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queen-of-my-goofball-army · 4 years

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An Ode To Miyazaki:

Hi everyone! So for my final paper for film, we had to pick our own director of our choosing and talk about them extensively between the attributes that make them special. Our course focused on the narrative and technical styles of directors. For my final project, I have chosen my biggest hero in the world of animation and somebody that drastically changed my life as a young child, Hayao Miyazaki. Learning about him for this project gave me so much insight into not just his films but who he is as a person. I hope that my paper is as interesting for you to read as it was for me to do research for!

1. Hayao Miyazaki, often referred to as the Japanese Walt Disney is the front runner of his animation studio Studio Ghibli. I picked him because I already have sufficient knowledge and love of his films. One of the first memories that my parents love to remind me of is my first time watching Totoro and laughing at the introduction characters. Miyazaki himself stands out for a number of reasons. Over the years, Miyazaki has made a humongous name out of himself, one of his most famous movies Spirited Away became the most popular film to ever be released in Japan and also won the academy award for the best-animated film that year. His most “popular” films (I say popular in air quotes because it is nearly impossible for people to agree on a favorite) remain the aforementioned Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke. Beginning his career as a simple animator for Toei animation, he worked as an in-between artist. It was here that he met his future collaborator at Ghibli, Isao Takahata. His first big directorial debut in film before founding Ghibli was a team effort without Takahata was Lupin The Third, The Castle Of Cagliostro. His first successful movie was one that was based upon his own manga Nausicaa of the Valley Of The Wind. The first official Miyazaki movie that was made with Ghibli was one of my personal all-time favorites that had ever been created, Castle In The Sky. For many children, especially ones with parents who are lovers of a film like mine, Miyazaki was one of the first animators that I was introduced to. His films have become classics for every fan of animation, being referenced in culture, specifically back when Disney owned Studio in Toy Story 3, Bonnie has a Totoro.

2. So, this brings up the question, how does one recognize a film by Miyazaki? You can always expect for him to be critically acclaimed, for there to be some element of magic and whimsy in the way that he animates, for there to be something to do with flight (whether it be dealing with airplanes like in Porco Rosso, the idea of flight in Howl’s Moving Castle, or a floating castle up in the sky in Castle In The Sky.), his heroines are always strong-minded and live by their own rules never bowing down to anybody, his love stories are dynamic and fulfilled, a sweeping score by Joe Hizashi, and they have a meaning about nature somewhere, mostly about why it needs to be protected.

Let’s start by breaking him down narratively. The thing that is always in every Miyazaki film no matter which one you decide upon watching, is that his female characters are always strong-willed no matter what. In many ways, I think that he writes women better than Disney does. He has gone on record saying “Many of my movies have strong female leads—brave, self-sufficient girls that don't think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. They'll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.” Sometimes, this will cause them to come across as reckless, or stupid, but in my opinion, I have always looked up to his female characters and the way that they are portrayed. My personal favorite female character that he has ever brought to life through the screen is Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle. She is strong-minded, not willing to put up with any of Howl’s dramatics, kind, an incredible adult figure for Markal, endlessly sympathetic to her friend’s plights (namely Howl and Calcifer), and somebody that I can always look up to. I spent most of my childhood looking up to characters like Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service, Chihiro in Spirited Away, or one of my personal favorite underrated girls, Fio in Porco Rosso. All of these female characters are independent and never let themselves be taken advantage of by anybody.

Another trait that can always be found narratively in his films is that Miyazaki is an airplane/ air travel fanatic. He absolutely loves airplanes, even to the point where his latest film, The Wind Rises was based upon the life of one of the first airplane manufacturers in WWII. Almost all of his films will involve something about flying in the air. Even with the ones that he didn’t direct and he just simply wrote. His obsession with flight is something that stemmed from his childhood and he never saw them as a thing to be used for war “airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.” My personal favorite of all of his flight animation is used in Howl’s Moving Castle when Howl and Sophie “fly” over the heads of all the people below them.

Narratively also one of the biggest things that set apart his films from any others is his focus on nature. The idea of protecting the beauty of nature is something that he has always stood by. A lot of the time, America tries to prove that it can make films about nature as well to usually varying results. I think that nobody can sell an environmental message quite like my biggest hero for Japanese animation. One of the main movies that focus on his will to protect nature above all else is Princess Mononoke. He always manages to animate nature in such a beautiful and majestic way no matter where the film is set.

I also think that a narrative trait of his that often gets overlooked is how beautiful the romance in his films can be. He never has a romance between two characters that feels stale or boring. I love the fact that you can pick any number of his films and the chance of there being a romance that you’ll get sucked into is a very large one. Everybody has their personal favorites, I love Howl and Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle but my best friend loves Sousuke and Ponyo from Ponyo. He has on record saying that “I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.” Writing romance between two characters can be a very tricky thing which is why it’s always amazing when he can continually pull it off despite everything and how many films that he has made over the years. The beauty of having both a strong and independent male and the female character is that they can both lean on one another for love and support. Probably the biggest supporter of this is Whisper Of The Heart, a film that he wrote instead of directing. The romance is what makes up the entire film. It’s a beautiful love story about how two young teenagers fall in love with each other. The romance is something that continually keeps me coming back for more every time.

Technical style Miyazaki can always be assured to deliver breathtakingly stunning animation. There is a reason why so many people leave his films starving because the food that he draws always looks so good. For me though, it’s the backgrounds that stand out above all else. It’s nearly impossible to have one favorite shot in one of his films but I as a matter of fact do have one. The most breathtaking animation in any Miyazaki film is the scene where Howl takes Sophie to see his secret garden. Everything about this scene never fails to make my breath catch. It’s such a profoundly beautiful moment and how it is animated is something that I haven’t forgotten since my first initial viewing of the film when I was seven.

