#relationship: brody stevens

[realmackross]

Time: August 13th, 2024 Content Warnings: None!

"Don't you, forget about me. Don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't you, forget about me." - Simple Minds

The feelings that Mackenzie held in her heart were mixed. Though the departure from Wicked’s Rest wouldn’t be permanent, as far as she was currently concerned, the idea of leaving a place that had oddly and painfully become her home over the past year was still hard to wrap her head around. But it hadn’t been a decision she had taken lightly. It was one of self-preservation, because if she didn’t do it, she was sure this town was going to claim another life, even if she was a member of the undead.

But what had been impossible before, when she left no trace and just disappeared, had seemed even harder now that she was doing it the right way. Alerting those she loved that she was leaving. That she was off to temporarily start a new life for herself. At least for as long as this new movie was shooting and the press tour was going. Of course there was still the murder of Brody Stevens lingering, even while he sat right next to her reassuring her that this was for the best. It was still a problem she wasn’t sure how to come to terms with – turn herself in or pray that she would be acquitted if the truth ever came out that she was the one to kill him. She certainly still looked guilty and though the love of her life had reassured her that even he knew it wasn’t intentional, Mackenzie still struggled.

“Hey, Kenz. Your flight leaves soon. Are you ready? Are we doing this? I don’t think Jack can stand this cat-carrier much longer, and we’ve got a long flight ahead.” Taylor held Jack’s carrier in her hands as she looked towards the zombie.

“Yeah, I just…You got enough brains for the flight right? I don’t want to do this if there’s any risk of a plane going down over the Pacific because of a zombie…” It sounded absurd, but if it had been one thing Mackenzie had learned in her time in Wicked’s Rest was that preparation was key, especially when it came to literal life and death.

“Yes, and I’ve already found a supplier in Australia, which means there’s more people out there like you. Outside of Wicked’s Rest. You’re not going to be alone…” She sent a soft, reassuring smile in her friend’s direction, “I’ll be out in the car.”

Nodding softly, Mackenzie turned back around to face the quiet house releasing a heavy sigh. As she looked around, she let her eyes take in all the good memories and even the bad memories with the friends she had made since her arrival. The sleepover and falling off over the upstairs bannister. The time spent with Alex talking about life and watching movies. The zombie movie marathon with Milo. And even the night of drinking with Chai that led to one of the worst mistakes of her life. More recently the relationship with Elora that allowed her a chance to see that love was possible again. And the birthday party of two with Winter, even after the strain on their friendship. She thought about all the nights spent alone watching tv late into the night and all the As Seen On TV stuff that had been dropped off in a box at a local shelter, along with some clothes and a donation check hoping it would do some good, despite all the harm that had seemed to come from her existence.

“This is a good thing, Babe. And I’ll be with you as long as I’m allowed.”

His voice was a reminder of a life when everything felt right. Felt good. And she closed her eyes taking in every word Brody whispered in her ear. God, how she wanted to hold him and kiss him again. But just having him in her presence was more than enough for what she was about to do, “You’re right. I’m just scared.”

Turning around to face him, she refrained from letting her hand run across his face knowing the outcome, “I know I need this. I just don’t want to hurt anybody.”

“You’ve got this. And Winter, she was right. Forgive yourself, Mackenzie Elizabeth Ross. There’s plenty of other times in life to feel guilty. If I can forgive you and still love you, then you can forgive you.” He shot his trademark smirk in her direction as she let her eyes scan over the house one last time.

“Okay, let’s do this. Let’s go make a movie in Australia.”

As the car pulled out of the driveway, Mackenzie thought back on all the people she was leaving. Winter. Monty and Kaden. Cass. Charlie. She thought of Sellama praying she was safe. She thought of Elora, Alex, Milo, Marcus and all the other friends who had come and gone hoping they were happy. She thought of Caleb, who she hadn’t seen, but had even wished him the best, hearing through town gossip that he had been freed of the demon that plagued him. And Jade? Well Jade was just Jade.

Wicked’s Rest had felt like a lifetime, despite it only being a year of her life. But she knew she’d keep the lessons she had learned close to her heart as she went onto bigger and better things. Knowing that even if the time there was brief, it had still made quite the impact.

“Hey, Mackenzie! Look!”

Blinking through the tears in her eyes to clear her vision, she quickly looked out the other side of the window of the car she was in to see Sellama pronking happily through the grass, “She’s alive? She’s alive!!!” Mackenzie rolled down the window and leaned forward screaming out the window, “SELLAMA! I LOVE YOU, GIRL! BE SAFE MY SWEET GIRL! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!”

At that moment, her decision had felt right. She was as free as Sellama was, pronking happily through the fields of Wicked’s Rest, and without second thought, Mack stuck her head out the window and screamed something of relief as the salt laced wind blew through her wavy blond hair. With Brody, Taylor, and even Jack at her side, Mackenzie felt safe. She'd be back eventually, but not until it felt right in her heart.

And as she boarded the plane to Australia knowing that she had people in her corner in all parts of the world, everything felt okay. It felt right. It felt whole.

[hettiesworld]

Name of fic: Sacrifice

Pairing: Mike McLusky x OMC (Jacob)

Plot summary: Jacob Stevens used to work for Milo Sunter and was known as the Winter Soldier. When Mike finds him on a farm to help him capture Milo. When he agrees to it, he finds Iris who he used to guard her when she was working. Throughout this stressful situation, Jacob develops feelings for Mike. What will happen when Milo meets Jacob again?

Faceclaim for Jacob: Pedro Pascal

Word count: 4.5k 

Warnings: Strong language, sexual content, smut, potential spoilers for Mayor of Kingstown season 2, trigger warnings for just about everything…

Author’s note: The title of this fic is inspired by the song Sacrifice by The Weeknd. I just watched the first 2 episodes and they are SO good! Can’t wait for the rest of them. I feel like Mike is at least bisexual and his relationship with Iris is NOT going to turn out romantic at all. Mike and Evelyn however? They will do. Anyways I had Mike get with a male OC, so I hope you will enjoy this fic!

Kingstown was a small town, but with a high crime rate. Everybody wanted to get out, but had a hard time doing that. Was it because they were scared?

That’s what Jacob thought.

He was currently on the outskirts of Kingstown, where he was on a farm. He loved horseback riding, so whenever he had the chance, he would escape the town and do what he loved. Even though, drawing and painting was also what he loved, it was his job. 

And he needed to escape that too.

He was putting away his favourite horse, Buttercup –which is what he called it– until he heard the sound of a car pulling up on the muddy path. He didn’t recognise the model of the car or the number plate on it either.

“What the-?” He mumbled to himself as he closed the stable door behind him.

His dark brown eyes stared at the guy, who was getting out of the drivers seat. The man was wearing a navy-coloured suit with dark sunglasses. He had dark brown hair that was quite short. Jacob didn’t see the colour of his eyes.

“Can I help you?” He called out to the man as he slowly walked over to him.

“Yes… are you Jacob Stevens?” The man replied.

“Perhaps. Who’s asking?”

The person then took off his sunglasses and put them in his pocket.

His eyes were grey, he just realised.

“The name’s Mike McLusky. I help keep the peace in this town.” The guy – who he now knew was named Mike – said to him, putting his hands in his pockets.  “I heard you used to work with Milo Sunter?”

“Yeah… what is it to you?” He muttered.

Mike sighed as he put his hands in his trouser pockets.

“Look. There is chaos inside and outside of the prison. Of course I don’t blame the gangs for what is happening-” Mike started to explain.

Jacob raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay that’s false, but I do need your help.” Mike finished his explanation.

“If it’s to do with Milo, count me out. I’m not dealing with that fuckin’ bastard.” Jacob exhaled. Milo was a dick, he would say to himself every single day of working with him. It felt like he was working for him and not working with him.

“I know about your father, Brody. He’s currently in the male prison at the moment-” Jacob interrupted him.

“-not for much longer if the guards decide to torture everyone in there for fuck all.”

Mike hesitated his words as he looked at his surroundings, licking his lips. Jacob’s eyes following the movement of Mike’s tongue. He was proudly gay, even though when he was younger, his father hated him revealing his sexuality. He would always say to his son, 

“You are never going to live in this town, with people thinking that you are gay. Bad people are going to attack you, physically, emotionally and mentally! You. Are. Going. To. Die. Here.” 

But now that he had grown up, he didn’t really care what everyone was thinking about him. He had the right skills, as an ex-assassin, to handle anyone that gets in his way. And was this Mike guy making him fall in love with him?

He wasn’t sure yet.

“Okay, fuck. Look, I’ll cut you a deal.” Mike sighed.

“What deal?” Jacob crossed his arms as he looked at him.

“I’ll get the guards to stop all this shit. I have this plan in my head involving the leaders. That way I can protect your father in prison. In exchange, you can help me with Milo.” Mike explained.

All that Jacob could do was laugh. He shook his head as he noticed Mike raising his eyebrows at him.

“You really think I give a shit about my father after everything he has done to my life?” Jacob retorted, gesturing with his hands. He then took a flask out of his jacket pocket and twisting the lid off of it, sipping it. Inside of the flask was whiskey.

It was his guilty alcoholic drink. It was only 12 in the afternoon so he was technically allowed to drink.

“He was a disgrace of a father. I don’t care if he fucking gets murdered in that shithole.”

“What was he in for exactly?” Mike asked him.

Jacob chuckled silently. It was ironic how and why his father was in prison.

“You won’t believe it…” He smirked to himself.

“Try me.”

“...sexual assault of a minor. And the minor was a 13 year old boy.”

Jacob saw Mike’s eyes open wide as he exhaled with the information that Jacob just gave him. 

“Shit. Wow.” Is all that Mike could say as he licked his lips again. Jacob’s eyes was again following the movement of Mike’s tongue yet again. He couldn’t help it. “Is there… anything else I can do then?” Mike asked him.

Jacob hesitated for a moment.

If Mike’s idea was to put Milo away for good, maybe he could help him. All Jacob saw was Mike sighing and walking away. This was the only opportunity to take revenge on the second man who ruined his life.

“Wait!” He called out to Mike. He then saw Mike turn back around and just stand in his new spot.

“What?” Mike replied, sighing.

“I’ll help you, okay?” 

Mike just chuckled and shook his head. “Okay then.” He then walked back towards Jacob and took out a business card. His assistant probably made them to gain more customers. Mike exhaled quickly as Jacob just stared at him.

“My… business card. So you know where my office is.” Mike cleared his throat.

“Mh-hm.” Jacob hummed as he took the card out of Mike’s left hand. “Got it.”

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Jacob arrived at Mike’s new office on his motorbike. He put it on standby as he stopped the engine and climbed off of the vehicle. He then walked through the front door and his eyes were on the woman behind a desk. She had black hair and unmistakably round eyes.

“Hi? Are you here for an appointment with Mike?” She asked him.

Jacob exhaled, putting his hands on his hips.

“Uh– I don’t really have an appointment with him…” Jacob was about to explain until Mike came out of his office.

“Rebecca, it’s fine. He’s helping me with the Milo situation.” Mike acknowledged, nodding at Jacob.

“Uh, okay that’s fine. Well Mike, you’re done for the day.” Rebecca said to him.

Mike just nodded.

“Don’t worry, I’ll lock up the office when I’m done.” Mike reassured her. “Go. I’ll take care of this okay?”

Rebecca just nodded as she gathered up her things and headed for the door. That left Mike and Jacob alone in the waiting room. Jacob then watched as Mike wandered to his office and he couldn’t stop staring at his ass as Mike walked away.

He had to admit that Mike did have a great ass.

Jacob eventually got out of his daydream and slowly followed Mike to his office. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he then saw the very woman he was not expecting to see.

“Iris? What the fuck are you doing here?” Jacob exclaimed.

Iris’s eyes widen as she got up from Mike’s sofa and stood there, frozen as hell. She couldn’t believe who was in the same room as her.

“Jacob?” Is all that she could say.

Mike was standing on the other side of the office, confused as to the situation that was happening in front of him.

“How do you know each other?” Mike asked the both of them.

“Milo.” Both Iris and Jacob said together; Iris in her Southern accent and Jacob in his Spanish accent.

Mike sighed. “Of course it’s Milo.” 

“How-how have you been?” Jacob asked Iris.

“I should ask you the same thing.” Iris retorted. “How have you escaped him?” She asked him.

“I haven’t. He still thinks I’m with that Joseph bastard and protecting you. But of course, what he doesn’t know, is that I haven’t seen you since you went to New York.” He said to Iris.

Iris just nodded.

“You were her… bodyguard?” Mike asked Jacob.

“I guess you can say that.” He shrugged.

Mike went over to the coffee jug and poured himself a cup of coffee. He then sipped it and went over to his desk, sitting at it.

“Okay then. Iris, I would suggest going somewhere safe. Me and Jacob will handle this. I have a plan.” He would say, but of course Iris would defend herself.

“I don’t need protection Mike. Don’t take me to Witness Protection again!” Iris said to Mike.

“Iris… you remember my brother Jonathan?” Jacob would chime into the ‘argument’ as he saw Mike sigh, putting his head in his hands.

“Hmm… yeah I do. Why?”

“If you want, you can go visit him. Milo doesn’t know him, I’m assuming Mike took the tracker out of you, right?” Jacob asked her, to which Iris nodded.

