#like have yous not seen all those posts from the cast (specifically noah) being like “lol byler canon 2024”

[autistic-katara]

acting like byler hasn’t been used to advertise the show multiple times/has been talked abt by the cast in a way to draw in queer audiences, aka the literal definition of queerbait if they don’t do it

[hawkinslibrary]

anon !!! this is hours later than i meant for it to be, but here's my rambling essay-length response to your ask from earlier !!!!!!!! fair warning, i am just... so stupid and don't know how to properly get my thoughts across so it's a whole Mess 😬

your last text post is so real!! i really don't get the main character death obssesion either. it's honestly funny in a way because st is pretty much the only show that doesn't kill protagonists, and if they do they're brought back, yet there's more main character death talk in this fandom than anyone can take. it's like people just can't accept the duffers ain't about that life??!  

first, i want to clarify that, to me, the main characters have always been joyce, hopper, nancy, jonathan, steve, mike, el, lucas, will, and dustin, with the addition of max in s2 and robin in s3. this is the main group that we follow, these are our protagonists, and everyone else is just secondary, regardless of whether the actor appears in the main credits or not  

now, my post was definitely more aimed at all the talk i've seen about how there has to be a main character death before the show is over. people acting like it’s a given. i personally just really really don't want any of them to die and hate thinking about the possibility lmao

we don’t know how it’s going to end, or what the final season will be like, how dire things will be. they could absolutely switch gears and start killing mains left and right. i feel like waiting until the final season is exactly what so many other shows do anyway, right? so i get the concern, and it makes me a little wary, too. but that’s exactly it – so many other shows do it. it's weird, it’s tired, it’s unnecessary. and, really, the duffers are out here right now saying how much they regret killing chrissy off and she was only in the one episode. so like... imagine them actually trying to kill off one of the mains  

they can’t please everyone, but i do think ultimately they’ll want to try to do right by as many fans of the show as possible, you know? the wrong kind of ending can ruin a show forever. people love these characters and at the end of it all, i think most of us just want to see them thriving  

(and it’s not like will or el or hopper (or brenner) were ever actually dead. they just made the other characters believe they were, and each time there’s been pretty immediate hints that they weren’t gone for good -- the whole situation with will’s body + him talking to joyce through the lights, hopper leaving the eggos for el, no body for hopper + ‘the american’ in the russian prison, no body for brenner – and this show doesn’t shy away from showing bodies. when a character is dead, they want us to know it and feel it) 

even the cast, millie and noah talking about how it's so big someone *has* to die, right? THEY LITERALLY DON'T. yes, it's a big battle and there should be losses but there is no reason for that to be main characters. like you said, is that unrealistic (and maybe a little ridiculous)?? well, yeah, but so is the show. realism has never been a priority in st. the show is literally a sappy sci-fi horror. and not killing protagonists is part of their formula, just like separating everyone into groups and then bringing them together in the finale is  

i think millie and noah were just joking when they said to start killing everyone, even their own characters, off. like, yeah, the cast is pretty big right now and a ton of characters were added for this season specifically, but they’ve all had their own roles to play and barely exist outside of those parts. chrissy, fred, patrick, they were all brought on just to be killed off – probably the same to be said for more new characters by the end of this season. and i think millie even said something about the duffers being afraid of or even just refusing to kill main characters. but why is killing main characters such a normal thing now? why do we have to expect for characters we love to die horribly for like... no reason?  

i've said it before, but this show absolutely is unrealistic and ridiculous AND cheesy. but it’s rooted in inspiration and references to 80s media, which is also something that i tend to think of as unrealistic and ridiculous and cheesy, so i mean it in the best way possible. it does its job. it's sappy and nostalgic, has an intense focus on love and family and friendship, while also playing on like... every major genre and trope from the era that they can fit into however many episodes and however many hours. i think some people take pieces of it way more seriously than the creators ever intended. they want it to be good, obviously, but also they’re huge nerds and they just want to have fun with it 

i'm absolutely worried about some of the more side characters this season, and i know losing any of them is going to hurt, too. they're very good at making you care about a secondary character only to rip them away from you. but if this was just any other show, we would’ve probably already seriously lost a main character or two  

i've seen people actually criticize this a lot because "it takes away from scenes like the end of dear billy because i know max won't die" and i guess that's valid criticism in some ways but i think people forget that that's literally just NOT the point of that scene. like, if they wanted you to be afraid max would actually like die, you would be. they've had every chance to kill main characters before. they could have killed nancy at the end of ep7 but they didn't. they're not even TRYING to get people scared for her, actually. that's why she's in the teaser and a bunch of bts and why they're not being suspenseful about her fate at all. st doesn't kill main characters. because they. don't. want. to. and they don't want people to be scared of that either, otherwise they'd be a lot more hush hush about stuff. this is something that has been true since s01.

again, why does it even matter? if you know that she isn’t going to die? death isn’t the only possible ending, and it’s not the only consequence, and she’s still very much in danger. there are still so many things that can happen, things that can go wrong, without having to make things so Final. i'm sorry if it starts feeling repetitive that main characters Aren’t being killed off ? but again, why are we just so accepting that that’s a normal response lol  

people around these characters have been dying since s1. like directly or indirectly, because of their involvement with the main characters, because of something the main characters have done. that's messed up enough ! we should be worried about everyone who isn’t listed above that’s ever interacted with one of the mains before even thinking to worry about them. it's a part of that endless suffering i mentioned. guilt, trauma, angst, suffering, only to die in the end anyway... it's just miserable 

they "kill" el and immediately add a scene of hopper taking eggos to the woods. they "kill" hopper and immediately add "the american". st makes fans suffer by putting their main characters through hell, but they don't kill them. that's actually something i love about the show. and some people may find that ridiculous or an error (and yeah, dead loved ones coming back again and again is anything but realistic) but it's very much intentional and has been since day 1 and changing that at the last second would be a huge mistake. one i don't think they'd ever make. (and that's not even talking about how death would ruin most character arcs and make their whole story pointless). anyway, i'm with you with hating the death obssesion around here!! they're so not going there, though, i'm fairly certain we're right 💙 

again, we're talking about the people who have said they immediately regretted killing characters who've only appeared in one episode. people who said they would leave the show if certain characters were killed off. people who write lines like: "she saves your life because of friendship", which, yes, was said incredulously, but should actually be considered a blueprint of the show. one memory of her mother saying she loved her was enough for el to beat henry in that first fight. it's a show literally about underdogs persevering against all odds ("chances of success..." "never tell me the odds")

and just...

killing certain characters would make other seasons of the show completely pointless, others would cause major major major backlash, others have already 'died' AND done the 'sacrifice themselves for everyone else' thing so doing it again but actually dying this time would be stupid, others would completely kill the nostalgia/rewatchability factor, and some would just be cruel. this covers the entire major cast

this is just my thought process on it anyway haha. like, they still could definitely kill someone, but i just think it’d be a bad idea. there's many more interesting and less final ways to go about it idk 

[smallblueandloud]

some leverage: redemption reactions

i finished leverage redemption today! and i don't have anyone to talk to about it so, here we have my reactions for all eight episodes, both positive and negative. please feel free to reblog/comment -- discussions are what i'm here for! (under a cut because spoilers and also this ended up being 2k. whoops!)

EPISODE 1: the too many rembrandts job

the "aww, this guy is trying to pull his first heist! how cute" job

what they chose to do with nate was... interesting. it might just be that i read too many of those cracky "here's how they should explain nate's absence" posts, but i was expecting something funny. the grief permeating this episode -- it makes SENSE, but it was still weird. leverage doesn't usually have sadness like this. pain, yes, rage, certainly, but sadness? not usually

the way sophie immediately spots the signs of a con and slips into a character? phenomenal. i'm here for EXPERTS BEING EXPERTS and this show does NOT disappoint

harry wilson is a really solid character! most impressively, he's not flynn, which is impressive enough that i'm making a whole bullet point about it. i was worried that noah wyle was kinda a one-trick pony, but it appears not! good for him tbh

i'm LIVING for the ot3 moments in this episode. "what happened?" "we happened" YESSSSS!!! i wish we'd had more domesticity, but i know they did what they could

"he gets it from his father" FUCK!!!!!

the discussion about redemption in this episode is FANTASTIC but personally i am still delirious with excitement about "my nana leads a multi-denominational household" so expect those thoughts in 3-5 business days

EPISODE 2: the panamanian monkey job

the "flash electropop concert" job

BREANNA INTRODUCTION! i love her so MUCH, y'all. we only got to see her dynamic with hardison in this one episode, but man, it manages to be one of her best dynamics anyway. i just! i love her! i love the way the team works with her!

"in our field, you're one of the best. but there, you're the only one." god we have ELIOT/HARDISON rights and i am NOT OKAY. just!! them!!!!!! being supportive!!!!!! they have learned how to be sweet with each other! they work together so much better (in part because we're seeing them from harry's outsider pov instead of nate's insider pov, but STILL)

midway through this episode, i thought "huh, leverage always focuses on specific people, when really the problem is systematic, and pretending it's anything different is just an excuse to not fight for change". and then at the end harry talks about how the system itself is broken! i love knowing that john rogers and i were reading the same tweets last summer. it's a good feeling to trust the people making a piece of media

who let noah wyle speak spanish. whoever it was, they need to rescind their permission

god, the parker/hardison in this episode. THE PARKER/HARDISON IN THIS EPISODE! they KILL me friends they KILL ME!

also just like, hardison in this episode in general. he made a star trek reference! he made a doctor who reference! he decides there are other people who need him more! the way they wrote around gina bellman's maternity leave in s2 was good but this was phenomenal.

also i'm here for ot3 crumbs so "is this like the time when eliot wanted us to say no" is going on my ot3-is-canon conspiracy board

this is a tiny detail but eliot taking out the drone with a goddamn ORANGE was so good. he's so good at his job!! they're all so good at their jobs!! i know i literally just talked about this but AAA

EPISODE 3: the rollin' on the river job

the "sometimes you just want to rob a vault wearing a floofy dress, and that's valid" job

i did... not. like. how the villain in this one was an immigrant whose exploitable weakness was a "desperation" to be included in the upper crust. and the fact that they beat him with a literal southern belle who explicitly beats him BECAUSE her family has been in the area for "hundreds of years"? it just feels Iffy.

also iffy about this episode was breanna's characterization. it felt inconsistent. she feels inconsistent across the whole season, but this episode in particular... she tells harry she's only with the team because she's desperate, that she doesn't believe in hope, and then at the end of the episode she tells parker she wants to be there to change the world. and like, even in the first place, she's not here out of desperation! SHE asked to join the team! like, i can see how it all kinda fits together, but it just feels... inconsistent. idk. i think these scripts all could've benefited from an extra round or two of editing.

anyway! i loved the way they tied hardison into these episodes, even though aldis hodge couldn't be there. he has binders! breanna doesn't want to read them! parker did! he put in big letters, "when in doubt, trust the person in the van". i'm just so !!! about how much i love him and how much he loves his team and how much his team loves him. FOUND FAMILY, BABY!

all inconsistencies in breanna's characterization aside, i really liked her speech at the end. i know how she feels! it's really nice to have someone on the team who's from -- not my world, really, but a lot closer than any of the others. it's a nice feeling! i love her a lot. i hope her writing gets more consistent

lol, parker ate eliot's carrot cake. i love the parker/eliot rights we get in this show, they're so domestic and it's wonderful.

EPISODE 4: the tower job

the "hardison made his partners learn klingon" job

watching this episode was what made me go "they're not going to make us sit through a harry/sophie romance... right? right?"

i'm still not sure they're gonna let us avoid it but it COULD work so... i've decided to just not worry about it for now

i liked the number of ways the con goes wrong! it was fun to watch them work on the fly like that. i think them not having a dedicated Mastermind(tm) is a good watsonian explanation for their plans being pretty haphazard in general, but it's good, they think well on their feet

nate was a chessmaster. he had the whole situation in his mind from the beginning, accounting for every possible outcome. parker and sophie are much more adaptive, and it's cool to see. they can rely on their respective skillsets a lot more than nate could

a really solid episode! probably one of the strongest ones in the season. i liked it a lot.

(ALSO as mentioned above the klingon lines were fantastic and not just because they were a star trek reference -- every time eliot and parker both mentioned hardison, together, it added a year to my lifespan)

EPISODE 5: the paranormal hacktivity job

the "sophie was worryingly prepared to fake her death" job

i know why they characterized the client as a skeptic, i really do, and i loved the format of this episode, but also. But Also. she should've been a love interest for breanna and I'm Right.

having a girl's episode was the CORRECT choice. they do crimes in their free time! they fleece newbie, cruel criminals! it's so good!

it would've been cool to have eliot around for the assassin guy, but it was also cool to see the others take him out without having eliot to rely on. it's like getting to see how they'd take out eliot, if they were ever on opposing sides.

PARKER CANONICALLY USES SCRIPTS IT'S THE BEST THING EVER

breanna bristling about letting the criminal into the theater's electric system was so good god i love her so much. she knows hardware! i bet she likes to work with her hands. i bet she stims. i bet she has adhd

actually, sidenote, but i LOVE these headquarters. they look so nice! the stage is so nice! i loved having an episode set in and around it, it was such a good choice.

EPISODE 6: the card game job

the "FINALLY AN EXPLICITLY QUEER LEVERAGE CHARACTER" job

QUEER BREANNA QUEER BREANNA QUEER BREANNA QUEER BR

UNFOLLOW ME NOW THIS IS GONNA BE THE ONLY THING I POST ABOUT FOR THE REST OF TIME

GOD, what a good way to reveal it. it's fully about her! i love queer romances, of course i do, but i don't think i've ever seen a character come out without a romance being their reason for doing so (however indirectly). i still think she should've gotten a date with the client from 1x05, but i really liked this too.

this episode just felt like a love letter to fandom, and i love that. i love how much it shone through. i'm used to writers specifically going out of their way to make fun of fans and laugh at them, so it was just. really nice to have someone stand up and go, no, this is important for a reason! people love this for a reason! it MEANS something!

very fun to watch eliot swordfight. very fun to watch sophie recite a sonnet in her classic fashion. very fun to watch parker work at being a good mentor. breanna was so excited about the card game! they're all so good!

oh, and i guess harry's here too.

EPISODE 7: the double-edged sword job

the "harry is addicted to mobile games, which is a mood" job

hot take alert! i think this is the weakest episode of the season by a LOT. it needed so much more editing. it felt so disjointed, so all over the place. the plot was haphazard but in a muffled way, where you had no idea why they were doing what they were doing. the climax was sudden and didn't make any sense. it was just weird.

i'm not the person to comment on this but it feels kind of lazy to cast an east asian guy to play a socially-awkward tech genius. just a thought.

oh, of course jonathan frakes directed this episode. sometimes his stuff is really good but other times (ahem, ds9 3x02) it's disjointed and all over the place. i'm not even surprised it was him.

idk if i have anything else to say about this. oh! some of the team moments were great -- mostly involving eliot. i loved the moment of him recognizing the headshot, i LOVED the ten seconds of everyone teasing him. he and parker talked about the wellbeing of their friend, the woman whose ex tracked her down!

separate bulletpoint to say how much i LOVED his conversation with breanna outside the house. he's so good at reassuring! he could go deeper there, talking about being better than your worst day, but he knew when not to push! it was so good.

"first off, this guy can't TOUCH hardison" deserves its own bulletpoint because like. y'all. Y'ALL.

EPISODE 8: the mastermind job

the "eliot is more than just a pretty face" job

oh man this post is so much longer than i thought it would be. okay just one more episode and then i'm done.

the callbacks to original leverage were SO well done and made me feel emotions without feeling overbearing.

i didn't like the central premise -- that nate would share so many details with a random insurance agent -- in the first place, but i did like how it allowed them to bring back nate without actually hiring timerty mcasshole.

i liked eliot's insistence that he's more than just the muscle! he is, and it's really good to know, textually, that the writers do too!

me, watching the resolution of the episode: ah, yeah, insurance fraud. a classic!

harry bonding with his guard had "they don't even have dental!" energy and i am SUCH a fan. i know it was all for the con but also give me harry, unable to stop advising people, even when they're actively holding him hostage

parker! on the phone with hardison!!!! ADORABLE

is it just me or was someone else expecting the accountant's name to be something significant? with the way they led up to it, i was waiting for a "sterling" or something else. my sensors were pinging for another tara reveal. i'm still convinced we're gonna get this guy dramatically revealed in the season finale.

a really nice episode! i had a lot of fun with it. and now i want to rewatch the rashamon job, but tbh i ALWAYS want to rewatch the rashamon job.

and that's a wrap! overall, a fun season, i enjoyed it a lot. not as solid as original leverage, but it's the very beginning, and it was put together during a global pandemic, so i'm cutting them some slack. also levar burton is gonna show up at some point. that's a big reason of why i'm cutting them so much slack.

my personal ranking of the episodes is 1x04, 1x06, 1x08, 1x01, 1x02, 1x03, and finally last (and least), 1x07.

what did you guys think of the new season? what was your favorite episode? do you agree with any of my opinions? disagree with any? let me know, please, i'd love to discuss!

[frosteee]

Undertaker and the Dispatch Conspiracy Theory

@frederickabberline 

So I loved your discussion about UT and a possible conspiracy within the grim reaper dispatch that I went through the manga and found some bits and pieces which, I feel, support the theory.

[Long ass post under cut]

Background

For those who are unfamiliar, the theory is that UT had discovered something damning about the grim reaper organisation that caused him to defect. 

