#you should have been an actor harry - son is an actor

[edream93]

Thoughts on The Rise of Red

Okay, these are just my thoughts that I wrote down in my note app as I watched the movie.

SPOILERS if you haven't watched "Descendants: The Rise of Red" yet:

Uma crying talking about Carlos is definitely China crying for real. It’s definitely a plot inconsistency because as far as we know Uma and Carlos didn’t have any type of relationship outside of Mal but for China and the audience, I thought it was a touching nod to Cam.

Maybe it’s just me but I feel like over the past three movies we had gotten better with the wig situations and this movie felt like a bit of a step back for some of these wigs

The special effects in Red’s first song were pretty neat for a DCOM-adjacent movie 

Maddox is kinda cute…This man is 44!?!?! 😍

Paolo Montalbano 😍 My first crush! Honestly he and Brandy and China are the only reason why I’m watching this.

Still not a total fan of Cinderella’s dress. It’s giving royal moo-moo 

Brandy and Paolo are still cute together. Like not even in a romantic way but they are definitely co-actors that have great chemistry on screen together. Like it feels like they slipped back into their characters effortless.

I’m sorry Brandy but those shoes are ugly

OMG! Chad is their son!!! They really was like, the Prince Charming had a White dad and a Black mom so of course he and Cindy can have a White son 🤣

Is it me or are there already more songs in this movie than the previous? 

Maybe it’s because it’s the only second song but I definitely expected that they would have given Rita and Brandy more to work with

I know Dylan and Thomas probably have grown out of working with Disney but I at least wish they gave a throw away line about where Harry and Gil are. Like we know at least where Mal and the others are and that Carlos apparently died. Idk, the lack of Harry’s line in Uma’s song made me miss them.

You know, for all of the fuss they made about the magic wand, the fact that the Queen of Hearts can easily cut it in half is funny to me

Is this Aladdin and Jasmin they keep cutting back to? I didn’t keep up with the movie production before it came out so maybe them being in this movie shouldn’t be surprising 

“Now make me proud, for once,” is such a hard comment to hear from a parent.

Not Chloe’s wig changing randomly 🤣

The actress playing young Fairy G definitely looks like a younger actress of the original one. Good casting.

I feel like a lot of these songs are just sing talking. Like not really singing but just them talking and like I know they did that sometimes in the previous movies but it just feels…odd

….did Chloe’s wig change…again…???

It did….

Did both of their wigs change???

Honestly, I’m underwhelmed by the costumes. I know the same designer wasn’t on this movie but eh

Ella is like… “Mom? Who you calling mom?!??!” 🤣

I forgot that since this was before Auradon they probably would take classes about magic 

Bridget’s and Red’s outfits are so far my faves

Jaladdin 🤣

“If you wanna roll together we can be a vibe” 🤣

…..Chloe’s hair changed again….Is this just her face hair or something because it’s not the hair she had in the previous scene

Morganna’s son!?!? Didn’t expect that. Again, I have been so far removed from keeping up-to-date about the production of this movie

Oh I forgot Maleficent and Hades were together at some point. Guess I just thought that was an Isle boredom fling thing

I love how this movie totally negates anything that has happened in the original movies, at least in terms of how they happened. I honestly like to think of the OG movies as royal propaganda 🤣

Okay so I think there’s three wigs that Chloe has had, a regular, a slightly more volumized one, and then what my friend calls the “chia pet” one 😅

Chloe…NO! 😫

Honestly, this portrayal of Cinderella is kinda my fave. She’s been through a lot

Okay, should have known the VK songs would be a bop

Maybe it’s just me but every time I see Hades in this, I think he looks like Chris Colfer

I feel like this movie has so many special effects which isn’t bad, it’s just interesting because I feel like big special effects were saved until the last half/battle

WIG CHANGE AGAIN!

Paolo acting his butt off to the pay the bills

Oooo that was too far Red…

Wig change

Yeah, this movie definitely has a lot more songs…😬

Also…why is her wig longer when they’re gardening? 

Are there…are there FOUR wigs?!?!?!?!

Me snorting at the captions reading -hero music playing-

Morganna’s son is missing a few brain cells. Love him.

There’s 7 minutes left….what are they gonna do in 7 minutes!

Not the Queen of Heart’s hair blowing in the wind! 😊

I know it’s not that serious in this movie, but I wonder what’s the reasoning for Red never going to Auradon now that things have changed

I’m glad the Queen of Hearts is nice and all but there should definitely be a fanfic about how Red is trying to distinguish her old reality with her new. And no, it won’t be from me. I wipe my hands clean of this series. I mean it! I’m so serious! I totally don’t have any plot bunnies in my head now! Nope! None. At. All!

Wait! Uma! Are you implying there’s going to be some - GASPS- ramifications to the time traveling!?!?!?

Final thoughts:

Maybe it’s because I’m OFFICIALLY not part of the target demographic anymore but I kind of felt underwhelmed. Like the last three movies had things I wasn’t a fan of but there were at least songs, aspects, characters, that I was a fan of. Honestly, the only person I LOVED in this one was Maddox. If you liked this movie, that’s totally fine and I hope my thoughts don’t stop you from enjoying it. I hope you have all the head cannons and fanfic ideas and amazing energizing conversations with others in the fan. If they come up with more stuff with this series (which they probably will) I might tune in but I think this, plus that Pt.2 outline of WLTF that I still owe folks will probably be my last active contribution to this particular fandom. 

Anyway, my faves of Descendants: The Rise of Red:

Uma, even if she was just serving the purpose of narrator/handing the torch from one generation to the next

The nod to Cameron

Brandy and Paolo. I LOVE them on screen together.

I actually really liked Ella and hope to see the actress, Morgan Dudley in more things

Maddox was cute but I honestly always seem to have a thing for movie/TV mad hatters (points to OUAT and the SyFy mini series Alice) 

Things I’m “eh” about:

The WIGS!!!! And the costumes but the WIGS!!! Like, if this series continues they need to fix stat!

The songs were kinda forgettable. Uliana’s song at her hideout was kinda a bop and Red’s intro song is good too but everything else was kinda “bleh”

I also feel like we didn’t really get to know Red that well or maybe I was just too distracted by Chloe’s wig.

The plot and pacing. I mean, the OG Descendants movies weren’t perfect but I feel like they typically hit certain plot beats where, as much as you can with these type of movies, it feels like the stakes are high. I guess Merlin’s office being the scene of the last “battle” and then going back to their time just felt a little anti-climatic for me.

But anywho, those are my thoughts. If you don’t agree, that’s fine, just be polite, okay? 

[resowrites]

Hot Seat - oneshot.

Summary: Henry is interviewed about life post-The Witcher…

Characters: AU!Henry Cavill, Wife!OC, Interviewer

Warnings: fluff, banter/British humour, nondescript OC body type/appearance, hastily written/lightly proofread.

WC: 2817

A/N: This is something a bit different so I hope you all enjoy. Not that I should have to point it out but as with all my work, it’s pure fiction (as in completely made up) and not in any way meant to reflect reality. As ever, let me know your thoughts - R x

My work must not be copied, reposted, or translated elsewhere. Likes, follows, reblogs and comments are thoroughly welcome and appreciated! Gifs/pics not my own. I hope you all enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Hot Seat - oneshot.

My first thought upon starting my interview with Henry Cavill is that I must have got my lines crossed. Instead of the 39-year-old Jersey-born actor, the featureless wall on the screen in front of reveals a woman. She quickly introduces herself and apologises for his absence. "Our puppy got into a multipack of toilet rolls and is still wreaking havoc, but he'll be right with you." This, as it turns out, is his partner Ollie. The 33-year-old financial advisor (she politely asks me not to give her full name as apparently "the people who care already know it"), has been with the actor for the better part of a decade though it's seldom publicised. They're occasionally pictured together but Henry, known for being one of the more private Hollywood actors, has given away few details about the relationship.

This, however, doesn't stop her from graciously chatting with me while we await his arrival. Having a son with her name, I ask if it's short for something else. "No, just Ollie. My parents were fans of Laurel and Hardy," she says with a shrug. So she's not actually Olivia? "Nope, though I suppose it could have been worse, they could have called me Stan," she replies drily. I tell her my wife and I are expecting a girl in the summer. "Oh how lovely - don't give her a boy's name." Duly noted. I then ask after Kal, Henry's longtime canine companion, and she assures me he's still alive and kicking. So what prompted the puppy? "Anniversary gift," she says between sips of water, though she doesn't give a name or clarify who gifted who. Moving on, I ask if she has any tips for interviewing Henry. "Talk slowly," comes her immediate response. It's not difficult to see how he fell for her, big twinkly eyes and a throaty laugh betray a quick wit that's similar to his own. I venture to ask what it's like being in a relationship with him. "Agonising. I mean his looks alone, I'm at a loss," she deadpans before another laugh. And the fame? "Honestly, it's not something I really think about. Our day-to-day life is very normal."

As if on cue, Henry enters the room with a large and very fluffy puppy trying to wriggle free of his arms. His eyes flash briefly with concern but she gives him a reassuring smile, thanks me for my patience, and wishes me well. She then pats Henry on the chest, tells him to behave himself, and disappears with the puppy in tow. The screen now fills with his impressive frame though his demeanour is infinitely milder - if slightly harried. "My apologies John. Akita's - can't live with them, can't live without them." Much has been made of the peaks and troughs of his Hollywood career. At one point in the early aughts, he'd missed out on multiple high-profile roles (Henry Cavill: Hollywood's unluckiest actor?) Finally bagging Superman in 2013 with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, he proved capable of big returns and even bigger popularity (Henry Cavill: Superman for a new generation).

In 2013's Man of Steel (image credit: Warner Bros.)

This makes news of his recent departure from both Netflix's The Witcher (ostensibly because of creative differences), and DC's Superman franchise (due to the recent hiring of James Gunn as the studio's creative leader), all the more stupefying. But whether or not he really is Hollywood's 'unluckiest' actor, this isn't a term that reflects his life outside of the job, something which definitely marks him out from his contemporaries. In addition to a much-protected relationship (neither he nor his publicist confirms the status of it despite appearing to wear a wedding ring), he hails from a loving family and has a close-knit group of friends. He withdrew from a recent project (for reasons unrelated to the project itself), but is now in talks to appear in and produce an adaptation of Warhammer 40, 000 after Amazon recently secured the rights to the popular tabletop game.

In 2019's The Witcher (image credit: Netflix)

It's actually not the first time I've met Henry. Our paths once crossed some years ago in a hotel lobby though this brief encounter was part of a jam-packed press tour. Today's meeting isn't scheduled for a considerably longer time, but there's more than enough to discuss. A colleague did however warn me that despite a more ingenuous nature, he can make for a difficult interviewee. For the first part of our interview, I would be inclined to agree. Though pleasant, his answers border on glib and this is perhaps unsurprising given the recent twists and turns of his career. Happily, he warms up as our fourty minutes go by and on this occasion, is more revealing about life away from the cameras…

J: First thing's first, are you watching the Six Nations (an annual international men's rugby union competition)?

H: Yeah, it's been dismal though (England won just two out of five matches)… doesn't bode well for the World Cup does it?

J: No it doesn't. Now I know you can't say much at the moment about more recent as well as upcoming projects, but I wanted to get your take on the development of IPs for modern audiences. More than ever it seems a rather precarious business…

H: I think that's a fair assessment. There's lots of competition and only a finite amount of resources, so balancing what audiences want against the financial gains is tricky.

J: So what's the solution?

H: Are you trying to get me into trouble (laughs)? It depends. I mean, you can experiment a bit more with big projects. But for niche ventures, I think it's probably better to lean on the source material and fanbases already there.

J: But do you think there's a general fatigue with certain genres at the moment?

H: Perhaps, but that's why it's all the more important to look at the project as a whole. More often than not, if a project sinks it's on the project, not the audience.

J: Surely events such as the pandemic have had a huge impact though?

H: Yeah, definitely. But I don't think it's that difficult to produce big and/or successful entertainment because if anything, the need has never been stronger. It may just require studios to slow down a bit and think harder about each stage of development.

J: Do you feel more at peace with your career these days?

H: I would say so. I mean it's not an industry you ever feel secure in because that's not really the nature of it. But I still feel the same rush and excitement. I think there's a tendency to forget that actors act for the same reason people enjoy consuming our work. We like to escape and have fun as well.

J: What has it taught you about yourself?

H: Well for one it's bettered my patience (laughs). There's also nothing like acting to improve your physique (laughs).

J: Do you still feel the same pressures to look and perform a certain way?

H: I mean to an extent it's just the expectation and I completely respect that - if you're spending millions bringing, say, Superman to life, whoever plays him must at the very least, look like him.

J: And what are your thoughts now that that franchise will be moving ahead without you?

H: Well, for one, I'm not as devastated as everyone seems to think (laughs). I had a blast making those films and I was looking forward to expanding on what was created but the workouts were something else. As were the press tours (laugh).

