#she was created with the specific intention of having immense character growth and i love her <3

[msommers]

lil baby intro post for riya ⚔️ because she's been confined to the dms for a hot minute. fellow players don’t click read more if you wanna avoid spoilers i guess lmao

smol pinterest section for vibes

her playlist is ridiculous spoiled party princess energy and i love it

born 2:84 glory in cumberland, nevarra which is!! part of the free marches way back when so that’s fun

the youngest child to duchess priscilla de clairmont and her husband loren. only daughter with four (4) whole older brothers, the oldest being born in 2:71. mama duchess is Huge in the city, controlling a large portion of its businesses and having a grand web of connections. aside from that, the family is known for its origin of nobility back in 1:16 divine during the second blight, when valeriya de clairmont (aka riya’s namesake) helped defeat the darkspawn in the battle of cumberland, earning her and her family an elevation into nobility. ((this has nothing to do with anything, but it’s important for me to know that everyone know her husband’s name is toussaint de clairmont and i’ll go to my grave happy with that absolutely troll of a name))

her magic manifested when she was 6 years old, inherited from her father and shared with one of her other brothers, magnus. she struggled with her studies, both magical and regular, and had a hard time getting better at it until her dad found out she's Vastly better once the "learn by doing" motto is in play.

she was given magic lessons by her father for a handful of years due to the nevarran circle having been wrecked in the recent past. her mom the big business baron made a deal with the circle and the new palace that she had constructed for the family was instead given to the circle, which riya then moved into and began proper circle teachings. she didn't Hate it but she didn't Love it, way too much reading went on for her liking :///

fell in love with the idea of becoming a participant in the free marches grand tourneys after her first attendance, immediately dedicated herself to one day being one of the mages participating in the event. started studying like mad to the surprise of everyone and trained hard, becoming a knight-enchanter as she saw it fitting and easily the most fun. a magic sword?? to use in a tourney??? c’mon bro, you Know there wasn’t any other choice

has extreme rich party girl energy due to her immense privilege as both the duchess’ daughter and living in the nevarran circle where they’re almost. ridiculously chill compared to literally everywhere else. she is only inside that building when it is absolutely required, otherwise she’s out spending time with family, attending social gatherings/events, or with a lover.

speaking of lovers!!! got herself a boyfriend after hooking up with another participant in the 31st tourney. in a totally unchill move, she was then framed for his murder at the end of the next tourney :/// mommy duchess was able to keep her from being immediately punished tho she was still held in prison, and eventually when it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to get her out of it, riya’s dad and older brother busted her out of there. she was sent on her way with a stupid big amount of money and was probably expected to just lay tf low for however long it took and eventually meet back up with family, but she’s a little idiot who makes it maybe a month and a half at the most before being caught in [insert location here, probably outside of nevarra tho].

cue entrance of grey-warden recruiter and his companion who invoke the rite of conscription to save riya from any imminent transportation back to cumberland for punishment. which to riya as of right now is just another form of punishment as she’s spent about two decades trying to Not follow her family’s footsteps and instead just live her life for the vibes

now for a collection of images that i think match riya’s energy pretty well just bc it’s fun:

[prideandpen]

A Far Too Long ‘Iron Widow’ Review That No One Asked For

(and one person supported! Shout out to @tea-and-pirates​! And I think @the-demi-jedi​ was the other person I spoke with about reading this book - sorry if it wasn’t you!)

Little disclaimer of sorts: I have not read YA fiction in a hot minute because I've been wanting to read the stories of characters that are closer to my age, however I was compelled by the concept of ancient china meets pacific rim and the prospect of an endgame poly relationship, so I picked it up anyway.

*further disclaimer: I’ve linked a couple words to their wikipedia articles because I learned some cool things through them but I have no knowledge of how accurate they are.

Review under the cut because apparently I’ve got a lot to say.

I honestly have quite a lot of complaints because I wanted so badly to love this book, so lets start with what I feel was done well: Xiran Jay Zhao created a fascinating world by taking ancient China and propelling it - it’s wardrobe, it’s values, it’s patriarchy - into the future. A future, specifically, where Huaxia is under attack from the Hunduns which appear to be this world’s equivalent of alien invaders. They’re described on the first page as being rotound and faceless and that’s how they appeared to me throughout the novel - I didn’t have a clear grasp on what they looked like so if that’s what Xiran Jay Zhao was hoping for then they succeeded.

I also appreciate the way they tied the beginning and the end of the book together, and admired the subtle hints throughout the story for something we learn at the end.

The concept of this world was fascinating and the plot lined out well. It is, ultimately, the world building that kept me reading.

I say that because, if it weren’t for the interesting world building I probably would have put this book down pretty early on.

Going back to YA for the first time in years I was prepared for a few teenage eye-roll moments, but what I found myself faced with was a maturity in the protagonist that I struggled to imagine for a fourteen year old, let alone an eighteen year old character. That immaturity carried itself throughout the story and reappeared on several key occasions, though the height of it was in chapter two.

The immaturity of the protagonist, Zetian, made her annoying, frankly. I wanted to like her and revel in her anger at the world, at the system, at the people who have failed her. But Zetian herself was, maybe not one-dimensional, but kind of flat as a character. She was anger and rage and for a large portion of the story lacked compassion even when reasons to give it made themselves clear (I actually feel as though this is a part of Zetian’s trauma response but felt that it needed to be addressed deeper, especially since the story is in first person.)

One more comment on Zetian specifically: I was immensely disappointed with her ‘feminism’. Right from the start she’s angry about the way women are treated and though her first goal isn’t to become any sort of champion of women, it is the way she appears to align herself with her talk of how women shouldn’t be underestimated and don’t deserve the reality that they’re given. Except for her astounding ‘not like other women’ syndrome. I want to choose to believe that the author’s intent was to write this attitude as a character flaw, but there was very little evidence to support that being the case.

I will say Zetian grew as a character, but that leads me into..

The character growth for these characters felt sporadic. Which. No. backing up a moment

Lets start at the romance. Zetian, Yizhi, and Shimin. It wasn’t unbelievable, but I felt as though the characters lacked any real chemistry. They felt flat and so because of that their romance was lackluster. Significant parts of it felt much more like Zetian trying to prove a point rather than genuinely falling in love. And while I understand that since it’s written in first person we don’t get a firsthand account of Yizhi and Shimin’s feelings but because we miss out on the development of their relationship beyond a glimpse here or there from Zetian’s perspective it feels rushed.

Which brings me back to the character growth being sporadic. Zetian’s jumping from immature to in love and yizhi’s... well where was yizhi’s character growth, honestly? I guess a tiny bit from how he just wants Zetian to pick him at the very beginning to him trusting her decisions at the end, but it’s so detatched from the story that we don’t actually see the growth. Shimin is probably the character with the clearest growth. But I spent the middle section of the book just wishing Zhao had gone deeper with these characters and explored more of their feelings and built their relationships slowly. It felt very sudden.

The dialogue. Oh the dialogue. Most of it is fine. But there are honestly so many moments that ejected me from the story so fast. Either it was just too awkward every time Zetian (and a couple other characters) went to try and say something Cool™ or when other characters were having deep conversations with her it felt more like we were getting a peak at Zhao’s internal monologue because the characters who were saying important things mostly weren’t built up enough for it to feel natural to hear them say these things.

