#i legit don’t know how to look natural because i am so unused to my natural face

[whiteprairieroses]

♡ ♡ ♡

[disgruntledspacedad]

Better Love Notes

If you’re confused about location, timing, or characters in my Narcos AU series Better Love, this is the post for you.

Better Love is an AU reader insert series that begins midway through Narcos season two. Because it is AU, and because Narcos is complicated af anyway, I wanted to take some time to clarify what things in Better Love will be different than what you're used to seeing in the show.

Hannah “Ears” Aarons

First, I think it’s important to clarify that Ears is more of an OC written in second person than she is a generic reader insert. I might refer to her as “you,” but Ears has a name, a face claim, a backstory, and a huge personality. If that bothers you loads, I totally understand and you’re free to duck out at any point, but don’t come at me. If you have specific questions regarding Ears’ background, personality, physical appearance, family history, or whatever else, get with me privately. I would love to introduce you to my chaotic sunshine child.

Official Job Title: Ears is officially an employee of the CIA, but she is not an agent (read: spy). She was brought to Colombia to be a liaison between Centra Spike, the DEA, and the CIA. She introduces herself to Search Bloc by saying, "I'll be your ears," but in reality, she was put in place to be Bill Strechner’s ears. More on that later. She has a background with the US Army that's basically useless (desk job), a ton of training and zero practical experience with flyover recon and radiofrequency tracking, and she's itching to do something real with her life.

Timing

Ears arrives in Bogotá around August of 1992 and falls in bed with Peña pretty much immediately. Horacio Carillo did die recently, but Javi did not start working with Los Pepes and Don Berna until November of 1992. Assume all of the drama with Martinez Jr. and Los Pepes took place around the time that he and Ears were on the outs - that's just another factor that led Javi to make the emotional, rash decision to work with the cartels that he winds up regretting.

There is actually a one year span of time between season two, episode six and the end of the show. Pretty much the entirety of Better Love (for now) takes place during this year, so if it seems like I’m really stretching things out, that’s actually because the show mushed it all together. I promise, guys, I have done my research here.

Locations

The majority of scenes in Better Love will take place in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia. It’s important to keep Bogotá separate from Medellín, which is where the nit and grit of the hunt for Escobar takes place. 

Getting to Medellín from Bogotá requires a one hour flight or an eight hour drive (Colombia is roughly twice the size of Texas, fyi). For a gringo, driving around the cities was dangerous, but driving outside the cities was suicide. Javi and Steve might take planes, or they might take an armored chopper, depends on my mood when I'm writing. Assume there's a landing strip nearby the embassy, because I'm lazy like that.

The U.S. Embass(ies): Centra Spike, Search Bloc, and the DEA office are all housed in the old embassy building that's basically right across from the new one (the super upscale nice one that actually functions as an embassy). 

There's a lot of confusion and shuffling around in the show, so I wanted to clarify what goes where (also, the real Murphy and Peña had offices in the old, unused embassy, so this is sort of legit). For simplicity's sake, I am assuming that CNP (Colombian National Police) headquarters are also in or nearby this building. Ears might refer to "headquarters," "the office," or "the embassy," and it's all the same place. Basically, everything is centrally located in Bogotá, and when I refer to “the DEA office,” or “Javi’s office,” picture it from season one - two desks that are not shoved on top of each other, with glass windows and real filing cabinets. The CIA is also located here, as is Strechner's office and the fabled White Room.

These buildings are in Bogotá, nearby Peña’s and Murphy's apartments. I will differentiate between the New, Swanky, Functional U.S. Embassy by capitalizing it and giving it its full title. If I say “embassy,” assume I’m talking about the older one where Javi and Ears are based.

The Carlos Holguin School: This is the base of Search Bloc operations in Medellín, and the primary location that we see in season two of the show. Think of it almost as a military base - training grounds, barracks, bare-bones, no a/c, shitty food. Javi and Steve often stay at "the school" overnight while conducting operations in Medellín. They might also refer to this as “camping” or “the camp,” or “base.” It sucks balls. This is where Javi and Steve have their messy, shoved on top of each other desks that we tend to associate with the show. Javi and Steve still work from here just as often as we see in canon, there just won’t be as many scenes in this location because Ears is never there. 