Mike’s head perked up from his hands, quite interested in Iris and Jacob’s conversation.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother-”

“Iris. Milo is a dickhead, you know that. You will be safe with Jonathan, okay? And don’t get any ideas of escaping.” Jacob told her.

“...okay.” Iris mumbled under her breath.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

After Jacob sent Iris to his brother’s Jonathan’s house, which was on the outskirts of Kingstown, Jacob and Mike were standing nearby Mike’s car and Jacob’s motorbike. They were both parked in the car park, just outside of Mike’s office.

“So what should we do first?” Jacob asked him.

“Well, I gotta go and see Bunny and tell him the plan.” Mike said to Jacob.

“Bunny? You mean the leader of the Crips? What is your idea exactly?” Jacob crossed his arms and leaned against his motorbike, his helmet on the handlebars.

“I’m putting every single gang leader in the Kingstown prison. The chaos outside the place is influenced by the chaos inside of the place. They need to regroup and pick new leaders.” 

“Are you fucking insane? What the hell are you trying to do here? What if they all get killed in there?” Jacob shouted at him.

“Do you have a better idea?” Mike retorted.

Jacob sighed as he put his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

“I guess not, but-”

“Okay good. It’s getting late. We should… stay in the same place tonight so we can talk about how we’re going to do this in the morning.” Mike suggested. “If you keep your motorbike here, you can carpool with me to Bunny’s place and then to the cabin.”

“Are you sure it’s safe here?” Jacob said.

“Yeah don’t worry.”

Jacob just nodded as he walked up to Mike’s car. They both jumped into his car; Jacob in the front passenger seat and Mike in the drivers seat, and they both drove to Bunny’s new territory.

They both got out of the car and they walked toward the abandoned dry cleaners. Mike then knocked on the garage door and one of Bunny’s gang members let them both through, much to Mike’s surprise.

They got up to the rooftop and saw Bunny sitting on the edge of the balanced roof.

“Bunny.” Mike called out to him. The guy got up and nodded at Mike. He then saw Jacob and was surprised at seeing him. He hasn’t seen him since he asked Jacob for a self-portrait of himself.

“Mike. Jacob.” Bunny faltered on his words.

“Hey Bunny. Haven’t seen you for a while.”

Bunny went over to Jacob and pulling him into a handshake, then giving him a hug.

“You too. So Mike, what are you doing here man?” Bunny asked Mike.

“I have an idea. It’s a bold move, but it’s the only idea that might work.” Mike explained to Bunny.

Bunny crossed his arms as Mike explained to him the idea that he said to Jacob. Jacob just stood there as Mike finished explaining his idea and then Bunny getting a bit agitated at it.

“Mike. What are you trying to fucking do to me, man?” Bunny snapped at him, nearly pressing a finger against Mike’s chest.

“I’m giving Kingstown a chance Bunny! There is people getting killed every single minute and I don’t want this to happen any more!” Mike shouted back at Bunny.

“And you think putting me in a fucking prison is going to do anything?”

 “If there are new leaders inside of the prison, there’s gonna be peace outside. The prisoners won’t be killed every single day by the guards. And I won’t stand by that. Do you have any other idea other than that?” Mike asked him, still a bit taken aback from Bunny’s reaction.

Jacob decided to intervene and placed both hands on Mike’s shoulders. “Mike, just calm down. Let him take this idea into his head for a moment.”

Mike just sighed, slowly calming down and sighing.

“Bunny. I was against this idea as well. I don’t want you to get killed in there. But Mike might be right. This is might be the only chance of bringing peace here in this shitty little town.” Jacob calmly explained to Bunny.

Bunny considered Jacob’s words and sighed slowly.

“Fine. But if I’m in the shit, you’re done for.” Bunny pointed at Mike as Mike walked away, opening the rooftop door and making his way downstairs.

“Yeah, yeah…” Mike trailed off as he walked off. “I’ll send you details okay?”

“Fuck you Mike!” 

Jacob just nodded as he followed Mike.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Once back in the car, Mike’s hands were on the steering wheel. Jacob was looking out of the window at the beautiful scenery outside. Of course, just like the farm, Mike’s cabin was on the outskirts of the town. 

So before they came up to the steep hill, Mike sent some messages to Bunny and the police department about the idea he had.

“Why are you texting them back now? Why don’t you wait until you get to your cabin?” Jacob asked him.

“You’ll see.”

Mike just smirked at Jacob as the car went up the hill. Mike pointed at his phone, nodding at it. Jacob’s brown eyes as he looked over at Mike’s phone.

“Keep an eye on the signal.” Mike simply said.

Just then, the signal went from full bars to none. There was no signal whatsoever.

Jacob began to chuckle under his breath. “No signal huh?”

“Nope. Won’t get any messages until we go over the hill again, back into Kingstown. So we can get some peace and quiet.”

“Finally some fucking peace and quiet from the chaos in this town…” Jacob mumbled.

“Agreed.” Mike finally chuckled softly as he turned the corner to the dirt path, leading to his cabin. “Definitely fucking agree with you there.”

As they arrived at the cabin, they had a few moments to settle down. Mike asked Jacob to go out and get some firewood. Jacob did just that and came back to see Mike, smoking on the deck outside of his cabin. He was still in his suit and was leaning against a wooden pillar. He also had a glass of something liquid in his other hand.

Jacob was wearing a lumberjack top –which was red, green, white and black colours in a tartan pattern – with tight denim jeans, thick winter boots and gloves that he wore to chop down wood. His sleeves were rolled up as he was carrying at least 4-5 big logs in his arms. Once he got to Mike, he placed the logs down on the ground and sighed, wiping his head from the sweat.

He noticed Mike was staring at him and he thought to himself, ‘Was he checking me out or…?’  Nah. Why would this handsome 50-something year old man fall for a 32 year old man who used to be a silent but deadly assassin for Milo Sunter and now is a freelance artist, who is willing to forget about that experience?

“Jacob. Can I ask something?” Mike said as he sat down on the nearby chair.

“Yeah sure.”

“What were you doing when you were working for him?” Mike asked him, Jacob knowing he was on about Milo.

He just sighed as he dropped down to sit next to Mike, on the deck.

“I was an assassin. Killing people for him. The silent but deadly type. I specialised in firearms and hand-to-hand combat. I was also known as the Winter Soldier, cause of my amazing talent of fighting.” Jacob began to explain. “My main duty was protect Iris. But once she went to New York, I decided to not to follow her. I stayed here, not letting Milo know where I was, hiding out in the farm you met me in.”

“Did he put a tracker in you?” Mike asked him.

“No. He trusted me enough not to do that. So he didn’t have no idea that I was still in Kingstown… wish I could leave this place, but- I feel like I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?”

“I feel like I’m trapped here…” Jacob trailed off before looking up at Mike. “What about you? Are you stuck here?” 

Mike just shook his head.

“I guess so? I was going to do a cooking class in Wyoming until all hell broke loose. My mother isn’t very proud of me. I had to take over my brother’s job after he got shot by one of Milo’s thugs.”

“I heard. I’m sorry for your loss. Milo shouldn’t have done that.” Jacob said sadly, looking down at his hands, that were fidgeting with each other.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.”

Jacob then also shook his head.

“No, no. Mitch shouldn’t have been killed by that fucking bastard. If I was there, I would’ve killed that guy who killed your brother. I would’ve been in that prison for life for that, but I wouldn’t have cared-” Jacob explained to Mike.

“-and I wouldn’t have let you.”

Jacob was surprised at Mike’s words. “What?”

“I wouldn’t have let you. Don’t think Mitch would’ve let you either.” Mike admitted to him. “I was… upset that he got shot, but this would’ve happen either way.”

Jacob just nodded.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

A few moments later, they were both in the cabin. Mike was sitting on the bed whilst Jacob was in the bathroom, standing in the shower. Mike took off his suit jacket, tie and white tight Oxford shirt, leaving a loose white tee. He also took off his shoes as well.

Mike then got up and leaned against the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom, of course he wasn’t looking at Jacob’s naked form.

“You okay?” Jacob heard Mike’s deep voice as he scrubbed himself with a loofah and some mint body wash.

“Yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve had a shower. I normally have baths back at my place.” Jacob acknowledged.

Mike just hummed. “Do you want any tea?” He asked him.

“Sure.”

Mike nodded, even though Jacob couldn’t see it, and went into the kitchen to make some cinnamon tea for the both of them. Afterwards, he grabbed both cups and paused as soon as he got to the bathroom. He then cleared his throat to try and get Jacob’s attention.

“I got your tea. You decent?” Mike asked him.

“It’s fine Mike. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, right?” Jacob chuckled softly. “You can come in.”

Jacob watched as Mike slowly walked into the bathroom and placed down Jacob’s cup of tea on a nearby counter. He kept his own cup in his own hands as he sipped it gently before placing it down next to Jacob’s. 

Mike realised that he could see all of Jacob’s naked body and visibly gulped at the thought of what he could do with that body.

“Thanks.” Jacob slightly smiled at Mike. “Is that… cinnamon?”

“Mh-hm. You like cinnamon?”

“I love it.”

Mike smiled at Jacob before sitting on the toilet seat, which was directly opposite the shower. 

“Am I sleeping on the couch or..?” Jacob finally said after a moment.

“If you want. We’re both grown men. We can share the same bed without it getting awkward.” Mike responded.

Jacob just stared at him, slightly smirking and tried to splash Mike with the water.

Mike didn’t get splashed with any water but chuckled at the failed attempt. 

“You don’t want to start that darling, seriously.” He beamed at Jacob. “I just suggested that, that’s all.”

Jacob slightly blushed at the nickname that Mike had given him, especially in his American accent. “And I asked if I should sleep on the couch cause I don’t think I can contain myself in that king-sized bed of yours.”

The light-haired man noticed the dark-haired man staring at him. Was it lust in those blue-grey eyes? Jacob didn’t know, but he did watch Mike get up from his seat and walk over to him. He then went in the shower, standing underneath the shower head, getting his hair, shirt and trousers wet.

“Of course… unless you want to make it awkward- that was a bad pickup line, I’m sorry.” Mike laughed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He wasn’t really expecting Jacob to laugh as well. 

Mike then felt a hand on his face. His face was slightly bruised after the last conflict he had. Apparently, it was still kinda there. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Jacob’s hand on his left cheek. His thumb was caressing the place where his bruise was.

“That was awkward, but… you tried your best I guess.” Jacob chuckled. “Where’s this bruise from?” He then asked him softly as his Spanish accent was as clear as day.

“You heard about the riot in the prison that happened recently, right?” Mike told him.

“Of course.”

“I guess it was from that. Or… I don’t know. Don’t know where it’s from, to be honest.” Mike shrugged his shoulders. “It just stayed there.”

Jacob slightly smiled as he kept caressing his bruised cheek as his brown eyes stared into Mike’s blue-grey ones. 

“I don’t know how you’re gonna react with what I’m going to do here, but hopefully you’re not gonna punch me or anything like that.”

Mike raised his eyebrow confusingly as he looked at Jacob.

Jacob took a deep breath before deciding to move closer towards Mike, placing his other hand on his other cheek. It looked like Mike wasn’t moving away anytime soon, so Jacob then went for it. His lips brushed Mike’s; softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, just long enough that he could inhale Mike’s breath. 

It felt like Mike enjoyed it. He had kissed men before, or he kissed women like this before.

Of course Jacob wasn’t expecting Mike’s lips mashing against his, as if he was trying to flatten and destroy it. Jacob hungrily pushed back, his mouth open. The bristles of Jacob’s goatee scratched against Mike’s soft cheeks. Mike gripped his head firmly, as if to keep him from escaping. He worked Jacob’s mouth against his, their tongues battling back and forth like wrestlers, each trying to pin the other.

They both pulled away, breathing heavily as they looked at each other.

“I-I didn’t know that you were…” Jacob hesitantly said to Mike.

“Well, you never ask, did you?” Mike smirked at him.

“I guess so.” 

Jacob chuckled. He felt Mike’s hands still on his face. He blushed as he also felt his thumb on his bottom lip, stroking it softly.

“Does this mean-?” Jacob murmured to himself.

Mike only hesitated a second before taking off his trousers and boxers. He didn’t even bother to take off his short-sleeved t-shirt. He then went closer to Jacob, feeling his erection and pressing their lips together.

Jacob found the hem of Mike’s shirt and clumsily pulled off his shirt, and somehow it came off. 

Mike’s skin was extra sensitive everywhere; he felt everything. The smooth texture of the warm water against his back. The pressure of Jacob’s hand on his knee as he pushed his legs open, Jacob’s breath on his neck before he kissed him there, tonguing and sucking gently.

Mike moaned and pushed Jacob against the shower wall, trying to brush their cocks together. “Fuck sweetheart...” He muttered under his breath. “You should know who’s the dominant one in this relationship.” Mike told him.

That made Jacob froze for a moment. 

Relationship? Mike thought they were in a relationship with each other?

He wouldn’t expect Mike to turn things around and flip Jacob onto his front. Mike took Jacob’s wrists and pinned them above his head. “Keep them there darling, okay?” He whispered in Jacob’s ear as he placed the tip against Jacob’s hole. When it breached him, Jacob let out a gasp of pain.

“Jacob, sweetheart, you okay?” Mike asked him.

