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eyesaremosaics · 2 years

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Favorite books?

Hmmm… that’s tough, I love a lot of books. I’m an old lady, I prefer classic literature, or historical fiction… horror fiction…. I guess if I had to narrow it down I would say:

--“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. Probably my all time favorite. I really resonated with the “savage” in this novel. Now more than ever…

--“Interview with the Vampire” by Anne Rice, actually pretty much all the vampire chronicles. The vampire Lestat, queen of the damned, blood and gold, the vampire Armand, pandora… tale of the body thief…

—“Frankenstein: the modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelley, I just think it’s a powerful piece of literature. Beautifully written.

—“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, the darkest love story of all time.

—“A Spy in the house of love” by Anais Nin, I love most of Anais’ work, her diaries… delta Venus…

—“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, i know it seems pretentious and cliché—but I love virtually everything he writes. Always wished my birthday was the 24th instead of the 23rd so I could share it with him and Jim Henson😭. “The beautiful and the damned” “flappers and philosophers”… “this side of paradise”… all good.

—“Save me the Waltz” by Zelda Fitzgerald. I always thought her life was very tragic, and since she inspired so much of Scott’s work—naturally I found her a source of fascination as well.

—“the turn of the screw” by Henry James

— “the stranger” by Albert Camus

—“the bell jar” by Sylvia Plath with always hold a special place in my teenage heart.

—“the catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger. I love most of his stuff as well, I really feel Holden Caulfield. He knows what’s up.

—“Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert

—“the Venus in Furs” by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

—“I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith (1948)

—“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

—“Dracula” by Bram Stoker (1897) classic! Read it so many times.

Harry Potter and lord of the rings I’ve read countless times.

-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860), I gotta admit… I love me some Charles Dickens. This one is particularly special.

—Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

I always loved treasure island, and the Swiss family Robinson when I was a kid.

Lord of the flies has always stuck with me.

—“Slaughterhouse 5” by Kurt Vonnegut

I liked the lovely bones… flowers in the attic… I enjoyed chuck palahniuk back in the day.

Oh! I love “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.

A clockwork orange…

I love Stephen King. Pet Semetary is my favorite though.

I love “tuck everlasting” and “bridge to teribithia”.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938) is an all time fav. Love the Alfred Hitchcock movie as well.

Silence of the lambs…American psycho…. Hell House by Richard Matheson (1971),

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2002), can I just say—Neil Gaiman must be the most prolific writer of modern times. I love so much of his stuff. I met him once in person, he’s a sweet man.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde—one of the best pieces of fiction ever written. I also love how cheeky Oscar Wilde was in general. Also a libra (my team!).

“The Yellow Wallpaper”, Short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Brilliant feminist piece of literature/social commentary on feminine “hysteria”.

“Go Ask Alice” by Beatrice Sparks.

“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Joanne Greenberg

“Girl interrupted” Susanna Kaysen

“Fear and loathing in Las Vegas”, Hunter S. Thompson. I love reading his stuff, he cracks me up.

Too many to name, but there ya go!

#asks #favorite books

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apparently-impalas-go-to-heaven · 4 years

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...Just Why?!?

Like many people the Bold Type has been one of my favorite shows since it came out. The clothes, the characters, the setting, the new age story lines (Give or take) was amazing to me. They have supportive bosses! Girl love! and conflict that gets resolved rather then covered up to stew and stir till there is some big explosion. With that being said... I have not watched The Bold Type in a few episodes mostly because, I have been seeing the outcomes of each on social media and decided that I did not want to see it with my own eyes.

I’ll start with Jane

I’ll be honest Jane was never my favorite I loved her but, I always gravitated more towards Sutton and Kat. I absolutely loved he medical story line and how that played into her and Ryan’s relationship because, all of that does play into reasons why people stay with or leave someone. I know a lot of people were not happy when she stayed with Ryan but, I will say I know people who have been in similar situations and have ended up with that person and made it through on the other side together. Now obviously there was more to it than just cheating given that Jane was not told the truth from the start and it just pilled on. I really liked how their relationship ended I think it was a great moment for Jane and showed a lot of growth. Then BAM she’s falling for another guy, who is incredibly similar to Ryan. WHY!?! Now like I said I haven’t seen the episodes past the one where they’re snowed in so, I don’t for sure know whats happening with Jane right now because, of all the other crappy story lines people are (rightfully screaming about). Jane has so much potential as a character but, they bury her in her love life or give her this stool as the heroine of the show almost that I don’t think her character deserves because, they are not letting her breath outside of boy drama.

Now for Kat... What the actual hell?

at first I was excited to see Kat in a completely different circumstance than what we have seen. She comes from a place of privilege in the since of finances, she didn’t have to worry about rent or food or a pay check. So, to see someone who was such a force to be in a place where I myself am usually in and to see how she dealt with that was, inspiring to me, which I know sounds cheesy but, its true. Seeing her struggle with money was something I really needed to see because, everyone deals with it differently and Sutton or Jane’s out look on money is completely different than Kat’s. Though there could have been better ways then taking away her job.

I’ll admit I do not hate Eva’s character I do not agree with her choices as a character but, I don’t agree with all the choices the characters make in this show. And I apologize if it sounds like I’m making excuses for Eva (Ava?) that’s not what I’m trying to do. Had they introduced Eva as a rival turned possible ally, someone to butt heads with Kat in way that was beneficial to them both in being able to learn and grow from each other and come out of it with an educated look into the other side, I would have welcomed it with open arms but, they didn’t. Instead they made them have a relationship .2 seconds after introducing the fact that Eva was gay and basically her entire character as well. I have seen Aisha’s post and I gotta say I feel so bad for her, I know she loves this show and her character and it takes guts to stand up to a room full of people when you think something is wrong and, it is so wrong. The first half of season 4 was great for Kat in my opinion we got to see her sexuality become a more of a prominent role, as she came out as Bi-sexual, I thought that was a really great story line and bringing out a lot of the issues in the LGBTQ+ community when it comes to being bi-sexual. But, that just went away and now her she is sleeping with a powerful Conservative white women, why did they think that would be okay? Eva’s gay so she’s resolved of anything else negative about her? How do they expect them to take away actually important information from each other when in a few episodes they’ll probably break up and all of the interactions will be tainted by the fact she’s an Ex. Not to mentioned the Eva helps Kat get her job back story line WAS RIGHT THERE. also note I want to say thank you to the actor who plays Eva for siding with Aisha even though it could very well mean she is out of a job.

Now Sutton Brady- HUNTER

Sutton has been my favorite character from the beginning of the series, and her and Richard's relationship though troupe-y was very refreshing. Yes, they had their issues and arguments but, all couples have them. I would honestly be more concerned if they didn’t because, that would be incredibly unrealistic. But, Richard has been nothing but, supportive and Sutton has been able to grow and do what she loves - so why the fuck did they ever think it would be totally in character for Richard to just leave? and then for Sutton to say “I don’t know who I am without him” and then proceed to cheat? Have they been watching a different show this whole time? Sutton has always been her own person, has she become a bit more dependent yes, that’s what most people do that is a marriage it is someone you can Depend on for the rest of your life. It is work that should be done by both parties and we have seen that multiple times in their relationship.

I know that kids are a big deal, personally I have no clue how I feel about kids I kinda of go back and forth but, I’m also much younger than Sutton and not married or in a committed relationship. But, what bothers me so much about this story line is 1) No one talked about adoption of maybe an older kid-teen I feel like that option is rarely explored and we’ve Sutton doing amazing things with Oliver’s daughter. I know that, that is still a kid it is still a huge life style change but, it is still a possibility worth talking about. And then 2) they really just jumped from zero to sixty Richard just left and Sutton cheats. It puts them both in such a bad place and light and I realize these things happen but, why do we keep having to watch them happen all over again time after time. It is a tired and aggravating story line. There is no version of Richard’s character that this story makes sense in he has been a great person and a great partner so, I could understand him having to leave maybe for a night just to clear his head but, there is no way I see him not telling Sutton where he is and staying gone. And as for Sutton no matter how hurt she is I really don’t ever see her cheating, she was in a relationship with a cheater and she went out of her way to make sure it was made right. Not to mention we’ve seen a good amount of growth with her mother and I can understand how actually having a baby and then losing it could stir a lot of that up, kind of wash it away and set her back in her growth but, this is not only out of character its not entertaining in any form. I’ll be incredibly disappointed if the set them on a road to divorce right after they got married and were a great example of a working couple.

So I don’t what I’m going to do when/if the show comes back, maybe they were planing a way to get out of all these messes with the next few episodes they didn’t get to shoot. But, if this is the story lines they want to continue on they, it’ll just be another show that didn’t live up to its potential and another example of how shock value is ruining the industry.

#the bold type #katedisson #jane sloan #sutton brady #tbt #richard hunter #I was to mad to edit sorry for the mistakes #i stand with aisha #aisha dee

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knives-out20 · 4 years

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What’s Your Name Again? - Bobby & The Buddies AU

Fandom: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

Pairings: Bobby Brightside (OC) x Cliff Booth, Penelope ‘Peep’ Sweeney (OC) x Joseph ‘Soup’ Sansbury (OC), DeepSpace

Warnings: OC x OC business, Soulmates AU, In the 70′s,

Prompt: (Soulmate) AU where you have your soulmates name somewhere on your body

Notes: Prompt taken from @ausforsoulmates

Peep cracked her knuckles, causing Frankie to wince. She sucked her teeth, forgetting he was the type to become antsy and uncomfortable with the sound. “Sorry, man.”

“N-No worries” Frankie shook his head.

Peep looked at the back of her left hand, the name ‘Joseph Sansbury’ clear as day. It sat above her purple-bandanna’d-wrist, tattooed on her skin since...well, forever. Of all body parts, why her hand?

Joseph Sansbury.

The name rang a bell, but Peep found it obvious because she’s seen that name her whole life, on her wrist. Why else would it sound so familiar?

Peep brushed the argument off for the hundredth time, adjusting the suspenders on her dark suspender dress. She, like now, usually wore it over a grey off-shoulder top. “Where’s Soup?” Peep inquired, looking around the room.

“At the Sansbury household, I’d assume” Deep grinned.

“‘Sansbury’“ Peep mumbled, glancing at her hand. ‘Sansbury’ ought to be a basic white surname, she never took it into consideration that Soup was the Sansbury she was looking for.

Then again...what was Soup’s first name, again?

Peep groaned, wishing finding her soulmate could be easier. It can’t be Soup, can it? Soup? Soup?! Of all people? If so, why couldn’t her hand read ‘Soup Sansbury’ instead, to make it easier for her? It can’t be Soup, it can’t be him that’s her soulmate.

Soulmates with nicknames....Peep knew her brother Deep had no trouble with that. She thought back to how Deep intertwined with his soulmate, officially.

Deep was getting ready to call it a night, but a knock at his front door cut that task short. He glanced over at his stairs suspiciously, grabbing a .22 pistol off his bedside table and slowly making his way down the dimmed hall.

Deep crept down the stairs and pressed his back against the wall, inching closer and closer to his front door. He took deep, quiet breaths to clam himself down, making sure his weapon was loaded; good news, it was.

Now as close to the door as he could muster himself up to be, Deep raised his gun up to use. As quick as he could, he unlocked the front door and opened it, pointing the pistol at his late guest’s face.

Ace Frehley jumped back in surprise, eyes crossing a bit when they landed on the gun that was really close to his face. “Hey, woah-!” He called, putting his hands up. “It’s me, man.”

Deep, frankly rattled, gathered himself to process the situation. He gulped, letting his arms hang at his sides. “Jesus Christ, Ace-- what’re you doin’ here?” Deep asked, rubbing the bridge of his long nose.

“I, uh, came here from the hotel we’re stayin’ at. Kinda dingy, but the best our manager could afford us. But dude, no way in hell am I spendin’ another night roomin’ with Peter. Snores to high hell like-” Ace dramatically imitated loud snores, Deep questioning if Ace was truly exaggerating or not.

Deep laughed anyway.

“You think his voice is deep? Snores like a demon, man. I can’t even try to fall asleep with that in my ears” Ace complained.

Deep balled his right hand, clearing his throat. “Uh- come in! Come in, man” He stepped aside, allowing Deep into his humble abode.

Ace whistled as he looked around. “Nice place y’got here.”

“Yea, Missy thinks the same” Deep joked.

Ace chuckled, looking up at the wall. “Woah, an autographed Keith Richard?”

Deep closed and locked his front door, following Ace’s line of view to the framed photo of Keith Richard on his wall, that he was able to have Keith sign. “Oh, yea. Huge guitar inspiration to me” he answered, as Ace carefully sat down on one of his couches. “But...I’d say he has competition” Deep smirked at Ace, who waved a hand dismissively.

“You jest” Ace laughed.

“Oh, but truthfully, I do not” Deep shook his head, wandering across the room. “But, uh, anyways- I’ll...go put this gun away” he smiled sheepishly, nodding and running upstairs.

Deep put his pistol back in its rightful spot, racing back downstairs. “All gone” he put his fists up in the air, closed tight enough to obviously not be hiding any weapons under. Deep dropped them, inhaling slowly. “Uh, if you’re plannin’ on staying with me tonight- or however long- I got a guest bedroom upstairs. Unless you and my couch have already become deeply...closely...intimately involved” he winked playfully.

“Oh, I could never. It’s not my type” Ace whispered, as if the couch was sentient and able to hear. He looked Deep up and down, from his bare torso, the dandelion bandannas on his wrists, his plaid pajama pants, and dark socks. “I thought the bandannas came off after the shows” Ace commented.

Deep looked down at them. “Oh, yea, most definitely. They usually do, but sometimes I keep ‘em on until I go to bed. I dunno, I kinda like how they feel-? It’s kinda like a sensory thing but not really, because Benji has an actual sensory thing. He likes certain materials, doesn’t like others, like certain food feels, dislikes others, stuff like that. Comes in handy to remember when buyin’ him clothes ‘n’ snacks.”

Ace nodded thoughtfully. “How long he been tickin’ for?”

“Forever, I think.”

Ace hummed, tilting his head. “Nice ink.”

Deep looked down at himself, now painfully aware the only things covering the upper half of his body were the bandannas on his wrists. “Thanks” he smiled, looking at the ‘D’ in the Hollywood-sign-font on his right upper arm. “This one, it’s a Buddies thing. Bobby has a ‘B’ on the left side of his chest, Beep has a ‘B’ somewhere, Maria ‘n’ Monte have a ‘M’ on each of their persons, Damien also has a ‘D’ somewhere, Frankie has an ‘F’ somewhere, and Penelope has a ‘P’ on her somewhere. All of ‘em are black, and the same font as the Hollywood font” he told.

“All I got is the ‘Ace’ on my arm.”

“Yea, you got that nickname back in high school, didn’t you? You told me so.”

“Yea, I did” Ace smiled, sort of happy that Deep remembered. “My friends came up with it ‘cause I was an ace at gettin’ dates. How were you, back in high school?”

“Ah, I dunno. I met Jenny in high school.” Deep sniffled, a certain look glaing over his blue eyes. “So yea, I got date, after date, after date, after date, but with one date....person. Date-person” he shrugged, then tearing his gaze to the devil tattoo on his left forearm. An O with devil horns and a devil tail attached to it, a pitchfork beside it.

“That supposed to be a lil’ devil of some sort?”

“Yea.”

“Anything behind that?”