Javi’s apartment: Javi and Steve primarily live in Bogotá. This is the same apartment building that you see in season one, with the big steps in front of the building and then an even larger set of stairs inside. There is also a big set of stairs on the back end of the building that leads to an underground parking garage (we see this in the season one finale, where Steve gets snatched by Navegante). This building is a five minute walk to the U.S. Embassy, but Javi and Steve mostly chose to drive for safety and convenience. It’s in a pretty decent part of Bogotá. There is one small canon deviation in regards to the apartments: in Better Love, Javi lives upstairs, across from Steve’s front door instead of below him like we see in the show. They share a large front landing. I just really liked the idea of Javi having a view of the city from his bedroom window.

Ears’ apartment: Ears lives in a tiny little flat on top of a drug store, a place that she found on her own through the friend of a work friend. It’s also in a decent part of Bogotá, but not quite as safe or upscale as Javi’s. It’s about a ten minute hike from the embassy and fifteen minutes from Javi’s place.

Miscellaneous 

CIA/DEA Collaboration: The relationship between the CIA and the DEA in Colombia was not pretty. The show makes it look like a personal conflict between Strechner and Peña, but in reality, it was so much deeper than that. These two organizations have opposing goals, and communication and sharing of information was a real problem. Basically, they squabble more than they collaborate, and there was a lot of backstabbing, underhanded fuckery, and generally getting in each other's way. Naturally, this is going to create tension between Ears and Javi.

Bill Stechner: The show makes it clear that Bill doesn’t give a shit about Escobar or the cartels except in regards to the power dynamics they create, but let me reiterate here - his primary goal in Colombia is to keep it from becoming a communist state. That’s all he wants.

OC Sicarios: Don't get Velasco (canon sicario) mixed up with Verdugo (my OC sicario). They are different characters. Verdugo is the guy who features in The Rules of Engagement. 

Feo is another sicario who is an OC. More updates on him later.

Canon Deviations in Better Love

Series spoilers from this point on. I’m going to take it fic by fic, so if you haven’t read something and don’t want to be spoiled, stop at the bold print. Again, Better Love is super fucking plotty, so I thought it was only fair to give you guys a reference sheet. Lord knows I need one, too.

The Rules of Engagement: Introduces Ears. Horacio Carillo did die recently, but Javi’s role in his death is undetermined/not mentioned. Javi does start working with Los Pepes during Rules, but only after he and Ears have their fallout. All of the bullshit with Martinez Jr. and the Castaño brothers takes place during the time that Javi and Ears aren’t speaking.

Aftershocks: Establishes with certainty that Javi is working with the cartels. His primary contact with Los Pepes is Don Berna. This is going to be critical later. Also establishes that Don Berna has more connection to the Cali cartel than he does in canon. 

Yours: Establishes that Connie Murphy is a badass biker bitch with a heart of gold, because I think the show did her dirty. She loves Steve and Steve loves her. Ears and Stechner get to know each other a little better, and Javi doesn’t like this one bit. Ears starts thinking about a leak in Search Bloc, and how dangerous that might be for Javi.

Bang: Javier Peña gives Ears a shady ass, probably trafficked gun for her protection. We don’t know details of where he got it. Solidifies the bro/sis relationship between Steve and Ears. Implies heavily that Javi is doing some shady things with some shady folks. A light introduction to the theme of weapons trafficking in Colombia, which was a massive problem that is barely even mentioned in the show. It will feature heavily in Better Love.

The Shoebox: Introduces the character of Arturo, Ana Delgado’s shady older brother. Ears starts wondering if Ana knows more than she should. Confirms that the Fernando Duque arc does take place in Better Love, and that Javi is genuinely torn up by it like he is in canon. This leads Ears to start thinking more deeply about that leak in Search Bloc, and she begins to actively collect evidence with the intention of sniffing out the rat and keeping Javi safe. Mentions sex trafficking, a major problem in Colombia at the time, and also a minor theme later on in Better Love.

Shit Hits the Fan: Establishes that Arturo Delgado is actually a hitman working with Los Pepes, and that he and Javi have gone on some raids together. Javi is desperate to keep this a secret from Ears, who is friends with Ana, both for her protection and because he’s kind of ashamed of how deep he’s in with Los Pepes. Establishes that in the wake of the Ferando Duque debacle, the Castaño brothers did not reach out to Stechner for help, but instead decided to put a hit out on Javi to either kill or scare him off. Javi is no longer working with Los Pepes, but he never did find out that Stechner was the one who set him up in the first place.