“Mhm. It’s okay. Keep going.” He shuddered.

Mike began slowly pushing himself inside. His hand gripped Jacob’s hips as his cock went deeper. Sensing Jacob’s tension, he began to remove himself just as gently.

“Don’t worry darling, I just want you to enjoy this.”

“Maybe I do, but I don’t mind you being dominant.”

Mike smirked as he slowly rocked in and out of him. He heard Jacob’s moans turning into screams of pleasure, causing him to speed up. He felt Mike’s balls hit his ass with every deep thrust he delivered. He then began to kiss Jacob’s neck, putting his dominant left hand on Jacob’s wrists.

“Mike!” Jacob called out.

“That’s not my name sweetheart. What’s my name?” Mike said to him.

“S-sir…”

“That’s better sweetheart. There it is!”

Mike heard Jacob shakily gasp behind him. He continued thrusting, making sure to hit that one spot. Jacob’s skin prickled as his head began fuzzing out. He felt a hand wrap itself around his dick. The arm around his throat tightened until Jacob was gasping.

“Sir,” The arm around his throat moved to push him all the way down his dick as both hands gripped his hips. Mike’s rough thrusts became more erratic.

“Sweetheart!”

Jacob felt the warmth of Mike’s cum spill inside him.

“Fuck…” Jacob sighed as he felt Mike’s dick leave him. He heard his breathing as he turned around to look at Mike. “I was- not expecting that so soon.”

“You liked it though, right?” Mike smirked.

Jacob just laughed. “I guess you can say that. But my legs are killing me…”

“From the sex or from standing up in the shower the whole time?”

Jacob didn’t answer that question as he got out of the shower, slapping Mike’s ass on the way. All he said was “yeah” to him, making Mike smile to himself and chuckling softly as he turned off the shower and got out, closing the glass door behind him. 

He looked over at Jacob, who was in his bedroom, putting one of Mike’s shirts on. It was quite tight, but it didn’t cover Jacob’s dick. Mike’s own dick twitched at the sight of him in his shirt, basically naked.

“Fuck sweetheart, you’re doing things to me you cannot believe.” Mike mumbled, to which Jacob actually heard and smirked a little.

Jacob then sat on the bed, leaning back slightly on his hands. His legs were wide open and he smiled at Mike. “What are you waiting for? I don’t mind doing a round two, Mr McLusky.” 

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

@navybrat817 @yavanna80 @cavillanche @pegasusdragontiger @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory

[dweemeister]

2023 Movie Odyssey Awards

And now, the penultimate step to conclude the 20223 Movie Odyssey. The Movie Odyssey Awards honor the best in films that I saw for the first time last calendar year for me. Rewatches do not count. Other eligibility rules (such as whether or not a “TV movie” versus a “streaming movie” can count can be found here).

All of these films that were nominated or won (except for Worst Picture) are worth your time and are worth seeking. Even some of the most flawed films I saw this year managed a nomination somewhere - it helps there are ten nominees per category. And, as always, my Best Picture winners are my highest recommendations of the year.

There's also a new category this year! Another music category (some of you are already sighing, I know) in the form of Best Original Score Cue.

Best Pictures (I'm naming ten, I'm not distinguishing one above the other nine)

Anatomy of a Fall (2023, France)

The Color Purple (1985)

I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

The Last Command (1928)

Oppenheimer (2023)

Past Lives (2023)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Tár (2022)

For the second straight year, I have set a record low for the number of feature films that I saw in a calendar year since when this blog began (2012). And on my failure to adhere to my objective on seeing more pre-1980 movies than those released 1980 and after, this Best Picture list skews far more modern than it usually does. This is also the first Movie Odyssey Award for Best Picture slate without a 10/10 rated film.

Six movies from the 2020s doubles the record (set last year, with three) of Best Picture winners that have come from the current decade.

Anatomy of a Fall, through its courtroom drama lens, remarks on unknowability of even the people we love most. Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple is melodrama (a word I'm using here in the neutral sense) of the first order, and tenderly told. The romance I Know Where I'm Going! is not often mentioned when it comes to Powell and Pressburger films (it seems like their first postbellum film despite being set during WWII), but I think scholarship is coming around on that (and I approve).

Martin Scorsese looks like he is getting a lot of short shrift from critics and the industry for Killers of the Flower Moon as another movie dominates 2023's headlines instead. But I thought his adaptation of David Grann's non-fiction book was the best release of 2023, a dramatic epic set on the Oklahoma prairie retelling a horrible saga that American history forgot. Director Josef von Sternberg and Emil Jannings may have had a tumultuous working relationship, but this visually striking silent film makes incredible use of blocking of extras and an arguably career-best performance by Jannings.

Taking much of Killers of the Flower Moon's thunder is Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, surely one of the movies to define 2023. Nolan's 181-minute biopic epic is arguably his most humanistic film yet (for a director not known for his humanism). On a far different scale, Celine Song's Past Lives was perhaps one of the best romantic dramas I've ever seen in a theater.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse made its predecessor look safe by comparison with its wild variety of styles. Points off for its necessarily heavy exposition and incomplete narrative (it is the first part of two), but its radical background changes, ever-changing color palette, and comprehensible action choreography put the MCU to shame.

Lastly, Tár was very much overshadowed by Everything Everywhere All At Once last year, perhaps unfairly so (it doesn't help that when people hear that the film is immersed in the world of classical music, they immediately lose interest). And The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was perhaps the film that shocked me the most all year, partly due to my expectations beforehand. Maggie Smith plays the title character in an atypical "teacher movie".

Best Comedy

American Fiction (2023)

Beauty’s Worth (1922)

Beverly of Graustark (1926)

Block-Heads (1938)

Fanfan la Tulipe (1952, France)

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

Heathers (1988)

The Holdovers (2023)

My Year of Dicks (2022 short)

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It (2021 short)

This comes down to which movie made me laugh the most. I don't think this was that great a year on the comedy end, but Alexander Payne's The Holdovers is destined to be a Christmas classic. A Christmas classic for the sadsacks among us.

I thought The Ghost and Mr. Chicken was going to be utterly terrible. I mean, look at that frigging title. I respect Don Knotts for his Andy Griffith Show work, but I have to be in the right mood. But boy, it was ideal October viewing when I didn't want to watch a straight horror movie. Attaboy, Luther!

Appearing from the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film slate last year are My Year of Dicks and An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It. If I was still doing the Movie Odyssey For-Fun Awards, those two would tie for "Best Title". Not even close. It helps that they both made me laugh a lot!

Best Musical

Barsaat (1949, India)

Carmen Jones (1954)

Êsse Mundo é Meu (This World is Mine) (1964, Brazil)

The Fabulous Senorita (1952)

Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)

Sparkle (1976)

Sun Valley Serenade (1941)

This is the Army (1943)

Trời Sáng Rồi, Ta Ngủ Đi Thôi (Good Morning and Good Night) (2019, Vietnam)

This category has always advantaged original musicals rather than stage adaptations. And the more songs, the better. Just edging out Barsaat and Sun Valley Serenade is Carmen Jones, an adaptation of Oscar Hammerstein II's adaptation of George Bizet's Carmen. Bizet's music remains; Hammerstein wrote the lyrics. Instead of Sevilla, we find ourselves in the American South and all-black cast starring Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge as Carmen, Pearl Bailey, Olga James, and Joe Adams. An important work, and one of the very few major studio Hollywood movies with an all-black cast. You'll have to get used to both Dandridge and Belafonte being dubbed (their voices not suitable to sing in an operatic style, so director Otto Preminger thought). however.

Sparkle could have won this had they adhered more to the late '50s/'60s Motown sound a lot more faithfully. And if, narratively, the movie was better.

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron (2023, Japan)

Ernest & Celestine: A Trip To Gibberitia (2022, France)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)

My Father’s Dragon (2022)

Nimona (2023)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

The Sea Beast (2022)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Suzume (2022, Japan)

ATSV wins this category, but Ernest & Celestine took my heart yet again. Do yourself a favor: please see both the 2012 original and the sequel. The former is one of the best animated features of the young century and though the latter is not as good as the original, it's still very much worth your time.

I was a little disappointed in The Boy and the Heron and, to be honest, I disliked Marcel the Shell and Nimona - an opinion that, if I said this any louder, would invoke the wrath of many on tumblr. Cartoon Saloon misses for the first time with My Father's Dragon. The hot streak had to end some time! Puss in Boots was the biggest surprise in terms of expectations versus how good the movie actually was.

Best Documentary

Fire of Love (2022)

For Tomorrow (2023, Canada)

In Living Memory (2022 short)

Pianoforte (2023, Poland)

Refuge After War (2023)

The Stroll (2023)

Seen as part of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. An HBO documentary, The Stroll is made by two transgender directors telling the story of the sex workers strolling around New York City's Meatpacking District in the 1980s and '90s, many of whom were transgender. I'm usually not a fan of documentaries where the directors are also subjects/have close ties to the material, but The Stroll is one of those rare exceptions. Beautifully told.

The classical music lover in me also deeply enjoyed Pianoforte, which follows a handful of young contestants (I think there's an age limit) at the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2021. One girl I recall said something akin to "I wish to play beautifully and with personality, but I also don't want to make a mistake!" Sorry miss, you've gotta do both! Also, I wonder how many of them hate Chopin's guts after competing in something like that.

Best Non-English Language Film

Anatomy of a Fall, France

Barsaat, India

Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, France

Êsse Mundo é Meu (This World is Mine), Brazil

Fanfan la Tulipe, France

Fellini Satyricon (1969), Italy

Godzilla Minus One (2023), Japan

The Quiet Girl (2022), Ireland

Shayda (2023), Australia

Suzume, Japan

A relatively weak year in this category, and way too many films in here than there should be from this decade. But I'll highlight here Êsse Mundo é Meu, which I saw last February at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA (I would go more often if I didn't live so far). The film, an exemplar of Cinema Novo (taking inspiration from the French New Wave and Italian neorealism, a rejection of Brazilian popular musical and comedies at the time. The print was in bad shape, and the Museum had to recreate the English subtitles by themselves. But it was a wonderful film, and, unfortunately, it is rarely screened outside of Brazil. I highly doubt I'll see the likes of it again.

I'm still not sure what to make of Fellini's fantastical period, which took off after Juliet of the Spirits (1965, Italy).

Best Silent Film

Alice’s Wonderland (1923 short)

Beauty’s Worth

Beverly of Graustark

Clash of the Wolves (1925)

The Last Command

The Oath of the Sword (1914 short)

Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898 short)

With thanks to the San Diego Asian Film Festival for their screening of The Oath of the Sword, the oldest-surviving (that we know of) film made entirely by an Asian American film company and starring a nearly all-Asian cast.

I need to see more silent films next year.

Personal Favorite Film (TIE)

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)

Barbie (2023)

Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)

Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia

Gentleman Jim (1942)

Godzilla Minus One

Ice Merchants (2022 short, Portugal)

The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

Sun Valley Serenade

Wee Willie Winkie (1937)

Godzilla Minus One was the best experience I had in a theater this last year, especially as a fan of Toho's kaiju films.

You can watch Ice Merchants, the highest-rated short film I've seen in years, here. And of course, the Academy disagreed with me.

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Federico Fellini, Fellini Satyricon

Todd Field, Tár

Ronald Neame, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, I Know Where I’m Going!

Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Celine Song, Past Lives

Steven Spielberg, The Color Purple

Josef von Sternberg, The Last Command

Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall

This is not the best film from Powell and Pressburger, but I Know Where I'm Going! is a fascinating, quickly-shot film that I maintain is underrated in their filmography. You know it was an underwhelming year for me, when I'm not really feeling any of these ten for Best Director. But it had to be awarded to someone.

Best Acting Ensemble

Angels (2023, Vietnam)

The Color Purple

Don’t Bother to Knock

Heathers

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

The Sea Wolf (1941)

Women Talking (2022)

Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar, Rae Dawn Chong,Oprah Winfrey, Desreta Jackson, Willard Pugh, Akosua Busia, Laurence Fishburne, Howard Starr... everyone, take a bow. Some career-defining performances in there, enough to evoke tears out of me multiple times. The Color Purple an obvious choice for me here.

If you were to have me pick runners-ups? Probably The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Killers of the Flower Moon.

Best Actor

Humphrey Bogart, Black Legion (1937)

James Cagney, The Strawberry Blonde

Albert Finney, Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Brendan Fraser, The Whale (2022)

Hiệp Trần Nghĩa, The Accidental Getaway Driver (2023)

Emil Jannings, The Last Command

Roger Livesey, I Know Where I’m Going!

Bill Nighy, Living (2022)

Vincent Price, Witchfinder General (1968)

Edward G. Robinson, The Sea Wolf

I watched a lot of Vincent Price late in 2023. The Las Vegas Story (1952), House of Wax (1953), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). Witchfinder General, also known in the U.S. as The Conquerer Worm, was the role I was least familiar with. And oh my goodness is he excellent here. Price plays Matthew Hopkins, a 17th century English witch hunter, and this is perhaps Price's least sympathetic villain that I have seen. The direction might not be all that great, but give Price a non-campy, sadistic role and he will deliver.

Cagney is vastly underappreciated in The Strawberry Blonde, Humphrey Bogart is surprisingly gullible in Black Legion, and Bill Nighy breaks hearts in Living (a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru).