J: Would you say that's one of the biggest drawbacks now for actors?

H: I suppose. I mean who honestly wants to be hooked up to a lie detector and asked leading questions (laughs)? I find it a bit unfair at times. I'm not suggesting for one minute that actors aren't immensely lucky or privileged. Of course, what we do is comparatively easy. But the amount of exposure will always be a double-edged sword, no question.

J: You've said in the past you're not a huge fan of social media, do you think it's essential to what you do?

H: Perhaps not essential but it's undeniably very useful. And I have no issue in sharing parts of my life with those who find it interesting. But I also don’t see the harm in a bit of mystery, there's no need to upload and share absolutely everything.

J: More male stars are speaking up about the double standards in how they're treated by fans and the wider public. Are those sentiments you share?

H: Yes and no. I mean most of the time it's harmless and of course very flattering, but I think it's always best to put others at ease rather than risk making them uncomfortable. Of course, everyone has different ideas on how to do that (laughs) but as the old saying goes, do unto others…

J: I imagine it's different when that attention is also directed at those closest to you?

H: Oh absolutely. My friends and family didn't sign up for that but luckily they're good-natured about it.

J: It seems the lines are becoming more and more blurred though…

H: Yeah, and that's a shame. But it's also why you need to be prudent about how much of it you elicit and engage in.

J: But do you take issue with the amount of gossip? I imagine it's hard knowing it's out there when there's not much you can do about it.

H: I try and look for the silver linings, I mean if people are that invested it means you at least have some relevance still. Besides, I have a very happy, successful life outside of what I do and that makes all the difference.

J: I am curious to know how you've managed to make that work…

H: Well I don't want to give the impression that it's easy because it's not. Spending so much time away from the people you love is easily the worst thing about this job and it's something I'm always trying to improve.

J: You're also approaching 40, has that caused you to stop and take stock?

H: Thanks for the reminder (laughs). Nah I'm in a good place about it actually. Well, for now… (laughs).

J: Are there any roles, in particular, you still wish to play?

H: Not really. I think most people see me as an action star and I'm happy to remain so. It seems to be what I excel at though I've also enjoyed branching out into more comedic roles. More of those would be nice.

J: So you've no burning desires for the future? What about regrets?

H: I wouldn't say that (laughs). There's some stuff I've yet to get around to, as for regrets I've very few.

J: Such as?

H: Well, some of the films I've made for starters (laughs). Although that's not really fair as there's always something to take away from those experiences.

J: What about personally?

H: Um (pauses), nothing springs to mind. I wish I'd met my better half a lot sooner. But we've been together for over seven years so I can't complain.

J: If I remember rightly you'd just started seeing each other the last time we spoke.

H: That's right! God, where's the time gone?

J: How were the lockdowns for you both?

H: You know, as scary and traumatic as that time was, I can honestly say it reaffirmed to me that I'd made the right choices.

J: Did she feel similarly?

H: Perhaps not at first (laughs).

J: You certainly seem to share the same sense of humour. You know she introduced herself as the maid?

H: (Looks around) I hope you didn't fall for it… (laughs). And she's far more warped, trust me. She's just better at hiding it (laughs).

J: Care to give some examples?

H: Oh God, where do I start (laughs)? To be honest I'm not sure I can without making her look completely mad… though that wouldn't be an unfair assessment (laughs) (slight pause). She's a nightmare to text. Her idea of messaging me usually involves repeating a word until I manage to guess what on earth she's on about (laughs). I was in London a few days back and I messaged her asking how her morning had gone and she just kept responding with the word 'log' (laughs). So there I was, in a meeting with my business manager, trying to figure out at the back of my mind what she meant. Did she want to log a complaint (laughs)? Was I supposed to bring home a chocolate log? Did we need more firewood (laughs)? Turns out she'd just tripped over one while walking the dogs. See? Mad (grins).

J: My wife's like that but with GIFs.

H: Yeah, I get those less often but to maximum effect (laughs). Like I remember when I was getting fitted for the suits I wore in The Man from Uncle. I sent her a picture of my favourite and she immediately winged back a gif of Sterling Archer (from FX's 2009 animated sitcom Archer) (laughs).

J: Is she indifferent to what you do?

H: It's not that she's indifferent, she's just not taken in by it and thank God because it helps keep me sane.

J: So she likes to keep you on your toes?

H: Oh yeah, our life's never dull (laugh). The last time I was away filming, I'd stupidly warned her beforehand not to go anywhere near this rare Warhammer figurine that a friend sent me. So cue the photos of it in the dust container of the Dyson, at the edge of Kal's food bowl as his face was in it… she even sent me one of it in the washing machine just as it was filling up with water. That one warranted a phone call (laughs).

J: Oh dear. Did it survive?

H: Annoyingly it was absolutely fine… she's done worse (laughs).

J: Such as?

H: Er, well there was the time I was in New Zealand shooting the helicopter sequence for Mission Impossible: Fallout. I've talked about it before so I'm not going to rehash it but the conditions were extreme so everyone was pretty miserable. What made it worse was that a few weeks before, she'd broken her hand - the story of how she did that is actually funnier than the one I'm about to tell—

J: What happened?

H: … No, I can't say. She'd kill me (laughs). Anyway, being halfway across the world I couldn't get back to her and was in a bit of a state about it. So to cheer me up, one afternoon she sends me a video of her at the physio's office and in it (laughs)… she's wearing one of those old-fashioned prosthetic split hooks (laughs). What's amazing is how she somehow managed to rope the physio in, like as soon as he comes into the room she puts her phone down so as not to film him (laughs).

J: Where on earth did she get a split hook?

H: I know right? She told me Etsy but God knows… apparently the physio provided the arm it was attached to (laughs). So there I was, suspended above the Southern Alps, laughing the hardest I've ever laughed in my life.

J: Did you show it to Tom Cruise?

H: Oh yeah.

J: And what did he say?

H: She's a keeper (laughs). I'd play it for you but it got deleted when I changed phones a little while back.

J: Well, that's disappointing. What happened to the hook?

H: When I finally came home we had some champagne to celebrate and when I went to the drawer, I found she'd chucked it in there with the bottle openers (laughs).

J: Are there any more stories you can share?

H: Yeah, but I think I've said enough (laughs).

J: What makes the two of you such a good match do you think?

H: She's got a long fuse which certainly helps (laughs). We were just meant for each other (shrugs).

J: Did it feel that way quite early on? I know it did with my wife.

H: Oh yeah, almost instantly. When you know, you know.

A week after we meet I receive a gift at the office - a box of homemade cookies (which are heavenly) and a beautiful baby blanket. Accompanied is a note which first apologises for the gift's tardiness 'Henry ate the first batch,' thanks me for a good interview and then encourages some skepticism of the tales told as 'they're only mostly true.' Either way, I concede that he is indeed a lucky man.

Enola Holmes 2 is on Netflix.

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@elizabetharegina @fanfictionaddiction99 @luclittlepond @caffeinatedfestivalsheep @summersong69 @ushijimbo

[bananaactivity]

hello!! What is Jay like in your au? I apologize if you've already talked about him I haven't seen it ><

Brooo Jay is making me shiver my timbers rn 🥶

when I say, I have ideas for everyone and I do mean every character that is from the original series like I have design ideas for everybody, even dumb ass Doug. I can’t for the life of me figure out Jay.

I’ve never been able to figure out what direction I want to go with design wise. However, as a character it’s a different different story. I know what I want him to be as a character and the way he acts and behaves with others.

I want him to be more in tune with his culture, that is the culture of the origins of the story of Aladdin in the Middle East. I don’t want to stereotype and make the designs that older Disney did way back when they made the og movie because it feels very costumey not in a good way. 

I wanna give it a modern spin, but I’m not really sure where to look for more authentic costume for him. Of course, this is pertaining to the way he dresses, and not to do with his facial structure or hair, as I usually just take inspiration from the actor for that look. So, in this case, he would just look like BooBoo Stewart with small changes to make him look like Jafar, but in a relative way.

 As for his personality I do have it figured out. He is very similar to how he is in the original descendants canon. He is protective and strong, If not a little dumb compared to Carlos. if you write my other post, you know that Carlos is very smart, like astronomically, smart and cunning and witty. Jay is not per se stupid, as I’ve given the role of truly dumb Himbo who bounces off of Carlos to Chad, but anybody that talks to Carlos can’t help feel a little stupid.

 Jay and Chad are still besties who game and enjoy each other‘s company, but Jay is jealous of Carlos’s relationship with Harry. Not in a romantic sense as I really want to go the Huma route, just in a way, he wishes he could be close to him so he can study him. Harry is an excellent swordsman and a master at fear/manipulation of others. a lot of the story takes place before the cast can go to Auradon so they are still trying to be their most vicious self, and no one is more vicious than Hook and his son Harry.

 Jafar ended up, moving to the aisle from his homeland after he was ousted by the Sultan. in this AU, I had to change a lot of things so that villains wouldn’t end up dead or trapped and unable to actually be on the aisle without it being this horrible thing where they were brought back to life just to be put on a prison island. I also do want people to remember that I changed major part of the story as well and what makes this a true AU is the fact that Auradon is the place that is locked up. It’s still a caste system as Auradon is still a wealthy place, it’s just locked up so that is incredibly hard for anyone that does not have a wonderful reputation and lots of money can’t get on Auradons land. It’s also critically hard to get off of the island as security is very high and measures were never put in place for any of the rich patrons of the island to get off as it is seen as Haven and no one should want to get off anyhow.

 but of course, it is literally super boring on Auradon due to all the rules about magic, and what not, as well as other more adult activities being incredibly frowned opon. That is how Hook makes his money, he found an entrance through water passages to get wealthy patrons off the aisle, and he “imports” them to their illicit activities and then bring them back.  no one never tells because everyone on Auradon wants to be able to leave and they know they’ll never get the chance if they tell about somebody giving them the ability to not live a lavish lifestyle, but also do to depraved things they want.  just like rich people in real life :D…

Anyways, all of this basically culminates in Hook teaching his son to be an absolute weapon which Jay wants to become. When he first came to the isle he was 12 and everybody else was also 12 and he really looked up to Harry at that time was super cool and a good swordsman.  Seeing as Jafar lost everything when he was forced to leave his homeland and his high, paying job, he decided to take inspiration from Aladdin . He has his son steal items to sell in his shop, eventually becomes a really bad habit for Jay and he is a habitual thief. Or a klepto I guess you could call him.

He teaches himself sportsmanship after spying Harry, and eventually becomes friends with Mal after saving her girlfriend, Evie from Gil who actually wasn’t trying to hurt her he was just a bit confused. It was a whole thing.  Carlos is the last to join the core four gang and when he does he lets slip that he is close with Harry. And seeing as Jay has always looked up, despite them being the same age, Jay was super happy to learn this, and eventually that turned into jealousy. He and Carlos are cool friends though.

 For the core fours parents and other Pre VKs I’d say their stories are about them, wanting to find a reason to be against the norms of society, and eventually finding that and seeing, it’s not all that, and they become the worst versions of themselves. And for the Descendents, I’m writing each of them to have bad traits that is shown through the first part of their story, and in the lead of the story, the part that sends them to Auradon Uni they learn how to get out of that mindset and they each break their evil habits the rest of the story concludes.

Jay’s habit is his kleptomania as well as his jealousy.

Carlos habit is looking down on others and just unethical practices regarding his fashion. Reminder guys, it’s OK to wear real fur as long as it’s ethical.

Mals  habit is also looking down on others, but it’s different from Carlos who’s kind of justified, he really is smart. But Mal looks down on people for how they present themselves, as well as basing, how useful they are based on her own power set and what she thinks is truly powerful. she’s also the last to figure out herself and what she desires to actually be in life

Evie is pretty chill, but she is vain. And mostly has to deal with all the shit that comes from Mal Actually falling for Ben. They have a little breakup moment. But if she does move past this and she and Mal make up after a good amount of time separate.

 if you have any specific questions, you can always ask and I don’t have too much specifics down. It’s just a really detailed overview of what I want to write eventually.

The structure of the Fic is kind of a three book deal. The first book takes place during the events predating Rise of Red with the original timeline it follows through to the second book which loops through the first three descendants films and those characters growing, and then circles back to the third book with rise of red again but this time it’s dealing with the alternate timeline with red and Chloe. (Also I can’t write music and I don’t wanna do a juke box musical either so any music style animatics I make will be non canon)

Books:

1: Not Like The Others- the life of future villains, showing what in their young lives lead to their Vile despicable present.

2: Cruel, Hateful, Twisted and Wicked- the story of young adults growing from their family’s trauma and becoming more then the sins of their vile parents past

3: Just Like The Others- Two idiot child hood freinds go back in time and cause a whole heap of trouble that effects the present in terrifying ways

[allwaswell16]

One Direction fics that take place on a cruise ship as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find my other fic recs here. Happy reading!

—Harry/Louis—

⊹ I Was Made for Loving You by LHStylinson

(M, 127k, kid fic) Harry is on a cruise with his son, and meets a blue eyed man who happens to be a famous voice actor and singer for children’s animated movies.

