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wings-of-a-storm · 3 years

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I have a question. My favorite character is obviously Benji, but this season I started to get an ultimate rancidity of him.In the end I understood why he was acting like this, he has a PTSD because of dating Derek, his parents shitting him and alcohol and the accident. It's about the accident I wanted to know about, I didn't quite understand what this accident was and why he started drinking. I get upset that Benji's story is the least explored in the series, in my opinion, it should be explored more

Sorry for late reply to this, Anon! I know a few others already replied to this but I figure I’d still add my take into the mix for you. :)

I think many of us share your frustrations about Benji’s story being drip fed to us instead of being looked at more deeply. It’s a very interesting history so I really hope that in season three we might actually get a more decent look at it…

BENJI’S HISTORY / WHY HE STARTED DRINKING:

Throughout both seasons we learn that Benji has struggled with mental health.

In the most simplest of summaries: Benji struggled with internalised homophobia -- he hated himself for being homosexual and fought against it. He even experimented sexually with girls (which he briefly mentioned in S1), but in the end, he couldn’t deny that he was gay. But acknowledging he was gay and being able to accept it are two different things. He hated being gay.

In order to cope with that self-hatred and fear, he turned to alcohol to dull his reality and in turn everything he felt. He’s still learning to like himself even now in season two.

In Benji’s own words: “Before I came out, I was kind of a mess. I knew I was gay but I didn't want to be. So I drank. A lot. (1x07)” And: “Coming out was really hard for me, Victor. And it is still hard for me to be who I am. (1x05)”

BENJI’S CAR ACCIDENT:

Benji said that when he was younger, he drank 'a lot'. From that statement alone we can infer that he knew he was drinking more than his peers were. Most likely that went beyond social drinking -- he was probably also drinking by himself at any opportunity.

There is an age limit for drinking for good reason: our brains don’t fully develop until we are in our twenties, and as such, when we are younger we are more likely to make riskier choices. Adding alcohol into the mix is just asking for trouble -- as Benji found out when, one night, severely inebriated, he lost control of his vehicle (or misjudged his surroundings) and drove through/into a building. “One night I got super wasted and decided that I wanted Wendys real bad. So I took my Dad's car to the drive thru and that's exactly what I did -- drove through the Wendys. (1x07)”

That is some serious stuff right there! On so many levels!

Firstly the physical toll: he ‘totalled’ his dad’s car. To have a car written off as too smashed to be driven, that car had a huge impact! And not surprising since Benji said he drove through the building. Whether that was through glass or a into a sturdy wall, to crunch up the metal of his car, that is a massive hit. We don’t know the extent of his injuries (he just said he was ‘banged up’) but we do know that he was at the very least knocked unconscious and/or had a head injury from it (“Waking up in the hospital with my parents standing over me…” 1x07).

Secondly, the emotional toll: when Benji gained consciousness and woke up in hospital, he said he “realised that I could have died." (1x07) That is a very frightening thing to confront -- your mortality. It spooked him enough that it was the catalyst for his Coming Out. He didn’t want to die without “ever really being who I was” (1x07); to have only lived his life as a lie and not known his true self…

Most of us, I’d wager, haven’t had to confront our mortality at such a young age -- like truly confront it after going through a life-threatening experience. In that sense, he is on a different level to his peers and Victor -- a big part of his innocence has been broken and re-formed.

There is more to the emotional toll though -- not explicitly mentioned in canon but pretty much common sense:

The pain of recovery in hospital and at home (whatever “banged up” means, he was injured in some way)

The guilt of knowing his actions could have caused innocent people to have been hurt or killed. No one was hurt, he said, but just knowing they could have been is a really heavy thing to have on your conscience.

The stress of dealing with insurance (for the Wendys, for the car). He would have had to burden his parents with sorting that all out.

Police would have been involved to investigate the incident and lay charges. That’s pretty darn scary.

Losing his licence and thus part of his independence

Seeing the physical damage of the Wendys if he ever went past it again -- knowing he had done it, knowing he had been in the car that made that damage and reliving the knowledge he could have killed himself…

He was so ashamed by it all, he didn’t want anyone at school knowing about the accident or about his drinking that caused it. In 1x07 the school still didn’t know so he really guarded that secret hard.

There’s just so much heaviness linked to that accident. And Benji has only had one year to process all of that. On some level, that stuff has got to linger.

THE INITIAL AFTERMATH:

We learn that after the car accident, Benji was in an ever worse state of mind than when he was drinking his life away before it. His mother reveals: “After your car accident last year you were so hard on yourself and things were pretty dark for a while there. And you decided to put in the hard work [to go to AA and get better]. (2x07)”

Referring to Benji's post-accident self as being in 'a pretty dark place' is a pretty big alarm bell. His mental health sounds like it was pretty much destroyed. It is so hard to rebuild yourself after falling into such a dark well, but over the year he must have pulled himself back from the brink. That is so, so heavy!

It’s hard to gauge whether Benji chose to go to AA himself (which seems to be implied), or whether it was a condition of his charge through the police, but he went there none-the-less to change his life and learn healthier coping mechanisms to handle stress/his inner conflicts.

Something else worth noting is that, timeline-wise (as messy as that always is in LV), Benji was dating Derek through all of this. His one year anniversary with Derek was in S1 but his one year sobriety was only in S2. Who knows how that would have complicated things. He wasn’t Out to his parents or anyone but he was dating a (adult) man. So he was simultaneously hating that he was gay and drinking his mind blank but still dating a man. That is a super stressful and conflicting dichotomy that he was dealing with in amongst all this… (“It is still hard for me to be who I am.” 1x05)

THE MOST IMPORTANT INSIGHT FROM BENJI’S DRINKING AND AA:

It is so important to take time and realise what being in AA means about Benji: as a young teen, Benji self-medicated his way through his worsening mental health by drinking to handle stress and internalised homophobia. He didn’t have any proper methods of handling stressful situations. He is now having to unlearn those behaviours and learn new strategies through AA and his sponsor. But he has only been doing that for one year! That is a blip of time in the hourglass.

Now let’s look at the events of S2: Benji has been inundated with stress while still learning how to cope with it without drinking. And he’s had to learn and practise these new coping strategies while:

Being in high school

Holding down an assistant manager job

Watching his significant other being emotionally wrung out by his mother’s treatment of him; dealing with his own rejection and banishment from Isabel

Reliving both his own coming out stress and homophobic aggressions at school directed this time at his significant other

Trying to deal with the shame of being in AA and keeping that a secret from all of his peers at school

Like far out, that is a ton of stress! Anyone would crack under all of that, let alone a young and recovering alcoholic!

So yes, when faced with stressful situations, Benji is not always going to react in the right way or say the right things. He’s still learning how to do that with his sponsor and AA meetings. He might come off as ‘rancid’ in S2, but really he is just a kid who is struggling and trying to do his best.

#LV ask #Love Victor #LV S2 analysis #Benji Campbell

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o-neillwith2ls · 4 years

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I told you so!

Prompt number: 11

Fandom: Stargate SG-1

Rating:T

Warnings: implication of abuse

—

Can be read with ‘Your cover story could do with some work’ in my episode tags. Again I’m exploring the kind of relationship Jacob and Sam had before we meet him and get to love him (because I do love Jacob, I really do!) its also a feel around for a Pre-Series story I have in mind about Jacob and Sam in particular, there’s lots of pointers towards that series in there, so feedback/ideas/comments are welcome. And you know I heard “I told you so” and thought of Jacob--for some reason 🤔

Also, thanks to Julie, my BETA I changed things back from the last time you saw them! I’m sorry in advance!

Pre-Series, about two years before season 1 begins.

Sam splashed the water in her face, hoping to cool down. She was blushing bright red and was uncomfortable.

This shouldn’t be so hard! This man! He’s supposed to be her father! She envied other kids growing up. Ones with fathers who praised them and paid them attention. She genuinely believed that she wasn’t trying hard enough and that's why he always paid more attention to Mark. No, she wasn’t envious of Mark. This wasn’t a sibling rivalry thing although she wished it were.

Every time it came to her achievements, it was “Well done, sweetheart--” then a mild push away before Mark would be praised over the smallest thing. It felt as though she was being underplayed for Mark’s under achievements. So, she’d try harder and harder, push herself more. At the age fourteen, she achieved a 4.5 on her high school diploma. He missed her graduation for work. The only cheer she heard was that of Blake’s, the one senior who had been a friend, well more than that if their age difference hadn’t been such a big deal. It's not that she didn’t love Blake for doing it, but she didn’t want to hear his cheers. She wanted her dad, her brother -- her mom. Gosh, she really missed her mom.

She closed her eyes as she used a paper towel to dry off the water from her face.

Mark had promptly ran away from home, informing Jacob that he was never joining the Air Force. Sam was five years older and even though she had rebelled a little after her high school graduation and has since college, she had come down to see her father’s head bow in self defeat. Generations of Carters had been in the Forces, ever since (possibly before) the civil war. In that moment, he thought it would all end with him.

So, she took Mark’s place. After all, for the best and the brightest, the air force had ways of getting their people on spacecraft, and she would go up in one of those programs. She already had her bachelor’s degree and her Masters. Yes, she could get a sponsor, or a grant for her PhD. With her education and skills, the Air Force could and would pay for her to join and she would have a career at the end of it and a possible way into space.

She thought it would be enough for him, that he would finally be proud of her.

Turns out she was wrong on that front too.

Even when Mark came back briefly, it just turned into another way for her Dad could criticize her, at a closer level. Every grade (despite the fact she was still the highest scorer in her class), he’d inspect and point out her flaws. To make matters worse, Mark had stopped talking to her, claiming she had taken dad’s side and wouldn’t listen to her reasoning, if she joined the Air Force he wouldn’t have to. The name Carter--would still be in the Air Force!

Then Mark left again, and her Dad blamed her… again. They didn’t speak for a while.

Then she had met Jonas.

She knew now it had been a mistake, but at the time—oh, at the time she had been flattered at the very much older, very distinguished then Captain who wanted her. She relished in the attention. Who wouldn’t? He was handsome and intelligent, but she really couldn’t see the controlling and manipulative behavior. When she introduced Jonas to her father, that behavior was the one thing her father had pain strictly pointed out to her.

As if their relationship wasn’t frayed enough, as if he hadn’t already lost his son because of this behaviour, he carried on for an hour.

She had rebelliously snapped back that she didn’t care what he thought, and she was going to marry Jonas anyway. In the end, she finally wised up to see for herself what kind of the man her fiancé actually was, and she finally ended it. All it took was a physical reminder. She was better than that. She wouldn’t accept that fate.

Sam sighed and put the paper towel in the bin. She looked at her visage in the mirror. All she saw was a woman who was alone again. A little bit older. A little bit wiser. She pulled her shoulders back and whispered, ‘no more’ to herself.

She didn’t contact her father two and a half years later after she had broken it off her engagement, for the exact reasons he had pointed out. She never wanted to give him the satisfaction of being right. She knew in the end, that’s all that mattered to him.

Not Mark, not her, not the Air Force, not anything. Just him and his opinions.

So, although she wished for her relationship to be different than what it was with her dad, she knew it never could be. He wouldn’t care if she'd been promoted to Captain, or for her theoretical work in ‘deep space radar telemetry’ No, he’d focus on her failed relationship. Even though she had broken it off two and a half years ago, he would still focus on that.

She still took a deep breath and left the ladies’ room. After all, she was a Carter.

She saw her father across the restaurant, he was still in his dress blues, she should have known and not dressed in her own casual clothes. Now he could criticise her clothes, or maybe the length of her hair. Oh god, had she smudged her makeup?

"Hey kiddo." He said standing as she approached. "No uniform?" He asked.

"No, I um, I got changed when I left work." She admitted.

"It's pretty." He told her, referring to the knee length flowery skirt and white shirt she had picked out.

She took a deep breath. Like her, not even her clothes could pass the 'beautiful' mark in her father’s eyes. Everyone who had ever met her claimed a likeness in Sam to her mother, she had sorely wished it to be true, she thought her mother was the most wonderful and beautiful person in the world as a child. But her father had never pointed it out, she supposed he couldn't see it so never said.

"Thanks." She said quietly as she sat.

He looked at her again. "You cut your hair."

She touched upon her short bob and took a deep breath in. She'd cut it from her long locks she'd had from a child after she broke up with Jonas, she'd found it liberating to do and found she felt as though she was a real woman for having done it. "I always liked it long."

She sighed heavily feeling like she disappointed him all over again. "It was taking too long to do." Sam admitted.

"What does Jonas think of it?" He asked her.

She felt the pink work up her shoulders to her neck. "He wouldn't know, I broke it off." He had a question in his eyes but wouldn’t ask it. She told him brusquely. “Two and a half years ago.”

She couldn't look as she waited for it. Four little words which would break her heart all over again.

"You--what?" He asked obviously surprised.

"He was overbearing, controlling--"

"Abusive?" Jacob said looking at her with that all knowing look he had.

"You know, dad--" she started, a little annoyed at his condescending tone.

"I told you so." He cut across.

Sam scoffed and shook her head. "There it is." She replied with an ironic chuckle.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"The famous Jacob Carter and always being right!" She exclaimed as quietly as she could.

"Well I was, sweetheart--" he started.

"Not everything is about being right, dad." She tore across him. "Did you think that maybe your daughter might like to hear 'Gee I'm sorry the one chance of love you've ever had didn’t work out.' Just once instead of hearing once again about how you're right again."

"Sammy--"

"Stop that!" She objected "I'm not a little girl anymore."

Jacob grinned. "So what? Now, you come here with a new haircut and suddenly you have all the answers?" He ended with a pity grin at her. "Have you considered that part of your problem is just that you take after me and you always have to be right?" He asked an ever- increasing pink Sam.

"No, Dad there is a difference between being correct and being right. You can be correct and still be wrong and you are just the upright example of correct."

"Thank you." He said flatly to her.

She let out a puff of air and shook her head "I can't believe I thought this was a good idea." She said as she stood to leave.

"Samantha, where are you going? Sit down."

"I'm not one of your Airman to order around!" She snapped before she walked out.

It wasn't until she was outside that she heard her dad behind her. “Samantha, stop!”

Her father gave an order and like the airman she was, she immediately stopped as her father approached.

"Do you know what you need, Samantha?" He asked as he got closer.

"I don't want to hear it."

"Well, I'm telling you anyway." He told her. "You don't need someone who just sits and listens to all your academic smarts. You need someone who listens to you. You don't need someone who hangs on every word you say. You need someone who encourages you to learn, develop, and grow. You need someone who sees you with all your imperfections and still would die for you. Most of all, you need someone who would love you, Samantha. All of you."

She scoffed and glared at him. "l'll bear that in mind." She said before she headed towards her Volvo. She got in her car and with tears in her eyes, she drove away not looking at her father. She didn’t see the lonely man, standing at the curb, looking dejectedly after his daughter as she left him behind.

4 years later Jacob’s Viewpoint (Bold from S02E09 Secrets no copywrite intended)

I saw a man, obviously a Colonel, come over with drinks in hand. I look at him and saw immediately by sight that he was Sam's type. Older. Confident. The man needed to pass us by altogether in my opinion. I was perturbed (to say mildly) when stopped in front of us. And I saw the smile my daughter sent his way as he approached.

"Sam?" He said as he handed her the drink.

"Thank you, Sir." Sam replied politely.

'Sir?' I question in my own head. 'She knows this guy?'

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, Jacob Carter." His old buddy, General George Hammond, made the introductions.

I almost burst out laughing although I've trained myself not to. I straighten my shoulders and look at her seriously, surely, he'll be like anyone else would be, intimidated by my two stars on my shoulders.

I don’t believe THIS was the Colonel O'Neill George had harped on about for months? This was her commanding officer? Holy Hannah, George do you know what you've done? This guy was not the right man to be her commanding officer!

"Carter? As in?" said Colonel quietly, he turned a questioning face to my Sammy.

"As in my father, Sir, yes." Sam blushed.

"Get outta town." He says and while obviously teasing her "Sam's Dad? I've heard nothing about you, Sir." He says bringing out his hand, I shake it. Damn! I start to object to my own opinion of him. I like him, the first one brave enough to shake my hand. Also, the first one to look me directly in the eye. Sam, on the other hand, looks like a deer in headlights as I say:

"What's there to say about an old general waiting to retire?" I ask him with a sly look to my daughter.

"Dad, I talk about you all the time." She tells me. Yeah right, Sammy, now pull the other one, because I'm not buying it.

"I retired myself one time. Couldn't stay away." O'Neill told me as he took a sip of his drink.

I'm also not buying this from him. "From your analysis of deep space radar telemetry?" I ask, barely hiding the sarcasm in my voice. .

"Well, it's just so damn fascinating." He quips, and I like it, he's quick and receives a smile from my daughter. I don't immediately think too much on it, I'm too busy enjoying the banter.

"I'm sure it is. Otherwise you wouldn't be receiving the Air Medal." I shot back. I find myself drawn into conversation with him.

"We have our moments." The Colonel admits and then there it is again; she's giving him THAT smile. "Um, will you excuse me? We just don't get out of Cheyenne Mountain enough. I'm going to grab some air. Outside. General. Captain. General." He starts to walk away, and I smile. The guy is certainly not afraid of me. A refreshing change from Sammie’s previous suitors.

I realized that I liked him as he watched the Colonel turn and call out, "Waiter." As I turn back, I took a look at Sammy’s face and I see it. The look on her face was familiar to me. It was the same one my wife used to give me. 'Oh Sammy, I told you so!' I think to myself, then dread hits me, I suppose my father instincts take over,she’s sleeping with her superior officer! I can’t believe George would let that son of a bitch with his smooth talking and his charming persona trap my Sammy like this! I can’t believe I let him fool me!

Silly love sick Sammy! Did she not know the Frat rules were there for a reason!?

#fictober20 #fictober2020 #stargate sg-1 #stargate sg1 #jacob carter #samantha carter #samantha carter sg1 #jack o neill #Sam x Jack #pre-series #ep secret

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thorne93 · 4 years

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Inside the Criminal Mind (Part 28)

Prompt: You’re married to Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU, and are a distinguished doctor yourself on the team. You’re sent down to Miami, Florida for teaching and as a side request from the FBI, to investigate a string of missing persons. When you think you’ve figured out who the unsub is, your life becomes more complicated than you ever could’ve imagined.

Word Count: 2382

Warnings: (throughout the fic –>) death, blood, gore, killings, language, disturbing mental notions, mentions of rapes/murder/etc (You know, Dexter and Criminal Minds related business)

Notes: Thank you so much to @arrow-guy, @carryonmyswansong, and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo - without each of you, I couldn’t have finished, written, or properly navigated this story. Each of you helped me fish out details that were incredibly important to me. Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo… Aesthetic by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo

This is a crossover of Criminal Minds x Dexter. First time writing Dexter.

Also, the timeline is after Season 1 of Dexter, but during season 14-ish of Criminal minds into Season 15. Enjoy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was early morning, you and Spencer had just shown up at the precinct. Rossi came in maybe five minutes after you. He said he wanted the task force and the BAU members in the conference room.

LaGuerta said, “That sounds important.”

“We just had a break in the case,” Rossi explained.

“What break?” you wondered, panic flaring throughout you.

“Garcia just called. Patrol found a guy saying he escaped the Bay Harbor Butcher. He claimed he was captured two hours ago,” Rossi explained.

All of the BAU traded confused looks, and once again, you had to fight the urge to look back at Dexter. You two parted ways last night just as the sun had set. You had no idea where he went or what he was doing. He could’ve been killing, or with Rita, or his new fake sponsor. You weren’t sure.

The team members started to gather just as Rossi said, “Morgan.”

Debra looked up and said, “Yes?”

“No, the other Morgan,” he clarified. “I’d like you to join us. If you can spare him,” he reiterated as he turned back to LaGuerta.

Your eyes narrowed as your gaze met Dexter’s.

“That’s fine with me.”

“Is there blood?” he asked, and you began to wonder if he was just trying to keep up the act or if he honestly didn’t know.

