#that POOR BOy! peter lives such a tRAGIC existence!

[idk-bruh-20]

Irondad fic ideas #119

We've all seen the fics where the Rogues return and immediately assume that Peter is Tony's son, leading to a "prank" where Tony and Peter "act" like father and son (they soon realize they barely have to act, cue feelings)

Now, a fic that is a twist on that old favorite.

The Rogues return, and they quickly figure out that Peter is not Tony's biological son, that he started as an intern and as Spider-Man but the two have grown closer since then. The Rogues assume that Tony has never told Peter how much he cares about him. They believe Tony is too emotionally constipated, and that Peter must still think he is "just an intern"

However, in assessing the situation, the Rogues have failed to account for some pretty vital facts: 1) the amount of time that has actually passed, and 2) the fact that Tony Stark would do just about anything, even face and overcome his childhood programming, for Peter Parker

Peter and Tony have known each other for two years now. They have already had all the emotional conversations. Peter sees Tony as a father, and Tony sees Peter as a son, and the whole Ironfam knows it. No one is in the dark about what's going on.

...except the Rogues.

When Peter and Tony realize that the Rogues immediately assumed Tony is emotionally incapable, they decide to prank them by seeing just how long they will keep believing that

Around the Rogues, Peter calls Tony "Mr. Stark," and Tony pretends to be a stone cold bitch (even while "subtly" remaining a helicopter parent). Back on their own floor of the tower, Peter switches easily between "Tony" and "Dad," they have movie nights where they fall asleep on the couch together, and dinners with Pepper, May, Rhodey, and Happy.

The Rogues decide they need to help Tony and Peter realize their feelings. This goes on for a long time.

Then, one day, Peter gets hurt. Bad. Maybe he gets hurt as Spider-Man, maybe it's a kidnapping or hostage situation. One way or another, he ends up calling out for his dad.

The Rogues all hold their breath, expecting Tony to be stunned, to freak out and go hide in his lab. But Tony doesn't even blink. He comforts Peter, holds onto him, promises that he's safe

Finally, it becomes clear that the Rogues... might have misjudged the situation. Just a bit.

[scarlet-spider-bf]

This is a stating the obvious post but I haven't seen anyone explicitly point it out so why not?

Ben Reilly - a cloned man who was almost broken by the notion of him being less than human, defective, maybe soulless, a cheap copy of a better original - crooked. As Scaret Spider he's been on a journey to define himself and set himself apart from Peter Parker/Spider-Man. So it's only logical for him to have a costume that reflects this. And he wears the Spider, wears it different and proudly but crooked. Fate tried to bend his back and submit to settle for less than what he deserves - the Jackal created him as a slave but he fought for his freedom and eventually suceeded (temporarily...)

Then later on he embraced the revelation that he was actually the original (which turned out not to be true sigh poor boy). What matter is that he got to experience a time in which he didn't feel the need (as much) to prove he deserves the bare minimum like you know - to exist. He was allowed to be proud and unapologetic. An enthusiatic and unrivaled Spider-Man. And more than that he absolutely loved it, it wasn't a burden to him like to Peter, no, it was a privilege. His tragic conception at least gave him the solace to frame his responsibility as a grace - a purpose. Being Spider-Man validated him. And he found balance, an anchor, an inner symmetry. Spider front and center, one of the most balanced and goated suits ever if I dare say so.

Let's not forget he also got the blonde dyed hair makeover and artists began to draw him with a boyish prettyness that was a pretty stark contrast to his former stubbled beard and 90s mullet look that more looks like Kaine does nowadays.

like damn son look at this figure especially, no way to get more pretty boiTM he's literally blonde Ken

He dies as Spider-Man to save Peter, which is of course very noble, the ultimate sacrifice (not even talking about the insane number of personal sacrifices he enthusiastically shoulders to protect Peter and Mary Jane and everyone else).

But he is brought back. And the new Ben is tortured by his creator Jackal to clinical insanity over and over a bunch of stuff happens and we arrive in the Beyond Era in which Ben (new clone body, same consciousness as the old one - presumably but arguably not really and very very broken inside, much more so than he ever was originally) gets to be Spider-Man once more. And sure enough Beyond fucked with his memories and made him forget lots of the awful stuff he went through. But nearly not all and they also begin deleting some things he'd rather have kept... he is uprooted, decentered, crooked yet again.

The Spider clings to his heart side (how poetic), the last shield of comfort between Beyond and his fragile soul since at least it tells him what he should be, what he should live up to. But he is not the same. He doesn't even know how much he isn't. And maybe he won't ever be again. (sob)

And then we are in the current era. Let's hope the Chasm that was left behind when he lost his formative memories of decency and responsibility will be able to be mended abd turn out to be a chrysalis of sorts. (I actually love the development overall for dramatic reasons but that's another post)

(also my god his mask looks like corpse paint of smudged kajal if you will and I love that for him... love his Maleficient palette twisted wonderland looking ass. Is it me or does this design look Disney in a way? Don't even mean it in a negative way. Making him a sorcerer is so rad actually but alas I'm starting to write that other post let's keep it for later-)

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Lily Evans and Severus Snape: Headcanons

So, I was asked in the ask about Sirius and Regulus what I thought about Snape and Lily. At this point people are probably going, “Oh that Carnivorous Muffin is just clearly a Snape stan who thinks he could never do anything wrong and anyone who was slightly mean to him is evil.” Shockingly, I’m actually not, I just happen to think sexual harassment and attempted murder are bad and probably worse than JKR intended (I do think she was trying to go the “boys will be boys” route versus “oh my god, they just dumped pigs blood on Carrie at the prom and then threw her at a starving vampire”)

So let’s start on Snape.

First, Snape did live an incredibly shitty life, with circumstances beyond his control, that did lead to many of his poorer choices. In no way am I saying that it was alright for Snape to have grown up in an impoverished, abusive, household and endured years of humiliation and torment at school. 

That said, I believe that we all, in some respects, are responsible for our actions and our decisions. Yes, even when we come from non-privileged backgrounds. Life is hard, some people will have it much easier than you, that doesn’t excuse you becoming a domestic terrorist or tormenting and terrifying your students, young children, so much so that an entire generation comes out with a loathing and incompetence in your subject.

I guess let’s start back on his friendship with Lily Evans. We get... a really weird perspective from Snape on that friendship. Time and her tragic death have warped it into this strange worship where I’m not sure the Lily Evans that exists in his mind and memory is the one that really was there. She’s this shining Madonna idol who he failed, actively betrayed, is very very hung up about it years later.

I suspect they weren’t as good of friends as either of them thought they were and it comes down to Snape’s resentment of his own upbringing and muggles. I believe Snape was very racist towards muggles, specifically, due to his father. It was his way of grappling with his home life and only fueled by being in Slytherin. Lily was probably, in his mind, always a golden exception to the rule (Lily is the token, gold standard, muggleborn where she’s pretty, brilliant, charming, etc.) That Severus himself was a halfblood clearly caused him some angst. What I’m getting at is that I believe throughout their entire friendship, especially when they got to Hogwarts, there was an unacknowledged undercurrent of intense racism that eventually boiled up with that one incident in Snape’s fifth year.

Calling her that, while he views it as a slip of the tongue that damned him for all time, I see it more as a Freudian Slip. That sort of thing doesn’t just slip out from nowhere, not at that age when they both knew exactly what that word meant, it simmers beneath the surface, and was ultimately what he thought of her. Later, she became the Madonna figure that he views her as today (ironically perhaps even less of a person than he viewed her as at the time).

That said I think a number of factors played into the young Snape becoming a Death Eater. One, becoming friends with Lucius/that crowd who were all being sucked into Tom’s influence. Two, having his terrible home life and all the implications of Snape resenting his own blood status as well as muggles and muggle borns at large. Three, the loss of friendship with Lily (now there’s nothing to hold him back anymore, he has no reason to preserve muggleborn life). Fourth, Dumbledore’s letting Sirius, James, and Remus entirely off the hook in the werewolf incident.

That last one, especially, I imagine cemented Snape’s utter hatred of ‘the light’ (don’t get me started on the stupidity of light/dark in Harry Potter but I guess I’ll use the term) and those that cater to muggleborns. They’re hypocrites of the highest order, Dumbledore claiming to defend the poor and non-nobility, when he goes and does the exact opposite (James is the next lord Potter, Sirius is still pureblooded even if disowned, Severus Snape is a dirt poor halfblood). 

So what I’m saying is I understand why Snape did become a Death Eater, I do not condone this action. Especially as, unlike Regulus, Snape never gets cold feet. He loves being a Death Eater at first, he’s living the dream, getting all the revenge he ever wanted and burning the stupid wizarding world to the ground as he scrambles for ways to climb in Tom Riddle’s graces. We don’t see any hint that he was wavering, thinking of the fact that beloved Lily might die in battle, perhaps at his hand, until the prophecy. 

Now, I’m a little kinder than some about the prophecy. We know Snape overhears the first portion of the prophecy in early 1980. He eagerly rushes to the dark lord, regales him with the prophecy in both a) aid to the cause and b) in the hopes of climbing in the ranks and gaining the dark lord’s notice. At this point, Lily Evans is pregnant, perhaps knows the gender, but has not given birth. Months later, when both Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter are born at the end of July, Snape realizes he has signed Lily Evans’ death warrant (because despite Dumbledore talking, I imagine Tom always planned to kill off both children, Pettigrew just happened to make things convenient for Tom to go to the Potters first).

With Lily’s death now so inevitable, and her blood on his own hands, Snape has his existential crisis, goes to Dumbledore who puts the Potters in hiding and becomes a double agent. Snape also pleads for Lily’s life with Tom and he puts in a minimal amount of effort to spare the woman. 

Then Lily dies anyway and now Snape lives in the bitter cynicism most commonly seen in characters from Game of Thrones. He’s Dumbledore’s agent and sort of a Dirty Harry character, getting to see all the nasty things that many of the other order members never have to deal with. He’s one of the more intelligent characters in the series, able to see the truth of the world he lives in, but he also doesn’t care enough to actually do anything about it. He’s a bitter, resentful, and angry protector of Harry Potter, choosing to hate a naive child for all the reminders of his own terrible life (both in Lily, for failing and betraying her, and in James his most hated rival and tormentor). He gleefully enables the favoritism of Slytherin (my god how he panders to Draco Malfoy) while tormenting poor Neville into terror (that Neville’s greatest 13 year old fear is Snape is very telling).

Basically by the time we get to him in canon Snape not only isn’t happy but I think he doesn’t want to be happy. He’s accustomed to his bitterness, his cynicism, his quiet rage and moves forward out of both resignation, guilt, and a sense of obligation to a woman’s ghost. The actions he takes in canon aren’t so much for Harry as they are for the memory of Lily Evans.

Even if Snape could be happy at that point, change his life or his purpose, I do not think he would. He’s a man who has given up on life.

Now, onto Lily Evans.

You probably think I’m going to rail on her to for the sheer hypocrisy and nerve of marrying James Potter. I’m actually not. Lily Evans is one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter series and probably the one I’d label as the most moral (though that’s a very low bar in Harry Potter, the characters are almost all assholes, but even so Lily would still be very high on the list).

You know what, I’m just going to damn myself and sound like a crazy person. Lily Evans always reads to me as a more moral young female Tom Riddle.

What the hell? You undoubtedly ask but I’ll explain.

Lily, while having a far more stable homelife than Tom Riddle, also comes from a muggleborn background. She’s exceptionally brilliant, very good looking, and very charming with a lot of people who would call her friends but no one close. Lily, aside from Snape (and that’s debatable), has no friends.

If Lily had not been a Gryffindor, and were Dumbledore not a raging misogynist, his Tom Riddle bells likely would have been ringing with her.

“But wait, that can’t be right!”

Oh, yes it can. First, as I went into above with Snape and Lily, there was something deeply wrong with that friendship. I believe they both considered themselves best friends, didn’t see many of the warning flags, but ultimately we see the giant fissure when Snape lets loose the m-word. Given all of that, I would not label them having been true friends in the first place. Just the appearance of friends.

Otherwise, while it’s very easily to canonically point out James’ friends it’s incredibly difficult to do so with Lily. First, people hardly remember Lily. We get Dumbledore talking about her like she’s the Virgin Mary, saving her son with the power of her love. We get Snape’s weird Virgin Mary impressions of her. Otherwise, it’s pretty much just Slughorn. Everyone else remembers that she married James and that was great because JAMES WAS SO COOL and that she had very striking eyes and was “nice”. Lily is less than a ghost in Harry Potter canon (sadly Harry never really realizing it).

Also, unlike James who has Sirius, Remus, and Peter to point towards (that are very important characters in canon). Lily has no one. The godmother was Alice Longbottom, a woman many years older than Lily and James who probably liked Lily well enough but I can’t imagine was a close friend. In canon there’s an offhand mention of two girls named Mary and Marlene but we don’t see much of them/Severus was always cited as Lily’s closest friend. As for Lily’s sister, well we know they’re estranged. I think it’s very telling that Lily writes a letter to Sirius, James’ best friend and certainly not hers, telling him that James is pouting over his invisibilty cloak. It’s because there was no one else to write.

So Lily Evans is a brilliant girl, who everyone likes and is very charming, but has no friends and led a very lonely and short life.

Here’s where my slack towards Lily comes in.

When she dumps Snape I completely understand why she did so. Snape dropping that word wasn’t simply a mistake, a moment of infinite regret, but something that revealed what he truly thought of her and where she came from. Lily was absolutely right in walking away.

