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shermandelux-blog · 4 years

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HOW TO NEVER EVER OFFEND ANYONE ONLINE...EVER!!!

***spoiler alert....it's not possible!! so HERE's what to do when the internet TURNS ON YOU!

So I'm walking out the front door of the brewery the other day and there at the bar was great friend and fellow brewery owner from down the block Damon Moreau of Common Crown Brewery. "How's it going buddy?" I blurt out, happy as always to see fellow brewers in our taproom. The somewhat fatigued look on his face said everything but yet he replied "Well our new beer just launched and social media is EXPLODING right now!!" Well, that's GREAT news I begin to attempt to congratulate him but he stops me in my tracks with a "yeah but NOT in a good way!" The reaction to the name "Cherry Karen Sour” hit fast and hit hard. Some people were clearly offended by the use of the Karen meme on their cans and accusations of ignorance and racism began to fly.

From my viewpoint, I thought it was a clever play on a sour beer being named after a sour personality. I've seen enough of the Karen meme vids and GIF's online to get the connection and was truly surprised to see such anger and attacking comments towards them. Of course, I'd witnessed the Karen meme developing over the years since seeing #FuckYouKaren on Reddit YEARS ago. I'd heard the many tales of "the Karen in the dental chair" when my wife comes home from work. I'd just simply never EVER associated this meme with anything racist. My thoughts on the worst part of the Karen meme was the unfortunate effect on the poor ladies who, despite being incredibly nice, respectful, lovely ladies who DO NOT need to speak to the manager and simply happen to be named "KAREN"!

Growing up a redhead I've certainly dealt with my share of being the TARGET of the internet's "less than flattering" meme's that range from my obvious lack of any semblance of a soul, all the way to people celebrating "kick a ginger day" (thanks south park) essentially mobilizing the world towards an entire day of the year promoting actual ASSAULT on myself and my fellow soul-less Gingers.

To be clear, I do not think my personal experiences as the target of the latest internet meme excuses ignorance towards other internet meme's. I do wonder, however, how much responsibility we are to shoulder for keeping up to speed with the latest EVOLUTION of a meme? From my ignorant line of sight "Karen" had not yet manifested herself into a racially charged concept causing fear and possible harm to people of colour.

"Karen" had been making us laugh since 2017 on Reddit but a quick search of Karen on "Know Your Meme" cites that a pretty significant change happened in 2020! May 25th, 2020 to be precise! That day saw the global pandemic collide violently with the killing of George Floyd AS WELL AS the Amy Cooper Central Park incident. Dr. André Brock, associate professor of Black digital culture at Georgia Tech stated "..the viral widespread resonance of “Karen” footage now is the result of an interest convergence where the coronavirus pandemic intersected with collective outrage over police brutality. The weekend that the video of Amy Cooper in Central Park went viral was the same weekend that George Floyd was killed after now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, suffocating him. The Central Park video only highlighted the extreme violence — and potentially fatal consequences — of a white woman selfishly calling the cops out of spite and professed fear."

That happened May 25th, 2020. 50 days ago at the time of writing this. My point about the timeline of the evolution of the meme is that, as a fellow brewery owner, I can say with certainty that ‘50 days ago’ our friends at Common Crown Brewery would have still thought Karen was funny! They also would have already ordered beer cans labeled with Karen based artwork and they would have been so head down, consumed with keeping their business alive during the pandemic that they would have most likely missed the significance of Karen’s shift over the past weeks. I know i missed it. There's simply no way anyone could convince me that any of the fine folks at Common Crown would ever intentionally offend anyone with their branding and I'm positive that every single person who has ever met them feels the same way. So WHY such a violent and angry outcry towards them? I think Ricky Gervais from his time eating vegan wings on "hot ones" has some relevant insight!

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The video above is obviously an overgeneralization of this new world we live in but it's also hilariously accurate. When did we become a generation of people swiping endlessly through other people's lives, waiting eagerly for OUR turn to be offended and stoke the internets mob justice flames? In today's day and age, I wouldn't feel safe announcing ANY kind of beliefs online be it political, religious, medical, sexual, etc. The internet is now a terrifying place, ready to attacknat a moments' notice and bully you for announcing that you wanted the Olympics in Calgary, or that you voted for Nenshi, or that you drive a Tesla, or, or, or,....

So NOW what!!?? Imagine you're a small business owner and despite your best efforts to make your customers happy, to make a living doing what you love, and to create a great environment for your staff to call home, you find yourself on the receiving end of the angry internet? Recently my good friend and fellow business owner James Boettcher of Righteous Gelato (the artist formerly known as Fiasco Gelato) found himself in this similar situation. After releasing a Black Lives Matter Gelato the internet backlash was swift. I watched terrified from the sidelines as my good friend and true Canadian LEGEND of an entrepreneur battled his way through a minefield. What started as criticism quickly turned into a pretty savage attack with people assaulting him as a person and as a business owner. It was brutal. And knowing the incredibly high level of intentions that both Righteous Gelato AND Common Crown Brewery uphold in every decision they make, I'm sure more and more people are thinking "when is it going to be ME who makes a mistake? When will I be the target of the internet's wrath? And what will I do when it happens to me?"

