#there's also the question of like. do mike and evan ever come to an understanding and if so when | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

libraryofloveletters · 3 years

Text

Just A Phase

Evan Buckley x Reader

Warnings: fem!reader, typical high school nonsense, kinda rude behaviour at first meet, mentions of weed/alcohol and the consumption of, typical cocky jock behaviour, few swear words, being tipsy/drunk

Category: fluff and a little angst

Word Count: 5.4k

Author’s Note: I just started writing and this is where I ended up so yeah also I feel like I haven’t written in a million years, forgive me if this is shitty // I referred to Buck as Evan for the first little bit because he and the reader had been introduced yet. // thank you to my darling @floralbuckleys for their help!

----

Senior Year Of High School.

Evan Buckley, certified jock and bad boy.

He was the type of guy that only had a soft spot for you, but you didn’t know that yet. Truthfully he wasn’t a mean guy - people just perceived him that way because he was on the football team and popular. He had somewhat of a troublesome reputation.

People knew where he went, trouble followed.

You, on the other hand, came from a somewhat above average family. Your mom’s a nurse and dad’s a lawyer. They always had big hopes and dreams for you, for you to go off to Harvard in the fall and follow in your father’s footsteps but you didn’t want that.

You dreamt of being a writer - you couldn't bring yourself to tell your parents that. Since you were young, they had instilled “you’re going to go to Harvard” in you.

You couldn’t back out now.

See, high school worked a certain way. You kept to your circles and didn’t mingle with those that didn’t fit into your circle. You and Evan didn’t run in the same circle - he was a troublesome jock and you were a smart preppy girl.

Being the preppy kid meant volunteering where you could to bulk up your college application hence why you were at school on a Friday afternoon, waiting for the kids to show up. You were part of some tutor program that your chemistry teacher put you into.

It was mostly just kids that needed some clarification on their work and the occasional jock that needed to pass a course to stay on the team.

You weren't surprised when a group of noisy jocks stumbled in the study hall, reeking of sweat from practice.

You were surprised to see Evan, he hadn't been in there before.

“Settle down boys” Mrs. Jacobs told them before sending each guy off to a tutor, leaving Evan standing beside her. “You can head over to y/n” she pointed at you, you gave him a small smile when you glanced up. He looked unpleasant, like he didn’t want to be there.

He made his way over nonetheless. “Good afternoon” you say quietly, unsure if he heard you. He grumbles a hello as he sits down.

The first few minutes, it was quiet. He sat there flipping through his textbook and scribbling down answers into the notebook in front of him.

“Is there anything I can help you-” “I'm not stupid.”

You glance at him, eyes catching his blue ones looking back at you. “I never said you were.”

“I'm only here because I didn’t turn in my mid term project and now stupid Mr. Jefferson thinks I don't understand this shit” he explains himself.

You hum, glancing down at the notebook in front of him, pulling it towards you. Reading over the sheet, all the answers were right. A hum of satisfaction slips pass your lips as you slide the notebook back over to him.

“Not just another dumb jock then.” your eyes study his face after the statement. His lips curl into a small smile, a hum as he turns his attention back to his paper.

“So prep life must be dull - no parties, all study.”

“Who says prep kids don't party ?”

He chuckles, “maybe the lack of prep kids at the parties.” “I’ll have you know, I party plenty, Evan.”

Once again, he chuckles. “The phrasing of that statement shows that you clearly don’t- but call me Buck, all the guys do.” he slides the notebook over to you.

“Check this over, I'll be back” you watched as he stepped out of the study hall and disappeared into the hallway.

A few minutes pass by, you’re tired and in need of a nap but you blink away the tiredness to read his work. There’s a voice behind you and then you feel something heavy on your chair. Leaning back to figure out what it was, the back of your head hit something hard. You shift in your seat and look up to see your head has hit Buck’s torso.

“How's the work, peach ?” his voice is low, the drop in octave from before causes butterflies in your stomach.

Your brows furrow at the nickname, he noticed your confusion and glances down at your top and your eyes follow his only to see that your peach colour bra was sticking out from the top of your shirt.

You had stretched back into your seat when he stepped out and you hadn't noticed the shift in your clothing.

Pulling the top of your shirt back up, he smiles and returns to his seat. You clear your throat, head down and eyes on the work in front of you as you could feel the blush on your face.

“Um, the work is fine.”

“Do you have plans tonight ?”

“No, why?”

“Come with me to Johnson’s party, you can show me how prep kids party” he smiles, his words are teasing you- taunting you even. “I would, but my parents are out of town so I don’t have the car and I have to watch the house.”

“The house won’t disappear if you’re gone for a few hours and I'll pick you up then. What’s your address ?”

“Buck, I really shouldn't”

“Y/n, come on. Pull the stick out your ass for one night and enjoy senior year. You can go back to Harvard prep tomorrow.”

His word choice doesn't shock you, it’s quite on brand for him. He’s looking at you, waiting for your answer and you can't help but give in.

Taking the pen from him, you scribble your address and number on his notebook. “See you at 7?” picking your bag up before slinging it over your shoulder.

“7? Peach, the party doesn’t start ‘till 9. I’ll pick you up at 10:30.”

“Oh um- okay.” you hum, confused but you agree anyways.

---

10:45 and you were sitting on your couch, glancing at your phone and back to the window.

You had been stood up once before but to be stood up by a jock, and a popular one ? Will be the death of any social life you had.

Finally there’s a knock on your door and you get up a little faster than you would have liked but you make your way over. Pulling it open, you met with Buck.

“Ready ?”

“Sure, let me grab my phone” you leave the door open, stepping back to the couch. Buck had disappeared from the doorway when you returned, you locked up and followed what looked like headlights to the driveway.

Buck sat on his bike, he scoots forwards a bit before patting the space behind him.

“No.” you mumble.

“What ?”

“I’m not getting on that thing.”

“That thing ? I'm offended. Come on, you’ll be fine.”

“Evan, no.”

Buck gets up, making his way over to you. His hands grab yours, looking at you now. “Y/n, I promise you that you’ll be fine. Can we go now ?”

“I’ll kill you if something happens to you” you grumbled as you reluctantly made your way over to the bike. Buck gets on first, you mirror his actions. Your hands were to your side, Buck reached back and wrapped them around his waist.

“You good back there ?”

“As good as I could be.”

The house, who you assumed belonged to Johnson’s parents, (you had no idea who Johnson was because you barely ever went to the football games) reeked of alcohol and weed.

Your face didn’t hide your displeasure as well as you thought it had. Buck chuckled as he slung his arm over your shoulder.

“So is this what you do ?” you shout over the loud music, Buck was saying hello to someone he knew and wasn't paying attention to what you had asked him.

You manage to wiggle your way out of his grip and find your way to the kitchen. It’s a few minutes later that Buck finds you sipping on a beer.

“You drink ?” he gives you a questionable look with a smile on his face.

“You brought me to a party so I'll do what people do at a party” you hum, leaning back against the counter. He finds his way to you, leaning back against the counter too.

“Enjoying the party ?”

“Not really, you kinda left me to talk to some guy for twenty minutes”

“That guy happens to be our star quarterback.”

“I care why?” you glance up at him. Buck’s face is pure amusement, you aren't sure if you’re the cause of that or something else but the way he's looking at you- you can feel the butterflies again.

“Buck!” a group of guys shout as they make their way into the kitchen. They all say hello to him, some are drinking, some are shoving chips into their mouths.

You stay quiet while Buck talks to them and judging by their varsity jackets, it was safe to assume that they were on the team with Buck.

“Who’s your friend ?” a brunette guy asks him, stepping towards you.

“I’m y/n, you are?” you ask before Buck could.

“Mike, call me Johnson.”

“Oh, so this is your place ? Cute house” you give him a smile, he laughs.

“How do you know Buck?” Johnson asks, he was nosy for a drunk guy.

“Just bumped into each other, we have class together” you lie, not sure if Buck wanted them to know how you really met, Buck gives you a small smile.

“You’re pretty, how about a dance ?” his hand grabs yours.

“Thanks but no thanks” you give a polite smile before pulling your hand away.

Johnson takes a step forward, his hand reaching out and grabbing your hip. “C’mon, dance with me” you could smell the alcohol on him- he reeked. You push his hand off, “I said no thank you” you tell him once more, being ever so polite.

“Y/n, c’mon, one dance baby” he takes another step, he’s now face to face with you. Before you could say anything, Buck is in front of you, between you and Johnson.

“Dude, she said no. Leave her alone.”

Buck’s sudden need to protect you was much appreciated. Usually if a guy did that, especially a jock, you’d be weird out because they never pay attention to you- but Buck, you had this indescribable feeling, pride, satisfaction, maybe even relief ?

“She’s not even your girl, why are you protecting her?”

“Doesn’t matter, she said no so get out of her fucking face.” Buck’s hand was against his chest, pushing him away as his other hand reached back for yours. It would be cheesy to say that your hand fit in his like it was made to be there but it was true.

Buck’s hand was still in yours as he pulled you out the back door. Your back was up against the wall as he stood in front of you.

“Are you okay ?” you could hear the concern in his voice - different from his usual tone.

At a loss for words, his eyes study your face. Johnson was a douche and he knew that, he mentally cursed himself for even bringing you here.

“Y/n.. talk to me” he takes a step towards you.

“Buck,” your hand presses against his chest, “I'm fine. It’s not the first time a drunk guy has hit on me”

A breath of relief slipped past his lips, “do you want to leave?” his face softens when he asks. “No, I'm alright.”

“Stay here, I'll be back” his hand comes down and squeezes your waist gently before he steps back into the house.

It was a while before Buck returned. He had disappeared into the house for half an hour and when he returned, you were by the pool with a pingpong ball in hand.

“Suck it!” your loud laugh filled his ears, you took a sip from the red cup in your hand and you watched as the guy across from you drank the beer in the cup that the ball landed in.

“Looks like you’re having fun” Buck smiles, now beside you.

“Hey!” you reeked of beer at this point. “I’m having fun” your words come out in a slurred mumble.

“Mhm okay, I think it’s time to head home” Buck takes the cup from you and sets it down.

“What ?” Your hand reaches for the cup again, a pout evident on your face.

Buck’s hands finds your waist, hoisting you up and over his shoulder. A louder than expected gasp left your mouth, you felt the cold breeze against your legs as he walked towards the front of the yard.

He put you down in the backseat of a car but you knew you came with his bike so you were confused, just as you go to ask, he scoots you over and gets in the back with you. Buck’s arm is over your shoulder, you’re so tired that you just lean into him.

You had noticed you fell asleep and when you woke, you were on the porch swing at your house with Buck’s hand in your pocket.

“Whatcha looking for?” he glances up at you when he hears your voice.

“Keys.”

“Other pocket”

He manages to find the keys and get the door open. Getting you in the house was another story. “Y/n, come on” he pulls your hands in an attempt to get you up but you weren’t budging.

What happened to you being a prep kid and not drinking ? He didn’t even think it was possible to get drunk that fast.

“No, tired” you mumbles, making yourself comfortable on the porch swing. “Do you want your parents to come home and find you here? I’m cool with leaving you here if that’s the case” Buck teased, he had no idea when your parents were coming home.

The mention of your parents finding you outside, drunk, horrified you. You got up so quick, you nearly toppled over. Buck helped you inside and onto the couch. He disappeared for a moment and then returned with a glass of water.

“Small sips” he settles beside you, watching as you take a sip. You hum, resting your head on his shoulder as his arm comes over your shoulder.

“Buck?”

“Yeah?”

He felt your head shift, now looking up at him, eyes full of sleep. You were studying his face, from the birthmark above his eye to his pink lips.

“I really like you, you know” your words filled with sleep as your eyes drooped, you blinked a few times, forcing yourself to stay awake.

Buck chuckles, “that’ll pass peach, I’m just a phase.” He hummed quietly, fingers running through your hair as you drift to sleep.

The Monday after the party, you saw Buck in the hallway after waking up to an empty house on the couch, head pounding even in the deafening silence and and you can’t quite remember how you got home.

Buck had been radio silence since then but you weren't sure why. He was walking in from the front doors and you were by your locker. You turn to speak to him but he barely glances at you before continuing his conversation with Johnson.

From that day, you never spoke to Buck again. Last you saw him was graduation day and last you had heard was that he was in college and you were headed off to Harvard.

----

Present.

You had become a big shot lawyer, everything your parents wanted. Moved out to LA to start your own firm and everything was going well until this morning.

You had barely walked into the office when the fire alarm went off. The sudden alarm caused an onset of commotion in the office, the woman next to you bumped into you, spilling your hot cup of coffee onto you.

She mumbled a sorry as she passed but you could feel the heat coming from where the liquid had spilt. Nonetheless, you made your way out, the sound of the sirens from fire trucks blaring.

Not that you didn’t enjoy seeing the handsome firefighters (or so your co-workers seem to say) but you had a ton of paperwork to do for an upcoming case you had and you barely started.

You stood by the curb, watching as the firefighters made their way over to the crowd and into the building to clear it.

“Ma'am ?” A firefighter made his way over to you, there was a helmet in his hand as he passed a hand through his hair. You glance up from your phone, to see what he wanted.

“May I take a look?” his eyes shifted to your chest where there is currently a coffee stain on your white shirt. “Oh, thank you but no. I’m fine”

“Are you sure? Because that’ll leave a pretty nasty mark if you don't get it cleaned. If you aren’t comfortable, we have a female medic” he offered, hoping you’d consider.

“You’re a medic ?” you asked, looking him up and down. He nods, taking a step back. He begins walking back to the ambulance and you follow him. “Do you want me to get her?”

“No, you’re a professional, it’s cool” you give him a small smile before moving your shirt so he could check.

The firefighter’s hand was now right under your collarbone, dabbing at your skin with some gauze. His fingers were cold, you weren’t sure if it was actually his fingers or the gloves that were cold but either way you looked at him.

“What’s your name ?”

“Diaz, Eddie Diaz” he tells you, flashing you a smile before going back to his job.

You hum, staying still as Eddie rubs something on your skin.

That’s when you saw him.

The same blue eyes, the same blonde hair, the same gorgeous smile that always played in your mind. Not a day went by that you didn’t think of him. You had always wondered what he ended up doing, he was smart and destined for great things, there was more for him than a small life in a place where no one ever really did anything.

Every guy you had dated, you compared to him. It was always something- they didn’t look like him, they didn’t act like him, they didn’t treat you the way he did, they wouldn't stand up for you like he did.

