. I don’t think we’ve seen a full enough arc of how he’s coping yet though—I think there’s more to come.

Maria DeLuca strikes me as scoring relatively high on resilience assessments (or at least the high end of mid-to-upper range). She’s caring for a mother with dementia, runs a business, and deals with racism and misogyny in a town like Roswell, which it’s well-established is renowned for both of those things. Maria has really strong relationships—her Mother is a huge priority, her friends matter deeply to her (fandom drama over ships aside, and whether Alex should forgive her for dating Michael or not, Maria in canon expresses a lot of care for her friends, worries if she’s hurt them, and forgives when she’s hurt herself). She’s close with Arturo, she visits Rosa’s grave once a month. She does a lot of giving, not a lot of getting back, and feels pretty shaken when she’s deceived, but she still has a lot of stable relationships to lean into. She’s…not great at asking for help, or letting on that she needs it- she tries to go everything alone. But she also problem-solves, she pursues her goals, she believes that you get what you work for  (“No one ever accused me of a lack of hustle”),  and she doesn’t give up when she feels hopeless.  She’s probably middle of the road on handling unpleasant feelings—some she handles well, some she reacts intensely to, some she buries. It seems like when a crisis happens, she’s conflicted and struggling in the moment, but processes through things in a reasonably short time. I’d say one of the places that she doesn’t score that high on is the ability to adapt to change. She gets there eventually, but that’s where she struggles the most. The thing is, because of what she’s faced with in daily life, she’s constantly utilizing her resilience. It’s something she leans on all the time.

Liz is brilliant, and amazing, and it’s kind of hard for me to parse this out for her. Strong relationships, she’s got those. She’s great at adapting, great at problem-solving and pursuing her goals. She sees herself as strong, faces challenges, sees the humor in things, bounces back from setbacks, honestly, she would score pretty well in every category. I think there’s pretty clear evidence that with all the things she’s accomplished and all the things she’s endured, Liz Ortecho is a wellspring of resilience, and it definitely attenuates the long-term negative effects she might face from her experiences. She faces some of the same adverse childhood experiences that her sister does, but reacts very differently. Their resilience—despite the similarity of their contexts for nurture—differs substantially…and that’s even before we add in the trauma of Rosa’s death that Liz contends with.

Overall, the characters on this show are a resilient bunch. I’m watching some other shows right now as I make masks for my community, and it strikes me that most of the RNM characters would score higher on the CD-RISC assessment than the characters on those other TV shows (many of whom hold a relatively large amount of privilege).

But notably, the characters on RNM strike me as far more like the people who move through my community every day. Overwhelmingly, my community is comprised of queer people, people of color, homeless and unaccompanied youth, people dealing with mental health issues, sexual assault survivors, abuse survivors, folks with PTSD and DID, and people who would be considered low-socioeconomic status. My community is made up almost entirely of people who deal with adverse experiences, and had intense adverse childhood experiences. Resilience is the norm. Resilience ends up being a key word in almost every letter of recommendation I write. And one of the reasons I love RNM so much is that the characters are brought to life quite realistically. There’s a lot of different truths from experience, and a lot of different paths to similar truth. But overwhelmingly, their responses to these impossible events are grounded in realistic depictions. When it comes to character development, this might just be some of the best writing I’ve ever seen on TV. And for a show that’s solidly in the sci-fi realm…it’s possibly the most realistic show I’ve ever seen.

[gra-sonas]

I am not sure if you have been asked already if you have you can link to your answer if not what would you say you are most excited for in season 2? and then what would you say you are least excited for?

Hi nonnie!

I talked about some of it  in this post, but now that we’re closer to the S2 premiere (62 days), I tried to write down a little more (esp. about other characters than Alex *ahem*). THIS GOT LONG

Liz

Liz will have A LOT on her plate this season. She’s lost Max and got Rosa back in return. That’s some grade A emotional whiplash! It’ll be interesting to see how the new dynamic  between the sisters will be (Liz is the younger sister, but she’s the  older one now, that should be interesting!). We know from several BTS pics/vids this year (thanks, Trevino!), that Liz will work at the  Crashdown quite a bit (I wonder what that means in regards to a job in the field of biomedical engineering?). I also expect her to figure out a way to bring Max back (does she have/get a lab, will there be another underground bunker, will she work at Michael’s bunker???).

In the trailer Liz was seen with Jenna (😍) who showed her how to use a weapon. WHY IS LIZ LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT??? 😱 How is her relationship with her dad, will she tell him about Rosa (not just that she’s back, but also the bit about where Jim Valenti is Rosa’s biological dad? Or does Arturo already know???).  And what role does Liz’s mom play when she comes to visit? Oh, and how/when does she figure out how to bring back Max? So many questions, and I can’t wait to find out.

Rosa

Rosa’s return is one of very, VERY few things I liked about 1x13. I’m so excited she’s back and can’t wait to get to know her properly in S2. She’ll have a lot to deal with (”I’m a ghost.” is what she says in the trailer, that implies that she has to stay hidden, at least early on!). She’s still a recovering alcoholic and addict, and then there’s this whole thing of being alive again after a decade of… well, a decade of what? Noah put her in his pod, the same pod he said didn’t keep him in stasis properly. What does that mean for Rosa? Noah’s in a scene with Rosa in the trailer, is that a flashback? Was she ‘alive’ in the pod, or was she actually dead and didn’t feel a thing? How will her dad react? How’s her relationship with Liz going to develop? How ‘delighted’ will she be to interact with Kyle, her half-brother? I can’t wait to find out about all of that!

Isobel

My girl Isobel! She’s gonna have a lot to deal with in S2. First and foremost there’s Max’s death, which - given that they are sharing a very special psychic bond - I would imagine will be super hard for her to handle. In 1x13 we also saw her ‘unlock’ a new (new to her) power. Is that something she’ll try to develop further in the hopes of bringing Max back? Will she work with Liz? Will she unlock other powers? How will she approach dealing with the severe trauma of Noah betraying and (ab)using her? Will she go to therapy? Pretend like  everything is okay and try to figure it out on her own? Go to Kyle and talk to him? Go to Alex (PLEASE, LET HER GO TO ALEX)? Is she the one who’ll identify as ‘not straight’ at the end of S2? I’m absolutely STOKED for Isobel’s journey, especially bc Lily’s the coolest who also gives Carina ideas and talks to her about Isobel a lot. This is going to be so good!!!

Maria

Maria’s the character that had the least development in S1. She didn’t have  much of a storyline of her own, and mostly served as a catalyst for other character’s stories. I hope that will fundamentally change in S2. Carina’s said that they’ll dive into Maria’s family history this season, meaning that we’ll hopefully find out more about the necklace she’s wearing, its powers, and what part her family played after the UFO crash in 1947. What’s the DeLuca family legacy, and what do they know about aliens? When will Maria find out about aliens, and how will she react - not just about the fact that aliens exist, but that everyone close to her kept it from her for so long? Will be interesting to see what they’re doing with Maria this season. 

Max

Will probably stay dead for at least some of S2, he’ll probably be brought back halfway through S2? The when and how of bringing him back is one thing, interesting will also be, how Max is. Is he the same as before? Or did the use of that much power to bring Rosa back cost him. A part of his soul? His memories? Something else? Some people mentioned dark!Max could be an option, that could be really cool.

Kyle

My boo Kyle!!! I want nothing but good things to happen to Dr. McSexy. I hope his friendship with Alex continues to blossom and grow, I can’t wait for more brilliant and hilarious one-liners and quips (Kyle had the best lines in S1, and Trevino delivered every single one to perfection!), there’s at least one Kyliz kiss in his future, and while I know they’ll never be endgame (😢), I’ll enjoy it while it lasts (here’s me shallowly hoping for some good recreational s e x for the good doctor, though I do hope he doesn’t get his heart broken.

Michael

It’ll be SO hard to see Michael spiral. :( He’s got so many things to deal with, and I’m worried how long his ‘free fall’ will last before he’s able to stabilize? Caulfield and Max’s death will be super hard on him, Iz will be busy getting her own life in order, and while I hope Liz and Michael will work together to bring Max back, it remains to be seen if Michael’s even up for it. I’m just glad to know that Alex is around, solid as a rock, not going anywhere, and I hope Michael will allow him to be there for him. ‘Only’ as a friend for now, but that’s what S2′s supposed to be about, Alex and Michael becoming friends. They still love each other (SO MUCH 🥺), they still have this cosmic bond, and I hope that despite them not being together (as ‘in a relationship), they’ll steadily move towards getting back together.

Special wish: should the ‘Alex gets kidnapped’ story line happen, I can’t WAIT for tornado!Michael to do everything in his power(s) to bring him back. And should there be a reason for Michael to put a handprint on Alex, I WANT IT!!!

Alex

Unsurprisingly, I’m most looking forward to all things Alex next season. And I really mean ALL things. Just seeing him will spark joy. I’m also prepared to worry about him. A LOT. First of all, he’ll re-enlist again. Staying in the Air Force enables him to get access to important information, which hopefully helps to keep Michael, Iz and Max safe, but what a price to pay… :/

I’m looking forward to the developing friendship between Alex and Michael, for the friendship between Alex and Kyle to grow, and I want a friendship between Alex and Isobel like almost nothing else in S2! I’m looking forward to BAMF!Alex who left nice in the Middle East and is ready to take on the fight with his father. I’m looking forward to interactions between Alex and his brothers (soooo curious about all things Manes Brothers!). I’m anxious to see how he’ll react to M/M (I really hope they won’t make him pretend it’s no big deal, or ‘forgive’ like it’s nothing that Maria went behind his back…), I hope to see Alex’s disability be more ‘visible’ again than during the latter half of S1. I wish his PTSD and what it means for him would be more visible and addressed but that might not happen. And then there’s of course BUFFYYYY! I’m prepared to sob my way through their first encounter. I’m so, so happy he gets to have her! ❤️

Buffy

I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET THIS VERY GOOD GIRL!!!!! 😍

What I hope for

A season that expands the RNM universe without losing focus of our main characters. Reveals of important alien history. Friendships developing. I hope that the influence of the large number of queer, POC, and female people working in the writers room and behind the camera will have a really positive influence on how S2 comes together.

I also hope for S2 to end on a positive/hopeful note for Malex. I hope they won’t be in relationships with other people going into S3, and I hope there’ll be a real chance for them to get back together in S3.

Despite them not being together in S2, I still hope for a kiss (OR SEVERAL, DON’T HOLD BACK ON MY ACCOUNT). I can’t go an entire season without them kissing 🥺🥺🥺

More characters  + some DNWs below the cut

Jenna

My girl Jenna! Gosh, I love her, and I can’t wait to see her again. I’m also hoping she’ll be in more than one episode. I want to know more about Charlie, I want to see more of my favorite sleuthing trio Jenna/Alex/Kyle. Just… give me aaaaaall the Jenna content!

Mimi

I hope we’ll learn more about her, her history with Jesse, and her potential history with aliens. What does Mimi know, did an alien ‘give’ her dementia? Is there a cure?

Steph

Steph (played by Justina Adorno) is a new character we haven’t met yet. According to Justina, “Steph is sassy. She is the Head of Surgery’s daughter. She’s a smart educated girl with a little sass“. So we don’t have much to work with yet, but ‘Head of Surgery’s daughter’ implies, that she might meet Kyle first (at the hospital)? Will she be in on the alien secret, or play a different role? Either way, I’m always excited for more female characters!

Grace Powell

I couldn’t be more excited about Jamie Clayton in Roswell, she’s brilliant and I want her around for more than just 2-3 episode. Hope she’s one of the good guys!

