#young girl with fan by simon maris

[diioonysus]

black women + art

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

so! der rosenkavalier!!!

so first off, the elephant in the room: yes, there are some highly questionable elements of the plot that make me go “hmm! :/“ (to somewhat quote mean girls: “marie therese, step away from the underaged teenagers!”). for the purposes of not driving myself mad, i will try to refrain from discussing these for the remainder of the report.

anyway.

this music sings. this music delights. still not my fave strauss opera by any means but i would be lying if i wasn’t delighted. the presentation of the rose and the final trio and duet gave me full-body chills. i love the waltzes. so sugary sweet like the gelato i got after the show. there are so many golden little details in the score.

simone young did a great job imo—i’ve seen her get flak online about this run of performances but i don’t get it. she was great. the orchestra and chorus and many comprimarios were all fabulous.

it’s been a while since i’ve seen this production and it holds up really well!!! love the costumes and sets. LOVE them. not a fan of the wwi ending tho—just let octavian and sophie have their moment at long last 🥺 plus it doesn’t fit with the ending musically.

one other thing about the staging: i’m sure this was intentional but goddamn, a lot of the second act was UNCOMFORTABLE to watch, like make your skin crawl uncomfortable (and it did not help that several men in the audience at my theater were full-on laughing when ochs all but assaulted sophie all over that extended act ii sequence when he first shows up at faninal’s). god, baron ochs is such a fucking creep. and while i don’t like him as a person in the slightest, i have to hand it to günther groissböck for making ochs supremely unlikeable while still singing with strong command.

among the comprimarios and non-credited-in-the-intro people, special mention of alexandra lobianco (an excellent marianne) and tony stevenson (an absolute delight as the innkeeper in drag).

speaking of which, gotta say that even with them in new york and me in oklahoma, it was somehow comforting to see people in drag and same-sex kisses in this, given the political climate and the rising sentiments against drag and lgbtqia+ people. i thought about that a lot during the broadcast.

katharine goeldner and thomas ebenstein were HOOTS as annina and valzacchi. love them. rené barbera made the italian singer’s aria sound effortless (and looked GREAT in his white suit). brian mulligan did a great job as herr von faninal—i’d love to hear him in something italian though, his voice sounds made for italian rep.

and now for the three leading ladies, who were all divine both separately and together.

erin morley is one of my fave currently active sopranos right now and this sophie showed exactly why: voice like a dream, great actress, warm, intelligent, full of fire! i love her take on sophie so much. she GETS it. (and i may or may not have cheered when she slapped ochs in act ii.)

lise davidsen is another of my fave currently active sopranos right now (albeit a more recent discovery than erin morley) and her marschallin surprised me in a good way. what i remember most from her ariadne auf naxos hd last year was simply how stunningly powerful and beautiful and BIG her voice was, but this was equally amazing in a totally different way: she can rein it in too, baby! she can be so delicate and tender too and it just mesmerized me totally (and brought tears to my eyes a few times). and she made the part feel and look so natural! great singer and great actress? (and also gorg)—she’s the total package.

i was barely, if at all, familiar with samantha hankey before this but holy FUCK. she won my heart immediately. she is just a total delight and absolutely the real deal. that voice!!! it’s so creamy and beautiful and full of light!!! (and she can alter it at will too—her mariandel voice was SO different and so delightful). and she’s a totally natural actress, INCREDIBLY versatile and moving. octavian is a HUGE role and a VERY VARIED role and she totally fuckin nailed it and i want to see her in basically everything now. mark my words, y’all: she’s sensational. she’s gonna be the next big mezzo superstar.

anyway 10/10 plot weirdness inherent to the opera aside this is a definite recommend

edit: yes i was hoping to NOT have discourse about the plot but rereading this now i realize i may not have been clear about that in my choice of wording in the first few paragraphs. no hate to anyone who DID engage in discourse, that was my bad

[magicmindless]

I wanna post my pl headcanons so here (from my Instagram stories but now here)

[od]-Sue's natural reflex to being tickled is to immediately throw hands. And if it isn't that it's a lot of swearing (no Mary isn't an exception she fucking hates it no matter what)

-Duke Gotcha's name is actually Eli

-People who come from Maple Mountains are usually known for being VERY honest, they never hold back on what they say (plus they're tall)

-Duke would be able to rock a dress, no arguments there

-Timm would also be able to rock a dress and Quinn slays in a suit making them the perfect gender-non-confirming couple

-Simone likes using absurd overly-self confident humor and Didar likes going along with it

-Kayla gets really anxious whenever fans try to talk to her in public and sometimes missed the peace that she got with a normal life

-Emmlette has ADHD

[idk]-Mary looks younger than she really is and is often mistaken as such. Whenever she goes to bars with her friends she always seems to be the only one ever asked for an ID check before being served

-Doesn't help that Mary is childish in a few ways and is one of those people who looks "cute" when they're angry and is often teases about it which only pisses her off more

-Brody has accidentally drank paint water before. Don't ask how, he just did it for some reason thinking it was coffee. And he didn’t even mind when it was paint water

-Allan has a teddy bear and it's name is Jack and it was his comfort item, especially in high school while he was getting bullied. However he’s embarrassed by it so only Timm, Robby, and Akari know about it

[ch]-Mindy is basically the matchmaker of the Papa Apartments and knows all the gossip especially when it comes to love (also exposed Sue being a lesbian and having a crush on Mary. Not in front of anyone they were just alone and she was like "oh yeah I know you're gay btw”

-Timm Allan and Robby are all friends and when they go out by car together Timm is usually the driver since he's deemed the most responsible one. Allan usually rides shotgun cause he's tall and Robby sits in the back cause he's a runt

-Johnny is like a Disney Princess in the way that he can attract all the woodland creatures to him just by whistling

-Radlynn and Sarge Fan sometimes meet Mousse and Whippa whenever they sneak out late at night (Sarge usually for mischief and Radlynn whenever she wants to be away from her parents) and usually whenever they meet Mousse and Whippa will let them stay at the Gingersnap Lounge for a while under their supervision to talk things out, then helps them both get home safely

-Joy has a habit of cracking her joints because of gymnastics and it drives Roy and sometimes Papa Louie up the wall

-Akari nearly got her and Allan arrested while speeding to the Sugarplex Film Feast. When they arrived, Akari nearly ran over a couple people with a few police cars that had followed them, then loudly announcing their arrival while Allan looked like his soul had left his body along the way (Petrona was livid because of this but Louie made sure she was left off the hook and only had to do community service afterwards

-Didar is known as a huge prankster among any set he's worked with, including Nowtime News and Mocharia Life. Most of his pranks are harmless albeit a few cruel. Sometimes Simone or others will join in (depending on who he's pranking)

[ch]-Speaking of which despite Sue technically being a superior on set she's still teased a lot since she's fairly young (23 in my hc)

[ch]-Emmlette is definitely the mom friend who will always make sure that you're eating enough and cares about your well-being (she's also the one who teases Sue the most since they’re in similar positions)

-Petrona doesn’t detest relationships but she can’t help but cringe whenever any of the couples are too mushy with each other

-Taylor has 2 YouTube channels: A gaming channel which is his main, and a vlog channel to post him doing stupid shit with his friends

[od]-The girls of the Papa apartments like to hang out at Cloudberry Salon late at night. And since guys are never invited they like to joke about what goes on like pagan rituals and witchcraft (none of that sort of stuff happens it's just normal "talking about life" things... or is it?)

-During the production of Mocharia life Mindy and Whiff adopted a snow-white kitten named Cotton

-Quinn doesn't hate dogs, but she's scared of big dogs. But she's fine with little dogs

I have more but I feel like this is too much already

[artejoke]

We'll always have Maris

Simon Maris, Young Girl holding a fan, 1895-1922, Rijksmuseum

[bellascarousel]

of course i envy her. She is gorgeous, model look and for her actitud had all men falling for her. What i want her to do??? Just not be so arrogant about it. We know she had good legs and a flat stomack. That look for the valentino show?? She is just so bad role model for woman. And yes, confident is something for big girl only. Unhealthy skinny like her doesnt need

Good for you not envy her body. But now i really less understand why you love her so much. She ruined Kate, i despise the day Shonda decide to make Bton a diverse cast and then decide to have simone. She makes Kate bad, didnt you see the chin tilts that are distinctive of simone being arrogant, but she gave them to Kate, when Kate was suppouse to be looking at edwina with love Kate gave that hideous cocky look and chin tilt. Show Kate is nothing but compelling

I'm just not going to bother answering most of this nonsense. Thank you for admitting that at least part of your problem is that you're racist. I suspected as much, anyway.

She didn't make Kate arrogant, FFS. I don't know what fucking show you watched. But all I saw when Kate looked at Edwina was a mother being proud of the young woman she raised. And yes. In the show, Kate was essentially Edwina's mother. SHE'S the one that raised her, because Mary sure the fuck didn't.

I'm done here. You may have nothing better to do with your time than stalk tags for ships you don't like looking for people to harass and bully. But, I have much better things to do with mine than argue with some miserable bitch who can't stand the idea of there being people out there who have a different favorite couple in a romance series than they do. You love Polin. Good for you. Go find yourself more Polin fans and talk to them about how amazing you think their story is. Seems to me that that would be a much better use of your time and energy.