He lived rent free in your mind.

“Ma'am?” Eddie’s voice broke your gaze. “Y/n,” you corrected him, “ma’am is for old women” your eyes going back to Buck. Eddie noticed your lack of attention and followed your gaze.

“Do you know Buck?”

“He still lets people call him that ?” you chuckle to yourself, feeling Eddie’s eyes burning a hole into you.

Before you could answer, his radio buzzed before a voice came through, “building’s clear. Start directing people back in.” Eddie looks over at you, you’re already getting out of the ambulance.

“Keep that clean and dry” were his last words to you after you left.

---

It wasn’t until you were back in the building that you realized your phone was in the ambulance.

You were majorly screwed.

Remembering the medic’s name which was the only thing you remember mids the confusion and seeing Buck after 10+ years. You asked around the office if anyone knew what station responded to the call. You had contacts that worked for the city but the lack of phone made it hard for you to call and find out.

Finally giving in, you google the medic’s name. There were a few articles that had photos but none of them said anything that helped. There was a video from Taylor Kelly at channel 8 news, some sort of video about the fire station.

Station 118- that was 10 minutes down the road and you pass it everyday on the way to work. The thoughts began filling your head, had Buck been there all along?

12 years- 12 long, empty years that you acted like he didn’t exist and that you didn’t want to know what happened between you two but he was right down the road.

You didn’t even know if you wanted to talk to him. You had finally come to peace with it even though a part of you will always long for what could have been. Feelings aside, you set out to the station to get your phone.

Upon arriving, there were a few guys by the trucks. You asked for Eddie, assuming that he might have an idea of where your phone ended up or if they even found it.

“Up the stairs and he should be somewhere up there” the guy pointed, you thanked him before heading towards the stairs. When you got upstairs, it was empty.

You weren't sure if you should go back down or wait so you sort of awkwardly stood there, glancing around the room. The station was nicer than you had imagined it to be, not that you really had an idea of what to expect.

Your back was to the kitchen when someone tapped your shoulder. “Can I help you?” his voice called out as you turned.

Buck.

You let out a breath, your eyes studying his perfect face for a moment. Do you say something or just pretend like you didn’t know him?

“Yeah, I'm uh- I'm looking for Eddie. I think I left my phone in the ambulance.”

“Do I know you from somewhere ?”

“I work at the building down the road, 14th street. You guys were there earlier, hence the phone in the ambulance” you tell him, hoping he drops the topic.

“Y/n! Hey! What are you doing here?” You see Eddie call from behind Buck.

Thank god.

“I left my phone in the ambulance. I figured you’d know what happened to it” you’ve stepped past Buck and towards Eddie now. “I haven’t seen it, but maybe it’s still in there. Come with me, we can check for it”

Eddie was making his way down the stairs and you were behind him when Buck called your name.

Not y/n.

Peach.

You paused, taking a deep breath in before turning to face him. “I thought I remembered you from somewhere” he smiled, him and his stupid smile.

“I’m in a rush, Evan. Plus, I'm not in the mood to reminisce.”

The smile dropped from his face, the guilt crept up on you. The feeling of your stomach twisting, sighing before making your way down to Eddie who was by the ambulance, your phone in hand.

“There’s more to the story than I thought,” Eddie hands the phone over, you give him a hum and thank him. “Let me walk you out.” he follows you out to your car.

“You know, whatever he did- he’s changed. He’s a good guy.” Eddie says, his voice sincere.

“I know, I just- I don't know”

“What did he do? If I can ask”

“We were- I don't know what we were. We hung out in high school, just once but he was different from the other guys. He genuinely cared. We went to a party together and he brought me home after. I remember falling asleep with him in the house and the next morning he was gone. Total radio silence that whole weekend and when I saw him at school the following week, he acted like he didn’t know me - it was like that for the rest of senior year. We never spoke after that.”

Here you were pouring your heart out to a firefighter who you had only met an hour ago who also had seen your bare chest (in a professional way, of course) on a Tuesday morning in the parking lot.

“Wow- I can see why you wouldn’t want to talk to him.”

“Yeah, thank you for the phone though. I gotta get back to work”

“Wait, let me get your number”

You pause, looking at him with furrowed brows. He seemed confused then he realized how that sounded. “Oh god- no not like that, sorry. I meant maybe we could grab a drink sometimes, as friends and maybe you could tell me more about high school Buck ?”

“Um- yes to the number and drinks but I don’t know about Buck” you hand the phone back over to him, telling him that you’d text him.

---

It was a while before you heard from Eddie, he said he was off on Saturday if you were up for drinks and weren't busy. The whole team was going out but he invited you along to join them.

After some back and forth “I couldn't intrude” and “you won’t be, come join us” you finally gave in.

Now it’s 9pm and you, Eddie and Buck are sitting at a booth. Coincidentally, everyone else was busy. Chimney and Hen who you hadn’t met yet, were with their significant others and kids. So that left the 3 of you together.

You wanted to walk back out when you saw it was only the two of them but Eddie had seen you and called you over. His phone buzzed just as Buck came back with drinks.

“Everything okay?” Buck asked his friend, Eddie, still typing away on his phone. “Huh? Yeah, it’s Carla. Chris is running a fever” you could hear the concern in his voice.

“Chris is your son?”

“Yeah- I'm sorry I got to go. I’ll make it up to you. Drinks on me another night” Eddie gave your shoulder a squeeze as he stood.

“No yeah, of course. Go, it’s fine” you smiled.

“Let me know if you need anything” Buck shifts towards Eddie, the two of them seem to have some sort of routine or way of how things work between them.

And now there were two.

Buck sipped on his beer, you sat across from him, your nails tapping against the bottle in front of you. He was the first one to speak.

“So, how have you been?”

“Good. You?”

“Good too. I don’t know if you remember my sister but she had a baby recently so I've been hanging out with her after work”

“Oh, that’s nice. Maddie right?”

“Yeah, she had a little girl. She’s the cutest little girl ever.” Buck pulls his phone out, showing you a photo of him holding a baby in a blanket with a brunette beside him. The woman beside him, Maddie you assumed, was smiling at Buck, fixing the blanket while he looked at the camera, the joy evident on his face.

“She’s adorable and your sister looks the same, she hasn’t aged a day” you hum, passing the phone over to him.

Back to awkward silence.

“What happened to us?” Buck’s question catches you off guard.

“What happened to us? You happened.”

“What? I thought we were friends.” Your eyes met, his full of confusion and yours with displeasure.

“Friends don’t disappear in the middle of the night with no explanation and ignore them for the rest of senior year.” You get up, grab your phone and make your way to the door. Buck’s calling out to you but you don’t want to stop and talk to him.

The night was cold, the wind hit your bare shoulders and you shivered for a moment before walking. Buck was still calling out your name, he had followed you out the bar.

“Y/n! Stop! Y/n, c’mon. Please!” His hand wrapped around your wrist, holding you in place. You pull your hand back.

“No! You don’t get to do that. Act like everything is fine when you disappeared with no explanation. I know we weren’t best friends but I thought we were at least friends. That fucking hurt, Evan.”

“Fine,” he sighs, looking at you. “You want the truth ?” Your brows raised, waiting for him to continue.

“You told me you liked me. You were a good kid, going to Harvard, which you obviously did” gesturing at you, he continued. “I didn’t know what I wanted and I didn’t want you to feel like you needed to be by my side until I figured it out. I knew you would resent me for that and I couldn’t do that to you, I couldn’t do it to myself.”

“That’s selfish. It’s about you ? That’s why you left with no explanation ? You couldn’t do it to yourself ? Man the fuck up Buck, life isn’t about you.”

“You think I don’t know that ?! You think I didn’t think about you all the time? That I didn’t miss you?”

“Don’t start with that shit. You knew where I would be. You said it yourself, I was “a good kid, going to Harvard” so if you really missed me, you could have found me.”

“Y/n, be real. We were just out of high school, what means did I have to go searching for you? I had my own shit to deal with.”

“Just stop, I don’t even want to know.”

“No, you stop”

“No you.”

“Y/n” his voice was stern, the annoyance clearly there.

“Evan.” your tone matched his.

That stupid smug smile of his was on his face, that was enough to make you roll your eyes. “’Kay, I'm over your shit.” turning away from him, you go to walk away but his hand grabs yours.

Still fit like it was made to be there.

Before you could register what was happening, Buck’s lips were on yours. Maybe time stopped when Buck’s lips met yours but your heart didn’t- it felt like it was beating a million times seconds and the butterflies in your stomach were restless.

It wasn't clear to either of you at the moment that it had started pouring rain but it didn’t matter. There was this raw emotion in the way his hands felt on your waist or how his chest was pressed to yours.

Buck would be lying if he said he didn’t open his eyes slightly, sneaking a guilty peek at you just to make sure you weren’t a fiction of his imagination. Every breath he took smelt of lavender and honey, the same scent that had lingered on his mind since the day he met you. His arms wrapped around you, pulling you closer to him, if that was even possible.

Maybe this was meant to be, fate bringing back what was meant for him to him or maybe this really was all a fabrication of his imagination but he wanted to live in his moment forever.

It wasn't until thunder rumbled that he pulled away. The rain had soaked your clothes and hair, your makeup had smudged and half of your lipstick was on Buck.

The same stupid smug smile on his face.

“God,” rolling your eyes at him. “You’re so annoying.” wiping your lips with the back on your hand, hoping that you got all the lipstick off.

“Yeah, I'm the annoying one” Buck’s face twisted, giving you a playful shove as you stepped towards him. Your thumb comes up to wipe the lipstick off him. Buck’s arm lifts, now over your shoulder.

The two of you looked at each other as you made your way down the street.

“Just a phase huh ?” you hum, glancing at Buck.

The blonde let out a chuckle, “maybe not.”

---

taglist: @advicefromnixxxx @spencersendgame @keenmarvellover @beth-winchester21 @fernandaweasley2 @yikesyikesyikes95 @hotchsdarling @duhbar1975 @wowitsel @mrspeacem1nusone @jillys-feral-fandoms @iris-oaklee-carter-911oc @hailsstormthings @averyhotchner @captainxholmes @venusrosepetal @babybuckleys @looney-literature @caitsymichelle13@artemishunter18 @may-grants @floralbuckleys @mrs-dr-reid

782 notes · View notes

hellomynameisbisexual · 4 years

Text

When I first met my husband, Neal, I thought he was gay. Maybe that's because he told me he was gay. So while I was attracted to him, I figured he would just be my gay best friend. Then, one night, we wound up in bed together, and let's just say that he did not act like a gay best friend usually acts. In fact, he seemed more comfortable with my body than plenty of straight men I'd dated had been. And after a hot-and-heavy weekend, I knew a lot more about Neal than "gay" had hinted at: He'd been married before (to a woman), and he was (still is) attracted to both sexes. Since his divorce he'd mostly dated men, so he'd gone with "gay" over "bi" when we met, but deep down that's what he is: bisexual. I was not entirely surprised, and I was definitely not disappointed.

However, I did have some concerns. Early in our relationship, which got super serious, super fast, I was anxious: I worried Neal would change his mind, say that he was actually truly 100 percent gay after all, and leave me for a man. (Maybe you've heard the joke? A man who says he's bisexual is gay, straight, or lying.) Another part of me worried whether a bisexual guy could ever really be monogamous. Also, didn't being with a man who was interested in men and women mean that I was competing against everyone in the world for his attention?

I just wasn't that familiar with bi guys. Bi women are practically mainstream: Megan Fox, Lady Gaga, Anna Paquin, Jessie J, and Evan Rachel Wood, to name only a few, have all spoken openly about being bisexual. When a woman says she's bi, it makes her more desirable to men. But few celeb men are out as bi—and you never see two guys making out in a bar to get women to pay attention.

Plus, I must admit I wondered whether all the stuff people say about bisexuals might actually turn out to be true—that they're untrustworthy, just going through a phase, or slutty; that they'll break your heart or give you STDs and probably cooties too.

Dating a bi guy, even one as great and as honest as Neal, was daunting to think about.

The sliding scale of sexuality explained

Understanding the basic science of bisexuality helped me a lot. Ritch Savin-Williams, professor of developmental psychology at Cornell University, who has done extensive research into arousal patterns of gay and bisexual individuals, puts it simply: "Bisexual men are attracted to both sexes. They have variations in how much they lean toward women or men." It's important to note that Savin-Williams, like most social scientists, differentiates between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. "So a guy could be attracted to 70 percent men and 30 percent women," he says, "but still meet a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with and be monogamous. His orientation is bi, but his sexual behavior is straight." Conversely, if someone is having sex with both women and men, then he is behaviorally bisexual, regardless of what he says his orientation is.

What many women struggle with is not the fear that a guy is bi but the fear that he's temporarily bi and will eventually identify as gay. It's not a weird thing to worry about (I worried about it!), since many men have done exactly that. "Before homosexuality was as accepted as it is now," says Allen Rosenthal, a researcher at Northwestern University, "homosexual men often identified as bi in the process of coming out, like getting their feet wet. But it was a disservice to genuinely bisexual men because it left a lot of people with the impression that bi is a transitional orientation." The good news is that the reasons the bi-to-gay move used to be so prevalent—societal and family pressures, fears of being openly gay—are lessening. These days, it's more OK to be gay, and that's making it more OK to be bi. Progress!

So Could You, Should You? We asked glamour.com readers if they'd date a bi guy. The results:

__I'd have a lot of questions,

but maybe.……………………………16%

No way.………………………………..36%

Totally, why not?…………………….48%

In other words, two out of three of you would consider it. Explained one commenter: "If he's into me, he's into me. If he happens to be into guys too, well…we only have more in common!"__

Our little nonsecret

Neal assuaged my anxieties by being so enthusiastic about me that I had no reason to doubt his attraction. I was impressed by his self-awareness too. He realized he was bisexual when he was 20, and he still considers himself attracted to both sexes, at a ratio of about 80:20, women to men. My friends said he was an improvement over more macho guys I'd brought home in the past, and no one really made a big deal about the bi thing. They'd already seen him with men and with women, and we run with a pretty arty crowd. Bottom line: I was in love. As the years passed, I saw that Neal had more integrity and self-knowledge than anyone I'd ever known. And so, reader, I married him. We've been together and monogamous for 12 years, married for eight.

