#epic goo disaster

[idontknowreallywhy]

Commute day again! Today’s unedited train snippet is based on horrifying recent events in my own life.

I think it falls roughly within the fluffwhump category.

This was going to be a Gordon-centric fic but he didn’t quite experience the level of indignation I felt was merited, so big brother had to step up.

Hereby claiming “smirk” for Fluffember

Stress Relief

✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️

Scott stood frozen in the middle of the room and felt the last shreds of sanity slip from his fingertips.

How could this have happened?

It had disrupted his understanding of the universe, as if reality itself had finally betrayed him.

The only anchor to his old life, the innocent, trusting life he had lived up until this juncture, was Gordon. His beloved little brother who was writhing on the floor at his feet, shaking and crying…

And howling with laughter.

At him.

Scott opened his mouth to raise an objection to his brother’s frivolous attitude to this disaster but no words came out. Instead, he coughed and spat foul tasting green slime on to the carpet.

It glittered offensively at him.

“H….hooooow?” He croaked desperately.

No explanation was forthcoming - the slippery little fish had rolled on to his stomach and was beating the floor with his fist. Scott spat more slime at him. He probably deserved it.

Wait, did he? Had this been a prank?

Bewilderment was shunted aside by anger.

“GORDON!! WHAT DID YOU DO?”

His brother looked up at him, eyes streaming:

“It wasn’t me, bro” Gordon gasped then bit on his own fist in an apparent attempt to regain some semblance of control “you’re not supposed to squeeze them that hard”.

A tiny seahorse figure fell from the end of Scott’s nose and Gordon dissolved into another fit of giggles.

Scott looked down at the slimy rubbery mess in his clenched fist and frowned, the confusion returning with backup.

“But isn’t… isn’t that… the… ENTIRE POINT?”

He waved the remains of Gordon’s puffer fish toy to emphasis his point and gloop splattered on to the ceiling. To join the rest of the gloop on the ceiling.

“It’s a stress ball! You squeeze the indestructible ball, it remains indestructible and you feel less stressed afterwards! THAT’S WHAT IT’S FOR!!”

Scott’s voice teetered on the edge of a whine.

“Yeah but none of them are really that robust big bro, particularly not in the face of Mr Big Cheese Businessman levels of stress.”

Uhoh. Scott looked down at the brand new, ridiculously expensive designer suit his PA had quietly handed him when he’d turned up ten minutes before the board meeting fresh off the back of a muddy rescue.

The suit oozed at him.

It was apt really. Some of the board members had oozed too. He’d just been sharing some of the ludicrous highlights with his little brother (who was always pleasingly sympathetic on the topic of corporate hogwash) and had absent-mindedly picked the actionably-falsely-advertised item off his brother’s bedside table to toss from hand to hand as he ranted.

He blinked rapidly as something slid into his field of vision. Gordon stood and gently plucked a tiny glittery shark from his commander’s eyebrow.

“Let’s get you cleaned up shall we?” Sympathetic tone and matching facial expression were being masterfully deployed.

“NOT my room. This stuff will ruin my nice carpet.” He sagged. “Honestly Gordo, it was such a tiny thing… how is there so much of this… ick?”

Brown eyes twinkled as Gordon smirked knowingly. “One of the mysteries of the cosmos, big brother.”

🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑

Gordon steered his slimy brother into his own en-suite and closed the door behind him, turning away to survey the sparkling chaos his brother had created.

There was a pause. Gordon could hear the shower switch on and some indistinct muttering from the other side of the door. Then a cough, followed by a snort, followed by a bark of laughter.

Gordon smiled to himself. Maybe not quite what the designer had planned, but the little toy might have had its intended effect after all.

[katewalker]

can't wait for my first real bg3 playthrough with delphene, i'm really curious about the entire "talking with your patron" thing because at the beginning of the game, delphene made her pact fairly recently and so far they didn't really communicate past the whole "my power against your anger" thingy, hope i can have delphene be power hungry too fast and the GOO not liking it.

also can't wait to see if the combats changed much since the early access. i wan't to see all the abilities, i can't wait to experience epic fights.

i want to play through all the origins to know more about my fave disaster og party, and more than anything else i'm probably gonna put virgil to use to experiment with the CC, the classes and choices. also the dark urge thingy... probably will play with virgil as well or......... or i revamp one of my darkside revan.... i don't know yet

[nerves-nebula]

OKAY UPDATE I MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN AN EXTRODINARILY MINISCULE AMOUNT OF SLEEP BUT I'M ON SEASON 2 EPISODE 6 NOW (just finished it) AND YOO

ANIMATION IS ALWAYS AWESOME, THE FIGHTS ARE ABSOLUTELY EPIC AND THE CHARACTERS HAVE ALL DEVELOPED!

I feel like in season 2 they found their footings with thecharacters, and also LEOOOOO LETS GOO they gave my boy (neutral) the episode focus that I wanted and more!! And Splinter doesn't feel as sus now, he's just a funny rat man methinks. What came off as ick is just him having no thoughts but pretending he has all of the

(<- I don't have a solid opinion on him yet, part of me thinks they're doing a decent job incorporating him more but part of me wonders why they're not talking about everything else like yea he's trying now but the brothers are starved for any attention from him so that's kinda an unhealthy dynamic???? IDK plus I'm probably projecting xD)

BUT BACK TO LEO!! Leo my darling I am loving how he's sticking out more as a character (? if that makes sense). He's less of "oh hey blue brother" and more like HEY IT'S LEO! I think it's great that they touched upon the fact that he isn't listened to as much (though in previous episodes Donnie tends to be the person that will trust Leo's judgment, but in less serious situations?) He's got SO much going on, he is harnessing gender, sass, and I think that he's like a partner to Donnie's genius (emotional smarts vs non-emotional smarts. Leo knows how to manipulate situations into his favour and able to predict people's behaviours and reactions. Really cool and I love how they're showing that more) <- also I am vibing so much with your Leo gender comments like YEAH you're right

My opinions on Raph are mostly the same, I just really like himand think he's fun. Raph is being more protective in this season both in checking in on the others more but also trying to push them so he can see they can protect themselves (so he doesn't have to worry about them as much? It's interesting development, though I think he deserves to be wrapped in a blanket and given his favourite foods (if he finds comfort in that sorta thing). He's great!

Mikey!! Same as Raph I like how they've developed his character more and he is SO youngest sibling vibes. Epic seeing him get better at fighting and how he doesn't have to sacrifice his naturally not-overly-serious nature to be like that. He's growing and probably has committed multiple pranks off screen, love that for him <3

DONNIE!!!! He's great my autism beam is locked and loaded and firing. The fact that one of the first things he did when he had to develop some level of technology in the woods was making a shell cover means something to me. Blorbo creature, but I want to finish season 2 before I read any fanfiction to avoid spoilers.

ALSO JUST MENTIONING DONNIE AND LEO DISASTER TWINS! They feel more like twins in sweason 2 like they have a secret dynamic and it's funnn! They feel more like equals in a way?? though that could've been that they were still getting used to writing the characters in season 1 and they settled more into a rhythm in season 2? Might be that I'm noticing more, but anyways it's great! Love that for them!

QUICK THOUGHTS: even though Big Mama and Splinter are canonically exs, they do NOT have the amount of exs vibes that Draxum and Splinter have. They are so divorced, such exs. Had Draxum not been so obtuse when he successfully kidnapped Splinter I feel like they could've had something, ya know (pre-mutant turtle era). Draxum mentioning that Splinter likes the turtles a lot before mutating them makes me feel like if Splinter said he hated them Draxum might have considered another animal lowkey.

THE REVEAL OF THE BROTHERS' ORIGINS!! So it debunks a lot of my previous ask BUT I still headcannon a fair amount of it. Lowkey playing with the idea that Raph and Leo are considered the oldest because those are the two turtles Splinter picked up first and interacted with <- does that make sense? IDK but I think that would be the FUNNIEST reveal

I will be going back to watch the rest of season 2 but after learning about so much more I HAD to send an update! The show is SO good and I started watching it at the perfect time (<- you don't need to know my life but something shitty happened just before the weekend and I was planning to have an existential crises but instead as part of a trauma response my brain attached to this instead and it will now become a personality trait and now ROTTMNT will exist permanently within me, It's happened with a few other things but ANYWAYS) and it's so fantastic to watch. I will share theories later when I'm at least half way through this second season. I hope season 3 comes out soon, but I saw that there was a movie so I'll watch that after season 2!

GOING FERAL THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TALKING ABOUTT THE SHOW BECAUSE THIS ONE WAS OF THE BEST DECISIONS I'VE MADE IN A WHILE. TO BINGE AND WATCH AND OOOOOOOOOOOO IT'S GOOD

YOU'RE ON SEASON 2 ALREADY??????? glad that I've affixed this show as a permanent part of ur personality >:) now we can talk about it >:)

also I'm so sorry but the show is uhhhh WELL its been cancelled (or "paused" but it doesn't look good tbh) and hasn't had a new season since 2019,,,,,, BUT THE MOVIE IS SOOOO FUCKING GOOD so maybe that'll make up for it ? :')

AND UR SO RIGHT ABOUT draxum and splinter having more Divorced Vibes than splinter and big mama asfdfdf it's WILD but I love it

TO BE HONEST I LOVE SPLINTER but I am also of the opinion that its like, a Good Person but Bad Parent situation. he was kind of a shitty neglectful dad before season 2 :') he loves his boys for sure but like ! !!! ough! !

I actually binged rottmnt over last summer so I'm not as fresh on the specifics as I used to be, but I've been watching clips and random episodes to remind me of how certain characters act or w/e and its SOOO FUNNN augAHGAG. So another binge might be imminent,,, we'll see.

[thunderheadfred]

❄️Todoroki HC's🔥

Aged-up pro hero Shouto. NSFW under the cut. Minors do not interact.

- - -

General

Might as well be tied with Bakugou for the #1 pro hero spot; they seem to pass the crown back and forth every other year. Everyone knows about their intense frenemies uber-rivalry. Well. Everyone but Shouto.

He's asked to speak at a lot of charity events. If he has time to prepare (and hire a speech writer) he is capable of stirring crowds to standing ovations. But if caught unawares... he gets cornered into hilarious on-the-spot interviews. He's been memed. Mercilessly.

He's an OP character, but unfortunately he rolled -500 in fashion sense. Eventually he wises up and hires a stylist. When he finally cuts his hair a slightly different and even more flattering way, it's a national event. People faint in the street.

Does god-awful sleight-of-hand magic tricks when he meets young fans, even though nobody asked him to. The second-hand embarrassment is palpable. But he keeps doing it. God, why does he keep doing it?

Has hovering arm syndrome in every fan photo.

Super into pop music. Not a fan of any particular group or artist, couldn't tell you the name of a single song. But every time he turns up the volume on the radio it's like... really? THIS? Probably pumps that shit through his hero agency to keep up morale. Has no idea what you mean when you tell him his music taste doesn't match his personality.

Similarly, he enjoys brainless romantic comedies and old silent movies. Doesn't laugh at jokes but loses it over physical comedy. Thinks Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd are the funniest people who ever walked the earth.

He's long and limber. Runs practically a hundred miles every day just to "relax." Doesn't even get sweaty doing it. A filthy yoga addict. He'll probably live to be 200 years old.

He can regulate his body temperature for quirk use but in everyday life he's always half a degree outside the Goldilocks zone. It drives him quietly insane; he has an epic love-hate relationship with his thermostat.

Has a therapy animal pet. Doesn't matter if it's a dog or a cat or a bird or an iguana or a teeny tiny rodent. It's the best-behaved animal in the country and speaks more languages than you. It has its own room and an instagram account with millions of followers.

Lives in a traditional Japanese estate that doubles as a national treasure. Probably has government-appointed snipers at the gate, and he's just like, "don't worry about it." You are afraid to touch anything. Fuck, don't even look at anything, just to be safe.

Has an outstanding personal chef who only gets to cook five things unless (thank fuck!!) company comes over. Impossibly picky eater. He rotates between a few "safe" foods and suspiciously side-eyes everything else. If you cook something unfamiliar for him it will be the most awkward meal of your life, because he'd never tell you he doesn't like it. But oh lord, just look at his face.

This clashes directly with his love of traveling. Frequently uses his hero earnings to visit exotic foreign locales over long weekends... but rarely tries the food.

- - -

Dating

A grey-ace demisexual disaster. You could count the number of people he's been attracted to on one hand. He falls madly in love every time and always gets his heart smashed to pieces when his crush can't magically intuit the meaning of his frigid longing glances and generically courteous romantic gestures.

Which is stupid, because he gets propositioned constantly. He can't walk out the door without being flirted with. People keep slipping him their phone numbers and he always directs them to his agency like a moron. It's a good thing he will never understand how attractive he is because that's the only thing keeping him from total world domination.

Conventional attractiveness does not compute. Shouto doesn't have a type, doesn't care that he's an eleven whilst you are merely mortal. He will fall for your personality above all else.