Send me another ask and I'll block you. Set up another account to keep doing it like you've been doing to Molly, and I'll turn off anonymous asks. There already aren't enough hours in the day to do the things I ENJOY. I don't have time for your bullshit.

Though, I will agree with you about one thing. Kate is nothing but compelling. "Nothing but" means "100%, completely." And she is 100% completely compelling. Goodbye.

[tubercloset]

I made a list of my fandoms/media I enjoy for personal organization and mutual obtaining purposes. It's mostly books! Comment/reblog if we have something, especially from the first list, in common ;)

Current, if you follow me there will be the most of this stuff

If We Were Villains

Six of Crows (books only)

Natasha Pulley books

Alice Oseman books/webcomic, mainly Loveless, Radio Silence, I Was Born for This, and Heartstopper

Casey McQuiston books/rwrb movie (the movie is going to be temporary I feel)

RF Kuang books

Shakespeare plays that I read recently

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Supported by the strength of the tag (not my favorites but the fan content is substantial)

King of Scars

All for the Game

These Violent Delights/Foul Lady Fortune

The Scholomance

Simon Snow

Vicious/Villains (I thought it was amazing a long time ago but I need to be reminded of it. Probably on its way to the next section soon)

Not anymore, you won't be seeing this on my blog

The Raven Cycle (supported by the strength of the tag for a long while)

Shades of Magic

Legend/The Young Elites - Marie Lu

苍兰诀 (I still rewatch it, but I'm now uninterested in engaging with the Tumblr fandom)

Media I reblog but do not have an obsessive attachment to

Barbie movie

Spiderverse movies

Everything Everywhere All at Once (I was obsessed for a bit but I'm normal about it now I think)

Media I greatly enjoy that does not have/barely has a fandom, an incomplete list. Basically any great book that either doesn't lend itself to fanart or doesn't have many readers

Emily St. John Mandel books

Light from Uncommon Stars

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

[goodcryunicorn]

7th Heaven || Simon Camden

Name: Simon Camden Age: 15 - 32 Relationship: single (verse depending) open for ships Sexuality: bisexual Job: college student Faceclaims: David Gallagher, Austin Butler  Blog written by: @goodcryunicorn2​​​

Simon witnesses his teacher intervening between a young boy and his screaming father he feels guilty and asks Eric for help. Deena’s ex boyfriend shows up at school and threatens to shoot him. He practices his babysitting skills on Ruthie. Simon works to restore his little sisters holiday spirit when she sees that Matt is the mall Santa Claus. Simon learns that Deena had leukemia when she was younger. While waiting for his mother to give birth, Simon prays in the hospital praying room for baby brothers. He and Deena go on their first date together and bring Lucy to accompany Deena's brother. Simon assumes the role of the 'man of the house' but feels Matt is undermining his authority when he keeps on making fun of him. He considers dropping out of cooking class because he's the only boy that enrolled. He attempts to entertain a classmate who has a crush on him. Eric and Annie find out one of his friends is in possession of marijuana. Simon is caught making lewd hand gestures in front of the school. Simon comes across graffiti artists, one of whom coughs up blood after huffing and is in a dilemma after being threatened not to tell anyone what is going on. He is later admitted to the hospital and the mother blames Simon and Eric. Simon and Deena have a fight. Simon and his friend Nigel experiment with smoking but are actually doing a project about selling cigarettes to minors. He befriends a classmate with Tourettes Syndrome. He and Deena confess to giving each other love bites. Simon gets dumped by Deena and later finds out the real reason why she ended it. Simon attempts to fit in in high school. Lucy enlists him to assist her with her homecoming Queen campaign to gain popularity in school. Matt blows Simon’s chance at a big date with an older woman when he is distracted by a woman and forgets to pick him up. Simon is on a quest to change his image by piercing his ear. Simon is persuaded to use his sister's bad reputation to boost his 'cool' quotient at school and gets into some trouble of his own with twin bad girls, Carol and Sue Murphy. Simon makes new friends, one of whom insults Annie and Lucy with his chauvinistic remarks. Norton, the kid that Simon befriends, is a fan of violent rap whose negative attitude towards women seems to be influenced by misogynist lyric. Matt and Simon try to figure out why they delivered Mrs. Bink to the hospital. Matt and Lucy are suspicious after Lucy accidentally finds a condom in a misplaced wallet. They learn that it belongs to Simon, who just so happens to be spending the evening with his new lady friend, Sasha. Annie gets in the middle when Simon tries to break up with his girlfriend. Simon is mortified when word gets around school that he's a virgin. Simon pressures his father to let him get his learner's driving permit. Simon stands up for a bullied student only to have the boy tell him that he is going to shoot his tormentors. Simon considers dating a 16-year-old pregnant girl that he meets on a bus. Simon's tardiness and poor people skills put his new job in jeopardy. Simon is attracted to Lynn who is already dating one of his friends. Simon meets up with an old girlfriend, Sasha and they both try to catch up on their personal lives. Matt, Lucy, Simon and Ruthie are banished to the garage apartment after protesting Annie's decision to give the place to Mary. Simon and Matt use the twins to attract women. Simon uses Robbie's car to practice driving and he accidentally smashes into Matt's vehicle. Simon persuades his parents to let him go to a party after they meet his friend, a senior who promises to look out for him but when Simon comes home drunk his siblings attempt to help him. Simon is asked out by a senior, named Maria on Valentines Day. Simon is angry when Matt does not choose him to be his best man. Simon's paid dating service is becoming profitable until Cecilia rats him out to Eric. Simon finds out from Cecilia that a girl from his dating service is pregnant. He convinces her to drop her baby off at a safe haven hospital. Simon and Cecilia discuss having sex for the first time and naïvely share the news with their parents---which doesn't go too well when Cecilia's father finds out. Simon is ecstatic when Cecilia's father agrees to let him see Cecilia but feels hurt and confused when she starts avoiding him. Annie is shocked when she finds a pack of cigarettes in Simon's bedroom. Simon catches Cecilia's father’s business manager stealing from petty cash. Simon and Cecilia have an unusual way of keeping their minds off sex. Simon is crushed when Cecilia won't go to the prom with him. Simon is turned down by a potential prom date. Simon is crushed after unintentionally killing a classmate in a car accident. Simon tells Cecilia that he needs space. Eric ponders Simon academic future now that he refuses to go back for his senior year of high school. Eric accompanies Simon to a Board of Education meeting to try to secure him an early graduation. He’s upset that nobody seems to care about his departure for college. The time has come for Simon to seek early admission into college, so he prepares a video essay to go with his application. Simon unexpectedly announces he is coming home for the summer. Simon's return to Glen Oak creates conflicted feelings for his ex-girlfriend Cecilia, who is torn between her feelings for Simon and her current boyfriend Martin. Simon appears to be getting extremely close to his new girlfriend, Georgia causing Eric and Annie to suspect they are having sex. A fed-up Simon is reluctant to talk to his parents about his relationship with Georgia after Eric and Annie crash their date at a restaurant. However, Simon admits that they are having sex and that he's currently on disciplinary probation at college for skipping classes to be with her but is still maintaining an A average academically. Simon realizes he has been using his relationship with Georgia to block out the guilt he still feels about the fatal car accident that happened last year. Simon comes to terms with his fears over the accident last year and goes on a bicycle ride with Justin. Simon has something to tell his parents but can't get up the nerve to tell them—which involves his former girlfriend Georgia who shows up back in his life unexpectedly. Simon's ex-girlfriend claims she is pregnant, and as Simon tries to figure out how to tell his parents, he does not realize that there is more to the story. Matt is upset when Simon, who has just faced a pregnancy scare with Georgia, wants Matt to prescribe birth control pills for him and his new girlfriend. Simon has always been careful about practicing safe sex, so he panics when his girlfriend admits to having an STD the morning after they've slept together. An extremely nervous Simon comes home to Glen Oak to await the results of his STD test from the clinic. Simon informs his new girlfriend, Rose that he will not have sex with her but avoids telling her the reason behind his decision. She gets fed up with him but comes back to him when she finds out his true intentions for them—marriage. When Simon and his new girlfriend Rose make an unexpected visit to Glen Oak to meet their respective parents, Annie begins to suspect their relationship might be on a fast track. The Colonel and Ruth are in Glen Oak for a visit. Rose wants them to know that she and Simon are engaged. Everyone else, including Simon, thinks that this is not a good idea. Simon finds a way to slow down his relationship with Rose but her stubbornness derails his plan. Simon has money troubles and his phone service gets shut off. Simon suspects Rose is keeping secrets and the two resolve an issue of trust. Simon and Rose's relationship appears to be on its last straw—much to the Camden family's delight. Simon and Rose have dinner with her former fiancé and the man is nothing like what Simon expected. The Camden’s receive official invitations to Simon and Rose's wedding and to their dismay, they learn that the date conflicts with Matt and Sarah's graduation from medical school. Simon leaves Rose in the dark about his schoolwork problem but all three guys come to realize the gals are not as clueless as they'd hoped. As Rose gets ready to make a huge announcement, Simon breaks down as he realizes that he may have trapped himself in a marriage that he does not want. Simon and Rose prepare for their wedding day, despite speculation that it is not the right decision. Simon starts his senior year in college. At the series finale, he graduated college and tell his family a big announcement.

