#i really hope i did tech's dialogue justice

[wreckerdecker]

Baby Talk

Tech fans… we’re all hurting right now. I decided to help ease the pain: the world NEEDS Tech bonding with baby!Omega. All fluff, no hurt, short and sweet Tech-centric baby AU. 

----

“You should stop talking to her like that.”

Wrecker’s mouth clamps shut and he looks over at his brother. In his hands he’s holding Omega, who’s absolutely beaming with joy. He’s crouched on his knees on the floor of the bunk room. Tech stands a few feet away, gazing neutrally at the two of them.

“What’s wrong with the way I talk to ‘er?” 

Gloved fingers tap away at his datapad. “Your baby talk. It holds little to no developmental value to her speech skills.”

It’s silent as Wrecker blinks slowly and looks back at their sister. She gives him a open-mouth, gummy smile in return. He looks back up at Tech.

“Omega is a baby?”

Tech nods. “Correct. But she needs more mental stimulation than baby talk provides. Full-sentences, preferably.”

Wrecker stands-- his knees audibly cracking on the way up-- and Omega coos as he pulls her closer to his chest. He closes the gap between Tech and himself with barely more than a single step. The datapad is ignored as he shoves the baby into Tech’s arms. Wrecker laughs when it clatters to the floor in favor of Omega.

“Alright, then. You love talking, so you do it!” He leans down and gives Omega a kiss on the forehead, then gives Tech’s shoulder a gentle (well, gentle for Wrecker) punch on the arm. “I’ll be outside. Have fun!”

Tech and Omega look at one another awkwardly once he exits the ship. 

Oh, dear.

“Okay, Omega. I’m sitting you down now.”

It’s a half-hour later. After being forced to take a small detour that involved a warm bottle of formula, Tech decided to work on the cockpit passenger seat and the horrific grinding squeak it had recently developed. He’d warned his brothers to stop dropping into it so roughly all the time. Had they listened? Clearly not. But what else is new.

Meanwhile, Omega sits curiously in the other chair. Tech had swiveled it so she was facing him, fully able to watch what he’s doing. 

“I’m going to fix this chair,” Tech says out loud. “And hopefully give you some speech lessons as I go.”

So far, Omega has little to say about the matter. She eyes the toys Tech had placed in front of her-- as interesting as chair repair is, he knows better than to expect her to pay full attention. She grabs the closest one and starts chewing on it. 

“I’m looking for an appropriate tool,” Tech says as he roots through his toolbox. As much as he enjoys organization, it is a community toolbox, and there’d sooner be peace to the galaxy than successfully convincing his brothers to put stuff back where it belongs. “I need to remove the outer base cover to investigate the squeaking.”

As expected, he gets no response. He continues on, narrating his way through the process, only occasionally glancing up to make sure the baby wasn’t in danger of falling from the chair. He’s applying an oil spray to the offending spring joint when he hears a soft thud. It’s not heavy enough to be Omega, so he takes his time in turning his head over to investigate. 

On the floor is one of Omega’s toys. It’s a limp-bodied doll, painted to represent reg clone armor. One of Omega’s favorites. She’s gazing down sadly at it.

“You dropped your doll.”

She looks up at him and for a split second he swears she gives him a ‘no shit’ look she had to have learned from Hunter. But it’s quickly replaced with distress. 

Tech expedites his repair and quickly throws the base back on the chair and has it secure with a few twists of his wrench. He sits up, wiping his hands off on the front of his shirt, and grabs the toy off the floor. 

“Here you are,” he says politely as he hands it back to his sister. Her wide grin makes him smile. “This is when people would usually say thank you. It’s a signal of gratitude, and often considered polite.”

She proceeds to shove the left arm of the doll in her mouth. 

“Since you’re currently incapable of speaking, I’ll give you a pass for now.” He winks at her. He decides not to think about the contaminants running rampant on the cockpit floor, and how many she probably just introduced to her system. She’s got to build her immune system somehow, after all.  

He sits down on the newly repaired seat. It creaks a little, but the grinding squeak is no longer. He nods in satisfaction. 

“I’ve enjoyed having you here with me, Omega. You’ll make a fine repair assistant some day.”

He means it, too. Though she’s currently busy drooling all over the doll, he can see a spark of intuitiveness and wit within her every time she’s introduced to something new. The way she reacts to stimuli implies a deeper intelligence than one might expect. She’s going to be a sharp child soon, and he can’t wait to be there for it. 

“Are you having fun?” He asks amusedly. He leans forward and grabs her other toy-- a hollow round ball filled with beads-- and shakes it a little. She finds this hilarious, and waves her little arms with joy. He touches the orb to the top of her tiny foot, then to the other. 

“These are your feet,” he says, smiling, watching her watch the ball. “Shin, knee, thigh.” He boops each corresponding body part as he says them, the toy rattling as he goes. “Stomach, chest, arm.” 

Omega shrieks in delight. Tech can’t help but laugh with her. 

“And this is your nose.” He puts the ball gently up to her face, rattling it against her little button nose. “You use it to smell.”

He puts the ball down on the seat in front of her. He expects her delight to follow it, but when his hand unblocks her face, he realizes she’s gazing-- in all her unbridled joy-- up at him. His mouth twitches with an unidentified emotion. 

“And... and you are my younger sister,” he finds himself saying, pointing at her. He turns the finger to himself. “I’m your older brother.”

Though she’s squirming with joy, he can tell she’s listening. Her eyes follow him, and he hopes she can understand. 

“You’re my little sister, and I am your big brother. And I love you very much.”

Her eyes sparkle. Something in his chest twists in the best way. He lowers himself out of his seat and onto his knees, so he’s closer to eye level. He rests his hands on either side of her chair as if protecting her. She gazes intently at him.

“You are 216 days old. Your first tooth is coming in any day now. You live here on the Marauder with Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, and myself. You can’t talk yet but I suspect you will very soon. Everything about you is incredible.”

He says it steadily and confidently, because everything he’s saying he knows to be a fact. There’s a small beat of silence, but it’s quickly filled with Omega’s gentle whining. She reaches her arms out to him-- he can’t imagine a single galaxy where he wouldn’t hold her here and now. He holds her tightly and starts rocking side to side. She nuzzles against his collar. 

Tech, like the rest of his brothers, is a natural solider. He’s familiar with the rare cracks and splits of the endless wall that is war. In those grooves you could find rest, maybe even some sparse and patchy solace. 

But this... this is peace. And it’s a new, beautiful feeling. 

[fazedlight]

For the fic ask game: F and(/or) B?

Ask game

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Irish was definitely inspired by my childhood, being a mexican-american kid bullied out of speaking Spanish (which I talk a bit about here). That's probably the fic where my direct experience most closely led a story.

I definitely put a bit of my tech/MIT background into Lena. The locations described in It's a Metallo Life are a bit of an easter egg for MIT readers (at least one person laughed at my Stata joke!!). I have a character study for Lena going that also has a bit of MIT woven in.

I like to think that I'm able to explore some of Kara's cultural struggles and Zor-El's relative alienness in Darkness in All Things because of my background. The exploration of two different cultures is interesting to me because I've often been a bridger-of-gaps. (Tangentially, I have a huge interest in anthropology - I love trying to consider people's POVs in the sense of "what is alien to you may not be alien to me", and I hope that comes across in my stories.)

The firefighters in Inauthentic are named after fallen firefighters in my family.

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

There were multiple interactions between Kara and Cat in Inauthentic that I'm proud of - I think/hope I did Cat's character justice. An example:

“I need you to convince Kiera to work for me.” Kara tilted her head. This is why she called me? “Ah, she uh, she did tell me about-” Kara cleared her throat nervously. “I’m not sure I’m the best person to, uh, convince her...” “Oh please, Supergirl. You threw me off a building once. I think it’s fair to say I’m owed a favor?” Kara’s stomach dropped. I guess that happened on this Earth, too, she thought as guilt started to eat at her. Rao, I wish I could explain. “I- I’m really sorry about that-” Cat waved dismissively. “I can certainly forgive you being a tenth as bitchy as I am-” “A tenth-”

Overall, I just love playing with different characters (like Lillian in Darkness in All Things or Zor-El in Even Though You're Kryptonian). The CW, despite itself, created some really fun characters to play with.

[margridarnauds]

Top 5 medieval texts/stories, perhaps, if you’re still doing those asks?

Thank you! I am always willing to take the opportunity to talk medieval texts. 

1. Cath Maige Tuired - Sometimes, if you’re lucky...you come across a text at the right time in your life, and it just manages to change everything. And that’s CMT with me. I’m never going to ask someone to understand why it’s important to me, but I feel like...it’s the sort of text that you can slowly digest over the years. The way I read it now is very different from the way I read it when I was 14 or 18, and I hope that, when I’m forty, I’m going to read it in a different way than I do now. I know that there’s a perception of me, both in the field and on here, that I’m a bit of a one trick pony who’s obsessed with this one text, but I’m kind of okay with that because I decided a long time ago that I would devote myself to it if I had the choice. (Also that I’ve blown a lot of that perception out of the water with my actual body of work.) It’s very human, it’s very much...a story that is taking place in a certain cultural context at a certain time, but there’s such a surprising richness in everything, all these little details that make it something you go back to. 

2. The Mabinogi -- Not just one of the best medieval texts of all time, but one of the best stories in general. Four branches, four interlinked narratives, telling separate stories that all intertwine and intersect with one another and that carry on similar themes and ideas. The dialogue is....it doesn’t always come across in English translations, but it sings. It’s lively and bright and meaningful, the pacing is perfection, with battle scenes often being written in long sentences jam-packed with action that give you a feeling for the immediacy of it. The characters are all so individual, so intelligently written, especially the women, who are arguably, in my own opinion, some of the best written female characters in the entirety of medieval Europe, and they get so much justice from the text. They might not all meet happy ends, but the text gets them, it understands them and cares for them and sympathizes with them and lets the reader sympathize with them. 

3. Beowulf - The first time I ever read Beowulf (not including the Wishbone story), I was about 19 years old, and I was an undergrad at a tech school, taking a class on Dangerous Journeys in Literature. Our instructor had, perhaps wisely, decided to only include selections from Beowulf as our required reading, knowing that this was a class mainly for STEM majors (I was the lone Humanities major in the class), and I dutifully read that. Then, the night before the final, I decided to reread the sections, this time using the Heaney translation (which, in my professor’s defense, was what she’d recommended us in the first place -- I was just cheap and used a Gutenberg edition.) And I would keep reading a little bit more past the required section, like “well, it isn’t all too long until the next section” “oh, there’s another section coming up soon, I might as well read on through to that” “oh, I’m almost halfway through, well, might as well finish it.” Like, I was up until about 2-3 AM just reading Beowulf, taking in this epic story. It still holds up, all these years later. 

4. Dafydd ap Gwilym’s Poetry -- It’s hard for me to choose, because I was also considering something like, say, the Prose Edda, but I really, really love Dafydd ap Gwilym’s poetry, ever since I did a paper on him a little while ago. He wrote a number of wonderful poems, many of which have been translated into English, and which are available on dafyddapgwilym.net, but my personal favorite is “Y Bardd a’r Brawd Llwyd”, where a friar castigates Dafydd for his occasionally stormy affair with the married Morfudd, which forms the basis for a LOT of Dafydd’s poetry, and Dafydd tells him: 

'Nid ydyw Duw mor greulon Ag y dywaid hen ddynion.” 

“God is not so merciless

As the old people say” 

“God is not so merciless as the old people say.” In the 14th century. That’s why I love Dafydd. 

5. Tochmarc Ailbhe -- This is a surprise, I know, given that I talk MORE about my work with, say, Lebor Gabála Érenn or the Dindshenchas on here, but, while I love them dearly, and while they’re very useful for my research...they’re almost things to be respected more than liked. Don’t get me wrong, they have some wonderful bits in there, but they’re so large, almost reference material more than anything else. Tochmarc Ailbhe, meanwhile, is a complete prose story, telling the story of Cormac’s other daughter, Ailbhe, who chooses to marry Fionn mac Cumhail after her sister, Gráinne, elopes with Diarmaid. And it’s a unique text for multiple reasons -- It contains a strong emphasis on paternal love and affection towards a daughter that is unusual in an Irish text, it has Ailbhe explicitly choose to marry Fionn for his age and experience, and, unlike Emer and Cú Chulainn’s sparring match in Tochmarc Emire, which is defined by its use of somewhat esoteric knowledge that would have been mostly confined to the learned class, Ailbhe and Fionn court via riddles that require quick thinking and skill more than aristocracy. 

[columboscreens]

On another thread elsewhere on your end on Twitter, I floated the idea that basically he'd be a cop for exactly 1 (one) episode and he'd be out of the job well before its end.