This discovery, we post, is that the forgiveness all reapers are promised is a lie, perhaps even extending to the idea of salvation in general, disillusioning UT and morphing him into the individual we know today. Full details can be found in the awesome ongoing discussion by @frederickabberline, @midnight-in-town​ et al. 

Because of this, UT is experimenting with creating a definite ‘after’ to the end that is death, because the ones he previously believed in, like the P4 did tradition, like the Watchdogs did duty, was fake and only fit to create a cycle of misery. He currently believes himself incapable of salvation, and so creating immortal Phantomhives is the only way he can possibly be with them.

I believe that several aspects of UT’s personality as we know it support this.

UT’s interest in breaking free of fixed, unchangeable fate.

We are shown as far back as Chapter 13 that UT has particular interest in the concept of destiny, commenting that the tie between O!Ciel (and the entire house of Phantomhive by extension) and Queen Victoria is like a ‘chain of fate’, and gets quite angry when O!Ciel declares that he put himself in that position willingly. 

Grabbing Ciel by the tie and holding him there is the most directly aggressive we’ve seen UT towards O!Ciel, besides the time on the Campania when UT used him to bait Sebastian, so it seems that comment irked him.

From this it appears he holds a bit of resentment towards O!Ciel for so willingly following the path towards death and damnation.

He also seems to hold similar frustration towards the rest of the Phantomhives for ignoring his warnings and following the cursed path of the Watchdog to the grave.

He is highly amused by twists, and takes great satisfaction in the unexpected, especially when it goes against the grain. Like, for example, when Undertaker is surrounded by enemies on the Campania and he wonders which of them is truly the hunted party.

This before rapidly changing things around and making it no longer a one-sided hunt of an outnumbered rabbit but a struggle to take down a powerful hunter. In this arc, everyone is second-guessing and while UT is the one with the most control over proceedings (with his element of surprise), even in that scenario there were events he could not see coming (e.g.: the iceberg) that he had to work with/around.

Essentially, he enjoyed the unpredictability of the situation, where multiple powerful forces were clashing to decide the end. Fate was in all their hands.

What UT finds amusing also seems to revolve around this idea. 

He is amused by two things:

Those who do terrible things to keep the status quo, like the P4 in their murders, which causes UT to burst out laughing after the full story is revealed. The P4 probably remind UT of who he used to be as a model grim reaper - the rigidness of their thinking, repeating the mantra that tradition and rules ‘are everything’ most definitely reminded him of his former life and the ‘grim reaper code’ he lived by. Hell, William is currently the ‘rule-abiding/spouting’ grim reaper of the bunch.

Those who go against the grain in unexpected but positive/game-changing ways. In the same arc, for example, UT comments on O!Ciel’s decision to save Harcourt from the attacking zombies, as such as a selfless act would never have occurred to his more selfish, pragmatic ancestors. 

In short, UT is pleased to see actions taken by people, most notably the Phantomhives, that break from the acts/mindset that killed those who came before, and scorns those who try to keep things the same no matter the cost and meet terrible fates.

This also extends to R!Ciel, who I talk about in this post in relation to the Evil Twin theory, where R!Ciel is a direct participant/accomplice to his parents’ murder. I theorised that to create a perfect record, while having only ‘future desires’ and a soulless body to work with, UT had to improvise by splicing what he knew of R!Ciel’s past onto the boy’s record, thus creating memories/knowledge of his past and the ability to function off that. 

However, this combined with R!Ciel’s ‘yearning for the future’ records also created a boy who was all too willing to replace O!Ciel as Watchdog and basically resume the terrible march towards danger and death that UT had worked so hard to avoid. His and Tanaka’s reaction to R!Ciel’s announcement that he will resume Watchdog/Earl duties reflects this, I think. 

As far as UT is concerned, R!Ciel is making the same mistake as O!Ciel by following the path set out for him from birth, like all Phantomhives.

Then, finally, there’s UT’s interest/obsession with the ‘predetermined end’ that death entails, screwing with which is the driving force of his actions so far, he claims.

It feels strange for a grim reaper to be so curious about that. After all, he has died himself, and entered a sort of limbo existence which, while a punishment, is basically an afterlife. 

Grim reapers are promised forgiveness, which can be paired with salvation and entry into Heaven. Demons also exist, which live in an alternate realm not (as far as I know) stated as Hell, but considering souls can be eaten by the demons who live there, so perhaps that is also a destination for souls when they die?

In any case, it would seem strange for a grim reaper to not have knowledge of some sort of afterlife, other than their own, to which souls can go to. 

Unless the reapers are simply told it exists, and that they can go there if they ‘serve their time’ - and that the reality is very different. 

With this idea in mind, it makes a lot of sense for UT to be a staunch advocate for breaking the chain of fate the Phantomhives are under, to the extent that death itself is overturned, because he never wants to lose another Phantomhive again, as he now believes that reuniting with them in the afterlife is impossible. 

UT is so dead set against the idea of following the status quo and one’s ‘fate’ that he is ready and willing to rock the very world ‘The Superior’ governs.

UT’s focus on lies/deception.

UT also appears to be quite focused on lies and deception, either to oneself or others. We first glimpse this in the Circus Arc, where he tells Ciel to take care of his soul, for he only has the one. When Ciel responds that he already knows that, UT questions that (’Boy I know you be talkin shiiiiit~!’). 

Then later in the arc, he confirms his own belief - that Ciel cannot/does not know the true weight of what he is losing by continuing down his cursed path, that Ciel is lying to himself in order to continue down it. This is clearly part of his frustration with the Phantomhives as a whole, that they keep lying to themselves in order to keep going towards a fate that only continues its destructive cycle.

Really, all of the people UT has laughed at are lying to others or themselves, or both, in order to justify destructive, morally bankrupt and questionable beliefs and actions. Ciel, the P4, Rian Stoker, etc., etc.

UT is also very concerned with the idea of people lying to others for their own benefit, as all reapers, according to the theory, are lied to.

The people who most reflect UT’s past situation are the Noah’s Arc circus troupe, who were deceived by their trusted elder, Kelvin, that in order to maintain/achieve happiness they had to dirty their hands and continue doing terrible things with no knowledge of when it will end.

Similarly, UT also continued to perform a (literally) punishing and emotionally traumatic task to the best of his ability on the orders of an overseer for the sake of eventual happiness that he discovered to be a false promise. While some of them may have believed Kelvin to be evil and perhaps lying to them, like Joker, they continued anyway because lying was the only way they could handle the weight of what they had done.

It might not be so much of a coincidence that UT begins and ends his role in that arc by pointing out the cost of self-deception/being deceived. He would know - he and all reapers are lied to and effectively kept as eternal slaves and then possibly either killed or damned in some way, but never actually ‘retired’ to Heaven.

Speaking of which, UT specifically notes that one of the most beautiful things about his bizarre dolls is the fact that they no longer have the capacity to tell lies. 

Of course, this is all said with the knowledge that UT himself has/had told plenty of lies himself, and is probably deceiving himself that his goal, which is probably impossible, is possible. It’s the only thing keeping him going, after all, and UT is not without hypocrisy. 

Hey, he never denied that he had a few screws loose!

UT and Sebastian’s differing views on death being ‘the end’.

Finally, the big one, UT and Seb’s very different views on death as an end. We don’t know Sebastian’s views on the afterlife, or if souls can be cast into his realm like Hell, or if there is a Heaven, but regardless Sebastian believes that a ‘definitive, hopeless end’ has beauty in it.

In response, UT only smiles, but says nothing in response, perhaps not wanting to give away too much personal information at this time. He does not agree, and his actions and words have proven just how much he disagrees.

UT, according to the theory, has entirely lost faith in forgiveness and salvation after death - at least for himself as a grim reaper. Why else would he go through so much trouble to extend life indefinitely? Why would he create a form of immortality for the living Phantomhives he could hope to see again...

Unless he believes he cannot.

Unless he believes he has lost the ones who have died forever, and that the only thing he can do for the ones he has lost is keep mementos of them (like the prayer lockets, which he treasures).

All reapers are promised forgiveness and, it’s implied, salvation in Heaven or something similar. If this was the case, if UT did not have reason to suspect otherwise, why would he bother defecting, when he could just be a model grim reaper for x amount of time and then join his loved ones once he has served his time?

Clearly, UT once believed that death was beautiful, but not because it was the end. Because there was an ‘after’ that he could aspire to and meet those he lost. He cannot agree with Sebastian’s ‘beauty in an end’ idea because to him, a hopeless end is just that - hopeless, miserable, lonely. 

The death Sebastian speaks of means only eternal slavery, loneliness, hoping for salvation that never comes. Maybe once he believed death being the end to one’s life was beautiful in its way, as Will discovered in the grim reaper OVA, but not anymore.

Hope this makes sense and gives some food for thought! 

[stickykeys633]

Changing thing up a bit @capricornsicle, that other post was becoming unwieldy.

You think you’re on a crusade to expose fandom racism and bias in Teen Wolf, but in doing so, because TW is such a specific beast, you make assumptions and add unnecessary hyperbole to your arguments. 

You’ve assumed and ran with the idea that I’m white (many do, which is strange since my icon is a black woman) and you’ve treated me a certain way because of it. But then in the same breath you’ll say there’s inherent bias against Scott McCall, a character that many people saw as white played by an actor who is white passing. 

There’s also this underlying statement that any majority of people see Scott as Latinx and automatically make it a negative thing which again, isn’t true, specifically not in Teen Wolf. 

I’ve found the antis like to take black racism experiences and try to fit Scott into that category, but even a small thing like colorism makes it so it’s not equitable. 

that’s a general statement about fans and critics alike holding characters of color up to a higher standard than white characters. It’s not everyone, it’s certainly not an attack on anyone, but it happens a lot, across various fandoms. White characters are much more often forgiven for the things they do than characters of color who do the same things.

This doesn’t happen with the frequency you think and in the Teen Wolf fandom when it does happen it is rarely if ever in regards to Scott. Other, more evident characters of color yes.. And the wild examples that the antis present are never equitable. Even when presented with context, they often have to padd it and stretch it to make it seem like some infraction has been done. What it does is seek to absolve Scott of ANY wrong doing, when really there is fault laid at both parties. 

I’ll provide a couple of examples in the moment, but the bottom like is that Stiles/Derek/Peter stans acknowledge their faults and many times love them because of it. On the show Scott was never given the chance to acknowledge his faults, the show refused to admit that he needed to grow and be redeemed of anything. This was a misstep because he became unpalatable, not as a perfect icon, but as someone whose actions didn’t hold relevant consequences. 

The Donovan Incident

Now, I disagree with some key points, but overall I think this is the most important part:

They fought, like teenagers do, especially teenagers who have gone through that kind of trauma, and then, in 5x13, they’re talking outside a gas station, and they talk and get over it,

If everyone could agree that this happened, this would be a much better place. But antis will not chalk up the experience for the contrived nonsense it was and become so enraged when people blame Scott that they can’t let it be and suddenly we’re all racists. 

Which, using racism as a tool to sooth butthurt is not okay and we see it time and time again. They take every seedling and think, “how can I add racism to this so I get my way?” which is pathetic, but also sullies the impact of real racism on the show. 

During this time Tracey was murdered, Mason was non-existent, they killed Noah and Lucas sent Kira to the desert and left her there. But being mad at Scott for intentionally misunderstanding Stiles is what’s racist? This is why antis and SDP Stans constantly bump heads. Everyone has been in a friend group where some new interloper comes in and riles things up. Usually trying to steal someone’s man, but you know there are certain things you do when that happens and Scott made ALL the wrong moves. He knew Stiles didn’t trust Theo and openly disliked him, it should have been an immediate red flag when Theo started in with Stiles violently killing someone in cold blood. Additionally, I would have LOVED if the show made the connection to Scott still being traumatized by Nogi, but again, the show made it seem like Scott was JUST FINE! and again, a disservice was made to his character. 

The point is that a not insignificant number of fans label Scott as a constant bad friend, as someone who’s always a bad influence on Stiles, and that’s really not the case.

People who label him as a constant bad friend use this as ONE example of it. I actually questioned their friendship after Motel California. I remember there were a couple of beats that made it clear they weren’t sandbox buddies, and probably met in the community little league (was it little league or soccer that they met Theo? I forget?). There have been several instances of them not being as close as they claimed. 

If Stiles can be forgiven for throwing lacrosse balls at Scott (which really fucking hurt, speaking from experience) and keying some random loner kids’ car to get him beat up because Lydia kissed him

Just a side note, Stiles was havign his fun, yes, but Scott was completely complicit in these scenes and knew 100% what was going on. Stiles was helping Scott by testing his tolerance and helping him control his heartbeat and yes they did it in bonehead teenage boy ways, but there was nothing malicious or racially motivated about it. Talk about holding characters to different levels. You’ve all made the white characters irredeemable supremacists when nothing in the canon alludes to this. 

a few antis forgive Stiles but condemn Scott. And that’s because of racial bias that makes those particular antis hold Scott to much higher standards than his white friends, which is a nice way of saying it’s racism.

Which again, is wrong in that you have absolutely no way of quantifying this for every viewer. There’s no such thing as special Scott centric racism. If someone is racist, they’re going to show it against anyone not white on the show, and that’s simply a) not the case and b) impossible to determine from the asks of one anon and some misinterpreted fic. 

Liking Scott isn’t pro-POC, no, but it is tied to racial issues in Hollywood, popular media, and fandom. Scott being Latinx (despite the fact it never comes up, he’s played by a Latinx actor and is undoubtedly TV’s favorite “ambiguously brown”) makes him connected to racial issues.

But it doesn’t, because Teen Wolf was specifically created as a world without color so coding Scott as race-neutral meant that audiences had the choice to view him that way and many did. I mean, look at the show, he has two white Italian actors playing his parents, his last name is McCall and his mother’s maiden name was Delgado which could mean anything. Jeff had a habit of casting white women with Latinx last names they got from a gracious step-father, it’s not a leap to say this was true of Melissa. This is why I refuse to give the show any representation points. Diversity sure, they’re there, but they’re not well represented and again, this neither starts nor ends with Scott McCall. 

Liking Scott is something that a lot of viewers of color end up doing

Again, not entirely true. Liking Boyd? Yes. Deaton, Morrell, Kira? Yes. Scott? Sure... the response to Scott from Latinx fans was varied in interesting ways. Some went up hard for him and while I don’t acknowledge the show’s version of Scott, I write him as half Mexican in every fic. There are some who, like you, were so excited to see someone like themselves and that’s beautiful and awesome. There were also some that started excited but then were like “oh, he’s playing a white boy” which people like to forget was VERY much a thing. There was no reason to think Scott was white and in fact when Jeff received the Alma award, it was for casting Posey and not necessarily having a Latinx character. In the beginning of Teen Wolf he was actually asked if Scott was white (the phrase they used was “All American” which...), And there were still others who hated Scott instantly and thought he was wack and did NOT see themselves in him.

So even within the Latinx community alone there were several opinions. Now spread that out to hundreds of thousands and then millions of viewers. So when you say “Liking Scott is something a lot of VOC end up doing” you’re creating a value based judgement on the idea of liking YOUR version of Scott McCall. 

Which isn’t fair and isn’t correct. 

YOU ended up liking Scott because YOU appreciated the interpretation. No one can take that away from you. But when you cast this net of racism, you’re gonna end up with a lot of things that don’t fit the term and a lot of people mad that they’re caught in your web of racial bias. 

if it’s the burden of POC to fight for representation tooth and nail, then that’s the fight I’ll be fighting.

Part of it is that sometimes I worry that if I don’t post about them, if I don’t post gifs of them and talk about them and make them be part of the teen wolf tag on this site, no one else is going to.

We talked about this with your first post. Generally I’m sympathetic, but I do take issue with your methods. Yes, I’ve seen those gif tax posts and I love the concept, but... tax is something you pay in the exchange for something that you want. I don’t see POC characters as tax and I get it’s just a clever way to name what you’re doing, but I think it makes it so negative when celebrating the POC characters should be an enjoyable and inclusive thing. 

If you feel alone, it’s because you haven’t reached out to anyone. I know a lot of creators who make content for characters of color, The problem is that when you accuse people of focusing on white characters in a show FULL of white characters and cover them with a blanket of systemic bias, you’re alienating a lot of people who don’t want the drama. 

Someone just released some ao3 stats of POC characters in Sterek fics verses TW fics as a whole and Kira was sadly underrepresented, showing up in just under 45% of fics. My answer to that isn’t to scream at Stereks about how racist they are against Asians. Instead, I wanna have a Kira appreciation event, but until I can, I make sure to write Kira into my fics because I love her. I repost gifsets with her in them, I comment and seek out people who create for her and support them and if you approach some creators, the’re happy to be amenable. I’ve left comments on fics asking for a certain character and sometimes they rightfully say no, but sometimes it’s not a problem and the change is awesome. 

I feel like the bulk of antis have an idea in their mind and don’t give anyone else a freaking chance. And then, when anything negative is said about Scott, they go awf like SEE!!?!> RACISM!!!!!! when it’s honestly not the case. The anon doesn’t represent even the minority of the majority of stereks. Tumblr doesn’t, ao3 doesn’t, twitter doesn’t. That’s why it’s so much less stressful to find out ways to insert diversity and representation rather than browbeating others to do it out of shame.  

There’s this perceived bias that worms it’s way in that simply doesn’t exist at the levels you think it does. Because not only are you assuming that people dislike the characters of color because of their color, but also that they harbor negative feelings.