⊹ You Make Lovin' Fun by @homosociallyyours

(E, 109k, girl direction) Harry is a 28 year old travel writer at a gay magazine who gets the assignment to go a lesbian cruise. 

⊹ It's a Better Place (Since You Came Along) by @phdmama

(E, 51k, magical au) When Harry Styles, a mid-level talent, Finder, and small business owner, sets off on the vacation of a lifetime with his best friend, Niall Horan, he has no idea the changes his life will undergo over the next nine days. 

⊹ Sail away with me by Star_Henderson / @tommosgun

(E, 47k, fake/pretend relationship) Louis and Harry are part of the entertainment team on board a luxury cruise liner. They hate sharing their four berth cabin with two other guys and would do anything to get a cabin of their own.

⊹ Drifting, Weightless by @dinosaursmate

(E, 41k, canon) Harry and Louis are exes with benefits until they're not, and the Mediterranean Sea might just be the perfect place to work through some unresolved issues.

⊹ Found My Hallelujah by crimsontheory / @ireallysawanangel

(E, 34k, hurt/comfort) Newly single, with the cruise tickets in hand, and his bags already packed, Harry brings along his sister instead. And maybe the cute bartender on the ship might just be the person Harry needs to help him put back together all of his broken pieces.

⊹ Whatever Floats Your Boat by larryftnoctrl / @the-larry-way

(NR, 24k, fake/pretend relationship) When Harry's mother convinces him to attend his ex's wedding, he must enlist support in the form of his handsome and charming best friend, flatmate and convincing fake boyfriend, Louis. 

⊹ It's You or No One by @softfonds

(E, 20k, movie adaptation) When Zayn suspects that his husband is being unfaithful, he sends Harry, a club singer, in his place on a cruise ship. 

⊹ Angel of Small Death and the Murder Scene by @lousmoonshine

(E, 20k, historical) So, naturally, it can only be the worst thing that could have happened to Louis when he gets stuck with Detective Styles trying to solve a murder during his supposed to be relaxing vacation over the seas.

⊹ Sail Your Sea, Meet Your Storm by kiwikero / @icanhazzalou

(E, 15k, strangers to lovers) The strangers to enemies to friends to pining to lovers fic where Louis is cynical, Harry is charming, and they have seven days to get their shit together.

⊹ play it back, spinning faster by  orphan_account

(E, 15k, vacation) All Louis expects from his Caribbean cruise is many frozen alcoholic drinks and an even tan. 

⊹ What Happens Next by @lululawrence

(NR, 5k, friends to lovers) a fic where Harry has to pick up the pieces and ends up on the couples cruise that should have been his honeymoon...with his best friend Louis.

—Rare Pairs—

⊹ Gay Cruise by Alice_Novelland

(E, 12k, Louis/Harry/Zayn/Liam) Harry and Louis go on a gay cruise where they have lots of; wonderful romantic moments, passionate sex and cute titanic references. They also run into Liam and Zayn.

⊹ Solo Holiday by orphan_account 

(T, 10k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw) Louis goes on a singles' cruise. He meets Nick.

[therealvinelle]

Why do you think fanfic writers lie in their fic tags? Like, a fic itself contains several semi-graphic depictions of het sex, and yet the tag is Gen. What is the thought process behind doing shit like this?

They're sick fucks, that's why.

To be more serious: I think few people set out to intentionally deceive their readers, and the ones that do usually want readers so badly they forget themselves. Genuine bad actors are rare, or so I choose to believe.

As it is, I suspect I'm a misleading tagger myself, at least to some.

The way I treat tags is as warnings, so I will tag ships featured in my works even if they're one-sided, background, or in the past because that way people who don't want to see that ship know to avoid my story. Edward/Carlisle and Jacob/Renesmee getting tagged in my fic Bleach on the Brain is an example of this: sucks if you clicked on the fic because you're a shipper but the way I see it, sucks worse if you don't want to see those and now you're reading a fic with father/son incest and a guy in his mid-twenties grooming a child in it. If I hadn't done this, if I'd only kept the pairings which were depicted positively, then the negative tags in that fic (grooming, sexual assault, etc) would have been assumed to be related to those and someone else would have been upset with me.

I tag this way because @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin learned the hard way (i.e.: got hate) that tagging only for endgame will get a lot of people very mad at you, but now A/B shippers have fics depicting their ship negatively. It's a losing game.

So that's bringing me to a major reason why I think misleading tags happen (which gets a headline so I can tell myself this post is structured):

People have different ideas of how works should be tagged

Some people want to tag for everything that happens in the fic. Literally everything, if it's a smut you know exactly what goes where just from reading the tags.

This also means they might tag characters who appear only briefly in a scene in chapter 35 (the fic having 56 chapters so far and being 500k+ long), because hey, the character appears. Or maybe they're brought up a lot and are very important to the fic even if there's not much actual screentime, so a character like Voldemort gets tagged in a Harry Potter fic focused on the war without him actually appearing all that much.

On the opposing side you have the minimalists. They tag the main two characters and put three more in the additional tags so it won't go in the character tag, and add a ship tag some 30 chapters in. There are two additional tags, both are very vague. If that - I've seen people who don't tag at all, or who just tag with a single character, or just the ship - it really is up to the individual.

I've noticed the type of author (whether Ao3 was their first platform, how much time they spent elsewhere, whether it's an imported fic, and how old the author is) and the type of fic (how old it is, the author's background, and genre (oneshot, drabble, multi-chapter, 5+1, etc.)) influences tagging.

Common to all authors, though, is they try to tag as they feel is appropriate for their fic.

Which brings me to the next issue:

How do I tag?

A lot of people are confused about this.

They're confused about what tags mean - what's freeform (I honestly keep forgetting what this one is supposed to be too), when something should be tagged, what belongs in relationship or character tags vs. additional tags, what additional tags are supposed to be.

Do you, for that matter, try to explain your story in the tag ("this is a roommate AU with feelings") or do you tag succinctly ("roommate AU", "feelings", "fluff") or a combination? A lot of authors seem to prefer the first and last options, from what I can tell it's become the norm. Most authors seem to use the additional tags to connect with the reader in this way, and so you get people placing more emphasis on the additional tags than the succinct tags.

How do I tag? Sensibilities section

Then there's the question of sensibilities: what's triggering to reader A may be great stuff to reader B, with the author not realising it could be triggering to anybody and should have been in the tags, or the author thought knees brushing against each other warranted big red warnings that "they literally had sex, oh god this is so dirty. so dirty!! can't believe i wrote this. ENTER AT OWN RISK" which of course is very disappointing to the sick fucks who wanted porn.

Or the opposite happens: the author knows the subject is triggering, which means people might not click on the fic, and they want attention so badly they ah weasel out. Or option three: the author can't tag without spoiling the story, and so they either put "creator chose not to use warnings", don't rate it, and let the readers enter at their own risk or they use tags uh strategically (have a look at how I tagged Nebuchadnezzar's Dream to avoid spoiling the bloody coup d'état that happens at the end. Today I simply would have gone for no warnings and no rating, but those tags are also a solution which I think is... alright, I suppose "massacre" could have been added but it was entirely off screen so to me would have been an abuse of the tag).

In other words, everyone will be tagging differently and sometimes it's because they've no clue which tag is warranted, sometimes they're trying not to spoil their story, sometimes they didn't realise they should or shouldn't have tagged for something.

Anthologies (when someone posts their oneshots as chapters of a story)

These used to frustrate me endlessly, until I saw a "how to help readers find your fic!" post explaining that with anthologies, your readers get a notification every time you post a new oneshot and it's easy to find them all!

Which, in retrospect, is the most fanfiction.net statement I've ever seen (indeed, OP was an old ffnet dog).

Ao3 allows collections, and is unique in this: to older fandom people, putting your thematically connected oneshots together as chapters of a story used to be how it was done, having 54 connected drabbles on your fanfiction.net profile where readers couldn't filter them out nor select to view only the drabbles put together made perfect sense. And then they never adapted to Ao3's features, and other users seeing these anthologies copied the action because hey, stats.

I'm still frustrated with these people and wish they would just post their oneshots individually, but I think a lot of them are just... really really keen on the numbers on their fics going up, and not thinking about the purpose of the archive, utilising its features, nor that they're making their oneshots harder to find and annoying a lot of people.

The tag difficulty with anthologies, of course, being that if you have two oneshots in it, one with characters A and B and you tag it for X and Y happening, the other oneshot is with characters C and D and you tag it for Z and W happening, and continue like this for 30 chapters, then you have a wall of tags so everyone will see your story, good on you, but your readers have no way of knowing what's happening in your story or to which characters, and they're either patient enough to click their way through every goddamn chapter or they just scroll past your thing. Either way you're cloying a looot of tags and the readers who wanted Z and W happening to A and B are pissed because they clicked their way through god knows how many chapters only to not get what they wanted (and now they don't like anthologies either).

(Disclaimer: sometimes drabbles or oneshots are so interconnected that it doesn't make sense to separate even on Ao3, so to every rule there's an exception.)

In conclusion

Most authors are making tough choices when tagging, or they don't know how to tag, or they want readers very badly (and what you as a reader can do to ameliorate this is to comment and kudos frequently! Even give positive notes in the bookmarks when you make a new one because believe me we check!).

Or they're writing an anthology, in which case you should be very skeptical about those tags.

[queerfables]

So I've been super busy these past few days and I managed to snatch a bit of time to watch 9-1-1 but I wasn't able to write up my reactions. But I'm back again and really catching up now. I just watched 7x04 Buck, Bothered and Bewildered and let me tell you, you couldn't have stopped me liveblogging this episode with a gun to my head.

Oh my GOD Buck is a completely smitten dork. I feel like he pulled this exact move on Taylor "hey let's hang out for reasons that are totally professional" the boy has one move and it's not slick. it is, however, CUTE

"I can give you lessons if you want" Oh Buck you are in TROUBLE this guy is smoooth

Sorry but I am OBSESSED with this love triangle shit. Two besties competing over the same person is a trope that infuriates me but make it queer and throw in some unresolved tension between the besties and I am SOLD

"You and Tommy have a lot of things in common" Oh shit they really are doing Buddie aren't they? Holy shit.

Harry! I'm so happy they brought the character back even if I'm sad it's a different actor

I love how this call is blatantly just a backdrop for Eddie and Buck's personal drama

"Both in the army... both like watching half naked men pummel each other..." am I being punked right now??

"That guy really knows his engine. You should hear that thing purr now." Did Eddie and Tommy fuck??? Buck's face says he's wondering.

The guy in the drain like "hello? I'm still down here?" This entire scene is a goldmine

Oh now Buck is jealous of Chris liking Tommy? Holy fuck you guys I cannot believe Buddie is going canon

Oh no she shot her son??? Oh God

Okay two things: One, Eddie being super giddy on the phone and Buck immediately assuming it's Tommy and not, like, Eddie's actual girlfriend? And two, the fact that it was obviously not Eddie's girlfriend

Showing up at basketball like "Wow, you guys? What are the odds???" Buck you transparent dumbass

"I'm your basketball beard" yeah that's a way to put it

Listen I'm just totally convinced it's not a coincidence that Buck develops this big time crush with misdirected jealousy on the guy Eddie is all of a sudden hanging out with all the time

Oh God, Buck's face when Tommy says he can take Eddie to get an X-ray. That tight nod and the way he just backs off, because he's not going to fight about this if he thinks it's what Eddie really wants or needs. No matter how he feels about letting someone else be that person for Eddie.

"Obviously I've been the cause of some bad blood between you and Eddie" ITS SO FUNNY WHY IS IT SO FUNNY

Ok no I know why it's so funny, it's because Eddie and Buck are caught up in this ridiculous 14 year old drama where they're both trying to get the cute new boy's attention while being conflicted about who they're actually jealous of and neither of them at any point actually realised they were queer

"That kid could not shut up about you" CUTE

"You don't have to tell me how great Eddie is" CUTE

But also Buck saying he only asked for the tour because he wanted to get to know Tommy which like first of all soft but second of all DUH

Oh holy fuck that kiss was AMAZING. I've got butterflies and I was just watching it. I'm not even a little surprised that it propelled Buck straight past a sexuality crisis and into catastrophic horniness. Didn't I tell you this guy was smooth?

The way Buck can't stop staring at his lips

Bonus reflections:

Wow good thing Tommy said "for god's sake, please call Eddie" because for a fraction of a second there, I swear, Buck and I both were like "Eddie who?"

Okay prediction though: if this relationship doesn't last, it's going to be because both of them were hoping it would solve their feelings of jealousy and being left out, and then it didn't

I keep thinking about Eddie repeatedly asking Buck to go to basketball with him, and Buck repeatedly turning him down, because as everyone knows, Buck doesn't like basketball. So Eddie lets it go and asks someone else to play basketball with him. And suddenly Buck cannot wait to play basketball with Eddie's new friend. Look I just feel like maybe there's some kind of symbolism there.