Having caused a few controversial nationally viral stories myself, I'm no stranger to picking a fight and I'm no stranger to spending 24 hours a day for up to a week at a time responding to every single engagement, every single opinion, every single review, and every single media request during these times and I have a few suggestions for you if your turn ever DOES come around!!

1. Take a Deep Breath - Right or Wrong, Good, Bad or Ugly when you find yourself staring down the loaded barrel of an angry internet, the first step is to recognize that these situations are INCREDIBLE opportunities to let the world see who you really are! What you do next will be a defining moment in the history of your business, so take a deep breath and think "how do I let the TRUE spirit of my company's DNA shine through."

2. Decide COLLECTIVELY on your position - We often react quickly with anger or defensiveness towards a seemingly unjustified criticism aimed at ourselves or our business. And why WOULDN'T we? NO ONE knows how hard we've worked as business owners to get to where we are right?? But that type of thinking is like a biased parent who's kid can do NO WRONG!! Anyone with kids on a sports team knows those parents! They are the WORST and usually have the worst kids! haha. But by involving your entire team to address the situation cooler heads can often prevail and can help a business see the situation from another position. Compassion, sympathy, and understanding of how others see our actions differently than we do is a hard skill to master. It's also perhaps the most important first step in admitting that we may, have truly made a mistake and need to genuinely make things right. Collectively Involving your team members with a less emotional connection to business is a great way to show them your level of respect for their insight as well as arrive at a position that the entire business believes and OWNS!

3. OWN your position...GENUINELY! - The internet can spot a fake a MILE away. Bullshit meters these days are finely tuned to sniff out shallow apologies, or disingenuous attempts to make the situation "go away". As Ricky Gervais stated above, it's OK if people don't agree with your decisions, even if they're MAD at your decisions. But don't waffle. If you were wrong...OWN IT! Apologize and mean it! Here's a sniff test example of whether you own an apology or not: If you apologize online for your actions and then someone posts in support of you that they thought your actions were justified....and you don't CORRECT them? then guess what? YOU'RE NOT SORRY so don't say that you are.

4. Don't delete the thread! - I love reading other business' reviews online! But I never waste my time with the 5-star reviews. I always feel they're either fake or the business owners' parents! either way, there's no value to me reading them. It's the ONE-star reviews that show me how a business responds to the challenges of business and most of THOSE are BS as well. When a bar gets a one-star review because some jackass felt vindictive towards the bartender who "cut him off" for the night. I laugh at the drunk idiot who thinks that bad review of this nature makes ANY negative impact on the business. On the contrary, a witty, clever response to a one-star review of this nature can do wonders for letting the world see your business's personality. And when a REAL one-star review comes in. It's a TRUE opportunity to show how your business is managed and you "right the wrongs". But somehow as business owners, we FEAR the one-star review!! Don't! Trust that the public will read between the lines and make their decision based on all the information. Again, we all have highly tuned bullshit meters, and deleting threads of this nature not only stop the public from gaining the full context of the situation you may find yourself in. It also, more often than not, creates a perception of guilt. If I hear about a company experiencing something similar and I look them and can read the threads I can make my OWN decision on where I stand on the matter. But if the threads have been deleted, I instinctively assume "boy they must have really screwed up!"

5. Don't be intimidated by the volume of the angry - People who "oppose" are ALWAYS louder that those who "support". Just because you've never had this much attention on your social channels and it ALL appears to be negative. You have to know that in general people who support you are much less likely to dive into shark-infested waters with you. However other SHARKS smell blood and are MUCH more likely to join in on the feeding frenzy. I guess it's just not as fun to stick your neck out there when you can safely watch the attack from the shore. Have faith, however, that despite the feeling of helplessness and the isolation of feeling totally alone in these times, there are TONNES of people who will read the posts, perhaps see both sides and potentially send you some support on a private DM, email, or phone call in support of what you're going through REGARDLESS of whether you're right or wrong. OTHER business owners are the friends you need to lean on, or shoulders to cry on during these times. The “swim in the deep end with me” quote from the video above is awesome to me as I’ve sent up the bat signal in my business before and called upon my pal Jim button of Village Brewery to wade into deep waters with me on issues in the past. It meant EVERYTHING to me that he dove in, headfirst with me! It’s incredibly important to have people around you who, when they believe in your cause, are willing to stand with you on the front lines taking fire while helping keep the flag in the air! Have those people around but also BE that person when YOU’RE called upon.