But, as we’ve learned from K-pop fans, it seems white people are much more willing to enjoy and put out East Asian representation than representation of people darker than them

Kira was undoubtedly brought in to bring a more Asian audience, but again, racism isn’t a pick and choose kind of thing. People who hated Kira and love Scott do not see Scott as Latinx. And Kira has more posts by a small margin mostly because she was there and she had a family and large ties to the plot. Not because kids loves k-pop (which wasn’t even that big during her run). 

And THIS:

Boyd is stereotyped as the big, buff Black guy who’s aggressive and athletic (but almost never seen as the brains of the group, despite his intelligence,xxx and comes from a poor background and answers to an assertive white man without question

Boyd was specifically not stereotypes as aggressive and athletic, and in all fanfic is usually the one who reasons and is most level headed. He came from a poor background, but so did Isaac, and he questioned Derek and Scott. This is what I mean, while I agree that it’s your interpretation, you can’t say it’s a universal interpretation and then judge others because of it. 

The only time I care is when people specifically dislike Scott because of perceived affronts to Stiles and/or Derek, and I say “perceived” because I refer specifically to ones those specific anons and antis take completely out of context, blow out of proportion, or just make up.

Lol, again, your perception, because I can give you several canon based reasons to be upset with Scott, but of course you’ll find a way, no matter how tangential to twist it, because he’s your fave and canon is a mess. This is the freaking point. Let people have their stories. It’s not hurting you if you also add in yours. 

I do not believe it is possible for a 16-year-old to consent to a romantic and/or sexual relationship with a 24/25-year-old, but this post isn’t about that

Please don’t believe that you’re the first person to try this argument because you’re not and also Derek was at most 23 when Stiles was 17 (and to make it more interesting he was 19 in the original unaired pilot, but they aged him up so Kate wouldn’t be full on statutory rape, good times!)

https://stickylovessterek.tumblr.com/post/151831687742/sterek-is-not-pedophilia

Now you might not like it, and that’s totally fine and valid. But age has no basis in their relationship. I’m more interested in power dynamics, which is why I didn’t like Aria/Fitz on PLL or Marrish (which I could have been on board for, but this show is trash). 

with perhaps me as Stiles, you as Scott, and the anon playing Theo during his villain phase circa season 5, trying to turn two people against each other over a larger ethics debate

Well, no, clearly I’m the Stiles since I’m right (i kid, I kid), but honestly, you’re the one putting the anon in this. I’ve been ignoring their hyperbole and we’ve been telling the antis to pick and choose and be discerning with their posts. That has nothing to do with me. If we’re Scott and Stiles then it’s one of us talking and the other not listening and doing theings they’re own way and the fact that both of us have different ideas as to which is which is really part of the fun. 

But it’s not racism. 

[whatadaze]

shan writes another long ass post no one asked for: 

so unless you’ve been living under a rock, you MIGHT have heard about skam nl + its recent decision to remove the geoblock on its youtube videos. if you have never watched skam nl or am on the fence about it pLS PLS PLS keep reading okay!? PLEASE 

I’m not the best at articulating my thoughts and suck at writing but i’ll try my best so PLS read :-) 

1. THE CAST

skamnl’s girl squad has a WOC playing noora (liv), a bisexual chris (janna), the least problematic vilde (engel), an AMAZING eva (isa), and even though their sana (imaan) could only be in the show for one season PLEASE do not let that deter you from watching. the actress left due to personal reasons and they left her character’s storyline open ended so if there ever was a chance for the actress to return, she could! i know there are many people who want a sana season with muslim representation but skam nl introduces another character, esra, who is also a muslim woc and FUCKING AMAZING. that aside, the cast members have great chemistry with one another. the way the characters interact + talk feel so real and genuine, largely because of the fact that the cast members are very close irl. one thing that i love about skamnl is the way they portray the friendships within the girl squad. i’d even go as far a saying that they are the best girl squad (even surpassing og) because they are so open and honest with one another + actually TALK to each other when problems occur. i don’t want to get too into specifics because you just need to watch the show but UGH i love how the show promotes POSITIVE girl/girl friendships without all that unnecessary catty drama we usually see in teen shows. 

2. THE WRITING + PRODUCTION 

so season 1 follows isa (eva) and i’m not going to lie, season 1 was always the season i didn’t care for as much but i was drawn to isa from the very first clip. she is just SO relatable and i would’ve loved to have watched a show with a main character like her when i was a teen. the dialogue feels so raw and real—the writing isn’t cringey or sound forced/straight from a script. and let me tell you, the PRODUCTION IS OFF THE CHARTS. skamnl has a unique way of telling its story through eVERYTHING. what the camera chooses to focus on, what colors are included in the scene, the song they choose for certain scenes, EVERYTHING has a purpose and i love when people analyze clips because it just shows how genius the skamnl team really is. they all work so hard on this show and it’s truly a shame that they don’t get the recognition they deserve. 

3. THE SOUNDTRACK

i’m not sure how it is with other remakes, but the spotify playlist for skamnl gets updated after each episode and that will tell you how long an episode will be. it’s actually one of my favorite parts of the show—waiting for the next group of songs to drop, listening to them, and trying to figure out what might happen in the next clips. they have introduced so many songs that i listen to on the regular from all over the world. in season 1, they had a song by kpop group TWICE and as a korean person myself, i was s h o o k when that happened! if you love music and discovering new songs, you’d love what skamnl has to offer because their soundtrack is A++++++ 

4. THE CHEMISTRY 

i touched on this in my point 1 but i just need to delve a bit more into it. so i mentioned that the cast members hang out outside of filming and they are genuinely all good friends. this makes their acting feel more genuine and real, their dialogue sounds more natural, and as a viewer, you really feel like a fly on the wall when you watch the show. it feels like you’re watching a real group of friends hanging out, going through typical problems you might be facing yourself, and for those of you who aren’t in high school, watching them really takes you back to your own high school days. i always get this warm, nostalgic feeling i just can’t really explain whenever i watch season 1. 

right now, it’s liv’s season and i know that many people who watch skam+remakes don’t like william or noora/william or think it’s just a season where two het couples making out all the time but IT’S NOT. first of all, season 2 has so many important themes that people (especially teen girls) need to be aware of: sexual assault, eating disorders, relationships, and like season 1, touches on the importance of friendship. also, noah IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE LEAST PROBLEMATIC WILLIAM. you just have to watch to understand but I PROMISE YOU you will not be disappointed. i have talked to so many people who HATED william and now they hate themselves for loving noah so much. not to mention, zoe (liv) + monk’s (noah) chemistry is INSANE. these two dorks are friends irl and in order to prepare for their season, they spent a lot of time getting to know each other and building a relationship so that their interactions on screen feel more natural. the cast just goes above and beyond to deliver an authentic performance and it FUCKING SHOWS

5. THE FANDOM 

this will be the last thing i touch on + may be the most controversial so pls don’t hate lol :-) one positive thing about skamnl being underrated is the small fan base. i’ve gotten pretty familiar with the regular group of people who frequently post in the tags and they are some of the sweetest and talented people i know. it may sound cheesy as hell, but the people in this fandom feel like a small family + i LOVE THAT. there’s no drama, there’s no hate, and we all just love discussing the show, promoting the show, and freaking out over clip drops, hiatuses, social media posts, and sharing theories. the fan base is one of the main reasons i enjoy watching skamnl so much, and i’d say it’s the least problematic as well. and that’s not me saying other remake fandoms are toxic or horrible, because for the most part, THEY AREN’T. i enjoy watching other remakes as well + am familiar with people in those fandoms as well but the environment seen in the skamnl fandom is just so.......different. i’ve developed genuine friendships with people from all over the world through this show and i think that’s just SO amazing. we’re small, but we’re a warm, inviting bunch and would love to have more and more people join us! 

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW? 

skamnl has removed its geoblock from all their youtube videos which is how they gather data on viewership and all that so it’s SUPER important that if you decide to watch this show, you do it through their official youtube channel. the clips are usually subbed within 30 minutes of being dropped by the amazing @skamdutch team, social media posts are translated within 15 minutes, BASICALLY waiting for translations has never been a problem okay? they are released super fast so don’t let the waiting deter you. 

i personally love watching it the first time without subs and use that time to freak out and let all my excitement out of my system + once the subs are released, i watch it again and actually pay attention LOLOL 

but anyway, i know a lot of people didn’t want to watch skamnl because it was geoblocked so if that was your excuse, you LITERALLY have no excuse now. and we don’t know how long this will be going on for but i have a feeling they will block it again soon so THE TIME IS NOW. the cast have spoken out about it, the production team have spoken about it, so go go go and watch it!!! 

even if you can only watch one or two clips a day, do it! anything and everything helps at this point! this show deserves to have its season 3 and many many more in the future. 

ok all of this probably didn’t make any sense because like i mentioned before i suck at writing and articulating my thoughts BUT if you actually read all of this then THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and please click HERE for a surprise.

byeeeeeeeeeee

love, shan

me after writing this post: 

[a-singleboat]

Smosh Family Feud

WORD COUNT: 1805

A/N: so, i’m uploading this from mobile and will get back to format it asap when i get home on Tuesday morning!

You glared into the sun from your post next to Noah and Lasercorn. It was getting cooler as the hours clicked on, but the setting sun seemed to be taunting you. It was saying that this day would end and another would have to take its place. On any other day, you’d be fine with it. Today, however, the sun was a timer and it was ticking down how much longer you guys had outside before you had to wrap filming for the day.

You forced your gaze away from the sun in time to see Sarah bounce over to stand in the middle between the two groups. You refocused on your podium and took note of the person counting down behind the camera.

“Smosh Summer Games: Apocalypse!”

Lasercorn made a comment loud enough for his mic to pick it up, sending you into a small fit of giggles. You poked his cheek, a smile gracing your lips, “Old man Corn.”

He swatted your hand away, sounds of protest coming from his mouth.

“Today, we are playing Smosh Family Feud,” Sarah announced, pausing for the several whoops that were let out by the cast. “It’s gonna get nasty, it’s gonna get a little shady and we’re gonna spill all the tea.”

Sarah explained the rules of the game, which was more for the viewers than it was for us. You looked off to Toxicitea’s side, furrowing your eyebrows at what Ian and Joven were up to. They both had their foreheads pressed together while making running movements but moving nowhere.

Sarah explained the punishment, a Holi Powder Slap to the face from the opposite team. You squished your face between your two hands and pouted. A Holi Powder Slap was the last thing you needed.

Soon enough, the first question was asked. Sarah turned to us and proclaimed that we would receive the first question.

“Don’t let us down, Court!” you called, shooting her a supportive thumbs up. “You got this, I love you!”

She glared at you before dropping the mean look and giving you a cheesy grin. “Love you too!”

“My first question to team Mushroom Clout is, we’re gonna start out a little soft,” Sarah glanced down at her cards. “Who on your team would die first during the apocalypse?”

You bit your thumb before scribbling down your answer and flipping your board over.

Sarah asked for Damien’s answer first.

“Love you, Courtney, but Court!”

Courtney took offense to that, playing up her reactions for the camera. She threw her hands up and fell onto her podium in semi-defeat.

Keith’s answer came next, working down the line until it reached you.

“I’m so sorry, but I put Damien,” you flipped your board for the camera to see. You put up your hands in self-defense, rocking back slightly, “But only because I feel like he’d go back for someone or he’d make the sacrifice play for his friends!”

“No yeah, that makes sense,” Shayne shouted from the opposite end of the line. “Damien would one-hundred percent make the sacrifice play.”

The votes were tallied up as one for Courtney, one for Keith, one for Damien, and two for Noah.

“So, Courtney, who did you think would die first in an apocalypse?”

Courtney whipped around to look at Damien. “First of all,” she started, “Damien, I am hurt. I would kill it in the apocalypse. But, you know I picked the person, the only person who doesn’t have a driver’s license.”

She flipped her board to reveal Keith’s name written down. You clapped politely and stood quietly for the opposing team to take their turn. By now, the sun was on a steady decline downwards and you could see the golden hour coming into play.

The next question for your team was, “Who on your team has the worst style?”

You looked at each person individually before your eyes settled on Lasercorn. You sent him an apologetic look before quickly jotting his name down. The votes for this round ended up being five votes for Lasercorn.

“I’m sorry, dad, but have you seen what you’ve decided to wear today?”

Lasercorn looked down at his outfit and motioned wide. “What’s wrong with my outfit?”

You turned and pointed at the camera, “Nothing! Hashtag Rep Mushroom Clout!”

“Wait, no, don’t change the subject. What’s wrong with my outfit?”

“I don’t know, dad. You tell me!” You used that bit to garner a few laughs before hugging it out with your Smosh dad. You both refocused on Damien at the guessing booth and crossed your fingers in anticipation for Damien’s answer.

“Real quick,” Damien said. “Noah, your style is wacky weird. And like good is subjective, you know? And Lasercorn wears a lot of video game shirts, I wear a lot of video game shirts.”

Your eyes widened at what Damien was implying. “Damien, tell me you didn’t!”

“No, you’re right I didn’t. But I did put Lasercorn down.”

The whole group came together at Damien’s words, screaming and generally being crazy. Courtney beelined for you and snuck a kiss onto your cheek. You instantly felt your face heat up at the content and hid bashfully behind your hands.

You watched Wes get voted as least funniest for their group, though he was okay with that. The round wrapped up with Toxicitea in the lead, ten to six. The odds were not looking so good for Lasercorn’s streak.

“Alright, Mushroom Clout’s turn,” Sarah whipped out her cards again and flipped to the next question. “Who on your team would ditch you guys to hang out with a celebrity?”

“Well, you know he’s really just one of my best friends but I feel like sometimes he’s just way too cool for me,” you flipped your board to reveal Keith’s name. “Keith, I love you and I know you would never intentionally hurt me or anyone else like that, but if Michael Jackson came back to life specifically for you, you wouldn’t say no.”

By the end of the voting, the points had rallied up as four for Keith and one for Courtney.

“This has really given me some time to self reflect, but at the same time,” Keith pointed at you. “My homegirl, Y/n knows me too well, I would leave y’all motherfuckers in a heartbeat to hang at the Jackson’s house.”

The way that the votes swung put both teams on equal ground, and it stayed like that for basically the whole time, forcing a tiebreaker round to be played.

“It’s time for the tiebreaker,” Sarah announced. “This question is for everyone on the cast. Who out of everyone-two people-do you think has the best ship?”

You contemplated for a moment before jotting down Shayne and Courtney’s names, thinking that besides from you and Courtney, those two would be an obvious choice. The only reason you didn’t put yourself was that you and Courtney haven’t really told the fans about your relationship, wanting to let it flourish without any outside input.

Courtney’s final answer proved your thinking right she revealed her answer to be herself and Shayne.

Toxicitea all voted, two for Iancorn, Two for Shourtney, and one for Ian and Anthony. Ian flipped his own board, revealing Shourtney as his answer. As Toxicitea celebrated their win, Matt Raub called you off to the side. He handed you the box that you had asked him to hold onto before this video’s shooting and gave you a thumbs up. “We’ve stopped shooting for now so you could do this.”

You thanked Matt before slowly walking back over to your podium. If you did this, there would be no going back, no matter the answer though you hoped it to be yes. You blinked, running your fingers over the soft velvet of the case and making up your mind. You put the box behind you, tucking it into your waistband, and marched over to where Sarah stood.

“Okay, while Shayne and Courtney was the winning choice, I have something to say.” Celebrations stopped in their place as curiosity overtook the group.

“Listen, Courtney and I have been together for a little over a year and a half but we’ve known each other since we were both Smosh babies.” You held out your hand to your girlfriend and she walked over and took it. You squeezed her hand tightly in your own. “We may both just be two women of Smosh, but right now, I am a woman about to ask the love of her life a very important question.”

You bent down on one knee and pulled the box out from your waistband. “My grandmother gave me this ring right before she passed and told me that I’d know what to do with it. And now that I’m on my knees in front of you, I know I’ve made the right choice.”

Courtney started to cry, all attempts to stop the tears failed as more kept coming. 

“Courtney Ruth Miller, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” She pulled you up from your kneeling position and pulled you in for a kiss. The two of you separated long enough for you to slide the ring onto her finger before you were kissing again. All your friends cheered in the background, Joven going as far as to shout, “Get it, Y/n!”

Courtney laughed and pulled away and walked over to Ian, pulling him up to you. “So, get this though, Y/n,” Courtney held out her hand to Ian who had pulled out a near-identical box that was the same save for the color.

You watched as she got down on one knee. “I’ll only be accepting your proposal if you accept mine!”

Your friends started to scream in excitement, the two teams merging together. You laughed at the hilarity of it all before pulling her up and kissing her once more. “Of course, I’ll marry you.”

Courtney slipped the ring onto your finger and you both held up your hands, showing off the rings to your friends.

Eventually, Matt Raub had to intervene so that the punishment could be filmed while there was still sunlight out. After getting slapped by Olivia, you stumbled off to the side to blink out any holi powder that may have gotten into your eye, even if you were told it was safe.

Once everyone had been slapped, you found your way to Courtney’s side to watch Lasercorn tackle Ian after his slap.

“You know, people are gonna comment on our rings and we haven’t been public at all with our relationship.”

“Well then, I think it’s time we were.” Courtney kissed the side of your head. “Maybe a wedding planning video or a wedding dress shopping vlog.”

“I think that that would be an amazing idea.”

A /N: part two is a possibility with the “wedding footage”

ALSO; reminder that the red light green light survey is still up until tonight!

RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT IS NO LONGER OPEN, BUT 8/1′S SURVEY IS

[letterboxd]

Murder, He Wrote.

“They say casting is 90 percent of directing and it was really true in this case.” Knives Out writer and director Rian Johnson tells us about the intricacies of whodunits, the joys of over-analyzing movies, and—yes—Star Wars.

