#my poor boi ferguson

[saph-y]

Baby Tarnished first trauma 😌⚔️

[darealsaltysam]

I JUST GOT BACK FROM SEEING DUNE PART 2 AND HOLY FUCK OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT HOLY FUUUUCK I NEED TO. I NEED TO. I NEED TO TALK SO BAD HOLY SHIT

below the cut because oh boy do i have a lot to say and i dont want my poor followers to suffer when i post this

oh my god okay okay where do i even start

opening with irulan's narration to mirror her notes in the openings of the chapters of the book. oh yeah baby. i ate that right up

watching paul get close with the fremen,,,,, fucking hell that hurts. dune really is a tragedy at the end of the day huh. they go from reluctant allies to friends but the whole time you know the switch will happen any moment now and they will be devotees and he will be messiah and that gap between them will never be as small as it is out in the sand. huddled in those tents. sharing drinks and laughs. im not doing ok

this especially hurts with chani. their love is so genuine and pure and she wears blue for him (which by the way sticks out so much more with how muted the colors of the rest of the movie are... i could talk about this all day) but she can see what he is becoming and he's trying to avoid it for her so hard but there's no avoiding fate. LORD ABOVE!!!!

i loveeee jessica being the manipulator thats pulling all the strings, urging paul towards becoming messiah. rebecca ferguson is such a talented actress she really understands the character so well. also as a hashtag certified alia atreides enjoyer her scheming with her unborn fetus might be the most unhinged thing ever but thats also so fucking funny aka its as dune as it gets. dune is WEIRD and im glad theyre not shying away from that. thank u denis

arrakis looks so much more beautiful in this movie like theres defo been some changes with how its framed and presented it feels so much grander and idk just ??? what it makes me think is that we're not seeing arrakis, we're finally seeing dune. we're seeing the land as the fremen see it as paul becomes one of them. i might be looking too much into it but who cares. god i love this movie

but yes more on the fremen in the first section of the movie. i like how there's this cluster of non-believers almost?? its a nice breath of fresh air. its hard to believe every single person would be just devoted to the prophecy and it adds some depth.

i will say the one thing i didnt like is the way stilgar is characterized?? i dont think he was so blindly devoted to paul in the books, and definitely not alia and leto ii after him as the atreides line went on. he's always been a source of small doubt towards paul but i think they're moving that element of him onto chani, so i think i can let it slide. i'd like to see him question alia more in the future though.

the scene where paul was named muad'dib and usul??? god it was so cute which made it so heart wrenching. all the fremen coming together and welcoming him into their lives. as a brother. as a friend. only for him to turn around and make them all bow before him. ohhhhh i cant do this

OH BOY THE WORMS THE WORMS AND THE WORM RIDING AND THE AHHHHHHHHH OH LORD

jesus christ. what the fuck. how is this allowed on cinema screens how is something so amazing allowed

the tension. the effects. the sound design. the sand rushing past the wind the worm moving forward paul struggling to hold on the fremen all watching and then cheering him on HOLY FUCKKKK HOLY FUCK I WAS HOLDING MY BREATH

all the worm riding scenes were so intense and so well done like. when i first read that stuff in the books i didnt think anything could ever capture how i imagined it exactly and yet. AND YET. DENIS!!!!!!!!

once more dune hits the idea of scale SO well everything is HUGE and they MAKE YOU FEEL IT. that shows especially with geidi prime but ill talk about that in a bit. but yes this applies to the worms too lord above them WORMSSSS ARE HUGEEEE AND I LOVE THEMMMM

rebecca ferguson put her heart and soul into that water of life scene and we all need to thank her for it

the way jessica is so quick to switch up and go all in on the prophecy. it makes me think of leto's "im not asking his mother, im asking the bene gesserit" like. the bene gesserit really come first for jessica and she takes her opportunity to fulfill her duties. to be the reverend mother. to rub it all in the faces of the other bene gesserit. she is the mother of the messiah and by god will she make everyone well aware of that

okay. okay okay. i think i said my peace on the early fremen stuff. i think. okay fuck okay SHIT fuck SHIT

FEYD FUCKING RAUTHA LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

oh my god okay. okay ill admit it. i doubted austin butler. i saw the cast list and i was unsure(tm). i saw him in the trailers and my faith was restored. and holy fucking shit did he DELIVER

stellan skarsgård's baron harkonnen is already such a threatening figure it feels like it would be impossible to make someone even more terrifying and yet. AND YET

just the way he's introduced. killing servants with zero remorse. LICKING THAT KNIFE THE WAY HE DID??? OKAY WHORE. I SEE YOU. GO RIGHT AHEAD. MAKE IT SLUTTY IN HOUSE HARKONNEN. I RESPECT IT

when the arena doors open and that loud ass fucking music BOOMS. makes the room fucking SHAKE. thats a PRESENCE right there. THATS how you introduce your antagonist.

the music playing as he fights being as fucking deranged as he is. chaotic and weird and unsettling. just. oh my god feyd had such a presence from the moment he showed up and he did not lose it for a single second. you could feel him LOOMING over the movie the whole time just as he looms over the whole book from his very first scene. oh my goddddd oh my godd

GEIDI PRIME. THE ARENA. THAT MASSIVE HARKONNEN PALACE. oh my god. once more. that sense of scale. the harkonnens love to flaunt their wealth so ofc they have huge fuck off arenas and castles where everything and everyone feels so SMALL in comparison.

dont even get me started on the black and white. the way it accents those coal black teeth and mouths. the way it makes everything look so much more inhuman and clinical and PERFECT because harkonnen power is so absolute and ruthless.

and the way the baron sits so so high above watching the fighting. literally impossible to picture his elevation above his people above the rest of the universe. the way feyd looks to him for approval after every movement. even as his uncle is trying to kill him they exchange those little looks and feyd knows hes getting his chance to show off while the baron gives him his "gift" what a fucked up family what the hell

speaking of fucked up family! wow! they are SO fucked up! there is something seriously strange being hinted at with feyd and the baron! feyd making his own brother bow and kiss his boot! those constant threats of death against rabban as if theyre nothing! this family is capital f FUCKED up. they hurt each other as much as they hurt everyone around them. theyre made of violence and blood and they could never show each other kindness because they dont know such a thing

what can i say about the feyd/margot scenes that hasnt been said already. like wow just unpack the boy's trauma like that. use him and then throw him to the wolves. once again the bene gesserit make it so clear this is THEIR empire and THEIR bloodlines and THEIR messiah. too bad jessica doesnt see that collective "ours" and instead settles for "mine" when it comes to the messiah

special shout out to dave bautista before i move on. just cause. his rabban doesnt get enough love. he really sells that balance of ruthless power but also incompetency compared to his brother so well. can you guys tell i REALLY like this cast

WE ACTUALLY GOT TO SEE GURNEY PLAYING THE BALISET WE FUCKING WIN Y'ALL

the paul/gurney reunion being the last shred of the old paul. how he gets so happy "i recognized your footsteps, old man" shoot me in the fucking brain stem it would HURT LESS

a bit off topic and it happened earlier (sorry my thoughts are so all over the place) but i like how they actually showed the process of how the water of life is made. it was actually exactly like how i imagined it when i read the books so thats neat !!

anyway. back to the horrors.

i already talked so much about feyd's presence so just another small note. that scene in sietch tabr. he is a MONSTER and i am EATING IT UP

i cant even begin to explain. how much it fucked me up. when paul took the water of life. i knew thats where we were going. i knew it was unavoidable. and yet still. when chani bent over him and screamed at everyone for making him follow this prophecy. when she was forced to shed tears to save his life. when she got him back only to realize she lost him and he wasnt the person she loved anymore. it broke me

chani's utter hatred for the prophecy and what paul is becoming added to it so much. i know some people are unhappy with how much shes been changed from the books but i think its elevated her character and all these scenes so much. and oh my god does zendaya DELIVER when the spotlight is on her. i never doubted her for a moment but all those changes to chani really allowed to let her shine. thats that euphoria acting coming out baby !!!!

SPEAKING OF GOOD ACTING

TIMOTHEE

FUCKING

CHALAMET

listen i hate the fact that he gets cast in everything these days as much as everyone but hes such a talented actor and i cant deny this anymore. the water of life scene really sold it for me.

he was such a perfect paul already in the first movie but this was the moment it really came out. the way he wakes up so calm and collected. lifeless. monotone. theres nothing theres literally nothing

paul atreides the boy who became duke far too young is dead usul who was the lover of chani is dead muad'dib the fedaykin fighter is dead only the kwisatz haderach remains and thats what the prophecy was always leading us to and yet the moment it happens its so haunting

like i cannot say this enough. that complete switch is so sudden but so subtle at the same time. its still paul technically but hes so different

what makes dune's weird concepts so easy to take in once you get into the book is all that internal monologue that really leads you through these complex concepts slowly. and yet in a few shots and a few lines of dialogue timothee chalamet somehow manages to express the idea of "i just learned the secrets of the fucking universe and im about to start a holy war" ???? HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THIS???? HOW ARE YOU THIS TALENTED???? OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! IT WAS A FEW LOOKS A FEW MOVENTS JUST THE RIGHT TONE OF VOICE AND THATS HIM!!! THATS HIM BABY!!!! THATS THE KWISATZ HADERACH AND THE UNIVERSE IS FUCKED !!!!!!!!!

also. anya taylor joy alia. we only had you for a split second but i cannot wait for you. im sure youre going to completely slay the third movie. give us our beloved tragic meow meow. alia is my fave character so i will be JUDGING HEAVILY. she better bring her a-game istg

when paul storms the war council and just completely takes control of the room so easily. thats the bene gesserit conditioning giving him his pedestal and he is making the most of it. he knows exactly what the fuck hes doing. and once more oh my goddddd all that shouting all that emotion and yet a complete lack of it. timothee spare a crumb of talent for the rest of us

also the way in that scene gurney is hesitant about it all until paul proclaims himself the duke of arrakis. and suddenly gurney has house atreides again and he doesnt care what chani does anymore. hes a follower to paul just as everyone else in that room. nothing changes. fuck me man i cant do this anymore

have i mentioned yet im so excited for chani in the next movie. her arc is so interesting. children of dune is defo not happening with the way chani has been set up so i doubt we'll see leto ii and ghanima but. lets hope we still get all the cool stuff wit alia at least. and maybe chani can be the one who leads the charge against her

okay i need to really fucking. get along with it im dragging this post on im so sorry this movie is eating my brain alive

chani still wearing blue during the final fight. im not saying more than that i might cry if i think about it too much

THAT. FINAL. FIGHT. OH MY GODDD OH MY GOD

IT ALL CAME TOGETHER SO SO WELL

THE WORMS

THE SENSE OF SCALE

THE FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

THE MUSIC HOLY FUCK THE MUSIC HANS ZIMMER YOU OUTDO YOURSELF EVERY TIME

THE SOUND

EVERYTHING FLOWING TOGETHER SO WELL

the way the fremen fight for their messiah but still fly the atreides banner. the way paul leads them as their messiah and as a "fremen" but always proclaims himself duke of house atreides first. oh lorddd im unwell

every time paul menacingly emerged from fog/sand/smoke my life was extended by like 10 years thank u denis

gurney killing rabban with as much ease as he did cleared my skin and watered my crops <3

the way the baron was literally dying and still crawling towards the throne.......... the way at the same time feyd ignored him completely and looked towards the doors reveling in the fight ahead..... if that doesnt tell u everything you need to know about house harkonnen idk what will yall

i also love how no one intervenes as paul walks in and kills the baron. not even feyd. feyd looks like he was a little TOO into it as paul killed him tbh. feyd u little freak. austin butler you talented talented man. im unwell

i AM sad we didnt get to see baby alia stab him but ah well. we got a bunch of other weird dune shit so ill let this one slide. the psychic toddler may be too much even for denis and everything he did give us. we'll always have our 1984 alia <3

OHOHOHOHOHOHOH. OH. HERE WE GO

HERE WE GO YALL

THE SCENE IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE READING THE BOOK

THE SCENE THEY SHOWED BITS OF IN THE TRAILER AND THE SCENE IVE BEEN NON STOP YEARNING FOR SINCE!!!

THE DUEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god oh my god oh my goddddd where do i even start

okay so. the way theres no music. no fancy cuts no slow mo no over the top effects. its just the slashing of the blades and those BEAUTIFUL shadowed shots with the setting sun in the background. this really is the sun setting on the peaceful universe. just pain and suffering ahead marked with the blood spilled from the two who were meant to produce the messiah but who both got thrown off this path by the greed and selfishness of their forefathers. guys im normal about paul and feyd. definitely. i definitely have very normal thoughts about how they are foils and yet two sides of the same coin. yes guys

paul making the emperor kiss his ring is already such an insane fucking scene and it translated to the screen so well. amazing performances all around

i didnt talk much about florence pugh's irulan but she really didnt have much time to shine. im excited to see where she goes next and i definitely think shes a great fit but i need to see more of her to really be able to say more

i will say this. the way chani, irulan and jessica are the only ones who dont kneel for paul. the three most important women in his life who give him his power, everything he has. jessica made him and she made him the messiah. chani opened her life up to him, helped him become and in turn control the fremen, and she shed her tears for him and fulfilled her role in the prophecy against her wishes. irulan is his path to the throne, his key to being emperor. and none of them bow before him because why would they bow before a power they are responsible for, a power they own, a power they gave?

but for chani its different ofc. she also refuses to bow because she despises everything paul stands for.

oh my god i could say so much about the last scene being chani. not paul reveling in his victory. paul leaves for his next bloodshed and chani is left behind crying for the person she loves who she knows is gone. crying for her people, again enslaved. crying those same tears that brought the messiah back into this world.

theres a lot to be said about the role of gender in dune and how it hangs over every facet of this world but thats a whole separate analysis post to be had so ill just throw it down here in this little point

another thing chani does very well in the movies is she really makes paul's villainy explicitly clear. SO many people read dune and completely misunderstand it and walk away from it concluding its a "white savior narrative" and nothing more which. yes!! yes it is!!!! but thats not a good thing!!!! its never stated to be a good thing!!!!

this movie is not gonna let you misunderstand the message of the story no matter how blind you try to be to it. paul is not a good guy. hes never been the good guy. hes the protagonist, but hes not the hero. and chani allows that to translate from book to movie very well. have i mentioned yet i love movie chani

chani fills in the holes left behind by the narration and internal monologues of the book and, bonus points, she holds the people who dont understand what dune is about by the hand and tells them explicitly "PAUL IS A BAD GUY!!! DONT IDOLIZE PAUL!!!! DONT WALK AWAY FROM DUNE THINKING ITS PRAISING PAUL'S ACTIONS!!!"

i think thats pretty much all i had to say. i might reblog with additions as they hit me but yeah i. i enjoyed the movie. so so much. i think i might watch it again sometime soon while its still in cinemas.

sorry for being unhinged hope u enjoyed my rants. kiss kiss night night <3

[mariana-oconnor]

The Sussex Vampire pt 2

It took me five times to write the title correctly, so this is clearly going to go brilliantly.

Back to the vampires

Now, my working theory is that the son is secretly trying to off his new half-sibling and frame his stepmother. Mainly I think this because Peru, because British authors in the first part of the twentieth century loved a good untraceable tropical poison from South America.

“She verra ill,” cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her master. “She no ask for food. She verra ill. She need doctor. I frightened stay alone with her without doctor.”

First... wow. That's some terrible accent work there. Yikes. Second, is she ill because she's been sucking poison out of her baby's neck?

“Would your mistress see Dr. Watson?” “I take him. I no ask leave. She needs doctor.”

First, all he's going to do is prescribe brandy. And second, it's lucky he's actually a medical doctor (Although I'm not convinced he's ever done much medicine. He wasn't at his practice much before he abandoned it to live with Holmes again.) You can't just go assuming that everyone called doctor such and such knows medicine. I have many friends and relatives who are doctors and literally 1 of them is a medical doctor.

Both were high, and yet my impression was that the condition was rather that of mental and nervous excitement than of any actual seizure.

Or... an untraceable tropical poison...

“A fiend! A fiend! Oh, what shall I do with this devil?”

A fiend? A devil? Or perhaps...

(No, she's referring to the son. Definitely because who else could it be. Way too obviously directed at her husband here for it to actually be him.)

So far no brandy though. Watson must have lost all his medical knowledge since he left his practice. Woe.

“He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him? Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart? That is how I love him. And yet he could think of me—he could speak of me so.”

Lady, I get it, I get it. You don't want to tell him his son is a murderer. But given the evidence you've left the poor man with, what do you expect. You think he'll just be like 'well, she beat my son and she keeps chowing down on our baby's neck, but I trust that she knows what she's doing?'

...a youth entered the room. He was a remarkable lad, pale-faced and fair-haired, with excitable light blue eyes which blazed into a sudden flame of emotion and joy as they rested upon his father. He rushed forward and threw his arms round his neck with the abandon of a loving girl.

The child is evil.

Although I kind of dislike how they're using his 'excess' of emotional response to show this, especially with the comparison to a woman. There's a distinct undercurrent in this description that sparks of him 'showing too much emotion for a boy' and therefore being othered.

Or maybe I'm reading too much into things in order to support my own hypothesis. Am I altering data to suit my story? Am I the misogynistic one reading too much into this.

Although it literally says in the text that his father 'gently disengaged himself from the embrace with some little show of embarrassment.'

Like, tell me that isn't outright supporting my reading.

Presently he returned, and behind him came a tall, gaunt woman bearing in her arms a very beautiful child, dark-eyed, golden-haired, a wonderful mixture of the Saxon and the Latin. Ferguson was evidently devoted to it, for he took it into his arms and fondled it most tenderly.

Watson out there refusing to apply gendered pronouns. How very modern of him. Lol.

It is a bit weird to see a baby referred to as 'it' so consistently, though. Not even 'them'. Reminds me of the baby object in the Sims.

Then he smiled, and his eyes came back to the baby. On its chubby neck there was this small puckered mark. Without speaking, Holmes examined it with care. Finally he shook one of the dimpled fists which waved in front of him. “Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange start in life."