Deep chuckled. “I’m notorious in the Buddies for being the one to push Bobby into doing all the stunts he-then-we do, if he doesn’t commence them himself. So I’m kinda like a daredevil, then cut that down to ‘devil’ and...yea. I’m a Devil like how you’re an Ace. Though, we all know I’m mostly known as Deep, so-” he snickered, running a hand through his black hair. Deep glanced at the name on his hand, balling it into a fist to hide it.

“Somethin’ wrong with your hand?”

“Ah, nah, it’s just some name. Y’know the name thing.”

“Yea, whose yours?”

Deep’s breath hitched in his throat. “Like I’d tell you that. I won’t even tell them that.”

“Oh, c’mon. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!”

“You have to understand how weird that sounds with me being half-naked!” Deep chortled.

Ace cackled, clapping his hands. “Yea, you’re right, you’re right. Still, who is it?”

“Can’t say. Can’t tell anyone, not even them. It’s so...y’know?”

“Kinda-?”

Deep unfurled his fist, reading ‘Paul Frehley’ clear as day.

Ace looked at the name near his left palm, deciding that it couldn’t go that bad, right? “Wanna know who I have?”

“I dunno.”

“What I will tell you, with that ‘I dunno’, is I’m glad their nickname isn’t their real name. That’s real shitty on their parent’s part, if it were.”

“‘Nickname’?” Deep thought, eyes darting around the floor in thought. He looked over at Ace, eyebrows furrowed. “Can’t really say the same for me. I mean- their name is cool, I like their name. I mean that, their nickname...could make a nice, actual name.”

Ace nervously licked his lips. “Derek?”

“Yes, Ace?”

“Your last name is Sweeney, isn’t it?”

Derek felt his face break out into a wide, excited smile. “Only if your first name is Paul, Frehley.”

Peep leaned back in her seat. “Where’s Bobby?” She asked, getting up and leaving the room before she could get a proper answer. “Bobby!” Peep called, finding him in the first room she walked into.

Bobby turned around, loving smile vanishing when his gaze went from Cliff to Peep.

Cliff leaned against the counter in front of him, his grin of adoration doing the same.

“Hmm?”

Peep sighed. “What, uh, what’s Soup’s first name?”

Bobby furrowed his eyebrows, as did Cliff behind those sunglasses he always, always wore. “Joseph. Why?”

Peep’s eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped open, gaze flickering between Bobby, and the name on the back of her hand.

Sansbury. Soup. Joseph. Joseph Sansbury.

This is it, this was him, this had to be him.

“Peep-?” Bobby cleared his throat.

“I- I gotta go” Peep stuttered, racing out of the room. She quickly bade the Buddies goodbye, out of Bobby’s house at the speed of light. Using all the speed she could muster in her strappy sandals, she ran down the sidewalk to the address she frequented to (being that Peep usually babysits Soup’s roommates kid).

Peep stopped in front of Soup’s place, panting as she looked up at it. She adjusted her dress’ suspenders, picking at her stockings and fixing her wavy hair in order to appear presentable. Peep thanked whatever higher power that existed for letting Soup live fairly close to Bobby, because any farther and she might’ve dropped dead.

It was tough, is what she’s saying.

Peep walked up the pathway to Soup’s front door, the stray cats lingering around and not really in any frightened stance due to the fact that they all knew her, and were familiar with her. “Hey, MJ.”

MJ opened an eye, taking a nap on Soup’s front porch. “Hey” he greeted, falling back asleep straight afterwards.

Peep giggled in a breathy way, knocking the front door after checking her reflection in the mirror- her red lipstick wasn’t messed up, good.

After not waiting for too long, Soup opened the door. He looked around, then down. “Oh, hey, Peep.”

“Hey, Soup” Peep smiled up at him.

Soup looked a bit confused. “Annabelle said your here tomorrow, why’re you- what’s up?” He asked.

Peep tilted her head up, poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue. “Perhaps I have some news for you.”

“Perhaps?” Soup sounded intrigued.

“Perhaps.”

“What is it?”

“Soup Sansbury, what’s your name again?”

Soup opened his mouth, but didn’t talk. “Huh?”

“What’s your name again? Your real name, ‘cause I know- or at least pray- that your mom didn’t carry you for nine months, go through hours of pain to hold you, and then be able to hold ya just to call you Soup. So c’mon, what’s your name again?”

“...Joseph.”

Peep, wordlessly, smiled up at Soup. Bright, and adorable, and her truest smile to date. “’Joseph’” she repeated.

Soup caught on, heart racing as he brushed a few fingers against the hidden base of his neck. “Peep Sweeney...What’s your name, again? ‘Cause I know your mom didn’t go though...all that,” he vaguely gestured his hand, “just to call you Peep. So, what’s your name again?”

“Penelope.”

Soup slowly grinned, starting to giggle aimlessly. He nodded in a knowing manner, eyebrows raising in a way that told Peep that he knew.

The smile Peep gave back to him indicated to him, very well at that, that she knew as well. She raised her hand, “Joseph Sansbury.”

Soup tugged down the collar of his shirt, revealing the base of his neck. “Penelope Sweeney.” He replied, barely able to contain his smile, even if he wanted to. And he didn’t want to.

Neither did Peep.

#Once Upon A Time In Hollywood #once upon a time in hollywood oc #OUATIH #ouatih oc #bobby brightside #oc x oc #oc x female #oc x male #male x oc #cliff booth x oc #cliff booth x male #cliff booth x male!oc #soulmates au #soulmate au #au #ouatih au #once upon a time in hollywood au

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marlacrane · 4 years

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『COURTNEY EATON ❙ CIS FEMALE』 ⟿ looks like MARLA CRANE is here for HER JUNIOR year as a JOURNALISM student. she is 22 years old & known to be inventive, dogged, heedless & blunt. They’re living in GORHAM, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ mia. 23. pt. she/her.

[without me by eminem plays muffled from the next room as marla wanders thru the door w a mickey of vodka in her left hand and the communist manifesto in her right]

tws for drug use, mental illness

history

she has a happy childhood in a seattle suburb. she’s the youngest of two girls, and even though her mom works all the time, and her dad’s overseas, everything’s fine. until marla gets to second grade, which she hates, gets into a fight with a boy, and nearly bites his finger off. this time she gets off with a warning. then, later that week, said boy and her are working on this paper maché duck together, and the teacher's keeping an eye on them at first but has now dismissed them as totally getting along, and then the teacher glances at them again to find that they have vanished, and so have the art supplies. the two of them are found six hours later hiding in a park. they’ve been hanging out there all day, asking for a quarter from each unsuspecting parent or guardian they’ve seen. they’ve used this to buy as much food from the community centre vending machine as they can carry. their goal: wait until their parents are sleeping, steal the tent from marla’s backyard, and go live in the treehouse in his backyard. upon discovery, they’re both grounded for a month. marla is no longer allowed to read calvin and hobbes –– her mom is pretty sure it’s what inspired the escape attempt.

she and this boy, whose name is jasper, regroup once they’ve been ungrounded. jasper and her are both the sort of kids who bite their nails at the sign of a group project. their fight had been over who got to read the classroom’s only calvin and hobbes anthology. their initial truce had been based entirely around a mutual desire for treehouse living. now, they just want insurance. so they agree to partner up, always.

they’re bad influences on each other. apart, they’re both a little feral, sure, but they understand that certain things are not possible, and they avoid danger if they can help it. when they hang out, though, they egg each other on. jasper breaks his arm because marla dares him to climb the school; marla’s suspended after jasper dares her to pull the fire alarm; jasper and marla accidentally burn down a garden shed; jasper and marla scam five people out of their lunch money so they can go see a movie after school. (they pay them back a week later. they’re not total monsters. also, they were getting scared one of the kids was gonna tell on them).

jasper’s parents are moving. jasper’s moving with them, out to the country. marla hates it, but she steels herself. she can be independent. she’s nearly sixteen now, and it’s about time she started. but she’s going to miss him. he tells her that nothing’s going to change, which she tells him is bullshit. he takes this the wrong way, and they stop speaking to each other. this goes on for five months. marla’s lonely at first –– she doesn’t know how to talk to people who aren’t him. she starts dating this guy, and that opens things up a little bit. he introduces her to his friends, and suddenly she doesn’t feel as wild. she’s no longer a product of the outskirts.

one night she thinks fuck it, that’s enough silence. she sneaks out at one am, texting jasper to meet her halfway. she borrows her sister’s car. marla figures she practically knows how to drive. she’s done it a few times. and, to her credit, she makes it to where she and jasper are meeting. she also wraps the car around a pole. she emerges relatively unharmed, and she panics. jasper doesn’t show up. he texts to tell her he got caught trying to leave. she calls him an idiot. then she waits there, arms crossed, incapable of doing anything but dreading consequences, until it’s nearly morning. that’s when a cop drives by and the process of being in trouble begins. it’s a clusterfuck. this is when her sister stops speaking to her –– marla’s been on thin ice with her for a long time, but now it’s over. it isn’t so much that her sister wants to hold a grudge. it’s just finally too much. and marla gets it. for once, she doesn’t try and change things, or slip out of trouble. that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get into a number of shouting matches with her mom. her phone is taken away, as is all of her money, which goes toward buying her sister a new car. her laptop is sold in the name of the new car too. she can use the family computer if schoolwork absolutely demands internet access.

she hasn’t heard from jasper in a long time. her now ex boyfriend is still sort of a friend, but not the kind she can hang out with. there was one girl she really got along with at their school, but they made out at a party and the next day the girl wouldn’t really look her in the eyes. she turns seventeen, the birthday celebrated more or less alone, and does a little stint in juvie for keying a teacher’s car. she then spends a year at a community college, followed by radcliffe. she picks radcliffe because she’s accepted, and because it’s far from home. being at home fills her with this sick feeling now –– something went bad somewhere along the way, and she’s pretty sure it was her that made the wrong turn at the crossroads. not her mom, not jasper, not anyone else that had power over her life. and she won’t reach out to her friend, or to her sister, because that would mean admitting she cares more than they do.

she sort of wishes she could go back to being a careful person. she wants to understand boundaries. she also wants her life to have a purpose, and she likes writing, and she’s always loved nancy drew, but being a detective would’ve meant being a cop and she'd genuinely rather die, so she’s gone for journalism. she’s not loving the university experience, but it’s better than before, and it’s provided a lot of distractions that she’s grateful for.

headcanons / personality :

she can be a little abrasive.

she smokes weed whenever she can afford it, because if she doesn’t she tends toward feeling depressed and highly uninspired. she carries this apathy with her, and then every once in a while she’ll snap, and either get a lot better or a lot worse. klonopin is her best friend now.

she’s 100% a leftist and the way to her heart at this point is through communism memes. she’s slowly but surely making her way through the works of karl marx. she’d probably be done by now, but she keeps reading romance novels instead. (this is also a secret. she reads them on her phone and deletes them the moment she’s done so that nobody can know).

she lives to pirate movies, but claims that the only movie she’s ever seen is showgirls. this is because she dated a film major during her first year of college and found him so insufferable that she’s decided nobody can ever know she watches movies. she gets that he was just a jackass, and she shouldn’t judge anyone by their major, and yet................ that said, she has a secret letterboxd account (when she made it, she found her ex’s account and blocked him, just in case) and on it there’s a list of films in which richard nixon gets punched in the face.

deep down she’s actually very sentimental and sensitive, which is why she worked so hard to Not Be That growing up. she does her very best to never show that side of herself –– if someone sees her crying she’s just gotta kill them ! those are the rules. and after a while it got more and more difficult to actually access that side of herself. when she cries, it’s an Event.

she’s always broke. she’s also somehow always capable of scraping together exactly enough money to go out.

she knows that if jasper contacted her now, even after the years of radio silence, she’d do anything for him. they’re still friends, even if that friendship only exists in her memories. she realizes she could text him, but that would violate her strict double texting rules. and she’s afraid to.

she definitely makes bad decisions while drunk. like, all the time. speaking of which, she’s up for anything ! wanna attempt to summon a demon at 3 am? she’s ur girl ! wanna break into someone’s house and move all of the furniture over by about an inch before stealing away into the night? she’s already there !

she’s actually a good listener, which is one of the only positive traits she credits herself with. that, and creativity.

she’s a taurus but like . there is almost definitely some pisces / scorpio / sagittarius on her chart

she can play piano. she’s actually pretty good at it. or she was, back when she had access to pianos.

she really really really really really really wants a dog but there is no way in hell she can afford one

she’s bisexual

wanted connections :

(i mean. i will love anything, but....)

exes – whether they dated for a while or just hooked up once or twice tbh

enemies – these are easy because marla often does not consider consequences, so she could easily have done smth :/ to ur muse

friends – pls ! she needs them

unrequited crush – on her part, probably ? maybe they’re friends and she doesn’t wanna fuck that up but she’s starting to care about them in a different way. I Love Repression. what a good trope.

if anyone’s down for spontaneous tattoos............ she loves those (@chase hi, hello, come here)

a good influence would be fantastic

anyone else from seattle / the seattle area who maybe knew her in passing

um i really want this

#radintro #drug use /#mental illness /#alcohol /#i didnt proofread this i just . replaced 'isla' w 'marla' and thats it. same intro

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aftermathdb · 5 years

Text

DEATH BATTLE review: All Might vs. Might Guy

First Atlantis^2, then Widow^2, then Marvel^2, then ONE^2, and now Might^2.

(Holy Hell! I have exactly 100 screenshots for this episode!)

All Might′s Preview.

We open on a world where superpowers are common.

A world where schools are everywhere so that people can harness their powers.

These “Quirks” are varied, and some are… not that great.

But one aspiring hero would rise up to be the greatest hero around. Toshinori Yagi, who was given the greatest Quirk of all: One for All.

The hosts go over how badass this Quirk is. But more specifically how it’s the Quirk that can be passed down to other users.

Toshinori got his from Nana Shimura, and he became the ever-smiling All Might.

All Might keeps that smile on his face to ensure that everyone around him feels safe.

Thanks to All Might’s Quirk, he’s got everything from Super Strength, speed, stamina, and durability.

Aside from Boomstick’s apparent ability to manifest seafood, the hosts go over All Might‘s main powerset.

Interestingly enough, All Might’s tendency to name his moves after the US is kinda accurate.

For example, the Texas Smash and Oklahoma Smash both create forms of tornadoes. And guess what states are smack-dab in the way of those things?

But All Might can combine those States together in one extremely powerful attack: The United States of Smash. PLUS ULTRA!

The power of the USoS is actually quantifiable. Given the size of the storm compared to the buildings around it, the force would be over 11,000 tons of TNT.

All Might can also move at speed around Mach 29.

Now, here’s the thing: All Might’s doing a lot of this with a handicap. So these moves are still impressive. Since DEATH BATTLE takes a look at these characters in their prime, those are the stats that would be used. In his hayday, All Might would be 60 times more powerful.

He’s on par with many a fighter, like Nomu, whom he had punched 300 times in ten seconds.

Even when crippled, All Might’s proven exactly why he’s been the number one hero for years.

Might Guy′s Preview.

In the world of Naruto, there exists schools that train the best Ninjas around. These schools would essentially teach Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, or in Boomstick’s terms, Ninja Magic.

But one ninja doesn’t really have that. Rock Lee was never really that good at the whole “Ninja Magic” thing, so when he found a mentor, it was a good thing for him.

Enter: Might Guy.

Despite not having that great of skill when compared to the other guys, Might Guy and his dad opted to focus on one thing and become the undisputed master of it:

Punching people (Thanks for the description there, Boomstick).

Strong Fist is a subset of Taijutsu, or hand-to-hand combat. A hard martial art that is focused on breaking the bones of the opponent.