From Hercule Poirot’s debut in an Agatha Christie novel in 1920, to the hard-boiled detectives of the 1930s, to the Pink Panther comedies, the whodunit was a perennially popular film genre—until its decline in the 1980s, when true-crime re-enactments took over. But, with Knives Out, writer/director Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) is on a mission to reaffirm the whodunit’s rightful place on the big screen—and casually reinvent the form while he’s at it.

Knives Out has a gobsmacking ensemble, with Christopher Plummer (as writer Harlan Thrombey, the victim), Ana de Armas (as Marta, Thrombey’s nurse and confidant), Daniel Craig (as Benoit Blanc, the famous private detective who shows up to query Thrombey’s apparent suicide), and Lakeith Stanfield (as the investigating Lieutenant Elliott). Making up Thrombey’s extended, entitled family are Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Riki Lindhome, K Callan, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell—all well fed by his wealth and determined to protect their piece of it.

It’s a Rian Johnson movie, so Noah Segan shows up as well, in perhaps his meatiest role yet, as a cop working with Stanfield. There’s also a delightful cameo from Frank Oz.

Rian Johnson directs Ana de Armas on the set of ‘Knives Out’.

Despite the lack of big-screen whodunits of late, there’s no shortage of audience enthusiasm for them, as evidenced by our ‘Murder Mystery’ Showdown, a great starting point for anyone looking to delve into the genre. Letterboxd members who have already seen Knives Out are very much enjoying what they see, with the film boasting a giant 4.2 average rating (at time of writing).

This is one of those films where you can just tell how much fun the cast is having, an aspect that Letterboxd member Wes nails in his review: “I’d really, really, really like to believe that Rian Johnson gathered all these actors in this giant house, hid some cameras everywhere, hit record, and none of what we saw was fictitious.”

Demi Adejuyigbe writes—in his charming Letterboxd review of the time he lunched with Johnson (!)—that the film is “absofuckinglutely phenomenal”. He marvels at how Knives Out stays one step ahead of what we expect from a whodunit: “How do you fool an audience that has come to be fooled? Johnson is so deftly able to get that joyful, wondrous reaction out of me by expertly controlling every aspect of the script and the direction in a way that makes it clear he sees the entire process as a symphony that he’s conducting, where the audience is just another instrument being played.”

Or perhaps Patrick Willems best encapsulates the joys of the film when he writes that Knives Out is “a movie as good as its sweaters (the sweaters are excellent)”. (The most popular sweater has its own story, here.)

When we got in a room with Rian Johnson recently, we naturally wanted to learn how he juggled such an impressive ensemble whilst navigating the twists, turns, and more twists of Knives Out’s plot.

Chris Evans and Ana de Armas wearing sweaters, Rian Johnson not wearing a sweater, on the set of ‘Knives Out’.

You’ve often talked about your lifelong love of the whodunit genre. How did you go about making your own? Rian Johnson: It’s very interesting, the whodunit genre. It’s one of my favorite genres. I love all the things about it. I also kind of agree with Hitchcock. Hitchcock hated the whodunit genre. To Hitchcock, the danger of the whodunit is: it’s a lot of build-up for one big surprise at the end, and that’s not very satisfying or fun. That’s why he was all about suspense. He would give the audience information early and then you’re in suspense and not just crime-solving. He would also mislead the audience, so you’d think you’re getting all the information early. And enough so that you’re leaning forward, you’re not sitting back. That’s Hitchcock’s whole deal.

So for me, what was interesting is: can I put the engine of a Hitchcock thriller in the middle of a whodunit? Have a whodunit that then turns into a Hitchcock thriller that turns back into a whodunit? That was kind of the starting point for me, from a genre-wonk point of view.

So then I started filling out, okay what would that actually mean? I’m talking around it because I don’t wanna spoil anything, but, okay if we did this and then that could be interesting. And then I started zooming in bit by bit and filling out what characters I would need for what plot points. All the details come later but it’s as ‘big picture’ as that.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Don Johnson and Michael Shannon in ‘Knives Out’.

Were there ever any alternative outcomes in play? Not really, because I didn’t really work, like, “if this happens, then that happens, then that happens”. I worked it like a satellite map. I zoomed back. I work in little notebooks and I have to draw one line and see the entire plot along that line. So it’s not like a game of Clue where I can pick out different solutions at the end; it’s kind of set because the shape of the whole thing determines a different kind of ending from the very inception of it.

Watching this, I thought about your film The Brothers Bloom, as that’s another ode to a somewhat specific genre—the con-artist film—in which your affection for that kind of film was also evident. How challenging is it to write and shoot films in genres you grew up loving? Any time I’m attacking a genre it’s because I deeply, deeply love it. The heart of it for me is always trying to distill the thing I love about it and set that as the goal-post and then find my own way to it. Whether it’s the con-man movie with The Brothers Bloom, or Star Wars as a genre, or this, it’s always about trying to get to the heart of what I love about something and then trying to put that on the screen so the audience will have as pure an experience of it as possible. And sometimes to give the audience the purest experience, you have to shake it a little bit, because… we’ve seen so many versions of it over the years that the audience can kind of ignore it. So sometimes you have to put it in a different context, like with Brick, with film noir or something. But the intent is always to give the audience the most sharp and vivid experience of what’s at the heart of it for me.

This film is a blockbuster of chemistry. Was it difficult to cast? Once we got Daniel on board, no. Once he was the centerpiece, I think everyone wants to work with him so it was like a snowball. Because then we got Michael Shannon, and everyone wants to work with him. And Lakeith Stanfield. So, no, the cast came together very, very quickly, just like everything else in this project. With these actors, my job is easy. They show up on set, they clicked in so easily. They’re such pros. They say casting is 90 percent of directing and it was really true in this case.

Lakeith Stanfield, Noah Segan and Daniel Craig in ‘Knives Out’.

Speaking of Daniel Craig, his character is a microcosm of the film in that he is not in any way like any detective that has come before, yet you cannot help but think of precedents. Were you consciously trying to make him unlike Hercule Poirot? When I started writing, I actually kinda got myself in trouble because I was thinking too much about Poirot. I love Poirot so much and I think I was thinking too much like: how do I make my Poirot? And so I started doing all this sort of quirky stuff, and throwing all these quirks in there, like maybe he has an eye patch and a peg leg maybe. It was just silly. And so finally I said “this is so stupid”, and I pulled all that stuff and I just said: “I’m gonna write this character very straightforward. The way that he needs to be for the script. And I’m gonna give him a Southern accent, because then he’s a fish out of water in New England. And then whoever I cast, I’m gonna believe that they’re gonna inhabit that character in such a way that he’ll be unique.”

I think what Daniel found—that is exactly what is at the heart of Poirot—is Daniel found kind of what’s funny about the character. Beyond the accent. He found the self-inflated, clownish aspect of him, while still maintaining a humanity and an intelligence, which is really what Poirot is. It’s why Peter Ustinov is my favorite Poirot—he gets what’s funny about the character. And like Columbo or like Miss Marple or any of the great fictional detectives, it’s that element that makes you not quite take him seriously until it’s too late and they’ve solved the whole case. I think that’s what Daniel keyed into more than anything else.

This feels like a film that people are going to pore over the details of, as they did with Looper. I love it because that’s part of what I love about those kinds of movies. First of all, let’s separate them, because with time-travel movies, the notion that a time-travel movie can make sense is absolute nonsense. So time travel is much more like the spells in Harry Potter than science, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Except maybe Shane Carruth. Shane is the one person who can actually figure out time travel. Everyone else, it’s kind of like a fantasy element more than anything else.

Ana de Armas in ‘Knives Out’.

So with Looper, I felt like I had to have it make narrative sense, but I didn’t feel the pressure of it having to work in every little detail, because it can’t. Whereas, it’s a little different with a whodunit because every screw has to be tightened and I can’t leave any loose ends. I do want people to be able to re-watch and dig in. But I’ll be a little more sad if they find things that don’t make sense. I’m sure they will, but it’ll actually make me a little sad if they do, because I’ll be like: “I messed up there”.

How do you feel about your films being subjected to that kind of scrutiny? I think it’s fun! That’s the thing: for a certain kind of moviegoer, that’s the pleasure you get—it’s almost like the kid who if you hand them a radio, you’re gonna wanna take it apart. If that’s what someone loves about watching a movie then I think that’s fantastic. I’ve done that with certain films. I’ve watched them over and over and tried to analyze, so I get [that] that’s part of the pleasure of it.

How are you feeling about your Star Wars experience? As a filmmaker, as a Star Wars lover, it was the best experience of my life. Everything about it. Writing it. Making it. The people I got to meet. The places I got to go. The experience I had putting it out. The last two years interacting with the fans has been so rewarding and so fantastic.

I feel like I always have to say that the bad part of that gets written about a lot because it’s interesting to write about. From being in the middle of the hurricane, I can tell you that 95 percent of my interactions with fans are absolutely lovely. That’s not to say they all even like the movie—some of them don’t, or some of them have issues with the film—but they’re all engaged and respectful and so deeply engaged in it in a way that when you make movies you only dream that people will engage with something that you made on that level. So no, for me, the whole thing top-to-bottom has been the most beautiful experience I can possibly imagine.

Rian Johnson directs Joonas Suotamo on the set of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’.

Something that I know in my bones from being a Star Wars fan since I was five years old: everybody has a slightly different version of what Star Wars is to them, absolutely. That’s why I’m excited that stuff like [new Disney+ series] The Mandalorian can exist. The more Star Wars stuff we make, the more there’s gonna be a spectrum that gives different people the things that they want. But we also have to recognize that nothing is gonna give everybody what they want, and somebody is always gonna be upset.

What George Lucas did originally was make a movie that was straight from his heart, and expressed exactly what this world was to him. And expressed emotional truths in this world in a way that was resonant for him personally. I feel that every filmmaker who comes to Star Wars, that’s their job. Their job is not to take a survey and to see what is going to have the broadest demographic appeal. Their job is to speak from their heart and make a thing that resonates with what Star Wars is for them. And I think the more diverse filmmakers we have doing that, the more diverse Star Wars movies we’ll have, the more people will hopefully be happy and the less yelling there’ll be all around.

‘Knives Out’ is now in theaters. Comments have been edited for clarity and length. With thanks to Studiocanal.

[icharchivist]

Thanks. =D Road's actions in the whole manga could be viewed in a different way. Dad's whole intro in the series was kind of weird now that we know the Noah better. She shows up and torments them a lot sure. But she also advices Allen on the dangers of his belief within the Order. She likes his empathy for her being human. She has the perfect opportunity to kill them and destroy Miranda's Innocence but she doesn't. She just leavwe when Allen spares her even after what she put him through. -

2 I feel like if that had been any other Noah, like Tyki back then, they would have killed all of them and destroyed the Innocence w/o hesitation. I wonder if Road knew past Allen and if she showed up there just because a Exorcist named Allen Walker was there? She wouldn't know it was the same guy but she'd go on a whim for kicks to see a exorcist w/the same name as past Allen. There she got attracted to Allen because his compassion and strength to stand by his beliefs. Probably a lot like -

3 like past Allen she knew. Obviously he had a slightly different personality. But from what we've seen and how Nea talks a out him. Past Allen's core character is the same as current Allen's. Then there's the Ark. Wasn't Road the one who proposed the game? Like she was giving Allen a shot of making it out if he earned it? Then post Ark when the family is discussing Allen and the 14th, she looks emotional as if she's starting to connect some dots and speaks fondly of Allen. Then Alma arc -

4 happens and despite The Earl wanting Allen dead and Nea awakened. She makes sure Allen keeps his sanity,and remembers who he is inside Kanda's brain. Road doesn't stop the Earl's plan. But she doesn't actively help it either (I've also noticed Road never shows up when Nea awakens. She appears as a doll or disappears from sight. She does not want to be near him. Probably too overwhelming for her yet). Basically after Wisely shows up and they figure out Allen is the 14th. Road gets a lot more-

5 a lot more serious and intimate w/Allen. Pre Alma arc he was like a interesting toy to play with and crush on. However post Arc Road's been acting very differently w/Allen. She treats him like a person as if he's her family too (well technically...). This all makes me wonder if she knows him very well. Like she can predict what kind of person he is based on having known him so well before? Past Allen and her could have had a connection. Perhaps he was even there when she first awakened?

Hoonestly completely agreed.

You mention perhaps she would have been interested in someone named Allen, just curious and you know what, it makes me wonder how much Road knew about “Mana Walker”’s whereabouts. Because we know she had been alive in the meantime when Mana was running away from the Earl to find Nea. We know he tried to escape the Earl so perhaps he would escape Road by extension, but perhaps if Road at least knew Mana went by “Walker”, the name “Allen Walker” would have brought her all sort of questions she wanted to ask?

She also mentions in Rewinding Town that according to the Earl’s script, they shouldn’t have met yet. However without this meeting there is no garentee the Order would ever have been aware of the Noah themselves, as the Order only asked about their existance to the Bookmen after Rewinding Town. Even the Search for the Heart the Earl made an announcement for was without announcement from the Noah and the only reason the cast knew about them was because 1) Allen survived an encounter with one, 2) Following Cross led them to Edo which was against the Earl’s plan. And everything that followed was specifically in response to Edo. But therefore, without Road entering the play, when were the Noah actually supposed to come out as the Order’s enemies? They seemed to play in the shadow until then, and Road does precise it wasn’t in the Earl’s script. Hell, Lero actually is the one to yell at her for spilling the Script up, and Lero is the Earl’s sword. He’s likely part of the suit.

... which also make me think, the game that Road and Tyki (it’s Road’s door but it’s Tyki taunting them) to get out of the Ark was also fairly yelled at by Lero. If i understand correctly what happened, the Earl left Lero behind under Lenalee so it could open the door to lock her into it - we see the Earl’s suit even come out to tell the Exorcists that it’s how they’re going to die. However in the scene before  that when the Earl starts to talk about “Tyki’s failure at killing Allen” and also about the “girl being perhaps the Heart”, Road is the one to come out and immediatly ask, multiple times, “where is Lero”. Which is always took at her being childish but- 

The moment it was clear Lero was left to help killing both Allen and the one suspected to have the Heart, Road and Tyki went against the current script and gave the others a chance. 

Which put this way make it very seem like Road is playing against the script in some way. The Earl let her do whatever she wants because he loves her (or so they say in the Noah corners) but she keeps “childishly” giving more chances to the Order to get out of bad situations.

What is her goal? Affection for Allen can only bring you so far, especially before you actually get to know him. And hell the only time she actually snaps and leave them to their death is after Tyki was almost killed right after they killed Skinn, and even there she actually left the door opened. Still significant though that Road way to hurt Allen was specifically to try to force him to hurt one of his friends rather than to actively try to to kill him. Like a torture that would keep him alive too. 

Then like you mention from that  point on she’s softer toward Allen, she brings up the 14th with nostalgia, and in Kanda’s head she clings to Allen to push him to remember his own self of sense. Which is pretty uncanny considering the Earl’s plan is for Allen to lose himself.

When they go out to free Allen this is under direct order of the Earl, but it is more than likely Tyki and Road were asked to bring Allen back home. Road left while crying about Nea seeing Allen’s resolve, and Tyki left specifically because he didn’t want to take away Allen’s choice (a meta for another day on how Tyki values choices a lot more than the orders he’s given, but that does put him as Road’s perfect sidekick).

And since then Road hadn’t come back to the Noah family, she only entertains a corespondance with Wisely that is a secret for everyone else. She takes advantages of her distance with the family which is currently hunting Allen down to guide him where he could find answers.

It’s... uncanny once you put on those lenses because none of her actions actively helped the Noah per se - it helped Allen the whole time, but it’s not as much as she’s sabotaging the Noah as much as she seems to have hiden intentions and that while she could get away with it so far by being childish, now that the situation got out of hand she can still play it from afar.

So it does raise the question again of how much she knows about Allen. Does she know about the Walker history first? Because this one she was awake for, does she know? Would she know that therefore this kid, for one reason or another, had Mana love him so much he stayed with him for years? Running away from the Earl? Honestly it could be enough for her to priviligize Allen’s safety knowing Mana loved him than the Earl’s orders knowing the Earl did his best to erase those memories. It would make her truly more on the side of the Earl’s humanity than the Earl’s Noah side.

Then,she could have in a corner of her mind all along the existance of Past!Allen in mind.  If she is leading Allen to the Campbell mansion now, there would be perfectly good reasons for her to know to guide him there if she knew he was a Bookman for exemple - and besides she seems to be the one who knows the most about the Bookman involvement in the past since she was there.

And then Nea came along and it made it clear that Allen was specifically That Allen, that one that changed the pieces around. 

Now that you mention it indeed Road is always away when Nea awakens, she seems to take her distances from him. It seems like she knows more and technically doesn’t want Nea out. And seems to be encouraging Allen into opposing to him. 

This is very uncanny because yeah once with those lenses on she seems to have caused more problems to her side, or more specifically, to the Earl’s suit’s wishes. She seems to priviligize Adam’s wellbeing, but she goes against the Script anytime the occasion presents itself.

I think she does have hiden goals there. It seems too careless of her to not do that on purpose. 

And if she does have hidden goals i do think she shares them with Wisely, if only because they keep in contact and that....Well. Can’t hide from him either. (also for a guy who can read people mind and had managed to talk inside Allen’s mind when he was on the run if i recall i do find Wisely rather inefficient at trying to catch Allen, so he’s either a failure or doing this on purpose). 

