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#also re 'Kevin' are you from my 'book club'??
baphometaverse · 1 year
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Saw the name Kevin three times today from three different sources, don't freak out I'm a youtube lurker also. Hope you're well king <3
Thank you and you too, friend.
All-time favorite quote:
"But then I viddied that thinking is for the gloopy ones and the oomny ones use, like, inspiration and what Bog sends." - Alex DeLarge
The other day I wasn't dealing with numbers in any way, not even eg. license plates or billboards etc, but saw the same 5-number sequence, twice on my two receipts that day (I could have subconsciously made this happen but my subconscious would have had to have planned it for several months). I said fuck it and bought a lottery ticket for the first time (wish me luck but I don't think I'll win- had to do something with those numbers tho I guess).
Honestly in the past several years I have been trying to get in touch with "weaponizing schizo mode" to put that in a joking way, I mean exercising one's intuition or tuning to synchronicity or whatever it could be called, symbiosis between self and the other. I don't necessarily believe there's reason we can fathom to the unseen we anthropomorphize, but there is often "rhyme" - or at least irony which can even be truly bitter and troubling, something like Loki trickster aspect when it's sinister.
But yeah, if it's a muscle just trying to get it in shape. That line in the blues song "I should have listened/to my second mind" - one thing that could be powerful is realizing how often second guessing or third guessing is or isn't the way to go, as a habit. I think the best thinking is something more like openness or listening rather than talking. Debate/dialogue is mostly so gross on the 'net, conscious logical thought is often extremely useless, and a facade masking the emotional and unconscious, which is vastly more tricky/intelligent and sophisticated.
(Recently there's the talk of people having no internal dialogue, and therefore being intellectually inferior or even "NPCs". Barf. Does a surfer catching perfect waves have to think in dialogue, or someone making genius plays in a sport, or an artist or musician...)
The "flow state" is a state to try and get, to have as much of in life as possible IMO.
All that said, some vigilance to try and keep purely in good tune (not to sound all new age-y there) is to your benefit. I'd tell you with caution from experience watch out for trying to be in tune with the schizo mode when in duress or high emotion. (Or under the influence haha.) I've taken a lot of risks in my life doing dumb shit but no more pushing luck/statistics so much personally. It can lead to trouble wanting it so much and being forceful I guess. Not me but I know a dude who the chick he was seeing, often told him she had fantasies of him breaking into her place with a ski mask on and forcing himself on her. When they were going through a breakup he got stoned and thought fulfilling that scenario would be the way to win her back. Didn't work out good for him, that dude went to jail! (Not for seckshual assault tho thank Christ it didn't get that far, just the b&e)
So yeah, sorry for this being super long but this is something I'm interested in and didn't know how to put all this more succinctly.
TLDR: I think it's like a muscle or skill that can be honed, and to have fun with it in lighter things, and for heavy things sleep on it!! and to not fuck around being heavily influenced by toxins or dark shit- could end up just an urban legend, a story of someone who did something stupid, and jah always deserve more than that.
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ohmtoff · 3 months
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Chasers and the Game for My Heart
Nick Sturniolo x Poc!OC Hogwarts AU
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Summary: The first time Nick meets Kevin Thomas, the seventh-year Gryffindor chaser, it’s because the boy saves him from a bludger to the face.
Contains: fluff, most probably inaccurate hp stuff, part veela!triplets, slytherin!nick, gryffindor!oc, gryffindor!chris, hufflepuff!matt, hufflepuff!madi
WC: 5053
Disclaimer: i am not a black person. to depict the character i did research by looking at @writingwithcolor and also asked the darling @nickuniversity for help, tysm girl <3 i don’t support jk rowling and her transphobic, anti-semitic, and zionist remarks (and all others i cant remember bc honestly that woman can’t stfu)
a/n: this is for the darling anon who requested poc!oc, so sorry bby that you had to wait long😭 since this is my first time writing a black character, pls don’t hesitate to criticise me if i say anything tone deaf, innacurate, or offensive. im rlly willing to learn <3 okay hope you enjoyyy!!
——————————————————————————
The first time Nick meets Kevin Thomas, the seventh-year Gryffindor chaser, it’s because the boy saves him from a bludger to the face.