The White Room: Bill Stechner reveals to Ears that her purpose in Colombia is to be his own personal spy on the DEA. He is investigating a mysterious sicario named Feo in relation to a massive russian weapons ring. Bill wants Ears to report everything that the DEA learns about Feo because he suspects that Feo might have connections with FARC, a communist guerrilla group that is Stechner’s public enemy number one. Ears realizes that she’s in deep shit, and also realizes the depth of the resentment between the DEA and the CIA, and how much their goals in Colombia actually oppose. Stechner is revealed to be a real bag of dicks here.

Closing notes

Whew, okay. I will update this post periodically if more information becomes necessary or if you guys have questions, and I’ll reblog it if I do. I’m going to go ahead and tag my taglist folks in this, just because it’s a huge information dump. Of course, you probably don't need to know these things to get the gist of what’s going on in Better Love, but if you’re a chronic overanalyzer like me, it might be helpful. 

Also, let me know if you guys want a list of the characters who are major players in the series. I know I had to make one for myself but I wasn’t sure if posting it would be overkill (this is probably already overkill, tbh).

Tags: @jedi-mando, @aerolanya, @pikemoreno, @bitchin-beskar, @mostly-megan, @huliabitch, @starsandmando, @starlight-starwrites​, @thirstworldproblemss, @knittingqueen13, @yespolkadotkitty

Javier Peña tags: @magpie-to-the-morning, @tiffdawg, @danniburgh, @1800-fight-me

Mad love to you guys if you’ve stuck around for this long.

[winter-fox-queen]

The Wheel

Summary:  Alejandro returns to his old ways.  We learn more about his relationships -- both with You and the attendant.

Warnings:  A tiny mention of sex.  Angst. The two main characters outside of Alejandro are female.

One more part after this!  Thanks to the amazing @hnt-escape for her amazing work, both with the poem and the collage. Please read her poem here.

Heists are…tricky.

In movies they are always these well timed, meticulously planned, huge plots where every possible problem was considered, every second accounted for.

And, in movies, these things usually end with explosions and gunfire.

Alejandro was not, by nature, a guns and explosions kind of guy. His parents had been firm on their commandments. 1. If you need guns to make this work, you don’t need to get involved. 2. A target had to always be wealthy…you never messed with anyone who could be completely destroyed, or had families who could be destroyed. 3. A middleclass asshole could always be the exception. 4. You can’t con an honest person.

He put on his last clean outfit, short sleeves to match the day, and sat in the open window, and had a think.

He couldn’t contact you. You were too close to the situation, and he didn’t need anyone seeing you, connecting the dots when things happened.

He thought of his PI license that he’d tried so hard to get...and to get honestly. After all these years, taking pictures of bored spouses in cheap hotel rooms seemed positively wholesome. Relaxing, even.

There was another rule. Ruse 5: If you have two close calls within a year of each other, it is time to get out. His father had not practiced what he preached, with that one, and the third close call. Well. That had been the end. A very, very bad end.

He’d taken time off from the whole thing to take care of his mother in her last years. Spreading out their savings. Maybe that was what happened. I tried to get back into the life and I’d just…lost it. That something that separated the con men from the cons in prison.

Maybe this is going to be the third time unlucky. It would be fitting, for my luck to finally run out in Los Vegas.

The attendant is crossing the parking lot below. He raises his hand, but the cleaning cart was probably blocking her line of vision.

He grabbed his keycard from the dresser, and went out.

When he gets into the office, she are filling out a form. He can feel how tired she is from the door. He leans against the counter at his new favorite spot, and says, “Hey. Bad night?”

She shakes her head.  Silent, like the Sphinx.  There’s a chip, on the counter, with a familiar sigil.  He wondered if it was a sign.  He holds it up, arches an eyebrow.

“You never know what you’ll find.”

“Did I ever tell you why I came here?” He knows he didn’t, but it is a good an introduction as any. She shakes her head.

“I came here for a girl.” He rolls his eyes, to make her laugh. “I promised her I’d always be here if she needed me, but I feel…I don’t know. I feel like I’m risking everything, and I’m no longer sure if I still love her, or the vision of what I thought she was? I mean…she’s had years of life I was never a part of. She’s not the same person. And she made choice…” He stutters to silence.

And he remembers. He remembers a nearly empty college parking lot, train whistle in the distance. You are straddling him, and he is holding you so tight, listening to your breath as you both slow down, calm down after chasing your highs. He’s afraid if he moves even the tiniest bit he’ll slip out of you, and he doesn’t want to, he wants to stay a part of you, be wrapped around you, beside you, inside you forever.