Holmes being very nice to a baby. Actually interacting with... it? when he really doesn't need to. Not like the baby knows what he's saying. Just taking the time to be nice to a baby. Super heartless and lacking in empathy, that man.

“Do you like her, Jack?” Holmes turned suddenly upon the boy. His expressive mobile face shadowed over, and he shook his head. “Jacky has very strong likes and dislikes,” said Ferguson, putting his arm round the boy. “Luckily I am one of his likes.”

On the one hand, perfectly reasonable to dislike the woman who beat you. On the other hand, maybe the father knows his son is capable of terrible things.

The boy cooed and nestled his head upon his father's breast. Ferguson gently disengaged him.

Oh my god, he's a kid. Let the boy have a hug. Even if he is a monster-child, this is probably why. Though I have a sneaking suspicion the story is going to try to tell me it's the exact opposite.

"Now, Mr. Ferguson, I am a busy man with many calls, and my methods have to be short and direct. The swiftest surgery is the least painful. Let me first say what will ease your mind. Your wife is a very good, a very loving, and a very ill-used woman.”

And your son is a murderer.

“I will do so, but in doing so I must wound you deeply in another direction.” “I care nothing so long as you clear my wife. Everything on earth is insignificant compared to that.”

People really need to think before they make statements like this. I understand that he is unlikely to consider that his son is trying to murder his other child in a fit of outraged jealousy over having to share his beloved father, but still... famous last words.

"The idea of a vampire was to me absurd. Such things do not happen in criminal practice in England."

The specficity of this is very bizarre. Do they happen in other kinds of practices in England?

"Was there not a queen in English history who sucked such a wound to draw poison from it?”

Was there?

OK, apparently this refers to Queen Eleanor, who sucked the poison from Edward I's poisoned knife wound in 1272. A story that has, sadly, fallen out of vogue in the English educational system. Probably because we don't really like to discuss the crusades except in a very general, distant sense. Or... y'know... any of the other times we invaded people. There are a lot of gaps in English history lessons.

“A South American household. My instinct felt the presence of those weapons upon the wall before my eyes ever saw them. It might have been other poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I saw that little empty quiver beside the small bird-bow, it was just what I expected to see. If the child were pricked with one of those arrows dipped in curare or some other devilish drug, it would mean death if the venom were not sucked out."

Curare, that was the name I've been trying to think of. Very popular for a while in literature.

“I watched him as you fondled the child just now. His face was clearly reflected in the glass of the window where the shutter formed a background. I saw such jealousy, such cruel hatred, as I have seldom seen in a human face.”

Sometimes it does suck to be right.

Suck... heh. Pun wasn't intended, but I'll take it.

“I think a year at sea would be my prescription for Master Jacky,” said Holmes.

Like... they're making him work on a ship? I know therapy isn't really anything at this point in time. But would-be murderer child gets sent to sea?

I doubt he'll be killed in a mysterious shipwreck off page, like so many others have been, but really... how is sending him to sea going to help literally anyone? Surely it'll just make him angrier and more resentful.

Victorian parenting was super weird.

Is this to 'make him a man', because we've seen him being compared to a woman? Is this some sort of misguided restoration of the gender binary to save him?

"There, now,” he added as he closed the door behind him, “I think we may leave them to settle the rest among themselves.”

Also Holmes reading the room well enough to know husband and wife need some alone time?

(One last vampire gif there that I don't know if anyone but me will even recognise. Josef, you almost made me understand the vampire thing...)

[neonovember]

All of you

mafia!au

summary; you didn’t mean to get them that angry, or get one of their men killed, but they’ll let you blame it on your insatiablity anyway.

warnings; smut, piv, asphyxiation, degradation, over stimulation, steve gets really rough, pet names, dumbification, mean steve, steve and bucky even being together in the same room, violence and mentions of death

a/n; I didn’t want to post part 1 without posting part 2. That’s it. Bucky and especially Steve are a little deranged in this, heed the warnings, please. Your media is your consumption, you have been warned!

It takes a while, takes you putting on one of Bucky’s favourite vinyls, twirling around in this useless big chair until your head was spinning before Ferguson showed up for his court-appointed presence.

You begin your silent seduction, like prey to a predator, you drop the bait and count on the man to be dumb enough to take it. And boy does he lead himself into it all on his own.

You compliment his stature, gush over his muscles, and beg him to flex them, all while you fiend innocence. As if this man ever would compare to your boys.

You hear the rev of an engine nearby, the sound of it so familiar to you that it fills you with warmth. They were home, or at least on the gravel road that lead to it.

You realised you had to amp it up if you wanted not only Bucky, but Steve, to be mad, really mad, not just the forgery they’d act with you, they had to believe this man truly thought he had a chance with you.

You slowly unbutton the back of your top, letting it hang loosely to display the red ink that trailed down your spine. You waited for the French doors to open, hearing the familiar footsteps run up the stairs and for a moment a feeling of guilt washed over you, they wanted to see you, and here you were playing mind games.

The flutter of the white curtains streaming in the moonlight reminds you however of the endless nights you’d stare through those same window panes, waiting, wishing your boys were home if not safe.

This was simply karmic justice.

“Would you mind buttoning up my shirt, it seemed to come undone somehow” You giggle, pushing your coils to the side.

“Would you mind buttoning up my shirt, it seemed to come undone somehow” You giggle, pushing your coils to the side.

He isn’t able to reach the second button before you hear the door bang open, bouncing back from the wall.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing” Bucky growls, his chest heaving up and down, the crisp white shirt is rolled to his elbows, and suspicious red splotches scatter the collar of it.

Thomas fumbles, his fingers latching back from your shit as if you were poison, he gulps loudly, the wrath of Bucky's rage that he knew all too well, now directed at him. 

“Uh, she asked-” Thomas begins, poor little Thomas, too stupid to know when to keep his hands to himself and even more stupid to know when to keep his mouth shut

Bucky doesn't let him finish, the last of his composure crumbling and he reaches for Thomas, ribbing him for being you and dragging him out of the room. There is a scurry, one Bucky has conveniently muffled through the shut office doors, but you hear the anguished screams nonetheless before he appears again in front of you. 

His dark strands fall in front of his eyes, but they do little to hinder the fire burning within them, deep embers of navy blue that seem almost silver under the low light. You know when a job has been particularly bad by Bucky’s hair, and with the way it was falling apart from the haphazard bun at the back, told you it was worse than bad.

You can practically see his body vibrating, mixed with the lasting adrenaline of what you believed Sam was dealing with right now and the anger of seeing another man be near those same tattoos Steve has inked onto your skin.

He slowly walks towards you, the same boots splattered with blood now pressing into the carpet floor, black copper orbs stare down at you, unblinking as they took you in, and sucked you into their depth.

“I’m giving you the opportunity to explain yourself, doll, and explain yourself good because I don’t have time for fucking jokes right now” He growls, gripping your waist and pulling you into him.

You stare at him blankly, displaying a hoax of ignorance and confusion as you furrow your brows.

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about Bucky, he was simply helping me button my shirt” You reply huskily, his grip of your waist tightens and his strands fall in front of his eyes. He shakes his head, nodding, understanding what this now was.

“So we’re doing this now huh?, After I just told you the day we’ve had?” bucky scoffs, eyes falling to your outfit, nodding appreciably at the lack of underwear.

“Okay, it’s your call baby doll, this is all you, you just wait, I’m sure Steve is finished with Ferguson right about now” Bucky smiles, licking his lips as he turns from you, leaning onto the desk. His eyes flicker to the glass of half-drunk bourbon and his eyes darken impossibly more.

The excitement, you were giddy with it. It poured into your stomach and fluttered around like butterflies, burning greater than the bourbon ever did. You could practically feel yourself tingling, at the tips of your fingers, the electrostatic heat and pulse of pleasure. All you needed was the final push.

And just like clockwork, Steve strolls into the room, his knuckles bloodied and his collar splattered with red. It takes one glance between Steve and Bucky to know what you were doing, their eyes communicating in the way words never could. They both nod towards you, before Steve slowly walks towards where you’re standing.

“What were you thinking, hm doll?” Steve asks silently, eyes calculating as they racked over your body.

“Answer me when I speak to you,” He says hushedly. The fear fills you, Steve isn’t scary when he’s enraged when he’s red with frustration. He’s scary when he’s silent. When he masks his face so that it remains like unmoulded clay. His eyes smiling, fucking smiling because he can smell the fear on you and he loves it, he craves the skin of yours shivering under the moonlight.

“I was just, talking to him, it’s not my fault! You both left me alone and the only man that was capable was him” You reply, friending innocence as you fluttered your eyes at him.

He smiles at that, pulling his white button sleeves to his elbows. Unfastening his tie so it lay lazily around his neck. He carefully paced his suit jacket on the coach. Before turning towards you again.

“Bucky, today wasn’t a good day was it?” He says staring directly at you.

“No, I don’t believe it was” Bucky grunts arms crossed as he grinned

“You see darling, some of our men got hurt, important men, men I needed to be alive. It caused us a real headache, a lot of blood on our hands and necks, a lot of inefficiencies that clogged up our production. Filth, and greed, just ruining our goddamn night.”

“And image our surprise, when the one thing we counted on, the one thing that would make it even a little better, made it fucking worse.” Steve grins, pulling your hair into a bun, his hands gliding down the slope of your face before pushing into your mouth.

You suck on them gleefully, looking towards him in pleasured relief. Whilst it seems impossible, his eyes darken even more than Bucky’s. Darken to a colour you’ve never seen before, a colour and depth reserved for his night dealings and empire.

You could practically feel it glide down your thighs. Steve’s hand twitches, and you know he can sense it too, your amounting pleasure building up to the tip of release with just his words.

He’s resisting, and you don’t want him to.

“I didn’t wait hours on the both of you, for you to just scold me” You begin to cross your arms against your chest, head back as you looked up into Steve’s.

“Sit down” He whispers, the words barely leaving his lips

You snort, swaying your hips like the tail of a temptress, reaching for the door handle to leave.

“If you won't satisfy me, I’ll find someone who will” You preen, eaging them on further.

It’s futile, you can feel the heat of Steve’s grip before his thick fingers even wrap around your waist.

“What the fuck did I just say?” Steve barks, annoyance lacing his tone. You can tell with the clench of his jaw that his anger is simmering just beneath the surface.

“You don’t want us angry baby doll, you remember last time?” Bucky grins, canines glinting in the moonlight, a wolf-life expression shines over his features.

Oh you remember last time, a mere rarity of sheer fucking that was nowhere near the sensual agonising heat you were used to. A rarity that came only when a particularly bad night had occurred, where they had almost lost you. Filled with betrayal and loss, that night had bled through both Steve and Bucky, until it was stained all over you, your thighs, your neck, your pussy.

“What if I want it like last time?” You whisper, looking at both of them in defiance. Your candour causes Steve to stiffen behind you, a momentary pause in his brain, a short circuit, a daunting realisation before a final knowing.

You hear a grunt pass through Steve’s lips, a silent “fuck” from Bucky’s.

He knows they both did, eyes shining towards each other, faces unreadable as they caught glimpses of their sweet girl for who she really was.

Steve hands you to Bucky as if your thick thighs and hips merely weighed nothing, Bucky moves towards the large armchair that’s positioned across the sofa. Steve sits across from you, legs spread apart as he rests his outstretched hands across the spine of the leather. Bucky sits you down between his legs, before repositioning you to straddle one of his thighs. You look up in bewilderment, and you know confusion covers your features when Steve grins, nodding.

“You want to get yourself off so bad with these wolves, why don’t you take some initiative. Show us how bad you want this, show us how bad you’ve been needing” Steve smirks leaning back.

“Go on, pretty girl, I’m all yours” Bucky whispers into the shell of your ear. Pressed kisses down the slope of your neck before biting your ear lip, causing you to yelp, indirectly causing a delicious friction against Bucky’s bludge that has both of you groaning.

Bucky rests his hands on your waist, not applying any pressure yet, as you begin to drag your hips against his pantsuit. You throw your head back against Bucky’s curls, gripping his thighs as you speed up your ministrations.

The folds of the fabric create friction that rubs against your pulsing clit, and the sticky need of your arousal leaks from the sides of your inner thighs, dampening Bucky’s pants and creating the perfect slick for you to go faster.

“Just like that doll, get yourself off on Bucky’s thigh, I know you can do it, fucking show me” Groans Steve, hes eyes never leaving your own.

The scent of you has Bucky groaning with his head back, and as you begin moving your hips into Bucky’s leg, he tenses the muscle causing you to squeeze your eyes shut, the building of pleasure reaching a cliff.

“Open your eyes doll, I want to see every single expression you make” Steve growls from the sofa, through your bounds of pleasure you had almost forgotten he was there, watching.

The scene that opens to you almost has you climaxing itself, there he was, looking through hooded eyes into the junction of your thighs as they grounded against Bucky's.

His hands had slipped into his pants, and you watch him pump himself to your pleasure, his thick fingers gripping the shaft, rolling the pearl of premium against his head and squeezing tight.

“P-Please” You groan, head tilted back, you were so close, the motion of your hips now almost mechanical, moving unconsciously as the waves of pleasure washed over you.

“Please what baby? You’re gonna have to be a bit clearer than that, I want to hear exactly what you want” Bucky smirks into your skin.

“Harder, faster, fuck just I need it, I need you Bucky!” You cry out, reaching for his thick finger to give you the roughness you need.

“That's all you’ve got to say” Bucky whispers as he circles his hands across your hips, gripping them, bringing them down, hard against his thigh.

You moan out pleas of gratitude, the pleasure taking you into a wordless heap of gurgles “yes yes yes”.

Bucky drags your pussy against him, unrelenting even as you squirm against his hold, thighs attempting to close but to no avail, Steve grips them open, making you take everything.

You hold onto Bucky's broad shoulders, anchoring you to this world, all you could do now was take it, drink down the waves of pleasure that seemed unrelenting, pleasure as deep as the pacific.

Steves moves closer, slipping his thick hands between your thighs, dragging his ring-encrusted digits across your folds, collecting your arousal before bringing it to his lips, he looks you dead in the eye as he sucks, hard.

“Fuckin delicious” He moans, eyes half-lidded. You watch, mouth agape, and it takes one more rough glide from Bucky before your falling apart in front of them.

Your eyes squeeze shut, gripping Buck’s locks as he grunts into you, white-hot saccharine pleasure engulfs your vision, blinding you temporarily. You don't speak, you don’t move, you simply sway against the current, you hear the murmur of Steves's voice calling your name, coaxing you back to the ground.

“You all there baby girl? Hm?” Steve hushes, and your head hits something plush and velvet, nothing like the broad expanse of Bucky’s chest. They seemed to have moved you while you were recovering, you hadn't even noticed.

“Haven't even put my fingers in you and you're already a puddle in my hands, what happened to the fiery girl before, you give up already?” Steve smirks, instigating you.

“Hmph, iss only cause it was me, you think your small dicks can make me cum?” You giggle, high off of the smell of sex and desperation permeating the air.

“Is that right baby? Hm? How about we prove it” Bucky smirks before he roughly reaches for you, dragging you to the edge of the mahogany desk, before tossing ypu to Steve.

Steve picks you up, flipping you acorss his shoulder as he begins to make his way from the offcie and into the darkned hallway.

“Where are we going” You groan, hyour thighs are still shaking from the orgasm Bucky had given you, surely they didnt want another round?

Steves hand comes down, hard againts your basckside, the sound vibrates across the house, and shoots directly to your core. Steve had never touched you like this, with a sliver of pain mixed and folded into pleasure, but you liked it, hell you fucking loved it

“Don’t you fucking open that slutty mouth of yours, what? you thought we were done?” Steve laughs palm coming down again, cereminously.

“We’ve got the whole night to open you right up doll, have your pussy fuckiing weeping after were done” Steve promises, hands sqeezing the curve your ass, the heat spreading up your back.

The only vision you have is the back of Steves dress shoes, the encrusted signange at the heel, the silver metal snake glinting againts the mostly dark surroundings. Buckys shoes follow, you can make ut his hands, glistening with your pleasure, the veins runnings long his arms pressing into the pockets of his pants.

Before long Steve drops you onot the plush covers of your bed, but before you are able to bury yourself into the soft quilt, Bucky rougly turns your around, before pressing tinot rh mattress, thighs between your closed legs, that Steve grips open.

His glistenign fingers reach up to yoiur pants, ripping them open and he drags them down your thighs

“Tsk, tsk tsk, no panties? It's like she knew what was going to happen” Bucky smirks towards Steve, your back againts his chest as he leaves brusiing kissses along the slope of your neck.

Steve hums in response, “Our girl? Our sweet, innocent girl? she would never” 

“That's right, this isn't our sweet girl, isn't that right?” Bucky whispers into the skin of your thighs, gliding his tongue along the curve of it, before begining to bite and suck at the skin right near your quivering folds. 

God why couldt he just move a little bit further?

You golt forward, into Bucky as Steve lands a slap against your pussy, hand reaching between your body, doing it again and again and again until you were weeping, eeys squeezed shut and head hanigng againts Steves warm chest.

“Answer Bucky when he speaks to you” He growls, dipping a thick digit into your folds, swirling your slick around clit, before circling his fingers. You moan anabasdhedly, unaware of how goddamn loud you were being in the ince quiet house.

“Do we need to teach you some manners doll? Hm? Stuff that pretty hole full so we can get some respect?” Steve whispers into your ear, adding a second digit, the cool metal of his rings pressing againts the opening of your hole, you preen, so fucking close you can taste the orgasm and your tongue.

Steve curls his fingers, gliding them againts your velvet walls, and Bucky moves closer, hes faint breath againts your clit that has you gustling againts both their bodies. Bucky holds you still, his hands gripping your waist, pushing your arched back into the mattress and he sucks on your clit.

He groans in appreciaiton, the sound vibrating through your core and it has you screaming his name is earnest. Steve continues to assault your folds, pressing further until he finds the spong spot that has you prrssing your fingers into his arm, trying and failing, to shove his fingers away from you. Tears begin to blur your vision, the cwnterpiece chandilier know but a muffle of lights, but god does it feel good. It burns you, it brands you, this aching pleasure, the overstimualtion of Steevs, his stumble ctaches most of it, the rough hairs scratching againts the softness of your thighs.