However, without Snape, her closest friend is suddenly gone and the world is cold. As graduation approaches I imagine Lily’s career options become clearer and clearer. While very talented and smart, Lily is a muggleborn, what job she does manage to get (thanks to the sheer nepotism of the wizarding world/lack of jobs) will likely be through Slughorn if she manages to get a job at all. The world is cold and it is cruel and no one seems to even notice.

Cue James Potter. I do believe, probably until seventh year, Lily loathed James, not simply because of the horrifying things he did to Severus (and I’m sure she knew very little of it, Snape hiding most of it from her out of pride and shame), but because he’s just a giant dick. He’d make flirting with her a kind of game and joke to be shared with Sirius, something to hold over Snape’s head, like she’s a prize to be one.

However, by seventh year the werewolf incident has happened, Snape’s retreated further and further into Death Eater recruit land and she’s cut him off, and for all my “James is a dick” I do imagine he calmed down a little. Now that Snape is no longer friends with Lily/after the whole almost murder incident I imagine they didn’t bully him nearly as much as they used to. Though yes, they probably still bullied him, but Lily probably doesn’t know that now that she’s lost contact with Snape. 

James is charming and very good looking. He seems a bit more mature than he used to be. Lily is desperately lonely, living in a world that rejects everything she is, and James seems like one of the few who does support her (that James is more of a ‘pretty fly for a white guy’ kind of support for muggleborns doesn’t hit until later). So Lily is charmed and makes the largest mistake of her life, she and James start dating.

Now, given their extreme youth as well as Lily’s pedigree (say what you like, I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Potter were thrilled that their son was dating a muggleborn) I imagine the wedding was a shot gun wedding and Lily got unintentionally pregnant. Yes, go ahead and throw fruit at me or call foul, I just can’t imagine they’d want a child that young while in the middle of a war while they’re part of an active resistance movement and only just out of Hogwarts.

Then things start snowballing downhill. Lily and James have just joined the resistance movement, Lily’s son is prophesied to defeat Voldemort, they strongly suspect one of James’ close friends is a spy, and they’re forced into hiding.

In hiding is where I imagine stress runs high and their marriage begins to fall apart. We know from Lily’s letter that James was routinely leaving hiding, using the cloak, so he could meet up with Sirius and Peter (I imagine Lupin’s on the out as they suspected he was the spy). While James might not realize what a big deal that was, I imagine Lily always did, and she begins to realize just what she’s gotten herself into but there’s no way out while in hiding.

Now we go really off the rails into headcanon territory in: what the hell is up with Harry Potter?

In my stories, I often choose the unwitting god route. Harry can’t die because he is a god, he becomes the master of death and always was the master of death. This is an answer, but it’s one that makes canon Harry a god and... I would not want canon Harry as a god. JKR and Dumbledore push the “Lily loved her child so much that it deflected death... multiple times” but this always felt... unsatisfying. Many parents love their children (fathers too, JKR, let’s not make this weird Virgin Mary thing) and yet Harry Potter alone in the history of mankind survives multiple times. 

Most likely, Lily pulled off some insane bullshit with absolutely no resources and minimal education AND EVERYONE IGNORES IT. We do know that Lily crafted the blood wards, wards stronger than anything Dumbledore himself can come up with/than Voldemort can break. Ones that protect Harry not only at home but away from it as it melts Voldemort for simply touching his skin. Lily pulled off the impossible in only a few months and did it right under everyone’s nose.

This makes her easily one of the most intelligent characters in Harry Potter. Probably beating out Dumbledore and maybe tying with Tom Riddle. And Dumbledore tells us, “Your Virgin Mary mother loved you so much, Harry, that it courses through your veins and lights those that would want to harm you on fire.”

So, that’s Lily for you.

Now, that said, I’m probably a bit biased and clearly very lenient with her marrying James. To be honest it took me years to figure out why the hell Lily would ever marry James after what happened with Severus and was always one of those weird canon things I never quite understood. He’s that good looking and charming, I guess, was my response.

The answer I now land on with some confidence was that the world is that cruel and bleak and Lily was utterly alone for two years.

By the way, a side note/plug, of all my stories while head canons do pop up here and there I think “October” is one where they tend to crop up more. It’s a vast AU of canon, but it gives an idea of what I think x character would do in y situation. 

[noragami-ru-manga]

A couple of thoughts on chapter 79 translation differences

This was actually written a while ago but I’m posting it now ‘cause I’m bored.

When I first read chapter 79 from the official American release, I found three translation differences that caught my attention and made me think quite a lot. And no, this isn’t an attempt to find out which version is more accurate; believe me, I’m the last person who has any authority to determine that. What I can do is look at how they work in the context of Noragami and maybe make a couple of speculations about what each version has to offer regarding our understanding of the lore, the characters and the themes of the manga.

1. Commemorative ceremony vs wedding

I’m pretty sure I’ve had the same reaction to this particular part of the manga as everyone else who’s read both versions: “Wait, wedding? Where did that come from?” I know that the reason this difference even exists is because the Japanese word that is used here simply means both. So fast-moon chose the first one, and the official translators went with the other one. If I knew Japanese and had to translate this sentence, I probably would have opted for the broader term, aka “commemorative ceremony”, both to be on the safe side (after all, if there will be more Kazuma backstory and turns out it was a wedding, the translation will still work perfectly - a wedding is a commemorative ceremony) and because it sort of works well with what was said a little earlier - that Kazuma was made an heir to his family’s business by his father’s decree, which sounds like a cause for celebration as far as I’m concerned. So why would the official translators choose a more specific term? 

I started thinking around that, and to me, it all boils down to the purpose of this alleged wedding. If I had to guess, some people might have interpreted it in this way: Kazuma didn’t have the chance to marry the girl he wanted, so he decided to move on and marry someone else. But the way I see it, it’s far more likely - if it was a wedding - that it wasn’t his choice, but his father’s. After all, marriage was always tied to inheritance rights; in fact, the reason why it even came to be as a social phenomenon is because it allowed people to determine who could inherit their fortune and who couldn’t. I’m not saying that people who were married and in love didn’t exist back then, but the connection between romantic love and marriage definitely wasn’t as strong as it is now. So I can totally see Kazuma’s father making him marry some other merchant’s daughter both to increase the family’s fortune and to validate his second son’s position as the heir in the eyes of the society. After all, there are historical precedents for boys being forcefully married to a girl their family chose for them for exactly this purpose - like the first Russian emperor Peter I being married off at the age of 15 so that he could become a man, inherit the throne and succeed his older sister. 

I don’t think we’ll see more of Kazuma’s past to know for a fact if it was supposed to be a wedding or a celebration of his becoming an heir though. 

This is actually getting pretty long, so the rest is below the cut.

2. Yato’s thoughts about shinki

The next big translation difference comes right after the first one, when Yato starts thinking about Kazuma and Yukine both being murdered by their closest relatives.

In fast-moon’s version, Yato’s thoughts are limited to Yukine and how everything he’s done so far reflects on the boy. As a weapon shinki, Yukine was has been put in dangerous situations over and over. Now that Yato’s abandoned him, knowing that Yukine is vulnerable, especially after his time in the box during the trial, to go and kill his father, his lifeline no less - that’s a “mutual destruction” alright. So the logical conclusion is that it can’t go on like this any longer, and that maybe if Yato was a different self, without all the baggage he had now, then Yukine wouldn’t have to live such a dangerous afterlife.

But man, the official translation... Yato doesn’t think just about Yukine here, but about all shinki, especially those who transform into weapons. While it was never outright said that a shinki is someone who’s necessarily died violently, all the shinki whose past has been revealed so far had very tragic deaths. And while gods don’t deliberately make their shinki into weapons, to know that, and to still use them in battles, making them kill each other a second time, is beyond cruel. The accompanying pictures here all have one thing in common: in all of these situations Yukine had to fight other shinki, not ayakashi. He was put in danger, but so were his opponents, too - all these people who’ve already died a horrible death once. And what drives it home even more is that literally a chapter prior Kazuma started saying how ungodly it was of Bishamon to take an innocent girl, Nana, and to use her as a disposable weapon, and then he had to correct himself and say that that’s exactly what gods do. 

And the saddest thing? There’s hardly any solution to this dilemma. Gods need shinki to survive, because shinki kill ayakashi. As powerful as gods are, it’s their shinki that enable them do their duty as gods - grant human wishes and protect people from evil thoughts incarnated. 

3. Gods and “something irreplaceable”

The difference here lies in who waits for whom. And I have to say that I’m really biased in this particular case, because I really like how the official translation works in the context of what we know about reincarnations. While it is a mechanism that exists in Noragami, and we even have an example of a god who keeps reincarnating over and over - my poor boy Ebisu - I don’t think that multiple rebirths are a norm. Ebisu’s frequent reincarnations are actually frowned upon by other gods - Ookuninushi even commented how strange it was that his shinki kept allowing that to happen. And as we know, Takemikazuchi’s senior shinki had to hide the fact that he was replaced, because the death of a celestial deity is a disgrace (although I suspect that it was less about Takemikazuchi’s image and more about  their own safety. After all, the best way to not let anyone know that they killed their own master is to not let anyone know that he died at all). So I imagine that for a god to find someone who will stay by their side, even if reincarnation is shameful and each time they (potentially) die, they aren’t quite themselves anymore, would be the best thing that could happen to them.

Also, I don’t know if the phrase for “irreplaceable someone” used here is the same one that was used in chapter 22, but if it is, then it’s a nice callback.

That’s really all I had to say about the thoughts caused by these translation differences. Also, it’s funny how the second one hits differently after the recent chapter. 

[aion-rsa]

Best Romantic Movies on Netflix

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Romance movies are not that different from horror movies. Both are incredibly hard to pull off, are heavily watched during a cold time of year, and hopefully end with every character covered in blood.

With that in mind we present to you a list of the best romantic movies on Netflix. Because romance deserves it, damn it. Virtually every song ever written is a love song but poor romance can’t get a fair shake at the movies. Whether it be a rom-com or just a straight-up soul-enlightening/crushing romance, our list of the best romantic movies on Netflix will get you back in touch with your cold, dead heart.

Set It Up

Set It Up is Netflix’s most accomplished original romantic comedy yet.

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell star as overworked assistants Harper and Charlie. Harper is an assistant to Kirsten (Lucy Liu) the woman behind a sports media empire. Charlie works for finance maven Rick (Taye Diggs). Harper and Charlie realize that their respective workloads might lesson if their bosses were more focused on their love life and less focused on work. So they…set them up.

Set It Up is a fun, novel high-concept romance movie positively filled with chemistry on all sides.

Outside In

We embrace every kind of love on our list of the best romance movies. Sometimes that includes some questionable, and some would say “icky” kind of love. So…Outside In is a teacher-student romance. But don’t panic! It’s ok.

Jay Duplas stars as Chris, a man who was wrongly imprisoned at age 18 and who is relased at age 38. When Chris is released, he immediately meets up with his old high school teacher, Carol (Edie Falco), who was his penpal when he was in prison. He wastes little time before he declares his love for her.

Despite its subject matter, Outside In is a mature, well-handled exploration of love and what it means to love someone for themselves as opposed to what they do for us.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

With a name as long as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, the movie better be good to justify how many times we poor cultural commenters must type it out. Thankfully Guernsey is quite good!

Based on a book by the same name, Guernsey is a historical love story set in 1946. Lily James stars as British writer Juliet Ashton. Juliet begins exchanging letters with residents of the islands of Guernsey, which was under German occupation in WWII (so like two years before the movie starts). While there she meets the dashing Dawsey Adams (Michael Huisman) and romance begins to blossom.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an excellent, watchable classical romance

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Oh hey! Another Netflix original with a long title based on a book. Like the Potato Peel Pie Society, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is another effortlessly enjoyable romantic romp – this time of the teen variety.

Lara Jean Song Covey (Laura Condor) experiences every young person’s nightmare when private love letters to five boys she has or has had crushes on suddenly and mysteriously become public. But fear not. This is a romance movie, not a horror movie. So this sudden reveal has to go well for Lara Jean, right? RIGHT?!?

To All the Boys P.S. I Still Love You

The To All the Boys team returns for a sequel that teaches kids the harsh lesson that there’s no such thing as happily ever after! OK, so that’s a bit harsh, but To All the Boys P.S. I Still Love You does bring back its characters for another round of romantic angst.

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To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You Review

By Delia Harrington

Movies

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Review: A Pleasurable Netflix Rom-Com

By Delia Harrington

Lara Jean (Lana Condor) is now officially Peter’s (Noah Centineo) girlfriend. But before they can relax and enjoy their lives together, an old flame of Lara Jean enters the frame. That’s right, John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher) is here and he wants to steal your girl, Noah Centineo.

The Danish Girl

2015’s The Danish Girl tells the story of a kind of love nearly unprecedented for its early 20th century time. Eddie Redmayne stars as artist Lili Elbe, who was born Einar Wegener and is believed to be one of the first individuals to receive sexual reassignment surgery. The film follows Lili’s journey and her love with wife Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander).

When Gerda asks her husband to stand in for a female subject in her painting, Einar does so and quickly comes to terms with the gender identity he’s been suppressing. The newly confirmed Lili and Gerda navigate this new dimension of their relationship and Lili continues her work as a subject for Gerda’s now very much in demand paintings. 

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Beauty and the Beast

2017’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast isn’t the best depiction of the classic fairy tale ever but that’s ok. It doesn’t have to be. All Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast really needed to be was a fun little dip into nostalgia with sumptuous visuals and a believable romance. On that front, everything goes according to plan.