6. LEARN, LEARN, and LEARN SOME MORE- Regardless of the situation you've experienced, if you come away without learning and actively attempting to be better moving forward than you're an idiot. The entire WORLD is receiving a crash course on what acceptable behaviour looks like from all corners of humanity. The last few years have exposed a lot of mistakes humanity has made. The #MeToo movement, #BlackLivesMatter, and LGBTQ issues (to name a few) have allowed the world to learn how our past behaviours, past stereotypes, and even past ways of thinking are just not enough anymore. Being truly open to learning about what matters in the lives of those around us is truly eye-opening and incredibly important for loving forward progress of humanity. And without willing hearts, open to the opportunity to LEARN we'll all just be s bunch of angry internet trolls looking for people to attack who don't think the exact same way WE do or vote the same way WE do, etc!!

Finally, My hope for this blog is a call for PASSIONATE understanding and forgiveness. It's OK to be offended and it's OK to let a person or a business know how they've offended. The piece of the puzzle I've seen missing for some time now, however, is understanding and forgiveness. UNDERSTANDING that the initial outward appearance of a can of beer named after "KAREN" does not reflect the INTENTIONS of the great people trying to do great things for our community. But also the FORGIVENESS towards them once the issue has been raised. Most businesses today would stand stunned, eyes wide open, paralyzed in fear, and totally unaware of what to do next when faced with the attacks I've witnessed over the past year. Forgiveness is LIBERATING. It feels GOOD! But it takes empathy and compassion.

Imagine a thread someday where the offender realizes their mistake after reading criticisms they receive online. They regret it. They genuinely apologize. They learn a tonne, become more culturally aware, and the offended parties empathize with them, show them compassion, and openly forgive them for their mistake? Jack Handy probably said it best..."I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it"

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fyrapartnersearch · 6 years

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rEEE writers inbound

hey there! i’m rhys. i am 22, live in the ct, and love ooc chatter! my ooc is pretty lax, but i promise my writing is a helluva lot more formal. i write in third person, past/present tense, and paragraph form. im not a rapid-fire writer, and won’t be able to constantly get replies in every day (i can get responses in anywhere between every couple of days to a week or two). however, i will ALWAYS put tlc into all of my posts and characters! i write anywhere between 300-900 words. it’s definitely alright if you don’t feel up to that amount at any given point, but i do appreciate keeping it somewhere in this range. im very wordy, and can spew out a novel if im excited enough lmao

my limits are pretty general; i will not do beastiality, pedophilia, vore, or scat. i can indulge in a variety of kinks, but if it’s a little much for any average person, i’m less likely to write it out (i.e extreme ddlg or adult babies, furries, extreme pet play, etc.) but i can be persuaded to lightly touch on certain kinks as long as they’re not 10000% filth lmao i cannot, and will not, do seme/uke or top/bottom dynamics. absolutely not. queer relationships shouldn’t be defined by whose taking the D. i dont want to interact with squeamish little femboys, or awful macho men with downright rapey tendencies. versatility is key, and power struggles are what i live for! i will, however, indulge in BDSM dynamics with certain plots— although, domination isn’t always about penetration, you know?

give me characters with aspirations, hopes and dreams, and crushing past experiences that flesh them out into who they are. no one is perfect, and we all have things that rear their ugly heads in the dark. problematic characters, male or female or anything in between, are everything. i love lgbtq+ characters, as i am part of the community myself, and will almost always be more inclined in writing queer characters. not to say i won’t write for strictly straight pairings, m/f, but usually i am iffy when approached with it if i am just meeting you.

i write for all genders, ethnicity, and orientations! you can find a few writings examples of mine here. i am pretty welcoming of most things. smut, of course. some kink a little out there that you want to suggest? let's do it, dude. i am super OOC friendly and i am pretty much a garbled mess when i get to know you! i’m a social person— i feel like a burden if you’re not into chatting with me, so please, if you’re not looking to be both a writing partner as well as a friend, i might not be the gal for you. i am open to crooked relationships, ones that don't function right, dark/morally corrupt characters, unconditional love, etc. my interests fluctuate! i am down, 24/7, guys! i only roleplay over email, but will ooc chat over discord or hangouts! here's a list of fandoms and pairings below that i am looking to write for atm. i do have many more, but these are just the ones off the top of my head!