But after a few kisses, gentle, loving, to his throat, to his forehead, to his eyes, to his mouth, you put your hands on his shoulders and push yourself back and the connection is lost.

“Don’t do it.” You say. “You only have another year and a half left. Don’t quit college…you worked so hard.”

Ah, yes. The first time he tried to go legit.

He reaches for some Kleenex and you both clean up, zip your clothes up, do buttons.

“Mom needs me. Now that dad…”

“Yeah, now that your dad’s gotten himself killed, go ahead and follow in his footsteps.”  You can’t hide the bitterness, and he winces.

“You don’t get it. She won’t survive on her own. She needs someone.”

“She can come here. Get a shitty apartment and yell at you when you come home late like a normal person does.”

He thinks about it, then shakes his head. “I suggested something like that but…”

You wrap your arms around him so tight he can barely breathe. “Let’s just go, right now. Go back to your dorm and grab your go bag. We’ll fill up the car and just go.”

When he doesn’t answer, you look up, and the slight, stifled tremor of his lower lip, the shine in the eyes that won’t meet yours is answer enough.

“It’s not fair.” You say, trying not to cry because if you do, he will, and you were both taught that you never cried.

He reaches out and draws a circle in the condensation of the window. “It’s the wheel of fortune, baby. Sometimes you’re up.” He pauses at the top, draws a little heart. “Sometimes you’re down.”

“I wish you’d be here for me.” You say, knowing it was selfish, but everything was hurting.

Finally he looks at you. “I promise. I promise if you ever need me, I’ll come to you. No matter what.” He presses a kiss to your forehead, his lips burn like a brand, as his shoulders start shaking, and you just press into him, knowing that this was it.

He knows better than to ask you to join him. He knows you won’t do it, but for a second you wish he’d offer, give you that little piece of temptation.

But everything was breaking and neither of you could fix it.

Back at the hotel, now, he is still holding the chip, still tapping it on the counter. “It’ just too late, I think.”

The attendant gives him a confused look. She’s asking, for what? And he can’t answer – for love, perhaps. For being a good man. Maybe he never really knew how to do either. Maybe he’d been broken all along. If your best memory of your entire life is of you, clinging to the side of a pool, talking to him while he lines rose petals up along your back, then really, what can he claim to have?

“I’m not so different,” the attendant says, slowly, carefully, as if unused to talking about herself.  “I came here for a boy.  Long story short, he was an asshole, I stopped waiting and here I am.”

“His loss,”  Alejandro says, his mind speeding ahead, considering.

He holds the chip up between them. The mark for the Casablanca bright on the gold chip.

“$500,000.” He says, giving you a grin. What the hell. It was time to turn the wheel again. Shake everything off and give it the best shot he could.

“That’s a 5,000.00 chip.” She corrects him gently.

“For some people, maybe.” He puts it on the counter, and with one finger slowly scoots it across the laminate towards her. “But for you and me, baby, I can make it worth a half a million each.”

She stares at it. “What’s the catch?”

He feels a low smile cross his face. He leans away from the counter. “Oh, we just need to wander in and take it.” He leans back in, all conspiracy. “And then we run like hell.”

Taglist:  @sharkbait77​  If anyone else wanted in, I am sorry.  <3  Let me know.

[makeste]

Favorite BnHA OST Tracks

anon I never thought this day would come. (థ ｪ థ) 

I fucking adore this OST. and no one has ever asked me about it. which is fine, but I think we all need to just take a moment to acknowledge that the BnHA soundtrack fucking slaps. I’m not just saying that as a fan of the series; I’m saying it as objective fact. it’s up there with Zelda and Game of Thrones and How to Train Your Dragon. this soundtrack deserves all the love. and up till this point I’d resigned myself to loving it quietly, but now you have unlocked pandora’s box so I just hope you’re ready!!

I have... let’s see... six BnHA-related playlists right now lol. out of these, three are composed of tracks from the OST (the other three are my character-inspired playlists. wait, did I say three? actually there’s four of those. so seven in all. good lord). this soundtrack gets a lot of play, you guys. when I like something, I have a tendency to put it on repeat until I’m sick of it. so if I never get sick of it, you can imagine how that ends up going.