(Warning: WOW I got way too carried away writing out this hypothetical scene. Skip to the last orange text if you don't want to read a bit of glorified Columbo fanfiction.)

Even had a scene worked out where he talks to his superior and talks about, apropos of seemingly nothing, how he was in the house of the cop who did the killing. Just a bit of drinking with The Boys, you know how it is. Because he was drinking, he happens to be at his house late at night, and saw a rat in the kitchen. He remembers the cop talking about how his house has a rat problem. Columbo being Columbo, the human equivalent of a raccoon, doesn't do anything to harm it. Rustles through the fridge and gets him some cheese, as a matter of fact. (I SWEAR this is going somewhere) He noticed that rat has a lame leg. Caught in a trap once before. He left it be, knibbling on that cheese, off to go back home where Mrs. Columbo is no doubt waiting to punish him for being so late getting home. Not in a fun way, either.

"I dunno, just something he was thinking about, nothing major. Although...you know, the weirdest thing happened this morning? There I was, going through my daily routine. I give the missus her kiss, I get to my car...and there's a rat. Least I think that was a rat. Nailed to the hood of my car. Poor fella. Sure hope she wasn't alive when they did that. There was a piece of paper beneath it - real nasty message there, don't wanna get into it here - but you know what was real weird? The coincidence of it all. I mean...it had the same lame leg. What're the odds, eh, chief? I'll let you get back to work, sorry, I've been rambling. Fortunately, I'll find out who did that to that poor mouse, eh, rat. Whichever. Gonna see a handwriting expert about the message later. Have a good day, chief."

(This is where the scene concludes, sorry about that. Last orange here!)

Boy I really hope I did a good enough job with the dialogue. Anyway, he'd get fired, because That's What Happens to cops who actually give a shit about justice. He sets up a private detective agency, since clearly working within the system was Not The Right Idea. Occasionally he does jobs for the police, but it's pretty rare (since cops tend to talk about snitches; word gets around). Most of the time he'd get cases from friends or relatives of the victim, desperate after police failed to give them closure as they so often do. Makes sure they pay what they can, not necessarily what the ad says (it's a mystery how Columbo stays in business), sometimes doing work pro bono if they just can't pay and the case fascinates him. A part of the shows formula would be updated that he butts heads with the local police just as much as the killer. Sometimes they're one and the same, and that's when things get real spicy.

I could probably go on, but I've been writing this so long I straight up forgot the rest of the message, so I gotta stop here.

I'll just say, pretty clearly, we should snatch some of that Disney tech and get a CGI Peter Falk to play him, with an AI doing his voice. Its *clearly* the better idea, compared to just...recasting him. Give that old man no rest! I want Peter Falk's ghost to possess the stand-in and ruin everything with his rampant perfectionism.

i remember you mentioning this on twitter! it's a fascinating notion. really, columbo is a cop because that level of authority grants him clout and access to people, places, and things he wouldn't otherwise. it's more a means of convenience than anything else.

so barring that, a PI firm is likely the way columbo would operate in the modern day, knowing as we do the direction in which the policing institution has headed. PIs do, after all, cooperate with the legal system and have access to many of the same resources.

at any rate, i think i'd want them to do a really bad cgi of peter falk in the reboot. like ps2 graphics quality where he blinks out of existence occasionally and clips with the floor. anything else is a waste of time

[mikereads]

Andrea uses the v.r to see Russell. Memories of him that are like old videos to say goodbye to him. After Kara and Lenas (breakup) I mean fight she looks at a photo of her to see her (not only a memory but a form of video/ you get my idea). Not to mention Kara found a photo Andrea had of her and Russell in her office in 5x05. They also transitioned from the scene of Andrea morning over Rusell. To Lena and Kara mourning over each other. While the same song played in the background for both scenes. Andreas monologue follows Supercorps story/ dialogue. Kara’s says she can save Lena and Alex isn’t sure but she assures her “yes I do!” While Andrea wasn’t able to save Russell Kara was with Lena (5x08).

Kara gives Alex advice and directly parallels her own relationship to Lena with Alex’s relationship to her girlfriend Kelly. The same song plays over both scenes. Earlier in the episode Alex told Kara “Lena wants your relationship back on track too” referring to their lunch date. The scene ends with Alex saying “I hope so for the both of us”. In relation to things working out, which they do.

I really can’t remember much from 5x14. It’s basically about a woman trying to take Obsidian down. To get justice for what happened to her husband Todd. Amy’s husband was killed by V.R tech. She did this to save everyone from the same faith her husband suffered. Kara goes to calm her down by giving her a hope speech. She tells her she understands how she feels. She knows what happened and reassures she feels the same but you can’t change the past. When the entire episode prior was about her going into the past to try and save her relationship with Lena. She literally compares her relationship with Lena to Amy and her husbands. Kara and Amy’s stories follow similar patterns. Trying to stop the V.R tech and get justice for the person they love/lost (Lena/ Todd). I noticed this when I first watched but knowing how the season ends. With Kara and Lenas matching dialogue/ speeches in 5x19 says a lot. Kara even contemplate using the v.r after her fight with Lena.

In 5x19 Mgann asks Nia about Brainy. She says it wasn’t just a relationship they were partners who protected each other. She just wasn’t able to protect him from himself/ working with Lex. Um sound familiar. In s2 Kara vowed to always protect Lena. “I will always protect you”. They are referred to as partners in not only the Au. After crisis Alex told Kara that she and Lena were partners on this world. In 5x03 Alex says “Lena wants your relationship back on track”. Not friendship but relationship. When talking to Amy Kara says she understands. Amy wanted people to engage with loved ones. Kara separates friends from partners. This was during her and Lenas falling out. This was also the same speech where she mentions Lena (regarding the aus). In 4x12 Kara uses the term partner as romantic when talking about what she wants for Alex. “Alex, she wants a partner”.

Kara gave Lena an ultimatum. Either work with her (them) or Lex. Nia gave Brainy the same one. Nias dialogue matches up with a lot of how Kara felt this season towards Lena. About trust, which is similar to how she felt in s3. They both swore to protect each other but with being on opposite sides outs a rift on that.

There were other parallels from other seasons. For ex: Brainy filling Nias office with bento boxes. Lena filling Kara’s office with flowers. I wanted to focus on what mainly happened during s5. This doesn’t even show all the times Kara mentioned Lena while discussing the topic of romance/dating. Also again Supercorp endgame! (Freely comment below any additions you want).

[kaldurahms-lover]

Ember || Tye Longshadow x Reader

pairing: Tye Longshadow x fem reader warnings: idfk, fluff? too much straight dialogue? OH, swear warning and warning for shitty writing lmao word count: 1364 words a/n: this is based off of Tye in Young Justice, and by that i mean the show Young Justice. I haven’t read the comics. Also Y/N is a meta with Pyrokinetic abilities (able to conjure and manipulate fire) and the alias “Ember”

(also this is a little long so have fun, hope you all enjoy <3)

Y/N was getting so damn sick of lying. It wasn’t not telling her family about her identity, it wasn’t the constantly having to make excuses for why she was so tired after a mission. It’s the fact that out of her two best friends on the world, she was keeping two huge secrets from one, while the other was helping her keep them. Y/N was on the team even before Jaime was. You can imagine the look of surprise when he was being introduced and saw a girl he’s known since forever just staring at him dumbfounded. “Do you two know each other or something,” Nightwing had asked. “Oh yeah, this is only one of my best fucking friends” she replied. Of course in all his glorious nosiness Beast Boy had felt the need to whisper (or what he considered whispering, everyone heard) “the one that's basically your brother or the one you like?” Y/N’s eyes widened in horror as she smacked him upside the head. Hard. “GAR! The one that's like my brother! God, you’re so fricking lucky that Jaime is the one here and not Tye or I would personally see to it that i ended up with a green tiger skin rug in my room.” Some of the others on the team were enjoying it, but Jaime was just processing 1) the fact that you were there and on the team, and 2) the fact that you liked Tye. “Wait Y/N, why are you here?” She turned her head back to her friend. “Oh, right! I’m Ember.” she said casually. Holding a small ball of fire in her palm. Safe to say, Jaime didn’t look at Y/N the same for a few days.

It seemed like such a cliché that she would end up in a spot where one of her closest childhood friends was like family, and she was romantically interested in the other. She acknowledged that fact. She hated that fact. But it was true. Y/N really did love Tye. Always had, always would, but the type of love had shifted, and she didn’t know how to tell him that. Especially with the whole behind the scenes superhero gig. But after Tye was abducted? After The Reach got their hands on one of the people she cared about most? There was no hiding it from him anymore. So she went to STAR Labs.

Tye had been there with the others roughly a few weeks. She went in costume. It was essentially the same as Nightwing's suit, but red, without a bird on the chest, and most importantly? Fireproof. 

It wasn’t like she had to dramatically reveal herself to him. He knew her voice better than anyone else’s. Countless nights stayed at someone's house after running off in anger did that to someone. He didn’t necessarily want or expect to be able to have visitors, though. He wouldn’t even look up at Y/N until she talked, despite hearing her walk in. He just sat there on a bench in an almost empty room, staring at his shoes.

“Tye, hey”

his head snapped up

“Y/N? What the hell?”

“Shhh, I don't know who all’s listening in here. We can't go revealing my identity to everyone.”

She sat next to him. Leaning her head back against the wall before straightening out again when Tye spoke.

“Then why come in here knowing I would recognize you?” “Oh, maybe because I care about you? I missed you? Because Jaime and I made the team want to fucking kill us because of how worried we were about you?”

“….what do you mean Jaime and you?” “shit”

“He’s one of you too, then? One of us? A meta?”

“Not exactly”

“Well, then what the hell?”

“shit I'm really not supposed to tell you this-“

“Just spit it out, Y/N.”

“Blue beetle.”

“What?”

“He’s blue beetle. And he’s not a meta. He has alien tech fused to his spine.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. anyways, I didn’t come here to sit here and expose Jaime”

“Speaking of which, what are you here for??”

“To tell you I love you.”

“Y/N we’ve said I love you about a billion times in our lives. We’ve established this. I love you, you love me. You didn’t have to come all the way here for that.”

“Not the same way I used to, you dipshit”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t love you the way I love Jaime and the team and my family. I love you the way, that makes me really hate the fact that I can't kiss you right now.”

“Oh”

“Yeah dumbass. I know you’re not into me, but I wanted to tell you, in case anything ever happens, since we’ve both got targets on our backs at the moment”

“Who the hell said I wasn’t into you?”

“Um, me?”

“well, tell yourself to shut up”

“So, you do like me romantically?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“But then, why did you never say anything?”

“Thought you were into Jaime. You guys were always a little more secretive, a little more busy. It makes sense why now”

“EW please don't make me think about that, Tye, Jaime’s like my brother how could you–“

“shut up”

“hey but imagine, you get a hold of your powers enough to either convince them to let you out or i convince them to let you on the team, you get to say your girlfriend’s a superhero”

“First of all, who in their right mind would believe me? And second, when did we skip to the term girlfriend?”

“Okay, I'm sorry, random bitch you just so happen to like very much?” “Mmm, definitely more along those lines.”

Y/N laughed, lacing her fingers with his.

“Tye I'm really fricking sorry we have to leave you here. I tried to ask if we could just train you guys, but Batman wouldn’t even hear my argument, he just asked Nightwing to bribe me with food to shut up. Which by the way only worked for so long before Impulse stole almost all my snacks— but that's besides the point, I don't like the idea of not being able to see you as much, but I’ll be here whenever I can, and I convinced the people here to give you extra special phone privileges for when I call, and I'm certain by this point you have my phone number memorized if you ever need me.” 

He laughed lightly, 

“ ‘course I do. And I’ll be fine here, I promise.”

“Oh, one more thing, feel free to tell your friends, the others abducted by the Reach, you can tell them who i am. Partially. Assuming you want to actually skip to the girlfriend thing and tell them you’e dating teenage superhero ‘Ember’?”

“Again, like they're gonna believe me”

“Dude, you literally got abducted by aliens and have superpowers. Nothing should be hard to believe.”

“Point taken.”

“Mmm, you never said no to the girlfriend bit, though.”

“mhm I would take that as a yes if I were you.”

It was a nice moment. Until Y/N’s phone rang. It was that distinct number, never kept in a contact. Nightwing. She answered with a sigh. 

“What's up? New mission?”

“Yeah, how fast can you get here from STAR?” “Depends. I'm around 15-20 minutes from the nearest zeta tube, so gimme 25”

“Alright. Get here quick, though.”

“If I'm not there on time, you can always send impulse to come get me.”

And with that she hung up.