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Movies

Emma Watson on Beauty and the Beast: ‘I’m Very Grateful That This Character Exists’

By Don Kaye

TV

Beauty and the Beast Disney+ Prequel Series Set with Luke Evans and Josh Gad

By Joseph Baxter

Emma Watson stars as Belle and Dan Stevens is her beast. Belle heads off from her small French town to the Beast’s castle to rescue her father. What follows is Stockholm Syndrome: The Movie. But sexier. Beauty and the Beast really does look good and Watson and Stevens have just enough chemistry to make this a worthwhile romantic experience.

50 First Dates

50 First Dates has a somewhat disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score. Ignore that. It’s probably partially due to many critics’ distaste for at least one of the actors in the above screengrab. Not that they can be blamed. The presence of Adam Sandler or Rob Schneider in any comedy is rarely a good sign. In 50 First Dates‘, however, it’s not an issue at all. 

50 First Dates is a legitimately funny and romantic romantic comedy. Drew Barrymore stars as Lucy Whitmore, a woman with short-term memory loss. Due to a car accident, every day she wakes up believing it is October 13, 2002. Sandler’s character Henry Roth meets her in Hawaii and the two must overcome this bizarre condition to establish a lasting relationship.

Carol

Todd Haynes, director of Carol and Far From Heaven knows longing. And if there’s an element that makes for an excellent romantic movie experience its longing. That desperate sense is baked into nearly every frame of Carol. Based on a 1950s romance novel, Carol is the story of a young photographer (Rooney Mara) and an older woman going through a divorce (Cate Blanchette) undertaking a forbidden affair.

Forbidden because, you know, ’50s. And that’s where the longing comes in. Nothing is more romantic or sexier than a forbidden romance. Carol channels that romantic energy into something mature, fascinating and heartbreaking.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is all about how generally terrible it is to be a Philadelphia Eagles fan. OK, fine – it’s only a little bit about that. This star-studded 2012 film from David O. Russell is more about the challenges in finding love when one isn’t sure they even love themselves.

Bradley Cooper stars as Pat Solitano Jr., a young man with bipolar disorder living with his parents after being released from a psychiatric hospital. Pat is determined to win back his ex-wife and to that end enlists the help of young widower Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence). The two become closer as they train for an upcoming dance competition and share their respective damages with one another.

Silver Linings Playbook works because Lawrence and Cooper have a real crackling chemistry. And they both just happen to be devastatingly, almost supernaturally attractive.

Runaway Bride

From stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts to director Garry Marshall to conspicuous usage of enormous cell phones – Runaway Bride is an intensely ’90s film. And to the rightly organized mind, that just makes it the platonic ideal of a low-stress romantic comedy.

Roberts stars as Maggie Carpenter, an alluring young woman who has made a habit of leaving multiple fiancé’s at the altar. Gere is Ike Graham, a New York columnist seeking to tell the definitive story of this “runaway bride.” Runaway Bride is a charming experience that will make you think long and hard about how you really like your eggs prepared.

Loving

It feels reductive to call Loving a “romance” movie, as its more of a historical exploration of the very real, very tragic legacy of American racism. At its center, however, the film is about love.

Loving tells the story of Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred Loving (Ruth Negga), a mixed-race Virginia couple challenging their state’s law against interracial marriage in the Supreme Court. The details of the Lovings struggle for basic human rights are astonishing. Edgerton and Negga’s empathetic performances make sure the film never loses sight of the humanity at play amid all the legal drama.

Always Be My Maybe

Everyone always talks about “the one who got away”, but what about “the one who was always kind of around”? 2019’s Always Be My Maybe tells of one such story.

Ali Wong (who wrote the film) stars as Sasha Tran and Randall Park stars as Marcus Kim. Marcus and Sasha grew up next door to each other and also embarked on a brief, ill-fated relationship in their teenage years. When Sasha returns to San Francisco to open a restaurant, she discovers that romantic energy remains between her and Marcus. But is that enough to spark love in the busy, chaotic adult world?

Always Be My Maybe has a lot to say about family and growth. It also features a truly winning performance from Keanu Reeves playing…Keanu Reeves.

The Kissing Booth

There’s an interesting dynamic at play in teenage romantic comedies. Oftentimes, the worse they are, the more watchable (and rewatchable) they become. The Kissing Booth is a prime example. Based on a book by the same name from Beth Reekles, The Kissing Booth isn’t exactly celebrated for its realistic portrayal of American teenagers.

Thanks to charming lead performances from Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney, however, that doesn’t really matter. The Kissing Booth is all about how one girl’s first kiss turns into an emotional minefield of teen angst. That alone is enough to support 105 minutes of pure high school drama…and two sequels!

The post Best Romantic Movies on Netflix appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/38Fd7ho

[owxanimorphs]

Before the Re-read the Animorphs

Okay before I begin my re-read this is my thoughts on the main cast based on my memory of the last times I read the books (which varies between a few months ago for some and several years for others)

Let's get the hard one out of the way first. I'll start with my thoughts on Cassie. I make no secret that Cassie is the only Animorph I actively dislike. In a way it is tragic because as I've said before Cassie had potential as a character. A character with a very black and white viewpoint and a strong desire to stick to their point of view no matter the cost being confronted with the messy nature or war could have been a gold mine for interesting story lines. Instead Cassie is cast as the voice of morality and the conscience of the group which is a role she is absolutely terrible at. Because in the end she's no more moral than the rest of them (arguably actively even less moral) and her being right is more a function of being creators pet than any real logical story progression. Things work out for her because the creators say even when it breaks the story or contradicts established facts.

In Essence everything wrong with Cassie is everything wrong with the books as a whole which makes her a pretty big example of what not to do in writing. However, even if you ignore all that and focus only her personality she is still lacking. When first introduced Cassie is your typical childish self centered idealist. She puts great value on the things she cares about and tries not to thinka bout things that contradict that view point. Then she doens't really change she's a static character.

There is one redeeming factor about Cassie that is interesting but since it was unintentional I can't give complete credit to the creators for it. Cassie is a perfect example of everything wrong with Empathy as a stand in for goodness. Cassie is actually a very empathic character but she is also a very selfish character. Once she empathises with someone they become "Good" in her mind and she'll bend over backwards to justify making decisions that would negatively effect folks she isn't empathising with. It also informs how she is determined to stay in others good graces and only fights them when she can play the martyr.  Which reminds me of my wish that David had stuck around longer and been a foil to Cassie for a while because they really are starkly similar characters in most regards except Cassie has an almost over developed sense of Empathy (to the point she can be okay with horrendous shit if she empathizes with the ones doing it) and David has almost none outside of the things he cares out.  They are both also able to manipulate people to get what they want. And they read people very well to keep in their good graces or really hurt them if they piss them off enough.

But that isn't what this post is about so to sum up my view on Cassie is that she had potential but what we got was a horrendous character and the biggest disappointment of the books.

Now let's move onto another hard one to talk about and that is Tobias. When I first read the books oh so long ago I way over identified with Tobias but then I was a messed up lonely kid so it's not that surprising. Looking back on them as an adult it flew over my head back then how utterly fucked up Tobias is. This is not a healthy kid even before he got stuck as a hawk. Tobias was clearly already borderline suicidal even before the hawk thing and afterwards it and everything else in many ways turned into a much slower long and detailed decline into an early death. Tobias hated himself so he chose to give up all humanity forever. Which brings us to the problem with Tobias and that is the narrative never acknowledges how fucked up his situation is. Sure some of the other characters come close but they never fully grasp it.Tobias is in many ways one of the other great disappointments of the books because early on they clearly drop hints that he has a major role to play in things to the point where the freaking Ellimist preserves his existence by bending space time twice once to keep him around and then to ensure the animorphs happened and then the plot line is abandoned in favor of creators pet Cassie being the most important and special.

Now I love stories where the chosen one isn't that chosen after all but that needs to be intended from the beginning when you heavily lay on the foreshadowing that this is going to be an important element you need to address it. Instead the potential story line just peters out in a way that doesn't amount to anything not even a subversion. Tobias then sticks around to be a general misery magnet and to have the most unhealthy relationship possible with Rachel.

I mean I know stories change direction in production and over time and some times that leads to better stories and some times it leads to obvious dropped plot lines and a general degrading of quality. Animorphs sadly is in the second category.  Part of it of course was the real world rush to churn out the books for Schoolastic but parts of it were clearly the writers getting a bit too enamored of their pets and how they wanted things to end.

I'm getting off topic again. My view on Tobias is that he's an interesting character and one that you can pity but man is that boy fucked up.

Now let's move onto Ax the Andalite Animorph and the other one besides Cassie and Tobias who ends up kind of one note. Ax plays an interesting role since hes alien and the books do a good job of showing an alien viewpoint. Far better in his case than many of the other aliens. It helps that he's basically a slacker alien who was a poor student and probably only got brung along on the ship because his big brother pulled some strings.  

Ax is also a prime example of another time when the potential of the story gets left by the way side. Ax's torn loyalties should have come up more than they did and should have had more lasting repercussions. Way too often he'll get reduced to joke one note status when he should be figuring into things more. I don't have much more to say about him since I really remember as liking him but thinking he was wasted several times.

And now we'll move onto Marco a character who when I first read the books annoyed the crap out of me but as I grew older grew on me a great deal. Marco is a wonderful example of a character who can be obnoxious to protect themselves and despite being the other creators pet he is allowed to actually change in ways that are both good and bad so he's not another Cassie. The fact he's even allowed to disagree with her at least temporarily and call her on her BS very rarely also helps. Marco is also very realistic in that he reacts like many people would and for a lot of folks it would take somethign that affected them personally to make them fight as hard as the kids had to end up fighting.

Of course there is still one irritating thing about Marco and that's how he's often forced into the role of the complainer is wrong some times for the others (esp Cassie) to be right. It's a role he shares wtih Rachel she'll suggest the violent solution so it can be rejected and he'll suggested the better strategic solution but it'll be rejected for being wrong.

So final thoughts on Marco slightly annoying at times but very realistic and really grows on you.

Now let's talk about Rachel and this is the character whose fate pisses me off the most. I have no problem with character death in a story but Rachel's death is treated by the creators as necessary and it bleeds into the narrative abit and that really pisses me off.  She's also unfortunately the one who gets the most chaotic characterization as depending on teh writer how aggressive she is varies. Not to mention the books that paint her as a control freak. Of course you can hand wave it as the stress getting to her in different less pretty ways but that raises it's own problems with with how the narrative treats her. She's often also used as a foil to shill for Cassie and that bugs me. She and her cousin get the most discussion of Cassie's moral superiority though everyone gets a turn on it.  

And what is really sad is that she only gets to really call out Cassie and the others very rarely even though they are some of the most satisfying moments in the entire series. She's right when she calls out that the others need her to be the blood thirsty one. She's actually someone clearly sacrificing for the greater good but the narrative treats her as a blood knight. It really pisses me off and while her relationship with Tobias isn't even remotely healthy it makes a lot of sense because the others treat her as damaged and thanks to his neediness he'll never look at her as a monster like the others tend to do to make themselves feel better.

I'll make one final observation and that's that poor Rachel may have died twice in the series the first time being the starfish incident. Cause the Rachel that was split in half would never exist again. The two Rachels may have been re-merged but they had each had time to begin to diverge so what was formed out of them would be a new Rachel. Hell a lot of her issues later in the series could have been a direct result of that and it would make perfect sense.

Final thoughts on Rachel she deserved so much better and was probably one of the more selfless animorphs but gets written off by the narrative as just a blood knight too damaged to live.

Now let's move onto Jake who is actually my favorite character. I know a lot of folks find him boring and generic at first but that's exactly why he's the character that interest me the most because even more than the others he was just a kid when this mess started. You can see the seeds of who everyone else turned out to be in who they were at the start but Jake was just a kid who was slightly more mature and better able to mediate.  That got him forced into the leadership Role and from there for good or ill that's the role he got stuck with. Like Rachel he became exactly what the others needed him to be and at times it wasn't pretty.  

I mean it's so easy to picture how the others would have turned out, Cassie would have ended up one of those activist who says a lot of good things but is very much a walking illustration of perfect is the enemy of good with her probably doing more harm than help to her causes by turning folks off with her my way or the highway stance.  Rachel would have excelled at whatever chosen path she took with incredible zeal and bending herself to be what folks in her life needed. Ax would have lived in the shadow of his brother as a semi competent warrior at best, Tobias would have remained very fucked up and Marco would have done what it took to not be poor and mask all his hurts with laughter and entertaining folks.  Jake on the other hand is the one that just sort of was. He could end up really generic or find something he's good at and make it his life.

Instead he was given the role of responsibility and for the most part he carried the burden though his putting Cassie on a pedestal constantly was one part character flaw and one part character shilling by the creators. It was a realistic flaw he liked her and wanted her to like him. That was very human and relatable but his constant support for some of her more stupid moments crossing the line into plot induced stupidity.

One part that is really sad is that he's often compared with Elfangor and the narrative takes the appraoch that he falls short but honestly to me Jake comes off as more of a success than Elfangor and I wish the narrative acknowledged it. Of course I'll share my thoughts on Elfangor in another post.

There is more I could go into but this post has gotten long enough for now so final Thoughts on Jake generic kid forced to grow up even faster than others. Has an irritating blind spot when it comes to Cassie but over all my favorite of the kids.

[skarletterambles]

8x6 liveblog

I’ll be editing this post as I watch the finale.

I’m not emotionally prepared for this on any level.

So Tyrion is going to look for Jaime?  Great, he’ll find him alive, and they’ll go pick up Brienne and go live happily ever after somewhere far, far away.  The end.  Yay!

...wait?  That didn’t happen and the episode is still going on?

Well, shit.

*watches what actually happens*

Well, double shit.