I was going to do a top ten of this, but then I went through the playlist and wrote down all my favorites and there were like thirty. I briefly entertained the idea of just saying FUCK IT I’LL JUST POST THEM ALL!!!!, but I had to sit myself down and lecture myself about having some goddamn self control. so I narrowed it down to like... twenty-three. and then finally down to seventeen. soo, it’s a top ten, plus seven honorable mentions. this is the best I can do guys. this is taking everything I’ve got, so please just humor me this once.

I promise this post won’t be super long. I’m not even gonna put it under a cut. I will restrain myself. okay here we go.

 10. Bombing King!!

Katsukiiiiii. I couldn’t not put this here, who the hell do you think I am. it’s perfect for him. it’s rowdy (I love how it just crashes in with those opening drums and guitar without so much as a how-do-you-do), but it’s got a real drive to it, and a fucking legit leitmotif that can be cut into sections and remixed in any number of ways (see: number 4). if you want to make it sad you can make it sad. want to make it even more badass, you can definitely do that. it makes me excited because there’s so many ways to play around with it for his future character development.

9. Cavalry Battle

this track makes me want to go out and cause a ruckus. it’s so full of energy and there’s an optimism to it, but like a clever, resourceful optimism. I love when the melody smooths out at around 1:14. it’s like, the team is coming together and we’re gonna kick some ass. they should play this in promos for the Olympics.

8. Nevertheless, Go Beyond

this makes me want to save the world. this one actually gets bonus points for the title because it’s so emotive, and somehow nails the exact feeling that the music manages to convey. even when you can’t go on, go on. you’re a hero. people are depending on you. get up.

7. All For One

ooooooohhhhhh my gooodddddddd. “The Power of All For One” is arguably the creepier track, but this one is more epic. it sends chills down my spine. he’s so fearsome. only the strongest of the strong can hope to defeat him. good vs evillllllll. god the bass in this is so good. and the vocals. and the frenzied urgency of the strings. and the Inception-stype WHOOOOOOOM at the end ugh.

6. Your Power

I almost went with “I Absolutely Won’t Use the Heat (Left)” because it’s so sad and haunting, but in the end this version won out because, as with the All For One track above, it’s the more epic of the two. I really consider them to be two parts of the same track though. anyways, so Todoroki’s motif is hands down the most haunting on the OST. fact. it’s so goddamn tragic?? and this version of it has that resounding drum beat that to me feels like a kind of grim determination. it’s a great track, and perfect for that theatrical Todoroki family drama lol.

5. My Hero Academia

this traccccccck. is so good. it makes me picture someone standing on the edge of a cliff at dawn looking down on the city below. it’s just got this kind of legendary feel to it somehow. this is an “only the beginning of the adventure” type of track. I also associate this with Iida unveiling his Reciproburst during the Sports Festival arc, because it was used so fucking well during that scene. “everyone, there’s less than a minute left...” I honestly get chills every time I watch that. it’s like quintessential BnHA.

4. Katsuki and Izuku

guys. I don’t want to throw the word “masterpiece” around all willy-nilly, but this. this, right here, is why I like character motifs so much. because you can play with them and wind them apart and together and bam, just like that you’re telling a fucking story. so anyways, in case you didn’t know, this track combines You Say Run/Jet Set Run (a.k.a. Deku’s themes) with Bombing King!! (a.k.a. Katsuki’s theme). bringing the two of them together through the power of music ffff why am I so weak to this shit. when You Say Run kicks in at around 26 seconds I fucking looooose it. then when Katsuki’s theme first joins in at around 52 seconds I lose it all over again. this is a better arrangement of it than Bombing King tbh. which is perfect, because the whole point of their story is that the two of them make each other better! anyways, they just complement each other so perfectly. IT’S LIKE THIS TRACK IS A METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING YOU GUYS. waiting on the anime to fucking use this in season 4, since it went unused in s3 despite them having all the opportunities in the world smdh. they might actually use it in the upcoming movie, come to think.

3. You Say Run

obviously. what else is there even to say. this is a fucking tour de force. chills every time. I know y’all came here for 2:05, but honestly the whole track is a rush from start to finish. I’m literally not exaggerating when I say that this music taught me the meaning of plus ultra. like on a spiritual level. music is cool. please don’t be mad at me that I only put it at third. if anything, that ought to tell you just how much I love the #1 and #2 tracks.