Nick is getting some reading done -hiding out- up on the Slytherin quidditch stands after leaving the library, having grown tired of the group of girls that are always trailing after him sighing and batting their eyes at him, an irritating side effect of his veela heritage. He’s deep into his Herbology book making notes, trying desperately to remember the steps and ingredients to make a Strong Invigoration Draught, that he easily ignores the Gryffindor quidditch team starting practice on the pitch. He’s re-reading a passage on Sneezewort when he hears a loud smacking sound and a ‘watch out!’
Nick looks up and freezes as a bludger comes hurling towards him at top speed. He’s always had shit reflexes, a side effect of having the athletic skills of a drowning sloth, so he can’t move or really think. His brain uselessly supplies that getting his nose broken by a stupid ball when he doesn’t even play quidditch is going to suck, and yet he does nothing but close his eyes, hold his breath, and waits for impact.
Seconds pass.
No ball slams onto his face except for the wind that blows his hair out of his face. He opens one fearful eye and instead of seeing a bludger racing towards him, he sees a giant with luminous locs tied into a ponytail on a broom in Gryffindor colors and a wooden club in his hand.
“That was a close one,” the guy says with a wide smile calmly doing small circles on his broom, like Nick’s face wasn’t almost rearranged. Nick watches as one of the boy’s teammates flies by and the guy throws the club back at him.
“You’re not a beater,” Nick blurts out, his heart is still racing, his brain latching onto unimportant nonsense.
“Nope, Chaser,” he gets in answer, the smile on the boy’s face is sunny and happy like Nick has done a neat trick by noticing. “Lucky for you I was quick enough to grab a beater’s bat and get to you, would be a shame to damage a pretty face like yours.”
Nick feels his face turn red in embarrassment and irritation, it wasn’t the first time a boy teased him about his looks. “This pretty face wouldn’t have to worry if your team was better.”
“Ooh,” the boy grins, his amusement evident and annoying Nick even further. “Slytherins and their sarcasm. That wasn’t very nice, Nick.”
The boy lands his broom down to put his feet on the stand in front of Nick, giving the brunette boy a view on how tall he really is.
Nick narrows his eyes at the boy, “You know my name?”
“Male veelas are rare, even if you’re only a quarter veela, you stand out,” he gets in return with a shrug. “I pay attention.”
The guy winks at him and Nick tells himself his heart is beating out of his chest from the near-death experience and not the boy in from of him. He pulls at his green and silver scarf up, hoping it will hide any redness on his cheeks.
Is he flirting with me?
“Oh, and you got the same face as my captain, so I kinda figured.”
“Oh,” okay that makes more sense.
“Nick!” Speaking of said captain, Chris flew quickly towards him and drops onto the stand with a loud thud. “Holy shit, you okay?”
“Maybe train your team better so I wouldn’t almost get my nose beaten in, fucking idiot.”
The brown skinned boy raised his eyebrows, vision darting between the two brothers.
“Why the fuck were you here anyway? Oh look at me, reading a book at the quidditch stands like a goddamn loser,” Chris jabs back with a mocking voice.
“Putting in work as the only one with a brain between the two of us.”
“Ooh!” The boy lets out a surprised noise then cackled, putting a fist up to his mouth to stifle it.
Both Nick and Chris turn towards the laughing boy. “Shut up, Kev,” Chris lets out with a sigh while also chuckling, making the other apologize with a grin.
Chris turns to Nick again, “Be careful next time, I don’t wanna get a howler from mom. Let’s go Kev, practice isn’t over yet.” Nick was baffled and started sputtering because why the fuck should I be the one careful? It’s your team’s fault! while “Kev” groans.
As Chris flies back onto the pitch, Nick glances towards the tall boy and realizes he hasn’t introduced himself. “You know my name but I don’t know yours, I feel at a disadvantage.”
Nick gets that sunny smile again, “Kevin Thomas, seventh year Gryffindor.”
“Well, Kevin Thomas, seventh-year Gryffindor,” Nick says standing up gathering his books, “thanks for the save.”
“No problem, Nick,” Kevin answers as he mounted his broom and flew himself off the ground with practiced ease, his lips quirking upwards. “Like I said, any damage to that face would be a tragedy.”