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Borderlands

Handsome Jack/Rhys

Handsome Jack/Rhys/Nisha

Life is Strange

Max Caulfield/Chloe Price

Max Caulfield/Kate Marsh/Victoria Chase

Nathan Prescott/Warren Graham

Rachel Amber/Chloe Price

Frank Bowers/Damon Merrick

Dick Grayson/Jason Todd

Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson

Dick Grayson/Wally West

Harley Quinn/Pamela Isley

Batman: Telltale Series

Bruce Wayne/John Doe

Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle

Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent/Selina Kyle

Marvel

Stephen Strange/Tony Stark

Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

Thor/Bruce Banner

Peter Parker/Harry Osborn

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson

Wade Wilson/Vanessa Carlysle

Gwen Stacy/Peter Parker/Harry Osborn

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson/Vanessa Carlysle

Uncharted

Nathan Drake/Samuel Drake

Nathan Drake/Harry Flynn

Chloe Frazer/Nadine Ross

TTGOT

Asher Forrester/Gwyn Whitehill

Rodrik Forrester/Arthur Glenmore

Mira Forrester/Margaery Tyrell

Gryff Whitehill/Elaena Glenmore

Gared Tuttle/Finn

Gared Tuttle/Josera Snow

The Walking Dead

Rick Grimes/Negan

TWDG

Javier Garcia/David Garcia

Clementine/Gabriel Garcia

Clementine/Louis

Clementine/Violet

Marlon/Louis

Javier Garcia/Paul “Jesus” Rovia

Far Cry (3-5)

Jason Brody/Vaas Montenegro

Jason Brody/Bambi “Buck” Hughes

Ajay Ghale/Pagan Min

Ajay Ghale/Sabal

Ajay Ghale/Sabal/Amita

Rook/Joseph Seed

Rook/John Seed

Rook/Faith Seed

Punisher

Frank Castle/David Lieberman

Frank Castle/Billy Russo

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Scott Ryder/Reyes Vidal

Scott Ryder/Gil Brodie

Scott Ryder/Peebee

Sara Ryder/Peebee

Sara Ryder/Vetra Nyx

Kill Your Darlings

Lucien Carr/Allen Ginsberg

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Onto original plots!

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Office romances/BDSM/Friends with benefits-turned-lovers

okay, so, i had this type of roleplay with someone a while back. maybe more than two or three years back that i fell out of contact with and i could never really get it out of my head because it was probably one of the best character-building stories i’ve ever taken part of. :’) i don’t remember their name, but i do hope they’ll contact me again if they ever see this. while some of this may seem specific, none of it is concrete and i promise i am very easy to get along with and very accomodating! the plot i remember had three different relationships— completely different people, with different lives and different worlds, with only one common thing between them being that they work in the same building. we can do all three, or we can do a few, or even one! i dont mind.

**pairing A; M/F preferred (lol i know broke my own rule, but i adore femdoms! extra: please come with an open mind. this is not a 50 shades AU, and i do not want it to be.) this one is between a CEO and an intern in their senior year of college. The CEO is a femdom, and freshly out of divorce, takes a liking to the clumsy intern who’d spilled coffee on her more than once. The intern has never been in a relationship with an older woman, let alone one running a multi-million dollar company, but hey, isn’t that the dream for some broke twenty-something down on his luck? She introduces him to BDSM, and while he’s hesitant, the idea is as exciting as it is frightening. He accepts her offer— while it’s difficult at times, he begins to learn more about her. Her ex-spouse, her young child, and her unwillingness to develop a sincere relationship with him. She’s had subs before, and while she tells him he isn’t disposable, he begins to feel it was the truth. He grows to have feelings for her, and while she isn’t too keen on admitting it, the feeling is mutual. I’d love to explore their dynamic in and out of sex, and the conflict between the intern and her ex-spouse. I love age gaps, and think it would be awesome to see them develop over time to find common ground to establish a personal relationship and trying to even out their power imbalances. I don’t mind playing either the CEO or the intern, but I am leaning more towards the CEO. :V**

**pairing B; M/M preferred (this one is waaay more gritty and more dub-con than anything so please beware!) this one is between two higher-ups who have been butting heads for years— and occasionally, sexual tension neither have acted on. A is a snarky, openly gay man, and probably what some would consider shallow and noncommittal. B is a brooding, closeted ‘by the book’ type well into his thirties, and refuses to engage in anything sexual with men despite his obvious attraction; B has younger siblings he takes care of as well as his mother, and being the oldest son and only provider, hasn’t done a thing for himself in twenty years. A lives completely alone, complete with a bachelor pad and, the influx of flings that went nowhere past sex, and has risen to the top with his own sheer will. they have conflicting motives, and while both of them have an intense hatred for each other, they’ve never engaged in physical altercations in fear of losing their jobs. one day, A jabs a little below the belt, and finally, B starts swinging. this fight turns into something way more heavy in the company parking lot. what happens between them in the long run is something desperate, needy, and longing for real affection. it began as a mindless need for sex, angry and mean and formal, with B being especially unwilling to ‘give up’ his masculinity and ever be on the receiving end in fear of losing the control he needs to keep this up. i’d love to see them begin to see each other in a different light, and changing each other for the better. i’d also love to see A showing B that sex doesn’t have to be meaningless, and that he doesn’t need to fear letting A be in control. And B showing A that commitment isn’t as terrifying as it may be, with them gradually going from rivals, to friends with benefits, and eventually lovers. i, again, don’t mind writing for either! **