Probably falls head over heels because your schedules overlap in a completely ordinary way and he witnesses you doing something endearing or brave or most likely: utterly mundane.

Pick a favorite, because you're his favorite coworker, or his favorite barista, or his favorite random bystander in line at the grocery store. You made him smile once; then he spent the next three months daydreaming about your future together before you accidentally stomped on his foot, initiating your first real conversation.

He's big on healthy communication. HUGE. He goes to therapy and it shows. Will talk through literally everything to the point of delirium. Sometimes his dedication to resolving every issue right away can get overwhelming; sometimes you just need some frickin time alone. But it pays off, because the two of you have practically never have a "real fight." There's just no way for bad vibes to fester.

STILL, his family wasn't exactly... erm... verbally or emotionally supportive, shall we say. For that reason, he might not give you all the compliments you deserve, because it simply doesn't occur to him to do so. He assumes you know how he feels. If you're self-conscious or insecure in the relationship, it might take him a while to notice. But when he figures it out (or even better, when you tell him directly) he will make it up to you with enthusiasm.

Will take you on lavish dates. Spoils you rotten without actually intending to. He's clueless about money. If you wanted a sugar daddy, you just hit the fucking jackpot. But if the word valet makes you uncomfortable, perhaps suggest some romantic picnics instead. He can still go all out with the food and five-star location without making you see cartoon dollar signs.

Chronic Insomniac. Stays up too late watching YouTube every night. His viewing history is an incomprehensible blur of k-pop music videos, serial killer icebergs, and super girly crafty ASMR channels. When he's watching a video, he is unreachable. Please call back later and try again.

He's disgustingly cute when he sleeps. Doesn't snore, but drools. Sometimes the drool freezes and leaves frost trails on his face in the morning. Still sleeps with the giant stuffed cat pillow that his mother gave him when he was like, zero. He'll inadvertently suffocate you with it, and you will welcome death with open arms because awwwwww!!!!!

The first time he tells you he loves you will be after your traditional Japanese shinto wedding. You won't hear it again until you start a family. Honestly, it's a good thing he doesn't say it often and is always holding you when it happens. It's a knee-buckler.

- - -

Icy-Hot

I don't even need to say it. Shouto is as old-fashioned as they come. You will never open another door or pull out another chair for yourself as long as you live. He will ask before he holds your hand. He will ask before he kisses you. He will stop and check in if you so much as breathe funny during sex.

If you don't orgasm at exactly the same time while staring into one another's eyes, he'll consider himself a failed lover. God forbid you want him to pound you into the futon... cause you are going to have to present that scenario to him in writing first.

Physical intimacy rarely leads to sex. He loves cuddling, craves physical affection. He'll sprawl all over you and turn into goo while you hold him close. He's an amazing, astounding, phenomenally good kisser. And that's... nice and all... but sometimes you have to grab his face and say, "Shouto, I'm horny," before he's like so that's why you're currently dry-humping me?

Even if he isn't technically a virgin the first time (or the millionth time) you sleep together, you won't know the difference. He's a blushing violet. Every. Fucking. Time. This doesn't mean he's a bad lay, oh no. But there's always ten minutes of confused bumbling before he hits his stride and remembers oh yeah, I DO know how to fuck good.

Absolutely silent during sex. Focused. Intense. Sometimes you have to push him a little to make any kind of noise at all, just so you know you're pleasing him (oh don't worry, you are).

His cock is Just Right. Not to big or too small. Perfectly proportioned and symmetrical. Somehow pretty. Like a fucking factory prototype. It truly is not fair.

Gets handsy and restless at night, even if you both have work the next day. Seems to crave sex at three in the morning. You've given him more than one exhausted handjob.

Gets offended if you don't cum. Will go down on you for hours. Of course he uses his quirk to tease you. He doesn't typically use it during actual intercourse, but he's all about foreplay, and he'll use every tool in his arsenal.

His sex drive is completely fucking unpredictable. Sometimes he's all over you, other times he's an icy slab. His line of work leaves him busy and stressed on a near-constant basis, so you can't entirely blame his personality for this one. Just give him some time and help him take care of his basic needs. He'll come back around soon enough.

[panharmonium]

stranger things 3, a visual summary:

more coherent thoughts under the cut, because wow.

......okay.  that was a Trainwreck.  an absolute mess.

i remember when my coworkers were watching S3 (and still urging me to start season 1) and they were saying how amazing the latest season was, and honestly i think there must just be a difference in people who watch tv just to be entertained and people who watch tv and automatically evaluate the story (aka fandom veterans and English majors, lol - cue Me twice), because WHO could watch this critically and praise it that way?

it's honestly hard to know where to even begin; i've been sending frustrated notes to @brambleberrycottage ever since episode three and now that i'm done with episode 8 there's just......so much more to say

first, good things:

erica is a great character.  she's what max should have been (aka, uh.......interesting!)  i liked the realization moment where dustin was like "you're a NERD!"

that entire sequence where will is so upset with lucas and mike for not being engaged with the dnd game was very well done, especially the conversation he has with mike out in the rain.  i loved that moment where mike asked him "did you think we were just going to hang out in my basement playing games forever?" and will said, "yeah.  yeah, i guess i did."  i really felt that.  [edit, now that i've finished: this was never resolved.  will giving away his dnd books at the end was not an actual resolution to this conflict.]

steve is still a good dude, and robin was pretty cool.  i'm down for them being super friends.  but i'm still mourning the steve+nancy+jonathan trio that was a thing for like 5 seconds and then never returned.

i loved how genuinely excited steve was to see dustin when dustin came back from camp.  that was adorable.  "HENDERSON!!!!"  "how many children are you friends with?"

and uh. yeah.  i had more problems with this season than praise-bestowing moments, so.  here goes that bit.

OVERARCHING PROBLEMS:

1. keep it simple, stupid

remember in the office when dwight quoted the above advice to ryan as michael's rule for making a sale?  the same advice applies to storytelling.

season 1 of stranger things is so simple.  there is One Monster.  that is the danger.  and somehow, that single monster manages to be a thousand times more terrifying than all of these new "bigger, scarier, more epic" threats crammed into the second two seasons.

how goofy is the stranger things season 3 plot, seriously?  russians are blackmailing a small-town mayor so they can buy up land to steal power from the town while operating a secret lab under the mall to open a gate to the Upside Down (WHY?), while simultaneously a remnant of the malevolent force that was "defeated" last season has reanimated itself and is making people scarf chemicals (WHY?), and then it possesses one of them and uses that person to possess a bunch of other people in order to build itself a body made out of melted people, in order to kill el, whose only story this season is breaking up with her boyfriend, and we have to infiltrate this russian base in order to close the gate (same endgame as last season - BIG NO-NO) to kill the goo monster, except last time the "mindflayer” survived the gate being closed, so why would this even WORK, and -

the fact that there are so many "round-up/info dump" scenes where characters summarize what's going on and make implausibly accurate connections/guesses about what it all must mean is a red flag.  the characters shouldn’t have to tell your story to the audience.  if it's too complicated for us to keep straight on our own, it's too complicated.  

the amount of energy that goes into trying to lash together a Chaos Plot with too many shaky legs leaves nothing left over for nuanced character development or mood establishment.  you're constantly running to catch up to your own flimsy story before it collapses on top of itself.

2. the horror!

S1 of stranger things was the scariest thing i'd ever seen.

granted, i don't watch a lot of horror, because i don't like it.  i get scared too easily and then i legitimately can't sleep.  i watched a horror movie five years ago that i still think about every time the lights are off in my house.  but still, ST1 was something i had never experienced before.

it wasn't creature horror, and it wasn't just suspense.  it was the UNSETTLINGNESS of it all.  it wasn't really about the monster.  it was about the Upside Down.

the reason ST1 is so successful is because of how much we don’t know.  it's the horror of not understanding what is happening, and the terror of knowing that nobody thinks it’s real.  feeling like you're going crazy and being cut off from all assistance.  the conspiracy and the cover-up.  and the sheer unsettlingness of the whole parallel worlds things just tipped me over the edge - the idea that you can take one wrong step and then be suddenly and without warning completely off the map, simultaneously right next to the people you want to get to and also utterly beyond their reach.  that was fucking scary!!!!  

and they do it all with so little.  i have literally never been more scared in my life than when i would see those christmas lights start flickering.  and they're just LIGHTS!  yes, we see the monster later, but it's the uncertainty that's most frightening.  we don't understand how it arrives in our world, and we don’t know where it will show up next.  it could be right next to you - on the other side.  you could be standing on top of it.  you just don't know.  it’s like what jonathan says to nancy in her bedroom - “it can’t get us in here.”  and she says, “we don’t know that.”

the later seasons of stranger things, by comparison, did not scare me at all.  season two was like a zombie movie - hordes of weak enemies that you can just shoot with a gun.  and season 3 was even less frightening - upping the ante and making things gorier, more explosive, and bigger just isn't the vibe they set in S1.  i'm not scared of that giant goop monster.  it's like godzilla.  it's not horror; it's just a lot of noise.

the unsettling, "creep" factor that made season 1 so effective was gone.  it just turned into a regular old monster movie, and i didn't find that particularly interesting.

3. illogical, captain

a while ago there was a wave of pushback against people complaining about plot holes, but you know what?  there is, in fact, an appropriate place for us to talk about plausibility, as well as the point at which our suspension of disbelief collapses.

ST3 is a bona fide plausibility disaster.  i did not believe half of the story, because it was not unfolding in a believable way.

half of the plot points in this season would not have happened if the characters had been behaving with any kind of sense.  it is absolutely impossible for me to believe that none of these children IMMEDIATELY went to joyce or hopper the minute they knew something weird was going on.  it makes no sense.  after the shit they've seen?  it makes sense in season 1, because the kids are still so young that they have that kind of magical thinking that makes all of this seem kind of like an adventure.  but they're teenagers now, and developmentally, they’re past that stage.  they know the evil creature is back and they're pretty sure it's possessing billy?  for some unfathomable reason, they don't go to an adult, but try to trap billy in the sauna and just see what happens.  the other group has actual proof that russian soldiers are up to something shady in the mall?  they don't tell an adult; they send a TEN YEAR-OLD in through the AIR DUCTS to investigate the secret room guarded by MEN WITH GUNS.

this is ridiculous.  none of this should have happened.  none of this WOULD have happened.  it breaks the boundaries of disbelief.  it completely sabotages the audience’s engagement with the story - joyce and hopper's whole detour with alexei and murray is so dull, because its entire purpose is to bring hop and joyce up to speed on something that we, the audience, already know.  the other characters already found out this stuff, but did not communicate it - the gate is being opened again in a russian lab underground.  there's no suspense for us.  nothing new is revealed.  we're just waiting for them to hurry up and finish finding out so we can move on to the next thing.

moreover: there are so many other problems besides just "these characters would have talked to each other."  why on earth would murray, whose sole characteristic is extreme paranoia, take alexei wandering around the festival for hot dogs and carnival games.  why would hopper be so virulently against the possibility that weird shit might be happening again?  does he remember the past year or what?  how on earth would the kids be able to fight off that massive monster with an ax and a hunting rifle?  it's made out of dead guts and bones; why does it care if they shoot it?!  how in the WORLD is this russian facility so penetrable?  i'm sorry, it's just - beyond believable.  it doesn't have cameras?  the russians guards really can't tell that murray isn't a native speaker?  they don't check his id when they don't recognize him?  joyce and hopper really just got that lucky, to be asked a question and have “smile and nod” be the right answer?  nobody ever got shot?  it's silly.  it's just silly.  so many things - erica uses the "Open" button to open the elevator door in order to let steve and robin and dustin inside, but once the elevator is at the bottom of the shaft, robin explains the door's inexplicable non-opening because......you apparently need a keycard to use the buttons????  THAT MAKES NO SENSE; ERICA JUST USED THE BUTTONS A SECOND AGO.

even the entire endgame of this season is a contradiction!  if the mind-flayer survived el closing the gate last time, it doesn't make sense that closing the gate this time would kill it.  literally the entire plot of last season was "we need to get this thing out of will, because the creature will die once the gate is closed, and we want to make sure will doesn't die with it."  but apparently the creature didn't die upon closing the gate; it just got trapped in our dimension.  but now apparently it WILL die upon closing the gate.  for whatever fucking reason.

i'm sorry, but that’s a mess.  that’s a bona fide mess.