Best Actress (TIE)

Lucille Ball, Lured (1947)

Cate Blanchett, Tár

Marion Davies, Beverly of Graustark

Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones

Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple

Olivia de Havilland, The Strawberry Blonde

Greta Lee, Past Lives

Marilyn Monroe, Don’t Bother to Knock

Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

I... couldn't make a choice. So I made two choices. Whoopi is extraordinary in her breakthrough role. Her physical acting helps us intuit the changing fortunes and self-belief of her character, and never resorting to histrionics as some actresses might. A beautifully nuanced performance.

A little less nuanced is Maggie Smith as Ms. Brodie. Easily one of the most memorable teacher movies I have seen, and it is Smith - giving her all to one of the a most complicated character - who makes it work perfectly.

Runners-up? Blanchett, Davies, Dandridge, and Gladstone. This category was fantastic this year.

Best Supporting Actor

Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction (2023)

Elisha Cook Jr., Don’t Bother to Knock

Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon

Danny Glover, The Color Purple

Milo Machado-Graner, Anatomy of a Fall

Dustin Nguyen, The Accidental Getaway Driver

George Sanders, Lured

Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

Christian Slater, Heathers

Teo Yoo, Past Lives

George Sanders? A romantic interest in a noir? What? Well he is here, a departure (perhaps) from his debonair villainous roles. You can always depend on Sanders to deliver. Also considered De Niro here.

Best Supporting Actress

Margaret Avery, The Color Purple

Pearl Bailey, Carmen Jones

Ingrid Bergman, Murder on the Orient Express

Joan Blackman, The Great Impostor (1961)

Hong Chau, The Whale

Sherry Cola, Shortcomings (2023)

Pamela Franklin, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Rita Hayworth, The Strawberry Blonde

Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple

Selina Zahednia, Shayda

Seen at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, virtually. Shayda is an Australian movie in which Iranian mother Shayda (Zahra Amir Ebrahimi) seeks refuge in an Australian women's shelter during Nowruz, Persian New Year. Selina Zahednia plays the daughter, Mona, and gives one of the best and most believable child performances of the young century.

Avery, Franklin, and Oprah Winfrey would have been next up.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Cord Jefferson, American Fiction

Menno Meyjes, The Color Purple

Daniel Taradash and Charlotte Armstrong, Don’t Bother to Knock

Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Kazuo Ishiguro, Living

Leo Rosten, Lured

Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Jay Presson Allen, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Robert Rossen, The Sea Wolf

Sarah Polley, Women Talking

Complain about the 3-hour runtime all you want. I just don't see how anything could've been cut; in fact, I think Roth and Scorsese could've added more context. What pushes them over the top here was their commitment - however flawed - to take the focus away from what was originally a more white savior-y approach to its current form. An extremely risky ending acknowledges more than it lets on.

Best Original Screenplay

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall

Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines, Black Legion

Daniel Waters, Heathers

David Hemingson, The Holdovers

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, I Know Where I’m Going!

Celine Song, Past Lives

Garry Michael White, Scarecrow (1973)

Noora Niasari, Shayda

Makoto Shinkai Suzume

Todd Field, Tár

To descirbe the plot: Manchester native Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) departs for the Scottish Hebrides in order to marry a wealthy industrialist she has never met. While awaiting the Scottish fog to clear, she meets a Royal Navy officer (Roger Livesey), who is happy to show her the sights and introduce her to the locals, whose humble lives are as far away from the war as could be possible.

Paramount Pictures (who didn't distribute the film) used this film's screenplay to their writer as an example of what a "perfect screenplay" looked like. Okay, it isn't perfect. But it's really damn good.

Best Cinematography

Dương Lê, Angels

Allen Daviau, The Color Purple

Êsse Mundo é Meu (This World is Mine)

Giuseppe Rotunno, Fellini Satyricon

Erwin Hillier, I Know Where I’m Going!

Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon

Bert Glennon, The Last Command

Dewey Wrigley, My Friend Flicka (1943)

James Wong Howe, The Strawberry Blonde

Florian Hoffmeister, Tár

Best Film Editing

Nick Houy, Barbie

Jack Killifer, Gentleman Jim

John Seabourne, Sr., I Know Where I’m Going!

Thelma Schoonmaker, Killers of the Flower Moon

Michelle Tesoro, Maestro (2023)

Eddie Hamilton, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer

Norman Savage, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Mike Andrews, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Monika Willi, Tár

Best Adaptation or Musical Score

Irving Berlin, This is the Army

David Buttolph, Cyril J. Mockridge, and Emil Newman, Sun Valley Serenade

Herschel Burke Gilbert, Carmen Jones

Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Joseph L. Lilley, Girls! Girls! Girls!

Curtis Mayfield, Sparkle

Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal and Shankarsingh Raghuwanshi, Barsaat

Phạm Hải Âu, Trời Sáng Rồi, Ta Ngủ Đi Thôi (Good Morning and Good Night)

Heinz Roemheld, The Strawberry Blonde

Naoki Sato, Godzilla Minus One

This category awards film scores from musical movies or film scores that are taking a lot of pre-existing material and employing variations, but not enough to be considered a more original score. This category also tends to favor musicals, full stop.

And that's what we find here with Sun Valley Serenade taking its 4th and 8th place finishes in MOABOS for a solid, solid musical score.

Best Original Score

Richard Rodney Bennett, Murder on the Orient Express

Danny Elfman, Batman (1989)

Allan Gray, I Know Where I’m Going!

Maurice Jarre, The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

Quincy Jones, The Color Purple

Henry Mancini, The Great Impostor

Alfred Newman, My Friend Flicka

RADWIMPS and Kazuma Jinnouchi, Suzume

Dimitri Tiomkin, Land of the Pharaohs (1955)

John Williams, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Hans Zimmer, The Creator (2023)

The Ancient Egyptian language no longer exists in spoken form, as does any of that civilization's music. So what to do? Hire the one composer in Old Hollywood that you could fling into a historical cultural context so unlike his own and make it sound as genuine as he could get it (even if I'm sure no ancient Egyptian would understand the score too much). Dimitri Tiomkin came from a Russian Jewish family that lived in what is now Ukraine. He was a master of American Westerns and was also accomplished in films set in ancient Greece and Rome. He composes for Land of the Pharaohs one of the most musically interesting epic scores of the 1950s - I just wish there were better, cleaner, more modern recordings of this music!

Danny Elfman's score to Batman the runner-up here (that score played an important part in Batman: The Animated Series, and gave composer/conductor Shirley Walker a very important foothold in the film and television industry), but Richard Rodney Bennett, Quincy Jones, John Williams, and even Hans Zimmer (whom longtime readers will know I have a difficult relationship in terms of his post-Gladiator scores... but my gosh, he composes striking melodies again in The Creator!) are all worthy nominees here.

Best Original Score Cue

“Appel à la resistance”, Vincent Courtois, Ernest & Celestine: A Trip To Gibberitia

“The Building of the Tomb”, Dimitri Tiomkin, Land of the Pharaohs

“Cat Chase”, Kazuma Jinnouchi and RADWIMPS, Suzume

“Helena’s Theme”, John Williams, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

“Main Title”, Danny Elfman, Batman

“Main Title/Pharaoh’s Procession”, Dimitri Tiomkin, Land of the Pharaohs

“Nueva York Train Chase”, Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

“Quantum Mechanics”, Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer

“Top Gun Anthem”, Harold Faltermeyer, Top Gun (1986)

“True Love”, Hans Zimmer, The Creator

Our newest category! Yes, a fourth music category. MOABOSC. Okay, let's not.

I've actually wanted to create this category for some time, but I never did so until now. A film score cue is simply any single track heard in a movie, as you may have guessed. No lyrics (that's a song). Must be an original composition.

And it's John Williams who picks the inaugural award up for "Helena's Theme". Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not the greatest movie. But Williams, now at 91, can compose scores and cues that other composers would sell their souls to compose material half as good. "Helena's Theme" is the dominant new idea in Dial of Destiny. Helena, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is Indy's goddaughter. And her motif, mainly expressed through strings, is a romantic line that harkens to Erich Wolfgang Korngold (a classical music composer who crossed over into films, set the sound for Warner Bros. swashbuckler movies from the 1930s-40s, and established many norms of film scoring still in place today). A tremendous piece from Williams.

Runners-up behind Williams? Elfman, Tiomkin (for the main titles), Pemberton, and Zimmer.

Best Original Song

“Chattanooga Choo Choo”, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Sun Valley Serenade

“Ciao Papa”, music by Alexandre Desplat, lyrics by Roeban Katz and Guillermo del Toro, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

“Danger Zone”, music and lyrics by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, Top Gun

“Êsse Mundo é Meu (This World is Mine)”, music by Sérgio Ricardo, lyrics by Sérgio Ricardo and Ruy Guerra, Esse Mundo é Meu

“Hooked on Your Love”, music and lyrics by Curtis Mayfield, Sparkle

“I Know Why (And So Do You)”, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Sun Valley Serenade

“I’m Just Ken”, music and lyrics by Mark Ronson and Andrw Wyatt, Barbie

“Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)”, music by Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton, lyrics by Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Lionel Richie, The Color Purple

“Qu-est-ce qu’on fait de l’amour? (What Do We Do with Love?)”, music and lyrics by Vincent Courtois, Ernest & Celestine: A Trip To Gibberitia

“Suzume”, music and lyrics by RADWIMPS, Suzume

Thanks to all of you who participated in MOABOS this year!

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, Barbie

André-ani, Kathleen Kay, and Maude Marsh, Beverly of Graustark

Rosemary Odell,The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)

Aggie Guerard Rodgers, The Color Purple

Danilo Donati, Fellini Satyricon

Jacqueline West, Killers of the Flower Moon

Norma Moriceau, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Tony Walton, Murder on the Orient Express

Joan Bridge and Elizabeth Haffenden, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Orry-Kelly, The Strawberry Blonde

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Paul Engelen and Colin Jamison, Batman

Uncredited, Beauty’s Worth

Ken Chase and Robert L. Stevenson, The Color Purple

Gordon Bau, House of Wax (1953)

Emile LaVigne and Ann Locker, Land of the Pharaohs

Elizabeth Ann Fardon, Helen Evans, Rosalind Da Silva, and Cheryl Newton, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Kazu Hiro, Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Michael Mekash, and Kay Georgiou, Maestro

Stuart Freeborn, John O’Gorman, Charles E. Parker, and Ramon Gow, Murder on the Orient Express

Gordon Bau and Jean Burt Reilly, The Omega Man (1971)

Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Annemarie Bradley-Sherron, The Whale

I wonder how audiences though of the makeup in 3D back in the 1950s. Yes, House of Wax was filmed in 3D when it was a fad for the first time.

Best Production Design                                       

Sarah Greenwood, Barbie

Anton Furst and Peter Young, Batman

Uncredited, Fellini Satyricon

Ted Smith, Gentleman Jim

Curt Enderle and Guy Davis, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

John Paul Kelly, A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Jack Fisk, Killers of the Flower Moon

Hans Dreier, The Last Command

Jack Stephens, Murder on the Orient Express

Anton Grot, The Sea Wolf

Achievement in Visual Effects

Alice’s Wonderland

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Barbie

Batman

The Creator

Godzilla Minus One

In Which We Serve (1942)

The Island at the Top of the World

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Oppenheimer

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

All of these films are winners. You can't make me judge the visual effects from a 2020s movie versus a '40s movie. Come on now.

Worst Picture

Barbarella (1968)

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963, Japan)

Mười: Lời nguyền trở lại (Muoi: The Curse Returns) (2022, Vietnam)

Treasure Island (1973)

Wish (2023)

Because holy cow. What even was low-budget major studio animation in America in the 1970s?

Honorary Awards:

The Film Foundation, for their tireless devotion to the preservation and restoration of classic world cinema

Ben Model, for composing wonderful scores for silent films and helping to preserve the memory of the silent film experience

FILMS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS (excluding Worst Picture... 51) Thirteen: The Color Purple

Ten: Killers of the Flower Moon

Eight: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Seven: I Know Where I’m Going!, The Strawberry Blonde

Six: Barbie, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, The Last Command, Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Oppenheimer, Suzume, Tár

Five: Anatomy of a Fall, Batman, Don’t Bother to Knock, Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, Fellini Satyricon, Past Lives, Sun Valley Serenade

Four: Beverly of Graustark, Êsse Mundo é Meu, Godzilla Minus One, Heathers, Land of the Pharaohs, The Sea Wolf

Three: American Fiction, Barsaat, Beauty’s Worth, The Creator, Gentleman Jim, Lured, Shayda, Sparkle, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Whale

Two: The Accidental Getaway Driver, Angels, Black Legion, Fanfan la Tulipe, Girls! Girls! Girls!, The Great Impostor, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Island at the Top of the World, Living, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Maestro, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, My Friend Flicka, This is the Army, Top Gun, Trời Sáng Rồi, Ta Ngủ Đi Thôi (Good Morning and Good Night), Women Talking

WINNERS (excluding honorary awards and Worst Picture; 32) 4 wins: The Color Purple

3 wins: I Know Where I’m Going!, Killers of the Flower Moon

2 wins: Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, Godzilla Minus One, The Last Command, Oppenheimer, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

1 win: All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), Batman, Carmen Jones, The Creator, Fellini Satyricon, The Holdovers, House of Wax, Ice Merchants, In Which We Serve, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Island at the Top of the World, Land of the Pharaohs, Lured, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Murder on the Orient Express, Past Lives, Shayda, The Stroll, Sun Valley Serenade, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Witchfinder General

86 films were nominated in 27 categories.