She ran a hand through her hair, then brought it over to rake through Tye’s. He leaned into her touch. He loved when she messed with his hair

“I'm so sorry I have to leave. I love you”

she stood up

“I love you too”

She started to walk out before turning on her heel right before she reached the door. 

“One more thing.”

Y/N pulled Tye up to stand, then took a moment to cup his face in her hands before pressing a gentle, yet full of passion, kiss onto his lips. He brought his hands to her hips and smiled into the kiss. 

“I was waiting for you to do that."

[piepeloe]

Book of Boba Fett S1E7 (finale)

That was...it? Something? It wasn't bad, more exciting than some of the other episodes, but it felt kind of empty. Here be spoilers and some whining:

Tbh, it felt like your average MCU ending. Now I like Marvel stuff, but their endings are always just big noisy battles with lots of CGI and destruction, and not much else.

The only real heart came from the Mando and Grogu moments, and even those I'm not convinced of:

Mando and Grogu once again stole attention from the leads. Grogu could have just shown up at the very end when it would have made more sense? Or maybe Mando could have gotten a message to come get him.

I'm also not a fan of how Grogu's time with Luke seems to mostly be a way to power him up a notch.

Also, now that we know the Luke cameo isn't necessarily a one off, it's hard not to expect him (or Ahsoka) to show up and rescue everyone. Tbh, if it weren't for the expense and limitations of the tech, I think they might have gone there.

I liked Boba's fight with Cad Bane. It had some tension, nice action, dialogue, etc. But I have watched the animated shows, and tbh even i barely remembered these two had a past together.

Mostly it stands out because we know even less about everyone else. The 'mods', the people of Freetown, the Wookiee, the guards,... they barely had any lines in previous eps, we barely know them. I couldn't really feel all that worried for them.

The characters we did know were sidelined for most of the battle, including Fennec Shand. I figured she was off to take care of the people in charge, but still. It was weird she was absent for so long.

It wasn't a bad show, but it feels somewhat meaningless, especially since apparently Boba and Fennec aren't even staying?! Seriously, that means they could have skipped pretty much the whole thing and it wouldn't make a difference.

Except for the Mando eps, of course.

Poor Tem Morrison. I hope he gets to play Rex or Cody so he gets some justice.

[thecanadianowl]

Justice league Snydercut review

Wow talk about a long movie. Remember Mass Effect's 3 shit endings that were later improved (sorta) with DLCs. Well that is kinda how this movie is.

Before we start this, I just wanna say that I was very impartial throughout the whole snydercut movement. I wasn't part of it but I do see the good that they did in regards to some of their charities and with how the fandom itself has been painted in a negative light. So its good that they got what they have been demanding for quite some time. Snyder as director for me, I really am not the biggest fan of. His movies have some great cinematic moments that look amazing but the context around it is what muddles it for me.

Is it better than Whedon's JL? YES. To start I'll look at some of the things that I do like.

I do like how it was split into parts.  Gives it that miniseries/Comic book feel

Thank god they removed that stupid cringy flash landing on top of Diana's chest scene.

Darkseid looks good. I know some people have issues with it but I liked it. I mean looking at it first glance has me convinced its Darkseid. His voice isn't too bad either. Reminds me a bit of Injustice 2.

As much as I have issues with Darkseid being introduced so early I do like that he had a brief confrontation/glaredown with the League, foreshadowing a possible in person encounter and that the League needs to expand if they are going to fight against Darkseid.  

Steppenwolf's design has greatly improved and looks better than before.

Loved the scenes between Alfred and Diana.  Wish there was more of that.

I loved how the movie added Cyborg, Aquaman and Flash attempting to stop Superman from getting to Batman. I also liked how in this version,  Batman pleading to Clark's humanity telling him that world needs him and he needs to snap out of it.  Also bonus for taking out that scene of Batman on the ground groaning about how old he is getting.

Okay seeing Clark get the black suit and having the voiceovers of both his father's merge together works in terms of Clark's arc into becoming the person he was meant to be. Also like the use of Zimmerman's Ideal of Hope score wished they let it play out a little longer.  Probably my favourite moment in the film is where Superman just takes Steppenwolf's Axe like its nothing and freezes it.

Now to go into some of the more critical stuff that bugged me when watching.

For a movie that is 4 hours long, pacing issues were bound to happen. I think the first example of this can be found in the opening with the Superman scream wave (which started to get a bit hilarious when his screams could be heard every now and then) hitting all three mother boxes. they are shown individually reacting to it and it takes time, where it could have just showed them together or an compilation of each of the motherboxes waking up. I know it Snyder's thing but tone down on the slow mo. Like some instances its fine (like with bullet time or Flash's scenes) but other instances I'm just like alright I get it.

The scene involving Cyborg transferring money into that single mother's bank account. Is he gonna do this for all the people suffering just like her? or just for that one person? I mean if you can hack into the world monetary system, you can solve a lot of financial issues affecting  the majoirty and not just one person. Did I miss the scene but why did Cyborg go from helping one poor person, suggesting the potential good he can do to change the world for the better  to "Fuck the world". Seems a bit inconsistent in character. Especially since he knows who Diana is (from what he says)  and that Parademons are after the motherbox. Maybe her offering help, you should take it? idk Vic. Also the whole Auto defense system malfunction, would it not be better if this was established beforehand where we see Vic struggling to maintain his body's autonomy leading up to the Superman confrontation? Prior to that it seemed he had it under control and his biggest conflict throughout the movie seemed more to be with him coming to terms with his new body. With that being said, Cyborg's character here is much more interesting and better than it was originally. I can see why Ray Fisher is so pissed (well that and the abuse he faced).  I am glad this was improved and gave the character a lot more to do.

The movie still has the same issue as before in regards to the whole motherbox plot and how convenient it was that all three are located on earth. You would think that with the involvement of Darkseid/Steppenwolf that separating them to distinct locations across space would make it more difficult to collect them. I mean we know that the Green Lanterns exist (we saw one get chomped), you'd think that they or the guardians would take one and secure it on Oa. The pushback to this would be "well there was only one green lantern and he died, so how could they retrieve the box?" which begs my question, why send only one? I mean it has been established that Darkseid is a known conqueror of worlds, you'd think the Guardians would be smart enough to send more than one Lantern to aid Earth in their fight.  Did they not think it would be a good idea to have the corps be more involved/keep an eye on earth since it is the only planet that was able to repel Darkseid's forces?

Why is it that the best idea of security when it comes to humans is to bury it? Would it not be better in optics to look over it and know its location instead of dropping it somewhere on the off chance that someone might find it due to being  curious or the land changing/altering  making the box more easy to attain? A situation as dire/serious as this, you would think that the Amazons/Atlanteans would have been better prepped with armor/weapons for such an event. I mean you have the arrow of Artemis that shoots quite a distance to give Diana a message but not some kind of weapon that hurts/cripples Steppenwolf? Or better yet, how about the moment that the boxes started acting up after Superman's death, that Atlantis/Themiscarya would put aside any differences they had with one another and to the outside world to come together to secure the boxes?  How could Darkseid forget the name of the only planet that was able to force him to retreat? nor does he know that it harbors the anti life?

Did this movie break Aquaman's continuity? because from the dialogue between Mera and Arthur, its implied that Atlanna abandoned/left Arthur at Tom's doorsteps whereas in the movie,  we see Atlanna spend a couple of years with Tom and raising baby Arthur before she was forced to come back. You'd think Zack being a producer for the Aquaman  movie would have edited that line or made it more clear. Well that or James Wan F'ed up when making the movie.

"I've never seen a being as strong as Steppenwolf" Did Diana just forget Ares aka the god of war who killed the Greek Pantheon/Old gods and orchestrated the first World War? Hell from the looks of the flashback it seemed Ares (I'm assuming its Ares, if its Hades, my bad) was getting some good hits in on Darkseid, who is superior to Steppenwolf.  While we are on the topic of Diana, it's a bit odd that Snyder who  was a producer on WW84 where one of the biggest focuses on the movie that Patty Jenkins talked about was how Diana doesn't solve her problems with violence (even though her primary weapons in this movie are a sword and shield but okay. Then again New 52 hasn't done a good job in disproving that), yet in this movie we see her using her gauntlet smash to fucking kill the one remaining terorrist. Like sure you can argue that they were terrorists and deserve to die, but given how easy and quick it was for her to take out the previous guys, why do something that runs the risks of destroying the very building that you are in (with hostages). I mean from the look of the blast and how much debris fell from the building outside, and it was a miracle no one (but the terrorist) got hurt/killed.

Why did Steppenwolf  kidnap  them in the first place? Just use that mind extracting device you used on the Atlantean soldier to see if they know. Seems like a waste of time to collect them in one location only to interrogate them later.

Okay, I'm sorry but even in this cut I still don't like Miller's Barry Allen. He isn't as bad as he was in the theatrical cut but man does it stick out. When he is helping to escort the kidnapped civilians out, why doesn't he just grab them and transfer them to a safe distance? He even makes a comment about how slow they are going. Can I also just say how weird it is for Barry to take time saving Iris to caress her hair and look at her more creepily in slow mo? Like yeah its in slow mo but still I think your priority should be to get everyone to safety as quick as possible and check if anyone else could get hurt.  I will admit that Barry's speech as he is running so fast to reverse time at the end was really good. Tho the more I think about all the slow mo Flash scenes are good.

They still kept the "Let's use the mother box to bring back Superman plot". Why? This is a piece of tech that you don't fully understand how it works and you are going on the whims of someone you just met. Especially if they come back as a different person/mindset all together.  If Superman 's death was the reason that allowed for the Mother box to call to Steppenwolf/Darkseid, what the hell were they doing prior to Superman's arrival on earth? I mean we've seen how easy it was for Steppenwolf to attain the two boxes even if they were guarded, so why the wait ?. I get that Batman is going through an arc and trying to change from the person he was but how does go from "1% chance of absolute certainty" to "let's go on a whim and have faith" when it comes to resurrecting Superman? 

Its gonna be awkward as to how Clark will explain his sudden return from the grave around the same time Superman came back.

I was wondering when the Knightmare scene will play out. Jared leto's Joker isn't over with me, it seems way too try-hard to be edgy. Other than that yeah, not much I can say about it. Tho do we seriously need another iteration where Superman (or someone with Superman like powers) is evil?

I also love how nonchalant Bruce is about J'onn appearing in front him. However the revelation that J'onn was that army general all the time breaks so much of continuity (and just why now did you decide to show up and help and not idk the time Zod invaded and nearly  terraformed earth, HELL WHY TF DIDN'T SHOW UP TO HELP THE LEAGUE IF YOU KNEW ABOUT DARKSEID, I'M SORRY TO RAG ON BUT REALLY THIS CAMEO JUST OPENS UP SO MANY QUESTIONS, IT JUST SEEMS LIKE AN "PALPATINE WAS BEHIND THIS ALL ALONG" KIND OF THING ).

In terms of getting a sequel, I am not sure if WB is going to go through with it given that their current vision seems to be a different route than the one Snyder intended so who knows. Despite my criticisms I do believe this is Snyder's best DCEU film to date and probably one of his better films. You could tell that he put in a lot to make this. The movie itself does have issues mostly due to the plot surrounding the motherbox as well as pacing. I would say it's worth the watch at least once, though I think its best to watch it in doses rather than one sitting. Ultimately this is the version that we should have gotten and I can see why so many people who were supportive of Zack wanted or vouched for him to finish it. Regardless, I think the very least I am happy for Snyder. If you like Snyder's previous stuff, you will like this one, if you don't, your perception of the film won't change significantly other than some cool bits here and there.  

[dreamcatcherfication]

Three’s a Crowd

I hope this fic isn’t absolute trash after the short break from writing I took. In the span of three days I completely forgot how to write and it shows.

But anyway, hello everyone! Anon requested Jane getting jealous because of Aragon being maternal towards Kat, and I loved that prompt. I’m not sure I did it justice, but we’re certainly trying. I really hope this fic is in any sense coherent. Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors, I forgot how to write and my english is not good now. 

And also - I DO NOT CONDONE ANY OF THIS BEHAVIOR! A lot of what happens in this fic includes toxic mindsets and sometimes toxic behavior, and I do not support that in any way. I wanted to do my best to represent how toxic mindsets can affect a person, and how hard it can be to get out of them. That’s why Jane might seem a little OOC, but I did my best to balance everything out.

Writing Masterpost

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas. If you want to be tagged in my works, just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you!

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts | Original Prompts

Trigger Warnings: Toxic behavior, toxic mindsets

Jane Seymour didn’t like being busy. Of course she liked to have things to do so she wasn’t wasting time, but being overburdened with work stressed her out far more than she liked. For the past week Jane had been overwhelmed with learning new choreography for the show, and the costume changes, as well as some of her lines being workshopped. It took all of her attention, and Jane started to notice how much less time she was spending with the queens.