RIP Jaime Lannister Lives Clown Club.  It was a fun week.

Peter Dinklage’s acting was almost enough to make me forget how damn mad I am about this.  Almost.

...

Meanwhile, Drogon continues to be awesome.

Although, that camera angle that gave Dany wings?  I burst out laughing.  Probably not the effect they were going for.

Impressive speech, especially considering it’s in a made-up language.  Kudos to Emilia for delivering it with that much emotion and vehemence.

Tyrion, good for you.

Jon, your turn.

Oh hi, Arya.  Glad you washed your face since last episode.

“Oblivion is the best I can hope for.”  The way this show has gone, well...  Same, Tyrion.

I swear Tyrion is talking to the audience, not Jon, when he explains Dany’s slippery slope from killing evil people to killing everyone.

A+ acting, Peter and Kit.  I hardly breathed through that conversation.

Awwwwwwwwww, sleepy Drogon in the snow!  Poor baby’s all tuckered out from all that mayhem.  <3

JAIME WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THAT MOVE, DAMN IT

THIS SHOULD BE JAIME AND CERSEI

THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HOW SHE DIED

ARG

Ohhhhshit Drogon knows

DROGON HONEY, NO, NOT JON

DRAGON HONEY, YES, MELT THAT STUPID CHAIR

POOR DROGON IS SO SAD FOR HIS MOMMY I CAN’T TAKE IT

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS THE MOST EPIC THING I’VE EVER SEEN

and it was all because of the dragon, mind you

I both hate and love the epic tragic schmaltz of the murder but damn the dragon stuff is so freaking awesome

...

Sam?  What the hell is he doing there?  I thought he was north of the wall?  Or at least at the wall?

I don’t know who half these people are.

Wow they actually acknowledged that it took weeks to travel from Winterfell to King’s Landing.

Bran, this would be a good time to have SOME KIND OF FACIAL EXPRESSION.

I mean, that’s kind of your thing, but...come on.  Okay, a tiny smile there, as I was typing this.

Congrats, Tyrion, you just invented democracy.  *golfclap*

My mom is so damn smug because she called King Bran from the beginning of the season.  Long before there were spoilers.  Props to her.

Whoa, Jon looks rough.  And of course he goes back to the Wall.  I think we all saw that coming.

Callback to season one piss joke.  Joy.

Aww, at least Grey Worm will get to see Naath.

Arya’s pulling a Frodo?  Okaaaay...  Maisie’s acting is almost good enough make me not realize how dumb that is.

And then Brienne did The Thing with the book and now I’m crying too hard to type.

Oh, ha ha, A Song of Ice and Fire.  *trombone noise*

Seriously, why is Bronn still here?  How can anyone trust him in any capacity?

SER Podrick?  Aww, okay, I like that.

And I liked Davos being Master of Grammar.  That was worth a tiny chuckle.  Stannis would have approved.

Back to the Wall...I predict a hint of White Walkers still existing somewhere.  Maybe.

Oh hi Tormund.

GHOST!  Yay!  Good boy!

Sansa as queen is gorgeous, and actually pretty satisfying.

Okay, what’s going to happen beyond the wall?  Where’s Jon going?

I see the symmetry with having the north woods full of live people after starting with the undead in the very first scene.

I...didn’t hate it as much as I expected to, honestly.  It doesn’t make up for the bullshit of the past couple episodes, but I’m crying so it must have done something to me.

[kittenwritesstuff]

Never too late

Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Sirius Black x reader Genres: mild angst, romance, fluff Words: 1.550 Summary: You and Sirius were together before his imprisonment. When you receive a letter from Remus, you don’t hesitate and, much to your surprise, you meet Sirius there - requested by @girl-next-door-writes

The Letter

A heavy sigh escapes your lips as your eyes glide over Remus’s neat handwriting. You’ve always looked forward to his letter, although this time you wished the news is different.

Your fight isn’t over. It didn’t end, even after the tragic deaths of Lily and James. You hoped that their loss would be the final one in the war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Apparently, some part of that twisted evil creature survived and was now, once again, threatening the Wizarding world.

Remus asked you to be a part of the Order of Phoenix once more and help them.

It’s not much of a choice, really. You have fought before and you will now.

However, Remus mentioned something quite puzzling in his letter, too. Something that moved you more than the upcoming war.

“We’ll be all back together. Of course, apart from Lily, James and Peter.”

As far as you knew, Sirius was in Azkaban, so how could Remus write such thing? Or maybe he did something impossibly stupid, and by some kind of miracle Sirius escaped?

You wouldn’t be surprised, frankly. You’ve known them since Hogwarts, you were aware what they were capable of. Although, James calmed a little when he married Lily, but the rest… Always playful, sometimes too loud. But you loved it. And, in particular, you loved one of them like crazy.

You always felt drawn to Sirius, but at first you thought it was simple sympathy. You shared more profound bond with him than with the others. When you realized you had fallen for him initially you didn’t plan on telling anybody. Sirius surprised you soon enough with his own confession and the two of quickly became inseparable.

That was, until life decided to separate you for what seemed forever.

You never believed that it was Sirius who betrayed the Potters. It seemed unbelievable and impossible that the man who loved them and treated them as his family would so such a vile thing.

But he was captured, imprisoned in Azkaban and said to be one of the greatest criminals ever.

You felt heartbroken. You didn’t have a chance to speak with him, to assure him that you were on his side and you could only hope that prison would not break him. he would be changed, obviously, but the Sirius you knew, your Sirius would still be in there.

And now, with the way Remus phrased his letter, a small grain of hope was ignited in your heart. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll see him again.

*

12 Grimmauld Place

“I feel strange here. I know it’s my home but at the same time, it’s not…” Sirius muses, standing in the doorway of his old room, his eyes sliding leisurely about the place.

“It never felt like home, did it?”

Sirius snorts.

“Never. I felt trapped here. My cell in Azkaban was more welcoming than this.”

“Oh, you’re taking it too far, my friend,” Remus states, a corner of his lips turning up into a smirk.

“I don’t, believe me.”

Remus takes a step forward and placed his palm on Sirius’s shoulder.

“Sirius,-“

“Dinner time!” Molly announces loudly from the kitchen, a sound of rapid footsteps ringing from everywhere and Remus and Sirius only share a smile before heading downstairs.

You don’t want to be too late when Molly prepares a meal.

__

Following Remus’s instructions, you have arrived at the place within a few days. It wasn’t easy to find but it was fair – its location was a secret after all.

The street looks deserted but that doesn’t ease your suspiciousness. You’ve learnt to always be alarmed, always be prepared, always ready.

Given that the place was protected by Fidelius Charm, Remus came up with a signal you were to give once you would arrive.

Fishing out a piece of paper from your bag, you magically fold it into a bird and release it to fly higher and higher until it disappears suddenly. You assume that a window was open and Remus has taken the paper bird.

Soon enough, a high building appears in front of you, as thought out of thin air and your heart skips a beat. Only now you realized that the only person you will know is Remus. What if the others will treat you as an intruder? What if Sirius, if he’s here, will not recognize you?

And what if you misunderstood Remus’s words and Sirius is still in Azkaban, not here?

You take a deep breath to calm yourself just as the front door opens and Remus walks out, a warm expression on his face.

“Y/N!”

“Hello, old friend,” you greet and approach him, quickly stepping in as he ushers you.

“I’m glad you’ve managed to come. There are couple of people here who wants to meet you.”

“Oh, are there?” you say, out of sudden feeling nervous.

“Yes. Lily’s and James’s son, for example. Harry!” Remus calls and after a moment, a boy walks to him. You gasp.

“You look just like your father. But your eyes…”

“My mother’s, I know,” he admits, rather sadly and you flash him a soft smile.

“I’m Y/N. I had the pleasure to be friends with your parents.”

“Nice to meet you,” Harry shakes your offered hand and your smile broadens.

“Come on, you’ll meet the rest,” Remus tilts his head and, next to Harry, you head to, what unfolded soon, the kitchen, when the rest of inhabitants enjoy afternoon tea.

You’re introduced to the Weasley family and miss Granger, a friend of Harry’s, and you’re so caught up with trying to remember all their names that you don’t notice a silent figure at the head of the table until you hear a scraping sound of a chair being pulled away.

Your eyes land on the man and a breath catches in your throat. His hair are longer than when you last saw him, his skin a bit paler and he grew a beard but when you look into his eyes, those grey sparkling eyes you know there can be no mistake.

It’s really him. In the flesh. Skinnier but undoubtedly him.

“Y/N?” he asks in a whisper as if calling you by your name can break some kind of spell and will make you disappear.

“It’s me, Sirius.”

“Remus, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried,” Remus admits remorsefully but Sirius doesn’t even glance at him. His eyes are fixed on you, slowly roaming your figure.

“Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Can we talk somewhere private?”

“Yes, please.”

*

Always

The outside world ceases to exist for you, as you follow Sirius upstairs and into one of the many rooms. You have never been in his ‘real’ house therefore it’s all new to you.

He opens the door for you and lets you in first before walking in and closing the door behind him.

“Remus invited you,” he states matter-of-factly but you still nod your head.

“He wrote me a couple of days ago, asking me to come if I wanted to. That we must fight again. I couldn’t say no.”

“Of course you couldn’t. Your chivalry wouldn’t allow you.”

You roll your eyes as you take a seat on the edge of the bed.

“Rather my consciousness, Sirius.”

“Did Remus mentioned I’ve escaped?”

“He phrased it weirdly but I got it. And I really hoped that you’d be here. That I understood correctly.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to see you. We didn’t have a chance after-“

“You thought it was me?”

“No, silly man!” you chuckle and Sirius looks visibly relieved. He lets out a shaky breath and sits next to you. “You really thought I would believe that you betrayed Lily and James, and killed all those poor Muggles?”

“They didn’t find Peter so I assumed that the case was clear, for those who didn’t know all the details. I thought that was why you never wrote me.”

“My mother forbid me. And then, when I was older and living on my own, I thought it was uncalled for. That you forgot about me.”

“Oh, how could I?” he smiles softly, and when you look at him, there’s affection in his eyes, warmth and fondness you saw when the two of you were together all those years ago.

“Y/N, I know I have no right to expect anything but have you ever thought-“

“About you? Almost every day. I’ve missed you like crazy.”

“So, it’s not too late for us?”

“No, Sirius, it’s not. If you still want-“

“Foolish woman, how could I not? Thinking about you kept me sane in Azkaban. I’d lose my mind,” he hesitantly reaches out to cup your face with his large warm hands and you close your eyes for a brief moment, basking in the feeling.

It feels so familiar yet so new.

“Though, I must admit you do make me lose my mind,” he says with a humor in his voice and you giggle.

“Shut up and kiss me already,” you urge him and Sirius grins before obliging your request, pressing his lips ever so gently against yours.

And suddenly everything seems right. As if all those years have never happened, as if you and Sirius were together always, without a day of being apart.

And always is very fine by you, to be honest.

[spider-bih]

Possibility [Peter Parker] [The Beginning]

Pairing: Peter Parker x Chubby!Female!Reader

Warnings: Body Shame, Angst, Hurtful Words, Cursing etc [Added in my own personal experiences in too- just not saying what aha]

Part 2, Masterlist

People are cruel, and you learned that quickly. However, at first you had assumed it was just the way the world was. Sweet little you had no earthly idea it was because you were just a bit too big. Just a tad too much. Unfortunately, you learned that later, though you learned it at a young age. People were cruel and mean and disgusting- to you, and all because you were a few sizes too many. Boys would visibly cringe when they accidentally brushed up against you, girls would snicker into their hands when they saw you uncomfortably tug at your shirt or pants. Sometimes boys would gag- other times girls would whisper behind your back, wondering why you were the way you were.

School was full of bullies and they all loved to target you. So you, oh poor little you, you had to grow thick skin. Your smiles were replaced by the ever feared resting bitch face. Your soft spoken voice was replaced with a bitter and venomous one- and you never ever, let anyone see you cry. Not a single living soul. Not again.

Only then did they back off, claiming that they feared being eaten or sat on. Unfortunately, by changing how you did- many people did not want to approach you. This made friends hard to come by, so it was no surprise to you when you started out your Freshman year with no one. You didn’t expect to meet anyone either. This was High School, you either had your own little group of friends already, or you didn’t. There really was no in between. Not like it mattered, you could start of with a plethora of friends- once Graduation came and went, more than half of those friends would be nothing but memories. That’s how it always was, and that’s how anyone who’d survived High School would explain it to you.

So of course you never expected to meet him. You never expected to have to utter out an apology as you sat at the far corner of his lunch table. No matter how many walls you built or precautions you took, your shyness never faltered.

“Sorry..”, you’d murmured, pressing past him, “I just- there’s no where else open. I won’t bother you- just- pretend I’m not here. But- uhm- if it really bothers you, I can just leave- I’m not that hungry anyways..”

“N-No! It’s uh- it’s fine! We’re sitting here for that same reason, heh.”, he’d sputtered out.

“Oh. Okay. Thanks.. I guess?”

“Ye-Yeah! No uh, no problem..”, he’d replied. You looked away, unable to catch his friend nudging him, “I’m Park- I mean Peter! I’m Peter. Peter Parker.”

You turned your head towards him once more, a nervous smile pulling across his lips when you did, “Oh uh- I’m [Y/f/n]. [Y/f/n] [Y/l/n].”