Another iconic technical trait is that Disney did a fantastic job dubbing the films from their original Japanese language into English. Back when Ghibli films first started to become popular, they needed a way for an American audience to see them. So Pixar’s CFO at the time, John Lassater made a deal with Ghibli that they would dub all the films from their original language for a brand new audience. Growing up, this was how I watched all of Miyazaki’s films. I fell in love with the way that they sounded in English. To this very day, I have yet to see one of his films in any other language. I don’t think that anybody could have dubbed them better. Ever since Ghibli and Disney went their separate ways and they went to GKids the dubs haven’t been the same.

Finally, the last technical trait is that a Miyazaki film will always have a score done by his longtime collaborator Joe Hizashi. The score is such a big part of what makes Miyazaki’s films his own. They are what get you sucked in through their whimsical and magical tones; they always fit the vibes that he’s going through at that moment. There is also the element of sound. Every Miyazaki film has a distinct sound effect that will set it apart from the one before it.

3. The first film that I want to look at is my personal favorite of all his films that he has made so far if you were to force me to pick just one Howl’s Moving Castle. Released in 2004, it was the 9th film that the director came out with. It has an 8.2 out of 10 on IMDB and an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The storyline for the movie follows a young woman named Sophie. She gets a curse set upon her by the Witch of the Waste and when she leaves home she finds the infamous Howl’s Moving Castle. This is the second Ghibli movie voiced by a Batman live action actor. Christian Bale voiced Howl Pendragon after Michael Keaton played the titular Porco Rosso.

Narratively this is definitely a Miyazaki film. From how strong of a female character Sophie is I spent most of my childhood looking up to her as a character. Strong female characters are everywhere in his films and in my opinion, Sophie is one of the strongest. Another strong factor is that flight plays a major part in this film. One of Howl’s main powers is that he has the ability to fly around. This leads to my favorite scene of flight in any Miyazaki film when Howl takes Sophie’s hand and they “fly” over the tops of the city down below them. All of his early films up until the last few were set in someplace other than Japan. This one is set in Europe, and he takes a lot of time while in the cities to show off all the different types of buildings while Sophie tours around the city.

Technically speaking this is also a Miyazaki film and holds all the titular traits of being so. The animation is utterly for lack of a better word, magical and spellbinding. It takes my breath away every time that I rewatch it. The food looks incredible, one scene that most of Miyazaki’s fans always think of when this movie is brought up is Calcifer making the food for Howl, Sophie, and Markal to eat. The dub for this film is also one of Disney’s best dubs for Miyazaki films. It even brings actors to the table that I usually would not like to see in other films like Christian Bale. I haven’t loved him in any other films than this one. Billy Crystal is a stand-out as well as my favorite fire demon Calcifer. The score is done by Joe Hizashi as well. My favorite part of the score is the main theme which has Howl and Sophie floating above the people below. The sound effect that follows throughout this film is the steady creaking of the castle itself.

Princess Mononoke was the first time that Miyazaki ever “retired”. Most of the time, whenever he tries to retire, he always comes back. A lot of his colleague's joke that it’s because he physically can’t stop working. He animated most of this movie by himself. Before Spirited Away it was Japan’s most famous film to date. The story about a young man who is just trying to erase the curse that was set upon him by an angry boar and it leads him to a place called Iron Town is something that never fails to amaze me. While in Iron Town, Ashitaka meets a young woman named San who was taken in by wolves and he finds himself caught between a war involving humans and the gods of the forest.

Narratively this is definitely a Miyazaki film. It has a strong female lead, focusing most of its screen time on how important it is to protect and preserve nature as a whole. The idea of protecting nature is such a moving part of the film, as we see what it does when man takes over the forest. We see how distraught it makes the Gods of this world and how they wish that the humans would just go away. However, you also see it from the point of view of the villain of the film Lady Eboshi, who also regularly helps lepers and people who would often never get work outside of her offering them a home and a family. I have regularly gotten into a debate with my mom over which side is “right” and which side “wrong” over the course of the last few years of me being a massive fan of this movie. She takes the side of the forest while I see Ashitaka’s side that everybody should just get along and interact in peace and harmony. Miyazaki never shoves the idea of nature down your throat. That is not what this film is. It’s instead about the beauty of what we have and learning to appreciate it.

On a technical level, this film is fantastic as well. It blows my mind that Miyazaki-san animated most of it all by himself. The backgrounds are sweeping and utterly gorgeous showing off the time period of the film. The fight sequences which make up the bulk of the film’s running time are engaging, thrilling, and fabulously animated. Mononoke’s score was done by Joe Hizashi as well. Its score is beautiful and I always find myself getting sucked into it, especially for the more dynamic scenes with Ashitaka and San. The sound effect for this film uses nature as a backdrop for brutality. Ashitaka’s arrows don’t just come out of his bow, they screech through the air.

Finally, my last film that we will be focusing on, Kiki’s Delivery Service was made in 1989 a year after his cult phenomena My Neighbor Totoro and was his fifth animated feature. Kiki is a young girl that is hoping to become a young witch in training. However, to do so she has to train a year away from home. She and her cat Jiji find a town by the sea where she learns her true strength and what she can really do to help others. Hayao Miyazaki didn't want to bore the audience during the film's end credits by using just the names. He set it up to be like a mini-sequel so that the audience would leave the theatre feeling happy.

Narratively this has all the traits that one should be familiar with and associate with a Miyazaki film. It has a strong-minded female character at the source of it that young girls can look up to and admire. As a kid, Kiki was my favorite female character of his because I loved her strength and her dedication to what she was good at. She knew that she was still young and had a lot to learn but even though she gets depressed she doesn’t let that stop her in the long run and will still save her love interest Tombo. The romance in this film is by far one of the sweetest. I love the interactions between the characters and the way that they both inspire one another to be better than they are. The idea of flight is basically the focal point of everything. Kiki finds that her best trait is that she flies incredibly well and decides to create her own flying delivery service.