The 118's next emergency: Buck watches Eddie and Tommy spar and has a coronary

[littlerosetrove]

HOLY SHIT!!!!! 🩷💜💙 I have a lot to say.

My initial Spoiler Thoughts for 7x4 in no particular order.

The Bachelor stuff, as expected, was cringe. In a fun way, but still cringe. Chimney definitely has a little crush on Joey (hello bi Chimney? 👀), and clearly Maddie and Josh are huge Bachelor fans. I learned that it was Jennifer LH that loves the show and so pitched this crossover to the writers. Good on her since she helped create Madney and Buddie. <3

Eddie gave Buck a look at Buck's comment of, “Sorry, I have a rule that I don’t date anyone I meet on a call.” 

Bobby could tell something was off with Harry… from the waffles? Also, was that the same actor who plays Harry? It’s been a couple years, so no surprise he’s grown a lot and looks a bit different since we last saw him I think in maybe season 5A.  

That has to be a low-key dig at Buck with Eddie saying “...it’s like that thing when you meet somebody and you just, click.” A reference to the cemetery scene and Buck saying the nonsense about how Natalia, after talking twice, sees him. As Eddie should. 

Ravi is back! He looked fantastic and beautiful. Heh, loved the brief comedy bit of him asking who was gonna go into the sewer. 

Eddie had Marisol babysit Chris twice in one week? ……..I feel mixed about that. I know Eddie is in a better place than he was with Ana, but for him to leave his kid with his, as far as we can tell, casual girlfriend? What confuses me and makes this harder to even analyze for why Eddie is comfortable with this is that, hi. We still know jack shit about Marisol. We just know she and Eddie are casual boyfriend and girlfriend, but not serious. And because we don’t know anything about Marisol nor their relationship, there’s too much to guess why Eddie is, again, cool with having Marisol babysit Chris. I’ve also seen some Latina folks, in the past few days, comment on the stereotype of people like Ana and Marisol playing “the perfect” girlfriend, being motherly and such, and there not really being anything else there. I have no further comment on that, but something to put out there I guess.  

Buck complained to Maddie about Eddie having a new friend. And Maddie saying that Buck probably kept digging at Chris for questions. Buck is definitely feeling very insecure that Chris finds Tommy cool, and has some kind of connection with Tommy already (though we know nowhere close to what Buck and Chris have or will ever have). I feel for Buck, I do. Cause y'all, this guy is going to have abandonment issues probably the rest of his life. Yes he should know his place in Eddie and Chris's life by now, but....idk, it's still hard for Buck to trust his place in peoples lives. Buck go back to therapy, please.

Oh so Eddie has wanted Buck to hang out, like with the basketball games, but Buck has passed on that. Thus Eddie invited Tommy. And Eddie had looked so excited at the prospect of Buck getting to come watch the fight as well. 

Ohhh really interesting scene with Athena and Harry. Harry even brought up the incident of years ago, of a cop pulling over his dad and pointing a gun at Harry. Harry in this scene was asking, basically, which is more important being a cop or my mom. Harry has the impression Athena cares more about being a cop and………. well………. history shows she does “”understand”” the cops side. 

Honestly? I really think Eddie was talking to Tommy on the phone at the station. Given the episode, it probably was. Some may say it could be Marisol, but given how miniscule a role she’s played *gestures* in everything? Nah, it was Tommy. Even from his dialogue I could catch, idk, I still say Tommy. And goddd Buck was trying So Hard to get Eddie’s attention. Buck honey…. you’re embarrassing yourself. 

The scene with Athena and the mom who accidentally shot her son got me. Well done, I cried. Let me also just say I’m so happy to have 911 calls that aren’t longer than necessary, but more so just right. Season 6 had an issue of dragging out the calls. 

Ha! Chimney covering for Buck at the court and calling himself a beard. Chimney knows something is up, especially with Buck. 

Can I just say, I loved seeing Eddie look so happy?? Being more at ease looks fantastic on him. <333

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Eddie act so broey with someone. Tommy really brings out Eddie’s “hey bro man dude what’s going on” side. Interesting interesting… But I am glad that Eddie has someone to connect with about the army, his interest in fighting, and apparently cars???? Stuff like that. 

Tommy called Buck Evan, the entire episode. *squints* I’m not mad about it, but I’m a little ?????? about it. I don’t recall any past girlfriends of Buck who called him Evan. Always Buck. And Buck always introduces himself as Buck to everyone, sooooooo what? The only people to ever call Buck Evan is his parents, Maddie, and Eddie once in the memorable and iconic Will Scene. Like having Tommy call Buck Evan certainly sets him apart from everyone else and definitely past love interests…...

Good on Maddie for rightfully being pissed at Buck for, even though he’s not sure he did it intentionally or not, but for hurting Eddie. I’m a bit pissed at Buck for that too. Like Maddie said, you don’t hurt the people you care about. 🤨

Well I’m glad that Athena stuck by Harry’s side through the whole process, buuuut I still think Athena needs to retire. (we know she won’t, especially with the confirmed 8th season, and who knows how many more. maybe in the last season.) 

Eddie feels bad? Nah see it’s explained in this post by @bihoebuck about how neither Buck nor Eddie are right or wrong. It’s a quick post, read that and it’ll make sense. 

I can't wait to see and hear more from Eddie next episode. Buck may now be focusing on his queer awakening instead of figuring out his feelings about Eddie (spoiler: he's in love with Eddie, we know this), but all of this must get Eddie thinking too. And not just "oh Buck was feeling left out, and I feel like I may have left him out too." Nah there's gotta me more to shake loose in Eddie's head, you know??

BI BUCK IS CANON BABYYYYY!!!! I gotta say the build up to the kiss was really good. And? Like y’all. I really liked how confident Tommy was. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders, saying a lot of right things to clear the air about Chris (that Chris couldn’t stop talking about Buck) and Eddie and such. Tommy even admitting that he’s a bit jealous of the family at the 118, since we know it was Not like that when he worked there. I’m guessing it’s not like that even at the station he currently works at. Now. Once again though we have another case of Buck Misunderstanding the mother-effing Assignment. And I do feel sorry for Tommy because Buck is… basically pivoting in his jealousy about Eddie - feeling like he’s losing Eddie and Chris because Buck will probably forever have abandonment issues - and instead of continuing to really think about why he’s feeling jealous in any regards about Eddie, he’s now thinking, “Oh. I was just wanting to spend time with Tommy. And oh holy shit I’m into guys? Yeah. Yeah I am!!” And so Buck’s queer awakening is kinda clouding his judgment and perspective. Don’t get me wrong! Buck is definitely bi, BLESS, but now he’s going to focus on this part, focus on Tommy, instead of figuring out his feelings about Eddie. I think Buck is still afraid to truly look close at his feelings for Eddie and untangle what it all means. I really wonder just how long Buck will consciously and subconsciously avoid thinking about what Eddie really means to him. I just hope Tommy doesn’t get hurt along the way. =|

PHEW. I got most of my thoughts out, but I’m sure I missed some details. Another really good episode in my books. Not perfect, but pretty dang awesome. 😎

[douglas-rain]

Top Five Douglas Rain Recommendations From Yours Truly

You want to see more of Douglas Rain, but you're not sure where to start? Well, do I have the thing for you! As the internet's most preeminent Douglas Rain expert (except for Gerry Flahive I guess, but he's kind of slow at answering emails and more focused on other stuff these days. If he wants to reclaim the title, he can meet me in the parking lot <3), I've made you a handy little list of some of my personal favourite performances by DR that I think you should see and/or hear!

And by 'little' I mean 'I got way too into this, so it's pretty long now'. I put it under a cut; you're welcome.

In the interest of fairness, I've chosen one performance from each of his fields of work (namely: ON STAGE, RADIO WORK, DOCUMENTARY NARRATION, TELEVISION and FILM). Please know, however, that I can give reviews of basically everything in the masterpost, so if you're interested in hearing about any of them, feel free to shoot me an ask!

Without further ado, let's get into it...

-

ON STAGE: Henry V (1966)

Okay, this one's teeeechnically a TV movie, but it's adapted from Stratford's staged production, so I'm counting it. It's also a rare treat in that we get to see DR in colour! (Everybody say THANK YOU to David Rain, his son, for bullying the Festival into restoring this production and adding it to their online catalogue. I owe him my life.)

This is one of Shakespeare's histories, part of the Henriad (aka the collection of plays about the accomplishments of various English kings). Henry V, the main guy in this one, is actually the crowned version of Prince Hal from both parts of Henry IV, a role that DR had played previously at Stratford, so this is a fun bit of character continuity for him! The play centres around the king's invasion of France, with a lot of ruminating on hope and despair and duty and bravery. Harry - as he is affectionately referred to on occasion - is really going through it, and DR portrays him with such emotional intensity. He's proud, he's fierce, he's clever, he's a BITCH and I like him SO MUCH.

The book has been edited down slightly to fit into a two hour runtime for television, but beyond a few... very funny jumpcuts, it's not really noticeable at all. And while the sets are kept mostly simple, the costumes are gorgeous. I went in not expecting much (a mistake I keep making when approaching Shakespeare plays, for some reason lol), and was thoroughly entertained the whole way through!

It also contains the transcendentally funny line, "Tennis balls, my liege!" because Shakespeare was the most hysterical motherfucker on planet Earth. It makes sense in context, I promise.

Can be found on Stratfest@Home, the online streaming service of the Stratford Festival (there's a 7-day free trial period if you sign up). You may also check my masterpost of performances for a possible alternative, but shhh.

-

RADIO WORK: Fifth Business (1980)

I love this one; it's literally so fucking funny. This radio play is a dramatisation of the 1970 novel of the same name by Robertson Davies. Fifth Business recounts the life story of Dunstable "Dunstan" Ramsay, from his boyhood in an idyllic (on the surface only) Canadian village to his experiences in the First World War, his career as a teacher and all the loves and complications he runs into, and the formative experiences peppering his life where he's never quite the main character. He is instead 'fifth business' - neither hero nor villain, but still integral to resolving the play's plot. Ramsay is clever, sarcastic and a goddamn weirdo who's obsessed with saints for non-religious reasons. He dodged a snowball as a kid and the consequences of that haunt him throughout the entire book.

The radio drama features a whole cast of actors, including of course DR as the protagonist (who also narrates everything btw), doing an absolutely delightful job. Fellow Stratford actress Martha Henry, who also happened to be his wife at the time, is in it too!

The entire drama is delightful, honestly. I liveblogged my experience listening to it for the first time, and man there is some wild shit happening in this novel. The entire things is about three and a half hours, but it really doesn't feel that long.

Can be found (in eight parts) on YouTube or on Archive.org. (Or in a junkbox on a sidewalk in Toronto. I'm still baffled by that.)

-

DOCUMENTARY NARRATION: Universe (1960)

A classic. Documentaries make up a sizeable chunk of the masterpost (thanks to the NFB website and archive channels on YouTube), so there were more options in this category than in any of the others. But I decided to go with this particular gem of a documentary.

It's about - who would have guessed - the universe, featuring the most advanced scientific knowledge of planets and stars at the time. The special effects are also quite impressive - if you move around Space Odyssey circles, you may have heard that the visuals of this documentary were a major inspiration for 2001. Also, DR's narration in Universe is what brought him to Stanley Kubrick's attention. You can probably guess how that ended. (Gerry Flahive has some articles about the whole thing if you don't.)

Anyway, Universe is a beautiful and meditative look at our galaxy and the many things it contains, and DR's narration is absolutely lovely. It clocks in at just under half an hour, so not that big of a time commitment either.

Can be found on YouTube or on the NFB website.

-

TELEVISION: William Lyon Mackenzie: A Friend To His Country (1961)

It's so hard to find old Canadian TV shows anywhere online and I'm forever bitter about it. Our options here are incredibly limited as a result, so you're just going to have to accept that I'm recommending you a historical short film from 1961, alright? This is as difficult for me as it is for you.

Unsurprisingly, this movie is about William Lyon Mackenzie, who was... *checks Wikipedia* "a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician." Yes, DR is doing a Scottish accent in this role. Yes, I adore it. I know very little about Canadian history, so I can't exactly speak to the film's accuracy, but I found it charming and DR is doing a very good job. Most of the half hour runtime is spent on Mackenzie's various political struggles (some sort of failed revolution, I gather, followed by exile in the United States and some jailtime) and him trying to protect his family. His wife is played by Canadian actress Kate Reid in this movie, which I personally find very funny for... reasons. IYKYK.

Can be found on YouTube or on the NFB website.

-

FILM: OEDIPUS REX (1957)

I'm sort of cheating again, but the only other options in this category that I have access to are the two Space Odyssey movies, and they seemed like too basic of a choice. So have some more drama instead! This is also a filmed version of one of Stratford's plays, but released in theatres this time.