**pairing C; F/F preferred. (aaa this pairing is way more fluffy and sweet, with hurt/comfort as a stable of their dynamic.) this one is between two small-office employees in the company. A is fairly tame at work in order to support her sibling(s), of which she has adopted from her father’s custody years ago. she is fairly confident with her sexuality, and while not being the type to frequent clubs, is dragged along by a few friends and there, meets B. B is a young woman who just recently got out of a relationship with an abusive ex fiance— B has only ever been with that man, and was never confident in exploring her sexuality due to a religious upbringing and parents who were dead set on traditional values. she’s never strayed from her ex, and while he wasn’t faithful or remotely good to her in return, she was heartbroken with their split. months after, he returns to the city and B’s close friends decide to take her out on a girls’ night to make her feel better— B coincidently sees her ex, and feeling childish and unattractive, heads off to the bar to get a drink. she’s nowhere near a drinker, and just before she does drown her sorrows, is hit on by A. while initially shocked, B is flustered and finds herself immediately attracted to A. they have a one-night stand, and while B believes that A would just leave in the morning, A instead lays with her until she wakes up, and leaves her number. B is too anxious to text her. they bump into each other at the elevator that Monday. they agree to be just friends, until B knows what she wants. A is willing to wait. B might have a crush, and A is intent on building B up to love herself and her body. i would overall prefer to write for A, but if you’re dead set, no prob!**

Serial killer/1960’s/Small town sheriff

no preferred pairing! would love, love, love to see something between a serial killer and a small town sheriff in the mid-to-late sixties. we could make up a new little town, or find one to our liking! A is the sheriff who had been born and raised in this town with a good home life, loving parents, and a steady moral compass, albeit trapped in a loveless marriage. they know everyone, and every nook and cranny of the place like the back of their hand. this is the type of place where people don’t have to lock their doors at night, or constantly watch their kids when they’re out in the yard playing. that is, until people start going missing and horrifyingly mutilated bodies began to pop up around town. B is a well-liked baker in town; known to be genuinely friendly and kind, B has a very corrupt past. both of their parents were heinously abusive, and as a child, B developed sociopathic tendencies. B was inherently spiteful of the town and the people in it, for leaving them to rot in hell for eighteen years, and for never reaching out. B formed a god complex, his intentions to ‘purify the corrupt’. they keep tabs on almost everyone in town, and the victims they do take are put in the soundproof basement of his home to be ‘baptized’; tortured, beaten, and mutilated beyond recognition. A and B are friendly with each other as A comes to the bakery every morning, with B’s motives completely unbeknownst. one night, A, frustrated and pissed from the dead ends of the case of the decade, decides to head to the bar and relax. B is the one face A didn’t mind seeing that night, and one thing lead to another, with A and B in a dark alley getting each other off— i definitely see this as B grooming A to be a complicit pet, and when A gets closer and closer to figuring out who the killer is, he forms a deep connection with B. B develops a possessiveness over A, along with that sense of ownership he’d established between them. B manipulates A, coerces him into a false sense of security, and eventually— A finds out, and while B initially thinks to kill A, A is corrupted by B and forms some kind of stockholm syndrome for B. it’s up to A on whether or not they turn B in, or cover the killer’s tracks. B, despite his very sick and repulsive nature, develops a true infatuation for A, as close to love as they were ever going to get, and A is desperate enough to please B that they’ll do anything to not disappoint them.

Post apocalypse/decades later/immunity

no pairing preferred! the plot I had in mind is loosely based off of a video game called "The Last of Us", which i am sure most of you have a general knowledge of! (definitely check it out if you don’t :O it’s a great game!!) the prompt i was shooting for goes something like this; in a post-apocalyptic world where a pandemic has killed off most living species, character A is a lone wolf with little to do with other people that don't benefit him, except for a select few. A is especially rough around the edges, as he's lived through some sick shit and lived to tell the tale. A had once been part of a group dedicated to finding a cure, but things went south, and a lot of people died. A had a close bond with the leader of said group, and coincidentally they were the only survivors. their past together, having been deeply demented and twisted, caused them to fall out. said leader has rebuilt a new group in the ten years since the last time they'd seen A. character B is the only known immune person alive, and has dedicated their life to being a resource to finding a cure. A and his (current) contact/partner in crime have something taken from them, and are determined to get it back. they do some searching, and are confronted with this group-- they have what they need, but are only willing to give it to them for a favor in return. no one can outrun their past forever. so, this plot isn't concrete. things can be changed, we can do whatever we want, and i am happy to comply to any revisions or suggestions! i'd really enjoy taking on A, if that's alright!

TREASURE HUNTERS/ANCIENT CURSES/LOVE-HATE DYNAMICS/MODERN

treasure hunters!!!! yES!! think Uncharted or Tomb Raider. an architect/treasure hunter is being funded an expedition to find a lost treasure and they are forced to bring along a reporter in order to receive the funds. the reporter and architect certainly dont get along in the beginning— they bicker, and clash on most fronts. the expedition wasnt meant to be dangerous. what was initially thought to be a simple job turned into something treacherous; bandits, a team of hired hitmen and their leader looking to take the treasure for themselves, and some rather supernatural elements that they both couldnt quite put a finger on. the treasure hunter and the reporter have to work together to get out of this alive, and get to the artifact before someone else does. (the “treasure” is definitely up for debate!! we can chose a real life lost treasure, or just make one up!! it can be anywhere around the world, and everything is at our disposal).