VERSES

[navissetpmocia]

Simon Maris, Young Girl Holding A Fan (between 1895 and 1922)

[twh-news]

The 2020 Tony Awards Preview | Broadway Direct

Like the recent Olympics, the 2020 Tony Awards arrive after a lengthy delay necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. And amid enduring uncertainty, they are all the more eagerly anticipated by fans of Broadway theater and the industry serving them.

This year’s ceremony, set for September 26 at the Winter Garden Theatre, will be different on several counts. The number of productions recognized has been limited by the March 2020 shutdown, which prevented a bunch of high-profile shows from opening, and rendered others — including Ivo von Hove’s staging of West Side Story, and Girl From the North Country, the acclaimed musical weaving Bob Dylan songs into a book by Conor McPherson — ineligible, as many Tony voters had not been able to see them.

On the other hand, a new arrangement that will make the entire event available on Paramount Plus, beginning at 7 p.m. ET — with longtime Tonys home CBS broadcasting from 9 to 11 p.m. ET — will enable viewers at home to see awards given out in categories such as design, orchestration, and choreography. “We haven’t had all of our creatives and the awards recognizing them on the special since before my time,” notes Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, which presents the Tonys with the American Theatre Wing.

“The whole point of the show is to set an optimistic and realistic tone,” adds Heather Hitchens, the Wing’s president and CEO. “The theme of this show is that Broadway’s back — theater is safe if protocols are followed — and we have exciting new work for people to see.”

Both St. Martin and Hitchens point to the diversity of shows represented both in nominations for the 2019–2020 season as well as those premiering in the new season, which launched in August with the arrival of Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over. Slave Play, another work by a Black playwright that transferred after earning praise Off-Broadway, is up for 12 Tonys, making it the most nominated play to date. Author Jeremy O. Harris was tapped for his provocative look at the roles race, gender, and sexuality play in contemporary relationships; director Robert O’Hara, leading actress Joaquina Kalukango, featured actors Ato Blankson-Wood and James Cusati-Moyer, and featured actresses Chalia La Tour and Annie McNamara are among the other nominees.

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical is also a contender in 12 categories, with celebrated Black artists including Adrienne Warren, who won raves for her performance as the titular rock and R&B icon, and this year’s Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Katori Hall among the nominees. The other productions up for Best Musical, Jagged Little Pill and Moulin Rouge! The Musical respectively collected 15 and 14 nominations; both combine books by noted writers — Jagged Little Pill’s Diablo Cody and Moulin Rouge’s John Logan — with established music — Alanis Morissette’s for Jagged Little Pill, and various pop songs tracing several decades for Moulin Rouge!.

Consequently, none of the five candidates for best original score is a musical production. They include Slave Play and fellow Best Play nominees The Inheritance and The Sound Inside and new stagings of A Christmas Carol and Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo. (The theatrical concert David Byrne’s American Utopia is being honored with a Special Tony Award, as Springsteen on Broadway was in 2018.)

Only three revivals made the cut for Best Revival of a Play: a production of A Soldier’s Play showcasing Blair Underwood, a nominee for leading actor in a play, and David Alan Grier, up for featured actor; a Betrayal, featuring Tom Hiddleston, a contender for leading actor; and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, starring six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, nominated for leading actress.

Other stage and screen stars who are candidates at this year’s ceremony include Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge, both for leading actor in Best Play nominee Sea Wall/A Life, a pair of one-man pieces respectively written by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne, each told from the perspective of a young husband and father. In the category for leading actress in a play, Mary-Louise Parker is acknowledged for Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside, an intimate mystery involving a cancer-stricken college professor and her alienated, prodigious student, also up for Best Play; and Laura Linney is nominated for My Name Is Lucy Barton, an adaptation of Alice Munro’s novel tracing a complex mother-daughter relationship.

Matthew López’s The Inheritance — up for 11 awards, and focused on gay men living in a New York haunted by a pandemic of the recent past, AIDS — yielded nominations for John Benjamin Hickey, for featured actor, and Lois Smith, for featured actress. (Cast members Andrew Burnap and Paul Hilton are nominees for leading and featured actor in turn, with Linda Vista’s Ian Barford also up for leading actor.) And a fifth Best Play contender, Grand Horizons — a comedy that dares to look at sex and marriage in the golden years — and the Broadway debut of Bess Wohl earned a nod for another duly cherished veteran, Jane Alexander, also for featured actress.

Musical theater favorites recognized include Danny Burstein, who earned a seventh Tony nomination for his featured performance in Moulin Rouge; Moulin Rouge’s Karen Olivo and Jagged Little Pill’s Elizabeth Stanley, completing the leading actress category; and Moulin Rouge’s Aaron Tveit, who, as a result of the relative dearth of musical productions in this abbreviated season, was the only performer nominated in the leading actor field. (He needs the approval of 60 percent of Tony voters to claim the prize.)

In vying for Best Direction of a Play, Slave Play’s O’Hara will face stiffer competition from lauded British directors Stephen Daldry (Inheritance) and Jamie Lloyd (Betrayal) and equally accomplished Americans David Cromer (Sound Inside) and Kenny Leon (Soldier’s Play). The directors tapped for their work on musicals are no less distinguished: British film and stage vet Phyllida Lloyd (TINA), Pill’s Diane Paulus, and Moulin Rouge’s Alex Timbers, who, between the two of them, have helmed some of the most admired musical productions of the past decade both on and Off-Broadway.

And thanks to this year’s multiplatform format, fans of the three musicals will get to see awards handed out to their choreographers and orchestrators — one of each, anyway. The nominees include Moulin Rouge’s Sonya Tayeh, whose collaborators have ranged from the Martha Graham Dance Company to Miley Cyrus, and Jagged Little Pill’s Tom Kitt, whose many credits as a composer include Next to Normal, for which he won both Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.

Variety writer and podcast host Gordon Cox adds that the 2020 Tony nominations would likely have presented “an entirely different race” had the rush of productions originally scheduled to open in late March and April of last year had been able to do so. Still, he believes there are “a significant group of people who think the Tonys can be a celebration, not just of a season that got overshadowed by the pandemic, but of a return to performances — to being able to sit in theatres, knock on wood. There are people looking for an opportunity to celebrate theater in general.”

[cyberdva]

The Haunting Of Queen Mary's Castle-  C.B  ~P.1☆

 ☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

Main Masterlist

Colby Brock Masterlist

Summary: Sam and Colby had the bright idea to drag their friends to Scotland, and where would the perfect video location be? How about Queen Mary’s haunted castle? It didn’t help that aspiring physic, Y/N wasn’t too happy to head out of the country, but Colby was there to help. And maybe he wanted something more than being there to help her. Could the spirits be on his side for once?

Word Count: 4k

Date Uploaded:  8/31/20

Warnings: Cursing

A/N: This fic is from the vault. I wrote this around January of this year, I start school again in two days and the work and stress load is going to be horrible, especially with it being half in person, half online. I hope to get some more creativity back when more pressure is put on me. I have plenty of ideas with just not enough passion and time. It’ll trickle back one day.

 ☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

“Holy Shit…” Colby held his camera closer to his chest as he walked closer towards the breathtaking Neidpath Castle. It’s aura seemed to engulf the curiosity of the young man. His friends splurged on a ten hour trip to Scotland for a quick Youtube video series, he knew near the end, half of them would be begging to go home. The comical routine played its key role in every single episode, no matter what the occasion was. It did make good money to be completely honest. Although, that wasn’t the main focus of their careers. He found himself under a tall bridge-like banister connecting its way to the entire estate. Next to him was his long time roommate, Corey. He sported a bright yellow hoodie in large contrast with Colby’s black one. It was sort of funny, each of his friends had a unique personality, yet connected so well. Of course, they were wearing their own merch. It helped the sales go up, not to mention it was awfully comfortable. A perk to the business if you say.

“And we thought the church was cool…” Sam, Colby’s best friend and other handler of the videography series on their channel, gaped in front of him. This place was bigger than any other private plot they’ve ever visited! It was a couple thousand dollars to rent out for the night, but with the palace’s history it was born to make a hefty income.

“We have this all to ourselves!” Colby nudged Sam, he handed the camera off to his friend Jake, who was talking a mile a minute to the other attendees. A new face poked out of the regular bunch.

“Are you gonna catch me when I get scared, Y/N?” Jake stuck his face in the view of the content woman. Her persona seemed quite drained due to the long trip. She was partially new to the Youtube platform, especially with ghost hunting. Not like Y/N was easily frightened, unlike her friends, it just wasn’t her go to for a cheap thrill. Nerves were indefinitely strained, since it was the first time out with the entire group. Nothing Jake couldn’t fix.

Her laugh trickled out blissfully, ”Wouldn’t Tara get jealous? You don't want to get on her bad side? Do you?” He quickly shook his head and gave a hesitant reply with his sheepish smile.