Mara & Louise

Mara (Michael’s mom) and Louise (likely Isobel’s and Max’s mom) are two characters we’ll meet in flashbacks to 1947. I’m excited to find out more about the aliens who crashed, where they are from, I hope the flashbacks will fill out some blanks. I’m also very curious to find out how they’ll incoroprate the flashbacks in general. Are these memories Isobel and Michael manage to unlock? Are there videos in the Caulfield files? Do they find old diaries in 2018 and they play out on screen?

Jesse

May he get what he deserves in S2 (AND I WANT ALEX TO BE THE LAST THING HE EVER SEES, PREFERABLY ALEX KISSING MICHAEL)

Arturo

No one, and I mean really absolutely NO ONE is allowed to mess with Papi Ortecho. (ง︡’-‘︠)ง  (ง︡’-‘︠)-o  (ง︡’-‘︠)ง Liz needs him, Rosa needs him,I need him. He better be healthy and well by the end of S2!

Jason Behr’s character

No idea who he’s going to play, probably someone from the 1947 timeline? Or someone who could be dangerous for the Pod Squad in 2018?

Wyatt Long

He’ll be in at least one episode, maybe more? What is he going to do if he ever finds out Rosa’s back???

For[r]est

Hopefully a good guy, and good for Alex. Still not eager to see this unfold on screen tho…

Manes Brothers

Ahhhhh, I’m actually super excited for Gregory Manes, and also for more Flint! I hope we’ll find out more about them, about their dynamics, who’s older/younger, how it was when they were little, and even though we won’t meet their mom this season, I hope we’ll hear sth about her (and why she left). I also hope that at least one of them will be in Alex’s corner, I’d also be in favor of a redemption arc for Flint, just putting that out there.

DNW

Any and all M/M & A/F “love” triangle stuff. I don’t want it and I wish it wasn’t part of S2. Alas, it will be and I just hope M/M will end quickly, and A/F is nothing but a fling. Ugh, I don’t want any of this 😩 My absolute nightmare would be for both ‘relationships’ to last into S3.

Extensive flashbacks to 1947 that take away precious screen time I’d rather see dedicated to characters in 2018.

Episodes that had to be edited extensively to fit 42 minutes (still mourning every little scene they had to cut from S1 episodes, even though we’ll never know what and how much got cut from each ep, it just was A LOT for some episodes)

Too much focus on the overall ‘murder mystery’ plot (or whatever we’ll get this year) . I’d much rather see the characters grow and interact with each other (more group scenes would be nice).

Another trash fire of a final episode like 1x13. Of course there will be a cliffhanger, and this time we know that we’ll definitely get another season, but still. Another season finale leaving the characters - and therefore us - in such a bad place would be the absolute worst. We’ve barely made it through this hiatus, I don’t think this fandom could handle another one with so much uncertainty, heartbreak, and dread of what’s to come in S3.

In case you’ve made it until the very end of this post, thank you, and thanks for your ask!!! Hope you’re having a great day, nonnie!  ✨💚👽

[erisgregory]

Satellite Call 6

cross posted to AO3

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019) Relationship: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes Characters: Michael Guerin, Alex Manes Additional Tags: Michael is an Escort, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Shameless Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary: Alex is home from the air force but finds he is as lonely as ever. He engages an escort one night under a pseudonym and when the escort arrives it’s his high school love, Michael Guerin. Thankfully for both of them Michael is a professional. However one night couldn’t possibly make up for all they’ve missed. Can they keep an ongoing relationship professional? Can they learn to trust that there is something more than this transaction between them?

Michael has had a shit night. Granted it had started out on a high note, plotting with Isobel to go give Liz Ortecho a piece of their minds, but it had ended badly and he still wasn’t over it the next morning. Threatening Liz was definitely the right move, he needed to get a feel for her. What type of person was she? Was she likely to spill their secret? Was she scared of them? Those questions needed answers. Getting caught by Max, though, had not been the plan.

Max is pissed, fine. Michael is pissed too and so is Isobel. Max is playing fast and loose with their lives. What’s worse is he’s so enamoured with Liz that he can’t see what he’s doing. He thinks everything will be fine because he completely trusts Liz. Which is crazy! Liz has been gone for ten years. None of them know what kind of person she is yet. Not even Max. But there was no telling the man.

So Michael spent the night out on the ranch, not in his trailer, but where he used to go as a kid, to wait. To hope that there was someone out there looking for him, coming back to get him, to take him home. He knows now it won’t be his mother, and he’s sure it won’t be anyone else from the crash, but maybe, somewhere, there’s still someone looking.

He doesn’t really have hope. It’s more a habit and a way to comfort himself when times get tough and things are as tough as they’d been just now. He laid in the back of his truck and looked up at the stars, wondering for the millionth time just where they’d come from. As usual the stars held no answers.

Needless to say, things are still shit the next morning and they are about to get worse because there’s someone in uniform outside his Airstream when he finally gets home and he’s pretty sure it’s Alex.

It is Alex, he sees when he finally pulls up and parks. Alex is taping some paper to the door of the Airstream. Michael hops out and comes around the truck.

“You keep showing up like this, I’m gonna start thinking you like me.” He says, a twist to his lips. He knows exactly what he’s implying.

Alex doesn’t seem phased by him at all. “The sale of the ranch went through, this land is now property of the U.S. government. You have twenty four hours to move out.”

Michael grabs him by the lapel of his fatigues and slowly draws him forward so he can lean in and whisper, “Why don’t you tell Uncle Sam I’ll think about it?”

“Guerin.” Alex says looking down at his hand then grabs it, pulling it off of him. “What happened at the reunion can not happen again. None of it can happen again. Okay?”

Michael looks away with a sigh before looking back at Alex. So it was going to be like that then? Not only are they not kissing, but nothing else either.

“What happened? I was pretty wasted.” He says.

Alex shakes his head and has the nerve to look disgusted. “Just move your trailer.”

“What’s the Air Force want with the land anyway?” Michael asks him as he’s walking away. “It’s the third dairy ranch you’ve shut down.”

Alex turns, leaning on his cane. “We’re building a new facility.”

“Well, isn’t there some law about building on a historical site?”

“What do you mean a historical… Oh because the UFO crashed here? Yeah,” Alex says with a chuckle, “We’re not supposed to build on top of Santa’s workshop, either.” Then he turns to go.

Michael knows it’s stupid to be hurt by such a harmless offhand comment, but it still stings. It’s just another reminder of the differences that are keeping them apart, the worlds that lie between them. He watches until Alex drives off then turns to go into his Airstream. He tries sleeping because what else would he do after a night of laying awake, but sleep doesn’t come. He’s got too much on his mind and too much of that is Alex and Foster Ranch.

So he decides to head to the Wild Pony. Because why not? He knows where he’s gonna move already, it’s not like it’ll take long to do, and day drinking is sort of his thing anyway. He can get lost in a bottle and stop thinking about his life and how he’s sure Alex isn’t going to engage him any more for his services after that illicit kiss they’d shared at the reunion. Why though? Was he that repugnant?

No, he couldn’t think about it, he needed to drink. Everything was going according to plan until Isobel showed up.

“Ohh, why are you here?” He asks, not really wanting the answer.

“I love this bar.” She tells him and that’s certainly news to him.

“You said this bar was as disgusting as a senator’s sex life.” He points out.

She takes a breath and drops the fake smile. “Max is shutting me out. I thought… maybe you could talk to him.”

Michael doesn’t answer her right away so she tries again. “Something is wrong with him, Michael. And when that happened the last time, you were the only one he would open up to.”

“As you can see, I’m very busy.” Michael says, lifting a bottle of nail polish remover before looking around to see if anyone was looking. Then he poured it into his drink.

“I heard they’re shutting down the Foster ranch. Is that why we’re day brooding? You’re gonna get another job.” Isobel says. “Maybe one that’s not on the site of a crash that killed our family members in a fiery explosion.” She takes his glass and takes a drink.

“Oh. I like it there. I always have. When I was a kid. Nights when I had to get away from whatever crap home I was in, I would hitch a ride to Foster Homestead Ranch.” He admits.

“So what would you do out there all by yourself at night?” Isobel asks, turning to him.

“Wait. Figured that was the last place I saw my family, maybe they’d be back. Or maybe, maybe somebody would come and take me home. Ah for a genius,” he takes another swig of his drink, “I was a real dumbass.”

Isobel didn’t have anything to say to that. She was quiet for a moment and Michael thought maybe she had given up. Until she ordered her own drink. Then he knew she was in it for the long haul.

She followed him over to the pool tables and Michael didn’t know what else they could say to each other. Max wasn’t exactly listening to him lately, was he?

“Go home, Isobel.” He tried.

“I’m not leaving until you agree to talk to Max.” She said stubbornly. He just shook his head at her. “Come on. This is the perfect opportunity for your guys to get over all the ugly history of the last decade and be friends again.”

“Max and I were never meant to be friends.” He said still shaking his head.

“We’re family.” Isobel said instead.

“No. We’re not. We all just happened to hitch the same doomed ride on the same intergalactic titanic. The day Mr. and Mrs. Evans walked into that group home, and they-they picked you two, and they left me behind. That was decided.” Michael told her plainly.

“Max has his entire life trying to make up for that one awful moment. It wasn’t his fault. We were seven.” She hissed.

“He was a grown-ass man last week when he chose Liz over us, Isobel.” Michael retorted.

Behind them Wyatt Long and his buddies were talking about the shooting at the crashdown. They were joking about it saying they should do more than just shoot out some light bulbs. They decided they needed to send those illegals back where they came from.

Isobel grabbed Michael by the sleeve. “They’re going to the Crashdown. If something happens to Arturo or Liz…”

Michael cut her off. “I’m sure Deputy Evans will come to the rescue.”

“Yeah, exactly, he’ll lose it.” She said. “He’s not himself right now Michael. I don’t want him to do something he can’t take back.”

Michael knew she was right to be worried and he hung his head in defeat.

“Yes, Max risked our lives to save Liz. Okay? I am mad too. But she was dying…”

“Mmm.” Michael hummed softly, nodding sarcastically.

“Right in front of him. Come on, Michael, is there really nobody in this world that you wouldn’t risk everything to save?” When Michael looked away she sad. “Sad.” she said, then she turned to leave.

Michael eyes searched the bar and found that one person. Alex. Their eyes met across the bar for just a moment. Alex’s smile faded and he looked down, breaking eye contact with Michael. Maybe Michael could imagine what Max must have felt, but he certainly wasn’t ready to say that out loud and it didn’t change how stupid Max was being.

Even so, he followed Isobel out to the parking lot. He couldn’t just leave Max in trouble, not if there was something he could do about it.

He almost didn’t make it in time. He found Max down the alley choking the guy and using his powers to try and kill him. Michael pulled Max off with his own power, and threw him back away from Wyatt.

Unfortunately Wyatt had seen it all, luckily for everyone involved, though, Isobel is there with her taser. Wyatt Long is out like a light.

“He was gonna kill him.” Michael tells Isobel.

“He killed Liz!” Max says. “Okay. She was dead right in front of me, nd he came back to finish her dad off. People like him don’t stop. They don’t change.”

“So that makes you judge, jury, and executioner.” Michael nods as he says this.

“Michael!” Isobel stops him from saying more. “This isn't you Max. Something has been wrong with you for days. I can feel it, and so can you.”

“You’re right.” Max agrees softly. “Ever since I healed Liz there’s been this poison inside me. I… I don’t know.”