DEMON/INHERITANCE/HUNTERS/MODERN

character A has an awful time living in the city— alone, and without mom's guidance, completely lost. one day they receive a call about a deceased relative, one they'd never heard of, one that apparently left their estate and everything in it in their will to A. with nothing but the clothes on their back, A took a shot in the dark and drove out to this presumed "estate" come early summer, only to find that it's a mansion in a tiny little town with an eerie vibe and populated by the typical small town churchgoers and farm folk. living in this town was a hell of a challenge; everyone was nice, too nice, and people started to go missing. character B is an exceptionally charismatic, charming person and the only mechanic/handyman in town. A and B become friends, partially, when A needs to fix up the piping in their estate. A stumbles upon the attic one day, and for once, they start to get why this whole town reeked to the roots in weird shit-- their deceased relative was tracking something here in this town, having to do with all of the MIA townsfolk. DR has a board of possible suspects, and at the center? B. A shrugs it off as their relative having been paranoid, but the longer A stays in this town, the more apparent it becomes that DR wasnt crazy. B is, in fact, not the murderer, instead a supernatural being (open for debate! im on the fence with demons, vampires, etc.) on a mission to track down the monster, same as DR. i am so down for internal struggles, sweet gestures, and overall, two people just trying to make it work! i could also see A being hella paranoid that B is the monster, and maybe tries to throw cloves of garlic at them only to realize thats not exactly how this monster hunter business works lmao

DEPRESSED WRITER/YOUNG MUSE/between 1920’s-1960’s/sex, drugs, & the american dream

m/m preferred! A is a severely depressed middle-aged man believing his life has been wasted. his wife left him with their child at her hip, his career was in a rut, and he had nothing left to live for. opting for suicide, he goes out one evening to purchase a bottle of gin to down with a handful of prescription sleeping pills when he returned to his apartment. instead of going directly home, he’s swept in by the music in an underground club for queers. there he meets B; all encompassing, angel faced, and the only person A didn’t know how to look away from. B is a former US Navy Seal, aspiring musician, and avid indulger of the human body— A stays a little too long, owlish and red, and after the show, B approaches him with a cattish smile. they spark a friendship, and A is thrown down the rabbit hole when B introduces him to his social circle, filled to the brim with drag queens, junkies, queers, and the overall unusual— he integrates into this community, his contemplation of suicide only a distant memory, and begins to find himself extremely attracted to B. he lights a fire in A, something dangerous and unquenchable, and A finds himself drawn in by the unpredictability. A embarks with B on a journey of self exploration, passion, and inevitable love in a world that scorned the oddities of human attraction and anyone who dared to be free.

thanks for your time! if you've read through, please contact me at [email protected] on email or rhys#3615 on discord and mention kiwi somewhere in your initial message. n_n

Rhys xoxo

#oc rp #multiple paragraph #long term #email #marvel rp #twd rp #smut rp #mcu rp #dc rp #submission

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newyorktheater · 6 years

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RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Rosie Perez as Tracey Wolfe, Josh Radnor as Lou Mazzuchelli — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Sean Grandillo as Jeremy, Ted Sutherland as Simon Saunders — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