Oedipus Rex is a breezy 87 minutes and adapts the English translation by Yeats of the classic Greek tragedy by Sophocles, with a little added prologue to set the scene. It was directed by Tyrone Guthrie, who you might remember as the Big Man from The Stratford Adventure. Or from the fact that he was a pretty famous theatre guy. If you need a refresher on your Greek myths: Oedipus was the guy who was prophesised to kill his father and marry his mother. He got done dirty by Freud somewhere down the line.

DR plays the role of the Messenger, a minor part who recounts some of the most famous plot points of the tragedy of Oedipus, which they couldn't show onscreen/onstage. Granted, he's only in this one for like five minutes, but he really rocks up to crash the party wearing the coolest outfit in the entire show. And yes, everyone in this production is wearing Greek theatre masks, so you can't see his face. You get to hear his voice though - and watch his captivating body language!

Can be found on YouTube. Or you can probably buy it on DVD if you really want to; idk, I'm not the boss of you. (I've also clipped his scene if you really, really don't want to watch the whole play. I get it's a big ask. Really beautiful production though, seriously!)

[briarpotter]

Ginniversary Drabble

Read here on Ao3, or continue reading below.

I-16: Why had no-one ever mentioned Mum's twin?

“You never told me Mum had a twin? Why has no one ever mentioned Mum’s twin?” Albus asked, as he went through the day’s mail. “Mum’s twin? Your mum doesn’t have a twin? What are you talking about, Albus?” Harry spluttered. “Here, take a look. There’s a letter from some Jennifer Weasley?” Albus said. “What?!” Harry exclaimed, taking the letter his son held. He opened the envelope and read it. Albus watched in glee as his father’s eyes widened with every word he read.

Dear Ginny,

I know you’re probably wondering why I’m writing this letter to you. And yes, it’s true, I am your twin. The reason why I haven’t contacted you for years is because I honestly had no idea that I am a witch, let alone the fact that I have a twin! I found out through my boyfriend, who’s a wizard, a few months ago, and went to Gringotts to do an inheritance check.

I was taken from the family at birth and was adopted and raised by Muggles. As a kid, I would constantly be doing magic, which what my boyfriend tells me is accidental magic, but neither me nor my adopted family had any idea what it was. When my adopted sister got into a tragic accident, I got so upset, as I’m very close to her.

My boyfriend, whose name is Alex, found all the glasses in my house shattered and broken when he came over to comfort me when he found out about my sister. He realized that I’m a witch when I told him that I had no idea how they broke, so we went to Gringotts to check. He was right, and I also found out my real family, and that you’re my twin. So here we are.

I would really like to meet with you and get to know you and your family better, if you don’t mind. Please write back, and tell me a convenient time to meet.

Yours truly, Jennifer Weasley

Harry was shocked. Ginny had a twin? He needed to tell her. “Ginny! I need to talk to you! Could you come into the living room please?” He called. “Sure, honey!” She came into the living room. Harry, who had been sitting on the couch, pat the seat next to him, telling her to sit down.

She sat down next to Harry and he silently handed her the slightly folded letter. She took it. “What? What’s wrong, Harry? You look like you saw a ghost?” She asked. “Just read the letter.” He replied. She read it, her eyes widening. “What? Really? Is this true?” She was bewildered.

Just then, they heard a snort. They looked up to see their youngest son cracking up like someone had just told the funniest joke ever. “Why are you laughing, Albus?” Harry asked, annoyed. “It’s a prank!” Albus laughed so much; tears were running out his eyes.

“What?” Ginny asked. “Me and James pranked you! We pranked you so good!” He wheezed. “James wrote the letter, and we agreed that I would give you it! He knows I’m the better actor, so I gave it to you!” He added.

“Oh, you little-” Ginny growled playfully. She burst out laughing. Harry chuckled next to her. She complimented the prank after she stopped laughing. “It was a good prank. Uncle George would be proud.” Albus nodded and went up to his room. Ginny sighed and laid her head on Harry’s shoulder.

“While it was a good prank, they went a bit too far. I was really worried for a second there. We should talk to them about the difference between harmless pranks and pranks that are hurtful.” She said. Harry nodded. “I agree. For now, they’re just kids and they don’t understand the difference. As their parents, it’s our job to tell them. We’ll have a talk with them after dinner.” He said.

“I love you, you know?” She said. “I know. I love you too.”

[nebulouscoffee]

7, 23, 27, and 33 for the Star Trek ask meme?

Thank you for the ask!

7. Who would make up your crew dream team?

You know, this is something I've thought about before (shoutout to @fancy-a-dance-brigadier for always asking the real questions lol) - but I could never quite find an answer I was satisfied with! Because I don't think taking all my favourites and smushing them together works, they just aren't as interesting together as mixups between characters who have bigger ideological differences. Like, he might be my fav captain but I don't want to choose Sisko over Janeway and Picard, I want to see him interact with Janeway and Picard, you know? So here's a sort of half-cooked, this-would-change-every-time-you-asked-me answer:

Captain: Ben Sisko First Officer: Michael Burnham (I wanna see them interact!!) Chief of Operations: Data Chief Xenoanthropologist: Chakotay (I know this is not an actual position in Star Trek but it should be!! The dude who makes sure dealings with alien cultures are being handled with respect, basically) Chief of Security: La'an Singh (trying to mix and match here) Chief Science Officer: Jadzia Dax (ft. Harry Kim always giving her ideas) Counsellor: Deanna Troi (ft. trainee Ezri Tigan) Chief Medical Officer: Julian Bashir (ft. Kes starting graphic and unhinged conversations about autopsies with him) Chief Engineer: Geordi La Forge (ft. B'Elanna on staff. Drama!!!) Helmsman: Ro Laren Communications: Hoshi Sato Also There: Kira Nerys (recurring character who works with them when it's relevant), Guinan (bartender), Admiral Picard (recurring character that makes Sisko do the iconic "Kai Winn is boarding the station" facepalm), Jake Sisko (son), Garak (local menace), and Admiral Janeway (temporal menace)

23. Favorite tropes?

Character's past comes back to haunt them. Character is forced to confront their inner demons in a way that blurs the line between imagination and reality. Member of an alien society seeks asylum. A peek into the world from the "outsider" character's eyes. Two people from opposite sides are forced to spend time together (and the guest character SLAPS). Captain is out of commission and the unlikeliest people are forced to step up. Oh no the holodeck isn't shutting down and the only way we can save everyone's life is to LARP through this thing fully committing to the bit. Here is a spacial anomaly that makes everyone act weird one by one (either revealing important hidden truths about the characters, or just letting the actors have too much fun). ALL of us have to go back in time together for some stupid reason (and it's amazing)

27. What do you wish they had handled differently?

SO many potential answers- but since it's always on my mind, I wish they'd followed through on the thread of Jem'Hadar dissent. In 'The Abandoned' we find out they're genetically engineered to (rapidly) grow very strong, be dependant on drugs, and loyal to the Founders while demanding no individual rights, which frames them as tragic victims. Then we get a Jem'Hadar character who not only broke free of the Dominion's hold on him, not only expresses but also acts on the dream of freeing his fellow soldiers- and a lead character (Julian) risks his career for him! Sisko tries to get through to them in 'Rocks and Shoals'. They're so clearly complex beings with unique thoughts & personalities & feelings & needs, and are constantly fighting this inhumanely imposed programming that tells them they're just killing machines who live to serve their masters. Even in lighthearted episodes like 'One Little Ship' we see conflict between the Gamma and Alpha Quadrant soldiers, for example. We could've had this be relevant to the Dominion War's resolution! We could've had a defector Jem'Hadar as a recurring character! We could've had Julian finally make that breakthrough & help start a Jem'Hadar revolt!! It could've been so much more interesting (and so much less racist)

33. Whose twitter feed would you most want to follow?

My first instinct was Dax, but I'm leaning more towards Jake Sisko- I feel like because he's the son of a Starfleet officer (but not in the service himself) he'd have absolutely zero fear of authority & he'd just post the most savage things about prominent Starfleet officers and blow up incredibly unflattering pics of all the admirals lol

[richardsphere]

Leverage Redemption Log: The Fractured Job

Someone is moving house, puts a trophy in a box. Scouts are coming so the kid might get a scholarship for the sportsballs. Town is collapsing economically.

Fracking, (the water is flammable) --- Sophie is worried their actions could have collateral damage. She's still feeling guilty about Arthur.

Hardisons in space. (get the actor a greenscreen and he can do cameo's without burdaining his packed schedule too much or needing to be physically present. God are they lucky its the hacker whose career took off. I dont think they could've done this stuff if it'd been Elliot)

Elliot is on break. He's going to try and connect with his dad. (presumably lives in Frackingville).

--- Elliot on the road, listening to the radi-OH SHIT ITS A PARKER "Im here for emotional support" "Im here to ensure she gets the concept" 10/10 gag.

Elliot comes to his hometown and barely has the time to nostalgia about the hardware store before he has to intervene in some goon-on-guy violence.

Parker and Elliot punch some people while Breanna loads Checkov's Pepperspray Pipet. Interracial family representation. --- The goons are not proficient in disguise. Huh, i didnt know fracking caused earthquakes. (that reads sarcastic/suspicious of future plottwists. It isnt, i dont live in a country that has fracking so all I know about it is through cultural osmosis from american exported media)

Oh i thought Breanna meant "we should give these two some alone time" not "We've got a client". (I thought "we've got a client" was obvious enough it didnt need saying).

Elliot looking longingly at the siblings that have lived an entire life without him. --- Yup of course Harry knows how hard it is to prove the direct causality from "fracking rig" to "cancerous growths" in a legal setting.

Sophie is afraid of hurting Elliot's relationship with his dad through this.

--- Breanna and Dad talking bout the future.

Parker is worried that Elliot might be dying, (sudden decision to connect with family, it would match the symptoms) Bugs in place, "we dont upload anything we use a closed system" huh, guys actually smart enough to see through a con... until you double down with a second-layer. --- Meanwhile at the Oklahoma State Capital, Harry and Sophie are ready to deal with a probably-crooked politician. (as if there is another kind)

Time for an interview, show him the obvious microphone so we can make him think he's "safe" when its taken from play (leaving him unaware of a second, tinier microphone)

AG is going back home, (make him see the damage itself rather then the probably faked data. If he's not corrupt that'll be enough. If he is corrupt... well we'll know exactly where he is) --- Breakfast. The good thing about politicians locked away from their home for ages is that they're so unfamiliar with their own home they're extremely unlikely to notice any minor changes as a result of you bugging their house.

Elliot is staying to get that family talk in (and protect his dad from hired goons) Dad is still somewhat standoffish, but he's accepted the breakfast.

Well, he might not actually be crooked after all. A bit suspiciously defensive of the "wait for the reports" policy but correlation VS causation is a thing and its actually good for an AG not to let anecdotal evidence steer him too much so lets hope. --- Yeah he's crooked. Of course he is. Hope is a lie like always.

So yeah not only is he crooked, he's the real mastermind what the state actually prosecutes it means you bribe one and you are out and clear.

But he still wants that interview with Harry and Sophie, so that means we can literally put a camera in his face and he'd go with whatever script we feed him.

Father and Son heart-to-heart. --- We have a keycard and we're off to the rig. Dad is off to violate a restraining order.

reduced guards, more people for Elliot to punch. --- Oh we put him in front of a camera, on a stage and everything. Live broadcast as he boasts of his victory?

this robot bodies joke is getting a bit long in the tooth... 7 seasons and a timeskip's worth of buildup to that hug. "try to stay out of trouble"

[zalrb]

Red White and Royal Blue Review

I'm sorry but as the president's son, wouldn't you know not to get drunk at an official engagement like this?

Is that cake about to get ruined because it feels like the cake is about to get ruined. I didn't see the trailer.

2. Yes, it was ruined. I feel like I should be drunk for this.

3. I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY REPUTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. I was like what’s going on with Uma Thurman but I realize she’s trying to do an accent. I do not think it’s working.

5. This ... looks weird to me

It almost looks like photoshop, idk.

6. I’ve only been watching this for ten minutes but .. why can’t I remember his name, whatever president son dude, I think he’s the weakest link. The dialogue isn’t as snappy as it thinks it is although I did chuckle at the “you’ll act like the sun shines out of his ass and you have a vitamin D deficiency” but Zahra sells the quick “snappy” wit with more ease than he does. He isn’t comfortable with it.

7. Equerry dude is hotter than both of them.

8. Alex. His name is Alex.

9. Honestly, out of the two of them, Alex is acting like the bigger jackass.

10. Yeah, Alex kinda irritates me.

11. He flirts better with Miguel. Those eyes?

like I know we’re not at the flirty part with Henry yet but I can already tell we’re not going to get the same energy.

12. I don’t think you understand the laugh that came out of my mouth when I saw this

because it’s basically like they each got their own Black Best Friend and I know this is supposed to be like DIVERSITY.

13. “Omg people would kill to come to my NYE party” so far, this is a pretty basic party, sir.