Only the toughest people can really use Strong Fist according to the hosts, and it comes with it’s own set of skills.

But it’s a really big double-edged sword.

And we get more into that double-edged sword by an animated segment.

Regardless, the technique Guy and Duy developed was the Eight Gates.

With these Gates, they can unlock a whole slew of crazy abilities by way of removing limits on the body. From mental inhibitions, to physical limitations.

Some of these Gates are safe to use. Numbers 1-3 are good to go, but once you go past that, you’re in trouble.

At Gate numero six, Guy moves so fast that his fists ignite the air around him and can be used as projectiles.

In order to ignite the Hydrogen in the air, Guy’s swinging at speeds at 40000 km/h.

For reference, that’s nearly five times as fast as the X-15 Rocket Jet, the fastest man-made jet that has been made so far.

Gate Seven is still relatively safe for Guy, according to the hosts, but the final Gate is a fatal attack.

That’s not some sort of “Battle Aura” you’re seeing around Guy, that’s his blood burning. With this, he can use… “Night Guy.”

Yeah, I’m a little unimpressed too.

This form was able to decimate Madara. You should know that guy by now. He’s the deadly villain that could take on Naruto and easily defeat him in base mode.

Naruto’s super modes are definately better that Guy’s best mode, but it’s also way better than Jiraya’s best move.

Guy is also a match for Kakashi, who could catch lightning.

Kakashi’s speed clocks in at around 763000 m/s, so Guy is definitely in that ballpark.

And with all the feats he has, he’s proven to be a badass through and through. It takes a lot to bring down this Mighty Guy.

… Yeah, the end quote doesn’t exactly inspire greatness, but eh, it’s probably iconic (Really sorry, not a Naruto fan).

The Battle Itself.

Torrian is back to head this project, All Might will be voiced by Kaiji Tang, while All Might was voiced by a guy named “Dick Splitter” (No, I’m not making that up). "Mighty” by both Brandon Yates and Therewolf sprite artist (If there are any), and audio lead by Chris Kokkinos.

Our fight starts with Guy sitting in a park, reading a bit of Manga. For those eagle-eyed viewers, you’ll notiice that he’s reading a My Hero Academia book. I’ve circled it for you.

Anyways, All Might drops in and does his dramatic enterance. After geeking out, Guy challenges him to…

An ARM WRESTLING CONTEST!

Which All Might readily accepts.

I want to go on record and say that this initial explosion is in essence, them just starting.

And can I also point out the absurdity in the ground being cratered before the table? Like what is that table made of?- Adamantium?

Well, my accusation is unlikely. The table breaks, and then the two duke it out. Not out of jealousy or because one of them accused the other of sabotaging the contest, but because they’re just that hammy.

So with the fight underway, these two go at it. It’s readily clear that All Might has the edge up in strength over Base Guy, but Guy is certainly faster given how often he dodges the attacks that All Might dishes out.

He even gets a perfect 10 on his dodging!

I want it to be known that Might Guy actually dodged this attack. He clearly has the speed advantage.

And these two just keep complimenting each other! Like, come on! Who am I supposed to root for here?

Anyways, Guy opens his Sixth Gate, which gives him an edge up over All Might.

And you want to know what’s better than a beam struggle?- A Barrage attack struggle.

What’s better than that?

When the barrages are fire vs wind!

They make an explosion that brings Guy to the ground, and he opens the Seventh Gate.

He unleashes his Daytime Tiger, and actually puts All Might on the defensive.

Here’s my question: How is it that all that power is being condensed in that one park? Those buildings should have destableized by now!

Anyways, Finishing Blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Might Guy gets impaled! Well, it was a good run, and he certainly put up quite the fight…

And he’s also not done yet. We still have one more Gate.

REAL finishing blow iin

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

You gotta wonder what the report by the authorities and news is going to be like.

Verdict + Explanation.

So, right off the bat, this fight actually is close. Guy’s Gates were really the big thing that was letting him keep up with All Might and his speed was certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Now, As for All Might, since DEATH BATTLE was looking at him in his prime, they had to scale accordingly.

All Might himself claimed that a fight he finished in 300 punches could have been done in 5. So that means that the All Might that is being used is 60 times stronger.

Take this feat for example, All Might’s foe Gigantomachia, once blew a hole through the mountain. Adding in the X60 multiplier, and All Might’s batting in the 154.8 Gigaton range.

However, Guy is still way faster, add in his better training and more versatile arsenal, Might Guy just needed to hit All Might harder than All Might could hit him.

All Might’s feat of changing the weather clocks in at about 1462 Gigatons of TNT.

Now, that’s impressive and all, but Guy hasn’t really shown his full power.

So we have to compare him to another person that we’ve seen all too many times before: Naruto.

Now remember: Base Naruto < Madara, and Night Guy > Madara.

As we’ve seen all too many times before, Naruto’s Base Chakra was enough to blow a hole through the moon.

How much force is that?

About 480 Petatons of TNT.

How much is a Petaton?

A million Gigatons. Simply put All Might > Might Guy, but Night Guy > All Might. Sure, Guy goes down not too long after using the attack, but he wins in the moment, and that’s what matters.

The winner is Might Guy.

Overall impression.

I came into this thinking “This feels more like season premiere material.” Something to hype up the crowd for the upcoming season. And I was right in the absolute most wrong sense of the word. The fight is spectacular, and it makes me want to read up on MHA. In all honesty, if this were a season premiere, everything after it would feel boring in comparison.

Now, admittedly, this was basically just a fistfight. A battle of who could punch harder than the other guy. Which isn’t very exciting on it’s own, but is still interesting given the characters.

Plus, given that no sane parent would ever give their kid the name “Richard” if their last name was “Splitter” I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that this is the official VA for Guy.

I’m not going to link to his twitter, I’d rather he not get in trouble, but it’s still pretty cool.

Then again, my dad knew a guy named “Richard Head” so I guess the name “Dick Splitter” isn’t that farfetched. Who knows, maybe this is a real name.

Tangent aside, this battle was epic in all sense of the word. I’m sure there are a lot of references that I missed because of my lack of knowledge on these two, but it was a joy to see, and the music is awesome. Definitely looking forward to downloading it.

9.6/10.

Next Time…

I’m calling…

… Well shit. I don’t know what to call. But I recognize Miles Morales, Beerus, and Danny Phantom, so who knows?

Though the end colors for the start of Season 7 makes me think of… Harley Quinn.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

A DEATH BATTLE.

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

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sineala · 6 years

Note

Hi! I really like your post about diffrences between 616 Stony and MCU version. Could you do something similar about Ultimates? What similarities and diffrences they have with other versions?

I’ve posted Ults meta before, I’m pretty sure, but here I go again!

Okay, so the first thing about Ultimates that you should know is that we’re not working with anywhere near the same amount of canon that 616 got. This should be pretty obvious when you consider the fact that the Ultimates universe was only around for a bit more than a decade.

And when you narrow it down to Ultimates Steve and Tony, the amount of canon gets even smaller. If you’re reading 616 comics for Steve and Tony, you can basically be assured that they will be appearing in multiple ongoing comics – their own book, and whatever the team book is of the team they’re on, because they’re probably both on a team, and if you’re REALLY lucky they’re on the same team at the same time. (Fun fact: the last panel that Steve and Tony both appeared in where neither of them were evil or dead was a Gwenpool Holiday Special from 2015. Why, yes, I have been waiting TWO AND A HALF YEARS to see them meet again.)

But my point was, the situation in Ultimates is not like that. Neither Steve nor Tony have ongoing solo titles in Ults; Steve has one miniseries and Tony has three, two of which were later retconned. When you see them at all it’s because they’re appearing together in the main Ultimates series. This does mean that, proportionally speaking, they probably interact with each other more on-panel (in terms of how much of their interaction is with each other) than Steve and Tony do in 616, but it also means that overall there is much less interaction, because there is so much less canon. My folder of Ultimates comics (the main Ultimates series and a few relevant miniseries and Death of Spider-Man and so on) contains about 250 comics, total, and not all of those have both of them in them. You could read that in maybe two weeks. I’m pretty sure I DID read that in maybe two weeks. (By contrast, in 616, Steve and Tony have appeared together in at least 1700 issues since 1964; thanks to Mucca and Vel for the stats.)

If you talk about Ults, the first thing that’s probably going to come up is the grimdarkness. The Ultimate universe is not a nice place. It was originally created to be a more “realistic” version of 616. So if you’re familiar with the basic character archetypes and arcs of 616, expect to see them exploited for maximum angst potential. It’s very much in dialogue with 616 – sometimes literally, what with the crossovers. One of the times when Ults meets 616, Ults Vision observes that “Their finest, bravest warriors are our damaged, conflicted soldiers,” which as a statement of character is basically what you’re in for for Ults. Like, 616 Steve is a man out of time, and Ults Steve breaks down crying at his family’s graves because he’s so alone. 616 Hank hits Jan, and Ults Hank beats her half to death in a sequence that is graphically drawn out over about half an issue. 616 Tony struggles with drinking, and Ults Tony raises a glass to everything and anything. They’re not as resilient as their 616 counterparts, and they experience more actual trauma rather than just bouncing back. There is character death, and it is permanent. The threat levels are generally lower – they are basically fighting baseline humans and homegrown terrorists a lot of the time – and when higher-powered threats come for them, well, that’s when you get plots like “Galactus eats New Jersey.” I am pretty sure that in 616 they would never have let Galactus get that far.

Having said that, I want to say that Ults is also INCREDIBLY WACKY. Ults 1-3 and Ultimatum are basically incredibly gritty and humorless, but from then on, things start getting weird. I feel like at that point they gave up on the idea of realism and then asked themselves, “Okay, but what if we made Captain America a vampire?” or “what if we made Captain America the president?” and they just… went with that. The grittiness is still there – I mean, Reed basically vivisects Tony twice, for example – but the plots are just off the wall in the best way. It’s… really weird. I mean, you have to get through reading comics where people get their heads bitten off and eaten, but… yeah.

Also, if you’re a 616 fan, there are some crossovers! The Galactus who eats New Jersey is actually from 616. The entire universe ends in an incursion with 616, and they all hang out with each other on Battleworld. Also, Spider-Men is a pretty great miniseries where 616 Peter Parker finds himself in Ults, meeting Miles Morales and everyone else.

If you’re an MCU fan and you’ve heard of Ults, one thing you have probably heard is that the MCU took a lot of inspiration from Ults. Which is true! You’ve got a setup where SHIELD is initially involved in the Ultimates, you’ve got Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, you’ve got the Triskelion, you’ve got Clint’s family, you’ve got Bucky as Steve’s childhood BFF, you’ve got Bruce being more important to the Ultimates than he ever really was to the early Avengers in 616. So you might think that if you don’t know comics and want to start, Ults is a good place to start, and I want to stress that this is probably a bad idea. Because they are all assholes and if you start here you will not want to read another comic, so please read some 616 first. But, even though they are all complete assholes, we love them anyway.

With that said, let’s talk about Ultimate Steve Rogers, an asshole so gigantic that you don’t even need to wonder what the A on his head stands for!

Ults Steve is a much more generally angry guy than 616 Steve – who tends to store up his anger and save it for the really important things in life, like bashing Tony’s face in – and I often think that a lot of that comes from having had more of a chip on his shoulder, pre-Rebirth. We don’t really see much of pre-serum Steve in 616, save for occasional flashback panels, and canon is vague about what is wrong with him. Ults canon is also similarly vague, but we see Ults Steve with an actual, visible disability. He has a limp severe enough where he walks with a cane. We see him pleading with the recruiting sergeant to give him a chance because he doesn’t want to stay at home and do factory work with “the dames” (yeah, yeah, more on Steve’s misogyny later). The Rebirth people recruiting him specifically mention the limp when they mention how they’ve had their eye on him. You figure that’s gotta have an effect on how the world treated him before the serum.

Also, Ults Rebirth is different than 616 Rebirth; it was a six-month period of surgeries and injections before the final treatment. Some of which were canonically steroid injections, so, uh, one theory of mine is that maybe Ults Steve has additional medical reasons for being a Giant Ball of Rage.

One of the consistent character elements for early-canon Steve in so many of his continuities is that whole Man Out Of Time thing he has going, and early Ults hits that hard, and in an entirely different way from other continuities, so as to fuck Steve up more. Ults Steve, you see, had a plan for his life after the war. He had a fiancee, Gail Richards, whom he loved very much. They were going to get married. He knew which house they were going to buy. Unlike some of the other Steves who don’t really seem to have a firm plan for when the fighting is done (looking at you, 616), Ults Steve knows. He’s going to come home.

But, of course, he doesn’t get to. He falls off a rocket while trying to defuse it and wakes up sixty years in the future and everybody else went on without him. Bucky, his best friend, married his fiancee! They’ve got grandchildren! They bought the house he wanted! (Like it wasn’t enough pain.) And, unlike other Steves, he wasn’t an orphan before the war – his parents were both alive, and he had a younger brother, Douglas – but when he wakes up, his family is all dead, and all he’s got are Bucky and Gail, who are both very old, and Bucky is dying of lung cancer. (Bucky doesn’t actually die in Ults canon, as far as I can determine; technically, I think he outlasts Steve.)

So, anyway, Steve is a wreck, and he gets to the future and he just cries and tells Fury they should have left him in the ice. Because he didn’t want this. He didn’t want to be here. And I mean, really, I can’t blame him. (Ults Steve is better with expressing feelings than a lot of other Steves, it’s just that all his feelings are TERRIBLE. He cries a lot.)

Unlike 616, Ults Steve does not seem to be quite the same kind of terrible boyfriend, setting aside that panel where he leaps off a balcony to stop talking with Jan. He seems to have been genuinely in love with Gail, and while his relationship with Jan didn’t go well, Jan was also basically cheating on him with Hank, so there’s that. To the best of my knowledge, we never see him date anyone after Jan. To be fair, if it turned out that the one time I slept with my fiancee in the 1940s had turned out to have resulted in her getting pregnant and then giving birth to the Red Skull, I would not want to have sex with another human being again.

And, of course, there is Ults Steve’s most salient feature: the fact that he’s an asshole. While, yes, everyone in Ults is an asshole, I tend to think it stands out more when it’s Captain America being an asshole. In a lot of ways he’s a lot like the guy you’d think a guy with the name Captain America would be like. Aside from the A on his head not standing for France, he… well, he insults people a lot, and often his insults are pretty misogynistic and/or aimed squarely at the masculinity of his fellow men – he calls them ladies, and girls, and sissies. He does not specifically use homophobic insults as far as I know (canonically, that’s actually Ults Tony with the homophobic jokes), but fandom tends to assume he’s the kind of guy who would, because honestly it’s the sort of insult you would expect.

(There’s a scene in one of the tie-in novels where Tony intimates that Steve is a fascist and Steve just straight-up punches him in the face. Don’t call him a Nazi. Just don’t.)

Having said that, he’s still Steve Rogers, and – like every other Steve – he still wants to do good and save the world. He still cares about people. He just doesn’t know how to express that he cares except by being an asshole, because feelings are hard. And – this is what took me a while to get about Ults Steve – the more he cares, the more of an asshole he is. I didn’t get this until reading Death of Spider-Man, when Peter takes unnecessary risks and Steve just lays into him about it, which makes Peter upset enough that he feels he has to prove himself, which in turn leads to Peter taking a bullet for Steve and dying. This hits Steve hard enough that he ends up taking a leave of absence from the team and going on a road trip. He really does care.