[phoenixwrites]

I hate the moral quandary That 90's Show puts me in.

On the one hand, Michael Kelso was a misogynistic narcissistic unfaithful prick of a character, whose only redeeming quality was the fact that Ashton Kutcher has an incredible sense of comedic timing and I absolutely loathe the fact that he and Jackie are together in the show. Like what a fucking letdown for Jackie's character.

On the other hand, Ashton Kutcher has spent a huge chunk of his career advocating for victims of sex trafficking and speaking out against sexual violence. And he and Mila are married.

On the other hand Steven Hyde was an honestly good character who had really fascinating growth (Kelso assuredly did not) and had a wonderful character arc yes I'm ignoring the latter part of season 7 and 8 as all sensible fans do and Hyde and Jackie absolutely should have ended up together.

ON THE OTHER HAND Danny Masterson is a serial rapist and should not ever work in Hollywood again and shouldn't be near the sequel series with a ten foot pole.

So I can't watch it even though I want to support Ashton and Mila, but I hate that their characters are together, but there's no way to make Hyde and Jackie happen unless Hyde...died or something. Or they recast Hyde, which honestly, I would be in support of. (If Marvel can do it with Brody, why can't we?) So I'm stuck watching a character I love, Jackie, end up in the worst possible relationship for her, with Kelso, but also knowing that Ashton and Mila are really happy together and have done such great advocacy work but the writing of the show A'SKLJDGA;DSHGOPARHG.

I'M GOING BACK TO HELLCHEER WHICH DOESN'T PUT ME IN PERSONAL ETHICS VS. GOOD WRITING.

[dailyrugbytoday]

All Blacks v Springboks: The Rugby Championship will take place in Auckland.

New Post has been published on https://thedailyrugby.com/all-blacks-v-springboks-the-rugby-championship/

The Daily Rugby

https://thedailyrugby.com/all-blacks-v-springboks-the-rugby-championship/

All Blacks v Springboks: The Rugby Championship will take place in Auckland.

This Saturday at 8 a.m. All Blacks v Springboks Rugby on Sky Sports, watch the Rugby Championship match between New Zealand and South Africa.

England vs. France, Ireland vs. England, New Zealand vs. Australia, Munster vs. Leinster, and Scotland vs. England are just a few examples of great rugby rivalry. But for many, the matchup between New Zealand and South Africa comes in first.

This Saturday’s matchup between the All Blacks and the Springboks will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Action at 8:05 a.m. It is widely regarded as the main matchup of the shortened 2023 Rugby Championship season.

The Rugby Championship 2023 fixtures | All Blacks Rugby Championship Schedule 2023

In their 103 previous encounters, the All Blacks have 61 victories, the Springboks 38, and four ties. But statistics don’t do their competition and relationship credit in the slightest.

Growing up in South Africa and choosing rugby as your sport of choice meant hopes of playing against one team: The All Blacks, as former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse explained to Sky Sports a few years ago.

We all grew up in a country were playing in a Test match against the All Blacks was the one game that we all desired to experience.

How to watch All Blacks v Springboks | South Africa vs. New Zealand

All Blacks v Springboks Rugby on Sky Sports Action will broadcast every match of the Rugby Championship. Sky Sports can be added to existing plans for an additional £24 per month, or subscriptions can start at £20 per month. Fans may also watch the action live through the Sky Sports app and website.

Those who don’t have access to Sky Sports may still watch All Blacks vs boks game on NowTV, which offers daily and monthly passes starting at £11.98/day for Sky Sports channels.

All Blacks v Springboks Squad

All Blacks: Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Mark Telea, Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith, Ardie Savea, Sam Cane (c), Shannon Frizell, Scott Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor, Ethan de Groot.

Reserves: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tamaiti Williams, Nepo Laulala, Tupou Vaa’i, Dalton Papali’i, Finlay Christie, Braydon Ennor, Caleb Clarke.

South Africa: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Damian Willemse, Faf de Klerk, Jasper Wiese, Franco Mostert, Kwagga Smith, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth (c), Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff.

Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Thomas du Toit, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Pieter Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen, Grant Williams, Manie Libbok.

[ulkaralakbarova]

A victim of his own anger, the Kid is a Minneapolis musician on the rise with his band, the Revolution, escaping a tumultuous home life through music. While trying to avoid making the same mistakes as his truculent father, the Kid navigates the club scene and a rocky relationship with a captivating singer, Apollonia. But another musician, Morris, looks to steal the Kid’s spotlight — and his girl. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: The Kid: Prince Apollonia: Apollonia Kotero Morris: Morris Day Jerome: Jerome Benton Mother: Olga Karlatos Father: Clarence Williams III Billy: Billy Sparks Wendy: Wendy Melvoin Lisa: Lisa Coleman Bobby: Bobby Z Matt: Dr. Fink Mark: Brown Mark Jill: Jill Jones Susan: Susan Moonsie Brenda: Brenda Bennett Beautiful Babe: Sandra Claire Gershman Stage Hand: Alan Leeds “Jellybean” Johnson – The Time: Garry Johnson Jesse Johnson – The Time: Jesse Johnson Mark Cardenas – The Time: Marc Cardenas Jerry Hubbard – The Time: Gerald E. Hubbard Jr. Paul Peterson – The Time: Paul Peterson Taste M.C.: Israel Gordon …: Joel Thingvall Film Crew: Producer: Robert Cavallo First Assistant Director: Anthony Brand Director of Photography: Donald E. Thorin Supervising Sound Editor: Richard C. Franklin Additional Editor: Sonny Baskin Production Design: Ward Preston Set Decoration: Anne D. McCulley Stunt Coordinator: Al Jones Songs: Prince Executive In Charge Of Post Production: Anthony DiMarco Original Music Composer: Michel Colombier Production Manager: Mike Frankovich Jr. Writer: William Blinn Writer: Albert Magnoli Costume Design: Marie France Stunts: Ron Oliney Best Boy Electric: Peter Davidian Key Grip: Daniel R. Jordan Dolly Grip: Donald Schmitz Color Timer: Aubrey Head Makeup Supervisor: Richard Arrington Additional Editor: Mitchell Sinoway Assistant Sound Editor: Noah Blough Sound Editor: James Beshears Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Jim Cook Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Robert L. Harman Sound Editor: David Kern First Assistant Director: Britt Lomond Assistant Camera: Chris Squires Electrician: Jeffrey W. Petersen Script Supervisor: Kerry Lyn McKissick Additional Editor: Warren Chadwick Sound Editor: Marshall Winn Boom Operator: Douglas J. Schulman Sound Mixer: Bruce Bisenz Music Editor: Jim Harrison Producer: Steven Fargnoli Producer: Joseph Ruffalo Editor: Ken Robinson Casting: David Graham Best Boy Grip: Bill Fleming Sound Editor: Mike Dobie Stunt Double: Brad Orrison Key Makeup Artist: Lee Romanoff Additional Editor: Allan Schultz Lighting Artist: LeRoy Bennett Electrician: Edward R. Nedin Lighting Technician: Robert W. Peterson Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Neil Brody Props: Keane Bonath Construction Coordinator: Robert Scaife Camera Operator: Craig Denault Leadman: Howard McCormick Production Accountant: Jonathan Wolf Assistant Camera: Jack Lee Gary Casting: Peter Golden Location Manager: Kirk Hokanson Second Assistant Director: Don Wilkerson Makeup Artist: Susan Wenzel Stunts: Kathleen O’Haco Lighting Technician: Dean Hassen Lighting Technician: John Huddleston Lighting Technician: Dave Hetschiesch Production Coordinator: Maxine Davis Production Secretary: Jennifer Walton Property Master: Jim Johnson Props: Clare M.S. Fishman Costumer: Jimmell Mardome Costumer: Sonja Berlovitz Key Makeup Artist: Jayson Jeffreys Hairstylist: Earl Jones Hairstylist: Susan Caldwell Hairstylist: Todd Prost Electrician: Dennis A. Frank Electrician: Matt Rice Electrician: Bob Guthier Grip: Steve van Osdale Grip: Gerald Hoy Grip: Neal Dalen Grip: Craig Kinchel Grip: Joe Rice Unit Publicist: Bonnie Metzger Still Photographer: Robert Reiff Production Secretary: Geri Rosenberg Production Secretary: Barbara Sobocinski Production Secretary: Dona Lien Movie Reviews:

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

Older Movies and How They Compare

The art of filmmaking has developed notably over the decades, and the cinematic aesthetics of films replicate the adjustments in storytelling, visuals, and tune. This essay compares the traditional movies "Sabrina" and "That Touch of Mink," each launched within the early 1960s, with movies predating 1948. By exploring these factors, we will apprehend how these movies could not have been made earlier. One of the essential components to analyze in any movie is its story and storytelling techniques. "Sabrina," directed by means of Billy Wilder in 1954, and "That Touch of Mink," directed by Delbert Mann in 1962, is a common threads of their romantic comedy genre. "Sabrina" follows the titular character's transformation from a chauffeur's daughter into a sophisticated female pursued by wealthy brothers. Alternatively, "That Touch of Mink" explores the dynamics of a modern romance between a profession-targeted girl and a wealthy businessman. Both films are embedded with themes of sophistication, differences, love, and societal expectations. Compared to movies earlier than 1948, these narratives delve deeper into complicated personal relationships, reflecting the evolving societal norms of the Nineteen Fifties and 1960s. The protagonists in "Sabrina" and "That Touch of Mink" face demanding situations beyond the superficial, engaging with the audience on an emotional stage. In contrast, films from a long time frequently adhered to more accessible, linear storylines, constrained using time constraints. The visual factors in these films exhibit the technological advancements in cinematography and set design. "Sabrina" is characterized by its lush, black-and-white cinematography, shooting the elegance of the 1950s higher-class setting. The movie's visual appeal lies in comparing the opulent world of the Larrabee family and the old-fashioned allure of Sabrina's preliminary environment. "That Touch of Mink," made in the early Sixties, boasts colorful coloration cinematography that complements the trendy aesthetic of the time. Comparing those films with those predating 1948, well-known shows a stark difference in visual language. Early movies often grappled with the time's technical constraints, using static photographs and confined camera motion. In assessment, "Sabrina" and "That Touch of Mink" employ dynamic camera work and revolutionary enhancing techniques, enhancing the overall visual experience. Music plays a vital role in improving the emotional effect of a movie. "Sabrina" features a conventional score from the renowned composer Franz Waxman, which enhances the movie's romantic and comedic elements. The track serves to underscore the story's emotional beats, developing a continuing combo of sound and image. "That Touch of Mink" employs a lighthearted and melodic rating with the aid of Leith Stevens, ideally in music with the romantic comedy genre. Comparing the musical rankings of those movies with those from before 1948 highlights the evolution of movie tunes. Earlier films heavily depended on orchestral compositions, often live-recorded at some point during screenings. Creating new recording technologies allowed for more complicated and nuanced musical arrangements, as visible within the rankings of "Sabrina" and "That Touch of Mink." In essence, "Sabrina" and "That Touch of Mink" could not be made at an advanced time due to storytelling, visuals, and music improvements. The intensity of man or woman development, the visual sophistication, and the refined musical rankings distinguish these films from their predecessors. They stand as testaments to the ever-evolving nature of the cinematic medium, showcasing how every generation contributes to the wealthy tapestry of film history.

Brody Feigin

[picsinhead-blog]

Tim’s Favorite Movie Project: Jaws

Jaws (1975)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, and Lorraine Gary

Released June 20, 1975

Plot: A shark starts eating people near the beaches of summer tourist hotspot Amity Island in the days leading up to the July 4th holiday. The town’s new chief of police (Scheider) recruits a hotshot young marine biologist (Dreyfuss) and a grizzled shark fisherman (Shaw) to find and kill the monstrous fish.

One of my favorites because: What can I say about why I love Jaws that hasn’t already been said? It’s nearly a perfect movie, shaped as much by circumstance as by intention, a perfect storm of a film that retains nearly all of its power nearly 50 years later. For me, the power of Jaws lies in how deeply it’s rooted in humanity and Americana. I grew up in a summer tourist community, where I could recognize “summer people” by how they dressed, where they sat in church, or the kinds of meat or beer they bought at the store I worked in. But more than that, as a small town, we quickly knew if there was a new kid in school and what their story was - where their parents worked, where they lived before. And the residents with deep roots in the community were friendly but skeptical. The leads in Jaws represent all three of these columns: Quint is the hardcore local, Brody the recent transplant, and Hooper the outsider, the tourist. The plot of the movie is the catalyst for a story the American melting pot, a melting pot of generations and backgrounds. I love that these three characters, and the elements of the community (and country) that they represent, could not solve this seemingly simple problem without each other. It takes cooperation, understanding, and sacrifice. Jaws is an optimistic and inspirational American fable. Along the way, it also happens to be a terrific thriller and a grand adventure, one of the all-time great cinematic entertainments. 