There was one particular change in dynamics that Jane was starting to notice. Ever since the queens had grown comfortable with each other, Kat and Jane were almost always by each other’s side. It made sense, with Jane longing for someone to act maternal towards, and Kat lacking any strong maternal figure in her life. The two of them clicked, forming a bond that they both so desperately needed. 

But now, Kat was hardly ever around Jane. She wasn’t avoiding Jane, that much was clear, but the teen always seemed busy with someone else. Namely, Catherine of Aragon. It irked Jane to see the two of them so happy together. Internally, she kept telling herself she held no ill will towards Catherine, but she couldn’t help the small seed of rage that festered in her heart every time she saw the two queens together.

Just yesterday, Jane had asked Kat if she wanted to read together. “Sorry Jane, I’m going to the movies with Aragon. She got us these great seats and it’s one of those new, high tech theatres. She’s so cool,” Kat had gushed on.

Jane had to keep repeating that Aragon wasn’t being mean and was perfectly capable and welcome to spend time with Kat. However, in the back of Jane’s mind, she kept thinking Catherine unfit to spend time with Kat. “It’s a toxic mindset,” Jane kept telling herself, trying to push it away.

She started out small, doing little things to regain Kat’s attention. Late at night, Jane had gone to the store to buy a giant box of guylian’s chocolates, Kat’s favorite. The next morning, she left them on the kitchen counter with the note, For Kat, the ten amongst these threes. From Jane.

When Kat walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, Jane held her breath in anticipation. Kat’s eyes drifted over to the chocolates as she frowned in confusion. She made her way over to the box and read the note. Eyes lighting up, Kat turned to Jane with an open mouth. “For me?” she gasped.

Nodding her head, Jane tried to conceal the smile growing on her lips. “Just for you Kat.”

“Oh thank you so much!” Kat hugged Jane tightly to her chest. “Can I have some now?”

Pretending to look around like she was keeping a secret, Jane put a finger to her lips. “Only if you don’t tell the others.”

Kat laughed and waved Jane off. “As if. These are all mine. Thank you Jane, I love you!”

For the first time in a week, Jane’s heart unclenched and she relaxed. Kat still loved her, that was good. That was very good.

The next day, Jane woke up bright and early so that she could be ready to greet Kat when she came down for breakfast. Behold her surprise when Kat was already up and about, fully dressed and wide awake. “Kat, why are you up so early?” Jane asked, still fighting back slight drowsiness. “It’s only 6:30.”

Pulling on a jacket, Kat shrugged. “Aragon’s taking me to this moving carnival that’s set up downtown. She heard about it through Maria and she wanted to take me.”

Like she heard her name, Aragon appeared from the kitchen. She had paper bags filled with food that she was packing into a travel bag. “That’s right, Kat,” she rubbed the girl’s shoulder. “Maria and the other ladies went yesterday and they loved it, so I thought I’d take Kat out for the day.”

“Oh,” Jane’s heart broke a little bit. “That’s nice.”

Aragon flashed her a grin and led Kat to the door. “We’ll be back for dinner Jane, don’t worry.”

Kat waved as they left the room. “Yeah, we’ll tell you all about it!”

The door shut on Jane, her hand half raised in a pitiful goodbye wave. “Bye,” she whispered, her shoulders slouching. She should’ve known it wouldn’t last. Kat wasn’t bound to her, she had her own relationships. That didn’t mean it hurt any less to see her bounding off with Aragon. Was she being replaced? Jane questioned. Had Kat found someone better when Jane wasn’t around and realized she didn’t want her?

Sensibility told Jane it was only insecurity, but she still couldn’t shake it off. If Kat only wanted to spend time with Aragon, how would Jane cope? Would she lose the bond she so desperately tried to build with Kat in the first place?

Setting her face, Jane vowed that she wouldn’t let Aragon destroy her and Kat’s bond. They had something none of the other queens had, and Jane wasn’t about to let that go. The battle was on.

“Hey, Kat,” Jane approached the girl a couple days later. 

The teen was on her phone, scrolling through pictures she and Aragon had taken at the carnival. “Hmm?” Kat glanced up, her face brightening when she saw Jane. “Hi Jane.” Before Jane could start talking, Kat cut her off and shoved the phone in her face. “Look at this video I took from the carnival. This guy eats fire and then breaths it out. Isn’t it cool,” she explained.

Watching the video silently, Jane wasn’t paying attention to the guy eating fire. She was listening to the faint dialogue between Kat and Aragon from behind the camera. “How does he do that?” she heard Kat ask.

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Aragon replied lightly, “and it’s more fun to watch and be amazed.”

Judging by Kat’s gasp, she had agreed. “It would be so cool to be able to do that.”

The camera shook slightly as Aragon came into frame, her eyes twinkling. “Don’t go hurting yourself trying to swallow fire, Kitty, this guy’s a professional.”

Kat’s pout was practically visible through her voice. “Do you really think I would hurt myself trying to eat fire?”

Shrugging goodnaturedly, Aragon leaned back out of frame. “I think you listen to your cousin too much sometimes. I’m not saying that I don’t trust you, but I am saying it’s not unlike you and Anne to try and eat fire because it looks cool.”

The video ended along with Jane’s good mood. How could Kat be so enraptured by Aragon? She and Jane had those conversations millions of times, why would she be having it with Aragon now? “Forget about that,” Jane tried to cover her annoyance with giddiness, “Because I’ve got something better planned.”

Raising her eyebrow in interest, Kat leaned forward. “What could be better than someone eating fire?”

“I dunno…” Jane teased Kat, “maybe the private animal shelter will suffice?”

Practically jumping to her feet, Kat dropped her phone, completely forgetting about the video. “No way! But you have to make appointments with them, Anna and I have been trying for months, how -”

Jane cut her off. “I pulled a couple strings, don’t worry about it. I know how much you wanted to see them, so it’s all worth it.”

“When do we get to go?” Kat prodded, bouncing on her feet.

Jane’s heart sped up when she saw the pure happiness in Kat’s eyes. “As soon as you’re ready.”

The animal shelter itself was huge, although there weren’t many people throughout. It was a private shelter and the owners required a considerable ‘donation’ for patrons to be allowed to come play with the animals even if they weren’t interested in buying. It was a lot of money Jane was required to pay, but she would do it a thousand times over in order to keep Kat happy.

Kat was fawning over the dogs as Jane stood behind her. There was a small, fluffy white dog that kept jumping into Kat’s lap and attacking her with its tongue. A bunch of other dogs swarmed her feet, causing Kat to giggle. Restraining herself from sneezing, Jane couldn’t help the swell of accomplishment in her chest. Kat loved it, and that’s what mattered.

 The fur that was gathering around Jane irritated her skin, turning it red, but she ignored her discomfort. Jane didn’t care about her allergy to dogs and to fur, and she would continue to hide it from Kat. The teen was so happy with Jane, she wouldn’t ruin it. “Jane,” Kat called her attention. “Isn’t she so cute,” Kat held up the white dog to Jane, prompting her to pet it. Carefully stroking the dog’s fur, Jane prayed that a sneezing fit wouldn’t overcome her.

“She’s lovely, dear,” Jane agreed, stepping away from the dog as soon as Kat was satisfied.

Setting the dog down, Kat pulled Jane into a hug. Melting into the teen’s embrace, Jane couldn’t help a sigh of relief. This was all she wanted. “Thank you Jane,” Kat murmured. “I love you.”

That’s all Jane needed to hear, once again. The only thing she wanted out of any of this. So Jane contented herself to watch as Kat sat back on the ground and returned her attention to the dogs.

By now, Jane was sure she had won. How could Aragon compete when Jane had taken Kat to an exclusive animal shelter to play with the dogs she loved so much? At this rate, all of Jane’s worries would be for naught and Kat would always love her. All of this would fade into a little bubble in the past and things would be back how they should be.

That was until Jane heard talking coming from Kat’s room. Immediately standing up, Jane went to investigate. Chances were it was only Anne talking with her cousin, but Jane still had to know if there was something she was missing. Opening Kat’s door, Jane carefully peeked in to see what was going on.

In the center of the room stood Aragon, a small crate of stuffed animals in her hands. Kat was standing in front of her, sorting through the stuffed animals with wide eyes. “There’s so many,” Kat glanced up at Aragon, “how much did this cost?”

“Money’s not important. You were telling me about how much you loved the dogs at the shelter Jane took you to, so I knew you’d like these too. Think of it as a way to have them with you all the time.” Aragon spoke softly, her hand carefully brushing some hair away from Kat’s face. 

A pit grew in Jane’s stomach. That was something she did with Kat. Not something Aragon did, something Jane did. It was her special thing, why -

Jane had to cut herself off. She kept berating herself internally for getting so caught up with this. All the queens were close, it wasn’t against any rules for Aragon to care for Kat. Aragon wasn’t a bad person, Jane knew that. But she kept wanting to believe that she was better than Aragon, and that she should be the one giving Kat gifts. This… this wasn’t the status quo.

Tuning back in, Jane watched as Kat took the crate from Aragon’s arms and beamed as wide as her face would allow. “I love them Catherine, I love you.”

And that was the last straw for Jane.

The next day, Jane had a surprise for Kat. If this didn’t win her over for good, she didn’t know what would. Aragon and Kat had gone out together for lunch, and the other queens were off doing who-knows-what. Jane was prepared, and she would wait in front of the door for as long as it took for Kat to show up.

Silently, Jane stared at the door. She knew she shouldn’t be doing this, she knew it was wrong. But knowing you have a problem and being able to fix it are two different things. The only way she knew to get rid of this deep ache in her chest was to win. To win Kat’s affection, to win her attention, and to win her love. This girl was like her daughter, and she wasn’t going to let Aragon take that from her.

The door opened, bringing with it lively conversation. “Nando’s never fails,” Aragon laughed, herding Kat into the room. “But you shouldn’t order so much if you aren’t going to eat it.”

“Oh come on,” Kat rolled her eyes, “how else are we going to get leftovers for days? I’ve picked up on a life hack or two, you know.” Kat stopped speaking when she noticed Jane watching her. “Hey Jane,” she waved. Aragon and Kat stood in confusion at Jane’s still figure.

“Is everything alright?” Aragon was slightly put off by the other queen’s iciness.

“Yes, just fine,” Jane replied. “I have something for you Kat.” 

Warily, Kat approached Jane and sat down next to her. There was something clearly wrong with Jane, and Kat was quite aware of it. “What is it?” she asked.

Reaching under her legs, Jane pulled out a small cage. She opened it, and out popped the small white dog Kat had been playing with at the shelter. Kat and Aragon gasped, both surprised at the furry creature’s appearance. “Jane... I…” Kat was unsure what to say.

“I got her for you, I know how much you loved playing with her,” Jane encouraged Kat to take the dog. Nervously, Kat obliged, picking up the animal.

Aragon frowned and made her way over to Jane. “It’s a sweet gesture and all, but Jane, you know we don’t have any way to support a dog right? We’re going to have to return her.”

“Yeah, and as much as I love her, wasn’t she already adopted by another family?” Kat recalled.

Batting off the concern, Jane inched away from the dog, her skin already turning red. “Nothing a little payment couldn’t fix. Besides, you liked her, so it was worth it.”

Still, Aragon was unconvinced. “Jane, just because Kat likes the dog doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to buy it.”

Standing up, Jane snarled, “Just because Kat likes animals doesn’t mean you have to buy her a crate full of them.” She then recoiled, realizing what her voice sounded like. “I - I.”

“Stop it!” Kat set the dog down and stepped away from Jane and Aragon. “Why are you fighting?”

“We’re not fighting,” Aragon assured Kat, taking a step towards her.

Scoffing, Kat moved away from them. “Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but I’ve noticed. As soon as one of you does something nice, the other has to one up them. I don’t need all these gifts.”

“But you want them,” Jane added hopefully.

Shaking her head, Kat crossed her arms. “I want to spend time with you. Both of you. Together, if that’s even possible. You two have been at odds for the past week and I’m sick of it. I’ve tried to ignore it and enjoy the good things, but I can’t anymore. Why is it so hard to accept that I want to spend time with both of you?”

“Because I was here first?” Jane offered. “You’ve always wanted to spend time with me, Kat.”

Aragon tried to put herself in front of Jane. “Because I’m here when she isn't. Why keep going back to Jane when I’m always here for you.”

Biting her lip, Kat couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Do you two even listen to yourselves? This is so stupid. I don’t want you fighting over me.” Moving to round the couch and make a clean getaway to the stairs, Kat shot the two of them a disappointed glare. “I can’t spend time with either of you, not like this.”