Tony, on the other hand… well, where do I even start? The first time we see him, he’s climbing out of the suit after zipping around Manhattan (he doesn’t have a secret identity) and waving at women, asking Jarvis for a drink, and Jarvis suggests certain assumptions about men who are trying too hard to be visibly all over women, and, uh. Yeah, that’s Ults Tony. Imagine genius billionaire playboy philanthropist MCU Tony and turn him up to eleven. That’s Ults Tony.

He is flamboyant in his dress, speech, and mannerisms. I mean, okay, at one point he describes himself as prettier than Beyonce. He does canonically call people “darling” a lot although I believe that we only see him do this to women; fandom has extended this to men because who are we to let this opportunity slip through our fingers? He’s, well, an eccentric billionaire supergenius, and it shows.

He’s also a drunk. But unlike 616 Tony, he’s a functional alcoholic. When 616 Tony starts drinking, he can’t stop, and his life goes to hell. Ults Tony just… goes through his entire life with a martini in one hand. He gives interviews while drunk. He even pilots the suit while drunk. Please note that the last time 616 Tony tried this, he nearly killed a bunch of civilians, and the guy he was fighting had to stop the fight to save them for him because that’s how fucked up Tony was. But Ults Tony just drinks, and he drinks, and nothing bad ever happens, and he never stops. Unlike 616 Tony, he drinks his way through Steve’s funeral. (Okay, he stops during Ultimate End, but that’s because 616 Tony asks him to and they have to work together.)

And he has brain cancer. Well, he starts out with brain cancer, anyway, and he has brain cancer at several points in the series, most notably at one point manifesting as a child named Anthony who talks to him. (I did say Ults was weird.) In 616, the trauma that makes Tony be a superhero is heart trauma, while he was captured by people who wanted him to make weapons, and then he builds the armor and uses it to get out of captivity. Ults Tony was never captured, and his company may or may not make weapons, I’m not sure. (They definitely make consumer goods and Tony can definitely design and build weapons as a personal skill; I just don’t remember if he’s also a defense contractor.) Tony’s story in Ults is that he gets an inoperable brain tumor, he hasn’t got a long time to live, and what he wants to do with the rest of his life is be a superhero. So he does. (Ironically, he ends up being, I think, the only surviving member of the original Ultimates.)

Much like 616 Tony, he has terrible taste in romantic partners, in that basically everyone he dates tries to murder him. Natasha. Justine Hammer. Probably more people I am not thinking of. I think the only person he sleeps with who doesn’t try to kill him is Carol Danvers (note: she’s not a superhero in Ults), and they’re not terribly fond of each other. (Most of Tony’s stalwart friends in 616 don’t really show up much in Ults. Jarvis dies pretty early on. Pepper shows up but not much. I honestly can’t remember if Happy is in Ults. Rhodey is in Ults but IIRC he works for SHIELD and has no particular relationship with Tony.)

He also has a terrible family! I am not sure how much of his childhood from Ultimate Iron Man is canon anymore, but I am pretty sure Howard was terrible, and then there’s Greg. In a plot development predating 616 Tony getting a surprise brother, Ults Tony has an evil twin. Yep. He really is evil, and the storyline with him in it is a lot of fun, and also terrible for Tony, and from what we see of Greg I am pretty sure Tony’s childhood was a living hell.

And don’t worry, Tony still hates himself! If you read Ultimate Armor Wars you can watch Tony sit at a bar with a box containing his decapitated head from elsewhere in the multiverse that he’s just had to use to murder his grandfather (look, I SAID Ults was weird) and drink and cry a lot.

(My absolute favorite Ults Tony moment – other than Head In A Box — is in the Chitauri fight at the end of Ults 1 where Tony gets downed and is lying there, having vomited in his helmet, saying desperately how he can’t do this, how he’s not as smart as they think he is, how nobody’s as smart as they think he is – and then he gets back up and gets into the sky again, because if he doesn’t fight, no one else has a chance.)

As for the Steve/Tony dynamic… well, they’re not 616. It’s clear that they’re good friends, and that they care about each other, and if you go read the Slashy Moments List you’ll see that they have a lot of nice moments with each other over the course of the series. But if you’re looking for that lifelong devotion and intensity of 616, well, you kind of have to do more of the heavy lifting as a fanfic writer to get there. You can, however, get a nice dynamic going with them where you just let Tony be his flamboyant self and keep bouncing off of Captain Grumpy Cat, and it can be a lot of fun to write… but, basically, it’s on you. Not entirely on you, but way more than in 616 where you can just grab a comic and find Tony musing about Steve’s azure eyes and handsome face.

I will say that one thing that they have going for them is that they have always had each other’s backs. Whereas 616 and even MCU have gone for Civil War, and so on, Ults never did. They’ve never betrayed each other. They’ve never even significantly hurt each other. It’s refreshing. And, okay, there was a civil war – an actual civil war, where Reed Richards bombed DC and half the US seceded and Texas had nukes – but Steve was president of the US, and Tony was working with him, and they were on the same side.

Also, you should probably know that Steve dies. While no one really makes it out alive on account of the incursions (though I think the universe is back now, Steve may or may not be alive; it’s confusing because it was in different issues by different writers), Steve dies slightly before the incursions start, fighting Galactus. Tony gives his eulogy. At that point you’ll have read all the Ults you need to read anyway; the main team disbands after that, because in the end, I guess Tony really can’t do this without Steve.

So that’s Ults! They’re my favorite assholes!

#Anonymous #replies

218 notes · View notes

expatimes · 4 years

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Pokémon at 25: How 151 fictional species took over the world Written by Oscar Holland, CNNWhen the Gameboy titles "Pocket Monsters: Red" and "Pocket Monsters: Green" were first released in Japan in 1996, few could have predicted what came next.The concept was simple enough: Players would traverse a fictional world capturing, training and battling the creatures that inhabited it -- a mission encapsulated in the game's famous slogan, "Gotta Catch 'Em All." But within just a few years, Pokémon, a portmanteau of the Japanese name "Poketto Monsuta," was a global phenomenon. By 1999, the game had launched in multiple Western markets, later becoming one of the most successful franchises of all time. It spawned an anime series, which was translated into over 30 languages, and trading cards that swept the world's playgrounds during the "Pokémania" of the late 1990s. It also imprinted the identities of 151 entirely fictional characters into the memories of millions. Japanese children participate in a Pokémon card game tournament in 1999. Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty ImagesA quarter of a century on, many first-generation Pokémon are as recognizable to millennials as they are to their children. This is partly thanks to a post-2016 revival inspired by the mobile game "Pokémon Go" and movie "Detective Pikachu." But the franchise's success is about more than clever marketing -- it is the result of unique characters that were universal enough to cross cultures and diverse enough to make catching 'em all a challenge, not a chore.Their origins trace back to Pokémon's creator Tajiri Satoshi, whose childhood love of collecting bugs inspired a game with a strikingly similar premise. Most of the individual designs were, however, the work of illustrator Ken Sugimori. Sugimori had worked with Tajiri on the magazine Game Freak, which would eventually grow into the games company behind Pokémon. As the firm's art director, he brought his collaborator's vision to life through a complex and imaginative taxonomy, complete with individual lines of evolution and fictional genuses, like grass- or dragon-type Pokémon.Bulbasaur, one of the most recognizable Pokémon from the first generation. Credit: Courtesy The Pokemon CompanyGiving the characters distinct personalities was always going to be difficult. Even with an accompanying TV series, most were only able to utter their own names repeatedly. Their appearances, therefore, were especially important.Sugimori's designs were gloriously diverse and grounded in science -- not just biology and zoology, but geology (see Geodude, who was essentially an animated rock), chemistry (the noxious gas clouds Koffing and Weezing), paleontology (the fossil-like Omanyte and Omastar) and physics (the likes of Magneton, who loosely drew on the principles of electromagnetism). The resulting catalog of creatures, known as the Pokédex, was essentially a periodic table for game nerds -- and was, for many, much easier to recall. Going globalPokémon's ability to evolve was part of their appeal, according to Joseph Tobin, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Georgia and editor of the 2004 book "Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon" (a subtitle that, he readily admits, completely failed to predict the franchise's revival)."Along with Tamagotchi, the narrative was that you're caring for them," Tobin said in a video interview. "You care for them so they grow up, and kids can identify with getting stronger. But then you also care for them by (making sure they) don't die. It was unusual to have this in a battle game ... it took some of the features of war and then combined them with nurturance."Squirtle, a light-blue turtle. Credit: Courtesy The Pokemon CompanyThe cutesy Squirtle (top) evoled into Wortortle and, eventually, Blastoise (bottom). Credit: Courtesy The Pokemon CompanyThis juxtaposition was reflected in the designs, which were at once both cute and fierce -- or, through the process of evolution, morphed from cute to fierce, from the big-eyed, babyish Squirtle to the formidable Blastoise (by way of Wartortle). None, however, more aptly embodied this dichotomy than Pikachu, the franchise's most successful and marketable figure. Dumpy and rosy-cheeked, with a high-pitched voice, the electrified mouse was also a powerful fighter. The character's design also played into Japan's wider drive to export pop culture in the 1990s, according to Tobin."The idea was -- or the corporate strategy as a nation was -- we want 'our' mouse to compete with Mickey Mouse," he said. "So I think the fact that Pikachu is a mouse-like creature is not coincidental, but (the character) was made to be hyper-cute -- cuter than Mickey or Minnie."There were, however, fears that Japan's "kawaii" aesthetic wouldn't resonate with kids elsewhere. Superheroes in Western markets were, at the time, often sharper and more muscular than their Japanese counterparts. Ahead of the game's US release, late Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi was reportedly shown a beefed-up alternative version of Pikachu, though the company's American subsidiary stuck with the original designs for its 1998 launch.Not all of the Pokémon were the talk of the playground -- like Metapod, a crescent-shaped chrysalis. Credit: Courtesy The Pokemon CompanyBut while the likes of Pikachu and Bulbasaur stole the limelight -- and made it into the all-important merchandise -- there was strength in sheer diversity. And some among Pokémon's vast cast were neither cute nor fierce. Take Diglett, a crudely-drawn sausage-shaped mole, or Metapod, a droopy-eyed and immobile chrysalis, whose sole ability is hardening its outer shell. All were relatively useless in battle; none were the schoolyard's most sought-after playing cards. But they were part of a complete universe -- one that had something for everyone. In the gender-normative world of 1990s toy marketing, that mattered, Tobin said. "At the toy store (at the time) you had a blue aisle and a pink aisle," he said. "But Pokémon was created to reach across the aisles."The art of localizationWhile the characters' designs remained the same overseas, Pokémon was nonetheless adapted for different markets, especially when it came to language. Cultural references would, inevitably, be lost in translation: Many characters were rooted in Japanese folklore. While audiences in Japan might have recognized the influence of fox spirit Kitsune in Pokémon like Vulpix, or the mythical thunder beast Rajiu in Pikachu's design, these would never translate.A woman browses goods at a Pokémon store in Tokyo. Credit: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty ImagesBut the Pokémon's new names often remained true to the spirit of the originals. Take Sawamura and Ebiwara, who had been named after a Japanese kickboxer and boxer, respectively, but were called Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan in English, a reference to martial artists that kids in the West would recognize: Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Or Ivysaur, whose Japanese name Fushigisou combined "fushigi" (strange) and "sou" (grass), resulting in a similar principle being used for the French version: Herbizarre.Some names, like Pikachu, were transliterated more or less directly from the Japanese. But elsewhere there were portmanteaus like Psyduck (a duck with psychic powers), or names that only resonated with speakers of the language in question, like the slothful Slowpoke. There was also puns of varying quality, from the jellyfish-like Tentacool, to Exeggcute, a collection of furious eggs.Psyduck, a duck with psychic abilities. Credit: Courtesy The Pokemon CompanySome were a little less imaginative. There was a horned seal called Seel, and a crab named Krabby. The serpentine Ekans and Arbok were made simply by reversing the words "snake" and "kobra" (sic). But there were moments of linguistic sophistication, too. The game's three "Legendary Birds" were named Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, with the Spanish suffixes -uno, -dos and -tres reflecting their consecutive order in the Pokédex. An amorphous blob, able to assume the form of anything it saw, was named, appropriately, Ditto.The anime series was also subtly adapted for overseas markets. For instance, human characters were more central to the US version's narrative, because it was believed that "Americans wanted someone to identify with that was more than just bugs and animals," Tobin said. But, he added, Pokémon always retained something quintessentially Japanese."I think the amazing thing is that it wasn't changed that much. Not only was the Japanese-ness not a liability, it was associated with 'cool Japan.' Kids didn't like it because it was Japanese, but they certainly got the idea that it was a little bit exotic," he said, likening it to a type of soft power for the country.'Inter-generational nostalgia'The designs kept on coming. Today, there are almost 900 characters, though many are, arguably, less memorable than their predecessors. Later generations of Pokémon have included Chandelure, a sentient chandelier, Milcery, a cream-based Pokémon resembling a splash of milk, and, inexplicably, a floating keyring called Klefki that is "constantly collecting keys... (and) will protect them no matter what."A Hasbro employee shows off components of the Pokemon Battle Stadium at the company's showroom in New York in February 2000. Credit: Richard Drew/APAffection for the first generation endures, however. The original 151 may represent just a fraction of the Pokédex, but they account for over half of the Pokémon featured in the 2019 movie "Detective Pikachu." In December, a first-edition holographic Charizard card sold for a record $369,000.Tobin, having failed to predict Pokémon's longevity last time around, is more optimistic about the franchise's next 25 years."I was wrong in that I thought Pokémon would, like most kids' media or cultural products, rise and fall and be replaced by the next big thing," he said. "But I think what I, and the other authors in the book, got right was (understanding) what made Pokémon so attractive at the time. And the things that made it attractive were not limited to the culture of the 1990s.Performers dressed as Pikachu during a "Pikachu Outbreak" event hosted bin Yokohama, Japan, in 2018. Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images"I think it's become one of these very rare products that will, now, never end, because it's so much in the popular imagination," he added. "It has this inter-generational value of nostalgia, in the way that parents who grew up with Barbie now might want to (buy them for) their kids, or people who grew up with baseball cards want to do that with their kids."It becomes self-recognizable -- there's value to its own fame."Top image caption: 1999 (L To R) Pikachu, Psyduck, Togepy, Squirtle In The Animated Movie "Pokemon:The First Movie." Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=18465&feed_id=35100

#design #Pokémonat25How151fictionalspeciestookovertheworld-CNN

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perfectirishgifts · 4 years

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How This Visionary Producer Is Transforming The Theater Podcast Landscape

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/how-this-visionary-producer-is-transforming-the-theater-podcast-landscape/

How This Visionary Producer Is Transforming The Theater Podcast Landscape

“You can’t use up creativity,” said Maya Angelou. “The more you use, the more you have.” Early in her life, someone must have told that to Dori Berinstein. This unstoppable theater, film and TV maker appears to embody creativity. She is an endless font.

Dori Berinstein

Berinstein is a four-time Tony-winning Broadway producer whose credits include The Prom, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Legally Blonde: The Musical, The Crucible, One Flue Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Fool Moon, Flower Drum Song, Enchanted April and Golden Child.

Oh, and Berinstein is also an Emmy-award-winning director, producer and film and television writer. Most recently, she and Bill Damaschke, who produced The Prom on Broadway, collaborated with Ryan Murphy to adapt the show into a Netflix feature film starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Cordon, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells and Kerry Washington. She also co-produced the Sony Masterworks cast album of the musical Half Time. The show was inspired by her documentary, Gotta Dance, about a group of seniors who make up a hip-hop dance troupe who perform for The New Jersey Nets.