“Not that we’re aware of, no,” Rossi explained.

“But what about Masuka?”

Rossi explained that he was needed at the lab more, and Rossi offered to buy him lunch after. Your blood began to feel very cold. Why was Rossi honing in on Dexter?

“I figured it was time to get a fresh perspective on the case. Rumor has it you have a knack for attracting serial killers,” Rossi divulged.

This wasn’t getting any better.

“I hear the same about you,” Dexter replied and you shot him a glare. He met your gaze for half a second before returning his attention to Rossi.

“Detective Batista and Luke, I’d like you to examine the site for clues. Reid and Detective Morgan, interview the victim, if you don’t mind. Dexter and Y/N gather forensic information.”

Everyone nodded and agreed and you got in the FBI assigned SUVs to head there. The Miami PD took their own cars. Dexter took his minivan. You were dying to call him or text him to know if this was one of his first, but you really needed to be alert and stop interacting with Dexter every time a new clue came up. Your leg was bouncing as you stared out the window. Rossi was driving, Luke in passenger, and Spence beside you in the back.

Spencer reached over and held your hand, making you feel a little bit calmer, but not much.

Once you got there, you immediately began to assess it from two different angles: Was this one of Dexter’s? If not, who did this?

The location itself was remote, but it was entirely too dirty. It was a shipyard it appeared, or a train yard. Full of abandoned compartments and train cars. Dexter was an absolute clean freak, except for his boat, clearly, but other than that, he only picked places that were relatively clean: homes, warehouses.

Spencer and Debra went to question the supposed victim and you glanced at him to see if he fit any part of the profile for Dexter. He looked grimey enough, like a douchebag but was he a murderer? Of course, if he was one of Dexter’s, as soon as Dexter came on the scene, he would flip out. Dexter would also tell you if he had a victim get away, right?

You immediately made your way to the train car where all the police tape was.

Batista greeted you. “So the victim says the Butcher held him in this train car. What do you make of all this? Seem like a place the Butcher--”

“Unsub,” you stressed. “It’s best that you use that. Giving him a name or identity only creates some kind of persona. He’s a killer, Detective, try to remember that.”

“Right,” he agreed, looking a little ashamed. “But do you see anything?”

“Well, first of all, it would be odd that he’d make a mistake now. Why have all these successful kills, only to slip up when we’re hunting him?” you wondered aloud as you strolled through the scene.

“Well take your time. We’ve never been this close to him,” Batista said as you stepped up into the empty train car.

You had to stifle a laugh. If only they knew.

Looking around the train car, this was evident it wasn’t Dexter. Location wise it was okay but, that was it. Two seconds later, Dexter was in the traincar with you.

“Why did your boss want me to be forensics on this?” he asked as soon as he got in. His tone was casual, almost as if he were talking to himself while he took pictures inside.

“I have no idea,” you admitted with a sigh. “This wasn’t the Bay Harbor Butcher, was it?” you confirmed, your tone heavy as you eyed him.

“Nope. Don’t think it was. He doesn’t let them get away.”

A few moments later, Spencer and Rossi joined you two.

Spencer began explaining the victim’s story. “So this guy was abducted and brought here, but the means are all over the place. They used rope.”

“The victim also said the guy had a hatchet. That’s pretty sloppy for our unsub,” Rossi noted. “He also hasn’t killed anyone, not directly anyway. None of this fits the profile.”

He went on to explain that the unsub uses duct tape and plastic wrap, to which Dexter asked how he knew this. They went back and forth for a bit before you finally realized what had happened.

“We have a copycat?” you clarified, your gaze narrowing.

“Looks like it,” Rossi confirmed and your stomach dropped. “Some vigilante was inspired by our unsub.”

Great. Just what you needed.

The CSI wrapped up and all of you went back to the station to begin looking into who may have wanted to hurt the guy from the yard today. You were only two hours in when everyone agreed it was time to go home.

You thought that you might swing by Dexter’s to discuss the copycat, but Spencer beat you to it, unfortunately.

“Hey, Morgan, do you care if we stop by your place?” Spencer asked as he gave Dexter a hard look. His tone and face were carefully sculpted that it seemed like an innocent, friendly request, but the coldness in his eyes gave away just how angry he was.

“Sure,” Dexter agreed, pretending to not notice the malice in Spencer’s demeanor.

You and Spencer drove in one car to Dexter’s place, following him. Spencer said nothing the entire time, and that worried you. When Spence was in a good mood, he couldn’t stop talking. When he was upset, he shut down verbally.

Dexter went inside first, and the two of you were only a few feet behind him. The door barely shut before Spencer laid into him.

“What the fuck do we do?” Spencer demanded. “Do you have a plan?” he asked of Dexter.

“No, Dr. Reid, I don’t, because I never planned on getting caught. I thought you were supposed to be the smartest person in the room?” The sarcasm was thick in his voice.

Spencer threw up his hands, mocking in his face and voice as he said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were the meticulous, well thought out serial killer where nothing ever went wrong."

Dexter moved one foot to get closer to Spencer’s face and immediately your stomach grew a pit in it. Neither of these men were the fist fighting type, but then again, you’d never seen these men in the context of being challenged like this.

In a dark voice, Dexter warned, “Get off my ass. I didn't plan this. You think I wanted a copy cat? Now that’s one more thing I have to deal with."

“No, we, we have to deal with it,” Spencer reminded harshly, not backing down.

“I don’t see how this is my fault,” Dexter retorted.

At first you were scared when they started fighting like this, but now it was tiresome.

“Look, you two can measure sure your dicks later and compare. But right now we have way more important shit to deal with. So put them away, zip up, and let’s deal with this before any of us get caught.” You made a point to move between them and put your hands down, gesturing the fight was over.

The two men continued to glare at each other though.

“So what’s the plan? We have a copy cat, what do we do?” you calmly asked.

“Nothing, for now,” Dexter said before turning to his fridge and grabbing a beer.

“Nothing? You want to do nothing? That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?” Spencer said.

“What do we do if we don’t know who the fuck it is, doctor?” Dexter reminded with a hard look. “We can’t shut him down if we don’t know him. As soon as your team finds out who did this, I can take care of it.”

“You’re going to kill him?” Spencer accused.

“No. He can take the fall though. He did try to kill someone in my name.”

“You’re going to frame an innocent man?”

“He’s not exactly innocent. He tried to kill a guy.”

“Tried -- he didn’t actually do it, whereas you have.”

You sighed again.

“Spencer, he’s right. If there’s a vigilante out there, this is our best shot to get the heat off of us and onto him. I know it’s not the best, but this guy also isn’t innocent. We’re just lucky the victim got away. What if the next one doesn’t?”

To this Spencer went silent. He had to accept this. The BAU wouldn’t stop trying to find someone to put away for this crime, and pretty soon, the crumbs would lead back to Dexter, and possibly you. This was the only alternative that had the least casualties.

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

The following morning, news came in that people were posting ads for the Bay Harbor Butcher, requesting his services.

In a way, you wanted to laugh. Maybe this could be lucrative for Dexter.

But of course, you kept a straight face just before Batista came storming in with a suspect for the new copycat unsub. He explained how the victim, John Henry, from yesterday hurt this Ken Olsen’s mother in a home invasion. Rossi ordered Batista to leak it to the media to draw him out. Rossi then ordered everyone to try and find evidence on this Ken guy or to try and find him.

While you were elbow deep in work, trying to find this Olsen guy, Dexter went back to his lab. After what was just a few minutes, he stormed into LaGuerta’s office, then just moments later he was out, and in the elevator. You got a text from him.

“Come with me for lunch. Emergency.”

You frowned and read the message. Spencer glanced to you from across the table.

“I’m gonna go out for a second. Garcia sent Olsen’s address a few minutes ago, I’m gonna go check it out,” you lied as you started to get up.

“The police already checked his house, no sign of him,” Luke said with a frown. “We don’t have a warrant so--”

“Just want to see the neighborhood. Get an idea for the risk. See how lit it is, how nosy the neighbors are…”

Rossi and Luke nodded, appearing as if they bought it. Spencer didn’t buy it though, but he kept working. You dashed out of the station and down the elevator, where Dexter was leaning against the van, looking agitated.

“Get in,” he ordered.

You gave him a look before jumping inside and strapping in, just as he was doing the same.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong? Why do you need me--?”

“He listened to my tapes,” Dexter said as he gripped the wheel tightly.

“Who are we--?” you slowly asked, completely confused.

“Doakes!” he barked. “Doakes listened to the tapes Harry had made with my biological mother.”

“So? So he dug up some old tapes? They had an affair. Big deal. That isn’t going to lead him back to you or your brother or anything.”

“You’re being extremely naive and obtuse about this. It’s not that hard to figure it out. I tried to get him to back off, but he just kept pushing me. I went to LaGuerta to file a formal complaint, but she just told me to leave the station and cool off so here we are,” he said quickly, sighing in anger.

“And you dragged me out because…?” you questioned. “We’re trying to find more about Olson.”

“You can take a break,” he instructed. “I feel like if I’m alone right now I’ll do something reckless.”

You nodded. “Alright,” you said softly, understanding. “Well, lets actually get some lunch. Take me someplace a little out of the way, yeah?”

He nodded. You turned on the radio and he took you to a great Mexican restaurant about thirty minutes away from the station. You ate for a while then told Dexter to take you by Olsen’s place really fast so you could support your lie to the rest of the team. When you got back you were convincing.

This lying thing was getting easier… unfortunately.

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

Olson was brought in for questioning. Rossi and Batista tag teamed him, he was hostile, and you were pretty sure he did it, but he was defensive in all the right ways. You had to say you were a tad impressed.

Due to not having concrete evidence, other than your vague profile, Olson was let go.

You, Spencer, asked Dexter what the new plan was. If Olson was going to keep being a vigilante, something had to be done. Dexter said to give him some time to think, and he’d get back with you all.

So, when the next morning, there was news of a new dead body in the train car, and it was Ken Olson, you and Spencer gave each other a curious look.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tagging:

Forever Tag:

@essie1876

@magpiegirl80

@letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked

@iamwarrenspeace

@marvel-imagines-yes-please

@superwholocked527

@missinstantgratification

@thejemersoninferno

@rda1989

@munlis

@thefridgeismybestie

@bubblyanarocks3

@igiveupicantthinkofausername

@kaliforniacoastalteens

@feelmyroarrrr

@kaeling

@friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo

@damalseer

@heyitscam99

@yknott81

@thelittlebigirl

@glitterquadricorn

@xxqueenofisolationxx

@little-dis-kaalista-pythonissama

@bittersweetunicorm

@alyssaj23

@sea040561

@princess76179

@thisismysecrethappyplace

@sarahp879

@malfoysqueen14

@ellallheart

@breezy1415

@marvelmayo

@paintballkid711

Spencer Reid

@camigt1999

@ultrarebelheart

@lenawiinchester

@esoltis280

ITCM

@arganfics

#inside the criminal mind #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid fic #dexter #dexter morgan #dexter morgan fic #dexter fic

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this-is-a-podcast-fanblog · 5 years

Text

ok here’s my really long night vale meta

(I want to just start by saying that I love Welcome to Night Vale more than any other show that I’ve ever listened to or watched. I’m not sure if I would even still be here without the positive change it brought to my life and the art form it introduced me to. So although this post is critical of recent story develops, please understand that I critique with love, and that I have nothing but the highest respect for the writers and cast.)

So let’s get into it.

This turned out way longer than I meant for it to be.

Since the beginning, each season of Welcome to Night Vale is basically self-contained. The things brought up in them can stretch across seasons, but for the most part any conflict or Big Bad brought up will be resolved when that season ends, which typically is on June 15th.

Let’s look at the first five seasons and their overarching in-season arcs.

Season One: The introduction season. This season laid the groundwork for all the seasons to come and established Cecilos. The arc of the Apache Tracker was resolved within this season.

Season Two: The Strexcorp season. This season taught us a lot about the characters, and about Desert Bluffs.

Season Three: The auction season. This is also the long-distance relationship season for Cecil and Carlos. Both plotlines are resolved beautifully by the end and relate well to each other.

Season Four: The beagle season. Also known as “Who’s a good boy?”. The evil beagle puppy was defeated by the end of the season. I felt like this season’s arc felt very natural and was enjoyable to listen to.

Season Five: The Huntokar season. A lot of things that have been building slowly come together. We finally meet Huntokar after hearing a lot about her throughout the show. The small arc of converging timelines is resolved, but as we will see, it later comes back.

So that’s the first five seasons.

Now, as far as writing styles go, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor are pretty formulaic. (This is also evident in their other shows, Alice Isn’t Dead and Within the Wires). I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. Quite the opposite - I think one of the reasons why Night Vale is so endearing to so many people is because you always know what to expect: the complete unexpected. The world is weird and it doesn’t make sense, but it’s consistent in its inconsistency. You’ll get a community calendar or sponsor, you’ll get deep thoughts about life, and you’ll get a weather. Similarly, with the seasons, you’ll get a problem introduced over the course of the season, and then it will be resolved.

But as you can probably see from the list I’ve written out, the seasons don’t exist in a bubble from each other. The things that happen affect each other. The arrival of Strexcorp in town was what eventually drove Carlos through into the desert otherworld, which set up the conflict for season 3. The tiny city under the bowling alley in season 1 was revisited to teach us more about Huntokar in season 5. Each season has a different flavor, but they’re all ultimately the same dish, if that metaphor makes any sense.

And this is where we get into the issues I’ve been having with the most recent three seasons. My biggest problem is simple. They just don’t have a distinct flavor like the other seasons do. They don’t have anything that stands out to me.

Let’s take a look at seasons six and seven, and then the first episode that dropped today of season eight.

Season Six: The guest writer season. This season was mostly written with guest writers that would do a mini-arc of two to three episodes.

Season Seven: The Carlos’s Double/Blood Space/Lee Marvin/Thanos-Snap season. Not sure what else to call it.

The basic premise of season six was that it would be a bunch of character-driven stories set in the world of Night Vale, most of which were written by guest writers. To me, worldbuilding and characters are more important than plot every time, so I didn’t hate this as a concept. It was just... the execution honestly wasn’t all that interesting to me. I feel like the way the characters were discussed moved their placement within the world, but it didn’t actually change anything we knew about them. Tamika’s episodes, for example, didn’t really show us anything new about her, they just showed us how she acted as a city council leader instead of a militia leader (spoiler alert: pretty much exactly the same).

My biggest problem with season six is that it set up a lot without actually doing anything. All of the best moments from season six were things I thought we would revisit later: who will be the mayor now that Dana stepped down? What is it Carlos is still keeping from Cecil? What’s up with the shipwreck? But then all of these things were totally forgotten in season seven. It was like the writers didn’t care. That may be because they were established by different writers, but it still feels... I don’t know, *Cecil voice* Incomplete?

Now let’s talk season seven. I think season six was definitely the weakest of all Night Vale seasons, but this was a close second (and that shows you how much I love this show, because even the weakest seasons had moments that blew me away, and I’ve relistened to most of the episodes at least once, if not more.) Season seven, like season six, just had way too much going on. For the first few months there was no plot whatsoever, just a bunch of disjointed episodes with seemingly no relation to each other.

And don’t get me wrong - I think a lot of these episodes were amazing. Are You Sure? was thrilling, totally game-changing for podcasts. Save Dark Owl Records was a really great look at Maureen and Michelle. I’ve relistened to UFO Sightings a bunch. But there’s a difference between enjoying episodes alone and thinking they fit in a larger story. And so while I really like a lot of the episodes of season seven... they’re kind of pointless story-wise. What disappointed me the most was the Kevin mini-series near the start of the season - Kevin is one of my favorite characters, and so while I liked to see him happy, I was annoyed that they forgot about him again after the arc ended and they moved on.

That’s because season seven didn’t really have a story - it had a bunch of stories. The problem is that they weren’t introduced until near the very end. We had the Lee Marvin arc that started somewhere in the middle, and I did like that. I thought it was cool to take what seemed like a throwaway gag and turn it into a story, especially one that seemed relatable. But running this arc concurrently with the Blood Space War arc didn’t make any sense to me. There were a bunch of times that I thought the two could relate - linking time travel to being trapped in time would be pretty easy, I thought. But that never happened.

Then the Blood Space War arc nosedived into a pit of emotion after both Cecil and Carlos were erased from history, and I was ecstatic. Not that Cecil and Carlos had been erased - but that the show was taking such a drastic emotional change. It felt like a shift in tone, but also consistent to the show’s format, hitting that perfect sweet spot. I was even more excited when I found out that the resolution to this was that Leonard Burton would have to die again. That seemed like the perfect end to his (albeit brief) character arc, and a great emotional high for the season.

And then the next episode was just... Cecil saying everything had been fixed.

That really disappointed me. It felt so anticlimactic, especially considering the heights some of the other season finales had reached (I’m especially thinking of the dog’s ominous barking right before the finale of Who’s A Good Boy, and the town almost being destroyed). The ending to the Blood Space War arc felt rushed to me. I liked the close of the Lee Marvin arc, but everything else seemed a little off-beat.

I think a big problem with season six and seven is they try to take us to new things within the world of Night Vale, but they do that in a way that doesn’t actually show us anything we need to learn. Eunomia hadn’t been in any other seasons and her backstory was minimal, so her death in season seven had no real impact on me.

So why are they doing that? I don’t know. But it seems like the writing team has made the decision to utilize Cecil more as a voice for the town than an independent character, and are trying to let other people take the spotlight. However, because Cecil is by far one of the strongest and most beloved character, and because he drove most of the story for the first few seasons, this doesn’t work as well as you might hope.

I hoped that season eight might go back to the old format. However, the first episode was another self-contained episode (although I do love Josh Crayton), so that has me worried.

I guess I can say, there’s a difference between a story podcast and a storytelling podcast, does that make sense? Those might overlap, but they aren’t really the same thing. While a story podcast exists to have an overarching plot, a storytelling podcast just wants to put you in a world and let you look around. What I love so much about Night Vale is that it has always been able to be both. It has a plot, but it isn’t just a plot like many other shows are - it can let you walk around, run from government satellites, and NOT enter the dog park.

However, it seems to me that Night Vale is forgetting it does have a story, too. There are still SO many things from past arcs that haven’t been resolved yet. What’s more, the show doesn’t seem all that interested in resolving them. You can have floating cats and five-headed dragons, but you can’t give up an essential part of your show. That doesn’t mean the show can’t still be fun to listen to, if they decide the plot no longer matters. But I think it will be a little less rewarding.

And to finish I’ll just share my biggest fear: I really really really hope Night Vale isn’t going to become normal. At the end of season seven, time started working again. I’m so scared that they’re going to slowly convert the whole town to being normal before the show ends. And I think that would really suck, because it would change what Night Vale means to a lot of people, and what the town really is.

TL;DR: although it is one of the greatest shows ever, Welcome to Night Vale has recently started to stray from its established formulas, tropes and characters, especially in seasons six and seven. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I feel like the way it’s been executed has weakened the recent episodes. Seasons six and seven also tried to fit too much in without actually doing anything to advance certain arcs or plot points. Nonetheless, it is a great show, and I’m optimistic about the future.

I’d love to have a dialogue about this so if you are the one person alive who’s going to read this, please don’t hesitate to comment or send an ask! Again, I absolutely love this show, these are all just my opinions, and my ability to critique the show exists outside of my adoration for it.

Now I should sleep.

#It's one am #this is not beta'd #and my formatting is all over the place #but here you go #please someone read this #welcome to night vale #night vale presents #podcasts #meta #my meta #cecil palmer #carlos the scientist #cecilos #all hail the glow cloud

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wizardessheart-sideb · 5 years

Video

youtube

The latest episode is here! Below the cut is a transcription

HEWWO!

Hello everyone, welcome to Royal Magic Academy Radio, a podcast about Wizardess Heart. I’m your host, Mari. So uh. YEAH, we had a lot of big stuff happen since the last episode, so let’s get on with the show.