2. Hero A

I can play this on repeat for hours. not an exaggeration. this has the highest play count of any of my BnHA tracks. I’m not a naturally energetic person. I want to be, but I’m not. but this track is like a fucking life-hack to get you pumped the fuck up. and it’s so catchy, and it makes you feel so good, like you can really do anything. it might not be easy, but you can do it! I actually like the “you can be a hero/you say run” motifs in this track even better than the original tracks tbh. especially when it goes a bit quieter and then builds up again starting from 1:45, and then the percussion kicks in again, and it’s like something out of a Rocky movie. this track makes me fucking believe. it makes me want to try.

 and before we go to number one, here are some runner-ups. (by “some” I mean a fuckton more of them but my descriptions are shorter. compromise)

 You Can Be a Hero - the track that proved it’s possible to simultaneously make someone feel more inspired than they’ve ever been in their entire life while also causing them to ugly cry

Heroic Fighting Battle Song - why is the season 2 OST so fucking good

Go Seize It! - why is the season 2 OST so fucking good

The Threat of Offense and Defense - this theme makes me want to solve difficult puzzles very dramatically

Battle of Deku - this is just here because of Deku VS Kacchan part 2. I 100% associate it with that fight. it’s a great track, but it wouldn’t quite stand out among all the other tracks if it wasn’t for that. but that fight does exist, so now this track makes me think of rivals throwing down and it’s great

Yoarashi Inasa - specifically the part that starts in at 1:14. it’s like the Naruto and FLCL soundtracks had a really funky baby

People Always Reaching for the Top “the winner of the U.A. sports festival is...” the only reason this track isn’t higher is because I don’t feel like it stands quite as well on its own as some of the other tracks. but with context?? god. I love how this was used at the end of Bakugou VS Todoroki. it was just the perfect cue for that scene. so good.

 ...bonus runner-ups because I’m a fucking liar and have no self-control at all

 From Me to You - this is the one used when Kacchan joins the scooby squad. it’s quiet and sad and hopeful all at once. the perfect theme for something ending and something else beginning

Rampaging Evil - I associate this with Tomura. it’s badass and usually means that some hardcore shit is happening

Predecessor’s Sworn Friend - this track is some straight up Cowboy Bebop shit. badass grandpa gettin to work

 okay, without any further ado let’s finish up with number one

 1. One for All Vs. All for One

good. versus. evil. this is epic incarnate. how is it so good. I have so many feels about it oh god. it’s so desperate and so determined at the same time. it perfectly conveys this image of one person, almost at their limit, standing alone against something terrible, and somehow reaching deep within themselves to summon the courage to fight. it is beautiful. it is powerful as shit. it may just be the most heroic thing I’ve ever heard.

 so that’s my top ten twenty! rest assured, this is still leaving a lot out. like the rest of the entire goddamn soundtrack. god this series fucking spoils us.

[davidmann95]

So. Heroes in Crisis?

I liked it! And apparently just me! I’m genuinely shocked that the Discourse has already progressed from “this is bad and so is DC for publishing it” to “Tom King is a bad person and probably has severe untreated emotional issues and all his other comics were secretly bad too” in the course of a single day because his event book kicked off as-advertised with a couple randos (plus two higher-profile victims, one of which is transparently not going to last) shuffling off the mortal coil. Throw on the “when Tom King was in the CIA he definitely personally waterboarded children” takes, plus the standard “Uh, excuse me, this particular Z-lister was actually the most bestest super hero of all time and the creative team should literally be skinned alive” crowd that always pops up no matter how far out of a way an event goes to only pop nobodies or people who clearly won’t really stay in the ground, and I can’t imagine the whole of comics social media is going to be anything other than unusable for the day every time an issue of this comes out. Plus the particularly ridiculous “this is spoiling and insulting the purity and hope of DC Rebirth” anthem that’s picking up, as if that era didn’t open with Superman’s kid accidentally flash-frying his cat.*

Not that there aren’t legit critiques: I don’t blame anyone for not digging this, for so many reasons, with King’s idiosyncrasies on full display and out on a larger stage than ever before, PLUS it’s another insanely dark crossover about the True Nature Of Superheroism (one clearly in the tradition of Identity Crisis, no less). More importantly, one death is framed in a way that’s really uncomfortable in a way it’s either not supposed to be, or it IS supposed to be but King misjudged whether or not it would be the kind of uncomfortable that would serve the story, all of which especially rankles because the issue would have maybe been avoided if they’d just had their more traditional superheroey look. And for all my mockery about people being too precious about this sort of thing, yeah, some faves got got, and that’ll always rankle. Much as they’ll be entangled in the “violence? Against main characters? In MY superhero comics?” breed of complaints, not liking it is totally understandable.