“I love the art of storytelling and believe it’s all about a good story. Whether you’re telling it on stage or screen or in an audio drama or soap opera, I like moving between different worlds and sometimes moving a project throughout different worlds,” says Berinstein who has degrees from Smith, the Kennedy School at Harvard and the Yale School of Drama where she was a visiting scholar focusing on the business of Broadway. After working in strategic planning at Paramount Pictures she joined a tiny emerging independent film company, Vestron Pictures. Within a year, she became head of physical production and ultimately supervised production on the film Dirty Dancing. “What keeps me very excited is being able to collaborate with wonderful people,” she adds.

But if all this isn’t enough, Berinstein is also the co-founder and CEO of the The Broadway Podcast Network which produces over 100 theater podcasts, dramas, musicals and miniseries, like As The Curtain Rises, the delicious new digital soap opera that Berinstein co-wrote with Mark Peikert.

As The Curtain Rises is a dishy comedy that offers listeners a glimpse of the behind the scenes mayhem trying to birth a Broadway show. In this case there’s the challenge of getting Avvatar: The Musical to The Great White Way. Producing shows for 25 years, the drama is inspired by things Berinstein has witnessed along the way. “Our As The Curtain Rises characters are certainly “inspired” by our theater colleagues. In some cases, characteristics are exaggerated. In other instances….not so much!,” says Berinstein. “The behind-the-curtain Broadway world is definitely the perfect setting for a soap opera.”

The multi-part series features a riveting cast including Alex Brightman, Ariana Debose, Andrew Barth Feldman, James Monroe Iglehart, Ramin Karimloo, Ilana Levine, Lesli Margherita, Mauricio Martinez, Bonnie Milligan, Ashley Park, George Salazar, Sarah Stiles and Lillias White. The priceless cameos from Lynn Nottage, Alex Lacamoire, David Korins, Natasha Katz, Matt Britten and Jordan Roth are worth the listen.

Creating and producing As The Curtain Rises during the pandemic was particularly meaningful to Berinstein. “We haven’t been able to produce live theater. Even though it’s tremendously goofy and fun, this took on a whole other level of urgency,” says Berinstein. “It’s important to keep theater alive during this time. And it’s thrilling to work with and pay actors, make people laugh and try to provide some joy.”

Jeryl Brunner: What inspired you to create The Broadway Podcast Network?

Dori Berinstein: I live in Northern Westchester. Pre-Covid-19, I spent a lot of time commuting to and from New York City. I would find myself driving home after seeing theater and would be sitting in my driveway at 1:30am, listening to podcasts because the episode wasn’t over. I was so caught up in it and loved the medium, but having trouble finding theater podcasts. There was no real destination for theater podcasts. Then when I brought the company of The Prom to Google, I met Alan Seales who runs Google Talks. He then invited me to be a guest on his theater podcast. We talked afterward and shared the frustration that we couldn’t find a lot of theater podcasts. We agreed that we had to do something about it and said, “Let’s do it.” We spent ten months building and partnering with a lot of wonderful podcasters who were out there before anyone else like The Ensemblist, The Fabulous Invalid and Broadwaysted.

Brunner: How has the platform gown?

Berinstein: We launched in October, 2019 with 15 podcasts. And here we are, a little over a year later, with almost 100 podcasts. Since the beginning it was very much the plan to have podcasts and record plays, musicals, audio dramas, and soap operas. It was never to replace theater and we certainly never anticipated the pandemic. When you see a show, you want to know more. What is happening behind the curtain? There is so much additive information that we are excited to bring to life. We are in a community filled with amazing storytellers and wanted to help support and give them a voice.

Brunner: What do you hope to offer listeners?

Berinstein: It was very important from the get-go that we create a network that is representative and has many different people from all different aspects of our community. That includes onstage, behind the curtain, looking back in history and education. Having all these different artists and voices is essential, because our community is made up of so many different voices.

There is also a lot of hunger from people interested in getting into the business. So we have podcasts about breaking in and auditioning. We also have podcasts from established producers like Hal Luftig and Eva Price. Kerry Butler has one on breaking into Broadway. Justin Guarini has a podcast about auditioning. They are educational and informative. Then there are pure, goofy, fun, joyous podcasts. It’s exciting to have a lot of star power on the network with podcasts from Tonya Pinkins, Sir Tim Rice and Donna McKechnie. I love hearing those behind-the-curtain stories. It was also important for us to partner with many different regional and international theater companies and the Dramatists Guild, Variety and Playbill. We really want to be a home for everyone.

Brunner: Did you always know this was your path?

Berinstein: From a very early age, I was completely captivated by theater. I saw Carol Channing in Hello Dolly! at the Dorothy Chandler pavilion when I was five years old. And that was it. I was so just transported by that show and the whole experience of live theater. [Berinstein ultimately directed, produced and co-wrote the documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life.] My parents would take me to theater all the time. It was just the most thrilling thing. I had no talent. I could not sing. Even though I tried, I never got cast in anything. But I wanted so badly to be part of the world. At my school they didn’t have a student director or even backstage crew. But I still was very captivated by how things came together. In college I triple majored in economics, history and theater and created a special studies program on the business of Broadway. I became voracious about reading absolutely everything I could. So much that I learned about life and important issues came from theater and its power to enlighten and make me think.

Brunner: How did you become a theater producer?

Berinstein: I really wanted to be part of that world, but had no idea how. I didn’t know anybody. Coming from Los Angeles, I was established in film before finding my way into theater. Finally I was introduced to James Freydberg who was producing Broadway shows. We went to the Serious Fun Festival to see a short piece that Bill Irwin and David Shiner put together. I flipped over it. The show was the early stage evolution of Fool Moon. If I knew anything about producing at that point, I probably would have been nervous about producing a show with two guys who don’t speak and a ragtag band, [The Red Clay Ramblers]. It just doesn’t scream hit. But I loved everything about it.

I got thrown into the thick of it right away as a general partner producer. I didn’t even know what that meant. It was an amazing experience in every way. In previews the audience was maybe at 50% capacity. At opening night we had our associate producer stationed at The New York Times a few blocks away. This was before the paper was digital. We were in the Richard Rodgers theater where Hamilton is. At intermission he came running into the house, waiving the newspaper with the most magnificent review by Frank Rich. He wrote, “To that short list of unbeatable combinations that includes bacon and eggs, bourbon and soda, and Laurel and Hardy, you can now add Shiner and Irwin.” From that point on, the show was sold out every night and standing room only. How can you not throw your entire career in that direction after that? I loved standing in the back, listening to the audience laugh so hard and lose themselves in the show.

Brunner: Is there something you look for in a story?

Berinstein: I believe deeply in theater activism and have had the opportunity to lean into and be part of shows that say something important. I have been so fortunate to tell stories that mean something to me and I believe help make the world a better place. It takes years of your life and it’s hard to do. So you better believe in what you’re doing. With Legally Blonde, my daughter was seven. I loved the idea of telling a story that it is very cool to be smart. That message was really important to me to put out there and help inspire young women.

The Prom and Half Time all have messages that are also really important to me. When people experience these shows or listen to the cast album or watch the film adaptation, I hope they can evolve and embrace the message. In the case of The Prom it’s all about acceptance and tolerance. With Half Time, which is a Jerry Mitchell musical that was adapted from a film I made, it is taking on ageism. They also say go for your dreams, no matter what.

Dori Berinstein directed, produced and co-wrote the documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life. … [] After Berinstein, as a little girl, saw Channing perform live, Berinstein knew that had to work in theater.

Dori Berinstein interviews Terre Blair Hamslich for the Emmy-award-winning documentary celebrating … [] the life of Marvin Hamlisch.

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themurphyzone · 7 years

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Secret Santa Ch 7

Holidays are a great source of inspiration! Just sayin’!

Ch 7-Melissa

The nice thing about her gift was that she had most of her materials already. It was just a matter of putting it together in a scrapbook whenever she found the time. Her photo collection of Murphy’s Law incidents took up so much space that her dad had complained, so she figured storing the ones she didn’t regularly analyze in a scrapbook and giving it to Milo would be better than tossing them.

So far, she had a section dedicated to school, animals, family, and miscellaneous things that didn’t fit anywhere else.

“Maybe there’s such a thing as too much,” she muttered, tossing aside another photo of the Llama Incident. There were ten of those in the scrapbook already, so she didn’t need any more from that day. Unfortunately, her phone had died in the middle of the Woodpecker Incident, so she only had pictures until they evaded the crocodiles.

It didn’t bother her too much though.

Melissa kept anything that had Cavendish and Dakota in the background, since she was still trying to figure out a pattern for their appearances. Besides, Cavendish getting hit with Murphy’s Law by proxy was comedy gold.

Soon she only had two pages left, but no more photos. To fill in the space, she signed her name with a huge signature that took up half the page.

Then she fired off a quick text to Sara and Zack, asking them to meet her in the park in an hour. She was lucky Milo was out for father-son bonding time this afternoon.

“Glad you could make it,” Melissa said, opening her backpack and taking out the scrapbook and several colored pens. “Sign somewhere on the last two pages please. I’d like to have this scrapbook done today.”

Sara claimed almost the entire space with a sketch of Dr. Zone and Time Ape, leaving Zack to write his name in a spare corner.

“Was the drawing necessary?” Zack asked.

“Look, I’m trying to learn how to do art here,” Sara replied. “This girl’s gotta practice. At least a legion of Oldbies can’t possibly flame me for this one because they don’t like how I’ve been drawing Dr. Zone’s cast.”

When they were finished, Melissa unzipped her bag and shoved two other books to the side to make room. Before she could put the scrapbook away, something swooped out of nowhere and snatched it out of her hand.

She yelped and pulled back, her hand suddenly stinging. A small gash had opened on her skin, but it wasn’t too deep. Sara pointed up with a shout of surprise, and they watched an eagle fly towards the trees with the scrapbook clutched in its talons.

Before Melissa could rush off after the eagle, Sara pulled her towards her car and bandaged the scratch. “Lucked out,” Sara said. “The talon only grazed you.”

Melissa scowled. “I didn’t spend all week on that scrapbook just to have a birdbrain snatch it out of my hand. I’m going after it.”

Zack scanned the area with a pair of borrowed binoculars from Sara’s car. “Looks like the eagle dropped it and caught a duck instead. Hopefully it didn’t drop the scrapbook directly into the lake.”

The park was full of kids playing in the snow, so they had to be careful. Zack was nearly knocked down by two girls on a sled, while Sara had snow in her cap from being pelted with a stray snowball.

When they reached the shore, they found Elliot sprawled on his back, the scrapbook lying on his chest as he wheezed for air. His earmuffs were half-buried in the snow behind him.

“Thanks for being a pillow to my scrapbook,” Melissa said. She plucked it off his chest, flipping through the pages to make sure there wasn’t any damage. There were several scratches from the talons on the cover, and a small amount of snow had collected in the corners, but she didn’t see any long-lasting damage.

“Not so fast,” Elliot recovered quickly, and he put the scrapbook in a large, crumpled plastic bag faster than she could blink. “This is a direct violation of the Safety Manifesto, Article Two, Section Five, which clearly states that heavy objects cannot incapacitate the Safety Czar by falling out of the sky. And by the powers invested in the Safety Czar, that would be me, Paragraph Three allows the one who got hit, again that’s me, to take the object in question as incriminating evidence of a disregard for the safety of the populace and the greater good.”

“Aren’t you violating park rules by stealing?” Zack asked.

Melissa rolled her eyes. Somehow it didn’t surprise her that Elliot managed to annoy everyone except Milo on his off-days too. “That’s a gift for a friend,” she said, deliberately not mentioning the recipient. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with another anti-Milo rant. “So fork it over.”

“You’ll get it back once I’m finished analyzing the evidence,” Elliot replied. “Which could take anywhere from a few days to a month.”

“A month?” Melissa protested. “The Secret Santa party is in a week!”

Elliot ignored her, waving to Sara as he passed by her. “Hey, Sara. What’s up?”

Sara just glared at him. “You are very lucky there are witnesses around.”

He laughed nervously. “So about the incident in B Hall when you were a freshman-“

Sara crossed her arms. “Kris still hasn’t forgiven you. I suppose I could text her right now. I bet she would love to catch up and see how you’re doing now that you’ve graduated.”

Elliot gulped, wisely deciding not to push his luck. “No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll...I’ll just be on my way. No need to let her know of my whereabouts!”

Tossing the scrapbook to Melissa, he ran away, not even bothering with the blatant ‘safety violations’ that were being committed by children of all ages as he made a beeline for the bike rack.

“Thanks, Sara,” Melissa said, putting the scrapbook away before anything else could harm it. She made a mental note to store her gift under lock and key until the day of the party. “So why is Elliot afraid of your friend?”

“In order to properly tell you, I would need to flashback to the day of November 8 in my freshman year,” Sara said, waving her arms in an arc above her head. “Commence ripple effect!”

“Ripple effect?” Zack whispered.

“Just pretend there’s a distortion in space-time that allows us to see into the past,” Melissa said.

‘Twas a dark and stormy hallway….

“Wait, how can a hallway be stormy?”

Get out of my flashback!

“Sorry.”

Eh, letting it slide. Two pretty freshman girls waited with bated breath for Mrs. Gilbert’s infamous English class. Rumor has it that the smartest students have been driven insane by an unknown entity that lurks within her wig. A senior once knocked it off her head to discover the hidden trove of secrets buried in the strands, and nobody ever saw hide or hair of him again.

But even the hallways are filled with danger in the early hours of the morning! While it wasn’t late enough for the boys’ bathroom to emit a stench so powerful it would make a thousand skunks boil with envy, at no hour was any student safe from the likes of…Elliot Decker!

DUN DUN DUN!

“I don’t think the sound effects were necessary.”

“Zack, just let her flashback in peace!”

Aka the Hall Monitor!

A weirdo who would try to write you up for not having double knots in shoelaces, or try to pass a resolution through the student council that anyone caught with an open flap in their backpacks would be sentenced to two days in detention!

That fateful day, he spotted us minding our own beeswax while we waited anxiously for class to begin.

“Halt!” he declared. “You two aren’t sitting criss-cross applesauce! Your legs are a prime tripping hazard for those hurrying to class!”

He may have thought we were weak little freshman ripe for the picking, but there was nothing that could scare Kris! She was fearless! Except for copyright strikes, of course, but that’s another story.

“I spent the last 36 hours marathoning The Dr. Zone Files in preparation for the new season,” Kris growled. “I am tired, I regret nothing, I didn’t eat breakfast, and I swear if you try and pull this garbage on me, I will hunt you down and force-feed you that stop sign piece by piece.”

And so Elliot slunk away, his metaphorical tail between his legs.

“End ripple effect!” Sara said. “So yeah, that’s what happened! Don’t mess with Kris when she’s sleep-deprived.”

“Wow,” Zack said. “It’s hard to believe you went to the same high school.”

Melissa nodded. “But still just as crazy.”

Sara’s phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket, shaking her head. “I gotta run. Milo and Dad managed to get themselves tangled in Christmas lights around a life-sized gingerbread house.”

“Okay, I’m putting this scrapbook away where no eagles can snatch it. See you guys later!”

She waved goodbye to Sara and Zack, holding the straps of her bag tightly as she walked home.

Her dad was in the kitchen with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate when she walked in through the front door. “Figured you wanted to warm up,” he said. “Lots of marshmallows too, just how you like it.”

Melissa shook off her snow boots, leaving them on the porch outside. She shut the door behind her, taking a spare key that hung on a rack above the dresser and locking the scrapbook inside the top drawer. “Thanks, Dad,” she said. “By the way, the scrapbook doesn’t leave that dresser until the day of the party.”