Your juices leak between Steves fingers, dripping down and spearing across Buckys chinpressing his hands into your thighs. 

A muffled moan escapes your mouth as you try and suppress the growing need spreading beginning to uncurl. The blinding hot pleasure begins to build, and just as you feel it slding againts your back,  Steve retracts his fingrs from your pussy, and Bucky lets go of your clit with a pop.

The ahce of emptiness hurts you more than their overstimualtion, and yur reaching for thier fingers and face quickly, whines leaving your mouth as your cheeks trail with tears.

Bucky pushes your hands away, into steves grip who lift them over your shoulder, holding them together in one hand. 

“You wont be cumming on anything other than our dicks tonight sweetheart”Bucky smiles, his smirk widens, as your greddily oush your hips into his crotch, neded any friction.

Bucky pushes his cothed cock againts your pussy, the outline of his hard cock pushing againts your clit.

“God look at her Bucky, so fucking needy” Steve groans, watching your hips begin to move, aagin againts Bucky’s boner.

“If I’d known this would keep your mouth shut and preseting, well, doll, i wouldve done this ages ago”. Bucky replies, eyes never leaving your lidden ones.

Buckdoesnt waste a second ripping his suit pants off,  pulling his hardened cock out as it smacks againts his stomach. For a moment you froget how thick he is, the angry red tip of it leaking with precum, dripping along thr slides that were ripled with distinct veins that followed to the cut of his obliques. 

As if reading your mind Bucky softly smirks, lfitng your chin, pressing a soft kiss to your lips

“Oh baby, ill make sure it fits, il make sure you get every fucking inch and then some” Bucky replies, the juxtaposition of his soft tocuh and his hrds words has you dripping.

Gripping your knees within his grasp, Steve contours your body impossibly wider, giving Bucky enough room to press his entire body against you. His head nudges against your folds, collecting the slick cum dripping from your core, before roughly pushing in, leaving no room to get adjusted. 

You both groan, as your pussy welcomes him, the flutter of your walls squeezing his dick. Bucky’s eyes are screwed shut, and you force yours to stay open as you watch, mesmerized as he pressed his canines into redded lips.

“God, shit, every time we open your pretty little pussy up it just never gets used to us huh? So fucking tight, she’s gripping me like a fucking vice Stevie” Bucky groans loudly, jaw clenched and fingers pressed into the underside of your thighs.

It was no surprise that Bucky and Steve were.. big, to say the least. They’d always known that needed to give you a few seconds to get used to their sheer size, but no, as bucky begins to pound against your slick walls, groaning at your warmth and softness you understand they have abandoned all traditions.

Every rough glide of Bucky's cock through your folds has you moaning in ecstasy, as the burn of his thick shaft presses against your walls. You smash into Steve’s back with every thrust, shoving every inch of himself even deeper into you, Steves's rough fingers come to squeeze your nipples, rolling them between his patted fingers, pulling hard, before letting go.

“Nnnph” You cry out, hands resisting against Steve’s grip, you attempt to close your legs, but it pulls Bucky even deeper, leaving him groaning and sheathing his cock so it circled your walls.

“Don’t go running away now bunny, Bucky’s filling you right up, you should say thank you”. Steve replies cocking his head to the aide, grinning before sneaking his hand to grip your cheeks, squeezing them hard between his fingers.

You cant reply, you cant even speak, the pleasure overwheling you as Bucky rougly shoves his fat cock up to the hilt, your arousal creaming around the base, so fucking wet and messy that it has him almost slipping out.

A hard burn erupts on your cheek, the stinging sensation going straight to your core, Steve slaps you, again, this time harsher as he berates you loudly.

“You dumb bunny, what did i say about repeating myswelf, go on, say thank you to Bucky”

You struggle to keep your eyes open, the thin lids seem to heavy now, Steve squeezes your cheeks again, the rings on his fingers pressing imprints onto your cheekbone, and yu somehow manage to cry out.

“T-thank you, Thank you, thank you!” You moan, the words fallling out of your mouth mechanically.

The mere words leave you echausted, and you slump againts Steve’s broad chest, the only help of his arms holding your knees up. You’ve given up countign how many times Bucky has left you wailing, the sleek of your orgasm just edging him on.

Holding your knees up to your chest bucky presses his cok in a new direction, pressing rougly againts the soft spongy spot

“Oh God!, oh, oh, Bucky please, I can't do anymore- mh” You yelp as Bucky bites into your thigh, grinning as he sucks onto the skin.

“You just feel so good doll, so fucking good, can you give me another one? hm? can you please? I need it, fuck I need you to milk me with those creamy fucking walls” Bucky groans, refusing to falter his movements, harsh thrust bumping the head of cock against your g-spot, your thighs quiver violently, and it isn't soon before your cumming again, milking his cock, your walls tightening around him.

“That's right, milk my fucking cock you slut, got you so dumb and full you can't even form words, you've learnt your place haven't you, doll? Bucky questions his hands coming to push your hair out of your face. You are way in out of your mind to even reply, drool dripping from the corner f your mouth, shaking in a heap of cum and spit.

“So good, baby, so fucking good, I outa give you something back aren't I?” Bucky smiles, eyes falling to the nudge of his cock against your soft stomach. The greys of his pupils darken as he watches, and his curls begin to fall across his face, sticking to his forehead.

“You gonna let me cum in you? Huh? Let me feed this greedy little hole who has been crying for it all night?” Bucky sneers, and your pussy tightens around him in return, leaving him to grip your thighs, red crevices forming into your skin.

Moaning in approval, Bucky fastens his pace, shoving himself in and out without much less than a second, you tighten your walls again, causing obscenities to leave buckys mouth.

“Please Bucky, give it to me, fill me up, I want it, I want to need it”You cry out. It doesn't take long before Bucky empties into you, thick ropes of cum shooting into your pussy, coating your walls, before oozing out of the sides of his fat cock. Bucky watches intently as the mix of both of your arousal slides down your fluttering folds, damping the dark sheets below.

Lost in your pleasure you don’t recognise when Steve had pulled you down to the edge of the bed, your face between his large hands. He looks down intently at you, a blown out expression over his features as he takes in your shallow breaths and test stricken face tracked with dirty mascara.

Steve begins to push your hair back from your face, brushing your tears from your cheeks with his thumb, you think this is a hidden gesture, to show his un wielding desire to care for you. You feel him begin to grip your hair however, pulling you down onto your knees on the cold hardwood floor with one hand.

He sits on the edge of the bed, his unwiedling grip at the back of your head as you look up at him on your knees. It’s a sight to behold, one Bucky not so subtlety captures on a point and shoot. You sit patiently, looking up at Steve through hooded eyes, lazy and dumb from Bucky’s cock.

Steve hums silently, before softly speaking with a grin crarcking thigh his features unnaturally

“Do you think you can fit this cock down that pretty little throat?” Steve smirks, pumping his cock at your salvating expression.

You nod quickly beginning to reach towards him, eager to feel his heavy weight againts your tongue, to trail the long vein along its side and choke againts its girth.

Steve pulls you back violently, corsding his head disapprovingly

“No touching, I’m in control now baby doll, do you understand me? If I even see you begin to move shove your panties in that mouth and lock you in a room for 2 weeks” Steve warns, a dark expression overcoming his face as he cocks his head to the side.

You look over his broad shoulders to see Bucky fucking up into your panties, he catches your eyes with a smirk, winking at your open mouth shock.

“Does your dumb brain understand? Or are you too fucked out of your own mind to even listen” Steve growls at you silence, his grip tightening, shooting a pain down your skull.

You nodded quickly, hands behind your back for emphasis, you needed his cock, you needed so fucking badly.

“Use your big words, cmon you can do it” Steve teases cruelly, smirking down at your needy face, you’ve begun to rock against your palm, Steve’s degradation causes your to shudder in response, clenching against your own hand.

“Yes I unders-“ You let out before Steve slams his cock down your throat, groaning loudly at the feel of your wet mouth.

“Fucking shit babygirl, felt like the first fucking time” Steve groans, looking down as he thrusts into your throat, a paced motion that only went deeper.

You resist the gag threatening to come out at the intrusion, forcing yourself to breathe though your nose, you grip your thigh tightly as your nose begins to brush against the soft hairs at the base.

Your tongue glides against the ridges and veins of his cock, Steve allows you to wrap a hand around whatever you can’t fit, circling your tou hue around his shaft before gliding your way to his tip, he grips your hair tightly as you flatten your tongue against the head, and as you look up at him you find him already staring intently down at you.

Steve quickly takes control wrapping your hair into a makeshift pony tail before angling his hips do that he drove his entire length down further, hitting the back your throat. Muffled groans and scattered half words, leave his mouth, the beginnings of your name and curses filling the room.

Steve speeds up his pace, do that you had no choice but to hold your breathe as he drove deeper and deeper, it was as if all restraint had left him as he lost himself in pleasure, using your throat as merely a hole to fill his cum with.

Ragged breathes from above are all you can here as tears begin to stream down your face, you gag violently but Steve continued his rough thrusts, growling as he sees the tears staining your cheeks, as he sees what his cock has done to you.

You feel rough fingers reach for your throat, gripping it harshly as they squeeze, leaving you with shallow breathes in between the few seconds in which Steve’s cock is not down your throat.

“Holy shit Steve” Moans Bucky as he looks over at your appearance, mascara trucking down your throat, your hair sticking to your forehead, lips spread wide open, and forehead practically kissing Steve’s abdomen.

The lack of air begins to consume you, but you find it impossibly to let of of his heavy weight against your tongue, a strangled moan vibrates against his cock and it has Steve curse your name loudly, gripping your scalp to the point or breakage.

“You’re just a fucking hole aren’t you baby? Huh? Only thing your good for is taking by dick down that tight fucking throat and letting me use you however I fucking want” Steve growls above you, pushing the fallen strands back into his tight grip as he continued to drive into you.

“Talking so much fucking shit, pulling that little stunt you thought up in that dumb brain of yours. Thought you were so smart with that huh? You’re embarrassing, the only thing you did was waste a perfectly good soldier of ours” Steve continued, tutting as if he were talking about the weather.

“Couldn’t have him think he had a chance right Bucky?” Steve says, wrapping his palms around your face now, hitting the back of your throat with little abandon, the dazed expression turning him on as you choke on him. Steve doesn’t wait for him to reply before he continues.

“Now you know your rightful place, on your fucking knees taking me in your mouth, barely able to breathe with your own fingers shoved into your pussy” Steve remarks growning at your soft rocking against your hand.

You moan loudly against him, unable to keep your noises within, the sound vibrates across Steve’s cock, and he drives you violently down his length, your wet hot mouth causing him to growl loudly.

His thrust become sloppy as he glides against your tongue, and without warning, he shoots down your throat, your nose against his stomach as he forced you to take all of it, his full shooting down your abused throat.

He continues to thrust into you slowly, allowing you to breathe finally, as he eases his thick cock from your mouth, cum and spit dribbling down your mouth and down your neck.

You feel yourself falling onto your back before Steve quickly catches you, collecting you into his arms and he guided you onto the bed. Collecting the cum from your stomach and mouth, licking it clean, Steve looks at you intently, an unreadable expression over taking his features and his furrows his eyebrows.

He reached for you before you flinch quickly, causing Steve to quickly retract his hand.

“Hey, hey, you all there? We good” Steve says concern lacing his tone, as he takes in you heaving chest.

Bucky immediately looks down at you, the same concern mirrored on his features.

“M fine, just overstimulated, s’good Steve” You groan licking your lips, causing Steve and Bucky to clench their jaws unconsciously, the wood splintering under their grip.

“Good, because we’re not stopping anytime soon” Steve replies darkly

“Remember we’ve got all night baby doll, and we were just getting started” Bucky grins. Their cocks already getting hard, pressing against your stomach, and their eyes seemed to remain on the cum oozing from between your closed legs, dark grey’s and blue’s watching you, like wolves to the prey.

And you would have no choice but to surrender.

[thefisherqueen]

Letters from Watson's The Sussex Vampire it is this evening! Such an itriguing title. A vampire? Really?

“You are right, Watson. I bet Watson glowed with pride at those words

The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply. Ok I love that

“Cheeseman's, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley, Watson?” “It is in Sussex, south of Horsham.” Holmes sometimes really treats Watson as a walking atlas or newspaper. I don't think that Watson minds

It was one of the peculiarities of his proud, self-contained nature that though he docketed any fresh information very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldom made any acknowledgment to the giver. Ok, maybe he does mind

indeed the matter is so extraordinarily delicate that it is most difficult to discuss Really delicate this time, or delicate like a student trying to cheat again?

The lady was very beautiful, but *steels for racism and misogyny*

Twice the wife was caught in the act of assaulting this poor lad in the most unprovoked way. Once she struck him with a stick and left a great weal on his arm. This was a small matter, however, compared with her conduct to her own child, a dear boy just under one year of age. On one occasion about a month ago this child had been left by its nurse for a few minutes. A loud cry from the baby, as of pain, called the nurse back. As she ran into the room she saw her employer, the lady, leaning over the baby and apparently biting his neck. There was a small wound in the neck from which a stream of blood had escaped. A violent and biting wife. So, some real vampire-like behaviour then. Not what I expected

To him it seemed as wild a tale as it may now seem to you. He knew his wife to be a loving wife, and, save for the assaults upon her stepson, a loving mother. Why, then, should she wound her own dear little baby? He told the nurse that she was dreaming, that her suspicions were those of a lunatic, and that such libels upon her mistress were not to be tolerated. Believe her, idiot!

So what are Holmes and Watson going to do this time? Interrogate this vampire lady? Deduce and remove the perfectionally rational and existing thing that suddenly makes her want to drink her baby's blood? I really can't see where this story is heading

P. S. I believe your friend Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond. It is the only personal introduction which I can give. “Of course I remembered him,” said I as I laid down the letter. “Big Bob Ferguson, the finest three-quarter Richmond ever had. Fanfic writers really ran away with this, avidly pointing to Ferguson as Watson's first crush on another man. I can't really blame them

Holmes looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head. “I never get your limits, Watson,” said he. “There are unexplored possibilities about you. I love this. So easy to picture Holmes looking at Watson like he is a beautiful, ever interesting puzzle

I had remembered him as a long, slab-sided man with loose limbs and a fine turn of speed which had carried him round many an opposing back. There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his shoulders were bowed. I fear that I roused corresponding emotions in him. “Hullo, Watson,” said he, and his voice was still deep and hearty. “You don't look quite the man you did when I threw you over the ropes into the crowd at the Old Deer Park. Oh my. There was really some History between those two

“I gather that you did not know your wife well at the time of your marriage?” “I had only known her a few weeks.” Still wild to me, that it was common to marry someone you barely knew at that time

“I fancy,” said he, “that I may be of more use at Lamberley than here. It is eminently a case for personal investigation. If the lady remains in her room, our presence could not annoy or inconvenience her. Of course, we would stay at the inn.” They are going on a country trip, staying at an inn, again :)

“Did she give no explanation why she struck him?” “None save that she hated him. Again and again she said so.” “Well, that is not unknown among stepmothers. A posthumous jealousy, we will say. Is the lady jealous by nature?” “Yes, she is very jealous—jealous with all the strength of her fiery tropical love.” Evil stepmother trope, but racist as well *groans*

Still can't figure out where this story is going and what Holmes is planning to do

“For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes? It may be a mere intellectual puzzle to you, but it is life and death to me! My wife a would-be murderer—my child in constant danger! Don't play with me, Mr. Holmes. It is too terribly serious.” Good that Ferguson says those words aloud. Holmes, are you listening?

Again she turned on me those glorious eyes. “He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him? Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart? That is how I love him. And yet he could think of me—he could speak of me so.” “He is full of grief, but he cannot understand.” “No, he cannot understand. But he should trust.” Don't tell me her intentions were good, and those two children were the ones who were... possessed, somehow? And that she tried to help them? I'm lost

“Fancy anyone having the heart to hurt him,” he muttered as he glanced down at the small, angry red pucker upon the cherub throat. It was at this moment that I chanced to glance at Holmes and saw a most singular intentness in his expression. His face was as set as if it had been carved out of old ivory, and his eyes, which had glanced for a moment at father and child, were now fixed with eager curiosity upon something at the other side of the room. Following his gaze I could only guess that he was looking out through the window at the melancholy, dripping garden. *inspiration is striking* I have a theory! Do wasps live in the garden? Was the baby stung by a wasp, and did the lady try to suck the poison out, and maybe beat them away with those sticks as well? Though that does not explain the partly paralized dog

Your wife is a very good, a very loving, and a very ill-used woman.” Ferguson sat up with a cry of joy. “Prove that, Mr. Holmes, and I am your debtor forever.” “I will do so, but in doing so I must wound you deeply in another direction.” Hm. My suspicions are now on the older son. And no wasps. Something stronger, intentionally given

Ferguson clearly saying he's not interested in hearing Holmes' reasoning, only his conclusions, yet Holmes simply can't resist

“Did it not occur to you that a bleeding wound may be sucked for some other purpose than to draw the blood from it? Was there not a queen in English history who sucked such a wound to draw poison from it?” Good, I was at least somewhat right. Still curious about what and who

A South American household. My instinct felt the presence of those weapons upon the wall before my eyes ever saw them. It might have been other poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I saw that little empty quiver beside the small bird-bow, it was just what I expected to see. Not fair. The readers couldn't see what Holmes could see, you literally can't know this

“Now do you understand? Your wife feared such an attack. She saw it made and saved the child's life, and yet she shrank from telling you all the truth, for she knew how you loved the boy and feared lest it break your heart.” “Jacky!” I knew it. Quite terrible, though, to write his disability as a motivation for this attacks

I liked the start of this story. The rest seemed a bit rushed, the elder brother as the villain in this story could use a bit more foreshadowing. I also really missed desciptions of Holmes and Watson sleeping in the same inn room and going on countryside walks together

[aaronburrdaily]

January 25, 1809

Writing to Bentham till 3. Went to bed, but my head had got so awake and so full of B. that sleep fled. Poor little dear T., you are rivalled but not superseded nor even diminished in my affections, but another is associated with our joint existence; another who will love you as I do. At 8 I got asleep and slept till 11. Whilst at breakfast, Colonel Smith came in. Then Judge Hume, who comes always to discover how he can serve me and always succeeds. At 2 came in Mr. Walker to ask me to breakfast to-morrow, seeing that all my dinner hours were preoccupied; assented. Sor. at 3. To Mr. Gordon's of Kircudbright; out. To Ferguson's; out. To Colquhoun, the Lord Advocate; out. To Madame Gordon's of Craig, 8 Castle ; out. Home at 4. Found a note and large package from Mrs. Gordon, of Craig, containing publications and plans about lunatic asylums. To Baron Norton's, Abbey Hill, to dine. Had, by appointment, 1/2 hour with him before dinner. The company were Mrs. Dundas, the mother of the chef baron; the chef baron; Mr. Boyle, the Solicitor General; Mr. and Mrs. Jardine; Miss Skeene, sister of Mrs. Jardine ; Mr. Stewart ; Mr. William Dundas; Baron Hepburn; Lady Jane; Baron Norton ux. and M’lle Norton. Miss Hastie, reported to be sick abed, did not appear. Baron N. has seven children: Grace, 13; ———, 11; a boy, 10;  ———, 9; George, 7; Helen, 5 1/2; Augusta, 4. Extraordinary attachment of Augusta; all love Gamp. After dinner taken up stairs by Augusta; sent for soon by Baron Norton. Dinner and wines excellent. Madeira, champagne, hermitage, Frontignan, malmsey, claret, port, sherry. Baron Hepburn’s very warm invitation to come and pass days or weeks with him in E. Lothian, twenty-two miles from Edinburgh. Came home with him at 10. Conversation at table general, and current trifles, and wit. A general wish that England would go to war with the United States. Home at 10. Sor. Madame D. Y: E.G.; 1/2 hour; 10 shillings 6 pence; dom., 1 shilling; engagement for 8 to-morrow. Two hours reading Mrs. Gordon’s pamphlets, &c.