And for all that is worth i feel like Tyki is always playing by her side even if he doesn’t grasp fully what is going on. But so far he went with every single of her decisions even when they weren’t the wisest. 

So there is definitly a conflict of interest within the Noah there. I wouldn’t say it is specifically helping the Order or even humanity, but it’s definitly trying to makes things weird on the Noah’s side.

as for why, it could be her trying to stop the sacrifice of her family. Or more that we have yet to discover.

But for all that’s worth the foundation for her not being completely supportive of the Noah’s side are there.

[noahcdaily]

Noah Centineo, Shameless Heartthrob

My date with the best thirst architect the internet’s ever seen.

Now, I put my hand here,” Noah Centineo instructs as he slides his hand in the back pocket of my jeans. “And then we walk a little, like this.” He leads me around the Coney Island Aquarium like that: hip to hip, smiling at each other, his hand, to reiterate, in the back pocket of my jeans. I’ve just shamelessly asked him to re-create his signature move from Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, an adaptation of Jenny Han’s YA novel, in which he plays Peter Kavinsky, the high-school jock at the center of the film’s romantic plotline. I watched the movie and mentally flagged this scene — where he’s trying to convince a cafeteria full of students he’s dating the protagonist, Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) — as the one that made me wonder, Who is that guy? It’s a moment that belongs in a clip reel of classic, chemistry-laden movie moments, and I, a journalist, wondered if it could inspire the same feelings when executed in real life.

Centineo tells me how he totally improvised the move during filming. It was a thing he used to do with his ex-girlfriend. They’d be walking around, like we are now, and he’d realized he could sort of dance her around by the pocket and turn her, “just like this,” and boom, propelled by just a tug on my pocket, I’m suddenly facing him. We’re pelvis to pelvis. He’s smiling, comfortably, and I’m confronted with his hazel eyes, the scent of clean laundry, and pure pheromones. I sort of squeal, I think? Who can say, because I definitely black out for a second.

If I seem thirsty, well, isn’t that the point? At 22, Centineo is the most effective, addictive sort of heartthrob: the kind who absolutely loves being one, the kind who does everything in his power to make us thirst harder than we’ve ever thirsted before — and, yeah, it works. When the movie came out in August, Noah Centineo was immediately, breathlessly given the title of Internet’s Boyfriend. Now, with his second Netflix rom-com, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, in which he plays yet another lovable, evolved jock, Centineo has graduated to full-on cultural obsession.

In less than a month his Instagram followers went from just under 800,000 to 9.5 million. In the movie, his character drives crosstown to buy his love interest her favorite Korean yogurt drinks — and no joke — Yakult stock has been going up. This man’s floppy hair is actually driving the market. He’s been stalked by fans and now employs an omnipresent security guard named Dave. He’s been the subject of a leaked nude scandal (“I understand why you have to ask that question,” he demurred when I asked him about a certain video that’s been making the rounds. “I just hope you understand why I’m not gonna answer it.”). His Twitter mentions are an anthology of fantasies — some chaste and some really not — written by women of all ages. “Tell them all to hit my line,” he says with a laugh.

We decide to tour the aquarium, where I’m idly waiting for him in the lobby when he walks in shirtless. Shirtless. Without a shirt. Holding his black T-shirt in his hand, instead of wearing it on his torso, which I can see right now. With my eyes. He has a real reason. He’s just been outside, taking pictures on a boardwalk in nearly 100-degree weather. But even with a rational explanation as to why he has no shirt on, the entrance is so on the nose it’s almost ridiculous: a smoking-hot leading man, walking into a room sweaty and half-naked. It’s like there should be a slowed-down frame rate, a treacly indie-pop song playing, a zoom-in of my pupils turning into those hunga hunga hearts. He hands his ticket to the woman at the front desk and apologizes, for some reason, for his bare chest. She makes him put his shirt back on, and greets me with a smile so huge, I can assure you he has zero cavities.

Even offscreen, Centineo, I observe immediately, has that whole thing. It wasn’t just good directing or the right song cued at the right moment that created the effect. He has all the qualities deemed necessary by early-in-life fans of Teen Bop and Devon Sawa at the end of Casper: white sneakers (Vans, of course), an easy charm, and a tendency to play it fast and loose with knowing, meaningful eye contact that says “I see you.” He knows the right way to lean against a wall, how to twirl a specific clump of hair so it slouches over one eye. He’s even got an imperfection you can moon over: this tiny scar on his chin from where his dog tried to rip his face off when he was a kid. When he greets me with a hug, it’s the kind of genuine, intentional, full-body contact that makes me feel like he’d write me a letter every day and build me a house.

“I’ve always played the love interest,” Centineo says. “I’ve trained for it for a while. These roles are just molds I can pour myself into.” He grew up in Miami, with a few years’ interlude in Park City, which he hated because he never felt like he fit in. He started acting as a preteen when he attended a general casting call sort of on a lark, but he enjoyed it so much he eventually dropped out of his Boca Raton high school sophomore year and moved to Los Angeles with his mom to pursue it full-time. Since then Centineo’s been playing graduating levels of “crush”: first on a tween-friendly Disney show Austin & Ally, then on a teen-friendly Freeform show, The Fosters, and now for admiring audiences of all ages on Netflix rom-coms (To All the Boys, Sierra Burgess, and one deep cut for the algorithm-determined real fans, SPF 18.)

“I like this rowboat. Do you want to sit in this rowboat,” he asks, upon discovering a fake rowboat stuck in the corner of an exhibition about ponds. (Fake rowboat, a move.) Ever the leading man, he gets in first to steady the fake boat, and helps me in. Then, he directs yet another adorable moment for us, and starts rocking the boat back and forth, like we’re on a real pond, laughing this huge, full-throated laugh like the only thing he’s ever wanted to do was crouch in a plastic rowboat with me. And even though we both know the answer to the question, I ask, “Why do you think everyone is going nuts over you right now?”

“People love love,” he says, and begins to explain how both of his recent movies “empower” people. “I think these are just great examples of feel-good films, how could you not like something that makes you feel good?”

He stops talking and looks at me, a little concerned. “If you’re still warm, we should move,” he suggests, perhaps noticing the sweat pouring from my forehead and rolling down to my chin. It’s such a hot day, even the AC inside has given up. “I just want you to feel comfortable,” he says thoughtfully, adding, “Don’t worry, I also sweat like a motherfucker.”

It’s now his mission to find the coolest spot in the aquarium. He leads me down some stairs, back up the same stairs once he realizes they lead to a bathroom. We go around all the exhibits, while he looks up at the ceiling, in the corners, searching for an air vent, determined to find the perfect spot to get the full blast. We finally do. “Can you feel it?” he asks, one last time, before he seems satisfied, parked in front of a manmade reef. It’s a specific sort of gallantry I recognize from his roles, the ones he describes as manly and masculine, but also “sensitive, emotionally intelligent, loving, nurturing, and protective.”

“That’s just what a great man is in life and in general,” he shrugs. In his two most well-known parts (both of which occurred in the past month) he plays an updated version of a familiar type of crush. In To All the Boys, a lacrosse player who loves Fight Club but drinks kombucha and falls for the film’s Korean-American protagonist. In the other, Sierra Burgess, a quarterback who thinks the cheerleader is way hot, but instead falls for the brainy girl who catfishes him. In both, he displays a preference for the unexpected love interest. In both, he drives a Jeep Wrangler, the preeminent car of teen crushes. He’s not the mysterious, brooding type à la Robert Pattinson in Twilight, he doesn’t have the cold, intellectual appeal of Timothée Chalamet’s character in Lady Bird. He’s not pure Zac Efron dumb-hot-frat boy or even the misunderstood, sexually experienced bad boy like the ones Adam Driver plays. What Centineo does well — and what nobody has really done with such conviction since Freddie Prinze Jr. — is play a simple, suburban-mall kind of crush with Stanislavski dedication. That’s it. He’s just fully nice and hot at a time that feels like “nice and hot” is a rare resource. He’s a throwback to a more classic sort of wish fulfillment.

In fact, Centineo can see a whole career based around this: being good at love. He imagines all the potential types of roles he can explore: romantic dramas, other types of rom-coms, action romantic comedies, edgier, more toxic and dangerous types of love. “There’s so many degrees to love. I think I have a lot more to offer the space,” he says. He’s got a few projects lined up already, most notably a movie coming out in 2019 called The Stand-In. He plays a post-grad who launches a start-up, which requires him to loan himself out as a fake boyfriend.

“Whoa whoa! That motherfucker just came through so quick! He ran up on us with his boy.”

Centineo jumps back and marvels at some large fish that just came swimming right at his head. He makes a kissy-fish face back at the fish. What a lovely time we’re having. Looking at fish! Then he points to a placard and carefully reads out the description for Slippery Dick, a type of fish native to this particular tank, and chuckles. Then I read one about the French Grunt. I have no idea what’s going on. I point to a particularly fascinating fish, and he leans in to see, angling his head so his hair brushes my hand. Our arms accidentally touch.

“How’d you get so good at flirting,” I’m compelled to ask.

“Am I flirting?” he laughs and leans and looks down at the floor. “I don’t know — I’m fucking so romantic. Like, such a romantic — it’s not even funny. I can’t help it. I swear to God, like, every day, the majority of my day is sentimental. You know, I’m thinking about past relationships I’ve been in, how I miss them so much or what I would do different, or why I wanna be with them again, or just moments I’d like to go back to or I know why I shouldn’t go back, and then you know, it’s just constantly love, love, love.”

He’s a Taurus, ruled by Venus, he offers by way of explanation. “That means a couple things: one, like I need a lot of nurturing, and two, Venus is love, I’m ruled by love.” His favorite movie is Gaspar Noe’s Love, his favorite feeling is being in love (which he has been, twice). I bet if you could cook Love and serve it over pasta, it would be his favorite meal. He lives, breathes, and expels love. His Instagram is a steady stream of soul-baring, puppy-dog-eyed selfies — “I’m pretty vain,” he jokes. His Twitter alternates between sort of yoga studio platitudes and vague flirtations like “Fuck…you’re so cute,” or, more in line with my personal interests, “THE BLACKER THE BERRY.”The messages are to nobody specific, he says — he’s single right now — they could be to somebody he just met, or he met before, or he saw across the room, or just to everybody.

Dating is going to be hard for him from now on, he suspects, even though he really doesn’t want to change how he pursues someone he likes (open-heartedly, passionately, purely) but he’s started worrying about the reasons people want to date him. Is it just because he’s more famous now? Do they just want to date Peter Kavinksy? But are Kavinsky and Centineo really so different?  “I’m definitely not as innocent—” he says, with a gaze, because why say anything if you aren’t going to commit.

Centineo continues to list the differences, both philosophical and material: He’s more apt to jump out of a plane or just sit in nature than his characters. He doesn’t live in the suburbs, he lives in Los Angeles with his older sister and her boyfriend. He likes yoga and martial arts. He parties with friends. He starts every day at 6 a.m. with oatmeal, the recipe for which he begins detail, slowly: “I do Irish steel-cut oats, I do almond butter, coconut butter uh, coconut oil, honey, uh, chopped bananas, and, and, uh, like, hemp granola,” and I’m struck with this familiar feeling of being completely entranced by a man saying absolutely nothing interesting to me, which, oh right, yes, is infatuation.

[sarahreeese]

The diversity issue One Chicago isn’t fixing any time soon

6 years on TV 15 seasons of all the One Chicago shows combined. 94 regular and recurring characters 2 specifically stated LGBTQ+ characters that were on for more than an episode. One who died due to man pain, and the other a manipulative awful girlfriend of said dead woman.

That’s about 2% of the characters on all of the shows.  

Their only significant gay character died in 2014. That’s nearly 4 years without any kind of representation. When One Chicago was criticized for having a lack of racial diversity on their shows, they made Med, whose cast is nearly half people of color. (Though they don’t all get equal air time or story quality but that’s another post.)  Justice took it one step further and had more people of color than white people.  So they can take criticism and change tactics, they’ve shown that. So why not change this? They’ve had time, characters, and 2 shows to correct this glaring problem. Why haven’t they?

It wasn’t planned from the beginning/The characters haven’t shown any signs of being gay. Sexuality isn’t something that needs to be revealed right away, there are so many storylines especially in the field that these characters work in that would make for great drama AND great representation. Give me a fire fighter or a cop who is gay, and hides it from the team because they don’t want to be seen differently by their team. Or a new character who had a horrible experience with their old team or house or whatever, and decides to come out only after they trust people. Or we could just have a great storyline where someone is out and proud and everyone deals with it respectfully. As for trans characters, all of the above apply, but they could also have a doctor transitioning, and we see the medical storyline play out as well as the emotional one with the doctors. People discover these things about them later on in life, there is no reason any character couldn’t be made to have these thoughts and feelings. These storylines write themselves and are incredibly easy to weave into the shows naturally. You’re just being lazy One Chicago.

It doesn’t have network appeal/wouldn’t play well with the demo. There are currently about 36 regulars/recurring characters active in the One Chicago Universe. No one is being threatened by putting any LGBTQ+ characters into the storyline. Also if people aren’t exposed to this in television, how will they be introduced to these ideas if they don’t know anyone personally. Also queer people exist and watch this show. We want representation too. And 18-49 is definitely going to have some of us in it.

They’d have to bring in new characters in order to have LGBTQ+ ones. No, they wouldn’t. See the first mock question. But also in the past 2 seasons they have introduced about 7 recurring or main characters. All of them straight.

You don’t know if they’re straight, you’re assuming. Yeah, because that’s the intention that the shows are going for. In order for representation to exist there needs to be some sort of explicit statement or act to show it. Otherwise it doesn’t count.

It’s not realistic to the type of jobs. Really... There are no gay cops or firefighters, or doctors?

These shows are about the jobs not the personal lives. Sexuality and gender expression ARE NOT PERSONAL LIFE THINGS. It’s who someone is, and that’s One Chicago’s specialty. The characters stop them from being just like every other procedural on every other network. And if you have time to show us scenes of every other heterosexual couple you have time to show us queer ones.

Stop watching the show if you don’t like it. No. I love these characters and that’s why I want these shows to do better, and be better. I’d also love consistent writing, which I’m not going to get either, but I can still ask for it.

Now here’s a list of characters who could easily be either read as queer or could discover they were queer. (Also PS, I’ll be using gay in the colloquial manner as in Make this Character Gay, which also means like make them queer or any kind of LGBTQ)

Starting with the newest regular characters.

Ava Bekker: Definitely brought in to be the new lady Connor fucks, but hey you could make her Bi or Pan. She made a comment about liking dangerous men, does that mean she doesn’t like dangerous women? Make her gay 2K18. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see her not wooed by Connor’s charms and become Zanetti 2.0? She could use a great girlfriend, or non binary friend. Maybe a sweet smart bundle of anxiety who is a second year psychiatry resident? You could show possible anxiety she might have about coming out when she’s in line for a competitive position.

Hailey Upton: Possibly had an affair with that dude. Alright. Make her bi then. Or if she didn’t have that affair, make her gay. There’d probably be very positive feedback, and her character might be better received if it didn’t look like she was taking Erin’s place completely. She’s cool, and calm, and doesn’t do a million illegal things an episode like some other characters. Gay Icon 2K18. Make it happen PD.

Stella Kidd: She’s got a thing going with Severide. That’s great, you can be Bi and in a relationship with a dude. That’s what bi means. Have her talk about an ex who is not a dude. Or if you’re going to make Kelly find himself for the umpteenth time instead of getting them together, have Kidd find a nice not cis-guy to date. 

Isidore Latham: Sure he had that mean sex worker trick him at the conference he went to with Connor, but we don’t know any indications of who he is interested in. Why not make him queer?

Looking at characters who have been around for a few seasons.

Sarah Reese: She comes from the east coast with a very wealthy mother and absent father. Her mother was never home, and we are shown her numerous confidence issues. If she was bi or pan, she would probably not express it because she wants to stay in the shadows. We can see that in the pastel neutral colors that she dresses in, and her over all demeanor. Show me a Sarah who falls for someone who she thinks she shouldn’t, and have her wrestle with those feelings and come out ahead of them. Then we can see her date a super intelligent and confident heart surgeon from South Africa. Sarah is also young and has super liberal leanings, making her the most obvious choice in Med.

Maggie Lockwood: We know next to nothing about Maggie. She’s an open book and has no restrictions put on her by previous statements. She’d be an excellent lesbian who is proud of her sexuality and is one of the most respected people in the ED.

Noah Sexton: Give me something that would make me stand Noah as a character. Show him dealing with his identity as a latino man from a religious background. It would be interesting and much better than his sexual harassment storyline we’re going with in this season.

April Sexton: Very similar to Noah with regards to being latina with a religious household, but she also has very strong desires to please her parents, and falling in love with someone who isn’t a man would be a challenge for her to over come. 

Kelly Severide: I mean who says he hasn’t slept with someone who wasn’t a woman before. Again, he can be with Kidd or whoever else they want to put him with, and mention an ex-boyfriend. Or maybe he doesn’t mention it and it comes out and we see a respected queer lieutenant. And who wouldn’t want to see Taylor Kinney maybe make out with a dude?

Connor Rhodes:  Bad boy who bucks familial conventions by being bi. It’s one of the reasons he ran off when he graduated school. Now he’s back in Chicago and is juggling his identity with the expectations of his family, name and this fellowship. Ava finds out he’s bi too, and they become ONLY friends. But good friends. 

Kevin Atwater: You’ve given him 0 romantic options in the show in 5 seasons, while Ruzek has had 2 engagements...(different post...) Maybe it’s because he’s gay. He and Peter Stone had excellent chemistry on the Justice crossover, delve into that. Show this badass strong and sensitive guy with a great boyfriend.