That’s how it all began. Your doom- your kryptonite- it all came about because of a nervous apology and an equally nervous greeting. You’d become completely head over heels for the cutest brown haired boy you’d ever laid your eyes on. You hated it. You hated it because nothing would ever come out of it. Nothing ever did come out of any crush you’d ever had. Half the time any crush you had didn’t even know you existed. Boys just simply didn’t notice you that way, and for as long as you could remember, you didn’t care. You accepted that fact. You were okay with knowing that life wasn’t like books or movies- fine with the knowledge that girls like you just simply weren’t meant to be loved. Girls like you forever doomed to be sad and alone- unless of course they could make themselves more appealing- but you never saw a reason to do that. Why waste all your time on a boy who would probably never notice?

You’d always found it so crazy that you thought that- did girls your age think things like that? Did you simply mature quicker than others? Did all that cruelty really get to your head?

Who knows, really. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. All you knew, was that he was slowly but surely making you break all your promises to yourself. He was worming his way through your tightly locked walls and he wasn’t even trying. You were so young- and yet you knew you were going to have your heart completely shattered. How unfair- how tragic.

The possibility of him returning your feelings was nothing but a sliver of hope tucked deep into your heart.

Why would he ever like a girl like you?

It was the start of Sophomore year when you realized that he’d completely won you over. He’d made his way deep inside your heart- and then left a hole when he started crushing on some other gorgeous girl. It was the beginning of the end. You’d told yourself you were okay with just being friends, that you didn’t mind being nothing more so as long as he stuck around. You lied so well, so easily- and now it was going to came crashing down upon your shoulders. It shouldn’t have hurt- but it did. It hurt because she was gorgeous. She was every single thing you were not- and you couldn’t even hate her for it.

Liz was wonderful and kind. She didn’t have to fend off bullies or threaten others when they bothered her, because no one did. She was sweet- and she was small. She was petite and beautiful. She didn’t have thunder thighs or a jiggling tummy- she didn’t have to hide away in baggy hoodies. She probably didn’t cry in changing rooms either. She was perfect for him. You couldn’t possibly compete.

You wouldn’t dare try.

[motherlcss-a]

let’s root for each other and watch each other grow ( favorite portrayal of a character in your fandom ) 

let’s hear it for the boys and girls !!

- lethalintelligence / torie : honestly torie is such a wonderful gem that i’m so lucky to have on my dash , that we’re all lucky to have on our dash . she’s such a truly gifted writer that explores raven’s depths and all the facets of her personality in a way that is nothing short of inspirational . just reading torie’s writing always pushes me to be better and i’m so thankful for her existence . 

- rainkilled / rachel : wow peter colton is just a freaking delight . i might be hella biased but i have such a soft spot for the soft hearts ( elena gilbert , scott mccall , clary fray , caroline forbes , angus macgyver , barry allen  ) but i think what makes soft characters all the more interesting is that they aren’t blind to the darkness of the world or their own tragedies but they’ve faced them , they’ve turned them into strengths and refused to let them dim their lights and peter is a shining example of this because peter as gentle and full of light as he is has been through a time i mean honestly this poor bean like i wish i was as strong as peter colton because peter still manages to retain this light about yes he’s a little bit wiser , a little more weathered but , he’s not beaten and this all comes from the extremely layered way rachel has written him , the care she has put into his character . peter is honestly someone we should all strive to be more like , rachel is someone we should all strive to be more like and i love them both dearly so much . 

- holiistichcro : okay but people who play bellamy blake always have a special place in my heart because people who love bellamy blake automatically have a special place in my heart . since the pilot bellamy has been changing and growing , since before he’s been changing and growing into this strong and kind and protective and smart and thoughtful and sometimes very tragic hero and people who can not only appreciate and respect but capture in a way that leaves me freaking breathless will forever go down on my list of people that deserve the roleplay equivalent of an oscar or emmy or kids choice award and this babe right here deserves all of them . nina already is proudly a founding member of the bellamy blake fanclub and so am i and we will forever be and will forever be loving and promoting the hell out of this cute little red velvet cupcake . 

- jobikilled : okay let’s see how far i can get through this before i start crying about jasper jordan and about his sweet brown eyes and his excited smile and his googles and his young little face and how he deserved so much better , deserved and to be happy and to live a life that wasn’t shattered by war and grief and anger . wow didn’t even last thirty seconds and i usually don’t when it comes to spencer’s writing . spencer has a way of writing things that make me so happy and smile-y and then simaltaneously breaking me by talking about things like clarke finding jasper’s goggles and i never fully recover . i’ve said it before and i’ll say it spencer is the jasper that jasper deserves always . 

- mcntyre : MY NEW BEST FRIEND LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BEST FRIEND CAUSE THEY FLIPPING KICK ASS . harper is one of those characters that is both underappreciated and easily misunderstood . harper is not just your sweet little flower girl and she is not just your tough as nails gunner she is both , she is this deep combination of softness and edge and that is something few people who actually take the time to get to know harper seem to understand but , my babe gets it and as i’ve told them before finding someone who appreciates harper and takes the time to flesh her out so much and put explanation and thought behind her thoughts and actions behind what she’s actually feeling and who she wants to be in light of everything they’ve been through is a blessing and i will never be able to find the words to express how grateful i truly am . 

- gonatombom : man i have such a complicated love / hate relationship with octavia blake but i think that’s because i’ve never truly been able to connect with her character since season one but , when talented as feathers writers come onto the scene i can feel that connection between the young girl in season one who just wanted to experience life and freedom that had been stripped away from her and the angry and hurting and strong warrior that she is now and that’s something that i am so lucky to be able to witness and someone both me and my muse are so grateful to interact with . 

- foxofthe100 : this sweet little gumdrop here is someone special because she’s taken a character we unfortunately never really got a chance to learn much about and that is a tragedy in my opinion because the world needs more characters like fox . characters whose loyalty are their defining traits , characters who are fragile and not afraid to admit it , characters who strive to be strong especially to protect others , the world has always needed more fox and honestly so do both me and my muse . we’re co - founders of the bellamy blake fanclub with our weekly meetings and matching shirts and honeslly it’s one of the best things ever and so are they . 

[stilljumpingback]

(via Black Sails Episode 209 - XVII)

Black Sails Episode 209 - XVII RECAP

WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS

“When I first met Mr. Gates and he asked me my name, I feared the man I was about to create.  I feared that someone born of such dark things would consume me were I not careful, and I was determined only to wear him for a while and then dispose of him when his purpose was complete.  Am I ready to let him go?  Truth is every day I’ve worn that name I’ve hated him a little more.  I’ve been ready to return him to the sea for a long time.”

The cognitive dissonance that is being James McGraw/James Flint.  This revelation, that he hated being Captain Flint, is a gut-punch, even though we saw the first hints of it in his conversation with Silver about whether he was viewed as a villain.  But this depth of self-hatred?  WOW, it is horrible.

It must be agonizing to feed the darkest parts of yourself (we know James McGraw had a violence in him that was “darker and wilder” than other men’s), to intentionally develop that darkness when every other part of you wants to stop.  It must be confusing to fear being consumed by that darkness while also loving what that darkness makes you capable of doing, to hate yourself for loving it.

James McGraw:  the most tragic figure in all existence, about to become even more tragic.

FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS

Poor Eleanor.  It must be awful to grieve a confusing loss AND put up with people who are Performing Grief in order to impress you or size up your strength.  Even more awful when the woman you used to love pretends to understand, but she’s just sizing you up too.

How unbelievably sexy is it that Flint became captain of a pirate crew in less than four months?  How perfect it is that he became captain by “being someone worth listening to”?

How unbelievably weird is it to see Flint as the calming influence?? His hand on Miranda’s back.  

“We were angry.  We allowed that anger to drive us to a dark deed.  But I ask you not to judge me by that one deed.  Judge me by the ends that I have come here in service of.”

James’s acceptance of his sins but request to be viewed as more than them reminds me of Eleanor’s statement in 208: “I have done what I’ve done and I will live with it.  But do not for a moment believe that that defines me.”  They really are so similar.

Billy saying “You’re all good people” to his crew is HILARIOUS (but no LOL section for this episode because NO ONE DESERVES TO LAUGH after Miranda’s murder.

The hope that shines in Flint’s eyes when Peter first entertains their plan – OH it’s painful now.

RIP Randall.    This is the second time the Ranger crew has boarded a ship by water just this season.  Someone really should be keeping better tabs on them.

BILLY VS. VANE, wow!!

Silver is so good at producing solutions out of impossible situations.  When Vincent asks if Silver is saving the two of them or the whole crew, Silver doesn’t answer.  He doesn’t know either.

Eleanor’s emphatic assertion that she’s not a pirate felt jarring to me at first. But Vane confirmed her worst fears that pirates, no matter how much they say they love you, will murder your father if you take something valuable from them.  BRB CRYING FOREVER.  Of course she wants to eradicate piracy with a vengeance.

Anne comes back just in the nick of time, because Jack and Featherstone would literally be dead without her.  Her reunion with Jack is lovely.  She apologizes, and he looks so scared to approach her too quickly, unsure of who she is and where he stands with her.

It’s very satisfying that as Max, Jack, and Featherstone hesitate, Anne is the one to set their pursuit of the Urca gold in motion.  She’s found herself, and therefore her confidence.

The conversation between Vane and Billy is lovely.  Shockingly sad to hear him call Billy “Mr. Gates’s boy,” and shockingly perfect to hear that Vane recognizes Billy’s “proper pirate”ness and has long wanted him on his own crew.

Silver is helping Flint’s crew survive, Billy is convincing Vane to help Flint.  We might as well rename the show Black Sails: the Story of a Bunch of People Who Hate Flint But Find Themselves Helping Him Regardless

It’s ironic that the story Peter wants Flint to tell Whitehall, the true story, is one that made us as viewers see him as Bigger and More, but it’s a story that will make Asshole London think of him as small.

Am I reading too much into the fact that an angry woman gets killed for speaking her mind in a world that values submissive, supportive women?  Feels a little on the nose to me.  I see what you’re doing, showrunners!

I don’t like Peter, but I do think his plan is genuine.  I think he regrets his past actions and has convinced himself that it was his only choice (“a hard choice”).  I think he does still want the redemption of Nassau and will work with James and Miranda to accomplish it, even if his plan keeps himself above questioning while submitting James to humiliation.  The Turning Point when he becomes a villain is when Miranda is murdered and his solution to this is to publicly try and hang Flint.

“You wish to return to civilization, THAT is what civilization is.”

Major props to Vane for seeing the bigger picture so quickly.  He trusted Billy’s experience, and when it was substantiated, he realized that his only option is to do a 180 and rescue Flint.  This Vane is so much more interesting than selfish “show me my future in this room” Vane.

“Nassau is strongest when she is feared.  And if what promises to happen here tomorrow actually happens, a trophy made of one of her most notorious captains, she may never be feared again.  So I suggest we do something about this.  I suggest we get him the hell out of there.”

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 17/12/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Tuesday, December 17th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

PM’S FINE WARNING – Stiffer fines will be handed to Barbadians who ignore warnings and fail to clean their properties and wells. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley gave that warning to householders and landowners yesterday as Government embarks on a national $2 million clean-up drive.  She urged Barbadians to take note of an upcoming public education programme to sensitise them about the severe health risks related to poor sanitation practices. The programme is set to begin during the new year and run until the end of March.  “The law already exists but it needs to be enforced. I’ve already spoken to the permanent secretary [in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Mainteance] who has advised that come the new year, after initial sensitisation and letters, they will be telling the owner you will be fined under the law. (DN)

POT HOUSE ROAD FIX COMING – They cried out for relief from a problem-plagued road, and yesterday residents of Pot House, St John, got a visit, and promises, from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley that a fix was around the corner. After their long-running grievances over a partially collapsed road were highlighted in yesterday’s DAILY NATION, a team of Government and private sector officials, led by Mottley, descended on the rural area to survey the damage and promise action. It included Member of Parliament for St John Charles Griffith, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams, Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance Peter Phillips, Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment Adrian Forde, as well as chairman of the Sanitation Service Authority Senator Rudy Grant. (DN)

MORE GARBAGE TRUCKS COMING – Another ten garbage trucks are expected to arrive in Barbados before the end of this week, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced. And by early 2020, there should be another ten on island, to help the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) overcome the significant challenges it faces in collecting garbage in some parts of the island. “I think [we] have ten trucks coming in another day or two, and another two, I suspect, by the end of the year and then another eight in the early part of the new year,” Prime Minister Mottley told reporters today after a tour of Pot House, St John, where she also expressed concern that garbage continues to block drains across the island, and urged Barbadians to stop littering. A year ago, Government said it was planning to import several garbage trucks for the SSA. In January this year, the first two Mitsubishi Refuse Compactor Vehicles, each costing $600,000, arrived in the island but the delay in the arrival of more trucks was attributed mainly to US/China trade tension. By May, the SSA had added seven new garbage trucks to its fleet, moving it from 17 to 24, and two weeks ago, it received another two. As she announced the expected arrival of more vehicles in the coming days and months, Prime Minister expressed regret at not being able to get more trucks sooner. “I wish I could have done this earlier, but when you are operating on a patient, the first rule is that you have to stop the bleeding and the bleed had to stop with us restructuring our debt,” she said. “By us restructuring our domestic and external debt, we have saved the country $1.2 billion a year. There are other things we are doing: [the Barbados] Water Authority has now reached an agreement that the Minister will brief you on later in the week, to be able to settle some of the egregious and outstanding claims and hopefully we can go forward.” (BT)