Technically this also has a lot of traits that Miyazaki made a name for himself in doing. The animation is spectacular, especially for Kiki’s flying. I could watch her fly around all day and that was the idea that he was going for while making the film. The sweeping score by Joe Hizashi, especially in my favorite song A Town With An Ocean View, is something that I’ll often listen to outside of the film itself. The sound effects for the film are meant to be calming. From the first sound that you hear of the wind rolling through the reeds while Kiki lies against the grass to the waves when she finally finds a home.

4. Miyazaki as a director has inspired me since I was way too young to even remember. When I was a kid I would pretend to run around my apartment building's front yard imagining that I lived in a big house in front of a camper tree like the one in Totoro. His movies are perfect for children that “suffer” from having an overactive imagination. His movies are everything that is bright and beautiful in the world. The animation never fails to take my breath away, the characters and stories are unforgettable, the soundtracks sweep me away and tell stories themselves. His movies are something that even my parents, who are not anime fans, can watch over and over again. I think that speaks for itself. Miyazaki makes films that are art, not just animated films.

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shespeaksinsongs · 3 years

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Hi!!!

Ok first of all, the bathroom thing was because it wasn’t how it normally was and it freaked me out right before exams, but now exams are done and I’m free!!

Secondly, I feel like I did well on my English exam so that dream helped me and lastly, I’m your age (15).

Thanks for all the messages <3 anyways I’m currently going through a stack of books I got from the library. I’ve started on American royals which is like a super drama filled book about America with kings and queens instead of a president and it is filled with cliches but I love it yk?

Anyways, I’ve ditched a group of friends that felt a bit toxic and my closer friends and I have been like bonding, so that has been great! One of my besties and I have also started like a therapy sesh where we talk about our family and stuff and I think that’s pretty good. I watched the externals last night too! Have you done anything fun in the past week? If you have any movie recs pleaseeee tell me. I have Netflix and Disney plus and so much time rn.

Xoxo,

🍑

Also, sorry for the long message, i was just a bit excited.

YESSSS THAT FEELING IS THE BEST!!!! enjoy your time off bestie!!

i am so glad you did well on your exam. that's a really happy feeling! :) so proud of you. do you think you did well on the other ones or are you trying not to think about it too much?

my cousin recommended i buy american royals and i have it! i just haven't read it :/ please let me know if you like it so i can have motivation to read again! i'm currently reading the secret (manifestation book). it's one of the most classic law of attraction books and i've had it for summer, but just haven't had the time to read. :(

i'm super happy for you on the dumping toxic friends part. it seems like everything is going well, for the most part! talking to close friends about family issues is one thing i couldn't do without. it really helps to get things off your system. how was eternals? i've heard some people didn't like it much! i honestly haven't done anything "fun", but it was fun to me! and so relaxing - i got to write and i've been putting together an extensive document where i record all my spiritual and witchy findings so people that want to learn can read it, too! it's not done yet, but it's been really fun putting it together! if you're interested, i can share the doc with you, too <3 i honestly don't have any movie recs, but here are the ones that i rewatch very often: monster-in-law, maid in manhattan, any twilight movie, but especially the first one, what a girl wants, and wild child. and i have good bad thriller movie recs if you like them - they're mostly psychological thrillers.

no worries! <3

xoxo,

fio

#qt🍑

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mr-mellow-dj · 6 years

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I Never Kew

Cross Posted from FF dot net

As Beckett said she “believes in the everyday magic of life in … the way that I feel when I hear Coltrane”, this is from his album “Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane”. These vignettes come to mind when I hear the songs as played by John Coltrane.

This song is “I Never Knew.” You can hear the song as played by Coltrane, Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb on YouTube.

watch?v=Nd03dS9oMD0

This song is by Ted Fio Rito and Gus Kahn. A version of it being sung by Frank Sinatra is also on YouTube.

watch?v=3UfMojz2j0c

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC television. The lyrics are the property of their respective owners. No infringement is intended.

I never knew

That roses grew,

Or that skies were blue or grey.

I never knew,

When breezes blew,

What a Summer breeze could say.

A/N: A summer sometime in the future

“Mom!”

Kate looked up from her book to see the younger of the twins running toward her from the beach.

“Mom!” Reese said huffing after running. “Mom, we saw some. It was so cool.”

She looked over her 7 year old son’s shoulder to see her husband of 14 years jogging up with the other twin close behind. She looked back at her red faced son smiling.

“You saw some what?” She asked her son.

He responded in earnest, “Dolphins, just beyond where we swim to. There was a whole school of them.”

“Pod.” Kate corrected her son. “And how far out do you swim?”

“What?” Reese asked.

“Pod.” Kate answered.

“Pod what?”

“A group of dolphins is called a ‘pod’.” Kate answered.

By that time Castle and Jake had made it to her lounge chair. Castle leaned down, kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “You’re so hot when you use correct animal groupings.”

Smiling, she gently slapped his chest and said, “Little pitchers.”

Reese, looking between his parents, said, “What are ‘little pitchers’.”

Castle mischievously smiling at his wife turned to his son and said, “I’ll explain when you’re older.”

“Aww, I’m never gonna be older,” Reese whined as he turned and stomped off toward the house.

“Reese, come back please.” Her son still stomping away. “Now!”

He stops knowing that another step will get him into very hot water.

“How far out do you swim?” Kate asks as her mother hen sense goes on high.

Her son, grumbling comes back to his mother but doesn’t answer. He stands beside her chair head down and sighs.

She puts her hand under her son’s chin to look her in the eye.

“How far?”

“Only as far as dad lets us,” Reese smiled turning to his father.

Beckett turns to her husband, “And how far is that, Castle?”

Smiling back at his wife he says, “Not so far as I can’t get to them. And not ankle deep either. I let them explore their abilities without letting them get in too deep.”