I think that just about covers it? I’m sure I’ll think of something after this is posted and I start feeling guilty pulling apart a book I wanted so badly to love.

Did I love it? No. I did not. Sadly, there is just too much empty space, and while most plot holes were filled before they could become such there was a lot of room for Xiran Jay Zhao to go deeper.

That said I didn’t hate it! Please don’t think I hated it. I liked it, I liked it in the sense that I feel as though I read what should have been an excellent first draft. But that’s just it. It feels incomplete, unfinished, raw. I want more from it.

I want more from it because in the prologue - written in third person following Yang Guang - we get to see what Xiran Jay Zhao is capable of. This prologue is where their writing style shines I think. It’s a shame the story wasn’t written in third. I would have loved multiple perspectives and I think it would have given Zhao the chance to dig deeper on these characters, relationships, and touch up the parts of the plot that felt rushed.

If you’ve read this far I commend you, honestly. I knew I had some Thoughts on this book but I didn’t expect them to fill this much space.

In the end I would say it was an easy enough read and worth it if you’re interested in some interesting world building and can overlook some weak and rushed characterization. Assuming Zhao continues Zetian’s story - will I read the second one? Undecided. Possibly. Admittedly if I had read the first two chapters of this in a bookstore instead of buying it online because people were talking about it I probably wouldn’t have read it in the first place.

[sharkangelic]

Okay I’ve been thinking, and I want to talk about the magic system in The Inheritance Cycle.

1. It uses energy from all living things around, if the user can harness it. 2. It’s used primarily with the Ancient Language(spoken spells). That’s it! That’s the system! But there’s more to it than that.

Long ago the Grey Ones(people who died out forever ago) could use magic and, in order to avoid chaotic destruction, they bound all the magic in the land to their language. This took a lot of energy and effort and led to the downfall of their race. 

Years later we have all the present races: Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Urghals, Dragons, etc. 

Elves can use magic almost inherently. All elves are generally capable of it and need only be taught how to use it, the same as if you’d take a class on how to speak your native language(The elves generally use the Ancient Language as their native tongue).

Humans have this ability to different degrees. One may develop these abilities at any time(although usually when they are youngish) and with different proficiency levels. Most humans do not have the ability though.  For the other races it is generally the same, iirc, only lesser? Except dragons.  Dragons!

Dragons are not animals - they’re not beasts. They’re a race in of themselves. Giant winged creatures capable of firebreathing and flight - with magic! The energy associated with their lifeforce is much greater than the average of other living creatures. But they cannot cast spells, with a few exceptions - firebreathing and flight being some of them. 

On casting spells - wants, staffs, and other focuses are not needed. In fact, you’d probably be looked at as if you were a lunatic if you tried to use one. You need only be proficient in speaking the Ancient Language. 

Some spells are easier than others. Brisingr, the word for Fire in the Ancient Language, is an easy one. You say Brisingr and it creates fire - light something on fire, shoot fire, etc. 

But if you wanted to light multiple specific things on fire, for example many small candles in a room, you’d have to be more specific. You have to speak the language, saying something that would translate to “Light every candle in this room on fire.” 

So that’s where it gets complicated. It’s not like Harry Potter where there are set spells - in Inheritance you could theoretically do anything, as long as you are fluent in the language. It’s exactly like learning a foreign language. 

Grammar and syntax are important. The more specific a spell is - the more words you speak, the longer the sentences, etc, there’s more chance you could say something incorrectly.

This is where spells can go wrong. At one point in the story, our main character Eragon(a human) was asked to bless an infant. His intent was to protect her, so he spoke a sentence that could theoretically be interpreted as “shield her from harm.”  But his grammar was wrong. Later on when he spoke to an elf and told them what he had said, the elf was horrified. “You didn’t shield her from harm! You MADE HER INTO A SHIELD FOR HARM!” 

So his sentence actually meant “she will shield others from harm.” It is a plot later in the story that she is magically inclined to protect others - she grew into a child far too fast, she feels pain or sickness when others are hurting, and she feels overwhelmingly compelled to protect or save others. She knows when something bad is going to happen. And she hates Eragon for it.

So that’s one of the ways a spell can go wrong. Wording a spell poorly in any way could have any number of disastrous results.

An example of another way is spirits. Some magic users choose to summon spirits(with the Ancient Language, of course) to assist them or do their bidding. If this goes wrong the result is catastrophic. If the spellcaster summons a spirit(s) that is more powerful than they are, it will possess them, and turn them into a Shade. A Shade, a person possessed by spirits, is an incredibly powerful and evil spellcaster. They can only be killed by destroying their heart.

Another mistake can be by using unspoken spells. That’s right, if you can think the words you want to use, you could cast a spell. Only experienced spellcasters with a great deal amount of concentration should try to do this - if a spellcaster’s thoughts stray, a disaster like that of a poorly-worded spell could occur. But it is useful if a person is bound and unable to speak.

Moving on from mistakes, magic can be used to do almost anything. Characters used it to create “shields,” you use them to do harm, you can use it to heal, you can use it to shape the growth of plants, build, summon spirits, control minds, craft, and create. 

Some spellcasters in Eragon used magic to make Lace, y’know the fabric. Because lace is difficult and time-consuming to make, it’s expensive. But what spellcasting can do in this context is use the same amount of materials, but the process is faster and easier(if you know the correct wording). This is how a the Resistance funded their war effort: by selling large amounts of magically-woven lace.

Another thing Eragon did later was very complicated. The father of his sister-in-law was a bad person. He had tried to sell him out, ruin the war effort, etc. Eragon eventually captured him, but he didn’t want to kill him because Eragon’s a #Good Person. But how to punish him, while simultaneously making him Not A Danger to others?

He forced this man to walk himself to the Elf Forest, where they would keep him “prisoner”(he was basically allowed to wander relatively freely, as long as he didn’t leave a certain area). And he made it impossible for this man to ever speak to or even approach his daughter again - she was the only thing this man loved. Eragon asked the elves to heal his eyes - the man’s eyes had been pecked out by bird monsters - if they felt he behaved well enough while in captivity. He asked the elves to do this by communicating magically with them over a long distance.

As for amplifying and storing magic - this can be done in several ways. For amplifying magic, summoning spirits is one of them, becoming a Witch(an magical herbalist) is another. The most important to the story though, is by Being a Dragon Rider.

Dragon Riders are people(Elves or Humans only) who make a bond with a dragon hatchling and they become partners(remember the dragons are their own sapient race as well - they’re equals in their partnerships with their riders).

Dragons can communicate telepathically with their Riders and vice versa. They can see through eachothers’ eyes, feel what the other is feeling, etc. The point of this bond in a practical sense is the great amplification of magical ability - the Rider has access to an immense amount of magical energy: that of their dragon partner. And the dragon has a partner that can use that magic in many ways, not just for firebreathing and flight. Eragon is a Dragon Rider, and his Dragon is named Saphira. Saphira could not make lace, but Eragon theoretically could(he never did, but it would be very easy for him). 