BARBADOS PASSES ANOTHER IMF TEST, GETS ACCESS TO MORE FUNDS – Barbados has passed its latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) test with flying colours, in the process impressing the directors of the fund, and opening up for itself access to almost $100 million from the Washington-based institution. However, it was the comment of the directors of the IMF as they reviewed the progress on the island’s Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme that was most heartening. According to the directors, in spite of its limited technical capacity, Barbados has made impressive progress towards achieving fiscal and debt sustainability, rebuilding reserves, reducing uncertainty towards generating growth. This development was explained by Dr Kevin Greenidge, Government’s economic advisor on loan from the IMF, who noted that today the Executive Board of the IMF completed the second review of our BERT programme which is supported by an IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The completion of this review allows us to draw the equivalent of SDR 35 million (about US$98 million). “This passing of the second review reflects Barbados meeting all its targets under the BERT programme and in some instances, with a wide margin. There were lots of praise from the Directors at the Board.... “Of course, there is significant work to be done, and we remain resolved to stay the course and continue meeting our commitments under the EFF. “Passing yet another IMF review, completing the debt restructuring and having our credit ratings upgraded are all sending an important message to the world – that Barbados is back; we are serious about our reforms and about transforming the economy,” Greenidge said. (BGIS)

ANSA TAKES OVER TRIDENT - After months of negotiations, ANSA McAL (Barbados Limited) has purchased the shares of Trident Insurance Company Limited. Chairman of ANSA McAL Andrew N. Sagba made the announcement in a statement issued today, saying the Trinidad and Tobago conglomerate was delighted to welcome Trident Insurance into the wider ANSA McAL family which comprises 73 companies in more than eight countries. It is not clear whether the sale of Trident Insurance will affect the staff complement there. Sabga only offered assurances to policyholders in the statement, saying “Trident insurance would continue to conduct business as usual”.Back in June, David Alleyne, General Manager of Brydens Insurance, which is a branch of the ANSA McAL-owned Tatil Insurance Company in Trinidad and Tobago, told Barbados TODAY, that the companies had come to an agreement to join forces to create a stronger, focused entity. At today’s signing, President and CEO of Trident Insurance Algernon Algie Leacock said the resources of the ANSA McAL conglomerate would enable Trident Insurance “to better support the evolving needs of our policyholders, and to remain a strong player in this fast-paced and aggressive financial environment”. “We are therefore extremely pleased to accept this offer,” he added. Leacock also revealed that the deal paves the way for the Leacock family and Group to pursue “other business opportunities which are a better strategic fit to their existing businesses and future expansion plans”. The over 39-year-old Trident Insurance Company offers a range of products including property, motor, travel, liability and marine insurance. It is in the top ten of insurers in Barbados, based on gross written premiums. (BT)

DOUBLE TRAGEDY – The anguished wails and screams of Stacie Howard filled the air at Welches, Christ Church yesterday evening after she identified the bodies of her daughter and grandson who died in an apparent drowning. Howard, canteen operator at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), had clung to her other daughter Jamila for support as they slowly made their way down the beach to where two covered bodies lay on the sand. They were those of Nioca Howard, 27, and her five-year-old son Nico Roach, who both lived with Stacie at Emerald Park West, Six Roads, St Philip. Nioca used to help her mother run the canteen. Police public relations officer, Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss, said police at Oistins received a report about 4:15 p.m. that two people – an adult female and a young boy – had drowned while at Welches Beach. “On arrival at the scene, police confirmed the two bodies on the sand. Further investigations informed that they were both floating in the water and were pulled from the sea by two individuals who were walking along the beach, who tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate them,” he said. (DN)

RESCUE MISSION – One day after the tragic drowning of a mother and son at a popular south coast beach, the Minister who holds the responsibility for beach safety, says there needs to be an urgent ramping up of the presence of lifeguards on local beaches. In fact, Minister of the Environment, Trevor Prescod told Barbados TODAY that he plans to meet with the board and management of the National Conservation Commission (NCC) today, where the subject of recruiting and training more lifeguards is expected to take centerstage. The Minister explained that the numbers of persons frequenting the beaches have increased, which also increases the chances of drowning incidents. Pointing out that while lifeguards come with no guarantees, Prescod contended that their presence could reduce the number of drowning incidents. “We have had several cases last year and this year of persons drowning and to some extent this triggered a response. We also understand that we need to upgrade the facilities in the lifeguards’ huts because we recognize the increase in numbers of persons  frequenting the beaches,” said Prescod, noting that his concern about the current state of affairs is heightened because the schools’ Christmas vacation began today. Prescod said that even though it was approaching the final quarter of the fiscal year, there may need to be some “re-jigging” of expenditure, to determine what actions can be taken in the short-term. “Children are going to be out on vacation and lots of persons will be going to the beach for relaxation, so we have to be concerned about saving the lives of people. We have to look carefully now and see out of what I have there in the estimates, how we can respond to the request for lifeguards. I will discuss in detail with the board and the management to see where we are. We have to make sure that if we employ these lifeguards, we can afford to train and pay them,” he said. Back in 2014 under the Freundel Stuart-led administration’s homegrown austerity programme, sweeping cuts were made to the staff at the NCC, which included lifeguards. Thirty-one of the 97 lifeguards were retrenched, which resulted in a number of beaches being unmanned. However, this morning, Prescod made it clear that he would do all within his power to ensure that seabathers are safe. “We are going to explore the entire situation to ensure that anything that can be done, is done. The reality is that we already know that lifeguards is an issue and we are now working on a number of posts for lifeguards. Later today I would be able to better state how soon we can have these plans in place but I can definitely tell you that it is going to be an issue that will engage a significant amount of our attention this morning,” he stressed. On Sunday Nioca Howard, 27, and her five-year-old son, Nico Roach, 5, of Emerald Park West, Six Roads, St Philip, lost their lives while at Welches Beach in Christ Church. Around 4:15 p.m., police received a call about the possible drowning and discovered the bodies on the sand on their arrival. Beachgoers reportedly saw the woman and child in a shallow area of the water and pulled them to the sand where they tried to resuscitate them. Medical personnel later pronounced them dead. (BT)

CRASH VICTIM LOSES LEG – Hours after a car crashed into a shop at Tweedside Road, St Michael, one man lost his leg and another was being prepared for surgery to repair the damage to his. Police reported that a vehicle owned and driven by 62-year-old Michael Derrick Collymore, of Baywoods, St James, ran into the the Eagle Nest Bar & Grill around 3 a.m. where several people had been enjoying a karaoke session. The incident left seven injured. One of them, Carl “Singer Man” Henry, was so badly hurt that his foot had to be amputated and he remained at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). His family declined to speak on his condition yesterday evening. Cheryl-Ann Daniel, sister of another of the victims, Ian “Sharky” Daniel, said he went to the karaoke session and was leaving with a container of food when the accident occurred. (DN)

AG’S 2020 PLAN – GOING INTO NEXT YEAR, the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) will be putting more pressure on criminals, says Attorney General Dale Marshall. And if he has his way, fewer officers will be required to operate the Police Certificate Of Character Office, and the days of officers responding to minor accidents will be a thing of the past. Both changes, he said, should give the force additional time to pursue more serious matters. The St Joseph Member of Parliament was speaking to reporters yesterday at Grantley Adams Memorial School during his Christmas luncheon for the elderly. He was reacting to the 48 murders that have occurred so far this year, the most in a single year in Barbados’ history. Rondell Alexander, 27, who was shot and killed at 1st Avenue, Gills Gap, Eagle Hall, St Michael, on Friday night, was the most recent victim. (DN)

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULTING COP –A man charged with assaulting a police officer was released on bail when he appeared at the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court this morning. Peter Lee, 56, of Wellington Street St Michael pleaded not guilty to assaulting police constable 1905 Alex Hall on December 13, 2019. However, he pleaded guilty to possession of a cutlass and a knife on the same date. Prosecutor Sergeant Vernon Waithe had no objection to bail and the matter was adjourned until January 13, 2020. (BT)

TEENAGER SENT FOR DRUG TREATMENT – A teenager was ordered to drug rehabilitation today after he pleaded guilty to drug possession charges. Jaden Jamar Harris, 17, of 3rd Avenue Bibby’s Lane, St Michael pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis on December 14, 2019. Appearing before Magistrate Douglas Frederick in the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court this morning, Harris was also charged with stealing a bicycle valued at $989 belonging to Kemar Austin on December 10, 2019. However, the court learnt that Austin was no longer interested in proceeding with the matter. Frederick dismissed the theft charge but ordered Harris to return to court on March 27, 2020 at which time a report would be given on his treatment. (BT)

GUILTY OF POSSESSION – An Orange Hill, St James man was released on $3,000 bail today after pleading not guilty to several drug-related and money laundering charges. This morning, Rommel Orlando Jordan, 40, of Endeavor #3 Orange Hill, pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing a traffickable quantity of cannabis and intent to supply the drugs on December 15. Jordan also pleaded not guilty to possessing $2,900 in cash allegedly the proceeds of crime. He however pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of cannabis. When asked by Magistrate Douglas Frederick why he was pleading guilty to possession but not the other drug offences which are tied to the same possession charge, Jordan denied having the amount of the illegal substance that would constitute a traffickable quantity. “I know I had a little weed but not the amount that they say that I had,” said Jordan. It was then revealed by prosecutor Sergeant Vernon Waithe that the police had found 460 grams of the illegal drug in Jordan’s possession. Jordan was granted bail with one surety and was ordered to return to court on April 27, 2020. (BT)

HAZELL PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO WOUNDING – Ron Darien Anthony Hazell, 24, of Venture St John, pleaded not guilty to wounding charges when he appeared before Magistrate Douglas Frederick at the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court this morning. It was alleged that on December 15, 2019 Hazell maliciously wounded Bertram Barrow. It was also alleged that on the same date he entered the premises of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and behaved in a threatening manner. Prosecutor Sergeant Vernon Waithe did not object to bail and Frederick released Hazell on his own recognizance. The matter has been adjourned until January 13, 2020. (BT)

MONITORING “WE GATHERING” –The ‘We Gatherin’ 2020 national event will have a motorsport component, as a drag racing event will help to open the action in St Lucy next month. Chairman of the Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters (BADD), Jason Downey, made the revelation during his address at the 2019 awards ceremony in the cafeteria at Bushy Park last Saturday. “January 19, two days before Errol Barrow Day, interest will be on the drag race meet at Bourbon, St Lucy. All the fast men are expected to face the starter,” he announced. Downey said the format would be different from what was done in the past by the Motoring Club Barbados Incorporated (MCBI), as the event would start from an area near to the St Lucy Parish Church. (DN)

There are 15 days left in the year Shalom!  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell

[swipestream]

Sensor Sweep: Classics, Steve Tompkins, Queen of the Black Coast, Gun Ghoul

Culture (Legends of Men): The primary professional association for classicists is the Society for Classical Studies. This was formerly called the American Philological Association. Mary Frances Williams, a Ph.D. in classics, former professor, and an independent researcher, decided to attend this year’s annual conference. There, she witnessed first hand how the classics field is becoming a vehicle for social justice (a.k.a. Marxism). The SCS, as well as academics across the country (and presumably across Europe), is accomplishing this on multiple fronts.

  Fandom (Don Herron): Hard to believe it was ten years ago today when Steve Tompkins punched his ticket. Only 48 years old, hospitalized for food poisoning after hitting Burger King, then out of the blue a heart attack. If they can’t handle a heart attack when you’re already in the hospital, game over.

  Fiction (John C. Wright): Many a fan, this one included, calls Queen of the Black Coast the finest of the Conan stories, in part because of its legendary scope, in part because of its lurid romance, it passages of lyrical poetry, its vivid and bloody battle-scenes, the sense of mystery and adventure, the chilling eldritch visions of ancient eons and shades of the dead, the Viking funeral at the end.

The writing excels on three levels: first, striking characterization gives life to an intimate and tragic romance; second, lyrical world-building conjures a vision of a lost age, cruel but not without its savage beauties; third, a deep and even grim theme dignifies what would otherwise be a mere boy’s adventure tale with adumbration of deep time and an almost Norse melancholy touching the brevity of life, the indifference of the gods.

  Fandom (DMR Books): Steve Tompkins died ten years ago today. I and a few other bloggers will be posting blog entries in tribute to Steve, whom I consider the best “genre” blogger of the first decade in this twenty-first century. Below, you’ll find a very concise history of Mr. Tompkins’ life and hyperlinks to all of his blog entries and online essays. This post is intended to function as a one-stop guide to Steve’s online legacy.

  RPG (Playing at the World): The Illusionist in Dungeons & Dragons was created by Peter Aronson, an early Boston-area fan. In 1975, Aronson submitted an initial description of Illusionists to TSR , who ran it in the fourth issue of the Strategic Review. Then the following year, Aronson’s additions with system for higher-level Illusionists appeared in the debut issue of The Dragon. But Aronson didn’t stop there – he made a number of further expansions and corrections which he circulated informally in 1977, of which the first page is shown above. Today, we’re looking at the complete Illusionist subclass for OD&D as Aronson envisioned it, and the implications it created for “schools” of magic in role-playing games.

  Fiction (DMR Books): Hira Singh was Talbot Mundy’s fourth novel; his second and third novels (The Winds of the World and King – of the Khyber Rifles) are more properly part of the Greater Jimgrim Mythos of interconnected stories and we will discuss them in their own time.  We will also be reviewing the Jimgrim Saga itself (those books whose hero is James Grim) in its own place.  Hira Singh was serialized in Adventure magazine in late 1917 and then published in book form by Bobbs-Merrill in 1918.

  Popular Culture (Kairos): Hang out around science fiction authors long enough, and you get the sense that they’re all crazy.

John Scalzi claims that Donald Trump and the weather conspired to give him writer’s block. Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin have cited similarly temperamental reasons for not finishing their popular series.

The ancient Romans had a saying, Ars longa, vita brevis. Moderns take it to mean that life is short, but works of art last.