Neal is comfortable with his sexuality. He's "straightish," in the terminology of a gay friend of ours. But he is kind of "gayish" too. He is a performance artist, eccentric, and has—true to stereotype—better style than I do. And if I'm like, "Wow, Mike is superhot," he doesn't stare blankly but says, "Totally. Because of the way he plays guitar, right?"

Generally, we don't tell the world about Neal's orientation (well, until now!). Not everyone is as supportive as our circle, and to be honest, I have zero interest in talking with someone who thinks I'm in a sham marriage just because my guy doesn't go, "Ewww!" when Channing Tatum takes off his shirt.

There have been a few bumps along the road. Early on, Neal confessed that he had a crush on someone else. In the moment before he told me who it was, as my heart sank, I thought: Oh God, it's a man. He's gay. He's going to leave me for a man. I am a fool. How did I not see it coming? How stupid could I be?

Then he told me who it was: a woman. And we worked through it. In retrospect, I think we would have been OK even if it had been a man. In the years since, we've weathered crushes I've developed too, and a million other surprising and not-so-surprising things. I don't think we're any more open-minded than most couples—but the amount of honesty required at the beginning of our relationship has served us well.

Talk, then talk some more

So how do you make it work with a bi guy? "If I were a woman involved with a bisexual man," says Savin-Williams, "I would have very honest communication with him about what he means when he uses the term." Trust me, I asked Neal a lot of questions about what he was into and what to expect as our relationship deepened. Would he commit to monogamy? What kind of boundaries did we need to set up? Be clear about what you're asking, warns Lisa Diamond, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Utah. "The question Are you attracted to men?' is different from Would you want to have a sexual relationship with a man?'" she points out. "Many men might say, It's a hot fantasy, but not one I would act on.'" At that point the question becomes whether or not you're OK with the fantasy. On the other hand, if he says he wants more than a fantasy when it comes to men…then he might not be the guy for you.

No matter whom you're dating, part of love is taking that leap into the unknown. "The only way to be truly sure," says Barbara Hernandez, a family and marriage therapist, "is over time. It depends on the values of the person, and the strength of commitment, and whether both partners work hard at it." Good advice for any couple, even a straight-as-an-arrow one.

At some point, if you're still freaking out about whether your bi guy is really bi, you might need to acknowledge that what you're worried about is whether he's really yours. "We all need to be honest with ourselves," says Diamond. "I wonder if the underlying concern isn't the same one we always have: Does he really want me? Is he going to leave me? That's a concern as old as the hills." With Neal, I came to look at it this way: If he was choosing to be with me, then he was choosing me over all men and women everywhere. And that felt kind of awesome.

Believe it or not, Neal's sexuality doesn't come up that often in our daily lives. My failure to close drawers, his inability to throw anything away, and an ongoing disagreement on who is the more lenient parent are all topics that cause more strife than his sometimes thinking men are hot. Really, who can blame him? Men are hot, especially ones who are honest and confident. Especially ones who, even though they may be attracted to lots of people, pick you.

33 notes · View notes

newagesispage · 3 years

Text

JULY 2021

THE RIB PAGE

*****

They are still uncovering statues on Easter Island.

*****

Everyone is talking about ‘Exterminate all the Brutes” from Raoul Peck.

*****

Vampire bats, prevalent in Latin America may be on the way to the U.S.

*****

What they call faith, I call strength.

*****

Criss angel will open CABLP, a restaurant in Overton, Nevada. The letters stand for breakfast, lunch and pizza and will include a free meal outreach program to help under privileged and pediatric cancer families.

*****

A fifth ocean in Antartica??** There have also found 4 new ocean species: Apolemia, Tegula Kusairo, Leptarma Biju and Duobrachium Sparksae.

*****

In China they have found a possible new species in a skull that is 140,000 years old.

*****

Why would Jeffrey Toobin be back at CNN?? Surely there are more young deserving talking heads around.

*****

The Keystone pipeline is dead.

*****

5,000 pounds of explosives were discovered in a home in South LA. LAPD seems to have detonated the fireworks in a truck right there in the neighborhood. They were too dangerous to transport but not enough to blow them up??? How stupid are these people??

*****

Days alert : So glad to see Clyde again even if it is only for a moment!! **BTW, I do not understand the Daytime Emmy noms this year as they relate to Days. I really was pulling for Victoria Koneful (Ciara) and she won but George DelHoya (Orpheus), Tamara Braun (Ava) and Cady McClain (Jennifer)??? I was shocked when Cady McClain won. I mean, she was so whiny. I question my own ability to judge a performance. In most categories, the winner was usually the one I thought was the worst option. I was happy for Max Gail and CBS Sunday Morning. Some performances were sure overlooked. What about James Read (Clyde), Paul Telfer (Xander), Bryan Dattilo (Lucas), Robert Scott Wilson (Ben), Daniel Kerr (Eli) and Lindsay Arnold (Allie) ?? As annoying as the Kristen character is and as long as it took me to get used to Stacy Haiduk in the role, she kicked ass this year. Did they even submit clips?? And, they are not often on but Tony and Anna forever!!!!!!** And how wonderful is it to see the Dimera boys all together and recounting the whole fam for the votes? **And one more thing, Days was not even nominated for writing while Bold and the Beautiful spends every other show with the Liam character standing in front of the fireplace making excuses for the same shit! Just push repeat, C,mon!!**Philip had a great line for Brady about following Kristen like a zombie.** Dis Eli really say, “Peacock and chill??’ Are these the things they will have to do to do to stay on the air? It took me right out of the show. It was the same day the ads for Days on Peacock started. OMG

*****

Texas Gov. Abbott vetoed a bill that would make it illegal to chain up dogs without water.**ATexas churches have lost their 501(c) (3) status because it actively ‘educates’ its members on electing specific Republican politicians. –Pete West* This should have been happening long ago. Many churches I know of do this and should not be allowed to have it both ways. #tax the church

*****

Ellen Burstyn, Jane Curtin, Loretta Devine, Christopher Lloyd, James Caan, French Stewart and Ann-Margaret in Queen Bees and directed by Michael Lembeck?? Yes please!!

*****

NY has suspended Giuliani’s law license.

*****

Miracle Workers: The Oregon Trail is coming to TBS, this will be season 3 in the series.

*****

What is this about Bowen Yang?? A podcast about a sperm bank heist?? Yeow!!

*****

David Geffen has given $150,000,000 to Yale drama school: Every student will be tuition- free in perpetuity.

*****

Allison Mack was sentenced to 3 years.

*****

The latest in sexual assault news: James Franco has agreed to 2.2 mil settlement in sexual misconduct case.** Kyle Massey was charged with immoral communication with a minor.**Bill Cosby is out and here are some reactions: A terrible wrong is being righted.: a miscarriage of justice is corrected. I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward.- Phylicia Rashad*I really don’t ever want to hear again as to why many survivors don’t report their rape or assault.- Charlotte Clymer* Women are showing great restraint in not burning everything to the ground right now and I don’t know how they do it.-Jeff Tiedrich

*****

Amazon is making a series of A League of Their Own with Nick Offerman as the coach.

*****

Does anyone else have family members that are rich, transient, know it all snobs??

*****

It looks like New York’s ranked choice voting is leaning toward Eric Adams for Mayor.

*****

Michigan republicans investigating voter fraud found 2 incidents. One is for a lady who voted by mail and then died, the other was confusion over a man who had the same name as his Father. That was it!

*****

Jamie Lee Curtis will get the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Fest in September.

*****

Jerry Seinfeld will star in and direct ‘Unfrosted’ about Pop-Tarts.

*****

Why is Airbnb still listing properties in illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian occupied territories? –James J. Zogby

*****

Merrick Garland has announced that the Justice department sued Georgia over the voting rights.

*****

The NFL says that it will halt the use of “race norming” which assumed black players started out with lower cognitive functioning in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. The practice had made it harder for black players to qualify. –The Associated Press.

*****

Scary Clown 45 ended his ‘From the desk of Donald J. Trump’ blog after 29 days. Word is that he felt he was being mocked in the media.

*****

Religious leadership keeps engaging in partisan politics on behalf of politicians that are particularly unpopular with younger people and they wonder why younger people are disenchanted with the church. – Schooley ** Give young people credit as well for seeing through the hype and lies of these religious hypocrites who use God only as a weapon and a threat. –Larry Charles

*****

Amazon will stop drug testing for employment. Can every other company jump on this bandwagon? Let’s judge employees on the work they give.

*****

The Backstreet Boys and NSync are going to work together??!!

*****

Showtime is bringing back American Gigolo with Jon Bernthal.

*****

If Biden can carry out air strikes without proper authorization, the Senate can raise the minimum wage without the Parliamentarian. –Alexandra M. Hunt

Reality Winner is out!!

*****

Judy Woodruff has been given the Peabody award for journalistic integrity.

*****

Donald Glover is bringing us Hive. Malia Obama will be a writer.

*****

Nicholas Cage has married Riko Shibata.

*****

Catch and Kill: The podcast tapes, is here on HBO.

*****

Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening will star in Jerry and Marge go large.

*****

Amblin Partners and Netflix are partners.

*****

Fall 2022 will bring the Roybal School of film and television production for underserved communities. They are looking to help 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. Among others, the program was cofounded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling and Eva Longoria.

*****

Will there be a Wedding Crashers2??

*****

The Mysterious Benedict Society stars Tony Hale.** I would love to see he and Danny Pudi in something together.

*****

Actor Stephen Amell from Arrow was removed from a plane after getting into it with his wife. A source said he was drunk and screaming. An official source said that they removed “an unruly customer.”** Andy Dick was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, allegedly assaulting his partner, Lucas with a metal chair.

*****

So.. Fox news was digitally altering the faces of people they did not care for??? Is there no end to their bullshit????

*****

Mark Ronson is set to marry Grace Gummer.

*****

Crime shows seem to be in the cycle of prisoners and the women who get a thrill from helping them escape.

*****

Wolfgang Van Halen has released a debut album: Mammoth

*****

Everyone seems to love Danny Trejo’s memoir and its honesty.

*****

David Spade will take over as host of Bachelor in Paradise.

*****

I am sickened when I see the first question that pops up on an online search is the net worth of a person. Oh this twisted world.

*****

Life is a short pause between 2 great mysteries. –Jung

*****

Prince Harry and Meghan had a daughter that they named Lilibet ‘Lili” Diana.

*****

Michael Flynn’s brother Charles (who withheld help from the capitol on Jan. 6), leads the U.S. Army Pacific and commands 90,000 troops.

*****

I am so excited to read ‘The Boys’ from Clint and Ron Howard, due out in October.

*****

Dave Chappelle closed out the Tribeca film fest with a surprise concert. This was the first in person film fest since Covid. Look for This time, this place which premiered there.

*****

Ron Wood will release the album Mr. Luck: A tribute to Jimmy Reed on Sept. 3

*****

Howard Stern signed a new $500 mil contract with Sirius XM. He is taking the whole summer off and many fans say they will cancel their subscription because they don’t want to pay for a summer of reruns.

*****

Acorn will bring Jane Seymour back to a series. Seymour will be co -executive produce on Harry Wild. Her character will be a retired University professor who loves her whiskey and solves crimes.

*****

Annie Murphy stasr in ‘Kevin can f*** himself about a sitcom wife which airs on AMC.

*****

I still do not understand why Rep. Mike Nearman hasn’t been arrested for letting insurrectionists into the Capitol.

*****

There is a wing shortage??

*****

The Pulitzer prizes have been announced. The list includes Ben Faub, Barry Blitt, Katori Hall, Emilio Morenatti, AP photographers Marcio Jose Sanchez, Alex Brandon, David Goldman, Julio Cortez, John Minchillo, Frank Franklin II, Ringo H.W. Chiu, Evan Vucci, Mike Stewart and Noah Berger. There was a special citation for Darnella Frazier who filmed the death of George Floyd.

*****

Conan’s last TBS guests were Martin Short, Jack Black, Bill Hader, Mila Kunis, Dana Carvey, Patton Oswalt and JB Smoove. There were some surprises. The big musical number never happened when Jack Black hurt himself. It was all funny and sweet but Conan never mentioned the band in the last show WTF????????????????????????????????????????? Music is so important to him and he does not thank the band? ** Colbert and Brian Stack gave Conan a cute send after4, 368 shows on CBS calling him a ‘Slenderman Ron Weasly’. Kimmel wished Conn well also.** Hope his HBO MAX variety show goes well.** BTW, the Duvall interview with Colbert was great to see but why does nobody ever mention ‘Get Low?’ What a performance!!

*****

Tattoos are on the rise.

*****

Fast food drive thru’s sometime close with fake excuses like the equipment is down or something because they don’t feel like working. Good people can’t find work and so many waste the opportunities they have. AAAAGHH!!

*****

Valerie Bertinelli and Demi Lovato will star in ‘Hungry’ on NBC.

*****

Hulu will bring us David E. Kelley’s Nine Perfect Strangers with Nicole Kidman, Michael Shannon, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale and Melissa McCarthy.

*****

R.I.P. Gavin Macleod, Frank Bonner, Joy Vogelsang, Benigno Aquino, Champ Biden, victims of the Miami building collapse, Robert Sacchi, Stuart Damon, Johnny Solinger and Clarence Williams III.

5 notes · View notes

mswyrr · 5 years

Text

I really liked that Mike and El are kids coping with recovering from trauma (and in El’s case extreme long-term abuse as well) and that the way they were getting on a path that could go to a weird/unhealthy place wasn’t a sign of evil or something they couldn’t work their way out of. They just needed some time with the people around them who care and love them both. Just some time to decompress, figure things out.

And that Joyce and Hopper are two adults with miles of bad road in the rearview mirror. Truly soul-wrenching horror and loss. A lot of quiet misery and endurance too.

They are not shiny people, they do not have that new car smell.

They also know each other very well by now. Some of that bad road was road they traveled together, keeping each other alive and sane. Earning each other’s trust the hard way.

So when those two people choose to express their frustration, trauma, suppressed hot pants for each, and general ARGH at the whole situation by bickering... ffs, this shit is happening in a specific context. They know each other; specifically Joyce knows Hopper and we know Joyce and that she wouldn’t react the way she does if she didn’t trust him implicitly. She would handle things very differently if she felt unsafe or like he was taking it to a place she wasn’t willing to go with him.