Storing magic is not that difficult either - you can store energy in gemstones. The better quality the gem, the more magic it can store. This is why Dragon Riders often had gems in the hilts of their swords. 

It really is incredible how in depth and fleshed out this magic system is and now I want to reread the books lol.

[seriouslycromulent]

Hobbs & Shaw review (Yeah, this is going to be long)

The Preamble (feel free to skip)

I was on the fence about going to see the new Fast & Furious spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw. Why? Because I’m a legit fan of the F&F franchise, and I was none too happy about the fact that Vin Diesel invited Dwayne to be a part of the franchise as they were friends at the time, but Dwayne’s fans -- mostly denizens of The Rock who think he can do no wrong -- preceded to treat Vin like he was second fiddle to Dwayne ever since Fast Five. Dwayne, then over the course of 3 films, preceded to get the big(ger) head and show his ass on the set of the last film, and usurped Vin’s franchise right out from under him. 

What pissed me off more than that was the fact that after Dwayne and Vin got into it, the public not knowing any details or verification on what specifically happened on the set, decided to automatically take Dwayne’s side because ... “Hey! He’s the Rock and we like it when he plays characters that are only a slight variation on his persona when he wrestled full time in the WWE.”  There was no concern for right or wrong. No desire to ask both of these Alpha males to put their egos aside. No inclination to actually wait and learn about what really went down. No, the general public has since decided to brand Vin Diesel a joke with no acting skill or talent to speak of. 

Gone was Vin’s reputation as a scriptwriter, a producer and as a man who helped reinvent this franchise to turn it into something beyond simple street racing and a small found family making it happen in a hostile world. Honest Movie Trailers mocked Vin for taking the franchise seriously and actually putting time, love and effort into making sure each film had heart, not just great action scenes that defy the laws of physics and common sense. 

Dwayne has become a better actor than he was 15 years ago. I can name about 4 or 5 movies where his performance is pretty good. But Vin was always a good actor. Not great. But definitely stronger than he was given credit for once people started associating him with nothing but action films. On top of that, he was a writer and he knew how to create an environment that people of disparate personalities loved working together and being a part of the franchise. 

Flash forward to Hobbs & Shaw. There are no members of any of the F&F’s previous films in this movie. Tyrese called out Dwayne on social media for being selfish and greedy, because all of the other cast members were offered spinoffs too. But they turned them down because they wanted to work as a team. That’s how much the franchise means to them. Dwayne clearly had no sense of that loyalty, and obviously his biggest fans don’t have any expectations of him to have any either.

I’m still a fan of Dwayne Johnson, but not as much as I used to be, say 6 or 7 years ago. I still think he’s an immensely generous person when it comes to his fans, and he is a hell of an entertainer. But this situation involving Hobbs & Shaw, combined with some of his comments and behavior regarding sociopolitical events taking place in America over the last 5 years have reminded me that he is not without flaws, and should not be regarded as if he is above impunity. 

So Then What Happened?

Despite my misgivings about how the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff came about, I finally decided to go see it at the last minute for a few reasons:

I’ve had a particularly hard week and I needed to do something to blow off some steam.

I’m a huge fan of Jason Statham. I mean huge. I’m an action film fan in general, but Jason is one of my favorites in the genre. And it takes a lot of negatives to make me not go see one of his films. 

I adore Helen Mirren. Even if I knew her part would be small, I also knew I would love seeing her play off of Jason again. Their scene together in Fate of the Furious/Furious 8 was the highlight of the film for me (followed by the brief return of Luke Evans). 

I like Idris Elba. And he’s proven that whether playing a good guy or bad guy, he goes all in. Plus, I like him best as a bad guy.

I like Roman Reigns, and I wanted to be supportive of his first time on the silver screen.

So there it is. I’m a woman of integrity, but apparently, my integrity fades at the thought of actors I like getting to share a screen together. Feel free to judge me.

Now ... to the review

Hobbs & Shaw is exactly what you expect it to be. It doesn’t feel like it’s a part of the Fast & Furious franchise at all, but maybe that’s intentional. I think at the end of the day, audiences expect a F&F film to involve a cohesive, diverse team and something happening that changes your perspective about what you thought was going to happen. At least that’s been the franchise's m.o. since the fourth movie. 

But Hobbs & Shaw keeps a lot of the other elements of the F&F franchise alive. Namely, a solid mix of comedy and action, at least one woman who makes you feel both inspired and afraid, and just a lot of action sequences that test the suspension of disbelief. Oh yeah, and at least one kickass car chase. And that’s exactly what we get, plus a little more.

Here’s what I think worked, what didn’t, and what I loved (Warning: spoilers below):

What Worked For Me

Hobbs & Shaw is first and foremost an action film, but keeping with the Fast & Furious theme of family, the heart of the film takes us back to the connection and power of family. Unlike the original series, where family was defined as the people you find along the way, Hobbs & Shaw is more about bloodline and reconnecting with estranged family. For Hobbs, his family in Samoa. For Shaw, his relationship with his sister, Hattie, who believed that he had betrayed his country and his brothers- and sisters-in-arms. I’m glad they kept that aspect in, even though I liked the F&F’s original theme a little better.

I don’t know if it’s fair to call them cameos because they have more than one scene in the film, but the addition of Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart was a great move. Both are in the film long enough, but not too long. And each are given enough room to deliver what they do best.

The opening sequence showing Hobbs and Shaw starting their day is the perfect introduction to this spinoff. I loved the juxtaposition. If I had to choose a preferred lifestyle, I’d go with Shaw’s routine, but in sunny California.

Ryan Reynolds’ character’s name is Locke. I see what you did there. ;-)

Mama Hobbs throwing her flip flop at Cliff Curtis and hitting him in the face. What is it about brown mamas whipping shoes at their kids? LOL!

What Didn’t Work For Me

Was Brixton’s ambush of the CIA black site (which didn’t look too black to me) and kidnapping Hattie by running down the face of the building really the most efficient plan and escape? He literally picks her up, carries her on his shoulders, and runs down (with harness attached) the face of the building. It just seemed like it provided way too much of an opportunity for Hobbs & Shaw to catch up to him and for them to get her back. I love a great action sequence, but this one really makes the villain look impractical and hella extra.

Soooooooo, when Hattie is hooked up to the device to extract the virus capsules from her blood, the countdown shows it’s going to take 30 minutes. At that time, it’s dark outside and Brixton hasn’t arrived to start the final showdown. Fast forward to Brixton’s men driving up, The Rock doing that slow-mo walk out to meet them with no shirt on (gulp), and the other usos doing the Siva Tau while Brixton’s men realize their guns don’t work. Then the fighting starts. The sun starts to rise, and everyone is kicking ass and taking names. We see Hattie fighting 2 of the bad guys before Shaw shows up to help. At this point, the countdown on the device says she has 21 minutes to go. We’re supposed to believe that everything that just happened between the device starting the extraction, Brixton showing up, the Siva Tau before the fight, and the sun rising high enough for us to see Roman Reigns fighting alongside The Rock only took 9 minutes? ... Yep. Why? F&F Laws of Physics.™

I stayed until the credits finished -- if you do, you’ll see why -- and I was a little disappointed that they used the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i as a stand-in for Samoa. I imagine it might’ve been easier to get permits to shoot in Hawaii, but a part of me feels like it’s a major missed opportunity to not shoot the Samoan scenes in actual Samoa. 