“We get this all to ourselves?” Colby queried. This place was double the size of the Trap House by far, they had to be scared shitless by the time they left. There had to be some sort of restrictions or a down sided catch to it all.

“Did you do any research on this place?” Y/N  slid up behind the unfocused main man, a small quirk to her. Colby jumped a smidge in light shock. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be genuinely interested with the property. Colby mentally cursed for being so jumpy.

“Jesus Y/N, you scared the shit out me.” He replied, not answering the girl’s question. Y/N met Sam and Colby way back in highschool. Each of them slithered their way into the other’s channels and have made frequent appearances. They definitely weren’t strangers, even though it seemed that way with fans. Y/N had more paranormal encounters out of all of the boys, despite a bit of distaste towards the topic. She was lugged around on long adventures to help them with videos. Some of her videos ranged from ‘‘accidentally’ joining a cult to “selling her soul”. She was the wicca-pedia they needed to not get possessed each trip.

“Ok pussy.” She walked off to talk to Corey, the pair oddly all had a strong connection from somewhere, and Colby sighed as to quickly put on his cheery online persona once more.

Sam waved up at a vacant window as the group, “Hello!” The woman replied unknowingly and aroused quite a shock of embarrassment. A faint giggling came from the couple in the back, “No,no, I do it better.” Corey got a hold of herself, “A Ra-Ta-Ta-tah.” The two burst back into their ceremonial laughs and briefed on about some TikToks they watched on the remotely silent ride from the airport. 

Sam turned back around to see the shorter woman. Notwithstanding her first place in line, “How is he gonna get a kiss kiss? Very ugly to me!” The duo rounded up to each other and laughed on their way up the trail, leaving the others confused and focused on talking to the groundskeeper.

“I’m assuming you are the caretaker of this?” The blonde one waved more at the older woman. She seemed more on the reserved side and peeled her eyes at the sight of a camera. A lovely addition to the already uncomfortable scene.

The woman gracefully approached Sam, “Yes, Yes I am. My name is Katrina.” Sam went on with the lady into a dark back door. The young adults glanced on in uncertainty. 

“Yo, why are they going off by themselves?” Colby asked Jake. The first rule of all of their videos was not to go off by yourself. Bad shit always follows. “He literally was like-”

“He’s been looking at her ass like all day.” Jake joked back, Corey attentively diverted himself from Y/N to get a jump in on whatever that conversation had morphed to.

“That’s whatever the fuck he was doing.” They all snickered and continued on with the inappropriate jokes. Editing this would be like a field day to Reggie.

“Is Kat gonna think…” Colby looked around jokingly, getting another round of laughter from the friends.

“I don’t know..” Colby softly replied. He pressed on to dumbfoundedly impersonate Sam’s girlfriend, “Oh it’s not cheating if he’s not in the same country.”

“It’s sexual relations Jake.” Y/N whispered at him. They continued to poke fun out of the cougar-lady, but her and Sam rushed back soon enough. Just in time to ask questions. 

“Uh, that was pretty much the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Sam pulled everyone aside with a smug look on his face. He honestly always had one of those. The blank stares that were thrown back at him weren’t what he expected. 

“Uh Sam what does that mean.” Jake chuckled. He looked around at everyone not able to catch on. The seriousness of the situation began to settle as everyone genuinely thought Sam could have done some weird shit with that groundskeeper.

“All I have say is that was quick man…” Colby scraped some gunk off of her nails while waiting for following instructions.

Sam obviously didn’t understand, “To fill you guys in I had to learn, kind of, where all the specific light switches were. I didn’t even look around. I just kinda looked at the ground until she saw.”

“You were like that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Colby turned the camera to focus on him and Jake mocking Sam’s slight happiness by seeing fancy rocks.

“It was only the stairs!” Sam said defeatedly, he didn’t want to spoil the real first looks.”That’s just giving you a little hint, but um, I asked her if she could you know fill us in on some of the information of, likewise castles here, the hauntings or any deaths and she said she knows some information.”

“Oh cool…” Colby was already quite unenthusiastic about this idea anyways. Katrina retreated out of the building quickly with keys in her hand. She sprinted over to all of them.

“Look it’s Sam’s new girlfriend!” Y/N cheered. Sam spun his head around, probably pulling a muscle in the process. The pure look of utter horror could not be more hysterical. Sam became flustered with a loss for words, his face tinted with a light shade of pink. Before he could muster up any sort of retort Katrina, the groundlady, came jogging back to the group.

“What’s some of the backstory about this castle?” Jake asked, he spun some rings around in his hand. Paying no mind to the other plot line adhering to his right.

“This castle was built in the second half of the 14th-Century, but there was another castle built before that in here. That was built in 110,so uh.” Few ‘Wows’ and ‘Oohs’ cut her off. “That was quite a while ago, but the Neidpath was built by the Family Of Fraser’s and they built a Buddha made castle. This one was burned down by the English army. After a guy named Simon Fraser, who’s the cousin of Braveheart, was captured and executed and that’s why the Buddha made the castle was burned to the ground. Another family built this castle, which was besieged in 1650 by the Cromwellian army. Legend says that this was the only stronghold of the Scottish borders which actually withstanded the siege. Whether it’s true or not, we don’t know, but what we do want you to know is that one-third of the castle collapsed, non-existing anymore.” She spoke with absolute passion. The place had so much rich history, the surrounding observers listened with extreme intent, not to miss one sentence in case it may help their investigation.

Colby raised his eyebrows at this question, “One-third of it?”

Katrina continued on, “Because of the siege. We do have a dungeon in the castle as well.” Everyone went silent.

“A dungeon?!” Jake nearly dropped a silver band he was picking on by the mention of this. His personality perked up and suddenly the whole crowd was uplifted. Finding weird places in “abandoned” areas is always a plus side, but this tops all of it.

“Guys shut up!” Y/N whacked Jake with her phone, he stuck his tongue out while rubbing his shoulder. She didn’t want to leave too bad of a first impression. It would be mortifying if something went wrong and the owner already hates you.

“Is there a dragon?” Corey brought everyone back to the topic of the castle, he didn’t want to be there a minute longer, but in this group you just do what you’re told and shut your mouth.

“We do have quite a big colony of bats under the roof, so I’m not sure if you really want to go down there Mister.” The group laughed and groaned at Katrina’s statement. Running into bats could be the worst thing to encounter.

Corey nodded in response, “So there are dragons.”

The history went on, “It was quite widely used during the 14th and 15th century because that was the only reason for the whole county.” The darker side of it all became slowly prevalent. It wasn’t just a posh place the others expected it to be. 

“Prison?” Sam posed. This just got a lot weirder than they all expected.

“Yes. You’ll be able to get into it because there is this rough opening through, which was made in the 17th century, but before that the only entrance to the dungeon was through the trap door from the guards. I should have shown you that, but I’m not going to. You’ll find it by yourself.

“Oh god…” Colby rubbed the bridge between his nose, an inevitable  headache was beginning to form.

Sam tittered, “Are we just going to fall through? Is that ok?” He got no proper answer, which set his worries on the run.

“So, the last prisoner was there in 1594, I think. We know there was a teenage boy like a 14 year old boy who was just pick pocketing people and he ended up here. The note didn’t say that he actually came out of there again.”

“Like meaning it’s haunted?” Colby preyed on.

“Uh, it is haunted!” Katrina stated blandly.

“Fun for us!” Y/N shrugged to hide her panic. Colby glanced at her. He sensed her anxiousness, he didn’t want her to be upset. Definitely not in the shitty environment. Of course, he cared for her, he just didn’t know how to open up and tell her. Would this really be the place?

“We do have our own one. Her name is Jean Douglas. She died in 1750, she was the daughter of one of the owners of the castle and she died of a broken heart.” The mood fell, a breeze pulled through and messed with the mics. Leaving just a sprinkle of static in the footage. Just in time.

“She was engaged to a young man, but he wasn't wealthy enough to win her family over, so he went abroad to win his fortune and fame and because he was away for far too long she went really sickly and pale and she didn’t eat. She didn’t sleep, so she was really frail when he finally came. When he was riding his horse through the archway she was at the window and he failed to recognize her because she was so altered and broke her heart and she died on the spot.”

The group had a silent reaction to the news, not knowing how to react.

“Ever since then she is walking through the castle being very tall, very gray, very pale looking, weeping.”

“What’s her name again?”

“Jean.” A tiny shiver racked through Sam’s body. He didn’t tell anyone. Just not to set anyone off. Now he really didn’t want to face this spirit.

“Have you ever seen Jean?” Y/N asked, trying her best not to be insensitive with the approach. These things are held really close to some people. Their experiences could be life changing, for others it could most certainly be a lot different.

“No, but I do have ghostbusters coming in several times a year and I asked what was the best recording ever and they were like ‘We got brilliant ones of screams.” 

“Ah..”

“And I was like inside of the castle. I’m here sometimes on my own in the middle of the night at midnight, one, two, three o’clock. When I have to lock up after the events and such. Do I really want to do that with screams in my head? No I don’t, I said no.”