[scotianostra]

Second Govan native today, the songwriter Bill Martin was born on November 9th 1938 in Glasgow.

Bill Martin really should be more well known, he penned some cracking songs, along with his songwriting partner Phil Coulter including Shang-a-lang,  Puppet on a String and Congratulations, he also co-penned Egland’s World Cup Song for 1970, Back Home, but we’ll forgive him for that! 

Born William Macpherson, the son of Letty (nee Wylie) and Ian Macpherson, in the dockside district of Glasgow, where his father worked in the shipyard. Like most folk back then his parents liked to socialise, and his father would entertain on accordion or piano, but at Govan high school their son was more interested in history and geography than music, Bill’s school mate became quite famous in his own right, a guy call Alex Ferguson.

After leaving school at 15, he worked in the shipyard himself, and then trained as a marine engineer. It was on a night shift doing that job, while listening to Bobby Darin’s Dream Lover playing on the radio, that he first seriously considered the idea of composing music. “The lyrics were tight and modern,” he said. “This was my kind of rock music and I felt then that I could make it as a songwriter.”

Martin did not take an immediate change in direction, however. Having married Margaret (Mag) Howe in 1960, he accepted a post as an engineer in South Africa, where, shortly after his arrival, he witnessed the Sharpsville Massacre watching from the safety of a tree as police fired on a crowd of anti-apartheid protestors, killing 69 people.

When he and Mag returned to the UK in 1962, Martin tried to interest Denmark Street publishers in songs that he had written while he was away. The music publisher Cyril Gee told him to change his name, suggesting that that any combination of 10 letters was lucky for songwriters – and so in early 1963 he became known as Bill Martin.

While writing songs for Dublin pop group the Bachelors, he befriended Northern Irishman Phil Coulter, their young arranger. Martin suggested the two of them write together, and their first success was Hi! Hi! Hazel, for Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band in 1966.

When Sandie Shaw was chosen to represent the UK in Vienna in 1967, Martin and Coulter were determined to write the winning song, and write it they did, Puppet on a String was a massive hit for her, but Shaw was not keen on entering the contest, there were five songs written for her, Puppet on a String was her least favourite, just shows you eh! Martin and Coulter had number one’s in every country in the world

Next year the duo were back with another great tune and they felt confident of repeating their success with a new composition, Congratulations. Although their composition lost out to Spain by one vote, Martin said later: “While it was embarrassing to come second to such a poor song as La,la,la really we won, because nobody plays La La La today and Congratulations is everywhere.” The Spanish entry disappeared without trace, but the runner-up got to No 1 in the UK singles chart, was a hit throughout the rest of Europe and remains played at weddings and the like today!

Martin and Coulter went on to write some of the biggest hits of the 70’s for the likes of The Bay City Rollers, Kenny and one of my fave songs by Slik, Forever and Ever, with Midge Ure on lead vocals.

There were three No. 1 hits in the US for the songwriters My Boy, by Elvis probably the most well known, although the pair adapted it from a French song.

Eventually, in 1983, he broke up his partnership with Coulter. The same year he also fell out with the entrepreneur Eddie Healey over the financing of a West End musical, Jukebox. His ambition to write his own hit musical was never realised; he came close with a proposed stage version of the 1979 film The Water Babies, which he had scored with Coulter, but the logistics of having a large water tank on stage were too great.

He and Mag divorced in 1970, after which he bought John Lennon’s former home, Kenwood, in Weybridge, Surrey, and moved in with Jan Olley, whom he married in 1972.

Sadly, just like my last post about Johnny Beattie, we also lost Bill Martin on March 26th 2020.

[world-cinema-research]

Week 2: Seven Samurai -Yanissa Agbigay

The movie I chose for this week is called Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa. This 1954 film has a 4.8 overall rating and has a handful of viewers who enjoyed this film. Some even commented saying that they feel this movie is a legendary classic, that is influential and unforgettable, while others out there don’t agree and think the movie is quite lengthy while having poor quality. For myself, I would have to agree that this movie was very well made and has a very authentic feel to it. I too enjoyed watching this film and seeing how determined the six villagers were in protecting their own people and village. I decided to watch this film because it reminded me of my childhood, spending time watching older classic movies with my dad. The movie captures a struggling village of farmers who are being forced to give up all their food to bandits giving these villagers the reason to end their lives. Now, the hope for this village is that they will find a samurai who will train 6 men amongst the villagers, to protect their village from the bandits. Luckily for them, they were able to find a veteran samurai who would then help fight the bandits off along with the other men. This man is to be called Kambei Shimada. Kambei was first seen shaving his whole head in front of the villagers, which is an important scene because he was portraying a monk with intent to save a little boy from a thief who snuck in. We can then see that his plan worked and was able to save this young innocent boy, with no injuries to anyone except for the thief himself.

When Kurosawa directed this movie, their costing budget was around ¥210 million, equaling to $580,000 in USD. Other numbers involving this film were within its releases. Starting off with the domestic release which was $318,649. With the international release they were able to make $27,609 and lastly their worldwide release made about $346,258. Again, I would like to say that this film is quite a success and has lots of viewers who keep coming back to watch.

I would also like to share some historical events that has happened within the movie’s first release in 1954. They include the ruling of the Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education, stating that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. Along with the first Indo-China war ending, which ended with the French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and French withdrawal from Vietnam after the Geneva Accords. There are many other historical events that happened within the year Seven Samurai was released, but these are the two I decided to choose.

The style of the film is known as Hollywood action. Not only did Kurosawa create a legendary film but he didn’t have a normal plot between the characters. For example, Good Vs. Evil. When watching, We can learn in this movie that some of towns villagers also preyed on class samurai’s but ended up on the other side of things and now have to seek help from a samurai.

This film is such an incredible work of art and is still such a classic, with many viewers who appear to also agree. Overall, this film reflected time and effort on Kurosawa’s part and has shown us a reality of poor villagers and their experiences. As well as, how skilled and trained samurai’s are and must be.

[gvilla1-blog]

MUN 2-2 LEE: A Vertical Slice of Life Under ten Hag

…Low to De Gea's near post and it flies straight through his hands and intothe bottom corner. 1-0 Brentford.

A pout, an exasperated crossing of the arms. A wincing usually characteristic of a poor, beaten canine who beared witness to a raised fist.

It was at this point, a mere 100 or so minutes into the 2022-23 Premier League Season, that I was ready for the towel to be thrown. I‘d take my ball and go home, numb after the frustrations a ten year epoch of darkness following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson had brought on. I had heard this bothersome tune before under Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, and finally Ole. As sterile City and Lilliputian Liverpool claimed trophies like Larry King claimed spouses, we languished in mediocrity. Last season felt like the the last bout of a once-mighty fighter‘s career; the fight that’d driven them to flee the arena they once dominated out of sheer embarrassment, not to mention a touch of brain damage.

What followed felt like football’s answer to the Shinkansen: in what felt like moments, the scenery changed at blinding pace. In the blink of an eye, we were so far from where we had boarded. And the bullet train conductor was none other than the Vibing Dutchman, Erik ten Hag.

MUN 2-1 LIV. Casemiro. MNU 3-1 ARS. Casemiro. MUN 2-0 TOT. Casemiro’s header to equalize at Stamford Bridge. Garnacho accelerating past Fulham’s defense to deliver the killing blow at Craven Cottage. Rashford unlocking the Ultra Instinct. Casemiro. Ripping out the mean blue hearts of our noisy neighbors, 2-1. Casemiro. Old Trafford a fortress once more. Casemiro. CASEMIRO. CASEMIRO!

The highs remind us of what the sun felt like on our pale, downtrodden faces. They reminded us that football is about passion, bringing out the best in oneself, and most essentially: it’s fun.

But could it be possible that, instead of watching this hero‘s journey through until its natural end, when the ring is thrown into the fires of Mount Doom, when the young Jedi resists the dark side and defeats the evil emperor, we might have wanted the protagonist to become the Legend before it was earned? Was winning the league ever really supposed to happen this year?

Ten Hag has done so much in so little time because he’s instilled a very tangible sense of standards among this squad. They press cohesively, like a white blood cell surrounding and obliterating a harmful foreign substance. The center-halves, Licha and Varane, have the same rabid intensity and methodical coolness (respectively) that we saw during the halcyon days of Vidic and Ferdinand and sadly took for granted. The midfield takes bold steps toward the penalty box and creates chances instead of a constant rotation of metronomic sideways passes. And our attackers finish those chances! Imagine that.

But Wednesday night versus Leeds showed us that there is much left in the hourglass of our hero’s journey. We lack quality and depth in midfield, our attackers aside from Rashford are inconsistent, and our goalkeeper, once the lone bright spot of a floundering club, has reached obsolescence in the modern game.

The shortcomings ring a louder bell, but there are positives to be found. Our spirit was bruised and battered at 2-0, but we showed grit and determination as we scored two in quick succession to equal their total. And that second goal, the one that sent the Stretford End into an animalistic fury, was from our star boy, Jadon Sancho, returning from a long hiatus masterminded by ten Hag. Of the many pieces of evidence to be used in the Court of Man Management, such as the handling of the Ronaldo Debacle, Garnacho’s habitual tardiness, and Luke Shaw’s wavering motivation on the pitch and in the kitchen, there is perhaps no greater show of ten Hag’s skill in dealing with these volatile personalities than his rehabilitation of Sancho. He seems a man made new, with a confidence that can highlight the natural flair and calm lethality in his game that we hope can continue for many years.

Wednesday night was a microcosm of the season so far. Many shortcomings that hopefully only take a summer to resolve. But many positives that ought to have Reds from all four corners of the world delighted for the daylight shining through the thick canopy of Liverpool and City success.

We are impressive. Most impressive. But we are not Jedi yet.

[bluewinnerangel]

Have you seen Rebeccas latest tweet?

https://twitter.com/RebeccaFMusic/status/1423766438477713418?s=19

And the replies especially the ones she has liked or reacted to 👀

Yeah I saw a bunch yesterday and thought imma leave the poor dash alone we've suffered enough today cries but yep check this out:

She pokin

ohhhhh she poking

She liked this comment in response to that one too:

me seeing the term "plausible deniability" being used on twitter -> SEEING REBECCA LIKE IT

Really tho she's reaaaallly fking poking

Some more likes

Recommending songs in the middle of some hot topic oh how I have never seen that happen before nope. I'll just put the lyrics under the cut so you can read into it asdkjsak

I remember the sickness was forever I remember snuff videos Cold Septembers, the distances we covered The fist fights on the beach, the bizzies round us up Do it all again next week An embryonic love The first time that it scarred Embarrass yourself for someone Crying like a child And the boy who kicked Tom's head in Still bugs me now That's the thing, it lingers And claws you when you're down

I was far too scared to hit him But I would hit him in a heartbeat now That's the thing with anger It begs to stick around So it can fleece you of your beauty And leave you spent with nowt to offer It makes you hurt the ones who love you

You hurt them like they're nothing You hurt them like they're nothing You hurt them like they're nothing

See I spent my teens enraged Spiraling in silence And I armed myself with a grin 'Cause I was always the fuckin' joker Buried in their humor Amongst the white noise and boys' boys Locker-room talkin' lads' lads Drenched in cheap drink and snide fags A mirrored picture of my old man Oh God, the kid's a dab hand Canny chanter, but he looks sad

God, the kid looks so sad God, the kid looks so sad

She said the debt, the debt, the debt So I thought about shifting gear And how she wept and wept and wept Luck came and died 'round here I see my mother The DWP see a number She cries on the floor encumbered I'm seventeen going under

I'm seventeen going under I'm seventeen going under I'm seventeen going under I'm seventeen going under

anyway stream

Related stuff: Rebecca x 1D masterpost and anything tagged Rebecca Ferguson, especially more of her recent tweets here and here

[tressasinterlude]

𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐓 #𝟑: Female Public Figures Dating Men with Questionable Views That Contradict Their Image & Alleged Politics

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥: These rant blog posts are really just reflective of my thoughts at the time that I make them and are posted here because I need an outlet to release all of this shit I have going on my busy ass mind. That’s it and that’s all. Now let’s get into it..

This rant was greatly inspired by none other than Ms. Robyn Rihanna “Tell Your Faves To Pull Up [in regards to social injustices directly affecting black people]” Fenty and her openly colorist boyfriend, A$AP Rocky. Aside from the fact that Rihanna tends to slip under the radar and is never held accountable for her problematic ways due to her conventional beauty (i.e. Her heavy usage of anti-Asian slurs, particularly targeted towards Chris Brown’s ex gf, Karrueche), it’s very alarming that a woman who has an entire makeup brand with a campaign based around the inclusivity of ALL black women is publicly flaunting a beau who once said that DSBW do not look good with red lipstick.

And yes, I’m very much aware that Rakim said this tasteless comment over 8 years ago but from the looks of it, not much has really changed with him. Don’t @ me about it neither because I don’t care.

Also peep how he compares a hypothetical darkskinned woman to a man (Wesley Snipes) while trying to explain how his antiblackness isn’t wrong because he said something about white women as well. Gaslighting at its finest. Don’t you just love it! 😀

Furthermore, you would think that somebody of Rihanna’s level of stature would know not to associate themselves with someone as messy as A$AP Rocky but... Stupid is what stupid does, I guess! I can’t even begin to place the blame on him anymore because he’s revealed his true colors and we all have made the deliberate choice to either accept it or don’t and have discontinued all support for him. Unfortunately, misogynoir is never the dealbreaker for most people and the hatred for [dark-skinned] black women is so engrained in society that it’s frowned upon when we publicly speak out against it. Very ass backwards if you ask me but that’s society for you. Now, enough about that. Let’s focus back on Ms. Vita La Coco.

As a woman who claims to be a girl’s girl and is always presenting herself to be someone who is the epitome of a pro-black feminist bad ass, it just makes her alleged activism come off so disingenuous when she’s also laying down with the same man that actively attacks the demographic she’s supposed to be standing in solidarity with. It’s “Black Lives Matter” on the IG posts but your vagina is getting moist for a man who openly stated he doesn’t relate to what goes on in Ferguson because he lives in Soho & Beverly Hills. Ferguson being the exact place where a 17-year-old black boy’s lifeless corpse laid on the hot concrete for FOUR hours after he was murdered by a police officer. He couldn’t 'relate' to the fate of so many black men, women, and children who are murdered or seriously injured from state-sanctioned violence because they’re poor and he is not or so he thought.

But then again, what can I really expect from a woman who identified as being “biracial” until as recent as roughly 6 years ago? What can I really expect from a woman who called Rachel Dolezal a ‘hero’ for cosplaying as a black woman? I’d be lying if I said my expectations for her were high in this regard because sis has always shown us she was lacking in this department. And just for the record, this is not a personal attack on Rihanna at all for the die-hard Navy stans in the back. I admire her latest fashions and bop my head to her music just like the next person but she’s getting the side-eye from me on this one.

Trust and believe me though, she’s not the only woman who I can call out for being a hypocrite. Of course not! This stone can be cast at a few others. So without further ado, why don’t we bring Ms. Kehlani Parrish to the front of the congregation? Prior to Kehlani’s recent declaration of identifying as a lesbian, her last public relationship with a man was with YG. Yes, the same YG who felt it was necessary to say him & Nipsey had ‘pretty light-skinned’ daughters to raise in the middle of his deceased friend’s memorial. By the way, Nipsey’s daughter is not even light (or at least not in my book anyways.) She’s a very deep caramel tone just like her father which makes what he said even more moronic. Yes, the same YG who thought it was clever idea to use slavery as an aesthetic for a music video to a diss track about 6ix9ine. And yes, also the same YG who has derogatory lyrics targeted at bisexual women. Just to end up sweating the red carpets with one. I swear the jokes just continue to write themselves.

This raises the question once more; How high of a pedestal can I really put a multiracial woman who has a song titled ‘N*ggas’ and when received backlash for the song in question, she used the ultimate ‘I’m mixed’ copout while not having a visibly black parent in sight?