Michael takes off his hat and walks to sit by Max. The three of them will need to figure something out, but just then, none of them had any answers.

Eventually Max tells them he has something to do and they let him go on home. Isobel is still worried though. She pleads with Michael again.

“Talk to Max, see if he’ll explain what he’s feeling in a way that will make sense.” She says.

Michael tells her he’ll work on it and they part ways. Then he goes home and crashes. After being up more than twenty four hours it makes sense. He does check his email before bed and there’s nothing there.

The next morning he’s finishing packing. Everything is down off the walls and into boxes. The pieces of the ship are tucked away neatly as well. He doesn’t have many belongings, but those are what matter most. He finds some old high school pictures that he flips through quickly. There’s one of him and Alex with guitars and without consciously thinking about it, he looks at his ruined hand. He missed being able to lose himself in music.

As he’s loading the last of his belongings into his truck, Alex pulls up. Michael doesn’t think he can handle Alex just then, but he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“Where are you gonna go?” Alex asks as he comes up to the truck.

Michael doesn’t turn around at first. “Tennessee.”

“Really?” Alex asks.

“No. No, there are a couple of people who still need me here. Pick up, uh, work at the junkyard till I figure something else out.” Michael tells him. He continues to load the truck not wanting to look at Alex for too long. He’s too vulnerable.

“Good.” Alex says softly.

“Good?” Michael asks. He leans back against the truck, confused and hurt.

“I spent the night with some old friends. Made me think about… I don’t know. Who I was when this started. Before I went to war.” Alex says haltingly.

“Where I stand nothing’s changed.” Michael’s lips purse. He doesn’t want everything to come flooding out.

Alex laughs without humor. “Yeah. Including the way you look at me. That’s a problem for me, Guerin. ‘Cause every time you look at me, I’m seventeen again. And I forget that the last ten years even happened. And then you look away and I remember all over again. And it almost kills me every time.”

“I never look away.” Michael shakes his head at Alex. “Not really.”

Alex seems to shake himself and turns to go, but instead of heading for his car, he’s heading for the Airstream. Michael grabs him by the arm. “What are you doing?” He asks.

But Alex doesn’t answer. They just stand there looking at each other and something inside clicks for Michael. He follows Alex in and closes the door behind them, locking it. Then he turns to Alex in the small space and Alex runs a hand down his chest before drawing him into a fiery kiss that knocks the wind out of him. He can’t think of anything except Alex in his arms.

He pulls back and just looks at Alex, looks his fill of him before pushing him down on the cramped little bed. He rips his shirt off before covering Alex and kissing him again. Alex is heat and desire and passion and he’s here. Right here. Michael can’t get enough of him. Can’t hardly believe they get to have this without money between them.

Michael strips Alex slowly, gives him time to remove his prosthetic, before diving back in, kissing a line down his body. They get their hands around each other, backs of their hands brushing with each stroke, it’s fast and hot and Michael has to bite his lips so he doesn’t come too fast.

“I need you,” Alex says softly and Michael wants to give him anything. Everything.

“You have me,” Michael promises. He reaches under the bed for lube and a condom. Alex takes the lube from him and starts prepping himself.

“I could do that.” Michael says.

Alex flashes him a smile. “You take too long.”

At that Michael huffs a laugh. “Fine, fine.” He rolls the condom on himself and when Alex is ready he rolls them over so he’s on top.

“This okay?” Alex asks him.

“Yeah.” Michael assures him.

“I’ll need a little support on this side.” Alex warns him, indicating his right side. Michael nods, he gets it.

Then Alex slicks Michael’s cock with some more lube before lining it up behind him. Michael watches as the emotions flutter across his face. And then he’s sinking down onto Michael, taking him in, in one long slide.

“Ahhh,” He sighs as he gets Michael fully seated inside him.

Michael has him by the hips, helping him keep his balance and his fingers tighten unconsciously at the soft sound he makes.

“You feel so good.” Alex whispers.

“You feel amazing.” Michael whispers back.

Then Alex begins to move his hips. First in a little rocking motion that sends tingles up and down Michael’s spine. Then he lifts his hips up and comes down with a small twist. It makes Michael’s mouth dry. He doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. Thankfully Alex leans down to kiss him and Michael gets lost between the feeling of Alex’s tongue in his mouth and Alex’s ass clenching down around him. It’s a heady mix and sooner than he’d like he’s teetering on the edge.

“I can’t last.” Michael tells him in between kisses. He reaches for Alex’s cock but Alex beats him to it, jerking himself off fast and hard.

“Don’t try.” Alex says.

It only takes moments but Alex starts to come over his hand between them and it drags Michael’s orgasm right out of him. He comes hard, pulsing deep inside of Alex.

Alex collapses beside him and Michael wraps him up in his arms, condom tossed somewhere toward to the trash hopefully. He really only cares about this. About Alex’s sleepy and sated expression. Michael thinks he should say something just then, but it sticks in his throat. They don’t talk but fall quickly asleep in each other’s arms.

[hazyheel]

WWE NXT 7/17/19 Review

Matt Riddle opened the show up, fist bumping everyone on his way to the ring whether they wanted it or not. He was going up against Arturo Ruas. The two did the classic MMA fist bump before the match, and had a very UFC-esque match as they started up. This was not nearly as one sided as you might think, with Riddle eating several strikes and getting caught in a couple submissions as the match went. But it only took one huge knee strike to put Ruas on the ground, following it up with a huge amount of ground and pound. 

After the match, Killian Dain re debuted in NXT, and beat the crap out of Riddle. He even gave Riddle a senton through the NXT stage, which was super cool. I didn’t see that coming, I knew he was back in NXT, but I didn’t know that this was how. Cool way to come in. 

Grade: B. Cool match and a cool debut. I don’t know who Ruas is, but he is promising. And a Matt Riddle and Killian Dain match would be awesome. I am really excited for that match. 

Backstage, we had the Street Profits cutting a promo in the dressing room, saying that Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly keep asking for a match with them. They said that the street profits run the NXT Tag division. Cool stuff.

Into the NXT Breakout Tournament, we had Dexter Lumis vs. Bronson Reed. Lumis was super creepy coming to the ring, while Reed just looked dangerous when he showed up. The two exchanged power moves, and Lumis quickly showed how agile he is by kipping up from a huge hit, and also being able to do a flip out of the ring. Lumis was still super creepy during the match, mostly because he licked Reed while having him in a cravat. At one point, Lumis looked for a swanton bomb, which Reed dodged, before giving him a back suplex, and then pulling the straps of his singlet down for a top tope splash.

Grade: B-. Reed didn’t really impress me here, but Lumis definitely did. He had some really cool character work, and impressed with his offense. He will be an awesome sadistic heel. I don’t know what Reed will be, there are enough big men who are bigger, and better. Maybe they just didn’t have chemistry, but I guess we will see later on. 

We then saw Tyler Breeze, who was in the middle of an interview where he was confronted by the forgotten sons. They said things have changed since he has been around, to which he responds “not everything, I remember you guys.” He asks if Jaxson Ryker is Buddy Murphy, so Ryker gets right up in his face. Breeze doesn’t look intimidated, and walks away.

Then we had Apollo Crews vs. Kushida, in an awesome throwback to when Crews was actually used. Crews was given a heroes welcome, and the two babyfaces started with a handshake. Kushida showed off his amazing technical ability, keeping Crews on the mat for a long time. Apollo showed off his strength advantage with a stalling vertical suplex, at one point only holding with one hand. Kushida worked over the arm as much as he could, softening Crews up for the sakuraba lock. Crews made sure to keep on Kushida with tough strikes and even some flying offense. As Crews went to the top rope, Kushida met him up there, and used a takedown from the arm to get Crews on the mat, and then tapped him out to the Sakuraba lock.

Grade: B. Fun match, great to see all of Crews’ moveset, and for him to be treated like an actual threat. Crews looked great here, and Kushida looked as good as he always does. Good stuff.

Keith Lee was then interviewed about his tenure in NXT, where he complained about not actually getting any opportunities. He hasn’t gotten a single title shot, and said that he wants to change that. To do so, he will have to take down Damian Priest in their match next week, so that he can prove how much he is worth. 

And in the main event, Adam Cole is having his SECOND championship defense, because he fought Akira Tozawa for it at the Evolve show last week. He cut a promo about how he has been travelling on a bit of a championship tour, showing everyone how good he is. Although he is the greatest NXT champion in history, but he will still be a fighting champion. And then he said he would defend it against one of the guys from Jonnny Gargano’s old wrestling school. His name is Twon Tucker I think. Cole said that this would be the opportunity of a lifetime, and he would do so on his own. Tucker said that it was too bad, because Gargano was with him. They didn’t get to have the championship match, as Johnny Gargano rushed the ring and beat down Adam Cole. The two brawled all over the arena, and eventually had to be seperated by referees. Not that that stopped Johnny, as he gave Cole a huge running crossbody off the stage and continued the attacked in the ring, nailing two superkicks and locking in the gargano escape. Cole was tapping while in the hold. 

Grade; B+. Really good stuff here. This feud is actually awesome, as they seem like they totally hate each other and would kill one another if they could. I am certainly not opposed to another match between the two, but I hope that they will get separated afterwards. Should be a great match. Also, cool of them to give some screen time to a guy who is still learning the ropes. Good for you Tucker. 

[eurolinguiste]

Engaging with the language that we’re learning in meaningful ways is not important to our learning the language, but also to staying motivated, connecting with the language, and learning more about the culture. 

Discovering music, podcasts, books, tv shows, and movies in Spanish is an amazing way to dive into the language. 

But how do you know just what native source material to choose?

Hopes high, you take to Google hoping to find great Spanish books or tv shows, but lo and behold, the majority of the suggested material is what we politely call ‘classic’. In other words, it’s old.

You wanted recommendations for songs, tv shows, books or podcasts in Spanish that are fresh, relevant and up-to-date. Not some list that’s been passed around by generations of Spanish learners without ever once getting an update.

Today, Tamara is here to help.

Today, I’m excited to share a post from Tamara Marie. She’s worked hard to curate this list of 10 Spanish books, 10 Spanish songs, 10 Spanish podcasts and 10 Spanish tv shows that are not only interesting and relevant, but they also contain language that is suitable for those at the beginning level all the way up to the advanced level with straightforward vocabulary.

Take it away, Tamara!

10 Spanish Songs for Spanish Language Learners

Latin music has a special place in my heart because it helped me to learn Spanish and shed my fear of speaking. Learning Spanish with music is a great strategy to learn proper pronunciation, new vocabulary, and understand the culture. And it doesn’t hurt that you’ll know the songs at your next party with Spanish-speaking friends.

Here are 10 songs I recommend for Spanish learners that will boost your vocabulary and give you a better understanding of Latino culture:

1. Stand By Me by Prince Royce

I’ll admit I usually don’t like translations of songs originally in English, but this bilingual version of Stand By Me by Prince Royce is pretty well done. The song is slow and is already translated for you since he switches seamlessly between Spanish and English, sometimes in the same line. A great song. (Note: If you don’t know the original by Ben E. King, check it out here.)

2. No Hago Ma’ Na’

This salsa by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico gives you a ton of examples of reflective verbs. You’ll just have to take a minute to get used to the accent, but once you do you’ll love the song. It makes me think about retiring and buying a beach house. (Note: Ma’ Na’ is Puerto Rican speak for “más nada”)

3. Ojala Que Llueva Café

You may have guessed from the title, but this merengue song by Juan Luis Guerra will help you practice the subjunctive. This song is about his hopes for bringing prosperity to el campo (the countryside) in the Dominican Republic.