GAMING NEWS

Event-wise, we got a joint Romance Point slot that brings back some of Elias and Luca’s past stories AND CGs. So it’s a combo of two guys AND stories and CGs. There’s a new star collection event, All Aboard the Mystery Express. I have to say I never expected to get a mystery train event, but I’ll take it. I think it’s a good theme and I like Hugo’s story. I haven’t read any of the other stories because I don’t care about them and I don’t have Klaus’ yet.

We got Joel’s sequel! His main route early bird is still running, so we’re getting like Double Joel. Or in my case, triple Joel since I’m transcribing his main route so. It’s Joel season y’all.

We also now have quite a few new features. After years of asking, we now have a greet all button. While I’m glad this is a thing since a lot of people are happy about it, I personally don’t use it because using greet all and then sending people messages for that extra 20 Lune is a nightmare. I did a time comparison using my personal account and then the one I use to screen record stuff for Ceragon Dubs, and if you use greet all and then go into your friend list to send messages it’s a lot longer. But it wasn’t as long as how much time I spent screen recording, logging in and out of facebook accounts, and video editing and breaking out my phone and screen recording that for a timer.

There’s also a new feature on consumable items. I mean, that’s the best way to describe it. So basically, there’s now a thing called limited time items. As the name suggests, they’re only available for about 15 days, and if you don’t use them in that time, they disappear. So far, we’ve seen this with Story Tickets and Muffins. I imagine it will probably go over to the other snack items, but I don’t know about the others consumables. Time will tell, I suppose.

FUTURE EVENTS/SPECULATION

Okay so since we’re now getting the next batch of sequels, if we’re going in the order of the poll, Hiro’s is next. That is all. Although I do think we're gonna get season 10 first. But yeah, Hiro's should be next. Sequel-wise, at least.

CALL AND RESPONSE

And now we have the long awaited response portion of call and response! Everyone’s favorite segment where I have no clue what I’m doing, I take shit from Love Live!, and I am met with the realization if I were an idol my call and response would be the worst because I can’t think of anything, which is why we make Love Live references. Ngl I feel like my call would be like “Who’s my favorite audience member?” and then the audience is like “me!” and I fake mishearing them and I’m like “memes?!” and then we all dab or some shit because that’s my brand. Dabbing at everything. Okay but yeah so. I asked you guys to rewrite character bios so. Let’s have some FUNNNNN.

Okay, and I sort have things in the correct places so I can just read them. I mean "sort of" because I have to go through DMs and stuff, but... Okay so our first one is from @nadia-the-wizardess. And hers is for Hugo which of course it is, I love you dude. So she submitted... And I'm not gonna try to be a complete ham. I'm gonna try and have some dignity while reading these. "Friend or foe? The masked man seemed to be at every turn, either helping us or using us to his advantage. He claims he has come from the future to help put us on the correct path and change our tragic destiny. We still don't know what Hugo is truly planning, but despite all this, I've decided to put my faith in him and join him in his journey through time and save his-- our future!" And then her sidenote, "(God I hope I did this right sbhdnsns)." You did! You are all good and I - you know I love Hugo, probably… well… probably just as much as you. Hugo is my best boy, so.

Okay, so. God, this segment is cursed. I… This is literally the fifth time I;ve tried recording this one little story because like my mic just keeps like cutting out. I need a brand new mic like this one is not cutting it anymore but anyway. So this call and response has a funny story behind it. So essentially like when I first get responses, I don't necessarily read them carefully at first, like I'm just kind of aware. Like “okay, like some.” So when I first did the call and response a while ago, um, I was vaguely aware that I had two and one was from Nadia and the other was from an anon. And so obviously like I push it back and then, uh, me and my friend have been chatting, who's not Nadia. That's the only identity clue I will give you cuz I'm not going to say who it is but um, *laughs* she's gonna be so mad though. So anyway, so me and my friend were talking and she was like, “Oh hey, I have a question so ‘theoretically’” in quotes, if she had sent a call and response answer to me like, would she have to make a new one or like whatever, like trying to figure out what's going on. And I said like honestly I’ll use whatever you give me because I do literally like whatever people spend in and I will use so it's a free-for-all, like I’ll use anything.

And then she told me that was good because she forgot what she, and I air quote this, “theoretically” sent. And I was like, “Well you”... This was before I checked my inbox cuz I was like, “Oh, I’ll just go in and like copy paste in and put in our chat. So I was just like “You could always ask me to send you things” like if you don't remember what you do - andthis goes for anyone. Like if you send a response by not DM by like inbox and you don't remember what you wrote like you can totally just message me and be like, “Hey I sent this, I don't remember how I worded it exactly I'm worried that I messed it up could you please tell me what it was” and like totally go ahead and do that like I don't mind. So then, you know, like I went into my inbox so I was like, “Okay let's see what she said” and um. This is what she said. “Call and response for Sigurd (Feat. Leslie) - Sigurd's the only student who can equally terrify the staff at Olive Garden along with Klaus. With his overbearing obsession and appetite for any sort of pasta, he's best known as Klaus' right-hand man when it comes to needing a bud for their 2 for $12 appetizer promotions.” Not sponsored by Olive Garden. “I hear even though he currently majors in Magical Creature Taming, rumor has it he'll be switching to Culinary Magic for... ‘Reasons.’ Personally, I'd rather not know,” Same. “but if you insist...*Shrug”

And anyway this is cursed and yeah, I can understand why my friend did not want to like, confront me about this. Oh God, RIP. We got through it, she's fine.

So our next one is from @uraminowaltz and she has two and they're both for Klaus because of course they are. I should just rename this segment to me roasting my friends. Okay, so her serious Klaus one is: “Likes: Tea, sweets, challenging games, cooking. Dislikes: Coffee, Zeus,” Girl me too. “Irresponsibility, abuse of authoritative power. Hobby: Cooking, inventing magical tools. Skills: Unintentional romantic gestures, endurance with magic, WORKAHOLIC.” Yeah I-I felt that. I felt that. So the joke one: “Likes: His giant personal ring of 500 different keys. Dislikes: Losing his keys.” Also same. “Hobby: Making copies of his keys. Skills: Losing his keys PLEASE HELP HIM FIND HIS KEYS HERE IS A CROWDFUNDING LINK TO FIND HIS KEYS IT'S FUNDED AT 60%.” Oh, Klaus. Klaus. Honestly though when they did the Klaus II profile and it was like, thing that worries him, uh, losing, uh, lost his keys I was like goddammit. Like it just… It was one of those things that I didn’t realize was on brand for him, but then once I read it and saw it, I was like “Oh God yeah yeah that's his brand that's his... poor baby, that's his brand.”

Okay so our second to- Actually, it might second-to-last I haven't checked the notes of that post so I guess I have to do that too. Okay so anyway, @sigurdcurtisholdsmegentle said… uh, did some, and you're going to be surprised who it was for. It was for Sigurd. So their joke one and they said… Their personal note for this was “Please actually kill me for this.” No I will not. You must atone for your sins. Uh... “Likes: Pasta. Dislikes: People who don't like pasta. Hobby: Naming spices in the pasta sauce. Skill: Cooking Pasta.” I'm very glad you did not put anything else because I would not want to read that out loud and that is NOT a challenge to anybody *laughs* So their serious one is: “Likes: Jazz music, Puns, The Rain, Make up.” Hell yeah. “Dislikes: His father, Himself, Ch… *laughs* CHICA,” I… We’re going for it. We’re going for the discourse and controvershy. The controversy. I can’t talk. Uh. Also dislikes “Blood. Hobby: Writing letters, Playing trumpet, Playing chess with Klaus. Skill: Decorating, Well timed exits, Running on little to no sleep.” Poor baby. But yeah I mean yeah. That's him. So the next one is... that they did was for Mel so it's “Likes: Apple cider, Plants, Perserving wildlife. Dislikes: Time Magic, Sol Felia,” It’s feh-lia not fee-lia, right? Like it’s not… I don’t feel like it’s fee-lia? I’m like pretty sure it’s feh-lia. Okay, it’s feh-lia now, I’m making the executive decision. It’s feh-lia now. Uh. “Oranges, Explaining.” God I felt that like whenever I reread Sigurd’s route, Mel's like “I don't want to explain” I’m like please shut up stop it like please, just explain. Good God. Like you're just making more trouble for yourself my dude. “Hobby: Sleeping in the greenhouse, Reading lore. Skill: Botany, Making wands, Flower” Oh my God, flower arrangements, that’s so cute. Oh my God, I love that actually. Like, I mean honestly like I liked all of them, but like that's so cute. That was super cute, I really like that one.

So, I don't think my call and response post had any notes. Except from people just liking it but I'm going to double-check cuz I'm not 100% sure.

Okay so it's time for our final call and response which will be my own. I literally have to bring up the my inspiration, my muse to *laughs* to do this. Okay so like, my whole inspiration for this prompt was the fact that like Azusa never got like an actual profile. Like it's all just question marks and um, we're going to fix that. And that's why I got the idea like, “oh that be really funny like everyone just rewrote things.” Let's go for the serious one first. That way I can do that and then I can goof. So my serious profile rewrite for Azusa and I did not write this beforehand, so… yeah! Let’s see… “Likes: his brother. Dislikes: hypocrites, himself.” Uh, that’s such a… *laughs*

That's such a mood. Every dude in this game is like self-loathing and some way. But I mean that's just how people are so I mean I guess it's not actually like that much of a stretch. But anyway. “Hobby… ………” Uh. You know, it's bad that I can't think of anything not just because like, I can't think of anything, but because he's one of my favorites and I'm like, “does he even have hobbies” like I'm not - I'm sure he does but I mean… “Hobby: telling Randy to shut up” I don't know. Uh, “Skill: onmyojutsu” just because we're basic and that was our serious one. And now for the fun one.

Um…. okay so, “Likes: his family. Dislikes: people. Hobby: ……….. you know. Skill: being a jackass” I don't know. I'm not even going to try and improv a description. Oh, poor Azusa. Although I do wonder if- when he gets a sequel, I wonder if that… I wonder if they’re gonna, like, continue making the, you know, kinda like additional info thing or if we’re gonna get like, a real profile for- Okay like, okay. I would be so fucking mad if like once he gets his sequel and they put like his like, um, like second profile thing and it's literally just all *laughs* it’s all question marks. I would be so fucking mad. I’d be like “come on PLEASE. PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO US.” Okay anyways, so that was call and response. Thank you guys for coming on this journey with me. Um, that was fraught with recording problems and I'm not looking forward to transcribing this, but sometimes you just got to do what you got to do.

ROUTE REVIEW

All right, so it’s time to review Sigurd’s route. His route had come out a bit before I started playing, and I vaguely remember getting a notification about it, but honestly I don’t remember too much about it. I was playing Yukiya at the time and while I thought Sigurd was cute, I was too lost in the Yukiya sauce to do anything but Yukiya-related stuff.

It honestly took me a while to play Sigurd’s route, like i played it for the first time last year, and like. I just genuinely enjoy Sigurd so much. Like he’s such a funny guy and so sweet. Falling in love with a guy like that just feels natural. And the story handled it super well too. The story balances plot and romance very well and they feel very cohesive.

The plot was really solid, with enough ends left to get resolved in Mel’s route. But then again, I’m very partial to this mystery series and no, I’m not just saying that bc I cosplay sol maiden!Liz. It’s a good story idea, bront. Not to mention there’s like, a lot of fluff in Sigurd’s. I mean it absolutely has upsetting moments, but it’s just. Okay like I don’t mean to get on a soapbox or whatever, but it’s just. I feel like my culture gets inundated with these images of cishet relationships where men don’t treasure their partners. I acknowledge it’s toxic and it’s a serious problem and all, trust me this sort of thing is something I’ve taken enough classes on to consider it an unofficial minor, but like I’M SO TIRED OF SEEING THESE CISHET MEN BE JERKS TO THEIR CISHET GIRLFRIENDS. Like really, we’re gonna romanticize a dude being a jerk to his girlfriend and not show the repercussions of this sort of behavior and act like it’s normal? Really? That’s what we’re gonna do? So like any media that portrays a guy as being loving and smitten and affectionate with his partner is just. That’s so refreshing and so WONDERFUL like I eat that stuff UP. Like it’s so clear Sigurd is so taken with the MC and it’s just like hot chocolate on a cold day.

So yeah the plot’s good and Sigurd is just. Wonderful. But I also love how much lore we got in this route. We got country names, continent names, what sort of extra curriculars the academy has. Even some Goldstein lore. In my opinion, the best routes usually have some hella cool lore details and this route had a lot.

And this is a minor thing but. As someone who was raised with their cousins and stuff, they just nailed the cousin interactions between Klaus and Sigurd. I have a cousin who, as of now actually since birthdays, is the same age as me, although usually I’m older. My cousin and I mess with each other all the time and he bullies me constantly. I’m just kidding, I’m definitely the Sigurd to his Klaus. And like Sigurd and Klaus, we actually play a lot of games together, or play the same game at once. We’re both really into video games and his latest hobby is bullying my brand new Fire Emblem husband Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. But in all seriousness, the game handled then well and the only way they could’ve made it more realistic is if they kept poking each other and making weird noises at each other. I mean, do you REALLY have a cousin if you don’t greet them by screeching like a pterodactyl?

Typing this all out makes me realize how weird my cousin and I are.

Okay but anyway. This route is very good and Sigurd is just an absolute doll. I highly recommend reading.

BYE BYE!

And that’s it for us today!! Thank you guys for tuning in this week. I’m sorry this episode is late. I was going to record it yesterday but something happened and basically made me give up on doing anything I wanted to do yesterday. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and hopefully next episode will be on time!! With that, have a great week! This is Mari, signing off.

#wizardess heart #shall we date wizardess heart #wizardess heart+#shall we date wizardess

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michaelkimozzi-blog · 5 years

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Some colleges have had a rough time attempting to discover enough women to participate in sports

While the company might be among the world's main advertisers, entering the sports arena is putting the organization on a totally new playing field. There are several expert branding companies around us who offer sporting solutions in the sort of sports gear and merchandise so as to promote together with give an individual identity to a sports team. Since the organization has opted to go with a complete youth movement, he's found himself in an awkward position. Society have zero empathy nowadays and that's another issue which should be solved.

Hey, it's your hard-earned money, make certain to invest it wisely. Trust is built over time and you will have to prove your worth and their trust in you too. Remember knowledge is excellent, but the actual power comes from applied knowledge. When you get to the top you may enjoy your success. Remember your work is simply half done and return won't be a simple trot. You should take decent care of your knees, in order to share in your favourite sport as long as possible. Mental health is an issue which should be more discussed around athletes.

Some colleges have had a rough time attempting to discover enough women to participate in sports. If it weren't for basketball, I'm not certain what I'd do, Lewis stated. By way of example, look at basketball and how different it's between them both. When an athlete is doing something that's negatively affecting the team, that player should understand their performance isn't just hurting them, it's hurting the whole team. It's also important to keep in mind that athletes are human and a violent act on the playing field might be related to some frustration they are experiencing in another facet of their life. In spite of the season, day or time athletes can always be located on the area.

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You always need to consider your players and the way you're able to help your players. In any event, let players know what's going to occur by producing an orderly environment which is not distracting. The players are deeply involved with the game till their final breath. Becoming a professional baseball player is no simple undertaking. In the event the ball is stolen and there's a quick break, nobody hurries to return to halt the ball. If you expect to be playing particularly roughly on your basketball hoop, or even when you desire another amount of assurance your hoop will last an extremely long time, polycarbonate is definitely the best way to go. 파워볼사이트

Athletes who demonstrate a pattern of violent behavior must be evaluated and referred for the proper sort of mental wellness counseling. Card holders are in fact cards made in the form of a folder. To say in few words, it's a remarkable manner of providing specific items that the team member must have. Individual feedback also needs to be linked to overall team targets. It should be tailored to each individual player and should happen one-on-one.

Stronger Personality besides the physical advantages, your child also develops other facets of her or his personality through sports. Soak your head with the subject of basketball and you'll notice yourself becoming more confident on the basketball court and you'll also start to delight in the game of basketball much more. Therefore, if you prefer to be more confident on the basketball court, you've got to boost your understanding of the game on a daily basis. You're Stronger Than You Think When the action is fast and furious and you're going full tilt in the center of the game, you might be wondering in the event that you have what it requires to continue on.

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manadude-blog1 · 6 years

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The Wise Dudes

Since becoming a Dudeist in,like, what was it? 2015 or something, who fucking knows man...i’ve noticed a lack of material reference that was a bit beyond the usual “Dudeists” who would only ever quote the movie non-stop; every post, every meme, every comment quotes. It gets a bit exhausting after a while. So I wanted to use this blog thing as a platform to point other Dudeists in the direction of other cool characters that abide in their own way.

In my quest to live my best life I’ve come across a handful of people, who, after studying their character for some time, have dubbed them the “Wise Dudes”, they aren’t bearing gifts of Mir, but they are sagely no doubt. True abiders, people, but mostly characters these people play who really tie those archetypal aspects together in one holy, far out Dude.

The Dude Himself - Jeff Bridges

The Holy Dude himself. Jeff Bridges. It seems since his role as the Dude in The Coen Brothers The Big Lebowski, Jeff has himself adopted and nurtured what it means to be a Dude in his real life. When he isn’t doin’ the whole acting this, he is out there doin’ his part for starving kids, or the environment.

He even produced the Sleeping Tapes, which is a massive trip, ASMR, guided meditation hybrid of strangeness, but even stranger it makes sense.

Which you can find here on Youtube: https://youtu.be/y3_Evj0iPDk

And he also co-wrote a uniquely awesome book with his own Zen Master buddy Bernie Glassman Titled “The Dude and the Zen Master”, which is a collection of in-depth jams discussing the ins-and-outs and Zen messages hidden inside the film, and the character of the Dude.

But above all these things, Jeff Bridges really just displays all the virtues of a true dude, from every single interview he takes part in, he spreads a real chill, and riffs with anybody and everybody like they are close friends. Thats what makes him the Wisest Dude of the lot, because he is the same off-screen as he is on-screen in the role that started it all. One of my favourite interviews is this one where he groks with another Wise Dude in this list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmqtyVE290Y

Don Stark - Gerry “with a G” - Maron Season 3.

In Season 3 (episode 6) of IFC’s Maron; Mark finds himself attending Narcotics Anonymous Meetings and in need of a sponsor (after meeting two very Donny characters) meets Gerry “with a G”. I instantly loved this character played by Don Stark (from That 70′s Show fame). From his first words, mumbled out between gulps of food, explaining to Maron he shouldn’t eat the birthday cake because it’s covered in “junkie Germs” and that he is immune. And just his look; which resonated with me alot personally, as we dress almost identically (even to the point of me buying the exact same ringed necklace shown in the above picture), loose tshirts, oversized un-buttoned overshirts and a rugged demeanour. Gerry has all the markings of a true Wise Dude.

Gerry has alot of cool lines in the few episodes he’s in. He not only helps Maron find an awkward living situation, which is what any fellow dude would do, reflected in Gerry saying: “One Addict helping another, that’s what it’s all about”. He is genuinely just living his best life and helping out others in the process, with his own dude style all his own.

Mark Boone Junior - Jerry - Flaked

You might know this next dude from Sons of Anarchy fame. In Flaked, which stars Wil Arnett, Jerry is the main character, Chips, ex Father-in-law. A self made millionaire, but you wouldn’t know it at first. His house is pretty chill, actually, i downplayed that, I fucking love this dudes abode.

Which, like our previous Dude, reflects something in my own life and Dudeness; all the dream catchers and aesthetics that come with the lifestyle; a chair out the front with a native-american looking throw, nick nacks, overgrowth, ambient lighting etc. When we first meet Jerry, he is a bit tanked on red wine and possibly stoned, waking up from a dream he’s not quite sure he was asleep for. he is talking in metaphors and seems to be in some kind of evening stupor, which i can relate too, because when the sun sets, I just wanna chill out, hang with my dog, smoke a J and watch the light fade, anyone rocking up to my place unannounced would totally throw me off. And although he doesn’t particularly like Chip, he still lets him in to chat.