It’s also kind of suspicious to me that many were not privy to Kehlani’s secret romance with Victoria Monét (pictured bottom right) until Victoria did an interview with Gay Times revealing she fell in love with a girl but they subsequently broke up because Victoria had a boyfriend and that girl was pregnant in a polyamorous relationship. Fans began to speculate because both Victoria & Kehlani previously candidly spoke about their sexual orientations, Kehlani had just had Adeya and they both were seemingly close. Their short-lived fling would later be confirmed when Victoria released the song ‘Touch Me’ on her last project and Kehlani hopped on the remix. Meanwhile, Kehlani’s relationship with Shaina (pictured bottom left) was very overt and all over her Instagram feed from my recollection. And as you can see, Shaina looks absolutely nothing like Victoria. They look like the complete opposite of eachother in every aspect which is kind of alarming(?) to say the least because why is it that the women she proudly claims as her partners tend to have a very racially ambiguous look such as herself but her ‘sneaky links’ on the other hand are undoubtedly black women? Again, it could just be me jumping conclusions. You know, I’m kinda good for that however something tells me I’m not. Y’all be the judge of the material though.

Last but not least, I’d like to touch on Ms. Raven Tracy very briefly. I was very weary about even including in this segment and if I should just put her in a entirely separate blog post with other women who openly date abusers despite their checkered past (alongside Nicki Minaj & her r*pist murderer of a husband, India Love & Sheck Wes etc.) being this particular blog post was based around the theme of lightskinned/mixed women dating men with extremely problematic views about DSBW. Raven obviously isn’t lightskinned or mixed however I refused to ignore how contradictory her [former] relationship with an alleged (I used this word very loosely and mainly for legality purposes.) serial r*pist while promoting a brand that is all about feminism & body positivity. This also traces back to A$AP Rocky by default being that Ian Connor is his very close friend and he came to Connor’s defense when several women came forward detailing accounts of Connor allegedly s*xually assaulting them. (I wish I could place the actual video of what A$AP Rocky said verbatim but Tumblr only allows one video per blog post. 🙄)

Back in June of this year, Ian & Raven had a back & forth on Twitter after Ian tweeted about Raven “fucking everybody” behind his back. I can only assume that he was alluding to Tori Brixx posting a video of her ex, Rich the Kid & Raven kissing on her story. Disgusted is not even the word to describe my feeling when she admitted she stuck by Ian despite of his many allegations of s*xual abuse because she loved him and her being a empath causes her to want to help everybody. Imagine aiding and abetting a predator and even paying for his bail & legal fees just to turn around and expect sympathy because this same individual cheated on you and exploited you all over Twitter for the public to see. The same man that you would get back with not even a WEEK after the fact & turn off your IG comments because it isn’t our “business” after making it our business...

That being said, I just genuinely want to know: Why do these women completely go against what they stand for in regards to these men? Maybe it was never genuine from jump street and if that’s the case, why jump on the bandwagon of performative activism? Is it because it’s profitable right now? Is it because disrespecting black women is not an immediate death sentence to your careers and more often than not actually helps you advance even further? I guess that’s the billion dollar question that’ll never truly be answered. I just want the world to stop using black women as their stepping stool to get to where they need to go and then discarding of us when we’re no longer beneficial. Support us all the way or don’t support us at all. We deal with enough disrespect as is so we’d appreciate if y’all would stop straddling the fence and partake in your misogynoir out loud if that’s what you choose to do. We have no use for fake allyship and quite frankly, it’s doing more harm for us than good. Please and thank you!

Sincerely,

- 𝙼𝙸𝚂𝚂 𝙴𝙳𝙶𝙰𝚁 𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽 𝙷𝙾𝙴. 💋

[wulfhalls]

random dune thots

caladan!paul my poor little meow meow baby boy who did nothing wrong ever

oscar isaac

paul and jessica doing a Forehead Touch TM and my inability to be normal about it best mom and son duo xoxo

the bene gesserit theme sounding like a choir of multiple isabelle adjanis going tits out insane in possession on lsd during a bertolt brecht play

the way they adapted The Voice!!! very creepy very sinister very sexi

paul in his sexi brooding black my teen angst has a body count coat

the whole entire gom jabbar scene!! perfection!!! paul is already letting slip how much cunt he will be serving in the future and I for one love him for it <3

the giedi prime design!! very reminiscent of the h.r giger pieces he made for jodorowskys dune also the harkonnens in general serving very much just crawled out of a radioactive chemical spill realness

the baron just floating about is......... incredibly unsettling

the costumes!!!!!!! the otherness!!!! the weirdness!!!! kissing u on the mouth denis xoxo

timmy as paul atreides he really just brought my very favourite character to live like that!!!!!!! he is exactly what I wanted and needed him to be and so much more

jihad vision questing

SOUNDTRACK

oscar isaac and rebecca ferguson occupying the same frame at the same time my beloveds

the vastness, the expansivness, the immensity the scale

shai hulud design????? hello??????? police????

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 2, Episode 11, The Bottle Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Johnathan: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Johnathan Frakes.

John: He’s the Director of this episode. My name is John Rogers, Executive Producer.

Christine: My name is Christine Boylan, I'm the writer on this episode.

John: Drinking left to right you have a screwdriver- a screwdriver, which is just a fistful of vodka with an orange in it.

[Laughter]

Johnathan: It qualifies as a screwdriver! Look where we are, we’re at a wake!

John: I've got a Guinness, and Boylan’s having a little baby Guinness. Boylan what is a bottle show?

Christine: A bottle show is a show that tries to save a lot of money by shooting on standing sets. And not adding too many bells and whistles that can get expensive.

John: Not very easy on a con show, but we managed to pull it off, and by far, this is one of my favorite episodes of the two years. Nicely done, both of you.

Johnathan: And the irony of this being a bottle show about a bottle is not lost-

John: Yeah it's- the puns were running thick and furious because we wrote it in 72 hours. Love this- now this is actually a room in the bar we have not seen before.

Christine: Yes, this is the back room.

John: The back room we built. And it was a great little idea. It's an Irish bar, it's an Irish wake, we built the con up from there.

Christine: Creepy storage area.

Johnathan: Oh Alan Smyth, the wonderful and talented-

John: Mr. Frakes, why don't you tell us about this villain? Cause this is a really interesting- it's an  interesting reveal, interesting villain. It's not our usual type of guy. How'd you approach this?

Johnathan: Delightful guy, this guy’s been sent to Boston by his father from Dublin to check on his family's money, and how things are going. Decides to take things into his own hand, doesn’t know he’s gonna run into the Leverage team. He thinks he can muscle this poor girl at her own wake- her father's wake and-

John: Yeah, boy that's an asshole. We hate that guy.

Christine: I hate this guy.

John: This guy totally passes the ‘we hate that guy’. Now I'm gonna ask where this scene can run a bunch of different ways. It can run really creepy, it can run kind of light. Like, how do you design this when you're gonna shoot this?

Johnathan: This was as simple and clean as it can be. Here’s a set up, here's the teaser: he wants the money, you see where they are, we have the like this chick, which I think we do. This is Odessa Rae.

John: Yeah, she was fantastic for a character.

Christine: Lovely girl.

Johnathan: And a real redhead, clearly. 

John: And it's really- we really kinda dig in on the Boson heritage in this one.

Christine: Yes, and it was important that she fight back, to me, that was a big one, just take that swing.

John: She didn't want to be a schlub. And Liam and Liam’s brother is my favorite bit. How did- Boylan, how did you wind up with the money borrowing aspect of this?

Christine: The money borrowing- I had watched a really fantastic documentary by...oh god, what's his name?

John: The Ascent of Money?

Christine: The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson, yes. The Ascent of Money talked about how loan sharks are alive and well all over the UK and in certain pockets of the US, allegedly. So I thought well let's do that, let’s take a little- let’s take the loan sharking and move it over. And also talk about the grand tradition of bookmaking as well, so we have all kinds of neighborhood cottage industries.

John: Yeah, and this is where we really dig into- this was important to do in the second half of the season, because we're really set-

Johnathan: We see every inch of this bar.

[Laughter]

Christine: Yes we do.

John: We see every inch of this bar. You shot the hell out of this, man.

Johnathan: Here's a standing set, and snow! Check out those windows. That's what makes you think you're outside.

John: And by the way, this was the hottest week in Portland on record.

Johnathan: Unbelievable.

Christine: 107 degrees.

John: 107 degrees.

Johnathan: Everybody in layers.

John: This is our Life on Mars flashback. 

Johnathan: There we go.

Christine: Jimmy Ford.

John: This is Jimmy Ford and young Nate. And this was interesting, this was- we really need to establish just how close Nate Ford was to a criminal life, for us to do the season finale. 

Christine: Yup.

John: And it was interesting for a show that really came out and just came out of the ether, you came back from shooting another episode with this idea, this actually wound up doing an awful lot of work for us for the season.

Christine: I really like to dig in on Nate, his backstory, his troubles, because he's a wonderful shade of gray for us, so I was-

Johnathan: This also the beginning of his fall off the wagon.

John: Absolutely.

Christine: Yes, oh yeah. A nice swan dive off the wagon, actually.

[Laughter] 

Christine: With a graceful landing. I was up doing episode eight, The Ice Man Job, and I thought, you know, in between takes you’re sitting there, you're thinking how do- the challenge was, how do you do a bottle show? And I really wanted to do The Wire and we haven't been able to do the wire yet, so- 

John: The wire is the classic con in the opening of this episode, where using a delay in sports knowledge, you're able to con somebody. It's the big con in The Sting.

Christine: Yes.

John: It is the big con that everyone uses when they are ripping off The Sting, and they're not telling you. And so we actually made a point of making it text that we’re doing the wire and we’re doing it in this amount of time.

Johnathan: And you can't do it in less than 4 weeks, or 2 weeks.

John: No, no it's a long con.

Christine: A lot of preparation.

Johnathan: It's a long con and we do it in-

John: Yeah. This was the fun of this episode was basically taking everything that was possible-

Johnathan: We do it in 17 minutes.

John: The fun of this episode was taking everything that is impossible in a con and heist show, and making it text that's impossible for the team to do.

Christine: It’s super meta because the Leverage team does what we did, which is do this really, really quickly.

John: Yeah. Really, really quickly. We broke and wrote this episode in 72 hours.

Christine: Yup, I flew up here right before my birthday. 107 degrees at the end of July, and we had a blast. We had a really great time.

Johnathan: Liam and Liam's brother.

John: It was also good to kind of nail down Nate’s- why Nate chose this bar, why Nate- and we kinda touched on it, but the idea that he's got some sort of family history. And it was a big deal too, when we were talking about this bar. Tim Hutton as they were building the set talked about the bar that his dad used to drink in, in Boston. And talked about, like, remembering the pictures of the Irish rebels up in the men's room, and a lot of that stuff we used when we were designing the bar.

Johnathan: Tim Hutton himself owns a bar.

John: Tim Hutton himself owns a bar in New York, that's right. 

Christine: He does indeed.

John: And this is our classic vic scene, just a little bit later.

Christine: Yeah, she gave an amazing performance here, every take. Do you remember that? Unbelievable.

Johnathan: Fascinating girl, too; very interesting girl and a wonderful actress.

Christine: Yeah, truly a riot.

John: And you shot the hell out of the apartment. The apartment looks nice in this light. Actually, this was the one that made me want to shoot the apartment in this light on a regular basis.

Johnathan: Well this was Connell saying, if this is night and we can- if we can play the snow, we’ll turn the shutters down a little bit so we can see the snow. It’s- it feels like there's a fire lighting in here.

John: Yeah, it actually affected the way we shot a couple of the following episodes, because in the day, this- the great light wood gives you a lot of space, but it can feel a little too airy. This really made sections of the apartment look intimate.

Christine: The warmth is great.

Johnathan: Yeah, but also I think all of us have learned by this time if we isolate a section - like if we play a scene in the kitchen, it works, but keep everybody up in the kitchen. If you're gonna go down to the television room, we've gotta play that. Once we spread everybody out, you can't make your day.

John: Well Marc Roskin did something interesting in 213 where he used Nate as the hinge to follow people as they entered. But what he did was basically broke it up into mini scenes of that, as Nates starts the TV he's talking to Hardison, comes up at Jeri on the table, and then Parker and Eliot arrive, like on the fly, to land the move.

Christine: That's great.

John: But that- it’s the only time we've really pulled it off really, really well.

Christine: I will say that we did use the staircase a lot in this episode as well.

[Laughter]

Christine: A lot of running up and down the stairs.

John: A lot of running up and down the stairs.

Johnathan: There happens to be an interior staircase in the building that is very convenient for us.

Christine: Yes.

John: Yeah. And that was a great design idea, actually. I remember when we originally stuck that in there, like, we don't know when we’re gonna use it or how, but it's always good to have some circular stairs. No, this is a lot of- this is a lot of fun.

Johnathan: Are you talking about the staircase we see? I was talking about the staircase we feel.

[Laughter]

Christine: Oh.

Johnathan: Between the bar and the bar is literally downstairs in the building.

John: Oh of course, upstairs. That was a big deal was trying to figure out the geography of, like, how this bar’s connected to upstairs. 

Christine: Oh here we go.

John: This is my favorite- damn.

Johnathan: And give it to- props to Jeri Ryan, unafraid to play it, fully committed.

John: And then-

Johnathan: Takes the shooter, goes to work.

John: ‘My name’s Trish and I'm lonely.’

Christine: ‘I’m Trish and I’m lonely.’

Johnathan: And I get the girls up and out and here we go.

John: Yeah. She-

Christine: We were all distracted by the way Jeri looked this entire episode.

John: I love Jeri for doing that. I love Jeri for doing that. 

Johnathan: She was comfortable with it, embraced it, knows what she was there to play.

John: And it was- also says something about the character which is - you have given her precisely this much information; she is in a bar, she knows exactly how to run this con.

Johnathan: ‘Let me run with it, I got it, I got this one.’

Christine: What a gift the chemistry between Jeri and Alan was here. Fantastic.

John: Yeah, it's hard work flirting with Jeri Ryan. It’s all uphill.

Christine: Oh his days were terrible. 

Johnathan: Poor thing.

Christine: He had the worst job ever.

John: I love also- again, we try to differentiate between the jobs everyone has. Parker always does the lift. You know, Chris can do a drop if he needs to - Eliot can do a drop, but you have to make sure when you've got a five-hander, everyone’s got their jobs.

Christine: I like the lifts in this one; we see some of them, and some of them are magic tricks. So it works out well.

John: And now we’re using the phone to scan which is something that you can do. They actually just created a food scanner for the iPhone.

Christine: Really?

Johnathan: A food scanner?

John: You take the iPhone, you run it over the UPC symbol on the outside of food, and all the nutritional information comes up - the calories, that sort of thing.

Christine: As if I'm not neurotic enough. I totally need that app. Yeah, that’s great.

John: There you go. Also I love the choice- and again, it was a virtue of us writing this really fast, and also wanting to do a bottle show which is so constrained, which is - he's just going to tell her he's a loan shark. We’re just gonna- we’re gonna try to take all the pipe, all the stuff you usually try to hide, and sell it. 

Christine: He owns it.

Johnathan: Lay it out there, put it into the scene in act one.

Christine: There's something great about putting it forward like that.

John: It just moves. It just flies. And also, whenever you can give Hardison a recurring series of impossible tasks, it is inherently amusing.

Christine: Aldis is adorable in this.

Johnathan: Especially in a limited amount of time.

John: Well that's really what we've talked about on a couple of the commentaries; when you have the super team, it gets really, really hard to constantly challenge them. So it got more and more - how do we constrain them in time and space? And this is the ultimate example. You know, this episode runs essentially in real time.

Johnathan: It is; it plays in real time.

[Silence]

John: That's me drinking, pardon.

[Laughter]

Christine: A lift.

John: A little lift.

Christine: Lift and replacement.

Johnathan: That was the replace. Yeah, the great chemistry between these two actors.

Christine: Alan’s worst day ever.

[Laughter]

Johnathan: All day. All day with Jeri.

Christine: All day.

John: Sitting at a bar. 

Johnathan: Sitting at a bar.

Christine: Could be worse.

John: It's interesting because we had episodes with bigger Tara Cole roles; this is actually my favorite one of the Tara- of Jeri doing Tara. Because you- this is one of the few times we cut her loose and let her do what she's supposed to do and really put her insolation.

Christine: And she’s really fearless, just fearless, which is great.

Johnathan: She’s a pro, pro from Dover and-

Christine: Seriously.

John: What does that mean?

Johnathan: She knows this character-

John: I'm disturbed. I like, by the way, the bar thing of like, ‘Yeah, we’ll miss our flight.’ They look over, it’s Jeri Ryan, ‘Yeah, ok. We’ll blow it off.’

Christine: Yeah, seriously.

Johnathan: ‘Ooh, ooh!’

Christine: Because this guy, not only is he gonna own it, he’s gonna brag about it.

John: What I love is we actually had a discussion in the room, for some people who didn't use to drink professionally, about the viability of some of the gambling and the money and everything in a bar. And I was like, I was a stand up comic-

Johnathan: That would never happen.

John: I was a stand up comic in a mob bar for a long time. Trust me - this was a Tuesday night. 

Johnathan: This happens.

John: Yeah. I saw 20-30 grand go away at the bar several times on sporting events; just poorly thought out ideas. And this was a challenge for you, by the way, you were establishing geography that didn't exist. 

Johnathan: Well that's what we just did by going out the back door. We all bought- we all drank the kool aid and said there will be a back staircase, otherwise this story’s gonna be dull as dirt. 

Christine: Yeah, there’s gotta be-

Johnathan: Trying to get in and out the front door.

John: It's kind of Noises Off. 

Christine: Yeah.

John: Yeah, we're kinda doing-

Christine: Everything I write is a little stagey.

John: Everything you write is a little stagey.

Christine: A little farce-y.

Johnathan: Here's more of our traditional 360, well used.

Christine: This is beautiful here, yeah.

Johnathan: Standing them up. Keep them standing. Always good advice.

John: The actors?

Johnathan: Yeah.

John: The actors’ energy is part of the energy, right, yeah.

Christine: Yeah this- I just got a thrill off of this, watching this being shot. 

John: It's also- it’s fun because it was one of the purest versions. Again, because we’re in so fast of Nate Ford like ‘I am a genius. I am playing chess. I am playing speed chess.’

Christine: Yeah, right.