4. Pedro Navaja

This is a classic salsa song by the iconic Ruben Blades. It tells a story that unfolds on the streets of New York. You’ll learn a lot of Spanish sayings and expressions in this song, and the story will keep you engaged until the end.

5. Despacito

This is a song by Luis Fonsi that you should know because of its popularity. The vocabulary isn’t exactly G-rated, so I wouldn’t recommend this song is you’re a teacher looking for a song to teach to your class. But the lyrics are flirty and fun, and you get bonus points if you can understand what Daddy Yankee is saying.

6. Obsesión

If you’re looking for a challenge, this classic bachata song by the now defunct group Aventura will definitely test your listening skills. The chorus is pretty simple to understand, but the lyrics tell a story that you’ll have to pay attention to closely to figure out what happens.

7. El Rey

I discovered this Vicente Fernandez song when I was at a party and found out that everyone knew this song but me. This is one of those cultural things that you probably wouldn’t get if you didn’t grow up in a Spanish-speaking household. So if you want to be in on the next sing-a-long, you’ll want to learn this one.

8. Cuando Salí de Cuba

This Celia Cruz song is a blast from the past. Its lyrics are slow, so you should be able to understand most of it. It gives you an emotional sense of how Cubans who left the island felt about their homeland. I think anyone who has moved or been homesick at some point can understand this feeling.

9. Nadie Como Ella

This Marc Anthony song is about a woman he’s enamored with (like most Marc Anthony songs). The language is on the informal side, but it’s a great song for Spanish learners because it’s pretty easy to understand the lyrics.

10. La Rebelión

This Joe Arroyo salsa song teaches you about Colombian history while making you want to dance at the same time, no easy feat. The song is about a slave rebellion in 17th century Cartagena.

10 Spanish Language Books

One of my favorite things to do when I’m driving is listening to audiobooks. And pairing up an audiobook with the written version can be a killer combo for improving your Spanish vocabulary. Books are great because they have rich vocabulary and stories that engage you. I’ve found a ton of great Spanish audiobooks on Audible.com. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Ágilmente by Estanislao Bachrach

This book’s subtitle says it all: learn how your brain functions to enhance your creativity and live better. This book gives a unique take on how our brains evolved and how to adapt to modern life.

2. Stranger by Jorge Ramos

In Latino media in the United States, it’s hard to avoid the topic of immigration. This book by Mexican-American journalist Jorge Ramos tells the tale of what it means to be an immigrant living in the US. He talks about identity and the feeling of being a stranger in your own country.

3. Los 7 Habitos de la Gente Altamente Efectiva by Stephen Covey

The Spanish version of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is worth checking out. Covey shares some great principles to live by. If you majored in business in college, this book was probably required reading. Even if you’re already familiar with the principles, this book will help you learn how to talk about them in Spanish.

4. La Reina del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

This thriller tells the story of Teresa Mendoza, whose life changes when she gets a call that her drug smuggler boyfriend is dead. She has to learn how to survive in his absence, and learns how to find her own way. The story was also made into a popular TV series.

5. Padre Rico, Padre Pobre by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The Spanish translation of Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a good choice because it teaches some fundamental financial management principles through stories. You’ll also expand your Spanish vocabulary as it relates to personal finance.

6. El Hombre en Busca de Sentido by Viktor Frankl

The English version of this book is Man’s Search for Meaning, and it’s one of the most recommended books of all time. It tells the story of how Frankl found meaning and purpose in life despite living in a Nazi concentration camp.

7. Cómo Ganar Amigos e Influir Sobre las Personas by Dale Carnegie

This is the Spanish version of the classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. It’s worth reading (and of course, listening to the audiobook) because it teaches some fundamentals of interpersonal relationships and will expand your Spanish vocabulary in this area.

8. La Chica del Tren

This book is about a girl who’s daily routine of taking the train suddenly changes. A suspenseful story about the life of a couple that lives in an apartment nearby the train station.

9. Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes

No list of Spanish book recommendations would be complete without Don Quijote. This book is a classic in Spain and the narration in the audiobook is almost like a movie production. It tells the tales of Don Quijote’s adventures throughout Spain.

10. El Alquimista

This book is a classic tale about a boy named Santiago on a journey where he learns many life lessons. It’s one of Paulo Cohelo’s most popular books and is a must-read.

10 Spanish Language TV Shows

There is a ton of Spanish content on TV…you just have to know where to look. In the US, you can find plenty of telenovelas, news shows, sports, and kids programming on both the Univision and Telemundo networks.

Expert Tip: Call your cable provider and ask for the Latino package to get more Spanish language channel options. You’ll find the prices are comparable to your current package, but you’ll just have more Spanish exposure!

Here are 10 series you will find entertaining, addictive, and informative. Most importantly, they’ll increase your Spanish exposure and help you improve or maintain your level of fluency.

1. Celia

This series is loosely based on the life of beloved Cuban singer Celia Cruz. The characters and story will have you hooked from the first capítulo (episode), and you’ll also learn some Cuban Spanish words like asere (buddy, amigo). The accent may take getting used to, and spoiler alert: the real life romance between Celia and Pedro wasn’t nearly as colorful as presented in the series.

Note: Celia originally aired on Telemundo in 2015 and is available on Netflix at the time of this writing. I’d recommend, however, that you view the series on the Telemundo website because you’ll be able to turn on closed captioning in Spanish.

2. Ingobernable

Kate del Castillo stars in this Netflix original series, a political drama based in Mexico City. It begins with Castillo, who plays the first lady of Mexico, experiencing a shocking event that she spends the rest of the series trying to reconcile. You’ll be exposed to the Mexican accent and slang, and after the first episode I challenge you not to binge watch the whole series.

3. Narcos

Narcos is the wildly popular Netflix series about drug traffickers. Although the lead actor who plays Pablo Escobar in the first season is actually Brazilian and only learned Spanish to play the role, the series is based in Colombia. The family scenes are laughable if you’re looking for an authentic Colombian accent. Instead, you’ll hear a variety of accents from throughout Latin America, but you’ll be so into the story you won’t really care. The narration is in English but some of the scenes are in Spanish. This is about drug trafficking so it’s full of cursing and violence, but the stories about Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel are intriguing nonetheless.

4. Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal

It’s hard to avoid the topic of drug trafficking in Latin American TV shows. But if you watch Narcos and find that you want a more in-depth, authentic take on the story you’ll want to check out this series. It’s 100% in Spanish and covers some nuances and details that Narcos does not.

5. ¿Quién fue?

This original and quirky show gives you a comical look at some of history’s most infamous figures. The series recounts stories from their lives with hilarious reenactments (picture Ben Franklin with abs of steel). Good for a laugh when you have some downtime.

6. The Cuba Libre Story

This series isn’t about rum and coke with a twist of lime. It tells you the story of Cuba’s struggle for freedom beyond Castro’s infamous 1959 revolution. I’m glad I watched this before my visit to Cuba, since it tells the country’s history from their perspective. Make sure you watch the Spanish version, although you’ll still hear English, German, and French in some of the interviews.

7. La Reina del Sur

Another series starring Kate del Castillo and based on the book by the same name, this is a critically acclaimed series.

8. El Señor de los Cielos

It’s impossible to talk about Spanish TV shows without includes some telenovelas (soap operas). Sometimes criticized for being almost exclusively Mexican with lighter-skinned actors, and overly dramatic, they are still quite popular and a cultural phenomenon that you really can’t ignore. This Mexican telenovela is about yet another drug trafficker in the post-Escobar era.

9. En Pocas Palabras

This show covers a different topic in each episode, covering everything from fad dieting to cryptocurrency.

10. Black Mirror

This series has a cult following and is originally shot in British English. Think of it as The Twilight Zone 2.0, where everything from online dating to prison is given a technological twist that will have you scratching your head. It’s such a great series, and you can watch it dubbed in Spanish. It’s actually done pretty well unlike some where the voices don’t seem to match the characters and are overly dramatic.

Caution: If you’re going to watch this (or any other show for that matter) with Spanish subtitles, be mindful that the words on the screen often won’t match the words being said by the characters. I think the creators assume that if you’re watching the show in one language, you’d only need subtitles in another language. This can be mildly annoying, but you’ll still get the general idea of the story.

10 Spanish Language Podcasts

Podcasts have engaging stories, newsworthy content, and interesting conversations. Once you’re done listening to podcasts made for language learners, check out these podcasts that are 100% in español.

If you like podcasts, you’ll want to download the iVoox app. It has a great selection of Spanish language podcasts.

1. Te Invito Un Café

I listen to this podcast every morning on my way to work. The host Robert Sasuke broadcasts a new episode every weekday morning from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A psychologist and consultant, Sasuke covers a broad array of topics around self-improvement, relationships, and entrepreneurship. It’s a great way to start the day.

2. ¡Buenos días, Mundo! with host Oliver Oliva

¡Buenos días, Mundo! with host Oliver Oliva is an upbeat, energizing podcast. Topics from health to science and technology are covered in a humorous way that can make even the most dull topics intriguing.

3. DIAS EXTRAÑOS con Santiago Camacho

This podcast covers a range of interesting concepts through conversation and interviews. The host is from Spain so it will also help you get used to the European accent.

4. Somos Afrobolivianos

Alejando Guitierraz hosts this podcast the celebrates Afrolatino culture in Bolivia. It’s a dirty little secret in some parts of South America that huge populations of descendants of Africa have been suppressed and even erased from history. There is an ongoing effort to elevate and celebrate these populations.

5. Potencial Millionario

A personal finance podcast by successful Mexican entrepreneur Felix Montelara. In Dave Ramsey style, he gives practical financial tips and makes the information accessible to listeners. You’ll improve your finances and your Spanish at the same time .

6. TED Talks (Spanish)

Hear the latest Spanish-language TED talks on this podcast. TED (technology, entertainment, design) is a network of conferences where speakers discuss interesting topics that the organizers call “ideas worth spreading” in 18 minutes or less.

7. Liderazgo Hoy

This podcast is hosted by Venezuelan entrepreneur Victor Hugo Manzanilla. He draws on his experience from working in management in Proctor & Gamble and advice from well-known experts to give practical advice on leadership and professional development.

8. Conocimiento Experto

Each episode of this podcast summarizes the key concepts in books by experts. This is a good way to save yourself time and get exposed to a variety of topics. And if you want to go deeper, you can always pick up a copy of the books covered in this podcast.

9. Historias del Más Allá

If you like mysteries and scary stories, this podcast is for you. The host Rubén García Castillo announced in a tweet that after listening to this show, you won’t be able to sleep with the lights off. The show tells stories “from beyond” and he even takes callers that tell their own stories live on the show. A great pick for Halloween.

10. Radio Ambulante

Saving the best for last, Radio Ambulante is a staple among Spanish learners because it’s so language learner-friendly. Not only do they provide full transcripts of each show in English and Spanish, but they also have a Vimeo channel with videos with audio and real-time transcriptions. This podcast explores a variety of interesting topics and tells stories from throughout Latin America.

What about you?

What are some Spanish native materials you’ve used to up your ability in the language?

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

About the author: Tamara Marie is a Certified Neurolanguage Coach and founder of SpanishConSalsa.com, a website that teaches Spanish with Latin music. Tamara is a language lover, proud mom, and self-described dance addict.  She taught herself Spanish as an adult after being frustrated with language learning in an academic setting. She trained with Efficient Language Coaching in 2016 and obtained her language coaching certification to specialize in brain-friendly methods that accelerate fluency. Tamara is from the United States and speaks English, Spanish, and has started learning Brazilian Portuguese. Tamara is a lifelong learner and loves helping people learn languages. 