14. So Henry is supposed to be uptight and posh and Alex is supposed to be more carefree, the drunk partier dude, but the thing is, the actor doesn’t come across carefree, he feels like he’s trying to be carefree so he actually makes me feel more uptight than Henry because I’m like, you’re not letting loose but you’re supposed to be the loose one.

15. TO THE WINDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW TO THE WALL! TILL THE SWEAT DROPS DOWN MY BALLS!  AH SKEET SKEET MUTHAFUCKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, AH SKEET SKEET GOTDAMN!

16. LMAOOOOOOOOO. Honestly, I don’t know if them choosing Get Low as the song they’re supposed to see each other across the dance floor and look at each other longingly is brilliant or terrible.

17. Aww Henry wanted a NYE kiss. Sad face.

18. Henry, I just feel like you could do better than Alex?

19. WE GET IT YOU WERE WORKING CLASS

20. Well at least they’re not Malec when they kiss.

21. He’s reminiscent of a a young Al Pacino -- I’m actually thinking of Al Pacino in Scarface but they did darken his skin for Scarface, which is you know.

22. “He grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football” this line is wasted on these two. Jesus, give it to people with chemistry.

23.

he deserves a better scene partner.

24. I can’t believe I’m not even an hour in.

25. Alex, do some work!

26. Oh, this banter is terrible. People are comparing this to Merthur?

27. Wait, but I want to know which other famous boys he’s shagged.

28. This is probably the most I’ve cared about them so far

29. And he's blinking rapidly to show he's nervous but it should be in the body language, Alex is kind of just standing there. It should be nervous and exciting and intimate and thrilling, it's just ... kind of happening. Like the dude who plays Henry, his back must be TIRED from carrying all of this.

30. Ah yes,

it's giving

but way less intimate.

31. OK. So. I was going to add a screenshot but I was afraid tumblr would block it if I did so when they're making love, Alex -- who I almost called whatshiface -- says "I can't believe how wrong I was about you" and here's my thing with dialogue during sex scenes and I feel really bad for comparing these two movies because no one deserves this but it reminds me of when anons were like please watch some clips of the um, what's that movie series based on Harry Styles fanfiction -- After -- WE ARE GOING TO PAUSE TO BRING ATTENTION TO THE PROCESS I WENT THROUGH TO GET THE NAME OF THESE FUCKING MOVIES:

I typed in movie based on harry styles fanfiction and then Google was like Anne Hathaway and I was like what no, there's another movie based on One Direction fanfiction?? HOW MANY ARE THERE? then I was like wasn't Jughead in the movie? but then I forgot his real name so I had to be like Riverdale cast and it was like Cole Sprouse and I was like RIGHT! then looked up his fucking filmography and it wasn't there and I was like I swear I saw a clip with him in it and then I was like RIGHT, he is a twin so then I Googled his brother's name then I got Dylan Sprouse and then I looked up HIS filmography and got the name of the movie JUST FOR THIS BRIEF MENTION IN THIS STUPID POST and I was like, but anons can't search the masterlist??????????

anyway there's that scene where they're having sex in her office or something and like in the middle of them having sex he's like "SAY I'M THE ONLY ONE" or something and it just made me laugh because his voice is unaltered, he just delivered the line like they were having a regular conversation and that's what happens here, Alex just says this line and it takes me out of the moment because I'm like you're not being breathy or moaning or something as you talk, you're just talking like normal? THEN DON'T SPEAK.

32. But what does Alex do? Is he in school? Is he ... what does he do? I know he wrote a memo that nobody read and will probably end up being a huge meaningful contribution down the line but he's talking about wishing he could help more and I'm like what's your job? Like you can still help people in whatever job you're doing, like are YOU going to hospitals and talking to dying children? Like what's happening here?

33. And he's going on and on about making his dad proud and being someone who can do something but you're the guy who got drunk at a wedding and made a 75,000 pound cake fall. I...

34. Ah he's a law student. Volunteer at a free law clinic then, jesus christ.

35. OK their together texts are infinitely worse. "I CAN'T HAVE SMUT FILLING MY INBOX".

36. I mean, Miguel is a journalist, Alex, I...

37. So I'm guessing Miguel will break the Alex/Henry story. Because duh.

38. HENRY IS TRYING SO HARD.

39. "Dad, what is this music? It's so not the vibe" I'm sorry but I find Alex insufferable.

40. Oh so Henry DOES read nonwhite authors, jfc.

41. Ohhhhhhh whatshisface, Alex, is having the IT ALL MAKES SENSE moment, which MUST happen when the love interest is singing, HENRY IS HIS FOREVER BOO. And then of course, princes can't be gay so even though Henry feels the same way, I'm sure he'll be all I TOLD YOU NOT TO FALL IN LOVE WITH ME.

42. This movie seems like there'll be a rain kiss in it.

43. "Yeah, he's tougher than he looks." You guys were drinking tequila shots, doing karaoke and playing volleyball, not chopping wood for your only source of heat during winter in the Appalachians. Relax.

44. "You can understand my life a little more" which is cool but what about HIS life, Alex? I don't know I just find him extremely self-centered.

45. IT'S LIKE THERE'S A ROPE ATTACHED TO MY CHEST AND IT KEEPS PULLING ME TOWARDS YOU. Yes, I see the Jane Eyre reference.

46. Aww, he's in the pool with his hand over his heart. I needed a better couple for this.

47. And here we go with the downturn before the uptick.

48. He's trying so hard to be melancholy and this is what we get?

A furrowed brow?

49.

I mean are you? What is this, Stefan about Caroline? Please be serious.

50. Well, there's rain. But they're not kissing.

51. "I flew across an ocean" which would be more impressive if you weren't the president's son, Alex.

52.

You didn't actually storm the castle, though. Who are you now, Damon?

53. This should be way more frenzied than it is. He should be yelling, out of his mind, and Henry should be doing exactly what he's doing now.

54.

Well that's because he's amazingly self-centred.

55. ON. HIS. BACK.

56. Stephen Fry being in this is kind of perfect though. I just wish the movie was better.

57. OK well that's over.

[westeroswisdom]

TWO trailers for House of the Dragon were released on Thursday.

Among other things, we get a quick peek at Cregan Stark.

^^^ That's Cregan (Tom Taylor) on the left talking with Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) whose ride up north on Vermax seems to have caused his hair to grow out quite a bit. Since they are apparently at The Wall, it's possible that Jace first landed at Winterfell where he was told that Cregan wasn't home; though it's also possible that they journeyed up to The Wall together for some business.

House of the Dragon showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal now speaks with EW exclusively to unpack some of the big secrets from the footage. Season 2 picks up directly after the events of the season 1 finale, which saw Aegon, Rhaenyra's half-brother, crowned king of Westeros behind her back, even though she was the chosen successor of their father, the late king Viserys (Paddy Considine). "This is not a story of goodies and baddies, black hats and white hats," Condal says of the dueling Blacks and Greens. "It's a story of this family that's been rent open by this dispute over who is meant to wear the crown after Viserys passes. Some people think it's Rhaenyra, some people think it's Aegon, and then there are other people within who think, 'Why should it be one of the two of them? Maybe it should be somebody else. Maybe it should be me!' The fun of this Greek tragedy is seeing, when you introduce a power vacuum to a world like this, how all of these individuals react."  [ ... ] Hundreds of years before the age of Sean Bean's Eddard Stark and Kit Harington's Jon Snow, Cregan Stark is the Lord of Winterfell. Actor Tom Taylor (The Dark Tower, The Kid Who Would Be King) debuts in the Rhaenyra-themed trailer... well, from the back at least. In the season 1 finale, Rhaenyra's son Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) flew north to rally his mother's supporters. That will include a stop to meet with Lord Stark, and the footage shows Jace walking with Cregan along the top of the Wall. "He's very powerful," Condal says of the character. "Everybody's vying for his army. He's quite a bit younger than Ned Stark was, so it's interesting to see the Young Wolf, the young Stark lord, and how he carries himself in the world, and the burden that's on his shoulders being the Warden of the North. I'm excited for the audience to see and experience that."

Ryan Condal teases a significant battle.

There are various key battles that occur in the timeline of the Dance of the Dragons, but given Ser Criston's presence, a good guess would be the Battle of Rook's Rest. Of course, Condal will neither confirm nor deny any specific theories. "This season, we shot two of the largest sequences that certainly I've ever done as a maker of television, certainly that House of the Dragon has ever done," Condal teases. "I don't know that they're bigger necessarily than anything Game of Thrones has done, because they got pretty big in the end. But certainly we're going to see new things that you have not seen before within this world. There's some pretty epic stuff to come. It's just a couple months away, guys."

[kakashicowboy]

On The Percy Jackson Series Complaints and Backlash . . .

Over the last few weeks of this show being released older book readers/fans of the series have taken to social media to air out their disdain and dislike of the show. They have listed a series of issues they have with the new series from problems with pacing to not following the source material verbatim, all of which come across as petty and asinine.

The truth of the matter is, that this is a show made for children but the children who first experienced the books, such as myself, are now grown adults aged out of this particular media. We want a recreation of our childhood that also simultaneously matches our tastes now as adults and feel like we’re being robbed of an experience we should’ve received as children, like we had with Harry Potter. And the only thing that I really have to say in response to that is “Get Over It!”

Is the Percy Jackson Series without flaws? No, but honestly think back to all of your childhood favorite shows and movies and tell me which one isn’t? People want to complain about the amount explaining being done in the show but the show isn’t meant for people 20+ who have spent their whole lives diving into Greek Mythology. The target audience is children and so the show takes time to explain to those children, experiencing this for the first time, Greek Mythology 101. If you’re now an adult watching you’re going to have to deal with that because this media is not catering to you, nor should it.

Percy also having now been taught mythology in the show (a change from the books) is also not that big of a deal. It shows the closer knit bond between him and his mom and also shows him as a competent hero who is much more intelligent than he has been allowed to believe due to his learning disability. How are these bad things? Well in the minds of these aged out cry babies “It’s not the book that I remember.”

And? So?

The one criticism I’ve seen fans cite the most though is about the Lotus Casino scene, specifically that they meet Hermes when they shouldn’t meet Luke’s deadbeat father until much later. I, however, don’t mind this change at all and think it’s actually good to start establishing Hermes a bit earlier since his tumultuous relationship with his son is a huge factor and catalyst for Luke’s villainous pursuits against the other Gods and demigods. The adult babies: “But that’s not what I read when I was a kid!”

I always dread when books/comic books get made into movies or tv shows sometimes because fans of the source material will nitpick the hell out of it, especially if it doesn’t match exactly what they experienced when they read the words on the page. Directors and actors should be given space to make these things their own and not simply just be hired to regurgitate what was written years ago. However, to add to this point it’s time for the children who experienced the source material in real-time to grow up and be the adults they are instead of acting so childish on Social Media.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t watch the show but watching the show also means knowing that the place we’re in now with this story is that of no longer being produced with you in mind but a new generation of kids. It’s never going to meet your now adult standard of what media should be and in a way these adults who refuse to grow up are now just ruining child made content by criticizing it into the ground.

Don’t get me wrong, nothing is above criticism but your criticism also has to be and feel appropriate. And in the case of the new Percy Jackson series the criticism just feels overblown and like one big nonsensical tantrum.

[denimbex1986]

'As film fans rage about 2024 Oscars nomination “snubs”, it’s the omission of Andrew Haigh’s gay ghost story All of Us Strangers that stings for me the most.

I found watching the delicate, affecting All of Us Strangers to be a little like picking a scab. The first time I saw it, a barely concealed wound opened and bled.

Although I knew going back a second time would only keep the wound raw, I couldn’t help it. An addictive pang of something – catharsis, masochism, I’m not sure – brought me straight back. I wept both times.

Based loosely on Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, the film follows depressed, queer, mid-40s writer Adam – played with excruciating vulnerability by Fleabag’s Andrew Scott – as he ventures back to his childhood home. His parents, played by The Crown‘s Claire Foy and Billy Elliot‘s Jamie Bell, are there to greet him – despite having died 30 years earlier in a car crash.

It opens a realm of possibility that all of us have or will imagine at one time or another: what do you wish you’d said to a loved one, now they’re no longer around to hear it?

It’s a tough year to be an Oscars contender, for sure. Online, frustrated film lovers are voicing their disappointment at a range of absences from the nominations list: both Barbie director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were left in the cold, while the heart of Past Lives, actress Greta Lee, wasn’t nominated for best actress.

But both films scored best picture nominations. Indeed, Barbie racked up eight nods in total.

All of Us Strangers? Nothing. It’s confusing. Even Todd Haynes’ May December, snubbed in the majority of categories, managed a nod for best original screenplay.

Critics have adored All of Us Strangers, as have audiences. It’s currently sitting as one of the freshest releases of 2023 on Rotten Tomatoes with a 96 per cent approval rating, while the BAFTAs have got it down for six potential awards, including best British film.

Spend a few minutes scouring social media, and you’ll drown in the wave of outrage from those shocked it didn’t get an Oscar nomination too.