“Kat!” Jane called her before the girl could disappear. “Aren’t you supposed to say you love me?” It was something she had become so used to hearing Kat say to her at the end of every conversation.

Shaking her head once more, Kat turned away. “I’m not sure I can say that truthfully right now.” Then she was gone, the closing over her bedroom door echoing throughout the house a moment later.

Jane turned to Aragon and they both glared at each other. “You’ve been doing it too, huh,” Jane broached, her voice defensive.

“I’ve only been trying to make sure she knows I care about her,” Aragon argued, crossing her arms.

“No,” Jane accused, “You’ve been using her to satisfy your own need to be a mother.”

“Well you’ve been doing it for longer than I have.”

Clicking her tongue, Jane sat down on the couch next to the dog. “Maybe I have. But I can’t stop. It’s the best feeling in the world, like a - like a -”

“Like a drug,” Aragon filled in. “I know.” She gave up and sat next to Jane. “You know what it’s like when Kat smiles at you better than anyone. And once she started looking at me that way…”

“You couldn’t let it go,” Jane added on. “I know,” she swallowed, “I know you aren’t a bad influence. I’m sorry I’ve been treating you like one. I don’t know how to get used to Kat seeing someone else the same way she sees me. Kat’s like my daughter.”

Aragon nodded, leaving the two queens in silence. “It might be a little weird at first,” Aragon broke the quiet air, “But we could try, maybe, spending time with Kat together? Like she said, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

Some defiant part of Jane still wanted to resist. She wanted to be the only one, she wanted things to be the way they were before Aragon entered the picture. But for once, Jane took a step towards fixing her mindset. “Let’s do it. If it’ll make things better, then let’s do it.”

In a moment of awkwardness, the two queens stared at each other, unsure of what to do next. Aragon stuck out her hand, hoping for Jane to seal the deal. Jane took the hand and the two of them shook on their agreement. 

---------------------------------------------

Tag List:

@radcowboyalmondtree @boleynhowards @annabanana2401 @babeebobo @dont-lose-your-queerhead @everything-insanity @mindless-pidgeon @i-wanna-dance-and-sing-six @thedemidisaster @its-totes-gods-will @thatbolxyngirl @thenameisnoone @sixqueendom

[drink-n-watch]

Hello one and all, it’s once again time for my seasonal dose of adorable underdressed anime fun with Matt! My collaborations with him are my chance to see some shows on the more moe ecchi side of things that I wouldn’t necessarily get around to otherwise so it’s a good way to broaden my horizons. So naturally this season Matt suggested Psycho Pass! I had no objections….

Some more astute readers may know that I (much like a whole lot of anime fans) have a very soft spot for the series. I talk about it a lot and to this day this messy fever dream of a post remains one of my favourites!

But enough about me, Matt what are your thoughts/feelings about the franchise?

Hello Irina, everyone, it’s me. My thoughts on Psycho Pass’s first season? Absolutely excellent, one of my Top 20 anime of all time. Thoughts on the second season? A rushed mess that does a disservice to the events of the previous season.

So season 3… Whenever a beloved series gets a new entry, there’s always a sort of backlash from fans. A weird fear that somehow it can go back in time and change what the original was. It’s counterproductive. Which is probably why Matt warned us on Twitter not to immediately compare it to the original…But Boy did this first episode make that hard! 

There were parallels to the first season Everywhere you looked. The art style is instantly recognizable, and the environments remain almost untouched (aside from the CG but we’ll get back to it). The colour palette is very close, only slightly warmer and the framing and angles are perfectly consistent. The OP was purposefully similar which made the inclusion of that demon-like creature really stand out.

Beyond that though, we saw glimpses of the iconic Syble control room, the dominators in action, Shion back in force (oh hecks yeah) and even just a hint of Akane.  And one of the first scenes was of inspectors Arata and Kei arriving on their very first day at the job, at a rainy crime scene in an opener that directly mirrored season 1’s first episode.

I know you don’t want us to compare the two, Matt, but it certainly seems the show isn’t about to let us forget its roots.

There’s nothing wrong with calling back to things that happened in previous seasons, in-fact they were some of my favourite parts of the episode. The problem is when people dont give a show a fair chance to stand on its own because their too busy holding it up to its predecessors shadow.

There’s something of a deft balancing act done here by making this part sequel and part soft reboot (at least that’s my impression) and I think it pulls off both very well.

To me though, this was an homage, not a rip-off. Tonally, visually and atmospherically it was very reminiscent of Psycho Pass but the character dynamics, faster and grimier corruption storyline set up and quick-fire dialogue are fresh. Not to mention the completely new mind trace gimmick. So far, I like it, but it has the potential of just turning into plot destroying “sci-fi magic”, what do you think?

It’s funny you mention the mind trace “gimmick” because (aside from the visuals) that was my favourite thing about this episode. I don’t know if you’ve seen Bryan Fuller’s ‘Hannibal’ tv series from a few years back but our protagonist in that show has complete empathy which allows him to become other characters which is almost exactly what Arata has (down to the wording) of his trait. So not only was I immediately on board with this but I was excited to see where it would take his character. Oh I vaguely remember it. I was actually thinking of Sherlock myself.

Arata is a light-hearted happy go lucky protagonist. For someone like me, whose favourite character was Kagari, it’s a thrill, but what do you think Matt? And ho do you think audiences will react. It’s a pretty big departure from previous protagonists.

I think a lot of his light-hearted disposition is a coping measure for having to deal with having complete empathy. I enjoyed this kind of protagonist compared to brooding and dour but I still think it’s a bit of a front.

O.k., I’ve avoided it so far but let’s just mention the CG for a bit. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t horrible but the integration was hardly seamless and honestly, it took me out of the moment on several occasions.

Hmm, I have to disagree, I thought it looked wonderful and very dynamic and interesting. I’ve heard streaming things with a lot of small details can look ugly so maybe that was the problem for you? I ~acquired~ a 1080p copy of the episode so maybe that’s why I thought it looked so good? No for me the issue was more that the light and shadow physics where calculated at a very slightly different angle that made the CG pieces sort of stand out in one frame and not the next. Once I noticed I kept on noticing. Also, I disliked the textures but that personal taste. Actually, I got to give it to prime, the quality if their streams are really good!

Overall, here is what I got from the first episode of season 3 of Psycho Pass. The narrative seems to be more action-oriented with hints of humour, rather than dramatic noir. There is a lot more emphasis on tech which leads me to believe we’re going to stray into cyberpunk territory. Political machinations are afoot.

I think it was a necessary change, this felt more like a US crime procedural along the lines of ‘Person of Interest’ so arguably not world’s away from what it was but different enough to feel like it’s carving out its own identity and not resting on everything that it’s previous seasons set up.

There were some red flags. The addition of what seems to amount to incredible psychic powers in Arata is a very tricky narrative element and unless used carefully and sparingly could either render stakes inconsequential or completely undercut and tension in the story. Moreover, the little we saw of the villains did seem a tad too goofball to be taken seriously and, in my experience, this universe really benefits from a strong antagonist.

In the closing scenes, there is a line seemingly spoken by Akane: “We must protect justice even at the cost of a peaceful society”… This was meant as a sort of handoff to a new cast and although a bit heavy-handed still cute. Except that to me, it sort of goes against what Akane stands for and negates some of her most important and powerful character moments (by the way, I’ve seen season 1, the old movie,

Seeing Akane at all was kind of unexpected–the opening monologue and the sort of revelation that she’s still imprisoned (I think that’s what they were going for–its been a while since I watched season 2) hit me harder than I expected.

On the other hand, I pretty much fell head over heels for Mika. Every scene she was in made me smile and glued my eyes to the screen. I always wanted to know more about the tech of Psycho Pass and that seems to be the direction the season is heading in and although we don’t know much about Kei and Arata, I like them both so far.

I like all the characters (both new and returning ones) so far, I quite liked the banter between our two inspectors and their chief–she seems like a pretty understanding woman–hope she doesn’t end up working for the bad guys!

From what I can remember of my very first impressions of the franchise at all, this is pretty much on par. I mean I’m way more excited but I’m bringing that down because a lot is due to fuzzy nostalgia feelings. I didn’t really have any expectations for this episode, all I wanted was a strong narrative and characters set in the familiar future fictional Tokyo of the Psycho Pass universe that I’ve got a lot of fondness for and on that front it absolutely delivered. If I have one complaint it’s that it introduced a lot of characters that didn’t do much (specifically those three mysterious characters who are either politicians or something I’m not quite sure) but there’s still plenty of time to find out what their deal is. All in all, I thought this was an excellent continuation and new beginning for the series.

Psycho Pass s3 ep1 – A New Start Hello one and all, it’s once again time for my seasonal dose of adorable underdressed anime fun with…

[solcomfortssouls]

Avengers Endgame review

This movie suffered a bit from the sheer amount of content that made it all a bit hrr and chaotic, but everything I was looking forward to was there and some more, so I'm actually pretty satisfied.

Firstly, this movie was very Iron man centric and as a big Tony Stark fan I loved every part of it. Tony's conflict in this movie was about choosing between the happiness of his family and his own time with them and the greater good of the whole universe and for me it overshadowed everyone else.

Tony having a family and a daughter for 5 happy years. Oh god, that was so sweet and deserved. A nice house by the lake, and a cute little girl that Tony treats so lovingly while staying in character. Also his relationship with Pepper is amazing here - he told her immediately what he was thinking about doing, and she knew and loved him enough to understand he wouldn't be able to give it a rest. He wouldn't be able to let go of the chance, possible only because of his brilliant mind. She knew she married a genius with obsessive compulsion to fix the world. Tony wouldn't be able to live with himself, if he didn't. But it was hilarious and heartbreaking seeing him so mad when he realized he figured it out. 

Morgan. I wonder what role she will play. I would love it if she did have some in the future. Even more if she did come up in connection with Peter somehow though that's unlikely. But every scene with her and Tony was perfection personalized.

Tony and Cap reconciling. Really all their scenes were excellent. Cap helping Tony out of the jet, Tony saying he couldn't stop Thanos, Tony saying he lost the kid in that broken tone... Then Tony getting angry because he was right to be afraid so much ahead of time and then blaming Cap and passing out...That was powerful. Not that I think he was completly right to blame Cap, and it was cruel to say that to him. But it was so in character for Tony and I felt deeply for them and their suffering in that scene.

But then Tony and Cap making amends was very satisfying. Cap still came to Tony with the time travel idea and accepted when Tony rejected him out of the concern for his family. But I think Cap knew that Tony wouldn't give it a rest, that by giving him the thought he would definitely obsess over it until he figured it out. And despite Tony having the most to lose out of all of them, he hated he couldn't save Peter. That was a loss heavily hanging on him and tipping him over the edge in his decision.

Then all the scenes showing Tony and Cap trusting each other was just plain joy. It almost makes up for the fact that Cap wasn't there in Tony's last moments. But I guess there were only so many characters that could be by his side when he was dying and the people chosen - Rhody, Peter and Pepper - were definitely Tony's most treasured people that brought him peace.

Peter coming back and Tony immediatly hugging him. Oh Peter. Also Peter running with the gauntlet and being helped by all the other heroes. Really a parent team for him.

Peter crying by Tony's side. Like that heartbroken sobbing and how he tried talking to him, waking him. Oh kid. I'm interested to see how much this will impact Peter in future movies. 

Tony's death scene. I loved how Pepper didn't have a freak out but instead calmly reassured him that they would make it, that they would be okay in the world he saved for them. She was aware what was Tony staking and she truly understood who he was, accepted and loved him for it. What a beautiful love. Tony fought and struggled and obsessed and cared and suffered enough. He has done enough. He can rest now. It doesn't seem fair to me he died when he finally achieved genuine happiness - with a family and Peter back. But that's the thing with tragic and untimely death, with sacrifaces for something bigger, with battles of this scale and the loss it accompanies. And it really brings home what's at risk when someone precious is actually lost. 

From narrative standpoint it makes sense because Tony wouldn't be able just stay out of the way after giving up the mantle to other heroes. There is no way he would be able to live in peace when others were in trouble. To keep him true to himself and to keep him out, they had to kill him.

It's a bit different with Cap's ending. He already lived and fought in two wars, helped more then anyone could have hoped or expected him to. So Cap took Tony's advice and example by finally making a real life for himself. I think he deserved it after all he has done for earth. Plus I have seen people saying that it went against his development of moving on from his past, but if you look closer Cap's arc was never about moving on. It's something he encouraged in others but didn't know how to do for himself. Besides Avengers were special by not letting things go and attempting the impossible. Cap was stuck in the wrong century, forced to live a different life, far from his home. I don't blame him for using the chance to have it all back when he could. Besides the world doesn't need him anymore. There is enough of superheroes that the responsibility can fall off his shoulders. It was okay for him to let go and he was able to in contrast to Tony who wouldn't be able to do so, had he survived. 