The post The Ultimate List of Resources for Intermediate Spanish Learners: Books, Songs, TV Shows, and Podcasts appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

[domhovasse]

Ya tu sabes!

Since I was a child, I’ve always dreamt of going to Mexico City. I’m not too sure why, but it’s just always been a place that seemed so rich in culture, history, and full of food and Spanish-speaking people. I was always waiting for the right opportunity to go, and since my friend April from UBCO, who has been living in Mexico City for the last year and a half with her husband .

I arrived safely at the Cancun Airport after my overnight bus, but much to my surprise, I had been dropped off at the wrong terminal. It was the bus company’s only drop-off point at the airport, and luckily I had ample time to figure out how to get to my terminal. It was about a 20 minute walk away, but walking suddenly becomes much more difficult in 30 degree heat, while carrying 20 pounds on your back. After being followed, outright lied to by several people, and almost scammed into paying 30 USD for a 5 minute taxi ride, I finally figured out that there was a free shuttle bus, and that it left approximately every 10 minutes. I was SO irritated about how I was being treated, but very proud of myself for figuring it out myself and not letting myself be taken advantage of.   

After a short flight, I arrived safely in Oaxaca, where I met my friend April. She had never been to the city of Oaxaca, so when I suggested we spend a few days there before showing me Mexico City, she was more than willing to join me. Oaxaca’s known for it's indigenous cultures, it’s delicious food and mezcal! We spent our first day mostly walking around the city, browsing various market stalls, visiting the textile museum, and enjoying a rooftop drink before dinner. April wasn’t feeling well after dinner, so we went back to the hostel so she could rest a little before hopefully heading back out to walk around the city at night. Apparently I was exhausted, because I ended up passing out with all my clothes on, on a chair in our hostel room, only waking up a few hours later just to move to my top bunk. 

The following day, we woke up super early, to visit Hierve el Agua, a set of natural rock formations in the middle of the mountains, that resemble cascades of water, some of which are filled with water to create swimming pools. Most people go as part of a tour, but we decided to save money and attempt a more authentic experience by taking a public bus, and then a pickup truck/shuttle. After spending a couple of hours enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking a dip in the “pools,” we took a shuttle back to the town of Mitla where we were supposed to catch a bus that would bring us back to Oaxaca. Just our luck, the buses stopped running and all taxis were refusing passengers heading to Oaxaca because the highway was blocked in several locations due to a protest. We were being told it could take up to several hours for the protest to end/the road to be unblocked. April and I were laughing at the fact that only in Mexico and in France would this kind of thing happen; we sure know how to pick where to live! We ended up finding a restaurant in Mitla town and sat for drinks and food while waiting for the roads to hopefully clear. 

After about 3 hours had passed, we ended up convincing a taxi driver to drive us an hour back into Oaxaca. He was so hesitant because he was afraid of not being able to make it back home, but luckily the road blocks were clearing right as we were driving past them! We arrived back at our hostel 3 hours later than originally intended, which definitely threw a wrench in our afternoon plans, since we weren’t able to do anything that evening except eat dinner and grab some beers and mezcal.

The next morning, we woke up at a decent hour to make sure we could walk around and take pictures before the streets were too crowded, as well as spend so time perusing through the food market. I’ve been to my fare share of food markets but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much meat. Ever. It was a giant maze of fresh meat, cheese, spices, alcohol and salsa, and all the Mexican food you could ever wish for. We were there quite early on in the day and honestly, it already was pretty overwhelming. For lunch, I got a delicious Tlayuda (a crunchy, toasted tortilla, covered with refried beans, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and avocado), and then we were on our way to the airport to catch our flight to Mexico City. We didn’t have time to visit the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures or the Botanical Gardens, which I was pretty bummed about, but hopefully I’ll be back one day! 

After a delayed flight, we were graciously picked up at the airport by April’s mother-in-law and dropped off at home. After quickly freshening up, we headed into town for some churros at Churreria el Moro, before treating ourselves to a boujee dinner at a nice restaurant/cocktail bar called Gin Gin. It ended being way out budget, but at least our food, gin cocktails and service were all subpar! 

Early the next morning, we headed to the main bus station, where we took a bus to the Teotihuacán pyramids. We arrived right as it was opening, so we were able to take full advantage of the grounds without having to share with many other tourists. After a few hours, we took the bus back into the city, got tacos for lunch in the financial district, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Chapultapec Park, Chapultapec Castle and the Anthropology museum. We had done a hell of a lot of walking, reading, and picture taking, and were quite exhausted at this point, so we made our way over to the swanky & hip neighbourhood of Polanco for dinner, before checking out a few bars and having a few too many beers and cocktails. 

We started off my second day by wandering around Coyoacan, a now neighbourhood of Mexico City that used to be its own city. We spent some time visiting the main square, the Coyoacan market, and the Frida Kahlo museum, before taking an Uber to Xochimilco, another ‘borough’ of Mexico City, where we rode along canals on a traditional ‘trajinera’ boat while being serenaded by mariachis. It was a very ‘touristy’ thing to do, but was a fun experience nonetheless! That evening we also attended a Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling match), which was quite the experience. Mexicans get so invested in these matches and ‘luchas’, or fighters, even though everyone knows it’s not real fighting! After the match, April and I wanted to checkout some of the Mexico City’s nightlife, so we hit up a place called Patrick Miller, which had been recommended to us as a “must” by several people. It was one of the absolute weirdest places clubs I’ve ever been to - an old warehouse-type building, filled with people of all ages and demographics, high-energy dance music, and dance-off circles happening all over the room.

The following day was spent doing lots and lots of walking. We started in la Condesa and wandered around through Roma, before taking an Uber to the city center. April wasn’t feeling too well so she went to get some food while I went on a walking tour. She eventually joined the group and was able to finish half of the tour with us! After 3 hours of walking around and listening to an overload of information, April and I spent the rest of the evening wandering around more of the city center, going up the Torre Latinoamericana (the world’s first major skyscraper successfully built on highly active seismic zone) for a breathtaking 360 view of the city, and grabbing a cerveza at a rooftop overlooking Templo Mayor (remains of Mexico’s old Capital city, Tenochtitlan, built in the 14th century). We ended our day off with a delicious and dirt cheap dinner at La Casa de Toño, a Mexican chain restaurant.

On my very last day, we went on a day trip to Taxco with Arturo, April’s husband. Deemed an official pueblo magico (magical town) for its rich culture and architecture and great legacy of the old Spanish Empire, and preservation of traditions and historical site, Taxco is a quaint, picturesque town, located on the slopes of the Taxco Mountains, in the state of Guerrero, about 2.5 hours away from Mexico City. In pre-Colombian times it was a mining center and to this day it remains well-known for its silver work and jewelry shops. We spent the day wandering around the cute, narrow streets, browsing some shops and visiting Museo Casa Figueroa, an old "cursed house" featuring secret rooms, hidden vaults, and dark escape tunnels that were built incase a war broke out. We also took a tour of the Prehispanic Mine of Taxco, where we descended 45 meters below the ground, to learn the mine’s history and how gold, silver and quartz are extracted from the mine. A few years ago my high school friend Katrina got married to her Mexican husband in Taxco but I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend. It was so nice to be able to visit the town anyways and imagine what that day must have been like. I understand why her and her husband love it so much there! 

My alarm went off at 4:30 the next morning and I caught my Uber to the airport. My return trip from Mexico City to Paris was one of the longest travel days of my life, with 2 layovers (Houston and Toronto) of over 3 hours each. By the time I made it back to Paris, I had been travelling for over 20 hours.

My time in Mexico was everything I could have asked for and more! The weather was perfect, the food was incredible, and I got to spend time with a good friend of mine. I was able to practice speaking Spanish, learn a ton of new things, and improve my spice tolerance! Mexico is such a vast, beautiful country, with such rich culture and kind people, and Mexico City is a massive melting pot of people of different cultures and an incredible mix of an old, historical and modern, progressive city. There is so much more of Mexico (and Mexico City) to discover, and I'm already looking forward to going back and exploring more one day!

[douxreviews]

Roswell, New Mexico - ‘So Much For the Afterglow’ Review

“I gotta get through this one, really crappy day.”

The tenth anniversary of Rosa’s death has opened old wounds and dredged up the worst in the residents of Roswell, including Max and Liz.

Liz idolized Rosa but thanks to Rosa’s drug use and her possible mental problems, it’s clear Rosa wasn’t always there for Liz. Rosa’s death embodies that abandonment. Isobel’s psychic nudge may have sent Liz packing 10 years ago but I suspect Rosa’s death was the real culprit.

Either way, her father’s plea sends Liz on a quest for understanding if not outright forgiveness. Her first stop is to visit Kyle in search of Rosa’s autopsy. Maybe if she can blame the drugs, she can forgive her sister. Her next stop is to ask Max if he can show her better memories of Rosa than the ones she continually dwells on. This is the last thing that Max wants to do. His fears are justified when he shares a memory of Rosa on the night of her death.

Following the story from Liz’s POV allows us to empathize with Liz. This is important because we learn some not so flattering things about her and her actions throughout the episode are even less flattering. Liz used losing her job as an excuse to pick up stakes and return to Roswell, abandoning a fiance in the process. While there may be a perfectly good reason for her decision, it still seems like a pretty crappy thing to do.

Just as lying to Max about her feelings for him as she dangles the possibility of a future relationship is a crappy thing to do. Discovering that Max may have knowledge of your sister’s death is definitely grounds for pumping the breaks on the relationship. But her ability to shift from honest communication to manipulation with someone she cares about does not speak well of her character.

The question remains, is Max worthy of her trust? Liz is not wrong about him hiding things from her. And the viewer is privy to information that Liz doesn’t have, namely proof of Max’s feelings for her. However, he is behaving out of character. This is a man who has spent his life protecting one secret yet we saw him barely able to contain his powers on multiple occasions. And while Michael isn’t particularly surprised when Max decks him, Isobel is shocked. More to the point, if Michael had not stopped him, there was the very real probability Max would have killed Wyatt.

Max’s anger issues open up the possibility he could be responsible for Rosa’s death (although I still doubt it). Especially since Isobel refers to “the last time” this happened. She doesn’t mention when but I’d lay odds it was ten years ago. Is this a side effect from healing Liz? Does it mean he tried to heal Rosa?

I find these new tidbits of information about Liz and Max fascinating. As much as he cares about Liz, he has an overdeveloped sense of fairness and is legitimately offended by Wyatt’s (and the Mayor’s) racism. It’s probably what drove him to become a cop. Whereas, Rosa’s life and death can define so much of who Liz is. From Liz’s choice in music, her overpowering need for an explanation to everything, even her loss of faith. However, for my money, Michael and Alex are the more interesting pairing.

Alex clearly has issues acknowledging his feelings for Michael. We’re given the impression that Alex is not happy with the person he’s become although it’s not clear if it’s because of his injury, what happened during his tour in the military or something more domestic, say his father. And Michael reminds him of better, or at least simpler, times. Michael, being Michael, would rather fain indifference than risk being hurt by Alex’s erratic behavior. So, how ironic is it that Alex and Michael are the ones that are actually honest with each other about their feelings and act on them, while Liz and Max continue to dissemble.