My relationship to this movie: I’ve always known Jaws. It was on TV all the time growing up - and so was Jaws 2. I had seen every bit of Jaws many times over, but always with commercials and never all at once. Sequences from the movie were burned into my mind as masterpieces of suspense and action. But the first time I saw Jaws all at once was in the summer of 2006 when it was the first film in a series of “Popcorn” movies at the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House. It was a 35MM print, and I sat in the balcony with a crowd and for the first time fully felt the power of a film I thought I knew well. Since then, I have watched Jaws every year on or near the 4th of July, and when it was re-released in 2022, I saw it on IMAX. I own Jaws socks, t-shirts, a Jaws coffee mug, and a Jaws Yahtzee set. 

My favorite _________: Jaws is my favorite July 4th movie. 

List Position at Debut: Jaws is the fourteenth entry in this project and starts at number two. 

[ramascreen]

Adam Brody Joins Kristen Bell in New Comedy Series from Erin Foster

Netflix has announced that Adam Brody is joining their new Kristen Bell comedy series from creator Erin Foster and executive producer Steven Levitan. Logline: A comedy centered on the unlikely relationship between an outspoken, agnostic woman (Bell) and an unconventional rabbi (Brody).  Adam Brody will play Noah, a  charming rabbi who is stuck in his ways and used to playing things safe. He…

[xtruss]

Movies: Winter Movies Preview! Twelve Must See Films

Tilda Swinton plays both a mother and a daughter, Naomi Ackie portrays Whitney Houston, Damien Chazelle reimagines nineteen-twenties Hollywood, and more.

— By Richard Brody | November 4, 2022 | The New Yorker

Illustration By Tomi Um

Filmmakers’ real-life stories are fictionalized in some noteworthy new movies, including “The Inspection” (Nov. 18), written and directed by Elegance Bratton. It’s the drama of a homeless gay man (Jeremy Pope) who, facing rejection from his devoutly religious mother (Gabrielle Union), joins the Marines and confronts violent persecution during basic training. Steven Spielberg considers his own childhood in “The Fabelmans” (Nov. 11); Gabriel LaBelle plays young Sammy Fabelman, a budding filmmaker, with Paul Dano as the boy’s father and Michelle Williams as his mother. In “The Eternal Daughter” (Dec. 2), Joanna Hogg returns to characters from her two “Souvenir” movies, a filmmaker named Julia and her mother, Rosalind; in the new film Tilda Swinton plays both women, whose relationship is tested by Julia’s plan to film Rosalind—and by a visitation from a ghost.

Musicals appear in many forms, starting with Kasi Lemmons’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” (Dec. 21), a bio-pic about Whitney Houston, starring Naomi Ackie; Stanley Tucci plays the record producer Clive Davis. Damien Chazelle’s new film, “Babylon” (Dec. 23), is a cinema-centric fantasy, set in nineteen-twenties Hollywood, in the early days of talking pictures. It stars Diego Calva and Margot Robbie as aspiring actors and Brad Pitt as a famous one. Steven Soderbergh returns to direct “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (Feb. 10), the third film in the series, again starring Channing Tatum.

It’s good news that there are documentaries featured prominently amid the season’s high-profile releases. In Laura Poitras’s “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (Nov. 23), the photographer Nan Goldin details her addiction to OxyContin and her quest to hold the Sackler family—owners of the drug’s manufacturer, Purdue Pharma—accountable for the opioid crisis. In “Framing Agnes” (Dec. 2), the director Chase Joynt brings to light U.C.L.A.’s previously unpublished archive of interviews with trans people, incorporating dramatic reënactments of some discussions.

Literary adaptations are inevitable during awards season. This year’s batch includes Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise” (Nov. 25), based on Don DeLillo’s 1985 satire about academia, family life, consumerism, and industrial catastrophe; Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig star. “Women Talking” (Dec. 2), Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’s 2018 novel, is set in a religious community where women who are victims of abuse organize in resistance; the cast includes Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, and Frances McDormand.

As ever, fantasies abound, whether freely imaginary, tethered to history, or set in playlands in between. “Glass Onion” (Nov. 23), Rian Johnson’s sequel to “Knives Out,” features the earlier film’s chewily accented detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), on the trace of a killer on the private island of a billionaire (Edward Norton). “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Dec. 16), James Cameron’s long-anticipated sequel, is centered on the futuristic family life of the American soldier Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and the Na’vi huntress Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) on the planet Pandora. ♦

— Published in the print edition of the November 14, 2022, issue, with the headline “Winter Preview.”

[abysstrap-ran]

𝓜𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓛𝓲𝓼𝓽

※Pinned post coming through. Still under WIP, older works are under read more! (´・ω・`) ◈ Accessible Stories will be marked with this mark ◈

𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘤𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

Acridity (Coming soon!) Ghosts of the Past (Coming soon!)

𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

𝘑𝘢𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

Serenity in Threes (Sneak peak!) Shadows (Coming soon!)

𝘑𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

A Rose so Dangerous (Coming soon!)

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

◈ Facsimile ◈ Snowtrap ◈ A Penny for a Dance, a Dance for a Thought

◈ Chamber with a very oblivious s/o ◈ Chamber with a pregnant s/o ◈ Chamber with a trans male s/o ◈ Chamber with an overtly fiesty s/o

𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

Alter Ego (Coming soon!)

𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘈. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵

◈ Steven's s/o giving little treats to his personal squad ◈ Steven Soulmate! Blood AU ◈ Steven with a werewolf s/o ◈ Teacher! Steven ◈ Soft Steven ◈ Steven + Dark! Steven as a bloodbreed ◈ Steven & s/o in a school themed AU! + everyone else ◈ Steven realizing he has a crush and confessing ◈ Steven accidentally freezing his s/o ◈ Some Steven Headcannons ◈ Steven with a clumsy art student s/o ◈ S/o prodding steven's legs after a particularly bad day ◈ Steven wedding hcs ◈ Dark! Steven ◈ If s/o was stalked by a creep ◈ Steven develops a crush on a fellow member of Libra ◈ Relationship HCs for Dark Steven ◈ Steven x Dying!Reader angst ◈ Steven catching his werewolf s/o ◈ Fetishes

[Others] ◈ Klaus with a teddy bear ◈ Dark! Libra headcannons for Zed, KK, Dog and Brody ◈ Roommate Leo ◈ Dark! Libra ◈ Leo's crush kisses him out of nowhere ◈ Relationship HC for ZappZed ◈ Relationship HC for Leo and Zed ◈ Relationship headcannons for Dark! Zed ◈ Libra s/o getting almost drunk on them while ranting ◈ Klaus falling for Steven’s lil sister ◈ Dark!Klaus with too pure for the world s/o

𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵 

◈ Farewell Gift (Percival Graves) ◈ Broken (Percival Graves) ◈ Sweater Collection (Theseus Scamander) ◈ Snow-bound (Gellert Grindelwald) ◈ Defender (Newt Scamander)

[realmackross]

PARTIES:@longislandcharm; @realmackross (Brody) TIMING: Takes place while this thread is happening. SUMMARY: Brody visits Winter to ask a big favor and to say goodbye. WARNINGS: head trauma tw

In the blink of an eye a regular day in Wicked’s Rest could change from just that to a life changing experience. Winter knew that. She was well aware that she could be in the middle of searching her cabinets for her missing oreos when the most unexpected thing could happen. The cold chill ran down her back and she assumed that Henry had come back from wherever he’d been in the house, her voice low as she grumbled. “First my eggs, now my cookies? What? Is there some sort of snack fairy in town that thrives on stealing my food?” It wasn’t beyond the possibility, she didn’t think anything was anymore, but it had only been a fleeting thought spoken out loud so that Henry could weigh in if he wanted to. There wasn’t a reply though and the medium turned her head to question why he was so quiet.

But it wasn’t Henry standing behind her. Her body went completely cold as she took in the ghost standing there. His clothes were torn, bloody, but everything else in her vision was almost exactly as it had been before he’d died. His skin was perfect save for it being more translucent than when he was alive but even if he still held all of the marks of his death she would have recognized him anywhere. 

Her heart sank as Winter slowly turned from the open cabinet, afraid to take her eyes off of the man standing in front of her in case he decided to disappear. Why was he here anyway? They had been friends, yes, but he should have been going to see someone else and she was sure she would have heard if he’d paid a visit to her. They were both silent as if waiting for the other to speak, to break the tension that was lingering between them, until she couldn’t keep it in anymore. She needed to know what was going on but for once in her life she could only think of one lame question to ask as if she didn’t already know who he was.

“Brody?”

—

“Hey, Winter.” The words were somewhat raspy and soft as a small smile crept over his features. It had been what felt like a lifetime ago since Brody had spoken to her. Though, just like with Mackenzie, he had been watching her from a distance. Trying to know when to make the right move. To make his presence known. But now was the time, “I know this must be a shock huh? Seeing me like this?” He didn’t dare turn around. Most of his appearance he had managed to nurse back to something less shocking, but there was still a small place in the back of his head that hadn’t fully “healed”, if you even wanted to call it that.

The night Brody died had been one out of pure violence and torment. It wasn’t anything he had ever fathomed the love of his life could do, and when his spirit had separated from his body leaving him as nothing but a mere spectator to his own demise, Brody was left in shock. But it was the way he watched as Mackenzie had immediately felt remorse when whatever trance she had been in soon disappeared that had kept him from harboring an immediate rage, and possibly the biggest thing that had saved him from wanting revenge on the woman he loved.

From then on he lingered with her seeing the coverup, the move to Wicked’s Rest and everything that had taken place over the course of the year with Mackenzie. He had seen her lose control. He had seen her and the immense remorse she carried from the night she had killed him up until recently when he watched Jade try to end Mackenzie’s undead life. He had been there for all the nights alone when she had mourned her future without him, without the possibility of kids, and even watched as she began to form a relationship with Elora. Brody had seen it all, and he knew the one thing that was holding her back from living a full life, as much as that was possible, was her guilt for his death.

“I need your help. I want to talk to Mackenzie.” His eyebrows raised in a pleading sort of manner, “I know I could face her on my own, but I want to ease her into this interaction. And I think you can probably help with that.” Brody motioned towards the living room of her house in reference to Henry.

—

She took a shaky breath when the ghost answered her, tears springing to her eyes. Had she ever really mourned Brody? Thinking back on it, Winter didn’t feel like she’d had a chance. At first, she had been too worried about Mack to fully process his death and then the actual ghosts showing up in her life took precedence. She hadn’t even been able to process it all when Mack told her she had been the one to kill him, too busy trying to avoid her best friend and work through the fear that had suddenly plagued her. No, Winter hadn’t been able to mourn him because she hadn’t had the chance but she also wondered if she would have even tried or if she would have buried the emotions away like she usually did. The surprise of him showing up out of the blue took her off guard, gave allowance for one tear to slip down her cheek before she wiped it away and did just what she expected would have happened to that grief when he’d first died; she buried it deep within herself.

“You mean without the teeth marks?” The harshness in her voice surprised her as well, remnants of that grief pushing her towards anger as if it was his fault her best friend was a total mess now. Rage was her default after all. “I assume you know what…or I guess who did that to you.” She gestured up and down the length of his body with a shaky hand, Winter hating that it was giving away how fragile she seemed to be. Even in death she didn’t want anyone to think of her as weak. “Or have you completely hidden in the shadows of wherever you guys go to when you’re not around?” 

She was just about to tell him to go to who he really needed to go to when he started to explain why he hadn’t yet. Again, her anger flared inside of her, the reliability of it so comforting. “I really hate when people so close to me put me in such weird fucking positions. Do you know how upset she’s going to be knowing you came to me first?” She really wasn’t sure if Mack would appreciate being eased into this or not but this aggression building inside of her had to be directed somewhere. He was just the unfortunate recipient. It was just like a human to blame their grief on the dead. 

—

Brody hadn’t expected the welcome he had gotten from Winter. In all honesty, it had surprised him. She figured the woman would’ve at least been mournful, but not outright angry at him. And while he wasn’t here to play the blame game, something he did have to work to come to terms with, he had at least expected Winter to be, well…not so Winter. But she was right in one thing. He was coming to her and not Mackenzie. And maybe there was some part of him that was afraid to face his former love. After all, his death had been such a violent one. A death that anyone could rightfully expect a vengeful spirit to come out of. But not Brody. Brody was the exception, because of how much he loved Mackenzie. 

“Retract the claws, Winter. I’m not here to argue with you. And yeah, you’re right, I should be going to Mackenzie, but considering how angry you are with me, what do you think she’s going to be like?” Honestly an unfair question since Mackenzie wasn’t anywhere around to defend herself. “Look, I don’t want to cause any problems, okay? And you’re her best friend. The one who's always been there for her. If you don’t want to be any part of this, then that’s fine. But just be there in the aftermath, okay? Please? That’s all I’m asking. I’ve been watching her since the night…since I died, and I know that my death is eating her up inside. I just want her to be happy. To find peace and move on with her life, since she still has that chance as a zombie.” It sounded like something out of a movie he had been in. Calling his fiance a zombie. And he was a ghost. It was ridiculous, but somehow this had become their fate.