“Ha, ha, mock the veela,” Nick says dryly. “Funny.”
Kevin gives him another casual shrug. “Who’s joking? Your face is pretty. Trust me I have spent a lot of time staring at it. Veela or not, that’s just a fact. Later, Nick.”
Nick stares after the boy with his mouth slightly parted in shock at the boy’s comment, he feels himself go red, but as he takes the steps down he can’t help the small smile on his face.
***
It seems now that they have introduced themselves, Kevin is everywhere in the castle. Nick’s sitting with Matt and Chris at the Hufflepuff table in the great hall, munching on their breakfast while trying to ignore the stares of girls from every house table when Kevin walks by with a group of Gryffindor seventh-years.
“Morning, Nick,” Kevin says, slowing his stride when he spots Nick. “You look lovely today,” Kevin continues, still walking but body always facing Nick even when his group has already passed by. He makes a self-satisfied smile when Nick chokes on his juice. “Enjoy your breakfast.” He finally notices the two same faces looking at him with confusion, “Chris. Matt.” Both said boys nod at him and voice their own greetings.
Nick watches him stop, swallowing hard when Kevin throws him a wink over his shoulder as he sits at his table. He notices that Kevin lets his locs hang loose today, differing from when he first met him. His locs reach his shoulder with a few strands adorned with gold jewelry. Nick turns back to his brothers red-faced, his stomach doing weird flips and jumping jacks to find them staring at him hard.
“What the hell was that?” Matt asks, the first one to recover while Chris still stares at him wide-eyed. “Why is Kevin Thomas hitting on you?”
“He’s not hitting on me,” Nick argues, sounding weak even to his own ears. Chris snorts causing Nick to make a disgruntled face at him.
“Oh shit, why does Nick look grumpier than usual?” Madi asks as he comes to sit down next to him.
Nick opens his mouth to also argue that comment, but Chris beats him to the punch.
“Kevin Thomas has a crush on Nick,” he blurts out loudly and Nick cringes, stooping down when more than one person around them looks over at them.
“Chris,” he hisses. “Shut up.”
“He said you looked lovely, bro,” Matt adds in and Madi squealed.
“Oh shit, that means my own bro thinks I look lovely, ugh,” Chris pretends to hurl at that.
“Damn, Nick, you pulled Kevin Thomas!” Madi lets out a high pitched squeal again, ducking when Nick half-heartedly tries to slap the back of her head. Nick could hear a couple murmurs and whispers from around the table and he wishes he could jump from the nearest tower.
“Guys, shut the fuck up. We literally just met a few days ago, how can he be into me?” Nick grumbles.
Both Matt and Chris snort in front of him. “You’re acting as if we don’t genetically attract people,” Matt says with a nonchalant tone. Nick ignores the slight pinch on his chest at that remark.
Chris adds, “Yeah, even Madi had a crush on us.”
“That was literally when I was a first year, can you shut up!” The fourth year Hufflepuff whines while the brothers let out a roar of laughter, embarrassed remembering her silly little crush on her best friends years ago. The triplets met Madi as a third year when she was just a first year fresh out of the sorting hat. They were at the great hall chatting when a tiny and meek girl gave them love letters then ran away. The boys at first were apprehensive with her as they were with any girl who throws themselves at them, but after she got closer to them and saw their antics, which sometimes involve burping on her face and throwing food from the dining hall at each other, she knew she just loved them as friends, and the boys did too.
“Wait, you know him?” Nick questions, ignoring the ‘duh’ look Madi throws his way. “How? I get that both Chris and Matt know him because they both play Quidditch, but what about you?”
“Everyone knows him, maybe if you join us when we watch Quidditch matches once in a while, you’ll also know that he’s one of the best chasers competing now. He’s super fast,” Madi divulges while taking a bite of the roasted chicken, judging her best friend for being the hermit that he is.
Chris nods, “That’s true, I’m so lucky he’s a Gryffindor.”
“Hufflepuff is still gonna beat your ass though in the next match. With Thomas or not,” Matt says with pride and a smug smile as a beater of the Hufflepuff team, prompting them to argue and yap for the next few minutes which Nick is used to tuning out as one with no interest at all in the sport.
Madi also had no interest in hearing them banter so she turned towards Nick with a smirk, “So, how did you meet him?”