Johnathan: This is a great bit coming up this is- we come off this and we go back to Christian with the dart. He kept saying to me, ‘No, no, Frakes, I can do this; I can actually throw it.’ I said, ‘No no, you don’t understand Christain, it has to look like magic.’ ‘No, give me half an hour and I’ll make some- I'll make some bullseyes for you.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, I can do it as a special effect. It’s gonna look great; you're gonna look cool.’ I fought with him and fought with him. He said, ‘No, let me just look.’ I said, ‘The point is you don't look! You dont look when the dart goes in the wall!’

[Laughter]

Christine: Christians tough, because he's good at everything. 

John: Well that's the trick. There’s- in a previous episode he jacks the slight on a gun and without looking catches the shell in midair as he’s doing dialogue. And it’s like- it’s hard to say no to him when he really wants to dig in in something, but yeah. This is also- I love- this is pure- this is pure threesome goodness. The kids are upstairs ripping apart dad’s apartment. 

Christine: Triangles.

Johnathan: It also tees up the ending which is great.

Christine: And this- I, you know, this is for the fans.

John: The idea that they have utterly co-opted-

Johnathan: Nate’s house? Yeah.

John: His house, yes.

Christine: Oh, the cereal boxes.

Johnathan: They’ve all got stashed money.

John: And this, by the way, is a callback, this is why Parker’s always eating cereal; she's planting money in there on a regular basis and hiding it. 

Christine: I think she likes the sugar as well.

John: She likes the sugar.

Johnathan: For anyone who’s watching closely.

John: And of course we finally solve the mystery of the picture.

[Laughter]

Christine: Her look right there is great.

Johnathan: ‘Are you kidding me?’

John: I love the idea that she- for once, cause we often play Hardison as the kind of emotional one, and for once we remind everyone, no he's a thief. Yeah. This is just his gig. He will even upset Parker, occasionally.

Johnathan: Woo he got down there fast, didn't he?

Christine: Oh yeah, that staircase is magical. Well he's very fit; he’s taking them three at a time.

John: Here's the thing: I don't think Eliot took the staircase; I'm thinking Eliot probably just went out the window.

Johnathan: He jumped.

Christine: He just jumped.

John: Went out the window, landed in the snow bank. I think that's probably the best way to play that particular transition.

[Laughter]

John: We don't- who cares about transitions? America is not sitting on their couch- 

Johnathan: Great extras, look at these-

Christine: Look at these extras, they’re killing me.

John: Look at these extras. They’re great. This was a really- you know, it's tricky because we usually shoot the-

Johnathan: Comedy. Sight gags.

John: Big comedy. I'm not afraid of the comedy. You know what? No one has ever stopped watching a TV show because it made them laugh.

Christine: Look at all these wires.

John: Yup, you have no idea what they're doing. 

Christine: Comedy wires.

John: By the way, that's roughly what the inside of my wall looks like; that's actually not bad.

[Laughter]

John: I like that you had him play the whole way through with the helmet, by the way.

Johnathan: Yeah keep the helmet- once you got the helmet-

John: But we actually- 

Johnathan: How about the amount of wires? Come on, I’ve seen The Three Stooges!

[Laughter]

John: It’s perfect, there's nothing like a pulling wire gag.

Christine: Look at all the ends, that's great.

John: It was interesting, breaking this up we eventually wound up in little strike teams like, ‘OK, you figure out how the wire works; you'll figure out how the Tivo- this part of the Tivo delivery system works; you'll figure out what the crime scene is.’ Yeah. 

Johnathan: Was this the writers room?

John: Yeah, this was basically, everyone got a piece of the script, come back in a day and tell me how it works.

Christine: We’re our own super team.

Johnathan: And you know what? It's one of the great things about this episode is the train leaves the station and there is no- there’s not much room for coming back and expositioning. 

Christine: It's the express train.

John: I love when he-

Johnathan: It is the express train.

John: And that's the idea is, again- and this could've been a nice passing episode, the ability to set up everything in this. This might be the most important episode before the finale, because you really see who this guy is.

Johnathan: It's also nice to see this guy go toe-to-toe with Tim.

Christian: Yeah.

John: Yeah, it’s was like with Riegert with 210; it's great when you get an actor who's not intimidated by Tim, because Tim, you know, he's a very gifted actor. He's very famous and-

Johnathan: Yeah, he's fabulous. And this guy could carry a show and he was so happy to be here.

John: Yeah.

Johnathan: And Tim liked him, and it worked out and it was a-

Christine: They had a great time.

Johnathan: It was a win, win, win.

Christine: They had a great time, we had a great time.

John: No, this was actually born from the fact that in an old apartment building I was in, people used to pirate off the main satellite feed.

Christine: Like you do.

Johnathan: Yeah.

John: So- as one does. The idea is you do it backwards.

Johnathan: As you do. We'd never do that in college.

John: No, no. Of course not.

Christine: Never.

John: Well satellite, I mean, back when we were in college were those giant sputnik things that we used to battle the Russians in space. 

[Laughter]

Johnathan: This is meant to be the Celtics, but what are- we found footage from the Canadian-

John: The Canadian basketball-

Christine: We went back and forth, we made up names.

John: You do not want to buy the rights from the NBA; it is very, very, expensive.

Christine: And that's not the point. The point is the betting.

John: The point is the betting.

Christine: The point is the characters. 

John: Exactly, is the idea. And the only thing I'm kinda sad is, we run at 42 minutes and 30 seconds. There's an awful lot of stuff you would love to do, you just don't have time for. We had a great bit that we researched about the neuroscience of gambling, and how you can create-

Christine: Oh yes.

John: Remember? You can create feedback cycles with addictive behavior that- it’s very specific intervals of winning that hooks an addict in, in a way that they can't escape. And we were going to use that at the bar and it just, it just- 

Johnathan: There was no room.

Christine: It's like the random praise you give the writers.

John: Yes, it's like the random- the writers- writers were distressed-

Johnathan: Boom.

Christine: Oh, look at that.

John: Yes, the writers were distressed to find out that I was using neuroscience on them. It turns out that you should never praise constantly or never, you should praise randomly.

Christine: Praise randomly.

Johnathan: There are not many physicists that are showrunners.

Christine: It’s true, it’s true.

John: I was explaining the random praise thing to them one day, and suddenly they realized ‘...wait that's what you do.’ ‘Well yeah, it's how you train a rat, so why wouldn't it be how you train a writer? 

[Laughter]

John: And it’s great- also the big challenge in the episode to keep the vic alive, to keep it emotionally anchored, and because we’re where she works, we can cut to her a lot and- 

Johnathan: We can cut to her a lot, and we put her in a lot of scenes that she wasn't originally in.

Christine: Yeah, just having her around.

John: It really just worked out. Cause you had her there, and you had the writer on set, makes a big difference.

Christine: So this is Brad Farwell and George Burich as Liam and Liam's brother, and George-

Johnathan: Not bad Irish accents for a couple of guys from the great northwest.

Christine: Pretty good. And I just had a drink with George in New York last week and he said, ‘Mention the toothpick! Don't forget to mention the toothpick.’

John: It's nice; it's a nice touch.

Christine: He's in love with that prop; adorable.

John: I remember how Liam's brother- Liam and Liam's brother was born, because we actually were trying to think of a name; it just hung in the room so long we were like, ‘Oh wait, that's the joke. This is Liam and Liam's brother.’

Christine: ‘That’s totally it.’

Johnathan: Worked on [unintelligible] for three years.

John: And beat, beat, beat. There you go.

[Laughter]

Johnathan: Eric Bates, our prop man, said, ‘Frakes, should I get out the good money for this show?’ I said yeah.

Christine: The good, good money.

John: There's gonna be a lot of close ups.

Johnathan: He's got two qualities of money. Yeah I said, ‘Tonight would be a night for the good money.’

John: We’re a heist show. We have an awful lot of briefcases of money, and sometimes you just need the tops and sometimes you need to count it, yeah. 

Christine: A lot of cash.

John: And this was a nice beat and Tim really didn’t over play this. He really did a great job.

Christine: It's very subtle this episode.

John: He was really great and subtle.

Johnathan: Well, he's comfortable in a bar. 

John: Yeah and-

Johnathan: And I think a lot of us are, and I think that's one of the reasons-

Christine: I don't know what you're talking about.

Johnathan: Well, I mean, you can tell people who spend time in there. Even the shooters behind the camera, everybody was comfortable in there, everybody knew the way it should look, everybody knew the dynamic, everybody knew what the stuff would be like. I mean, there's something about being in a familiar place with a crew that makes you move faster and move with it as a team.

John: And also we've lived in this set a bit more. We set decked a little bit more, and again, it was like usually we meet the clients during the day, and looking at this was like, we should be there at night all the time.

Christine: Yeah, it's gorgeous.

Johnathan: There's a lot to be said for night.

John: Night is cheap rain. Or rain is cheap night. I can never keep that straight.

[Laughter]

John: More great work by Derek, our visual effects guy. There's- it's really hard we do a life of computer gackery and it's really hard to make sure people understand.

Johnathan: Are we gonna go over the split screen again on the TV?

John: I don't know. No, no we're not gonna split-screen.

Johnathan: The big screen is- I've been watching a lot of these NCIS things-

John: The big screen, I think we're gonna go the big screen next year. 

Johnathan: That, I think, is the difference.

John: You know what? We just didn't have the tech. 

Johnathan: Yeah I know, that's what I'm saying. That’s what I’m saying, we do now. 

John: Yeah this was really- although it worked well for this, because it's one of the few times we pop up a bunch of different windows.

Christine: They're multitasking almost.

John: I think next year we’re gonna- and again there's an awful lot of stuff we’re kind of inventing on the fly. Yeah.

Christine: The hell you say?

[Laughter]

Johnathan: It’s a TV show.

John: Yeah, it's like shooting a movie in 7 days, or 6 ½ occasionally.

Christine: 6 ½ in 107 degrees.

Johnathan: Don’t bring it up; don’t rub it in.

John: Now when you get two actors like this, you know, what's your job as a director? You go in, do you have a specific ‘I want to end this scene here’? Do you give them guidelines? Do you shoot-? What's your approach?

Johnathan: Well these guys both decided with our permission, your permission, that, you know, they would adlib. Here’s what needs to happen in the scene. If you have two good actors and you have the intention of the scene clear and you're at a bar and they're having a drink, and they're gambling, and they're watching, it’s safe.

Christine: It's nice to have actors who care about the rhythm of the dialogue. How it's said is as important as what's being said, and they will work with me every- the regular cast and the guest stars were happy to like grab me at any time. ‘Rewrite this. Can I say this? Can we do it that way?’ I love that.

John: Yeah, I know.

Christine: Woo, there's a lot of grabbing going on; very grabby.

John: Yeah we’re setting up Boylan; she's pretty open to it without all those lawyers getting involved.

[Laughter]

John: But here's the thing, there's a lot of showrunners, and a lot of writers, and everything it's like ‘say the words, say the words, say the words.’ And you know what? At the end of the day it's a television show with actors and it's gotta-

Johnathan: It's really- in the defense of both sides, you really have to use it judiciously.

John: Yes.

Johnathan: I think that you have to know- Timothy Hutton can adlib. Alan Smith, I'd done four shows with, I knew he could. But you don't want to turn everybody loose, because everybody thinks they're funny, and only some people are.

Christine: Exactly.

John: You have to be open to it.

Johnathan: You have to be open to it enough to judiciously use whats good and what's-

John: And just not- and I'm just saying, I'm not one of those writers where it's like, you know what? If you wind up with the better rhythm, the better line, that's what matters. Because TV is radio with pictures. 

Christine: Absolutely.

John: You know, people listen to voices, people listen- they got their heads down, they're reading while they're listening to TV, you know, that's what drives television. It's nice when television is well shot, but well-spoken television works just as well.

Christine: Oh for me it works better.

Johnathan: They remember what happened.

John: Yes. It'd be nice if every now and then you thought about the fact that actors have to deliver your lines.

Christine: They love it.

John: Yes, they adore you.

Christine: I do think a good section of the writing process occurs on set, honestly. And it's something that I was lucky to learn in rehearsals doing theater: it’s gonna change every day and that's ok. Everybody’s gonna roll with it, it's gonna get better, and it has to be easy to say; it has to be easy for the audience to process and remember.

Johnathan: And also each character speaks differently. That's what happened in the second season in this show, is the characters have found their voices, the writers have found the characters’ voices-

John: Honestly we got lucky. They found their voices early, early, first season. They all had found their rhythms. Because we tend to pair them, and you tend to- and that's what happens is they find the rhythms of each other. That moment of celebration from Hardison is not just him, it's us for having pulled off the wire. Doing a con that most shows take an entire episode to do- 

Johnathan: We do it in less than half.

John: And labor the freaking point about it. That's right, in Leverage you get 3 or 4 episodes of television per episode. 

[Laughter]

John: And we've won, at this point- and again, this is a hook on Nate’s illness this year. At this point he should walk away.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: There is no reason for him to do this.

Johnathan: But now it's a bigger deal.

John: And it's not just justice, it’s obsession, you know, and it’s vengeance, and it’s control and it's- you know, he's starting to see himself as his father.

Johnathan: And it’s alcohol.

John: It’s alcohol.

Christine: Is it hubris or moxie?

John: Well what the alcohol has done is kind of- hubris or moxie. As we say in the writers room all the time.

Christine: That’s it; it’s very important.

John: Is it hubris or moxie? And with him it’s hubris. 

Christine: Totally.

John: But we’re really- what the alcohol has done here is loosened up the reins he's had on what is a really- and what I love is Tim’s not afraid to play this is - Nate Ford is an unpleasant human being. He's condescending, he's sarcastic, he’s vengeful, he's judgmental. You know, I love the- and again Jeri- 

Johnathan: And he's not afraid of that.

Christine: No he's not.

John: Yeah, and the fact that when he sort of loosens up, a lot of other shows have ‘Oh he's loosened up, I like him more.’ When Nate Ford loosens up you actually see him see an uglier side of him. The professional thieves are much more likeable on this show than the protagonist, which is one of the reasons I think it kinda works. I love that, that is a great beat. ‘I’m claustrophobic.’

[Laughter]

Christine: Liam's brother is claustrophobic.

Johnathan: What an absurd beat.

John: Well you know what? I'd just come back from Boston, I'd driven the Ted Williams tunnel to go to Logan.

Christine: It’s awful.

John: It's awful; you're underground forever.

Christine: It’s awful.

John: It's like, alright- that's one of the advantages of knowing the city you're actually writing about. Like, you know what, there's no other way to get to the airport.

Johnathan: But it's a wonderful thing to say about a character that has virtually nothing else.

John: Nothing to say. And that actor landed that look.

Johnathan: Exactly.

Christine: That's lovely.

John: Yes, and now we're giving Hardison yet another insanely impossible thing to do.

Johnathan: And we’re taking the leap that the audience knows what a green screen can do.

Christine: Yes.

John: You know what? I think everyone does now. 

Johnathan: I think they do. 

John: It really is- it’s always interesting to try to figure out, what do people know and not know and not know? And now a little something for the ladies.

Christine: Ahem, you're welcome.

[Laughter]

Christine: This was a fun day on set.

John: Yeah I can imagine. ‘Why are all the PA’s here?’

Johnathan: He's been waiting.

John: He's been waiting for a while. Dude should not have to work out that much and not be-

Johnathan: Exactly. I said, ‘Will you take your shirt off?’ He said, ‘On camera?’ I said, ‘Yeah’. ‘Watch me.’

[Laughter]

John: As opposed to usually where you're with actors ‘Will you take your shirt off?’ ‘Alright Mr. Frakes, if you want.’

Johnathan: ‘Can you really ride that motorcycle?’ ‘I said I could!’

[Laughter]

John: Oh god! Oh this is unspeakable, oh man, this is why we drink during these! I love Parker’s little beat there of, ‘Yeah, like there’s a safe I can't pick, c’mon’. 

Christine: Seriously.

John: This is one of my favorites- and again, the second half of the season, we started pairing Eliot and Parker together.

Christine: It's a great pairing.

Johnathan: Yeah, and it changes the rhythm, but they are great together.

John: They're great together. And Chris and Beth are also getting to work together a lot and they- really whole cast really likes each other, so it was fun to watch.

Johnathan: Here's some comedy.

John: You know what, big comedy, half-dressed comedy.

Christine: Sexy comedy.

[Laughter]

Johnathan: Weatherman comedy. 

Christine: Weatherman comedy.

Johnathan: Clothes are a little small because they're Nate’s clothes. Did we get that part?

John: Yeah, I noticed that. And also the whole idea that he could be pantless, you don't know.

Christine: He could be, they don't know.

John: No, this was an enormous amount of fun. This is just really one where we kicked back and put every con trope we can into this thing. 

[Laughter]

Christine: And we got a lot of pleasure in the writers room of doing the ‘other side’ bit before it ended up in the script.

John: Other side.

Christine: ‘Seattle’. ‘Other side’

John: No this is- and again, it was a matter of controlling information. In theory, the bar- and it's tricky, cause, you know, much like earbuds have changed the way you write these shows in communication. When mobile phones start doing news better, we're gonna have to learn to write different stuff. 

Johnathan: Yeah.

John: The ubiquity of information is something that all con and heist shows- controlling information is what that depends on, and you can control information less and less and less. But again, because we were in one location, that was the benefit; it forced us to do something that makes our lives easier.

Christine: I'm a fan of putting constraints on them as much as possible.

John: Yeah. It’s- otherwise they need obstacles.

Christine: Now forget the weather, he’s gonna do whatever she tells him. Look at her, please.

John: Pretty much I think he would probably kill Liam and Liam's brother at this point.

Christine: In full view of everyone.

Johnathan: ‘I don't care if they are claustrophobic!’

John: ‘Put them in a goddamn tunnel!’ No. No it's what - we're watching this with the sound off by the way - and it’s one of my favorite bits about watching these scenes, is you can actually-

Johnathan: You remember what happened.

John: You remembered what happened, but also I like watching- without the dialogue it's easier to see the emotional moments, the choices the actors are making. You can see the swing moments in the scene. 

Christine: Oh yeah.

John: The acting- I actually enjoy it more with the sound off. Because you know what's going on here. With the sound off, you know how she’s reining him in, she's shutting him down, and then he’s pulling her in; she’s feeding his ego.