Although Jerry loses his chill, later on, it shows, like The Dude himself, that none of us are immune to life, but at least we aren’t fake, we tend to it, we get back to whoever we are when the shit passes. As long as we abide, where we are, that’s the goal line.

Joaquin Phoenix - Larry "Doc" Sportello - Inherent Vice

I admit, I had to watch Inherent Vice more than once to actually “get it”, aside from the story which really throws you through the ringer, and leaves you feeling like your coming down of some massive LSD binge journey, the main character of Doc, a private investigator high as a kite, bumbling his way from one location to the next dazed and confused is pretty dudely and his demeanour and dress code and way of life got him an esteemed place in my Wise Dude Pantheon. Not much I can about him, check out the movie and see for yourself. But you might wanna smoke a joint before hand AND during, I had to to really get what was going on, it’s a wild ride man.

Matthew McConaughey & Woody Harrelson - Steve Addington & Jack Mayweather - Surfer, Dude!

This one is a double feature. The movie Surfer, Dude! is pretty cool, i watch it occasionally for a refresher course in taking it easy when the waves of life die off and I need to reset. Steve, McConaughey’s character, is a surfer bum. Travelling from surf to surf living his best life until a media mogul attempts to lock him into a contract that starts chipping away at his Dude-ness! fuck, media mogul or not, we’ve all been there right? His friends and fans abandon him, he gets set up looking like a douche bag poser, and the surf stops coming leaving him lost in life. In the end, everything turns out alright for Steve, but go watch the film, it’s pretty cool. It even co-stars Willie Nelson as a pot-growing goat shepherd.

Jeff Dowd - The Original Inspiration for The Dude

This ones a tricky one, when i first came across Jeff Dowd, i thought “oh hell yeah, the original Dude, what a trip” but as i started to discover more and more about him, watching videos and interviews etc. It really dawned on me that although this guy is a DUDE, he’s not as chill as i first thought.

But that was a very Dudeist message for me at that time and place, because alot of Dudeists out there, the poser ones, the perpetual movie-quoters and posters of very undudely things, think the message and archetype of The Dude, is to be chill all the time, to abide with no worries in the world. But after many viewings of the Big Lebowski i’ve found that the real message of the movie isn’t about that at all, neither is the Dudes character; It’s about bending with shit that comes up moment-to-moment, dealing with it, and coming back to yourself, a place you can abide in, and although Jeff Dowd is very chill, sometimes incoherent and sloppy, he’s passionate about life, and doing what he wants to do, dealing with the shit as it arises. And that’s what it’s all about. So maybe that’s where the inspiration mostly came from. As Bruce Lee Said: “Be like Bamboo, strong yet supple, bending with the pressures of life, and snapping back to form when it passes” or something like that.

FINALLY, ME - Rick Boland

Man if there was ever a person who felt like someone pissed on his rug it’s me. Life has it’s Strikes and Gutters, no doubt. But at the end of the day, after i’ve been out doin’ my thing; mentoring and working with young people and the community in whatever aspect that is, I come home, I have a shower, I listen to some tunes, light some incense, hang with my wife and canine pal, and abide. Have I put myself on this list because I consider myself some Wise Dude? Nah, not at all, I’m just a simple Dude, living his best life, or trying too, helping who I can, and remembering at the end of the day, even when life punches you straight in the mouth, that getting back that place where it all ties together and makes sense is what it’s all about. Bob Dylan once said “A man is considered a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and inbetween he does what he needs to do”. That is something I can certainly Abide with. Peace Out Dudes

#dude #dudeism #the big lebowski #dudeist

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akocomyk · 6 years

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The Greatness that is 2018

Okay. So my post from last year was restricted by Tumblr because of its new rules regarding adult content and such. It wasn’t deleted, it was simply removed from the public view. Though I’m quite sure I didn’t put any restricted content there other than a couple of words of profanity—and I actually wanted to appeal to Tumblr—I let it go, and I’m more determined to put a highly positive composition for this year.

And I know it wouldn’t be very difficult for me to do so.

The year 2018 was a very positive year for me. Like whatever I was experiencing in the previous years, it was totally the opposite for this year. Generally speaking, I was very happy and content for the year’s entirety. You can simply tell by the decrease of drama posts I made here on my blog—or honestly, the total decrease of posts I made for this year. I’ve even started concluding that I no longer need Tumblr as my place to vent out my personal delusions, but I feel so much regret if I would simply leave my account here to the dirt, covered in interweb dust.

Going back to the main purpose of this post… I had a lot of memorable moments in the past year, and they all meant a lot to me that—similar to my 2017 dilemma—no memory stood out (and I didn’t mean that in a bad way). Last year, nothing stood out because every single memory felt very lame. This year, ALMOST EVERY SINGLE MEMORY HAD AN IMPACT IN ME. Every memorable moment stood out, that I think any memory can take the top spot without me having to contradict myself.

Twelve moments in my 2018 were included in my shortlist. It’s less than my previous years, but that’s okay. I have enough good moments to include in the ten. Here’s my 2018 and all its greatness.

10. The A-List Awards - November 20

While having our team win a prestigious award is memorable enough, that isn’t the reason why this was included in this list.

I was one of those lucky people who got to attend the awarding ceremony, and, to be honest, I didn’t really expect or plan to attend. Those who would attend were chosen by raffle draw. I put my name less than thirty minutes before the draw. I know I’m not lucky in these raffles, that’s why I didn’t bother putting my name in there immediately after it was opened. I was only encouraged by my other teammates who put their names solely for “representation” purposes—you know, just so that their teams have representatives. And it didn’t matter if they got picked or not—if they did, then it’s okay; if not, it’s fine, not much of a great loss.

Eventually, my name was drawn. Then I had to buy my own barong. And I attended the awards night.

Half of those who were meant to be there wasn’t able to arrive on time due to the heavy traffic—which was very unfortunate, by the way, because they arrived at the exact moment we went up the stage.

There are times in life where you get to do things you never really planned to, and everything still goes smoothly even when you just let it be.

9. Papa Comes Home - February 24 to March 15

Papa doesn’t come home very often recently. He only does whenever it’s needed, like when my Mom died, or her sister died, or when there’s a wedding.

For this year, my cousin Nikki had her wedding and my father was one of the sponsors, so he came home from China. For the first time since we moved to our present residence back in 2013, he stayed in our house during the span of his vacation.

Growing up, my father and I didn’t have a sound relationship. It’s not that we hate each other. It’s just that I wasn’t as close to him as I was with my mother, and we we weren’t as you expected an ideal father-son relationship to be. To me, he was more like a hard-assed king who wants his son, the prince, to toughen up and be like him—a stereotypical man who’s a model of machismo.

I’m nothing like that.

In these two weeks that my father was here, I had felt like I regained a parent. The last time I felt like this was when my mother was still alive—and not sick. When I came home from work at night, dinner was at the table. Before I left every morning, someone was asking if I’m not going to eat breakfast—which by the way, I don’t—and telling me, “Ingat,” right before I ran out to the door.

8. Watching American Vandal - August 11-12 and September 28-30

Every year, there’s always this one memory about me watching a movie, a series, or reading a book that left me on a hangover for days. They may not have always penetrated the Top 10, but there’s always a memory that’s shortlisted.

American Vandal takes that spot for 2018, and it enters the Top 10, thanks to the fewer shortlisted memories.

If you’ve been closely following my Tumblr posts this year, you’d know why American Vandal was very memorable for me. You already know I haven’t posted much this year, but I couldn’t help myself from posting a review about the series—for both Seasons 1 and 2. Those two posts are also probably one of my few blog posts in the past year that actually made sense.

Anyway, the series spoke to me more than any other show that I watched this year did. Black Mirror was pretty close, but American Vandal is in league of its own when it comes to personal preference. The way it streamlined themes that are so relevant nowadays affected me so much—not because it was new to me—but because we share the exact same sentiments.

If you’re reading this blog post, go subscribe to Netflix right now and watch it.

7. Queen Comes Home - April 5 and 7

If you don’t know who Queen is, she is one of my closest friends. We’ve known each other since High School—we both joined the choir and the short theater we had for the school’s founding anniversary. Then she briefly went to the same college I did and became a member of the student council. That’s the time when we grew closer, before she moved to Canada.

She came home for a few weeks, and we met twice.

What I like most about the time that we spent together is that we get to talk for hours without getting uncomfortable or awkward with each other. During that time, I didn’t care much about what we did or what we talked about. What mattered the most was that we got to spend some time together.

It’s nice to have a friend who—no matter how far you are from each other right now, in terms of location and communication—will treat you the same way they’ve treated you ever since. And I’m grateful to have Queen as that kind of friend.

6. Got Ear Piercings - February 5 and June 3

August 2016 was the first time that I ever thought of having my ears pierced (this was according to my post here in my blog, but I probably had thought of it earlier). A couple of years before that, I’m one of those people who think lowly—appearance-wise—of guys who have piercings.

This is just a theory, but I think what drove me in doing so is my grief towards my mother’s passing.

Now, I don’t only have one, but two lobe piercings, both on the right ear. The first one was probably more memorable than the second one. I even wrote a post about it (click here). The second one wasn’t as terrifying since I already know what I had to do.

Did it make me happy? Yeah, I feel like I’m more me now. (Does that make any sense?) And I’m actually very proud that I did it on my own. And if there is any person close to me who thinks it looks very inappropriate, I don’t care much about your opinion on this matter. Having piercings didn’t harm any of you—it did more harm to me, actually. It’s best if you’d just accept me for who I am.

5. My Sister’s Wedding - November 26

Looking back at my sister’s wedding, I realized it’s not the wedding day itself that was memorable—at least for me. It was the preparations for it. And I mean that because, I’m good at that stuff—preparing and designing event materials.

I wasn’t stressed during the preparations since I’m practically used to it, thanks to my event planning experience with my previous job. If there was anything that drove me nuts, it was my sister’s nagging and stressful episodes. Everything felt so complicated and problematic whenever her thoughts jump right in, and I always wanted to tell her that there’s no room for such drama when you’re planning events such as her wedding.

I am so glad that my friends were there—who also eventually became a one-event choir—to welcome my rants and get a share of my madness.

Anyway, I can say that the event was successful, even though I was absolutely stressed during the wedding day itself—everyone was calling me, seeking my approval, plus I had TONS of roles to play.

One vital thing I realized after this: I’m more alone now than I’ve ever been in my entire life. My sister’s gonna have her own family. My Dad’s having his own life in China. My mother’s gone. I’m alone, but I’m okay and I’m happy with what I have now.

4. TG Life Resurrected - January 6, 10, and 15-18

A humongous part of my college—and high school, actually—life revolved around campus journalism. It’s that one thing that made college more meaningful, more enjoyable, more exciting, and more stressful—in a good way—for me. If it hadn’t been for that experience, I probably wouldn’t have had the foundation for all the skills that I am using right now for my profession.

Earlier this year, I was invited to train the now-members of The Gateway Group of Publications for the upcoming press conferences. And since I didn’t have a regular job during that time, I was also invited to attend the conferences—both Cavitewide and Regionals.

The experience was just a surge of nostalgia. A part of me wanted to join the contest myself, but my time’s long been over—and I’ve already grown tired of it after nearly more than five years of participation. It’s now time for me to pass on my knowledge to the next generation of journalists.

I may not have taken home any medal or certificate, but it gives me great pride and joy that the students I trained were able to place in their respective contests. The inner teacher inside me—who is still waiting for his time to shine—is verily satisfied.

INTERLUDE

I’m a hundred percent sure that all those memories that ranked 10th to 4th deserved all of their places. I already know from the get-go who’ll get the lower ranks and probably wouldn’t even get in the ten. Ranks 6th to 4th was a bit of struggle, but this eventual ranking is final.

For the final three…

Before divulging into that, I wanna go back to the past memories that topped since I started doing this kind of blog (just to have a throwback and a glimpse as to what memories usually top my list):

The Day Nanay Pinat Died (2013), My College Graduation (2014), The Great Depression of 2015, Mama’s Death at the start of 2016, and My Unemployed Days (2017).

I’ve already mentioned earlier that I had a huge problem regarding what memory would top the list. This is my blog. There are no rules in it. I can just say that all three memories are tied on the first three places, but I don’t wanna do that since this list would not make any sense.

So… I’m not entirely sure about this rankings that I did for these three most memorable moments, since I relied totally from gut feeling here. I tried to switch them all a couple of times, but in the end, everything went down to sentimentality.

3. Accenture - February 23

This one’s an obvious frontrunner from the beginning. After months of having no regular job, I finally got in to one of the most internationally renowned companies.

Tons of memorable moments happened when this chapter of my life started, and I wouldn’t want this list to be crowded with memories from Accenture. (The A List Awards is the only exception I reconsidered.)

Working for Accenture is one of the most liberating moments that I’ve had in recent memory.

By liberating, I mean, in our team, people truly respect you for who you are. They don’t mind your weirdness or your quirky personalities. In here, I found people who I share the same interests with, and if I talk to them about it, they don’t get weirded out—sooooo unlike the people from my previous company.

And what I love most about this is that… I feel like the old me has returned. Me who was constantly smiling. Me who seemed like he doesn’t have any problem. Me who could be in the borderline of crazy.

The me who believes that I can conquer the world in my own little ways.

2. 24th Birthday - January 27

“To know that someone appreciates my existence, someone is willing to spend their time with me, and someone is ready to get high with me is worth more than any money can ever get.”

I got that from the blog I made about my birthday.

I stand firm with what I said back then. This is one of the most memorable birthdays I’ve ever had in the recent years—maybe even in my entire life. Throughout the year, I was thinking that this moment might top this year’s list. And I was secretly hoping that something good would still happen in my life since I couldn’t accept yet that this would be the one. Thank God, things still happened.

This is the second time that my birthday celebration was included in the list, and this is its highest placement so far. I still wish that someday, my birthday celebration would be the one on the first place. This one was really close—it’s on the second place and it certainly lost by a minimal margin—but I had to hand it over to the other one that’s more… sentimental… and left my heart in emotional shards right after.

1. A Day with Wilma - December 23

Amongst my friends who know that I love watching films, this is the first time that someone actually asked me to watch a movie with them. You know… just me with him or her.

Ever since 2015, I’ve been glorifying the thought of me doing things on my own, and the belief that I can be happy on my own. Having said that, I also have never set aside the fact that I’d be even happier if I do the things that I do with someone else.

For those who don’t know, Wilma’s one of my BFFs and one interesting fact about her is that SHE IS RARELY SPONTANEOUS—close to never, to be frank. I am the opposite of that. I adore spontaneity. So when Wilma asked me to watch Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse with her—out of the blue—I said yes, without any hint of hesitation. I didn’t even ask if she invited someone else, which I usually do when someone asks me if I wanna go with them. I didn’t care.

I’m finally gonna watch a movie with a friend… my friend.

Wilma got caught on traffic on her way, so we missed our schedule by roughly 15 minutes. She didn’t want to go on the next screening since she’s concerned that it might be too late for me, but I told her that it’s okay. For the meantime, we had coffee—tea for me, actually—and I also helped her shop for Christmas gifts.

After watching the film, Wilma offered to eat dinner at her house, since I didn’t really give any concrete answer as to how I’m gonna feed myself that night. And so we did. We went to her house and ate dinner with her family. Her Mom even wanted me to sleep over since it’s also a bit late already. I told her that I had to attend the ninth Misa de Gallo the following day, but she insisted, saying, “Magsisimba rin naman kami.” I wanted to say yes. Part of me didn’t want to end the day just yet. This day was feeding me with so much spontaneity, it’s making me euphoric.

But I didn’t have extra clothes with me… so I had to refuse.

On my ride home, I felt really weird, thinking about all the things that happened that day. I wanted to cry, but I also wanted to laugh at the same time. I was emotional, but I didn’t know what emotion it was. I just knew that something inside my heart was not okay, yet I’m perfectly fine with it.

After years of feeling like the world completely neglects me, a day comes when all the love is poured out and I can’t even handle it.

I didn’t even have any picture of this day. It exists now only inside the memory centers of our brains—Wima and mine’s.

I hope we can do this again sometime.

#akocomyk #top10memories

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wineanddinosaur · 3 years

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Cocktail College: How to Make the Perfect Sazerac

This episode is sponsored by Knob Creek. The right bourbon can elevate your next cocktail into an experience worth savoring. So, look for a brand that doesn’t overlook the details and sets the standard for bourbon. That’s Knob Creek. It’s truly the real deal: An authentic, classic line of American whiskeys, with proofs ranging from 100 to 120. Knob Creek is aged longer to produce a full-flavor experience as rich and deep as its history. With every drop, you notice the attention to detail Knob Creek puts into its bourbon. So, strive for a little more substance. Because when you choose to go deeper, you’ll find so much more to appreciate.

“Nothing’s sacred, except maybe the Sazerac.” Neal Bodenheimer and his bartenders at Cure, a New Orleans cocktail lounge, designed their Sazerac recipe with this value in mind. In this episode of “Cocktail College,” host Tim McKirdy chats with Bodenheimer about what makes the Sazerac so special, and how home bartenders and aspiring mixologists alike can craft the most delicious (and historically accurate) versions of the beverage.

As the city’s official cocktail, the Sazerac has a rich history in New Orleans that dates back to the 1800s. It has become a staple drink for bar-goers in the city, which means it’s an important drink to prepare properly. Bodenheimer strives to do just that, and has spent years learning and perfecting the tricks of the Sazerac trade.

Tune in to learn how to make the perfect Sazerac.

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MAKE NEAL BODENHEIMER’S SAZERAC

Ingredients

2 ounces rye, such as Sazerac 6 Year

¼ ounce Demerara syrup (2:1 ratio of sugar and water, lightly cooked)

3 dashes (or 21-23 drops) Peychaud’s bitters

Herbsaint Original 100 proof, in an atomizer

Lemon peel

Directions

Spray the inside (specifically) of a chilled double Old Fashioned glass with 4 atomizer sprays of Herbsaint.

In a mixing glass, stir the rye, Demerara syrup, and Peychaud’s bitters over ice until chilled.

Carefully strain into the seasoned glass.

From a distance of 3 to 4 inches, express the lemon peel on the outside (specifically) of the glass, then dab lightly on the glass to add further citrus oil.

Roll up the lemon peel and place it on the side of the glass to garnish.

CHECK OUT THE CONVERSATION HERE

Tim McKirdy: Hey! This is Tim McKirdy, and welcome to VinePair’s “Cocktail College,” a weekly deep dive into classic cocktails that goes beyond the recipe with America’s best bartenders. Nothing’s sacred, except maybe the Sazerac. That’s the philosophy of Neal Bodenheimer and his team at Cure in New Orleans. It’s a wise approach if you run a bar in NOLA. Not only is the Sazerac New Orleans’ official cocktail, the city basically kept the drink alive when so many others had turned their back on it during the dark days of cocktail culture. For New Orleanians, the Sazerac is a bit like that band you followed and liked before they became famous, or the team you’ve kept on supporting through years of disappointment (shout-out to Mets and Jets fans). At the beginning of our interview, Neal goes deep on the drink’s backstory. All you history buffs are going to love it. The information he lays out helps us understand the rye versus Cognac debate. History in general is also at the heart of how Neal and his team greeted their version of this sacred cocktail. You could walk into Cure, order their Sazerac, and enjoy the hell out of it, but also be completely unaware of the history and attention to detail mixed into their version of the drink. Today, listener, we get to look behind the scenes. Neal Bodenheimer, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us.

Neal Bodenheimer: Tim, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to talk cocktails with you.

T: The pleasure is all mine. I’m really looking forward to getting into it. I believe that, at Cure, you have a specific philosophy relating to the drink that we’re going to discuss today. Can you tell us about that?