“Alright sounds like it’s a nice haunted Scottish castle.” Sam tried his best to play off his uncomfortable feelings with humor. It did not work.

“I’m going to do the dungeon now. I’m not telling you what I’m going to do now and then the place will be yours” Katrina headed back into the castle with an odd vibe. 

“So, she’s gonna make us fall down the trap door, wow.” Jake leaned in for slight commentary.

“How much do you want to bet that we’re going to die?” Y/N grabbed her backpack to locate her wallet and pulled out a twenty.

“I bet 15.” Corey grabbed his wallet too.

“Guy, that is so sad though…” Colby came into the center of all of them, “Ok, that story. Imagine your husband comes home on a little horse and you're in this window, literally right there and then you die on the spot because he's like ‘Who’s that?’ It’s a tall, frail old lady that’s crying everywhere.” Colby clung to his sweatshirt, “Oh that’s so creepy!”

“Colby if you ever do that to me you’ll have to go back to VidCon alone again.” Y/N was putting in her best bet and threw a five at him. “You can use that for your ticket.” He blushed, just like Sam moments before.

Sam added more commentary from behind the camera, “They’ve heard screams within the castle.” Katrina came right back out with her deafening personality, handed the keys to Sam and hopped right back in her small, blue car, and left with no exchange of words.

“She creeps me out.” Jake in discomfort. To be fair, she is a creepy ass old lady who owns a castle in the middle of nowhere.

Corey turned away from the groundskeeper's car and shrugged off his jitters, "So we have a castle to ourselves...”

“This is amazing!” Sam couldn’t contain his excitement.

“No Shit. I still can’t grasp why you all buyout expensive stuff like a castle.” Y/N gripped the abundance of bet money and slid it all bad into her bag.

Colby inspected the property more in depth, as if he was waiting for a ghoul to poke out at any given time, “This is where we’re staying tonight.” With a grand motion upwards Sam panned the camera up and down.

“And you guys...” Sam pulled the camera away from the stronghold and directed the frame to the rest of his friends,”..have not even seen the inside at all.”

“I know, I know.” Colby pulled his beanie down his head, the enlightened sun seemed to cascade into the clouds with a faint breeze.

“Let’s go find our cottage, get ourselves completely set up and ready for the night. Take some pictures before sun down and then go into the castle, because like we can’t lose this sunset and we got to figure this out.” Sam did some weird hand movements in front of the camera and handed it off to the other’s opinions.

Colby nodded his head up and down in agreement,” Yeah definitely.” Jake wandered around with a rock and for the most part everyone said eye to eye.

“Unfair treatment. I wanted to go in now.” Y/N gave a side glance to Sam and Corey brushed his hand over her playfully. She walked back into frame,“All I gotta say is, Colby Brock Hot Edits.” Colby walked up next to her with a shit-eating grin in approval. Who doesn’t love Colby Brock edits?”

“Shut up, you’re just jealous that there’s no Y/N L/N hot edits for you.” He playfully jabbed back at her with a growing flutter in his stomach. He fucking hated that feeling to no end, but it was such a drug. Only when she was around.

“Alright let’s go, I’m bored as shit.” Jake came back with his new pet rock and put his arm around Corey. Sam cut the camera and went down the forked path. Right down the road was a cottage for visitors.

“Hey Y/N,” Colby came jogging up to the colleen, “Did you see any weird stuff yet?” He shoved his hands in his pockets, a symptom of his bashfulness, he began to rethink his uncolorful wording in his sentence. He just had the sudden urge to go up to her and she wasn’t complaining one bit.

She looked over at him, “No, not yet. I just got really put-off by that lady. She just was so…” Her eyes connected with his and a glistening highlight overcame the peaking iris. The words weren’t verbally there, but he understood what was there.

Sam cut her off, “Dude. Look how big this place is.” It was rationally smaller than their house back in LA, but it was sizable for an ancient brick living space.

Jake made the most commotion out of the seven, “Whoever is first picks where they sleep!” He dashed ahead of the group and everyone picked up speed, almost dropping the rock he just adopted.

“I think there’s only like three beds.” Sam panted. No one paid much mind to him and kept running. They all toppled into the door and Corey unlocked it, which left the rest to run up to a room. Jake took the first one to the left, Sam tumbled into the one across. A room had a small couch for Corey and last, but not least…

“Looks like we’re bunking L/N.”

“Fuck you Brock.”

Sam peaked his head in, “Guys, we have film some shots of the place. Come on.” The three made it to the living room where all and sundry were. Sam grabbed his camera and got everyone in shot.

“What?!” With grand motions each person stood up in their acts of shock. Even though it had been there for a solid five minutes the audience always has to be entertained.

Colby turned around, “Yo! We got a TV too!” A small Toshiba was put on a step stool. It would probably gain no use tonight anyways. It looked like a piece of crap too, thank god for Youtube.

They all got up from their seats and went to uncover the rest of the place, “This is nice, very cool.” Colby led them into Corey’s room. A huge bed frame was around a pink canopy bed. Old photos and paintings of the fortress were hung evenly around the perimeter. Sam went through the rest of the rooms and told everyone to head off and get ready.

The guys took cold showers and Y/N soaked in a muddled bath in the basement. She didn’t like it here. Her mind couldn’t unravel much. Sam was stationed upstairs doing a camera touch up with Jake by his side talking about the new Harry Styles album. A half an hour later everyone was wearing at least one faction of Sam and Colby merch, phones were charged and beams from flashlights slid across the floor like a jumping snake.

The group divided into pairs as they walked to the castle. The sky grew much darker than expected and it felt like a looming spirit chipped away at the warm function of friends. The camera was whipped right back out.

“Alright, we are all showered, changed, and ready to explore the castle before sunset.” All went under the arch while the audio was whacked around by the wind.

Colby turned from his conversation to the viewers, "I’m still like flipping out that we’re staying here tonight. That’s crazy!” His lantern swung below him and the towering castle was engulfed by the purple skies. “Look at this place! Look at that beautiful sunset!” He yelled.

Y/N raised her eyebrows, “Since when were you PG-13?”

He blandly stared at her,”Shut up I need to make money,” He looked back at the camera, “When I was like blow-drying my hair and stuff after my shower, my hair dryer was insanely powerful. There’s obviously a lot of energy in it, like the voltage.” 

“I thought he said blow-j-.” Corey chimed in. He shut himself up so they wouldn’t get demonetized, it would be a funny way to go down though. Y/N and Colby giggled along with him. It wasn’t a rare occasion that they all were out laughing and joking, just the side chick with the haunted castle. 

Corey swung his flashlight up and down, “His blow dryer started smoking and like almost blew up.”

“So, what I’m saying is the spirits could use all of this energy to talk to us.”

They all made it to the castle and it was around five-thirty. There wasn’t much to do at this time, but she was always watching. There was something about to happen they could all feel it and that thing, it wasn’t going to be good.

 ☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

Part 2? Send me an ask if you want it!!

[itsthegameilike]

Best Books of 2020

Hi all! As always, I read some banger books this year and I like to do my best to get like everyone in the world to read them, because they’re deserving and being an author is hard. So, without further ado, here are the books that made my year! There Will Come a Darkness/As the Shadow Rises--Katy Rose Pool A pretty standard fantasy YA fare, but a step above in character and entertainment. There’s a world-ending prophecy, of course, and a collection of kids trying to save the day, but the world building is excellent and the plot develops from the characters and their relationships, not the other way around. I have characters I would die for and the second book in the series didn’t fall into the typical mid series lag. 8/10. The Lost Future of Pepperharrow--Natasha Pulley This was a follow up to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which is another of my personal favorites, and this did not disappoint. I, in fact, like it better than the first. Set in Japan in the late 1800s, it is part ghost story and mystery, as Thaniel’s--the main character--love interest goes missing, his past having caught up to him. Thaniel is so relatable and his devotion and relationship with Mori could carry me through like forty more books exactly like this. I don’t want to give it away, but it’s one of the most satisfying historical fiction queer relationships I’ve ever read. 10/10.

The Vanished Birds--Simon Jimenez A space odyssey story that hits closer to home for me than most do, as I’m not typically a science fiction fan. There are aspects of time and space travel, leaving the main character outside of normal space and time, meaning most of her friends have aged and died past her. Eventually, she meets a boy, lost and alone, and grudgingly takes him in. They form a bond, but he has a secret and it ends up wrecking her ship, her crew, etc. but she does her best to keep him safe anyway. The plot is incredible, lots of twists and turns--the good kind--and I’m more than a slut for found family stories, so here we are. 9/10.

Upstream--Mary Oliver This is an essay collection by Mary Oliver and like everything by her, it changed my life just a little. Before this year, I wasn’t reading her every day and now I am. She offers much needed perspective and the tools for self healing and this short essay collection is such a simple way to get started. I loved it to pieces, just as I love her. 10/10.

The Autobiography of Red--Anne Carson I read a fuckton of Anne Carson this year. I encountered her on this site and decided to read as much as I could and I have no regrets. This was my favorite by her, but they’re all so so so good. This is a modern retelling of a Greek myth starring Herakles and Geryon, centered on their relationship and Geryon’s journey to discovering his own power. There are times when it is incredibly harrowing, but I stopped like every two pages just to process her way with words. This is the most English major offering of the year, as it works heavily in metaphor and allegory--and is also poetry--but it is worth it. 10/10. P.S. If you’re looking for more Anne Carson, I also highly recommend The Beauty of the Husband.

