#or any of the other fall out boys but patric is the one i see you guys hornypost about most often

[graveyardmouth]

pspspsps mutuals who like fall out boy i knwo you have unholy amounts of patrick stump images saved give me some i wanna draw him

[ivedescoveredheathsjoker]

Adrenaline

L!Joker/Patrick/Eric Draven/reader

Warnings: mentions of death

Note: this wasn't edited i just wrote it and bam posted. This was an idea given to me by @whoslaughingnow-comic while talking about Eric and my two other boys.

(Not my gif)

You had been dating Eric for about 2 years when he was brutality murdered in his apartment on Devil's night.

His death hit you like nothing else had. You felt terribly lonely and missed his loveing embrace. You had a few of his belongings which he had left in your appartment the night before; his guitar, a pic and one of his shirts.

In the weeks of his absence you had turned the pic into a necklace and wore it everywhere. Eventually it became apart of you, never taking it off.

As you tried to move on, you couldn't. Everywhere you went you were reminded of him. The old club you went to to see his band play, the coffee shop where you had your first date, the record shop where you met and eneded up going to every week.

Then there was your apartment. You had everything in boxes, seeing as you were to move in together that week. Too lazy were you to take everything out, yet it hurt to see the boxes piled high.

2 months went by when you decided to move to the other side of Gotham. A nicer area, a bit farther from the dangers of the mob. You eventually settled into the area falling into a routine, enjoying the local pub, going to cafe, and working at the record shop.

One night while you were at the pub you meet a young man named Patrick Verona. He wasn't hitting on you or trying to get your attention, no. He had asked you about the band on your shirt. The two of you talked for a while about music, movies and city life. Eventually he asked you to dance while Plainsong played in the background.

You couldn't help but smile as you danced with him. How could you not? He had the biggest smile you had ever seen!

As the night drew to a close Patrick insisted on walking you home, "It's the right thing to do." All along the way you didn't stop smiling, though in the back of your mind you worried if it was a trap. Ignoring that thought you enjoyed his company until you got to your apartment. That night you gave him your number and agreed to a first date.

As you entered your apartment smiling you frowned when you saw the gutar next to the sofa. "What would Eric think?" You wondered, "would he want me to move on?" That night for the first time in 5 months you desided not to sleep with his shirt. That night you desided to move on.

After sleeping over one night Patrick asked you about the necklace.

"Is it a lucky charm?"

"Yes...and no... It was given to me by somone I loved."

"I see," he smiled and kissed you. "Did they give you the guitar too?" You nodded.

As time went by you and Patrick were a happy couple. Though the guilt of Eric hit you at times; somtimes it was the guilt of hiding him from Patrick, other times it was the guilt you felt for loving Patrick. Those were the times you would take out his shirt and hold it tight. How it still meant so much to you with almost a year having gone by.

By the aniverseray of Eric's death, you still hadn't told Patrick about Eric. You decided that you would have them meet.

You were nervous about it. "What if Pat dosent understand...what if he gets upset." It was the day before your trip when you tell him. At first he's shocked and asks you why you hadn't told him. You explain that you were afraid he would leave you,that it would scare him away. As you told Patrick more, you can't help but cry. He held you close to him, as he rubbed your back. He had lost a few people close to him as well, but he couldn't imagine losing a partner. He could hear the love as you talked about Eric. Patric could also tell that you loved him the same way.

As you went to bed Patrick held you close to him and kissed your head.

The next day you both headed to the subway, making your way towards the east side of Gotham. Once you both arrived you showed Patrick around the area where you used to live. It was so strange being there with Patrick. You were over come with emotions as you passed the boarded up apartment building Eric used to live in. You held Patrick's hand as tightly as you could, holding back tears. Once you arrive at the graveyard, Patrick tells you to go in first and have a moment alone. Greatfully, you head towards his grave only to find an empty pit and a headstone with a crow sitting upon it.

Fearfully you call out to Patrick who comes running over to you. Both staring at the grave you both stand there dumb founded. All you can hear is the quiet echo of the city and the soft piter pater of rain.

A voice in a whisper breaks the silence. "Y/n?" You heard it and turned to see Eric. Seeing you move Patrick turns to see him. The three of you stand there staring at one another for what feels like an hour.

"E-eric? Your-your dead....ho-how...?" You say as you approach him, ever so slowly. "Y/n..." He said as he quickly aproached you huging you for the first time in a year. As he sees the tears in your eyes he wipes them away.

"I don't know what I am. All I know is that I'm back here." Is the response you receive from your previous question.

You slowly break away from the hug, sadly, as you look over to Patrick. "Th-This is Patrick. He's-he's my uh, boyfriend." Patrick nods shakily walking over to you. "Nice to uh, meet you mate." He says shaking his hand.

Eric lead you both to his apartment explaining what he knows. He wants revenge on those who killed him and tore him from his love. You gave a sad smile as you walked into the scorched apartment, seeing a few salvageable items.

You were quick to pick up a polaroid of the two of you cuddleing close. Patrick couldn't help but smile at it when he looked over your shoulder. Eric smiled as well, knowing which picture you were looking at.

You lead Patrick towards a singed black sofa and sat down listening to more of what Eric had to say. He had yet to meet a man by the name of Joker. A man who played by his own rules and was stealing money from the mob. A rumor was going around that he had offered to kill Batman for the mob.

Patrick frowned, he didn't like the idea of revenge, no matter how horrible those people were. Patrick didn't like how violent vigilantes could be, and by the sounds of it, Eric was rather violent. Especially as he heard the tale of how the gangster T-Bird died.

You on the other hand agreed. You felt that justice was finnaly being served. You were glad that your Eric was being a hero and helping to remove the scum of Gotham.

Slowly the conversation went from dark to light as Eric began to ask both of you questions. Eric had originally been taken aback when he saw Patrick with you, but was starting to warm up to him seeing that he truly did love you. As Eric asked more questions Patrick did too. Both men were curious of the other, and were quickly trusting one another.

It made you smile so brightly to see them getting to know one another without any sort of malice.

As night began to approach Patrick was the one who had to tell you that you needed to head home before it got too dark. When you began to protest Eric was quick to agree with Patrick telling you that it wouldn't be the last time you saw him. Despite how badly you wanted to stay, you began to follow Patrick out and started making your way home.

Halfway you began to notice a single black crow following the two of you. When you told Patrick he smiled telling you it must be a sign from Eric, to keep the two of you safe.

Later that night when you your arrived home you found a record from his band on the counter. Neither of you knew how it got there, but you were happy to have it.

After that day the two of you often found small presents from Eric. You also would receive random visits from Eric which slowly began to fall into a routine. Though his visits slowly became became longer and longer.

Eventually he started staying with the two of you. When he wasn't hunting out the evils of Gotham, he was sleeping on the sofa, often without either of you knowing.

When Patrick finds out he suggests that he alternates nights. At first Eric opposes this idea, not wanting to leave either of you unprotected. Though he ended up agreeing to alternate with Pat to sleep in bed. On the nights Pat slept on the sofa, Eric's crow would watch over him; allowing Eric to feel at ease with his decision.

One night you and Pat awoke to a loud thud. Thinking it was Eric coming home from his work, you told Patrick to go back to sleep, and you headed towards the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen you can't help but laugh at the color of his hair and coat. Unlike his ussual black attire he was wearing a purple trench coat and had his hair died green. At the sound of your laughter Eric stood up from the fridge abd as he turned you stoped laughing.

The man before you was not Eric, but rather a stranger. White, black, and red grease paint covered his face making him look even more menicing. Not to mention the feirce scars that created a permanent smile, did little to keep you calm.

"Boo." Was all he said to have you running and screaming for Patrick and Eric.

Eric arrived just in time to see you running into the bedroom and to hear the laughing in the kitchen. Eric steadily headed towards the kitchen. He frowned as he saw the clown before him.

"J..."

"Now I know why you said Boo!" J said in between bursts of laughter.

"I told you not to scare them."

Patrick of course hearing all the commotion, walked in with you trembling in his arms.

"Whose this? Howd-"

"This is the one I told you about. This is Joker. He's helping me with the mob."

Patrick looked up at him. "How? I heard he was robbing banks."

"Not just any banks, koala, but the mob's banks." Joker said as his laughing finnially died down. "It's a pleasure to meet you both." He said smiling like a toddler.

Eric gave you a hug. "He's all bark and no bite around us. He won't hurt you."

He had you and Patrick return to bed while he and J stayed up and talked about the mob.

By morning the Joker was gone and you hadn't seen him until the next week, when he jumped out from behind the door and scared you.

Though as time went by you slowly began to get used to his jump scares. His vists to your apartment slowly became more frequent. Patrick, who still felt rather uneasy around him, was beginning to become used to his presence. For Patrick the clown reminded him of a crazier version of Eric.

Eric and Patrick had become rather close in the last few months. Both of whom began to get used to the idea of napping together.

Soon J followed suit, squishing Eric in the middle of the sofa.

For you, those moments were sweet, when your boys were together peacefully. No worries. No fighting. No plans. Just peace amongst them. Somthing that neither of them tended to bring to the table.

Over this time, you too, began to have a closer bond with the crazed clown. He had even began to call you Bunny, thanks to your first encounter.

With his help though, you began to learn how to throw knives, shoot guns, and build a bomb (not that it was needed). On the other hand Patrick didn't quiet agree with J on these leasons, why should anyone know how to build a bomb. Often you and Eric would break up the bickering between the two.

As more time went by the four of you began to fall into a strange relationship. One that was rather unconventional. But then again none of you were conventional.

[bqstqnbruin]

Helplessness and Good Food

I still can’t spell that man’s name wow. I also got my cap and gown and hood today from SJU and it’s just hanging on my closet door mocking me about the fact that I’ll never get to wear it, but at least it was free right?

But this was requested and here we are me still having more requests that I LOVE! Just ignore the fact that the title sucks ah

_______________________________

“Babe, I know you’re in pain, but I have practice in like ten minutes. I’ll be by as soon as I can with everything I’ve needed when I’ve had surgery.” You hear Matt running on the other end. He was definitely late to practice; you could picture him sprinting through the city on his way to Warrior just to get there in time so he won’t be scratched next game. “For now, Samantha is there to help you, and we’ve coordinated it so she doesn’t have to leave for work until I’m back. There’s even some overlap where you’ll have both of us waiting on you hand and, well, knee.” 

You laugh at his attempt at a joke, “I’ll see you later. Have a good practice. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” you hear him say on the other end, practically hanging up the phone before he can say it out of panic of being late. You try to shift yourself to a more comfortable position, which was hard given the complete immobility of your left leg. You had messed up your knee because of dance when you were younger, putting off the impending eventual surgery that you would need to get it fixed. Then you were out for a run, the first part of your normal workout, when you weren’t paying attention to where you were going, colliding with someone and busting your knee, much worse than it had been before. Matt and Samantha insisted you go see your doctor, only for him to tell you that you need reconstructive surgery because you tore pretty much all of the ligaments in your knee. 

Trying to adjust yourself took at least twenty minutes before finding a position that didn’t make you writhe with pain. It was your first week at home and you still weren’t used to navigating your apartment without use of your leg. 

“Hey, what do you need?” Samantha says, coming into the living room with more pillows, as if the four that were under your leg already weren’t enough as it was. 

“Use of my leg?” She tries as hard as she could to adjust the pillows without sending pain through your leg. It didn’t work, but you know she was trying. 

“Did you take the meds the doctor told you to take?”

“Yeah, this morning, but he also said try not to take them often, so I don’t want to take more until I go to sleep tonight if I need to.” You struggle to reach for the TV remote, hoping that you can put on a movie or something on Netflix to take your mind off your leg. It was just out of reach on the table in front of you; moving anymore to get it and you would be in pain for the next twenty minutes while you tried again to readjust yourself. “I’m so helpless!” you shriek as you give up.

“Well, yes, but at least now you have an excuse.” Samantha gets up and hands you the remote. 

“Very funny considering I noticed that since I haven’t been able to vacuum, the floors are much messier now.” 

“Touche.” She plops down on the chair, probably trying to think of the last time she even used the vacuum. “What time is Matt getting here?”

“Uh, his practice ends in about four hours? So in four and a half assuming he showers?” you tell her, trying to find a good movie to put on, “What should we watch?”

“How about that Ted Bundy movie. The one with Lily Collins and Zac Efron?”

You find Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile. It was one of your favorite movies; you had seen footage of Bundy before and the way Efron mirrored Bundy’s mannerisms was mindblowing to you.

By the end of the movie, you were ready to pass out, even though it was morning. “I haven’t actually slept well since before the surgery because of pain, so if I can fall asleep like this, I’m going to,” you told Samantha about halfway through the movie, feeling your eyes close then. You must have actually fallen asleep because you wake up with Samantha gone and Matt sitting on the floor, his head right by where your shoulder was on the couch. You mess up his hair doing your best to sit up so he can at least come sit up on the couch. “Hey, babe.” 

“Hey, there, sleepy,” he says, pushing himself up on the couch, you lay your head in his lap, “How are you feeling?”

“Hurt. Helpless,” you pout.

“I know, Y/N, but you’ll feel better soon.” He runs his hand through your hair, letting your eyes close as he does it. “In the meantime, as I said, Samantha and I are here to literally 24/7. One of us will bring you something to make you feel better every day until you are as good as new.” 

“Really?” you ask, your eyes lighting up, “Materialism at it’s finest. What did you bring me?”

“Well, today, some of the guys and I chipped in and got some stuff that we like to have after surgeries. So Torey got you a copy of Holes, which he said is his favorite book, Marchy got you a copy of Tales from the Locker Room from the 2011 season, I’m thinking because he’s on the cover,” he says, laughing, handing the two books to you, “Charlie got Chef Keith to make you the Dark Chocolate Sweet Potato Almond Butter Brownies that he loves and he’s like 90 percent sure you would love, too. Then Jake got you Oreos, Zee got you some Caramel Apple Spice and Egyptian Licorice Teas, which, I’m not sure why.” He keeps pulling out item after item from the bag. He apparently told the entire team you were having this surgery and literally every single one of his teammates must have gotten you something to keep you occupied during the time you were useless.

“How’d you even manage this?” you ask, sitting up so carefully so that you don’t irritate your knee. “The boys must love you.” You have to twist yourself around so that you can give him a kiss on the cheek, causing both of you to burst out laughing at how awkward it was, “I hate having half of me stuck in one place!” you whine.

“I know, I know. But trust me, the boys love you more than they love me. Jake would rather have you as a teammate instead of me.”

“So what you’re saying is, if we break up, the guys are keeping me and getting rid of you?” You lay your head back in his lap, getting comfortable again. 

“Let’s not talk about us breaking up, and just go back to watching some TV. Try the cookies that Stephanie made, Patrice says she’s a great baker.” 

“What kind are they?”

“I don’t know, he told me the French name and I don’t know.” He starts to laugh taking a bite of the cookie himself, “but fuck they’re good!”

“You,” you start laughing so hard you end up lifting your head from his lap slightly, “are getting crumbs all over me, you pig!” You brush the crumbs off of yourself, praying that Samantha actually vacuums so you don’t have to.

You spend the rest of the day just relaxing. Anything you needed, Matt got up so carefully and practically sprinted to get it to you; more water, he got it, your phone charger, he got it; something from your bedroom, he got it. 

“What time is Samantha getting home?” he asks after you watched Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was getting close to dinner time, and it was a little weird that she wasn’t there.

“Uh, I’m not sure. Let me check my phone, maybe she said something?” you reach for your phone, still needed Matt to give it to you like Samantha had earlier, “Yep, she said she’s going to be home late. Probably after 7. Shoot, she was making dinner.” 

“I’ll do it! What was she going to make?” he jumps up, sending you sitting straight up and pain rushing through you. You try to hide the distress from your face, not wanting to make him feel bad in any way for wanting to help. 

“Babe, you’ve never cooked for me before. Help me move my leg from the couch to the table so I can sit up properly?” 

He helps move the pillows to create a mountain under your leg. It felt so much better than having to stay stuck laying down on the couch like you had been the entire day, “Have I really never cooked for you?”

“No, we always order out.” 

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” he says, running into the kitchen to try to figure out what to make. “Why do you have no food in here?”

“Maybe Samantha was supposed to pick up stuff for dinner on her way back from work?”

“Nope, I found some stuff!” he calls as you here clanging in the kitchen, hopefully, the noise of him trying to get pots or pans out of your cabinets.

“Babe, don’t break anything!” you yell to him. You don’t need him cleaning up knowing that he’s horrible at that, and knowing Samantha won’t vacuum for who knows how long. He doesn’t answer, and all you can do is stress watch episodes of The Office that you’ve already seen at least ten times already. 

Samantha eventually comes home before Matt is finished cooking. “Oh, my god. What happened here?”

You look around at the mess you didn’t realize you and Matt had made. “The boys made me a care package and I guess Matt got a little crazy with throwing things on the ground?” 

“What’s that smell?”

“He’s making dinner.”

“Oh no.”

“I know.” 

“He’s never done that before!” 

“I know!” The two of you squeal like giddy school girls, laughing after about how ridiculous you sounded. You and Matt were serious, but he had never cooked for you before. 

“If it tastes good, keep him.”

“Well, I would hope she would keep me even if it weren’t good considering this mess is my fault. You need me around long enough to clean up.” Matt is balancing a bowl of food on his arm, another plate in each hand. 

“What is this?” Samantha looks at the bowl that Matt set in front of her, obvious disgust on her face.

“Chili.”

“We had beef here?” you ask, turning to Samantha.

“I didn’t buy it and you haven’t been shopping in months.”

“Should we be scared?” you turn to Matt, a look of fake fear on your face that only makes him laugh.

“Will you try it first?” Matt begs.

You and Samantha look at each other, the fake fear turning into real fear. Where did the beef even come from? You hold up a spoonful of the chili, “Count of three?”

“Oh, come on!” Matt says.

“One, two, three.” Samantha counts down, both of you shoving the food in your mouths at the same time, immediately spitting it out.

“I love you,” you say, shoving the bowl at Matt, Samantha getting up to run to the kitchen and get rid of her bowl, “but that is God awful.” 

“I’m ordering pizza!” Samantha yells. You can hear her opening the trash can and dumping the rest of the chili. “Whoever goes to get the pizza is also bringing the trash out, Matt.”