Soooooooo, we’re supposed to believe that Roman Reigns (or any human being) could just land 2 large metal hooks on to the front joint axles of a truck speeding along in a life-threatening pace while he’s standing on the back of another truck racing ahead of it in one easy throw? ... Yep. Why? F&F Laws of Probability.™

Sure, Deckard Shaw was framed when he didn’t join Etion’s cabal of world domination, but again, he still killed Han. And at no point do we see him held accountable for that in Furious 8 or in this film. And there’s no allusion of him doing anything to atone for it in between the films. I adore Statham, but in the end, Deckard is still not a good guy in this franchise until he says or does something to address that terrible act other than “You guys put my brother in the hospital clinging for his life after some psycho made him do terrible things that killed a lot of people.” This detail still doesn’t sit well with me.

Soooooooo, we’re supposed to believe that the key to defeating this super soldier Brixton is by having Shaw and Hobbs work together. But didn’t the MI-6 officers that Brixton takes down in the beginning of the film work together? Were their team as petty as Hobbs & Shaw and failed to work together like a cohesive unit when fighting an enemy on a mission? I highly doubt that. The concept at the end is lovely and signifies growth in our leads’ relationship with one another, but it doesn’t quite hold mustard if you consider that the other teams of people Brixton’s battled throughout the film are plenty cohesive and get killed quickly.

I kind of wish The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) were in this film too. :-( That would have made it even more special given Dwayne used to work with their dad, Junior (aka Rikishi), in the WWE at the same time.

Sooooooooo, we’re supposed to believe Hobbs -- a non-genetically enhanced man -- can grab a huge chain with his bare hands that is connected to a helicopter and pull it close enough to wrap it back around a pulley system and keep that helicopter steady? ... Yep. Why? F&F Laws of Human Anatomy.™

What I Loved 

All things Helen Mirren. Seriously, I would watch a movie just about the Shaw family. The mum, the sister, the brother and Deckard. This film didn’t have enough Helen Mirren, but every scene she was in was a delight.

That little wink and nod to the audience when Shaw, while walking Hobbs and Hattie through his hidden lair, makes a reference to driving a Mini Cooper for “a little job he did in Italy.” I see what you did there. ;-)

Any scene with Jason Statham behind the wheel tearing up the streets of a city in the most impossible manner will always be gold. Always. Be. Gold. And that slide underneath the 2 semis by the car, and later, by the motorcycle, made my stomach clench so hard I think I might’ve pulled something.

Anytime Locke refers to his relationship with Hobbs as being close friends or family. Ryan Reynolds is absurd. Never change.

The entire conversation between Shaw and Hobbs on the plane. All of it. All. Of. It. It’s the funniest scene in the entire film. And a great callback to the display of chemistry they had together in Furious 8. 

Using a society’s history, where they did a helluva lot of damage without high tech weapons, to take on an enemy with high tech weapons, who without those weapons, couldn’t hold their own quite as easily, was a beautiful moment and ... great social commentary on the history of colonialism. (::cough::)

Cliff Curtis. He so rarely gets to play a character of Pacifika descent in American films. I’m happy this movie gave him a chance to do so.

Even though this is a part of their conversation on the plane which I already mentioned was awesome, I loved it when Hobbs reminds Shaw that this is not 1955, and he needs to relax about the idea of Hobbs making a play for Shaw’s sister. If she wants to climb that mountain, he’s going to let her climb it. LOL! It’s her decision, not her brother’s.

Roman Reigns getting to spear someone! Even though the camera cuts off the full beauty of it by switching to another angle 2/3 of the way through. I don’t care what anyone says, Joe Anoa’i’s spear is a work of art. (::phrasing::)

Hattie escaping from the virus extraction room’s chair and taking down her guards without any help made me want to stand up and cheer. You go, mama!

OK. That’s all I can think of for now. But given how long this post is, I’m sure anyone still reading at this point would say that’s more than enough.

With that in mind, if you haven’t seen Hobbs & Shaw yet, or you did, but you left before the credits finished, I wanted to let you know that there are 3 -- yes, count ‘em 3 -- scenes in the credits. 

The first is a scene with Ryan Reynolds, the second is one with Shaw & Hobbs, and the third, which comes at the very end, is another scene with Ryan Reynolds.

Enjoy!

[avehoneymoons]

Who is your favorite friendship on pll?

Alright, I’m about to spill some burning hot tea here, as the kids say. None of the friendships on pll are my favorite and let me explain why. At the beginning of the show, friendships (along with everything else) were great. We saw character development both individually and as a group. I liked how the girls were essentially brought back together after years of not having contact. There was growth, but most importantly, there were scenes that made the girls feel like true friends.  

Moving forward to the later seasons, the show lacked this friendship immensely. In the interview show after the finale, the interviewer was stressing how friendship was the core of the show and immediately after they brought that up, my mom (who has more savage things to say about this show than anyone on the planet lol) asked, “What friendship? I can’t remember a time those girls hung out without something -A related.” This really made me think. Yes, I know the girls were facing terrible situations and obviously this friendship was in a different circumstance than most. However, every recent scene with the main girls felt almost forced, in my opinion. The actresses have such great chemistry together (and I love that they all support each other in real life), but the writing (surprise, surprise) did them a real disservice. 

We saw the potential that these friendships had in the beginning, whether it be sparia, spanna, emaria, hannily, or whoever, they were great friendships to watch. We saw them going through struggles and we saw funny moments. The girls had an uplifting friendship. Now why would the writers risk this friendship that they refer to as ‘the core of the show’? Well, in my opinion, the writers cared more about drama/shock value than character development, and that is very sad. They also put relationships above this so-called ‘core of the show’.  

In the high school days, the girls were in relationships, but that did not take away from their character value. It shouldn’t. A relationship is a huge commitment, but it should never tear you apart from your friends or make you act different. I do not believe that this was the intent of the writers, but the time jump came off as such. Let me start with spaleb (and y’all know my petty opinions here so I’m going to try to keep it unbiased). The writers essentially created this relationship for the sole purpose of drama, not caring about the ‘core of the show’ friendships (spanna and toleb specifically) that it knocked down along the way. Not to mention that Spencer was completely out of character during that entire relationship. She cared more about a trash (no matter what you think about Caleb, he did some pretty shitty things) boyfriend that she was with for a short while than her friends or even Veronica. This was so out of character and I absolutely hated that no one seemed to help or talk to Spence when she needed it the most. Where were the ‘core friendships’ during this time????

Another thing that really grinds my gears, is the scene in 7x20 where the group finds Spencer and Ezra after Alex kidnapped them. Look, Aria hasn’t always made the greatest decisions. I’m not throwing shade at her, because all of the characters have made poor decisions at times. However, in this particular scene, right after her best friend was kidnapped (she didn’t know if Spencer was dead or alive), she runs right over to Ezra-not seeming to care about finding the real Spencer or the fact that an evil twin is standing right there!!! I understand that the life of your fiancé probably takes precedence in that situation. However, didn’t she care about Spencer as well? Shit, if that was my best friend standing there, I wouldn’t be able to keep it together. Again, I’m not trying to drag any character here, but intend to make a point about the writing. 