She sipped her mug, the warmth trickling down her throat. Richard Chase made the best hot chocolate in the city, she was sure.

“Well, at least there’s room to breathe around here now,” Richard said. “And try not to burn anything down next week when you’re having fun with your friends.”

Melissa shrugged. “I make no promises.”

#milo murphy's law #mml secret santa story #melissa chase #zack underwood #sara murphy

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wknc881 · 5 years

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Top 5 Class Rock Bands

I get it, it’s exhausting listening to the most cutting edge music 24/7 on two simultaneously spinning student-run radio stations. Sometimes you just gotta throw on some 100.7 and let your brain mush take in the vibes of a land long gone to the passage of time. But we can’t forget that these bands and musicians are our forefathers, and that they deserve the utmost respect from the new guard of…ahem…coolness. For this reason we’ll be going back in time today to take a look at the most essential bands that ever existed and fully analyzing what about them made their impact so durable.

5. The Rolling Stones

Formed in 1945 by best friends Mike Jagger and Keith Richmond, the Rolling Stones became a virtual overnight success due to being an anomalous sexy band from England. Their 1984 single “Miss You” put the band on the map with its sexy combination of sexy guitar, sexy vocals, and sexy drums. Around this time Mike, who had reached an emotional pitfall due to his drug use, underwent a special therapy where all of his blood was replaced with more sexy blood. Following the procedure, Mike’s sexy levels were so high that the United States government (still being led by President Richard Nixon) barred the Rolling Stones from entering the country. To combat the low album sales that naturally follow being left out of the American music market, Mike Jagger and Keith Richmond went undercover in the CIA for over thirty years to destroy the system from the inside, accidentally setting forth a series of convoluted events which ultimately led to Donald Trump being elected president. To retaliate, the CIA was ordered to murder one of Mike’s closest friends: David Bowie, which was then framed to look like illness. In an unprecedented deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Rolling Stones were spared capital punishment on the condition that they tour forever until they die.

4. The Beach Boys

Oh boy, where to even start with the Beach Boys. Well to begin with a little fun fact that few people know, the band’s name is actually derived from the surname of all of its members: Bechbou. Emigrating from Germany in 1890, the Bechbou clan first established itself in Des Moines, Iowa as a circus act consisting of 15 identical children singing the same note so loudly that they would begin to hover six inches above the ground. This was not a good idea. Frightened Iowans exiled the Bechbous from Des Moines and the family had no choice but to wander the Midwest until they reached a promised golden paradise: California. By no means was the trek easy. Though in 1932 the Bechbous had reached Los Angeles, half of the children had died by means of natural disaster or cannibalism. Now a disgraced, broken clan, each of the Bechbou boys had ten more identical boys who they subsequently trained to be even better circus performers as themselves. Twenty died during the brutally strict singing regiment. Still, this left 50 members, most notable among them being Huey, Louis, Dewey, and Charles Manson. Renaming themselves to the more anglican “Beach Boys” the band erupted in the West Coast American rock scene after the release of their 1975 album “Rumors”. However, their bitter rival, the Beatles, figured out that, due to the band’s insane musical training for their entire childhood, they could be activated as super soldiers if the right song was played for them. Needless to say, 1980’s “Helter Skelter” ripped the band apart. Charles Manson was the first to be activated, turning into a high powered psychopath while Huey, the band’s leader, went bananas.

3. The Beatles

Possibly the most famous band of all time, the Beatles were formed in 1989 by spirit brothers John Legend and Rob McDonald. Both being from recently divorced parents, the duo began their career with busking on the streets of their hometown: Seattle. In a time where Michael Jackson was ruling the Billboard Hot 100 with a bedazzled fist, the Beatles were dead set on dismantling popular music in its entirety. At first, the King of Pop didn’t pay much attention to Legend and McDonald. However, as spray-starched hair began to fall out of fashion with a youth obsessed with being disaffected, the freshly-born MTV recognized extreme potential in Lennon and McCartneys supremely unkempt chic. After releasing 1991’s “Revolver” to critical acclaim, Legend grew noticeably distant from his musical partner. Walling himself in his Northwest fortress which he custom built to look like a medieval castle, he and his new wife, Joan Jett, notoriously indulged in month long benders while recording unlistenable noise soundscapes. In early 1993, at the pit of this illness and while the Beatles had taken an indefinite touring hiatus due to hysterical crowds, McDonald was forced to slap Legend several times in the face and subsequently bring about his sobriety. With a full functioning creative engine again in place, the Beatles recorded their sophomore record “Under the Bridge” during the Fall of 1993 and began plans for a world tour the following year. Sadly, these plans were never actualized. In the Winter of 1994, Michael Jackson silently moonwalked into Legend’s ridiculous cartoon castle house while he was sleeping and bludgeoned him to death in his sleep. Though McDonald continued on to a profoundly successful solo career which still thrives today, the story of The Beatles is one which undoubtedly ends in tragedy.

2. AC/DC

We all know AC/DC as the vessel by which rock and roll most quickly enters our bloodstream. But what I bet you didn’t know is that AC/DC is actually just five dogs sloppily dressed up as people.

1. The Beatles Again

I’m so sorry. I forgot to mention Sgt. Peppers. When I first heard Sgt. Peppers, I punched my own mother in the face because I didn’t know how to react. The minute the soundwaves emanating from “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” stroked my face the spongy material in my brain signaled me to go full force berserk mode. I ripped through my shirt and first two layers of epidermis, I drove my car into a wall, I burned off my own foot with a flamethrower because it was the best music I had ever heard in my life. As I lay there bleeding on the ground, I was struck by maddening inspiration. Formulas, formulas, formulas, and Bam! I had invented the time machine. I traveled back to the days of Mozart and sliced his head off with a machete. How dare he try and remove the crown of best musician from atop the collective mop-topped heads of the Beatles. This man has never come close to writing the majesty that is and was “A Day in the Life” and he should be ashamed to ever even venture into the territory of musicianship. I will call the police on any person who does not get the album cover of “Sgt. Peppers” tattooed on their chest.

#top 5 classic rock bands #classic rock #wknc881 #submission

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odilekuronuma · 7 years

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Castlevania Netflix Season 1 review

Wallpaper found on Reddit.

Better late than never I suppose.

Let me just preface this by saying that I’m a HUGE Castlevania fan, I’ve played most of the games, even the old school ones. And this blog is originally dedicated to Castlevania, and its artist Ayami Kojima. In fact my username is a direct reference to her and her pen name, as well as “Santa lilio Sangre” which is the title of her artbook, that I highly recommand checking out .

Also this review will contain spoilers so be warned.I don’t think I can talk about the story and the characterization without mentioning spoilers, so read at your own risk.

With that out of the way, it wouldn’t come as a surprise that I’d have an interest in this series. Actually this came out of nowhere, there was talk of an adaptation years ago, but it came to nothing. And with the whole Konami debacle, all hope of seeing anything Castlevania related vanished....until Netflix came in.

The story is based on Castlevania III Dracula’s curse, which I’ll have you know is one of my favourite games in the franchise.It’s also partly inspired by Symphony of the night, which is by far my favorite game of all times. I gotta say that I’m really impressed about how the showrunners expanded on the lore of the game and the franchise as a whole. There’s a clear effort made into fleshing out the characters, and expanding on the lore and the story. The games were never really heavy on the story, but here we get to know more about the context of those times, and how the Church for example played a huge role, not just in regulating the religious life of the believers.

The story follows Trevor Belmont, of the clan Belmont, whose main occupation is hunting vampires and all kinds of otherwordly creatures, on his quest to defeat Dracula. One year prior to the current timeline, Dracula is legitimately pissed off at humanity for having burned his wife on a stake after wrongly accusing her of being a witch.

I gotta say I love how the showrunners fleshed the relationship between Dracula and Lisa. It’s short but it’s to the point.It’s better than any crappy Vampire romance we’ve seen in the past 10 years. It starts with Lisa from Lupu village showing up at Drac’s castle, to learn science. She wants to be a doctor to help her fellow humans. She’s portrayed as being quite witty, and in fact most of the main cast are portrayed as such (not counting the priests since they’re dumb as fuck).

She manages to convince Dracula to teach her science, and here there’s somewhat of a deviation from the usual lore. While in the games it’s not unusual to encounter objects that are futuristic, or even the Creature which by all means is the result of science, Dracula’s powers are deeply rooted in magic, or even alchemy. A recurrent area in Dracula’s castle or “Castlevania” is the Alchemy Laboratory. Either way in exchange of him teaching her all there is to know about science, she in turn will teach him how to enjoy life as a human, since so far it appears that Dracula has never walked or travelled as a man. He originally starts by hating humanity and not having much faith in them, and this beautiful woman comes along and changes his views entirely.

Years later while Dracula is away, travelling as a human which shows that he followed Lisa, aka his wife’s advice, the Church does a really dick move by burning her at the stake....Yeah that’s bound to backfire horribly. Lisa on the stake begs Dracula not to be mad at humans, but all the harm has been done. After he learns of her demise, he transforms into a fiery pillar and goes to face the Archbishop and all the assholes responsible of her death. He gives the people of Targoviste a year to make peace with their God. And then he’ll unleash hell on humans.

I gotta say Dracula’s wrath is justified, you decided to piss off the guy who didn’t like humans to begin with, and took away from him the thing that made him become a better person. So there’s bound to be some retribution. However as Alucard, his son from Lisa points out, he should direct his wrath on those who are directly responsible for her death, and not all of humanity and people who are innocent. But Dracula won’t have any of that, so he attacks his son to prevent him from meddling with his plan to raise an undead army in a year.

So that’s pretty much the context of the story, and what lead to the current events, where Trevor our reluctant hero is currently embarked in. I gotta say the characterization is top notch, and it doesn’t end with Dracula.Our hero’s motivations and journey are also fleshed out, because as it turns out Trevor doesn’t initially want to do anything with it. He’s first shown to be a drunk mess, despite the fact that he comes from a noble house, the Belmonts. But that is due to once again the interference of the Church, who after relying on the Belmonts for years to protect them from monsters and creatures like Dracula, decided to excommunicate them on ground they dabbled in magic pretty much...Which is as dumb as pissing off Dracula. So with his house in ruins, Trevor pretty much sunk into alcoholism, which is a pretty interesting take on his character. He’s all around very different from his character in Curse of Darkness, who is overall very serious.

Instead here Trevor is portrayed as being sarcastic and witty, and there’s a good amount of comedy involving him, mainly due to the fact that he’s a drunk and out of practice. So his initial motivations aren’t anything grand, and overall he just doesn’t want to get involved with the Dracula drama. He just wants some booze and something to eat. But soon he starts to care, after his encounter with the speakers.

After making it to a town that is plagued by raids of Dracula’s minions he meets the Speakers, a band of nomadic story tellers who pass their wisdom orally. Because he’s a Belmont, he had previous knowledge of such a group, and unfortunately for them, the Church (again) plans to pin down the onslaught by Dracula’s forces on them, because they happen to use magic...sigh. The Church are even bigger villains than Dracula himself, they fucked over pretty much everyone. Trevor bides them to leave town, but they can’t, not until they retrieve the body of one of theirs, the grand daughter of their leader in the catacombs. As to why she ventured in the catacombs, it is to find the “Sleeping warrior” who is according to a prophecy, the one who will defeat Dracula.

So Trevor ventures in the catacombs to find her, and he saves Sypha from the Cyclops, yay. While she’s grateful, she doesn’t think too highly of Trevor, and who could blame her, since at this point he won’t do anything about this situation. But with Sypha’s and the speakers help, who won’t abandon the city despite the fact that the mob lead by the Church is after them, he comes to realize that it is his duty as a Belmont to stop Dracula.

After that they both end up in the catacombs again after trying to run from the mob and confronting Dracula’s minions in one of the best action scenes of the season. While they keep falling in the catacombs they end up encountering the “Sleeping warrior” who turns out to be a vampire, and none other than Alucard, Dracula’s son. Of course Trevor and him would come to fight since for the former it is likely Alucard is Dracula and is a vampire and thus can’t be trusted, and for the latter it is more of a test to see if Trevor is worthy.Trevor manages to kick Alucard’s sweet ass on more than one occasion thanks to his consecrated whip and weapon of choice, the Vampire Killer which is very effective against vampires. But Alucard manages to come on top thanks to his superior swordsmanship . In the end both of them stop fighting after Trevor managed to stab Alucard a few times, and Sypha threatens to burn Alucard’s precious little head if he tries to bite Trevor.

Either way they all agree to stop fighting, and Alucard announces that the other 2 passed the test, that is supposed to show if they’re worthy to be his companions and aid him in killing his own father Dracula....

So through 4 episodes, the length of the first season, we get Trevor’s character arc, who starts as a reluctant hero but slowly comes around to realize that it is his mission to protect humans from people like Dracula. And characters like Sypha played a big role in it.Alucard comes along to gather all of them and aid them in defeating his own father. So in terms of characterization I have no complaint whatsoever, the showrunners really did flesh them out well.

Another reason for me to like Trevor as a character is the fact that he’s voiced by Richard Armitage, who is a great actor (if you haven’t watched the Crucible go watch it now) and has an amazing voice...and I have a crush on him, but what’s new? I have a crush on 90% of Hollywood actors XD. In fact the original english dub (so weird to say that) has an amazing cast, even though I find it a bit odd that characters from Wallachia would have a British accent....But that’s how things are, and Sypha and the speakers have a Spanish accent, which I guess means they’re from Spain (Sypha Belnades) and are the equivalent of Romani people. Yeah I guess that makes sense.

So the story is very well written, they managed to also portray the characters in a realistic light. The voice acting is also great. But what about the actual animation? I’ll let you judge by yourself.

It is surprisingly good. In fact it’s better than fucking Berserk 2016/17. That one barely qualifies as animation. To me this series is a homage to 2D and during the very important scenes, mainly action scenes, it literally has some of the best animation I’ve seen in a while. The art style is also rather manga-ish and to me a bit reminiscent of Ayami Kojima’s style which is very feminine and graceful.

The action is top notch, and the Trevor vs Alucard fight really lived to the hype. It wasn’t as one sided as I thought it would be, since Alucard is supposed to be overpowered, and while he is portrayed as such with him being able to teleport thanks to the hidden ability of the Alucard sword, he still has the basic weakness of vampires to the Vampire Killer. Dracula is also overpowered since he’s able to appear in fire pretty much everywhere at will.And the action scenes are carried by the quality animation and choregraphy.

My only complaint is that the music is forgettable, it has none of the classic feel of the video game franchise. It uses a lot of synth tunes, which makes it really generic. The endings do feature a song that somewhat feels gothic, with all the choir singing, but it’s nowhere close to the quality of the music from the games. I personally pictured the music to be like the score from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. It could be a mix of classic instruments and more synthetic sounds, but alas none of that here. So that’s my main gripe with it, and it is somewhat important since CV is known mainly for its music.

So overall really impressed with this series and I totally recommand watching it. . It’s short, only 4 episodes though which I guess is made on purpose.Perhaps Netflix wanted to test the waters first and see how this series does. But fear not my Crestfallen children, a second season has been greenlit that should come out in 2018 and it will feature double the amount of episodes. And I’m more than willing to wait till 2018 as long as they can keep the same quality of storytelling and animation. And maybe they can also improve on the music while they’re at it.Also I’d be interested in seeing them doing a third season, and maybe also feature the events of Curse of darkness, even though the characters are less memorable and iconic compared to the CV III trio (since Grant isn’t here apparently). And maybe even beyond.