“Is it that bad?” he asks, looking upset as he takes a mouthful of his dinner. “Ok, yeah,” he spits it right back into the bowl, “That is horrible. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s ok, babe,” you take his face in your hand, kissing his cheek, “You tried. You failed, but you tried.” 

“I love you. I wish I was better for you, especially now.”

“You’re perfect.” 

“Perfect or not, he’s taking this out, and getting the edible food.” Samantha comes back with the trash bag, dumping Matt’s bowl in too before tying the bag and handing it to him. “Go.” 

“I’m going, I’m going!” Matt yells as Samantha practically throws him out the door. 

“You can still keep him.” Samantha jokes. 

“I will,” you say as he comes back, plopping down on the couch with the pizza, giving you and Samantha each a slice. “Ugh, good food!” you draw out as Matt rolls his eyes at you, a smile spreading across his face. 

[slamsams-blog]

Skyfall - #24WeeksofBond

We are officially past the halfway mark, and what a way to kick off the second half of 24 Weeks of Bond then with “Skyfall”?  It’s hard to place “Skyfall” when it comes to comparisons between all the other Bond films because it is just so unique.  Looking at the entire film collection up to this point you could place these movies in two different sub-catagories, Action Bond & Comedy Bond.  Skyfall falls under its own sub-catagory - Thriller Bond.  This visually stunning masterpiece has a hair raising plot with eerie characters, brooding cinematography and it is topped off with a dusting of humor.  Not only is it incredible to look at, but the writing and directing make you connect with the characters of Bond more so than any other film.  Plus, it’s the film that ties all the classics in together to give us the cast of characters we had been missing prior.  M, Moneypenny, & Q are now all established and everything is right in the world of 007.

Back in 2006 when Daniel Craig first came on, Barbara Broccolli and Michael G. Wilson, the main producers of the Bond series, had decided to essentially hit the reset button, and bring us back to give us the journey of how Bond came to be Bond, James Bond: License to Kill 007. These first three Daniel Craig films are building blocks for the continuation of the world of James Bond that we all know and love.  But that meant 3 Bond movies that didn’t have cool gadgets delivered to Bond by a snarky head of Q-Branch, didn’t have a sassy, flirtaious Moneypenny at the desk of M, and worst of all, had no gun barrel sequences.  That was probably what made me more frustrated than anything, the first three movies with Daniel Craig, and not one gun barrel sequence to open up the film...it’s just not Bond without it!

But by the time you had left the theatre after seeing Skyfall in IMAX, you felt a sense that everything was back to normal.  They even threw a gun barrel sequence in at the end, which didn’t appease me, but when I went to go see “Spectre” in theatres, I was literally PRAYING that they would put the bun barrel sequence in the beginning.  Once I saw that white circle in the middle of the screen, I literally yelled out loud with excitement.

But that is the end of the film, let’s keep with the theme of the film, and go back in time to the beginning of the film.

This is the story of M, and the coldness and callous thats required to do her job, and it’s also the story of how that affects those that fight for her and their country.  Never before has M been so deeply entrenched in the plot to the point where M is the main character.  Her decision making about her operatives who are in the field is quickly highlighted in the pre-title sequence of the film where everyone is out looking for a stolen data base of all NATO agents who are undercover - putting them all in danger of being exposed.  Bond comes across another field agent Ronson who appears to have been shot.  Bond tries to save him, but M directs Bond to “just leave him”.  Then later, after Bond has caught up to the man we will know as Patrice (after a classic scene where Bond jumps to a disconnected moving train car and shoots his cuffs), Bond and Patrice are struggling on top of the train where M directs Moneypenny to take a shot at Patrice - even though M was told it wasn’t a clean shot and that she might hit Bond.  Well, she does hit Bond and Bond dies...(but not really of course).

You will start to notice a pattern with the Daniel Craig movies...he always finds a way to lose his job.  He is either resigning, getting stripped of his license, getting suspended, or dying.  I hear he retires in “No Time To Die”.  lol.

This would be the first out of two movies to be directed by Sam Mendes who wasn’t really known for making action movies.  Sam Mendes is a storyteller and a visual artist and he makes that known here.  Everything about the cinematography in this film is just absolutely stunning.  The shots in Shanghai where Bond is swimming and later catches up with Patrice in a high rise office made of glass (one of my favorite fight scenes).  The shots in the Macou casino, the breathtaking views of the hills of Scotland and firelit shots of Skyfall Manor after it had been blown to smithereens.  All these scenes are just a feast for the eyes, and gives the film a sort of suspenseful energy making this film to be classified as a thriller.

On top of that, we have Raoul Silva who is played by the incredible Javier Bardem.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this casting choice as he was pretty fresh off of “No Country for Old Men” fame.  People waiting on pins and needles to watch his performance...unfortunately we don’t get to see him until halfway through the movie.  But when we do see him, we are introduced with one continuous shot of Silva walking towards Bond and delivering a long monologue about rats and coconuts.  As a former actor myself, that is not easy to do.  Bardem gives Silva a nightmarish psychotic coat of paint, but can also make you laugh with just the slightest look accompanied with a bit of sass.

The story is that Raoul Silva had worked as an MI6 agent who was apparently M’s favorite.  But Silva had gotten caught along the way, and was tortured, but never gave M up. He tried to kill himself with cyanid, to make sure he wouldn’t break and protect MI6 - but the cyanid didn’t kill him.  This left his face scarred for life and left him broken and vengeful that M had given him up so easily.  Now Silva has concocted a master plan to get captured, only to escape because of his forward thinking ability to hack someone who is trying to hack him, and get M into a position where he can get a clean shot to kill her.  Pretty straight forward plot, but to say “This time, it’s personal!” may be putting it mildly here. 

Inserted into this plot, is a slightly confusing run in with a women named Severine, who is ultimately Bond’s gateway to get to Silva.  The reason I say it is confusing is because I don’t know what her directives are for the scene where she gets a drink with Bond. Severine is being controlled by Silva so her job is to be at the casino for Patrice when he comes and cashes in the chip that he had - but it ends up being Bond cashing in the chip. So, was the plan to have a drink with Patrice and kill him too?  Or were they trying to get Bond to let his guard down so that they could kill him easier?  And why were they going to kill him?  So they didn’t have to pay up?  Was Severine still a sex slave or was she merely Silva’s mistress?  Not much is known about her, but she is clearly afraid of Silva and adds to Silva’s build up nicely.

Toward the end of the film, after some cat and mouse between Bond and Silva, Bond kidnaps M, uses her as bait (how does it feel, M?), and lures Silva to Skyfall Manor, which is the house Bond grew up in as a kid.  Bond picks Skyfall because he knows of the gun room they had there, but Kincade, who had been the gamekeeper there since Bond was a boy, tells him that they had sold the guns to someone in Idaho.  So now Bond, M, and Kincade have to get creative and “Home Alone” this house with booby traps.  Any kid who grew up watching Home Alone would have been reminded of that movie right away after watching this.  However, we see M getting shot in her side during the scuffle with the baddies and that will lead us to Silva’s killing, and M gasping her last breath in Bond’s arms.  It sure was bittersweet to see Judi Dench leave the role.  In my opinion, she is the best M of them all merely because of all she got to do with it.  Not Bernard Lee’s fault, he just wasn’t given the depth of character that Dench got.

Between Sam Mendes’ commitment to directing the film, Adele gifting us with her incredible voice for the theme song, Javier Bardem playing the villain, and the 4 years it took to get this film into the theatres, this was one of the most anticipated Bond films ever - and it lived up to, or exceeded, everyone’s expectations.  Skyfall is a beautiful and nerve-wracking action thriller that is just on another level as far as Bond films go.  My only gripes with the film is how it slows down towards the end of an already long film, and all the mentions of Bond getting old...why mention his age when we are always going to have Bond movies?  

But so many fun moments, like Q asking Bond if he was expecting an exploding pen (Goldeneye shout out), and bringing back the famous Aston Martin car from Goldfinger - that got an audible pop from the audience when I saw it in the Theatres.  Skyfall is definitely Craig’s peak as Bond, but of course he has one more left.  Only time will tell if he ends on a high note with “No Time to Die”, or if “Skyfall” was the high note of Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure.  I’m sure there is more to say about this film, but I can’t think of them right now, so I will say goodnight!

What did you think?  Let me hear you!

Reviews from Friends:

Andrew Albertsen

I read that Judi Dench has more screen time in this movie alone than Desmond Llewelyn has in 17 films as Q. I also read that there was talk of Sean Connery playing Kincade. God that would’ve been stupid.

My Mom

This was a fantastic movie. mark recently talked me into surround sound. I now have to look at little black speakers all over my living room. As I sat enjoying this film on my couch my heart was skipping a beat thinking intruders were sneaking up behind me. Turns out to be Daniel Craig and crew ambushing me with sounds of footsteps and guns. Terrifying.

Jake Benrud

Loved this movie. This is one of my favorites. Always a good Bond flick when there's a turned 00 agent.

24 Weeks of Bond Will Return Next Monday With - 

Die Another Day

[bambigoose]

Doing Just Fine

An: This has been edited after posting. Thank you to those that reached out to help me correct the ranking changes throughout the story.

Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts 2013

Staff Sergeant Jessica Ham exited the executive office of Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Networks located on base completely unsure how to tell her airmen deployment was inevitable. The 66th Air Force Group would be oversees shortly after the New Year. Locking eyes with her fellow Staff Sergeant, Andrews, before placing her head into her hands with a sigh, “Give them the next few hours. If we tell them before this visit it’ll hang over everything and ruin everyone’s time.”

Sergeant Andrews nodded along with Jessica’s call, “I’m going to send out word about a meeting before we all head out for the day. You want me to schedule the other room for you and your boys?”

“Yeah.” Jessica nodded at him before they went their separate ways. Three years ago, at eighteen, Jessica graduated high school. With no idea what to do with the rest of her life, and a lack of financial means to go to college while attempting to figure it out, Jessie as her friends call her attended a military interest conference at her school.  The Air Force was never something she had previously considered, but after a discussion with an intelligence officer her interest was piqued. The rest as one might say was history. In the course of the past four years she’d busted her ass to prove she could handle it and the rank recognition followed. Clearly her superiors trusted her; Jessica was in charge of one of the largest groups of airmen of any Sergeant. Trust among her men however was a little harder to earn, but once she had it Jessica quickly came to the realization there were plenty of men she was now stuck with for the rest of her life.

Moving quickly through the base, nodding quickly but politely at those who acknowledged her, Jessica rushed to the base entrance. Generals didn’t care what news you were given, you showed up when expected or your ass is reamed. After the previous news of the day so far, that would officially send her into a tailspin pulled by currents. Approaching the group and falling into line Jessica took a moment to observe their guests.

The 2012-2013 Boston Bruins were a formidable team, growing up in Southie rooting for the black and gold was a fact of life. Jessica was pretty sure she knew how to explain the offsides rule before she could do simple addition. An electric energy surged through the base when knowledge of their visit began to spread. The veterans, Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, Shawn Thornton, and Milan Lucic would thrill the long term fans. Young guns Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin would flirt through half of the medical division before the day was out she was sure and rookie Dougie Hamilton was making quite a name for himself at nineteen as a solid defenseman.

“Is he always doom and glow like that?”

Jessica heard behind her. Turning she was meet with the six foot six frame of Dougie Hamilton. Years ago the hairs on the back of her neck would have been standing up, now she yelled at men twice his size half the day and knew for a fact she threw a better punch then  every member of the team. Smirking Jessica couldn’t resist the urge to chirp, she’ll forever blame it on being surrounded by guys day in and day out, “I imagine he and coach Julien would get along, I mean he screamed at you for how long after fanning on that shot last game.”

“Ouch Dougie, not impressing the pretty girl.” Seguin chirped with a smug smirk a head of them.

“I don’t know Mr. Seguin, at least Dougie here knows what an alarm clock is.” Jessica snapped back almost immediately after watching Dougie deflate as Tyler attempted to pull him down. Seguin’s eyes widened as Jessica dead stared at him; a move those under her have repeatedly said is increasingly unnerving. He turned quickly, shoulders pulled up to his ears while Jessica nudged Hamilton next to her.

He stood just a little straighter after her quip. Leaning in quietly, “I know you’re a rookie kid, but there’s a difference between being a doormat and becoming one of the guys.”

“And I suppose pretty girl is an expert?” Hamilton responded smiling, eyes crinkling, and an eyebrow raised.

“Pretty girl has name. Staff Sergeant Jessica Ham. Besides, do you really think there’s that much of a difference between military barracks and hockey locker rooms?” She responded in similar fashion.  

Laughing he responded “Probably not.”

Smiling while shoving him forward, “Go entertain my men rookie.”

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Jessica watched her men and the Bruins interact. Spirits we high and she could feel the weight of this afternoon's meeting beginning to feel like a physical pressure on her chest. Inhaling deeply but still feeling like she couldn’t breathe Jessica headed toward the doors before her panic attack could start. Never realizing there were concerned eyes following her progression across the room, before he rose to follow her.  

Briskly moving out the door and around the building, Jessica sank down against the wall. Pulling her knees up to her chest and gasping for air. Jumping as someone sank down into a squat in front of her, Jessica looked up at Dougie, concern shining in his eyes. “Hey pretty girl, breathe.” Attempting to match her breath to his, the pressure on her chest finally felt like it was loosening. Dougie smiled, rubbing up his hands up and down her upper arms. “There we go.”

Rubbing her face, Jessica visibly flinched before lowly spilling everything to a relative stranger. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell them. This excitement and good spirits you all brought to base will be erased before they all go home. We’re shipping out in February. I know we all joined the military but it never seemed like this was going to happen.”

Dougie’s eyes went wide, practically bulging out of his head. “I’m sorry.” Instinctively left his mouth, “There’s nothing I can say that’ll make this better I don’t think.”

Sighing, Jessica rose back to her feet. “No there’s not but I appreciate the attempt.” Pulling his elbow and heading back towards the rec hall, “Better get back in there while I can still pass this off has taking a phone call.”

Dougie planted his feet and pulled them to a stop right outside the door. “I can’t make it better, but I could take you out for a distraction this weekend.”

“You do remember the shipping out in a few months part of our conversation, right.” She replied, waving her finger around in a circle between them like it was going to rewind his memory.

“Well, I figure I’d be pretty stupid to let that stop me from asking out the pretty lady Sergeant.”

“I can meet you at Faneuil Hall, Friday at seven? We can go from there Rookie.” She says, throwing her hip into his like a mini check.

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, taking a chance and dropping a kiss on her cheek he hoped would be well received. “Sounds like a plan, Jessica.”

Over her shoulder while walking through the door, “Friends and cute boys taking me on a date can call me Jessie.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Saddledome, Calgary Alberta Canada 2017

Sergeant Jessica Ham smiled walking through the under belly of the Saddledome. Granted a short furlough she came to surprise her boyfriend of almost three years after his game versus the Bruins. As luck would have it, she remained close with many members of the Bruins and their wives after Dougie signed with Calgary and during her deployment. When her furlough back at Hanscom came up she took it immediately, the fact that the Bruins were heading to Calgary at the same time. Coach Cassidy had graciously allowed her to tag along with the boys on the plane, though she suspected it might have something to do with Stephanie badgering Patrice to make it happen. It was nice to see some of the boys again and meeting some of the newbies.

Feeling stares on her, Jessica just continued on with a smile. The pass Zdeno presented her with before the game wrapped around her neck, clinking every step against her dog tags. Pulling up outside of the locker room she leaned against the wall anxiously waiting for Dougie to appear. She didn’t have to wait long. Dougie was the next person out of the locker room, “Jessie.” Gasped out of him in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

 Eyebrows furrowed, Jessica was surprised. That was his reaction? They hadn’t seen each other in almost a year. Writing it off as maybe just shock, she stepped forward to hug him. His arms barley wrapped back around her. “I was granted furlough for a few days, figured I’d come out for a surprise. They boys let me tag along on the team plane.”

“Babe!” A voice explained from behind Jessica. A blonde little bit of a thing, in sky high heels with make-up caked on her face brushed past Jessica before throwing herself into Dougie’s arms and laying a kiss on him. Separating the definition of puck bunny asked Dougie who this was.  

Jessica smirked at Dougie, laughing harshly. “I’m an old friend for Boston. Figured since the boys were out here I’d tag along to see mister big shoot, but it was nice to see you Douglas. I better get going so I don’t miss the bus.” Turning on her heel and all but sprinting down the hall Jessica ignored all calls of her name while losing Dougie in the after game commotion. Crashing into the Bruins newbies Sean Kuraly and Jake DeBrusk while staring at the ground, she looked out at them as they both went white. Yells left them both for Z, Bergy, and Marchy. It was the longest plane ride of the season for the bruins and to this day the only one where the unassigned assigned seats were blatantly ignored as the veterans crowded the Lieutenant in the back.  

 —————————————————————————————————————————---

2019 PNC Arena Raleigh North Carolina

Dougie Hamilton was furious, down four to nil in the third period he could feel his teams Stanley Cups hopes exiting them. Coming to the realization that there run was over it became apparent that they would do everything they could to rough up the Bruins instead. Not all that difficult of a task for him. The resentment he felt for the team grew every time they played each other. He blamed them for the disaster end of his relationship with Jessie, added on to the pitiful offer they made him to resign the anger was real. Scrumming with Sean Kuraly in front of the net was a natural progression. The refs separated them while Chris Wagner braced Kuraly to make sure he didn’t hit the ice, not that Dougie saw. He was to focused on the silver rectangles that popped out of Kuraly’s jersey before he quickly removed his glove and made sure they were secured underneath it again.

Dougie saw white, “Are you serious dude!” he exclaimed trying to puss Jordan Staal out of his way to jump Kuraly.

Kuraly’s eyes light up at the chance, “She’s doing great man!” he yelled out taking his seat on the bench.

The laughter of some of the Bruins ringing in his ears, Dougie’s eyes cut to where some of the Bruins wags were seated that he noticed earlier. His eyes were met by the infamous dead stare. Dougie gulped before she disconnected their eyes as the buzzer rang. Instead she was smiling as Stephanie Bergeron through her arms around her. Blowing a kiss out towards the ice, Dougie was forced to watch as Sean Kuraly laughed and waved back at her.

Master Sergeant Jessica Hamm, the future Mrs. Sean Kuraly if the shine the light of the arena caught coming from her left hand wasn’t just his imagination, was doing just fine.   

[carryonsimoncarryonbaz]

Chapter 15 is up! The penultimate chapter of Can’t Find My Way Home. Thank you all for your support of this fic--the comments, the private messages, the kudos. I appreciate it so very much.