What Do We Know:

Rosa was killed by an alien. Our alien trio knows it and now so does Liz and Kyle. Max’s comment about letting Liz down sounds more like regret about how he handled the situation than a confession of guilt. But I find it hard to believe that a teenage Isobel or Michael was capable of murder. At least not on purpose. Did one of them lose control of their powers? Or was Rosa just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

We also learned that the Evans’ adoption of Isobel and Max caused a rift between Max and Michael that’s never healed. Much of Michael’s anger involves being on the outside and looking in on everyone else’s relationships. For his sake, I hope this thing with Alex works out.

Speaking of long-standing relationships. Max and Jenna? Didn’t see that coming. Just once I’d like a man and a woman to be partners on a TV show and not have sex come into it.

Relationship issues aside, this episode upped the ante on Max, Michael, and Isobel’s potential outing. Liz’s interest in protecting Max’s secret is waning in the face of his apparent betrayal. And Kyle has both the means and motive to inform the government of what he knows. I don’t think that will happen anytime soon, at least not before the season finale. But I wouldn’t mind a few answers.

3 out of 5 big guns

Parting Thoughts:

“So much for the Afterglow” refers to the song by Everclear.

Also in the music matters department, the song “God of Wine,” in which the lyric “a fraudulent zodiac” is featured was playing during Alex and Michael’s scene at the end of the episode.

This is the second reference to Max’s love of Russian literature in as many episodes. I wonder how that comes into play.

Michael and Alex were musicians until something happened to Michael’s hand. Makes you wonder if Max can only heal humans.

Isobel and her husband have an interesting relationship. And I’m not just talking about the sex. He’s very accepting of the fact that she just walks out at the drop of a hat. I realize this has probably been going on for years. But it is odd, right?

Quotes:

Liz: “You gonna arrest me, officer?” Max: "Nah, too much paperwork.”

Kyle: “It’s late. Thanks for the family history lesson, but I’m gonna pass... on all of this.”

Jenna: “You look like garbage, partner. Ruggedly handsome garbage, but garbage.”

Isobel: “How’s your fiance back in Denver?” Liz: “We broke up.” Isobel: “Does he know that?”

Arturo: “There was more to Rosa than the bad things that she did.”

Michael: “You keep showing up like this, I’m gonna start thinking you like me.”

Michael: “Isn’t there some law about building on a historical site?” Alex: “What do you mean, a historical... Oh, because the UFO crashed here? Yeah. We’re not supposed to build on top of Santa’s workshop, either.”

Kyle: “The mid-makeout abandonment was very sophomore year. I got all nostalgic.”

Kyle: “If you’re gonna forgive her, don’t focus on the science. Focus on the memories."

Noah: “The next time we do the thing I like with the thing and the thing, let’s not use my lucky tie.”

Noah: “You want me to take him out for a beer? I can totally do the cowboy thing. Grunt, stare off into the distance. Talk about belt buckles as a secret metaphor for emotions...”

Max: “Are you sassing Jesus?”

Max: “Men who work miracles with their hands tend to die bloody.”

Michael: “For a genius, I was a real dumb ass."

Max: “You been honoring your dead sister any other way? Like, I don’t know, riddling the Crashdown Cafe with bullets?”

Jenna: “You could’ve done that.” Max: “I keep telling you, I’m a feminist.” Jenna: “You wanted him to lose to a girl.” Max: “Also that.”

Isobel: “We’re family.” Michael: “No. We’re not. We all just happened to hitch the same ride on the same doomed intergalactic Titanic.”

Isobel: “Come on, Michael. Is there really nobody in this world that you wouldn’t risk everything to save?”

Maria: “Home doesn’t have to mean a white picket fence house and a family. It can be a person.”

Max: “I don’t want to be an experiment.”

---

Shari loves sci-fi, fantasy, supernatural, and anything with a cape.

[newyorktheater]

“Fairview,” winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, began Off-Off Broadway.

“Small theaters” play a large role in making New York City the world’s cultural capital, according to  “All New York’s a Stage,” a report issued this week by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment that looks at the cultural and economic impact of Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway, a “sector” (in policy-speak) that is made up of “748 small venue theater organizations” that generate “$1.3 billion in total economic output” annually. They also generate much of the theater world’s cultural heat these days. One example: Some dozen Pulitzer Prize winning plays originating in NYC’s small theaters, including this year’s winner “Fairview” above (Soho Rep), 2016’s “Hamilton” (New York Public Theater), 2015’s “Between Riverside and Crazy” (Atlantic) and 2014’s “The Flick” (Playwrights Horizons.)   One arresting fact: The majority of staff of these theaters are volunteers.  Here are some charts from the report:

  Thanksgiving Week Broadway Schedule

including 15 shows adding performances today!

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

Ronete Levenson (Sue), Lindsay Rico (Paula), Helen Cespedes (Emma), Jennifer Lim (Cindy)

Fefu and Her Friends

Fefu picks up a double-barrel shotgun and shoots at her husband near the beginning of “Fefu and Her Friends,” billed as a modern classic and written by the beloved avant-garde playwright Maria Irene Fornés,  who died in October 2018 at the age of 88. “It’s a game we play,” Fefu explains matter-of-factly to her friends, putting the gun back against the drawing room chair. “I shoot and he falls. Whenever he hears the blast he falls.”

For the first time in 40 years, Off-Broadway theatergoers can actually hear that gunshot blast too, thanks to a Theater for a New Audience production, directed by Liliana Blain-Cruz, that is itself a blast….for much of the time. For the rest of the time, it’s…..well, to quote the director herself on her reaction when discovering the work of Maria Irene Fornés: “Oh my god. I don’t understand anything that’s going on, but I love it.”

The Half-Life of Marie Curie

Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize twice, but she was also a woman; so the Nobel committee asked her not to show up at the ceremony. We learn the specific reason why early on in this well-intentioned, workmanlike play by Lauren Gunderson about the friendship between two world-class women scientists who lived a century ago.

Samuel H. Levine as Adam, Kyle Soller as Eric, Kyle Harris as Jasper, Arturo Luís-Soria as Jasper2, Jordan Barbour as Tristan, and Darryl Gene Daughtry Jr. as Jason1

The Inheritance

“The Inheritance,” a long, ambitious play about three generations of gay men in New York, pays homage to two masterpieces, without being one itself. Yet the play by Matthew Lopez, making his Broadway debut, is both sweeping and intimate, sophisticated and raw, a weepy that is often funny. Several performances are transporting, including two actors making their Broadway debuts, and an actress who made hers 67 years ago. There are swoops into intellectual brilliance, such as when one of the characters elaborately compares America to a body, its democracy to a body’s immune system, and the current president to the HIV virus. There are dips into nudity and raunch. There is insight and debate and uplift. Does “The Inheritance” need to be nearly seven hours long and in two parts to achieve all that? The short answer is no. But there’s so much here that’s so wonderful that it’s worth it to those with the stamina.

A Christmas Carol

Who knew that “A Christmas Carol” could be so dangerous!

The assaults begin even before the first line of dialogue in the new, charming if overlong, and extraordinarily well-designed Broadway production of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic, starring Campbell Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge and Andrea Martin and LaChanze as Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present. Cast members on the stage dressed as 19th century English blokes and birds throw clementines and cookies to (at?) the audience…vigorously.

“I’m suing,” said somebody sitting behind me, in a straight-faced impersonation of Scrooge, after he was hit by one of the packages of chocolate chips.  “Are you an attorney?”

Evita

It’s surely pointless, four decades and two billion dollars after its debut, to rant about Evita, and silly to blame Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatrical canonization of the amoral historical figure Eva Perón as paving the way for the elevation of another media personality remade into a dictator-loving populist. Still, this core problem I have with the musical stops me from fully embracing its revival at New York City Center, even as I acknowledge that the singing in this production is gorgeous, the orchestra lush, the choreography fun, and the story reinterpreted in some bold and intriguing if not always effective ways.

Two adaptations of novels by Édouard Louis:

James Russell Morley and Oseloka Obi on the video

The End of Eddy

Parts resemble a book report for school, but won’t be mistaken for a story hour because of the inventive stagecraft and the rawness of the stories — relentless bullying, deadened people in a dying factory town, his sad and funny efforts to ‘be a man,’ his sexual experimenting.

History of Violence

An examination of trauma; that in any case is the most consistently insightful aspect of the adaptation…. committed performances by the four-member cast…but the production ultimately felt more like an exercise in stagecraft rather than a pointed exploration of history or violence.

  The Week in New York Theater News

Grammy Award nominees for best musical theater albums: Ain’t Too Proud, Hadestown,  Moulin Rouge, plus the incidental music from the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The 62nd annual Grammy Awards will be held on January 20, 2020.

Ephraim Sykes in Newsies

Motown’s Ephraim Sykes as member of The Temptations, Berry Gordy Jr.’s brother, member of the Jackson 5

Ephraim Skyes as Seaweed J. Stubbs —

Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin

Ephraim Sykes will star as Michael Jackson in “MJ,” the musical slated to open on Broadway beginning the summer 2020. A thrilling performer, he’s had an increasingly high-profile career: Memphis,Newsies,Motown,Hamilton, Hairspray Live, and Tony-nominated for his role as avid Ruffin in Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.

He is now both performing in Ain’t Too Proud and rehearsing for MJ. How can he do this? “I always say just a bunch of prayers, and drink as much coconut water as I can find,” he told Essence.

Lynn Nottage, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of “Ruined” and “Sweat,” is the book writer for MJ the Musical. In a mutual interview in Vogue magazine between Nottage and Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris, he brings up MJ:

Can I ask you a question about Michael Jackson? How do you contend with the weight of that history?

We all, on some level, recognize the complexity of Michael Jackson. For many years, he has occupied a very specific space.

Going into this moment, when there’s such a spotlight on him, and such decided opinion on it now around what we should do with that history…

Cancel culture is the dominant culture in this moment. But my guiding principle is that you have to sustain the complexity. I really feel as an artist that writing this piece is me trying to process my complicated feelings about someone who I idolized from the time I was five years old. To reconcile that with that person who, in the media, was quite complicated. I can’t simply cancel that person. I have to, as an artist, lean into that complication—that is what I’m investigating by doing this. And I think that the easy thing would be to say no and run away. But for me the more interesting thing is to lean into it and try to figure out personally how I feel.

  Separately, John Logan (Moulin Rouge the Musical, Red, The Aviator) has been hired to writea movie script about Michael Jackson.

Patrick Stewart’s one-man version of “A Christmas Carol” will be presented for two nights only, Dec 11 & 13 at Theater 511 to benefit City Harvest and Ars Nova

“Soft Power” will release a cast recording in Spring 2020.

They grew up at Boston Children’s Theater. Now They Look Back with Alarm

“a group of 17 former students who sent a letter to the theater’s board late last month, detailing a range of negative experiences with [Burgess Clark, the director of Boston’s Children’s Theater]; three alleged that Clark had kissed or touched them inappropriately. Beverly police are investigating; no charges have been filed. A group of older alums sent a second letter describing their own disturbing encounters. Burgess has resigned.”

  Rest in Peace

  Michael J. Pollard in Bye, Bye Birdie

Michael J. Pollard in “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis”

Michael J. Pollard in “Bonnie and Clyde”

Michael J. Pollard, 80, best known for TV roles (“The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis”) and his Oscar-nominated part in the movie “Bonnie and Clyde”, was also a 5-time veteran of Broadway, such as the original Hugo Peabody in “Bye, Bye Birdie.”

    Small Theater is BIG in NYC. Ephraim Sykes is Michael Jackson, Lynn Nottage answers why she’s taking on MJ. #Stageworthy News of the Week "Small theaters" play a large role in making New York City the world's cultural capital, according to  

[disappearingground]

Step into the Ring with Boxing Superfan Jenny Lewis

VICE / Noisey March 4, 2019

We talked to the singer about how a head injury led her to develop an obsession with boxing.