This is How You Lose the Time War--Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone God, I loved this book. Maybe the surprise of the year for me. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and the tropes are some of my favorites. Two women on opposite sides of a war who fall in love with each other through hidden messages and a happy-ish ending. Though it is more vignettes than an actual plot--that being said, the ending comes through--it still affected me intensely. 9/10.

The House in the Cerulean Sea--T.J. Klune Read this book, please. Please, please, please. It is the comfort you need, I promise. It’s about a weary man, stuck in the hell cycle of capitalism, who is sent on a job to an old, rickety house owned by a man who takes care of magical creatures/children than no one else will take care of. They fall in love and the mc finds a family and begins to enjoy his life. The relationship is so healing and cute and I spent half my time screaming and the other half crying. 10/10.

Gideon the Ninth/Harrow the Ninth--Tamsyn Muir I do not even know where to begin talking about these. They’re weird, hilarious, morbid, and absolutely wonderful. I would die for both mc’s, who are definitely halfway through an incredible enemies-friends-lovers plot, and this book surprised me with plot twists more than once. There are necromancers and bones and sacrifices and threesomes with God and queer characters up the wazoo and old, dangerous ruins and space and ugh. I reread these almost the second I finished--both of them--and I know I’ll need to reread before the last book comes out. 10/10.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home--Carol Rifka Brunt I gave this to every member of my family to read, almost directly after I sobbed for like forty-five minutes at the end. It’s from the POV of a young girl whose uncle dies of AIDS and can’t find comfort in her own family, because they didn’t like him nearly as much as she did. She becomes friends with the boyfriend he left behind and they heal each other through their friendship. It wrecked me and put me back together. 10/10.

These Violent Delights--Chloe Gong This book is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet in Shanghai...loosely. But it’s such a good read. Shanghai is so visceral it’s practically it’s own character and the threat of the monster lose in the city is genuinely terrifying. Juliette and Roma were together at one point, then broke up after a betrayal, and when they come back together to save the city, it creates such an interesting character dynamic that never lost my interest. Lots and lots of props too to the relationship between the Benvolio & Mercutio counterparts. I cannot wait for the continuation of that in the next book. Just...so good. 9/10.

Honorable Mentions: A Deadly Education-Naomi Novak, The Only Good Indians-Stephen Graham Jones, The Memory of Babel-Christelle Dabos (only here because it’s the 3rd book in a series, it’s a 10/10), Black Leopard Red Wolf-Marlon James, The Eye of the Heron-Ursula K Le Guin, and Fifty Words for Rain-Asha Lemmie

[typingtess]

Tiptoeing through “The Frogman’s Daughter” guest cast

Kayla Smith as Kamran "Kam" Hanna Smith was last seen in “A Fait Accompli” leaving a parking structure under duress.

Michael King as Logan Reynolds King was Will in the OWN series Love Is_ and had guest roles in LA’s Finest, Black Lightning and Big Problems.

Alan Trong as Zee/Kyle McCarther Trong played Larry in Daybreak (2019) and appeared in episodes of Ghost Tape and The Leftovers.

Tiffany Smith as DHS Agent Megan Merkel Smith played Megan Markle in the TV movie “Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal” in 2019.  Had guest roles in Into the Dark, Liza on Demand, Supernatural, Jane the Virgin and Con Man.  Smith worked as a host on unscripted series like Crafting Comics with Jim Higgins, CW Fan Talk: The Flash, DC: All Access and Collider Heroes.

Richard Balin as Andre Keller Played Marty in the season 10 “Hit and Run” episode of NCIS.  Had guest roles in McMillan & Wife, Sanford & Son, Adam-12, The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Rookies Delvecchio, Serpico, Starsky & Hutch, The Tony Randall Show, Rhoda, Lou Grant, Quincy ME, Trapper John MD, Charlies Angels, Alice Private Benjamin, Simon & Simon, It’s Your Move, What’s Happening Now!, Misfits of Science, The New Adventures of Leave It to Beaver, Blacke’s Magic, MacGyver (1986), Designing Women, Moonlighting, Our House, Knots Landing, Starman, Sledge Hammer!, Murder She Wrote, LA Law, Lois & Clark, Days of Our Lives, Wings, ER and 9JKL.

Elizabeth Roper as Blaine Was Molly in Overthinking with Kat & June.  Appeared in episodes of Modern Family, The Good Doctor, New Girl, Jane the Virgin, Faking It and Dark Wings.

Patrick Garahan as Isiah Estevez No credits.

Zach Tinker as Tyler Tinker was David West in the season 16 “Boom” episode of NCIS.  Was Fenmore Baldwin on The Young and the Restless.  Appeared in episodes of Law & Order: True Crime, Small Shots, My Crazy Ex, Murder in the First, Turnt, You’re the Worst, American Horror Story, Station 19, 13 Reasons Why and LA’s Finest.

Michael Manuel as Carlos Guest roles include NYPD Blue ER, Home and Away, Water Rats, Wild Side, All Saints, Charmed (2003), Without a Trace, Medium, Wonderland and Los Americans.

Sloan Robinson as Mrs. Peters Robinson is currently playing Old Miss Kim on The Neighborhood.  

Played Lt. Robertson in “The Princess and The Petty Officer” episode of JAG in season six.  Had guest roles in episodes of LA Law, Sparks, The District, Providence, Kate Brasher, Judging Amy, The Division, The Parkers, Boston Public, Family Affair (2003), Las Vegas, Ghost Whisperer, Scrubs, Girlfriends, House, Southland The secret Life of the American Teenager, Body of Proof, Shameless, 2 Broke Girls, The Mentalist, SMILF, Legion, Grey’s Anatomy and Lucifer.

Written by:  Indira Gibson Wilson and Jordana Lewis Jaffe Wilson played Sam’s sleeping wife in two episodes – “Found” in season one and “Betrayal” in season three.  She is a longtime working actress with both comedy and drama credits.  She also played a Technician in “Automatic for the People” in JAG’s 10th season and FBI Agent Filsk in “House Rules” in NCIS’s season 12.

For NCIS: Los Angeles’s season 12, Wilson has been the program’s executive story editor.   She wrote an episode of Bull (“Teacher’s Pet”) and was a story editor for the final season of Empire.

Wilson is married to former NCIS: Los Angeles writer Joe C. Wilson, who is now a co-executive producer of The Equalizer.

Jordana Lewis Jaffe wrote or co-wrote “Honor”, “Patriot Acts”, “Dead Body Politic”, “Paper Soldiers”, “Unwritten Rule”, “Big Brother”, “Iron Curtain Rising”, “Exposure”, “Savior Faire”, “Beacon”, “Defectors”, “Exchange Rate”, “Black Market”, “Payback”, “Battle Scars”, “Mountebank”, “Vendetta”, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”, “Pro Se” “Heist”, “Born to Run”, “Provenance”, “Commitment Issues”, “Knock Out” and “War Crimes”.

Directed by:  Tawnia McKiernan, who directed “Exchange Rate", “High Value Target”, “Kulinda”, "Assets" and “Joy Ride”.

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Nina Simone who Died: April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, France

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

The sixth of eight children born to a poor family in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few supporters in her hometown, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She then applied for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission despite a well-received audition, which she attributed to racial discrimination. In 2003, just days before her death, the Institute awarded her an honorary degree.

To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist. She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at the age of three or four; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the piano, she performed at her local church. Her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was 12. Simone later said that during this performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. She said that she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front, and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement. Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (née Irvin, November 20, 1901 – April 30, 2001), was a Methodist minister and a housemaid. Her father, Rev. John Devan Waymon (June 24, 1898 – October 23, 1972), was a handyman who at one time owned a dry-cleaning business, but also suffered bouts of ill health. Simone's music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for her education. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist her continued education. With the help of this scholarship money, she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina.

In order to fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano, which increased her income to $90 a week. In 1954, she adopted the stage name "Nina Simone". "Nina", derived from niña, was a nickname given to her by a boyfriend named Chico, and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the 1952 movie Casque d'Or. Knowing her mother would not approve of playing "the Devil's music", she used her new stage name to remain undetected. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small but loyal fan base.

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records and recorded a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich Village. By this time, Simone performed pop music only to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in December, 1961. In few years he became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but later he abused Simone psychologically and physically.

In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from Colpix, an American company, to the Dutch Philips Records, which meant a change in the content of her recordings. She had always included songs in her repertoire that drew on her African-American heritage, such as "Brown Baby" by Oscar Brown and "Zungo" by Michael Olatunji on her album Nina at the Village Gate in 1962. On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone in Concert (1964), for the first time she addressed racial inequality in the United States in the song "Mississippi Goddam". This was her response to the June 12, 1963, murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young black girls and partly blinded a fifth. She said that the song was "like throwing ten bullets back at them", becoming one of many other protest songs written by Simone. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in some southern states.  Promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Philips. She later recalled how "Mississippi Goddam" was her "first civil rights song" and that the song came to her "in a rush of fury, hatred and determination". The song challenged the belief that race relations could change gradually and called for more immediate developments: "me and my people are just about due". It was a key moment in her path to Civil Rights activism. "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow laws. After "Mississippi Goddam", a civil rights message was the norm in Simone's recordings and became part of her concerts. As her political activism rose, the rate of release of her music slowed.