4. watch your tone

i honestly think the tonal change is the thing that made me the most frustrated about this season.  it's possible to have a terrible plot and still stay relatively true to your characters - you'll still have a bad season, but at least you didn't bastardize your characters in the process.

i had issues with S2 and i definitely was not as impressed with it as i was with S1, but at least in S2 joyce and hopper were recognizable.  in S3, i felt like i was watching strangers.  the tonal shift was bizarre and off-putting, more so with hopper than joyce, but it affected both of them.  

even as early as the very beginning of this season, i was feeling weird about how often hopper was being used for comedy.  and as the season progressed, this trend only became more pronounced.  almost every scene we had of him felt silly - and not like there was just something funny in the scene for me to laugh at, but like the audience was almost being asked to laugh AT him.  like he was constantly the butt of the joke.  

this really bothered me.  from that incredibly sincere and heart-wrenching portrayal of him in season 1, when they kept him rooted in the trauma of losing his daughter and the breakdown of his marriage, and then how that same trauma made him so driven to save will and protect the kids - what a change.  even in season 2 i was frustrated how the throughline of his daughter wasn’t touched again until the very last episode, and now in season 3 we’ve left that part of him so far behind that he's just there for us to laugh at.  we're supposed to laugh at scenes of him being drunk and a mess.  every scene he's in is either him arguing with joyce for comedic relief or being way over the top with alexei or the mayor.  he was like a caricature of himself, and i didn't recognize him.  

joyce suffered from the same thing, just by virtue of proximity.  she spent almost all of her time in this season with hopper, and virtually all of that time was taken up with silly shenanigans or comically overblown arguing.  what a departure from the desperate mother of season 1, who was maligned by everyone in town and only taken seriously by the audience.  now it’s the audience who are supposed to be chuckling at her.  

i dunno.  the tone shift was very dramatic, very obvious, and it impacted the entire season.  are we supposed to be taking this seriously or is it supposed to be a joke?  a little bit of humor to break tension can be a good thing, but when it's constant, it confuses the mood.  

and i personally don't think it was appropriate or respectful to either of these characters, in this case.

SMALLER THINGS THAT BOTHERED ME:

this show has 100% hit maximum character saturation.  by the end of this season there were 13 core characters onscreen at the same time, in the same scene!  it’s too many people!  they cannot reasonably develop that many people in the space allotted.

i still am not interested in max.  i don't feel anything for her.  she doesn't feel real.  i don't hate her, but she's just an empty vessel, and i really do think she's superfluous to this show.  i think you could remove her with very little reworking and the show would be stronger for it.  (they TRIED to do something interesting with billy, and i might have cared if we had been given literally any reason to care about him previously, but there was no investment earned there.  they didn't do the front-end work to make him somebody we were interested in.)

weird relationship sunderings from previous seasons.  i felt very strange about jonathan barely even seeing will this entire season.  i felt very strange about steve having almost zero contact with nancy.  i felt very strange about joyce hardly ever interacting with her kids.  all of these were core relationships - the characters were BUILT on those relationships, and they don't feel real outside of them.  not seeing these characters devote time to these relationships makes it feel like i'm watching a slightly different show.

the VIOLENCE.  apparently this is a beat-em-up now???  i really felt like every other scene somebody was getting beaten to a bloody pulp.  there was SO much smashing and bashing and throwing people into walls and fistfights and head trauma like - first of all, i find that stuff pretty boring, and second of all, all of these people should be in the hospital.  

the GORE.  other people’s mileage may vary, obviously; i just didn't like that.  i looked away at the scene with the rat, and all this...goopy dissolving human shit, and the stabbings, and just...general grossness level - season 1 managed to be bloodcurdlingly terrifying without any of this stuff.

i know this borders on nitpicky, but yet more medical malfeasance - another example of someone receiving an injection via the mysterious 90 degree angle neck route, plus - was anyone else losing it at the fact that steve and robin “puked up” a drug they received……..via injection??????  IT’S NOT IN THEIR STOMACHS, FOLKS!  THEY CAN’T PUKE IT UP!  IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT!

the complete lack of follow-up to last season.  the whole S3 plotline (such as it is) feels like a weird side quest.  last season seemed to be furthering the mythos and setting us up for "there are other children like el/brenner is alive" - but this season, that fact appears to have been forgotten by everyone (even el!!!) and has nothing to do with the story that we're given, which is a goofy and redundant story about russians opening a secret lab under the mall which requires us to solve the exact same problem as last season (closing the gate).

this show's inability to keep certain throughlines in its headlights/keep things visible on the periphery instead of dropping them completely and then bringing them back whenever they feel like they need it again.   i already talked about hopper’s daughter as an example of this (done well in S1 and poorly in S2 and S3).  another example is that scene with nancy and her mom - it’s such a good scene, and yet it misses out on so much resonance, because they completely dropped the plotline of karen feeling locked out of her kids’ lives and desperately wanting to connect with them.  if they had continued to reference that throughout season 2, then this scene would have been so much more powerful.   as a third example, season 3 starts with a clear context/premise, and it’s INTERESTING - the town landscape changing because of the mall, business slow to non-existent, small town discontent over big corporations moving in, hopper pressured to break up the protest against mayor kline when he should have let it proceed - and then the show just drops that entire context.  you expect season 3 to stay rooted in the "our small town is being strangled by this mall" and then to eventually deal with the revitalization of hawkins, but nah.  it's never mentioned again.

LASTLY:

i'm not really gonna get into hopper "dying," because he's, like...clearly not dead.  but the whole situation was stupid and contrived (i was so sick of that arnold schwarzenegger lookalike by the last episode, god that whole thing was so dumb) and it's even cheaper knowing that he'll obviously be back.

what i AM gonna say is that i was livid that they brought back that peter gabriel cover of "heroes" to end this season.  their use of that song in S1 blew my mind - it had me stunned with how GORGEOUS it was and just, the way it worked in that particular scene - absolutely incredible.  floored me.  gave me chills.  to recycle it at the end of such a poorly constructed season made me so mad.  yOU CAN'T MAKE ME FEEL THINGS JUST BY REUSING THIS SONG.  I REFUSE TO HAVE EMOTIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU PULL OUT THIS BEAUTIFUL TRACK THAT YOU ONCE USED TO GREAT EFFECT; YOUR STORY WAS STILL TERRIBLE THIS TIME AROUND; DO NOT TRY TO TRICK FEELINGS OUT OF US THAT HAVEN’T BEEN EARNED.  

and that's it.  i’m sure later i’ll think of other things i neglected to mention here, but...yeah.  i was not impressed.  

[jasmine-tea-latte]

Phoenix and Dragon - The Big Epic Playlist (Zutara Week 2020)

It’s hard to believe that I’m finally done with my first-ever series The Phoenix and the Dragon. I’ve had so much fun working on it, and to everyone who’s been kind enough to read/review/reblog, can I just say, THANK YOU!!!

This is the first time I’ve ever participated in a Zutara Week, and I hope to do so again in the future.

If you’ve been keeping up with my posts for each entry, you probably noticed I included a playlist for each story prompt. I listened to and was inspired by a ton of music while writing, which I’ve compiled into one big, epic playlist below the cut.

(Click here for the complete story order.)

Thank you again so much for reading! Enjoy 🎶

Like Sunshine in a Storm - Read on AO3

Best of Me - The Starting Line

Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys

Why Can’t I? – Liz Phair  

Make You Smile – +44

Sympathy – Goo Goo Dolls 

Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

(Kissed You) Good Night – Gloriana  

Stay – Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko

A World Alone - Lorde

Brighter Than Sunshine – Aqualung

Of Halos, Waves, and Starlight - Read on AO3

Heaven is a Place on Earth - Belinda Carlisle

Stars – The xx

Blinding Lights – The Weeknd

Delicate – Taylor Swift

Bailando – Enrique Iglesias

Love – Lana del Rey

Fade Into You – Mazzy Star

Echo – Trapt

Stargirl Interlude – The Weeknd ft. Lana del Rey

Crash – Dave Matthews Band

A Beautiful Disaster - Read on AO3

Beautiful Disaster – Kelly Clarkson

Santa Monica - Everclear

It’s Been Awhile - Staind  

Through Glass – Stone Sour

Love Me Anyway – P!nk ft. Chris Stapleton  

Maps – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis  

Madness – Muse 

Wet Sand – Red Hot Chili Peppers  

Vermilion Pt. 2 – Slipknot  

All You Wanted – Michelle Branch

If You Want Love – NF

Drive - Incubus

Affirmations - Read on AO3

I Caught Fire – The Used

Invisible String – Taylor Swift

Bloodstream – Stateless

Glycerine – Bush

The Only Exception – Paramore

Finally / Beautiful Stranger – Halsey

She Is Love – Parachute

Unconditionally - Katy Perry  

You are the Reason – Calum Scott

Duality - Read on AO3

Thunderstruck – AC/DC

Ready For It? – Taylor Swift

Feeling This – Blink 182

Glory and Gore – Lorde

She’s Automatic – Rancid

Underneath It All – No Doubt

Good Good Things – Descendents

C’mon Girl – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses

Moonrise - Read on AO3

Islands – The xx

Closer – Nine Inch Nails

Love Me Harder – Ariana Grande / The Weeknd

Crazy in Love – Sofia Karlberg

West Coast – Lana del Rey

Tender – Blur

Empire – Shakira

Talking Body – Tove Lo

Phoenix and Dragon - Read on AO3

Song #3 – Stone Sour

Nothing Else Matters – Metallica

Open Your Eyes – Snow Patrol

Running with Giants – Thousand Foot Krutch

Metalingus – Alter Bridge

Vindicated – Dashboard Confessional

Hard to Concentrate – Red Hot Chili Peppers

You and Me – Lifehouse

Perfect – Ed Sheeran

Everlong (Acoustic) – Foo Fighters

[whatisthiswitchcraft]

books I read in 2019 (not including rereads, favorites are bolded!)

Come Close - Sappho

Shanghai Baby - Wei Hui

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair - Pablo Neruda

Bad Feminist: Essays - Roxane Gay

The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir - Jenifer Lewis

Sula - Toni Morrison

Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writings of North America - ed. Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel - Alexander Chee

Night Sky With Exit Wounds - Ocean Vuong

If They Come For Us - Fatimah Asghar

Heart Berries: A Memoir - Terese Marie Mailhot

Less - Andrew Sean Greer

The Astonishing Color of After - Emily X.R. Pan

Goodbye, Vitamin - Rachel Khong

Darius the Great is Not Okay - Adib Khorram

Exit West - Mohsin Hamid

Homegirls and Handgrenades - Sonia Sanchez

Heavy: An American Memoir - Keise Laymon

All You Can Ever Know - Nicole Chung

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Way You Make Me Feel - Maureen Goo

A Very Large Expanse of Sea - Tahereh Mafi

Water By the Spoonful - Quiara Alegría Hudes

I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé - Michael Arceneaux

Bury It - Sam Sax

White Dancing Elephants - Chaya Bhuvaneswar

Pulp - Robin Talley

Shit is Real - Aisha Franz

Silencer - Marcus Wicker

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale - Belle Yang

Bestiary: Poems - Donika Kelly

Monster Portraits - Sofia Samatar

No Matter the Wreckage - Sarah Kay

Violet Energy Ingots - Hoa Nguyen

Olio - Tyehimba Jess

The Kane Chronicles: The Serpent’s Shadow - Rick Riordan

There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé - Morgan Parker

Nylon Road: A Graphic Memoir of Coming of Age in Iran - Parsua Bashi

The Wedding Date - Jasmine Guillory

Fruit of the Drunken Tree - Ingrid Rojas Contreras

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Family Trust - Kathy Wang

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture - ed. Roxane Gay

Little & Lion - Brandy Colbert

A Girl Like That - Tanaz Bhathena

Suicide Club: A Novel About Living - Rachel Heng

The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary - NoNieqa Ramos

My Old Faithful: Stories - Yang Huang

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan

Girls Burn Brighter - Shobha Rao

Moon of the Crusted Snow - Waubgeshig Rice

Kingdom Animalia - Aracelis Girmay

Happiness - Aminatta Forna

Devotions - Mary Oliver

The Proposal - Jasmine Guillory

The Kiss Quotient - Helen Hoang

When Katie Met Cassidy - Camille Perri

Heads of the Colored People - Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Friday Black: Stories - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The Word is Murder - Anthony Horowitz

Miles from Nowhere - Nami Mun

The Lost Ones - Sheena Kamal

All the Names They Used for God - Anjali Sachdeva

Confessions of the Fox - Jordy Rosenberg

Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir - Padma Lakshmi

On the Come Up - Angie Thomas

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali - Sabina Khan

See What I Have Done - Sarah Schmitt

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika Sánchez

For Today I Am A Boy - Kim Fu

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings - Joy Harjo

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us - Hanif Abdurraqib

Mongrels - Stephen Graham Jones

If Beale Street Could Talk - James Baldwin

Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America - Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson

The Gilded Wolves - Roshani Chokshi

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before - Jenny Han

The Perfect Nanny - Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor

The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel

Things We Lost in the Fire - Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell

Sunburn - Laura Lippman

The House of Impossible Beauties - Joseph Cassara

Freshwater - Akwaeke Emezi

A Private Life - Chen Ran, translated by John Howard-Gibbon

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster - Stephen L. Carter

Undead Girl Gang - Lily Anderson

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera

The Friend - Sigrid Nunez

Severance - Ling Ma

Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery & Murder - ed. Licoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto

Mapping the Interior - Stephen Graham Jones

Give Me Some Truth - Eric Gansworth

How to Love a Jamaican - Alexia Arthurs

All of This is True - Lygia Day Peñaflor

Swimmer Among the Stars - Kanishk Tharoor

The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 7: Mothering Invention - Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story - Kheryn Callender