Sylvie Brett: Maybe she ran away from her wedding for more than just cold feet about missing out on the world. Maybe she never acknowledged those feelings inside her and she wants to date someone other than a guy? I don’t know. Possibilities are open.

This is just a small amount of options. You could write a scenario for nearly every character in this universe. So why don’t they? 

PS: I’m horrible at coming up with Trans and Ace/Aro head canons so if you have any please reblog and put them. I want to read them very badly. ALSO if you have any head canons about this reblog and put them. Let’s get diversity in fanon if we’ll never have it in canon.

Special shoutout to  @lesbianhaileyupton, and @xelmanrique318 for bringing this up in the tags and causing me to get pissed enough about it to write this whole thing out. I reblogged their posts, and they’re 100% worth a read.

[scoopzahoy]

Watched the third season of Scream (Scream Resurrection ? Scream VH1 ?) for the first time w mom these past two days, and I liked it a lot actually ! I’m aware it’s not well liked apparently. Maybe because they dropped the Seasons 1&2 cast (Brooke and Noah are the only characters I truly mourn in the Great Recasting of Scream TV, the rest of the living characters by the end of S02 do nothing for me), maybe it just wasn’t a lot of people’s style. Either way, I personally enjoyed it, and especially loved the nearly all-bipoc cast !!

I had a fewwww flaws with it, of course, but I’ll leave it under a cut so anyone who wants to read it can, and those who don’t won’t just see a wall of text rip

Also Spoiler Warning, duh

OKAY SO

One of the biggest flaws I had was for sure Olivia/Liv. She definitely seemed okay and likeable in Episodes 1 and 2, but my GOD did she just get worse as time went on.

Like, okay, so we know she’s got some (mental health ??) issues due to her mom’s cheating and eventual divorce from her father, but I kinda hate how it’s never... delved into ??? Like girl held a whole ass lighter to her arm at the end of one episode but it’s never actually ADDRESSED what her deal is ????? What are your secrets, Liv ????

Like, alright. Her snoopy ass self gets the hopes up of Deion (fka Marcus), that his twin brother (the REAL Deion) is alive and kicking, only for it to be revealed the poor kid got stuck in the trunk of an old car and died after all. Like, damn, Nancy Drew, look at what you’ve done. You gave the dude depression.

Liv: Your brother’s alive Deion: he’s literally not Liv: okay but he is Deion: hm...

ANYWAYS, moving on.

I really don’t like just how she treated Deion all season. So, hear me out. We have the scene between them post-sex. She’s holding the gun she found in his bag (ma’am I literally do not care that you stubbed your toe, that doesn’t give you permission to snoop through his shit ????), and THEN yells for her cop father bc she’s trying to “protect” Deion ??? Nah fuck off with that.

Was definitely relieved to see her father WASN’T a racist cop just waiting for a chance to have an excuse to execute a black person, surprised to see him reveal he’s worried for Deion’s safety BECAUSE of Liv’s aforementioned issues (sir get your daughter a therapist) but once again WHAT ARE HER ISSUES SPECIFICALLY ???? LIV ???????

She then kinda does it AGAIN by mentioning to a different cop that Deion knew about her father. Like GIRL you KNOW what you’re doing YOU HAVE TO. These actions nearly cost Deion a football scholarship, and never ONCE is she PROPERLY punished for her actions.

We do get Deion telling her on the phone that everything she’d done so far was actually really shitty and fucked up, and he even goes so far as to tell her not to speak to him anymore, but about an episode later that’s all resolved like nothing. Like Deion, dude, I get she’s pretty but the things she did should not be so quickly forgiven just because she said sorry ???? Deion stop kissing her TELL HER TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT THE CLEARLY TRAUMATIC EVENT OF HER PARENTS DIVORCING.

AND THEN SHE’S PITIED in those TWO seconds Deion hates her ?? Deion “pumping and dumping” is viewed as a “gross guy hurts poor, innocent girl’s heart” when reality is that he had EVERY SINGLE RIGHT to want nothing to do with Liv after everything she had put him through. A person is not obligated to stay in contact w/ someone they had sex with if that person finds out their sexual and/or romantic partner is an ASSHOLE. Don’t pity Liv when it’s HER shitty actions that led to Deion not wanting to speak to her for two seconds !

Legit hate that she and Deion ended up together in the end. He deserved better, or at the VERY LEAST she should have waited until she was in a better place to even PURSUE a relationship with anyone, Deion or not. And, hey, maybe she did considering the last scene is a time jump, but that’s just an assumption.

Also, was it ever explained just who she was talking to about having blood on their hands ??? Like I get it was to make her look sus because it WORKED. Maybe she wasn’t the killer this season, but it’s well established she is Not Okay and also well established that she’s just an overall unpleasant person, so who is to say she wasn’t doing shady shit anyways ?? Once again, Liv, what are your secrets ????????????

Anyways, non-Liv related flaws I found that apply to me personally.

Tyg/a’s whole existence. So let’s talk abt Jay. Not entirely jazzed about his reveal. Kinda thought it was meh overall (sidenote: shouldn’t he have sounded more struggled in his last scene ? Dude was bleeding out and was talking like he was having a normal conversation my dudes)

Like, his motive is kinda interesting, but idk. Of course there were two killers, but I was hoping “Hook Man’s” death wasn’t actually related to the Ghostface killings. I knew for sure it was Jay, because it made sense. Get revenge on the man you think killed your little brother while wearing the costume your brother died in. I just feel like, compared to Beth... meh. 

Enough about him, though, really hated seeing Manny die. Like, damn dude. I was legit hoping that him cracking the windshield was a sign that he was gonna escape, then BOOM next episode BOOM his funeral like DAMN OKAY.

When Kym was on the roof, I thought the Mystery Person was gonna be revealed to be Manny (forgot they had been selecting his clothes to be buried in tbh), who faked his death so he could finally be free of the town he wanted nothing to do with. Will say, though, the reveal of Hawkins being Manny’s secret dumb jock boyfriend was wholesome. Wish we could have seen more of them together and Hawkins could have been a more relevant character throughout the season, we deserved all the gay content we could have gotten.

That’s all the flaws I think I have, though. My brain’s fried and I’m TIRED so... yuh.

Oh but, a few positives real quick: Liv being the false final girl and KYM being the TRUE final girl (sidenote: another flaw - Kym should have gotten a showdown with Beth tbh). Kym was far more deserving of that title, and I’m glad she got the honor of putting the Big Bad down. Also loved her and Hawkins clearly becoming friends after high school (also just Keke in general, what an icon)

And, the Deadfast Club was an overall likeable group (Liv ASIDE personally). It hurt to see them die. Noah rlly said it in season 1, make my ass CARE about these people smh

Once again there’s probs more but I am falling asleep so that is all goodnight.

[the-domestication-of-the-dog]

The 10th Annual L.A.O.K. Awards

Wow. Ten years of the Layokies. What a trip. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to all five of my faithful fans for your readership over the years. In my first ever Layokies post, I named it the “1st (Possibly) Annual L.A.O.K. Awards.” I had no idea how long I’d be working at the Academy, let alone living in LA, but here we are. I bragged about seeing 180 movies that year. I just checked my Letterboxd stats for this year and it turns out I watched...180 movies. However, this year I hit a new personal best for new releases: 125. While this is about half as many as some people I know, some of the first Layokies were based on a field of 60 or 70 movies, so I’ve doubled up on my old self. Funny thing is, I can still look on other year-end lists and find many films I haven’t seen, and even some I haven’t heard of, so the field of films I’ve added are probably in the middle to bottom range of the pack. But someone out there has to watch Tolkien, Gemini Man, The Goldfinch, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, so it might as well be me.

In all honesty, my absolute favorite thing about living in Los Angeles and working at the Academy is access to watching movies and being around the general cinephile community, and even a bad couple of hours in a movie theater beats a lot else. Over Christmas break I saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Shawnee, OK’s own Cinema Center 8. 

It was quite a trip going back to this theater after so many years and to think of the love of film that was fostered there. Alas, the picture was pretty muddy, and I’m almost positive they showed it in 2k. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Now, in penance for naming The King’s Speech Best Picture in my first year (lol), I give you five real good’uns for 2019:

Best Film The Farewell The King Little Women Parasite Uncut Gems

Sometimes I touch on a year being good or bad for film in general. Not sure about the whole, but I’ll call 2019 a real SEC year (aka stacked at the top and mediocre to poor the rest of the way down). While I would probably only give one title on this list must-see status (Parasite), these are all definite should-sees. The Farewell made me laugh and cry and cringe. One might even go so far as to say it “gave me all the feels.” The King gave me actual siege warfare and period-accurate haircuts. Little Women hit me with that structure, and at first I was all “hol up,” but then I was all “OK I see you.” Little Women also made me cry because I cry in movies now. (A quick aside, because while I absolutely loved Little Women, it’s not really going to come up again. If you liked the movie and haven’t read the book, please do yourself a favor and make it the next one on your list. You can’t know how great this movie is unless you know how good Beth is. Beth kind of got lost in this one, and you need to know Beth.) Parasite blew me away through its normality (who, having seen The Host, Snowpiercer, and Okja could have guessed that it wasn’t about some actual alien parasite??). And Uncut Gems was exactly as perfect as I expected it to be. And the Layokie goes to... The King

Faithful readers will know that one of my absolute favorite genres is ‘discreet conversation behind castle walls,’ and The King absolutely nailed it. It has everything: leadership position foisted on a worthy but flawed character who doesn’t want it, conversations in tents about battle tactics, love built on almost nothing but mutual respect, and most of all, Robert Pattinson doing a funny accent (it’s just a French accent, but he makes it quite funny). I would have already watched this again five times on Netflix, but I’m hoping and praying for an Oscar nomination that will never ever in a million years come in hopes that I can see it again in the theater during nominations screenings.

The Next Five Six 1917 Honey Boy The Laundromat The Lighthouse Marriage Story Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Best Actor Timothée Chalamet - The King Adam Driver - Marriage Story Paul Walter Hauser - Richard Jewell Joaquin Phoenix - Joker Adam Sandler - Uncut Gems

Another super stacked category this year. You might even say they’re *puts on sunglasses*...Stacked Actors. (<-- This is a really good joke for anyone whose favorite band from 7th-8th grade was The Foo Fighters.) These are all kind of obvious, so I’ll take a second to comment on Paul Walter Hauser and the fact that I gave out a very specific award last year titled “Refuse to Watch - Any More Clint Eastwood Movies” after trying and failing to watch The 15:17 to Paris on a plane (one of the worst pieces of filmmaking I’ve ever witnessed). Then this year Richard Jewell was getting such good buzz, and it seemed like such a good cast, and it was such a low-risk watch (on my second screen at work while doing spreadsheets), that I decided to shamefully renege on my earlier pronouncement and give it a shot. And...it was great pretty good! What is the deeal with Clint Eastwood?? He’s made some of my least favorite movies of the decade (Gran Torino, Invictus, Hereafter was a particularly awful stretch, Sully was pointless, and even parts of American Sniper, which was otherwise tolerable, were absolute cringefests). Anywho, I was very impressed by Paul Walter Hauser’s understated but perfect performance, in which he gets one good chance to blow up and yell at people--which you know I love. I hope he gets nominated, because it would be a great Oscar clip. (My ultimate dream job would be to pick the acting Oscars clips and I would be very very good at it.)

And the Layokie goes to... The Sandman (love that everyone is calling him the Sandman again)

I touched on Adam Sandler “A” in the Best Supporting Actor section of my 2018 Layokies post regarding his performance in The Meyerowitz Stories, lamenting that he hadn’t taken more dramatic roles after Punch-Drunk Love and hoping that good writer/directors would keep casting him. One more wish granted by the Safdie brothers. Adam Sandler’s talent is undeniable. He is truly one of the Great Actors of his generation. I really hope this is a respected-actor-making turn for him, but the upcoming roles on his IMDd--Hubie Halloween and Hotel Transylvania 4--don’t give much hope for the immediate future. 

Honorable Mentions Taron Egerton - Rocketman (but only for the phone booth scene) Shia LaBeouf - The Peanut Butter Falcon Noah Jupe - Honey Boy Robert Pattinson - The Lighthouse Jonathan Pryce - The Two Popes

Best Actress Ana de Armas - Knives Out Scarlett Johansson - Marriage Story Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell Florence Pugh - Midsommar Saoirse Ronan - Little Women

Found out last night from my resident celebrity expert Bridgette Smith that Florence Pugh is dating Zach Braff and it absolutely crushed me. 

And the Layokie goes to... Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell

Her Smell was the last 2019 film I watched before writing this post, and I was really just looking for something to pass the time. I had been wanting to see it for a long time and noticed it was on HBO, so I pressed play and planned to work on this post while I watched. I couldn’t. I was riveted. The writing, score, and sound design are incredible, but it’s all tied together by Elisabeth Moss’s performance. She’s excellent at being revolting but still has all of those qualities that made her Peggy. You can’t not like her, even though you fairly hate her. 

Honorable Mentions Awkwafina - The Farewell Cynthia Erivo - Harriet Lupita Nyong’o - Us (You know I love weird voices, you know I love actors doing weird voices and faces, but this was a bit much even for me. Reflective of Us on the whole, which I thought was interesting but really missed the mark.) Charlize Theron - Bombshell

Best Director Ari Aster - Midsommar Bong Joon Ho - Parasite David Michôd - The King Benny and Josh Safdie - Uncut Gems Céline Sciamma - Portrait of a Lady on Fire

And the Layokie goes to... Benny and Josh Safdie - Uncut Gems

Wired: New directors Tired: Old directors

Boy do I not understand the love for The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I’m not totally against boring movies if there’s a good reason for it (Midsommar was actually quite boring), but these were some of the least compelling films I watched all year. On the other hand, you have these young directors coming out of prestige horror, Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and to a lesser extent David Robert Mitchell and Trey Edwards Shults, making some of the most dynamic films out there. Reminds me of Roger Ebert talking about early Scorsese in Life Itself (which I can’t find a clip of). Then you have Benny and Josh Safdie doing Scorsese better than Scorsese with literally breathtaking shots like the one below. How they construct such amazing edits out of such disparate takes as the one in the still above is a wonder. They’ll go from five extreme close-ups in a row to a jaw-dropping shot of the inside of a jewelry store zoomed in from across the street. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg on what makes them the best filmmakers working right now. 

Honorable Mentions Noah Baumbach - Marriage Story Robert Eggers - The Lighthouse Claire Denis - High Life Greta Gerwig - Little Women Alejandro Landes - Monos Sam Mendes - 1917 Alex Ross Perry - Her Smell Joe Talbot - The Last Black Man in San Francisco Lulu Wang - The Farewell

Best Supporting Actress Laura Dern - Marriage Story Lena Headey - Fighting with My Family Lee Jung Eun - Parasite (The housekeeper) Meryl Streep - The Laundromat Shuzhen Zhao - The Farewell (Nai Nai)

And the Layokie goes to... Laura Dern - Marriage Story

Here’s one for the Laura Dern stan accounts: There’s no question that Noah Baumbach is a talented director of actors, but Laura Dern makes so much out of seemingly not a lot in this role. She truly embodies a wholly unique and three-dimensional character that could have extremely easily been one-note.

Honorable Mentions Lily-Rose Depp - The King Florence Pugh - Little Women Margot Robbie - Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor Timothée Chalamet - Little Women Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse Shia LaBeouf - Honey Boy Al Pacino - The Irishman Robert Pattinson - The King

And the Layokie goes to... Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse

For being all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT7uR4wNMJs

Honorable Mentions Bill Hader - It Chapter Two Tim Heidecker - Us Sam Rockwell - Richard Jewell Song Kang Ho - Parasite (the dad) Lakeith Stanfield - Uncut Gems

Best Original Screenplay The Farewell - Lulu Wang Her Smell - Alex Ross Perry Marriage Story - Noah Baumbach Parasite - Bong Joon Ho Uncut Gems - Benny and Josh Safdie

And the Layokie goes to... Parasite - Bong Joon Ho

Another genre we don’t get nearly enough of: comedies of errors. A script like this is as sophisticated as any mystery, political thriller, or...some other sophisticated type of script, like uh, I don’t know, they usually just say Chinatown or Witness. I did think it lagged a bit in the third act, but everything that came before it was so tight. Twist after turn after twist, so funny, so shocking. This is such a rare prestige crowd-pleaser that it really does harken back to Hitchcock; if a wide audience can get over watching subtitles, this has to have one of the lowest barriers for entry of any foreign film in a long time. Here’s hoping for a Best Picture Oscar nomination and a wide release. Uncut Gems played at Shawnee’s other theater (titled simply Movies 6), so it’s not that far out of the realm of possibility. But I know people in LA, even that work at the Academy, who won’t watch subtitled films, so getting people to actually go see it is another question. 

Honorable Mentions Peterloo - Mike Leigh

Best Adapted Screenplay Jojo Rabbit - Taika Waititi Joker - Todd Philips & Scott Silver The King - David Michôd The Laundromat - Scott Z. Burns The Two Popes - Anthony McCarten

And the Layokie goes to... The King - Joel Edgerton and David Michôd

It wouldn’t be the Layokies without me championing one film that no one else cares about. I just really really liked The King. Timothée Chalamet is so hot right now! How did this get so overlooked?? 😭

Best Documentary Apollo 11 Honeyland It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It Maiden Mike Wallace is Here

And the Layokie goes to... Maiden

As I’m in the process of producing a documentary right now, it pains me a bit that my top two picks in this category are almost entirely archival. I thought Mike Wallace is Here was so well done, and the director did some amazing things playing with aspect ratio. But Maiden came into port first. What is wrong with people who don’t appreciate sports? This xkcd comic (who I usually appreciate) makes me so angry. Tell the women who worked their asses off for years to claw their way into this male-dominated space and literally made the world a better place that their efforts were no more than a weighted random number generator on which to build narratives! Clearly the narratives are there, but it rarely has as much to do with the result of the competition as it does the effort that it took individual human beings to get there. See also: Undefeated (currently streaming on Netflix).