Sometimes I found the way Joyce was (especially in S1) like a boy’s fantasy of the endlessly devoted loving mother and not allowed much beyond that kind of sexist. Though she’s been well written throughout so I didn’t have a particular problem with it. Most moms really would move heaven and earth for their kids.

And in S2 she got a bit more. But here we got to see even more than that? She and Hop are both 40somethings with a lot of damage and they’re tired and they just want some love in life but they’re scared and it’s complicated. Hoping for love can hurt more than resigning yourself to living without it. It holds out the heartbreaking prospect that maybe you can have something good.

But it’s something you know you will inevitably lose and ache over.

They both know that having love means pain. They cannot delude themselves, at this point, into the naive belief that loss and pain won’t come along in equal or greater measure. And it’s hard sometimes to have the heart to keep going when you know that.

Which is where Joyce is at - and a place Hopper understands.

Is it all just lonely tv dinners from here on out until they put me in the ground? And, given how much loving hurts, isn’t maybe that better?

Because they both know exactly what opening your heart does to you. It brings you love. And all the pain you cannot ever separate from it, because that’s not how life works.

They both had some meaty stuff to wrestle with, beneath the humor. And Joyce got more narrative focus as herself, a person with wants and fears and a future, rather than primarily in her role to others as Mom. She and Hopper were both as much defined by their parental roles and the romance as each other (and their grief for lost loved ones)... it was cool and well balanced IMO.

And the fact that folks, including Evan Rachel Wood, have turned the media convo to some bs like a Tumblr anti irl just makes me so tired. I get that Twitter encourages that and, like, whatever, we all have our own subjective opinions. But this framing of it means that Joyce’s *full story* and Winona Ryder’s work is now going to be flattened into “Is this dynamic abusive or not abusive?”

Like women are beings who just exist in this state, like Schrodinger’s Cat, of either being Abused or Not Abused. And the point of women characters is to find out which! Like that is our only story, the only question our stories should explore... (and then answer in very flat, simple, didactic ways so everyone learns a very important, clear, so simple it’s pretty much useless lesson.)

It’s so tiresome. Making everything with women characters about whether they’re sending a bad or good message or something by what they do or other people do near them is really really limiting.

It implicitly argues that women characters exist to be moral icons rather than interesting and complicated and tell us something about what it means to be human. That their relationships exist as a didactic instruction guides rather than doing what fiction is supposed to do, which is evoke emotion and provide insight and catharsis.

This isn’t just a case of priorities being put over each other in different ways, but of one priority (a demand that all female character’s stories function as moral instruction) being antithetical to the other (complicated female characters in their own specific stories).

Joyce and Hopper went to a place that was the 40something version of the kind of “not actually bad yet, but don’t keep going this route it could get bad” stuff with El and Mike. Human beings do all kinds of imperfect, messed up stuff that thankfully doesn’t cross the line for anyone involved and is part of a bigger relationship that works for them.

And I think that’s good storytelling.

I liked that it’s a show about kids coming of age where the writers don’t forget that humans actually never stop growing and changing. And that it’s always a struggle, the constant act of becoming that is living your life - but, like Hop’s letter so beautifully said, the hurt is good. It means you’re alive and living, not trying to crawl into the grave early.

#stranger things #joyce byers #jopper #negativity cw #stranger things 3 #stranger things spoilers #my meta

33 notes · View notes

meggtheegg · 5 years

Note

Wow, I did not expect you to answer my question about the Evan actor interpretations so fast! Thank you so much! You said that you could do an analysis on the actor's interpretation on Evan as a character, so I was wondering if you would be willing to do that? I'm going to New York in a few weeks (planning on seeing MLB in DEH) and I am really excited to see DEH for the first time ever!

You’re so welcome! And that’s super exciting! Seeing DEH in person is so powerful, in a way that bootlegs just can’t capture. You’re gonna love it!

And, as requested, here’s some character interpretations :D

Michael Lee Brown - As I said before, MLB’s Evan is definitely on the autism spectrum. But, he doesn’t know it. His official diagnosis seems to be anxiety, and that’s what he’s running with. But the social anxiety is a direct response to people’s actual reactions to him, not a fear of what might happen. He doesn’t really understand social norms, and the way he talks and acts seems different to others. He’s had negative experiences with people, many times before. When Zoe calls him weird and he says “I know,” it feels like an exchange that has happened a lot. Especially with a friend like Jared, who breaks apart everything he says and does, he is extremely aware of the fact that, try as he might, he doesn’t always know how to act. And all the therapy and anxiety medication isn’t helping him much, either, because neither of them are addressing the actual cause of his struggles. Because of that, he feels broken. He avoids talking to people out of fear that he’ll get it wrong, and he has this desperate need to keep everyone around him happy all the time. His worst fear is people being mad at him, and that’s a big thing that pushes him through his every decision. It’s what makes him keep the lie going, it’s what makes him send Alana the note, and noticeably, it’s what gets him to admit the reason he broke his arm. With other Evans, Mike and Alex were gentler in that scene, coaxing the truth out of him, but when it’s MLB, they both yell at him. He doesn’t like big shows of emotion, in general. Seeing Cynthia cry is almost as painful for him as being yelled at. I think his Evan is in the unfortunate situation where he’s extremely empathetic, but struggles to process and deal with emotions. As for his relationships, he sees through some of Jared’s bullshit but does believe that he doesn’t actually want to be friends. He loves his mom, but doesn’t entirely trust her. He thinks she wants to “fix” him, and resents that enough to push her away. His crush on Zoe borders on a special interest. He knows every little detail about her, and I think it’s a compulsion at this point to learn more and more. Cynthia and Larry definitely become his surrogate parents, to the point that he forgets about Connor every so often, but whenever he’s reminded of him, he looks devastated for them. Especially for Larry. Also, I don’t remember if the others do this, but he has a bit of a freudian slip during “To Break In A Glove.” Instead of immediately saying “Connor was really lucky to have a dad who cares so much about taking care of stuff,” he just says “Connor was really lucky to have a dad.” He quickly catches himself and adds the rest, but he makes that a noticeable moment.

Colton Ryan - The first word that comes to mind with Colton’s Evan is fear. He’s a very frightened kid. Where you feel like MLB’s Evan has had a lot of negative social experience, Colton’s Evan seems to just overthink everything. His mind jumps to the worst possible outcome of every situation, and he constantly does damage control for something that may never need it. He and his mom have a better relationship in the beginning, and it only falls apart once he becomes close with the Murphys. It’s like he doesn’t notice the flaws in their relationship until he experiences a different one. The things he says when they’re fighting come across as true, but they seem to have popped into his mind in the moment, rather than being something he’s wanted to say for a long time. The biggest thing he needs is a supportive figure in his life, and that’s what the Murphys provide. He needs reassurance that he’s doing a good job. He’s a really smart, nice kid with extreme self-esteem issues. Once he gains confidence, he thrives. His crush on Zoe feels more like a typical high school crush than an obsession, and their relationship is actually pretty sweet. (Colton is the only Evan who had believable chemistry with Laura Dreyfuss, in my opinion.) In the scene before Only Us, you really feel like you’re just watching two teenagers talking to each other. But, the loss of that relationship doesn’t feel so important because most high school relationships end, and that’s exactly what they feel like. A high school relationship. Fun, but ultimately temporary. He and Jared work off of each other really well, and you feel like they’ll actually make up after the end of the show. From the start, Evan’s very aware of his bullshit, and he’s just as sarcastic back to him. Even though Jared is probably one of the biggest things tearing his confidence down, he’s also one of the only people he’s comfortable with, in the beginning. They’re both relaxed around each other, and it’s the thrill of the Connor Project that pulls him away, not a genuine belief that Jared doesn’t care if they’re friends or not.

Taylor Trensch - Where Colton is frightened and MLB is awkward, Taylor is bubbly. He is the smiliest Evan, always cheerful and thinking of the positives. You sometimes get a glimpse into the idea that it’s an act, but a lot of the time, it seems genuine. He doesn’t seem to realize that Jared’s comments are mean-spirited, or that Connor signed his name in awkwardly large letters, and he seems genuinely grateful for both. Zoe seems to intimidate him way more than Connor does (and maybe that’s what he likes about her.) Taylor’s Evan is a double-sided coin. He’s the most outwardly friendly of the Evans I’ve seen, but also the most selfish. He almost seems to be manipulating the situation with the Murphys from the beginning. The fact that Taylor plays down the anxiety so much makes his actions feel more like calculated plans than split-second decisions. Once For Forever has happened, he is all in on making the lie as convincing as possible. He seems blissfully unaware of a lot of things, dismissing Jared in Act 2 with the same big smile and cheerful tone he always has. He’s shocked whenever anyone’s mad at him, like it never crossed his mind that he wasn’t being nice. He’s also the most in denial of how he broke his arm. He’s sobbing by the end of that scene, and still doesn’t seem to have accepted it. When he tries to tell Heidi about it later, he breaks down sobbing again. This Evan is more immature than the others, and either knows exactly what he’s doing or has greatly misinterpreted what he’s doing. He’s a master at convincing himself of things that aren’t true, and it makes sense that he does the same to other people.

Roman Banks - Roman is a very shy Evan. Much like Colton, he tries to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. He’s a genuinely sweet kid, but he really doesn’t know where he fits in. And, I think his father leaving has had the biggest impact on Roman’s Evan. If I really wanted to overanalyze things, the fact that Heidi is white and Evan isn’t adds another emotional level to that plotline. He’s missing an important figure in his life and is constantly trying to fill that void. He’s also very much a kid. He hasn’t been exposed to a lot of the world’s problems, and when he’s thrown into the spotlight, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. He has a desperate need to keep people from worrying about him, so he puts on a very thin mask that a lot of people don’t see through. His mom, especially, takes everything he says and does at face value, when he wishes she would look harder. With the Murphys, he feels like it’s a little safer to not be completely okay all the time, because they aren’t either. They’re grieving their child, and they are able to provide each other mutual comfort. He helps to fill the void, and they let him be a little more vulnerable. He and Zoe together are just cute. They’re kids who are smitten with each other and have no idea what to do with those feelings, and it’s kind of adorable. Roman and Mallory work together really well, and seem like genuine friends irl. He doesn’t put her on as much of a pedestal as the other Evans sometimes do. He just really, really likes her. He’s a little more awkward around Larry, because he’s not really sure what to do with a father figure. But, when he takes a moment to open up to him, there’s finally a moment of real bonding, and from that point, Larry is constantly gently reassuring him. When the truth comes out, where it usually hits hardest that things with Cynthia or Zoe have been broken, Roman’s Evan losing his bond with Larry is what stands out the most. There’s a sort of relief during the scene before So Big/So Small, because finally, for the first time, he’s vulnerable with Heidi, and she accepts him. You can see the weight that’s lifted from his shoulders, and his improvement by the orchard scene feels like it was largely because of that freedom to be open with his mom.

#Anonymous #long post

3 notes · View notes

notyourdeadgirlfriend-a · 5 years

Note

//Questions for Muns of Canon Muses - 1, 4, 5, and 13

questions for muns of canon muses

1. what is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? why did you come up with it?

that maggie succeeds in killing barnabas is definitely my biggest change. tbh, i didn’t come up with this idea on my own (i was literally inspired to make this blog by this post) but i was immediately taken by the concept. maggie has always been one of my favorite characters, and it kills me how poorly her character was treated by the show after her kidnapping plot was resolved.

now, i understand why the writers never killed off barnabas, and i acknowledge his importance both as a character and as the stroke of genius that saved the show from cancellation. but as a viewer, it’s maddening that maggie never got the justice she deserved. she’s had her memory of her kidnapping erased twice over the course of the show (which, again, i understand the choice despite not agreeing with it), but then after vicki leaves the show, she’s brought in as the replacement governess – a plot development that makes no sense and leaves the character with a drastically altered personality, as it’s clear that her role now is simply to fill in for vicki. but the greatest insult to injury is that from this point forward, the writers attempt to make barnabas/maggie a thing – again, completely disregarding her original characterization in favor of reducing her to vicki’s role, which had already been greatly diminished since the show moved from a jane eyre-esque gothic to an all-out spook show. after her flashback and subsequent second memory wipe, no mention is made of barnabas’ victimization of maggie ever again. it’s literally swept under the rug and forgotten about, even when maggie falls victim to another vampire.

tldr; maggie evans is an amazing character who deserved so much better, and my canon divergent blog is my attempt of sorts to redeem her later characterization and play her out as the badass that she is.

4. have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?

again, maggie killing barnabas is something that never happened in canon, but vampire slayer maggie evans is just too good of a concept to pass up. even the audios from big finish realized this – in bloodlust, maggie finally gets to stake somebody! it’s too bad that she’s still way too forgiving of barnabas, even though she remembers everything he’s done to her at this point. her hatred of barnabas is something i keep across all of my verses, up to and including my canon (when she regains her memory) and audio verses.

besides that, i can’t really think of many concrete examples on the spot, although i’m sure there’s other instances. as somebody else in the fandom once put it, dark shadows canon is like a choose your own adventure book. even canon contradicts itself (many, many times) and the show has several storylines taking place in actual parallel universes, so canon is honestly irrelevant as far as i’m concerned. i pick and choose what i like and leave out the rest.

5. what is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?

maggie’s stints at windcliff sanitarium. she was committed there twice, once after the kidnapping, and the other after being attacked by the vampire roxanne drew. i feel that i don’t talk about it enough, and i’d love the opportunity to explore that part of her backstory. also, i really want to delve into her childhood – between her mother’s death and her father’s alcoholism, she dealt with a lot in her formative years. the audiobook clothes of sand goes into both of these aspects, and chronicles her first supernatural experiences with a character called “the sandman” – the memories of whom she has largely suppressed, but who has had a significant impact on her psyche nonetheless.

13. what canon character do you really wish your muse could interact more with?

WILLIE LOOMIS, hands down. he and maggie have such an interesting and tragic dynamic, and he’s the only one who can truly understand what she’s gone through (and vice versa). between the two of them, they share so much trauma. like maggie, willie’s also been screwed over by canon, although not to the same extent, and i’d love to write some threads in which they work through their trauma together.

besides willie, i’d also love to have maggie interact with angelique, carolyn, vicki, david, roger, amy jennings, julia hoffman, nicholas blair, tony peterson, any of the collinwood ghosts (josette, sarah, beth, rachel, daphne, jenny, trask), any of the characters from the audio series (especially kate ripperton, melody and mike devereux, jackie and rhonda tate, ed griffin) – as you can probably tell, i’d be thrilled to interact with ANY dark shadows character. but given how tiny this fandom is, i feel blessed just to have a quentin and now a barnabas!!