But I’m the one who does! I wasn’t blown away - I don’t know that King’s ever had a first issue that did for me, he always picks up steam over time as it becomes clearer what he’s doing - but it’s pretty much 24 pages of King flexing his admirably developed tone-setting muscles to build a sense of mounting dread and horrified discovery that feels incredibly true to life in what it’s capturing, while Clay Mann lives up to my speculation that he could prove to be the next big thing (and Morey and Cowles backing him up sure doesn’t hurt). There’s a very interesting little character moment for Superman that seems to be setting up his arc in this book, the mystery aspect of the murder mystery is enticingly presented, and there’s one interview segment in particular - it’s the only one where the interviewee demonstrates their power - that’s a fusion of Silver Age DC oddness and the mundane repercussions and experiences of such a world that’s as good an articulation of a vibe Mark Millar’s been aiming to capture his entire career as ever there’s been. And given it’s in future issues things are going to be fleshed out, yes, I am very much onboard for Heroes in Crisis.

* If there was any justice, “Superman’s kid accidentally heat-visioned a kitten to death” would be my generation’s “Roy Harper did too much heroin and beat a bunch of homeless people to death with a cat”.

[terribleco]

The Curse Of Skatepark Footage

Skateboarding, despite being about creativity and freedom, seems to have a lot of rules. “Don’t push mongo”, “No bonelesses or no complies in S.K.A.T.E”, “No pushing in the bowl!”. These unspoken rules also spill out into the world of filming - “Don’t ask for clips from your filmer”, “Real filmers don’t film at manny pads”, “No skatepark footage”. I am particularly guilty of the last one, as I love park footage; my favourite filmer, P-Stone, used tons of park footage in his Thrasher videos, and one of my favourite skaters of all time, Dan Drehobl, frequently skates parks in his parts. I wanted to figure out what the stigma behind skatepark footage was, so I went out and spoke to some other (admittedly better) filmers to get their thoughts on it.

Callun Loomes, the filmer and editor of the Get Lesta videos, is no stranger to filming. With several acclaimed videos under his belt, he is a respected filmer in skateboarding due to his commitment to quality editing and connecting with some of the best skaters in the UK. For him park footage is more engaging when it's from mates: "If I’m honest I only watch skatepark footage from people I know. I definitely skip through it online, and would rather see one clip outside the park than ten skatepark instagram clips." 

A common trend that appeared from every filmer I talked to was recognising that for some skaters, ramp and transition skating is part of their appeal, so park footage is acceptable. Callun noted "Transition skating is slightly different, because there are only a handful of natural street tranny spots. I would happily watch Alex Hallford skate parks all day long."

Forde Brookfield, who produced the Baghead Crew videos, has spent time filming some of the most respected pro skaters in the world, including Ben Grove, Deer Man Of Dark Woods, Tom Penny and Chad Muska, all of whom feature in Forde's latest video "Funeral". For him, skatepark footage is a bit harder to quantify, but ultimately says the context of the obstacle is key: "Where does the line of "skatepark" start and where does it finish? People will argue the matter, but where does bowl and vert come into the equation? I personally wouldn't film for a full length video and include any skatepark footage, but I would include vert and bowl (dependent on person and the bowl). I guess they both have their own leagues. I'd rather film a transition trick on DIY or a natural obstacle if one was available."

Phil McDonald, who's in charge of the output from Leicestershire based crew Fuck Mountain, spent most of last year filming skatepark footage for their latest 4 part video Cementurians: "I think there's so much fresh footage and coverage coming daily through social media that it needs to be something striking or interesting to catch your eye. So if it's old Harry hometown hero with his 20th park clip of the week skating a ledge, I don't wanna know. Anyone can ride a skatepark, but not everyone can skate a spot in the streets. Show me you've put the effort in, and let's see what spots your city has."

VX1000medic is an Instagram account where skateboarding filmers can purchase camera equipment or get their old cameras repaired. Mostly based around the restoration of the classic Sony VX1000, the account is managed by dedicated skate filmers for skate filmers. Sasha, who runs the account said "I think there’s definitely a place for skatepark footage if it’s a dude who rips transition. But I think people would see a perfect man made ledge as cheating or something". 