—

“Yeah, they don’t do that. Claws are there for a reason, why hide them?” Winter crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes boring into the ghost at his question. A stupid question. “She may have a bark, Brody, but we all know I’m the one with the bite. She couldn’t be angry at you if she tried.” Mack could never. She was the reason he was dead and she was well aware of that so how could she be mad at having him back, and not as a vengeful spirit at that? No, she would feel that heartbreak, that sorrow, that guilt all over again and maybe lash out but never any anger. And really, Winter wasn’t even angry at him but she couldn’t stop the hostility coursing through her. 

The realization of why dawned on her. This appearance after so long was going to be too much for Mack. She was already going through it with everything that had happened since becoming what she was. She was already struggling with her actions and the consequences of them. She had already loved and lost again. Did she really deserve another heartbreak? Winter wouldn’t meet Brody’s eye when she voiced the thought aloud. “You’re going to break her.” Which he knew. He wouldn’t be asking her to pick up the pieces he left behind if he didn’t. That made her anger so much more tangible.

In the back of her mind she knew. She was well aware that Mack’s former fiance telling her he still cared for her despite everything was a need, not a want, but she still wasn’t ready to be the one sitting in the aftermath of it. It was hard enough now, hard enough to let Mackenzie feel the things she needed to feel while being by her side for it, and Winter couldn’t imagine how much harder it could get before things started to get better. Worse, living Mack’s grief with her would force the medium into it herself. There was no way she would escape it all without her own emotions clawing toward the surface. She was being selfish with all of this and she knew it but didn’t it matter if she wasn’t ready to grieve Brody herself? “I don’t know how to do this, Brody. I’ve walked through this process with so many people but never with someone I was close to. Never helping them with someone…I cared for too.”

—

“I’ve missed you, Winter. And your sassiness. No wonder Mackenzie loves you so much.” In life, he had always loved to pick on Winter. Get the so-called claws she was talking about to come out just a little. But banter had been something for the living. For Brody, he had one mission to complete, and it was more important than shooting the shit with Winter. No, this was something that he needed to do, because Mackenzie’s undead life depended on it. And if he had to do this alone, then so be it.

“Look, I'm sorry. I didn’t ask to be put in this position either, Winter. It just happened. You know that. I would love to be back in California right now breathing, spending the rest of my days and starting a family with the woman I’ve loved for most of my life. But, not to be cliche in such a delicate time, you can’t always get what you want.” He paused and looked down.

Brody knew none of this was fair to Winter, and he felt genuinely bad for it. But he couldn’t be there for Mackenzie like he wanted to. There was no way possible, and if he were able to move on after approaching the woman he loved, Mackeznie would be left alone again, and that was the last thing he had wanted for her; the thought causing his spectral heart to break all over again.

—

Her eyes softened just so at his words but she was still in that position that clearly stated her walls were up. Even knowing that he probably wouldn’t be around for long she couldn’t allow herself to show a different side. Why couldn’t she do that? Why was it so hard to show she cared? Mackenzie seems to have been the only one to break through those perpetual walls, getting a side of Winter that no one else ever could. She wanted to know how she allowed herself to be real with her best friend but couldn’t bring herself to do the same with other people she cared for. Even when death had their claws in them.

Shit. Maybe she really did need therapy.

She raised an eyebrow at him, mouth set into a thin line with his Rolling Stones reference, but she said nothing. Sometimes the way she showed that she cared was by keeping her lips sealed. Winter knew Brody would know that. She also knew what he needed from her. Rolling her eyes, she lifted her hand so that she could inspect her nails, the act of nonchalance broken by the words she finally spoke. “Ask me again.” Ask her to stay by her best friend's side. Ask her to pick up the pieces of a broken woman that they both cared so deeply for. Ask her to be a human being for someone who would never hesitate to do the same for her. “Ask me again, Brody.”

—

He watched as the expression on her face softened, but he knew exactly what she was doing, when she requested him to ask again. She wanted him to beg. Wanted Brody to really feel what he was doing. And though ghosts couldn’t feel physical pain, he could feel the pain of heartbreak and grief. Regret and remorse. All of which, he knew she knew a thing or two about as well, but because this was Mackenzie’s life at stake. Her morality. The belief that good things could still happen to her, so he gave into Winter’s request without any second thought. He even stepped in closer and got down on his knees.

“For you, Winter, I’ll beg, because this is for Mackenzie. Not me. I’m not going to lie and say it was never about me, because if none of it had been, I would have revealed myself the day she killed me, but she was already putting herself through enough, and she didn’t need the reminder of what she had done by a mangled corpse struggling to adjust to the afterlife.” Brody looked into her eyes pleading, “So please, will you be there for her. If me revealing myself to her sends me off to wherever ghosts go when they’ve completed whatever unfinished business they have, I don’t want her to be alone in this. In grieving my death all over again, because I can’t stay with her. Because we both know our girl is just ambitious enough to believe in a future with a ghost.” He laughed softly, but there was a sadness laced throughout.

—

Eyes widened as he got on his knees, Winter’s arms falling to her side. She was a little insulted that he would think she wanted him to beg for this but at the same time she couldn’t really blame him, could she. She was a cold one sometimes, it was why her name was perfect for her. “I’m not asking you to beg, asshole.” Her voice was low but there was humor lacing the words. “I can’t believe you think I’m that petty.” Yes she could. “I just wanted you to ask me again so I could give you a proper answer.” She’d already made up her mind, after all, but now she wanted to prolong giving him the answer to see how far she could take this.

‘It isn’t the time for this, Winter.’ No, this was supposed to be serious. He was dead, Mack was hurting and needed to grieve, it was not the time for her to tease the hell out of him and string him along. She rolled her eyes at him and gestured for the ghost to get up. “Have some dignity, damn.” 

She laughed with her last comment but all the humor started to fall away. In a rare occurrence, Winter grew quiet while she looked Brody over. There had never been any question as to whether or not she would be there for Mack. It was inevitable, like the tides. Winter would never have left the woman stranded while she worked to bring back a better version of herself, to heal, even if she would be terrified the whole time. Maybe that was another reason she had been angry with him. that he would even dare question her loyalty with something like this was an insult to the friendship she held with Mackenzie. Still, it was kind of sweet in a way she supposed. “I’m going to be there for her, okay? It shouldn’t have even been a question. But I know you wouldn’t take any chances when it came to something like this.”

—

If this had been their life before, like when Brody had come to Winter needing her help planning his wedding proposal to Mack, he would have laughed. Let her carry on this charade of making him beg, but this situation was entirely different. It was one that he had both longed to finally put into action, but one he had so greatly dreaded. And as he continued to stare into her eyes, he knew that she realized the gravity of the situation.

Closing his eyes and letting out a breath of relief, Brody slowly stood back up; a small snort escaping his lips when she told him to have some dignity. And as he found his footing again, he looked back into Winter’s eyes, “For the record, I don’t think you're petty. I think you have a lot going on in your life too, that unfortunately Mackenzie hasn’t noticed, because of her own stuff, and I know if she wasn’t so lost in herself, she would be there for you.” He reached out and gently laid a hand on her shoulder, making sure not to press down too hard. “And I know you will, Winter. I have no doubt about that, but you needed to know what was about to happen, because we both know how much of a wild card she is, especially when it comes to running away from things.”

—

She swallowed, her eyes on the hand that she should be feeling the weight of on her shoulder as the lack of it seemed to make things so much more real. Of course she’d known he was dead, saw the aftershocks from it all, but it was a different thing entirely to see his immaterial body. “We all have shit going on.” Her heart wasn’t in the comment, Winter looking away from him towards a random spot in her kitchen just so she didn’t have to see the evidence anymore. “Don’t worry, okay? I’ve got her back and she’s not running away from me again. I chewed her out so much the last time I’m sure she won’t want to hear my mouth again.” 

She took in a breath as she thought about what was coming. This conversation was ending sooner than she wanted it to, the girl not having realized how much she missed him through her anger from earlier. This was the part she hated. Facing the emotions that came with goodbyes, allowing herself to feel the hurt that she so desperately didn’t want to feel. But if it was the last time she would see him then she had to, didn’t she? She could already feel her eyes welling up but she willed the tears back. Just because she was doing this didn't mean she had to cry. “I miss you.” 

Gritting her teeth, Winter finally looked at him again. “You always saw things that others didn’t. You may misinterpret my meaning with certain things but you always seemed to know when something wasn’t right with me even through all my bullshit….I hate this, Brody.” And she knew that he did too. He’d much rather be sitting next to her in her kitchen talking about his next movie or listening to Winter roast him as much as she could. Instead he had to go give his undead fiance a pep talk before possibly disappearing forever. “It’s right, though. I mean, that you’re doing this. You shouldn’t stick around longer than you have to.” Winter bit into the inside of her bottom lip, hiding behind a roll of her eyes. “I love you, you idiot.”

—

Brody could feel the shift in Winter. He knew that what she had been fighting was coming to the surface. He had so greatly wanted to spend more time with her. Shoot the shit like old times. Tease Winter about Spirit Speak and some of the people who seemed so gullible, but now that he knew it was all real, he had felt kind of bad. But despite it all, he had loved Winter like a sister, and saying goodbyes had never been an easy thing for him, but in this moment, he knew he had two coming. Two he wasn’t ready for, but had to be.

“I miss you, too, Winter. Even through all your teasing and snake bite attitude. You keep that about yourself okay? Don’t let that go, and don’t ever let anyone try and take advantage of you. Not like they’d ever get a chance to, but I won’t be around to kick their ass if they do.” He could feel what felt like tears of his own coming to his eyes, and when it had first happened, the night he saw Mackenzie wracked with guilt, he couldn’t understand what was happening, but now he could, “I love you, Ice Queen. You take care of our girl, yeah.”

With a smirk and a nod, Brody quietly left Winter’s house. And as he stood outside on the sidewalk looking back in, he recalled all the moments he had with the woman. The laughter, the tears, playing jokes on each other, dinners, parties, and even playing peacemaker between her and Mack. An entire lifetime's worth of memories flashing through his mind in the single beat of a heart. But as much as he loved Winter, he knew the real test was coming. And whoever said a ghost’s heart couldn’t break was full of shit.

[hpowellsmith]

This might be a strange thing to ask, but did you have any literary influences when writing CDLC? I loved it so much, I'd like to read more stuff like it and waiting for Royal Affairs will drive me insane!

Yes I did!

The title Crème de la Crème comes from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, and I was quite inspired by it when writing, especially for the labyrinthine teacher romances (content note: it contains teacher/student relationships which Crème absolutely doesn't).

I really love Laurinda by Alice Pung - I highly recommend it and was inspired by it when writing. It's about a Vietnamese-Australian girl attending private school and it's absolutely ruthless.

I was also inspired by Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's about a white Midwestern girl attending private school on scholarship and a lot of the excesses inspired me for a Crème and Royal Affairs, in particular the ways in which the rich characters are oblivious to how they hurt others.

Although The Secret History by Donna Tartt isn't a direct inspiration, a lot of its whole vibe seeps into Crème and Royal Affairs, especially the Children of Hecate bits. I have thought about how a university story could work in the setting and The Secret History would definitely inspire me for that. (It has some content that may be disturbing so please look after yourself when reading)

On a more cozy tone, I also highly recommend the Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens. I hadn't read them when I was making Crème de la Crème but if you're after fantastic detective novels about friendship and adorable characters, do give them a read (the series was completed recently and I cannot WAIT for the sequel series).

Thank you for the ask!

[hellsalemsworld]

Halloween headcanons for Deldro Brody down below.

❤ Headcanons ❤

Deldro

Deldro likes Halloween for only one reason. Since he can be kinda a jerkish man, he loves to give people a frightening scare. It doesn’t help he has a frightening appearance and he uses it to his advantage at every opportunity he gets. He’ll most likely scare people of his own age, young adults, and middle-aged folks. The only groups of people he won’t scare are the sickly, elderly, and children. He also won’t scare you if you aren’t into horror. He may be a/an (ex?) criminal but that doesn’t mean he is entirely insensitive.

He has no need for a costume thanks to his appearance. It’s unfortunately a double-edged sword as he unintentionally scares kids without trying to. A lot of teenaged trick-or-treaters on the other hand would love his looks. Deldro would be asked to take pictures with them and he’d happily oblige. Despite his blessing for not needing a costume, he’s self-conscious about his appearance and thinks he’s not handsome at all. Reassure the guy he’s very handsome in his own way and give him a kiss. He’s so blessed to have someone like you. <3

During the day, Deldro spends his time at home and invites you over for a date. He’s watching horror movies on the couch with one of two scenarios playing. If you’re a fan of horror, you’ll be happily indulging in watching horror movies with him. If you’re not a fan of horror, he’ll poke fun at you for being chicken though he won’t force you to watch. In fact, he’ll let you do your own things while at his place, even if you’re watching a different Halloween movie through a medium. Later on in the night, you guys go out and do spooky things together such as going to haunted mansion events and exploring abandoned places. In events where you guys go to abandoned places, Deldro makes sure you remain by his side at all times.

He doesn’t have any Halloween decorations in his home, at least not the traditional ones. His Halloween decorations are dark in nature. He decorates his home with stuff like bones, skulls, and fake blood as if he’s made a murder scene. It fits him nicely since he’s (or was) a serial killer. The decorations are small in number since he doesn’t wanna go overboard with them.