This has been a very long post and thank you if you’re still reading this. I’m glad I received this ask because this is something that I’ve wanted to discuss for a long time. For a show that claims to be rooted in friendship, the writers surely did a poor job showcasing this. When I see shows like Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, and most recently The Bold Type (which I love btw), which showcase empowering friendships with real ups and downs, I wonder why all shows can’t display friendships like this. PLL really let things slide in the past few seasons, and there’s a lot that I’m bitter about, but they really did a disservice to the once great friendships of the show. No matter how the writers word it, friendships were tarnished and unfortunately, there’s no going back.            

[tipsycad147]

How To Make & Use Love Potions

Julie Hopkins

Love potions are some of the most coveted potions in witchcraft. Songs have been written about them. Entire movie plots revolve around them. And some companies have even named products after them!

Potions are liquids that are used to cast spells. They’re often meant to be drunk, but you can use them in your ritual bath, to anoint objects on your altar, to diffuse into the air, or to rub on your body. Some potions are meant to be made and then discarded for magical reasons. In that case, the entire spell was probably cast during the potion-making process.

You can make them with any kind of liquid—drinking water, juice, tea, or even things like ocean water or morning dew. If you don’t mind being a bit unconventional, you can create potions from drinks like margaritas and cans of soda! Potion-making can be quite experimental, so don’t be afraid to make up your own recipes.

Are Potions Safe?

Unless you have some kind of allergy to any of the ingredients, all the potion recipes in this article are perfectly safe to make (although not all of them are meant for drinking).

If you make your own potions, please make 100% sure you research your ingredients—all of them! Herbs, oils, and crystals can be extremely dangerous when used improperly and can cause bodily harm or cause damage to your magical tools. Also, if you’re hunting around online for potion recipes, make sure you look into the safety of all of those ingredients as well! Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s safe.

However, take care when choosing and crafting your potions and you’ll likely find them to be valuable additions to your witchcraft.

Magical Love Intentions

If you make a love potion intending to make someone love you forever, you’ll run into some difficulties if you ever decide that you want to end that relationship. You don’t want to end up with a stalker.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when you’re setting the intention for your love potions.

Consider keeping your love intention extremely general. You may not want to focus on a specific person, just in case you discover he or she is wrong for you down the road. I personally don’t like to limit the ways the universe (or whatever power you use in your witchcraft) can deliver my result. Sometimes magic will throw something way better than what you imagined at you!

Create a reversal for the love magic before you make the potion. Keep everything you need to reverse the magic on hand because feelings can shift quickly!

Use intentions that are bound by time, such as a potion that is effective for one lunar cycle. That gives you more control because you can choose to perform the spell again for the next lunar cycle to renew it. If you’re not happy with the results, you can let the magic run its course.

You might want to perform love magic with intentions that bring about romantic situations rather than conjuring up love itself. You can make a potion to get someone to think of you, a potion to get someone to go on a date with you, or a potion to increase any romantic feelings that are already shared between the both of you.

If you’re ready to make your own love potions, read on! Here are three love potion recipes that are safe, simple, and powerful!

Written In The Stars Lovers Potion

Here’s an astrological love potion that taps into the immense power of the stars. It’s best used between two people already in a relationship because it is designed to increase the love that already exists between the two of you.

You’ll need to know your lover’s birth date because you’ll be working with your lover’s sun sign. The energies in the sky are always shifting, so the timing of this potion is the most important part.

Suggested Intention: “I call on the power of the Sun, Moon, and stars. As my love and passion for my partner increases, my partner’s love and passion for me matches that growth.”

What You’ll Need:

Water

A glass jar with a lid

A rose quartz stone

A clear quartz stone

Cinnamon stick

Look up what nights the moon will pass through your lover’s sun sign. Mark those nights on your calendar. The moon will spend at least a couple of nights in every zodiac sign over the course of a month, so you can keep this potion spell going month after month if you like.

The day of your spell, fill a jar with water and set it outside (or by a window to charge in the sun). As you do this, speak your intention to activate your potion. Use the intention provided or create your own!

Using a cinnamon stick, draw the zodiac symbol of your lover’s sun sign in the water’s surface. (If you don’t know what the symbol looks like, you can look the symbol up online or write out your lover’s name instead.)

Place a clear quartz crystal in the jar to amplify the love you’re sending out to your lover.

Stir the potion eight times going clockwise. Eight is a number associated with the planet Venus and clockwise movement will give your potion “projective” energy as you’re sending your growing love out to your partner.

That evening, when the moon is passing through your lover’s sun sign, set the jar out under the moon. Remove the clear quartz crystal. Use the other end of the cinnamon stick to draw the symbol of your own sun sign into the surface of the water. (Again, you can also use your name.)

Place a rose quartz crystal into the jar and stir the potion eight times going counter-clockwise. This will allow you to receive all the loving feelings of your partner. You are attracting those feelings.

Repeat this process with the sun and moon until the moon has moved out of your partner’s sun sign.

Store the jar of potion under your bed (or somewhere romantic). The potion will be effective until the next time the moon passes through your lover’s sign.

Love Story Potion

This potion is perfect for single or attached witches alike! Use it to manifest the energy of love scenes from your favourite book. I love this potion so much because I believe life can be just as romantic as the stories!

What You’ll Need

A page with the words of your favourite love scene printed on it

Water

A small cauldron

Two tea lights

Matches or lighter

Rose petals

Lavender

2 bay leaves

An athame or something to stir your potion with

Jasmine incense (or incense sticks)

Gather up your ingredients, and—as with all potions—make sure you have cleansed everything.

Light some jasmine incense and allow all of your magical tools and ingredients to pass through the smoke. I find this easiest to do with an incense stick, but you can use any form of incense. Jasmine is an herb associated with romance and this process will charge everything with your intention.

Fill a small cauldron with water. Light two tea lights and slide them under your mini cauldron to heat the water. Make sure you’re working on a heat safe surface!

Read aloud your romantic passage from the paper you’re using. This will communicate your intention to the universe (or whatever source of power). You can either tear the page out of a book, photocopy the page, or write out the passage by hand.

Then add the ingredients to your potion one at a time. Stir the potion any way you like between ingredients. Use your intuition when doing this.

The rose petals and lavender are for love and passion. The bay leaves represent wishes which add whimsical energy to this potion.

As you’re combining your ingredients, visualise the scene from the book playing out in your mind’s eye—except instead of the fictional characters, substitute you and your lover.

When you feel that “butterflies-in-the-stomach” feeling, you can move on to the last step.

Fold the paper with your story on it and submerge it under your water. Use your athame or whatever you used to stir your potion to do this because the water will probably be hot.

After that, your spell has been cast and you can dispose of your potion.

Think Of Me Potion

This indulgent potion uses the power of tarot cards and crystals to make someone think of you. It’s perfect for an evening when you’re alone and in the mood for some romance.

What You’ll Need:

Red juice (cranberry, pomegranate, or cherry juice are good options)

Amethyst

Clear quartz

Rose quartz

A sprig of sage

Tarot Cards: Eight of Wands, Queen of Cups, and King of Cup

Pour yourself a glass of your juice. Add your clean, polished crystals, amethyst to open the energetic channels between you and your person, rose quartz to make sure this person thinks of you fondly, clear quartz to strengthen your spell so it reaches your person.