“So that’s what dads do. Let their children explore their abilities, huh? Is that another way of saying dads or maybe a specific dad doesn’t pay attention when his kids are out in the ocean? Hmm, Castle?”

“No, it’s a way of saying that mothers smother their children keeping them from discovering the world,” Castle responds ending with a sweeping arm gesture.

“Channeling Martha I see,” Beckett teases.

“What?” Castle innocently asks.

“I don’t think so, Castle,” Kate continues. “No, another way of saying it is: mothers would kill fathers if anything ever happens to a hair on the head of their cubs. Capeesh?”

“Yep,” Castle responds.

“Okay,” Kate turns to her youngest children. “Reese. Jake. Go with your father to wash up. It’s getting close to lunch time. Mama’s hungry so you know what that means.”

“Ahhgg!” Reese yells running toward the house swinging his arms like a windmill. “Feed me Seymour!”

Jake follows close behind as their parents chuckle at the twins antics.

“You’re much cuter than Twoee.” Castle says leaning down and kissing his wife’s head.

“And I figure if anyone gets eaten, it would be me,” He continues waggling his eyebrows.

“Castle,” Kate says playfully slapping his legs. “That’s awful. Good thing little pitchers weren’t here to hear that.”

“What?” Castle said trying to keep an innocent face. “Just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.”

Beckett rolled her eyes at him.

Castle continued, “I said nothing about whether I enjoyed it or not.” Whispering in her ear, “And believe me, I do.”

Standing up Castle held his hand out. “M’ lady.”

Beckett grasped his hand and pulled herself up. “Thank you, kind sir,” She said as she kissed his cheek and the pair followed their sons inside.

I never knew

That dreams came true

And took your cares away

I never knew

What love could do,

Until I met you today.

A/N: Another summer sometime further in the future

Castle sat down in the Adirondack chair on the back lawn at the Hamptons house and gazed over the ocean. The weekend had been a great success for him and his extended family.

The key members of the crew from the 12th had come by. Lanie and her husband and their 3 kids. Javi and his wife and theirs. Ryan and Jennie with Sarah Grace and her husband and Nick and his fiancée. Even retired Chief Gates and her husband had come.

Alexis had a flight to catch out of JFK back to Chicago so she left first. Lily, Reese and Jake were the last to leave. But all had left by mid-afternoon to try to beat some of the Sunday evening traffic back into the city. Beckett and Castle had ferried some of them to the nearby Long Island Railroad station. The rest were driving back.

Castle sat in the chair with the afterglow of a fun time with all his friends and family. Friends that liked him for being himself, Rick Rodgers, not the best-selling author, Richard Castle.

His brothers-in-arms still called him ‘Castle’ but his best-selling author fame or fortune weren’t why they were his friend, unless the Ferrari was involved. With age came the realization that they weren’t kids anymore that they didn’t need access to the mid-life crisis car, and that was emphasized the last time they tried to extract themselves from the seemingly lower than they remembered driver’s seat.

He’d kept the Ferrari for ‘old time’s sake’ but hadn’t driven it in a couple of years. Kate drove it when they were out in the Hamptons but it mostly lay dormant in the garage.

Castle rides around the island with her occasionally remembering that sinfully short and tight midnight blue dress she wore while driving it during a case. If Beckett pushed him, he would give up that that was the only reason he kept the car.

He chuckled remembering all the fun times he had at the 12th.

“What’s so funny, Castle?” Asked Beckett.

“I never thanked him, you know,” Castle said to his wife of almost 30 years.

“Thanked who?” Beckett asked as she sat down in her husband’s lap. She wrapped her arms around his head and kissed him.

Still lost in thought, Castle answered. “I never thanked him.”

Kate pushed herself away so that she could see his face. She looked at Rick dumbfounded. “What are you talking about?”

“I never thanked him for his murders.”

“You never thanked him for killing people?” Kate asked. “Have you been in the sun too long?”

“Nope, never better,” Castle responded. “I’m feeling great right now. Great for being … uh, how old am I … 74 years old.”

“Ohhh kay,” Beckett said drawing out the ‘O’ and the ‘K’. “Who did you never thank? Jerry Tyson? Surely not William Bracken.”

“No. No. No.” Castle adamantly responded. “No. And never them. They’re ones that shouldn’t have seen the light of day. No. I’m talking about Harrison Tisdale. He’s the one I should be thanking.”

“So you never thanked Harrison Tisdale for what was it? Killing his sister and two other people? Castle, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yes it does,” Castle says. “It makes perfect sense.”

Beckett looked at him sideways as if to say “what crazy thought is he having now.”

Castle continues, “While it wasn’t perfect for his victims, it made my life perfect.”

Still looking at her husband, “Okay, I’ll bite. Why did it make your life perfect?”

Castle lovingly looks into Beckett’s eyes and says, “It actually made my dreams come true. Because if Harrison Tisdale hadn’t murdered his sister and two other people, making murder scenes look like those from my books, you would never had recognized them and come to my ‘Derrick Storm’ book launch party and arrested me. So probably we would never had met. That’s why I should thank him.”

“What about you always talking about ‘The Universe’? Saying that we were destined to be together. That we being together brought harmony to ‘The Universe’. What about that, hmm?”

Castle pondered for a moment. “You may have a point there, Beckett.”

Castle tapped his chin, thinking about what his wife said. “You know, though, sometimes ‘The Universe’ needs a little nudge to help it along. Tisdale did that.”

“A nudge, huh?”

“Yeah. Nudge. Prod. Push. Bump. Jolt. Yeah, nudge.”

Chuckling she continues, “Well thank you, Mr. Thesaurus.”

“I am a writer.”

With false surprise Beckett says, “You’re a writer? Who knew?”

“Mock all you like, Beckett. I feel like Rodney Dangerfield.”