Honorable Mentions Fyre They Shall Not Grow Old Satan & Adam

Best Foreign Language Film Duh Parasite

Biggest Missed Opportunity Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (How the first live action Pokemon movie should have happened)

Not Even Close to Enough Monsters Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Most Unbelievable Cosplay Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers

Absolutely Crushing the Sensitive Dad Roles Billy Crudup in After the Wedding and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Good in Everything Too obvious, but Florence Pugh - Fighting with My Family, Midsommar, Little Women Robert Pattinson - High Life, The Lighthouse, The King Adam Driver - The Dead Don’t Die, Marriage Story, The Report, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Destigmatizing Fatness Award Dolemite is My Name The Laundromat Skin Almost Hustlers but then not (Lizzo got what, 30 seconds of screentime??)

#WasteYourAudience’sTime2019 The Souvenir The Proposal

Didn’t Actually Deserve to be Driven into the Ground Dark Phoenix The Kitchen

Just Plain Liked It Triple Frontier

Most Forgettable Tie: Tolkien and High Life (not for me, but it took me a full 10 minutes to convince Becca that she watched this, and I had to describe the masturbation chamber aka fuck box in a lot of detail before she got it, and I’m still not totally convinced she remembers it)

The Something Award Motherless Brooklyn

The Nothing Award Judy

Worst Movies 1. Rambo: Last Blood 2. Between Two Ferns: The Movie 3. Abominable 4. The Lion King 5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters 6. Wine Country 7. Jumanji: The Next Level 8. Frozen II 9. The Goldfinch 10. Pet Semetary

Best Scenes

Avengers: Endgame - The hammer, the portals, all the nerdy/normie BS, what can I say call me a basic bitch but there were some genuine holy schmoly moments in this that made it a really fun movie to experience in the theater

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - When Mr. Rogers uses the puppets on Lloyd

Captain Marvel - When she went full shit on ‘em

Climax - The opening dance sequence (the only thing that made this movie worth watching)

The Farewell - Too many to choose from, but I think my favorite moment in this movie was when they were taking photos of the fiances and another couple stumbled in on them, claiming they were lost. That couple leaves and we never see them again. These are the kinds of details that make movies come alive. Absolutely brilliant.

Gemini Man - The motorcycle chase (a rare scene actually made better by the high frame rate)

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum - The knife fight in the knife store

The King - The conversation between Hal and Catherine

Knock Down the House - When A.O.C. debated the incompetent proxy

The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Skateboarding into town

Little Women - The “break-up” scene between Jo and Laurie (not a spoiler)

Midsommar - The drug trip scene (not that I’ve ever done drugs but this was the most accurate drug trip scene of all time) and the Ättestupa ceremony. Also found out in the video linked above that Ari Aster pronounces it Mid-SO-mar?? I thought that was the dumb way to pronounce it but apparently I’m the dumb one. Also also, another amazing detail worth mentioning: I absolutely loved that every time they were in their community sleeping barn, there was a baby crying somewhere on the second floor that we never see. Such a perfect way to put the characters and the audience on edge and indicate that there’s something wrong here.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - While I didn’t care for this movie, the scene where Brad Pitt went to the movie ranch and when he fantasized about going to the film set were absolutely dripping with tension, which made them as just as riveting as the rest of the movie wasn’t

Parasite - When the other family comes home early

The Peanut Butter Falcon - The scene after they come out of the corn field and share one of their first genuine moments

Uncut Gems - *Sarah Palin voice* All of ‘em, any of ‘em. But seriously the finale with the Celtics game

Us - The initial home invasion and the visit to the Tylers’ home (Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss)

The A.V. Club also does a best scenes list at the end of the year, and I love writing mine first and then seeing what they came up with. I’m always surprised at how many we match on. Just goes to show that a good scene is universal. I also enjoyed some of theirs that I overlooked here, including from Her Smell, Bombshell, Ad Astra (I almost included the moon chase myself and thought the baboon scene was equally compelling), and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Stupidest Scenes Every other John Wick 3 scene

Deserves Discussion The Dead Don’t Die

This movie was a lot of fun. But then it also completely sucked? Not really a Jim Jarmusch fan in the first place, but this had so many awesome elements to it: a great cast, great soundtrack, really fun and unexpected ways of breaking the 4th wall, but then it was also pointless and boring. I would love for someone to tell me why this is a good movie after all, but judging by its complete absence from the end-of-the-year discussion (or any discussion), I’m guessing no one cares enough to mount that challenge.

Best Visuals Alita: Battle Angel Aquarella A Hidden Life Honeyland Midsommar Monos

Many LOLs It Chapter Two Jojo Rabbit Parasite

Best Song Ready or Not - The Hide and Seek Song (why was this not submitted?)

Best Soundtrack Waves - Never have I already known so many songs on a film’s soundtrack; it’s almost as if Trey Edwards Shults is another white guy around my age with the same interests as me...

Worst Accents Midway

Started But Never Finished Cats Cold Case Hammarskjold Genndy Tartakovsky’s ‘Primal’ - Tales of Savagery  The Highway Men High Flying Bird Queen and Slim Spies in Disguise

Didn’t See Ash is Purest White Atlantics The Beach Bum The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (still really want to see this one) Clemency Diane Invisible Life Luce Shadow Synonyms Transit Woman at War

Absent on Purpose Pain & Glory Ford v Ferrari I think these are the only two contenders that I’ve seen and haven’t mentioned. I actually liked both of these movies quite a bit. Just didn’t stand out for me in any one category I suppose. But then also: Booksmart Brittany Runs a Marathon Just Mercy The Mustang

Hah!

[athyriiium]

Okay, I’m back at it again with another long ass, symbolism heavy theory. I would heavily suggest reading my other theory here before you read this one since I will be referencing that one often in this. There’s a tl;dr at the bottom fyi!

To begin, the symbolism and art shown in Blood, Sweat, and Tears (BST) is very religion heavy. It is to be expected when pulling from work from the 17-18th centuries. I’ve seen some people theorize that Jin is the one behind all the “evil” the boys have done in RUN and I Need U (INU). I agree with this, though I don’t think he is necessarily evil, but more of a tempter.

In my previous theory, I discussed how I believed Jin to be Sinclair and Tae to be Demian, acting as a force to influence Sinclair as a mentor. I still believe that to be true. Each boy has his own storyline that is tied back to Jin, including Tae, but it’s a little confusing.

Let me backtrack: When Jin kisses the statue like Sinclair kisses Demian, they become one. Sinclair talks about not being able to see Demian anymore and realizes Demian was just a part of himself. So the metaphorical Tae that I spoke about previously is a part of Jin. Jin has realized himself fully and has accepted both the light and darkness in his life.

I also heavily discussed the concept of duality in my last post. There is the “other world” as Sinclair often mentions it which is the darker side of the world, which also means there is a light side of the world. This is a limited, binary viewpoint though. And the Spring Day mv told us there is more to the world than that through the usage of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (short story) and “Snowpiercer” (film). Both stories show there are sides of gray in life. In the Omelas story, everyone is happy enjoying life at the expense of a miserable child. The knowledge of the child gets out and there are people who live that can’t live a life of blind happiness at the expense of others. BTS are the ones who walk away from the feeling of blindness and absolute happiness.

Snowpiercer is a film that depicts an apocalyptic world in which the last surviving humans live on a train. It is best known for its blatant ridicule of the class system but also depicts two sides of life. The tail end or back end of the train is where the poor are, living in oppressed squalor while the head of the train lives in complete luxury. But, both ends of the train are blind to the truth. They accept the train as the world, it’s safety and warmth. The middle of the train is the only place with windows where you can see out of the train. The middle of the train people, or middle class, are the ones who are educated with propaganda instructing them that the train is the world. BTS are those of the middle class, but also the two middle-class people who eventually escape the train. They sit and accept the truth that they are told until they see the colors of gray, or the world around them, and eventually leave the train.

Now you might be asking what about the two Jungkooks? That’s where the concept of duality comes in. the train JK sees the Omelas JK and that’s the spark to leave. Train JK is the passive one who accepts the truth, while Omelas JK is the boy who defies what is given to him. This is the spark to leave the train and explore the outside world. But I digress. Let me get back to the JPN BST mv.

The concept of this passive vs active duality is also seen in Jin especially in the newest JPN BST mv. Jin has been seen very passive around the boys, never really joining in on the fun just standing on the sidelines and filming. There is plenty of evidence out there, but if you want specifics let me know.

The Jin in the JPN BST mv, is not like that at all. He seems to play an active, almost antagonistic role. So, as I said there is lots of religious symbolism in the BST mvs and to explain what I think happens in the JPN ver I have to use some material from the KOR ver.

So I believe Jin is the tempter, acting as the snake (and depending on who you talk to, indirectly the Devil) in the story of Adam and Eve. After going back to watch the KOR BST it makes more sense since Jin was shown while Namjoon quoted the Demian line about Demian being a tempter. This may seem far-fetched but hear me out.

Jimin, who was seated on Jin’s left in the KOR ver BST table scene, is often showed with apples. It is seen in the JPN BST, KOR BST, and Jimin’s short film. Apples, in the biblical sense, are tied to Adam and Eve. To briefly recap the story, Adam and Eve were the first humans created. They were allowed to eat, use, and generally do anything in the Garden of Eden except eat from the Tree of Knowledge. A serpent tempts and eventually convinces her to do so to “open her eyes” to be like “God, knowing all good and evil”. After she eats the fruit, she shares with Adam and both are condemned by God and sent out of the Garden of Eden.

I didn’t put this together until seeing Jimin finally eat the apple in the JPN BST. He’s just been holding it or looking at it up until now like he was tempted. Jimin, also being on Jin’s left, is important. The left side in many people who believe in the bible is associated with Satan/the Devil. I’m not saying Jin is the devil. Some people believe the snake was Satan in disguise, but I think it’s more of a vector of temptation sent to taint God’s creations. But this isn’t the time for bible debate.

It also fits because the serpent implies that Eve’s eyes have been closed. Jimin is also often seen with a blindfold or having his vision blocked, by a certain someone (Yoongi). I thought previously that Jimin was turning a blind eye to something, ignoring something that was causing him pain, and I do still believe that, but I also think it has another meaning. If the serpent convinced Eve that she was blind, that she couldn’t see everything, then wouldn’t she think of herself as blindfolded? Then wouldn’t the one blindfolding her, be God? Just as I am not saying Jin is the Devil, I don’t think Yoongi is God. He is symbolic of him. Yoongi serves as a protection/barricade between Jimin and Jin. He doesn’t want Jimin to follow Jin into darkness. That’s why we see two Jimin’s. The one Yoongi protects, and the one that follows Jin into darkness.

So if Yoongi is symbolic of God, how come he fights Kookie in RUN? Many times in the bible, God is shown, for lack of a better term, a practitioner of tough love. See Noah’s ark for example, where floods come and kill many people and animals except for the one’s on Noah’s ark besides the people had lost the way of God. The people killed were the descendants of Adam and Eve, who I believe are the other boys since Jimin and Tae were the first tempted.

So if Jimin is symbolic of Eve, Yoongi of God, and Jin of the Devil, then who is Adam? At first, I thought it was Hobi since he is OFTEN seen with Jimin, but I have Hobi has something else going on I will get to soon. So that lead me to Tae. We see Tae struggling with temptation/sin often. The act of graffiti and an insane amount of suicide imagery associated with him in HYYH is too overwhelming.

Tae sits on the right of Jin in the KOR BST mv. If the left is associated with evil, then the right is associated with good. Tae was “good” which is why there is so much angelic symbolism near him. But, he was tempted, probably by Jimin since he is symbolic of Eve and Eve is the one who gives Adam the fruit to eat.

Jin, could also have been the one to tempt Tae and the other boys since in the KOR BST all the boys are shown around a table with no real food besides apples in front of them. So, Tae and Jimin are the first ones tempted.

Now, when Adam and eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, they could no longer understand the word of God, since they were no longer his children. So this leads me to believe that nothing heavenly could help either of them. Which is where Hobi and Namjoon come in.

I’ll start with Namjoon, since his story is somewhat laid out already. Many times Namjoon is shown running to a telephone booth and many people assume it’s because Tae is calling based off evidence from Namjoon and Tae’s films. But, Namjoon is never able to reach the phone or get into the booth. So, since Namjoon isn’t tempted YET, he is still considered heavenly, therefore, he can never help Tae.

Namjoon is eventually tempted and falls into alcohol, specifically absinthe. Absinthe is portrayed as an addictive, alcoholic hallucinogen. So he becomes addicted to drinking the beverage and eventually forces Jungkook to drink it (seen in the JPN BST mv). But, I don’t think Namjoon falls as deeply into temptation as Tae does. He learns to accept it. Namjoon is shown around a lot of mirrors either obscuring his reflection (JPN INU) or shattering the glass (Reflection). But, in JPN BST he is shown looking directly into his reflection. He’s learned to accept temptation as a part of himself. Reflections are often symbolic of showing one's true self which is why we say Jin’s reflection crack in KOR BST bc he hasn’t accepted his whole self (passive and active).

Before I get to Hobi, I’m going to finish Jungkook’s story. Before, I wasn’t sure where Kookie sat in the Demian/Sinclair story. I believed he was “Beatrice” but since he is often on the outskirts dipping his toes in good and evil I think he is symbolic of Abraxus. We don’t know who convinced the boys to leave Omelas, but from what I discussed earlier, it was most likely Kookie who convinced the boys to leave the train in Spring Day. He also tries to help Yoongi in RUN, who is struggling with his own problems. This is the good Kookie dabbles in. The bad is all the new stuff we saw in the JPN BST mv: the hallucinations and fighting off Yoongi who is trying to help him. Also, depending on what theory you believe, the shooting of the other boys in Not Today.

Now last but not least, Hobi. I think Hobi was once tempted, proven by the abuse of pills. But rather than accept temptation, he rejects it and fights it. This is seen by the throwing away of his pills, twice now. We also often see Hobi pulling a bow and arrow and now a dart on those tempted, usually Tae. Now, I believe Tae has fallen deepest into temptation and Hobi mourns the loss of his friends' purity, shown by the Pieta in KOR BST. He takes on the biggest challenge first, Tae. Which is why we see him throwing or going to throw the dart at Tae in JPN BST and pull the bow at Tae in KOR BST. Hobi is the descendant that God spoke of when cursing the serpent. God said that Eve’s descendant will bruise his foot by smashing the head of the snake. Basically, he will have to sacrifice something to get rid of the tempting serpent.

Hobi is also shown dancing under the fresco painted on St. Nicholas’ ceiling painted by Guilio Quaglio. I can't find a lot of info on the painting but it looks like a depiction of a world of light or heaven? So it looks like Hobi is reaching for salvation, but he isn’t the only one. Jimin is too.

Jimin, aka Eve, has realized what he has done wrong and has suffered for it. She lost her son Abel at the hands of her son Cain and was placed with pain after she was cast out of the Garden of Eden. This is why we see Jimin suffering/being uncomfortable so much while in water. Water is symbolic of purification, so Jimin is repenting for his wrongdoings but is also suffering because of the temptation he gave into.

We also see Jin circa INU era twice in this mv. Once in the bed of the truck, lying similarly to how he is lying in the bed in INU. In INU lilies are very present. They are also present in BST. Lilies symbolize innocence after death. Passive Jin wants to be innocent after he dies but is prevented from that because of tempter!Jin. This is why the lily petals are burned; all hope of innocence after death is gone. I believe both Jin’s are aware of each other having met in the Awake film, but since tempter Jin is the stronger personality, he has prevented watcher Jin from moving on. Which is why he is still interacting with the boys in the INU era but only passively.

The scene at the end of the mv is one of the first setups to Jin’s temptation of Namjoon. We see the effects in the INU era.

TL;DR: as seen in INU there are two sides to youth: the dark and light. This is further expressed in RUN and BST (both versions). Each boy has a doppelganger, opposite from what they are typically shown to be. Jin’s doppelganger, the tempter, has tempted the boys to do things they shouldn’t seen in RUN and INU. Hobi, the savior, is trying to fight Jin’s hold on the boys.