  Popular Culture (Men of the West): This weekend, Captain Marvel defied expectations among traditional fanbase comic book audiences who expected the movie to gross between $80 and $100 million. It seemed as though every indication was there that the movie would tank, due to its blatant promotion of third wave feminism—both in the movie as well as in promotional material. However, the justified critics were wrong to presume the larger society of Americans were on their side, and the movie earned $153 million domestic.

  Authors (Fredericksburg.com): AS THE final weeks of the 20th century drew to a close, much attention was given to the question of what had been the best—the best of the century or best of the millennium? An endless flurry of polls, surveys, Top 10 and Top 100 lists were compiled.

And when it came to the best book or best author of the past 100 years, in poll after poll, survey after survey, list after list, J.R.R. Tolkien was nearly always at the top.

  Comic Books (Jon Mollison): Back in December I took the Arkhaven Comics then new online book store for a test drive.  Wil Caligan’s Gun Ghoul showed up in plenty of time, but personal events made reading a comic centered on death and justice too painful.

Still, Wil’s a good guy who deserves support, so I cinched my belt tighter, sniffed and thumbed my nose like a good Mayberry Sherriff’s Deputy and shouldered my wife through a story of loss, revenge, and redemption.

  RPG (Karavansara): The game in question is called Atlantis, the Second Age, that is a game with a complicated history – there’s at least three different editions that I am aware of: the first by Bard Games (when it was just called Atlantis), the second by Morrigan Press which is the one I own, and recently a new edition was released published by Kephera Publishing (I do not own it, but all reviews are glowing).

  RPG (Tower of Zenopus): I’ve been interested in the Savage Worlds game since the earliest days of its existence – maybe before if we’re going back to Deadlands and the Great Rail Wars days. I played and ran some Deadlands in its original form, picking up pretty much all of the books and the Deadlands: Hell on Earth setting and books as well. I dove into GRW a little later and picked up a bunch of the miniatures and books for that too. I was on the Deadlands email list in the late 90’s/early 2000’s and followed the development of the system as bits came out there – you can see a more extensive version of that info here.

Fiction (George Kelly): I’ve been a big fan of Night Shade Books’s volumes in The Complete Stories of Jules de Grandin series. Black Moon, just published, is the fifth and final volume. Seabury Quinn created a psychic investigator whose cases usually involved weird, occult, and supernatural aspects. For four decades, Seabury Quinn wrote stories that attracted a devoted audience of readers. The stories in this collection bring together Jules de Grandin stories from the late Thirties, all of the Forties, and a couple stories from the Fifties.

  Fiction (Too Much Horror Fiction): Pity poor Robert James Atchison. Living in a California town known as America’s preeminent burial ground, where the dead outnumber the living five thousand to one, he’s a sensitive 17-year-old boy with a fondness for poetry, instilled in him by his dear departed mother, and he actually enjoys reading books like The Iliad for school. He may have good hair, vibrant eyes, and fine features, but all that’s lost on his high school classmates: to them he’s a gangly, awkward-limbed, tongue-tied goof who they’ve nicknamed “Coma Man” with an embarrassing crush on Carla, the prettiest girl in school. He’s written Carla a poem and has two scarlet ribbons to give to her. What could go wrong?

  Pulp (True Pulp Fiction): After having hardly any time for pulp reading for a while I finally got a chance to settle down with this issue of Adventure from from Howard V. Bloomfield’s editorial regime. Despite the cowboy on the cover the lead story is a Georges Surdez novelette, “A Head for the Game.” It’s a change of pace for Surdez in that his usual French Foreign Legion protagonists appear here as antagonists, picking a feud with a commander of Senegalese Tirailleurs.

    Sensor Sweep: Classics, Steve Tompkins, Queen of the Black Coast, Gun Ghoul published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[zaizoo1999-blog]

Free Will Does Not Exist

       Free will is the ability to make your own choices. Such as choosing whether or not you are going to eat at Mcdonald's. Some psychologists question whether or not this is in your own free will. They have studied behavior and made connections between our past and our current decisions. Such as things we have heard in the media, from other people, or the environments we were raised and livedp[;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; in. Some of the things that I am going to cover are, hormonal processes, being an only child, temptation, wealth, sports and religion.

Here is an example to help you better understand. We are on our way home and we are thinking about stopping at Mcdonalds. Then, we remember that a few of our friends were talking about how they both got food poisoning from there. There were also media reports of a boy getting mad cow disease from a burger he ate there. Taking this into consideration we decide to not stop there. You might argue that making the decision to not stop there was you and I  enacting our own free will.

However this is untrue, this is because we have no control over that things that lead us to that decision, the input factors if you will. As I said the things we hear from the media and our friends are not the only things affecting our choices. Events that happened in our childhood impact our personality and the decisions we make. For example, positive reinforcement is a tactic used by many to encourage desired behavior. There are  many other tactics you can use to get people to behave as you want them to.  

Now you might be thinking, if I resist the temptation to do something, was that not me using my free will? The answer to that is, no you were not using your own free will. You see, throughout life we are programed through the input factors to deal with that temptation. However we are also programed with a stronger temptation to not follow our urges.

If you live in an environment where sports are a loved thing in your family then you might find this to be true. Children whose parents are really into basketball, may influence their children to like and play the same sport in school. They might also make their children feel inclined to participate in the same sport even if they don't like it. Alternatively if the sport takes president over the child it could cause them to back away from it, depending on their personality.   Another example we could use here, is if drugs were used in your family, you might be more inclined to use those same drugs and/or be more accepting of people who do use them. This is probably because you lived in a household where it was okay, safe, and you have first hand knowledge on it. On the other hand, if the drugs are a threat to you such as you being neglected by our family because of them,  then it could cause you to to avoid people who are into them, and cause you not to do them.

Not all personality traits are caused by things that happen to you or that you have heard. Some personality traits are triggered by hormonal processes like, extroversion and introversion. Extroverts are a group of people who tend to feel energized by being in a group, and when they are alone they tend to feel isolated. They also tend to enjoy being the center of attention. Extroverts tend to like talking about their thoughts and feelings. An introvert is just the opposite, if you are an introvert you probably enjoy time spent alone and feel recharged by it. If you are in social setting for to long you begin to feel exhausted and begin to withdraw from the environment around you. Introverts tend to like expressing their thoughts and feelings through writing and other creative forms. Ambiverts are those who carry both traits. Most people are ambiverts, very few people are strictly extrovert of strictly introverted, it is a spectrum.

The environment of a child growing up with siblings and a child growing up without siblings are very different, and of shapes your personality a lot. Some effects of being an only child might be that you have more knowledge on adult topics, we tend to join in on our parents conversations because we have no one closer to our age. Children without siblings tend to have a hard time expressing anger, or they might be overly sensitive, this is because only children are usually overprotected. That's not to say that our self esteem suffers, we are spoiled in love and in gifts, as a result our self esteem is usually higher than kids with siblings. Alike children with siblings, we fall equally on the introverted and extroverted spectrum. Meaning that we adjust just as well as children with siblings, if not better.  From a young age only children are trained to be self dependent and are content with being alone, because we don't have siblings to depend on. This makes us more inclined to take leadership.Only children also tend to be more motivated which helps us to do better in school.

Children of religion are more inclined to believe in magical stories, and they are more inclined to believe the impossible than non-religious children. This does not affect the children's basic ability to recognize real characters from fictional characters. It's just to say that non religious kids have a smaller sense of magic. Religion can give people a sense of identity. Religious people tend to feel like they are apart of something, most likely because the gather with people who share their same beliefs. This can leave them to greater happiness and higher self esteem. When people of religion  get depressed, or have setbacks in their life they tend to fall back on their faith and recover faster. In statistics religious kids have an easier time resisting temptation, this is probably because they feel like they need to behave. Not just for themselves, but for their parents and in the eyes of their their god(s). Giving people reminders of their faith could influence their choices they make in their lives. This may cause them to feel like they have less control over  their lives.

There are large benefits on a child's emotional and behavioral health when their family is wealthy. This could be because they go to private schools have lots of extracurricular activities and different cultural experiences. They tend to do better in math this could be because of their private schools, or that they simply have more practice with money. However there are drawbacks to having a large flow of money.  Parents behavior can drastically affect a child. With a wealthy child's parents being successful, the child may feel like they have a sense of relentless pressure to succeed ad be wealthy themselves . Additionally with parents at work children can suffer from low self esteem issues which can manifest in to larger problems. If not dealt with result of this can be tragic, usually it shows itself through substance abuse, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, cheating and stealing. Older wealthy kids are aware of the of the wealth gap depending on their morals they may choose to react to this differently. Some of the effects of this knowledge can show itself through low self esteem and how they treat others whether it's for better or worse. It is well known that poor kids suffer from these things too. However, the rate of wealthy kids with these side effects, is twice as high as national average.

We are unaware of the input factors that control our thoughts actions and personality, that is why we are tricked into believing that we can make our own choices. If and when we realize free will is an illusion then, it should lead to greater maturity and emotional stability. Even though psychologists study behavior and behavioral causes they cannot predict our actions 100% simply because there are too many things to account for. Do not assume that we can not change our “free will”. We can, we can do this by changing our values. For us to have control over our actions we must do it with awareness and understanding of why we do things. So now that we have an understanding of how we, make decisions and how we can change our choices. We can be more aware.

Work cited:

NBER

Randall Akee - Emilia Simeonova - E. JaneCostello - William Copeland

"How Wealth Affects Children's Cognitive Achievement." News Medical Life Sciences. N.p., 26 Mar. 2008. Web.

Gold, Peter Voss and Louise. "The Nature of Freewill." The Nature of Freewill. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

Akee, Randall, Emilia Simeonova, E. Jane Costello, and William Copeland. "How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?" NBER. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Stern, Mark Joseph. "Religious Children Have Trouble Distinguishing Between Magic and Reality." Slate Magazine. N.p., 29 July 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Milevsky, Avidan. "Only Child 'syndrome': How Do Siblings, or a Lack of Them, Affect Your Personality?" The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 10 June 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Gold, Peter Voss and Louise. "The Nature of Freewill." The Nature of Freewill. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

[kjwongsbrain]

Contains 900% less screaming.

I've not done a movie review in a while. It's not that I haven't seen many movies lately, quite the opposite in fact, but I've not been properly motivated to write a review about any of them. It's not that those movies have been particularly bad ones either, quite the opposite again. I've been watching some really good movies from my to-watch list and since that list is very properly curated, the experience is usually a positive one.

No, the process of writing a review on this blog is often driven by the purpose of writing one. I'm not a film reviewer by any means. I'm just a person who enjoys movies. I enjoy every aspect of movies, not just the final product. I enjoy looking out for smart casting choices, great camera work, beatufiul music and sound production, and the likes. Films to me are a culmination of so many art disciplines that they are an incredibly dense single serving that explodes into a vareity of experiences and emotions.

But that's not the reason I write movie reviews and those of you who've read a selection of them will know that I have written lengthy (very lengthy. Shamelessly lengthy) reviews of things I enjoy and also things I didn't. But neither of those ocassions are done simply to praise or diss the film at hand. The real reason for writing them is to demonstrate just what makes a film something great and resonating on multiple levels, and also sometimes to demonstrate the exact opposite.

Some of my favourite movies to write about recently have been things like Arrival (not on this site, I wrote a short one on facebook) and Batman V Superman - one film I absolutely adore and am seriously considering putting it on my list ofgreatest movies in my lifetime (a list that is at the moment 3 films long), and the other I absolutely despise for just how many things it got wrong and how many things it doesn't understand about the comic-book movie universe we live in today..

And so I find myself now reveiwing something that has given me enough irk (sorry, it is going to be that kind of a review) that I am well motivated to write about it. There will be complaining, there will be self-entitled moaning, and all of it will not mean anything to the movie industry, but perhaps some of you might find it entertaining to read. Also the fact that I'm currently looking back at how little I've been writing and I'm starting to get annoyed at myself.

Remakes have long been part of Hollywood tradition. Remakes and reboots have been going even before color films were a thing. An example of this is Ben Hur, which has now been remade so many times it's only a matter of time before a intergalactic-space-podracing version of it is made next. Wait. It seems like this already exists. To dislike something for simply being a remake or a reboot is silly because even though some classic stories are classics for a reason, a touch of modernity or a recontextualizing of the premises can somethings offer a brand new experience even for those who are familiar with the story. Romeo and Juliet has probably been reimagined a million different times in a million different settings and at least a dozen of those have been decent. I think.

So I'm not going to bash Skull Islang for being a remake or a reboot or whatever the heck it's trying to be what with the DUCU (the Dark Universe Cinematic Universe, which is the name we will forever be using instead of 'monsterverse') and eventually a Godzilla VS Kong film. I am, however, going to put it side by side with the other Kong film that I have seen (because I am too lazy and uninterested in watching the 1933 one and the 1976? one), and that's the Peter Jackson one.

Boy, oh boy is this new one terrible. It's not like I am a super fan of the film Jackson made, but this turd makes that thing shine brighter than Gandalf the White.

I don't even know where to start with this thing. For one the writing is absolutely atrocious. The tone is so incoherrent and the interaction beetween characters so uninspired that even the charisma of one flaming hot superstar, Tom Hiddleston, couldn't save it. And I was just coming around to like Brie Larson but this is going to be a rather bad stain on her career trajectory. She's going to be Captain Marvel next and if the only other work people know her for is Room and Kong, well.... that doesn't look very good.