#[ // thank you so much for these!!! ]#multiplechoicepast #[ ♰ LEAVE A MESSAGE | 𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 ]#[ ♰ DEFIES CATEGORY | 𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔠. ]#[ // uses this ask as a shameless excuse to ramble about my favorite hellshow ]

1 note · View note

roominthecastle · 6 years

Text

Mike Schur on Ted Danson, the ethics of surprise twists, objectives vs superobjectives, and the narrative pitfalls of the reset button

(2017 Gold Derby interview)

How did Ted Danson come to join the project?

Mike Schur: He's my hero, acting-wise and comedy-wise. Cheers is my favorite show and Sam Malone is my favorite character in the history of TV. So I decided to pitch him the character, to write the character for him. I was driving to meet him at his manager's office and I had one thought going through my head constantly, which was "You've gotta be cool. Don't look like an idiot." I'm not a person who gets really revved up by a celebrity. There's a movie star or a TV star at my workplace every week, so I've kinda got inoculated to it a little bit. There are still some people who would make me jittery but not many. Ted was the biggest one. Honestly. Cheers was so formative for me, so important to me, that I got actively nervous. I kept thinking "You gotta be cool. You gotta be cool. You gotta be cool." I got to his office and I met him and he said, "I'm very excited to meet you." And I said, "I BET I AM MORE EXCITED!!" and immediately I was like "you are already blowing it." And he said, "Oh. Why is that?" And I said, "Because I consider you to be the greatest actor in the history of the medium of television." And it was so embarrassing, so not-cool, after telling myself to be cool a hundred times. I honestly thought I had blown it. I remember thinking that if I were this man, I would either think I was a disgusting suckup, or I would think this guy is trying so hard to make me believe something that isn't true, which is that he loves me this much, that either way I am out. Fortunately, Ted is a more centered person than I am. He let it go and I pitched him the show, we had a really great conversation and he signed on. That was the bumpiest moment for us. The first moment when I was an idiot. After that, completely smooth sailing.

He couldn't be a nicer person. He's very thoughtful and very kind and very chill. The reason I fell in love with him as an actor is his timing. I remember loving his comedic timing before I knew what the concept of comedic timing was. There's something about the rhythm of his delivery and the way he would pause. He commands a space better than anyone I've ever seen. We are writing these lines for him and I look at a script and because his style is so distinct and his timing is so good, you can imagine exactly how it's gonna sound, and then he executes it and it's exactly the way you imagined it. He's worked so hard at being good, it's inspiring. He's in his 60's and he doesn't need to prove anything to anyone ever, and yet he works so hard, he wants to get it right so badly and he's so humble in his approach. By human standards, it's great, we should all try to do our job well. But by Hollywood standards, it's shocking and truly inspiring how hard he works at his craft to try and get better every day at his age with his resume.

It's hard to think of a person who has done a better job in more different genres. You put him in a multi-cam sitcom, he creates an all-time hall of fame iconic character. You put him in a very dark, twisted drama in Damages, and he's still probably the best villain that show had. You put him in a single-cam sitcom, and he just blows the door off of it. Especially one where the character had to undergo a massive transformation over the course of the season. He was playing six different things at any one time and once we got to the end with the big twist, they all had to retroactively fit together, they had to be consistent. And Curb is largely improvised, for God's sake. It's like he's checking off genre by genre, being great in every one of them.

Did Ted know that twist was coming?

MS: Yes, from the beginning, from the meeting where I cracked into pieces. Ted and Kristen knew. I felt that actors of their stature deserved to know the full range of what they were signing on for. The entire show was going to be on the backs of Kristen and Ted in different ways. It was almost an ethical question for me because I was approaching these two actors who can basically do whatever they want in TV or movies or anything. In order to get them to sign on, I felt it would be almost unethical - knowing where I was going and what I wanted to do with the season and the show in general - I felt it would be borderline unethical to get them to sign on without them knowing the whole thing. And it was more unethical with Ted because SPOILER ALERT the secret is that this is not actually heaven, it is hell, and this entire thing is a torture chamber. Michael - Ted's character - has appeared to be the architect of a little slice of heaven, but everybody else except for the main 4 characters is an actor and they are torturing these four people. This neighborhood he put together was designed for the four of them to torture each other. They are supposed to be driving each other crazy for all eternity.

It wouldn't have been super unethical if I hadn't told Kristen because she was playing the same character all the way through the 13 episodes. But for Ted, I felt that if I don't tell him this, what I'm doing is getting Ted Danson to sign on to a show where he thinks he is playing essentially an angel, and then I'm going to reveal at the end that he is a demon. And that felt uncool. If he, for whatever reason, didn't want to do that, he should be able to say, "I don't like where this is going." If I hadn't come up with that twist when I pitched the show to him, I don't think it would have been unethical. But since I knew from before I ever talked to him or Kristen, I felt I owed it to them to tell them the whole story. Fortunately, they both liked it, they were both into it, and Ted was far more interested in playing a secret demon who appeared to be an angel than he was in just playing an angel, which I understand. It's a better gig. It's more fun to play the guy who turns out to be a crazed person than just a nice, pleasant, boring, happy nice guy.

It was also probably good to fill him in because it could have influenced the way he played scenes earlier in the season.

MS: True. Ted and Kristen knew and the other four actors in the main cast did not. [Their characters] were being fooled and I was like "let [the actors] be fooled, too, for as long as it's appropriate”. But because they didn't know, Ted, Kristen, and I had to come up with ways on the set to talk about what was going on. We used these acting terms called "objective" and "superobjective". Objective is what you are trying to accomplish in the scene and superobjective is the emotional, kind of resonant thing like a giant umbrella you are going for. So I'd say, "Ted, your objective in this scene is to make Chidi feel better, but your superobjective is to get him to throw his life's work into the garbage.” That's the "true task" that you're quietly, secretly aiming for. “What am I appearing to try to do?” versus “What am I actually trying to do?” He and Kristen handled it amazingly well. I really think that if you go back and watch everything that's in the show, you will see these tiny glimpses from time to time of Ted taking a certain amount of delight in what appeared at the time to be something good that was happening for one of the characters, but in reality it was a thing that was going to make that character's life even worse. It's a testament to how well they can juggle these objectives and superobjectives.

Ted really locked onto this one idea that he was a sort of a middle manager. That was a thing that appealed to him very early, that he is not God, or, in this case, the Devil, but he's in the middle, sort of a bureaucrat. He really liked that because it allowed him to play a middle manager trying to climb the corporate ladder, but also he doesn't have a lot of power and there's people above him that he has to answer to. Sometimes he screwed up and was incompetent, sometimes it looked like he was screwing up and incompetent but it was all part of the plan. He really liked that idea of inserting himself - in terms of this hierarchy - right in the middle. He's not the weakest guy but he's not the strongest, either. He really enjoys playing the nuanced middle, which is a very smart instinct.

Season 2

MS: The advantage of the way that we produced the first season and of knowing what the ending was before we even started writing episode two was that it gave us a lot of time to think about how we’re gonna dig ourselves out of the hole we were about to put ourselves in. Because when you upend the show to that extent and you literally press the reset button, it's a very risky thing creatively because number one: you hope the audience doesn't think "am I just gonna watch the same season again? How's that interesting? Everything goes back to square one." And the other dangerous thing is, you start to run the risk of the audience feeling like nothing matters. If Michael can just reset them whenever he wants to, then who cares? Who cares what they go through? Who cares whether they learn or grow or change or become better? So the main thing we tried to do was come up with a couple different structural pieces that couldn't happen, so it wouldn't be just the same season from beginning to end.

There is some external pressure that meant that Michael couldn't just reset them for the next five seasons. That pressure comes from this boss played by Marc Evan Jackson who basically says, "You can try again but if it goes sideways, you're done." There is a threat, a sort of sword of Damocles hanging over his head. And Eleanor managed in a very quick thinking kind of scrappy Eleanorish kinda way to sneak herself a note by shoving it in Janet's mouth. It says "Find Chidi." So when she wakes up, instead of having to put the whole thing together from scratch over the course of an entire year, she has directed herself to a person who can accelerate the process. These and a couple of other things we buried in there are our way of saying to the audience "it's not the same season, things are going to change and move on."

#the good place #mike schur #ted danson #long post #writing

43 notes · View notes

your-dietician · 3 years

Text

Notre Dame new beginnings as NCAA football recruiting dead period ends

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/ncaa-football/notre-dame-new-beginnings-as-ncaa-football-recruiting-dead-period-ends/

Notre Dame new beginnings as NCAA football recruiting dead period ends

Drayk Bowen, for one, was appreciative that Notre Dame skipped the gimmickry of a football recruiting midnight madness earlier this week and drenched the start of potentially the most pivotal — and frazzled — recruiting month of the Brian Kelly Era in normalcy.

After a pandemic-induced, 15-month NCAA recruiting dead period of no (hosted) in-person campus visits and an overdose of Zooms, the largely universal knee-jerk template put in place at many college football programs across the country for Tuesday’s reopening was a mixture of pomp and chaos.

Notre Dame chose instead to be calculating and evolutionary.

Bowen, an elite linebacker prospect from St. John, Ind., and Chandavian Bradley, an ascending defensive end prospect from Missouri, along with their parents were the only invitees on Day 1. Bowen tagged along with new Irish defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Marcus Freeman, while Bradley got one-on-one time with defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Mike Elston.

The structure of the visits themselves was right out of the pre-pandemic playbook. Who was taking those visits is what was different and significant.

Both visitors are 2023 recruits, players who will be high school juniors in the fall. Bradley, unranked in the Rivals top 100 and No. 90 nationally in 247Sports’ early playoff rankings, has the traits. productivity and the frame (6-5) to grow into a five-star prospect, even if he’s only 205 pounds at the moment.

Bowen, No. 16 in the Rivals Top 100, is already on that five-star trajectory, with a work ethic that will make that difficult to dislodge.

Before getting in the car with his parents to come to South Bend Tuesday, the 6-2, 215-pound Bowen performed his daily 5:30 a.m. ritual or speed work and lifting before making the 30-minute drive to Andrean High School in Merrillville, to take final exams.

“Drive is something I saw in my parents,” Bowen said. “My dad built a business pretty much from scratch and built it into a multi-million dollar business. My mom worked a couple of different jobs to provide for us. So I got it from them.

“Obviously, I want to be the best — the best player I can be, the best teammate, the best person, so wanting to be the best kind of drives me a lot too.”

► Related:Inside Recruiting: How Notre Dame will finish at WR and CB, and looking ahead to 2023

► More:Chat Transcript: Talking Notre Dame recruiting ramping up and portal possibilities

Twelfth-year Irish head coach Brian Kelly, meanwhile, is driven by the incessant questions pushed at him of how he’ll close the gap with College Football Playoff bullies Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson, as well as his own self-imposed directive of Notre Dame starting to produce top five national recruiting classes on a regular basis.

June thus becomes an important and overt benchmark toward turning rhetoric into results, though the momentum has been building behind the scenes for months since Alabama’s 31-14 dismissal of the Irish in a Jan. 1 playoff semifinal.

The Irish currently stand fourth nationally in both the Rivals and 247Sports team recruiting rankings after finishing ninth in both in the 2021 cycle.

“There have been two major changes with Notre Dame recruiting that are paying big dividends,” CBS Sports recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. “They’re swinging for the fences in terms of who they’re going after.

“Marcus Freeman came in, and he’s not afraid of anybody or anything. That’s rubbed off on the rest of the staff. And Mike Elston, as recruiting coordinator, enhances that approach with impressive organization and creativity.

“Also key is Notre Dame is now evaluating and offering kids earlier than ever before. In the past, they were always about a year behind Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia and LSU — and they couldn’t catch up. Those schools had already established strong relationships before ND ever got involved.

“Now they’re on top of the 2023 kids and getting them on campus. They’ve even offered some 2024 kids the past few weeks. When was the last time Notre Dame offered a freshman? Never. Kelly lit a fire under these guys. And you’re going to see that pay off with the 2022 class.

“But you know what — 2023’s going to be even better.”

That would be an indication, if it came to pass, that Kelly coaxed a sustainable recruiting shift and not a one-cycle bump from its playoff appearance.

What that will look like this month is a blend of camps, official visits, unofficial visits, rolling out Notre Dame’s name-image-likeness potential in the imminent new amateur sports model, and blending the transfer portal into all of that.

Two potential 2021 starters — Tulsa cornerback Akayleb Evans and Marshall All-America offensive guard Cain Madden — visited this week as grad transfers.

Madden became the first verbal commitment of June on Friday when he selected the Irish over ND’s season-opening opponent, Florida State.

On Sunday ND resurrects its Irish Invasion Camp, a key evaluative and exposure tool that will draw 90-100 prospects from the 2023 and ‘24 classes. There’s quality to go with that quantity, though many of the campers are prospects that are ascending or underexposed to this point.

Still between the Irish Invasion and regular visits, like the ones Bowen and Bradley took, 16 Rivals top 100 prospects and counting from that class will get a taste of Notre Dame in June.

“That’s a Notre Dame trump card, to be able to be holding these visits in June,” Lemming said, “when the campus is as beautiful as any in the country.”

The Irish recruiting staff opted to wait until the weekend of June 11-13, when its players returned to campus for summer school and workouts, to introduce the 2022 prospects into the equation.

‘Last piece of the puzzle’

The NCAA didn’t alter the existing recruiting calendar when it truncated the dead period, meaning schools had just four weekends before the fall to shoehorn in all their official visitors. The Irish will do it in three, along with some midweek visits.

“The competition to get 2022 kids on your campus was fierce, given the limited number of weekends,” Lemming said. “Notre Dame was pretty much able to get every kid on their wish list to commit to an official visit, which is huge.”

That includes 13 players ranked in the top 100 of Rivals, 247Sports or both. Notre Dame begins the month with 13 players already committed in a class that’s likely to number 26 or 27 when the December signing period rolls around.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of these 2022s commit quickly,” Lemming said. “They’re antsy. They’re tired of talking to the coaches on Zoom. The visit is the last piece of the puzzle. Even some of the sophomores may be quick to commit.”