I just don’t want it to end. XD

#castlevania #netflix #season 1 #review

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND May 25, 2019 - ALADDIN, BOOKSMART, BRIGHTBURN

It’s the Memorial Day weekend of one-word-titled movies, because yes, “Booksmart” and “Brightburn” are indeed single words, as much as I want to make them two words each. Sadly, I’m still running behind on stuff, and I’ve only seen a few movies, so we’ll see how I do this week. (Sadly, it’s looking more and more like this column is going to have to be put on hiatus so I can focus on paying work.)

Hey, look, it’s another Disney movie I haven’t seen yet for reasons I won’t get into. Anyway, I have a ticket to see Guy Ritchie’s ALADDIN (Walt Disney Pictures) on Friday, not because I necessarily need to see Will Smith as the Genie. In fact, I’ve never even seen the original animated movie or the musical, but I am a fan of Ritchie and his work and want to give it a look.

Fortunately, I have seen Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, the raunchy R-rated comedy BOOKSMART, being released by U.A. Releasing moderately wide, and I have to say that it’s pretty effin’ funny with a really talented young cast, led by Beanie Feldstein (Ladybird) and Kaitlyn Dever (Detroit), who could very well be the Jonah Hill and Michael Cera for a new generation. While I hate to outright call the movie Superbad for women, it’s definitely a movie in that vein but this one from a teen girl’s point of view. It also has some amazing side characters, particularly the one played by Billie Lourde, who is quite hilarious (and isn’t even in any of the trailers!). While I saw the movie too long ago to write a full-on review, this is the movie of the weekend I recommend more than any other movie, regardless of your age and gender. Its 99% on Rotten Tomatoes is no fluke!

Lastly, there’s Screen Gems’ BRIGHTBURN, which is a dark take on superheroes from one of James Gunn’s brothers and one of his cousins, and of course, James Gunn produced it. It’s directed by David Yarovesky, who has done some shorts and music videos, and it stars Gunn regular Elizabeth Banks, who appeared in Slitherway back in the day, as well as David Denman, plus Jackson Dunn as Brandon Breyer, the young kid with superpowers. Since I’ve seen this one more recently, here’s my….

MINI-REVIEW: Anyone who reads a lot of comics might be aware of the concept of “Elseworlds,” essentially DC’s version of a “What If?.” If you consider yourself a connoisseur of good comics than you probably have read Alan Moore’s “Miracleman” comics. The general idea was to look at what happens when someone with superpowers allows the powers to go to their head, and they use those powers for evil purposes. It’s even more interesting when said person is still a child without the maturity needed to handle having such power.

In that sense, Brightburn isn’t a completely original idea, though it is for the world movies where there haven’t been that many alternate superhero films, let alone ones treated like horror. It takes the mythos of DC Comics’ Superman, of a baby from another alien taken in by a kindly Kansas couple, then twists it into a gory horror movie. It also deals with something I’ve always found interesting in what a kid might do if they discover they have superpowers and whether they would use them to get revenge on their oppressors, even if it’s their parents. Going by this film written by James Gunn’s brother and cousin, then the answer is “Yes.”

Brightburn begins with Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as a young couple trying to have a kid when a meteor lands nearby. We then see a montage of young Brandon Breyer growing from a baby to a pre-teen boy, and we see that he’s been having difficulty adjusting to school and life in Kansas

The results aren’t perfect and some of my issues might be due to how much is given away in the trailers, but in terms of combining things I like – superheroes and creepy kids who go on a wanton killing spree – it’s a high concept that keeps you entertained for all 90 minutes without a dull moment. That has much to do with David Yarovesky’s direction, as he has all the faculties needed to make a solid horror film, including some highly disturbing gory scenes, but also his small but capable cast.

Kind of the ultimate Richard Donner mash-up – part-Superman,part-The Omen– Brightburn isn’t perfect, but it’s a conceit that actually works to create a fun and gory time that’s more horror than superheroics.

RATING:7/10

You can read what I think of the above’s box office prospects over at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

I wish I could say that I’ve seen more of this weekend’s limited release, but I’ve only watched a couple of them.

Opening at the Metrograph Friday is Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s surrealist comedy DIAMANTINO (Kino Lorber), an odd Portugal-set film about a world-famous soccer superstar, Carloto Cotta, who gets caught up in a controversy over statements made about refugees. He has some evil twin sisters who like glomming onto their brother’s fame and fortune, as well as a government conspiracy. It’s a rather amusing and entertaining film for sure, which reminded me of some of the stranger films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Terry Gilliam, but it won’t be for everyone.

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Opening on Wednesday i.e. today is Noble Jones’ THE TOMORROW MAN (Bleecker Street), starring John Lithgow as a cranky survivalist Ed Hemsler who meets Blythe Danner’s Ronnie Meisner, who he sees as a like-minded individual. This is another boring romance movie geared towards the over-50s (that me)that doesn’t really go anywhere, and I couldn’t even enjoy it for the performances by the two leads because the material just wasn’t up to snuff.

Jill Magid’s doc THE PROPOSAL (Oscilloscope) is about architect Luis Barragan, whose work was locked away in a Swiss bunker on his death in 1988, which the filmmaker has tried to bring to light as she negotiates with those keeping charge of it. Opening in L.A. at the Landmark as well as the Quad Cinemathis weekend is Frédéric Tcheng’s doc HALSTON (1091) about designer Roy Halston Frowick, who rose to fame in the ‘70s.

Next up is a trio of music docs beginning with the one I’ve seen, Barak Goodman’s Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation (PBS Distribution / American Experience FIlms), which premiered at Tribeca and will get a nominal theatrical release before airing on PBS. (It will be celebrating is 50thAnniversary in August, too!) As someone who admired the more famous 1970 Woodstock concert film by Michael Wadleigh – it even won the Oscar for documentary that year! – but Goodman’s movie finds new avenues into the 1969 music and art festlval by showing its development and the lead-up to the festival as well as all the problems it faced along the way. Probably the more interesting aspect of the movie is Wavy Gravy’s contribution to the festival security with his commune of artists who actually end up saving the day more than once. (This doc will also premiere at the Quad this weekend with special guests.)

Having special shows across the country tonight and again on May 29 is Tom Jones’Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock n’ Roll (Trafalgar Releasing) about how the power of music and musicians like Steven Van Zandt, Southside Johnny Lyon, and of course, Bruce Springsteen, helped save the troubled Jersey town. You can get tickets for these special shows at the official site.

Another neighborhood music community is being honored in Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon (Greenwich), which celebrates the music coming out of Laurel Canyon in the mid-60s including the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Sprinfield and the Mamas and the Papes aka the California Sound.It opens in L.A. Friday and then in New York on May 31.

If you happened to see Paul Rudd in the film The Catcher Was a Spy last year, then you might be interested in learning more about his character Moe Berg, Aviva Kempner’s’s doc The Spy Behind Home Plate, which opens in Washington, DC this Friday and then In New York, Philly and other markets on May 31.

Gotta start wrapping up here but there’s also Rob Heydon’s thriller Isabelle (Vertical Entertainment), starring Adam Brody and Amanda Crew; as well as the Scott Adkins action-thriller Avengement (Samuel Goldwyn), directed by Jesse V. Johnson.

STREAMING AND CABLE

The movie I’m most excited about this weekend is for people to see Richard Shepard’s THE PERFECTION, streaming on Netflix Friday. It stars Allison Williams from Get Outand Logan Browning (Dear White People), and I’m not really sure what I can say about it, since I don’t want to spoil your experience. I can say that Williams plays a cello prodigy who has been off the circuit for a few years. When she returns, Browning’s character has kind of taken her place, but the two become close… and then stuff happens. Crazy stuff… stuff that you’re not going to forget anytime soon. But if you liked Get Out and Us and last year’s Hereditary, you’re probably going to like this movie that premiered at Fantastic Fest, as well. I’ve loved Shepard’s dark sense of humor from movies like The Matador and Dom Hemingway, and he has two terrific stars in this one, who seem to be up for whatever is thrown their way… and a LOT is thrown their way. I also got to interview Richard for the fourth time recently, which you can read over at The Beat.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

This year’s 26th New York African Film Festival begins on Thursday at the BAMCinematek in Brooklyn with FilmAfrica, a series of fairly recent films from a continent that just doesn’t get enough attention in the cinematic world. The opening night of the BAM leg is Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’sSew the Winter to my Sky, a Western-inspired heist film about South African bandit John Kepe. On Saturday, you can see Raoul (I Am Not Your Negro) Peck’s 2005 film Sometimes in April starring Idris Elba about the Rwandan genocide. The movie will then move next week to Film at Lincon Center, as the program continues through June 4, so I’ll write more about their offerings next week. The festival wraps up its last few days from June 5 to June 9 at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. I honestly wish I had more time to see some of this series because it looks fantastic and many of the films may never get U.S. distribution, but I just have too much on my plate right now.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988) while the Playtime: Family Matinees is Jacques Perrin award-winning doc Winged Migration (2001) on Saturday and Sunday morning. New York Times critic Glenn Kenny is presenting Elia Kazan’s 1969 film The Arrangement, starring Kirk Douglas and Fay Dunaway, on Saturday while poet and novelist Barry Gifford is showing a double feature of Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street (1953) and Jack Garfein’s The Strange One (1957) on Sunday.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Tarantino is in Cannes presenting his new movie (to absolute raves) but his rep theater is showing Vincente Minnelli’s 1953 film The Band Wagon starring Fred Astaire on Weds. afternoon. The week’s upcoming double features are Barbra Streisand’s Yentl (1983) and Crossing Delancey (1988) on Weds and Thurs., Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003) and Somewhere (2010) on Friday/Saturday, and Honor Among Lovers (1931), Craig’s Wife (1936) and Sarah and Son (1930) in a Dorothy Arzner triple feature Sunday and Monday. The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is the Tom Hanks-Penny Marshall movie Big (1988) and the midnight movies are the doc Full-Tilt Boogie (about the making of From Dusk til Dawn)on Friday and once again, The Love Witch, on Saturday. Next Monday’s matinee is the ensemble drama Now and Then (1995) and then Tuesday’s GRINDHOUSE double feature is Kao Pao-Shu’s Blood of the Dragon (1971) and The Master Strikes (1980).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own (1992), also starring Tom Hanks. Film Forum is also starting a new three-week 40-film (!) series called The Hour of Liberation: Decolonizing Cinema, 1966 – 1981, which includes screenings of The Battle of Algiers (1966), Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl (1966) and other films imported from “Third World” countries with support from the Academ of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Concurrently, Film Forum is kicking off The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema, which begins this weekend with the 1937 film The Dybbuk with a few other films running through June.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Cassavetes/Scorsese: Love is Strangecontinues with After Hours (1985) with Rosanna Arquette (!) and Gloria (1983) on Thursday and Raging Bull (1980) and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) on Friday. Personally, I wish I could be in L.A. Saturday for a six-film Godzilla-Thon that includes some of my favorite films from Toho including the original 1954 Gojira. Then Sunday, there’s a double feature of the Uganda-set Bad Black (2016) and Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010).

AERO (LA):

Not to be outdone by the Egyptian, the AERO presents a Memorial Day in 70mm with Hook (1991) on Thursday, a double feature of The Thing and Starmanon Friday, 2001: A Space Odyssey on Saturday and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on Sunday. Have I mentioned how I’d love to live in L.A. this weekend?

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Back in New York, Fighting Mad: German Genre Films from the Marginscontinues through Thursday as well as the doc Doomed Love: A Journey Through German Genre Film.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

This week, the Roxy is showing Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette(2006) in 35mm, as well as a screening of Joanna Hogg’s Exhibition(2013). They’re also showing Patrick Wang’s recent A Bread Factory, Part One (Friday) and Part Two (Saturday).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance screens Rosemary’s Baby and Serial Mom on Memorial Day weekend, while Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad shows Ozu’s Late Spring (1949) and Late Night Favorites: Spring continues withDavid Fincher’sFight Club, Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER(NYC):

This weekend, Lincoln Center begins its own Czech New Wave series with Ester Krumbachova: Unknown Master of the Czechoslovakia New Wave, running from May 24 through May 29. I still don’t know anything about the Czech New Wave then I knew a few months back, although apparently, she was a writer, director and costume designer and the series includes examples of all three.

MOMA (NYC):

It looks like Abel Ferrara: Unrated will run for the rest of the month, and this week, we get R’ Xmas (2001) on Wednesday, The Funeral (1996) on Thursday, 1989’s Cat Chaser on Friday and Saturday as well as Napoli (2009) on Saturday. Sunday sees Mary (2005) and Crime Story (1986). The Jean-Claude Carrière series continues with Luis Buñuel’s The Phantom of Liberty (1974) on Thursday, Milos Forman’s Valmont (1989) on Friday and Saturday, Cyrano de Bergerac on Friday and Sunday as well as Andrzej Wajda’s Danton (1983) plus more over the weekend. Basically, lots of interesting movie options.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

See It Big! Action is going full-throttle on Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series, showing ALL SIX movies between Friday and Sunday. What a perfect Memorial Day treat! I wish I lived closer to Astoria, Queens.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s Midnight Movie is Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo(1958).

I also want to quickly add that the Maysles Cinema is having a Manfred Kirschheimer retrospective of sorts, in that it’s premiering his new movie Dream of a City, showing it with some of his earlier documentary works, both short and long format. Just another example of the amazing cinema that you can see in New York on any given day of the week.

#Aladdin Brightburn Booksmart MOvies Reviews limitedreleases repertory

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theworstbob · 7 years

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the thing journal, 6.11.2017 - 6.17.2017

capsule reviews of the pop culture i took in last week. this week: venice, witness, 1989, gilded, punch-drunk love, sucker, bloody bloody andrew jackson, gone now, boomiverse, melodrama, before sunrise, pinata, whiplash

1) Venice, by Anderson .Paak: Paak might be really close to Greatest Living Songwriter status. Like, Malibu and Yes Lawd! are both undeniable classics, but this is ALSO so solid, solid enough that I feel like, if we get someone in the room with Paak to say, "Hey, dude, maybe don't put a bad butt pun in this one?" Paak could be running the world. Every second of this album is wonderful. Like, .Paak makes songs that make an indoor kid like me wish he was at the beach, that's like the only thing I can say about this album. .Paak' great. I don't have enough words to describe what makes him great.

2) Witness, by Benjamin Booker: ...So, this is the last thing I'm writing? And this was a nice, bluesy rock album that made a Sunday morning slightly doper. I liked it, it was nice, listen to it if you like nice rock albums.

3) 1989, by Tay Tay: I sure do have a lot to say about this album that wasn't said two and a half years ago! I liked it. The first five songs are as good as any five songs on any album that's ever been, and then the rest of this album... Exists? Like there's no way I'm going to call an album with "Shake it Off" and "Bad Blood" on it a classic, and after hearing Lana del Rey songs I can't get behind the Lana del Rey impression that is "Wildest Dreams," like it was already an enh song but knowing it was ripping off an enh thing gives it a firm "no," but any album with "Style" and "Blank Space" and "Style" deserves plaudits, and the album does pick up with the last two tracks, which are up there with the first five tracks as the best stuff Tay Tay has ever done. End of the day, though, To Pimp a Butterfly still should have won Album of the Year, and if at the end of 2014 Catch-Up 1989 is still in the top ten for 2014 (#9 as I write this), I'd be stunned.