Scott is the film’s highlight. Three decades of muted grief hangs from the delivery of his every line, and his childlike longing for protection resonates as something we all feel but rarely acknowledge. A best actor nomination, though not entirely expected considering he wasn’t nominated in the same category at the BAFTAs, would have been richly deserved.

And Foy should have been a no-brainer for a best supporting actress nod. Her portrayal of a fallible mother of the Thatcher generation – who at first struggles to understand her son’s sexuality – is as warm and tender as it is devastating, given the gulf that exists between their lives.

In one quietly affecting scene, she tells Adam that no matter how long he spends with their apparitions, it will never be enough, essentially capturing the film’s heart in a single line.

It also feels like a bizarre missed opportunity for the Academy to right some of Hollywood’s wrongs when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation.

There’s no doubt that the 2024 Oscars are already historic for queer actors: Colman Domingo is up for best actor, thanks to his role as a gay civil rights activist in Rustin, and Jodie Foster is nominated for her portrayal of lesbian racquetball player Bonnie Stoll in Nyad.

In Domingo’s case, it’s only the second time an out gay actor has been nominated in the category for playing a gay character (Ian McKellen was the first).

But for the Academy to be presented with an impeccable LGBTQ+ story – Adam meets a fellow gay resident, Harry (Paul Mescal), and they begin an intimate relationship – and to ignore it entirely, sits uncomfortably. Was the queer quota for the year already filled?

Fans have a few theories as to why it may have been cast aside. It was released in the US at the very end of the year, and in a limited number of cinemas, meaning it slipped under the radar for many. As a queer love story, too, it tackles the enormity of coming out and the pain of not being able to be our authentic selves with our loved ones before it’s too late.

That might be difficult to relate to for some viewers.

There’s the simple fact that the this year’s Oscars are stacked with talent, or perhaps as one satirical film site put it, maybe the Academy simple didn’t bother to watch it. “We got the DVD and everything,” reads a made-up quote from an Academy official on Screen Idle, “but, you know, it looked all a bit British and depressing, so we didn’t get round to watching it.”

The film might not have stormed the Oscars, and it might go unnoticed by those who aren’t avid cinema lovers, but, for the queer people who watch it, it will always be special – and that is worth way more than any gold statuette.

Director and Looking creator Haigh said it best. “I’m all right with it not being some big mainstream million-dollar, billion-dollar hit, because clearly, that’s never going to happen,” he told PinkNews in an exclusive interview.

“There will still be lots and lots of people out there who won’t go and see this film because of the [LGBTQ+ content], or what they think is the content, and that’s a shame, because I feel this is a film for everybody.

“But it’s nice and amazing that it has been taken under the wing by a lot of people. I love that.”'

[kcyars520]

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CUT COVERS11:00 A.M.

Keke Palmer Is the Internet’s Sweetheart

But the multi-hyphenate is more than just the Queen of Meme.

Photo: Micaiah Carter

Keke Palmer grips the false lashes on her eyelids with two fingers and slowly peels them off her skin. She’s had a long day, and it’s nearly 7 p.m.

The sun in the window behind her is blaring over a palm tree without any sign of eventually making its descent somewhere behind the horizon. And yet, Palmer has endured multiple flight delays from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, had a glamorous hours-long photo shoot, found herself at the center of Twitter discourse about her relationship, and still made it home in time to feed her new baby his early-dinner bottle. “Yup, he’s asleep,” she says, looking over playfully at her 4-month-old son, Leo.

About that discourse: Palmer’s motherhood recently became an uninvited topic of conversation online. Last Wednesday, while she was photographed and interviewed for this cover, a video circulated of Palmer, clad in a sheer black dress with a bodysuit underneath, getting serenaded by Usher at one of his Las Vegas residency concerts. Darius Daulton Jackson, the father of her child, saw the video and tweeted his criticisms of Palmer for her outfit choice, later doubling down on his stance when her fans swarmed his replies. While on set and by the time we spoke, Palmer hadn’t yet engaged, but internet bystanders rallied around her, forming a sort of virtual shield attempting to protect her and, in turn, shunning him.

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Even though the 29-year-old actor and producer finds herself in an entirely different life stage from me, it’s impossible to shake the feeling that we grew up together or that we have some sort of shared history. Not in a traditional sense, of course, considering she’s been a movie star since the tender age of 10, but by way of having a front-row seat to her organic matriculation through life, from project to project. She starred as a strong-willed spelling-bee champ in Akeelah and the Bee, a double-Dutch savant on the Disney Channel movie Jump In!, and a teen fashion executive on True Jackson, VP, and many of us who were once precocious little girls watched a young Palmer on the screen with awe as she evolved into the powerhouse we know her as today. By the time she was getting Oscar buzz for roles in more grown-up fare, like Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers (based on a true story originally reported in this magazine) and Jordan Peele’s Nope (a New York Times critic’s pick that won her widespread acclaim and an invitation to the Academy this summer), we became acquainted with Palmer in her role as a serious, well-adjusted, fully fledged actor. And, of course, along the way was her music career, which she’s still working on, anchored by her song “Bottoms Up,” a pivotal moment in the Zeitgeist for teenage girls everywhere. (She released a sequel of sorts to the track last year.)

In the same way we’ve come to know her, she feels as though she’s come to know us: “I do feel like America’s little sister, little cousin. I feel very much so related to everybody,” she tells me. “I’m like that second cousin that you see every two years at the family reunion.”

Now, as she branches off into newer, more experimental ventures with KeyTV, an avenue for Palmer to support other young creatives of color, and her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, on which she has interviewed guests like Vice-President Kamala Harris (Palmer asked her to clarify both if she does have a silk press and what policies should be developed to deal with the maternal mortality crisis), John Stamos, and fellow child stars Aly and AJ Michalka, Palmer is entering her “big boss era,” as she’s dubbed it.

Online, Palmer is generally unafraid to discuss potentially taboo topics, like acne and breast milk, while also finding ways to inject humor into whatever she’s speaking about. From “Sorry to this man” to “You know it’s your girlllll,” she has kept the culture quenched with a steady stream of delightful sound bites, which inevitably become endearing memes. Admittedly, as a self-described citizen of the internet, she loves this too: “When people see themselves in me enough to repost a meme or use a GIF, it really humanizes me in a way that I think sometimes feels lost in my life,” she says. “So I really do feel appreciative of being a meme.”

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There are a lot of moms hyping you up online right now, defending your integrity. What’s something you would say to them?

Do you, new moms. Do you. Girl, if there’s one person on this earth that loves you for sure, it’s that baby. Be happy, because there’s no love like it. Somebody loving you like that, hell, who cares?

You just had a baby, you host a podcast, and you also started a production company called KeyTV. Tell me what that’s about.

I came from a very traditional space in entertainment, and it was very hard for me to create my own narrative and help get the work that I ended up getting as I’ve continued to evolve as a creator. Because of the internet, I was able to produce and create my own content and make a financial career that invests back into itself. It helps to keep the creativity going, especially when you think about brands and sponsorships. Not a lot of Black creatives get those same opportunities. KeyTV is an opportunity; it’s a way to bridge the gap and feed more eyes back to the work of BIPOC creators, and using my brand as a launchpad. It is inspired a lot by AwesomenessTV.

Let’s talk about Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, your podcast. What made you want to flip the table and start a podcast? Why did you want to be on the other side of an interview? 

I started hosting stuff when I was about 17 or 18. It came from me being a curious person. This was when Twitter started really kind of becoming a thing and you only had so many characters. I wanted a forum where we could discuss the things we’re talking about online with one another. That made me want to have my own talk show that I did shortly on BET for a season. From that moment on, I was always looking for an opportunity. I wanted to bridge the gap between millennial and Gen-Z audiences. That’s always fun for me.

What excites you about talking to somebody you’ve never met before?

That everything is going to be a surprise! I genuinely am so jazzed about life at all times. On regular daytime talk television, you have only a few minutes to really talk about a few things. On a podcast, you can go from talking about aliens to talking about all types of weird stuff. Just from the simple fact that a podcast has no limit.

Which guest has surprised you the most?

When we think about the Black Eyed Peas, we think inspired, fun, wholesome but cool, worldly music that makes people feel good. When I was interviewing Will.i.am., it was just so incredible because that’s in every aspect of what he does, whether it’s in technology or music, because he wants to transfer his mentality.

Who is your dream podcast guest?

I absolutely would love to talk to Taylor Swift. And Nicki Minaj. Both for similar reasons. I would totally do it at the same time because it would be a big boss conversation, Ms. Lady. I think they’re both Sagittariuses and I’m a Sag moon. They’re not afraid to talk about the business, the music industry, and the things that people don’t understand. Nicki Minaj has spoken to the things that she’s trying to overcome and how they’re able to get in certain rooms or awards or conversations, etc. She’s very much so wanting to gun for some old ways of things being done.

And it’s the same thing with Taylor Swift when it was coming to owning her masters and just … I’ve also talked a lot about my experience in the music industry, but I just think it’s really cool when you can sit down with your peers and you can discuss the real deal that goes on behind the scenes with the industry.

To hear from us three women would be great. Obviously, I can name a whole list of people that have done similar things. We could talk about Master P., we could talk about Tyler Perry, we could talk about Beyoncé, the list goes on. But those are just two that most recently had spoken about these things. We could have a really good deep conversation and unpacking lyrics because Nicki writes down, and so does Ms. Swift. It’s giving astral projection, it’s giving lucid dreaming.

So when you’re being interviewed now, do you, ahem, judge the interviewer’s questions from a different lens?

I don’t want to say judge, but I definitely try to figure out where we can go. I’m always willing to go somewhere. When I’m talking to people, I’m obviously giving them the respect of knowing whatever their boundaries are. But when they’re answering, I’m thinking, Well, where else would they want this to lead to?Another thing I’ve learned is that pre-conversations are really awesome because you can talk to that person about where their headspace is, what kind of things are most important to them right now.

Well, then let me backtrack a little bit, because we didn’t get to have much of a pre-conversation. What’s your mental headspace and what’s important to you today?

After having my baby, I’ve just gotten so much more powerful. I’m just so strengthened in a crazy way. Strutting my stuff, enjoying. I’ll be honest, I think before I even had the baby, I was really actually quite self-conscious. In a way that you would expect, considering the kind of work that I do as a public figure. Always trying to be on point with my body and always trying to make sure I’m taking care of this and that. There’s a lot of physical attention. Being slim and being fit in a particular way was always something that I was gunning for. After having the baby, my body got so much bigger and I started getting fluff in areas I never had before.

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Obviously I don’t know you like that, but when I see you from the outside, you have always seemed like a woman and a girl who’s always stood in her own power. Sometimes women are expected to shrink, and I feel like when I see you, I don’t see a woman who shrinks.

I think it’s important to say that both things can be true, which I’m sure you know. I’m ready to talk to you, you are also very confident, but both things can be true. I speak to my insecurities and it actually makes me feel more confident. Because I’m not trying to hide. When I really talked about my skin issues and stuff like that, it was really for me.

As I confront my issues head-on and I’m like, “Well, I feel terrible about this,” or, “This ain’t work for me,” I turn it into a joke, but I don’t ignore it. I try not to hide it. Confident people, it’s not that they’re not insecure, it’s that they just accept the fact that they’re going to have some insecurities, work on them when they can, and love themselves. Because at the end of the day, what else are you going to do? Hate yourself for who you’re not?

This is a weird question, but what would you say your brain looks like, sounds like, and smells like?

Not Jeffrey Dahmer, girl! The inside of my brain smells like vanilla or something warm and cuddly. It smells like something safe. It’s like, Hey, we are here for you. What does it look like? Colorful, shit is like synapses are going, you know what I mean? There are some gray spots. There are definitely some gray spots, but most of all, it’s neons, sparkling, it’s electric. Almost like when you have a PC gaming computer and all the colors that are going on in there. That’s how my brain is. What does it sound like? Shit, Jordin Sparks, “One step at a time, there’s no need to rush.” I’m always in some type of coming-of-age comedy.

I want to walk inside your brain, that sounds nice. On the flip side, you’ve got a lot going on in your life. You’re acting, you’re singing, you have a podcast, you’re a new mom, you’re keeping the culture consistently quenched with delightful sound bites and memes. How do you stay grounded and at peace?

My family, my friends, my loved ones. Keke Palmer’s who I am, but it’s almost like Spider-Man. I’m Peter Parker at the end of the day, and at some point, I have to take the suit off. It’s still me, I’m still there. It’s still Keke and there’s no LaurenShe was born Lauren Keyana Palmer. without Keke. There’s no Keke without Lauren. But it’s just one aspect of who I am. We all have cultural aspects of ourselves that we sometimes bring out more or less than others.

When it comes to being able to get balance in my life, it’s taking off that suit, taking off the Keke Palmer side of myself and putting her to rest. Giving her an opportunity to recharge and relax and also know that the other side of me that maybe isn’t that jazzed up all the time, has a place, is needed, is valued, and able to just breathe. It’s really awesome.