N: Sure. Any time you open a bar in New Orleans — we opened Cure just under 13 years ago — the first thing that you have to figure out is how you’re going to make a Sazerac. When we were getting going, there were a lot of Sazeracs around town. Some of them were good. Some of them were not. We knew we really needed to dig in on this drink, and we started putting together a philosophy. Our philosophy starts with how we’re going to approach the drink. Is the Sazerac a stand-alone, independent cocktail? Is a Sazerac an evolution of the whiskey cocktail? As we started debating that, we really felt — and I think that, over time it’s really been proven out — that the Sazerac is an evolution of the improved whiskey cocktail and of the improved brandy cocktail. We really felt that it was important to treat it in that way. From there, we started looking at the ingredients. We looked at the rye, sugar, how we were going to use the bitters, how we were going to use the aromatics with the absinthe or absinthe substitute, and the citrus element. It was important for us to really dial into it in, drill down, and figure out what we felt like made the best Sazerac. There was debate. The way I feel today isn’t necessarily the way I felt 13 years ago.

T: That’s incredible.

N: It’s great. I think that it just goes to show that you really never stop learning. You may be “anti” something one day, but the more you live with it, the more you come around on some stuff. I had a lot of hubris as a young bartender. I remember making Sazerac and saying, “I really love them with orange peels.” I actually do think an orange peel works really well on a Sazerac, but it ceases to be a Sazerac in my mind. At Cure, we’ve always said that nothing is sacred, except maybe a Sazerac. When you start to look at what is classic, while that orange peel may taste really good in a Sazerac format, it’s just not a Sazerac. Thus, it cannot be served as a Sazerac without a qualification.

THE HISTORY OF THE SAZERAC

T: I think that’s a really great point for us to jump off here. It really relates to what we’re doing on the show. On the one hand, you are refusing to say, “We’ve come up with a formula, we’ve perfected it, and that’s it.” You’re evolving, but on the other hand, you’re saying, “We need to have some respect for the classics.” Again, that’s what we’re trying to get into on this show. Drinks have got to taste great. To really reach those upper echelons, though, they have to have a great story as well. So, I was wondering if you could tell us the story of the Sazerac. Is it one of those cocktails that does have a great story? Are there great talking points?

N: I would argue that the Sazerac has one of the best stories in all of cocktails. Just like any great bar story, it has a lot of suspect facts in it. You cannot really talk about the history of the Sazerac cocktail without talking first about Stanley Clisby Arthur and his 1937 work, “New Orleans Drinks.” The interesting thing about Arthur is that he is not a particularly reliable narrator. He certainly got some stuff right, and he is our guide. Without Arthur, you really don’t have a true canon of New Orleans cocktails. At the same time, he was prone to take some liberties and connect some dots that maybe shouldn’t have been connected. In 1937, he’s looking back and trying to piece things together. He gets enough right that the legend of the Sazerac is built. He gets enough wrong that we know that maybe we need to dig in historically and check his work. Number one: He certainly puts the timeline a little early for Antoine Amédée Peychaud, who is the inventor of Peychaud’s bitters. We’re lucky to have Philip Greene, who’s done a lot of the research around that. Philip is actually a descendant of Antoine Amédée Peychuad. Not only is he a great historian, but he really has a dog in the fight, too. Yeah. Philip was smart enough and a good enough researcher to look and say, “Hey, this doesn’t match up.” So, when Clisby Arthur is talking about Antoine Amédée Peychaud inventing the cocktail — not only did he say that he made the Sazerac, but that the Sazerac was the first cocktail and he invented it — that is patently false. That was disproven pretty easily. If you ask people around New Orleans, I think that a lot of people haven’t kept up with that and certainly would like to believe that New Orleans still holds that claim, but it’s just not true. I’ve broken a lot of hearts in my hometown when I’ve told them that.

T: I’m sure that goes down well.

N: You have to serve that with a drink, really. It’s interesting. Immediately, you start to see that there are some pretty significant holes in the timeline. It’s hard to detach from our modern perspective when we’re looking back on history. I think Arthur suffered from the same challenge. He knew the Sazerac as the Sazerac and was looking at the history of how the cocktail developed. He thought, obviously people knew that as a Sazerac. That’s just not true. You don’t see a Sazerac mentioned in print until, I think, 1899. We’re talking just under 70 years after Antoine Amédée Peychaud started his apothecary in 1833. The story goes that Antoine Amédée Peychaud creates the first cocktail. He has his bitters, which are a patent medicine. It’s a curative, so he puts it with sugar, brandy, and the bitters. He serves it to guests that aren’t feeling well. He serves it to people that are coming to his pharmacy looking for a cure. It just takes off, becomes all the rage, and the Sazerac is born. Well, it’s a little more convoluted than that because it’s pretty obvious that the Sazerac as we know it today really developed over time and, as I said earlier, developed out of the improved brandy cocktail. Improved, which means adding absinthe and/or adding Maraschino liqueur. It’s very close to the Sazerac format. In fact, it’s almost identical.

T: Right.

N: That would have had widespread adoption across the U.S. That doesn’t change the fact that New Orleanians had a taste for brandy. That’s just because of our colonial heritage, along with our French and Spanish heritage. We’re tied to the Old World, and we wanted things that were popular in the Old World like brandy. The Sazerac brand of Cognac was imported into New Orleans and was popular. That’s where The Sazerac Coffee House got its name from. From there, I’m sure that they were making improved brandy cocktails with Sazerac for a fee. It certainly would have been popular. I still don’t think people understood that as being a Sazerac. Of course, you get into phylloxera, which is part of Clisby Arthur’s story, and he gets it right. As phylloxera starts to kill the vineyards in France, you would have had either a massive price increase on the brandy that existed and a severely limited — if not nonexistent — supply of young or new make. That would have created an issue where people had to look elsewhere for their spirit. It doesn’t take a huge leap of logic to know that rye had exploded all over the United States and became an easy substitution in the improved cocktail. It certainly went from an improved brandy cocktail into an improved rye cocktail, an improved whiskey cocktail. I’m sure it was consumed a lot. Over time, you get to the Sazerac bar, and you have Wilkinson and Miret who are making it. There’s a reference to them making the best whiskey cocktail in town in 1895, but it’s certainly not identified as a Sazerac. 1899 is when you first see that Sazerac in print.

T: Within the bar, we do like to disagree about things. It’s good. It provides fodder for barstool debate in our niche circles. At that point, that’s where this great debate arises. It historically, perhaps, pioneered with brandy and Cognac. But, if we’re talking about over 100 years of its modern history, we’re looking at this as a whiskey- or rye-based drink. During that time, at which it actually has that name attached, there’s a good argument to say, “Hey, this is actually a rye cocktail.”

N: Rye certainly built the drink. I think you have to keep that in mind, and I think that’s right. That doesn’t mean that a brandy Sazerac isn’t a delicious cocktail, because it is. That’s the great thing about simple drinks. Simple drinks really become a format where you can swap out ingredients in them, and they still work and taste great.

T: Right. That’s why that transition could take place from Cognac to rye. You have this solid foundation. You have the formula there. That’s the basis of cocktail culture. That’s the blueprint right there.

N: Absolutely. Much like in cooking, where you have mother sauces, there are mother cocktails. In this case, the whiskey cocktail is the mother cocktail of the Sazerac.

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT SAZERAC

T: Let’s bring it forward, therefore, to modern times. You touched upon the ingredients earlier. I was wondering, is this a cocktail where we’re talking about that formula and there’s a widely agreed upon formula? Or, is this one of those ones where people take some degree of liberties? Is there a lot of personalization? What are your particular specs in terms of ingredients and ratio? We’ll dig into the finer details after this, but just generally speaking.

N: I think that, with any cocktail that’s been around this long, you have people that make it in their own way. That has to exist. There are also people who make it in a way that was passed down through their families. To me, that’s one of the coolest things that can happen in cocktails and food. We try and look at it through a historical lens, but we also don’t live in 1899. We might pretend, sometimes, in the world of cocktails. But, we have to take into account that we live in a modern world with modern techniques and ingredients. If we don’t, then it’s not always going to translate well. We really think about it as a whiskey cocktail. Thus, we really build it in the way that we would build an Old Fashioned. What we’re looking for is a rye that has some spice notes, but we also want a rye that’s got some body. The reason why is because the Sazerac is a textural experience. You’re taking your time to not understir or overstir it. You really want to get it in the right place where it has this velvet texture and mouthfeel. You don’t want something that is so spicy and thin that it becomes hard to get that pleasure point in a Sazerac. Number two — and this was one of the things that we hotly debated in the early days of Cure — is the style of sugar. We asked, “What type of sugar do we think was probably being used? Do we think it was a refined sugar? Do we think it was less refined sugar?” We settled on less refined sugar. My business partner, Kirk Estopinal, was really passionate about that. I always liked Sazeracs with white sugar because I felt like it got out of the way. But, as we started talking about it and doing side-by-sides, I realized that it was nice to use a darker sugar because you get more texture. You get those dark molasses notes. It just felt like it made for a more complex cocktail. We also felt like it was historically more accurate. From there is where some of the controversy comes, because there certainly is a historical record that you would have seen Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters used in a Sazerac.

T: Oh, really?

N: Yeah, absolutely. We only use Peychaud’s. I think that when you’re looking at the break in cocktails and what makes a Sazerac independent from a whiskey cocktail or an Old Fashioned, it’s the proprietary bitters. For me, that’s a flavor that I want more of. A Sazerac with Angostura bitters is perfectly delicious, but in my mind, it takes it a little bit away from what makes it uniquely a Sazerac. There is controversy. Everybody can argue that, but that’s what we’ve decided within our bars. It has started to become more standard in New Orleans. That doesn’t mean that there’s a right or wrong way to do it. I want to be really clear about that. Just because we do it doesn’t mean that it’s the right way. It just means it’s the way that we do it. There is philosophy behind it, but you can argue that.

T: That’s fantastic. One thing that you were mentioning earlier is the texture being a great part of this drink. This also ties into the kind of historical question that arises of, “Do you use what was made historically, or do you use something more modern?” I think that takes us on to the next component, which is, are you using Herbsaint or absinthe? Absinthe might have been historically correct, but it wasn’t available in the U.S. until 2007. You get to a point where a large part of this cocktail’s history has been made with Herbsaint. Where does that come in for you and how do each one of those ingredients affect texture, which sounds like what you’re looking for?

N: I want to say that I like both absinthe and Herbsaint. They do different things. Sometimes, I want absinthe in my Sazerac and sometimes I want Herbsaint. I don’t want the Herbsaint that was used for years and years and years in New Orleans. I really want the throwback Herbsaint that Sazerac launched a decade ago. It doesn’t have grand wormwood like absinthe, but does function in a lot of ways like an absinthe. The proof is right. It’s not as sweet as the Herbsaint that was used for generations here in New Orleans. In a lot of ways, it’s hedging our bet a little bit. Whereas, you may have had a sweeter, less anise-forward product with Herbsaint. Absinthe has exceptionally strong flavors, and the Herbsaint that was used for a few generations in New Orleans is a little sweeter and a little less robust. We love to meet in the middle and find something that’s got a little sweetness to it, but also has some really strong anise flavors. For that, you miss a little bit of the bitterness that you get from the grand wormwood, but it still functions really closely to an absinthe. It still has that culturally important ingredient with Herbsaint, but it also has some of the things you’re looking for in absinthe.

T: Fantastic. When I talked about texture, you mentioned that you don’t quite get the bitterness of absinthe. Is that something that you’re losing out on? Or, do you really not feel that it is so much?

N: I think that it’s like any cocktail. You have to understand what you’re working with. Granted, we use something that wouldn’t have been used historically. Historically, they would have taken a dash of absinthe and put it in the chilled glass. They would have thrown it up in the air to coat it and then dumped it back into something. We use atomizers now, just because they’re really effective. You’re not using so much product, but they coat efficiently. It’s like any cocktail if you’re not paying attention to what ingredients you’re using. If you make Daiquiris a few months apart, the lime you bought at the store is going to be different. Different seasons, different acidity, different sweetness. That’s something that you have to always keep in mind when you’re making cocktails. If you’re using an absinthe, you are bringing a little extra bitterness to the party. Granted, not all absinthes are created equally. You have to understand if the absinthe has a lot of sugar, not a lot of sugar, the proof on it, how strong it is, what level of wormwood there is. If it has some bitter notes to it, maybe you want to dial down your bitters a little bit.

T: That’s a great point. It’s also a really lovely transition into something else that you alluded to earlier that I would love to hear more about. You were talking about the rye that you use. You don’t want it to be too spicy or too thin. Of course, that will come down to a number of factors, but maybe the first one that we’re looking at is mash bills. Purists these days might want to be drinking a high-rye mash bill. As I understand it, from the sounds of it, maybe that’s not what you’re looking for in this specific cocktail.

N: No. That’s not what we’re looking for. There is an excellent place in cocktails for high-rye mash bills. This is not taking away from that in any way, shape, or form. Thirteen years ago, we knew people were drinking Sazeracs. We didn’t know if people were always liking Sazeracs when they drank them, but it was our goal to make a Sazerac that we felt tasted really great. We didn’t feel like the high-rye mash bill — which was really hard to find at the time, by the way — made for the best version. We’re very lucky in New Orleans that the Goldring family, who owns Sazerac, lives in New Orleans. New Orleans is a priority for them. Sazerac 6 Year, even when it has been difficult to get in other markets, has been readily available in New Orleans. We had a great product to work with, so it was easy for us to default to that. We also felt like the six years of aging really helped and that a mash bill that wasn’t super high rye made for a spicy, but sweet and rich base for the cocktail. From there, we could then decide how many drops or dashes of bitters we wanted to use and what level of sugar we wanted to use. You have to start somewhere when you’re creating a format. That’s where we started. We started with Sazerac 6 Year. We started there because of what we felt like it would bring to the party. From there, we made our decisions. You’ve got to put your foot in the ground on one thing.

T: You’ve got to settle on one variable before you can start.

N: That’s really where we started. Then, we started going through the other questions that we had and the other decisions. Certainly, I still think that we could have a very tasty Sazerac if we used a high-rye whiskey. The recipe would look different, though.

T: Tell us about that recipe, then. Tell us about your specific preparation. Knowing, somewhat, about your Sazerac, this really is something that you dial in on the details for. Tell us how you prepare that specifically.

N: At Cure, as I said, we start off with two ounces of Sazerac rye whiskey. It’s a six-year rye whiskey. From there, we use a skinny quarter-ounce of Demerara syrup. It’s two to one. It’s lightly cooked. We’re looking to melt the sugar into the syrup, but it is not something where we’re boiling the syrup or doing anything like that.

T: Right. Not reducing down to a caramel.

N: Yeah, exactly. We are looking to integrate the sugar in the water. We are not looking to cook the syrup. We use dropper bottles. The reason why is because it’s incredible what a drop or two more or less of bitters will do to a cocktail. Skilled bartenders certainly can account for that, but we’re looking for consistency and precision, so we use dropper bottles. Our formula is that seven drops out of a dropper bottle equals one dash. We do 21 to 23 drops of Peychaud’s bitters. It used to be 21, then one of our longtime bartenders added two because he loved Michael Jordan and he felt like it made a better drink. Certainly, if you sat at the bar at Cure, you’d probably get 23 drops in your Sazerac. It’s funny how these things catch on and stay. From there, we’re building that in a mixing glass. You want to try and integrate all of your liquid ingredients at that moment. You’re going to pull out your chilled double dashing glass. You’re going to take your atomizer and do about four sprays on the inside, specifically, of the glass. You want to be very intentional about where you’re putting your aromatics on this cocktail. This is a double aromatic cocktail, so I really want distinct aromatic qualities. They will blend. That’s not to say that they won’t. You can’t help that. But, you would like to know that if you put your nose near a certain part of the glass, you might get more of one aromatic versus all of it, all mixed, all the time. It’s an important way that we approach it. We do atomized Herbsaint original on the inside, and then we’ll stir our cocktail. Ice is everything in this moment. You want your cocktail glass chilled because you don’t want to spend your time chilling down a cocktail, putting it into a warm glass, and then, as the glass is trying to match the chill of the cocktail, it transfers the cold out of the cocktail into the glass to reach equilibrium. So, it’s really important that you use a cold glass because you’ve spent your time trying to get your dilution and chill appropriate. Depending on the ice you’re using, the more dense it is, the longer you’re going to stir it, and the less dense, the shorter you’re going to stir it. Some people like to pre-dilute. I think it depends on what you’re going for. Then, we’re going to strain it. We’re going to strain it very carefully, because what we don’t want to do is add bubbles that really affect the texture of the drink. Take your time to try and make it into a silky smooth cocktail. Then, you’re going to cut your lemon peel and express from about three to four inches away on the outside of the cocktail glass. That’s not to say that a little bit of that can’t go in the cocktail, but your goal is to put as much of the oil on the outside of the glass as possible because you want it to get on someone’s hand. When you put oil on top of a drink, you really are going to drink that within the first two sips because it’s just going to sit on top of the drink. We want that lemon oil to really stick around and stay on your hand. We’ll kind of dab it on different parts of the glass. It’s not a rub. It’s just taking this oil-laden peel and trying to get as much of that oil on the glass as possible. Then, we’ll roll the peel. There’s a tradition of that in New Orleans. You roll the peel and mount it on the edge. Fate intervenes. Sometimes they fall in. Sometimes they fall out. Not a big deal. But, once again, you have this peel that’s full of oil and acid. If that peel goes in the drink, that drink will be lighter and brighter, with a little more acid. If it goes out, it’s richer and rounder. We really think that that should be a guest decision unless, of course, fate intervenes and it falls in or out.

T: What I really love about hearing that is talking about your specific approach to the aromatics there. This is something I actually encountered last night, because, as I was thinking about this episode and Sazeracs, I made one for myself and sat down with the drink. It occurred to me that I don’t have an atomizer at home. I was rinsing out my glass and then got a little bit, on the outside of the glass, of my absinthe. I thought, “Well, this is an unpleasant experience,” because I don’t think that’s necessarily an aromatic that you want on your hand. My next step, where I went wrong, was doing too much lemon. At the end of the day, I was missing out on the aromatics within the drink. When I sip from the glass, I’m missing the absinthe from my nose. I was really startled at how the lemon could overtake the absinthe because you imagine it to be so strong and powerful. That real measured approach that you have definitely tracks with my bad experiences as a bad home bartender.

N: This is a lot of time and a lot of trial. As I said, we have one way of doing this, and we put theory into it. There’s a reason why we do it, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the right reason for everybody. Getting back to that idea of Angostura bitters, the level of rye in your base distillate, using Herbsaint or something a little sweeter, using absinthe. There are so many little decisions that go into it. For us, it’s really a process-oriented drink. Right. The way that we think about it lines up. We’re stacking aromatics. We’re stacking flavors. We’re being very intentional for a reason. That’s what makes our version shine, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for every version with every ingredient.

T: 100 percent. That would also seem to be a philosophy that anyone can take and apply to any other drink, which is being intentional with your ingredients and the reasons you’re using them. You can be informed by history. You can also realize that things have changed over time. Once you understand your ingredients and the thing that you’re aiming for at the end, that should inform these decisions.

N: Yeah. Look, we are not saving lives here. We’re making cocktails. It’s important to note that the most important thing is that you make a drink that you like. If you’re a home bartender and you’re making it for yourself, make the drink that you like. Don’t make it because I like it. What do I know? Why should you listen to me? If you live in upstate New York and you have different things that are available to you than I do in New Orleans, what does it matter what I think about how you make your cocktail? What matters is if you enjoy your cocktail. That’s the same for wine and beer. Drink the things that you like. Don’t let anybody tell you what you should be drinking. Drink what you want.

T: Yeah. I couldn’t agree with that more. Do you have any other final remarks about this drink? One thing that I find fascinating about the Sazerac is that it’s the official cocktail of New Orleans. It’s not the official one of Louisiana, which I think is sometimes erroneously reported, but New Orleans. That’s a pretty big title to hold. There’s some stiff competition there.

N: Certainly. We’re the only city with an official cocktail. It was passed in 2008, and it was supposed to be statewide. New Orleans does not always share the same values as the rest of Louisiana. The rest of our representatives all over Louisiana thought that maybe Louisiana shouldn’t have an official cocktail. I could understand why, but I don’t agree with it. So, New Orleans got its own. Their loss. Our gain.