Nick explains to her the bludger incident and Kevin’s comments after he saved him. Madi listens with a concentration she reserves for when they gossip, and everytime he tells her about anything Kevin said to Nick, she’s fully convinced that the tall boy most definitely has a crush on Nick. He doesn’t want to admit it but god did it feed his delusions.
They continued eating and as the minutes tick away, conversations dwindle and students start to filter out, drawn towards their impending classes. Nick remembers that he hasn’t done his Charms homework and lets out a long quiet “Fuck”.
“I’m gonna go, I want to stop by the library before Charms. Bye guys,” Nick walks to leave the great hall, feeling a stare on him that he knows isn’t his brothers’ or any of his admirers’ but a pretty boy with deep dark eyes.
***
A part of him isn’t exactly surprised when he walks out of the library and finds Kevin leaning against a wall across from him. The Gryffindor ditched his robe so he was only wearing his white shirt and grey sweater, highlighting his broad chest.
“Hey Nick,” Kevin greets him again, pushing against the wall to stand up straight to his full height, hands tucked into his pockets.
“Kevin,” Nick acknowledges, grateful he doesn’t stammer even though his heart raced faster than any chaser known at the sight of the boy.
Kevin smiles, falling into step. “Going to Charms?” he asks. Nick nods trying not to read too much into Kevin knowing what his next class is. “I’ll walk you.”
“Don’t you have a class of your own to get to?” Nick can’t help but question, even though he’s secretly thrilled at spending a little more time with the boy.
“I have time,” Kevin answers just as easily.
“Okay.”
They walk silently towards the charms corridor on the second floor with only a few sneaky glances from both of them. As they climb the stairs, a group of fourth year Gryffindor girls walk by, giggling as they spot Nick, making him sigh. Kevin chuckles next to him and Nick shoots him an irritated look that makes him laugh even harder.
“That happens a lot?” Kevin questions moving closer to him as the girls get closer.
“More than I would like,” Nick says, ignoring one of the bolder girls, Emma, who stops on the steps and tries to give him some really awkward bedroom eyes. Nick was never one to hide his judgements so he stares back at her and cringes. Kevin takes a step even closer to him, his hand brushing against Nick’s as he does so. Startled, Nick looks up at him with wide eyes, but Kevin ignores him and instead stares at Emma until she huffs and keeps moving.
Once she’s left, Kevin doesn’t move away but continues to walk with Nick up the stairs, his hand continues to brush Nick’s and he swallows hard when in one brush Kevin hooks his pinky with his.
“There are worse things than being popular with girls,” Kevin comments like he isn’t practically holding Nick’s hand and Nick isn’t screaming in his own head.
“You would know, do you?” Nick teases back, noticing that some of the girls were looking at the taller as well. Kevin laughs at that then made an arrogant shrug.
“It is when you know it’s because of your biology,” Nick answers the previous question and in a bold attempt, moves to intertwine more of their fingers together. He lets out a small puff of breath when Kevin doesn’t pull away and he sneaks a peek at Kevin to find his gentle eyes gazing into his blue ones deeply.
“Besides,” Nick continues to brave. “Girls aren’t really my thing.”
Nick looks down to hide his blush when that gets him another tender smile.
***
Nick isn’t sure how he finds himself a few weeks later back in the library with Kevin sitting across from him.
That’s a lie, Nick and Kevin talk everyday ever since Kevin walked him to his Charms class. Small comments in the great hall turn to full blown conversations with Kevin sitting next to him and his brothers, and the taller boy walking him to class became a routine now with Kevin even holding his books for him. Next thing he knew, studying alone became study dates.
Kevin is working on his Herbology homework while Nick works on Transfiguration. At least he’s trying to work on it, Headmistress McGonagall likes to pop into her old class from time to time and Nick liked to be on his game, but he found that it was kind of difficult when there was a pretty boy in front of him who keeps knocking his feet against his.
The warm library lighting illuminates Kevin’s skin, casting a gentle glow that highlights the intricate gold jewelry intertwined with his locs. Today, his hair is done in a half-up half-down hairstyle with a few strands in the front left untied. His brows are furrowed with concentration and his hands are diligently taking notes, veins popping up more than usual. Nick undeniably loves serious Kevin.