It's a bit confusing with the time travel, but technically if changing something in the past leads to the same future anyway, then they used time travel without erasing everything that happens in the previous movies. Cap still returned from the ice and fought with the Avengers and met old Peggy but also had a life with her. The rules are not that clear, but I understand what they were trying to do here.

The costs of victory in this film were real and painful. Gamora forgetting her bonding with the Guardians and what person it made her into. Vision not coming back. Natasha. Cap choosing to have a life instead of saving the world over and over. And God, Tony. His whole arc came to an incredible conclusion. He had a family and a lovely relationship with his daughter. And I felt his internal conflict the most. It was a lot different for him then for the others because he didn't lose everything. He had to actually decide between having a happy life with his family or dying to save the universe. Between his own self-interest and his family or the chance of bringing everyone else's family back. (Nice little callback to what his father was worried about too. And I'm happy he got closure from the prove his father did love him).

His funeral hurt. It was so emotional to see all the characters, even the Guardians honouring his death.

The way he saved everyone - not just earth but the whole universe by what he did was epic and I pretty much coudn't breathe. When Strange held up that one finger and realization fleshed in Tony's eyes that this was the only way. Oh Tony. 

To me Clint's arc of going dark after the loss of his family came off as a bit cliche and his willingness to die for Nat when he had a family to live for as unrealistic - was it to show his guilt about his actions as Ronin or his closeness to Nat or his heroic character? But I'm not much of a fan of either Clint or Nat so no surprise this wasn't emotionally moving for me. Admittedly Clint's acting was believable in the heartbreaking scenes, and he really shined while protecting the gauntlet. I was kinda proud Earth had a pretty capable protector for the infinity stones themselves in the shape of one Clint Barton.

Scott turned out important but many of his dialogue and comments were just for fun and came off to me as a bit improper. I didn't really care about him at all. But I have never been much of a fan of his.

The whole combination of Hulk-Bruce, Scott's goofiness and chubby drunk Thor that couldn't focus felt a bit jarring. It was too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Rocket I could still take. Not all of them combined.

Hulk-Bruce just felt so...out of nowhere? I was intrigued by Bruce's conflict with Hulk in Infinity War and how they were going to solve it. But this? Bruce's arc was always about accepting Hulk as part of himself instead for as his enemy. This flash-forward resolving all this off screen felt cheap and I couldn't take Hulk-Bruce seriously as result.

Thor. Hmm. I didn't care much about him before Ragnarok, but he really charmed me there. So it was interesting seeing this broken side of him. It was realistic to his character since Thor is a fighter and a man of action and not killing Thanos when he had the chance really was kinda his fault. Where was he aiming? I understand he blamed himself for this the most and that even after killing Thanos nothing was solved and even worse for Thor there was no one to fight. Nothing to do but face the emptiness of his failure. Without a pressing goal or enemy Thor neglected himself and I found it believable. As much as I missed the handsome strong Thor. But he was mentally broken and him going with the Guardians means his story is not over. He didn't have all that much to offer in the last battle - the spotlight was on Cap and Tony since this was the ending to their arcs and journeys, the peak of all their development, them reaching their full potential (Steve wielding Mjolnir, Thor and Tony's tech combined, Pep in Iron suit).That's why Thor is allowed to make heavy mistakes here. 

Let's not forget all the interactions of the original Avenegers plus Nebula and Rocket as a whole. Tony, Steve and Nat putting the puzzle pieces together for the time travel heist, Nebula and her revelations and the others feeling for her, (plus how Rhodey sympathised with her), Steve and Nat scenes and Nat and Clint scenes. They really tried to do their bond justice with these and in the mourning of Nat in the later half. 

Nebula proved pretty interesting this movie. There was a lot of emotional results to what have been done to her and I actually quite enjoyed the focus on her and her reunion with Gamora. 

The last battle was grand, with so many characters coming to defend the Earth. It felt so well deserved after Tony, Steve and Thor fought tooth and nail with Thanos to bring everyone back, that all the saved came to back them up. I loved Cap's "Reassemble" - that was incredibly well played.

I would critise the shifts between the individual plot lines were sometimes too jarring. It was chaotic, coming from one impactful scene only to get hit with another, with little to no breathing room or time to savour the atmosphere in-between. I guess that was hard to avoid with the amount and concentration of plot and characters. Infinity War succeeded in balancing emotion, action and humour, but Endgame felt like a mess of heavy scenes mixed with a lot of out of place humour.

All in all it was a bit messier but rewarding, deeply thought-out with some characters and a bit rushed with others. I have definitely found new favourite scenes and can't wait to see Endgame again.

[brothermouzongaming]

Cyberpunk gameplay thots

Obviously, this is a vertical slice of the game, something where CDPR can show off how the game works while making sure nothing is stressed too hard or explored too deeply. That being said, sonofabitch what a way to present your game. I’m going to gloss over my favorite parts and things I noticed because honestly, a play by play won’t do it justice. Please go watch it.

MadWorld (or “City” in this case)

I don’t need the sprawling landscapes and varied vistas of The Witcher 3. CDPR did an incredible job making every acre feel lived in. The landscape of Night City allows them to hone the focus of detail on a singular city. The touch of every NPCs class or sect hanging over their heads is nice, but I look forward to turning that option off and just enjoying the crowded streets for what they are. Gorgeous. The level of detail presented was just staggering, I couldn’t look at one thing for too long or I’d miss something. The lighting is sharp and accentuates how the world sits between impoverished dirty and futuristic shine. Even the ‘natural’ lighting in the apartment gunfight really cuts through and actually is worth noticing when LEDs and neon lights are almost all we get down on street level. The rooms are very well detailed, looking lived in, the clutter is not just assets but seemingly hand-picked to a certain extent. Night City is somehow seedy and luxurious, something made clear with every area we visited in the demo. 

RPGesus Christ

I can only imagine this had to have somewhat silenced the “it’s gonna be a FPS, not an RPG” crowd. Everything from the guns, the gear, and even the biometrics to some degree (that humanity cost tho). It really looks like it feels like a tabletop game especially when you get to the character creator. When V goes to pick up the pistol in her apartment, the green bar (to me at least) indicates a rarity level. Especially when later in the video another gun is seen with a purple bar.  Loot was an aspect of gameplay I didn’t foresee at all. I thought it’d be a merchant system. Loot, however, makes things a bit more interesting in my opinion. The ability to find something out in the world as opposed to coming to a market every time is always more immersive and overall fun in my opinion. The dialogue options are interesting and often, which is exactly as it should be. I’m not sure if this was intended but V even interrupts the Corpo woman and you can actually see a physical reaction though brief. Which has really interesting implications if used properly. It didn’t seem like the “shut up” button you’re given in Fallout that just silences the NPC. This actually seemed to be an active decision the player makes that the other character actually observes or at least understands. 

Movement Overhaul is Very Enticing

Doom Eternal is the closest thing I can think of when I see such quick and nimble movements from a character in an FP game. A sense of control and dynamism that will allow and encourage those to play as they wish. Dashing, sliding, and sticking to walls with mantis blades; all of it will only be enhanced with what appears to be well-designed levels and environments. I wasn’t sure if I’d talk about this in the movement section or the world section but to me; this specific demo shows how these parts of the level (and hopefully others) seek to facilitate combat. Not just exist in the same space to build the world or just because.

Guns and Their Play

We only saw four guns and one melee weapon, a handgun, the bullet curving submachine gun, a double barrel shotgun, some kind of gauss rifle, and the signature mantis blades. Both were very interesting in their functions. Enemies appear a little spongey, but I’m willing to chalk it up to augmentations but I do hope it gets a touched up a bit. None of that Division shit, I cannot stand that. No one has to go down in one shot but once I’m half a mag in...maybe they should be dead...? Later in the demo you do see the double barrel put people down left and right as well as the bullet curving gun. It’s a step up from the Titanfall pistol and an idea that lets you kind of peek behind the curtain as to what kind of tech we’ll be dealing with. The rifle shown is also again, very cool and makes me wonder what other high-concept weaponry is in store. I can’t comment on the feel obviously but I hope that the guns feel heavy to kind of play off how quick your character is/ can be. 

Deliberate Dialogue 

I very much enjoyed the ‘buddy-cop’ conversations between V and Jackie. I’m getting shallow but purposeful bits, most likely to avoid spoilers and things of that sort. Nothing too significant but it’s very well voice acted and that drives the tense moments and lets the lighter ones land regardless of how ‘deep’ the writing is. Then there's the Maelstrom scene, V and Jackie have a chat with a fine gentleman by the name of DumDum. The performance is phenomenal. The writing is good and houses the cliche dick measuring contest between DumDum and Jackie. It’s how Dum Dum carries himself and speaks that made me believe we had found the boss of the Maelstroms. Only for the big bearded fuck to storm in and start questioning what’s going on. Long story short, everyone dies and Dum Dum was nothing more than a passerby, practically an NPC in the open world. I was impressed how in that one scene, an absolute no one could leave such an impression on me. That doesn’t happen in most games, not for me at least. If this is something I can expect from even a handful of NPCs I’ll be floored and beside myself.

I know I’m fanboying but let me enjoy something dammit!!

[mysterious-prophetess]

Movie Double feature

Today I saw TWO Movies somewhat back-to-back.

Bumblebee AND Aquaman.

One I’d been anticipating and one I was slightly skeptical about.

So I’m going to do my little post movie write up AS a double feature as well.

So first the overall experiences I had with both and then below a read more, I will get into spoiler territory.

Bumblebee

I will admit I had the bar set low because it’s a Transformer’s movie. Though, I was slightly hopeful because Bee was a bug like he was in the cartoon. And also, Bee is my favorite transformer’s character.

I was right to be hopeful. This movie was thoroughly enjoyable. Not once did I glance at my cellphone. Ok I did but that wasn’t because I was bored. 

The pacing could be very quick at times but the human protagonist was actually someone I could give a full damn about. The plot wrapped up nicely and if Michael Bay really wanted, he could reboot the whole franchise and it would work. Easily the best of the....how many are there at this point? Let’s see.....(one google search later) Six. Best of the Six Transformers movies out. Personally, I think Michael bay should just reboot the series.

Aquaman

I didn’t have the bar super high here either but I was hoping for it to be good because of several reasons.

1) I am a HUGE DC fangirl. That’s right I’ll admit it, I prefer DC to Marvel. So, I’d prefer it when DC movies are good.

2) Representation matters. 

3) The way they set up Aquaman in Justice League (especially with the Motherbox thing and Mera) intrigued me.

So, how was it? Well, I will say it was not as good as Wonder Woman. However, it was better than all the other current batch DC movies, though. By which I mean the ones that are already out. Which is something it does pain me to admit since I am (at heart) a hardcore Superman fangirl. So, for me current DC movie rankings in quality (in my personal opinion):

Wonder Woman

Aquaman

Justice League

Man of Steel

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (extended cut)

Suicide Squad

The tone flipped back and forth with light and more serious moments here and there. The pacing could be choppy in a few segments and Snyder is back at it again with his choices for editing scenes together. More on that in the spoiler section. But it was also fun and Arthur’s 1000000% done with it was something I could relate to. Yes, it is the standard trope-y King Arthur tale (yeah, pun intended and DC did that too) of good true king versus Bad False King, but it also wasn’t totally stale. The art direction is what really made this movie for me. I loved LOVED how the underwater civilizations looked.

Now time for the spoiler section.

You have been warned. Don’t read if you’ve not seen either.

Bumblebee

Like I said above, I did not enter this film with high expectations of it. I mean, I don’t hate the other Transformers movies. I’ll just admit up front that if I could cut out the human bits from most of the other five films and just have nothing but giant robot fights, I’d be more than good with that. Especially Dark of the Moon. Just give me the giant robot bits and omit the rest please.

Charlie is actually relatable. Especially to me because I’ve had the sucky as fuck job at an amusement park. I won’t say where or when but trust me: working at a theme park is not fun at all. She also has something of an arc in this film that isn’t “get the girl” or whatever Mark Whalberg’s character’s arc was supposed to be in Last Knight (I didn’t see age of extinction but it seemed his arc there was around fatherhood or something). Charlie is also (as a character) charming enough to help carry the film with Bee. 

I won’t say the Charlie parts were always 100% good, but definitely good more often than not.

The male human lead (Memo?)...he was just Sam Witwicky 1980′s edition and a little less pathetic. 