Simone performed and spoke at civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches. Like Malcolm X, her neighbor in Mount Vernon, New York, she supported black nationalism and advocated violent revolution rather than Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent approach. She hoped that African Americans could use armed combat to form a separate state, though she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.

In 1967, Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor. She sang "Backlash Blues" written by her friend, Harlem Renaissance leader Langston Hughes, on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contained live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair of April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She dedicated the performance to him and sang "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor. In 1969, she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Simone and Weldon Irvine turned the unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry into a civil rights song of the same name. She credited her friend Hansberry with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black) and Donny Hathaway. When reflecting on this period, she wrote in her autobiography, "I felt more alive then than I feel now because I was needed, and I could sing something to help my people".

In an interview for Jet magazine, Simone stated that her controversial song "Mississippi Goddam" harmed her career. She claimed that the music industry punished her by boycotting her records. Hurt and disappointed, Simone left the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting her husband and manager (Andrew Stroud) to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of her desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in southern France (Bouches-du-Rhône). In the same year, her final album, A Single Woman, was released. She variously contended that she married or had a love affair with a Tunisian around this time, but that their relationship ended because, "His family didn't want him to move to France, and France didn't want him because he's a North African." During a 1998 performance in Newark, she announced, "If you're going to come see me again, you've got to come to France, because I am not coming back." She suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône), on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and hundreds of others. Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and who has appeared on Broadway in Aida.

[soofoo-s]

Isabella - Simon Maris C. 1906 oil on canvas

A former title was 'Young Girl holding a fan'. Research has revealed that her first name was actually Isabella. This identification came about through photographs and references found in Maris’ archive. She was about twelve years old when she posed for her portrait in the artist’s studio on Keizersgracht in Amsterdam.

[askamydaily]

This year -- put a Book on EVERY Bed

This year: put a Book on EVERY Bed

By “Ask Amy” advice columnist Amy Dickinson

10 December, 2020

Dear Readers: Every year at Christmastime, I delight in promoting a Book on Every Bed. I do so in memory of my mother, Jane, who raised her children to understand that if you have a book, you are never alone.

The idea originally came from historian David McCollough, who recounted the Christmas mornings of his youth, when the very first thing he woke up to was a wrapped book at the base of his bed, left there by Santa.

The most important part is what happens next: Family members reading together.

That’s it! That’s the whole idea!

Over the last ten years, working with my local literacy partner Children’s Reading Connection (childrensreadingconnection.org), this campaign has grown to include schools, libraries and bookstores, who have donated scores of books to families that might not have access to them. The goal – and our dream – is that families will experience the intimate and personal connection of diving into and sharing stories, the way my mother and I did throughout her life.

Over the years, important literacy advocates, such as the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and LeVar Burton, and bestselling children’s authors Brad Meltzer and Peter Reynolds, have endorsed and helped to spread the good word.

This year is different. So many of us are alone, hurting, and separated from family and familiar holiday routines.

All of us – not just children – need a good book on our beds.

I have broadened the scope to include specific recommendations for books spanning all ages. I’ve reached out to some of my favorite writers, literacy advocates, and independent booksellers across the country for their special picks.

Whether you purchase a book or share an old favorite, I hope you will be inspired to put A Book on Every Bed this year. It is not necessary to make a Christmas deadline – this idea is one to sustain people throughout what might shape up to be a very long winter.

Following are recommendations for all age groups.

Baby and Toddlers: From Brigid Hubberman, Children’s Reading Connection, Ithaca, NY (childrensreadingconnection.org):

“Words are the language of love for babies.  The best books for infants should be about the world they know. Parents should choose books to surround babies with an abundance of loving and delightful words.”

Baby Cakes, by Karma Wilson and Sam Williams

Haiku Baby, by Betsy E. Snyder

Shine Baby Shine, by Leslie Staub and Lori Nichols

Ages 3-5: From Lisa Swaze, Buffalo Street Books, Ithaca, NY (Buffalostreetbooks.com)

“If You Come to Earth,” by Sophie Blackall is one of my favorite picture books of 2020. This book is beautiful both visually and lyrically, and it will feel like a warm hug to any child or family who receives it.

“You Matter,” by Christian Robinson is a bright and elegant book that takes children on a journey around the world to make it clear that everyone matters, and perhaps more importantly, reassure them that they matter, no matter what they look like or where they are from.

Early Readers: From Sandra Dear, owner of The Little Boho Bookshop, in Bayonne, NJ (thelittlebohobookshop.com)

“The Suitcase,” by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros: This beautiful story about immigration, is full of heart and humanity as it teaches our littlest ones about hope, tolerance and kindness.

“Home in the Woods,” by Eliza Wheeler: This stunningly beautiful picture book has fast become a customer favorite. A story about starting over, of overcoming! A story of family, love and joy of being and growing together.

Middle Grade Readers: From Becky Anderson, co-owner of Anderson’s Bookshop, in Naperville, Illinois (andersonsbookshops.com):

“Ways to Make Sunshine,” by Renee Watson: Watson writes her own version of Ramona Quimby, one starring a Black girl and her family, in this start to a charming new middle grade series about spirit, kindness, and sunshine.  Ryan, a fourth grader, finds the positive in difficult situations and when trouble strikes. She is that character to love and bring in the sunshine!  Grades 3-6

Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake, illustrated by Jon Klassen: Winnie-the-Pooh and Frog and Toad meet in a fresh take on a classic odd-couple friendship.  Klassen’s illustrations add much to a story of an unlikely friendship that proves that opposites can see the good in one another. The first in a series.  Grades 3-7

“The Silver Arrow,” by Lev Grossman: Kate’s humdrum life is transformed when her eccentric Uncle Herbert brings her a colossal locomotive train, the Silver Arrow, as her eleventh birthday gift, leading her and her younger brother on a mysterious journey.  The train will remind readers of the Hogwart’s Express. A story that is environmentally aware and calls readers to action. Perfect for fans of Roald Dahl and The Chronicles of Narnia.  Grades 3-7

YA Readers: Danielle Kreger, Blue Bunny Books, Dedham, MA (bluebunnybooks.com):  "One of Us is Lying" by Karen M McManus: An edge of your seat mystery that takes place in Bayview High school during detention. Simon, a so-called "outcast," never makes it out of detention alive. What follows is a tale of twists and turns that has the reader questioning the reliability of the characters, and the secrets they keep.

"Burn" by Patrick Ness: A fast-paced young adult fantasy that begins with fifteen-year-old Sarah, who meets Kazimir – a dragon who has been hired to help on her family's farm. Still reeling from the death of her mother, Sarah finds herself feeling an intense and unusual connection with Kazimir. As the story unfolds secrets, dangers and Kazimir's true purpose are revealed.

"The New Kid" by Jerry Craft: A spot-on graphic novel about navigating a new school, new friends and identity. Jordan Banks is in seventh grade when he is sent to a rigorous private school and grapples with staying true to himself- his love for creating cartoons, how to maintain his old friends and how he fits in in a less than diverse new school. A totally lovable and relatable character!

Adult Non-fiction: From Alex George, the author, most recently, of The Paris Hours, founder and director of the Unbound Book Festival, and the owner of Skylark Bookshop, in Columbia, MO (skylarkbookshop.com)

“Wintering,” by Katherine May: This is a deeply personal, quietly beautiful book, written with grace and immense thoughtfulness. We all go through difficult times; by mulling over her responses to her own misfortunes, the author offers insight as to how we might think differently about low points in our lives. Instructive, inspiring, and ultimately profoundly hopeful.

“The Book of Delights,” by Ross Gay: This utterly charming book of micro-essays by Ross Gay, a beloved and renowned poet, is a perfect gift for – well, just about anyone. Gay set himself the challenge of finding one thing that delighted him each day for a year, and then writing about it. The result is a quirky, brilliant book that you can dip in and out of, always finding something to make you smile, and think. A guaranteed lifter of spirits.

“Intimations: Six Essays,” by Zadie Smith: I’ve always loved Zadie Smith’s nonfiction work, and this small but powerful book shows her talents at their finest. Written during the pandemic, these six pieces are sharp, and funny, and thought-provoking. Smith’s deeply personal reflections on this strangest of years is essential reading. If ever there was a book for these strange times, it’s this one.

Adult Fiction: Mark LaFramboise, Senior Book Buyer at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC (politics-prose.com)

“The Butterfly Lampshade,” by Aimee Bender: This is a beautiful story of mental illness, the bonds of sisterhood, and the liveliness of a child's imagination.  Francie is 8 years old when the book begins, the daughter of a single mom.  This is the story of her odyssey after her mother is committed to a mental hospital, and she is sent to be raised by an aunt and uncle.