“You’re staring,” Kevin murmurs without looking up from his book, his quill in hand. He looked at Nick from under his eyelashes, his lips quirking upwards. In the gentle flicker of the warm candlelight, Nick can see how those dark eyes ignite, the candle fire dancing on those irises.
You’re playing footsies with me, Nick wants to shoot back, but instead he shifts his foot, letting it slowly trail up Kevin’s leg and it’s Nick’s turn to grin when Kevin’s breath hitches and stares at him in surprise.
Nick gives him a challenging look that says ‘two can play this game’ and Nick watches, his face red as Kevin bites down on his plush lip to control his grin.
“So,” Kevin starts hesitantly and Nick frowns because it’s not a word he’s waiting to hear. He would much rather hear words along the lines of “hide” and “kiss”.
“Yeah?”
“Hogsmeade weekend coming up, are you going?”
Nick can feel a smile tugging at his lips as he watches Kevin fidget with his quill, getting some ink on his fingers. “I was planning on it.”
Kevin licks his lips as he looks at Nick. “Are you planning on going with anyone?”
Nick smirks at that, letting a small chuckle when Kevin narrows his eyes playfully at him. “Usually I would go with my brothers and friends, but Matt and Chris are both going with their housemates and Madi’s going with her boyfriend, soooo I’m all by myself unless somebody comes up and offers to accompany my lonely self.”
He stares back at the other calmly, grinning when Kevin lets out a huff. “You’re teasing me.”
Nick mockingly points at himself. “Me? Never.”
Kevin rolls his eyes but is smiling widely. “I don’t even know why I like you so much, you’re a brat,” Kevin says, the fondness in his voice taking any sting away from the words. Kevin sets aside his book and quill to give all his attention to Nick. “Will you go with me?”
Nick looks at Kevin for another moment, taking in the way Kevin looks at him with a hopeful expression, like the possibility of Nick wanting to spend time with him at Hogsmeade will make his day or more. Suddenly feeling shy, Nick nods.
Kevin rewards him with a beaming grin.
***
“So your mum’s a half-veela, and your dad’s a muggle-born?” Kevin asks as he and Nick walk leisurely through the chilly streets of Hogsmeade, other students walking by, coming in and out of shops. A few nod in their direction and some whisper but luckily none approach either of them, letting Nick enjoy Kevin all to himself.
“Yup. My mom’s from Portugal but she chose to go to Hogwarts instead of Beauxbatons because her family hates the French,” the other chuckles, “and thanks to her, she met this silly irish-italian bloke at school who is my dad.”
“Well, say thanks to your mum and her family for me,” Kevin says and winking. Nick honest to god giggles like a little girl at that.
“What about you? What’s your family like?” Nick asks back as he bumps into Kevin when a group of third years excited to be out of the castle rush past him. Kevin puts his arm around his shoulder, pulling him close to him and away from the crowd, his arm stays on his shoulder once the group has passed and Nick finds himself being bold and snaking his arm around Kevin’s waist. Nick looks up at the taller boy who’s sporting a small shy smile.
Kevin tilts his head, “Way less interesting than yours. Dad’s a half-blood and mum’s a full-blood. Both went to Hogwarts but never met each other here. Both came to London for work where they met then they gave birth to yours truly,” he refers to himself with a curtsy, Nick wonders whether he has ever laughed this much with anyone. “Oh, and my dad fought in the second wizarding war. He was friends with Harry Potter.”
“What?! Enough about me, that fact is already cooler than any of my family lines!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, my dad’s pretty cool. Always grateful he survived and met my mum. If not, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Nick admits, his cheeks tinted pink.
Kevin stops walking, with his arm still around Nick, he leans in, his forehead brushing Nick’s hair. “Me too.”
Nick clears his throat when Kevin pulls away, his face burns more than ever before. “So, where are we going?”
“What are you feeling?”
Nick gives Kevin a teasing look. “Wow, you asked me out and you don’t even have a plan? So much for feeling special.”
“You’re very special,” Kevin answers honestly instead of responding to the teasing and Nick rolls his eyes but can’t stop the wide smile from taking over his face.
“How about Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop?”
Nick makes a face at the suggestion causing Kevin to laugh at him.