Bowen won’t likely be one of them. He’s got a full summer of travel baseball and unofficial football visits to take. He followed up his ND visit with a tour of Michigan on Wednesday. Clemson, which offered the morning Bowen visited ND, will get a visit next week as will Tennessee, Ole Miss and perhaps Ohio State.

Then after more baseball commitments, he’ll take an Alabama-Auburn-LSU swing at the end of June.

“The way I was looking at it, I wanted to visit colleges, get to meet people, see the campuses,” Bowen said. “Probably start narrowing down after that. So that was kind of my timeline.

“Then maybe mid-junior year — the end of football and the beginning of baseball — is kind of when I wanted to almost be done with it, be able to be done and just enjoy senior year.”

To land Bowen, Notre Dame will have to theoretically beat out at least five of the six schools that comprised 247Sports’ top six classes last season.

An unexpected bounce in favor of the Irish is the surge of the Notre Dame baseball team under second-year coach Link Jarrett. Notre Dame is the overall No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and hosting a regional this weekend for the first time in 17 years.

► More:Notre Dame feeling good going into NCAA baseball regional in South Bend, ready to see fans

Bowen is familiar with the careers or two-sports Notre Dame stars Jeff Samardzija and Cole Kmet, and the shortstop/third baseman wants to try it himself.

“It wouldn’t be a deal breaker, but I do want to do both,” he said after touring the Irish baseball facilities and meeting its staff during his football visit Tuesday.

Whether he sticks to that notion, those who have studied Bowen’s game believe his best football is ahead of him.

“He’s going to be a Butkus Award favorite in 2022, and he plays like one now,” Lemming said.

“I think when you watch him, it becomes very obvious that he’s just relentless on defense,” Andrean coach Chris Skinner added. “On any given play, he’s going to find his way to the ball regardless of what side it goes to, where he’s at.

“You take obviously a high-end physical skill set and match it up with this relentless enthusiasm for the game. And then you talk to him and you find out that he’s a straight-A student and works harder than the average high school student (4.17 on a 4.0 scale).

“He really does study the game of kind of understanding the pass concepts of the opposing team and what windows do they want to be in? When you throw it all together, it’s pretty cool to think about.”

The same might be said of Notre Dame recruiting by month’s end.

“There’s a lot coming at the coaching staff and the recruiting support staff this month,” Lemming said. “But it seems they have a plan for everything, including how to personalize visits when the sheer number of kids visiting would seem to make that impossible.

“Notre Dame was never going to be great in recruiting unless they changed their ways, and now they did. I’m excited about the way they’re going about it now. I’m excited about what that can turn into down the road for them.”

Follow ND Insider Eric Hansen on Twitter: @ehansenNDI

Source link

0 notes

junker-town · 3 years

Text

Why Tom Brady is one of America’s most polarizing athletes

Love him or hate him, NFL fans can’t quit Tom Brady on the verge of his 10th Super Bowl appearance.

It difficult to find someone with a lukewarm opinion of Tom Brady. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and New England Patriots legend inspires strong feelings on both ends of the spectrum.

To some, Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, with the legendary resume and hardware to prove it. Others see a cheater, a shameless a brand builder who benefitted from playing for a football dynasty, who refused to take a personal stand on anything to avoid alienating fans, his consumers.

Like all things the truth likely falls somewhere in the middle. It makes Brady one of the most complicated figures in modern American sports, who can be viewed as the greatest athlete of our generation o tremendously overrated depending on your point of view.

Now, with his 10th Super Bowl appearance on the horizon, we dig into the legacy of one of the NFL’s most decorated players, and understand why he elicits such strong emotions.

Why do people love Tom Brady?

Brady represents the archetype of the underdog athlete. We don’t need to spend a great deal discussing this, because we’ve heard his story a million times, in a million different ways over the course of the last 20 years. Scouts didn’t believe in Brady entering the NFL from Michigan, and his average athletic showing at the combine cemented him as a sixth round pick.

He became a star due to circumstance. Taking over for an injured Drew Bledsoe, leading the Patriots to a Super Bowl in his rookie season in 2001 — it’s a story straight out of a sports movie. Brady’s ascension defied expectations in a way people love, and it perpetuated the dream that anybody with the smarts and drive could excel. I mean, if a slightly doughy, relatively unathletic Brady could win a Super Bowl, then the presumption is that anyone can — even if that’s not true.

Then Brady kept winning, kept succeeding, and in doing so cemented himself as the modern Joe Montana. The rest is history.

Why do people hate Tom Brady?

This one is a little more nuanced, because there isn’t a single overwhelming reason why people dislike Tom Brady. Obviously everyone’s reason for disliking an athlete are individual, but there are a few key buckets we can put people into.

The “Tom is a cheater” crowd

While Brady is certainly responsible for a lot of the Patriots’ success, he will be inexorably linked to two of the league’s biggest scandals: SpyGate and DeflateGate. Yes, tired names that are way too on-the-nose references to Watergate, but nonetheless impactful on his legacy.

You can look at recording the Rams’ practice, or using partially-inflated footballs as small competitive edges, but they raise questions. If these were the incidents that were caught, what lurked under the surface that we never learned about? There are the questions people ask when thinking of Brady as a cheater.

It’s perhaps a little unfair to levy the sins of an organization against one player, but heavy is the head that wears the crown. When you become the figurehead of an organization you take on the benefits, as well as the criticism. Quarterbacks in general get far too much credit and criticism for team results, so when a team is under fire for breaking the rules, naturally much of that will fall on the leader.

There were already debates about whether Brady was the vector for the Patriots’ success, or whether it was more on Bill Belichick — so when controversy swarmed the team there was was similar doubt. How much of this was on Belichick, and how much was on Brady? That alone soured the quarterback in a lot of peoples’ minds, and while perhaps not enough to add an asterisk to his rings, it was enough to raise doubt.

“Brady stands for nothing but his brand”

It’s impossible to separate athletes from their impact on society. That’s been true for decades. Normally this takes shape in frivolous things like product endorsements and sponsorships, with companies clamoring to leverage the facade of athlete approval into sales, but that changed substantially over the last four years.

Everyone in every field was asked for their stance on social justice and racial injustice. Some athlete chose to take a strong stand, turning their fame into activism and pressure for change — but Brady, much as he did throughout his career, sat on the fence and said little of substance.

“It’s certainly been an offseason to listen, learn, have more compassion, and more empathy for one another. Everyone should deserve the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. Being in the locker room for 20 years and being around guys with every different race, religion, skin color, background, and different state. Everyone something different to the table and you embrace those things.”

On the surface this might sound like he’s taking a stand, but this is the definition of playing both sides. At a time where people of color were being marginalized and harassed, Brady was calling for “more empathy for one another,” as if it was an issue that flowed both ways.

In isolation this comment may seem innocuous enough, but it came at a time people were desperate for a stronger voice for someone of Brady’s stature. Considering it came not long after the quarterback was seen with a MAGA hat in his locker, which he claimed “found its way there” seemingly by magic, when questioned about it.

Brady has ensured his earning potential remained maximum by refusing to take a stand on just about anything off the football field. This often feels like a desire not to rock the boat, famously doing semantic gymnastics to say he supported his friend Donald Trump, but didn’t necessarily support his politics. The only area he seemed to take a strong stand was on his health and wellness brand TB12, which tells people not to eat tomatoes and live by a strict diet.

The cap to all this might have been the news that Brady, who has earned hundreds of millions of dollars over his NFL career, and is married to one of the highest-paid supermodels in history, took almost $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds, designed to insulate small businesses from Covid, in order to prop up his lifestyle brand. Money ran out of the fund for small mom and pop businesses struggling to stay afloat, while Brady’s pet project got funded.

People who are just sick of hearing about Tom Brady

There’s a lot about Brady’s story as an underdog that’s admirable, but it’s also been built up to mythic proportions that make it harder to swallow. Yes, people didn’t believe in him entering the league, yes Brady overcame a certain amount of adversity in the process. However, his “adversity” is a point of order. Brady’s “struggles” are minute compared to the majority of players entering the NFL. He had a stable, middle class childhood, he got to attend NFL games regularly with his parents, he went to good schools and benefitted from strong role models.

It’s not Brady’s fault he grew up with these privileges, but it’s important to note them — especially when it comes to casting him in the light of “adversity.” Brady didn’t need to overcome poverty, or the loss of a parent, or have the pressure of football potentially changing the lives of everyone in his orbit. If Brady didn’t make it on the field, he could have fallen into any number of fields, and likely carved out a life for himself. The same can’t be said for other players in the NFL.

So, when he’s cast as the star of the “adversity” narrative, it makes some people resent him. On the field he’s often blameless in the eyes of commentators, where other players would be critiqued. In the NFC Championship Game against the Packers, he threw his third interception of the game, a high pass that ricocheted off the hands of Mike Evans, into the hands of a defensive back. The pass wasn’t framed as Brady’s mistake, but rather Evans’ fault for failing to haul in an errant pass. Forget the fact that Mike Evans is one of the tallest receivers in the NFL, and he was jumping at full extension, and that the pass would have sailed to the DB anyway — it was not Brady’s fault as presented.

Brady has been a difference maker for the Buccaneers, but he’s also been elevated to savior status at the expense of his teammates. Tampa Bay’s defense is one of the biggest reasons they’re in the Super Bowl now, but Brady is being awarded all the credit. It’s a similar issue to that of New England, where he excelled inside Belichick’s system — and we didn’t get a great sense for how players perform out of it, other than seeing Brian Hoyer and Jimmy Garoppolo fail to make an impact away from Foxboro.

Instances like that grate on people. They grow tired of feeling like there’s preferential treatment of Brady’s narrative.

They hate Tom Brady because he’s so good

This seems to be the biggest claim of his fans, but Brady’s skill on the field tends to be a minority reason why people don’t like him. Sure, there are probably some fans, particularly in the AFC East who dislike Brady just because he’s so good — but a larger number think he’s an incredible quarterback, but perhaps not the best person, and that’s where their frustration comes from.

There’s also a sense of this all growing tired. Players work their entire careers to make one Super Bowl, and more often than not their dreams have halted at Brady’s feet. While it’s his job to win, there’s certainly resentment from fans who have seen their players lose because of No. 12, and dislike him for it.

In the end, absence will make the heart grow fonder

So much of Brady’s story is tied to the perception and mystique surrounding him. When he decides to retire and all we’re left with are the stats and the highlights there’s a good chance opinion of him will soften, and he’ll simply be remembered as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

When Brady’s current influence lapses, that’s when he’ll be appreciated simply as a player. For now he’s still very much a part of the NFL, getting ready to play on its brightest stage yet again. There will be plenty of fans cheering for No. 12 to do it again, and those desperately wanting him to fail for a variety of reasons.

Nobody’s mind will change on either side, and that polarization of opinion adds another layer to the Super Bowl.

0 notes

newagesispage · 3 years

Text

AUGUST 2021

THE RIB PAGE

Fran Drescher is running for National SAG-AFTRA President with Anthony Rapp as secretary treasurer for Unite for Strength!!! Matthew Modine is running under Membership first with Joely Fisher for Secretary Treasurer. Running in local elections are, among others, Yvette Nicole Brown, Shari Belafonte, Rosie O’Donnell, Jeff Garlin, Ezra Knight, Dule Hill, Camryn Manheim, Sara Rue, Mindy Cohn and Ever Carradine. Sept. 2 is the day!** Frances Fisher filed a suit against SAG-AFTRA over the health care plan but a judge rejected it.

*****

Sha’Carri Richardson’s problem is all our problem. No more drug testing for Mary Jane in this country!

*****

Chuck Schumer finally unveiled the Cannabis administration opportunity act to end Federal prohibition of marijuana.

*****

Dolly Parton used the $10 mil + in royalties from the Whitney Houston version of her song to invest in a black neighborhood in Nashville.

*****

Bob Balaban and Henry Winkler play brothers in The French Dispatch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait for October 22!!!!!!!!!!!!** The next Wes Anderson film will star Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody and Tom Hanks. No other details are out there yet.

*****

Trees save lives in heat waves.

*****

TBS will bring us n updated Stupid Pet Tricks with Sarah Silverman.

*****

So much organized religion is based on forgeries, fakes and plundering. Virtually none of it is based on any sort of truth, spiritual or even historical. Just lies to fulfill an agenda and control the masses. And so far it has worked. –Larry Charles

*****

Scarlett Johansen has sued Disney cuz her contract guaranteed a theatrical release only.

*****

An expert on the circus industry recently reached out to me and urged me to not compare Trump and his comeback tour to clowns and the circus, as that is an insult to clowns. –Jim Acosta

*****

Eric Adams has won the Dem primary for Mayor in NY.

*****

Have you seen High on the Hog?? It’s awesome!!

*****

Jeff Flake will be ambassador to Turkey.

*****

Cornell West resigned from Harvard with a scathing letter accusing the school of “intellectual and spirited bankruptcy of deep depths.”

*****

Biden gave a hell of a speech in Philly. He needed to go on more about the filibuster but he was passionate about the For the People act and the John Lewis voting rights advancement act. He roared, “Peddlers of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country.”

*****

Will Celebrity Dating Game continue? I am sure they think romance expert, Michael Bolton is a cute and quirky thing to do but not so much. If it stays, I hope they change the music, at least those final notes. And why are half of the questions, “Who am I?” The show could be cute but they need a little work!!

*****

Jeff Bezos donated $200 mil to the Smithsonian air and space museum.**Feminists everywhere winced when Gayle King was interviewing the Bezos space team. Bezos commented about the 18 year old going with them into space and that he was just worried about the prom at 18. Gayle said “And I was just hoping for a date to the prom.”** But we have to love Wally Funk, the oldest woman to go into space.**Bezos thanked the Amazon employees and customers for paying for his trip. Yikes!** Saw a great sign: Pay fair taxes, end hunger, help people, end poverty, save Earth or fly to space.

*****

Antonio Banderas and Harrison Ford will star in Indiana Jones 5.

*****

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ashes were laid to rest 5 years after her death.

*****

The Britney conservatorship mess is still going thru the courts, and now topless?

*****

Pope Francis underwent colon surgery which caused him to comment on the need for good health care for all.

*****

Questlove brings us Summer of Soul!!!

*****

Reports show that about 150 people were killed by guns in more than 400 shootings during the 4th.

*****

Has anybody ever built a show around the Tex Watson tapes?? The LAPD apparently liked to deny them but there was a book.

*****

Henry Hall is out with his debut album, Neato, along with a tour.

*****

Do all male law enforcement officers have to be bald now?