“Luster,” by Raven Leilani: Edie, the young protagonist in Luster, Raven Leilani's debut novel, is daring, sexy, hilarious, super smart, and drop dead beautiful.  Her affair with a married man takes a turn for the strange when she meets and befriends the man's wife and daughter.  Edie is whip smart because Raven Leilani is whip smart and her voice propels this beguiling novel.

“What Are You Going Through,” by Sigrid Nunez: Sigrid Nunez writes so beautifully that plot feels irrelevant.  The writer's confidence and authority are apparent from the first page.  Ultimately, it's the story of a woman who is asked by an old college acquaintance to be with her when she takes her life, after a cancer diagnosis.  But, like her previous book The Friend (about a woman who inherits a large Great Dane), it doesn't matter what story she tells because her words bristle with life.

Elders: Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, in Tempe and Phoenix, AZ

(changinghands.com)

“Apeirogon,” by Colum McCann: Two fathers, one Palestinian and one Israeli have both lost their young daughters to violence but have decided that reconciliation, not revenge, is what they needed to seek. In the process, they became best friends. McCann describes the insanity and senseless violence bred in the Middle East, the Occupation under which the Palestinians are forced to live, but also the beauty of the country, the migration of birds, the many ways humans overcome adversity and find solace in the natural world and each other. In a series of 1001 fragments, McCann walks us through his imaginary polygon, the Apeirogon of the title, containing an infinite number of sides, an infinite number of gorgeous sentences, and ultimately an infinite number of ways to view the human condition.  

“All the Way to the Tigers,” by Mary Morris: Travel writer Mary Morris’ book, written in small chapters, was in some ways similar to reading Colum McCann's, Aperagon, also written in small bits (in his case 1001, in Mary's -- 112 chapters). Morris travels to India in search of the elusive Bengal tiger, but in so many ways she is searching for herself and her place in the world as she recovers from a serious ankle injury that leaves her debilitated but determined.  

In her short vignettes, she quotes Rilke, Wendell Berry, other writers she admires and reminds us how important it is to listen intently to others as in active listening we are rewarded with deeper understanding.

“The Chair Rocks,” by Ashton Applewhite: From childhood on, we’re barraged by messages that it’s sad to be old. That wrinkles are embarrassing, and old people useless. Author and activist Ashton Applewhite believed them too—until she realized where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces Applewhite’s journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. The book explains the roots of ageism—in history and in our own age denial. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, this book will shake you by the shoulders, cheer you up, make you mad, and change the way you see the rest of your life. Age pride!  

[nxsmss]

Movies I watched in February

fyi, I have zero knowledge on how to professionally rate or review a movie. I am not gonna pay attention to every little detail. these rating are simply based on how much I enjoyed/liked the movie

Follow me

Unhinged

In Time

Avengers Age of Ultron

Songbird

Star Trek

Step up all in

Project Almanac

Ant Man

Space Sweepers

Christiane F.

Jurassic World

Jurassic World the fallen kingdom

1. follow me

A social media personality travels with his friends to Moskow to capture new content for his successful vlog. Always pushing the limits and catering to a growing audience, they enter a cold world of mystery, excess, and danger. 

starring: Keegan Allen, Holland Roden, Denzel Whitaker, Ronen Rubenstein, Pasha D. Lchnikoff

the end was very predictable and i pretty much already knew halfway through the movie what was gonna happen. but it still was quite thrilling and I did enjoy watching it

6.5/10

2. unhinged

After a confrontation with an unstable man at an intersection, a woman becomes becomes the target of his rage. 

starring: Russel Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Gabriel Batemen

hm idk, I didn’t really like it, my sister didn’t really like it but my mom did, I think. it just seemed so, no overdramatic but just too much in a way

3/10

3. in time

In a future where people stop aging after 25 and need to buy time to live, the rich become immortal while others cease to exist. So, Will is on the run with a hostage in a desperate bid to survive. 

starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, Alex Pettyfer

yes, such a good movie. Ireally like the concept. can recommend

7/10

4. avengers age of ultron

When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron, things go horribly wrong and it’s up to Earth’s mightiest heroes to stop the villanious Ultron from enacting his terrible plan. 

starring: Robert Downy Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johanson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany

hell yes, one of my favourite marvel movies. Wanda and Pietro.. Hawkeye.. all the little jokes throughout the entire movie and of course the scene where everyone tries to lift thor’s hammer, what’s not to love about this movie

10/10

5. songbird

In 2024 a pandemic ravages the world and it’s cities. Centering a handful of people as they naviagete the obstacles currently hindering society: disease, marital law, quarantine, and vigilantes. 

starring: K.J. Apa, Sofia Carson, Demi Moore, Bradley Whitford, Peter Stromare, Alexandra Daddario, Craig Robinson

I really enjoyed watching this. yeah sure, the ending was obvious but I was still glued to the screen. I also felt super weird watching this, kinda surreal because we are basically living a more harmless version of this rn. I really liked seeing sofia carson in such a movie, I’ve only seen her in the descendants so this was a bit of a change haha. I’m not that big of a fan of kj but he was great as well and i really loved his characters style.

7/10

6. star trek

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father’s legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time. 

starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Carl Urban, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Zoe Zaldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin

I put it on because I wanted to have some background noise while playing sims but I ended up playing like 20 minutes and then just watching the movie haha I forgot how good it was, and the others as well, aaand I totally forgot carl urban was in it, so that was a little surprise. anyways, can recommend watching them if you’re into sci-fi action movies but at the same time, if you’re into that I’m pretty sure you’ve already watched them.

7.5/10

bonus: I also watched star trek beyond the other day but this time I was barely paying attention so I can't really say too much, but it's also quite good👍🏻

7. step up all in

All-stars from the previous Step up installments come together in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.

starring: Ryan Guzman, Briana Evigan, Adam Sevani, Misha Gabriel Hamilton, Sephen Stevo Jones, David Schreibman, Mari Koda, Alyson Stoner, Izabella Miko

definetly one of my favourite dance movies. highly recommend it!! I’d like it more without the romancde but it’s fine, I guess, I can live with it haha and the last performance... wow just wow that’s all I can say to that. y’all go watch it

9/10

8. project almanac

A group of teens discover secret plans of a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.

starring: Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista, Virginia Gardner

okay... I did enjoy watching it! the beginning was a little slow imo but then it just got more and more intense which was kinda nice. god, at some point the main guy kept making the wrong decisions and that was very frustrating to watch. the ending was alright, spoiler ahead (I guess) I would have liked the ending more if it was the exact same as the beginning, meaning that the movie is just one big time loop and the events from the movie were about to repeat themselves. but that's just my opinion🤷🏻‍♀️

6.5/10

9. ant man

Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his Mentor Dr. Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena, Bobby Cannavale, David Dastmalchian, T.I.

another one of my favorite mcu movies. it's just fun and easy and doesn't have a lot of pain in it. the giant ant it's my favorite part haha I want it as a pet

9/10

10. space sweepers

Set in the year 2092 and follows the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy that's known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal.

starring: Song Joong-Kim, Kim Tae-ri, Seon-kyu Jin, Hyang-gi Kim, Richard Armitage, Ye-Rin Park

I really loved this movie. I cried like 6 times haha, which came unexpected. (or maybe it's because I'm suppose to get my period any day now) I did not think I was going to enjoy this movie as much as I did, at all. it was fun, it was exciting, it was sad (even my dad said that) the plot was good, the visual effects were amazing, it did feel like I was watching this movie for like 5 hours but not in a bad way and I am now kinda emotionally attached to the characters haha (I might do a rewatch). another thing I really liked was the language/synchronization. in the original version they speak mostly korean and english but also some other languages and it's the same in the synchronizations. the dialogue of the main characters is in the language you pick but every other character (I guess) is a different language and I absolutely love that. I highly recommend watching this!!

also, its was super weird seeing Richard Armitage not as a dwarf hahaha

10/10

11. christiane f.

A teen girl in 1970's Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.

starring: Natja Brunckhorst, Thomas Haustein, Jens Kuphal, Christiane Reichelt

I binged the series the other day and after the last episode this movie was in the "watch next" thingy idk and I thought "well, why not" and watched it. good movie, definitely!! I really liked that they didn't show the highs of doing heroin but focused on the negative effects it has on someone and what it's doing to your body. it is a super realistic but very very dark movie. the actors were all about 15/16 years old and looked very young which was a good and kinda disturbing thing because christiane and her friend were like 13/14 when that all happened and it made you realise that there were kids doing all that stuff

9/10

12. jurrasic world

A new theme park, built on the original site of Jurassic Park, creates a genetically modified hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus Rex, which escapes containment and goes on a killing spree.

starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty simpkins, Nick Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio

13. jurassic world fallen kingdom

When the island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Isabella Sermon

I am tired and don't really want to say all that much other than both of them are very good and I do like them. good action/adventure movies. can definitely recommend them. I definitely like the first one more because it feels like (just a little bit) that the main story in the second one is the same as in the first one, someone creates a new dinosaur species to make more money and something goes terribly wrong along the way. but it's still entertaining!

jurassic wolrd: 7.5/10

jurassic world fallen kingdom: 7/10