Gingerbread - Helen Oyeyemi

Where the Dead Sit Talking - Brandon Hobson

The Ensemble - Aja Gabel

My Education - Susan Choi

More Happy than Not - Adam Silvera

Nobody Cares: Essays - Anne T. Donahue

Kiss and Tell: A Romantic Résumé, Ages 0 to 22 - Marinaomi

Oculus: Poems - Sally Wen Mao

Let’s Talk About Love - Claire Kann

History is All You Left Me - Adam Silvera

Opposite of Always - Justin A. Reynolds

The Crown Ain’t Worth Much - Hanif Abdurraqib

The Weight of Our Sky - Hanna Alkaf

If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi - Neel Patel

Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan

What if It’s Us - Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

The Map of Salt and Stars - Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard - Lesléa Newman

The Big Smoke - Adrian Matejka

Dissolve - Sherwin Bitsui

The Woman Next Door - Yewande Omotoso

The Refugees - Viet Thanh Nguyen

White Tears - Hari Kunzru

Electric Arches - Eve Ewing

The Black Maria - Aracelis Girmay

Bloodchild and Other Stories - Octavia Butler

Soft Science - Franny Choi

The White Card - Claudia Rankine

Mad Honey Symposium - Sally Wen Mao

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls - Anissa Gray

Next: New Poems - Lucille Clifton

The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance: Poems 1987-1992 - Audre Lorde

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems - Nikki Giovanni

The Arab of the Future - Riad Sattouf

Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side - Eve L. Ewing

Gruel - Bunkong Tuon

Marriage of a Thousand Lies - SJ Sindu

Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler

Good Night, Willie Lee, I’ll See You in the Morning - Alice Walker

That Kind of Mother - Rumaan Alam

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows - Balli Kaur Jaswal

Hera Lindsay Bird - Hera Lindsay Bird

Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams

And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead - Chanelle Benz

Everyone Knows You Go Home - Natalia Sylvester

Naming Our Destiny: New and Selected Poems - June Jordan

The 100* Best African American Poems (*But I Cheated) - ed. Nikki Giovanni

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - P. Djèlí Clark

Bury My Clothes - Roger Bonair-Agard

Selected Poems - Langston Hughes

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Sonata Mulattica - Rita Dove

Winnie - Gwendolyn Brooks

Bicycles: Love Poems - Nikki Giovanni

The Black God’s Drums -  P. Djèlí Clark

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos - Lucy Knisley

Annie Allen - Gwendolyn Brooks

Parable of the Talents  - Octavia Butler

After Disasters - Viet Dinh

Passing for Human: A Graphic Memoir - Liana Finck

Teeth - Aracelis Girmay

A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life & Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks - Angela Jackson

Peluda - Melissa Lozada-Oliva

A Map to the Next World - Joy Harjo

Magical Negro - Morgan Parker

Corpse Whale - dg nanouk okpik

Hawkeye: Volume 1 - Matt Fraction

Cenzontle - Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric - Claudia Rankine

Selected Poems - Gwendolyn Brooks

She Had Some Horses - Joy Harjo

The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hope - ed. Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Nate Marshall

Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories - Nichelle Nichols

The Past and Other Things that Should Stay Buried - Shaun David Hutchinson

Difficult Women - Roxane Gay

The Woman Who Fell From the Sky - Joy Harjo

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays - Esmé Weijun Wang

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest - Hanif Abdurraqib

The Frolic of the Beasts - Yukio Mishima

Hawkeye Omnibus - Matt Fraction

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations - Mira Jacob

Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope - Karamo Brown

Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

When My Brother Was an Aztec - Natalie Diaz

Toxic Flora: Poems - Kimiko Hahn

Virgin - Analicia Sotelo

Easy Prey - Catherine Lo

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me - Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Saints and Misfits - S.K. Ali

Intercepted - Alexa Martin

Love from A to Z - S.K. Ali

Gemini - Sonya Mukherjee

The Atlas of Reds and Blues - Devi S. Laskar

My Brother’s Husband Vol. II - Gengoroh Tagame

Black Queer Hoe - Britteney Black Rose Kapri

Internment - Samira Ahmed

Dothead: Poems - Amit Majmudar

With the Fire On High - Elizabeth Acevedo

Sabrina & Corina: Stories - Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Milk and Filth - Carmen Giménez Smith

The Key to Happily Ever After - Tif Marcelo

If You’re Out There - Katy Loutzenhiser

Farewell to Manzanar - Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

New Poets of Native Nations - ed. Heid E. Erdrich

Bodymap: Poems - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Wolf by Wolf - Ryan Graudin

Tell Me How It Ends - Valeria Luiselli

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah

Down and Across - Arvin Ahmadi

The Tradition - Jericho Brown

About Betty’s Boob - Vero Cazot and Julie Rocheleau

Fake It Till You Break It - Jenn P. Nguyen

Storm of Locusts - Rebecca Roanhorse

Silver Sparrow - Tayari Jones

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors - Sonali Dev

Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes, Pranks - Justin Chin

When I Grow Up I Want To Be a List of Further Possibilities - Chen Chen

The New Testament - Jericho Brown

Fumbled - Alexa Martin

If It Makes You Happy - Claire Kann

Brave Face - Shaun David Hutchinson

Words in Deep Blue - Cath Crowley

Lost Children Archive - Valeria Luiselli

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Anger is a Gift - Mark Oshiro

The Bride Test - Helen Hoang

Not Your Backup - C.B. Lee

Prelude to Bruise - Saeed Jones

The Night Wanderer: A Graphic Novel - Drew Hayden Taylor and Michael Wyatt

Naturally Tan - Tan France

Bloom - Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau

Like a Love Story - Abdi Nazemian

I’m Afraid of Men - Vivek Shraya

Juliet Takes a Breath - Gabby Rivera

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

Let Me Hear a Rhyme - Tiffany D. Jackson

I Wanna Be Where You Are - Kristina Forest

Hurricane Season - Nicole Melleby

Split Tooth - Tanya Tagaq

Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Love and Food - ed. Elsie Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond

The Night Tiger - Yangsze Choo

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls - T Kira Madden

Miracle Creek - Angie Kim

Ayesha at Last - Uzma Jalaluddin

Shout - Laurie Halse Anderson

The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 3: Halal if You Hear Me - ed. Fatimah Asghar and Safia Elhillo

The Tenth Muse - Catherine Chung

This Place: 150 Years Retold - various authors

Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens - Tanya Boteju

Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) - Ella Risbridger

Library of Small Catastrophes - Alison C. Rollins

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune - Roselle Lim

No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America - Darnell L. Moore

The Book of Delights - Ross Gay

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton

Speak No Evil - Uzodinma Iweala

How We Fight White Supremacy - Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend - Emily Horner

Here and Now and Then - Mike Chen 

The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo

Red White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston

Becoming - Michelle Obama

The Wedding Party - Jasmine Guillory

Magic for Liars - Sarah Gailey

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - Michelle McNamara

Brain Fever - Kimiko Hahn

Life on Mars - Tracy K. Smith

Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler - Juan Felipe Herrera

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude - Ross Gay

Tentacle - Rita Indiana

Hapa Tales and Other Lies: A Memoir About the Mixed Race Hawai’i That I Never Knew - Sharon Chang

Loose Woman - Sandra Cisneros

Duende - Tracy K. Smith

Mostly Dead Things - Kristen Arnett

1919 - Eve L. Ewing

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

Negroland - Margo Jefferson

For Black Girls Like Me - Mariama J. Lockington

Super Extra Grande - Yoss

Home Remedies - Xuan Juliana Wang

You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain - Phoebe Robinson

An Anonymous Girl - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Abundance - Amit Majmudar

I Shall Not Be Moved - Maya Angelou

Helium - Rudy Francisco

Teaching My Mother to Give Birth - Warsan Shire

Tomie - Junji Ito

Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay - Phoebe Robinson

This Time Will Be Different - Misa Sugiura

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu - Junji Ito

Stag’s Leap - Sharon Olds

Black Card - Chris L. Terry

It’s Not Like It’s A Secret - Misa Sugiura

Washington Black - Esi Edugyan

From Here To Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death - Caitlin Doughty

I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying: Essays - Bassey Ikpi

A House of My Own: Stories from my Life - Sandra Cisneros

The Terrible - Yrsa Daley-Ward

The Black Tides of Heaven - JY Yang

The Red Threads of Fortune - JY Yang

Little Fish - Casey Plett

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion - Jia Tolentino

The Black Condition ft. Narcissus - Jayy Dodd

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Dealing in Dreams - Lilliam Rivera

The Tiger Flu - Larissa Lai

The Island of Sea Women - Lisa See

America is Not the Heart - Elaine Castillo

Feel Free - Zadie Smith

Walking on the Ceiling - Aysegul Savas

My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education - Jennine Capo Crucet

The Unpassing - Chia-Chia Lin

Maurice - E.M. Forster

Permanent Record - Mary H.K. Choi

The Downstairs Girl - Stacey Lee

Red Dust Road: An Autobiographical Journey - Jackie Kay

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You - Dina Nayeri

I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up - Naoko Kodama

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI - David Grann

Ordinary Light - Tracy K. Smith

Cantoras - Carolina De Robertis

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness - Susannah Cahalan

How to Be Remy Cameron - Julian Winters

The Marriage Clock - Zara Raheem

Moon: Letters, Maps, Poems - Jennifer S. Cheng

Where Reasons End - Yiyun Li

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi

Meddling Kids - Edgar Cantero

A Lucky Man - Jamel Brinkley

Maiden, Mother, Crone: Fantastical Trans Femmes - ed. Gwen Benaway

What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good for Nothing Artist and her Pussy - Rokudenashiko

The Umbrella Academy Vol. III: Hotel Oblivion - Gerard Way

Who Put This Song On? - Morgan Parker

The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays - Wesley Yang

Wave - Sonali Deraniyagala

Love War Stories - Ivelisse Rodriguez

Baby Teeth - Zoje Stage

A Fortune for Your Disaster - Hanif Abdurraqib

Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers - Jake Skeets

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen - Jose Antonio Vargas

The Marrow Thieves - Cherie Dimaline

Polite Society - Mahesh Rao

Patron Saints of Nothing - Randy Ribay

The Body Papers: A Memoir - Grace Talusan

A Woman is No Man - Etaf Rum

Travelers - Helon Habila

Trust Exercise - Susan Choi

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Intuitionist - Colson Whitehead

A People’s History of Heaven - Mathangi Subramanian

The Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi

This is Paradise: Stories - Kristiana Kahakauwila

Brood - Kimiko Hahn

Don’t Look Now - Daphne du Maurier

How We Fight for Our Lives - Saeed Jones

I Hope You Get This Message - Farah Naz Rishi

Unmarriageable - Soniah Kamal

Bad Endings - Carleigh Baker

The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick - Mallory O’Meara

Shapes of Native Nonficton: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers - ed. Elissa Washuta and Theresa Warburton

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass - Mariko Tamaki

Even the Saints Audition - Rachel Jackson

Slay - Britney Morris

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women - ed. Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale

The Starlet and the Spy - Ji-min Lee

North of Dawn - Nuruddin Farah

Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Drowning Boy’s Guide to Water - Cameron Barnett

They Called Us Enemy - George Takei

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life - Ali Wong

The Right Swipe - Alisha Rai

Full Disclosure - Camryn Garrett

Searching for Sylvie Lee - Jean Kwok

Gideon the Ninth - Tasmyn Muir

Stubborn Archivist - Yara Rodrigues Fowler

The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 8: Old is the New New - Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Never Grow Up - Jackie Chan

“All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans - Roxanna Dunbar-Ortiz

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado

Blame This on the Boogie - Rina Ayuyang

It - Stephen King

Sea Monsters - Chloe Aridjis

My Fate According to the Butterfly - Gail D. Villanueva

The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 9: “Okay” - Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

The Deep - Rivers Solomon

I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World - Kai Cheng Thom

Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker

BTTM FDRS - Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore

Hot Comb - Ebony Flowers

Notes from a Young Black Chef - Kwame Onwuachi

Bunny - Mona Awad

The Twisted Ones - T. Kingfisher

Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search for Black Panther - Nnedi Okorafor

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir - Malaka Gharib

Thick: And Other Essays - Tressie McMillan Cottom

Royal Holiday - Jasmine Guillory

Boxers - Gene Luen Yang

Saints - Gene Luen Yang

Fox 8 - George Saunders

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa

Last Day - Domenica Ruta

Wakanda Forever - Nnedi Okorafor

The Revisioners - Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir - Samra Habib

Somewhere in the Middle: A Journey to the Phillipines in Search of Roots, Belonging, and Identity - Deborah Francisco Douglas

Crier’s War - Nina Varela

Something in Between - Melissa de la Cruz

The Secrets We Kept - Lara Prescott

The Tao of Raven: An Alaska Native Memoir - Ernestine Hayes

One of Us is Lying - Karen M. McManus

Piecing Me Together - Renee Watson

Binti - Nnedi Okorafor

The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

Recursion - Blake Crouch

Supper Club - Lara Williams

[soradragon]

The sour taste of revenge

 Promt:

It’s April Fools Day! What is the most epic/funniest prank your character has ever pulled of…or had pulled on them?