*****

Idaho has begun an eradication campaign that could slash the number of gray wolves living in the state by 90%.

*****

Hooray for the monthly child tax credit!!

*****

Release Me 2 from Barbra Streisand is due out August 6.

*****

The look into the Jan. 6 insurrection has begun. Kinzinger and Cheney are in. **Tucker Carlson attacked Harry Dunn, a Capitol officer on air. The man protected Carlson’s son, a House staffer.** On Jan. 5, the Steve Bannon podcast went like this: All Hell is going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this. It’s gonna be moving. It’s gonna be quick.** Why is mainstream media putting nearly all eggs in the Covid and Olympic baskets and only a few on the insurrection hearing?

*****

Why do so many that call America , “great” seem to hate it?? How can one love this country and not want majority rule, not want democracy??

*****

The Emmy noms are out: Lovecraft Country was nominated even though it has been cancelled. Also hooray for Pose, The Flight attendant and for Conan!! Lead actor is a tough category with Matthew Rhys, Billy Porter and Rege-Jean Page. Aidy Bryant and Jean Smart got lead and supporting noms. I have to route for Ewan McGregor and Anya Taylor-Joy. I am excited for Paul Reiser, Bowen Yang, Evan Peters, Carl Weathers, Renee Elise Golsberry, Dave Chappelle, Helena Bonham Carter and Daniel Levy. There is love for Yvette Nicole Brown, Issa Rae and Maya Rudolph. The Masked Singer got a few noms. The doc category included Tina, Allen V. Farrow and The Bee Gees. Friends: The reunion got 4.

*****

“Voting is not supposed to be easy. That’s what our men died for.”- Jack Finger

*****

Giant Pandas are no longer endangered.

*****

Zalia Avante- Garde is the 93rd Scripps National Spelling Bee Champ.** I’m more impressed by the girl who won the Spelling Bee than the billionaire who went to space. –Mike Jollett.

*****

Why do they have to run erectile dysfunction ads during true crime rape episodes? ** And why do people still say things like, “this just don’t happen here” or “dumped like a piece of trash? “ There have to be other things to say.

*****

Tom Barrack, chairman of the inaugural committee for Trump was arrested for foreign lobbying shenanigans. America first, right?** Wilbur Ross lied to congress about the census and the Trump administration declined to prosecute.** Stephen Calk, bank exec was found guilty of trying to get a WH position by giving Manafort millions in loans.

*****

Jake Ellzey won the Texas special election run off for congress, beating out Trump’s girl Susan Wright.

*****

Every city should have a Peacemobile!!!!!

*****

The Chinese government has been called out for malicious cyber -attacks. Four officials have been indicted in California.

*****

Miracle Workers’ Simon Rich was there when FB was invented and was so creeped out by people using it to stalk women.

*****

There was a story in Rolling Stone about how Eric Clapton threatened to cancel shows if the venue required proof of vaccines. Valerie Bertinelli tweeted: Once a dick, always a dick.

*****

Every Fox news host is vaccinated. –Mikel Jollett

*****

Toyota has dropped out of Olympic ads. Contenders are starting to drop out due to positive Covid tests.

*****

Actor Isaiah Stokes has been indicted for murder.

*****

Lionsgate has bought the rights to Clerks 3.

*****

Ready or not, here come the Olympics.- Harry Shearer

*****

The Cleveland Indians will now be the Cleveland Guardians.

*****

A bust of KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest was taken out of the Tennessee capitol.

*****

American Housewife was sold into syndication.

*****

The poorest zip codes include Erie, Pennsylvania, Decatur and the south end of Peoria, il, Canton, Oh, Waterbury, Ct., Bonsecour, Al. and Elpaso, Tx.

*****

Issa Rae married Louis Diame.

*****

The court of appeals disqualified Judge John W. Ouderkirk from the Jolie- Pitt divorce because of a business relationship with Pitt’s attorney.

*****

Joe Manchin owns a coal company.

*****

The Hollywood walk of fame has welcomed Jimmy Smits, Kathie Lee Gifford and 90 year old Marla Gibbs. Terry Crews is next!

*****

Generation after generation of women love the bad boy. Do they never learn? I will never understand, please explain.

*****

Pelosi rejected 2 of the noms to serve on the special committee looking into Jan. 6. Kevin McCarthy withdrew his 5 noms.

*****

The gun that killed Billy the Kid is for sale.

*****

I think you should leave with Tim Robinson on Netflix is hilarious if U get thru the gross. U can’t miss the episode with Clifton Davis and Fred Willard!!

*****

Joaquin Phoenix is trying to get some bears from a traveling show moved to an accredited sanctuary. The Bearadise Ranch in Florida has been cited for, “violating state wildlife laws.”

*****

Go employees Go!! Frito Lay is on strike, Coal miners are on strike and Ride Share drivers are on strike. A good portion of this country should be on strike. The top of the corporate ladder needs to learn! Let those that treat us fair rise to the top.

*****

Who owns Brett Kavanaugh?

*****

A Bishop seeking to deny Biden communion was caught on Grindr.

*****

Gabriel Jagger married Anouk Winzenried.** I don’t know why the Rolling Stones bass player doesn’t just change his name to “not pictured.” –Michael Mckean

*****

Frank Fritz will not be back on American Pickers.

*****

For the first time, astronomers have seen behind a black hole. Einstein predicted the gravitational pull of black holes is so enormous that they warp the very fabric of space. He was right. Scientists have now spotted light which was being emitted by the far side of the black hole.

*****

Look for Heels on Starz.

*****

What is this new screen for Amazon? It sucks.

*****

Biden has signed an executive order to protect infrastructure from cyber- attacks.

*****

Arthur was canceled.

*****

The Kennedy Center has revealed the latest honorees. The 44th class is Justin Diaz, Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels, Bette Midler and Joni Mitchell and will be held on Dec. 5.

*****

Get well Bob Odenkirk!!!! The fabulous Odenkirk collapsed on the set of Better call Saul from a minor heart attack.

*****

Days alert: We have lost Days of Our Lives first director, Joseph Behar. He will be missed.** Marla Ginns is joining the cast as Paulina’s Mother. ** Is EJ throwing Sami out? Will AJ McLean join the cast? **Rex is back.**Peacock is bringing us a limited series, Days of our Lives: Beyond Salem that will send many couples on romantic vacations and lead to intrigue. Lisa Rinna will star.** Arianna Zucker (Nicole) is set to marry Shawn Christian (former Daniel). He popped the question on Father’s Day.

*****

R.I.P. President Jovenel Moise, Philece Sampler, Robert Downey Sr., Richard Donner, flood victims of Belgium and Germany, Robby Steinhardt, Covid victims, Joseph Behar, Robert Moses, Jackie Mason, Dusty Hill, joey Jordison, Priscilla McMillan, Ron Popeil, Carl Levin, Saginaw Grant and Charles Robinson.

0 notes

adplatforms · 6 years

Text

The Top 10 Programmatic Publishers Of 2018

Oath: The dark horse buyers love

Advertisers don’t seem to mind Oath’s “under renovations” sign as it goes through a lengthy tech integration.

It repeatedly came up in conversations as an incredibly powerful, highly scaled platform publisher with reach that’s hard to get anywhere else. The message? Don’t discount Oath.

The company’s owned-and-operated media properties and news search portals “represent scaled, direct publisher relationships I don’t see going away or slowing down,” Warner said.

Oath is still consolidating its many inventory sources to one buying platform, but it already has the scale to make up a large portion of big media buys. Plus, it offers targeting data pooled from Yahoo, AOL, Verizon and 1 million mobile apps.

AJ Kintner, Merkle M’s1 VP of business development, predicted Oath will offer a DSP with scale, reach and an addressable audience.

Oath’s excellent service also got points from buyers, who praised the insights its teams passed back in order to improve future campaigns.

by AdExchanger // Tuesday, July 31st, 2018 – 12:30 am

By Sarah Sluis, Ryan Joe, Allison Schiff, Alison Weissbrot and Rae Paoletta

Programmatic is expanding, becoming a glossier way to transact and add value to both the buy and sell sides.

“We are moving rapidly into a programmatic-first world,” said Sal Candela, president of enterprise partnerships at Omnicom. “There is a surge of quality inventory in digital.”

As programmatic grows, what it means to be a top programmatic publisher has changed. Buyers value programmatic inventory as well as the complementary tech, data, creativity and service. And trust is paramount.

“Programmatic has expanded from yield management to automation and a change in how we liquidate relationships,” said Sarah Warner, digital investment lead for programmatic and video at GroupM.

Programmatic is finally catching on in TV, where it refers to anything that involves automation.

This year’s top programmatic publishers include longtime industry leaders who show to buyers their expertise in programmatic year after year. Others stepped on the gas in the past year in ways that made the industry take notice.

Here are the top programmatic publishers of 2018, listed in alphabetical order.

Conde Nast: Turning the page on programmatic

Programmatic is in vogue at Conde Nast.

In the past year, Conde Nast made all its digital products available programmatically. For the first time ever, sponsorships for the Met Gala sold to buyers transacting using programmatic guaranteed and private marketplaces.

Anything available via an IO can be bought programmatically, which had buyers – especially those seeking video inventory – singing Conde Nast’s praises.

The publisher is also building out Spire, a data platform designed to deliver better outcomes to buyers. The publisher claims advertisers who use the platform triple their return on ad spend. The publisher also acqui-hired to beef up Spire’s data science capabilities.

As advertisers consolidate spend with fewer, more quality partners, Conde Nast is making the case to capture those budgets, offering scale and data along with its high-gloss content.

“We’ve proved to the market that you actually can have it all,” said Evan Adlman, SVP of enterprise sales for Conde Nast.

Financial Times: Integrity in programmatic

Financial Times readers are smart and affluent and they pay for content. The FT shared its indignation publicly when it found that buyers on the open exchange were gobbling up $1.2 million of fake impressions each month.

The FT’s chief commercial officer, Jon Slade, sent a letter to clients warning them about the fake inventory.

“They have been very vocal in the marketplace about their supply being misrepresented,” GroupM’s Warner said.

When FT does sell programmatically, it tries to find ways for buyers to get more scale against its highly coveted niche audiences. Buyers bringing their own data can buy across the family of FT sites to gain scale. Others with reserved buys supplement them with private marketplaces.

FT requires a subscription and its registration data, which includes demographic and behavioral data, is coveted by buyers. Advertisers can access that data via direct deals and programmatic.

The publisher also has a commercial charter that emphasizes transparency around data use, reporting and pricing.

Insider Inc.: Verifying programmatic

In the past year, Insider Inc. – formerly Business Insider Inc. – led the charge against domain spoofing and became the first publisher to adopt Ads.txt, designed to eliminate impersonated inventory.

Its programmatic chief, Jana Meron, first did months of detective work to figure out why Business Insider saw only a fraction of the impressions from buyers who claimed to run video ads on the site.

In one case, an advertiser spent $40,000 to buy Business Insider on the open exchange, but BI.com saw just $97.

When Insider Inc. isn’t cleaning up the industry, it’s helping advertisers meet their goals. Its team of KPI hitters helps advertisers activate their own data as well as Insider Inc.’s audience data to supercharge campaign results.

Based on the team’s success driving results, many clients who started out programmatic-only have expanded into large-scale partnerships with Insider Inc. And a programmatic team of eight has increased revenue by 84% this year.

King: Where programmatic wears the crown

Programmatic is the name of the game for the creator of “Candy Crush.” The mega game publisher is wooing advertisers by making it as easy as possible to buy its inventory programmatically.

King checks the following boxes: It’s DSP agnostic, facilitates direct deals and offers third-party measurement along with brand-safe and viewable inventory for advertisers. And it’s constantly updating SDKs to meet the latest standards.

Buyers like King’s performance and pricing, plus the access to video inventory via rewarded video, which offers a clear value exchange between user and advertiser. Plus, because brands can use existing video assets, it’s more turnkey than bespoke gaming activations.

King is also working to clear up misconceptions about the value of game media, said Jonathan Stringfield, senior director and head of marketing, measurement and insights at Activision Blizzard Media, the newly formed advertising unit responsible for advertising within King games.

For example, some think gaming ads are intrusive and low-quality, when in fact users are known to be more receptive to brand messaging when they engage with rewarded experiences.

“In a world where digital advertising has increasingly breached trust among users,” Stringfield said, “we believe that transparency and respect for consumers is more important than ever.”

NBCUniversal: Ad tech wizards from the future

NBCUniversal is proof an old broadcaster can definitely learn new tricks and even outperform the pups. It just had to invest in the tech and talent to do so.

NBCUniversal created CFlight in April, an impression-based common measurement currency for video across TV and digital.

It also created an ecosystem that allows data to infuse buys across linear TV, video on demand, OTT, connected TV, short-form video, display and mobile, said Mike Rosen, NBCUniversal’s executive VP of advanced advertising and platform sales.

NBCUniversal places programmatic on a level playing field with direct sales, meaning buyers get the same access to inventory no matter how they buy it.

Buyers praised NBCUniversal’s progressiveness. With tons of video inventory and strong footholds in digital via partnerships and investments with companies like Apple News, BuzzFeed, Snapchat and Vox Media, they’re optimistic about what’s yet to come.

News Corp.: Poking the duopoly

What kind of data can take on the duopoly?

To answer that question, News Corp. created News IQ, which is loaded with first-party data advertisers can activate when buying across News Corp. sites as varied as The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com.

Behind the scenes, News Corp. is using tools like Prebid to unify its inventory globally and assembling log-level data to better understand how advertisers value its audience, with plans to share that information with trading desks.

News Corp. is also an outspoken advocate for publishers as Google and Facebook grab more advertiser dollars despite facing brand safety and fake news challenges.

News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson recently called for Facebook to share more of the revenue that publishers generate for the social media platform.

It’s an attitude that permeates the organization.

“We believe in being activists to push the industry to always consider user rights, as well as creating a thriving ecosystem that supports premium journalism,” said Chris Guenther, global head of programmatic and SVP at News Corp. and an IAB board member.

Oath: The dark horse buyers love

Advertisers don’t seem to mind Oath’s “under renovations” sign as it goes through a lengthy tech integration.

It repeatedly came up in conversations as an incredibly powerful, highly scaled platform publisher with reach that’s hard to get anywhere else. The message? Don’t discount Oath.

The company’s owned-and-operated media properties and news search portals “represent scaled, direct publisher relationships I don’t see going away or slowing down,” Warner said.