Just one more chapter after this. . . 

Chapter 15

Baz  

I don’t know how they expect us to actually open the office in London if all we do in these planning meetings is rehash everything we discussed at the last meeting. The agenda may as well be rubbish; it’s not as if we ever follow it.

I don’t say much. I can’t be bothered anymore. I’m tired of trying to keep people on track when most of them only want to hear the sound of their own voices.

Philippa gave me a blistering after the last meeting. She seemed to think I’d cut her off and stifled her opportunity to “voice her opinion.” Bollocks. She’d nattered on for almost ten minutes about the décor, which is literally the least important issue facing us at the moment.

I’m certainly not one to shun tastefully chosen interior design, but when we haven’t even finalized a transition team and we’re barely three months away from said transition, I find discussions on the merits of sage and taupe versus silver and charcoal grey quite maddening.  

I find everything about this vexing. I’m part of these meetings, perforce, but no one has officially named me to the actual on-site transition team. The staff composition for the London office is still a mystery.

I don’t even think we’re going to make the May target date.

It’s even more unbearable being here in New York now. It was barely tolerable before the holiday but now, with Simon in London, it’s absolutely excruciating.

I really don’t know why I even bothered to come back. I should give my notice and go home. I’ve got contacts in the industry, references and credentials that are impeccable. I could find a job in London and Simon and I could take up where we left off. Which would make life infinitely better.

But I’m a Pitch and we don’t give up, even in the direst of circumstances.

I committed to this transition and I am a man of my word.  

Fuck it all.

Simon

I do my best not to ask Baz about work anymore. I’m curious of course, because I’m me, but I try to restrain myself. Talking about work drags on him. He looks pale and wan when we Facetime as it is.

Last time we spoke he reluctantly admitted that the London transition was a bit of mess. Didn’t say much more than that, but his expression said it all. He’s worried they won’t make the May date.

Which means he won’t be coming to London then.

I don’t know what that means for him overall. I know he’s talked about leaving, finding another position here, with another firm.

I’d like that. But I don’t want him to do that for me. He’s got to do it for himself, not for us.

So I do my best to distract him when we talk. Tell stories about work, the boys in the home. How I totally bollocksed up the art class and spilled half the paint on my shirt. The day I managed to get free tickets to a football match for the older boys. The way the little ‘uns like to hear my stories of the scrapes I got into at Watford.

The grim details of how the older boys completely thrashed me when we played football on the green. I am shit at goal.

It makes Baz smile and that means the world to me.

Baz  

It’s finally set. The transition team has been named and I’m on it. The London office tentative opening date has been pushed back to late June, but the team is scheduled to be there starting in May.

I’m in charge of operations. I finally have some fucking control of this disaster. I live for this kind of thing—bringing organization to chaos. It’s in my blood.

The whole thing is a fucking wreck and I’m sure to be driven mad before the end.

But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Two months. I’ll be back in London in two months.

Simon

He’s still pale but Baz is far more animated when we Facetime now. He’s drilling the team in preparation for the move. He’s in his element when he’s in charge like this; his eye on all the moving parts, relieved to finally have some control.

Not that he’s clear of the dark days. Plenty of those still. His coworkers all sound like berks.

I’m just glad he’s going to be back here in May.

I miss him.

I know that might be a stupid thing to say, when we only had those few days together in December. I’ve got years of being with Baz, under less friendly circumstances mind you, but still. It was easy to let myself fall into the comfort of being in his company again.

Easier to admit some truths I’d been shoving away for far too long.

I can’t say there isn’t a tinge of apprehension. We’ve just gotten to know each other again, and I don’t know whether this blaze of affection that manifested months ago will continue to burn as bright when we’re together again or proximity and familiarity will quench the fire of it.

I’d like to think it won’t.

I’ve never fallen for someone in this way before, so completely and overwhelmingly. I mean I loved Agatha but I wasn’t in love with her. The idea of a happy ever after, even a bland and sedate one, was alluring for someone like me.

But settling is never in anyone’s best interest.

With Baz, even if it was only a matter of days, I felt like I’d found what I’d always been missing. The last piece of the puzzle. The place I fit.

Home. That’s what I mean. The idea that once you find home, that’s that. You keep that person, if they let you.

I think Baz will let me keep him.

Baz

I toss my keys on the table, toe off my shoes and collapse on the sofa.

I’m exhausted. Knackered. Utterly spent.

It’s been a fucking week. Friday couldn’t come soon enough. I glance at my watch. It’s almost eleven o’clock back home. Not too late to Facetime Simon.

I dial his number and wait. It takes a few rings for him to pick up but the wave of warmth that rushes through me at the sight of his face is frankly embarrassing.

Fuck, I miss him.

“Baz!” Simon’s face lights up as he stares into his screen. He’s holding it up close so I can see the pattern of moles and freckles on his face clearly.

“Hello, love.” I drink in the sight of him. His hair is drooping over his forehead, his cheeks are flushed, and he looks ridiculously pleased to see me.

The feeling is mutual.

He pulls back a bit and frowns at the screen. “You look tired. Another shit day?”

“They’re all shit days.”

It’s my turn to frown at my mobile. The background behind Simon looks awfully familiar, but it’s not the one I was expecting to see, not the one I’m used to viewing behind him when I call.

The reason manifests itself an instant later.

“Sod off, Baz. You’re fucking up our movie night.” Fiona’s face pops up, obscuring Simon completely.

“What the fuck is Simon doing at your flat?” No wonder it looked familiar. What the hell is going on?

Fiona raises an eyebrow and glares at me. “I just told you, you dolt. It’s movie night. Hurry the fuck up. We’re watching Lost Boys and Jason Patric just came on screen. I’m not about to forgive you for making me pause that.” She disappears but I can still hear her grumbling in the background.

“What the hell, Simon?”

“She rang me up a while back. We’ve met up at the pub a few times, for drinks and karaoke, but she wanted to do a movie night this time.”

“This time? How often do you and Fiona get together?” Why do I know nothing of this? What the actual fuck.

Her face pops back up, full-on glare this time. “Baz. Kiss the screen or do whatever the fuck you do when you Facetime Snow, but for the last time, wrap it the fuck up. We’ve got a movie to watch here.”

“Why is she glaring at me like that?” I ask Simon as he retakes his mobile from my wretched aunt.

He waggles his eyebrows at me and grins. “Oh, that’s just her fond glare.”

Fucking hell.

Simon

My mobile chimes from the table. I pull the roast all the way out of the oven and set it on the stovetop before I toss the potholders aside and focus on the screen.

Baz: May 17th.  

Simon : what  

Baz:  We just finalized the dates. I fly home May 17th.  

Simon:  !!!!!

Simon:  about bloody time they gave you an actual date

Simon: wankers  

Baz: I convinced them to push back the opening to July 1st.  

Baz:  I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend your birthday stressed and working all hours.

Simon:  you didn’t have to do that  

Simon:  but thank you

I glance at the calendar. Less than a month away.

Baz

My eyes sweep around the flat one last time, just to make sure I’ve got everything. I’ve already set my luggage by the door—the same two suitcases I arrived with almost a year ago. No more, no less.

The keys go in an envelope. I’ll drop it in the building manager’s mailbox on my way out.

There’s a ping from my mobile.

Ah. The Uber driver is waiting downstairs.

This is it. I’m finally done with this miserable chapter of my life. I’m not sure work is going to be any less miserable, just by virtue of it being in London, but I’ll be in London, which is really all that matters.

I’ll be near Simon again.

I can sort the rest of it later. The new office, the job, if I even want to stay employed at this firm.

I have time to figure that all out.

I look around once again. There’s no nostalgia. I’m well rid of this place. But I can be grateful for one thing: if I hadn’t been in New York I’d never have run into Simon. I’d never have found him again. It’s all been worth it, just for that chance encounter. Every sodding minute of it.

I can’t waste my time reminiscing. There’s a flight to catch. There damn well better not be any storms.

[cambriascolexhorror-blog]

The Exorcist (1973); Director: William Friedkin

When I decided to start this blog, the first film that came to mind was 1973’s The Exorcist. Never in my life had I experienced something so surreal and beautiful. My parents never really cared what I watched as a kid, if anything my mom was strict when it came to music. So when I dove into horror movies, I made sure to look what the ones that were considered “the essentials”. I looked up Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments on YouTube and made a list, excluding entries like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (while the tunnel scene was terrifying, I needed to get a hold of the more on-the-nose entries). Now that this film is almost 46 years old, I probably don’t need to remind people how great it is. It still looks so crisp to me (I thought it came out way later). It sent people flocking to theaters, ambulance attendants waited at the end of rows in the showrooms. It was phenomenal.

This film made me uncomfortable in so many ways. The scenes with Regan going to the doctor terrified me more than the actual demonic possession scenes. I know medical procedures have changed a lot since the 1970’s, but watching those scenes shocked me. Finding out that a real killer was an extra in those scenes was an even more disturbing though (look up the name Paul Bateson). The flashes of Pazuzu’s face in those scenes, as well as Father Karras’s nightmare and in the McNeil kitchen were haunting. I would have that face flash in my head in the middle of the night as I tried to fall asleep and, lemme tell ya, it didn’t help my insomnia.

I never really heard of Ouija boards until high school and I never really wanted to be near one of them. Maybe it’s me being superstitious, maybe it’s me not wanting to fuck with anything on the other side. I remember some kid brought one to the cafeteria at my college and my fiance and I got the hell outta there. Captain Howdy communicating with Regan through the Ouija board didn’t really scare me, but it peaked my interest in “the other side”.

This film spawned “the exorcism” genre of horror films. All the films that have “The Exorcism of [Insert White Girl’s Name Here]” became prevalent in Netflix’s (pitiful) horror index. I haven’t really watched any of them, and I don’t have anything against them, I just have more films I want to see that are more urgent than these. Regan’s possessed face became the “maze game” jump scare in the early days of YouTube (ahh memories).

In all seriousness, I cannot for the life of me find a single thing I don’t like about this film. From the sweet mother-daughter relationship between Regan and Chris McNeil, to the Jesuit priest Father Karras questioning his faith, it was all so honest. The score was perfect too. Never make me listen to “Tubular Bells”, I’ll change that shit immediately. It unsettles me way too much. Also I had no idea the actor that played Father Karras (Jason Miller) was the father of the actor that played Michael in The Lost Boys (Jason Patric)!! Ah the wonders of Wikipedia… I highly recommend this film to anyone that asks me what horror movie they should watch. You won’t regret it.

[csykora]

Hey hey hey! I was wondering how i could find that post ab Kuzy and the struggle to adapt for North American hockey?? My dad is saying international hockey is easier to play than North American (as a justification for why Nylander is doing better @ worlds than this szn but that’s a diff story) and I’m trying to prove a point (Russians aren’t bad hockey players just because they (historically?) struggle in North America!) thanks xxx

Hey there.

**The following is not an opinion on Willam Nylander. I am agnostic. I suspect he may exist and you all cannot make me do more than that.**

Lemme chat with your dad a min? I got questions.

what does he think makes one game harder?

Factually we know what the difference is, right: one rink is wider than the other. 

how does that then make that game different?

Restricting the width of the rink, the skaters’ room to move, changes the goals of the game.

Any moment that I have the puck and you do not seems like it should be good for me. If I have it, you aren’t scoring a goal with it. If I try to score a goal with it, maybe I score, but maybe I mess up and you get it and you score a goal and that’s bad. Shooting is giving up possession in a meaningful way.

But in a narrow rink, we’re always closer together, it’s easier for you to smash into me, so you have more chances to take the puck away from me. Some of the time you’ll manage and then you’ll have it and you can score goals with it. I just plain probably won’t be able to keep possession all game, trying to do that would be risky for me, so it makes sense for me to try to score goals before you do.

In a big rink, if I’ve got the puck—oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t hear you across all this ice, wide enough that I can push off and hit peak speed going any direction, not just end to end. Did you say you want this? Did you want to smash me and take it and try to score some goals with it? Sure, you can try. Catch me and my several speedy friends first.

Corner work and board battles are less practical for you, so holding possession becomes more of a virtue for me. Goals still happen, but they happen when one team outshines the other enough in skating or passing that it makes sense for them to award themselves a point. An equal or even ultimate goal is to keep control until the clock runs out.

With more ice on the wings, wingers become more like centers. They have to spend more time managing their space, rather than mostly finishing plays that their center managed down the middle. They’re judged more for what North Americans see as classic center beauty (speed and awareness, as they’re expected to travel the full length of the ice, puck control as they skate, passing). Kuznetsov and Malkin were wingers in Russia, because they suck at faceoffs, and in Russia that’s seen as the only thing centers really do that wingers don’t, to the point that Kuznetsov and Malkin on the wing didn’t seem like a waste.

What North American men call ‘overpassing’ starts to happen: instead of the first person in with the puck aiming for a goal, the puck carrier will pass back and forth with other players until someone feels secure to shoot. This slows goals, which, remember, aren’t the only goal.

The other two NHLisms that Kuznetsov struggled with, by his own account, are the idea of dumping the puck and the idea of shooting over passing. These are not hard for him to do. They are foreign to him, hard for him to remember to prioritize doing. He thinks they’re irresponsible and rude, because they don’t contribute to the goal of his game.

In the NHL, they do. And that’s fine! The NHL plays on small ice and has its own goals and values and skills, and they’re awesome. They are no more or less awesome.

Now your dad might say, G, if non-North American hockey is better adapted for big ice than North American style, 

how come Canada does so great in competition, huh?

What do we know about Team Canada?  Sidney Crosby can have Steven Stamkos and Patrice Bergeron on his wings if he wants. You don’t crack that roster if you’re not a top 10 center, even on defense.

I think North Americans tend to know that and think, “well centers are good so more centers is just better,” but if that were always true we would train all wingers to think like centers. A three-center line doesn’t work well on narrow ice, where the winger needs board skills and finishing skills (and, frankly, to be less of a diva). It does work as a bridge when the two games meet in competition.

I just described what international hockey is, not how hard it is.

which is harder, jumping a horse or jumping on a bike?

Now, I might say riding a horse is easier, because I know how to do it. Or I might say it’s more complicated, because again, I know what all it takes to do it.

Both those answers are honest and both are less useful than I don’t know how to ride a bike.

When my brother does well in a bike race, I’m not gonna ask him hey if you’re so “good” at this why’d you fall off the pony that one time then huh? I’m not gonna make him race me.

Or if I did, and I crushed him, I wouldn’t say my sport is better, I’d say oh right I’m on a horse, they big. If he won at 50 yards and I won at 200 yards and at 5 miles and he won at 50 miles, I’d say wow, it’s like a bike and a horse are good at different things in different situations.  

Different kinds of hockey aren’t as different as that, but my point is that it’s possible for two things with two different goals to have two different ways of doing them well. And someone coming over from one thing to judge how you’re doing the other is silly.

Another question to think about:

If international hockey is easy, why do North Americans who go to the KHL also suck?

I don’t think your dad has heard their stories, because let’s be clear I don’t think your dad knows international hockey, but those players exist and have the same darn struggle as Russians in the NHL.

Now, your dad could argue that that’s because we’re pitting North American D-listers who have to go to the KHL against a league of Russia’s A-listers, but frankly that’s offensive to Amur, who’ve assembled a crack team of Russian D-listers and are also very bad.  

Americans who go to Russia don’t immediately dominate with scoring. They take a while to learn the game, and then they start to excel in the ways that you can excel in the KHL’s game.

why have Russian players historically struggled?

We’ve seen individual players have trouble adapting. We’ve also seen Alex Ovechkin, so, you know, he fucks any generalization. Kucherov’s doing okay. Svech sure looks alright.

Russian players make up a very small percent of the NHL today. “Russian NHLers” is barely a big enough test group to sample flavors of toothpaste, much less make sweeping claims about people’s experiences.

And there are so few of them because historically speaking, Russia is real big and not real friendly to North American business interests (which is what NHL teams are), so NHL teams don’t maintain scouts there.

Can you name a player from East Russia? I guarantee it’s not cause there’s no ice there! But it’s a wild huge amount of space to cover. When KHL teams take days and–I can’t stress this enough, have repeatedly died in travel accidents–just to get to games, the NHL is not investing in that.

The NHL doesn’t try to draft Russians unless they’ve already made a name for themselves at international tournaments. Imagine if only the Canadian boys who got to go to Worlds and scored points there were on anyone’s radar. The NHL’s business model is to get quick dibs on obvious talent and let the rest bubble up.

Which is one of many things that makes the modern NHL and NHL fans’ devotion to the draft difficult. There are good reasons that some kids go undrafted who are as good as the drafted kids, so fans have the idea that non North Americans who are left to develop are devalued. (The idea that anyone should be ready for the NHL right out of the draft is really new and really, really wild, like, biologically-speaking. 18 years is the age you can sign a contract, it has nothing to do with your physiological or athletic development).

Big question: does your dad like international hockey? Does he follow the Swedish or Russian leagues? Does he like William Nylander?

You say ‘that’s a different story’ but honestly I think that is the story.

Because if we agreed that actually, Nylander is talented at some things, then the argument that anything Nylander does well must be easy to do doesn’t make sense. It’s a bit like seeing Nylander ride a bike and asking why he couldn’t ride that pony. Maybe Nylander is better at one thing than the other thing. This rests on Nylander being bad, and/or Swedish hockey being bad.

If your dad is honest, he doesn’t like William Nylander, and he doesn’t like Swedish hockey. And that’s fine! He didn’t have to justify that. 

But he is back-engineering an argument to justify not liking them that rests on already not liking them. 

And he’s kind of digging at the value of anyone who likes what he doesn’t approve of: “easy” is a heavy word. The implication is almost that Nylander is worse for doing something “easy” well but being too lazy to work hard in North America

I swear if I get a single comment asking me to think about Nylander beyond his hair I am turning this blog around

Your dad isn’t behaving well in this argument. Relatable, but not well.  

I’m not saying shame your dad! I hope he’s otherwise great. But I encourage you to ask questions that encourage him to self-reflect, more than trying to feed him facts. Mostly because that won’t work. And it won’t be a failure on your part when you don’t say the perfect facts in the perfect way to make him acknowledge them. This is between him and his hockey gods, you know?

I think a lot of us could stand to learn not to argue like he’s doing, but a lot of us could stand to learn how to talk to someone who is arguing unfairly without taking too much on ourselves, trying to justify what we like back to them when neither of you have to justify shit. 