It's just idiotic dialogue that doesn't make any narrative sense that irks me so much. Sure there are a lot of character stereotypes that get mashed into filmls like these and most of the time it's not as bad as people think, but this one had the added bonus of also being tonally incoherent. There was an unpleasant whirlwind of serious and silly moments that no sentence or character in the film could be taken any bit seriously. There were snarky comments in dire moments, unnecessary idiotic lines dotted all over the place and characters that almost had no idea if they were to be taken seriously or made fun of. To watch John C Reilly flip from insane old man to serious wise man to out-of-touch caveman, all within a minute or so, is beyond ridiculous.

The plot is also a mismatch in so many departments. You have three different parties involved in this 'expedition' and at no point are the motivations of the characters ever clear or rational. I've talked before about movies that make it almost impossible to believe that any actions of its characters fall anywhere in the realm of rationality and how badly this hurts films. Even something as silly as Civil War creates a situation of conflict that is believable enough, and that's really stretching it, where you can buy into the premise of the film.

There's this one jarring moment in the film when the whole troupe of people suiddenly decide that they ought to follow Nick Fury to go hunt down the monkey and at no point in the movie were they ever required to follow him to certain death. Half of them aren't even soldiers and Hiddleston is a hired tracker who's on the island solely for the money. Shouldn't he be listening to his employer and not crazy army man with a grudge?

Brie Larson's unnecessary sarcasm was also very painfully written in. As were the half dozen throwaway jokes that didin't land because there wasn't any hint of this film being any sort of fun light hearted romp.

My favourite bit of the entire film is the red bandana soldier (I don't remember any of their names because they were all so irrelevant to the film) kept belting out something along the lines of "WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT HOW CRAZY ANY OF THIS IS?", and that's probably the crux of why this movie is so bad. Nothing in it makes any sense on any level and so I spent the majority of the movie laughing at it. Not laughing with it like a good comedy would do (by the way, I laughed a lot watching Adult Life Skills, a good movie for anyone interested in a lovely take on the whole 'thirty year old not growing up' type of story), but laughing at it for how stupid and silly the entire film was.

And then I went digging into wikipedia and found this statement - " Vogt-Roberts also wanted Kong to feel like a "lonely God, he was a morose figure, lumbering around this island," and took the design back to the 1933 incarnation, where Kong was presented as a "bipedal creature that walks in an upright position " And that to me is a shining example of how some directors justify their stupid decisions with this idiotic garbage and can't smell the scent of their own hubris infused farts. Kong in 1933 was a stop motion doll. Just because something is old and even if it was in the original, doesn't make it good. This is the whole 'member berry' thing that South Park spent an entire season talking about. It's a demonstration of how naive and immature a director can be when you see decisions like these being made and then the excuse that's given to justify it. That kind of explains the other slew of poor decisions made in the film when it came to the script, the style, the characters, the decision to play music while fixing their gear in the middle of a monster infested island, etc.

It reminds me of Jurassic World in the way that both these films clearly haven't got a clue what makes their predecessors such giants in the film industry. Films like these simply try to create moments and link them together with idiotic dialogue and unnecessary sequences rather than creating a proper narrative weight and emotional resonance. And then go on to make tons of money.

And then there is of course the entire arc of Kong that makes him such a great character to begin with. The essence of Kong as a character was really brought to a perfect cadence in the original plot's third act where Kong is captured and brought to the city. He dies, succumbing to the world of the modern man. That provides a gorgeous contrast to his dominance on his own little island. There have been reviews that have talked about this in greater length, and I agree with all of them. Without the tragic third act, this new Kong movie is simply a big beastie with no motivation and no personality. He's just smashing stuff. Sure they try to shoe in the whole 'protector of the island' thing, but unless it's framed in the cadence of his tragic end, none of it really means anything.

Kong was always a tragedy. The original 1933 film was billed as a horror movie and in many ways it was, but it will always remain as a tragic story and that's where the true personality of this character shines.

And so we have to do the dirty business of comparing Peter Jackson's King Kong with this one and in so many ways Peter Jackson made a far superior movie. One of my favourite scenes in Jackson's movie is the part that they encounter the giant slugs and insects. Jackson's choice of silencing the music in this sequence allows the viewer to feel the hopelessness of the situation for all the characters as they realise the circumstances they have brought upon themselves. But even the action sequences of Jackson's film are so much better. The legendary fight with the dinosaurs was a far better sequence than 100 foot Kong against 'The Big One'.

On a side note, I find that throwing one helicopter and hitting another when you're the size of this new king kong is like us throwing a stone and hitting another stone in mid air. You go try it. Not only is Kong a bit monkey, apparently he's a Major League pitcher as well. Unlike in the original and in Jackson's film you get to see Kong swat furiously and mostly unsuccessfully at flying airplanes, this King Kong can pluck a moving helicopter out of thin air and then chuck it at another moving one with destructive accuracy. No, Mr Vogt Roberts, this does not make the scene cool. That's like schoolboy Michael Bay levels of cool. Which is another way of saying 'idiotic'.

While we're on the topic of idiotic sequences, there's a sequence where lady photographer hears the sound of an animal stuck under one of the crashed helicopters and decides to help it and then SURPRISE! Kong shows up and plucks the helicopter off the ground. And I'm supposed to believe that a giant 100 foot monkey somehow snuck up on this lady and she didn't notice it coming at all. It's a normal idea for there to be a 'sudden' reveal or encounter between character and monster - it's one of the reasons the Alien movies do so well - but when it's a 100 foot ape, there's just no way it immediately looks ridiculous.

I've mentioned that I'm not exactly a big fan of Jackson's remake, but he's done so many things better than this one and you can tell it was a passion project for Jackson and even though he was granted a big enough budget after the success of the Lord of the Rings movies, he was faithful and true to not just the story, but Kong as a character as well.

This new movie is throws all of that in the bin and it feels exactly the way it was intended - as a necessary remake to set up the big fight between monkey and lizard. That makes sense that Kong's character is no longer important, his tragic arc no longer the definition of who he is, and the most important element of the screaming lady completely banished from the script. Say what you want about how we need more strong female leads instead of the helpless damsel in distress but I have a lot of respect for both Fay Wray and Naomi Watts for bringing the scream to life in their respective films. I rewatched Jackson's movie maybe a year ago and every scream Watts did was absolutely impressive. You go try it. You go try screaming like that and conveying the reall feeling of fear and helplessness in the hands of a CGI giant ape. That's some amazing work right there.

And without the final cadence in this new Kong movie, the whole movie is in fact unconsequential. None of what has occurred in this film actually matters. Kong did not grow as a character. All the humans suffer from Transformers level of inconsequence (they killed of poor Toby Kebbell without any rhyme or reason). And the fact that this film has actually recieved generally favourable treatment from the critics and the public means that we're going to invite more of these kinds of movies into our lives and also that Mr Vogt-Roberts will go down the path of many directors who've made stupid decisions and then get handed big franchises. I'm lloking at you Niel Blomkamp, you sci-fi traitor. This young chap is about to take on Metal Gear Solid next so it is likely that the ridicule of video game movies will continue. Even Duncan Jones couldn't save it with his Warcraft movie that was actually good and nobody liked.

So you can probably tell that I'm not invested in the DUCU at all at monkey business hasn't convinced me otherwise. In fact it's convinced me that this is an altogether terrible idea and it's going to add to the pain of already having to deal with franchises that refuse to die like Transformers and The Fast and the Furious. Now we add to that a slew of monster movies that'll take on the 'successful' style and tone of this ape caper.

Sigh.

[jillbobnabena-blog]

Happy Happy Birthday to my wonderful big brother, Adam! I cannot believe how time is just going. “Time goes by so fast,” is not just a phrase I hear old people saying anymore. It is actually the truth. Wait, does that make me an old person? Dang. “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8) Anyways, my beloved big brother has now been gone from this earth, longer than I even knew him. Can you believe that? I was almost 13 when he died, and this year will mark 14 years he has been gone. That is mind blowing. My memories of him are still clear as day, and I think about him often. I think about when he backed into my piano teacher’s plant bed, and bought me ice cream so I would not tell mom and dad. I think about when I was lost at a ski resort, and ran and cried in his arms when I found him. I think about the hundreds of hours in my life I spent watching his baseball games and wrestling matches. I think about all the girls at the Algona swimming pool that would beg me to put in a good word with my “cute” brother. I think about how he would trick me into going upstairs to “help mom” so he could take the TV remote from me. I think about the look on his face when I would retaliate by standing in front of the TV naked to get the remote back. And I often think about what life would be like today with him still here. I always tell Steven how much he would have loved Adam, because he loves me, and I am pretty much the female version of him! When my big brother was called home to Jesus I was about to enter middle school, I had a mouth full of braces, and was at least a head taller than all of my peers in school. Since he’s been gone I have graduated from college, had my first math teaching position, gotten married, lived overseas, and had a beautiful baby girl. Although I am still a head taller than most of my peers, I cannot believe how much life has changed without him here. #HappyBirthday

Our little family has made the move to St. Louis, and have begun to get all settled. Steven is LOVING his new job at Coke, and I am enjoying all the precious moments with my caramel nugget. Lately, I have been thinking about Adam nonstop. With all this time I am spending with my Ellery girl, I just so deeply wish she could have a relationship with her Uncle Adam. I always make it a point to show her lots of pictures of family members, and he is no exception. I know if Adam was still here he would have the most amazing God-fearing wife. He would also have precious children, and certainly be “that” uncle which all the cousins get most excited to go see! #MovesToStLouie

Everyone that knew Adam loved Adam. He truly embodied the joy of the Lord, and will forever be my hero and role model in life. “A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born.” (Ecclesiastes 7:1) My parents must have so much pride knowing they raised such an amazing man, who impacted so many lives in his short time here. I have always known there is no greater loss then the loss of a child. I knew my parents suffered the sourest lemon life has to offer. Now that I have a daughter of my own, I have a whole new perspective and sympathy for the loss they  have suffered. I cannot, and will not, even begin to fathom the pain they endured through his death. The strength they showed my other brother, Paul, and I in that time is a strength that only God could have provided. I distinctly remember my dad, my mom, Paul, and I sleeping on our living room floor on July 2, 2003 the night he died. Nobody knew what to say, what to do, or what was even happening. I think we all expected to eventually wake up from this nightmare we seemed to be living. The next few weeks we were flooded with people expressing their condolences and grieving alongside of us. We had enough food brought to the house to feed a small country. It is tragic events like this in which believers typically follow one of two paths; stray away entirely from God, or draw nearer then you have ever been. My parents chose the latter. I did not. #AlwaysChooseJesus

I remember feeling extremely resentful towards God, and not understanding how He could do such a horrible thing to our family. I did not stop believing in God, but I did stop believing in God’s goodness. It was not until nearly eight years after Adam’s death that I truly encountered the love of God, and His never failing grace. “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8) Once I had a relationship of my own with Jesus, I began to understand Him in a new way. Our God has given us choice in life. He has given us free will. God did not take my brother away from our family. He did not desire for my family to experience the pain we did. Adam chose to drive without a seatbelt, and Adam chose to drive while tired. His tragic loss, is because of poor 18 year old boy driving judgement, and simply a horrible accident. Thankfully, the God we serve does choose to take every situation, to bring goodness out of it. Countless people have decided to give their lives to Christ through the loss of my incredible brother, Adam. That in itself is something I know Adam would be thrilled over. My parents have counseled, prayed with, and helped numerous parents who have gone through similar tragedies as well. They have also raised so much awareness to safe driving for teenagers, given college scholarships in Adam’s name, and helped Adam’s legacy to continue on long after his passing. I know personally I too have met, and prayed with many others dealing with the loss of a sibling. God is incredible that way. He never wants us to go through something alone, and always brings the right people into our lives at just the right time. #HisLoveNeverFails

I have learned a lot from Adam’s death. First of all, it is okay to talk about those who are gone. It can be awkward, and make people uncomfortable to speak about loss, but there is something healing and refreshing about reminiscing about people we love. Next, I have learned how short life is. Tomorrow is not guaranteed for anybody, so we have to live everyday like it could be our last. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Finally, we must choose to make the most of every situation. Life is not perfect, and there will be hard times. If we choose to allow the hard times to run our lives we will never enjoy our short time here, and instead spend all of our time being victims to our circumstances. I am not saying we should pretend the hard times don’t exist (see the first thing I learned), rather allow it to build our character, mold us into who we are, and use it as an opportunity to empathize with people in similar situations. If my parents became victims to the loss of their son, they would never have fully enjoyed all the wonderful memories they have made with Paul and I. With a victim mentality you may miss out on opportunities that God has put in front of you because you are so busy looking back, that you never look forward. Besides all of this, I know Adam would want us to make the most of our lives! He would want us to bring joy to those around us, and share the love of Christ with everyone we meet. #SpreadTheJoy

I would love for Ellery to meet her Uncle Adam, I would love for Steven to meet my beloved brother, and not a day goes by where I don’t imagine what life would be like today with him still here. However, I know his life impacted many and his legacy still continues to go on. I know I have gone through a great loss, and will have wisdom to share with others that go through similar tragedies. And best of all, I know Ellery and Steven will get to meet him one day when we are all reunited with our Creator in Heaven. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. all these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4) I am certain that Adam is the life of the party up there. I am also certain he is having a huge birthday celebration with “heavenly” cake… see what I did there? I am so thankful for the time I did have with Adam, and look forward to being reunited one day. He was an incredible human, who truly changed countless lives. So Happy Birthday to my handsome big brother! We love and miss you down here, and I cannot wait to introduce you to my amazing husband and precious baby girl. #UntilWeMeetAgain

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[happy] BIRTHDAY Happy Happy Birthday to my wonderful big brother, Adam! I cannot believe how time is just going.