Castle moves his left hand up to his neck as if to adjust an invisible necktie, “I never get any respect.”

“No respect, huh? Is that what you’re going with now?”

“Yes?” Castle answers sheepishly.

Standing up, Beckett says, “Well, now that the kids and friends are gone. I can think of something or maybe someone else that needs to be nudged. Prodded. Pushed.”

Castle stands up and wraps his arms around her waist, responding, “You do? Hmm, who could that be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should go upstairs and see what we can discover.”

“Discovery is nice,” Castle says. “Especially when it is the two of us discovering. Maybe some uncovering is involved?”

“I think that could be arranged,” Beckett responds, kissing her husband.

“Oh, goody,” Castle says rubbing his hands together.

“But not if you say ‘Oh, goody’ again.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Holding out her hand to him she says, “Come on. Let’s go inside.”

Grasping her hand in his he responds, “Beckett, I’d follow you anywhere.”

#Castle #castle fanfiction

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twinmoles · 7 years

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Get to know me tag ^^

I keep forgetting to do these tag games that everyone keeps tagging me in I’m sorry alsdkfjhjklhsdf (midterms are making it hard to even think properly). I thought that since three people have already tagged me in this challenge, I might as well finally do it, so thanks @jbssi @kingdans and @danielsoftgf (this is like a month late o//o )

RULES: ANSWER 30 QUESTIONS THEN TAG 20 BLOGS

1) Nicknames | fi, fio, ona (there’s honestly not a lot you can do with my name) 2) Gender | Female 3) Star Sign | Taurus 4) Height | 157cm (I think? Somewhere between 5′2 and 5′3) 5) Time | 20:18 6) Birthday | May 11 7) Favourite bands | Kpop: Got7, Wanna One, Bigbang, BTS | lol I haven’t listened to English music in like 3 years but if I were going by those bands, it would mostly be OneRepublic, Hedley, Caravan Palace, The Family Crest 8) Favourite solo artists | Defsoul ;), Taeyang, Dean, Heize, Eminem, George Erza, Halsey 9) Song stuck in my head | Here come the Regrets - Epik High ft Lee Hi (holy shit this song is so haunting) 10) Last movie I watched | La La Land (I’m honestly not a huge movie watcher so I think this was the last movie I watched with friends during the summer) 11) Last show I watched | Running Man (lmao just watched Daniel’s episode) 12) When did I create my blog | This year in February 13) What do I post | gifs, edits, photos, posts about me dying from everything 14) Last thing googled | “Is tumblr down” (this hellsite is finally giving up on us like how we’ve given up on it) 15) Do you have any other blogs? | I have my main @dsoulxxx that I didn’t make my actual blog (there’s just too much random shit from 5 years of lurking on it), @yourdailydaniel (I’m basically a daniel archive so I decided to put my 6k photos of daniel to good use), and I help mod @fywannaone (but most of us have been pretty busy for the past few months) 16) Do you get asks? | I have my lovely sweetheart anon who never fails to bring some colour to my day. Feel free to send me asks! but please don’t ask about ch+ 17) Why did you choose your URL? | It’s a mix of Jaebum (defsoul) and Daniel (Danik) (it helps that Daniel also had realdefdanik as his insta username) 18) Following | Around 150 19) Followers | They’re amazing and I love you all :D 20) Favourite Colours | #00698f + black/white 21) Average Hours of Sleep | 5-6 Hours 22) Lucky Number | 7 or 11 23) Instruments | piano, clarinet, alto sax, and a bit of drums 24) What am I wearing? | An XXL hoodie I got during my uni’s firesale and fleece pyjama pants 25) How many blankets do I sleep with? | One 26) Dream job | UI/UX Designer for a tech company or a photographer (it’s time to become a professional fansite) 27) Dream trip | Korea or Europe 28) Favourite food | Ramen (instant and real) 29) Nationality | Chinese (Hong Kong!) 30) Favourite song right now | 🥛

I’m just gonna tag a few people since I can’t remember who has or hasn’t done this tag yet: @minhwangs @extraongdinary @ongdan @ongniel-wanpire @imjaebeomtrash @kangdanielrant + anyone else who feels like doing it ^^

#text #tag game #well this like 5ever to do #but everyone needs to listen to here come the regrets #holy shit that song is amazing #thanks for tagging me in this ^^

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latesthollywoodnews · 6 years

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Little Mix TEASE NEW Song From #LM5 & Fans Freak Out

Jeremy Brown - Latest News - My Hollywood News

Little Mix TEASE NEW Song From #LM5 & Fans Freak Out, Pixar News.

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Latest Celebrities 2019, Hollywood Celebrities 2017, Little Mix TEASE NEW Song From #LM5 & Fans Freak Out.

A Wrinkle In Time Film New And Upcoming Celebrities Celebrities by Hollywood Celebrities Anywhere is a digital film locker for Hollywood, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars-branded films in the United States. It allows for the storage of digital Celebrity rights via purchases from providers such as iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft, Amazon Video, and Verizon Fios. Rights to titles can also be added via redemption of Hollywood Celebrities Rewards “Magic/Action Codes” from select titles that provide either a digital HD download or digital copy. The service allows consumers to redeem films produced by Walt Hollywood Pictures, Walt Hollywood Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Hollywoodnature, and Lucasfilm, all owned by the Walt Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Celebrities Anywhere allows streaming of content over the web or mobile apps, along with access to the title through the linked accounts in participating providers. It is powered by a proprietary digital rights system called KeyChest.

Can you watch Hollywood Celebrities anywhere without Internet?

Downloading a Celebrity from the Hollywood Celebrities Anywhere app saves the video file onto your device so you can watch it without an Internet connection. You will need to be connected to the Internet to download your Celebrity. Once you have finished downloading, you can watch your downloaded Celebrities offline and on the go.

How can I watch Celebrities on my phone without using data?