So if it will bring you joy to shove these points at him, good luck, have a ball. If not, go watch some Swedes be good at Swedish hockey, and have a blast.

[eenefangirlanalysis]

Edd walks through the filthy waters of the swamp to where this little dock is.

Didn’t catch that? Let me repeat it.

Edd WALKS through the FILTHY WATERS of the SWAMP.

Go back to a few scenes before where Edd wouldn’t even touch this filthy water when he was trying to find Ed and Eddy.

This is where I believe that Edd gets over his fear of germs. He is mad that he had to dig through a pile of mud that got all over him. Surprisingly, it all disappears when he walks back through the water.

I kind of wish that the mud could have stayed on him throughout most of the fight. It would keep bringing a callback to what they are fighting about.

I love this image so much.

The artists still want to make the swamp look like a scary place, but that doesn’t matter to Edd anymore. His friends played the nastiest trick on him. Fear is losing his best friends, not being lost in this swamp.

I like the effect with those several eyes appearing out from that dark hole in the log. They put in such an eerie feeling and yet they don’t matter to the scene.

Where did this dock come from anyway, and how did Edd know that this was here? I have a head canon that Edd must have seen this before they crashed. He wanted to head towards that while Eddy started fighting saying they had to stick with the current. Maybe after they crashed Edd was going to suggest that they go find the dock where they’d follow the road.

Yeah, I wouldn’t want to mess with Edd right now.

Edd pulls himself out from the water onto the dock. 

Edd’s strength is something that has always made Edd fear himself. He didn’t want to have people look at him in the wrong way fearing that someone may find out about what he did in his past. He also doesn’t want to give a wrong impression towards himself. Edd only uses his physical strength during serious moments.

Here he wants to get away from Ed and Eddy as soon as possible. And when people get angry they don’t know what they’re saying or doing half the time. I know this for a fact.

I never noticed how uncomfortable Edd looks when he looks off into the swamp.

He realizes that he has walked away from his friends. He is alone. Cold. And angry.

As if things couldn’t get any worse Edd slips on the dock slamming his face into the wood.

I really thought he was going to sprain his ankle which would have made a negative impact on how he got around for the rest of the movie.

Edd instinctively grabs his hat so it won’t fall off.

He cares more about the hat then his own physical well-being.

Poor, Edd.

Edd was having a bad enough day already so I don’t know why the writers had to put this in. It’s like when the writers made him whack his head on a lamp in A Fistful of Ed.

But, it does say how bad things are always getting in the way of Edd’s life. Whenever something good happens a person or an object have to ruin it.

That’s what makes up A Fistful of Ed. Things were starting to get better for Edd until all the incidents were happening. He believed that he was become friends with the other kids, Rolf needed a new pencil when he thought everything was going back to normal, and then the Kanker’s showing up to ruin his happy ending. Say if Eddy wasn’t there to stand up to them, Edd has always gone through a rough time.

Once again Edd feels the need to label a warning sign in which nobody will read.

Unless he was warning Ed and Eddy who he knew would try to follow him. That’s says a lot about how Edd feels about his friends even when he is angry with them.

He is the reason why everyone catches up to them in the movie. He can never leave something alone, like when the the car broke down in the beginning. He’s thinking about how other people are going to react. Leaving behind messes makes people angry so if he tries to fix it in some way, maybe they will react differently.

Carefully stepping over the puddles Edd shoves his label maker back under his hat and makes his way towards home.

I’m not sure why writers decided that this was the best place to store his labeler as he is already hiding a big secret. 

This labeler is one of his prized possessions though. It is the first object he is seen using in the first episode. It’s where his whole story began at trying to find who he truly was. Before then, he was always in his room. He spent his days alone having the real world pass by. He missed out on so much.

This road has to be the pathway Kevin and Nazz were biking on when they first made their exit out from Peach Creek. I remember seeing a pond like area before they turned the corner. I think they could be right outside from Peach Creek and Edd knows it.

I love the background music in this movie. Patric Caird you did a wonderful job. Listen to it in this whole scene. It reflects Edd’s mood. This isn’t the kind of music you’d here throughout the series. Something is wrong.

This road also says that they are near civilization due to those bill boards in the distance. Edd must have seen this while they were sailing. I’m amazed that he actually knows which way to head back to the cul-de-sac. Then again, they were sailing in the opposite direction the entire time.

Edd’s plan to leave is a big move. It may be a flaw, but his friends just played the worst trick in the world. Like his mind isn’t that messed up already.

If he did end up leaving, nothing would had gotten better. His situation with his parents has worsened, he doesn’t like the cul-de-sac kids no matter what, and there would be extreme tension if Ed and Eddy returned to the cul-de-sac too.

Also what does that sign say? 'No Camping’ or 'No Dumping?’

Edd has walked a considerable distance before Ed and Eddy catch up to him.

This is one of my favorite shots. On one side is the swamp while on the other is this pretty landscape. And in the middle we have this heated argument that is about to happen.

I love how the Eds are drawn so small. There is clearly a distance which has set our protagonist apart from one another. The three best friends are always together. Being separated is the worst thought any of them could have. 

I remember writing this little ‘what if’ fic a while back. What if Edd and Eddy’s fight took place in mud pit rather then on this road? It is better that it is on this road because the situation was brewed over for a little amount of time. Fighting in a mud pit would also change the whole tone of the fight.

Eddy calls out to Edd asking where he is going. He still doesn’t get it. Or so we think. He’s still acting in his Bro mask while the boy behind it is freaking out. Eddy is great actor.

Watch Ed throughout this scene. He slows down a bit. Something is wrong. He has always feared Edd’s anger. I wonder if Ed’s fear of anger represents how he is treated at home. His mother is always angry with him for little to reason. He gets away from that day after day to be with people who want him around.

This may be a another blink and you miss it moment, but I think Edd speeds up his walking. He doesn’t make much of an effort to get away from them when that is what he is trying to do. Edd sees this fight coming no matter what.

Eddy has always been an obstacle for Edd. He has tried to leave, but no matter what Eddy has ways to make him stay. For example, the one arm hug. Eddy sways Edd with this little hug to make him come off as affectionate. Eddy has been taking advantage of him like this whole life. Eddy also uses words to make Edd change his mind. No matter what, Edd always turns to Eddy for advice or to see if his ideas are good.

“You’re heading back into the swamp. My Bro don’t live....”

I have always been confused by this line. How is Edd heading back into the swamp when this road is clearly going to take him to civilization? Does Eddy say ‘we’re heading back into the swamp’? That seems more plausible as they were heading in that direction towards Bro. Unlike Edd, he never noticed this road as they were sailing through the stream.

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!!!”

Edd’s sudden fit of anger actually startled me the first time I ever watched this line. I know a lot of you can agree with me.

Edd has always held back his anger. He mainly did it for himself. And I think his parents also forced him to hold things in. As I have pointed out although Edd looks as if he is the most organized person his mind is a mess. He can’t think straight and is constantly paranoid that he’s not doing the right thing.

This release of anger was needed. Eddy deserves this after what he did to hurt Edd. Edd is not going to fall for any of Eddy’s tricks anymore. He always used physical touch to get on people’s emotional sides.

Eddy is already scared. He backs away trying to protect himself. I wish we could have seen his face when Edd first slapped his hand away.

In fact, does Edd slap Eddy’s hand? The sound effect is present but it never looks like he physically hurts Eddy. 

I’m really glad that this moment takes place in this solitude setting. They have to be alone when having this fight. The cul-de-sac kids have always ruined everything when it came to the Eds trying to talk things out.

They’re actually alone with no one else to help them. If someone were out here they would have been restrained. It is best that they got everything out during this fight.

[milquetoast-on-acid]

Major Crimes: Season 5 Round Up, A Reactionary Post

I had planned on doing a post at the end of 5a but then time got away from me. So I thought I'd do a reaction post on 5a then 5b and how they tie together. This is my final Reactionary Post for season 5 and it feels really great to review a whole entire season of a show! Stay tuned for more reactionary posts, next week we go back in time to cover Reloaded. 

What this reactionary post covers: // Season 5a & theme // Characters & Storylines

// Season 5b & theme // Characters & Storylines

// Thoughts on Season 5 (as a whole) & other themes the season covered // Speculation & Season 6 // Favorite scenes // What I liked and What I didn't

*This is a long one so sit back and grab your favorite drink. ;)

Season 5a

Theme: Balance

Season 5a's theme was Balance and I've got mixed feelings on whether or not the show achieved it. I love that the showed tried different things in 5a. At this point the show has been on for five years, or really 12 years so I think it's really good for them to mix some stuff up. Some of the cases have been darker than we've previously seen. We got more focus on character development and storylines. Plus the death of a character that's been with the show since the very beginning has been such a huge change for the show. This is a show that has until now never killed a main character. By that we can count the entire run of The Closer. 

I think perhaps the season's theme should have been Family instead of Balance. There was so much focus on families in the cases as well as every single character arc had to do with family. Also so much focus on Father's and sons, particularly the later half of the season.

Character Storylines/Arcs

Buzz

When I first heard about Buzz's storyline for the season I was very excited about it. However I don't like how it was handled. I was disappointed that the majority of the storyline was in Rusty's vlogs. For one thing there is a HUGE part of Major Crimes audience that's older, that's just not going to go online and watch the vlogs. 

On the other hand I understand that you can do only so much (and boy do they ever do a ton of stuff in 42 minutes) in the time they are given. So if you want to have as many plot lines as they did this season then your going to have to get creative. And that's where Rusty's vlog came in.  I think that worked so much better last season. As I felt that it wasn't as crucial for you to watch them. You could watch them if you wanted and get more involved in the stoyrline but they had enough of the plotline in the show where you wouldn't miss out on anything.  Where's this time around you miss major information about a character and his storyline if you don't watch them. 

At the same time I don't think that the plot line was balanced very well. They mostly had one small scene in each episode to introduce what they were going to cover in the vlog. Why not just have the actual scene instead of prefacing it? I think the best stuff with Buzz's case was definitely the focus that we had of him during the White Lies arc. Most in particular the scene in which he catches up with his father's killer and realizes that he's taking another son and daughter away from their father. 

Rusty I had some issues with Rusty in 5a. One of the things that I love and also frustrates me about his character is his stubborn determination. I love that he goes after the truth and asks questions but sometimes he really can take it too far. Case in point Buzz. Rusty needs some empathy for Buzz and it didn't show through much if at all. Buzz was so determined to do things by the book because of how much the case meant to him but Rusty was just too impatient for all of that. 

Rusty and Gus I'd have to say that my favorite Rusty plotline this season was the focus on him and Gus. This is Rusty's first real relationship and he's got a really great guy. I really love that Gus calls Rusty out on all of his shit. 

Rusty's vlog and Buzz One of the things that worked really well with Jane Doe #38/Alice/Marianna's case was Rusty's personal connection to her which brought out some giant empathy. It brought out passion and determination in him and that is all completely gone by the time Rusty helps Buzz with his case. Rusty feels way to entitled to everything that Buzz finds.

Sharon's Pregnancy My least favorite plotline of 5a is definitely Rusty's mom having a baby. I just don't understand what the point in bringing her back in this capacity served. In my opinion, Sharon Beck's storyline ended in season 3 when she went off to jail. And then they kept bringing her back first in Hindsight and then again here. It's a rather frustrating thing to have them use time for her character, that could have been used to served other plots that were highly underdeveloped.

Amy Amy was the character that got the least amount of focus in 5a. There aren't many women on the show and it would be nice to have more focus on them. Amy is such an unexplored character, we don't really know much about her, except for her personality. 

I've got mixed feelings about her storyline. First of all I love that Amy does not want kids. It's good to see some exploration of that in a female character. We got a really great scene with her and Cynthia in the break room. However, I don't feel like anything got resolved between her and Cooper. More like it was something they disagreed on and then got sweeped under the rug. And unfortunately this was something that was not mentioned in 5b. 

Mike So last season I was at, I love this Badge of Justice stuff and a bit of Andy's jealousy. So let's have more of that. We got a TON of that this season, in fact we were on overdose to the point where it's kind of soured me on that plot line. I loved that Mike won an award but I felt like the storyline was more about Andy's jealousy then it was about Mike. I also thought that it was interesting that Mike was picked to go undercover with the hooker. He's not the squad's typical choice for an assignment like that - so it was really great seeing his uncomfortable amusement at being undressed on camera by a hooker. 

Julio Julio has to be the show's tragic character. The guy has suffered the murder of his brother, the accidental death of his wife and unborn child. Falls for a murderer and now has his foster child taken away from him. Julio is the guy with so much damned love in him to give. Unlike Amy who doesn't need children to make her life complete. Julio does. I really think that Julio's road to adoption plot turned out to be my favorite. I really feel that it was perhaps the only continuing storyline that was properly balanced. That it was given enough time, attention and focus to it for it to develop properly. 

Out of all of the emotional hard moments in White Lies, Taylor's death and sudden shooting in the court house got chills down my back. But Julio being separated from Mark made me cry.

Andy Andy, Alcoholism and it's effects on his life. I think my favorite stuff with Andy this season was his plotline in "Off the Wagon" and the developing family of Sharon, Andy and Rusty. We haven't dealt much with Andy's alcoholism for quite a while in the show and it was nice to revisit it. To see what his perspective is and how much his life has changed. I loved seeing him reach out to Jared. He really wanted to help him. I'd really love to see Andy actually sponsoring someone. 

One of the things that I have come to really love about this character is how much he's changed through the years. When we first meet Andy he's angry. He's angry at himself and at the world.  Very slowly we've seen him pick himself up and come to really appreciate the people and relationships that he has in his life. He realizes just how much he screwed up as a father in and in his marriage. And he's not about to make that same mistake again. 

The Raydor/Flynn/Beck Family Since Andy has moved in with Sharon and Rusty there's been more focus on them as a family unit. It's really interesting to see Sharon and Andy's different styles of parenting Rusty. And how they function as in a cohesive parenting unit, while not necessarily agreeing all of the time. 

Provenza There wasn't much stuff for Provenza this season. What we did get from him this season was bits and pieces of how his life had changed since he had gotten married. It seems whenever he's seriously involved with a woman that there seems to be a wardrobe change for him. We got a much more fashionable Provenza this season in some quality threads. I did actually miss his grandpa style, though. So it was nice when later on in the season there seemed to be more of a mix of his style and his new clothes. 

I think I would have liked to have had more of Patrice on there this season. I really love their relationship. She takes such good care of him, packing him healthy lunches bringing him his medication. All the while not letting him be an idiot and get away with stupid stuff. She's been a nice breath of fresh air for him. 

Sharon I think that there's been a major lack of focus on her character for along time now. I think that her character had gotten to the point where the writers have had a hard time figuring out what to do with her.  For a main character we really don't know all that much about her. Not as much as we should IMO. So that it was finally great to see focus on her in the White Lies arc. She's such a reserved character that we often don't get bursts of emotion from her.

Moving in with Andy I was really very excited to hear about the plotline of her and Andy moving in together. But I was hugely disappointed in it when there was barely any focus on it. We got a hint of Sharon's internal struggle with wanting to live with Andy and also being scared by it. That could have been explored more than it was. I felt like there was so much potential to really delve into Sharon's mind on that and the writers really didn't take it. 

As disappointed as I was with this storyline, I think I've come to realize that this storyline was really more about Sharon, Andy and Rusty coming together as a family. Which only makes me feel slightly better at having realized that.

Season 5b

Theme: Connections

I feel that the theme of 'connections' is such a loose enough concept that it's been so much easier for them to connect this theme in each of the episodes.

I'm not sure why they changed the theme for 5b. Perhaps there was negative response about it in the surveys. I think this theme is much easier to tie stories together and is something they have do in every episode anyway. The show is so interesting when you sit down and really think about it. 

The show is not a straight procedural but it does follow an a + b = c format for every episode. Each episode has a case and a personal storyline involving at least one of our main characters. The case is a way for us to understand and examine the character. So there is always parallels. So out of all of the themes this show has had, this one was probably the easiest and fits the show best.

Character Storylines/Arcs

When they sent out the press release for 5b I was a bit worried that they wouldn't have enough time to properly develop every storyline. While I do believe there is always room for improvement I think they did much better in 5b verses 5a. One of my big issues with 5a was that there were too many storylines and with such a strict structure there wasn't enough time to give to each storyline.

Wes While Wes' storyline was no where on the press release. We had snippets of getting inside of this new character's head. Wes has spent 5 years undercover with Nazi's, who's first reaction to situations is violence. Even if you don't think like that - after being in all of that hateful mentality it will get to you and it's really wonderful seeing him trying to readjusting to a chain of command. As well as realizing that he can always solve situations with violence. As a cop it is the last defense not the first offence.

Also I think Wes + Pot is my OTP for him. I really hope we will see more of Wes in the upcoming season. And as many of the fandom have pointed out he's just like Andy and reacts just like Andy used to pre-Sharon.

Buzz Buzz is such a supporting player that I think for him, it was really good to have a very subtle thread going for him. Verses the big story we got in 5a. I was really excited for them to really delve into his character in 5a but I don't think that it was handled very well. So this much smaller storyline worked much better. 

It's really not hard for us to see that after Buzz had got so invested in this case that he ended up super emotionally involved with the Jones family. Often times we end up following in our parents footsteps whether we mean to or not. In this case I feel that Buzz is becoming is own stepfather. I just hope that things turn out good for Buzz and he doesn't end up heartbroken. Buzz is the only character on this show to have never had a girlfriend/partner.

Amy I have always wished more for her character. There are only three women with any regularity on this show and all of them could have more developed storylines. Would have been nice to have a season long arc for her character but I really liked what we did get from her. Amy's passive-aggressive, manipulative and emotionally abusive relationship with Mark Hickman is such an interesting dynamic that I'm really glad to see it yet again. Amy is a half glass full kind of woman and she wants so hard to believe in Mark that she eventually looks over terrible shit that he does to her. I hope that one day, Amy sees the forest through the trees with him but until then I am enjoying their interaction. 

It was also wonderful getting some info on Amy's life as an MP. I only wish we could have gotten a seen with Amy interacting with her former commanding officer. Enough that we could get those wonderful parallels that MC loves so much.

Mike Mike was the only character that had no storyline whatsoever in the back 8. He had some slight focus in one of the cases but not even anything I'd point out for his character. It makes me sad because I love his character and think that there is so much they could do with him but just aren't. 