The guy doesn’t know how to spoil you. He’d ask all his male coworkers on how to pamper you. Klaus and Steven offered gushy advice which doesn’t suit him at all, frustrating him. Zapp offered sexual advice which he said he’d only make out with his s/o at most. Leo and Zed offered simple yet effective advice of being with them, holding their hand, and giving them their favorite treats. Deldro hates how cliche it is but goes with it since he knows he doesn’t need to do anything outrageous to pamper you. Deldro simply gives you your favorite snacks and a spooky stuffed animal. <3

When the night ends, Deldro offers to walk you home. He dreads the idea of you getting hurt and would be disgusted with himself for not being there with you if it ever happened. Throughout the entire time he walks you back, he's holding your hand and he has a bit of a blush running across his face. He never expected himself to be in a relationship much less in one with someone who loves him for who he is despite his history. When the two of you reach your place, he gives you a kiss and gets flustered. You smile at him and tell him you enjoyed it. Still blushing, he's happy you enjoyed the kiss and holds your hand one more time, giving you praise on how amazing you've been for him. He becomes a little more energetic than usual and mentions he'll stop by in the daylight. What a sweetie. <3

[tabloidtoc]

Life & Style, February 17

Cover: Joaquin Phoenix -- fame, tragedy and finding happiness 

Page 1: Photo Flash -- Ciara and Russell Wilson took to Instagram to post shots of the very pregnant singer 

Page 2: Contents

Page 4: The top 10 Pink looks -- Molly Sims, Jamie Chung, Nina Dobrev, Dua Lipa, Kate Bosworth 

Page 5: Kaitlyn Dever, Rachel Brosnahan, Zoey Deutch, Lili Reinhart, Elisabeth Moss 

Page 6: Twinning! Aly Raisman vs. Kelly Osbourne, Delilah Belle Hamlin vs. Karlie Kloss, Keltie Knight vs. Sofia Carson 

Page 8: Channing Tatum disses pregnant ex Jenna Dewan by saying Jessie J is way hotter 

Page 9: Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy are renting out their million-dollar mansion in the Hollywood Hills for $16.500 a month amid mounting legal bills stemming from the college admissions cheating scandal, Throwback -- Hailey Baldwin, Biggest Spenders of the Week -- Will Forte, Future, Paris Hilton, Lana Del Rey 

Page 10: Nikki and Brie Bella are both pregnant and due less than two weeks apart, a downcast Margot Robbie ditched her wedding ring the morning after the SAG Awards seemingly sending a pointed message to husband Tom Ackerley who didn’t attend the ceremony with her 

Page 12: Hannah Brown back as The Bachelorette? 

Page 13: Vanessa Hudgens isn’t afraid to show ex Austin Butler exactly what he’s missing by posting sexy snaps on social media and grabbing dinner with Los Angeles Lakers star Kyle Kuzma, viewers watched as Jeannie Mai welcomed Amanda Seales to The Real with open arms but behind the scenes the longtime co-host has been feeling insecure because Amanda is super outspoken, VIP Style -- Hailee Steinfeld (pictured), Tyler Cameron, Billie Eilish (pictured), Andi Dorfman, Post Malone and Brody Jenner (pictured), Sienna Miller (pictured), Garcelle Beauvais, Steven Tyler (pictured) 

Page 14: The Week in Photos -- Justin Beiber on Ellen DeGeneres 

Page 16: Zachary Levi and a Harley-Davidson LiveWire, despite the 40-degree weather Blake Lively stepped out in Times Square in a pair of shorts, Charlize Theron and  Renee Zellweger at the Academy Awards Nominess Luncheon 

Page 17: Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi kicked off The Poor After Dark at Harrah’s Resort 

Page 20: Duchess Kate Middleton at the LEYF Stockwell Gardens Nursery and Preschool 

Page 21: Gina Rodriguez at the Kajillionaire premiere 

Page 22: Karlie Kloss at Jean Paul Gaultier’s final runway show, Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Margot Robbie at the Birds of Prey premiere in Mexico City, Mark Wahlberg outside of F45 Training 

Page 24: Stars Behaving Badly -- Offset copped a feel on wife Cardi B at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala, Simon Cowell smoking a cigarette while vacationing in Barbados

Page 26: Say What?! Dwayne Johnson, Brad Pitt, Charlie Hunnam on Matthew McConaughey, Pink, Jennifer Lopez 

Page 28: Britney Spears and Sam Asghari have recently been living separate lives and it’s taken a toll on their relationship 

Page 29: When Meghan King Edmonds revealed that estranged husband Jim Edmonds is dating a woman they had a threesome with she knew she might pay for it later and now she is -- Jim is suing the RHOOC alum for defamation

Page 30: Cover Story -- Joaquin Phoenix finds his happily ever after -- after decades of pain Joaquin reaches a new high point in his career as well as his love life with fiance Rooney Mara 

Page 34: Prince Harry to Prince William -- we’ll always be brothers -- before starting his new life in Canada Prince Harry secretly met with Prince William to try to repair the once-close relationship after months of bitterness 

Page 36: Kobe Bryant’s family struggling to cope 

Page 38: Marriage counseling isn’t working for Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake 

Page 40: 5 ways to rev your metabolism -- Reese Witherspoon, Busy Philipps, Gabrielle Union 

Page 42: Who Lives Here? Leighton Meester and Adam Brody 

Page 44: Entertainment 

Page 45: Star Review -- Tan France, As Seen On-Screen -- Candace Cameron Bure wore Lele Sadoughi’s Paper Lily Multicolor Acetate Small Drop Earrings on Good Morning America 

Page 46: Valentine’s Gift Guide -- Emily Ratajkowski 

Page 48: Fashion -- Grammys -- Gwen Stefani, Camila Cabello 

Page 49: Dua Lipa, Chrissy Teigen 

Page 50: Beauty Crush -- Bebe Rexha’s look by her makeup artist Ash K Holm 

Page 52: Diva or Down-to-Earth? Diva Jennifer Garner has a glam squad, Down-to-Earth Zoe Saldana feeds the meter, Down-to-Earth Ariel Winter buys lots of booze 

Page 54: Social Stars Posts of the Week -- Emilia Clarke and her new puppy Ted, Nina Dobrev and Riawna Capri, Kylie Jenner’s daughter Stormi, Courteney Cox shared a snap of the Friends cast from January 23, 2004 

Page 56: Horoscope -- Aquarius Jennifer Aniston, They’re Not Together But They Should Be -- Pisces Trevor Noah and Sagittarius Vanessa Hudgens 

Page 60: What I’m Into -- Lance Bass 

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Violet's exactly like Pearl. A manipulative bitch, who ruins everyone else's life for her own selfish wants.

.....Uhm.

Okay, this ask has left me kinda jarred. Lots to unpack here within these two sentences...

Anon, while you are entitled to your opinion, I’m not sure if you’re aware that we love and respect Violet on this blog.  I’m a Louis and clouis lover through and through, but I still love Violet’s character and this... is not her character. I just- no, haha 

Now, I don’t know anything about Pearl because I’ve never watched Steven Universe, but I do know about a little bit about Violet. 

Saying this about Violet is like saying that Louis is nothing but a jokester who doesn’t care about anything and only wants to get into Clementine’s pants. It’s just not... even a thing when you actually get to know them. They’re both complex characters with unique flaws and highlights about them. 

I haven’t watched Violet’s route all the way through, I’ve only seen the first two episodes of her route and then gifs from the rest. But, I have seen how she reacts in Louis’ route when you don’t save her. The first time left me furious because I had a lot of emotions about everything going through me [especially after finding out what happened to Louis’ tongue in her route] and I even made a post ranting about it in all my fury. 

Then, I calmed down and replayed it and looked at everything through Violet’s pov. While I think it’s mostly poor writing in the end when it comes to Violet’s capture and them telling us that she was mentally tortured only for them to turn around and say, “Gotcha! She actually got a physical injury like Louis and mental torture did nothing because she forgives Clementine!” Louis’ kidnapped route was way better executed in my opinion, but hey. Can’t have everything. 

Violet has had a lot of things happen to her that lead to her having abandonment issues, and if you go through her route you get insight into that. Even if you go through Louis’ route 100%, after Marlon’s death she still backs you up. She and Louis have the appropriate reactions to the situation. Violet sees Clementine as the one who brought the truth to light, as another girl who she’s warmed up to and a friend she could connect to given their similarities. 

Violet doesn’t try and manipulate Clementine into a relationship with her. If you just want to be friends with her, she’s 100% okay with that! In fact, she’s thrilled! She’s finally found someone she feels she can trust and bond with! Hell, if you go with Louis the whole time leading up to that point, she’s still friends with Clementine up to her capture. 

So, what confuses me the most about this ask is the “who ruins everyone else’s lives for her own selfish wants” part. 

Uhm......... when? 

When she’s constantly rude to Brody? Yeah, it’s not nice and it makes things tense between the two of them, but you can help Violet see that it’s not Brody’s fault and she tries. She doesn’t just go, “Yeah well fuck Brody anyway.” 

When she wants Clementine to stay? Is that ruining the lives of the others? Because... no. It doesn’t. Violet’s right about them needing her to stay and help protect them.  Even Louis, who was left heartbroken after watching his best friend’s murder right in front of him and who was the one who really wanted them gone, admits that he was blinded by all the shit happening and that it was the wrong thing to do. 

When she gets saved instead causing Louis to lose his tongue and “his life to be over”? 

I’m sorry, but Louis’ life isn’t over. It’s not ruined, it’s changed. He may have lost a huge part of himself, something that will take years to heal from [yes, game, it’s not something he’s going to be okay with in a week yeesh] but it’s not Violet’s fault. Violet wasn’t like, “Oh good you saved me ahaha fuck Louis” she’s fucking vengeful. She’s furious, and she’s going to do everything she can to get him back. 

Again, throwing more shade at the writers [but not really because blah blah budget and time blah blah I know] but I can see why some might think Violet doesn’t care about Louis based on her lack of reaction in the cells. And that’s a part that I do have a lot of issues with.  

I’m fully aware of the explanation: Violet had her freak out while Clementine was knocked out and now Violet doesn’t have time to focus on Louis’ condition if they want to escape. 

Which is bullshit. 

The Violet we were shown up to this point would’ve at least asked, “How bad is it?” and follow it up with a “We need to get out of here and get him to Ruby.” It’s two in character lines that would’ve fixed that problem. 

And then there’s Violet and Minerva. Violet acknowledges that this isn’t the Minerva she had a relationship with. And while I am annoyed that she wants to stay with her on the boat regardless of choices, I see it more as “I can’t leave her to just die here I am human after all” in her route. And Violet protects Clementine, AJ, and Tenn from her the best she can on the bridge. 

Which, by the way, her sacrificing her life to save Tenn when you don’t trust AJ? Not selfish. And if AJ does shoot him, she’s rightfully pissed off. 

Anyway, going back to Violet on the boat....

The thing is, when it comes down to the Violet vs Louis choice, you can look at it two different ways when you let her get captured. You can see it as Violet feeling abandoned because Clementine chose Louis over her, or because Clementine neglected to save her. While those two things look exactly the same just with different wording, they aren’t. 

If you consider that Louis and Violet are as close as it’s implied, Violet probably knows that Louis and Clementine are together now. Louis knows when Violet and her are together [suggested when you romance Violet but save Louis, he mentions that Clem and her are really close] so Violet could definitely take that as “You chose your boyfriend over me” after all the mental torture she went through with Lilly and Minerva. This is something that I explored in [with you] because it’s such a conflict within her character that I thought was intriguing. 

And the other way to look at it is that Violet isn’t upset that she saved Louis, she’s upset that Clementine couldn’t save her too. Someone she put all her trust into, regardless of the romance or best friendship. Again, this could be magnified out of proportion when you take into account Lilly and Minerva’s manipulation of her during her capture. 

We’ve seen Lilly work her slimy magic. Given everything that’s happened, Violet stopped fighting and let it all get to her. She was an easy subject [or toy] for Lilly to break, especially since she has Minerva as a tool. It’s not hard to think about for two seconds and come to the conclusion that yeah, Violet’s head really was fucked up after spending all that time with Lilly. 

Now, while I’m not the biggest fan of Violet forgiving Clementine so easily, it does show us that she’s aware that she was wrong to attack Clementine in the cell. She’s also been abandoned AGAIN and now she’s blind because of it. She’s honestly just a mess right now, and all she has in that moment is Clementine and Louis, who she has to trust to guide her to safety. Once again, she has to force herself into someone else’s hand and hope they don’t abandon her, too. 

What I’m getting at, anon, is that Violet isn’t a selfish, manipulative bitch. 

Violet’s sarcastic, but really funny, soft but hardened, sweet and an awkward romantic, and she’s passionate about protecting her family. She can close her self off, turn her head away and stay out of conflict, but she can also step in and lead when she has to. She makes mistakes, she gets angry, downright pissed sometimes. She also can apologize for this and recognizes when she’s wrong. She’s been through some shit in this world, and based on your choices, she can possibly give her life to save a boy she cared deeply for from his deranged sister, and the death is long and cruel.  

Like I said in the beginning, anon, you’re entitled to your opinion, but throwing around things like this only makes you look ignorant and hostile, and it’s stuff like this that I rarely answer. Tonight this just threw me for a loop and hey, I’ve got my own opinions and explanations for things.

So here’s my jumbled essay written at the lovely hour of midnight. 

You probably didn’t want it, but here it is anyway.