Johnathan: Look at how unafraid of her he is, which was nice.

John: That's also a big thing this year, is coming up with bad guys who were a little more physically confident, you know. It was a little too easy to have, like, old white dudes who were threatened by stuff.

Christine: See no tie. He's not wearing a tie.

John: No tie, he's not wearing a tie. We’ll have to remember that.

Christine: Leather jacket, no tie.

John: And then the stall almost works. And what I love is- Johnathan, you created an entire back to this bar between that drink room and the back room.

Johnathan: The drink room and the poker room.

John: And the magic area. There's no-

Johnathan: It’s huge back there!

John: It did not exist.

Christine: It’s so huge.

Johnathan: There's the whole first floor of that building.

John: Those sets aren't there!

[Laughter]

John: It was nicely done. And especially since you bombed in on short notice too right? Was I supposed to do this one? I was supposed to do this one.

Christine: This all came together very quickly.

Johnathan: Yeah, I think this was yours.

John: This was mine, and I wound up writing another episode, so I couldn’t direct.

Christine: What you missed the 107 degrees in Portland?

John: Yeah, I don’t know if I could’ve- there's no way in hell I could have pulled this off.

Christine: I don't think you would have made it.

John: No..

Christine: I'm just kidding.

John: No, no, no Johnathan has a lot of experience, he's really confident and really great with actors.

Johnathan: Oh please, John.

John: No this- a bottle show is the hardest show you can do on television. Period. The end. And it's the simplest looking one, they are- go find the bottle shows to your favorite television shows and watch how much they suck.

Christine: They're often audience favorites, because you get to play character-

Johnathan: They've often been sidled with flashbacks.

Christine: Oh, that’s true.

Johnathan: And pieces of other shows because they are short as well as bottled.

Christine: No clip show here.

John: No clip show here.

Christine: Just that special Life on Mars flashback to Nate's dad.

John: Nate’s brutally corrupt father.

Christine: Look at these guys.

Johnathan: Joe Ivy, Hank Cartwright, Ted Rooney. 

Christine: Fantastic. Fantastic gentleman. Lovely, hilarious.

John: And this one keeps picking up on the entrances too. This really does run in real time, doesn't it? You think- there's a time dash in act four where we do the poker game, but that's it. Now I love- these guys were great. Oh my god, these guys were great.

Johnathan: Local again.

Christine: Local?

Johnathan: God bless the Portland hires.

John: Again Portland, we thought we'd be flying up 3 or 4 actors a week, we flew up one on average.

Christine: Yup, it's that Portland, and then access to Seattle; it's two cities just full of terrific actors.

John: Now they're scheming, now they are working together. These two guys were great, they were really telling their own story back there.

Johnathan: Well it’s again, once they were cast and they started to hang together, and you hang together for a week, and you're on location together, and you're in a show. I've done this, I've been that actor; there's nothing better, there's nothing better than being number 7, 8, 9 in the call sheet.

John: You've got their moments.

Johnathan: On hold. You get your per diem. You've got your moments, you're in the family for a week, it's a great thrill.

Christine: And everybody got really close. You know, it was a heat wave, we’re all in it together, everybody’s going out for drinks, everybody hanging out afterwards. It was nice.

Johnathan: I went home and worked.

[Laughter]

John: You did. You go home every night.

Christine: I think I saw you out once or twice, Mr. Frakes.

John: You went home to prep your shot list for the next day. Of course, you're brutally devoted sir, you are brutally devoted. I like the mislead here, this actually wound up- again, we jumped through so many hoops. ‘How do we put his poker game together? Where do we find it?’ ‘Oh wait, we’ll just establish it early and use all the available resources.’

Christine: And this is where the improv-ing really came into play during the poker game, it was kind of terrific.

John: Well also because this was based on bars where I used to hang out in Montreal where the cops- cause the place-

Johnathan: The cops were in the back.

John: Well, you know, where I hung out at- Montreal, that part was controlled by the Irish mob. So, it was a lot of Irish bars, a lot of cops, a lot of Irish mob guys hanging out in the same place. 

Christine: Sort of neutral ground.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Christine: Or a neutral zone.

Johnathan: Newspaper recycling plant right here, ladies and gentlemen.

John: Don't do that.

Christine: Don't say neutral zone?

Johnathan: Right there that's all newspaper. 

John: That's all newspaper? That's cool, where'd you find this? 

Johnathan: In Portland.

John: No, I meant the-

Christine: Portland warehouse.

Johnathan: Portland warehouse. And that is a sugar, what they cut- What's it called? 

Christine: Sugar cane?

Johnathan: They used to cut cocaine with it, it’s-

Christine: Oh.

Johnathan: Baby laxative.

John: Oh wow.

Johnathan: It’s put into-

John: Now I know. How do you know- wow it's almost like you were an actor in the 80s. How do you know so much about cocaine, Johnathan?

Johnathan: I'm just telling you what I learned on the location scout, they told me all these things.

John: All these things you pick up along the way in your long career.

[Laughter]

John: Things happen. And the fact that he is- and again, interestingly, if you go back and rewatch the back six episodes, just Jeri’s role, you can actually track her coherent decision points.

Johnathan: This is a good shot. Aaand boom. 

John: And through the door.

Johnathan: We wanted to see the shots cause we know, it’s not really about the shots, it's about the story.

Christine: The shots support the story. 

John: No, no, the episodes where Dean does commentary it’s all about the shots. With you, we hammer you with a story.

Johnathan: If you see the shots there’s a problem really, isn't there?

John: If you notice a shot, that means you're not paying attention to the story. But I love that. By doing that push in, you connected that door to a room that is actually on the other soundstage.

Christine: Far away.

John: You have to walk another 150 yards.

Johnathan: Another part of the world! It’s another day!

John: This room actually sold us.

Johnathan: Look at this stage, it’s setting you up for something this season. Look at that stage.

Christine: We got- seriously I got a couple pictures from that stage.

John: I’m sure you do.

Christine: Oh baby, do I.

Johnathan: Does it involve comedy? Cause John Rogers has not made it-

John: Oh no.

Christine: It involves musical comedy.

John: Musical comedy.

Johnathan: What about stand up?

John: Yeah, well I’ve worked that room.

Johnathan: That’s what I’m saying!

[Laughter]

John: Fairly sure I’ve worked in that room.

Christine: There's a flashback episode coming up.

John: Yeah- yeah, we do the writer's flashback, the audience would love that.

Johnathan: Nothing indulgent in here.

Christine: No one wants to see that.

John: No, I don’t think I'm going to go the Steve Cannell playing poker at the table route just quite yet.

Johnathan: Castle.

John: And I say that and the man is a walking god of writing, but no I'm not gonna go there.

Johnathan: And James Patterson as well.

John: James Patterson was there, too. We actually like those show- it's interesting it’s- you know, a lot of commentaries go out of their way to not talk about other shows.

Christine: We like other shows.

John: You have to be a fan of the genre to write the genre.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: You know you have to be. Otherwise you won't know when you're crossing the streams, won't necessarily have the toolbox.

Johnathan: Here's an example of what we were talking about earlier. We gave the three local cops, Alan, Tim, the poker game. Here's what has to happen, we have to have two cons that are positive, and a con that's negative. And we played- we played 6, 7, 8, 9, minute takes.

Christine: Oh yeah, we sat back and laughed our asses off afterwards, they were great.

Johnathan: Sat back and laughed, and cut it together and you go where we see it in the scene.

Christine: Some brilliant cutting here, actually.

John: It’s a really nicely shot poker game, actually. I'm watching it now, this is really really nice.

Johnathan: It’s because we had all the time in the world because we had- we finished the scene and what I needed was the poker game, and what we needed was the story points in the poker game. Instead of trying to find them I said, ‘Why don't we just play hands out?’ And so the camera men, to their credit, Connell and Camp- 

John: And again, I love Beth bringing a creepy sexual vibe.

[Laughter]

Johnathan: A creepy sexual vibe to a safe.

Christine: It’s great.

John: Yeah, that's really nice. And she does the same thing- it's interesting. It’s kind of another beat that she played with Eliot in the Lost Heir Job where she knows violence is about to happen, and she gets a little buzzed by it.

Christine: A little excited about it. I don't know anybody like that.

John: Yeah that's not, not at all.

Christine: Not at all.

Johnathan: Isn’t that what you write? That's your strongest suit?

John: Creepy sexual violence, that's what Boylan-

Christine: I don't know what you're talking about.

Johnathan: That's the Boylan way.

John: No the-

Johnathan: By this time Nate is fully into the [unintelligible].

Christine: I mean he's just- 

John: Boom boom boom.

Johnathan: He made the decision early, which actually we glanced over. That was a wonderful beat, which he did not overplay. 

John: When he goes and gets the booze and brings it over? Yeah.

Johnathan: No no, in the bar when he decides to have the first drink.

Christine: The first drink.

John: Yeah. Well you know, I don’t think it’s in the script to look to Odessa? Just having Tim glimpse over.

Christine: That was all Tim.

John: That was- looking over he was like ‘Oh man, I have watched this little girl since she was 5 years old. I'm not gonna let her down now.’

Christine: Beautiful note.

John: Good fight here, too.

Johnathan: Good fight.

Christine: Great fight. Look at this guy. Oh my god

John: Yeah this is a nice- this is like a toe to toe. We don't do a lot of these.

Christine: This was the first day shooting I think?

Johnathan: Not only first day of shooting, this is-

Christine: Morning right?

Johnathan: This is doubled up with- weren’t we doubled up?

John: Yeah, another show was shooting.

Christine: Oh god we were. I blocked that out.

John: You guys overlapped.

Johnathan: We overlapped, and the crew was on its way to do another thing. 

John: Oh wow, I didn't know that.

Johnathan: Remember that?

Christine: That's right we lost some of the crew.

John: Oh wow, nice snap. I don't remember seeing this version of the cut; this is great. Oh both good spins.

Johnathan: This is, what’s his name? This is Paul Bernard’s stunt buddy from New York; he did a great job.

Christine: He’s fantastic.

John: Yeah and Kevin, our stunt coordinator, did a fantastic job. 

Christine: Great job, look at that.

John: That is a great fight. That might be one of- that's my favorite stick fight, and the fact that they're both very good-

Christine: Look at this guy, this guy’s the best.

Johnathan: Look at this guy. ‘Oh, oh no. Ahhh!’

Johnathan: Moe, Larry, Curly

Christine: Fantastic. Comedy, Frakes, comedy.

Johnathan: Second Three Stooges reference. 

John: Yeah.

Christine: Oh boy.

John: Yeah. 

[Laughter]

John: Yeah, and just Parker’s building frustration here. 

Johnathan: Like, ‘Can you guys shut up?’

Christine: She does a great job. Beth is terrific.

John: As Chris just takes him apart.

Johnathan: This is exactly the tone of this show.

Christine: Oh.

Johnathan: Right here.

[Laughter]

John: Did she kick him?

Christine: The flick of the ponytail.

Johnathan: Yeah, she worked the heel.

John: Yeah, just fantastic. And- I'm- wow, this is a great sequence. This is the first time I've seen that fight cut. That was wonderful.

Christine: It's good cutting in there, too.

Johnathan: The good money.

Christine: The good money, the good, good money.

John: Brian Gonosey right? Brian cut the hell out of this.

Christine: Brian, yes. My friend Brian.

Johnathan: Repeat on the snow.

John: Yeah. You only have so much- so much snow.

Johnathan: I know we need to get some more Boston shots for next year.

John: Totally legally, of course.

[Laughter]

Christine: I don't know what you're talking about.

Johnathan: It takes place in Boston, right? Shot in Portland.

John: Yes it does. Shot in Portland.

Christine: Look at the look on her face.

Johnathan: How convenient is this? ‘She'll be here in a minute.’ Door opens, she comes in, she’s got a bag of money.

Christine: Only got so much time.

Johnathan: Exactly.

John: Hey 42 minutes. 42 minutes, kids.

Johnathan: 42 minutes.

[Laughter]

John: We’re moving. 

Johnathan: It would've been cut anyway.

John: I know! It would've been cut.

Christine: I love how Alan just let the panic kind of- when we cut back to him, he just lets the panic kind of rise from his chest up to his face, essentially.

John: This was a big thing, too, figuring out exactly what the mark was, how-

Christine: Every mark I pitched was the most elaborate, most flirtily designed-

Johnathan: I know, in real life it should be the subtlest mark of all.

Christine: I was all over that.

Johnathan: It should be the most subtle mark of all.

John: Look at that, look at that.

Johnathan: This is a wonderful beat. This, and what Tim does after this, is fabulous.

John: And- but I love- just the way he just wipes his mouth as he gets up, he's like, ‘Alright, we're gonna have to do some violence.’

Christine: ‘We’re doing this. We're doing this.’

John: ‘Don't want to do this, but we have to do this’. And then the-

Johnathan: ‘Ok fine, let me talk my way out of it, if not-’

John: This is a man with a back up plan. Yeah, and Alan really dug in here, sort of just the rage of having his beautiful little plan taken away.

Johnathan: He's a stage boy. This is Eugene O'Neill stuff coming up.

John: Yeah exactly, park your cameras and let the people talk. And these guys were great.

Christine: These guys-

John: Also, great physical casting on these guys.

Christine: Second time he admits he's a loan shark right there, it's great.

John: They look like cops. I mean, it was really brilliant casting- they look like both cops and thugs, it was really nicely done.

Christine: They look like guys from the neighborhood. It worked out really well.

John: And again, one of the themes of the show is the bad guy is always hung by his own sin. You know, it's whatever sin you see him commit early has gotta be what shows up. Yeah, and this guy is fearless, I love this guy. I love them all. 

[Laughter]

Christine: He's hilarious, look at that.

John: We have to bring these guys back.

Christine: We should.

Johnathan: They live there, they could easily-

Christine: I really think we should.

John: Actually, that was a problem, Odessa was from LA, and we want to recur the character and getting her up was impossible.

Johnathan: She wasn't from LA.

John: She was from LA.

Christine: Um, I don't know.

John: Pretty sure, yeah.

Johnathan: No no, she came in-

John: And I love he kind of drops the- he’s got that -

Johnathan: He’s like Muldoon.

John: He's got that long Dublin face. He's got the long, yeah.

Christine: He does, he's like a Joyce character, he's terrific.

John: He is.

Johnathan: No, she's a local who had moved to LA after.

John: That's right, that's right.

Christine: Oh that's what that was.

John: Yeah, he's got the Flanner O'Connell thing going on.

Johnathan: All three of these guys could easily come back. 

John: Yeah.

Christine: Oh yeah.

Johnathan: It’s like Fred Guinn on the right, look at that.

John: Wow, you found the Portland Fred Guinn, amazing. This is one of the longer explanations-  this is actually one of the longer flashbacks we do.

Christine: I love doing these flashes, and they- we always have to cut a whole bunch every time I write.

John: I know, I know.

Johnathan: This is a bleached bypass.

Christine: The first draft of this outline had so many flashes in it.

John: There was-

Christine: The handwritten one that I did-

[Laughter]

John: To be fair, Boylan, sometimes you will write an episode which is mostly flashes, with only two or three things happening in modern times.

Christine: I don't know what you're talking about. I'm trying to screw with your perception of time.

John: The theater thing sometimes gets a little out of control.

Johnathan: Well you milked that Guinness, didn't you?

Christine: What? It was a tiny Guinness.

John: It was a tiny Guinness. She is a tiny girl, it was a tiny Guinness.

Christine: It was a baby Guinness. 

John: And this is- this is great. I love the fact that Nate becomes physically violent here. 

Christine: Oh man.

Johnathan: Yeah.

John: This is- and I'm trying to remember where that came up in the room.

Christine: I forgot who pitched the finger breaking thing.

John: Cause it was originally the cops.

Johnathan: Tim got really involved in this. Tim was very excited about this part of the character, and this moment that's about- that we're all about to see.

John: I think I was the finger breaking, just because of the various times I'd seen it done.

Johnathan: Well no, it's a call back to the finger breaking, a callback-

John: No right, that's why we put it in the old days. But I was trying to remember exactly how we- we had multiple ways to get him out of this room. And then it was like, you know, we really- you really can't just chase him out.

Christine: Yeah.

John: You need somebody to lay the hurt on him. 

Christine: He’s gotta have some damage.

John: And the person who has to do it has to be Nate. And that's great. Again, it backed into the whole- there's a seething angry vicious criminal under Nate Ford at all times.

Johnathan: Here it is- bam and bam!

Christine: Look at that.

John: He so digs in on the- 

Christine: Look at Alan.

John: And Alan is so- cause I’ll tell you, and that was the advice I got back when I was in Montreal. A guy was in the mob, he was a bouncer, told me ‘You know what, all you gotta do is break a man's finger to get his attention for 5 minutes.’ I was like, wow.

Christine: That's good advice.

John: Really good advice. There's no pain like-

Johnathan: And ooh lights out.

Christine: He let loose with so many unholy screams during-

John: And there's something- actually important here, he breaks his finger at the end of the conversation. 

Christine: Yeah.

John: That's an unpleasant thing to do. And the great bit, ‘You're exactly like your father.’ Ahh, that's so great.

Christine: Great breath there.

Johnathan: ‘None of us- I was at the ball game. Were you guys at the ball game?’

John: Huh? No.

Johnathan: That's what they're saying.

John: Oh!

Christine: Yeah ‘I was at the movies. Oh I was at the ball game’

John: ‘I was at the ball game.’ Oh, that's right

Christine: So the families can get the money back.

Johnathan: And then we tried desperately to get the snow to blow into the door on the exit. I’m not sure that we got it.

John: I don't think we got it. Why? ‘Cause it was 107 degrees in a warehouse!

Johnathan: It's 107, where are you guys going?

Christine: The backdoor to the alley, we covered it.

John: And the book, the ledger. And that was again, it's one of those things where you do research, how do loan sharks keep their records? They keep them in stupid coded legers!

Christine: Coded leger. It’s written in stupid pen and ink.

Johnathan: And here's the one of our regulars.

John: Yeah. 

Johnathan: She's so reluctant to give up the money, it's brilliant.

