#the front row series

[searchingwardrobes]

Cover Reveal!!!

I am so, so in love with this cover, ya'll! It's so beautiful!!!!!!! BuzBooks did an amazing job once again, listening to what I wanted as far as color palette and style of photography. I also love how it ties all three books together with the font style and the ocean theme.

We're getting closer and closer to the release of my next baby!

@snowbellewells @jrob64 @kmomof4 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @spartanguard @reynoldsreads @iverna @teamhook @ohmakemeahercules @welllpthisishappening @wellhellotragic @goforlaunchcee @wordsmith-storyweaver @ultraluckycatnd @freckles-and-books @kwistowee @killiancygnus @cutieodonoghue @vvbooklady1256

[lilatara]

just thinking about how despite AtS trying to portray it as comedic bickering amongst bros, Spike actually has decades worth of reasons to hate Angel, while Angel has remarkably few reasons to hate Spike. And it should maybe be concerning that from School Hard on, Angel adopts an absolute "don't see what this has to do with me" reaction to him?

[genericaces]

more rambling about a s5 au: lindsey comes back for a redemption arc to act as legal counsel for angel's team. this ostensibly gives gunn a reason to opt out of the lawyer operation, but he does it anyway because he doesn't trust lindsey not to fuck them over.

lindsey acts as a moral foil to gunn, who comes to believe his necessary contribution to the team (since he's no longer their only lawyer) is being the defender of the group's principles while working at w&h. they frequently butt heads while working on a case, but eventually develop a begrudging respect of each other's respective strengths.

this hostile-to-friendly-rivalry arc is tested when it comes out that w&h was responsible for some demon problem that's been plaguing gunn's home community. gunn has, unbeknownst to himself, been somehow contributing to it while working at w&h; lindsey knowingly contributed to it when he was last working there as a lawyer. lindsey is forced to confront who he was, while gunn is forced to confront who he’s becoming.

since he was involved in the project, lindsey uses his insider knowledge to help come up with a plan to fix the problem. they execute it, something goes wrong, and lindsey risks his life to ensure the plan goes off successfully. he expects congratulations and a pat on the back from gunn, but gunn isn't interested in absolving lindsey's sins (or his own), and their warming relationship freezes over.

at some point, gunn lets himself get taken by the senior partners in an effort to deal with his guilt over various lapses in judgment/perceived moral failures. during their rescue mission to the holding dimension, lindsey stays behind in gunn's place so he can escape, assuring gunn that he's the lawyer the team needs right now. their mutual arcs culminate in lindsey rejecting the idea that redemption is done for recognition, and gunn rejecting the idea that guilt/self-punishment is inherently redemptive.

eventually after being busted out by illyria, lindsey is there to empathize with gunn about losing parts of yourself (body, mind, and/or soul) to w&h, relationships to power when you've grown up without it, and what it means to live with the consequences of your actions. both of them reflect on the nature of redemption/forgiveness/intent as they grapple with how to own up to an appropriate share of the blame.

[laurenkmyers]

Collecting bl boys like Pokémon cards on this trip apparently.

[laundrybiscuits]

(Hanahaki AU tag : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4)

Sometimes Eddie thinks stories are alive, somehow. Not in a gateway-to-a-magical-world sense; more like kudzu. Invasive, demanding, immortal. You think you’ve cut them to pieces and salted the earth, but they come back when you’re least expecting them, smothering any bullshit ideas about individuality or making your own way.

Like the story about the Munson boy: bad news, good-for-nothing, stealing and dealing, always in hot water with the law. Eddie’d tried like hell to fight that one, but it just came for him twice as hard. He clings to all the ways he’s not like his old man, but he’s still so shit-scared that when push comes to shove, the ways they’re different don’t matter as much as they ways they’re the same. That story’s got him by the throat.

And now the story about the other Munson boy, the quiet one: born wrong, they said. Wrong enough that they had to cut it out of him. 

Eddie loves Wayne, but he’s never wanted to end up like him. Eddie had foolishly—foolishly!—thought that maybe there could be something different, like maybe his life could grow in bright new ways up and out, stretching sunwards. Instead, there’s the mile-a-minute strangling vines, overtaking him and smothering out any hope of light. 