With season 5's overly heavy focus on family, why not use the opportunity to include is wife or kids in one of the cases? Or do some development on Mike/Julio's friendship. This is another bromance here that hasn't had any play in ages and I miss it. Or how about Mike/Sharon friendship? I have always felt that Mike and Sharon have so many things in common that they could make some really great friends but usually we see Sharon/Andy/Provenza/Rusty interaction at parties, and Mike/Julio/Amy interaction at parties.

Rusty I think Rusty's storyline as a journalist and his vlog worked really well in season 4a. It was a fresh idea and something that allowed Rusty to get passionate about and can be tied to the squad's job as police officers. Once Rusty wasn't passionate about what he was working on Rusty's storyline as a journalist got stale. I feel like Rusty as a lawyer storyline is a much better way to get him into the murder room. Although Rusty's storyline this season wasn't even really about that but his relationship with Gus. Which to me took a completely unexpected turn.

Rusty and Gus Season 5b starts off with Rusty and Gus temporarily breaking up and ends with them permanently broken up. As a couple Rusty and Gus had always been out of sync. Examining their relationship as a whole I don't think they ever got to the point where they were ever in sync. I had thought that the problems they were having (in 5a) would have been sorted out by Rusty eventually realizing that time is precious and he needs to focus on Gus during their time together. But once Rusty got his head out of his ass it seemed like there were even more problems between the two. 

I really liked Rusty/Gus for such a long time but then the problems between them got too big for their relationship and now I am hopeful that both of them will focus on their careers and maturing themselves before jumping into another relationship. 

Rusty's character One of the things about Rusty that I felt frustrated over in 5a was his shitty attitude. Rusty was selfish, unemphatic and entitled when it came to Buzz's case. And selfish when it came to his relationship with Gus. I'm so glad that the writers have retooled his character, while keeping Rusty's personality in tact. He's matured leaps and bounds since 5a, yet still has a long way to go. I was so much happier with him in 5b, than in 5a. Rusty was to put it in a way a shit head in 5a and now I feel like he's much more of a mature young man in 5b.

Julio Duck and Little Duck I am so glad that Julio finally found his happiness!! Out of everyone this guy needed it the most. It was great seeing Mark again, he's still his annoying, yet precocious self and him and Julio have such a fantastic dynamic. I've said it before and I'll say it again MC does a really great job at casting family members for it's main characters. There is such a chemistry for all of them that feels so very realistic.

Provenza I'm starting to think that as much as I love Provenza he really isn't a character that you can easily build a season long arc around. GW is a fanastic actor, there is no doubt about that. Provenza's storyline and GW's acting in "Intersection" blew me away. I just think that from what we see in 5b. His character's focus and emotional moments mean more to the character in short bursts rather than a season long storyline. I do think that it couldn't hurt to see more of Patrice. Not a ton more but more than an episode a season (or half season).

Andy The Heart Attack felt around the fandom We all hoped that MC would pick up right after Andy's heart attack but it didn't. And we all wondered what MC was doing with yet another 'Andy serious health issue' storyline. It seemed kind of like the show was running out of ideas but after seeing the season as a whole I really enjoyed where they went with this and what it did for his character. 

Andy being out of the field meant keeping him the office. Which means that Andy works almost exclusively with Sharon and it seems to have had an interesting effect on him. He seems to have absorbed bits of her personality up like a sponge. This has been something that has been a slow thread for him over the years. With each season Andy, loosing less and less of his anger and bitterness. Becoming happier in his life and with himself and much less explosive than he ever was. But being so much part of a unit with Sharon in such an intimate and professional way is really evident here more so than at any other time.  

Andy feels like a leader to me and that's not something that I would have ever thought regarding his character. Don't get me wrong, Andy is still Andy but he is not the Andy from The Closer or Andy from even a few years ago. 

The proposal On a Shandy front, Andy's health issues have pushed him to move their relationship forward. It makes it even more apparent to him that life is precious and what he really wants from life out is family life. An official and legal family. I'm so glad that there was more focus here on Shandy's road to matrimony, verses their storyline in 5a (which was very disappointing in their lack of development). 

I can always want for more regarding their relationship, as I think like so many others that we hardly ever get a really good look into their personal relationship. But I feel like out of everything we have gotten from them as a couple (outside of work) 5b is the biggest look we've gotten at them. Hopefully this will continue and one can hope that we will get a meaning full conversation between the two of them in season 6.

Sharon So glad to see more focus on Sharon's character in 5b. It had felt for such a long time that she'd gotten lost in the shuffle and it's such a shame because Sharon is a very fascinating character when you sit back and examine her. It was really good seeing Sharon out with the team during the action, especially the bombs. And the beginning of the 5b when Sharon pushed the suspect to snap and snap he did!

Promotion to Assistant Chief I think if Sharon had not expressed her disinterest in being promoted to the position, then I would have wanted it for her. However, she made it more than clear several times through the season that it would have been a step back for her and not forward. While it would have been a higher position, it would have meant stepping back into the political arena and away from detective work. Which is definitely where she did not want to go. So I am very happy that in the end she didn't end up getting the promotion. 

As for the stuff with Davis, Mason and Fritz. I kind of felt like it wasn't as prominent an arc as I would have liked. Davis only shows up roughly three times and then we don't even get a really great resolution to her character. While I could see her popping up from time to time, it just won't be the same because she didn't end up as chief. 

Promotion to Commander This right here is something I am so very glad that Mason saw to correct. It was high time that this happened and I am so glad that it was one of the very first things that Mason does as asst. chief! Makes me hopeful of him in that position. Makes me think he sees Sharon as an ally instead of an enemy. He's smart and knows that it would be so much better for him to work with her than against her. 

Ready for Marriage For the entirety of Sharon and Andy's relationship, Andy has always been two steps ahead of Sharon. Sharon eventually gets there but her brain has to take a while to catch up to Andy's heart. When Andy proposes to Sharon she says yes right away. Sharon is finally on the same page with Andy regarding their relationship and it really shows throughout 5b. Especially after the proposal when he start to notice how in sync they are. And while the two of them have always been in sync (in certain ways), it's no more apparent then this season.

Season 5 (as a whole)

There has been an interesting themes that have played throughout the entirety of season 5. They are..

Family

Family was present in every story arc in 5a. From Sharon/Andy/Rusty moving in together, to Julio wanting kids, to Amy not wanting kids, Provenza's life changes now that he's married and how that's reflected in his workplace and Buzz solving his own father's murder to becoming intimately involved with the murderer's family.

The Past (and how it can still effect you) The very first episode of season 5 plays so heavily on the past and that becomes an over arching theme dealt heavily throughout the season. So much so that there were arcs that called back to people and situations from the past. The return of Stroh, Winnie Davis vs Sharon rivalry which harks back to Sharon vs Brenda rivalry and The promotion of a new chief are all the big ones.

Other Thoughts: Rusty's Vlog So I've talked at length about it and I want to address it again. I've got oh so many mixed feelings on it. When I first started watching MC and found out that the vlogs were real I thought that was an interesting and creative way to give us more information and time with MC. 

I thought that it worked really well for season 4 because it was additional information but the information in the videos was not something we had to know. We could still get a full story without watching the vlogs. But the problem with them in season 4, is that they are terribly boring. The majority of the videos solely feature Rusty giving us information, with no one to bounce off of. So when season 5 hits, the vlogs are refreshed and Buzz is featured in them as well. Rusty now has someone to bounce off of in the vlogs and we get loads of information on Buzz's background. But the problem with the vlog's in season 5 is that we don't get a full picture of Buzz's case without watching the vlogs. 

There is information in there that we need to know or otherwise Buzz' story arc in season 5a feels terribly incomplete. And my problem with that is (as I mentioned earlier) that there are so many viewers out there that aren't going to go online to watch an additional youtube video. The other problem is that they are using time on the show to set up what they are going to talk about on the vlog instead of using that time to actually talk about 'what ever it is they are going to talk about'. 

Another problem that Rusty's vlogs had goes way back in season 4, was viewership reaction. A lot of people seem to have reacted to Rusty's vlog's in a negative way. To the point where it was actually brought up in a season 4b episode. Rusty goes to Judge Grove and talks to him a bit about his Identity vlog. He tells Grove that he's got x amount of viewers (for his vlog) and that none of them seem to like him. 

Now I'm not saying that the audience is correct but what I am saying is that if a huge part of your audience is reacting negatively to something maybe you should listen a little bit. For season 4 I watched the vlogs on youtube and I found it interesting that the comments were disabled. And then I watched the vlogs on FB for season 5 and found massive amounts of negative comments, drama and fighting. Which made me think that the comments on youtube were allowed at one point but the same thing happened so they were disabled.

I'm glad that the show finally decided to quit the vlogs. As they were interesting at first but quickly started causing needless drama. Rusty is already a character that brings out strong feelings in the audience and most people either love or hate him. And a vlog solely focused on his character was inevitable to incite some drama.

Speculation: There's no doubt that Stoh will be returning in season 6 and play a major role. I had rather hoped that he would have been gone and never dealt with but if he's going to come back the I would like for him to be dealt with properly. None of this 'Stroh + Rusty' = destiny crap that Stroh spouted in season 3. If we are going to have Stroh back I want him to effect more than just 'Rusty is in danger'. I want him to effect the whole squad.

What I'd like to see in season 6: // Continuing growth in Julio/Mark's fathership // Continuing growth in Sharon/Andy/Rusty familyship (I want to see more of Sharon & Andy parenting Rusty in a united front as well as the two of them disagreeing on what to do with Rusty in a given situation). // Allow Sharon to do some internal and external struggling, and allow it to exist in multiple episodes. Instead of just one episode. // More than 1, honest to god knee deep in emotion and conversation scene between Sharon and Andy without Rusty. I love Sharon/Andy/Rusty familyship and want to see more of that in season 6 but I love Sharon/Andy and they need time alone away from Rusty and us viewers need to see that as well. // Still want to actually see Amy's commanding officer, instead of just being told about her. I want to see Amy interacting with people she worked with in the past. // Mike to be given an actual storyline. // More Patrice! // More than 3 minutes at Sharon and Andy's wedding

Was there improvement from 5a to 5b? During the end of 5a, I wrote a novel in the survey's to TNT. It seems that what I spoke about was what many others also thought could have been changed or improved upon in the show. The creators listened and I am very happy about that. While there is always room for improvement I am very glad that they seem to be listening. 

Better balance of storylines. Many of them were underdeveloped in 5a. 5b's storylines felt much more balanced. 

Rusty attitude was terrible in 5a and I'm so glad to see that he's gained some maturity between the season hiatus and 5b. One of the things that bothered me about his character in 5a is the large focus on his character. If you look up there during my breakdown of the character in 5a, you'll notice that he's got more storylines than any other character. 

I get that Rusty is probably a very easy character to delve into but at the same time it feels like Rusty's character focus tends to be at the expensive of the other character's development and storylines. Case in point Sharon Beck's Pregnancy storyline. So I am very glad that they focused less on him in 5b.

For such a long time we’ve gotten so little of Sharon’s character that in 5b we got some of the focus back on her character and it was really wonderful! 

Overall I would say that 5b was such an improvement on 5a and I hope that the show continues it’s forward strides!

Favorite Scenes: 5. Julio loses Mark at the end of White Lies. It was heartbreaking and very easily one of the most moving scenes of MC that I've ever seen. As terrible as it was I am so glad that Mark ends up with Julio in 5b.

4. Provenza laments to Rusty in Intersection. This is easily my favorite Provenza scene and brings out so much of Provenza's character that we hardly ever see. Some amazing acting from GW Bailey!

3. Andy reassures the boys in Bad Blood. Not only do we get some much needed backstory on Andy but we also see how much his previous marriage and Sharon's previous marriage were startling similar. We also see just how much Sharon and Andy's children both love them and want so badly to see them happy. We also get Andy to convince us 100% that he's not the same man he was and he is well aware of that. Plus that amazing grin of his. 

2. Sharon's promotion. Something completely unexpected for Sharon and us as the audience. I loved it because it was the promotion she should have gotten 5 years ago. The one promised to her but she never got. Also seeing Sharon being so blown over by it! fabulous!

1. The Proposal. Despite not hearing the words it was still a very beautiful scene and my favorite from season 5. Seeing Sharon at a complete loss for words and also for her to completely forget her son - surely takes alot and this did it. It was also shot so beautifully. The image of Andy turning from Sharon to face us. Show a bit of his vulnerability as he takes a breathe, shuts the door and turns to Sharon to kneel before her was breathtaking.

What I didn't like about the season: The startling lack of anything surrounding Mike's character. Mike barely ever gets attention and has had only 1 episode devoted to his character for the entire 5th season. 

Disappointment in how the Sharon/Andy moving in together storyline was handled in 5a. We got one big episode on it and then the storyline peeters out to nothing for the rest of 5a. Sharon's hesitation on moving in with Andy could have been something that we could have seen dealt with on the show more than once. This is something that we could have used to create a real meaningful conversation between the two of them. It was an opportunity lost.

What I liked about the season: Everything in Julio's storyline with adopting a child and Mark. Seeing the return of Mark Hickman steering up trouble for Amy. As much as I don't like the two of them together, Amy thinks much too much of Mark and redemption. They have such a fascinating dynamic.

Focusing more on Sharon and Andy in 5b. Their storyline was very underdeveloped in 5a so it was great to see more movement on that in 5b. The stuff with Ricky and the proposal was great. However the one disappointment from that storyline was not hearing Andy propose to Sharon and not hearing her answer. Another great opportunity for a real deep conversation about their relationship missed. 

Rusty gaining more maturity and helping along his mother in her relationship with Andy.

*In addition I’d like to thank everyone that’s enjoyed my reactionary posts. They take quite a bit of time to put together and several rewatches for me to gather all of my thoughts. I really enjoy digging deep into this show. Doing these posts have made me love and appreciate the show more than I ever did. They have also made me realize just how much are put into the storylines. Even when realizing that there are things that could be done differently or improved upon. There’s so much detail work that goes into wardrobe, blocking, plotlines and dialog, etc. 

[not-another-imagine-blog]

Ready for the Olympics (David Pastrnak)

Anonymous said:

Hello love! Do you mind if I can request a David Pastrnak imagine where it's the family skate and reader is super nervous bc she doesn't know how to ice skate and David didn't really know about that bc it's still early in the relationship and he teaches her? Just a bunch of fluff please. Thank you so much! 😊 I also love your writing especially your recent Auston Matthews one about the Ca vs Az

Word count: 1747

Author’s note: Somebody pls kill me this is just too damn fluffy

When you first started school at Harvard, you were shocked. The classes were fine, the people were easy to get along with, but the big city was a whole different experience. You grew up in a tiny town of about 6,000. The biggest city you had ever been to had a population of about 50,000. Needless to say, the first time your friends had taken you to Boston for a night out, you experienced some of the biggest culture shock of your life. You hated everything about big cities.

And then you met David.

David Pastrnak, a tall, shy Czech boy, had immediately become smitten with you when you had braved going into Boston by yourself for the first time. Your friends had all gone home for the weekend and you were feeling homesick so, instead of studying in one of Harvard’s studious libraries, you decided to go find a nice coffee shop in town. After taking the wrong subway once and going the wrong direction twice, you had finally found a Starbucks. It was packed, which was typical of Starbucks on a Saturday morning. You managed to find an empty table and promptly parked your stuff, making sure people knew that this table was occupied.

And then, right as you had opened your laptop and plugged your earbuds in, your designated study music playing gently, a large figure blocked the light. You looked up to see a tall man mouthing something to you. You had pulled your earbuds out only to hear him quietly asking if he could sit with you.

“Of course!” You had responded, clearing off a spot for him.

“Děkuji.” He had said gratefully, sitting in the chair.

“What language is that?” You asked. And from there, the conversation had took off. In the three hours you had first spent with David, homework forgotten, you and he talked more, and more in-depth, than any of your classmates at school.

You had learned that he, too, was new to Boston, coming from the Czech Republic to play hockey for the Boston Bruins. He learned that you were on academic scholarship to one of the top colleges in the nation. He and you both also learned that they really, really liked the new face in front of each other.

He asked for your number, stating that he wanted to take you out for dinner the next day. From there, your relationship had only grown.

It’s been a month since you and David had started dating, and you loved every second of it. You loved filling in a word when he was speaking English and got confused. You loved how he would whisper things to you in Czech. You loved the kind texts, the coffee dates, wearing his jersey to games and even just sitting on the couch next to each other, you doing homework and he watching a hockey game of some sort.

Today he was taking you on a date, but he wanted to keep it a surprise.

“David, why can’t you just tell me?” You ask as you climb into his car.

“I am trying to be romantic, (Y/N).” He huffs. You adore the little accent he always inadvertently puts on your name.

“That’s new.” You joke. He shoots you a glare, although he’s smiling so you know he’s joking.

“You want to walk, yeah?” He asks.

“You wouldn’t be able to leave me! You’d feel too guilty and turn right back around.” You declare triumphantly.

“You are...absolutely correct.” He sighs as you laugh, savoring your slight victory. David starts driving to the ‘secret’ destination. You make light conversation as you gaze out the window, watching for any landmarks or clues as to where you might be going. Suddenly, as the streets start getting more familiar, you suddenly realize what day it is.

“We’re going to the family skate, aren’t we?” You ask suddenly. David lets out a loud groan and throws his head back against the seat.

“You are too damn smart for your own good (Y/N), did you know that?”

“One of the questions at my Harvard interview was asking if I could guess any secret dates my boyfriend would take me on.” You deadpan. He glances at you quickly, seeing the grin on your face.

“Shut up! They did not!” You grab his hand.

“They didn’t...You really want to take me to Family Skate?” You ask.

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I want to take you?”

“Well I’m going to slow you down seeing as how I’ve never skated before.”

“What?” You shoot him a curious look.

“Um, yeah? I haven’t told you that before?” David scoffs.

“No, you did not tell me that you’ve never skated before!” You let out a shaky laugh.

“I kind of ruined this date, didn’t I?” He shakes his head.

“You didn’t, don’t worry. Even if I end up having to carry you down the ice, it will still be one of the best dates.” You blush slightly as David turns towards TD Garden.

“It’s not weird that I’m going to be at the skate with you?” You ask nervously.

“Why would it be weird, miláček?” You shrug.

“I don’t know, we’ve only been dating for a month. Aren’t your teammates gonna think it’s weird?”