Christine: It’s great.

[Laughter]

Johnathan: Here's a callback to the people in the beginning who have been ripped off.

John: He’s one of our regulars- if you watch, every episode he's at the bar. He's great; he's a local extra who kinda became the- mascot’s not the right word, but he really became, kind of, the extra heart, you know. And booze. Booze for everyone.

Johnathan: Shooters for everybody.

Christine: Hey, you know, end with booze we do get to [] here.

John: Somebody actually asked who drinks, who doesn't drink. Eliot drinks, Hardison doesn't drink well, Parker drinks but it doesn't affect her, Tara drinks a lot, and Nate of course is an alcoholic, just if you're keeping score.

Johnathan: What about Odessa?

Christine: Sophie?

John: Oh Sophie drinks but she only drinks girly- socially.

Christine: Socially. That's my girl.

Johnathan: You think?

John: Well when she's- yeah. She can put it away, but she prefers-

Christine: But she doesn't need to.

Johnathan: But she drinks neat booze.

John: She drinks neat booze. But you know, she's a woman who's trying to escape her past. You know, whatever she used to drink she doesn't drink anymore. I just- ‘No, no, I'm not gonna sleep with your niece at all.’ That was actually- in the original version was, she wandered off, you know, what you need to close up this beat. Yeah.

Johnathan: Ok let's sit down, we've-

Christine: Here we go.

John: She's great, she really is great. And the whole fathers thing here.

Johnathan: We even milked it with the look to the empty father’s seat.

Christine: Oh yeah, look to the chair.

Johnathan: Hopefully it stayed in the cut, let’s see.

John: I don’t know.

Christine: I believe it did.

John: They don't listen to you Frakes. 

Christine: I don't know, we were both adamant about that.

Johnathan: Still doesn't matter.

Christine: Doesn’t matter.

John: We’re just puking up raw material for the brilliance of the editors. 

Christine: The director was here and that chirpy girl, I don't know what they were saying. I think she was drunk, I'm not sure.

John: There's a lot about fathers in this season. Sort of looking at it there's a lot of- there’s Lost Heir, there's the season opener...

Christine: Every good show has daddy issues.

John: Wow that was a really weird voice you said that in; that’s a little disturbing.

Johnathan: My fathers the reason I'm here.

Christine: Aww.

John: Yeah, there you go.

Johnathan: Chair.

John: Chair, there you go you got the chair.

Christine: Cut to the stool. Dad’s office.

John: And he's gonna drink to it, yup.

Johnathan: Cause he hasn't had enough to drink today.

John: No he has not. Well once you start, really-

Christine: Really, what's the point of stopping?

John: Oh that's nice, they've cleaned up behind them, while they're talking.

Johnathan: High and wide.

John: High and wide.

Christine: Times out really nicely.

John: Nicely done.

Christine: Real time.

John: Anything you wanna say to the nice folks?

Johnathan: See you next season.

Christine: See you next season.

John: Thank you Mr. Frakes, that was wonderful. Thank you Boylan, that was wonderful.

Christine: Thanks guys.

John: And again an almost impossible show to do. Usually an impossible job on any show and- on any series and you guys made it one of the best of the 2 years, congratulations.

Johnathan: You're a gentleman and a scholar and a physicist.

[Laughter]

Christine: And a bit of a comedian as well.

John: Every now and then.

Johnathan: I can see you on that stage in the back room.

John: I'm not doing it.

Johnathan: What do you mean?

Christine: You are doing it.

Johnathan: John. 

John: You know what? This screams for a Gilligan cut, ‘I’m not doing it!’

[twopoppies]

Oh my god these poor girls. I can imagine similar this happened in 1d… https://www.fm104.ie/news/buzz/jesy-nelson-revealed-she-was-injected-with-painkillers-50-times-in-little-mix/

Ugh that's just horrible. I know Rebecca Ferguson has spoken about how little anyone cared for her mental and physical health and some creepy things that were done when she expressed exhaustion. I honestly wouldn't be surprised at all if stuff like what Jesy described happened with the boys in 1D. It's honestly just abusive.

[ingek73]

Fairytales for fuckwits: Meghan, a children's book, and the school bully tactics of the British tabloids...

Piers Morgan's obsession with Meghan Markle continues, while Mike Graham appears worried there may be too many big words for him to understand.

Mic Wright

May 6

On May the 4th, there was a great disturbance in the force, as if thousands of tabloid reporters and talk radio pundits cried out at once: The Duchess of Sussex had announced she was writing a children’s book.

Since the earth-shattering news that Meghan has written a story about the relationship between father’s and their sons — apparently based on a poem she wrote for Prince Harry — the tabloid press and talk radio stations have gone into meltdown.

The Sun has managed to crank out seven hysterically-pitched stories on the announcement since it dropped — the book isn’t out until June 8th — with each more unhinged than the last:

MEG TO PAPER Meghan Markle writes children’s book inspired by Prince Harry and baby Archie about ‘bond between father and son’

MEG-A MOVE Meghan Markle’s first priority should be mending broken relationships with royals not writing kids’ book, expert claims

SOUNDS A BIT WOODEN ‘Schmaltzy’ Meghan Markle ‘on dodgy ground’ with kids’ book celebrating fathers ‘after own bust-up with dad’ says author

DOUBLE DUCH Meghan Markle accused of copying her kids’ book The Bench from another story – but author defends her

NOT WRITE Piers Morgan slams ‘hypocrite’ Meghan Markle for kids’ book on ‘father-son bond’ after ‘ruining Harry and Charles’ ties’

'RIDICULOUS' Meghan Markle using Duchess of Sussex as author name ‘laughable’ after she wanted to cut Royal ties, says royal expert

CUT PRICE Meghan Markle’s kids’ book has price slashed already at Amazon and Waterstones

You’ll notice that Piers Morgan — a man who has turned one drink with Meghan after which he claims she “ghosted him”, which took place in 2016, into a five year and counting obsession — gets his own story there. That’s The Sun filleting Morgan’s spittle-flecked Daily Mail column on the book for its own news piece.

Morgan, who trails his columns on Twitter like they are exciting new releases rather than the tabloid equivalent of a letter scrawled in faeces forced through your letterbox, dashed out his thoughts on The Bench with the indecent haste of a man running along while his trousers fall down.

Image description: “Twitter avatar for @BreeNewsome

DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES

@BreeNewsome

Piers Morgan’s obsession with Meghan Markle is genuinely disturbing. He’s really just using the guise of journalism to be a public stalker and harasser.

May 5th 2021

1,414 Retweets10,252 Likes”

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Beneath a typically screaming Mail headline — How the hell can Meghan 'I hate royalty but call me Duchess' Markle preach about father-child relationships when she's disowned her own Dad, and wrecked her husband's relationship with his? — Morgan howled:

… she continues to cynically exploit her royal titles because she knows that's the only reason anyone is paying her vast sums of money to spew her uniquely unctuous brand of pious hectoring gibberish in Netflix documentaries, Spotify podcasts or children's books.

Of course, her equally cynical publishers don't give a damn about any of this shocking double standard.

Forget the fact that Meghan had a good degree of personal fame before she ever met Prince Harry, Piers Morgan accusing anyone else of being a cynical fame chaser is beyond parody. From his earliest days as a gossip hack, Morgan has muscled into pictures with the rich and famous, desperate to be someone.

When Meghan was willing to indulge him, he showered her with praise, but once she stopped taking his calls, he turned into the Tinder match from hell. That he has been married to his second wife, fellow controversialist columnist Celia Walden since 2010 seemingly did nothing to dampen his obsession.

Having repeatedly interviewed Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle — another man aggrieved because a woman would rather not spend time with him — Morgan sneers:

If she really cared about father-child relationships, she'd take a chauffeur-driven limousine on the hour-long trip to see her own father who's never even met either Harry or Archie.

It’s projection again: Piers Morgan’s ego is so egg-shell thin that after Meghan decided that one drink was more than enough, he’s spent 5 years seeking revenge and convinced that he’s been wronged, just like her ‘poor old dad’. That’s the ‘poor old dad’ that insists on talking about his daughter to journalists at every possible occasion.

At the end of an article that implies Harry and Meghan contributed to the death of Prince Philip — he died of natural causes — and rants on about “the woke”, Morgan ends with this:

But then as we've seen from her gruesomely self-interested behaviour during a pandemic that's caused so much devastation and pain to billions around the world, Meghan Markle doesn't really care about anyone but herself.

Remember, the Duchess of Sussex’s only ‘crime’ here is to write a children’s book which people will be free to buy or ignore with equal ease. But, as ever, Piers Morgan treats the news with all the proportionality of a US drone strike.

The real story here is about how Morgan — the bittiest of bit-part players in the narrative of Meghan and Harry’s lives — is so desperate to upgrade his place in the cast list that he will rant and rave to stay relevant. His departure from Good Morning Britain came after his last stream of invective about Meghan and he knows this schtick gets him the attention and money he craves.

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Maria Roach

@MariaLRoach

Meghan Markle inside the tiny space called Piers Morgan’s head. #duchessofsussex Tap Dance GIF by Miss America

May 5th 2021

122 Retweets1,619 Likes”

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Aside from Morgan’s column, MailOnline has published 9 other news stories on or related to the book announcement. The most telling of them is one that links the Duchess of Sussex’s book to another one… by the Duchess of Cambridge.

Headlined Bookshelf battle royale! Kate Middleton shares a glimpse inside her Hold Still photobook just a day after Meghan Markle unveiled her own £12.99 children's story, the story unsurprisingly treats Kate with kid gloves while continuing to imply that Meghan is the kind of person who would make gloves out of kids if it suited her devilish schemes.

There’s no shade thrown at the Duchess of Cambridge for revealing further details of her book just hours after Meghan’s announcement. Instead, the story — lavishly illustrated with images from the book — gushes:

The Duchess of Cambridge has shared a glimpse of her photography book Hold Still ahead of its release on Friday…

… Kate, 39, a keen photographer, launched a campaign during the first lockdown last year to ask the public to submit images which captured the period.

It even includes a mention of an image of a BLM protestor saying:

Over the course of the project, the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including a Black Lives Matter protester holding a sign reading: 'Be on the right side of history.'

If Meghan had done the same she would have been decried for “supporting extremists”. Remember the contrasting way their mutual taste for avocado was covered?

15 Headlines Show How Differently The British Press Treat Meghan Markle Vs Kate Middleton | Bored Panda

Over at The Daily Telegraph, Spiked alumna Ella Whelan offered her thoughts on a book that isn’t released until next month under the headline Meghan Markle’s fun-free children’s book may put an entire generation off reading, which makes it sound like a grimoire full of dark magic rather than a gentle children’s book about kids and their dads.

Just as with the Mail’s story on Kate’s book, it’s worth imagining what Whelan would say if the Duchess of Cambridge had written The Bench. Look at the following section…

It reveals something of the political superficiality of Harry and Meghan’s activism that an “inclusive” book would use the military father as its promotional message. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing, but if my kids have to read about soldiers, I’d prefer Hans Christian Andersen’s tin version rather than the woke posturing of a former royal.

… and notice that because Meghan is the author including a father who is in the military is “political superficiality”. If Kate had written a story that featured an analogue for Prince William — who also spent time in uniform, though in less dangerous circumstances than his ‘spare’ brother — Whelan would likely deem it a ‘touching tribute to their love’.

Similarly, Sarah Ferguson — the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, top Yelp! reviewer for Jeffrey Epstein’s houses and noted avoider of FBI questioning — uses the title Duchess of York on her many execrable children’s books.

Now that Meghan is the tabloid’s new monster in the monarchy, Fergie’s antics are pointed to as a positive with her books flattered even as Meghan’s as-yet-unpublished book is panned.

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talkRADIO

@talkRADIO

Meghan Markle is releasing a new children's book about father-son relationships.

Mike Graham: "It's so juvenile. This is somebody who acts like she's still in high school... it's not exactly Tennyson, is it?

@mrmarkdolan | @Iromg Image

May 5th 2021

36 Retweets221 Likes”

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Over on talkRADIO, Mike Graham — a melting mass of expired meat — ranted about a children’s book, worried perhaps that it will contain too many long words. Speaking to his colleague, Mark Dolan — Dennis Pennis without the charm — Graham crowed:

It’s so juvenile. This is somebody who acts like she’s still in high school… I don’t have anything against her for any particular reason, other than she’s a bit too American, you know. She thinks everything is just great and cheesy. Rhyming the words ‘joy’ and ‘boy’. It’s not exactly Tennyson, is it?

Ah yes, that famous children’s author, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, known for such devastating rhymes as this one from The Lady of Shallot: “She left the web/ She left the loom/ She made three paces through the room.”

I’m not saying The Lady of Shalott is rubbish — though I do still hold a grudge against Tennyson after some very tedious teaching in high school — but that focusing on one rhyme in a poem is an easy trick if you want to say its shit. That Graham cannot see the irony in decrying writing a children’s book as “juvenile” is just one of the reasons he’s employed by a station with less than 1% reach.

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Nadim Baba

@NadimJBaba

Piers Morgan ranting about the one who got away in 5, 4, 3.......

Media Guardian @mediaguardian

Meghan wins copyright claim against Mail on Sunday over letter https://t.co/cJZTgDMvgz

May 5th 2021

1 Like”

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There’ll be a new round of these columns, stories, and talk radio segments when the book is released, particularly as The Mail on Sunday just lost the second part of Meghan’s copyright claim against it.

There’s nothing that either Meghan or Harry could do that wouldn’t drive these rats in a sack rabid. If they did nothing, they’d be called lazy. When they make things, take jobs, or really say anything the very media that benefits hugely from stories about them scream that it’s a cry for attention. And yet Piers Morgan regularly pissing himself in public is “commentary”.

[jonbernthalslut]

some destiel and general spn headcanons for ya

dean listens to katy perry. one day he’s got teenage dream blasting in the kitchen while he’s cooking and he’s singing ‘put your hands on me in my skin tight jeans’ and cas just taps his shoulder and goes. ‘dean. you don’t wear skinny jeans.’

they don’t talk about crowley. not any of them. he was confusing and murderous and a little evil and for some reason they considered him family for a long time. they don’t talk about how he died for them but there’s a note in a drawer somewhere that just says ‘goodbye boys’ with a little heart

cas and deans wedding rings are simple. deans just a silver band and castiels a simple black one

claire and jack argue over who gets to be the flower girl

dean says he likes black coffee and forces himself to drink it most of the time out of necessity but cas and sam know he likes a lot of cream and sugar and cas makes it for him every morning

it takes longer this time for castiel to get out of the empty. almost an entire year to the day (and no there’s no stupid fucking rusty nail) but the only way he gets out this time is bargaining. he plays the only chip he’s got left, mortality. castiel goes home human. when the deal is struck the empty only says oke thing before sending him back. ‘you are never to return to this place’

cas gets an anti possession tattoo

jack is still god so they don’t see him as much but he comes home for birthdays and holidays and sometimes just when he misses his dads and uncle

when castiel comes back it resembles the last time a lot. he calls dean from the closest pay phone to the bunker after hitch hiking his way there and dean goes alone this time.

dean just puts his hands on castiels face and just soaks him in for a second. this time he doesn’t question that it’s him he just knows. he knows is his angel. ‘dean,’ castiel starts and dean just smiles and shushes him. ‘i love you too.’ is all dean says and he really always that he would be the one to kiss cas first but he was wrong. because his love being returned was the only thing cas needed and dean is being pulled in and kissed.

they stop hunting. they help train some new recruits and they come when claire or jody calls them but they stop.

sam wears a man bun when he works out don’t let him lie to u he does it

jack slips a few months before he becomes god and calls dean dad and dean just freezes for a second. it’s just them in the kitchen and jack has a bowl of cereal but he’s too tired to get the milk so he goes ‘dad can you give me the milk?’ and dean freezes for a second and gets the milk and pours it and kisses his hair. ‘thank you’ ‘anytime kiddo’

cas likes to steal deans t shirts. like. it’s all he wears when he gets back and dean even buys him new ones and cas jus goes ‘i like yours better’

when sam sees castiel and dean walk into the bunker after cas comes back he doesn’t even notice they’re holding hands. well. he does but it just seems so natural he doesn’t blink twice and just pulls cas into a hug ‘good to have you back man’

claire likes to come over with kaia and alex and jody sometimes and have big slumber parties with her weird kind of dads

castiel watches crime shows and literally always figures out who the killer is before the cops do and dean finds it so funny

castiel has scars on his back where his wings wouldve joined his vessel and they hurt like a bitch so dean just rubs aspercreme on them and gives him ibuprofen and cuddles with him till he feels better

the trench coat is really just a beloved memory hanging in castiels closet

when cas first came back they didn’t share a room immediately instead castiel moves in across the hall but he finds its reallt hard to sleep alone so he just ventured to deans room and hears him snoring aand just gets in bed

dean calls castiel angel, darling, baby, babe and a million other pet names

castiel trting to prank sam on april fools is like. literally so dumb he draws the shittiest possible clown on a napkin and gives it to sam in an envelope and sam jumps anyways and dean DIES laughing

cas watched broke back mountain

cas brings in any and every stray animal he can possibly find and he doesn’t even mean to find them they just come up to him

rowena sends weird little gifts on the boys birthdays and literally who does she know their birthdays

she sends a letter on the anniversary of crowleys death. it says ‘thank you for taking care of my ferguson. he loved you boys and you gave him the family i never could. much love my boys. stay safe.’ with a little heart

castiel heads the john winchester hate squad

eileen and sam get married and they have this big sweet white wedding and move into this big house and have two kids and absolutely don’t name any of them dean

one day jody is on a case and a vampire kills the parents of this little baby girl and she just. cant fathom putting this poor girl into the foster system so she reports the baby dead and drives to the bunker

dean opens the door with sleep ruffled hair and sleep pants with one leg hiked up because it’s three in the goddamn morning and why does jody have a baby

dean doesn’t want to at first. he never saw himself as a dad but jack changed that. thing is he doesn’t know what to do with a baby. but cas gives him that look he gives him when he finds a stray and now they have five cats and three dogs so he knows how this will go

they name her charlie and buy about a million parenting books that only cas reads and spoil her rotten