Do you ever wish that you could just be Lauren or Keke part two, Keke without the visibility?

Sure, sure. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes I feel like I would love a little bit of more anonymity, or at least a version that wasn’t so chaotic. We live in a particular generation where the fame thing is a little bit too much. The way that celebrities are idolized. Popularity to some degree is fine. It’s normal. It could be expected, especially if you’re a public servant or someone that’s a public figure. But now it’s the desire and the goal as opposed to being the aftereffect of being good at something or being known for something. It’s just being known to be known.

Fame used to be a little bit more mayorlike, and now it’s almost gone to some type of godlike vibe. That can be quite dangerous and a lot of pressure. I don’t think any human should be that adored. I’m happy when people say that I’m their role model or I inspire them or whatever. I think the basis of anything I’m trying to do is to lead you to you, toward you. You can rock with me. You can buy into my stuff, you can support me. Obviously, that’s my career. But never do I ever want somebody to think they need to be like me. If they want to be like me in any regard, hopefully it’s to be authentically themselves. Hopefully that is the biggest message that they’re receiving.

When you said mayorlike, I pictured you in a little top hat.

Walking around, Mayor Keke, “Hello there. You know it’s your girl.”

Speaking of “You know it’s your girl,” which was a viral clip taken from your Met Gala red carpet interview with Megan Thee Stallion, how does it feel to consistently become a meme?

I felt like that was a hit movie. “Sorry to this man,” I could not have predicted the “sorry to this man” reaction. It’s crazy, but cool and dope at the same time. It’s randomized how that happens. But it’s a very humbling thing because sometimes as an entertainer, people do not have a safe space for you to be relatable. You probably live a drastically different life than them. But at the end of the day, outside of whatever our daily life activities could be, I’m still going to work. I’m still trying my best, I’m still trying to make it in this workaholic country we’re in, we both got 24 hours and we both just trying to get it done.

And so we all are the same. When people see themselves in me enough to repost a meme or use a GIF, it humanizes me in a way that I think sometimes feels lost in my life. I really do feel appreciative of being a meme. Because what they’re saying is, She’s like me, or they relate to it. It doesn’t get any better than that.

You don’t try to go viral? It just comes naturally, basically?

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What keeps you authentic when you are in the public eye? Especially when it could be so much easier, and so many others have gone the route of, Here’s my public persona and I’m going to do everything and be perfect. What is your motivation to be you?

There is such a thing as privacy. I’m not showing y’all my ass at night. I’m a human being. I have things that make me just a normal person. I’m flawed. I definitely try to put my best foot forward. But again, because I don’t like the idealism and I don’t like the kind of era that we are in with fame, I definitely self-deprecate, point to my flaws, constantly say I’m not perfect because I really don’t want people putting me to this unbelievable standard. I don’t live to be a celebrity. I live to do what I love, to share love, to give something positive to the world. Being under a magnifying glass for all of my life, it was kind of a surrender to realizing no matter what I do, it’s never going to be enough, so that’s okay. Let me at least be me.

Are you really online? Do you consume social media? And if so, what does a late-night scrolling sesh look like for you? For me, I’m doing YouTube deep dives of a couple that cosplays like they live in the 1800s. 

I’m always looking at weird stuff too. I’m looking at TikTok. I can get crossed in a conspiracy theory. I can be looking at some new articles online and just all types of random stuff. I’m definitely 100 percent like an internet person. I guess that’s a personality trait. A lot of my friends that I’ve met, even as kids, were online. Through chat or MySpace. I’ll see somebody’s page online or I’ll check somebody’s life out and I’m like, I want that person to be my friend. I feel like online literally gives us the opportunity to see in other people’s worlds, to reach things that we otherwise didn’t get to reach. I really do use it as a tool and I really respect it. Especially growing up, being in the entertainment industry, being homeschooled, not having a real school, I really was appreciative of online.

Now that you made me think of it, somebody else that I would love to talk to would be Tom from MySpace. What he created really helped my life because I didn’t have any other way to be friends. I might be a celebrity, but in my mind, in my world, I felt like an outcast. I turned to the internet where I could create space for me, and build my world and have friends and feel like I was normal. It all feels very full circle, me being a meme queen. The internet is a place that I’ve always loved and adored and felt like I could be myself, and in a way, that is a space that was not always given to me in real life. That’s why we all played The Sims too.

Do you think the human race is better or worse off with social media?

I think it’s better, but not when you don’t use it right. When I was talking to Will.i.am about it, he was definitely like, “Yo, I would much rather be in a world where there’s AI and all this kind of stuff than in a world that it’s not.” With the internet, the problem is that it’s extremely powerful and it can be used in bad ways and people have used it in bad ways, and that’s what scares us. But when we use it in good ways, man, we’re able to really do some incredible things.

You recently interviewed Vice-President Kamala Harris and asked her about her silk press. You also used the phrase “poop on a stick” in the interview, which knocked me on my knees. What does podcast prep before you start the conversation look like for you?

It’s different each time. I have support with my producing team. I always script out the top halves of my show. And then the other halves of them are obviously just conversation, but I have bullet points or CliffsNotes of what I want to discuss and talk to whoever I’m having on with me that may not be the actual interview guest, whether it’s my mom or whether it’s Darius or whether it’s Max. We’ll kind of discuss what our POVs are. That way we all know that we have some unique perspective on the topic. When it comes to the interviewee, as much as I have questions that I want to ask them, I also listen and just try to see where their conversation would take us.

Anyone you’ve been nervous to record with?

I was nervous for Kamala.

Who wouldn’t be?

For Madam VP, I was definitely nervous because I wanted to give respect to what she’s trying to do and have a conversation about it while at the same time humanizing the conversation because there’s a huge disconnect, in my opinion, with our generation in the government. It’s beyond just getting people to vote. There’s a bigger flaw where we don’t believe in the system. It’s how to get people to believe that there’s a reason to support our public servants and actually believe that they’re going to be good at their job or they’re going to be worth us listening to. It’s about asking important questions, but also, are you a person in there?

We need to see that these people are real. We need to know why they wanted to get into these positions. A lot of this is starting to look like a joke and has been a joke and looks like a reality show and it just seems like a big money grab and it just doesn’t seem real. But there’s no way to work in any system of anything and be perfectly perfect or do something that’s totally agreeable.

The point is to get to a place where we can at least feel like somebody is human and touchable and real, that they can be reached even if they are working within a system that is clearly flawed and corrupt. We need them to speak to that. I was happy when I was talking to Kamala, Madam VP, excuse me, about this topic. She was saying to me that she knows that people don’t believe, and that’s why she’s doing it. She knows what she’s working against. I wanted that interview to be something that we felt was real so we can actually be engaged. Because right now, honey, it’s giving, like, stale news variety show.

I listened to another episode where you talked about being a child star and you said if you weren’t an entertainer, you may have gone into politics. Would you ever go into politics now?

I don’t know what role I would play.

President?

Well, let’s think about it. What is the president’s job, really? Because he can’t change no laws for real. I mean, they can, but it’s like they really aren’t the ones that are doing that work. If the president’s job is to be a figurehead, speak to the issues, encourage the people, represent them and create a positive democracy and good morale, then, yeah, I mean, I could. This is the concept of politics I love because it’s being a public servant. Child, sign me up. I love being a public servant. I love being serviceable.

I know a lot of people don’t think about entertainment as that, but, I mean, I am still doing a service. I’m literally tapping and singing and dancing for you to laugh and enjoy. I’m trying to serve you, for sure. That’s something I’ve already been doing all my life. So in that regard, yes, the part of politics that makes things difficult is feeling like that I believe in what I’m doing and that I can actually believe that I can get something done. If I was going to ever go into politics, it would be because I really believed that I could fix some shit or figure something out. So I think that’s what it would really take is for me to feel like I could actually be useful.

Would you consider yourself America’s sweetheart?

Girl, that is crazy as hell.

Come on.

If that is what the people think, I’m truly gagged and gooped because, wow. I don’t even know what that entails, truly, what that really means. But, by golly, if you all feel like I’m America’s sweetheart, I’m fucking here for that shit all day and night. I appreciate it because it feels like a term of endearment. But what do I think? If I were to declare myself, I do feel like America’s little sister, little cousin.

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Like a lot of people in their late 20s, I feel like I grew up with you, and whatever project you were involved with seemed to mirror whatever life stage I was going through at the time. What was child stardom like for you, and what was it like to have so many eyes on you at such a young age?

Honestly speaking, initially it was traumatic when I really experienced it, like after I did True Jackson, VP. And then I got used to it and I tried to kind of control it a little bit more by setting boundaries for myself and being a little bit more realistic about what I needed from the people that would be around me. Fame is a lot. People think that they want it, but it’s intense. It could be fun and cool in certain times if it can possibly help you get quicker dinner reservations. But a good job will do that. You know, you don’t have to be famous. You just have to network.

I don’t know why anybody wants it. It’s a lot to have a lot of attention on you all the time. It gives you a lot of anxiety. It’s nerve-racking. You’re looking over your shoulder all the time. Is somebody going to try and humiliate me or use me for clicks or likes or, you know, whatever? Not everybody can handle it. It’s just a dangerous game.

Time for a few rapid-fire questions. Do you think aliens exist?

Yes.

Would you ever explore the deep sea?

No.

What would your last meal be? You can have multiple courses or just one bite of something and then move on. It can be anything. Multiple things.

A charcuterie board. I always needed a charcuterie board. I need to start off with a charcuterie board and a nice tall glass of wine. Then, I’d like to take it to a big pizza. From Little Italy in New York. A particular pizza place called Little Italy’s in New York. There’s one right across the street from Papaya Dog.It’s the sauce that they do that makes it what it is. If this is the last meal, I don’t need it to be fancy, I just need it to be good. And, lastly, some snickerdoodle cookies. We got to make it feel like home again.

What do you think happens when we die?

I think we go to nothing. And, I mean that so happily, not in a sad way. I feel like, before we come to our human bodies, we already are in a utopia. The reason why it’s a utopia is because it’s like everything and nothing at the same time. We’re beholden to nothing, we have no attachments, we’re completely and utterly free, and we know in whatever this energy space is that we are all interconnected. So there’s such a freedom and such a happiness. It’s not necessarily we’re riding roller coasters and stuff. We don’t need those things. The happiness and joy is purely innately within us as a spiritual being.

And then I think we come here and we put this suit on, and the suit is actually what makes life really hard, because what comes with humanity and being a human person, as opposed to being an animal, or a rock, or something like that, is our very heightened consciousness and awareness that is sometimes competitive with our spiritual thing that doesn’t actually need words, or language, or actions to just be and understand. And we confuse ourselves when we’re down here.

I think, when we die, we realize, Oh my gosh. It wasn’t that deep. I was always going to be okay. Everything was always going to be all right. Because, this world, this experience is everything and nothing at the same time. It’s so nothingness that it became everything. I think that’s odd. But, I mean, I grew up Catholic. I believe in Jesus. I believe in all the shits. But at the same time, I also feel like some things are like a mixture of spirituality and metaphysical stuff. I go down on the loops. But I be in church too. I’m everywhere with it.

If you could live forever, would you? Absolutely not. No, there’s nothing about that that sounds good. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That sounds crazy. I want to have a nice, good long life. I don’t want to be that grandma that’s holding on for dear life and her body falling apart. Let me go looking fine and sexy in my sleep naturally. I don’t want my body to be just turned inside out and I’m like, “I’m still here, kids.” No. Unplug me if I’m falling apart.

What is the most interesting thing in your bag right now?

The truth is, I only carry around one bag. And it’s the mommy bag. And you know what it has in there? My pump, my nipple cream, some contacts, and some prenatal vitamins, post-prenatal lactation supplements.

What is the question that keeps you up at night?

What is this about? I always ask myself, What’s the reason? What is the reason for this all?

That’s beautiful. Can you spell pulchritude?

Of course I can. P-U-L-C-H-R-I-T-U-D-E. Pulchritude?

What does the future look like? What does it look like five years from now, or even in the next few months?

I’m going to continue to be killing these fashions, honey. Continue to expand. I can’t really say exactly what it’s going to be, because I feel like I’m even surprised sometimes about where I end up. But definitely more hosting, and acting, and all that stuff. A lot more stuff behind the scenes too. I really do love producing, and I love helping put stuff together and support people. With KeyTV, we made a short film with a kid from L.A. Film School, supported him with a production crew, and collaborated from different perspectives. I was grateful. To be close in age with him was awesome, too. I’m in a unique vantage point to be able to communicate, and talk, and relate, but also have wisdom that is granted only through the experience that I’ve had.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Photography by Micaiah Carter

Fashion Director Jessica Willis

Hair by Keshaun Williamson

Makeup by Sheika Daley

Manicure by Vanessa Sanchez McCullough

Set Design by Ali Gallagher

Tailoring by Susie Kourinian

Production by Petty Cash Production

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