Leo sneaked past the security, slipping into the shadows and becoming invisible to the watchful naked lens of the cameras. He used his ninja skill to defect the triggers which would set the alarms off.

Leo placed his handy Code-Unlocker (Thank Donnie for the name) which Donnie made, onto the code pad.

Leo stared intently at the rapidly changing numbers impatiently feeling like he could be caught at any moment.

He almost cheered out of relief and victory when the door unlocked.

Leo immediately slipped inside, a small smile appeared, thinking he left behind the worst part. 

Oh, how wrong he was,

his smile quickly vanished.

Objects were scattered all over the place, just begging to be stepped on to cause a noise far worse and louder than the sound of glass being shattered. 

Mikey once told about a place which was the definition of hardcore parkour. 

He obliviously never saw this. 

This was the definition of Hardcore Parkour.

They really should clean up after themselves.

Leo shook his head, he needed to do this, the months and hours of planning this mission day after day would be for nothing if he didn’t do this.

Leo placed his feet down with the uttermost focus and precision while trying to move swiftly through this, it wouldn’t be long before they would wake up.

He froze stiff when a loud squeak echoed throughout the halls.

Leo stood there, one foot frozen in the air, his hands raised above his head.

He waited for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh of relief,  

continuing his path towards his goal.

He made it to the lab without hassle.

He looked through the vials with liquid in them, searching for one imparticular, beaming when he found the one he was looking for, Leo grabbed a tube from his pocket, shaking it with a smirk on his face.

He pressed onto the tube, spraying a dark red coloured foam into the vial, before placing it back on its original place.

“Payback for turning my swords into wobbly rubber!”

Whispered Leo almost chuckling at the image of Donnie’s cloning experiment turning into a foam disaster.

Leo made a beeline out of the lab, of course, being careful not to make a noise. 

When he was just about to reach the door of the lab, three voices screamed at the same time.

“NOW MIKEY!!”

“COWABUNGA!!!”

SPLASH

Leo was doused in white slimy liquid as feathers were hurled at him.

The three turtles sprung out from their hiding places laughing.

“We got him good, we got him good!” Mikey cheered high-fiving the others.

“We did, luckily Leo left the Code-Unlocker on mu code pad, otherwise we would have a harder time finding him.” Donnie spoke up smiling brightly, before a confused look crossed his face, “why did you come into my lab, Leo...? Leo? Where did Leo go-”

Leo had slipped away when the three brothers weren’t looking in all his feathered glory,  grabbing the vial he had filled with foam and throwing it at his brothers.

“WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!??”

The three brothers were covered in a dark red chunk of sticky slimy goo, and it kept growing.

“what...who...no, no no no! LEO, you did not screw with my cloning experiment, did you!”

Leo didn’t answer, he made a beeline past his brothers as fast as he could. Knowing Donnie would go after him soon enough. 

“LEOOOOOO!!!!!”

My first fanfiction I have ever done. I hope it’s not too bad.

Taglist

@sdavid09

[fanfic-scribbles]

Bright Side

A/N: I had intended to do a Chuck/Reader this week buuuut this kind of took over instead. So have a fluffy Gabriel & Reader thing. I probably should have saved it for later because the format is similar to the ‘13 Kisses’ but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also to note, I’m categorizing this as Gabriel & Reader friendship but I tried to make it kind of ambiguous, so it could be a romantic relationship? Maybe? I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Summary: Gabriel is feeling a bit down. Reader tries to help.

Quick facts: Friendship fic – Gabriel & Reader – Nondescript Reader

Warnings: Bad, bad, bad jokes and pick up lines. I apologize for none of it.

Words: 2423

          Something is wrong with Gabriel.

Not constantly snacking is strange but excusable. Since the great Soda Disaster of four months ago, Sam has been insistent in nagging Gabe not to eat or drink in the library anymore. Of course the nagging only works about eighty percent of the time (Sam is impressive in this regard; you would have put money on the average being much, much lower), but he’s not addicted to anything. Gabe showing up without a candy bar or lollipop isn’t a cue to sound the alarm for the next apocalypse. However, three weeks without smugly eating a cake while Sam glares at him the entire time?

That’s another thing– Gabe’s around a lot lately. He did promise to help look through some of the books written in nigh-illegible foreign languages and he had seemed genuinely interested in some of them. But now when he comes around there’s no joking, no laughing, no gumming up the works with whatever joke he has in mind. No jokes at all, really; it’s all serious and business and Sam seems perfectly content and that sets a buzzer off if nothing does.

The last straw came yesterday. You had bought a pie and hid it until Gabe had showed up. After a little while of quiet, boring research (well, for Sam and Gabe, as you and Dean have your own computers and what Sam doesn’t know can’t hurt you) you excused yourself, went to get the pie and ice cream, and came back with it to offer it as a break. Sam gave you a very predictable stink-eye that you had utterly ignored and Dean slammed his laptop shut in anticipation. Gabe hadn’t moved. When you offered him some Dean had whimpere– er, made a manly noise of discontent, but Gabe had just looked at the dessert, said, “No thanks,” and gone back to whatever he was reading.

Dean, Sam, and you had stared at him for a long time. Dean’s bite had even fallen off his fork and he whipped his head at you. Dean and Gabe got along surprisingly well after some initial unease and they seemed to love almost nothing as much as giving each other crap. Denying something sweet and good and also giving up the chance to annoy Dean?

Something is wrong with Gabriel.

And you’re going to find out what.

You’ve waited a couple of days for the opportunity and now that you see Cas walking down the hall, alone, you take a chance. “I need to talk to you,” you tell the befuddled angel before you pull him by the sleeve into an unused room and shut the door.

He says your name with measured confusion and you have to smile a little. “It’s nothing that bad it’s just…is anything super bad going on in Heaven?”

Cas blinks. “No.”

“Any big problems cropping up on earth that we should know about?”

“No,” Cas says firmly and squints at you. “Why?”

“Then what’s up with Gabriel?”

“Ah.” He loses the suspicious stare and looks more tired than anything. “You’ve noticed it as well.”

“Has he said anything to you?” They’re not super close but they get each other more than any of the other angels can, and they spend quite a bit of time together as a result. If anybody but you knows, it’ll be Cas.

“No, but I have asked. You can guess what the answer was.”

Yeesh. “Well I hope it’s nicer that what I imagine it was,” you say. Gabe deals with feelings by avoiding the topic or getting prickly about it. ‘Prickly’ for an archangel carries a lot more weight than for humans. This brings up a problem though– is there an actual problem or is it just the part of Gabe that is very much like a human, worrying, or just caught in a bad state of mind?

Cas’s eyes crinkle with concern. “Are you going to try to talk to him about it?”

“Maybe he doesn’t have to talk about it,” you say.

“What does that–” Cas tilts his head to one side. “What are you planning?”

You pat his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

Conversely, he looks as worried as he can. “I find those words as reassuring from you as I would find them from Gabriel. So to say, not at all.”

You smile brightly in return.

  ~Several days later~

  “Seriously, what are you going to do with all that candy?”

“It’s my candy, I bought it, I can gorge on it if I want. Now leave me alone.”

Dean huffs and turns back to face the dark road, muttering, “Touchy, touchy,” like he hasn’t been hassling you on and off for hours since the last pit stop you made at a gas station. You roll your eyes over to Sam, who shrugs and puts his hands up like he doesn’t want to get anywhere near this…argument? Annoyance? Whatever. Coward.

Later that night you’re in your own room, absently trying to do research on the case when the sound of wings rushes by your ear. You stiffen instinctively but you glance back at Gabe with a smile. He’s leaning against the headboard and he looks at you, waggling his eyebrows, but there’s no smile, no humor to it. He looks tired.

“I got some snacks,” you say and take a few packages from the side table, tossing them at him. “Have at.”

Gabe frowns at the first candy bar and he raises an eyebrow at you. “I thought you didn’t like these?”

“They’re fine, just not my favorite.” You shrug and try to keep reading while also keeping tabs on Gabe.

He looks through the candy, looks at you, and sets it aside. Well, he didn’t give it back to you. You’re going to call that a win.

  ~A week later~

  It’s an interminable day in the library. Sam had caught you giving hearts to cat pictures and confiscated your laptop. Dean had smirked at you, somehow fooling Proctor Winchester when he had walked behind him. So here you are, with a book written in faded pencil and strict instructions to glean what you can from it. It is the dictionary definition of boring. It is so boring that you can’t even tell if it’s useful or not; your eyes keep diving to the side.

When you glance at Gabe he’s zoning out. You smirk and decide Sam’s Wrath is worth this next bit.

“Hey Gabe?” you say and wait for his attention to be on you. “Did you know that circling vultures are a dead giveaway?”

It’s a weak attempt at a joke, but Gabe blinks and he looks a little less dead to the world. Dean mutters something under his breath but you ignore him, focusing on the angel. “Hey, did I ever tell you about that time I had a hunt lead me to a henhouse? It was full of poultry-geists.”

Sam’s bitchface is so epic you can feel it. Dean chokes on “seriously?!” and Gabe’s face hints at a smile. A smile. Well, an almost-smile. That’s all you need.

“You know why Rowena doesn’t like to go to the desert? Because then she’d be a sand-witch.”

The smile grows and Dean groans. Sam grits out your name.

“Did you know a banshee’s favorite dessert is ice scream?”

“(y/n).” Sam sounds desperate.

“I found out recently that monsters really love this one play about a tragic romance. It’s called ‘Romeo and Ghoul-iet.’”

Dean slams his laptop shut. “I’m out,” he says and stalks towards the kitchen.

“Do you know why ghosts don't like parties? They have no body to dance with.”

Sam says your name more intensely. Gabe is trying valiantly to clamp down on his smile. He is failing.

“There was a picket line in hell recently. I heard it was a real demon-stration.”

Sam lets his head fall to the table, drawing out your name in a long, pained way that, combined with your truly awful/awesome jokes, makes you collapse in on yourself with laughter. When you gain enough control to look up, Gabe’s smile is big enough to show teeth.

Phase two: success.

  ~A week later~

  Gabe is fiddling with the label on his beer bottle. He’s more alert these days, and he even joked with Dean earlier tonight. Right now, though, he seems to be back in his head, stuck in something that makes him frown.

So you sidle closer in the booth seat you share, stealing his attention and a half-cocked smirk. It’s better than nothing, and you smile back. “Can you put your arm around my waist? I wanna be able to tell my friends I’ve been touched by an angel.”

Gabe and Dean both snort. It’s a good thing Sam isn’t here– food and puns are now banned from the library with equal vehemence. “You gonna ask me if it hurt when I fell from heaven?” Gabe drawls sarcastically and takes a swig of his drink.

“No, but I do wanna know– are you Australian? Because you meet all of my koala-fications.”

“Hey, you can’t do that when you know the person!” Dean says, like you’ve offended his rules when it comes to terrible pick-up lines. But you figure you can do whatever you want. And you’re going to.

You take a drink of your own beer and steel yourself. This one requires total concentration so you exude it as much as you can. You pin Gabe with your most intense bedroom eyes, lean in, and say in as low and seductive a voice as you can manage, “…Are you a banana? Because I find you a-peeling.”

Gabe stares at you. And stares. And then his shoulders shake and when Dean bursts out into loud, loud laughter you have to follow. Gabe manages to keep his laughter in but it takes all his effort and you and Dean are close enough to drunk that your amusement eggs each other on and you don’t worry about it so much.

  ~A week later~

  “Watch out for–”

Sam doesn’t get the warning out before you slip down the hill into blood and mud and shifter goo and ugh you are covered in bits and pieces of the latest hunt and all you can do is stare up at the brothers and angels and wonder why God has so thoroughly forsaken you.

Except, not, because you hear a sound you haven’t heard in what feels like forever. Gabe is laughing at you. True, full, gut-busting laughter. The sound makes you happier than you should be, swimming in corpse bits. Normally his utter amusement at your misery would be annoying, but you’ll give him a pass. This one time. The ones not getting a pass though? Sam (smiling), Dean (laughing), and even Castiel (smiling).

“You– did you hear that noise you made?!” Dean says through his laughter and Gabe and him actually double over and put their hands on each others’ backs. You roll your eyes and manage to stand.

“I’m sure it was incredibly dignified,” you say with a snobbish air.

“Where does ‘shrieking four year old’ fall on the scale of dignity?”

For that you pick up a clump of mud and whatever and hurl it at Dean. He yelps and jumps back. Gabe is too busy laughing at him to notice you picking up another handful and it hits his chest with a very satisfying ‘splat!’ He looks down at the mass clinging to him. “Ew.” He picks something out and studies it. “I think that’s a finger.” He blinks and smiles at you suddenly, mischief in his eyes.

“Oh no,” you say, moving carefully away. “Gabriel don’t you d–” You let out a ‘very dignified’ shout when he throws it at you and you barely dodge in time.