Download videos to your Android device, iPhone, or iPad 1. Make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi or your mobile network. 2. Open the Google Play Celebrities & TV app . 3. Tap Menu Library. 4. Next to the Celebrity or TV episode you’d like to download, touch the download icon.

Why was Hollywoodland created?

With limited finances, Walt had to find affordable land. It was also important that his park be located near a major highway. In August of 1953, Hollywood and his partners selected a 160-acre orange grove in Anaheim, California to be the site of Hollywoodland. The construction of Hollywoodland began during the summer of 1954.

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Alright Little Mixers, enough time has passed since the girls came through with their song “Only You” last month, and we think it’s time for another taste of what we can expect from their upcoming album, which has so far been dubbed “LM5.”

Well, it seems like Little Mix agrees because just yesterday they took to Instagram to tease a sassy new track, which already sounds like the girl power anthem of our dreams.

In the teaser they posted, the girls are sitting in the back of an SUV nodding along to the new song as Jesy’s part comes in, saying, QUOTE, “I don’t need a man, I put my own rock on my hand.” OKAY… we see you, ladies!!!

Of course, this teaser combined with the track they released just last month has fans itching for LM5 to drop ASAP. After watching the teaser, one fan on Twitter wrote, QUOTE, “It’s confirmed LM5 will be their best album,” with another fan adding, “IT’S COMING!!!”

As much as we wish the album were here already, it seems like we’re still going to have to wait a bit… mostly because the girls haven’t set a release date yet! However, back in February Leigh Anne did let it slip that the album WILL be released in 2018, so we doubt we’ll have to wait much longer.

Even though we’ve only gotten a small sampling of what to expect from LM5, it’s clear that the ladies are more confident than ever before. Just a couple of days ago, for example, Perrie posted a selfie that showed off her freckles in all of their glory, revealing that she no longer wants to hide them under makeup. You go girl!

Anyways, how excited are you guys about the upcoming album? Did you love the teaser as much as we did? As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks for watching! Please Click to the right to watch another new Video and don’t forget to subscribe to our channels. I’m your host Drew Dorsey and I’ll see you next time!

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Latest Hollywood English Celebrities 2017 New English Films, Little Mix TEASE NEW Song From #LM5 & Fans Freak Out.

Hollywood continued to focus its talents on television throughout the 1950s. Its weekday afternoon children’s television program The Mickey Mouse Club, featuring its roster of young “Mouseketeers”, premiered in 1955 to great success, as did the Davy Crockett miniseries, starring Fess Parker and broadcast on the Hollywoodland anthology show. Hollywood Celebrities Recut Latest Story, Little Mix TEASE NEW Song From #LM5 & Fans Freak Out.

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ramialkarmi · 7 years

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I'm finally going to cut the cord–because of Phil Jackson and James Dolan

Lots of people are ditching cable these days. They're often sick of the big bills, or paying for loads of channels they never watch. Or maybe they are just finding themselves spending more time with various streaming services.

I'm finally ready to cut the cord myself, and it is because of Phil Jackson.

Let me explain.

I just came back from covering the Cannes advertising festival. It's a chaotic week filled with press events, dinners, parties, and then more parties. It's stressful enough without spending an hour each night before you go to bed on Twitter searching "Knicks" again and again. But that's what I was doing.

I found myself asking people I bumped into at the airport yesterday whether they were Knicks fans so I could find someone to talk to.

It felt hard being away at Cannes, while a series of terrifying Knicks trade rumors were blowing up. As if there was something I could do about it.

When I got home on Thursday night, sure, I was excited to see my wife and kids after being away for a week, but I was also deeply anxious about whether the Knicks were really going to trade their 21-year old phenom Kristaps Porzingis.

This is not healthy. For me or my family. Funny enough, my wife wasn't so jazzed to watch the NBA Draft with me last night while I bit my nails and texted friends about how "if they trade him this is it for me."

This is sad, and it needs to stop

Ultimately, despite intense swirls or rumors right up until the end, the Knicks didn't trade Porzingis. But the fact that team president Phil Jackson actually thought about it, and that Knicks owner James Dolan was cool with this, was enough for me.

I needed to pay them back for the pain, somehow, and end the relationship.

How do you hurt a team? Particularly one that Forbes ranks as one of the most valuable in sports despite going 80-166 since Jackson became president three years ago?

I could say I'm not going to buy tickets anymore. But truthfully, I rarely buy Knicks tickets. And as a spoiled brat media reporter, I sometimes get to go to games for free. So that kind of vow isn't hurting anybody.

But if I cut cable, MSG Network – which Dolan owns – loses my subscriber fee. The New York Post says that cable providers pay MSG $5 a month for each subscriber.

Take that Dolan and Phil.

It's time anyhow. Every time my wife and I start another Netflix binge, I wonder why we keep cable. I tell myself the bundle is convenient, and I don't have to think about it. My kids watch lots of on-demand Nickelodeon and Disney shows.

But one of the main reasons I hang on is that I want MSG Network and Yes Network so I can watch the Knicks and Yankees (the Giants are mostly on free TV). The Yankees have been good to me, but the Knicks have been abusive. So following this Porzingis insanity, what better time to ditch Verizon Fios and go for YouTube TV, or Sling TV, or DirecTV Now, or Crackle Gold Plus or whatever other skinny bundle offering launches in the next week. A clean break for a happier life.

40 years of heartbreak

For the non-NBA fan, there's a lot to unpack here, but let me try and help.

I was born a long time ago. November of 1973 to be specific. That means I missed the last Knicks championship by roughly five months. I hear it was great. Phil Jackson, by the way, was a player on that team.

Let's be fair. The Knicks don't have a Cubs or Red Sox type losing streak going. But for NBA standards, being a Knick fan becomes ever more tragic every year.