By Mark Ortega

I’ve spent the last decade-plus writing about boxing. I’ve spent even more time as a fan of Jenny Lewis’ music. In 2012, I was attending a fight almost every weekend. To kill time during lulls in the action, I would scroll through Twitter on my phone and, to my surprise, I’d find the singer weighing in on them. Boxing became a regular theme in Lewis’ social media presence. Even when she performed with the Postal Service at Coachella in 2013, she watched a Canelo fight in her trailer before taking the stage. It was like I was George Costanza and my worlds were colliding.

Years later, I bumped into Lewis in person a couple of times and our conversations always drifted towards boxing. I first met her at Willie Nelson’s Ranch at 2016’s SXSW. Our entire 20-minute conversation revolved around the sport, as a few days earlier she had attended a low-level fight at a Marriott in the Valley. Late last year it was on the rooftop of the Fonda Theatre after a Phoenix show, and we were both headed to The Forum the next night for a fight. Her seats ended up being next to mine, and I offered her some insight into the stories behind each fighter. After that, we stayed in touch and I actually brought her along to a Manny Pacquiao public workout before his fight with Adrien Broner in January, a fight for which she flew solo to Las Vegas.

The Pacquiao workout took place at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, located in a dingy strip mall on Vine Street. Lewis attended just one day after her 43rd birthday and got a photo with Pacquiao, later saying it was a great birthday present. She wore a Wild Card Boxing Club t-shirt, becoming one of those fans who wears the band’s shirt to their concert. At a press conference for the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury heavyweight title fight a month earlier, Lewis had reacted to meeting Freddie Roach the way some of her superfans probably react when meeting her. They traded stories about Aimee Mann, another massive boxing fan with whom Roach had a very close relationship.

Lewis is a very studious boxing fan when she’s watching the fights ringside. She wants to know the backstories of each fighter, enamored by what it must take to send someone down a career path where they get punched in the face for a living. She doesn’t look down at her phone while the fight is taking place. She might dig into her purse for some snacks—at the Pacquiao fight it was a share-sized bag of peanut M&Ms—but otherwise it’s all business.

Though she’ll be the first to tell you she isn’t an expert, make no mistake: Jenny Lewis is a die-hard boxing fan. She goes to low-level club fights in the Valley when she can, something that most self-proclaimed boxing fans won’t do. She’ll be touring in support of her first solo album in five years, On The Line, for much of the spring, but you can call it a happy accident that the tour has a break when fellow redhead Canelo Alvarez fights Danny Jacobs on Cinco de Mayo weekend in one of the biggest fights of the year.

I spoke to Jenny Lewis about what made her a boxing fan and how she even slipped a boxing reference into her latest single “Heads Gonna Roll.”

Noisey: How did you first get interested in boxing? Jenny Lewis: I'm later to sports in general than most people. Growing up, my mom had a younger boyfriend who was into boxing. He would watch the Tyson fights and I wasn't interested in the sport but found the theater of it really interesting, even as an eight-year-old.

So my interest as an adult came about in 2012. I had a head injury that I got on New Year’s Eve 2011 where I passed out after a combination of wine, weed, and a really tight belt. And I had to get nine staples in the back of my head. Six or eight weeks after the head injury I started experiencing severe insomnia and I didn't know what was happening to me, and it was really one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I was unable to sleep more than 30-minute increments. I watched the entire Sopranos series. I also started watching the [Arturo] Gatti-[Micky] Ward trilogy. And I think I had seen The Fighter. I just started spiraling out on YouTube boxing. Then, after that, I got a subscription to HBO and started watching the HBO 24/7 series. I don't know if that's a gateway for normal people to get into boxing, but after the first episode I was hooked.

For me, as a kid, I was always around boxing, but the thing that sort of thrust me into being a die-hard was this HBO series called Legendary Nights about old fights they had on HBO before my time. It talked about fights in such a theatrical way, it hooked me. The theater of it all is really what appealed to me initially and the element of triumph over adversity. Going through a really difficult period, I didn't know what was going on, I couldn't fucking sleep. Just this idea that you can fight your way out of any circumstance. The first fight I went to was the [Julio Cesar] Chavez [Jr.] vs. [Sergio] Martinez fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in September, 2012. That particular 24/7 was the classic tale—the rich kid versus the poor kid. I just remember fucking hating Chavez Jr., thinking this fucking shit was not training properly. He's so privileged, he has these opportunities and I kind of went into the fight with a bias. But being in the arena—first of all, the feeling in the arena during a fight is unlike any other feeling in the world. I haven't been to a lot of sporting events aside from my third-grade soccer matches in Van Nuys.

I just knew the vibe in the room was electric and I was really... the fight was really fun to watch. And by the end of it, I was like, “OK, Chavez. I feel you, bro.” He knocked Martinez down in the 12th round and I was really impressed, and I kind of accepted him and accepted the theater of the sport. You gotta have a protagonist, you have to have an antagonist or a super villain in order to get people to watch.

For that fight, your sister came along with you. What was that experience like? That was our first fight and we went together. I had been staying with her on and off, and we had never really gone to an event together outside of one of my concerts or her shows—she plays in a cover band in the Valley on Saturdays. So this was a big deal for us, a big bonding moment. My sister has always really been into sports. We drove out there together and it was a really great experience for us. She couldn't believe the vibe in the room and, at one point, I looked back and she was being carried off by like five giant men singing the Mexican national anthem. I was like, “Come back! Don't leave me here alone!” But we had a fucking blast. I think the fight culture, just for both of us talking to people in Las Vegas—which is our hometown—about boxing, is just like a built-in community. And people are so willing to share their knowledge with you.

You said the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury heavyweight title fight, which took place at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles in December, was your favorite thing you did last year. What made that the case? The fight itself. I had never seen a heavyweight fight. I've been to Valley Fight Night a couple of times. So to roll to a heavyweight title fight, it was so exciting and felt like an event from the past. And I brought my friend Jessica, who had never seen a fight before, knows nothing of the sport, and grew up orthodox Jewish, and was asking all these basic questions. Like, “Why would these men hit each other like this? Aren't there other opportunities to get out of the ghettos than fighting? Aren't there other sports? What about tennis?” Just to have this juxtaposition with my friend who is new to the sport and asking all these really cool entry-level questions. The fight itself was just incredible to watch. And the vibe in the crowd with all the Brits—I've never seen such a wasted audience. Everyone was really fucking drunk, it was crazy.

And the story learning about Fury, I don't know a lot about British boxers. I've sort of been more interested in Mexican fighters and American fighters, but learning about what he went through [Fury returned from a three-year hiatus after dealing with depression and drug and alcohol addiction] and seeing his transformation was really inspiring. To go and see this physical manifestation of this transformation in person was pretty great.

One thing you said after the fight when we were talking that really stuck out to me, was when the two guys hugged each other at the final bell. You said, “Wow, it must be a super intimate experience to go through that with someone, almost like having sex.” I also thought it must be as intimate as writing a song with someone. Is that a fair comparison? Sure. I think any collaboration is heated and intense, and songwriting can often result in verbal blows. [Laughs] But with Wilder and Fury, it seemed really sincere, their connection at the end of the fight. Whereas with Floyd Mayweather it's so money-focused. He's so amazing to watch but you realize his whole thing is about money. But this was about the struggle and the triumph and the intimacy of that moment. Just the idea that it's two men standing up there with their entire past. Their histories, their traumas, their triumphs, wherever they come from, and you bring all of that with you into the ring.

That's gotta be pretty similar to songwriting, right? You bring all of that stuff into what you do and it's such a personal and raw way to make a living. Yeah, you're toe-to-toe with your demons. I keep having this dream about fighting myself in the ring. It's pretty cliché and a pretty obvious Psych 101 thing, but where you're truly battling it out with yourself.

One thing you touched on earlier—these fighters' backgrounds. It's basically a lot of their way out of whatever difficult upbringing or tough surroundings. You come from this child actor background where you were the provider from a really young age. I feel like there's a kinship between you and fighters in that regard. I remember from that initial HBO 24/7, an interview with Martinez about growing up in Argentina and how he explained growing up in poverty. They didn't always have enough to eat. That resonated with me. I was the breadwinner from the time I was three or four years old. And my family we are working-class, showbiz folks. My grandfather was on vaudeville. He didn't succeed. He was actually a Golden Gloves fighter as far as the story goes. But he started out as a singer and that didn't work out. He was a fighter, he was a gangster, ended up in jail.

I feel like my people have fought their way out of poverty. My grandmother was a dancer. Showbiz was really the only way out without an education or money to get an education. My mom grew up very poor in Echo Park and singing was her only way out of the hood. She was married at 15 to a Mexican gangster. She went to Vegas with a dream of getting out where she met my father, who was a kid on the road from the time he was 12 or 13 with this vaudeville harmonica group. They met and hustled in Vegas and got a gig playing the lounges in all the hotels where they were paid in cash and got to live in the hotel rooms and they'd go down and work and leave me and my sister in the room with the do not disturb sign on until my sister was old enough to join the group. So it really is a hustle to survive.

Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach is one of your favorite people. And I feel like you might be the Freddie Roach of indie rock. In your touring bands, you've had people like a young Danielle Haim, Natalie Prass, Tristen, all these people that have gone on to success after leaving your live band. You always take on these young talented rockers. I wonder if you ever saw that role for yourself? Well, first of all, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, so thank you. I'm always looking for great talent. I've always reached out to women to help me with my music, but also I've found myself in this mentor position. Which isn't necessarily intentional from the jump.

With Danielle, it was her first tour ever. She was still keeping kosher and I had to meet with her parents before she came out on the road with me. And then her sister Este joined my band for a show. Then at one point we talked about Alana also joining the band. I talked to the Haim patriarch "Moti" and he was like, "Well, next time all three of them!" And then they blew up on their own. I'm always happy to provide a safe environment for women in my band and hopefully they've all had positive experiences. But I've also had not just women. Blake Mills was in my band, Jonathan Wilson. I've been really lucky in my career to collaborate with some of the best musicians around.

Have you ever thought about if you were a fighter what your walk-out song would be? Wow, I have not. Let me think about that one because that's a great question. But there's a song on my new record called "Heads Gonna Roll" which is a boxing reference. I don't know if people are gonna catch onto that but in the first verse: "I'm gonna keep on dancing until I hear that ringing bell.” It's a Mayweather reference.

I always thought the Rilo Kiley song "Moneymaker" would have been a great boxing walkout song. Even though that song is about sex workers, it would have fit. "You've got the moneymaker, this is your chance to make it out of here..." I think that's the one. Can we get that song to Floyd?

Is there anything else you want to say to the Jenny Lewis or boxing fans that will read this? I wanted to give one shout out to my favorite boxing podcast. It's called Beating The Odds with Beeb.

[torentialtribute]

Scotland captain Andy Robertson admits he still doesn’t really know how the Nations League works

Andy Robertson continues to scale new heights. [Yesterday nominated for the FIFPro WorldTeam of the Year is the captain of Scotland now officially recognized by his colleague & # 39; ] Real Madrid & Marcelo, Alex Sandro of Juventus and Barcelona loyal Jordi Alba is a formidable collection of rivals for Robertson. But did one of those world-class artists have the same impact last season as the boy from Renfrewshire?

Scotland is now officially recognized by his colleagues as one of the very best players

His lead role in the Liverpool Champions League triumph and painfully close miss in the English Premier League – was rightly recognized in a vote of more than 23,000 professional soccer players. No eyebrows will be raised if Robertson is chosen in his usual position when the last XI is mentioned later this month.