T: Yeah. Sorry, Ramos Gin Fizz and, to a lesser extent, the French 75, which is not from the city, but definitely very famous in the city.

N: Certainly co-opted by us. I do think that Ramos is a uniquely New Orleans drink. It would have been a great selection as well. I’m also really happy it’s not, on a personal level.

T: We’re definitely going to have that cocktail in this first season for folks to listen to. So, you’ll understand why that is as well. It’s probably not something you want to be making too many of, if you can avoid it.

N: We’ll have all these recipes. We’ve got our Cure book coming out. It’s a New Orleans cocktail book that’ll come out in the next year or so. There’ll be plenty of New Orleans cocktails to dive into.

GETTING TO KNOW NEAL BODENHEIMER

T: Amazing. Well, Neal, it’s been so great exploring this cocktail with you and hearing about your specific approach to it. Now, I’d love to end the show by getting to know you a little bit more and finishing with some quick questions that would also probably provide some incredible advice to a younger bartender starting out or folks at different stages in their career. How does that sound?

N: That sounds great. Buyer beware on some of this stuff.

T: First quick hit question for us here. What’s the first bottle, whether it’s a brand or a general category of spirit, that makes it onto your bar programs?

N: It’s interesting, and it is related to what we just talked about. In general, Sazerac 6 Year rye is one of the first bottles that’s on our bar. At every bar that I’ve owned or operated, it’s one of our first selections. We make so many Sazeracs in New Orleans that it really is the first bottle that we always get.

T: As a quick aside here — and I’m just riffing off the top of my head here — I don’t think there’s any other classic cocktail where, for the spirit component, you can grab a bottle with the same name. That’s just Sazerac. Is that correct?

N: Correct. Well, the Sazerac company just released Henry Ramos gin. I guess you could make a Ramos Gin Fizz with that gin. I’m sure that there are other ones. I just can’t think of them right now.

T: Martini drinkers, please note that I said spirits and not any other component, just for the record there.

N: Well said.

T: Just wanted to put that out there. Second question. Which ingredient or tool do you believe is the most undervalued in a bartender’s arsenal?

N: I’m going to do an ingredient and a tool. The first ingredient is bitters. Bitters are the salt of cocktails. There are very few cocktails that I don’t think are improved by bitters. It really is like a pinch of salt in cooking. It highlights flavors. It ties things together. I want them all the time in all of my drinks. So, that’s number one. The undervalued tool — to say that it’s undervalued might be a stretch — I think is the bar spoon. It’s the most important thing. You can crack ice with it. You can measure with it. You can stir with it. You can strain with it. I find that I can do so much with the bar spoon. If I need one tool, it’s that.

T: It’s an extension of your hand. It’s like a knife for a chef.

N: Absolutely. The next one I would pick would be a jigger or some sort of measurement tool. Those are more easily replaced than a great bar spoon, though.

T: What has been the most important piece of advice you’ve received working in the industry?

N: This is something that is another foundational principle at Cure. You’ve got to ask yourself, “Why?” We cannot just accept knowledge as gospel. At some point, someone said, “This is the way I think it should be done.” Then, it became accepted. We always have to ask ourselves the question, “Why?” This comes back to what we think about the Sazerac. Why do we pick this kind of rye? Why are we using these kind of bitters? If you’re not asking yourself why, then you’re never improving. You’re just regurgitating someone else’s opinions. That would be the most important piece of advice. You’ve got to ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? Why am I shaking this long? Why am I stirring this long? Why am I double straining?” There are a thousand little details that go into bartending and production that you’ve got to question.

T: Again, history is relative. There are different points in history.

N: Different perspectives.

T: 100 percent. So, if you could only visit one last bar in your life, whether that’s the same bar for the rest of your life, or one last visit to a bar, which one would that be?

N: It’s hard. I’ll give you two answers. Cure was a life dream of mine. There is no place in the world where I feel more comfortable, besides my house. It feels very much like an extension of me, and so I feel exceptionally comfortable in Cure. If I had to pick one bar to go to for the rest of my life, that’s where it would be. That’s very personal, though. If I were at someone else’s bar, there are a thousand amazing bars in the world that I would feel honored to have a last drink in. The first one that comes to mind for me is Dante. I just think it’s a really special place. I think the drinks are exceptional. It would be that kind of place where I would have a last drink.

T: I think it does that great job of delivering incredible quality, but you could almost walk past it in the street and not realize. I think the decor is amazing and whatnot, but you might not expect it. I love that idea as well, that you could think, “Oh, that looks like a cute cafe,” but it’s much more.

N: It’s also got an incredible history. In the way that I really appreciate, they are carrying the mantle of a historically relevant business. That really appeals to me.

T: Final question here. If you knew that the next cocktail you drank was going to be your last, what would you order or make?

N: Well, that’s a hard one. I don’t know, and I do know. If you look at the back bar of Cure, we have so many products, because I love so many things. I genuinely find myself coming back to the Negroni over and over. I think I would have to make myself a Negroni for my last cocktail. Once again, I would take my time. I would find the vermouth that I wanted. I would find the gin that I wanted. I would make sure that it was perfect and that I could savor it.

T: Fantastic. Well, Neal, thank you so much again for joining us today. Nothing sacred, except perhaps the Sazerac. Wonderful thought, and it’s been really great speaking with you.

N: Yeah. Thank you, Tim. Thanks for thinking about me for this.

T: Thank you very much.

If you enjoy listening to the show anywhere near as much as we enjoy making it, go ahead and hit subscribe, and please leave a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts — whether that’s Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher. And please tell your friends.

Now, for the credits. “Cocktail College” is recorded and produced in New York City by myself and Keith Beavers, VinePair’s tastings director and all-around podcast group. Of course, I want to give a huge shout-out to everyone on the VinePair team. Too many awesome people to mention. They know who they are. I want to give some credit here to Danielle Grinberg, art director at VinePair, for designing the awesome show logo. And listen to that music. That’s a Darbi Cicci original. Finally, thank you, listener, for making it this far and for giving this whole thing a purpose. Until next time.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article Cocktail College: How to Make the Perfect Sazerac appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/cocktail-college/complete-guide-sazerac-recipe/

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ellanainthetardis · 7 years

Note

I hope you don't mind me prompting although everything seems to go down at the moment. So maybe this will never be written: I was thinking of their first years working together and Haymitch not helping her at all with everything and it really starts to annoy her at some point. And maybe Mags could tell him that he should be happy to have her and that she's doing great work? And maybe he could offer some help at the end? Thank you!

I hc that Mags had herstroke a few years after Finnick won so that’s why she’s alright in there incase you’re wondering ;)[X]

A Mentor’s Advice

Trinket left with an angry huff and Haymitch took a sip of whiskey, very pleased with himself.

“If I’m lucky she’s gonna sulk ‘till tomorrow.”he declared, toasting his friends.

He, Mags, Beetee and Chaff were sitting in acorner of the mentor lounge. Haymitch wasn’t in any mood to run after sponsorsin a vague attempt at convincing them Twelve would do better next season andthey should really consider givingthem their money the following year. The Sixty-fifth Hunger Games had beenexhausting, not least of all because of the Odair mania that was shaking thecity, and all victors were on edge. While the boy had been a clear favorite, ithad still been a tough journey and Mags had been on her feet for days. It hadbeen difficult to drag her away from the hospital where the boy was resting andHaymitch didn’t intend to let his escort of three years spoil the night.

“You’re hard on that girl.” Mags chided him,bringing her glass of white wine to her lips. She hadn’t drunk a lot comparedto the rest of them, but then again she never did.

He glanced at Chaff who hid his smile behindhis own glass and then at Beetee who was staring at the table.

“Seriously?” he scoffed. “She’s a fucking pain.”

“A pain you wouldn’t mind screwing.” Chaffremarked, his dark eyes twinkling in mischief.

“Please.” he scowled.

“Well, you seemed interested at first.” Beeteepointed out. Haymitch shot him a betrayed look and Three’s victor lifted hishands in a peace offering. “Her first year you were all over her.”

“That was before I realized how stuck-up shewas.” He sneered. “Maybe, she’s not bad looking. Maybe. But fuck is sheannoying… She’s the worst escort I’ve everhad. She’s on my back every fucking day. Haymitchthis and Haymitch that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Always threatening me to get rid of mybooze…” His friends all exchanged a look. It felt very much like they wereganging up on him. And on behalf of Trinket.“What?”

“Yeah, buddy…” Chaff chuckled. “Don’t punch mefor stating the obvious but… The more a woman work you up, the more badly youwant her. You like them difficult. That’s your thing.”

Haymitch glared and his best friend shrugged.

“I don’t wantTrinket.” he snapped. “I hate her. I fucking hate her. You know she can’tshut up, right? She’s always talking.Gives me headaches.”

“Are you sure it isn’t the alcohol?” Beeteeteased.

“And she’s so fucking entitled…” he went on, ignoring the interruption. “She’sconvinced she can walk on water. She acts like everyone should stop and bow ather. She expects me to thank her everyminute of the day. She’s as stupid as they come too. And…”

Mags scoffed. “Now, that’s unfair, boy.”

Haymitch bristled at being called a boy. He wasthirty-one after all. But it was Mags and Mags would always see him as the lostkid who had followed her around during his first Games as a mentor.

“How’s that unfair?” he mumbled. “The onlythings that comes out of her mouth are fashion stuff and gossips.”

“Maybe you should talk to Torello.” Chaffsuggested. “Get a new one. I wouldn’t mind getting her off your hands. Violaneeds to go and fast. Before Istrangle her.”

Haymitch made a face. He had gone to the HeadGamemaker several times already. “He won’t promote her. Said something abouthow she’s good at keeping me in line. Whatever that means.”

“That means you actually show up where you aresupposed to be, dressed and mostly on time.” Beetee observed. “And you don’t make the headlines sooften for pulling drunk stunts.”

“That’sa shame.” Chaff agreed. “She’s keeping you on a tight leash. She’s a pain,true.”

“Ah.”he triumphed, toasting his best friend. “Thankyou.”

Mags shook her head. “I wish Effie was on my team. Oliva was no help at all. Yours isefficient, Haymitch, you should not take that for granted.”

“Efficient.” he repeated with a scoff.

“She goes the distance.” Beetee nodded wisely.“She doesn’t just show up at events and leave you with all the work. I likeGloria well enough but she doesn’t do halfof what Effie does for you. You are lucky, my friend.”

“Lucky.”He wrinkled his nose in distaste. “You want her, you’re welcomed to her.”

“Yeah, sure…” Chaff chuckled. “And you wouldn’tpitch a fit at all? ‘Cause I heard Two’s on the market for her.”

“What?” he frowned, his eyes automaticallyshifting to the other side of the mentors lounge where the Careers were havinga drink.

“I am too.” Mags declared, her winkled handwaving away an imaginary problem. “Who isn’t? She actually coaches the kids, she’s always willing to help withsponsors, she does the paperwork andshe’s committed. And whatever you say, Haymitch, she isn’t as dumb as you makeit out to be. Nobody who can work the crowd like she does can be that stupid.”

“She’sdumb.” Chaff confirmed. “But then again they all are.”

Beetee smiled a little, turning his attentionthoroughly on Haymitch. “I think you grew too used to her. Remember how it waswith your last escort?”

“That was Viola.” Eleven’s victor snorted. “Youtold Torello you would push her down the stairs if he didn’t replace her. Can’thelp but notice you’re not making the same threats with Trinket, buddy…”

“Would you really let her go?” Mags asked,sounding a little more interested than Haymitch was comfortable with. As if shewould really drag him to Torello thatsecond if they could come to some sort of deal. Four was the great winner ofthe season, it had been some time since a new victor had been more popular thanFinnick, and it was pretty much guaranteed that whatever Mags asked she wouldget. Including his escort.

“And go back to mentoring by himself?” Chaffmocked. “Doing all the paperwork? Not a chance.” Haymitch glared at him but hisfriend simply shrugged and took a sip of his whiskey. “Sorry, man, but you’reall talk. It comes down to it, you won’t let her go. She’s too good at her job.Now, take my advice, screw her, take it out of your system…”

“I don’twant to screw her.” he spat. “What’s so complicated to understand about that?”

“The sexual tension between the two of you thatcould be cut with a knife?” Beetee suggested innocently. His glare switchedtarget but Three’s victor didn’t even flinch. “I’m sorry, Haymitch, but the way you two look at each other…

“She wants you to fuck her… You want to fuckher…” Chaff smirked. “You need us to draw you a map or you think you can find whereto put it?”

He rolled his eyes, downed the rest of hisdrink and stood up, annoyed by their stupidity. They weren’t in high school andit was very much what it felt like at that moment. He ignored their calls forhim to come back and their apologies, striding out of the lounge and out theCenter while he was at it.

Some fresh air would do him good.

The Peacekeepers shot him a suspicious lookwhen he passed by. Too many times being arrested for drunken rampages, nodoubt.

He settled in the shadow of the building, a fewfeet away from the entrance, watching people mingle in the City Circle.Capitols were celebrating the end of the Games and it sickened him. It wasn’tlong before he noticed his escort, her head thrown back as she laughed towhatever the men she was talking to had said. They were sponsors and he waspretty sure the flirting was a way to get their attention but it made somethingtwist within his belly all the same. Their tributes were dead and there shewas, partying with the rest of them like it meant nothing.

His gaze was drawn to her slender neck, to the softcurves and the endless legs. She knew how to dress and she always dressed toseduce. She was a walking deadly trap, he had seen that at first glance. Insome ways, she reminded him of his arena: deceptively beautiful, danger lurkingbehind bright colors, deadly under the bubbly attitude.

Much as he liked to pretend she was nothing butanother Capitol drone, there were layers to Trinket. He hadn’t seen it at firstbut he saw it now. The steel under the soft smile, the calculating spark in hereyes, the carefully controlled image she gave the world.

She was naïve and unbearable and far tooshallow. Still mostly ignorant of what was going on behind the scene whenvictors were concerned. Still arguing that they could win because she had been taught the odds were fair. Stilladamant she knew better than he did.

“I am an old woman, Haymitch. I am not alwaysas skilled at diplomacy as I used to be.” Mags said.

He didn’t startled but it was a close thing.Mags could move as silently as a cat. He snorted because whatever she claimedshe didn’t look as old as she was. She was one of the first victors stillalive, undefeated by the depression or addictions that plucked so many othersbefore their time. Mags was strong and he couldn’t ever see her as anything butthat. She stood proud and tall in any circumstances. Defiant.

“It’s alright.” he shrugged. “They were justgetting on my nerves.”

He purposefully excluded her from thatstatement, unwilling to say anything to hurt her feelings. Mags had been asecond mother to him for a long time. Chaff might have been the closest thinghe had got from a mentor but Mags had always been there, ready to advise andimpart her wisdom – whether he liked it or not.

“I wasn’t telling you to seduce your escort.”Four’s victor clarified. “Although what you do is your own business and,between you and me, I think it’s been too long since you had a good flirt.Hearts are meant to love and be broken once in a while. It gives some spice tolife.”

“Got no heart left to break.” he spat. “Andshe’s Capitol.”

And yet his eyes hadn’t moved away from her –admittedly attractive – figure.

“Still, Haymitch.” Mags sighed. “Go easy on thegirl. As far as escorts go, you lucked out. I am not saying you should jumpthrough loops every time she tells you to but… Some help here and there wouldprobably smooth things out quite nicely.” He opened his mouth to argue but shelifted her hand. “She does a great job by herself. Imagine what you could do ifyou actually worked together. We all have someone to share the burdenwith. You could use an ally.”

She left before he could defend his point andhe was left staring at his escort.

Eventually he rolled his eyes, buried his handsin his pockets and made his way over, already knowing it would be a disaster.The sponsors’ faces lit up when they saw him approach behind her back becauseas far as victors went he tended to be elusive. Trinket paused, puzzled by whathad caught their attention.

Haymitch enjoyed her small jump of surprisewhen he touched her shoulder and he delighted in her sudden stammering evenmore.

He liked putting her off balance.

Maybe he couldhelp now and then.

If only to keep her on her toes.

It had nothing to do whatsoever with the brightblinding smile she shot him.

Nothing at all.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #prompt #games time #not established #fighting hayffie #the victors gang #chaff #beetee #mags

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the-record-newspaper · 5 years

Text

Smoot Park Football: Remembering the game the way it used to be

The photo above, taken from the Thursday, Oct. 31, 1968, edition of The Wilkes News, shows members of the North Wilkesboro Eaglets before the team’s last game that season. The caption reads: The North Wilkesboro Eaglets finished their season Wednesday afternoon with a resounding 48-0 victory over Yadkinville. The win left the boys with a 6-0 mark for the season. They are pictured above. On the front are Tim Bundy, Mitch Blankenship, and Artie Groce. On the first row are Randy Huffman, Ken Clifton, Sonny Church, Mark Duncan, Gary Eldridge, Pat Hawkins, Ken Call, David Sink and Steve McCord. On the second row are Coach Bob Blakenship, Robert Duncan, Jack Fulk, David Brown, Steve Blankenship, Monty Minton, Mike Harris, Jim Lewis, Phillip Hennessee, and coach Harold Baker. Those on the back are Ricky Kilby, Rufus Colvard, Randy Rhoades, Mike Forester, Troy Mathis, Joe Johnson, Clate Holloway, and Irving McKenzie.

By SONNY CHURCH

Special to The Record

I had just entered the sixth grade in the fall of 1966, and I got my chance to finally play organized football.

If you put on pads before high school, back then, you had to play for Buster Bush’s North Wilkesboro Recreation Department.

The only game in town, so to speak, was based out of Smoot Park. No matter where you lived in Wilkes, if you played football before high school, you played for North Wilkesboro Recreation. You were an Eaglet, and your home turf was Smoot Park.

The Park of today is vastly different from when and where my football career began. There was no playground to speak of, save the swings that might have escaped from the carnival and that ungodly dangerous thing that went round and round expelling kids with incredible centrifugal force. There was no real swimming pool by today’s standards and there was most definitely not a locker room with showers.

Incredible as it may sound today, we actually dressed at the picnic shelters. That’s right, we stripped down to our skives for practice at the picnic shelters. We would go around to the far side of the table, take off our school clothes, put them in our gym bags and then put on our practice gear and pads. Cold, hot, rain, there was no respite from the elements except the metal roofs over the concrete picnic tables.

We were just kids and that is all we had, so we did what we were told and got ready for practice.

There were no facilities whatsoever, save the small smelly cinderblock bathrooms near the river and certainly no training room.

After practice, you unhooked your chin strap, took off your helmet and shoulder pads and walked up to the window where Danny Anderson sold those little juice box lemonades. They were 15 cents and darn well worth every penny.

There were two teams. I was on the younger sixth grade team in 1966, and the older guys were on the combined seventh and eighth grade roster.

As I recall, we had no set league to play in or definite game schedule. We played whatever team the coaches could line up a game with. Some teams were close to our size and talent. Others were on both ends of the spectrum. We never knew what we were going to be up against until we took the field. Some teams we played often, some we only played once, never to be seen again.

Most games took place mostly during the week, not really sure why, but they did. We would charter a Wilkes Transportation coach, usually paying somewhere around $2 each for the ride. We got on the bus without even a clue where we were going, we rode out of town in search of a game. From Drexel, to Lenoir, Elkin, Yadkinville, to Lansing, we played them all. One time we went as far as Thomasville and it was an astronomical $5 a head, for the bus.

Hal Church, my dad, Vernon Church, and some other fathers pitched in and took care of the transportation fee, otherwise some could not have gone. The most memorable team we played — to me anyway — was the N.C. School for the Deaf in Morganton.

We were mere children, literally playing against grown men. Most were much bigger and rougher than us. Lots of the players had facial hair and mustaches and some even had full beards.

Let me tell you, it is intimidating to be 13 years old, playing against stoic opponents that are older, stronger and larger than you.