“Hey, guys? Screaming and playing with body parts is not exactly how I want to get arrested,” Sam says.

“Spoil sport,” Gabe says and raises his hand, ready to snap. “I got it.”

In the flick of his fingers you’re in a cozy-looking room set up similar to your motel room, clean and dry and uninjured, and Gabe is your only company. “Where are we?” you ask.

“Your room, with a few divine upgrades,” Gabe says.

“Sam and Dean?”

“With Cas, in their own room.”

“The, uh…‘crime scene’?”

“Like nothing was ever there,” he says and strides over to you. You and he have done this Q & A enough times that it’s almost routine by now. You sit down on the bed and Gabe sits next to you. He presents you with a cupcake and not eating since this morning makes the monstrous load of sugar look immensely appealing.

“Say, did you hear about the love affair between sugar and cream?” Gabe winks at you. “It was icing on the cake.”

You laugh and unwrap the side to take a bite. However Gabe puts a hand between it and your mouth, leans in and says, “Actually, you shouldn’t eat that. You’re sweet enough as it is.”

Luckily his joke is without intent and he moves back, amused, and allows you to bite into it. He looks at you like he can’t quite figure you out, but there’s a fondness there. “You’ve been trying to cheer me up.”

You work through your bite and think about what you want to say. You can’t chew long enough, though; the cupcake is so delectable it melts in your mouth and you end up having to speak without thinking long enough. “Sort of? I mean…”

You sigh, wipe your face, and set down your treat so you can give Gabriel all of your attention. “I know you’re more than candy and jokes,” you say. “But I also know those are some of the things you enjoy, and you enjoy them with abandon when you feel good. I…I didn’t really know how to say ‘you look bummed’ without maybe upsetting you, so I wanted to show you that I knew. That I could tell you were sad and I wished I could help. That’s all.”

He stares at you. His smile, when it comes, is small, but warm. “I don’t deserve you,” he says.

“Very few people do,” you say nonchalantly, but you’re sure your smile gives you away. “But I guess I can make an exception for someone that gets me a cupcake that good.”

He laughs, genuinely, without malice or hurt or irony, and that’s a sound you feel you can get used to.

[authorchristinerees]

5 Teen Romance Books That Should Be On Your TBR Pile

Love is in the air! Usually, contemporary romance is not 100% my thing but Valentine’s Day is this week so I am building a TBR of new and anticipated YA romance novels that readers are raving about! I am really excited to dive into these:

1. Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz

1777. Albany, New York. As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society’s biggest events: the Schuylers’ grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country’s founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters—Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival those of both her sisters, though she’d rather be aiding the colonists’ cause than dressing up for some silly ball. Still, Eliza can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington’s right-hand man. Though Alex has arrived as the bearer of bad news for the Schuylers, he can’t believe his luck—as an orphan, and a bastard one at that—to be in such esteemed company. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history. 

2. Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes. At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall. 

3. Midnight Jewel: A Glittering Court Novel by Richelle Mead

Mira is not like the other Glittering Court girls. She is a war refugee, cast out of her home country and thrust into another, where she has learned to fight against the many injustices around her. For some, the Glittering Court offers a chance at a life they’ve only ever dreamed of, one of luxury, glamour, and leisure. But for Mira, it’s simply a means to an end. In the new world, she plans to earn off her marriage contract price, and finally be free. Mira pitches herself as an asset to one of the passengers on board the ship: the sardonic and aloof Grant Elliot, whom she’s discovered is a spy for the prestigious McGraw Agency—and her ticket to buying her freedom. His cover blown, Grant has little choice but to take her on. Mira applies herself by day, learning the etiquette and customs that will help to earn her anonymity. By night, she dons a mask and slips into the city, fighting injustice and corruption on her own terms—and impressing Grant with her extraordinary abilities and insights into a brewing rebellion. But the rebellion isn’t all they’re fighting… Neither of them can ignore the attraction burning between them—an attraction so powerful, it threatens to unravel everything Mira’s worked so hard for. With freedom finally within her grasp, can Mira risk it all for love?

(I am an absolute sucker for anything by Richelle. She hooked me in with Vampire Academy, kept me on my toes during Bloodlines, and now this?! So excited to read this.)

4. I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Desi Lee believes anything is possible if you have a plan. That's how she became student body president. Varsity soccer star. And it's how she'll get into Stanford. But she's never had a boyfriend. In fact, she's a disaster at romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi finds guidance in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years—where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. It's a simple formula, and Desi is a quick study. Armed with her "K Drama Steps to True Love," Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos—and boat rescues, love triangles, and staged car crashes ensue. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.

5. Cold Summer by Gwen Cole

Today, he’s a high school dropout with no future. Tomorrow, he’s a soldier in World War II. Kale Jackson has spent years trying to control his time-traveling ability but hasn't had much luck. One day he lives in 1945, fighting in the war as a sharpshooter and helplessly watching soldiers—friends—die. Then the next day, he’s back in the present, where WWII has bled into his modern life in the form of PTSD, straining his relationship with his father and the few friends he has left. Every day it becomes harder to hide his battle wounds, both physical and mental, from the past. When the ex-girl-next-door, Harper, moves back to town, thoughts of what could be if only he had a normal life begin to haunt him. Harper reminds him of the person he was before the PTSD, which helps anchor him to the present. With practice, maybe Kale could remain in the present permanently and never step foot on a battlefield again. Maybe he can have the normal life he craves. But then Harper finds Kale’s name in a historical article—and he’s listed as a casualty of the war. Is Kale’s death inevitable? Does this mean that, one of these days, when Kale travels to the past, he may not come back? Kale knows now that he must learn to control his time-traveling ability to save himself and his chance at a life with Harper. Otherwise, he’ll be killed in a time where he doesn’t belong by a bullet that was never meant for him.

Is there a contemporary teen romance you love? 

Include it below! I’d love to add it to my ever-growing TBR list.

[pre-successful]

The Good Place for that gave meme.

Favorite character: THIS IS REALLY HARD BECAUSE IT’S LIKE…ALL OF THEM. Chidi is my precious good anxious son, but Eleanor is a wonderful disaster whom I love, but JASON is a beautiful moron child, and then there’s JANET…goddammit. I think I’m gonna go with Jason, just because it’s essentially guaranteed that I’ll smile when he’s on screen.

Least Favorite character: Either Michael or Vicky. Dat betrayal, man. I AM coming back around re: Michael, though–as a character, if not as a person. The fucking trolley thing. Jesus. And “People = Good.” Ooh, but as for someone I still passionately, actively hate: SHAWN. Fuck that guy. Stay in your goo, bud. Stay.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Eleanor/Chidi, Jason/Janet, Gunnar/biting, aaaand…I can’t think of 2 more. The human cast is too small and I’m no good at multishipping, as fun as it might be in this fandom.

Character I find most attractive: Hmm…on a physical level, probably Tahani and/or Jason, but on a personality level…maybe Chidi?? Though he’s too anxious and that would make me more anxious to be around, so idk. Eleanor on a humor level. Can I just make an unholy amalgam of all of them, like Eleanor’s dream man being Stone Cold Steve Austin’s head on Tahani’s body?

Character I would marry: I don’t think I’d wanna marry any of them as they currently are?? Maybe Chidi once he chills some more, or Eleanor once she gets a little better at not being selfish. 

Character I would be best friends with: All of them, tbh, but especially Eleanor and Jason.

a random thought: Honestly, “life” in “The Good Place” does NOT seem that bad. Like, my real, actual life is more stressful than their “tortures” thus far AND they get free frozen yogurt! Hmph. 

An unpopular opinion: I guuuess that I don’t ship Eleanor and Tahani? Nothing against the ship, and I can totally see where people are coming from with it, but it’s just not for me.

My Canon OTP: Jason/Janet, for sure. Though I guess…*sniff*…they’re not canon anymore…

My Non-canon OTP: Eleanor/Chidi, though I guess in some timelines they are canon?? But w/e, not in the main, current one.

Most Badass Character: Eleanor, tbh. She’s the best at figuring out plans and saving all their asses, and she’s incredibly brave and stoic when she has to be. (See: turning herself in to save Chidi from his guilt nightmare, then taking her own damnation with a brave face. Jesus.)

Most Epic Villain: MICHAEL. 

Pairing I am not a fan of: Jason/Tahani. I just…don’t see it. As friends, I like them–the scene where Jason tries to build Tahani’s confidence back up was super adorable–but romantically, nah.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Upon rewatching the s1 finale, I was REAL MAD to see how quick Chidi was to agree with Eleanor that she and Jason should be the ones to go to the Bad Place. Like, it made sense, yeah, and I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to do any differently, but he could have HESITATED. He could have PRETENDED to agonize over it. But nope. And he seemed much more troubled by the idea of “Real Eleanor” going, which is just…ugh. Again, I get it–he sees her as more “deserving,” even after Eleanor’s partial redemption–but I felt like more anxiety/suffering over it would have been more in-character for him at that point.

Favourite Friendship: Oh god, all of them. Eleanor and Chidi, for sure, and Jason and Tahani. Basically the main 4 + Janet, all together. Michael and Janet are shaping up to be a fun weird friendship, too.

Character I most identify with: See, THIS is a tough one. On the one hand, I identify HEAVILY with Chidi because of his intense anxiety/guilt situation, but on the other hand, he’s never actually DONE anything wrong beyond over-worry (that we know of, and I feel like we’d know), and I for sure have. So on another level, I identify with Eleanor–a fuckup who’s trying to do better. Maybe someday my inner Chidi and Eleanor can become better friends. I can only hope. (On a lighter note, when I’m drunk, I am ABSOLUTELY, 100% Jason.)

Character I wish I could be: I kind of wish I could be Eleanor?? Because she’s a pretty decent person now, and still growing, and she doesn’t have the kind of awful guilt over her past that I do. She’s also funny as hell and has great friends.

[wallpaperpainting]

Attending Landscape Painting Can Be A Disaster If You Forget These 19 Rules | Landscape Painting

The sounds of the Goo Goo Dolls or maybe OneRepublic backlash off the azure and orange walls of Cody Oldham’s tiny bench art flat as he pulls up to the canvas.

He’s accessible to put the finishing touches on a close-up account of an African lion, done in what he calls his impressionistic accuracy style. Lions are one of his admired capacity to paint, additional they advertise absolutely well, which isn’t a bad affair for a 16-year-old able wildlife and mural artist. “The Rising,” featuring one such creature, measures 22 inches by 28 inches, and will run its client $1,000.

His ignment can be beheld online at codyoldham.com.

“I consistently attending advanced to it,” says Oldham from his family’s home southeast of Woodland Park. “After about bisected an hour I’m captivated in painting. There’s consistently so abundant allowance to experiment. I anticipate to myself I could do annihilation today back I go bottomward to the studio.”

Oldham is fatigued to the big cats, including tigers and cheetahs. Additionally “epic landscapes,” he says, accepting afresh accomplished a painting of the Grand Tetons amidst in billow awning and abatement foliage.

There’s additionally addition acceptable aen the adolescent painter ability acquisition so abounding big bodies on his easel: His ancestors owns a abundance bobcat sanctuary. Big bodies roam their 20-acre property.

It’s not accessible to the public, admitting they do accord casual tours. Oldham’s ancestor has formed with the animals for two decades, and consistently takes his ancestors of five, including Oldham’s two adolescent sisters, on vacations about the country to aces up afflicted or

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[learningrendezvous]

Environmental Justice

CONCERNED CITIZEN, A: CIVICS IN ACTION

Directed by Bo Boudart

A CONCERNED CITIZEN documents the work of Dr. Riki Ott, a whistleblower who predicted the Exxon Valdez oil spill hours before it happened and came to the aid of her Alaskan community in their battle to get fair compensation for their loss of health and income.

More recently Riki, a toxicologist, author, and activist, has been organizing the Gulf coast communities as they struggle to recover from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Taking the lessons she learned as an activist, she is also spearheading the campaign called Ultimate Civics, a complete civics curriculum she developed that empowers students to participate in their democracy. Recognizing the power of money in politics she advocates for a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood, and to reform campaign finance laws. She lectures nationally and internationally, inspiring students from fifth grade through universities and adults to take action and showing by example how one person can make a difference.

"It is my hope that, as people's health, livelihoods, and property are harmed by these extreme oil activities, people will understand the need to shift off oil to safer energy options and take action to achieve true energy independence. This is the movement that I see growing in all regions of our country."

DVD / 2019 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 41 minutes

CHESHIRE, OHIO: AN AMERICAN COAL STORY IN 3 ACTS

Directed by Eve Morgenstern

Follows a community devastated by coal, starting with American Electric Power's buyout and bulldozing of this Ohio River town, after exposing them to years of harmful emissions.

A gun toting 83-year old woman refuses to sell her house to the power plant next door but the plant has moved ahead with their 20 million dollar deal to buy out most of Cheshire and bulldoze all the homes. What happened in this Ohio River town overrun by one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the world? A story of money, power and the increasingly difficult choices we face surrounding coal and the environment, CHESHIRE, OHIO makes us think twice about home.