When I was in high school and college, the Knicks had Patrick Ewing playing center and were briefly coached by Pat Reilly. Then, they seriously owned New York City, but they were still consistently tortured by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. It was an endless stream of maddening heartbreak that battered my youth.

There was the time they gave up a 2-to-0 series lead on Jordan's Bulls. I can still remember Charles Smith failing to dunk like 11 times in a row. Losing in the 1994 Finals to the Houston Rockets when the Knicks were up 3-2, with the beloved John Starks having a nightmarish game seven.

It gets worse

There was Indiana Pacer legend and Knick tormenter Reggie Miller scoring eight points in nine seconds in a 1995 playoff game that led to a broken chair in my college apartment. They ruined my graduation day by losing a conference final to the Pacers on a missed Ewing finger-roll. They lost a playoff series against the Miami Heat because of a huge brawl. The got smoked by the Spurs in the 1999 finals.

Those were the best days.

Then, at the turn of the millennium, media baron James Dolan took control of the Knicks. Since then, it has been 17 years of constant garbage and increasing irrelevance. You can sum it up with the fact that sportswriters have debated the question "Is this the worst Knicks team ever?" multiple times. There was also a serious sexual harassment suit that the team settled for $11.6 million, as well as the entire debacle that was Detroit Piston legend Isiah Thomas running the team into the ground as a coach and a general manager.

Then they spent two seasons trying to sign LeBron James and never getting close to signing LeBron James. Things seemingly bottomed out (everything with the Knicks is seemingly) when the Knicks won just 17 games out of 82 two years ago.

And then, fortune struck. The Knicks drafted Kristaps Porzingis, a lanky Latvian nobody had ever seen play.

He is 7 foot 3, but moves like a guard. He can fly into nasty dunks, and shoot three pointers. Best of all he is fearless and wants to be great and play in New York. He looks like a future All Star and maybe even one of the best players in the league if he develops right (he's only 21).

Why?

And yesterday Phil Jackson wanted to trade him.

Why? Because he missed an exit interview. And he wouldn't call Phil back.

Porzingis is mad at the Knicks for their directionless dysfunction (like when Dolan had Knicks great Charles Oakely kicked out of the Garden by bouncers earlier this year), and for the fact that Jackson wants to play the ancient triangle offense.

Porzingis seems to think he knows better about how the Knicks should be run.

Phil, he's a millennial! (j/k millennials, you're great).

Jackson was going to trade Porzingis for draft picks. Everyone in the NBA thought this was perfectly insane. Draft picks are maybes. Greg Oden was picked number one, and he was out of the NBA in a few years. Steph Curry was picked 7th, and has been an MVP. A few years ago, the Knicks had a guy named Derrick Williams on the team who'd been a former number two pick. Never heard of him? The guy keeps changing teams, and let's just say it's not because he's going to the Hall of Fame.

Porzingis is really good, in reality. You never trade young talent like this. But Jackson almost did. And Dolan couldn't care less. (When Jeff Bezos tweeted the other day asking for philanthropic ideas, I thought about tweeting back "please buy the Knicks.")

Someone asked me, wasn't Jackson a brilliant coach? He was. But before the Knicks job he'd never worked a day in the front office. That's a big change! I've written about the ad industry for a long time. Doesn't means somebody should hire me to run Pinterest.

Yet it's one thing for a team to have an incompetent president. But Jackson seems to be doing this stuff because he actually hates the fans and wants to hurt us.

Yes, ultimately Porzingis didn't get traded. But it sure sounds like he almost did (he's got to be really excited to come back next season). And Jackson and Dolan couldn't care less what people think.

Why put paying customers through all that?

We could all scream and say we're not going to the Garden next year. But Knicks fans overall are total suckers. Go to any game, watch the Knicks lose by 20 and the place will be packed.

So I need to do something more drastic. I'm out completely. I'm cutting the cord and cutting the Knicks and MSG out of my life. Sure, my wife will miss watching Real Cowgirls of Idaho on Bravo. But we'll find something to stream.

It's over.

Right after I just watch a couple of the team's summer league games next month to see if this French point guard they got can play. Well, and the Yankees this summer (Aaron Judge looks amazing!). And just a couple of the early season Knicks games in October.

Then I'm out.

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thegreatduggo · 7 years

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Closing Time and Closing a Chapter on my Condo - Farewell 610 Monroe....

I went down to the old apartment (allusion to reference anyone?) on Thursday to wrap things up for the closing. My primarily task was to paint over a large stain on the ceiling from a plumbing failure from the apartment above back in 2015.

The new owners were worried that there might be material damage behind this - noooo, it's just a stain.... But, because it was a stain, it needed effective coverage, so I applied 3 coats worth in 2 sessions. I used a good quality primer, partly because that was the only matt white paint that I had, but partly because a good primer has good stain coverage and good adhesion. I took out the recessed lighting surrounds out so that I could get solid coverage around the lights as well. It only takes a few minutes and it’s well worth it and quicker than using tape.

I ended up feeling a compunction to fix a few other things in the condo while I was there.....because that's what I do.... and it is my apartment....but not really at this point.

The tenants had filled in the screw holes and I wish they hadn't. They had smeared about 4 square inches of filler over each screw hole - just crap. I wanted to fix it and if I had another week I might have done it, but with one day left, it didn’t make sense. The apartment had been cleaned and the tenants were complimentary about the cleaners, but it wasn't good detail cleaning in my book. Again, it's not my problem, but it still bugged me. I ended up cleaning the top of the fridge which was just too filthy but I couldn’t get into the whole deal. I sorted out the drooping shower-head and extension arm - it just needed re-positioning and tightening, but like my tenants, most people don't know this is a simple problem easily fixed. They'd probably buy a new shower-head for no good reason.