We got our socks knocked off by grown men on a football field that was, except for the some grunts, silent on the other side of the scrimmage line. Because they couldn’t hear the referee’s whistles, you often got your clock cleaned after the play was blown dead. No flags were thrown or penalties assessed for late hits. You’ll never convince me they didn’t use this to their advantage sometimes.

Our volunteer coaches for the sixth grade team may or may not have played football, or even previously coached for that matter. They were just willing and able to show up at 3:30 p.m., at Smoot Park and blow the whistle for the seemingly endless wind sprints.

As I recall, one of our less seasoned coach’s credentials was that he owned a drive-in across the street and would feed the team hot dogs ever so often. Good enough reason for us to call him.

Another of our coaches was a man’s man of the 1960’s. I can still see his work shirt sleeves rolled up high on his biceps, hairy chest and the big cigar clinched between his teeth. At practice, one of the favorite drills was to form two single lines facing each other. There was no regard given to size or ability. You were opposite who ever came up in the front position of the opposing line

They would toss the ball to a player at the front one of the lines and scream, “Lower your head.” We would do just that, and run full tilt into each other with our heads leading the way, much like rams head butting each other.

Remember this was 1966 and we couldn’t even spell concussion.

During our first real game, we got trounced 41-6 against Drexel, and we were not allowed to even speak on the long trip back home on the bus. Later that season I scored my first touchdown on October 6th1966 against an Elkin team. My mom even got a charm bracelet engraved with that date and wore it proudly around town and to her Friday hair appointments.

Funny I can’t even remember lunch yesterday, but those things stay forever seared into my gray matter.

The next year, I got to move up to the seventh and eighth grade team. Instead of spending that summer at the Y swimming, as I had all the previous summers, I was at the new slot car track on 9th Street almost every day. I lolled about the air conditioned track and around lunch time I’d be eating and reading comic books at Horton’s Drug Store. When the first whistle blew at the park that fall, I found myself woefully pale and soft. I had a really average season and I remember little about it, but learned a valuable life lesson.

By the fall of 1968, the winds of change were blowing in the football world of Wilkes County and it threw some serious curves at a few of us. Civic clubs in the county were now sponsoring combined elementary school football teams. Wilkesboro Elementary, where I went to school, was championed by the Rotary Club. Ralph Steele and Harry Galifianakis were some of the coaches as I recall. This left myself, Art Groce, Mike Harris and a few other Wilkesboro guys as the odd men out. It was kind of like a dual citizenship.

A compromise was evidently made between the ruling powers. We could continue to play for Buster Bush’s North Wilkesboro Recreation, but not against any of the in county teams. We could continue to hop on the bus and play out of town and wear our jerseys on the sidelines at county games.

As far as I remember, no noses got bent out of shape and it really worked pretty well. I now reflect back with admiration on those wise compromises with the kids’ best interests at heart.

That year was also the first and only year that we finally beat the N.C. School for the Deaf. Big Joe Johnson romped up and down the sidelines with some huge runs and we were able to somehow match their physicality for that one game. I wouldn’t trade those surreal game experiences against the N.C. School for the Deaf for anything now.

At the end of the year, we had our little banquet at the Optimist Club House located at North Wilkesboro’s Optimist Park. The park seems so incredibly small today. The building itself is a church now and I think still holds services. I treasure a picture made that night with my mom as I was awarded Best Defensive Player of the 1968 Eaglets and given a trophy by the coaches. I had on a coat and one of those little skinny black ties. My mom was dressed like she was going to town, and my dad snapped the Polaroid in front of the fireplace hearth. It was so incredibly 1960`s I must say.

I took a lot of life lessons away with me from playing football at Smoot Park.

We didn’t have a lot, but we made do with we had. The experience made all of us better young men and better equipped us for the future on and off the field.

I still share quite a bond with those that I played with in those much simpler times. It was Smoot Park football in the 60’s…..We lowered our heads, got on the bus and, and honest to God, dressed at the picnic shelters.

Note: Sonny Church is a lifelong resident of Wilkesboro. He owns and operates Brushy Mountain Water & Coffee Company.

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nadiaamf · 7 years

Text

Le premiere voyage à Paris (2)

In this second post I am going to write about our experiences and the places we visited in details. I sum up a short practical info in each destination for you to be able to estimate your plan or maybe your budget. I bold the name of each destination so you can read them easily and it is linked to the official or informative web so you can read the full info there, just click it buddies! Please just bear with this long-read post :-)

Pre-Departure

Our train’s schedule was on Saturday morning 10.45 am. We took the bus at 8.30 am (just in case, better be early right?). If you are living in France, or maybe in other European countries, please remember that the bus schedule will be less often than the weekdays. Here in Toulouse, the bus schedule will be every 30 minutes (or can be more) in weekends. It took us about 20 minutes to arrive at Marengo SNCF station. When we arrived, the schedule screen showed the train was on time.

Here’s a little side story. After about 10 minutes waiting there was this small incident that all of the occupants needed to be about 50 meters away outside the station. I (well not only me) was a lil bit confused about what was happening because it seemed quite serious. The officers did not know either what was happening or how long did we have to wait. There were even an ambulance and fire trucks. In fact, there was this unaccompanied bag left inside the station therefore they had to clear the area in case of some unwanted accident :-/ You know, France has increased its security since there were some terrorist attacks in the country these past years. I forgot how long we actually waited but the train’s schedule was delayed for 50 minutes. Lesson learnt: do not ever left your belongings unaccompanied!

Tips for traveling by train:

Always check out the baggage rules, they usually have different maximum weight or quantity of luggage which we can bring into the carriages.Or sometimes they do not.

Always re-check the depart and return schedule. Even here, the train sometimes has a delayed departure.

Prepare you personal medication(s).

Bring some nourishment whether only a pack of candies/chocolate/chips or even your breakfast/lunch/dinner with you. They do provide some drinks or snacks but it is gonna be a long trip anyway.

DAY 01

Office de Tourisme de Paris

25 rue des Pyramides, 1e arrondissement

Opens every day, except 1 May

10:00 - 19:00 (01 Oct to 30 Apr) // 09:00 - 19:00 (02 May to 31 Sept)

First thing first, we need to pick up our Paris Museum Pass. Don’t forget to write your name and the date as well on the back of your card. Here you can also find brochures and several tourism guides book in French, English, and Mandarin (I believe?) This city really has so much to offer, you tell me! If you don’t have any plan in mind (this is nearly impossible lol), there will always be something that suits your preference. Or maybe, a romantic stroll around the park?

Musée de l'Orangerie

Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, 1e arrondissement

Opens every day, except Tuesdays

09 am to 6 pm // Last Admission: 05:15 pm

Full Rate: €9 // Concessions: €6,50

My first stop museum is this beautiful place which is well-known for its “Water Lilies” by Claude Monet, a legendary French painter with his impressionist style. These paintings were donated by him to France after the 1st World War.

“.....and for he would live in it, this room offer a refuge for peaceful meditation in the midst o flowering aquarium” – Claude Monet

I tell you, it was honestly the best part except the fact that there were too many people in the room until the keeper had to tell the visitors to keep silent. So guys, be wise enough to appreciate the art and respect other visitors as this is a kind of ‘contemplation room’ I may say. It was truly one of that rare moment for me where I could experience what the artist wanted to deliver through the space and his art itself.

After all, the visit was my favo just because I could literally have my time to really pay attention to what the museum offers. Besides, I was also mesmerized by how beautiful it is which successfully combines two different styles of architecture into one! Bravo!

Suggestion(s):

Wake up early! As early as possible since it opens at 9 am and you don’t want to miss the chance to enjoy the water lilies room peacefully.

This museum has an auditorium where you can watch some documentaries about the works or even the building itself. It has the schedule board hung on its door, be sure you check it out first.

Musée du Louvre

Rue de Rivoli, 1e arrondissement

Opens every day, except Tuesdays

Closed: January 1, May 1, May 8, December 25

9:00 am to 6:00 pm // Night opening until 9:45 pm on Wednesdays & Fridays

Online: €17 // On the spot: €15

After strolling around and having our packed sandwich as lunch in Jardin des Tulleries, we finally arrived in front of the Louvre. In fact, Louvre is the largest art museum in the world lol so no wonder it was really huge. It is located in the heart of Paris (1e arrondissement) as a central landmark of the city. The museum is actually housed inside the Louvre Palace with a steel-glass pyramid as the main entrance as well as its main icon. This iconic pyramid is standing in the center of the palace’s main courtyard. It’s designed by I.M.Pei, a Chinese American architect.

The line was long enough even if it was autumn to winter transition time. It was drizzling and cold but somehow romantic. Fortunately we had this Paris Museum Pass so it only took 5 minutes including security check for us to be able to enter this marvelous museum. Apparently, I heard from my friend that it actually has another entrance on the other side of the building where there will be less visitor.

This museum is divided into 4 big sections. It is up to you to take which one to begin with but me and my husband chose to see the Islamic Art first. They have wide range collections of painting, print, drawing, sculpture, decorative art, etc. One of the famous art to see inside is the Monalisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Yes you’ll meet her here! Truthfully my husband and I did see it but hmmm we couldn’t say much because we saw it from too far -- it was super crowdedddd. I am sure I really need more than a day to literally see all (single one) they got inside. It is like a play park for an art student if I may say. Incredible!

On the way to the exit doors, you will find a space which kinda look like a small scale mall to me. They are souvenir shops, as you may have guessed. It was around 5 pm when we decided to end the visit to take a photo in front of the main pyramid before it gets dark. It was a right decision because we got a beautiful tone of Paris’ sunset after rain in which was kind of violaceous. Perfect!

Side note(s):

Some museums, galleries, and châteaux (at least in Paris) have this security check with the x-ray machine just like in the airport, so don’t be surprised and be well prepared.

Inside, it has a modern locker room where you can even store your wet umbrella with self-service system. This is where I realized why a museum or even a gallery really needs a proper locker room; one, you really don’t want have an uncomfortable visit by bringing your huge handbag/backpack/coat etc around and two, your belongings might harm some of the collections.

DAY 02

Fondation Louis Vuitton

8 avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Bois de Boulogne, 75116 Paris

Opens every day, except Tuesdays

Closed: January 1st, May 1st, May 8th and December 25th

12:00 AM to 07:00 PM (Monday to Friday) // 11:00 AM to 08:00 PM (Saturday & Sunday) -- hours might differ, depend on the season and exhibition

Full Rate: €15 // Concession: €10 (Under 26 y/o), €5 (under 18 y/o)

The name may be not a clear explanation for most of people. Fondation Louis Vouitton is basically an art museum and cultural center in Paris, sponsored by private company LVMH and designed by the one and only, Frank Gehry. The 1st time I knew about this building was when I read an article mentioning the criticism towards his work back in uni life.

Besides the contemporary exhibition space, it also has permanent exhibition and a mini performing space/auditorium that is surrounded by a pond which is linked to outer landscape of this building. You can also enjoy Paris cityscape (yes, included Eiffel tower) from the rooftop garden while sipping your coffee or just admiring the ‘naked’ structure of this building. For you who is into architecture will find this building a more interesting place to visit. Also, they have special section where there is a whole story about the architecture so once again a place to enrich our knowledge not just about its art content.

After taking the metro, the building is still 800 meters away, about 10-15 minutes walk from Les Sablons Metro Station. I asked my husband to include this one exceptional museum into our itinerary. Unfortunately since our schedule was already tight and it isn’t on the list of Paris Museum Pass, we only planed 1 hour just to take some photos in the morning and go to the next destination. BUT THEN there was this first MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) exhibition in France inside I couldn’t resist but buy the ticket!

Suggestion(s):

Take your time and walk instead (as long as possible), there you’ll find a lovely neighborhood on the way. They actually provide you a navette that cost €2 per person but walking sharpen our sense of place so why not -- besides it’s healthier.

If you have extra time, take a moment to enjoy the park right beside the building -- take a breath before continuing your trip.

Always check their schedule before you pay a visit in case you want to spend an extra to enjoy their selected temporary exhibition.

Arc de Triomphe

Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris

Opens every day

Closed: 1 January, 1 May, 8May (morning), 14 July, 11 November (morning) and 25 December

10 am to 10.30 pm 10 am to 11.00 pm // Last Admission: 45 min before closing time

Full Rate: €12 // Concession: €9

We literally only took some pictures and done. It was almost winter but it was crowded enough for me not to make more effort to get a decent self photo in front of it lol. I can’t imagine if it were summer holiday. People were crazy enough to stand as closest as they could to this monument while it is actually surrounded by big roads. Always make sure to keep your bag safe from pickpockets!

Champs Elysée

8th arrondissement

Length: 1.91 km

Width: 70 m (230 ft)

I still remember I decided to make a sketch of this legendary boulevard for Arsitektur Kota class. Having been told that some famous artists once lived inside the building’s rooftop amazed me back then. Although when I was there I wasn’t that impressed (oh what did I expect lol) maybe just because it was too crowded, both the road and the shopping stores filling this boulevard line. From HnM to Louis Vuitton, Brioche Dorée to Ladurée. Just like its french song, you can find all what you want in Champs Elysée.

Centre Georges Pompidou

Place Georges-Pompidou, 19 Rue Beaubourg 75004 Paris

Opens every day, except Tuesdays and 1 May

11 am to 10 pm (exhibition areas close at 9 p.m.) Thursdays until 11 p.m. (only exhibitions on level 6)

Last Admission: 1 hour before closing time Full Rate: €14 // Concession: €11

Another well known architecture in Paris designed by a team consisting Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. Its iconic style distinguish itself from other building in Paris or at least around the area. “The Centre Pompidou houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is Europe's largest museum for modern art. Also located in the vast open interior is the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a huge public library, and a center for music and acoustic research known as IRCAM.” as quoted from an @archdaily article.

It was almost sun set when we get there and was a bit shocked because the line is too long we did not sure if we would make it inside before its closing time -- ok it’s a bit exaggerated but I really need minimum 2 hours to enjoy museums/gallery to at least read a caption or two -- but thanks God apparently with our Paris Museum Pass we had different entrance which there were only a couple of people. The sad news is with Paris Museum Pass, you can only enter certain area but for us it was perfectly enough. Fyi, you can watch the sunset and Paris city from above on its 6th floor.

The interior was simple yet you can get lost in it. I mean there were soooo many sections and endless artworks which for me are all attractive. There was this one temporary exhibition that was catching my curiosity. I considered my self lucky as I had the chance to at least witness one of her work, i mean it was magical, hideous, and depressing at the same time can you imagine?

Euro Fried Chicken

60 Boulevard de Sébastopol, 75003 Paris

Opens every day from 11 to 1.30 am (except on public holiday the time might be varied)

First of all, I’ve been craving for food that I’m familiar with. Fried chicken never sounds so tempting when my mother told us that there is a fried chicken resto near the Centre Georges Pompidou and it is HALAL. No doubt we directly stopped by and ended up buying a big bucket before going home for a take away dinner. This is the best fried chicken of my version in the entire world, even better than K*C original recipe fried chicken lol. I mean, the seller is an Indian and of course he puts other indian spices (or whatever it is) into the batter. It is absolutely better to eat is right after being served while you can still hear the crisp from the batter and taste the juiciness and tenderness from the meat --- heaven! At least we didn’t only eat kebab for the entire trip hahahaha.

DAY 03

Villa Savoye

82, rue de Villiers 78300 Poissy

Opens every day, except Mondays

Closed: 1 May, 1 & 11 November and from December the 25th to January the 1st

Last Admission: 1 hour before closing time

10 am to 5 pm (2 Jan to 30 Apr & 1 Sept to 31 Dec) // 10 am to 6 pm (2 May to 31 Aug)

Full Rate: €8 // Concession: €6.5

Maybe this one is not a typical destination to all of you but it is a special one for me and for those who studied architecture or just love finding out more about architecture. Yes this building is one of the iconic building I studied back in Uni designed by Le Corbusier, a famous french architect built between 1928 and 1931. It is used to be a rich family private villa and now is officially one of French historical monument as it remarks the origins of modern architecture and is one of the most easily recognizable examples of International style.

First of all, you need to know that this monument is not located in Paris but in Poissy. You need to take the RER A in zone 1-5. My husband and I woke up earlier so that we could catch the first train, but unfortunately there was an accident in the subway so we had to wait until there was further announcement. I admit it was quite chaos and I was a bit worried if we could make it to Poissy just in time before the fog disappeared and it got crowded. We finally got on the train, we took a bus near the station as soon as we got off to get to the actual location.

It was Tuesday and apparently they have a routine guided tour in English every Wednesday 10 am, I guess we weren’t lucky that day but it’s fine! At least finally I could see this one of Le Corbusier's masterpiece in person, observe and experience it in real life is such a dream comes true. As I looked around I slowly understand why this specific project is such a breakthrough in its era. Even after more than eight decades, his way of thinking in delivering a space to live is still relatable to this day.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica

35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018 Paris

The Basilica: opens every day from 6 am to 10.30 pm // Free entry

The Dome: opens every day from 8.30 am to 8 pm (May to September) and 9 am to 5 pm (October to April)

Since it is an active church area, please keep in mind to always be respectful while you are inside or even outside. They have night visit, thematic visit, panoramic virtual tour, and other religious activities. It is located not far from the metro station and you will find many souvenir shops as soon as you are outside the station. Well I got my Paris souvenir from here, some magnets for my mom and post cards for my siblings & friends.

On this area of souvenir shops, I found a group of people played a kind of ‘magic trick’ which attract visitors to join and include their money. Some of you might meet a group of people offering a souvenir-like bracelet near the Basilica, but be careful because it is 90% a scam. Not that I was deceived, but I heard my friend’s stories and my husband experience in such type of scam while in Paris. So be careful guys!

I wasn’t that interested to go inside and decided to enjoy the sun from the front park instead. There are some security men who ride horses. You will also find some musicians plays their romantic songs. Don’t be surprise that there will be even if it’s not holiday season. I took several photos and tried the cable car to go down. You can see one side of Paris city from above, or even watch the sun set with your travel friends.

Philharmonie de Paris

221 Avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris

Opens every day except Mondays Closed on December 25th, January 1st and May 1st

Tuesday to Friday – 12pm to 6pm Saturday and Sunday – 10am to 6pm

Museum: Free (up to 26 y/o), €6 (under 28 y/o)

In fact, this building is standing on the east side of Parc de La Villette -- the third largest park in Paris -- with other music/art related facilities. You will find La Grande Halle de La Villette where Pitchfork Music Festival usually take place, close to Le Zénith Paris.

The building itself is designed by another famous french architect named Jean Nouvel, with some drama and critique behind its completion process and launching. All in all it is another mesmerizing work of art for me, one of those “monumental” architecture with its multi-tonal facade of interlocking bird-shaped tiles both on wall and ground surfaces.

I cannot provide you guys as many information about the building’s interior as we only strolled around Philharmonie’s exterior area. I intended to do the guided tour but unfortunately there wasn’t one since there was a temporary exhibition held that week. My husband was a bit unsure seeing the web, we decided to directly ask the information on the spot. So we were indeed not a well-prepared for this one. We definitely will revisit this destination next time we’re in Paris to look inside and share the experience. I hope we’ll have the chance to also watch a show inside :-)

DAY 04

Château de Versailles

Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles

I recommend you to check directly into their official web (click the title above) to see the complete practical infos.

As you might have guessed by its name that this chateau is not located in Paris. It is located in Versailles, in South-West Paris. This chateau stands on a 8.2 km² area filled with fascinating landscape you won’t forget. We took the Transilien for less than 1 hour. They have varied ticket prices since there are several events and separated buildings to be visited. With the Paris Museum Pass you can have the standard visit to The Main Palace. Visiting the garden is free. I forget about the self audio guide if it is included or not, but you have to ask on the spot to get one. They won’t give it to each visitor unless you ask for it. I recommend you guys to take it, if you have to pay I think it’s gonna be 5 euro max.

My husband and I spent the whole day to visit this very famous Palace and of course its majestic hall of mirrors. Well, we planned it that way because we had anticipated the long line and estimated the time to explore this vast building and landscape. Besides the fact that it takes time to go back and forth from Paris to Versailles, we’re sure we would need sufficient time to at least comprehend the overwhelming beauty and history of this principal royal residence of France -- from 1682, under Louis XIV, until the last King, Louis XVI in early 1789. As one of UNESCO World Heritage site, they have absolutely preserved most of its original properties pretty well.