Filmed over a decade, CHESHIRE, OHIO follows a community devastated by coal, starting with American Electric Power's buyout and bulldozing of this Ohio River community after exposing them to harmful emissions, and then returning several years later to the now almost emptied town as we follow the case of 77 plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against American Electric Power for cancer and other diseases they developed from working unprotected at the plant's coal ash landfill site.

As the cycle of pollution from coal continues, we see how one quintessential American town suffers from our reliance on carbon energy.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 75 minutes

TRIPLE DIVIDE (REDACTED)

Directed by Joshua Pribanic, Melissa Troutman

Exposes the mishandling and cover-up of drinking water contamination related to unconventional natural gas extraction - aka fracking - in Pennsylvania.

This award-winning "bombshell" documentary covers the impact of fracking in one of the country's most pristine watersheds. With exclusive interviews from oil and gas industry leaders, independent experts and impacted residents, TRIPLE DIVIDE [REDACTED] covers five years (2011 - 2016) of cradle-to-grave investigations that reveal how regulators and industry keep water contamination covered up.

The documentary's title pays homage to one of only four Triple Continental Divides in North America, a place that provides drinking water to millions of Americans, signaling to the audience that everything, and everyone, is downstream from shale gas extraction.

Award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo co-narrates this film.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 53 minutes

OIL & WATER

Directed by Francine Strickwerda and Laurel Spellman Smith

Two boys come of age looking for solutions to the global problem of reckless oil drilling following years of oil contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

OIL & WATER is the coming of age story of two boys as they each confront one of the world's worst toxic disasters, the prolonged contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Texaco and other oil companies. Hugo comes to America to fight for the survival of his tribe, the Cofan, while David goes to Ecuador to launch the world's first company to certify oil as "fair trade." Can Hugo become the leader his tribe so desperately wants him to be? Will David clean up one of the world's dirtiest industries?

This film is an intimate portrait of two young people finding their voices and trying to beat incredible odds. Their journeys lead them to explore what could be a more just future, not just for the people of the Amazon, but for all people around the world born with oil beneath their feet. Eight years in the making OIL & WATER is a shocking and inspiring David and Goliath story.

DVD / 2014 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 78 minutes

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER: THE BATTLE FOR TURKEY CREEK

Directed by Leah Mahan

When the graves of former slaves are bulldozed in Mississippi, a native son returns to protect the community they settled.

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER follows the painful but inspiring journey of Derrick Evans, a Boston teacher who returns to his native coastal Mississippi when the graves of his ancestors are bulldozed to make way for the sprawling city of Gulfport. Derrick is consumed by the effort to protect the community his great grandfather's grandfather settled as a former slave. He is on the verge of a breakthrough when Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast.

After years of restoration work to bring Turkey Creek back from the brink of death, the community gains significant federal support for cultural and ecological preservation. Derrick plans to return to Boston to rebuild the life he abandoned, but another disaster seals his fate as a reluctant activist. On the day Turkey Creek is featured in USA Today for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 56 minutes

UTOPIA

Directed by John Pilger, Alan Lowery

John Pilger's epic portrayal of Earth's oldest continuous human culture, Aboriginal Australians, and his investigation into Australia's suppressed colonial past and rapacious present.

Following his hard-hitting documentary The War You Don't See, John Pilger's new film is a rare and powerful insight into a secret Australia and breaks what amounts to a national silence about the indigenous first people -- the oldest, most enduring presence on Earth.

An epic film in its production, scope and revelations, UTOPIA reveals that apartheid is deep within Australia's past and present and that Aboriginal people are still living in abject poverty and Third World conditions, with a low life expectancy and disproportionately high rate of deaths in police custody.

2 DVDs / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 112 minutes

YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED

Directed by Anthony Baxter

In this David and Goliath story for the 21st century, a group of proud Scottish homeowners take on a celebrity tycoon. At stake is one of Britain's very last stretches of wilderness.

American billionaire Donald Trump has bought up hundreds of acres on the northeast coast of Scotland, best known to movie-lovers as the setting for the 1983 classic film LOCAL HERO. And like the American oil tycoon played by Burt Lancaster, he needs to buy out a few more locals to make the deal come true. In a land swimming with golf courses, Trump is going to build two more - alongside a 450-room hotel and 1,500 luxury homes. The trouble is, the land he has purchased occupies one of Europe's most environmentally sensitive stretches of coast, described by one leading scientist as Scotland's Amazon rain forest. And the handful of local residents don't want it destroyed.

After the Scottish Government overturns its own environmental laws to give Trump the green light, the stage is set for an extraordinary summer of discontent, as the bulldozers spring into action. Water and power is cut off, land disputes erupt, and some residents have thousands of tonnes of earth piled up next to their homes. Complaints go ignored by the police, who instead arrest the film's director, Anthony Baxter. Local exasperation comes to a surreal head as the now "Dr." Trump scoops up an honorary doctorate from a local university, even as his tractors turn wild, untouched dunes into fairways.

Told entirely without narration, YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED captures the cultural chasm between the glamorous, jet-setting and media savvy Donald Trump and a deeply rooted Scottish community. What begins as an often amusing clash of world views grows increasingly bitter and disturbing. For the tycoon, the golf course is just another deal, with a possible billion dollar payoff. For the residents, it represents the destruction of a globally unique landscape that has been the backdrop for their lives.

Funny, inspiring and heartbreaking in turns, YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED is both an entertaining, can't-believe-it's-true tale and an environmental parable for our celebrity driven times. A moving score features music from jonsi, the internationally acclaimed musician and frontman of Sigur Ros. The film also offers a rare and revealing glimpse of the unfiltered Donald Trump, as he considers standing as a candidate for President of the United States.

DVD / 2012 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 95 minutes

DIRTY BUSINESS: CLEAN COAL AND THE BATTLE FOR OUR ENERGY FUTURE

Directed by Peter Bull

Reveals the true social and environmental costs of coal power and looks at promising developments in renewable energy technology.

In the digital age, half of our electricity still comes from coal. DIRTY BUSINESS reveals the true social and environmental costs of coal power and tells the stories of innovators who are pointing the way to a renewable energy future.

Guided by Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell, the film examines what it means to remain dependent on a 19th century technology that is the largest single source of greenhouse gases.

Can coal really be made clean? Can renewables be produced on a scale large enough to replace coal? The film seeks answers in a series of stories shot in China, Saskatchewan, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada and New York.

The film features amongst others: Robert Kennedy Jr., Bill McKibben, Dr. James Hansen, Myron Ebell, Don Blankenship, Joe Lovett, Maria Gunnoe, Dr. Vaclav Smil and Dr. Julio Friedmann.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 8-12, College, Adult) / 90 minutes

HEART OF SKY, HEART OF EARTH

Directed by Frauke Sandig and Eric Black

Six young Maya present a wholly indigenous perspective, in which all life is sacred and connected, as they resist the destruction of their culture and environment.

Featured at every Central and South American Human Rights film festival, HEART OF SKY, HEART OF EARTH follows six young Maya in Guatemala and Chiapas through their daily and ceremonial life. They put forth a wholly indigenous Mayan perspective in their own words, without narration. Their cosmology, in which all life is sacred and interconnected, presents a deeply compelling alternative to the prevailing worldview.

As giant corporations go to the ends of the earth to extract all resources, these Maya reveal their determination to resist the destruction of their culture and environment. they believe they are the guardians of the earth. Each of their stories touches upon a facet of the current global crisis.

Beautifully filmed, the intimate accounts of the protagonists interweave with images associated with the fragile beauty of nature and the creation myth of the Popol Vuh. Ruins of a former Mayan civilization stand in the background as harbingers of our own possible fate.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 98 minutes

SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL

Directed by Rachel Libert, Tony Hardmon

Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger reveals the Marine Corps' cover-up at Camp Lejeune of one of the largest water contamination incidents in US history.

Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger was a devoted Marine for nearly twenty-five years. As a drill instructor he lived and breathed the "Corps" and was responsible for indoctrinating thousands of new recruits with its motto Semper Fidelis or "Always Faithful."

When Jerry's nine-year old daughter Janey died of a rare type of leukemia, his world collapsed. As a grief-stricken father, he struggled for years to make sense of what happened. His search for answers led to the shocking discovery of a Marine Corps cover-up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in U.S. history.

Semper Fi: Always Faithful follows Jerry's mission to expose the Marine Corps and force them to live up to their motto to the thousands of soldiers and their families exposed to toxic chemicals. His fight reveals a grave injustice at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune and a looming environmental crisis at military sites across the country.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 76 minutes

TAR CREEK

Directed by Matt Myers

Tells the incredible story of the Tar Creek Superfund site in NE Oklahoma and the massive and deadly remains left by the lead and zinc mines there.

TAR CREEK is the story of the worst environmental disaster you've never heard of: the Tar Creek Superfund site. Once one of the largest lead and zinc mines on the planet, Tar Creek is now home to more than 40 square miles of environmental devastation in northeastern Oklahoma: acid mine water in the creeks, stratospheric lead poisoning in the children, and sinkholes that melt backyards and ball fields.

Now, almost 30 years after being designated for federal cleanup by the Superfund program, Tar Creek residents are still fighting for decontamination, environmental justice, and ultimately, the buyout and relocation of their homes to safer ground. As TAR CREEK reveals, America's Superfund sites aren't just environmental wastelands; they're community tragedies, too...until the community fights back.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 54 minutes

WATER ON THE TABLE

An intimate portrait of international water activist Maude Barlow and the debate over whether water is a commercial good or a human right.

WATER ON THE TABLE features Maude Barlow, who is considered an "international water-warrior" for her crusade to have water declared a human right. "Water must be declared a public trust and a human right that belongs to the people, the ecosystem and the future, and preserved for all time and practice in law. Clean water must be delivered as a public service, not a profitable commodity."

The film intimately captures the public face of Maude Barlow as well as the unscripted woman behind the scenes. The camera shadows her life on the road in Canada -- including an eye-opening visit to Alberta's tar sands -- and the United States over the course of a year as she serves as the UN Senior Advisor on Water to Fr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd Session of the United Nations.

More than a portrait of an activist, WATER ON THE TABLE presents several dramatic opposing arguments. Barlow's critics are policy and economic experts who argue water is no different than any other resource, and that the best way to protect freshwater is to privatize it. It is proposed that Canada bulk-export its water to the United States in the face of an imminent water crisis.

DVD / 2010 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 79 minutes

AMERICAN OUTRAGE

Directed by George Gage and Beth Gage

Two elderly Western Shoshone sisters, the Danns, put up a heroic fight for their land rights and human rights.

Carrie and Mary Dann are feisty Western Shoshone sisters who have endured five terrifying livestock roundups by armed federal marshals in which more than a thousand of their horses and cattle were confiscated -- for grazing their livestock on the open range outside their private ranch.

That range is part of 60 million acres recognized as Western Shoshone land by the United States in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, but in 1974 the U.S. sued the Dann sisters for trespassing on that land, without a permit. That set off a dispute between the Dann sisters and the U. S. government that swept to the United States Supreme Court and eventually to the Organization of American States and the United Nations.

AMERICAN OUTRAGE asks why the United States government has spent millions persecuting and prosecuting two elderly women grazing a few hundred horses and cows in a desolate desert? The United States Bureau of Land Management insists the sisters are degrading the land. The Dann sisters say the real reason is the resources hidden below this seemingly barren land, their Mother Earth. Western Shoshone land is the second largest gold producing area in the world.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2008 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 56 minutes

WATER FRONT, THE

Directed by Liz Miller

The story of Highland Park, Michigan, and the larger issues of water privatization and human rights.

What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it?

With a shrinking population, the post-industrial city of Highland Park, Michigan is on the verge of financial collapse. The state of Michigan has appointed an Emergency Financial Manager who sees the water plant as key to economic recovery. She has raised water rates and has implemented severe measures to collect on bills. As a result, Highland Park residents have received water bills as high as $10,000, they have had their water turned off, their homes foreclosed, and are struggling to keep water, a basic human right, from becoming privatized.

The Water Front is the story of an American city in crisis but it is not just about water. The story touches on the very essence of our democratic system and is an unnerving indication of what is in store for residents around the world facing their own water struggles. The film raises questions such as: Who determines the future of shared public resources? What are alternatives to water privatization? How will we maintain our public water systems and who can we hold accountable?

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 53 minutes

BLACK DIAMONDS: MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL & THE FIGHT FOR COALFIELD JUSTICE

Directed by Catherine Pancake

Examines the escalating drama in Appalachia over mountaintop removal mining.

BLACK DIAMONDS charts the escalating drama in Appalachia over the alarming increase in large mountaintop coal mines. These mammoth operations have covered 1200 miles of headwater streams with mining waste; demolished thousands of acres of hardwood forest; and flattened hundreds of Appalachian mountain peaks.