“(Y/N), I don’t care what my teammates think. You are the only person that matters to me, and I want you at the Family Skate with me. Now,” He opens his door and you do the same. “Let’s teach you how to skate.”

You shakily lace up the white figure skates as David laces his own worn hockey skates. He stands patiently as you tie the last skate, offering you his hands.

“You ready?” He asks. You nod and grab his hands, letting him pull you up. You and David slowly walk towards the ice, David letting you get used to the foreign feeling of ice skates. The Chara family is already on the ice and Tuukka and his family quickly walk past you two, Tuukka ruffling David’s hair.

“Brought the girlfriend with you today, eh David?” Tuukka grins at you. “Nice to finally meet you, (Y/N). David only talks about you all the time.” David goes bright red and lightly shoves Tuukka.

“He’s lying. He’s just trying to look...uh, cool?” You nod, encouraging him. “He’s just trying to look cool around you.” Tuukka sighs.

“‘(Y/N) did this, (Y/N) did that.’”

“‘(Y/N)’s just so great.’” Brad Marchand chimes in.

“‘You’ll never guess what (Y/N) did today.’” Patrice Bergeron mocks. You’re pretty sure you’ve never seen David get as embarrassed as he is now.

“Don’t you have families to skate with?” David asks, moving you towards the ice. The guys all finally go back to their families as David steps onto the ice with ease. “You ready?” He smiles at you encouragingly and grabs your hands.

“You’re not gonna, like, start making me skate right away, are you?” David laughs.

“Of course not! You can take all the time you need, alright?” You nod. “Alright, here we go! Put one foot on,” You tentatively place one foot on the ice. “There you go, you’re doing great miláček! Put your other foot on?” You step on, feeling the slippery ice underneath you. Your ankles are already trying to turn out and you can feel your skates sliding farther apart. David has a tight grasp on your hips, reassuring you that he’s not going anywhere.

“This is so embarrassing, I’m sorry.” You apologize. David lets out a quiet laugh and kisses your forehead.

“Don’t be embarrassed! You’ve never done this before, no one’s going to blame you for not being an Olympian the first try. They’ll expect that on the second try.” You glance at him.

“Don’t be a smart ass.” David grins.

“What’s that saying you Americans have? Don’t, eh, don’t dish it-”

“If you can’t take it?” You finish for him. He nods, satisfied.

“Yes, that’s it!”

“Oh ha ha.” You say dryly, watching as some of the younger kids go flying by. “Ready to teach me how to skate?” David’s face brightens.

“Alright, I am just going to hold onto your hands and tug you along, does that sound okay?” You nod.

“I’m ready to make my debut as a hockey player.” You say seriously as David laughs. He slowly starts tugging you with him. Your ankles keep wanting to turn out and it constantly feels like you’re going to fall, but you’re still skating. You let out a shaky laugh.

“Well, would you look at that? You’re skating!” David grins at you.

“I’m skating!”

“Are you going to be okay if I skate next to you?” Your eyes widen.

“Can you still hold my hand?”

“If I didn’t know any better I would say that you are just looking for an excuse to hold my hand.” You roll your eyes.

“Whatever makes you feel better, love.” You and David start skating around the rink, watching the team skate with their families.

“Thank you for coming with me, (Y/N).” David comments. You look at David and smile.

“Of course David. I’m honored that you even asked me to come to Family Skate.” David shrugs.

“You are my family.” He’s about to continue when suddenly Elliz and Zdeno Chara go flying by. Little Elliz accidentally knocks into you, sending you tumbling to the ice. David just barely catches you, one arm around your waist and the other hand grasping tightly onto yours. You’re almost vertical to the point where you can feel your hair touching the ice, David’s face extremely close to yours.

“Are you okay?” He asks, alarmed. You nod.

“Elliz has a mean cross check on her!” You joke. David grins, slowly pulling you up.

“Kiss, kiss, kiss!” You look over to the source of the noise to find all of the vets chanting.

“Should we give them what they want?” David asks. Before you have the chance to respond, he kisses you passionately, sending his teammates into an uproar. You both pull away as you grin breathlessly.

“I guess I should go skating with you more often, huh?” You end up tripping over the toe pick on your skate, causing David to catch you once again.

“How about we try and make it one full lap without you falling, okay?” You smile. David kisses you again as you set off on your slow trek around the rink.

[reviews-by-high]

Review: Blackkklansman

Caution: Light Spoilers Ahead.

If no one's ever told you: there’s movies, and there’s movies when you’re high. Then let me tell you that the adage is 100% true, and in the case of my stoned experience with BlaKkKlansman (10 August 2018, dir Spike Lee), the film is powerful. Now I’m not going to spend a lot of time focusing on the racial politics at play with the movie because what this film does well is make its message clear. Any reader who has seen the film will know that amongst the dialogue this film is creating, one more internet-white-dudes words and opinions on the matter of racial politics aren’t needed. Not that the voices and opinions aren’t valued or don’t belong in conversation, but that another voice to the left leaning internet-white-dudes representation isn’t really any more useful than one less internet-white-dudes voice and opinion on racial politics in media at this point. Now with that said, it’s pretty difficult to review this movie ― even as subjectively as this review is ― without having some mention of racial politics. It also should be said that this review contains light spoilers. I’ll be covering some scenes, specifically the three speech scenes, as well as addressing other included media in the film and performances in the film. However, I’ll be doing it as best I can to an extent that is sufficient without giving away then entire scene. Even if you read this review before seeing the movie I would encourage you to still go see the film in theaters.

The first powerful scene happens right away when director Spike Lee opens with a very famous scene from the American Racial Melodrama Gone With the Wind. Gone With the Wind was a huge hit in America at the time of its distribution (17 January 1940, dir Victor Fleming), much of this is due to its over sentimentalization and romantic view of the American South. The scene that Lee inducts from the American Racial Melodrama ends with a massive scope of wounded confederate soldiers all laying in the dirt while a tattered Confederate flag flaps in the wind. If you’re a film major there is a fuck ton of meaning to be unpacked in that one scene of Gone With the Wind. However, what I got out of seeing that scene again ― only this time in the frame of BlacKkKlansman ― after about 32 milligrams of an edible, was the  Southern way of life for the God Bless’d White America is under attack and it needs protectors. And who better than the Ku Klux Klan to be the ghostly white knights that aggressively protect that racially oppressive way of life. What a great fucking message (sarcasm). Then switch to resident “soul brother” and protagonist Ron Stallworth played by John David Washington. The quick cut from an old American racial melodramatic blockbuster to BlacKkKlansman’s Ron Stallworth isn’t going to be the last time the film makes very effective use of juxtaposition. In fact Lee uses scenes from previous American blockbuster movies again later in the film when the KKK is having a cult ritual movie-night party. The boys in white are all seated in front of a projector screen eating popcorn watching yet again, another American Racial Melodrama Epic, Birth of a Nation (released 3 March 1915, dir. D. W. Griffith). Now, Birth of a Nation is a film that, if an individual at any point of watching that film thinks something along the lines of “hmm ya know what, this film is pretty good!” Then that individual should definitely rethink how he or she views other people, specifically people whose skin color and ancestral homeland differ from their own. Because Birth of a Nation is nothing shy from a Ku Klux Klan hero story wrapped up in, again, an old time American Racial Melodrama. This time however, while the film plays and we see the faces of Ku Klux Klan members in BlacKkKlansman watching the film, Lee also does periodic cuts to both Stallworth’s face having to watch the racist film from a window outside the cult room, and cuts to Jerome Turner, an African American speaker sharing his stories of tragedy and violent persecution, with the black college student union. For this reason, Lee’s use of juxtaposition is powerful because it contrasts the God-Bless-White-America KKK narrative ideas to the lives of black individuals and the persecution of the black community here in America at the hands of racially fueled violence.

The film’s power however doesn’t stop at complex juxtaposition, there are three speech scenes where the audience is greeted to powerful monologues from three different individuals: Kwame Ture played by Corey Hawkins, Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard played by Alec Baldwin, and Jerome Turner played by famed musician and Civil Rights Movement activist Harry Belafonte. I already previously mentioned how Turner talks to the black student union about the horrors he saw and experienced at the behest of racially motivated violence so I won’t discuss his speech scene more, though I do HIGHLY encourage you and everyone else to discuss Turner’s speech with their friends and other viewers of the film. Adversely, the speech scene featuring Alec Baldwin’s Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard was equally powerful, but not for its recount of racially fueled violence, or its inspiration to the black community, but because in what may be Alec Baldwin’s most convincing performance that I’ve ever seen, we get to see the very process of a man degrade down a scary spiral into racial hate and bitter bigotry. What’s so compelling about Baldwin’s performance is that even if you watched the movie on mute, by facial expression, posture, body language, and mannerisms alone the progression seen in Dr. Beauregard is not only extremely powerful but speaks for itself. The speech embodied a call for keeping America pure and white like the country should be — according to Dr. Beauregard — either by “sending them back,” or through violent alternatives. What struck me more was that in combination of the fear I felt sitting in my seat during this scene, was that the whole performance looked almost as if Alex Jones himself (controversial I know) had gotten up in front of the movie theater and did a two hour segment where he falls down a slippery slope into yelling some terrifyingly prejudice shit into a camera lens and ultimately ends on “God Bless (white) America.” I couldn’t tell you exactly why it is, but my high ass was legitimately feeling fear. Lastly, I want to commend Corey Hawkins for his performance as Kwame Ture. Hawkins who is no stranger to playing biopic roles, having previously done an exceptional job as Dr. Dre in Straight Outta Compton (14 August 2015, dir F. Gary Gray), absolutely fucking delivers on his speech as Ture. It’s a speech that everyone should see, black or otherwise, because to be completely honest it’s pretty damn inspiring. It left me feeling energized and good, and I’m not even black. Though all speech scenes tend to suffer from heavy-handedness at some point, Hawkin’s performance and the structure of the speech is absolutely gripping. So gripping that as early on as the speech was — within the first fourth of the movie I’d say — it sets the tone for just how viscerally powerful the movie is.

Lastly, the performances in the film were phenomenal. John David Washington takes the trope of a “soul brother,” and the trope of a determined black cop (think Denzel Washington in Inside Man 24 March 2016, Spike Lee) and masterfully blends them together. Not only that but he plays a character who is performing whiteness over the phone, a possible call back (no pun intended) to Sorry To Bother You (6 July 2018, dir Boots Riley) as well as an actual recount of the events that happened in real life Ron Stallworth’s book Black Klansman: A Memoir (16 January 2014 Police and Fire Publishing, Ron Stallworth). In another multilayered performance, Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman absolutely nails it as well. I will preface by saying that from Girls (15 April 2012, created by Lena Dunham) and This Is Where I Leave You (19 September 2014, Shawn Levy), to now BlacKkKlansman and even his role as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars films, I’m a fan of Adam Driver. Adam Driver’s performance as a more experienced undercover Jewish (albeit non-practicing) cop faking as a Ku Klux Klan member while having to impersonate Ron Stallworth’s voice to the best of his abilities, is so well done I’m nothing shy of utterly impressed once again by the actor. As for the rest of the rest of the Klansman, Felix, Ivanhoe, and Walter Breachway, actors Jasper Pääkkönen, Paul Walter Houser, and Ryan Eggold absolutely convinced me they were bitter, angry men with nothing but utter contempt for black Americans and Jewish peoples. The kind of guys who would join and adopt the ideology of the KKK. These actors gave a scary realistic portrayal of their characters. However, with that said, I’ll admit that Topher Grace as David Duke left me thinking only one thing, “How the fuck did Eric Foreman get into the KKK?” Because let’s be honest... I don’t think Topher Grace will ever do a more iconic role. Yet having Foreman as the leader of the KKK does fit nicely with the idea of Ron Stallworth putting his foot up the Klan’s ass. On an ending note I also want to acknowledge Laura Harrier’s performance as black activist, student leader, and love interest Patrice. She plays a vital representative role as a powerful individual and courageous black woman in a leadership role providing a platform for the black demographic in the films Colorado Springs setting. (I would talk more about setting is a character in this film but this post is already pretty lengthy, just know that Colorado Springs is historically far right-wing conservative.) What’s more is the importance in the dialogue between Patrice — who fights for black activism and fair treatment through speech, platform, and protest — and Stallworth who is fighting for the same cause but from within the system. The conversation and dichotomy between these two in the film is an important discussion on different methods to similar means.

Now I know there are A LOT of things this review didn’t cover, however it wasn’t really my aim to comprehensively cover BlacKkKlansman. More so it was to provide maybe a different perspective of thoughts and experience watching the film from what other more rudimentary reviews might say. Most importantly though, what this review is above all, is nothing more than me getting stoned, watching a cool movie, and then writing some words about it.

With that said, the last bit I want to leave you all with is there are a lot of small easter eggs in the film. Obviously there is the footage from Gone With the Wind and Birth of a Nation, but also the soundtrack uses the same theme — Steve Switcharoo by composer Terence Blanchard — as another famous Spike Lee movie, Inside Man. There are many more in the film and I’m sure I didn’t catch all of them, after all I was pretty baked.

As far as ratings go, Rotten Tomatoes gives BlacKkKlansman a 96%, Metacritic a 76%, and IMDb rates the film at 7.8/10. For those not familiar with my rating system, I use a system akin to John Oliver’s arbitrary and absurdist rating system. Therefore, with all said and done, between having-your-campsite-raided-by-bears-while-you’re-not-looking, and sky-diving-into-a-ball-pit-the-size-of-Lake-Erie, I give BlacKkKlansman a having-pizza-on-Sunday.

PM

p.s. I now want more buddy-cop thriller with John David Washington and Adam Driver.

[poetrycommentguy-blog]

The TERRORISTS

“The most horrible warfare is the kindest. I shall spread terror by the surprise employment of all my measures. The important thing is the sudden shock of an overwhelming fear of death. Why should I use different measures against my internal political opponents? These so-called atrocities spare me a hundred thousand individual actions against disobedience and discontent. People will think twice before opposing us when they hear what to expect in the camps. “    

 Adolph Hitler (1889-1945). Table talk, 1933. In Hermann Rauschning, 

                     The Voice of Destruction, 1940.

______________________________________________________________

                                I. Two Terrorists

 Who’s crying for Martin; and who’s crying for Michael

Who’s mourning for two who got lost in the noise?

So who’s crying for Marty; who’s crying for Mikey;

what’s the story we’re missing from these fallen boys?

 When we hung them and gassed them, there was a process,

time for goodbyes, time for tearful regrets,

time for Justice’s scale to swing free in the nightmare

of stories that show us as bad as it gets.

 The right to be heard, to be judged, to be sentenced,

the things that we screamed for before we expired:

we each had a story, if someone dared listen,

our life had a meaning and purpose desired.

 Heaven’s in turmoil; heaven’s in chaos,

two cherubs are felled from heavenly sky;

so gather the heavenly troops to destroy them,

the two fallen angels who felled two to die.

                  II. A Terrorist Perspective

 No it wasn’t for you, as it raged against logic,

your logic, my passion as strong as your love,

but I know that the hate that exploded inside me

was far more than a nudge; far more than a shove.

 Do you care? Do you wonder, what might make such chaos,

what might bring such impulse to strike your solutions?

Would you rather just kill me and cover the reason

that I hold in my heart against your institutions?

 No, you’ll make me a monster, my target the hero,

when God is my hero, the one God I name,

and you think that it’s cool to shoot me in kind,

so really we’re killers, we are both just the same.

 Heaven’s in turmoil; heaven’s in chaos,

two cherubs are felled from heavenly sky;

so gather the heavenly troops to destroy them,

the two fallen angels who felled two to die.

                       III. Making Heroes

 What’s with the killing and why do we think

there’s a virtue in turning chaos into fears?

It’s a bad thing we do when we harvest a life

from a coldness of heart when all care disappears.

 And what’s with this making the victims both heroes,

as if it’s a virtue to die through this game,

killed by such terror is a way to get noticed,

so we might all aspire to be murdered for fame.

 Oh, I weep for our people who think that a soldier,

hired as a killing-machine to be good,

might actually die in the hands of another,

who thinks as a soldier, but then, so he should.

 Heaven’s in turmoil; heaven’s in chaos,

two cherubs are felled from heavenly sky;

so gather the heavenly troops to destroy them,

the two fallen angels who felled two to die.

                       IV. Making Killers

 Killers kill off the bad guy (this scrambles my brain);

it’s good, we all say, of a just and fair place;

when the killer’s the bad guy, it isn’t so clear

if the killing remains in a just and good space.

 We won’t stop the terror or shoot up the killer

who kills, without uniform, right from the start;

there’s one good and one right and its ours to be taken,

so let’s stop the stories so meaning can starve.

 We’re not into circumstance, context, perspective,

or all of those stories that might educate

our people to think ‘there’s a reason to kill…’

“…just our reason,” we say, as we fall at The Gate.

 Heaven’s in turmoil; heaven’s in chaos,

two cherubs are felled from heavenly sky;

so gather the heavenly troops to destroy them,

the two fallen angels who felled two to die.

                     V.  A Moral Right

Our reason is simple and uncomplicated:

Don’t listen to Jesus, Confucius or Allah,

your Nation defines when a killing is right,

what is moral is simply religious blah-blah,

 It’s right when Commander-In-Chief says it’s right!

Inventing the Terrorists stirs up the fear,

for fear is the driver to rescue the fold,

and falling the heroes provides sacred cheer.

 Once defined as a Terrorist, rights are removed

except for the right to be shot on the spot;

instead of the peace that our Nation has promised,

a new rank of killer is what we have got.

 Who’s crying for Martin; and who’s crying for Michael,

who’s mourning for two who got lost in the noise?

So who’s crying for Marty; who’s crying for Mikey;

what’s the story we’re missing from these fallen boys?

_____________________________________________ 

Commentary:

          This poem completed on November 4th, 2014 moves in and out of various perspectives on the Terrorist that I fear we have created of which to be fearful. The word “Terrorist” itself invites fear into the mind.

            Late in October of 2014, Martin Couture-Rouleau, an openly aspiring Islam fundamentalist and follower of the ISIS movement, deliberately waiting for the show of military uniforms on the street, and drove his car into two men in uniform walking together in St. Jean-sans-Richelieu, Quebec, killing Patrice Vincent (53), a 28-year veteran, and wounding his companion. He was later located and shot by the police. Marty was somebody’s son,

            Two days from the above incident, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, at short range, walked up to the War Memorial, where two military men were reposed, and shot and killed Cpl Nathan Cinilo (22); he then stormed the center block of Parliament and was shot by the Sergeant-at-Arms, Kevin Vickers, then peppered with shots from other guns once he fell. Mike was somebody’s son.