The notion of "cheating" when filming a video part was fuelled by skaters like Steve Berra, who was caught out skating skatepark obstacles disguised as legit street spots in his 2005 DVS Skate More part. Despite these purpose built spots being a precursor to Berra's own media empire/website "The Berrics" (which ironically made a specific type of skatepark footage acceptable in the following years), people described Berra's part in Skate More as cheating, and he was ridiculed about it for years after. The theory is Berra didn't work for his part and took the easy route. Incidents like this definitely contribute toward the attitude that skatepark clips suck. 

Get Lesta's Callun agreed with the idea that skatepark clips are somewhat less grafted for than real street clips: "It's relatively easy to film a skatepark clip every day, whereas to film one at a spot is a mission, and I think it's why most people don’t bother. With how much content goes online every single minute, I would rather see something difficult and more challenging than a stream of hip tricks.".

"I think it's because a skatepark is purpose built and built with an intention for anyone of all ages to learn and progress." says Baghead Crew's Forde, "What you can do at a skatepark translates differently to what you can do on the street".

Phil from Fuck Mountain sees the irony in disliking skatepark footage after filming at over 100 parks last year, although the crew put a unique spin on it: "We tried to skate the most unique and interesting obstacle at each park to keep it fresh". He admitted there are certain skaters who thrive at the skatepark: "If you're skating transition in your park like you're Alex Chalmers or Tony Trujillo then that's totally fine. You can't expect those guys to shine in the street like they do at a park.". 

Forde Brookfield doesn't mind skatepark footage in some videos, claiming there's a nostalgia to it, but maybe overuse lead to its disappearance from modern videos: "Many of my favourite videos I owned from the 90's and early 2000s had parks in them. I just don't think it translates well into footage. It's hard to make a skatepark clip look as interesting as a street clip. A lot of people had skatepark rail footage in their parts years ago, but maybe it's because the level of skateboarding is continuously pushed further and further, that skatepark footage is just deemed as unusable now."

Despite a predominant consensus that skatepark footage is considered cheating or somewhat lazy, the filmers I spoke to did cite videos where skatepark footage made perfect sense. Sasha from VX1000medic said that skatepark footage was at home in any Anti-Hero video. Flip Sorry, Osiris Subject to Change, The DC Video and Anti Hero's Tent City were all listed as videos which use skatepark footage well, but talking to Phil, he also recognised that those videos are over 15 years old, and a world away from modern day videos. Callun said "Only videos from old run down gnarly bowls" could get away with using skatepark footage well these days. Videos like Heroin Skateboards' Earth Goblin have perfect examples of this, and it goes hand in hand with the slightly more old school vibe transition skating has gone down recently. 

Even still, within the confines of skateboarding's unwritten law, if you or a company are synonymous with a specific type of skateboarding, you can write your own rules. Lance Mountain famously filmed a whole part in his backyard pool for Extremely Sorry, an example of using park and ramp skating in a more creative and unique way, which side steps skateboarding's rules of what not to do in a video. Skaters like Danny Way and Bob Burnquist can get away with park skating in videos, largely due to their contribution toward pushing Vert into overdrive with the invention of the Mega Ramp discipline - this side of skateboarding is largely their whole appeal, so it would be weird to see them head back to the street.

Conclusion

I have always been an advocate for just doing whatever you want within skateboarding. No matter where people are skating, I feel like it’s always a good place to get the session going, and get something on film. I’ve always been well aware that the larger skateboarding community isn’t into skatepark footage, and I fully admit I often film park footage because I am extremely lazy and can’t be bothered to trek to 10 different street spots. Although, I also gravitate toward transition skating all up, and I would miss not having that discipline of skateboarding in my videos. 

I don’t think there are any wrong answers in skateboarding - I think everything said by the filmers in this article has merit and makes perfect sense, but I also still enjoy filming, editing and watching park footage. And I guess as long as you enjoy doing it, that’s all that counts? I had more written for this, but Forde gave me a perfect conclusion for this blog post, so I'll just let his words close this:

"Someone should film a skate video that captures the essence of 90's skateboarding and include skatepark footage; bowl, vert, comp and demo footage. I miss videos like that. It was certainly a golden era, that was enjoyable, but I'd imagine that after a while, it grows boring. But everything grows boring if you have too much of it. How many times do you want to watch a video of someone grinding down rails? Too much of something completely voids the whole essence of the video part, or video in general. I guess that's why variety is key. But then again, who am I to say? One of my favourite skateboarders only skates Jersey Barriers. Skate whatever you want to skate, but just remember that skateboarding is an acquired taste that often leaves bitterness in your mouth."