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Eleventh Ray.Part10

Yes, if one considers the power which every spring raises to life identically the roots of all the trees and plants and creates the three hundred thousand plant and animal samples of the resurrection of the dead, and if one visualizes the thousand year period of each of the communities of Moses and Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon them), and they are pictured in the imagination, it will be seen that the two thousand springs display a thousand samples of resurrection and a thousand evidences. It is to be blind and unreasonable a thousand times over to consider bodily resurrection difficult for such a power. Also, just as relying on Almighty God's thousands of promises, the twenty-four thousand prophets, who are the most renowned of mankind, have unanimously proclaimed and proved through their miracles that eternal happiness and immortality in the hereafter are true; so innumerable people of sainthood have put their signature to the same truth through their illuminations and unfoldings. Since this is so, surely this truth is as clear as the sun, and those who doubt it are crazy. Yes, the ideas and judgements of one or two experts in a science or art concerning their science refute the opposing ideas of ten men who are not experts in it, even if they are experts in their own fields. Similarly, two people making a positive statement about a subject, for example, proving the crescent moon of Ramadan on the day it is uncertain, or claiming: "there is a garden on the earth where coconuts resembling cans of milk are grown" defeat a thousand deniers, and win the case. For the one making the positive statement has only to point out the place where the coconuts are found to easily win. Whereas the one who denies it can prove his case only by searching the whole face of the earth and demonstrating that the coconuts are not to be found anywhere. So one who makes a report of Paradise and the realm of bliss and asserts that they exist wins his case by only demonstrating through illumination a shadow or distillation of it, like in the cinema, while those who deny it can only win by proving their denial by seeing the whole universe and all time from pre-eternity to post-eternity, and demonstrating it. It is because of this that the investigative scholars have agreed on the rule "on condition they are not inherently impossible, denials which are not specific but look to the whole universe like the truths of belief, cannot be proved," and have accepted it as a fundamental principle. In consequence of this definite truth, while the opposing ideas of thousands of philosophers should not cast the slightest doubt, or even suspicion, on even a single truthful report concerning the questions of belief, you may understand what a lunacy it is to fall into doubt at the denials of a handful of philosophers who concerning the pillars of belief understand no further than their eyes see, have no heart, are blind, and have grown distant from spiritual matters. For the pillars of faith have been agreed upon by one hundred and twenty thousand expert scholars and truthful reporters with their positive assertions, and innumerable specialists in the field of reality and investigative scholars. Also, we see with our own eyes as clearly as daylight both in ourselves and all around us a comprehensive mercy and all-embracing wisdom and constant bestowal of grace. We observe too the traces and manifestations of an awesome sovereignty of dominicality, a precise and lofty justice, and a proud and glorious government. Indeed, the wisdom which attaches instances of wisdom to a tree to the number of its fruits and flowers; and the mercy which bestows bounties and favours on every human being to the number of his faculties, members, and feelings; and the proud, yet gracious justice which deals blows at rebellious peoples like those of Noah, Hud, and Salih (Peace be upon them) and the 'Ad, Thamud, and people of Pharoah, and protects the rights of the least living being; and the verse: And among His signs is this, that heaven and earth stand by His command; then when He calls you, by a single call, from the earth, behold, you [straightway] come forth (30:25) all state the following with a majestic conciseness: Just as at the summons of their commander and the sound of the bugle, the disciplined soldiers stationed in two barracks spring to arms and their duties; so whenever the bugle-call of Israfil (Peace be upon him) summons those lying in death in the vast heavens and in the earth, which are like two orderly barracks for the soldiers of the Pre-Eternal Monarch, obedient to His command, they will immediately don the uniforms of their bodies and rise up. Proving and demonstrating this is the same situation displayed by the beings in the barracks of the earth in the spring at the trumpet-blast of the Angel of Thunder, and from it is understood the infinite grandeur of the sovereignty of dominicality. As is proved in the Tenth Word, it is certainly therefore utterly impossible that the realm of the hereafter and arena of the resurrection and Great Gathering, which are most definitely demanded by that mercy, wisdom, grace, and justice, should not be inaugurated, and for that infinitely beautiful mercy to be transformed into ugly cruelty, and for that boundless perfection of wisdom to be turned into infinitely faulty futility and purposeless wastefulness, and that sweet grace to be transformed into bitter treachery, and that finely balanced and equitable justice to be turned into severe tyranny, and that utterly powerful and majestic eternal sovereignty to decline, and with the resurrection not occuring for it to lose all its splendour, and for the perfections of its dominicality to be marred by impotence and defect. This would be completely unreasonable and a compounded impossibility, outside the bounds of possibility and false and precluded.

[elgomoviereviews]

The Top 10 movies of 2017

The Oscars are approaching and marking with them the end of the 2017 cinematic year.  The least thing to say about 2017 is that it was one of the most un-special years for cinema, full of mediocre movies and forgettable efforts. I found it a little hard to pick 15 movies that I’d put in a top movies of the year list like I do every year, so I went with only 10 movies this time around. Here are my top 10 movies of 2017:

 10- Lady Bird:

While nothing feels particularly special about Lady Bird on a first viewing, it certainly gives a pleasant effect that lasts for a while after you finish watching it. The movie takes us through Lady Bird (our protagonist’s self chosen name)’s last year of high school and the pressures of having to take big decisions for adolescents in this day and age. And while it feels like you’ve seen this kind of story a million times before, something about Lady Bird feels more authentic than any other coming of age story. Whether it’s the extremely well written dialogue or the subtle performances (especially by the 3-time Oscar nominated 23 years old phenomenon that is Saoirse Ronan) or the easiness the movie flows with that comes as a sign of a masterful director, it all results in an original entry that gives a breath of fresh air to an overly saturated, overly explored genre.

 9- Okja:

The Netflix produced movie, released directly to the Internet. The movie follows the journey of Mija, a young South Korean girl who is willing to do anything to prevent an American company from kidnapping her special friend; a “super-pig” called Okja. While it looks and feels like the normal sad girl gets separated from pet movie in its first act, Okja turns out to be a movie that takes leaps and turns with every other scene. With such high level of unpredictability, I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, anticipating the other ways this screenplay would surprise, eagerly. Being written and directed by Joon-ho Bong (the visionary behind one of the most powerful post-apocalyptic thrillers, Snowpiercer), I wasn’t surprised to witness Okja gradually unwind to show how multilayered and deep it is, yet still be one of the most entertaining movies of the year. Only Bong can squeeze subjects as universally relevant as the evils of capitalism, animal cruelty and the misguidance of media in a coming of age tale of a girl refusing to give up to life’s burdens. The movie also never feels too dramatic or too sentimental for its subject matter, all thanks to the balance the director keeps between drama, adventure and comedy. Okja features many remarkable performances. From Tilda Swinton’s intricate portrayal of two very distinct twins, to Jake Gyllenhaal’s comical take on reality TV stars, to memorable cameos from Steven Yeun, Paul Dano, Giancarlo Esposito and Lilly Collins, all supporting cast paves the way Seo-Hyun Ahn to shine and have all the confidence she needed to play such a strong character. You might not have heard of Okja before, simply because it’s not a part of a well-known franchise or because it didn’t get the wide release other movies get, but it certainly is one of the most important movies on this list, simply because it showed us that internet-released movies can be of high cinematic caliber too.

  8- Loveless:

Loveless is writer/director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s follow up to his 2014 masterpiece Leviathan, and it is as bleak and as shocking to say the least. Instead of a strong subject matter as of Leviathan’s flashy plot though, Zvyaginstev chooses to tell us a very conventional, simple story this time around; an eleven-year-old boy (Alyosha) disappears after witnessing a terrible fight between his divorced parents. And just like every other missing person movie, questions quickly begin to rise in your head, did Alyosha run away from him or did he get kidnapped? Is anyone else involved in this sudden disappearance? Are they ever gonna find him? But the most important question of all is, would he really wanna come back to live through the ramifications of such a failed marriage? What starts as a community search hunt for a missing boy, turns into a holistic study on modern relationships, the selfishness of the human race, and how we currently define success in life. Loveless is a perfect example of how universal art could get no matter what language it’s made in.

  7- The Square:

The Square is probably one of the most unconventional movies of the year, and may be even of all time. It doesn’t follow any kind of specific narrative, it doesn’t have distinctive first and second and third acts, it is not about a major incident nor does it involve a character that goes through a major change or learns something new about himself or the society. In fact The Square never even sticks to one message or one way of telling its story, it keeps shuffling between what it wants to be at the moment, symbolizing how unpredictable, messy and sometimes, shocking, our day to day life could be. One could describe The Square as a satire on how someone’s normal life could turn upside down after taking a few very small terrible decisions, but by the end of it you’ll realize that this was a satire on life itself. How Christian (played by the highly charismatic Claes Bang) perceives himself and how his behavior around others usually contradicts those perceptions creates an irony that reminds us with how separated and segregated we all are from eachother. The Square is director Ruben Ostlund’s second movie to be nominated for best foreign language film after his 2014 masterpiece Force Majeure, another movie that tackles the idea of how small missteps could lead to life changing effects. Unlike Force Majeure though, The Square reaches new heights of ambition and doesn’t shy from criticizing almost all aspects of the average person’s life.

  6- The Florid Project:

The Florida Project gives us a documentary like look on the daily lives of three children who live in the projects of Florida from the children’s perspective. Just a few buildings away from Disney Land, they live in the colorful motels that don’t feel or look so colorful on the inside. As I witnessed the lives of these kids unfold in front of my eyes, I couldn’t help but recall my own feelings as a child, how a child’s look on what’s important in life is totally different from what an adult could think and feel. This kind of instant connection to the children comes as a result of a brilliant director who understands the importance of right casting, of understanding the subject matter he’s dealing with and knows how get the best out of his actors. The movie features one of the most heartfelt performances in years from Brooklynn Prince (the 7-years old first time actress) in the role of Mooney, the leader of our group of kids. One can’t help but fall in love with Mooney from the moment we see her on screen, and the director understands that so much that he sometimes allows the camera to follow her around, giving her the freedom to improvise and be herself, which allows the audience to experience life literally through the innocence of a young girl’s eyes in one of the most memorable scenes of the year. The only A-list actor in The Florida Project’s cast is Willem Dafoe (who gives one of the best performances of his career and the movie’s sole Oscar nomination), along with a bunch of first time actors who are so good, they make you wonder whether if they are real actors or just normal people who get to be followed by a camera and have their lives watched by an audience.

 5-Mother! :

Mother! is one of the most polarizing movies of the year. It’s a movie that’s been called one of the best movies of all time and one of the most tasteless at the same time. But whether you love Mother! or hate it, there is one thing that is certain about this movie, and that is you’ve never seen anything like it before. I wouldn’t say that I loved every choice that Darren Aronofsky (Pi, The Fountain, Black Swan, The Wrestler, Noah) chose to go with in Mother!. For example, the movie starts with what seems like a normal suburban wife and her artist husband, who can’t find inspiration in his boring life, but it’s very clear since the beginning that this isn’t just it, that this plot and those characters are symbolic of much broader ideas. But instead of leaving it for each viewer’s interpretation of such symbolism, Aronofsky decides to lay all symbolism aside and turn it to a very straightforward narrative, making it too easy and sometimes even forced on the audience to digest. On the other hand, Mother! features a third act that will remain engraved in my memory like no other in movie history. With using only close-ups through out the entire movie and setting a claustrophobic mood through lighting, Aronofsky keeps building up tension all through the first two acts duration, until it reaches the third act just to explode and multiply that tension till it reaches the roof. The last 20 minutes of Mother! are gut-wrenching to the least. One can’t even start thinking about how much effort went into the preparation of what you witness on screen, from the huge number of extras (that each needed different motives, costumes, motion around the camera and meanings to the movie), to the flawless camera movement that captured all that’s happening around it while keeping fluid enough to remain the tension and give sense of time passing, to the top notch sound mixing that was necessary in such a loud and full of action segment of the movie, it all goes down to a mastermind behind all that, by the name of Darren Aronofsky, who could pull one of the greatest directorial achievements of the year.

  4- Blade Runner 2049:

When it was announced that director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario, Prisoners, Enemy) will helm the new installment of the Blade Runner franchise, I wondered why would such a talented director, who’d recently been nominated for a well deserved Oscar nomination last year, risk putting his name on a movie that could never surpass the critical success or the cultural status and reputation of its predecessor. But after watching the movie I didn’t only get why he would choose that, in fact I understood why he probably is the only well-known Hollywood director who could give us such a masterpiece right now. Villeneuve’s own passion for the project is clear through out each and every choice he went with in 2049 and that ultimately made it succeed on all fronts. Blade Runner 2049 works both a sequel as much as it works as a movie on its own. A sequel that kept the bleak spirit, the slow tone, the extremely detailed technologies and the essence of the premise of the original Blade Runner, and still built on it to give us a deeper exploration of the human condition in a bigger world than that of the original, a wider scope of events, a more touching plot and consequently a taut and heartfelt psychological sci-fi thriller that is really needed between what’s being offered nowadays. The mesmerizing cinematography by Roger Deakins created a feast for the eye with a unique visual philosophy that made it stick in my memory for weeks after watching the movie. Only great movies get to have such a lasting effect after just one viewing.  

  3- Get Out:

I’ve never been a fan of Jordan Peele. His humor is mostly safe and naïve. When I heard about his directorial debut, Get Out, I thought it’s gonna be a light comedy that offers nothing different from his usual efforts. Instead, the result is one of the most important horror movies in years. Peele (who also wrote this movie) , was aiming at writing his first horror, about a man waking up to find himself held captive in a house. But halfway through his writing process, he decided to turn his script into a discussion about modern day racism, the horrors of being a minority in America and the establishment of white supremacy in all aspects of their lives. The movie is a testament that even the smallest of ideas could turn into masterpieces when given to the right hands. With a micro budget of an independent film (4.5 million usd), and a cast of small-parts actors, the fact that Jordan Peele succeeded in making a movie that stayed the first on the box for three consecutive weeks (to end up with 255 million usd) and get nominated for 4 Oscars (including one for best picture of the year and a couple of nominations for himself for both writing and direction) was beyond the imagination of the biggest optimist. All this praise comes at no surprise after watching the movie though, it’s one of the fun experiences I’ve had in a movie theater in years, a movie that kept me invested in its world, as captivated as the protagonist, on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, all thanks to the massive talent of first time writer/director Jordan Peele.

  2- Dunkirk:

Have you ever seen a PG-13 war movie that didn’t show a drop of blood? Have you ever seen a World War II movie without a scene inside the office of army generals while putting their tactical plan? Have you ever seen a war movie that doesn’t show you one soldier of the enemy’s army? Leave it to the one and only Christopher Nolan to break all walls and ceilings of a genre and turn it into exactly what he wants it to be. Only Nolan could direct a movie about the defeat and an evacuation of an army that everyone knows how it ends, and still make a gripping thriller out of it. You are taken through the journey of three different individuals, telling the story of the evacuation of Dunkirk through their eyes from the sea perspective, the land perspective and the sky perspective in a mere 106 minutes. In its core, it’s about scared kids who want to reach home and how home reached for them instead. There is no time in Nolan’s Dunkirk for forced patriotism or overly dramatized deaths. There is no time to even care about a certain character or cheer for a specific person to survive, you find yourself cheering for survival itself instead, desperate to find a way out of the trap you’re thrown in from the first minute of the movie. Whether it’s a pilot trying to break the glass of his drowning plane or stuck soldiers, gasping for air in a sinking ship, you feel as immersed in each situation as them, only thinking about a way out too. Hans Zimmer’s groundbreaking score (who created a sound illusion that aids in creating tension throughout the movie and built his whole score around it), Hoyte Van Hoytema’s magnificent cinematography (that captured the harshness of sea and air conditions like no other before, creating a horrifying, nearly monochromatic world), one of the best sound editing/mixing jobs in the history of filmmaking, and the masterful editing by Lee Smith, all helped Nolan in delivering Dunkirk in the mind-bending, intricately intersecting way that made it stand out between all war movies (if not all movies in general) of all time.

  1-Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri:

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri might have the most interesting title for a wide release movie in years, but it also has one of the most uninteresting premises on paper. When I first watched the movie’s trailer in the summer, I thought that this might be another boring movie that I’ll have to sit through just for the sake of awards season, where it will be nominated for a couple of awards just for one of its star cast performances and that’s it. I mean, sure, the movie’s writer/director is Martin McDonagh, who once made a really good movie (In Bruges), but he followed that but a very messy and forgettable movie (Seven Psychopaths). The movie’s cheesy plotline (A woman puts up three advertisements on three billboards outside a small town, cursing the police chief for not finding the killer and rapist of her daughter) doesn’t help an audience in knowing what could follow that. Normally, this should be a character study about a strong woman who decided to stand against the police, only to lose the fight to no avail. We’ve seen such type of movie a million times before. Turns out what follows is one of the most exciting, fast paced and unpredictable movies of the decade. The brilliance of the screenplay lies in creating multiple unique characters and making them feel as realistic as possible. Nearly all characters have as many terrible traits as they have good ones. You wouldn’t find any good reason to root for any side of the chess game that starts in Ebbing between Mildred and the police station other than for the trauma that affected them but not for them personally. You will just enjoy watching this purely original story taking turn after turn, surprising and sometimes shocking you with each one of them. The movie features a plethora of incredible performances. Spearheaded by Frances McDormand, who gives a career best performance, even surpassing her iconic performance in Fargo, in one of the most demanding and complex female characters that come to mind in years, to cement her status as one of the best actresses alive right now in Hollywood, no wonder that Martin McDonagh had her in mind while writing the character in the first place. Woody Harrelson gives one of the most powerful roles of his career, if not his most powerful. We are used to Harrelson playing the funniest or the craziest character in a movie, but who’d thought he could outdo himself while giving such an emotional and heartfelt performance. Sam Rockwell is the one who steals the show though, who feels like he was born to play Dixon, the repellent, alienating, racist cop who somehow still feels believable as a “good man on the inside” as one of the characters describes him. Three Billboards may be introduces broad ideas, asks deep questions and puts you through a social dilemma, but what makes it different is that Martin McDonagh never forgets that his primary target is that to simply entertain his audience, to give them a great story and the best performances his actors could deliver. And for succeeding on all those fronts, it sure deserves to be called the best movie of 2017.

   Honorable mentions:

-Baby Driver

-Wind River

-War for the Planet of the Apes

-The Insult

-Phantom Thread

-The Shape of Water

-Mudbound