            We claim that “Terrorists” are of a different breed that we, the righteous; but this is a matter of perspective. It is often a matter of which uniform you are wearing. It may be a matter of what drives your passion. It’s the old good guy/bad guy way of defining what is moral and right, except even in Heaven it seems we have defined “fallen angels” as bad and “Heavenly cherubs” as good. Whenever we decide to create warriors whose job it is to kill, I believe, we have crossed the line that says that all human lives are valuable. Put a weapon in the hand of the warrior and he becomes a killer, and to some a “Terrorist” – one who creates fear.

            If we were to use the scale of the mythological Greek goddess Themis, who carries the scale of divine justice, all killing might be seen as tipping the scale of justice. Any taking of a human life would be barbarian and therefore inhumane. She wears a blindfold so as not to consider the uniform, the flag or the skin colour of those who see her council. She is also the goddess of wisdom. 

            In simplistic terms: If Freddy kills Bobby, does Bobby’s Mother have a right to kill Freddy? Then does Freddy’s Father have a right to kill Bobby’s Mother and so on and so on. This is a matter of a moral or divine judgment that is of some importance. There is always context and it is the context that is important. The first context, of course, is who provided these children and their parents with the weapons to kill at all? The second context is what happened to Freddy that made him kill Bobby in the first place.

            So we come back to Martin Couture-Rouleau and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau; to Martin and Michael; to Marty and Mikey. Did someone terrorize their family or relatives that made them decide to become warriors? Are they wearing the bandana and carrying a black flag because of being victims themselves of Terrorists who may have worn a formal military uniform, carrying the flag of the Stars and Stripes? We don’t know because they are dead.

            Killing someone also kills the story and the context that is to be judged; however when a cause goes from words to weapons, the intent changes. Ask the draft-dodger who refuses to be made into a killing machine. Some will argue that it is in our nature to kill. I think not. I think, rather, that we are groomed to kill by our culture. Some call it “national security” and others just call it “revenge”. They end up with the same: a reason to kill. They groom boys like Marty and Mikey to become terrorists. When I was young and we played “Cowboys and Indians,” this was our grooming. Our parents did not protest when we declared that the Cowboys always killed off the Indians. It was the beginning of our grooming to believe that killing was ok and that some people, by the colour of their skin or their history or nationality, were “bad”. We are now slowly having to correct this context.

            There is nothing reasonable about war (the cloak of Terror). Yet if you read the   “Table talk” of Adolph Hitler at the top of page 64, you would discover his reasonable context for “the camps”. Is this reason or madness speaking? Then watch how we make the same kind of arguments in the West for waging war against ISIS.

 I rest my case.                                                                                                                                                                                    

DBB

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

Trending Topics: With new forwards in the fold, will Calgary break up 3M line?

Where does Elias Lindholm fit amongst Calgary’s lines? (Getty Images)

The Calgary Flames knew they had a lot of areas they needed to improve this summer, and perhaps the most pressing was the team’s forward group.

To that end, GM Brad Treliving brought in Elias Lindholm (via trade) and James Neal (via UFA signing). These are two perfectly good top-six forwards who can be productive in a way that many of the Flames’ other forward options really haven’t been in the past two seasons.

If you want a list of their top-six forwards during that time, talent-wise, the Flames could really only offer five names: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Matt Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, and Michael Frolik.

One might also argue for Micheal Ferland, who went to Carolina in the Lindholm/Hamilton/Hanifin trade, but I would note that if you only rack up 66 points playing a huge chunk of your minutes with Gaudreau and Monahan, that’s the barest amount of work you can actually do and still be considered an NHL player.

Anyway, bringing in Lindholm and Neal brings the grand total of legitimate top-six forwards on the Flames roster to seven, which you’ll note is one greater than the six they need. It’s never a bad thing to have seven top-six forwards, of course. All the best teams do. But where the Flames in particular are concerned, the dynamic has the potential to create an interesting ripple effect for the roster.

Over the past two seasons — which are delineated here because that’s when Tkachuk came into the league — the Flames’ top two lines have been pretty clearly defined. The top line was Gaudreau, Monahan, and literally any guy the coach felt wouldn’t fall down too often. The second line was the 3M line of  Tkachuk, Backlund, and Frolik. Both were, to one extent or another, pretty effective. None of those five named forwards scored fewer than 69 points over the past two seasons, and while Frolik’s lack of offensive production is arguably a problem, it’s also worth noting that both of his linemates averaged close to 50 points a season in these last two campaigns.

Moreover — and this is the important part — the 3M line is and has been a possession juggernaut of a quality rarely seen in the league. Over the last two years, only eight lines have been together for at least 800 minutes at 5-on-5, and these three lead the way in ice time at almost 1,360 minutes. Their expected goal difference over that time is pushing 57 percent. Just as a point of reference, Boston’s big line of Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — the best line in the league — is only a little more than half a percentage point ahead of the 3M boys.

Which is to say, this is probably a line you don’t want to break up, even if their actual goals-for number (55.3 percent) is a smidge below what they “should” score based on expected goals.

More to the point, they dramatically underperformed expected goals in the Flames’ no-playoffs 2017-18 campaign (58 percent expected, 46.8 percent scored) due largely to a killed combination of rotten shooting luck and worse goaltending, which added up to a PDO of just 96.8.

So the question for the Flames, and specifically new coach Bill Peters, is a simple one: What do you do with both Lindholm and Neal? One of them is going to have to take bottom-six minutes if you don’t break up the 3Ms, which you shouldn’t do.

It would seem the natural fit for a trigger man like Neal is to play alongside Gaudreau and Monahan because, well, they’re going to create a lot of open looks and if someone who is a proven scorer without elite talent gets put with elite talent, that’s only going to result in more goals.

Plus, the Flames extended Lindholm on a new six-year deal with an AAV of $4.85 million just yesterday. Solid number, maybe a little too long on the term; that’s the cost of doing business. But that’s not the kind of contract you give to someone who’s going to be getting third-line-and-second-power-play-unit minutes, y’know? (Not that Frolik, at $4.3 million against the cap, is exactly making bottom-six money either.)

Let’s talk this out, then. Frolik played more than 200 minutes away from his normal running buddies last season (and almost 620 with). All of Tkachuk and Backlund’s underlying numbers suffered, but their goals-for percentage did not. In fact, they went from getting outscored by three to outscoring by one, which is a swing of about 1.2 goals per 60 minutes.

Pushing a negative goal difference into positive territory is always a good thing, so it seems as though Frolik would be the natural pick to be bumped to the third line, with the option, one supposes of changing it back if things go sideways with one of the other lines.

But again, you’re talking about a roughly 11-point swing in expected and actual goal difference, and one wonders if the 3Ms scored as they did in 2016-17, if the Flames are even pressing this hard to sign two top-six forwards or trade Dougie Hamilton at all. I mean this is the difference between perceived and actual performance; if a baseball player hits it right at the center fielder or shortstop all season, it doesn’t matter how often he wasn’t striking out. People, even in baseball’s mostly smart front offices, aren’t gonna look deep enough to see his BABIP was x far below the league average if that x is a big enough number.

It seems to me the Flames perhaps went searching to solve a problem they didn’t have, but again, having talent on the roster is certainly preferable to not having it. I wouldn’t break up the 3M line with a gun to my head, but I at least see where the decision-making comes from here.

In fact, I even see the argument for moving Frolik, who’s a good, solid two-way forward, onto a line with Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski in hopes of making them both more productive and less likely to concede goals. But whether that actually works out depends a lot on Lindholm’s performance. Not that you’d move Backlund for Lindholm (right???).

I don’t think they really counted on Tkachuk to be as effective over two seasons as he has been, and Backlund’s big-money contract is directly attributable to that effectiveness. This is a unit that went from just okay and maybe a little underwhelming individually to incredible thanks mostly to what Tkachuk brings to the table.

There are, potentially, a number of creative and effective solutions here, and Lindholm being able to play both center and the right wing really improves the team’s flexibility. The club had to do something about the previously awful forward group and it has. One just hopes they have the good sense to stick with what works extremely well even if luck sometimes goes sideways.

Put another way, the Flames have undoubtedly gotten better up front. But they’ve got one hell of a gift horse in that 3M line and it really seems like Treliving is looking it straight in the mouth.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Happy Draft Day!, Ottawa, Lehner, Hornqvist, Trocheck – June 22

Happy Draft day!

For a lot of people, this is the culmination of months and sometimes years of work. They don’t just start following a player in his draft year, it starts years prior. It takes hundreds of hours of scouting, reading, reviewing game notes, creating spreadsheets and databases, and more. Congratulations to all those, specifically our writers and editors here at Dobber Prospects, on another year in the books.

We have Dobber Hockey’s own Cam Robinson and Peter Harling down in Texas for the Draft. You can follow their thoughts on Twitter through those links and there will be lots written at both Dobber Hockey and Dobber Prospects in the coming days. I will also be around on draft night discussing any relevant trades that go down. Don’t worry, fantasy hockey fans. We’ll have you covered. 

*

Just a few things to watch on draft day, outside of the actual draft picks:

Carolina may be busy dealing significant roster players

There is lots of talk about Montreal and Buffalo making some sort of substantial deal

Peter Chiarelli seems poised to trade his first rounder again.

There’s been chatter on both Wayne Simmonds and Artemi Panarin though just by my personal feeling the former seems much more likely than the latter.

Of course, Erik Karlsson seems to already have one foot out the door.

There are other minor deals to consider like Los Angeles looking for a scoring winger, the Rangers looking to gather more young pieces, and more. Keep it locked here on Dobber Hockey.

*

For those who missed it, I wrote on Barry Trotz being hired by the Islanders on Thursday. You can read these thoughts here.

*

Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion spoke to reporters on Thursday and said, among other things, that the team is likely to keep their draft pick this year. Remember, they owe Colorado their first pick either this year or next year as part of the Matt Duchene trade. If they hold this year’s pick, they have to give their first pick next draft to the Avalanche. If they keep stripping parts off, there’s a good chance they have a lot of lottery balls in 2019. Seems like a dangerous game to play, but then again, not much is making sense from Ottawa these days.

*

Bob McKenzie says that the Sabres do not appear to be re-signing Robin Lehner this summer which would make him an unrestricted free agent. Linus Ullmark is the heir apparent, but they will also be bringing someone in. What makes sense to me, and it’s just my own personal hunch, but Philipp Grubauer being available from Washington would make sense. He could get a chance to start with Ullmark as a safety net. Just thinking out loud here.

*

We here in the fantasy hockey community throw the term “peripheral” stats around a lot. I’ve written already this offseason – well, during the postseason mostly – about different peripheral stats targets. There was also a Ramblings on baseline production for goals, assists, and shots that should be read. I recommend reading the sections in both those Ramblings for more detail on figuring out the average production for fantasy-relevant players. They go through how targets have changed over the years and what we should be looking for from each position. To recap, the average targets in a 12-team league that rosters 13 total forwards and 6 total defencemen are:

Forwards: 50 blocks, 128 hits, 52 PIMs, 201 shots

Defencemen: 144 blocks, 151 hits, 54 PIMs, 173 shots

Just how hard is it for a forward to reach each of those marks? And remember: these are average marks for fantasy-relevant forwards in a 12-team league. These aren’t the top-end marks.

There were precisely two forwards who managed at least 50 blocked shots, 128 hits, 52 PIMs, and 201 shots.

  Patric Hornqvist – 247 shots, 58 PIMs, 137 hits, 64 blocked shots

It seems like fantasy owners have been waiting forever for Hornqvist to have one of *those* seasons. You know the type of season I mean. The type of season where everything breaks right and he just has monster fantasy production. Consider this: since the start of his first full year in 2009-10, Hornqvist has posted at least 220 shots in every 82-game campaign. And yet, despite eight straight seasons with 220+ shots on goal, he has one 30-goal campaign, and it was exactly 30 goals, and it was his first year of 2009-10. Since, he has seven straight seasons of 220+ shots and under 30 goals, the only player to do so, with Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler managing those marks in five out of seven seasons.

Part of that is health, of course. He had 29 goals in 2017-18 but missed 12 games. He had a 25-goal season in 2014-15 but missed 18 games. Anywhere close to full seasons in either of those and he probably breaks 30.

It’s not necessarily his production that he’s drafted for in roto leagues, however. Since donning the Pittsburgh uniform, he’s been a stats beast. Remember that he wasn’t a big contributor in the hits category back in Nashville. In fact, his four highest hit-total seasons are all with the Penguins. He had more hits in 2016-17 than he had in the three seasons from 2009-2012 combined.

The concerns are two-fold.

The first is health. He’s proven he can still put up very stout totals even with just 70 or so games played but a net-front, grinding type of player going into his age-32 season is a worry. Until we see the decline, though, I wouldn’t worry about him missing 8-10 games.

Second is the power play. When he missed time last year, Jake Guentzel was the one who stepped up. Now, it’s nothing to do with Hornqvist’s performance on the PP. He was exceptional. But if he misses 10 games again and Guentzel keeps firing PP tallies, does Hornqvist get his job back? It’s not something I’m overly worried with right now, just something to keep in mind.

As long as fantasy owners are fine with 70 games for Hornqvist, I don’t see much reason to expect a drop-off in performance. Draft him as you normally would.

  Vincent Trocheck – 287 shots on goal, 54 PIMs, 145 hits, 55 blocked shots

The evolution of Trocheck’s fantasy value is really something. He was a third-round pick in 2011 who spent four years in the OHL and parts of two seasons in the AHL. None of his numbers at any level screamed 30 goals and 70 points in the NHL. And yet, here we are in June of 2018 with Trocheck having reached both of those marks.

I remember a few years ago after his 50-game season that he split with the AHL some people in the Dobber forums glowing about his potential real-time stat value. I did not see it and boy was I wrong. He now has three straight seasons of at least 125 hits, 40 blocked shots, and 40 PIMs. Those numbers will play in multi-cat leagues.

It’s the shots that are really something to behold. He’s nearly doubled his shots per game from 2014-15 (1.78) to 2017-18 (3.50). His TOI per game going up 50 percent is certainly a part of that but he’s increased his shots/60 at five-on-five every season as well. It’s just been a natural progression of a player who was unheralded just getting better and better every year.

If I have one concern it’s the TOI. I would assume that the coaching staff prefer not to have to play their top two centres 22 minutes a night. The addition of Mike Hoffman could allow them to lengthen the lineup as Jared McCann turns into a viable third-line centre. Trocheck should still be a big minutes guy, but maybe it’s 20 a night instead of 21:30? It would hurt his numbers across the board, but not enough to avoid him.

Even if the production falls off a bit to, say, 25 goals and 40 assists, there is more than enough production in other categories for Trocheck to remain one of the elite forwards in multi-cat leagues.

  Conversely, just how hard is it for a defenceman to reach each of the marks outlined above? There was exactly one defenceman to manage each of those targets.

  Darnell Nurse – 194 shots on goal, 67 PIMs, 161 hits, 153 blocked shots

It took a couple years and some development for Nurse to get there, but man did he have a very good season. Not only by our fantasy measurements, but look how well he performed in the sample below (about a third of the season) compared to another Alberta defenceman considered to be among the top puck-movers in the NHL in terms of zone entries, exits, and other metrics (viz from CJ Turtoro):

Just as an aside, it makes me wonder if the Oilers know what they have in their defencemen. Nurse was excellent this year. Oscar Klefbom had a down year but he played hurt all season and generally grades out every well. Adam Larsson will forever be linked to Taylor Hall but he’s fine as a second-pair guy. Andrej Sekera just needs to stay healthy. Go get some good third-pair guys and see what they can do. And yet they are looking to trade a top-10 pick for another defenceman. Curious indeed.

Aside from all that, I have no worries about Nurse being able to replicate what he did this year. His underlying metrics are too strong for him to fall off the map. The concern would be progression because they seem determined not to hand over the team to he and Klefbom. In that sense, I don’t think we see a point production explosion from Nurse anytime soon. Can he be a 30-point guy? Sure. 40 points? Not so sure.

With his peripheral production, though, it doesn’t matter. As long as he stays physical and keeps doing what he did by his metrics in 2017-18, he’ll be just fine in multi-cat leagues. I will never help but wonder what he could do if he actually got the chance to run a power-play unit though. They should at least see if he can handle it before parting with more valuable assets.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-happy-draft-day-ottawa-lehner-hornqvist-trocheck-june-22/

[spy-in-the-house]

DERRICK THOMPSON Take the D[rive]-Train

THE PHANTOM OF THE CLUB-SCENE IS STILL ALIVE! BUT HIS EXISTENCE IS NOT AN EASY ONE!! AND HIS CASE IS CERTAINLY NOT ONE-OFF!!! PRECISELY THOSE WHO HAIL FROM DETROIT AND HAPPEN TO BE TECHNO-ARTISTS, DO NOT HAVE AN EASY LIFE. IN MATTERS OF LISTENING HABITS, FOR MANY YEARS NOW PLAYERS SUCH AS JUAN ATKINS, KEVIN SAUNDERSON UND DERRICK MAY COULD NOT HAVE SERVED THE SCENE BETTER.  BUT THE INTEREST OF THE MEDIA HAS FOR SOME TIME NOW BEEN FOCUSED ON THE "USUAL SUSPECTS" SUCH AS JEFF MILLS, THOSE MENTIONED IN PASSING NOW AND THEN RANGE FROM ROBERT "DR. KIMBLE" HOOD AND CARL CRAIG TO THEO PARRISH OR OMAR-S. THE POSSESSION OF A GLORIOUS TRADITION OF HOUSE AND TECHNO MAY BE FOR SOMEONE LIKE DERRICK THOMPSON AT THE SAME TIME A BLESSING AND A CURSE. DAS PHANTOM DER CLUB-SZENE LEBT! DOCH SEIN LEBEN IST KEIN LEICHTES!! UND SEIN FALL IST MIT SICHERHEIT KEIN EINZELFALL!!! GERADE, WENN MAN AUS DETROIT KOMMT UND TECHNO-ARTIST ST, HAT MAN ES NICHT LEICHT DAMIT. DER BODEN IST ZWAR IN PUNCTO HÖHRGEWOHNHEITEN SCHON SEIT JAHREN DURCH PROTAGONISTEN WIE JUAN ATKINS, KEVIN SAUNDERSON UND DERRICK MAY U.A. ZUR GENÜGE BESTELLT WORDEN. DOCH DAS MEDIALE INTERESSE SCHEINT SICH AUCH HEUTE NOCH MEIST NUR AUF DIE ÜBLICHEN VERDÄCHTIGEN VON JEFF MILLS ANGEFANGEN, MIT ZWISCHENSPIEL VON ROBERT `DR. KIMBLE´HOOD, ÜBER CARL CRAIG, BIS ZU THEO PARRISH UND OMAR S. ZU RICHTEN. EINE GLORREICHE HOUSE- UND TECHNO HISTORIE ZU HABEN, KANN DA ALSO AUCH FÜR JEMANDEN WIE DERRICK THOMPSON SEGEN UND FLUCH ZUGLEICH SEIN.

engl. text: Thompson excels not only with relevant instruments but also has developed considerable talents with buttons and controls; as a result in the long-term the danger of being overshadowed and even eclipsed does not constitute a significant problem for a genuine artist of his calibre. And definitely not for somebody who defines House and Techno in such a way that he is not frightened of coming into contact with any kind of music at all. Within the resulting unlimited framework, abundance and richness of culture means here to be able firstly in one's programming inner eye to recall the entire Detroit automobile and music history going back even to the heydays of Motown; secondly let it whiz and whoosh past without allowing the resulting musical fare to be in denial of one's own electronic roots. german text: Aber auf Dauer sollte dies für einen Künstler, der sowohl mit entsprechenden Instrumenten wie mit erheblichen Knob-Skillz ausgestattet ist, kein besonderes Problem sein. Erst recht nicht, wenn man für sich einen eigenen House- wie auch Technobegriff definiert hat, der keinerlei Berührungsängste zu kennen scheint. Opulenz innerhalb der Konsequenz bedeutet hier vor dem geistigen Programmier-Auge die gesamte Detroiter Motoren und Musik-Historie von Motown-Zeiten an sich vorbeizischen zu lassen, aber als Endergebnis nie seine elektronischen Wurzeln zu verleugnen. 