When the hard-working, good-looking students of Stanton High School in dreary Stanton, Pennsylvania put on the musical “Spring Awakening” tonight in the season finale of “Rise,” it will be the last show they ever do. NBC has canceled the TV series. Lou Mazzuchelli, the drama teacher played by Josh Radnor, will disappear from your TV after only two months and ten episodes — unless another network picks up the show for a second season. But Lou Volpe lives on For more than four decades, until his recent retirement, Volpe had been the director of the drama program at Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, Pennsylvania; he and his program were the subject of a non-fiction book that inspired the TV series. “Drama High: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, a Struggling Town, and the Magic of Theater” was written five years ago by Michael Sokolove, a journalist who had attended the high school, and was one of Lou Volpe’s students. The names of the teacher, the town, the high school, and the students have all been changed in the series (as has Lou’s sexual orientation – Lou Volpe is gay; Lou Mazzuchelli was given a wife and three kids.) But “Rise” has taken its cue from the real-life stories to a remarkable degree. The fictional Lou’s choice of “Spring Awakening” was also the actual Lou’s. Volpe was the first high school drama director in America to put on a production of the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s 19th century play. The show’s licenser, Music Theatre International, trusted Volpe to test a school version of the musical. Volpe was also the first to put on “Rent.” In “Rise,” Lou recruits the football team’s quarterback to perform in “Spring Awakening,” which causes a rift with the coach. This may sound as if it’s lifted from a similar storyline in “Glee.” (In that series, Finn, played by the late Cory Monteith, was the school’s quarterback before he became involved in the glee club.) But there’s a similar, real-life story in “Drama High.” The school’s star wrestler, deeply religious, wanted to play Jesus in Volpe’s production of Godspell. His wrestling coach said it would set a bad precedent to allow a member of the team to split his time like that…so the student quit the team. And it did set a precedent: The Truman High School drama program, according to the book, has unusual success in attracting athletes to participate in its shows. To be sure, although Drama High author Sokolove gets writing credit on the series, the reality he chronicled was filtered through the sensibility (and commercial calculations?) of the show’s creators. In the opening scene of the first episode, which aired on March 13th, Lou Mazzuchelli’s young daughter is rapping to the opening number of “Hamilton.” In different circumstances, one might think this self-promotion, since “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Sellers is one of the series’ two main producers, in his first foray into television. But we’re talking “Hamilton” here, a Broadway musical that’s entered full force into the cultural mainstream; what else would a white pre-teen from a working class town be rapping? Sellers’ influence was felt in the casting; many of the actors are Broadway veterans. It soon became abundantly clear, however, that the tone and focus of the series was set by its other main producer, Jason Katims, who had been executive producer and showrunner of both “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights,” a TV series based on the true story of a high school football team in a small town in Texas. Although “Rise” might in outline seem to have been created in the mold of recent TV musical series “Glee” or “Smash,” it hewed far closer to “Friday Night Lights” in every way, down to the way it looked. “Rise” had the darker lighting of “Friday Night Lights” (rather than the shiny bright “Glee”) and camera work that took the same documentary style approach.

Unlike “Glee” or “Smash” or any other show about theater I can think of, “Rise” contains not an ounce of camp. Its earnest tone is something it shares not only with “Friday Night Lights” but with both the author and the subjects of “Drama High. At one point one of the regular student thespians is quoted in the book as saying “At other schools, it’s kind of the misfit kids who do theater…Bit most of us in Truman theater are — I don’t know what the word for it is — normal, I guess.”

Like “Friday Night Lights,” “Rise” focused on the struggles of the characters and their families — struggles involving familial breakdown, terminal illness, economic challenges, and everything from alcoholism to autism to teenage pregnancy to sexual orientation and gender nonconformity (these last in “Rise” but not in “Friday Night Lights.”) “Rise” had more scenes about football than you might expect from a show that’s supposed to be about theater. For better or for worse, the show’s main focus, and its primary appeal, wasn’t really about theater, just as “Friday Night Lights” wasn’t really about football. (There’s much more about theater — its practice, its purpose, its effect on the lives of Volpe’s students — in Drama High.) “Rise” was also closer to “Friday Night Lights” than to any previous TV musical series in that nobody ever spontaneously broke out into song. When the characters sang in “Rise,” they were doing so at a rehearsal (or, in tonight’s episode, performing at opening night), singing songs from “Spring Awakening.” (and in tonight’s episode, a new song written by Sheik and Sater for their musical, “All You Desire.”) The songs the characters in “Rise” were singing often presented parallels with what was happening in their lives, but they were carefully presented as happening in the real world, not in the magical world of musicals that requires a suspension of disbelief. Could this work, a show ostensibly about theater told like a show about football? Why not? But it didn’t catch on with the TV-viewing public, at least not in sufficient numbers to keep NBC happy. The number of viewers for “Rise” fell from 5.5 million in the first episode to 3.7 million in the ninth episode. Neither Glee nor Friday Night Lights dipped that low until their fifth seasons. I suspect it was especially damning, from the point of view of the NBC executives, that the “demo” rating – viewers from age 18 to 49 – fell from 1.23 to 0.70. By contrast, viewers for episodes of the hit show “This Is Us” numbered as many as 27 million (never fewer than eight million) with a demo as high as 9.0 (and never lower than 2.0) If the ratings are an accurate gauge, a show about young people couldn’t attract as many young people as a show primarily about middle-aged people. Yet, those of us who made “Rise” a habit got drawn into it for much the same reason that people get caught up in “This Is Us.” It engaged us emotionally in the struggles of the characters, and the web of their relationships. One possible difference is that “This is Us” asks us to focus on a family of five characters, while “Rise” divided our attention among a school full of characters and their families. It became easier to track all of them as the series progressed; they fell into subgroups and subplots, although there was always some overlap. Each of these subgroups gets a spotlight, and their subplots reach something close to a resolution in “Opening Night,” the episode that closes the season and (unless it’s saved) the series.

Here’s more or less a rundown (recap?) If the summary sounds like a soap opera, the low-key intelligence of the acting, writing and directing offer a different experience when watching the show. Spread out over 10 hours, the stories are engrossing, and the characters will be missed.

Click on any photograph to see it enlarged and read the caption.