It’s like those older stories, the ones about prophecies, right? Eddie used to love those when he was a kid. He’d been obsessed with the library’s battered copy of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, checking it out again and again just to pore over the colorful illustrations of golden fleeces and golden apples and children born from eggs. Characters like Oedipus who tried to outrun their destiny could never really win. That’s a story to warn you about stories, for sure. It lays everything out: the futility of trying to run, and the way you’re going to try anyway.

So he should’ve known better, that’s all. Nothing ever really changes for the Munsons; those kudzu stories always come to drag them back into their place.

———

They run across an old-fashioned frozen custard place outside of Milwaukee, all neon and aluminum siding and servers in little paper hats. Steve screws his whole face up into a grimace. “Do we have to? I’m getting flashbacks to when me and Robin worked at Scoops Ahoy.”

“You what? Did I know this about you? Wait, did you wear—”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Munson. That uniform is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”

It might be the worst thing that’s ever happened to Eddie, jesus. He can’t stop picturing it. Damn his vivid imagination and active fantasy life. 

“Well, Harrington, I have the overwhelming need to put some frozen custard in my face immediately, so you’re just gonna have to deal with the trauma.”

Steve gets a frozen custard too, despite all his complaining, and they sit in the back of the van to eat. It’s a pretty day out, and the place is humming. Lots of families around. 

“So do you still have that uniform?” Eddie’s a fucking masochist for asking, but he can’t help it.

“Kind of? It’s…wait, did anyone tell you about Starcourt and the Russians?”

“Uh.” Eddie blinks at him. “Starting to think I’ve been left out of a few loops, here.”

It’s a good story. Steve’s not a very good storyteller, he keeps going on tangents and repeating himself, but Eddie likes listening to him anyway. It’s nice to see him waving his hands around, clearly forgetting that he’s still holding a mostly-eaten tub of custard, and telling an objectively absolutely buck-wild tale. Eddie only has to hide a coughing fit once, and he manages to drop the gross ball of brown-and-yellow plant matter under the van without Steve seeing. It’s a pretty decent way to spend an afternoon.

When Steve’s done, Eddie whistles long and low. “Steve fuckin’ Harrington. At this point, I don’t think anything you can tell me is gonna be surprising anymore. Like, if you said you’d traveled back in time to kill JFK? I’d be like sure, sounds about right, bet you had a pretty good reason for doing that.”

Steve snorts. “I think you know everything about me now, dude. All the important stuff, anyway.” He slides a look over at Eddie, suddenly weighty and serious in the way he gets sometimes. “I know there’s stuff you’re—stuff you don’t want to tell me. Part of the whole, uh, Eddie Munson thing, right? But I think—I hope I know you too. Who you are. Even if I don’t know all your stories yet.”

Eddie draws his knees up and rests his folded elbows on them, letting his hair fall forward to shield his face a little. It feels like there are so many important things that he’s trying to carry around under his skin, too many for any one person to hold, and one of these days it’s all gonna come spilling out, infinite and messy, raw and inconvenient, damning.

“Yeah,” he says. “I guess maybe you do know me enough.”

[bornuntohimself]

finished row............ 😵‍💫

[searchingwardrobes]

For The Front Row Series, Book Three! Cover reveal and summary coming very soon as well.

@snowbellewells @jrob64 @kmomof4 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @spartanguard @reynoldsreads @iverna @teamhook @ohmakemeahercules @welllpthisishappening @wellhellotragic @goforlaunchcee @wordsmith-storyweaver @ultraluckycatnd @freckles-and-books @kwistowee @killiancygnus @cutieodonoghue @vvbooklady1256

I seriously don't know who to tag anymore, I'm so inactive. If you want to be added or removed, let me know!

[intothegenshinworld]

SHIROOO add me to the taglist for fates destiny pls mwahmwah ‼️‼️💗💗

ERIIIII Thank you so much for the support <33 I saw your reblog and I was like AAAAAAA

[elnotwoods]

KinnPorsche camp in prep for the world tour? A bunch of attractive men in one house, spending 24/7 together with no access to social media; that’s very… camp

[syncopatedid]

Got gifted by friends to go watch the fan screening of The First Slam Dunk movie and it was the best present ever! I wasn't even a big fan of the series and had forgotten nearly everything about it going in, so I figured it'd be a good time for a refresher, maybe entertaining enough for a solid 8.5/10? But no! Turns out it exceeded my expectations. 10.1/10!! Heck, it was so good that I found myself thinking the movie trumps the movie of my favourite Kuroko no Basket! Whenever Shohoku made a basket score, the whole theatre (all 1500++ fans and 3 storeys strong) erupted in cheers and applause. Team Shohoku was out in full force at the gallery that day! Few thoughts on movie (bit spoilery but not too much):