Use your sprig of sage to stir your potion as your state your incantation and intention. Sage will help you connect psychically to this person.

“I drink this love potion made so fine,

and plant thoughts in (person’s name)’s head of my own design.”

Then state the thoughts you’d like this person to have using the person’s name such as, “Dan thinks about me and all the fun we had on our date last week.” You can also add a desired action like, “Dan thinks of me fondly and sends me a text.”

Once your potion is activated, remove your crystals.

Arrange your tarot cards on your table in a triangle shape. The King and Queen of Cup should be placed upright leaning towards each other, representing you and your person. (If you don’t feel a strong connection to the suggested cards, you can choose whatever tarot cards best represent you and the person you’re casting your potion spell on. Any cards from the cups suit work well since cups are linked to relationships, and you’re using a cup for your potion. The Magician, the Emperor, the High Priestess, and the Empress are powerful choices as well.)

The Eight of Wands will add speed to your spell. That card will go along the bottom of the triangle, laying horizontally to connect the other two cards.

Place your glass in the centre of the triangle when you’re not holding it. Savour your drink and think about your person until your glass is empty.

https://thetravelingwitch.com/blog/how-to-make-and-use-love-potions

[antemortem-rp-blog]

WELCOME, Lynn !! You’ve been accepted for the role of Caroline Forbes. We’re so excited to have you join the ante mortem family. Please look over the checklist and make sure to send in your account within 48 hours. We look forward to seeing you on our dash.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name / Alias: Lynn

Age: 23

Pronouns: she/her

Timezone: est

Anything Else?: I just graduated university and moved back to America? I suppose as a fun fact if that’s what you’re looking for, oh and I love to bake pies.

IN CHARACTER

Desired Character: Caroline Forbes

Why?: It’s probably redundant to say that I love Caroline, most likely even more so to say that it has to do with the fact that she has some of the best character growth that I’ve ever seen in a tv show. Followed unfortunately by a pretty strong regression, but she still has remained my favourite character that always seems to rear her head again once I think I’ve forgotten about her, which is a stubborn hearted persistence which honestly is pure Caroline. I think my favourite thing about Caroline isn’t the label that she’s good because there’s a lot of times where Caroline isn’t a good person or falters as a good vampire, what she is however and what is probably leagues more important is kind. Caroline grows to be exceptionally kind and perceptive and I think it’s amazing. I could go on more but then my application would be a 30 page rant about why Caroline Forbes is amazing and honestly if you accept me you’ll get it in small snippets at a time. Why I want to write her in this rp specifically however is that Caroline is by far the best at being a Vampire, it’s her at her best self and in a lot of ways I think it’s her final destiny. But here she’s a human instead and that is fascinating to me, it’s refreshing from always tackling her from one end of her story. I like the fact that she was able to grow into herself a bit by going into college, but there’s still those human insecurities woven into her at the same time that I get to play with. I think this is a once in a life time writing wise chance to explore this, as it doesn’t appear to be a very common theme. I also like that she has family, family relationships is one of my favourite things to write next to friendships. They really define a person and I think Caroline benefits from having family around her and her cousin just seems like a fun interaction to me. She’s an excessively loyal person after all and with how heavily she lays that loyalty upon her friends imagine the sort of things she’d be willing to go through for blood.

Character Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality & Ships: I personally see Caroline as Pansexual, I think she doesn’t really care much for gender so much as the person and just what about them attracts her. Caroline just wants someone who will love and listen to her, just someone who will care half as much as she does. Not even considering what she’s always settling for unfortunately. I also like to think of it as a bonding point for her and her Dad, just a sweet little hc of mine. I’m fairly open with shipping for Caroline I like her with people who respect her so that’s a very low statistic in her actual dating life, I liked her and Matt not as a forever situation but they were good at the time, I like Klaroline he had a lot of respect for her agency and wanted more for her which was lovely. I don’t ship Steroline I think being with Stefan really regressed a lot of Care’s progression which was frustrating and I’m also not a huge fan of Forwood I liked them for a short while but their relationship in the end just ended up being bad for the both of them. Outside of that I’m pretty open with her as a person and who she dates it really just comes down to chemistry. I love her having an ex though in Jake and I really love that at the end of their relationship even if she got him to start opening up in the end it was someone else who made the true positive change in him. It really falls into the inferiority complex she grew up with and I think would be an even bigger slap in the face than him dumping her in the first place. At the time, she would definitely still be petty enough to be angry that he found that happiness somewhere else rather than with her. Now however that’s definitely has changed although she’s not too thrilled about seeing him again considering how shitty of a boyfriend he was.

Occupation: In Legacies Caroline is a headmistress and I understand it she has a fantastic skill of purely just being an excellent Vampire and helping others master the art too, it makes sense. Their choice of putting her in broadcast journalism felt a little out of left field, I suppose it plays into her inquisitive nature Care does have a habit of wheedling information out of people but for who she was then it didn’t make all too much sense. I’d like to believe Caroline did start out as a drama major in school but soon transferred over to business when she found her passionate singing voice wasn’t getting her where she wanted to be. She swapped over to a basic business major graduating top of her class as is only the Forbes way. At the end however she was felt with an empty feeling of having no real set plan for what she wanted to do with her business degree so she took the only reasonable follow up. Getting a Master’s degree, it felt like the easiest answer to avoid making a choice while also continuing forward with an upward momentum while she went about figuring it out. Caroline Forbes did not fumble anything in life and she wasn’t about to let anyone catch her at odds end especially with the strain in all of her relationships recently. Currently her degree is in business administration as she feels a tentative pull towards making a career out of event planning. I’d like to see in the future her straying away and possibly changing her major to something in paper journalism following her trying to figure out what the hell it is everyone is so intent on keeping hidden from her. But her final destination with her degree and job will come out when she discovers her purpose. I like the idea of someone as pointed and goal oriented as Caroline floundering slightly in settling down her future for now she tells people she has event planning in her future with all the confidence an actual sure Caroline Forbes would use. I have no idea how much sense this makes.

Headcanons:

·       Caroline knows how to shoot a gun and is licenced, but not just that she’s good at it too. It’s not a skill many would expect of her but her Mother is one of the sheriffs of the town and even in a place as safe as she’s been told as Chance Falls it’s still been taught to her as a necessary skill. There’s a shotgun in the house and she’s been taught where it is and the combo for the safe to get to it. What Caroline isn’t aware of however is that the shot gun has been loaded with wooden bullets for many years now. She’s been taught to never welcome anyone into their home without her Mom’s express permission, and when she was a teenager the habit stuck around for a while, at times due to her cousin’s pointed reminders. Since going away to college however the habit has waned to the point of her welcoming and natural hostess nature often leading her now to welcome those she doesn’t know quite so well into her home. While it hasn’t led to anything bad yet only time can tell if this habit will come back to bite her. Tristan’s slow return to her life, as Caroline can hold a rather icy grudge will be good for this, help him have a nice starting base to work from.