Bumblebee was adorable in this. I get it was the amnesia but before he lost his voice, it was nice to hear him actually talk and the fact they cast a guy with a young-ish sounding voice was something I really liked since in the cartoon I’m more than fairly certain Bee was a kid or the youngest member of the Autobots. After the amnesia, it also sort of was childlike in his behaviors. 

I even liked the Decepticons. They were barely playing nice. 

I like that the human military was trying to play them right back.

Best line in the movie was when the John Cena character Agent Burns says something like,

“Should we even trust them, It’s right in their name “Decepticons”“ 

That was actually a clever thing to have in the film. 

Something else I liked was the fact that Optimus Prime, Soundwave, and Ravage were all really close to their cartoon designs, and it looked so much nicer to me.

Bee as a Camaro origin story. It was a nice touch. This skews the canon of the films a little but since it’s in my personal opinion they should just reboot it here and run with this new universe, any continuity issues aren’t that big to me.

Were there times the move just went from 0-CRAZY. Yeah. 

Charlie’s family: Borderline abusive at times, and borderline too...much. They weren’t as over the top as the Witwicky’s but that’s not saying much.

The internet already existed in the 80′s for the military as either DARPA or ARPA Net, so that little revelation was stupid.

The bullies who harrass Charlie at that party spot. I’ve never met someone that callus IRL and there is no way the bitchy chick making fun of the fact Charlie’s dad dropped dead wouldn’t have had at least someone aside from Memo and Bee going “Not Cool”

Speaking of that, the whole delinquent thing that they did to rich girl’s house? Funny but not 100% plot relevant. There were other ways to end up with Charlie, Bee, and Memo in a car chase. 

E.G. Bee’s trying to cheer Charlie up by going fast or something.

The nod to the other films with Simmons was nice. 

A solidly enjoyable film. I do actually recommend it.

Aquaman

Now onto a bigger spiel.

Again, due to DC’s track record for film quality with the current movie universe (and beyond) I did not want to have my hopes up, but I already mentioned why I wanted it to do well above.

The tonal shifts from serious to light to serious again could be (to borrow what my dad said) corny. I like corny, personally, but I get that tonal shifts like this can give others whiplash. Fortunately, they didn’t do this all the time.

What Snyder had them do enough times, however, was editing in flashbacks in the main flow of the story with little warning a la Man of Steel and I didn’t like it then, I don’t like it now.

Sometimes the dialogue could be a bit on the nose and clunky but I did like Arthur’s arc in this film. It was slightly incomplete because part of his arc started in Justice League which was learning how to play nice with other people to do something. Then there was the whole reluctant leader thing. It was done well enough, but having seen it done much better in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy, I know that attempting this sort of character arc in one film was asking for it to be a little less refined. Which is the result. Yet, despite it relying on a very Arthurian trope of Chosen King with Magic Weapon, it did it well enough that it wasn’t a totally stale thing. The fact he had the magic-trident of King Atlan was something he was actively working to earn throughout the movie. It did actually feel like he had gone through enough of a growth in the film (and part of Justice League) to merit him earning this achievement of his. 

The film did drag a little in places but only twice did I just want them to get on with it already.

Black Manta Ray’s origin was interesting in this universe. Arthur did quasi-create this enemy. 

On the other hand, I can’t fully feel sympathy for a murderous pirate dying because he tried to kill Arthur and Arthur decided that the man who tried to blow him up wasn’t someone he wanted to save. But that’s because I’m a vindictive bitch.

Arthur, later, realizes that he should have done the right thing all along but too late now. He also realizes the value of mercy because of this so...

Mera’s powers are never fully explained, but I find myself mostly ok with that because I just started calling her a waterbender in my head. 

Arhtur and Mera’s relationship evolved semi-organically. They did have chemistry for the most part, but it was almost too cliche at times yet it was fine because it’s the action movie romance cliches that aren’t 100 horrible but it was even at times a little sweet.

So, let’s go over, in detail what I loved about the art direction

Yes, it does look very similar to other underwater cities that I’ve seen in the past in other media, but they also incorporated enough new and nature inspired parts to it that I loved looking at each underwater civilization. The ruins, the tech, the fact things glowed the way they did. That pirate ship air pocket was also a really interesting thing though I kept wondering where Ariel was

I even got that the reason there was water in the Atlantean vehicles was Atlanteans don’t need to worry about things being airtight because they breathe under water. 

Later when it was explained that only a handful of Atlanteans can even breath in the atmosphere it made even more sense.

When Volko was training Arthur in his Atlantean skills and stuff started to glow once he went deeper in the water I actually nodded because there is scientific evidence that every living thing does give off small amounts of bioluminesce. Even we humans do, but it’s so faint we can’t perceive it.

I personally think the Atlanteans should have glowed a little too. 

The different species of Atlantean were very neat. Especially the “feral” ones. Reminded me of someone crossing a Zora with that creature from Pan’s Labyrinth or that thing from Hellboy 2 that Liz made a deal with to save Hellboy.

Onto other things:

The Karathen. I did not expect her to live up to the hype the movie was building her up to be. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was a “she” during the scene where she is trash-talking Arthur without knowing that he can understand her. Then, later, I found out she is voiced by Julie Andrews.

Also, because the Karathen did make such a huge impact in that final fight two things entered my head.

“RELEASE THE KRAKEN” and 

Orm: “I have an army!”

Arthur: “I have a sea monster.”

The Atlantis thrown down was noticed but that got me thinking: Where was the rest of the JL during this. Were they just doing damage control or something after Orm’s little oceanic temper tantrum?

The mid-credits stinger with Mantaray. I knew he wasn’t done because Manta Ray is a major Aquaman villain. I just didn’t think the Atlantis obsessed prof would end up finding him.

I don’t fully get why Nereus would want a war with the surface with Orm in charge, unless he would just strike Orm down later and take his power. 

I didn’t get why the fishpeople didn’t just RUN AWAY whenever Arthur showed up with the Karathen AND wielding the Trident of Atlan. All Fish-People Princess would have had to do was say “my people RUN FROM THE MONSTER” And Orm’s armies (and Orm himself) would be so busy fighting a literal sea monster from their worst nightmares that no one could or would have stopped them.

In fact, I am confused as to why there wasn’t mass panic once the Karathen showed up and she started wrecking all the military vehicles. -\( `-`)/-

Arthur’s ability to speak to the aquatic animals was actually built up to be a major ability. 

Aquaman’s been made fun of in the past for this, but considering he was able to talk to the Karathen, and control a bunch of apex sea predators (turning them on their masters) it isn’t something to be fully laughed off. Outside the ocean, sure it doesn’t really make a huge difference but that’s where making the Atlanteans tougher than land humans comes in. That too makes actual sense with the reasons as to why this was.

Atlanna’s survival wasn’t really too much of a shock for me. I was half-expecting the Trench-peoples to not be totally savage and actually just have a bad rep. 

The Hidden Sea at the Earth’s core bit got an eyebrow quirk. I was half expecting it to be the Caspian Sea....

I would still very much recommend Aquaman.

[scribblesofabeloved]

Greetings for surpassing your junior years!

Wherein you discovered lesser rest yet

Yet full or jeers

Now get ready to present your very best

Trust me to choose Humanities and Social Sciences

For you will overcome not just a paper, but even a life test

In here, creative writing can move you into different ambiances

This is also where counseling and social work collaborate

As well as Philosophy let you learn in few glances

If you’re also fond of participating in a debate,

Have fun in speaking and thinking critically

So take HUMSS now, mate!

WELCOME DEAR!

It’s my pleasure to be with you here in my so-called “hood”. So maybe you’ll gonna ask if what is this for. Actually, I was just busy jotting down my ideas until I realized that I have to quit wasting time since this is for a scheduled task. (Hahaha!)

Anyway, let me introduce myself first.

My name is Camille and I’m 17. I’m in grade 12 right now and taking Humanities and Social Sciences strand under the academic track. Be joyful kid, because I’ll be your “not-so-pretty-but-just-tall” advocate for this time!! But before anything else, I want you to be informed about this blog.

This isn’t about your favorite love quotes

This isn’t a site for online dating so stop browsing on my account!

We’ll gonna learn how to become a good student here. (Believe me)

This is a serious business so I’ll be letting you to grab your daily dosage of happy pill right now. Hurry!

Now count 1 to 10 and we’ll gonna start!

So, what is it?

Under the academic track there are four main strands, namely Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Accountancy and Business Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) and General Acadmic Strand (GAS).

If you’re one of a kind having a deep passion towards literary, communication skills, psychology, counseling and law, well, welcome to the club! You’re maybe one of us–having creative minds, passionate souls and soft cinnamon hearts (the last word isn’t a joke!) because those things belong to HUMSS. Dealing with the subjects and lessons within this strand wasn’t difficult, neither easy too. All you have to possess are the following, in order for you to survive:

Two cups of patience (one for yourself and the other for your teachers (oops)

An abundant supply of papers and pens (those are tools for survival!)

ENOUGH self-esteem

A very courageous heart with a deep breath and an immortal soul

LOVE (since it conquers all. even your seatmate)

On the other hand, it is so enjoyable to study HUMSS since it really discuss about humans, society, politics and everything in it. Hey I’ll be sharing you some of my stories about being a HUMSS student for you to find out why did I choose HUMSS and why must you should do the same thing.

“Simula ng Huli” the making

I have the best pals

The first one was the called “best”

Next was only “pal”

In our Contemporary and E-Tech subjects, we had been given a task by our teachers to create our 10-minute short film. We decided to create something different since our fellow classmates agreed to come up with horror films. We made a drama out of a spoken poetry. We do not have dialogues instead we act the scenes that the poem portray.

Share some?

The story began when a Senior High School girl, Marisol, decided to step outside her shell. From an introvert, she made friends with some other people. Now, just like the usual scenarios, they made memories and shared struggles as well. But the sad thing happened then when many of her friends chose to part ways and everything about there friendship ruined. The story ended not in a blissful one, thus, remained melancholic.

The Sample Script

Pero siguro kailangan ko na nga talagang maniwala Maniwala na nasasaktan na ako at kailangan ko nang sumuko Dahil mahirap nang maibalik yung mga parte ng pinunit na pahina nitong bawat kabanata ng ating istorya Mahirap nang manatili sa isang sulok habang naaalala kung pano lang kayo nagparanas ng ligaya pero nagpalit din ng sugat na kailanman ay di na nga mabubura Pero Salamat parin, Salamat sa pagbibigay ng aral sakin na hindi lahat ng nagdudulot ng kasiyahan ay mananatili kailanman Siguro ito na nga ang panahon para matanggap kong ito na..

Ang Simula ng Huli

NOW, LET”S ESCAPE FROM REALITY!

Let us now talk about creative writing

What comes in your mind when hearing it?

Did you know that it is more of thinking?

Writing your thoughts might have spirit!

All you have to do is to hold a pen and sit

So you people with imaginations as high as a mountain’s peak,

Here is where you really fit

In the real world, let us come out and sneak!

It isn’t just about writing guys. It’s actually more on about thinking creatively and separating yourself from this world. And if you will gonna ask if what can I use to describe Creative Writing subject, I’ll just answer you with one word and would expound it..

AMAZEMENT! 

Now, ponder of what does being amazed means and you will be able to understand what message you’re intended to receive right now. Just kidding.

Creative writing subject is a break from the real routine of this world. Maybe in a newspaper, it is the feature page. It is the desert in a heavy main course. It is the apple of a pie and can be the water break of your practice. But it doesn’t mean that you’ll have to forget about your self and the society where you belong. No. Creative writing only wants us to breathe and pause amidst the fast run of a train. It wants us to have a short break while watching a long and annoying TV program. To sum it all, it intends to let us escape for a while in this real world through our own imaginations wherein we’re able to create our own world.

To share some, the most unforgettable moment during our creative writing subject was when we’re asked by our teacher to write our own ending of a particular story. Moreover, we wrote also our own short story inspired by a song. But it did not end there, because we usually ought to make a role play out of those stories. Amazing. Aside of those, writing or composing poems with different rhyme scheme is one of my favorite activities too. 

To learn isn’t just the goal of this subject, but rather, to make our experiences alive.

”Experience is the best teacher” as the cliche goes, because in my own perception it really gave us the grades. (HAHAHA!) I mean, our experiences and the emotions within those always lead us to a better piece of a story or stunning lines of a poem. This is the reason why many loves this subject. (including our teacher, yay!)

Oh, speaking of experiences, let me share you my great travel ever!

Three Days In the Paradise!

If you are lonely,

Keep in mind that you are best

And made splendidly!