Citizen testimony and visual documentation interwoven with the perspectives of government officials, activists, and scientists create a riveting portrait of an American region fighting for its life -- caught between the grinding wheels of the national appetite for cheap energy and an enduring sense of Appalachian culture, pride, and natural beauty.

The film includes testimony from Julia Bonds, WV citizen-turned-activist, who received the 2003 Goldman Award (the nation's largest environmental activist award); Ken Hechler, former WV Secretary of State; William Maxey, former Director of WV Division of Forestry; and the many citizens of West Virginia.

DVD (Color) / 2006 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 72 minutes

HOMELAND: FOUR PORTRAITS OF NATIVE ACTION

Tells the inspiring story of four battles in which Native American activists are fighting to preserve their land, sovereignty, and culture.

Having brutally occupied the homeland of Native Americans, the invading Europeans forced the indigenous population onto reservations-land that was specifically selected because of its apparent worthlessness.

To add salt to wounds that are still open, multinational energy companies and others are coming back to extract the hidden mineral wealth of the reservations, and are leaving a trail of toxins that, if unchecked, will make the land unlivable for centuries to come.

But Native American activists are fighting back, and their inspirational stories are chronicled in "HOMELAND: Four Portraits of Native Action" against the backdrop of some of the country's most spectacular landscapes.

Gail Small, an attorney from the Northern Cheyenne nation in Montana, is leading the fight to protect the Cheyenne homeland from 75,000 proposed methane gas wells that pollute the water and threaten to make much of the reservation unsuitable for farming or ranching.

Evon Peter is the former chief of an isolated Alaska community of Gwich'in people, who are working against current efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Mitchell and Rita Capitan founded an organization of Eastern Navajo people in New Mexico whose only source of drinking water is threatened by proposed uranium mining.

And Barry Dana, the former chief of the Penobscot Nation in Maine, is battling state government and the paper companies that have left his people unable to fish or swim in or harvest medicinal plants from the river on which they've depended for 10,000 years.

With the support of their communities, these leaders are actively rejecting the devastating affronts of multinational energy companies and the current dismantling of 30 years of environmental laws. They are dedicated to forcing change-to save their land, preserve their sovereignty and ensure the cultural survival of their people.

Framed by the ecological and spiritual wisdom of Winona LaDuke, HOMELAND presents a vision of how people all over the world can turn around the destructive policies of thoughtless resource plundering and create a new paradigm in which people can live healthier lives with greater understanding of, and respect for, the planet and all of its inhabitants.

DVD (Color) / 2005 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 88 minutes

NOT FOR SALE

Examines the disturbing new corporate practice of patenting life forms.

Not for Sale is an engaging new documentary that explores some little known aspects of global trade agreements like the WTO. Patents and other intellectual property rights are expanding what corporations can own and control -- from things like machines, to knowledge and even living creatures. What does this mean for the environment, our food supply, and human rights?

This film looks at farmers, indigenous people, and anti-globalization activists who oppose patents on life and advocate for a world where life is not a commodity but something to be treasured.

With beautiful footage from the headwaters of the Amazon, farms in Washington and Iowa, as well as India and Peru, plus glimpses of the Seattle WTO protests, Not for Sale brings this global issue into focus with stories of everyday people.

Also interviewed are Vandana Shiva, Anuradha Mittal of Food First, and Debra Harry of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism.

This is the third in an ongoing series of educational programs produced by Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young about the risks and benefits of the new biotechnology. The other two to date are Risky Business: Biotechnology and Agriculture and Gene Blues.

DVD (Color) / 2002 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 31 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Environmental_Justice_1906.html

[magicalworldweb]

Welcome to another installment of Interview with the Author!  This week I’d like to introduce you to Julia Schmeelk.  I met Julia on Twitter months ago, and we’ve more recently connected on Facebook.  She’s got this amazing, passionate heart that’s reflected in her fantastic utopian fantasy series.  And ya’ll, it’s got lots of books already out, and lots more being worked on.  Score a big one for lovers of dragons and peace!

So here are the books in her NewEarth Series.  I’ve read Gordon’s Pride and Heron’s Bonds, which both focus on human romances within a human/dragon community.  The stories have a great blend of character centered plots, pioneer homesteading and adventures, and a great sense of community.  Her dragons are unique and fun to get to know.  (and so are the humans!)

The Hunter will be released on January 10th!

I want to thank Julia for interviewing with me.  Ya’ll, she answered these in the middle of moving.  #LikeABoss   I was entirely glad to get to know her better, and happy to invite you to get to know her and her books, too!

Introduce yourself.  Name.  Nickname.    Julie, Jules, people call me any number of things. I write under my legal name- Julia Schmeelk.

If your Wi-Fi name was a reflection of you, what would it be? Humanadvocate1 For 30 years my career choice was as a special education teacher.

What personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble?  When I am afraid- I either laugh or confront, I am incapable of cowering. Yelling at the man with the gun is never a good idea. I was lucky I survived. When my husband and I were running from a big brown Kodiak Bear, we were laughing… no sense, but we would have died happy.

What genre (of collection) do you write in and why? All of my books are Utopian. By that they have the common themes of hope and life can be better. I write psychic supernatural, epic fantasy romance, contemporary romance and general mainstream fiction. All Utopian, but the NewEarth Series, my latest and favorite is epic fantasy romance.

Who is important to you? My husband first. Then my parents I am really fortunate they are still with us and doing so well. Then my brothers and their families. I am fortunate to have kids in the family and the two we helped raise, by fostering for a short time.

Where do you call home? Home is where we set it up. Alaska was fabulous, and will always hold a part of my heart. On the other hand this new house is very exciting in northern Illinois and we have made some wonderful memories here in Missouri. I think I transplant well and so does my husband, we are fortunate that way.

What books are/have you written?  I have a total of over fifty written in various stages of draft, but my NewEarth Series is what I am currently publishing. Book7 of the NewEarth Series The Hunter is coming out in January. Gordon’s Pride was the first, I published at the end of October 2017. The second is Heron’s Bonds that came out in January. Then The Heartsinger came out in March. Healing came out in May. Grabon’s Nest was released in July and Acceptance came out at the beginning of October. It has been a busy year for me.

If you are having a rotten day, what do you do to conquer that?I have a number of ways. Chocolate, fancy teas and coffee, talking with friends and paging through my feel good file. That is a written collection filled with notes and reviews and things I have collected to beat back the negative voices.

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?Huh, invisible would be interesting. I think I would go people watching.

Your life is made into a musical.  What is the title of at least one of the songs? Singing With The Animals

What are your sleeping habits? I tend to sleep short hours, get up work for 2-5 hours than sleep again until I clock in my eight and get up and go.

What would you name your boat? I would want to take out the Best of Days.

What’s your biggest kitchen disaster? Salmon Goo, boiling water on a fuel oil stove is almost impossible and I tried to cook the pasta without boiling. Bad mistake. Even the wild dogs wouldn’t eat it and I swear the bears kept a safe distance when I threw it in the yard.

Tell me about one of your characters.  Would you get along in real life? Grabon, the territory dragon, and we would be great friends.

If you were arrested with no explanation, what would your friends and family assume you had done? They would decide I had beaten someone to a bloody pulp. Probably a child abuser.

What are your favorite clothes to wear? Tunics and skirts that go down to the floor. They are comfy and I always look ready to go out.

If someone asked to be your apprentice and learn all that you know, what would they end up learning? How to type, cook, clean, plan, schedule, shop, caretaking, how to embrace their inner peace, find their humor and live inside their imagination and share bits of it with the world.

What are your future writing plans?  To publish more books. I am currently writing book 14 of the NewEarth Series, but I have been too busy lately to work much on it.

What’s one thing you absolutely adore in life? I have two. My husband, he’s my best friend and companion for everything. The second thing it sharing stories with him. He tells the best stories in a thick southern accent.

What is one of your pet peeves? I do not tolerate hate, bigotry and putting people down. I worked for many years with victims of violence and I have been a minority myself, so I have faced a bit of that from time to time.

You’re in the middle of a wizarding duel.  What animal do you transfigure into? A lioness, I have always admired the big cats.

Would you survive if you were a character in your own books? I would because I have many skills, not the least of which is knowing how to make friends with people in positions of power. But seriously I can cut wood, haul water, cook on a fire and live pretty simply.

You are putting on a dinner party.  What do you serve and who do you invite? I would serve a turkey, dressing, potatoes, green beans and fruit compote. I would invite other writers and creative people and see what topics of conversation came up.

Would you rather relive the same day for 365 days or lose a year of your life? I’d lose a year, but that would be sad.

You are transported to one of your favorite books.  Where are you? I would visit Pern, from the Dragon Riders of a Pern.

I found this lovely picture on her website and I adore it because it looks like she’s about to go visit her dragons!

Ready to fly with the dragons?  Julia is awesome at getting her books out there for free, so I highly recommend following her somewhere on social media to snag them.  Check out Julia’s website  for more gorgeous art from her books, as well as links to buy her books (I also highly recommend supporting artists.)

Thanks for joining in this week, and see you next week!

Live Bravely, Love Strongly, AEM

Interview with the Author: Julia Schmeelk Welcome to another installment of Interview with the Author!  This week I'd like to introduce you to Julia Schmeelk.  

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One Punch Man Anime Featured

One Punch Man Anime Featured - On an unnamed Earth-like super-continent planet, strange monsters and supervillains have been mysteriously appearing and causing disasters. To combat them, the world's superheroes have risen to fight them. Each of the Hero Association's superheroes are ranked from S-Class which is the strongest to C-Class which is the weakest. Saitama is one such hero, hailing from the metropolis of Z-City. He has trained himself and grown strong to the point that he can effortlessly defeat any opponent with a single punch. However, Saitama became a hero for the fun of the experience, and he has lately become bored with his superhuman power and frustrated at the complete lack of strong opponents that can challenge him. Over the course of the series, Saitama encounters various superheroes, supervillains, and monsters. He gains a disciple in the form of the cyborg Genos and eventually joins the Hero Association in order to gain official recognition. He smashes an incoming meteor and defeats boss villains like the Deep Sea King. When the alien Dark Matter Thieves invade and destroy A-City, Saitama defeats their leader Lord Boros using pure punching power.     Saitama gets to know other superheroes in the group, becoming friends with old martial artist Bang and a superhero named King who is actually a cowardly nonviolent otaku, and also got his position for receiving credit for all of Saitama's previous victories. When the Hero Association executive Sitch tries to recruit villains to become superheroes, a villain named Garo emerges and starts beating down many of the other heroes, prompting the association to make a small effort to stop him. In order to learn more about martial arts, Saitama enters a tournament. More ferocious monsters start showing up in the various cities, wearing down many of the heroes. A group of them kidnap an Association sponsor's son. The Hero Association learns that the monsters have organized into a Monster Association and that they are also recruiting members by having fighters and others ingest monster cells that transform them into monsters that have far more power.--excerpt from Wikipedia.--        

One-Punch Man is one of those great breakout hits that deserve all the praise it gets and now its first season is readily available on Blu-ray and DVD. The premise of One-Punch Man follows the bald Saitama who just wants to be a hero for fun. Unfortunately, he is endowed with extraordinary power, as he can defeat every enemy he faces with simply one punch. What makes this setup work is in part its innate use of humor but also how it ties into things like tokusatsu enemy archetypes, as well as its overall narrative. While it initially seems that each episode is separate, the events in the early parts of the series give rise to things like the Hero Association, which both Saitama and his eager cyborg disciple Genosjoin later on.   What’s more, the series does a great job of sending up the incompetence of these kinds of bureaucracies, as they seem completely unaware of Saitama’s true powers. So when Saitama proceeds to destroy the Hero Association’s physical tests, they still initially place him as a C-Class hero because of his poor written examination. What's more, the public seems to think that Saitama cheats in his fights. The series then does a good job of showing that simply observing the surface of events rarely gives the truth of what actually happened. Having people such as the comedian Bill Burr almost instinctively pick up on this kind of satire shows that One-Punch Man is more than just a silly slapstick anime. However, the reason why you really need to see this series on Blu-ray is down to the quality of its animation.--exerpt from Ollie Barder  on Forbes.--   As a long time fan of comics, I must say that I am quite frankly tired of the “beware the Superman” style of storytelling, when it comes to using insanely powerful superheroes. Thankfully One Punch Man does a more comedic take on things. Saitama very well could kill everything if he wanted to, but he’s not some superhero on the verge of being a planet controlling tyrant or anything of the sort. He’s just really...really bored. All he wants for Christmas is an opponent who can take more than a single punch without turning to goo afterwards. He literally dreams of fighting such powerful foes.   Maybe it is just me, but for some reason I just feel like many times while I was watching One Punch Man, it was as if I was seeing an 80s rock album cover come to life. And I’m not merely talking about many of the shots in the epic opening, either. Many of the fight scenes, Saitama’s last fight of the season especially, are full of these kind of truly badass imagery. It doesn’t hurt that the soundtrack for this show is awesome as well, with Saitama’s personal theme starting with a very distinct, and sure to be iconic, guitar riff.--exerpt from Koda Kazar on Kinja.--                             Read the full article