·       As a teenager Caroline existed as the defining factor of what was cool, effortless party planning, dating bad boys, always having perfectly curled hair and being at the top academically and a leader? Easy. What wasn’t easy in her endless quest to be seen at the pinnacle of her school’s social scene was getting a tattoo. Especially when your Mother was one of the sheriffs, however that very title also meant that little attention was paid to Caroline on the regular that she was able to do this grand feat. She started simple, a small star on her foot done at a seedy parlour willing to overlook a poorly done fake ID. Naturally enough she brought along Bonnie and Elena, as her best friends and no matter the pleading and pulling after one shot of tequila a 14 year old Caroline Forbes left officially tattooed.

·       The second tattoo came when she was 17 following a string of heart break. This time Caroline went to the tattoo parlour alone with an immensely better fake ID in hand and no friends trailing behind her begging her to reconsider. Unlike the spontaneous choice of her star the blonde lingered for a bit taking into consideration her different options before deciding on a small swallow taking flight on her wrist. It drew her in and as the plastic was wrapped around the freshly done ink set for her to leave Care couldn’t help but feel like that blank space of skin on her had been sitting there waiting for the bird to settle down. It belonged on her. Her Mother did in fact figure out her tattoos and it led to yet another horrible fight.

·       Caroline has several nervous ticks, she tends to bite her lip, she glowers, brushes a thumb gently over her swallow tattoo or, most infamously she cleaned everything around her to an inch of its life.

·       Caroline is one of those people who carries her purse strap on her inner arm. This has a lot to do with southern societal living and creating a more glamorous effect around herself. Purses are also one of the things she’ll splurge on. Specifically purses, moisturizer, perfumes and shoes. She also believes it’s important to own at least a few tubes of high quality lipstick, one for each colour pallet.

·      Marilyn Monroe’s favourite lipstick was Guerlain’s ‘Diabolique’ the colour is now discontinued but they then released ‘Red Insolence’ a near identical shade which Caroline of course owns. It smells like vanilla and berries and while she may model her life after Scarlett O’Hara there will always be a bit of Marilyn in her. Besides, everyone needs to own a timeless red.

·       Caroline is well aware that she was a shallow bitch in high school, she’d had a whole break down about it once to prove it and at times she still felt that lingering push in her gut that she was just as shallow as before but that wasn’t the point. She’d been a supremely shitty teenager even going so far as to on occasion snub one of her closest friends Stiles, all because he wasn’t what anyone would really be calling cool back then. His social status did eventually change and Care is ashamed to admit now that she’d started being seen more in public with him around that time. There were times even when she was publically ignoring him that she would step in if someone appeared to be being too mean to him. The fact that he seems to be pulling away from her now feels like karma. If she’d always been the sort of friend he deserved every time maybe he wouldn’t be ignoring her now.

·       Less serious one but listen Caroline was 100% pissed to find out everything horrible that goes bump in the night is real but unicorns aren’t. It’s something she will be bringing up at some point.

·       Caroline doesn’t just love bubble gum pop music, she loves classic rock anthems. I’m taking this headcanon based off of her karaoke preferences. Her reasoning is that classic rock ballads from the 80s are some of the most powerful and romantic things you can find. It’s not something she advertises and you might not notice it unless you’ve heard her do karaoke or watch her get ready in the morning.

·       Caroline as student body president, valedictorian and head of too many committees to name applied to a vast variety of colleges and was accepted to many including Ivy’s. However, she wasn’t brave enough to leave, she didn’t believe in herself so she decided to play it safe and go to Constance with Elena instead. She doesn’t regret her decision even with the way her friend has been pulling away but a secret deep part of her does wish that she’d at least gone out the visit those colleges she got into. It’ll stick in her mind as a what if especially as she continues to be frustrated by the isolation and exclusion she’s going through.

·       Caroline’s underwear always matches, it’s just a little tic of hers and helps her feel more put together every morning. There’s nothing like concurring the world knowing you’re put together from literal top to bottom. She’ll shamelessly walk by having just purchased three new lingerie sets, there’s nothing to be embarrassed of after all, she has cute taste and if anything she’s setting an example of what everyone should be doing.

·       There is a handheld vacuum in her possession specifically for cleaning up post party confetti and glitter, because that’s the sort of thing that will never come out of a vacuum and she’s not about to infect her other. It’s clearly labeled so as to make sure no one mixes up, not that she’s about to let anyone clear for her.

Para Sample:

Sitting in front of her vanity Caroline gently ran her curling iron one last time through the heaviest lock she’d have on show. The face that stared back at her was perfect, brows arched correctly, lashes thick but not clumpy. Leaning forward, she ran a finger carefully around the corner of her lip gloss, making sure it remained within the lines. But it was only for show really, to draw the eyes of the other girls around her, because every piece of her look was utterly flawless. A green dress was hung up beside her vanity, perfectly ironed and steamed as she’d done so herself. Somewhere out there in town her Mom was doing police things, her cousin was god knows where not that she particularly cared. As a flash of pain snapped through her system the blonde firmly shoved it down once again reenforcing that she truly didn’t. Her Dad though, she’d half expected him to show up. After all he was always the one who supported her in these things. The one who took her shopping before every school year, who helped drill her for gymnastics, and then for cheer. The parent who paid her the most attention and made sure that she was able to get the vast amount of attention that she so required, picking up the slack for her Mother who’d become so sucked into her work.

At the sound of a laugh her eyes drifted away from her own reflection instead landing on the back of her best friend and her aunt. How was it that Elena had most of her family die and still managed to have someone with her for the pageant? She shouldn’t be the one alone. As soon as the vicious thought slipped through her head she felt horrible, but it was true. She had the perfect boyfriend downstairs waiting for her, while Caroline had to dance with some substitute. All because her boyfriend, who she was still half sure was still half in love with her friend, was working. Caroline had almost been pathetic enough to ask Jake to escort her but not only would it royally piss of Matt, but her ego couldn’t take that kind of hit especially since her ex had recently been galavanting around with Faye Chamberline of all people. Her eyes remained locked on the happy little mixed up family unit as they at the same time unfocused.

She could see it in her mind’s eye now, standing next to her, probably holding hands with a death grip waiting for the news. Because Elena was her best friend and of course she’d want to stand beside her, because she loved her and she couldn’t imagine anyone else there next to her. So she would be standing there holding onto her, hearing Elena win and pasting a smile onto her features. Elena would get to feel a bit closer to her Mom a previous Miss Chance Falls and Caroline would get to feel her heart throb in pain at the loss of something she wanted so badly, and also feel like a horrible friend for hating her just a bit in that moment.

A hand softly reached up to brush against the heart-shaped necklace Elena had given her, just because she cared. Because that was the kind of person Elena was and it was, of course, the perfect piece of jewellery. Caroline did everything right, volunteering for everything within her reach, writing a killer essay, keeping a perfect smile with perfect posture before the judges. Answering every question with grace during the closed interview, she’d even googled how the royal family sat so as to make sure she was just that little bit more than everyone else. More what she did not know, but just more.