The last job I planned to do in the apartment was to replace the missing door stop springs. Some were missing and some were bent. Again, it's only a few minutes work, but if I don't do it, they'll probably bash holes in the walls for no good reason. I had spares in my stash so I used those. They’re white rather than gold or silver, I mean why would you accent a door-stop? I ordered these in bulk of Amazon because they don’t stock them in Home Depot, but I’ve installed all that I need in my house.

After that, I finished up a few jobs in the condo common areas. I had replaced a lot of the broken spring-close hinges in the condo a few months before but I had not finished the job. Spring hinges have a limited lifespan and the springs break after several years. I had bought a full replacement inventory off Amazon for a bargain $40 a set (3 hinges). There are 8 doors in total. I'd done 6 of them, but last door I was working on had a corroded hinge screw from Hurricane Sandy that I couldn't remove.

I planned to come back and use an impact driver to get it out, but when I tried that, the driver just bounced off the metal frame and did nothing. Later, I tried two special screw removal tools that I have in my collection and they were completely ineffective. In the end, I just drilled the screw-head off and was able to replace the hinge. There was nothing left of the old screw to extract it so I installed the hinge with 2 out of 3 screws which is enough to hold the hinge in place without issue.

This door is a fire-door, but the residents don't like it because it gets in the way of their strollers. I find it mind-boggling because these are the same people that get all worked up about building security but if a fire swept up the stairs, this door would be the last barrier before their apartments but they'd rather prop it open. It's definitely an example of cognitive dissonance.

Because of this, I had purchased a built-in door-prop - that was probably 10 years pr more ago - but I never fitted it. I thought it was going to be a bit tricky to install and I had prevaricated on it. So now, I tracked it down in my stash. It took me all of 10 minutes to install and it worked perfectly. Why did I wait so long? It was basically trepidation - fear that the job would not go smoothly and that I’d get into a mess.

I had just recently had the phone lines for the fire-alarm panel upgraded to FIOS - something that I had coordinated. Sounds simple, but it's not, Verizon are a shambles and you need to know how to deal with them and in most cases, it takes a few iterations, but this time it all worked.

Due to city ordinance, we have 2 fire-alarm panels for one building and the new installations were done by different technicians on the same day (go figure!). One job was good but the other one was shite. On the bad one, the tech hadn't even replaced the substantial metal cover on the Verizon termination box. One of the cables was routed outside the box, and that stopped the cover going back on. Absolutely useless! I rerouted the problem cable through the exit port and reinstalled the cover. I reworked the power supply cables so that the power strip was not hanging under its own weight which was dislodging the power cables. And lastly, I sorted out the condo vacuum cleaner. One of the residents told me that it was broken yet again. I wasn't very surprised to find that it was simply that it was clogged up internally. The first time this happened I explained to one of the residents what the problem was and how to fix it. As far as I was concerned it was all pretty clear-cut and she said she would keep an eye on it and keep it clean. Job done....or so I thought.

A few months later she tells me it's broken again and I was rather surprised to find it was the exact same problem.

I don't like wafflers. I like to state things clearly and concisely and not waste time on bloviation. This is how I like things done, but I'm also aware that some people don't listen unless they are beaten over the head with it. So, I went round to the condo and walked her through how to fix it - that'll do it for sure, I thought. Apparently not, it was the exact same problem again and she had no pause for thought in declaring it broken. How do you deal with people like this? She is intelligent and reasonable but yet here are these basic basic failures to process simple information.

If you extrapolate this to less intelligent or educated people, it's no wonder that we run into big problems with people failing to understand politics and how politics affects their own personal situations. The Condo Assoc has been an eye-opener to me in this regard. A bunch of mostly rational, intelligent and reasonable people that operates in almost total dysfunction. I basically gave up on trying to get my points across in the end. The only way I got things done was just by doing them unilaterally and getting them right so that people would accept them after they were done.

I looked after the whole condo lock, stock and barrel for 8 years and I can tell you it ran a lot damn smoother and cheaper than it does now, with every fucker meddling in everything. These days we have meetings that are formal and well-organized with an agenda and proper minutes. But, everyone just talks and talks and nothing meaningful seems to get agreed and then they say we need another meeting because we didn’t cover everything. And I’m wriggling in my seat desperate to get out of there.

We have one apartment agitating to do work on the back garden and that’s great and it’s tough to argue against but it seems to be inordinately expensive for the work that they do, like $500 to remove a tree stump. I didn’t even want the tree removed in the first place. They’ve spent thousands of dollars on it and it’s not earth-shattering stuff. And on top of that, I don’t use it so it’s of no interest to me.

I'll admit that I did make some mistakes with the condo, although not many. Most of what I have done has been cheap and effective and I’ve cut some really good deals, albeit some rocky rides, but it’s all come good in the end.

My biggest mistake was a bad judgment call and a tactical failure with the garage door. The original door had an auto-close timer on it, so what would happen is that people would open the door, then fanny around for too long starting their car and pissing around, then drive into the door as it started to close. I liked the auto-close because it stops people forgetting to close the door altogether, so I wouldn’t change anything, I would just try to educate people but it didn’t work and I fixed that door on at least 10 occasions, replacing 2,3,4 or 5 busted hinges at a time. There are 3 different types of hinges on a garage door and whenever I was in Home Depot I would pick up a few of the hinge types I was low on and maintain a decent inventory at all times.

What I should have done is just increase the timers on the door close timers, but I never touched them, not even as an experiment. Why didn’t I do that? It would have been so simple - turn a couple of nobs and that would have been it. I didn’t do it because I wanted people to just be sensible about it even though it clearly wasn’t working. Doubling the time or maybe tripling it would probably have avoided 90% of the incidents we had that I had to fix. How annoying.

Sure the door would have been open longer and opportunists could sneak in while these selectively paranoid and vacant people just drive off without waiting, but overall it would have been a more sensible position that would have saved me a lot of trouble. Futile stubbornness on my part - albeit, justified.

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