Last June, I and the worship team members of our church had gone to a vacation. From San Jose del Monte Bulacan, it took us 4 hours and 20 minutes to arrive at Bongabon, Nueva Ecija. We spent our first day in Simple Life Resort.

The pool’s water wasn’t very strong with chemical contents since it came from the mountain brook. The staffs were very cheerful, the entrance fee was only 20php while the cottage rent costs 100php to 1000php and that made us stayed there until 7 in the evening. 

Simple Life Resort

The “Batanes of The East” and the Lighthouse in Aurora

After an enjoyable swimming and bonding, we headed our way to Dingalan Aurora. The travel time was only 1 hour and 5 minutes. That was the place where we’re really going to stay until the third day of our vacation. The people welcomed us in a certain beach resort  and they were very friendly. There, we had rented two cottages. 

The sea was so tidy  and the waves were very calm that’s why we almost lived there. Incidentally also, we’re fortunate to witness the opening of the town feast happened. The boats made up of flamboyant colors with patrons and bands paraded on the sea. 

I and my fellow youths together with our youth leader also did not let the day passed without even visiting the famous white beach resort in Dingalan. We did not actually went there for swimming, but for mountain climbing. It took us about 25 minutes riding a boat from the island where we’re staying in to the white beach resort, and so we’re welcomed by an abundance of jellyfish. It took us almost 30 minutes climbing the two famous mountains in Aurora. But even though my heart almost fell on my soles, the mountain view did not disappoint me. It actually made my breathe away! Believe me, my tears fell when I saw how beautiful and wonderful the scene was when we reached the peak of the second mountain (which was my favorite also), the so-called “Batanes of the East”. The temperature wasn’t that high that time that’s why we really enjoyed our climb. The mountain was still full of green tall trees and the ocean behind us was said to be a part of the Pacific ocean. I almost cry aloud when I thought how Great God is. The aesthetic made me realize that if God alone shaped these majestic things, how special we are, since we were the most important in all His creations.

Humanities and Social Sciences is perfect for your run, 

It isn’t as harsh as a bullet of a gun

But just as bright as the splendid sun

Now trust me because for sure, you’ll really have fun!

Hey! I hope that I inspired you and encourage you as well as you read through. If you’re still confused about the strand that you’ll be taking for your Senior Years, keep in mind that you have always to follow your passion. 

In HUMSS, maybe you’re not going to study numbers, but you will know the importance of those. You’re not going to balance an equation, but you will learn how to find equality and justice despite of the world’s realities. You’re not going to compute for a product’s value, but you will know how to value one’s life and the society’s products. So if you want to become a future world changer, having a passion for humanities and looking forward to a better society, be one of us! Choose HUMSS. 

[allthebest20]

Lupin (2021): Part 1

Overall: 6/10 - might watch it again, enjoyable, interesting, smart, well shot, character development could have been better, plot was enthralling, but perhaps not realistic.

I watched the dubbed version, so the voice acting was lost.  Perhaps the characters would have felt more believable if I had watched the authentic audio, but they still would have had largely circumstantial personalities.  Claire, the police commissioner, Mrs. Pellegrini, Juliette, all of their actions fitting perfectly into the elaborate plot.  Sure, Assane alludes to himself as a scholar of people, but the only way this really works is that he is a master manipulator, and that does not bode well for his relationship with Claire.  How does she manage to stay so warm towards him?  Even in the final scene, after the danger on the train has seemingly faded, she seems incapable of being anger with him.  We know Assane to be a cheater, perhaps he was playing Juilette that entire time, although we do not yet know what for.  So that when he pulled his big heist, he could ask her face to face about the necklace’s history, hope to get a genuine reply, and that she would keep her mouth closed about his identity?  Why did she wait so long to tell her father?  Obviously, it wasn’t long enough to keep Assane safe.  What was he thinking, letting the kid out of his sight?  Going somewhere so unfamiliar when he was in such danger?

Either way, the plot was smart, well done.  Sure, there were plot holes: wikipedia isn’t that easy to edit, social media isn’t that easy to fake.  Perhaps he spent more time then they really let on.  The faked suicide is such a bad trope.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but if there’s no pulse and your not breathing, then you’re dead or dying.  There is no magic pills you can take that temporarily create this effect and then wake up later perfectly healthy.  The second you stop breathing, you begin to lose brain cells.  Any medical professional worth a fuck can tell whether a person is dead or just really passed out.

Then there’s the bit where no one can recognize him.  Maybe he is a master of disguise, but it also seems to hint towards the racism of Parisians: that they think that all black people look the same.  I have really poor facial recognition skills, so it seems possible to me that he could go unrecognized, but then you think about any real world crime where they take a blurry surveillance video and use that to create wanted photos.  People see those photos on TV or where ever and call in and that leads to conviction, like, all the time.  Now they can even use that image to scan live surveillance footage around cities.  Although, I have heard that technology is less effective on black faces, because of AI/tech bias.  What if they had made this movie about a black woman?  Because with hair, make-up, eyelashes, larger normalized style range, the opportunity for disguise becomes even bigger.  But I suppose the best disguise hides you in plain sight, like only a black masc immigrant can.  Woman draw so much attention.

My biggest complaint is the ending, or the lack of an ending.  Just a cliff hanger.  No questions were answered, no positive events happened for Assane.  Why didn’t he just post the full video on twitter instead of doing that dumb risky thing with the TV station? Why did he think that would work?  Why didn’t he know he was in danger?  I mean, his journalist friend was obviously killed. I swear to god if he ends up arrested and the cops are the heros, then I’m changing my rating to a 4/10.  I don’t care about the justice system, especially one that I know is flawed against people like him.  I want to see real justice, something we don’t often see in the real world because of how flawed the justice system is.  If after all these plot holes, Assane still goes to jail, yeah know, to give the series a “realistic ending,” I will be pissed. 

Both the translated and dubbed dialogue seemed kind of unnatural, but it didn’t take too much away from the overall effect.  The shots were beautiful, the actors were good.  Omar Sy was great. I love a good heist movie, and this was just that.  A French Sherlock Holmes. 

[theatredirectors]

Lauren Hlubny

Hometown?

I’m originally from a small town in South Jersey called Shamong.

Where are you now?

I live in Brooklyn, NY

What's your current project?

I’m currently working on Thoughts & Prayers — a dance-theatre-concerto—which for us means a dance-heavy, music-driven theatre piece. It presents my thoughts on the American way of dealing with calamity - be it an act of man or a natural disaster.  This work is about many things, but the most compelling for me is the focus on how to fight complacency and engage in the world in a way that makes a difference. Thoughts & Prayers is about the different ways we can react to catastrophe. Through music, dialogue, and dance, we explore human reactions, such as numbness, mourning, guilt, laughter, and more which keep us stuck in cycles of disaster, until there reaches a point where something changes, someone listens. We take the audience on a journey from letting things happen and feeling trapped and hopeless, to taking whatever agency they can. This piece is tragic, funny even at moments, but overall it is about hope. Tragedy may happen, but we have the power to do something about it. It is our goal that the audience leaves with the tools necessary to take that next step towards action. Please join us September 19-29 (tech is in less than two weeks!) at TADA! Theatre in Manhattan.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

My first exposure to theatre was sneaking into my living room way past my bedtime and catching the ending of the movie version of Evita featuring Madonna. From then on, I was hooked on movie musicals, borrowing them in bulk from the local library and devouring them learning everything I could. When I got to high school, and they didn’t have a theatre teacher, I went around getting students to sign a petition so that the school would hire one (and they did!). I was really lucky to go to Florida State University for theatre and cultural anthropology, and it was there that I studied under some of the premier specialists of Jerzy Grotowski and Vsevolod Meyerhold in the United States, both trailblazers in experimental physical theatre, and that’s what kept me in this field years later. It’s really incredible that almost the entirety of the creative team for Thoughts & Prayers studied at some point in time at FSU, whether it be for their undergrad or doctorate, and every collaborator on the team has had the capacity to tour the world, speaking at conferences, performing music, presenting work, and engaging with the best of the best around about town here in NYC too, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alvin Ailey, NY Deaf Theatre, Joe’s Pub, and countless other top-notch places.

What is your directing dream project?

My directing dream project is one which is capable of paying everyone involved the amount they deserve while not compromising our desire to innovate in the space between circus, theatre, dance, and music or our values of focusing on work which is conscious of the political climate in which it is created. When I started to devote myself to being a director, I started a list of projects, and they range in scope, some are huge circus-style pieces (yes, complete with stilts) which I want to stage in public arenas in Paris and make them free to anyone who would like to come, while some are smaller--like staging a classical story on a sailboat sailed by dancers. I’ve always been fond of taking well-known stories and completely upending them,  finding a way to make the work accessible without sacrificing the desire for positive change. I don’t have my sights set on staging any canon works, I’m more invigorated by the idea of continuing to make something completely new--and to challenge myself in ways that make my craft harder and harder. The audience arrangement is one example of how I’ve been able to do this and staging Thoughts & Prayers in tennis court style seating was incredibly challenging. How can I keep developing my research and the research of theatre practitioners before me while pushing myself to take risks that are  almost insurmountable?

What kind of theatre excites you?

The kind of theatre that excites me is aware of the theatre researchers that came before and also conscious of the world in which it is made—the type of theatre that provides a call to action without sacrificing the desire to present the highest caliber of skill in its performers. I’m excited by theatre which pushes people just outside of their comfort zones, performers included. Examples of shows that take risks like this include Fairview, Indecent, and Mlima’s Tale, shows that take risks with their visuals and their audiences, and do not shy away from the decision to make something new and meaningful in the current climate. I am moved by theatre which considers the range of accessibility that their audience has to the content. I am thrilled by theatre which entices its audience away from complacency and vaults them into a conversation, keeping them buzzing weeks, months, even years after with the memories and the call to action embedded in the piece. Embedded in this work, we are challenging the audience to observe one another, and be on both sides of the discussion.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

A big difficulty for theatre-makers today is finding outside-the-box ways to survive. Taking big risks to make work you believe in is difficult when you have to put food on the table, but risks are what make history—and make truly compelling work. It is the responsibility of theatre to make change happen in the world and not to recycle stories that glorify problems (like mistreatment of women), to provide a safe space (especially for makers from less represented communities) to question society and inspire change. In order to make this sort of theatre commercially accessible, producers and benefactors need to put money into it and people need to stop stigmatizing humans who wish to become artists. In my own practice, I only work on shows that deliver a message of equality and positive social change to their audiences. I endeavor to be inclusive in my casting. I do not condone aimless violence on stage—as violence is violence no matter the setting. I am committed to ensuring that my performers and collaborators feel safe to be vulnerable in our rehearsal and performance spaces. I find ways to compensate my teams any way I can, whether it be by honing skills they are interested in acquiring or tirelessly raising money so that everyone on the team gets paid. I don’t compromise when it comes to my values. I like to recall a meeting I had with an acclaimed neurosurgeon in Lublin, Poland, where he told me he actually admired what I do more than I could even know. When I asked him why, he said, “What I do saves lives, what you do gives people a reason to live.”

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

It’s a prudent move if you wish to teach at the university level.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Pina Bausch. Crystal Pite. Yes, they’re both in the dance community, but for me, they are trailblazers in the performing arts, past and present, and it’s difficult to find historical role models in the dance-theatre field who are not men identifying. These two women have an incredible capability to create movement vocabularies which not only captivate me but take me places narratively that I cannot get out of my memory. The specificity in their work is not only physical but the emotional throughline, the hopelessness and the joy, the dark and the bright all wrapped into one moment--they make me want to keep working harder to find that place in my narratives. I find myself holding my breath when I see their works, and when the curtain falls I’m saddened that the experience has ended.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Practice. Hone your craft. Take weird gigs. Respect your performers. You never know where an opportunity will come from. Before I was a director, I was a performer and a stage electrician. My devotion towards learning those two crafts, and the ins and outs of how they could inter-play on stage gave me the skills to create the images on stage I see only in my dreams, and in a safe, respectful, and resourceful way. Taking on strange challenges, like directing a circus-theatre show in a backyard in Maine for a community, that included gathering arborists to make sure the tree is safe enough for a trapeze to be strung up (and there are pictures of me stringing up a thirty-foot sheet to a tree limb so I could backlight a trapeze artist). My biggest advice would be to work with collaborators that you believe in—surround yourself with people who are willing to put the work in, and are not willing to compromise their values, and you will always feel fulfilled.

Plugs?

Join us for Thoughts & Prayers and for various post-show panel discussions led by social justice and arts organizations, September 19-29. Since the show is in tennis court-style seating (audience on both sides of the stage), plan to come at least twice to catch all of the action! 

https://thoughtsandprayerstheshow.brownpapertickets.com/.