Her eyes dropped from looking at the reflection of her friend down to the vanity table. Elena would get the pity vote, because not only was she effortlessly beautiful and kind she had the perfect tragedy, and with her Aunt watching happily, and her perfect boyfriend standing beside the stage the committee would announce her name. Caroline would hug her and then she’d change out of her dress and walk herself home, leave a message for Matt and complain about her escort who would likely forget one or two of the steps she’d ruthlessly drilled into him. Her Mom would come home and if she remembered to ask Caroline would tell her about the pageant as well, or bring it up in a petty moment of anger during their next fight if she didn’t. Later she’d send a text to Tristan or Stiles, and the former might at the very least read the message and the later might commiserate with her over it being bullshit because even if she was on occasion a terrible friend/sudo-sibling he always seemed to come through. Bonnie she’d leave alone to celebrate with Elena, because Elena deserved to have a best friend who was for real happy for her in those moments.

Steeling herself Caroline sat up a bit straighter inspecting herself from her best angle and even her less flattering one, only slightly less of course. She’d meant it when she’d talked to Bonnie, when she’d softly tried to gather up her hope and confidence for this thing that she wanted so badly. She deserved this, she’d worked and earned this. So no matter what happened like Scarlett O’Hara she would preserve. She’d be so stunning that the town would gossip for weeks about how cheated she was out of the crown. Taking a small breath in and then out she smiled at her reflecting plastering her papier-mâché confidence back on before standing up and grabbing her dress bag. Caroline Forbes had a pageant to dominate.

Anything Else?:  A future plot point for Caroline I’d really like to explore would be her becoming a Vampire as I think she’s meant to be. It’s not something I’m looking to rush however, I like drawing things out and reestablishing some relationships, just layering up a multitude of things so that when it happens the pile can topple over and we’re left with a lot of angst and conflicting emotions. I think it’d be especially interesting considering Tristan having killed the person he’s been intending to marry. So it’s really important to me to have a Tristan rper and their relationship rather strong before that happens.

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/goseabrook1/care/

Inspo Blog: https://luminescentgirl.tumblr.com/

[newyorkisartsyfartsy]

The Perception of Liberty

The Brooklyn Museum’s updated exhibit on American Art now includes pieces from a more diverse range of American artists, and shows viewers a more complete image of what it means to be an American.

By Malachi Johnson

When most people think of America, they tend to envision the United States. The name “America” has become synonymous with the USA, yet The Americas encompass the entire Western hemisphere, to include Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Unfortunately the mass perception of what it means to be American has been skewed, and with it, the way the public looks at art. With this in mind, The Brooklyn Museum has taken steps to properly represent American culture.

For many years, the American Art exhibit has largely consisted of work by traditional white male artists, depicting the strength of the nation. However, within the last few years, The Brooklyn Museum has redone the exhibit to include a wider range of artists. According to the text just outside of the exhibit, “As the face of America is changing, becoming more diverse, so too are the ideas of what constitutes ‘American’ art.” In actuality, America has always been immensely diverse, but today those who were marginalized are given a voice in society, allowing for women, people of color, and the LGBT+ community to be represented in art culture.

Now that the exhibit has been updated to provide a more accurate view of art in America, it also serves as a visual manifestation of the progression of American society, particularly for African Americans.

Microaggressions of a Hard-Working American

Francis William Edmonds’ All Talk and No Work, whether intentionally of not, is a perfect representation of how society viewed people of color in the nineteenth century. Edmonds lived from 1806 to 1863 and was both a businessman and a painter, living most of his life as a banker while painting in his off time. While there aren’t any obvious signs that Edmonds was racist or prejudiced towards Black Americans, this painting from 1855 contains subtle hints reflecting the position of White men at the time.

The painting on its own is quite beautiful; Edmonds’ art is very detailed and rich in color. The scene depicts two men, one White and one Black, standing inside of a barn, talking with one another. The men are the true center of the painting, as a light shines down on them, separating themselves from the shadows around the rest of the barn. Through a small window, you can see a light colored house against a blue sky and green grass, a contrast to the more earthy tones inside of the barn.

On the surface this appears to be nothing more than two men engaged in conversation, yet with a more critical view, you can see the indirect portrayal of their character. As the museum’s description states, “Although both wear tattered clothing and neither is engaged in productive work, unequal power dynamics are suggested.” Due to our visual nature, we often make assumptions of people based on what they wear or what they have around them. For example, the White worker in the painting is leaning over a pitchfork, indicating that he is tired from manual labor and is a hard worker, which should be commended. The Black man on the other hand, holds a basket, an implement used for receiving items, not creating them. This forms an impression of laziness in the man that otherwise would not have been present.

Prejudice is often dismissed by many people in this country, seen as a thing of the past that went away with the Civil Rights Movement. While it most likely wasn’t the artist’s intention, All Talk and No Work is symbolic of the way in which racism shaped American culture in the 1800s and the way in which it goes largely unseen today. 

While everything looks fine on the surface, those who choose to look further can see the truth.

Embracing Us

Discrimination was certainly still present in the late 1930s, yet by then African American artists like Lois Mailou Jones had the ability to express themselves in much more significant fashion. Jones lived a long life from 1905 to 1998 and is known for the way in which she celebrated both her African and American roots through her art.

Jones developed a love for art at a young age and fed this passion as she attended school for design and art education. After finishing college, Jones desired to be a teacher, but was rejected by her the Boston Museum School in her hometown and was told to teach in the South where “her people” lived. She later went on to work at Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she would teach and make art of her own.

During the 30s and 40s, Jones was invited to study in Paris where she created many of her pieces, one of which was Dans un Café à Paris (Leigh Whipper). Alain Locke, one of the great contributors of the Harlem Renaissance, asked Jones to paint art that would celebrate African Americans in a way that hadn’t been done before. Jones’ depiction of Leigh Whipper shies away from power dynamics and stereotypes, and rather shows Whipper sitting at a café in Paris, enjoying a meal and looking into the distance.

Whipper is famously known for his role in Of Mice and Men where he plays the role of an African American worker, shunned by his colleagues due to his race and treated as an outcast. This was a reflection of African Americans in reality, as Jones had seen in her own life. I believe this is why she depicted him in Paris rather than America; here Jones was given a freedom to paint and create as herself and thus she wanted to give Whipper that same gift. In the painting, the actor is sitting at a table with some mood and a drink, and is gazing thoughtfully. The viewer has no idea what Whipper is looking at, if anything at all. Perhaps he is thinking about the state of his life, or maybe he is simply watching the cars pass by outside. The point is that it doesn’t matter; here, in this point in time, Whipper doesn’t need a reason to be sitting or looking at anything in particular. He is free to just, be.

The Journey of a Nation

Being “an American” can mean a variety of things for different people. We all come from different cultures and walks of life, a myriad of separate people coming together as one. As many groups in America have been underrepresented in society over the years, it is imperative that we make a conscious effort to give a voice to everyone in our nation, just as The Brooklyn Museum is doing with the American Art exhibit. 

This updated installation works to encompass American culture in its entirety, from the Native Americans who settled the country to the people of today. As a result, viewers are allowed to see the truth of American society, specifically the ugly side of discrimination and racism. However, we are also given the opportunity to see the beauty of the growth that we have made, the way in which the marginalized have risen up to depict themselves in the way that they wish to be seen, and to hopefully paint a road for a brighter future.