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, portraying Wendla in Spring Awakening — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Shannon Purser as Anabelle, Erin Kommor as Sasha, Katherine Ries as Jolene, Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, Rachel Hilson as Harmony, Amy Forsyth as Gwen Strickland, Alexis Molnar as Lexi — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: Rarmian Newton as Maashous Evers — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne, Sergio King as Clark, Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, Rarmian Newton as Maashous Evers– voting to restore “Spring Awakening” to its raw original (Photo by: Eric Liebowitz/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Ellie Desautels as Michael Hallowell, Amy Forsyth as Gwen Strickland — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Sean Grandillo as Jeremy, Ted Sutherland as Simon Saunders — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, Ted Sutherland as Simon Saunders — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Stephanie J. Block as Patricia Saunders, Stephen Plunkett as Robert Saunders, Margaret Rosiello as Emma Saunders — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne, Ellie Desautels as Michael Hallowell — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne, Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez, Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne — (Photo by: Eric Liebowitz/NBC)

RISE — “Opening Night” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Damon J. Gillespie as Robbie Thorne, Auli’i Cravalho as Lilette Suarez — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

The Lilette Circle Lilette Suarez, portrayed by Auli’i Cravalho. Her mother Vanessa (Shirley Rumierk) worked as a waitress until she’d had enough of her boss sexually harassing her. She also had an affair with the football coach, Coach Strickland (Joe Trippett), which broke up the coach’s family. Lilette became the girlfriend of the star quarterback Robbie Thorne (Damon J. Gillespie), after Lou cast Lilette to play Wendla in Spring Awakening, and Robbie to play Melchior – the two leads. Robbie’s mother (Eisa Davis) has a severe case of muscular dystrophy. His father (Mark Tallman) left his mother, and married a younger woman. The father disapproves of Lilette, seeing her as a golddigger. Coach Strickland does not approve of Robbie’s two-timing him with the theater program. But Robbie overcomes his own doubts, and defies the adults to be both with Litette and the show.

The Lou Orbit Lou (Josh Radnor). His family, especially his teenage alcoholic son Gordy (Casey Johnson); his co-worker Tracey Wolfe (Rosie Perez), who has worked for years in that position and wanted the top job; the principal (Stanley Mathis, a thankless role) gave Lou the position over Tracey, but also gives him a hard time – not so much because he cares, but because the school board and the PTA are complaining. Included in this group is Maashous (Rarmian Newton), a student who works the lights for the show. Lou’s family takes him into their home and all but adopts this teen who had escaped his indifferent foster family and was sleeping in the school. But now his mother, who was in prison, has been released. Lou submits to the principal’s wishes and makes last-minute changes to make “Spring Awakening” more acceptable to the bourgeoisie – until the principal makes one demand too many…and Lou decides: The show must go on, as it is meant to be in all its raw honesty. His cast votes to ratify his decision.

The Simon Subplot Simon (Ted Sutherland), cast as a gay character in Spring Awakening, at first resists because (he tells Lou) of his religion, but then reverses himself and plunges in. His father Robert (Stephen Plunkett) objects, and takes him out of the school, and sticks him in a Catholic prep school. His mother Patricia (Stephanie J. Block) at first backs her husband. But Simon defies them, and winds up back in the school, and back in the show, and we realize that his resistance to the role was more complicated than he let on. He is struggling with his sexuality, using Annabelle (Shannon Purser) as his beard, but is in reality attracted to his Spring Awakening co-star, whom he must kiss on stage, Jeremy (Sean Grandillo, who ironically gets little screen time, but was in fact one of the stars of Deaf West’s revival of Spring Awakening on Broadway, playing the voice of Otto.) Patricia, suspecting that Robert’s anti-gay attitude is based on more than just his religious faith, changes her mind and backs her son.

The Coach’s Game Plan Although Coach Strickland is distributed throughout other subgroups, he probably deserves his own, because his affair with Vanessa (see the Lilette Circle) has caused his marriage to break up, and affects his relationship with his daughter Gwen (Amy Forsyth.) While he’s making things hard for Robbie, he’s very supportive of Lou’s son Gordy (see the Lou Orbit), who is on the football team. Gwen becomes the object of Gordy’s affection, and, although (as Lou tells his son), Gwen is out of Gordy’s league, there is some suggestion that the relationship will be reciprocated beyond just the one-night stand they had.

The Michael Thread Michael Hallowell (Ellie Desautels) is a trans man who became estranged from his best friend, too concerned with his own issues, but reignites their friendship when he realizes that his friend Sasha (Erin Kommor) has gotten pregnant. Tracey (Perez) is also supportive of Sasha.

Rise Falls: “Opening Night” Episode is the NBC Series Finale When the hard-working, good-looking students of Stanton High School in dreary Stanton, Pennsylvania put on the musical “Spring Awakening” tonight in the season finale of “Rise,” it will be the last show they ever do.

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krissysbookshelf · 7 years

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