4) Gilded, by Jade Jackson: This? was somehow recommended to me by Amazon because I enjoy the music of Paramore. I cannot claim to have heard the Paramore in this. I heard a pretty decent if slow-moving country album! That was a fun surprise! One of my favorite things about country music in 2017 is how, like, we typically associate rebellion with punk and rap, y'know? Loud music that moves fast and is always shouting. And rebellion in country is sitting with just an acoustic guitar and singing sad songs about small towns. Like, a lot of country music is about what a small town home town dirt road party it is to be in the sticks, so the outlaws have to slow it down and reflect on whether they're truly happy where they are. So like, this album has incredibly little in common with Paramore from a music standpoint, but they share an attitude which has to manifest itself differently because of their respective genres. Basically, I'm incredibly down with this album.

5) Punch-Drunk Love, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson: hey. hey guys. did you guys know about this paul thomas anderson dude. he's pretty great. like, everything about that scene where he asks the woman out, the warehouse collapsing, the calls from the phone sex scammer, his sister haranguing him, the woman not knowing how to respond to this, him clearly not knowing how to handle the situation, the pudding the so much pudding, the score building as everything falls apart, it's so fucking good. i remember, when i was 12, this movie had like two whole shelves at hollywood video, and when my dad and my family were looking at this movie, we were like "we love little nicky! but this might be more serious? and poor innocent caralin," and i just, i wonder what a younger me would have thought about this film. i wonder how i would have reacted to this, if we actually had pulled the trigger on punch-drunk love before i was anywhere near ready to handle it.

6) Sucker, by Charli XCX: hahaha i need to do theme weeks or something like i'm supposed to think about a paul thomas anderson joint and then try to come up with a decent opinion about a fine, just a tich below great pop album. i should've eased myself into this, it should've gone punch drunk love, the kimbra album i added to provide the bridge from film master class to pop, and THEN charli xcx. i mean, i enjoyed this a lot, i had a solid, solid bus ride, but like i just need to structure the sequencing of thing journal better. like, maybe don't put the slap-hitting second baseman after the cleanup hitter, but the jason kubel type in the fifth spot, the chunky dude who kinda sucks at baseball but hits dingers more often than not. gotta think about my lineup, guys!

7) Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, wr. Michael Friedman: Well, this was good stupid fun. I think "Ten Little Indians" is a standout track, so clear a standout that it honestly belongs in a better work. It's a distillation of Native American history that doesn't seem to have any place in a musical recasting one of the shittiest presidents as a vain, morose emokid rock star, but then again, I listen to soundtracks and don't watch the shows, so fuck do I know about context. So, yeah, I dug "Ten Little Indians," and then everything else was fine and silly and took itself just unseriously that it never felt like American Psycho. Theatre in general isn't a good home for irony, but at least here, the sarcasm wasn't subtle, it was waving a giant flag the whole time saying "THIS IS DEF JOKES."

8) Gone Now, by Bleachers 9) Melodrama, by Lorde See, if I were a decent listener, I might have tried following up Gone Now with Melodrama. These reviews aren't being indexed in chronological order; I listened to Boomiverse before I gave Melodrama a spin, and looking back, I should've saved Gone Now for Friday to do a Jack Antonoff Power Block. I wonder if my opinion on these albums is colored by the interview I read where Jack Antonoff says he originally imagines all his songs for female voices, he writes his songs for women, then pitches them an octace down should they become Bleachers songs. And I found both Strange Desire and Gone Now to not really resonate with me, neither album really hitting me in the way an entity such as Bleachers should hit me. Bleachers is fun, '80s-inspired pop music -- I love that! But there's this weird disconnect I feel between the voice and the music, and I can't tell if that's a conclusion I arrived at on my own or if it was informed by that article, because while I didn't like Gone Now, I really loved Melodrama. Lorde and Antonoff work perfectly together, her voice gives life to a lot of things I heard but wasn't enthralled by on Gone Now, and they had a vision for this album -- songs have part twos! There's a reprise! ("Liability" is DOPE in the context of this album, y'all) -- which they executed sublimely. It's a complete, cohesive album that feels so much bigger than 11 songs, so full of weird ideas, and while I'm not sure how the mainstream is gonna react, I thought this was dope as hell, "dope as hell" being the highest praise my limited vocabulary has to offer.

10) Boomiverse, by Big Boi: One benefit of being just a dude on tumblr chronicling his experiences is that I didn't have to listen to and write a thinkpiece about a 70-minute Lil Yachty album. I only have to experience Lil Yachty through his features on other people's songs, do not have to contend with the totality of his vision. But, it is disappointing that professional music people DO have to write extended thinkpieces about Lil Yachty, when those words and thoughts and energies would have been far better spent on this album. This album is just good. There's no frills, minimal use of the obligatory Atlanta trap beat, clever rhymes, only occasional misogyny, and maybe the most jubilant rap track of 2017, "All Night." I honestly can't remember the last time I heard a hip-hop joint as joyous as "All Night." So much of my favorite hip-hop of the last few years hasn't been happy, and not even the justifiable "shit's fucked up" unhappy, the "sadness is the only valiid emotion" unhappy, and "All Night" is a statement that darkness is nothing without light.

11) Before Sunrise, dir. Richard Linklater: "Hey! I've been up since 1 AM, and it is presently 4:30! I'm going to put on this quet movie about a quiet night in Vienna so I can watch Before Sunrise before sunrise, LOL!" Yeah so I fell asleep during this one, team. Not long enough to feel like I missed a lot, not long enough for this film to lose its impact, but enough to feel like I failed this film. What I was able to see was great. It was like someone shot a podcast in Vienna, and that sounds like an insult, but I'm into movies that are just two people talking to each other, and I'd be into a podcast where two strangers try to fall in love in two hours, two people bullshitting about love and relationships and the future while wondering if they could be happy with the other person outside of the podcast. It didn't feel at all tempered knowing there's a sequel in the queue. Like, knowing these two people see each other again is disappointing, only in the sense that I don't get to live with the ending for 10 years before learning about the sequel, but at the same time, the characters don't know they're going to see each other again, and that last goodbye at the train is so heart-wrenching, the way she disappears behind the wall and the guy just follows her, trying to stay as close to her as possible.

12) Pinata, by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: I will let nature review this album for me: I live in a garden level apartment, and outside my bedroom window, where I stationed my new computer, there's a bucket beneath the gutter in which water rests. Squirrels will occasionally come through, take a sip, and bounce. But as I was listening to this album, I saw that the squirrel was lingering outside my window. I assumed it was responding well to the vibrations created by Freddie Gibbs' pleasant, deep-voiced flow and the low-key production, and that it was enjoying the things it was feeling. This is music squirrels can enjoy, man, what more do you want. And then a Danny Brown feature came on, and that squirrel RAN, man. Like, I get it? I wouldn't expect a squirrel to respond well to Danny Brown, but I still feel that squirrel is missing out.

13) Whiplash, dir. Damien Chazelle: When I listen to music, I've found I connect to the drumming more than anything but the lyrics. Part of the reason I still listen to pop/punk is because literally every single pop/punk drummer is amazing, drumming so so fast every time. I also watch sports and speedrun streams, and one of the things that fascinates me is the maniacal drive to be great, this obsessive need to push yourself to some limit most would find unnecessary. So of COURSE I'm into a film which would marry the two, and which had the performance of a lifetime from JK Simmons, JK Simmons deserving all the plaudits he got for playing Malcom Tucker's long-lost American twin. I think Miles Teller was cat perfectly for the scenes where he's with JK Simmons, an arrogant nothing-boy who can convey talent and cluelessness, but Miles Teller is such a zero that the scenes with his family and girlfriend, where we're supposed to say "no nice boy don't isolate yourself from your loved ones to drum so good," just felt like "god shut the fuck up you whiny jerk." The film also didn't really address a couple of questions I thought might be relevant to the JK Simmons character. Does music still retain its meaning if you obsess over it to the extent that Fletcher does, do people still respond to his performances on an emotional level, or do they appreciate it on a purely technical level? There's that dinner scene, where someone in Miles Teller's family asks, "How can you have a music competition? Isn't it subjective?" and Miles Teller says, "No," but it never explores the idea of what chasing the parts of music which can be judged objective does to the music. The other question is, what right does Fletcher have to the next Charlie Parker? How does this white dude think he can own jazz? But I've spent more words finding what's problematic about the film than I did on what I liked, which is usually the sign of a great film, one I wanted to spend a lot of words thinking about.

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bharatiyamedia-blog · 5 years

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And That Happened: Tuesday’s Scores and Highlights

http://tinyurl.com/y4pzddez Here are the scores. Here are the highlights: Indians 7, Red Sox 5: Boston took a 5-2 lead into the ninth and blew it. Roberto Pérez hit a solo shot, Greg Allen hit a two-run homer and Jordan Luplow doubled in two to complete the hanging of the five-spot on the combination of Ryan Brasier and Travis Lakins. At this point I usually insert a “Craig Kimbrel is still a free agent” crack, and then some of you comment that Craig Kimbrel sucks and is overpaid and that you’re happy with guys like Brasier and Lakins because — I’m assuming — you have a personal, vested interest in John Henry’s finances and somehow think they’d be imperiled by slightly overpaying for a good pitcher. It takes all kinds, but I really don’t get y’all who think stuff like that. Reds 11, Pirates 6: Any team could’ve had Derek Dietrich this past offseason. Including the Marlins, who controlled his right but let him go because they were too cheap and their rebuilding plans far too grand to pay a guy a million or two for some decent production. The Reds got him on a minor league deal and all he’s done since is rake. Here, as we noted last night, he socked three bombs, all of them two-run shots, to give him 17 on the year. The Pirates, whom Dietrich has taken special joy in victimizing, watching his dingers from the box and slow-trotting around the bases, didn’t even throw at him this time. They just watched him, knowing he has defeated them while their broadcasters embarrassed themselves talking about how Dietrich’s grandfather or whatever wouldn’t approve of his showboating. It’s gotta feel amazing being so far under an entire organization’s skin. Padres 5, Yankees 4: Manny Machado singled in a run in the first and Eric Hosmer followed him with a three-run homer to give the Padres an early lead on Masahiro Tanaka and it’s a lead they’d hold. Starter Eric Lauer allowed one while pitching into the sixth and six relievers bent but didn’t break. Really, it’s odd to see a game in which the Yankees trailed early in which they didn’t just come back with a ton of bombs. It’s just kind of what they’ve done this year. White Sox 2, Royals 1; White Sox 4, Royals 3: The suspended game from Monday was resumed and nothing happened until the ninth inning when Yolmer Sánchez singled to center, scoring James McCann for the walkoff win. In the game actually scheduled for yesterday, Kansas City scored three in the first on an Alex Gordon three-run shot, but starter Lucas Giolito would stay in for eight, striking out ten, having given up only those three runs. The Chisox, meanwhile, would plate four via a couple of sac flies and a couple of singles. The best part of this game, though, was the ceremonial first pitch: And the still shots: Rays 3, Blue Jays 1: Austin Meadows continued his torrid streak, homering for the third straight game. Avisail García went deep as well as the Rays bullpen brigade subdued the Jays, limiting them to six hits on the night. The Rays are a good team, sitting in second place in a tough division and have won four straight games, yet they continue to struggle with attendance. It’s not worth dwelling on that too much — everyone is aware of the structural/geographic/aesthetic/demographic issues of the Rays’ market and they do get pretty good TV ratings for their games — but it’s worth noting records. And this was a record low for Tropicana Field: 5,786 souls. Story continues Tigers 3, Orioles 0: Matt Boyd tossed six shutout innings and the pen completed the job, holding the O’s to six hits and striking them out 13 times on the night. Miguel Cabrera singled in a run, JaCoby Jones doubled in a run and Niko Goodrum homered, um, in a run (sure) for the Tigers scoring. Phillies 4, Cardinals 3: Nick Pivetta came back to the bigs and, after surviving a couple of first inning homers and finding himself in an early 3-0 hole, allowed three runs and three hits, striking out six in five innings. ‘Twas enough. ‘Twill serve. Bryce Harper doubled in two in the third to begin the Philly comeback and César Hernández completed it with a two-run homer in the fourth. Marlins 11, Giants 3: In case you wanna know how things have been for the Giants lately, this one started off with a leadoff homer from Joe Panik that inspired this tweet from beat writer Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic: Joe Panik homers on the first pitch of this game and the Giants dugout looks livelier than I’ve seen it in weeks. — Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) May 28, 2019 Then the game happened, and it inspired this tweet: In between those things Jorge Alfaro and Garrett Cooper each hit three run homers and Marlins starter Trevor Richards surrendered only two hits in seven innings of work. The Giants have lost six straight. Nationals 5, Braves 4: Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 in seven innings of work. Howie Kendrick had three hits, including a home. Trea Turner also had three hits. The sixth inning was particularly ugly for Braves pitchers as Max Fried hit a guy and walked two guys, including Adam Eaton with the bases loaded. Anthony Swarzak then came in and walked Anthony Rendon to force in another run. The Braves will have what Baggarly’s having. Astros 9, Cubs 6: Alex Bregman homered twice, with the second being a go-ahead two-run bomb in the sixth that gave Houston a lead they’d not surrender. A.J. Hinch picked up his 500th victory despite Astros pitchers giving up five homers to Cubs batters. All but one of ’em were solo shots, though, and you can survive solo shots. Twins 5, Brewers 3: When things are going good they’re going good. And when they’re going good things like “rookie makes his big league debut against a good and powerful team and tosses six shutout innings” happen. Devin Smeltzer was that rookie for Minnesota. He allowed three hits, walked none and struck out seven. Eddie Rosario homered and Max Kepler added a two-run double for Minnesota, which has won 12 of 14 games and has the best record in the majors. Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 2: Chris Iannetta hit a two-run shot in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie. Ryan McMahon added some insurance with a two-run double. The crowd was happy. Not just because of the win but because it was in the 40s and raining and no one wanted to stay for extra innings. Rangers 11, Mariners 4: The Rangers put up a seven-run fifth thanks to a couple of RBI from Hunter Pence, a couple of RBI from Asdrúbel Cabrera and a three-run home run by Ronald Guzmán. Seattle has lost 10 of its last 12 games. Angels 6, Athletics 4: It was tied in the ninth when Shohei Ohtani lined a single to score two. That gave L.A. the win, overcoming homers from Matt Olson, Marcus Semien and Ramón Laureano. Mets 7, Dodgers 3: Michael Conforto stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in a 2-2 game in the seventh and, bammo, grand slammo. God, why did I write something that dumb? Sorry, the recaps have taken me way longer than usual this morning and I’m kinda punchy. Maybe the writers covering this game were punchy too, because there’s an extended riff in the AP gamer about how Robinson Canó helped Conforto before his at bat, during a pitching change. I’m thinking “hmm, maybe Canó had some insight into the new pitcher? Something like “he likes to start lefties out with offspeed stuff low and away” or something useful like that? Nah: Conforto took some advice from Cano during a pitching change before his at-bat in the seventh and turned on an 0-1 pitch from Scott Alexander that lifted the New York Mets over the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3 Tuesday night. “He’s going to try to get you to hit into a double play,” Cano told Conforto. The Mets outfielder went to the plate expecting that, but got a ball up in the zone and sent it into the left field pavilion to snap a 2-all tie. “When I got back to the bench I told Robinson right in front of Chili (Davis) that he is going to be my hitting coach now,” Conforto said. Bases were loaded with one out so, yeah, I suppose he was going to try to get a double play. But then that didn’t even matter because it caused Conforto to look for something down and he didn’t get something down, he got something up. Seems to me that Conforto’s fast-twitch muscles, rather than any sage advice from Canó, were to thank, but what do I know? Follow @craigcalcaterra Source link

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