... only a one man band!

"Just as Sly Stone sang so very finely in the flowery 1960s: `Don´t call me nigger, Whitey! Don´t call me whitey, Nigger!´ First of all colour mean nothing to me in the Music Biz in every respect." As a result of coming from Detroit only music is important for D-Boy Thompson which means mostly Soul, Funk, Jazz and Rock in contrast to "Shit happens!" i.e. soulless tracks that really do not have or deserve a single soulmate on the Earth. Some of the tracks which both swing and massage the soul are those promised for release this Autumn such as, "Feel This Deep / Tam-Tam" (in cooperation with the legendary Detroit percussionist Jerry The Cat, Soiree 141 US 12"), "One Wish Wonder" (CD / 12", Soul Star Ital 12"),  the current album, "The Deepest Harmony Of Drivetrain" (Soiree CD 141), as well as the re-release of his pseudonym's Lockstep's "Heatsync Prt. 1 & 2 / I Am" (Psycho Thrill ltd ed. 2108 D 12"). Minimal Nation remains here a command to party which has to be taken seriously! So these Techno tracks provide pumping rhythms or on the other hand a finely oscillating Electro number whose modulations are always accurately dosed while at the same time breathing sufficient soul between the beats. Or significantly deep but still soulful House tracks à la classical Detroit School somewhere between but also beyond Theo Parrish, Scott Grooves and Mike Grant, with whom Thompson is also connected on the basis of output produced for MoodsAndGrooves. And that even in the year 2017 in the Detroit Machine Park, the distance to Smokey Robinson (and The Miracles') classic "Love Machine" is not all too far does not have to be underlined. With these pulsating rhythms not only dancing bodies start to move wherever they are, but the computer modules in people's own recording studios can learn something important. "Wie sang Sly Stone doch so schön in den blumigen 60-ern: `Don´t call me nigger, Whitey! Don´t call me whitey, Nigger!´ Farben zählen für mich im Musikbizz in jeder Hinsicht erst mal gar nichts!" Für Mister 'D Thompson gibt es daher auch nur gute Musik, die zumeist aus Soul, Funk, Jazz und Rock gespeist wird oder eben, "shit happens": Seeelenlose Tracks, die wirklich kein Erdenbruder braucht. Zeitlose, Tanzflur rockende wie auch die Seele massierende Beweise dafür liefern seine konstant nachgefragten Produktionen "Feel This Deep / Tam-Tam" [Kooperation mit der Detroiter Percussionisten Legende Jerry The Cat, Soiree 141 US 12"], "One Wish Wonder" [CD / 12", SoulStar Ital 12"], sein Album "The Deepest Harmony Of Drivetrain" [Soiree CD 141], sowie der Repress seines Lockstep AlterEgos "Heatsync Prt. 1 & 2 / I Am" [Psycho Thrill ltd ed. 2108 D 12"]: Minimal Nation bleibt hier ein ernstzunehmendes Partykommando! Energetisch treibende Technotracks also oder aber auch eine fein oszillierende Electro-Nummer, die immer wohldosiert moduliert ist, zwischen den Beats aber auch genug Seele atmet. Oder signifikant deepe, soulige Housetracks klassischer Detroiter Schule, irgendwo neben aber auch vorbei an Theo Parrish, Scott Grooves, Mike Grant und Patrice Scott, mit denen Thompson zusätzlich so manche Zusammenarbeit verbindet. Und dass im Detroiter Maschinenpark auch noch im Jahre 2017 der Weg zu Smokey Robinsons [and The Miracles] "Lovemachine" nie allzu weit ist, muss wohl nicht extra betont werden. Bei diesen pulsierenden Rhythmen kommen nicht nur tanzende Körper wo auch immer in Bewegung, sondern sind auch die Computer-Module im heimischen Tonstudio mit gutem Beispiel vorangegangen.

DRIVETRAIN, is the pseudonym most often used by Derrick Thompson, in whose veins the blood of First Nation ethnicity [means here the Chippewa tribe > The term "First Nation" is most commonly used now instead of Native American Indian  ] flows  just as do that of black and white ancestors [ for the Chippewas see also “Native Americans” ] ; he is without a doubt good enough to step out of the shadow of other Detroit heroes. Because it seems that since his childhood he has been involved in a marriage with everything associated with music. His family often celebrated parties, and as a young boy he would listen to his uncle Tom singing and playing the guitar. Nowadays looking back at those festivities, he sees them as sparking his lifelong love affair with a world of sounds and tones that has neither ceased to fascinate him nor loosened its grip on him. Consequently his music career had already formally begun at the tender age of eight years at the point when Derrick commenced his first lesson in playing drums. He was enthused by the fact that he could make music simply by beating on various percussion instruments without continually having to put up with what the teacher wanted to load him; Derrick began his quest to strive for more [ "The road of excess leads to the place of wisdom" William Blake ]. At the age of 13, he was at last given his first bass guitar. He spent countless hours, days and nights trying to perfect his guitar-playing; in the spirit of the Electrifying Mojo he wanted to get closer and closer to his guitar idols from the seemingly inexhaustible soul, funk, disco and jazz catalogue: Stanley Clarke, Louis Johnson, Ronnie Laws, Jimmy Smith, George Duke, Gino Soccio, Cerrone und Marcus Miller. When he was 16 he took the next step and joined a jazz band as bass player. After two further years, the time seemed right to move onto another instrument: he bought himself a Stratocaster guitar. And a short time later, he found himself on the stage as a member of various local rock bands. At the same time, the so-called Belleville Three Atkins, Saunderson and May were defining Detroit Techno for the first time, and Thompson was discovering - with ever-increasing gusto - the option Electronic music. DRIVETRAIN, so das der Szene geläufigste Alias von Derrick Thompson, in dessen Adern das Blut indianischer Vorfahren vom Stamme der Chippewa ebenso wie das von schwarzen und weißen fließt, ist schließlich gut genug, um aus dem Schatten anderer D-Helden heraus zu steppen. Denn anscheinend hatte er schon seit seiner Kindheit eine Ehe, mit allem was mit Musik zusammenhing, geschlossen. Als er bei einer Familienfeier als kleiner Junge seinen Onkel singen und Gitarre spielen hörte, verliebte er sich Kraft heutiger Aussage sofort in diese ihn bis heute faszinierende Welt aus Sounds und Klängen und ist bis dato wohl auch nicht wieder davon losgekommen. Seine Musikerkarriere begann so schon folgerichtig im eher zarten Alter von 8 Jahren, als Derrick in der Grundschule Schlagzeugunterricht erhielt. Begeistert von der Tatsache, dass er durch Schläge auf diverse Drum-Instrumente auf einmal in der Lage war Musik zu erzeugen, ohne ständig vom Lehrer belästigt zu werden, war für ihn Wert genug auf Dauer nach einem direkten Mehr davon zu streben. Mit 13 Jahren bekam er endlich seine erste Bass-Gitarre geschenkt. Unzählige Stunden, Tage und Nächte verbrachte er schließlich damit, sein Gitarrenspiel zu vervollkommnen und sich der Profession seiner größten Vorbilder aus dem schier unerschöpflichen Soul-Funk-Disco&Jazz-Katalog, ganz im Geiste eines Electrifying Mojo, nach und nach immer mehr anzunähern: Stanley Clarke, Louis Johnson, Ronnie Laws, Jimmy Smith, George Duke, Gino Soccio, Cerrone und Marcus Miller. Als er 16 Jahre alt war, begann er schließlich in einer örtlichen Jazz Band Bass zu spielen. Nach zwei weiteren Jahren war es für ihn dann an der Zeit, auf ein anderes Instrument umzusteigen und so kaufte er sich eine Stratocaster-Gitarre. Und kurze Zeit später, 1986, fand er sich dadurch bedingt selbst auf der Bühne diverser lokaler Rock Bands wieder. Zeitgleich aber definierten die sog. „Belleville Three“ Atkins, Anderson und May erstmalig auch das Detroit Techno-Thema und Thompson begann in diesem Zusammenhang immer mehr Interesse an den Optionen elektronischer Musik zu entwickeln ...

Freak of the week: young, gifted and independent!

Not only Submerge and Mike Banks but also 7th City and Dan Bell were deaf to Derrick´s conception - which he had by then developed - of not subordinating himself to other labels´ configurations and managements, and at the most working towards some form of  cooperation. Nevertheless he did not allow himself to be deflected from his vision which entailed for him not becoming involved in long-winded debates about this or that musical direction. At the end of the 1980s, he spontaneously purchased electronic music equipment of his own consisting of synthesizers, samplers and studio recording hardware; shortly afterwards he added turntables plus the inevitable mixer, and began working in Detroit as a DJ with ever-increasing  success. Around this time he favoured hanging out in SUBMERGE Store, RECORD TIME and MEMORIES & MELODIES, and matters began to develop a momentum and dynamism of their own: parallel to his training as a computer programmer and various support-jobs as a truck-driver, Thompson set up his own record label, Soiree Records in 1992. At first he could only establish himself in narrow niches which his more established colleagues left over for others. At first the tracks from Soiree could only vaguely be defined as House or Techno, but after his tenth offering in this imprint the focus was ever more clearly on Deepness and Disco Roots in a House context. Mit seiner Vorstellung allerdings, sich in puncto Label-Konfiguration und Management nicht anderen Labels unterordnen zu müssen und lediglich auf Kooperationen hinzuarbeiten, stieß er anfänglich sowohl bei Submerge und Mike Banks wie auch bei 7th City und Dan Bell auf taube Ohren. Dennoch ließ er sich nicht von seiner Linie abbringen, die für ihn gleichfalls bedeutete, nicht immer mit anderen Musikern langatmige Debatten über Musikrichtung, Stil oder andere Belange führen zu müssen. So kaufte er sich Ende der 80er kurzentschlossen sein eigenes elektronisches Musik-Equipment aus Synthesizern, Samplern und Studio-Recording-Hardware. Außerdem erwarb er sich sein erstes Paar Turntables und den dazugehörigen Mixer und begann als DJ auf diversen Parties in Detroit immer erfolgreicher aufzulegen. Der SUBMERGE Store, RECORD TIME und MEMORIES & MELODIES gehörten nun zu seinen häufig frequentierten Aufenthaltsorten und fast von selbst begannen die Dinge eine Eigendynamik zu entwickeln: Neben einer Ausbildung zum Computer-Programmierer und diversen Support-Jobs als LKW-Fahrer etablierte Thompson seit 1992 sein eigenes Label Soiree Records Int. immer mehr in der eingangs engen Nische, die ihm die etablierten Kollegen noch ließen. Waren die Tracks von Soiree anfänglich erst schwer eindeutig im Sinne von House oder Techno zu definieren, erfolgte ab der zehnten Veröffentlichung die Fokussierung dieses Imprints vorwiegend auf Deepness und Disco-Roots im House-Kontext.

In the following years Thompson widened his own horizons through diverse pressings on European labels such as Plink Plonk, Basic Beat, The End, Contraband, Slip-N-Slide, Psycho Thrill, Authentic Music or Ausfahrt. At the same time the demand for his productions grew, and pressure built up to invite the sympathetic and modest Detroiter, Mr Soiree Records, to work as a DJ; due to his abilities in maintaining both House and Techno vibes at a high level on the turntables, he was soon staring at gigs al over Europe. While the demand for tracks of this sort sank rapidly in the USA after 1995, in Europe it grew, and so he continued to be directly confronted by Techno World. He decided henceforth likewise to concentrate on his other preference in electronic music that is for harder and more abstract beats. As a result in 1997 X-PLor Music was for the first time launched on the market as a purely Techno label, and opened up for the ever-growing community of fans in Europe and elsewhere a surprisingly large potential within the context for refreshingly varying styles - but always pumping  techno tracks. In den folgenden Jahren erweitete Thompson schließlich seinen Horizont durch diverse Veröffentlichungen auf europäischen Labels wie Plink Plonk, Basic Beat, The End, Contraband, Slip-N-Slide, Psycho Thrill, Authentic Music oder Ausfahrt. Gleichzeitig setzte eine verstärkte Nachfrage ein, Mr. Soiree Records auch als DJ nach Europa zu holen, was dem sympathisch bescheidenen Detroiter, der im übrigen Techno wie House auf hohem Niveau zu drehen versteht, seitdem immer wieder etliche Gigs 'all over europe' bescherte. Hier wurde er auch wieder, während die Nachfrage nach Tracks dieser Sorte in den USA seit '95 rapide sank, wesentlich stärker erneut mit Techno World konfrontiert. Er beschloss sich fortan ebenfalls mit Schwerpunkt auf seine andere elektronische Musikvorliebe für härtere, abstraktere Beats zu konzentrieren. So wurde 1997 X-Plor Music erstmalig als reines Techno Imprint plaziert und offenbart der mittlerweile immer größer werdenden Drivetrain-Fan-Gemeinde nicht nur in Europa ein überraschend großes Potential an im Kontext erfrischend Stil variablen wie druckvollen Techno-Tracks.

a tricky market [with a tail] …

A lesser talent than Derrick might rest on the laurels of having established two internationally successful labels - in the meantime distributed worldwide - under his belt. But his discography is marked by an ever more impressive cooperation with renowned producers such as  Jerry The Cat, St. Andy, Ellery Cowles - to name but a few. And his own work includes also the release of a remarkable D-N-B track he produced himself on Jon Layne´s Intuit Solar “Comin From Tha´D´” vinyl inventory ; the 36-years-old Thompson can without any whiff of pretension include his mastery jazz, soul and bass within his cosmopolitan world view. It is only logical then that he should draw once again on his traditional training as musician and in a clearly recognisable contrast to some of the soul-less laptop activists; he plays numerous instruments for many of his own House productions and that live before his recordings are fed into the mixer. "It's a very tricky market. I have no desire to get involved in this battle of between `selling out´ and `authenticity´. Nor I don´t want to bang people's ears with "somewhere in between" with some 4-2-da floor-beats which lack any identity of their own, and could be interchanged without anyone noticing. The message from Soiree [Distr. DNP, Berlin] and X-Plor [Distr. Submerge, Detroit] is more subtle. I genuinely believe that a large number of DJs and collectors are smart enough to decipher this message. Personally I like that music in particular which I listen to, then lay apart to one side, and from which when I play it again two weeks later - even in a club - invariable hear yet a fully new aspect.” Heute, mit der Etablierung zweier erfolgreicher und mittlerweile weltweit vertriebener Labels im Rücken, die sich derzeit durch eine immer breitere Besetzung mit renommierten Produzenten wie Jerry The Cat, St. Andy, Ellery Cowles, Rennie `Dubnut´ Foster - um nur einige zu nennen - auszeichnen und u.a. der VÖ eines eigenen, bemerkenswerten D-N-B-Track auf Jon Laynes zurückliegender Detroit-Bestandsaufnahme "Comin' From tha D", kann sich der End-Vierziger Thompson ohne Umschweife zu seinem musikalischen Referenzrahmen aus Jazz, Soul und Bass im Sinne einer kosmopolitischen Weltanschauung ganz und gar frei bekennen. Da kommt es fast schon folgerichtig, dass er seiner traditionellen Ausbildung entsprechend, und in klar erkennbarem Gegensatz zu manch einem seelenlosen Laptop-Aktivisten, sämtliche Instrumente für viele seiner eigenen House-Produktionen erst einmal live einspielt, bevor deren Spuren dann durch den Mixer gehen. "It's a very tricky market. Ich habe allerdings keinen Bock auf diesen Kampf zwischen Ausverkauf und Authentizität. Ich will den Leuten nicht `Irgendwo Dazwischen´ irgendwelche austauschbaren 4-2-da-floor-beats um die Ohren knallen. Die Message von Soiree [Distr. Submerge, Detroit / DNP, Berlin] und X-Plor [Dist. Submerge, Detroit] ist subtiler. Ich glaube, dass viele DeeJays und Sammler intelligent genug sind, diese Botschaft zu entschlüsseln. Ich persönlich mag eben besonders Musik, die ich mir anhöre, dann beiseite lege, und aus der ich, wenn ich sie zwei Wochen später wieder auflege, selbst im Club noch immer einen ganz neuen Aspekt herauszuhören vermag." SITH_bookmarks + alltime top 20

d2000mag Text & Interview: Claus Bachor  ll  Translation: Timothy J.Gluckman pics by Marie Staggat, Claus Bachor and Psycho Thrill CGN