Well, I do not know much about history because I remember of not liking it back in school days -- I was not even a fan of this style of architecture, but I think I do now thanks to this eye-opening trip lol I guess I start to understand now why traveling is important. I tried to catch up by listening to the self audio guide. For me it is way more convenient to listen rather than reading from a book. And this is even better, listening while witnessing the real deal. These past days of visiting Paris has been too much to bear for my brain I need to catch a breath haha.

DAY 05

La Tour Eiffel

Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris

Height: 300 m, 324 m to tip

Construction started: January 28, 1887

Maybe this one is most of people’s number one destination. We can say that you have not gone to Paris if you didn’t visit this ‘Iron Lady’. Usually people will buy a ticket to go up inside the tower to be able to see the beautiful Paris from above. I honestly not that into this one just because it’s too mainstream people tend to brag it so much it’s annoying?? But then I just couldn’t let my friends and family down not taking the photos of them in front of it like this hahahaha. Love you guys!

Me and my husband chose to just strolling around the Jardin de Tulleries and Champ de Mars instead. Too bad it was nearly winter so we couldn’t enjoy that green grass carpet and do the picnic. Next time! We walked passing the Eiffel Tower until La Place du Trocadero. We took our time to eat our packed lunch there. This is the spot where most of the tourist take those typical shot because you can ‘fit’ the tower into your standard photo frame size so do not miss this spot if you intend to do the same.

Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine

1 Place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, 75116 Paris, France

Opens 11 am - 7 pm Last entry and ticket counter closes at 6:15 pm Galleries close at 6:45 pm

Thursday evenings until 9 pm Last entry and ticket counter closes at 8:15 pm Galleries close at 8:45

Closed on Tuesdays, January 1, May 1 and December 25

Full price : €12 // Reduced rate : €8 (Collections & temporary exhibitions combined)

This one is included in the museum pass. As an achitecture graduate I felt like having this one on my list. Inside, you will find almost every famous building built in France in shape of maquettes, posters, or films. Oh and there are not just a usual maquette because some of them are made in bigger scales than a regular maquette it is amazing! Considering its location and what it got inside, this museum is not as crowded as I thought it would be.

With its double-height ceiling the interior felt so spacious just perfect for its various collections from small to a man-sized room duplicate of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation replique! Those large repeating windows giving the maximum view to the Eiffel Tower for us to peek. There was also a temporary exhibition of some university students’ projects. I underestimated it but I have to admit it was worth my time.

Notre Dame de Paris

6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris The Cathedral opens everyday Mon - Fri 08.00 - 18.45 Sat & Sun 08.00 - 19.15 Free entrance

Next is this popular catholic cathedral in France, Notre Dame de Paris. Sometimes people are mistaken that notre dame only exists in Paris but in fact it’s not. This specific cathedral is one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture style. Another destination to grasp art and history. They provide artistic guide visit for different languages each in different schedule so be sure to check their website first if you’re interested to join one. We only took some pictures and enjoyed Paris’ windy afternoon sitting right across the building, observing people around.

Shakespeare & Co

37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris, France

Main Shop -- Every day 10am to 10pm Antiquarian -- Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 7pm Café -- Mon to Fri 9:30am-7pm // Sat and Sun 9:30am-8pm

Not far from the cathedral, there is this English language bookshop founded in 1951. We crossed the Seine river and took some photos from the bridge. It was a lively neighborhood. Outside there were small stands for secondhand books and certainly cheaper price. Right next to its main entrance door there is a small intimate café. When you come in, you’ll be welcomed by book-packed walls, nice book paper smell, warm color lights, and friendly atmosphere. In the second floor, there is a small room where you can read books peacefully accompanied by some cute lazy cats. I mean, it is may be a paradise for you who love to spend the day indulging in your imagination. It is not allowed to take pictures inside, so I don’t have any but i can say that every corner in this building absolutely has its own beautiful story.

Musée d’Orsay

1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007 Paris, France

Full rate €14 // Concession €11 // Free on first Sundays of the month (and others eligibility on its official web)

Closed every Monday, 1 May and 25 December

Not much to say except stunning! Musée d’Orsay is one of the largest art museums in Europe. We could see that this museum was once a train station with an iconic big big watch on the front and sides facades. In my opinion, the main hall express the ultimate style of a great french museum. I feel like I was in a romantic classical drama lol. Another museum building that is a true art itself. It has not only painting but also sculpture, furniture, but also photography collections.

It has the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world by painters including Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh and others. I felt like I fell in love all over again with --- paintings. I was fascinated by the decoration details in this museum at first but then I found myself in a room filled with works of masterpiece. The wall’s color really help building up the mood for every section. Oh it was crowded but it was perfect anyway -- an incredible atmosphere where the art was appreciated, not just a mere objects to take a selfie with. Another rare experience where I was drowned deep into my curiosity and imagination.

There I learned why an art of those can be called a masterpiece or even an artist can be called a legendary one. A flashback to why in the first place I love to draw when I was in my childhood --- I was left speechless. I guess I need to revisit this one next time I am in Paris to finish all the sections left untouched.

DAY 06

Institut du monde arabe

1 Rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard, 75005 Paris, France

Closed on Mondays, Tue Wed Fri 10am - 6pm, Thu Sat Sun 10am - 7pm

Ticket desks close 45 minutes before the closing times

Full rate €8

Reduced rate €6: job seekers and groups of friends (6 people or more)

Reduced rate €4: under 26s and non-European Union citizens

It is another architectural work by Jean Nouvel, specifically for the exceptional facade. I watched a documentary about this building in uni talking about the technology applied on the facade to adjust the intensity of sun rays. Fyi, it is important to be able to manage how much light can access an exhibition room since it may affects some collections. At first thought, I guessed it was going to be all about Islam but well you know I was wrong haha because it’s not.

Inside, after buying or confirming your tickets in front desk, you will have to start your visit from the upper level down to the lower ground exhibition space where you’ll find the souvenir and book shop at the end. It was another new experience, enjoying an exhibition with a different sequence like that. From what I observed, it is a way for visitors to be “on track“ to the timeline of its history and to the story line which they want to offer you. They want us to experience the exhibition as a whole as we are directed to go on in one same plot: going down -- there is no alternative ending. Interesting, isn’t it?

La Grande Mosquée de Paris

Grande Mosquée de Paris, 2bis Place du Puits de l'Ermite, 75005 Paris, France

Opens everyday for praying and visits, except Friday for visiting

Like you can guess it is a mosque where Moslems usually do their prayer. This is the first mosque built in Paris thus one of the oldest mosque in France. It’s opened in 1926. We chose the last day of our trip to visit this mosque just so my husband and I could do the Friday prayer. It has a moorish architecture style with ornaments you can also find similar in Al Hambra or Alcazar, I instantly fell in love with it. There is a main entrance where you can start your touristic visit welcomed by the beautiful inner court. There is also a Moroccan Resto just in the corner of the street that you can try.

Since it was Friday, the mosque was quite crowded. I saw many different faces and colors of skin, suddenly I felt a lil relieved. It was another kind of experience that we had, or at least for me. Living in a country where I am a minority made me realize how blessed I am growing up having all the privileges. Simple gestures -- like when a young woman smiled at me and helped me finding where to do this and that or when a woman praised my traveling mukena simply because maybe it was not easy finding one -- made me even more grateful.

After we finished, we went inside once again to really see this admirable building but also its history. In fact, we just knew that it is closed on Fridays for touristic visit but we were allowed to do a short sight seeing, alhamdulillah.

I honestly had not much expectation about my first ever trip abroad but I count my self as lucky as I had a chance to visit Paris in the first place with my beloved one. Let’s pray that I’ll have another chance to visit Paris with even more companies and memories to share :-)

#Paris #autumn #2017 #travel

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ginnyzero · 5 years

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Project Runway Hanging by a Thread

(Originally Posted in 2018)

The future of Project Runway is in doubt. Back in November, after the Weinstein scandal broke, A&E rescinded their contracts for Project Runway, including a separate contract for a movie, and sued the company for breach of contract alleging that Harvey used the show as a way to gain access to young models (horrifying if true.) Because of the Weinstein Group going into bankruptcy and the lawsuit, the rights and licenses of Project Runway and all the spin offs are for sale. (A&E and another company both want to buy them.)

I have little doubt that Project Runway will go on in some form in the future. It’s a well-liked program with several major celebrities attached. It has been imitated but no other fashion show (24 Hour Catwalk, Launch My Line, The Fashion Show, Fashion Star and so on) has been able to duplicate its success.

There are two names that we can thank for Project Runway’s success, Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum.

I’ve been working on my latest fashion project (an expanded collection of my Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad wolf club dresses) and the last day or two have had Bravo’s answer to Project Runway moving to Lifetime back in 2008 on YouTube in the background, The Fashion Show. And it wasn’t pretty.

From my list you can see that I’ve watched a lot of fashion competitions. All of them have been cancelled but Project Runway. Not that they didn’t have some good ideas to bring to the table competition wise. Most of them do not have the right mix of personalities of the hosts and mentors and judges to create a sympathetic viewing audience. Even the Project Runway spin offs have a difficult time coming up with a good combination of judges and a sympathetic mentor. Alyssa tries, she really does, but she’s still not as successful as Heidi.

Tim Gunn’s success hinges on his beautiful attitude that he wants everyone on the show to succeed. No other mentor I’ve seen can manage his style of honest sympathy and gentle loving critique. Tim Gunn cares for every contestant and when they aren’t doing their best, it upsets him because he wants them to push and grow and become better designers (and better people.) He also gives honest and helpful feedback that people even in their living rooms can understand because it’s not laced with industry terms or popular culture references. And he can do this because he listens. He tells the designers to talk to him and then he stands there and listens. (And his pose while he does this is very important because he’s thinking as he is listening.) Then, once the designer is finished, he gives feedback.

It was very telling to me that in the first season of the Fashion Show when Isaac Mizrahi and Kelly Rowland were being both mentor and judge (don’t do this darlings) that they listened and then didn’t give critique. Instead, they’d go and talk about it to each other out of ear shot of the designers and then wonder why the designs were so wrong and then have to say the same things again to the designer that they’d said to each other on the stage. It was like watching school girl’s gossip instead of watching a show about developing talent!

Many of the mentors that I see brought onto these fashion shows are brought on because of their connection to some part of the shows sponsorship or producing team with little thought or care about how these mentors come across on the screen. Production spends so much time screening the candidates for the show and then don’t take the time it feels to screen test or even test run the mentor they’ve selected. It’s the mentor that’s going to be there season after season and the candidates are always changing, so more care should be taken in selecting mentors and not less!

The host is just as important as the mentor. Heidi Klum can be controversial because she supposedly plays favorites, she shows too much leg and some still aren’t sure why she has any authority on fashion. But Heidi Klum manages to pull off that cheerful girl next door type of vibe. You could imagine living next door to Heidi Klum. She’s friendly. She fits in with her bubbly smile and her blonde hair and tanned skin. She’s that mother from your PTA. Americans like this. At the same time, being that she’s originally from Germany, she has a hint of “otherness” about her that also appeals to people. The expert is a stranger with a briefcase syndrome or in this case a German accent. She’s also very natural in front of a camera and can make canned phrases sound natural.

This is much harder than it sounds. Alyssa still has trouble with the cadence of Project Runway signature catch phrases. In the second season of the Fashion Show, they changed out Kelly Rowland for Iman and the poor woman sounded like a robot. (They also changed all the catch phrases and that didn’t help. You have to maintain brand.) Being in front of the camera for so many hours a day when things aren’t scripted for you is difficult!

So, soon there will be new producers and owners running this big franchise of Project Runway that (let’s be honest) is primarily geared to American audiences because it features American fashion. I know what I want to see.

More Tim Gunn and not less.

Forget drama in the sewing room. Back to basics, design and critique and mentoring sessions with Tim. And if they can’t get Tim to come in and mentor All Stars or Junior, then he honestly needs to be the major voice in choosing the next mentors that reflect his style that is the Project Runway brand. No more cold dead fish mentors. Ugh. I think the closest was Henry Roth of the first season of Australia. He had energy.

Speaking of drama in the sewing room. More talent. Less personality casting. I’m talking casting people like the twins from the latest season. (Serial reality show celebs should be a major no no.) Or people that only work in recycled materials. Or people that are so abrasive and egotistical that all they do is cause drama because no one wants to work with them and they don’t want to work with anyone else. Project Runway has never had a problem about diversity, thank goodness. They have a problem with bringing in designers of aesthetics that are so niche and so out of the box that they can’t connect to the judges or to the American audience.

Oh, and enough menswear designers already. Please, do a Project Runway: Menswear if you want to showcase menswear designers.

Models of all shapes and sizes. The last regular season of Project Runway did this as an experiment and it was a raging success. So much so, that the season of All Stars that aired right after it got criticized for not doing the same thing (even though the two shows had been taped at the same time. People forget this.) It’s time for more diversity and better body images presented on the runway and in fashion magazines and Project Runway has a national audience to push this change into the magazines. This is a huge step forward and may save us the embarrassing and cringe worthy episodes where designers don’t know what breasts are and say things like “Models are supposed to be walking hangars without curves to mess up the line of the clothes.”

Look, a model going down the runway is a standard size six. I’m a standard size four (six in outerwear) and that means I wear smalls, extra-smalls and size zeros in vanity sizing. This doesn’t expressly make me happy! Vanity sizing hurts people of all sizes, okay. If we can push that thin is best off the runway, maybe we can push the vanity sizing out of our stores and when I go in a size four will be a size four will be a size four everywhere.

More time.

The designers need more time to sew their designs. Period. Project Runway is becoming instead Project Pretty Dress. Things such as pants, jackets and shirts take time to drape, draft and sew properly. So instead of good two or three piece outfits, we get evening gown followed by a cocktail dress followed by an evening gown ad nausea.

Example, last season of All Stars (newbies versus vets) they did a distressing challenge. Meaning, they were to make new fabrics look like they’ve been through hell. And it was paired with the theme of Post-Apocalyptic Fashion, meaning Mad Max and waste landers. Of course, they were only given one day in the workroom to accomplish their feats of both making it look like it was after the end of the world and to make the fabric look torn, burnt or shredding or worn in some manner. (They were also to come up with a story. I laughed hysterically over some of them, a queen, really?)

It was a parade of evening gowns.

Look, the last thing you’re going to wear after the world has been devastated by a climate changing event is an evening gown. Now, some of these stories are “She was escaping from said climate changing event,” but still! (That’s not exactly what the brief called for either by the way. Post. Post. After! Not during!) Loot some trousers and find some running shoes! Protect your skin!

It made you wonder if they’d ever seen Mad Max. I wasn’t expecting leather and studs because that has been done to death. I was hoping for some thought about protecting my soft squishy parts and being pretty! (I like my soft squishy parts and I like being pretty.)

More time is especially important now that the judges are getting up close and personal with the designs. These designers are now being critiqued on their sewing skills as well as their design skills. If they’re going to do this, then give the designers the respect they deserve and give them the time to beautifully finish their garments. Those “It feels so unresolved” comments might go down too, if they have more time to actually finish their designs.

Less Sponsors.

The dreaded sponsors challenge. Does anyone remember the season where they were sponsored by a water company and ended up going “glamping?” Or the one where there was the burger company and they had to remake some really bad suits and got free endless fries? (That might have been the same season.) Look, doing Heidi’s stuff is bad enough especially since she keeps changing what she’s doing. But these companies that have nothing to do with fashion, err, Candy Crush, coming in and throwing money to get their name in an episode is ridiculous. I am even leery about the movie challenges. Just stop.

You know the great challenges are the challenges set by people like Isaac Mizrahi. I loved his color challenge because he was so careful in his selections. (He’s come a long way since The Fashion Show.) I love Nina Garcia challenges. Then there are the basic challenges, the unconventional challenge, the avante garde challenge, the accessory wall sponsor challenge, and the hair and makeup challenge. (Though better ones for those need to be found.)

Things like the black light challenges or the rainway that made the designers think about fashion in a new way. Those were the great challenges. I even liked the wind runway. Otherwise, get back to the basics of fashion. The JCPenny challenge with the menswear fabrics was great because it forced them to think upper moderate budget rather than ready to wear. Give them fashion categories, give them budget categories more than just a budget at Mood. Make them prove they know about fashion more than “I want to make clothes.” Yeah, can you make clothes for the everyday woman in their price budget or just pretty red carpet dresses? (Most can only do the latter.)

More fashion industry judges.

Enough celebrities. Please. Bring in buyers from Macy’s and Bergdorf’s and Saks, bring in magazine editors. I don’t know and I don’t care what a certain actress thinks about fashion because they’re most likely paying lots of money to be styled by someone who does know about fashion. So, I’d rather hear from their stylist. This is what I liked about Fashion Star. In Fashion Star, the designers presented to buyers and the buyers would right then bid on if they’d actually buy that item to stock in their store or not. Terron Schaefer of Saks was such a lovely person, bring in him. Bring in big name designers. Bring back Michael Kors for at least one episode a season by hook or by crook. Give the American Public people who are authorities in fashion.

(And keep Kelly Osbourne in the Juniors judges because I love how supportive she is to these young people. She is the exception to this rule.)

More team challenges.

Okay, the designers hate these. I think they’re good for them. That’s one thing about the Fashion Show that I really appreciated was the fact that the designers were at first separated into two fashion houses to create collections instead of individual pieces. This is how the real fashion industry works and nothing creates drama faster than a team challenge. (This is like makeover episodes on Top Model. The designers know they are coming but still cry all the same!)

If they do team challenges, they can create runway shows and do mood boards and have to present these to Tim to get approval and really show their vision as a team rather than the travesty that a lot of team challenges end up being. Another thing I liked about the Fashion Show is that they had to make and present mood boards. Mood boards are incredibly important in giving direction!

More Mood and Mini-Mood.

Because of sponsorships increasing in the show, the time spent at Mood has been less and less. And I understand that Mood isn’t expressly happy with the show either, because the entire store has to be shut down in order for the show to tape there and this loses them revenue in buyers. At this point, the viewing audience is used to and wants to see the designers using ‘real fabrics’ in order to make their garments. If there are less sponsors for “unconventional” challenges, then there would be more challenges where the designers need to go to Mood.

But Mood has provided Mini-Mood before. Mini-Mood was a room in the set where Mood put a lot of fabric for the designers to choose from. This way the designers were a) limited in choice but b) still got to use ‘real fabrics.’ And let’s face it, the designers need to be limited because there was almost an entire season of neoprene one year. (No neoprene in Mini Mood. No. Bad. Smack hands.) Or, if it is easier on Mood, then maybe provide Project Runway with access to their warehouse instead?

Or, they can do like the JCPenny challenge and have the sponsors provide the fabrics. This will once again ground the show in reality because there are processes where the designers choose from a selection of fabrics from a manufacturer to use for their products. It may also cut down on the “you only work in chiffon, choose something else” or just the random bad fabric choices or people being chewed out in Mood for picking fur and not realizing the show is “cruelty free.” (But we still use leather. Sure.)

Lastly, less scripting of the entire season.

People know the reality show tricks by now and they aren’t buying them anymore. If they show a designer calling their family or opening up, yep, that designer is about to go. Producers keep on bad designers for their dramatic personalities has to stop. Designers that repeat and repeat the same design need to be pulled aside and be told “Change or go home” much sooner than they are. Touting a win for “plus size” fashion feels hollow when the line didn’t have the creativity of the others (and next to no plus sized woman would wear it. The models looked uncomfortable.)

Authenticity is important. Project Runway can be good without having accusations of cheating or big fights in the workroom or bringing in styles that don’t mesh with the judges. Talent. Design. Good attitudes. Take a cue from Project Runway Junior and keep those positive vibes going even in the adult versions of the show.

And more group hugs from Tim. Because everyone needs hugs.

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