It is the first time that a Scot has ever been nominated in the 15-year history of the prize. And it further emphasizes the climb from Robertson to the elite.

He now wants to repeat that rise in his efforts with the national side of Steve Clarke. Helping to boost the bidding qualification for Euro 2020 is a source of immense motivation for a player who gets used to keeping the most valued type of business.

& # 39; I joked and said that I am one of the 55 – probably the largest team I have ever been involved in – & # 39 ;, Robertson laughed when asked about his FIFPro – nomination.

& # 39; It's clearly something huge for me, but let's see if I get into the XI or not. Even to be mentioned alongside the players, there is a special feeling.

& # 39; Let's see how many of us join the team – and many of the other Liverpool guys could probably have been there. That shows how good a season we had last year. & # 39;

Four left behind are on the 55-man list announced by the global players' association

Yet those achievements have already been forgotten – parked until retirement brings time for reflection. For Robertson it is about making the future even more successful. With club and country.

He has been closely involved in attempts by the SFA to make a new blueprint for progression, including the best practice learned in Liverpool in the preparations for the national side.

That is all important and worthy. Still, Robertson is well aware that only the players can deliver when it comes to crunch points on the field.

Scotland has just arrived in the field of automatic qualification for Euro 2020. Loss to Russia in Hampden Tonight and hope for a finish in the top two in group I would definitely disappear.

& # 39; Everyone on the team wants Scotland to be successful & # 39 ;, Robertson insisted. "We are all pushing in the right direction.

" I am the captain and a leader and if people look at me, I will try to push that direction.

& # 39; We need to try to get the results that we think we deserve after the efforts we have made.

& # 39; It is a crucial game. We know that if we have aspirations to finish second and qualify – no matter what we do – it will be realistic between ourselves and Russia. They are our rivals for this group.

"It is the first time we have met them and it is home. We have to produce great results again. We didn't do it for too long. Why not start now? If we can, the group will look a lot better.

No eyebrows would be raised if Robertson was chosen on the left when the last XI is mentioned

& # 39; We know how big it is and that's how they do it. We have to show up, perform like we did at club level and all come together.

I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe we could achieve things. It is an enormous honor to play for your country, but we must try to return to major tournaments. It has been too long.

"Probably too many players have sat here and said we will be back. And it didn't happen. We have to make sure that we are the group of guys that make it happen. & # 39;

Scotland already wiped out the back-up option of a play-off as early as March after winning their Nations League group, emphasizing that this is not equivalent to any sense of comfort.

& # 39; I didn't even think about it, & # 39; he said. Yet I still don't really know how the Nations League works! I know we won the group and we have a play-off, but I don't know who will be against it or whatever. We are in a qualifying campaign and I prefer to qualify in this way. & # 39;

Russia offers a positive example of what success could mean for Scotland. Written off by most pre-tournament observers, they were driven by a home crowd to make the quarter-finals of last summer's World Cup.

Hampden organizes three competitions in the multi-national staging of Euro 2020, an extra incentive to end a 22-year absence of major competitions.

& I looked at the World Cup and I saw Russia & # 39 ;, said Robertson. "They have a huge result against Spain. As a homeland there would have been a lot of pressure on them and they have done very well.

"They form a very good team. It will be difficult, but we believe we can also cause team problems.

& # 39; We must show resilience in the defense, but we must also pose an attacking threat.

& # 39; They come here to imagine. We must ensure that our game plan is correct and that they do not start with three points. & # 39;

THE 55 WORLD XI NOMINESE

[1945902] Goalkeepers (1945) 5):

Alisson Becker (Brazil) , Liverpool FC) David de Gea (Spain, Manchester United) Ederson Moraes (Brazil, Manchester City) Jan Oblak (Slovenia, Atletico Madrid) Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany, FC Barcelona)

Defenders (20):

Jordi Alba (Spain, FC Barcelona) Trent Alexander-Arnold (England, Liverpool FC) Daniel Alves (Brazil, Paris Saint-Germain / Sao Paulo) Joao Cancelo (Portugal, Juventus / Manchester City) Daniel Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid) Giorgio Chiellini (Italy, Juventus) Virgil van Dijk (Holland, FC Liverpool) Diego Godin (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid / Inter) Joshua Kimmich (Germany, Bayern Munich) Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal , Napoli) Aymeric Laporte (France, Manchester City) Matthijs van Ligt (the Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam / Juventus) Ge rard Pique (Spain, FC Barcelona) Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid) Andrew Robertson (Scotland, Liverpool FC) Alex Sandro (Brazil, Juventus) Thiago Silva (Brazil, Paris Saint-Germain) Raphael Varane (France, Real Madrid) Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid) Kyle Walker (England, Manchester City)

Midfielders (15):

Sergio Busquets (Spain, FC Barcelona) Casemiro (Brazil, Real Madrid) Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City) Christian Eriksen (Denmark, Tottenham Hotspur) Frenkie de Jong (the Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam / FC Barcelona) Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea / Real Madrid) N & # 39; Golo Kante (France, Chelsea) Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid) Arthur Melo (Brazil, FC Barcelona) Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid) Paul Pogba (France, Manchester United) Ivan Rakitic (Croatia, FC Barcelona) Bernardo Silva (Portugal), Manchester City ) Dusan Tadic (Serbia, Ajax Amsterdam) Arturo Vidal (Chile, FC Ba rcelona)

Forwards (15):

Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Manchester City) Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid) Roberto Firmino (Brazil, Liverpool FC) Antoine Griezmann (France, Atletico Madrid / FC Barcelona) Harry Kane (England, Tottenham Hotspur) Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Bayern Munich) Sadio Mane (Senegal, Liverpool) Kylian Mbappe (France, Paris Saint-Germain) Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona) ) Neymar (Brazil, Paris Saint-Germany) Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus) Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool) Heung-Min Son (South Korea, Tottenham Hotspur) Raheem Sterling (England, Manchester City) Luis Suarez (Uruguay, FC Barcelona)

]

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How a message on LinkedIn shaped a World Cup dream

Yashir Pinto looks tired, and it’s difficult to blame him.

He has just played an international friendly in Kyrgyzstan, but it is the jetlag rather than the football that is afflicting him.

It took him 32 hours to reach Bishkek from his home in Coquimbo in Chile, a route that took in Santiago, Madrid and Istanbul. But when Palestine come calling, he doesn’t think twice.

Pinto, 27, was born in Chile, to Chilean parents, and for a long time it appeared as though he would play international football for the country.

A promising number nine at Colo Colo, Pinto was making waves in the academy at the same time future Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal – now at Barcelona – were dominating the first team.

He impressed at youth level for Chile, scoring eight goals in 24 appearances for the Under-20s and played at the 2011 South American Under-20 Championship.

But the tournament was a disappointing one for Chile, who were thrashed 5-1 by a Brazil team containing Danilo, Neymar, Oscar and Lucas Moura. Of that Chilean Under-20 squad, just six players went on to win caps for the senior national team.

And it was from a completely unexpected source – networking site LinkedIn, used in the UK mainly by professionals such as lawyers and accountants – that Pinto became a full international.

Backed by current Leeds boss Bielsa

Pinto was one of several young players invited to travel with the senior Chile squad to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The team were coached by current Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa, who has managed all around the world and whose admirers include Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Tottenham counterpart Mauricio Pochettino.

“This was a great experience for me… I was 19 years old and training with players like Vidal and Sanchez,” Pinto told BBC Sport.

“I learned a lot from Marcelo Bielsa and feel so lucky that he coached me when I was very young. He’s a master of football and every player who has worked with him will say the same. He knows everything about the opposition – every player, every weakness. He gives you the tools to be the best version of yourself. He’s crazy, but he’s crazy for football.”

After that brush with the senior team, Yashir failed to trouble the selectors again and also began to struggle to assert himself domestically, dropping down to the Chilean second tier.

The forward decided to try his luck abroad and went on to play in Canada, Germany, Hungary and Malaysia, where he won the league with Melaka United.

He is now back in his native Chile with Coquimbo Unido, but his life has changed dramatically in the intervening six years. From a nearly man with the Chilean national team, he has become a Palestinian hero.

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‘They sent me a message on LinkedIn’

It was while playing for Budapest outfit Ujpest in 2015 that the first contact with Palestine came, from a somewhat unusual source.

“An official from the Palestine Football Association sent me a message on LinkedIn saying they had been trying to contact me for a long time to play international football for Palestine,” Pinto said.

“It’s funny because I don’t know that many footballers who use LinkedIn so this was very lucky.

“It was a great honour for me to be asked because my grandfather came to Chile from Palestine as a small child and of course talked to us a lot about his homeland. Because of this I always had in mind that I could play for Palestine – it’s in my blood.

“It took around nine months to officially change my status because I had played for Chile at every youth level. But when I was told I could make my debut, this was a fantastic moment.”

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Pinto was not the first South American to represent Palestine – an initial wave of naturalised Palestinians coming under Chilean-Palestinian coach Nicola Hadwa Shahwan in the early 2000s.

Argentina-born Pablo Abdala and Alejandron Naif earned several caps, along with a number of Chileans including Jonathan Cantillana, Hernan Madrid, and Roberto Kettlun.

Still, there was plenty of hype among Palestine fans around Pinto’s debut. This was a player who had an excellent pedigree thanks to an enviable football education.

The pressure was on, but Pinto did not disappoint – scoring twice in a 7-0 World Cup qualifying thrashing of East Timor in Hebron.

“It was my first time in Palestine and to me it was a shock as I didn’t know what to expect. I went from Tel Aviv to Ramallah and waited for five hours at the border,” he said.

“You see immediately how difficult life is for the Palestinian people. You see children and wonder how they can smile but when they do, you realise how much courage the people have.

“This gave me energy to play in that first game; it gives me energy to play in every game. All I can do is play football for 90 minutes but we have the chance to make people forget their problems temporarily. To score a goal on my debut was an unbelievable feeling – it was a really emotional moment to be able connect with the Palestinian people in that way.

“Honestly, when someone comes up to me and thanks me for playing for the national team, this means everything to me.”

A World Cup with Palestine?

Since Pinto’s arrival in the national team set-up, Palestine have qualified for a second successive AFC Asian Cup and are looking to improve on a disappointing debut at the tournament, which ended in three defeats from three games in Australia in 2015.

January’s edition in the UAE could provide a valuable platform for Palestinian players to be noticed.

At every match Pinto has played, he has spotted the Palestine flag.

Members of the sprawling, global Palestinian diaspora can always be guaranteed to attend national team games and Pinto has seen them from Malaysia to Kyrgyzstan.

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The forthcoming Asian Cup will welcome plenty more Palestinian supporters but, for Pinto, the real dream is to see them present at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“We have a very special country behind us,” he added. “Every game for us is a final because when the people see that Palestine win, they can be happy in what is an unhappy situation for many.

“If we could play in the World Cup for these fans, for these people – words cannot describe it.”

Palestine are ranked 100th in the world. There will be just four guaranteed qualifiers from Asia at the next World Cup, with a fifth team entering a play-off.

It might be more realistic when the World Cup is expanded to 48 teams in 2026 and there will be eight places for Asian teams, but that is not stopping Pinto from thinking big.

“We are a young team and have a lot of quality players so we must believe we can next qualify for the World Cup,” he said. “If we fight together and we play each other, I think we can do something very good for Palestine.

“Everything we do is history and we want to make history again.”

BBC Sport – Football

How a message on LinkedIn shaped a World Cup dream was originally published on 365 Football