AJ Kintner, Merkle M’s1 VP of business development, predicted Oath will offer a DSP with scale, reach and an addressable audience.

Oath’s excellent service also got points from buyers, who praised the insights its teams passed back in order to improve future campaigns.

Spotify: Programmatic audio OG

Spotify was the first digital audio platform to sell programmatic audio in early 2016. In 2017, programmatic sales grew 94% and now make up 20% of buys.

“Marketers are moving so much money to programmatic. We’ve seen that channel explode,” said Brian Benedik, global head of ads monetization at Spotify, in a previous AdExchanger interview.

Agencies like working with Spotify because of its strong service approach and wealth of data on music listening habits, which allows them to target moods and moments.

“They are innovative from a data strategy standpoint,” said GroupM’s Warner.

Spotify teaches its entire sales team to sell programmatically, even if their focus is direct. The company recently rolled out a self-serve platform in five markets.

“If it’s executed well, it will result in an important shift in the structure of the business, dramatically expanding margins,” Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy said on the company’s Q2 earnings call.

Turner: Plugging in programmatic

Turner, now part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia conglomerate, likes to be on the bleeding edge.

One of the first to create an audience-buying TV platform, it’s moved to get all the broadcast networks to rally around the OpenAP data standard. And each audience deal within Turner’s networks runs through OpenAP.

Turner is also trying to make OTT and connected TV more addressable by testing private marketplaces with buyers. The trust and dialogue Turner creates when testing new tech sets it apart, said Jon Mansell, SVP of marketplace innovation at Magna Global.

And Turner is working to simplify its tech stack. In the past year, it’s pared down its vendor list, doing more with selected partners.

Vox Media: The art of programmatic

Vox Media is blending scale, creative and quality content with its Concert ad marketplace.

In the past year, it opened up Concert to programmatic buyers and doubled the size of its programmatic team. But Vox Media encourages its buyers to use some of its bespoke creative units, which it says drive higher engagement than regular ad units and even Facebook ad units.

“We have been heavily pushing for a programmatic world that is not predicated on only 300x250s and 728x90s, but instead allows an element of creative flexibility,” said Ryan Pauley, head of Concert and VP of revenue operations.

Vox Media has also worked with DSPs and SSPs to execute custom ads programmatically.

The publisher added other outlets to Concert recently, including Quartz, PopSugar and Penske Media-owned sites like Variety.

“The bigger you are, the more you can matter,” Magna Global’s Mansell said.

“Publisher conglomerates could become cool again if they prove effective in pushing down technology fees.”

Source:https://adexchanger.com/publishers/the-top-10-programmatic-publishers-of-2018/

#SSP

0 notes

lovingunderratedcharacters · 7 years

Text

How They React to You Joining The Battalion

Anon: Hi, I love your blog. Can I ask for headcanons of reactions for you (a female) joining the companies as a sniper with an impressively high kill count. Specifically for generation kill, with Nate Fick and Doc Bryan and Ray Person, and BoB, with Gene,Toye, Guarnere, and others if you want?

Brad “Iceman” Colbert: He tries to drag you until you loose your determination to make it in the Marines, but you stay strong. He talks behind your back, makes snide remarks to the other marines about you. When he finally realizes that you aren’t backing down, he begins gaining a bit of respect for you. He still keeps his distance, but he’s not nearly as mean as he once was.

Josh Ray Person: Ray-Ray’s so cute around you. It’s obvious that he’s got a thing for you, and he actually tries to hide it, much to your amusement. He doesn’t really understand Brad’s treatment of you, and it actually kind of pisses him off. He gets along with you really well and never tries to bring up the kills you’ve made, because he know’s that it affects you and he doesn’t want to hurt you.

Harold “James” Trombley: He acts really weird around you, like he’s not entirely sure what to think of you. Most of the time he stays away, but from time to time the two of you actually get into pretty deep conversations. You usually walk away from these conversations feeling like you’ve just had your soul scientifically analyzed, and it takes the two of you a while to talk to each other again.

Evan “Scribe” Wright: The two of you get along really well. You’re both outsiders to the battalion, so you both share experiences with one another. He also loves to interview you and get your stories down on paper, because you’ve got a lot to tell and you’re actually fairly open to questions. He does get a bit nervous around you when you talk about the specific shots you’ve made.

Tony “Poke” Espera: Despite being an obnoxious, loud-mouthed ass, Poke is very protective, especially with you. He won’t admit it but he cares a lot about what is happening to you and what you’re doing. He always gets a bit nervous when he sees you get ready for a shot, but he knows that you’ve got it handled.

Walt Hasser: He’s so sweet to you. He hates the way you’re treated by some of the guys, so he tries to treat you as best as he can. It’s just a matter of time before he starts saving some of his MRE’s for you, just so that you can eat a bit more. He won’t admit it, but he’s got a bit of a crush on you and he loves it when you sit on top of the Humvee just to talk to him.

Rudy “Fruity Rudy” Reyes: He takes care of you like a big brother takes care of his little sister. He glares at guys who try to hit on you and he pulls pranks on you all the time. You two fight a lot, though, because being a sniper tends to put you at risk and he hates it when you nearly sacrifice yourself for the safety of the rest of them.

Larry Shawn “Pappy” Patrick: A blessed angel around you. He doesn’t swear, he doesn’t say anything vulgar, he doesn’t even check you out. He tries to treat you just as he would treat all the men. However, he slips up from time to time when he sees you struggling with something and rushes over to help you as fast as possible.

Anthony “Manimal” Jacks: He’s going to be a perverted asshole that makes passes at you from time to time. He sees you walking anywhere near him and he makes some kind of gross joke. However, one day you call him out on his bullshit, and you shut him up for quite some time. Then, out of the blue, he starts acting like the two of you are best buds. You’re still not sure exactly what happened.

Mike “Gunny” Wynn: He’s the Dad of the First Recon Marines, and that includes you. He likes to work with you on your aim, and you’re more than receptive to his lessons. Overall, the two of you are close, but when he sees some of the younger guys hitting on you, he shuts down and lets you deal with them so long as they don’t try to pull anything.

Nate Fick: He respected you from the second you stepped foot on base camp. Ferrando had briefed him on your many accomplishments and he was highly impressed. The first time he met you, he let you know that you were needed in the Battalion, despite how the other men may make you feel. He is a bit closed off around you because he doesn’t want anything romantic to evolve from this relationship.

John Christeson: Ever the dork, this boy sings to you whenever you come near him. Like, full blown singing of whichever songs he knows that you like. There are times when it’s embarrassing as hell and other times where it gets annoying, but when you’re feeling down he likes to make you feel better by softly singing until you fall asleep.

Evan “Q-Tip” Stafford: If ever there was a time where you weren’t whistled at while walking past this boy, you can’t recall one. You know he means well, but it gets irritating from time to time. Eventually, once he sees your skills on the battlefield, he tones his flirting down a lot. He actually ends up gaining a lot of respect for you and begins to look up to you.

Timothy “Doc” Bryan: He doesn’t mind having you here. You’re capable of dealing with the guys and you don’t take their shit, which he likes. The two of you get along fairly well, in a purely professional way. It’s acknowledged that while he is in charge of healing the wounded, you are in charge of killing the enemies. Your professions do not mix well, and your personalities reflect that to a degree.

Craig “Encino Man” Schwetje: He acts like the typical jock. He will, on purpose, flex his muscles around you in an attempt to impress you. He also likes to try to be a “savior” and “protect” you from harm, but the reality of it is that he gets in the way a lot. You’re irritated by him and you try not to entertain his advances but at times he doesn’t seem to realize that you’re not interested.

Dave “Captain America” McGraw: He does not like you in the slightest. If something goes wrong, in his eyes, you’re the one to blame. You’re a distraction and you’re weak and therefore should not be out in the field. He doesn’t actually say any of this to your face, but it’s fairly obvious when he’s screaming about you over the coms.

Stephen “Godfather” Ferrando: He knows that you are completely qualified for the job at hand. He has no problem with you joining the battalion, and he was a supporter of your work before he even knew you. This causes him to have a lot of respect for you and he expects the men to treat you the same way he does.

114 notes · View notes

armed-and-alxne · 7 years

Note

♧ Any part of their canon portrayal you dislike?

So I had to think long and hard about this one actually.There isn’t much that I dislike about Luther’s airtime on Red Widow, justthings I never got to see and would’ve liked to, or things I disagreed with(and I’m pretty sure Luther did too) but I understand that he was under ordersand had to do as he was told, so… a lot of what I disliked was more aboutAndrei’s orders and Luther’s situation than of the portrayal of the character.I was trying to think if there was anything he did that I thought was reallyout of character or didn’t fit with the rest of who he seemed to be (besideskilling Evan, which to me was the most blatant break away from his core personalityof all). Only one thing comes to mind that seemed to strike me as conflictingwith Luther’s morals. It may have been due to the structure of the scene, oragain, the fact that Luther was not in a mental or social position to arguewith Andrei or question any of his family until the very end of the series.Nevertheless, it did bother me. I think even just one line from Luther or oneof Luke Goss’ patented conflicted expression or troubled eyes could havereconciled it in my mind as at least bothering Luther, which I believe itshould have. But there was no discussion of it at all, and that seemed both oddand out of character to me… just a wee bit.

Some context first: The Walravens had a family friend namedMike. Mike… was a very poor decision maker, heh. He had a cocaine problem andhad gotten himself in a considerable amount of debt. He thought the best way toquickly get the money he needed was to kidnap Natalie Walraven (Marta’sdaughter and Andrei’s granddaughter) and hold her for ransom. Now… I find ithard to believe that a longtime family friend of the Petrovs/Walravens who notonly knew about their business but was actively involved in it… would think thatthis would turn out well, heh. But we’re discussing things I didn’t like aboutLuther’s portrayal here, so I’ll just gloss over this far-fetched idea.Nevertheless, Mike (and some other random guy he got to help him?) kidnapNatalie and it’s this whole big thing.

Of course he’s found out, and Andrei is understandablylivid. One of the few times I actually felt his temper was justified. His temper… not what he did with it. But anyway… Luther was also pretty angry, and that Iunderstand. Throughout the entire show, Luther had never been anything butkind, helpful, and even affectionate to all of Marta’s kids. That he loved themwas clear, without Luther ever having to say or even imply it himself. I alsoheadcanon that Luther would never harm a child. He sees them as innocent, andhe sees himself as being in a protector role regarding them. So whether he wasordered to or not (and he was) I feel that Luther had a strong urge to punishNatalie’s kidnapper, no matter who he was. That Mike was a family friend justadded salt to the wound, because loyalty is a big thing in the mafia. Once youlose trust, you’re dead to them, and in fact, Marta even says this to Mike.Natalie begs her mother and grandfather to forgive Mike and not kill him.Andrei I think really didn’t care and wanted to kill him anyway, but Martahonored her daughter’s request. She told Mike that he would not be killed, thathe was dead to the family, and to run. So he did.

This was not enough for Andrei, or for Luther. By thispoint, Gabriel (Marta’s oldest child and Natalie’s older brother) had beenslowly gaining an interest in his grandfather's business. At 17, I believe thatGabriel felt both a loss of control and power when his father was killed andalso a desire to protect his family now that he saw himself as the man of the house.This thinking led him to want to get involved with Andrei’s business, somethingthe Russian patriarch openly encouraged against Marta’s wishes. When Andreidecides that Mike needs to pay for what he did to Natalie, he orders Luther tocome with him to beat the shit out of him. Gabriel asks to come along, citingthat Natalie is his sister and that he feels a responsibility to get justicefor her.

Here’s where I start to have problems. I get Andrei lettingGabriel come with them. Andrei had proven himself as a man who valued money,power, violence, and certainly male dominance. He sees Gabriel as anup-and-coming addition to the business, since Evan was taken out and Andrei’sson Irwin was… always very disappointing to him and less than what he wantedin an heir. Luther was a better one, but Andrei could never allow Luther to succeedhim because he isn’t blood. So… I understand inside Andrei’s twisted way ofthinking that he would see 17 year-old Gabriel as a near adult who could – and should– be initiated into the mafia world if he has the salt for it. Wanting to getjustice for Natalie impressed Andrei and Gabriel was allowed to come with. Now…this should have bothered Luther. Not only encouraging Gabriel to enter a mafialifestyle but actively letting him see and participate in events that areillegal, violent, and damaging to a child’s innocence – yes, Gabriel is stilltechnically a minor at 17 – should have been something that very much bothered Luther.If it did, however, there was no indication of that at all during the scenewhere Mike is brutally beaten by the three of them.

It may just have been that the scene needed to happen quicklyfor time or that the makers of the how didn’t want to get into that much detailwith it. Sure. It may also have been that Luther did not feel he could questioneither Andrei’s decision to include Gabriel, or Gabe’s decision to join in, asboth outrank him simply for being blood. It may also be that Luther was toofocused on how angry he was at Mike for scaring Natalie with this whole ordealthat he wasn’t thinking about other things. Yeah. Okay. I guess. But… Duringthe beating I would have appreciated maybe a conflicted look from Luther as hewatched this reall young man essentially lose a part of his innocence. Thischild Luther watched grow up, that he loves, and that he’s always feltprotective towards is now on the road to becoming well… like him. I thinkLuther would have been really disturbed by that and wanted to prevent that ifpossible… although he could not act without authority and that made it hard.But… a simple, quick, couple-line scene beforehand where he pulls Gabriel asideand maybe says, “Hey… this is a dark road you’re goin’ down, and believe mewhen I say this isn’t gonna make your life better,” or “I know from experiencethat this is not the honorable thing you think it is.” Something like that. I just really think Luther would’ve caredmore, and if he did, it should’ve been shown on the show.

Gabriel himself did seem to have an epiphany moment duringthe beating. He stops at one point and gets this trouble expression as herealizes that maybe this isn’t making him feel better like he thought it would.Maybe he feels guilty. Maybe he realizes Natalie wouldn’t’ have wanted this.any number of things. That was great. But I really would’ve wanted somethingelse from Luther because him exposing a child to that kind of thing really wasout of character for him, I feel. He was under orders and had to do it even ifhe didn’t want to, so I get it happening… but there should’ve been someconflict in his expression or a word aside to Gabriel or something. I find ithard to believe that the protector in him would’ve just went along with thiswhole thing as easily as he seemed to.

2 notes · View notes