I was very surprised to discover that Hanamichi was not the main character in this movie! Instead, this story focused on another member of Shohoku and much of the movie is from his POV. A risky (?) but interesting gamble adopted by the creator, no doubt, but one that paid off handsomely. I said (?), because I did wonder if fans of hot favs Hanamichi and Rukawa might be turned off by the idea of having another member take the spotlight, because they may feel it would steal screen time away from their mains. I suspect that is the reason why the marketing of this movie seems to keep the fact that they're going with another member as mc under wraps. The synopsis I have read for this movie used the synopsis for the Vol. 1 manga, which had little to almost no relevance to the actual movie itself other than the fact that Hanamichi is in it (but it's not even his POV this time)! The promo materials too, felt like they were very intentionally not pushing any one member into the spotlight but rather, promoted them as a team. So naturally, I think most would assume Hanamichi would still be the main POV. But! I don't think it's a deal breaker at all, because not only did the POV from someone else other than Hanamichi give a new perspective to what we already know from the manga/anime, it still retains enough presence of the team and key moments with the other members that call back to the source. I mean... my personal fav was "Specs" back in the day, and they practically benched him for the entire movie and I didn't even miss him that much, ahaha. They did kind of sub him in twice? But we don't even get to see him play. :*) Ultimately, it is Shohoku we are watching in the finals, playing the match of their lives. The reason why I loved this movie and why I didn't feel as much for the original is that as a manga it was a product of its times. It was all shonen all the time, meaning the bulk of the story was getting your feels from the adrenaline, testosterone-filled matches. This movie still had a lot of that for sure, but it had something else which I felt the source was never great at -- a deeper, heartfelt dive into the backstories and motivations of an individual. The "otoko no roman" aspect of the story always felt thin and glossed over quickly in favour of it playing out during the matches, as that was how shonen manga were mostly like at the time. In this movie, however, it switches between the moment in the match and flashbacks to the past. Every personal struggle off the court hurts so much more but it just made his and their achievements all that much sweeter. I must have shed tears at least three times in this movie. There is drama, but all the emotions felt warranted and never hit the point where I thought was pandering or excessive.

Speaking of team matches, it would be remiss of me not to mention the animation choice. I was skeptical when I saw the trailer because it seemed like a weird mix of CGI and traditional drawing and I wasn't sure if I'd take to it, but this movie made it work! The CGI motions were all natural-looking enough, yet had this 2D animation feel to it that I honestly can't tell you where the CGI began or ended except there were probably CGI elements somewhere because of the fluidity of certain moves that I feel only CGI can achieve. It felt as if they had rendered all the motions in CGI, then went back and hand-painted over every CGI frame so it looked like a 2D animation before splicing it all back together again. I liked it a lot, and the style blended well and lends an interesting flavour to the look and feel. The camera angles and the way the final match is animated also really felt like you were watching a real-life NBA match from the spectator gallery! I guess the art style of Inoue sensei always bordered more on realism, but it got me thinking yeah, these guys are how real basketball players feel like! Huge gorillas, towering giants AND pretty bad boys. Go big or go home, as they say! It was a most immersive experience. Anyway, please go watch it if you have the chance! I can’t recommend it enough!

[valkyrie-in-yellow-coat]

Turn it up and let's hear some of that bardcore baby🔥🤘

[fungi-maestro]

The Question #6 (1987)

[misshanami]

[celestialcomedy-aa]

//: Ganandorf? Triforce of Power! Zelda? Triforce of Wisdom! Link? Triforce of Courage!  Jester? Dudes just here for his friend and ride. He is running true on that ‘ ride or die ‘ here [ except no die cause immortal clown ]

[typical-simplelove]

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[searchingwardrobes]

Releasing in the next couple of weeks!

@snowbellewells @jrob64 @kmomof4 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @spartanguard @reynoldsreads @iverna @teamhook @ohmakemeahercules @welllpthisishappening @wellhellotragic @goforlaunchcee @wordsmith-storyweaver @ultraluckycatnd @freckles-and-books @kwistowee @killiancygnus @cutieodonoghue @vvbooklady1256