“Wow,” Kevin says, still chuckling, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “That’s a no.”
“That place is so tacky.”
Kevin shakes his head, “It’s supposed to be romantic, you don’t want to hold my hand over tea in a place with steamed up windows?”
“I can hold your hand right now,” Nick answers, demonstrating by doing just that. “See?”
Kevin looks down at their joined hands and then back at him, his expression pleasantly surprised.
“Yeah,” he says softly, squeezing Nick’s hand before they start walking again. “How about the Three Broomsticks then we go to Honeydukes?”
Nick nods, “Now you’re talking.”
***
After they got butterbeers at Three Broomsticks and picked up some candy at Honeydukes, Nick and Kevin walk slowly back towards the castle, this time with Nick’s arm curling around Kevin’s bicep.
Nick is sucking on a liquorice wand, while Kevin gambles with his taste buds with a bag of every flavor beans, Nick finds himself watching Kevin, giggling every time he makes a face about a new undesirable flavor.
“What was that one?”
“I think tripe,” Kevin answers wrinkling his nose at the taste playing it up to make Nick laugh again. “How’s yours?”
Nick gives the liquorice wand a lick before sucking on it some more, he smirks around the candy when he sees Kevin’s eyes drift down to his mouth, Nick stops and comes to stand in front of Kevin pulling the candy out of his mouth. “Better than yours, want a taste, get the tripe flavor out of your mouth?”
“Sure,” Kevin answers, reaching for Nick’s candy but Nick pulls it out of reach while stepping closer to the other. Going on his toes, he leans up brushing his lips against Kevin’s, once, twice, three times, his eyes open to watch Kevin’s reaction, taking in the way Kevin’s eyes widen and his breath shortens. Nick starts to pull back down when Kevin is spurted into action, his large hands come up and cradle Nick’s head, his fingers sinking into Nick’s brown hair, his lips slated over Nick’s, making a noise as he chases the sweet taste in Nick’s mouth.
Nick sighs into the kiss, his hands going to Kevin’s sides to steady himself, suddenly feeling lightheaded as Kevin takes his time with the kiss.
When Kevin pulls back, he keeps his forehead pressed against Nick’s, his nose brushing his and he smiles that same beaming smile he gave Nick the first time on the pitch. “You’re right, tastes much better.”
***
Nick is sitting with Matt and Madi again for breakfast, this time at the Gryffindor table which is buzzing with excitement for the upcoming match versus Slytherin. Chris is sitting next to them with the Gryffindor quidditch team, giving a pep talk to motivate the team and discuss strategies.
“I’m kinda offended you never watch my games but you jump to watch the first one now that you have a boyfriend,” Matt says.
Nick lets out a long groan, “Ugh, fine, I’ll watch your matches next time. Don’t expect me to enjoy it though, the supporters are barbaric.”
“You’re going to root for me, right?” Nick hears a familiar voice and turns around in his seat to find Kevin already dressed in his quidditch uniform standing behind him, his expression warm as he looks down at Nick. It’s been over a week since their date and they’ve spent every free moment together and yet Nick can’t believe this boy with his pretty smile and gentleness for him is for Nick to keep.
“Hi, Kevin!” Madi greets him loudly, interrupting Nick and Kevin’s staring. Nick watches as Kevin looks amused at his best friend and greets her back, extending his hellos to Matt who nods at him. Kevin straddles the bench Nick is sitting on, leaning in close to him.
“So,” Kevin starts, his expression teasing. “You are going to root for me, right?”
“Root for you?” Nick repeats in a mocking tone. "Against my own house? I know loyalty isn't the first trait you think of when you hear Slytherin, but I assure you we are, sorry but I'll be rooting for you to fall off your broom."
Kevin makes an exaggerated gasp at that, drawing the attention of a few students. "We’re not gonna be able to make out if I get hurt, you really want that?"
“You’re forgetting I’m a veela, I can kiss anyone.”
"None as good as me though," Kevin replies with a grin of his own, hands reaching and body leaning forward to grab a muffin.
Nick takes advantage of how close it puts Kevin to him that he leans in and presses a soft kiss against Kevin’s jaw. He smiles against the skin as Kevin brings his arm around Nick, pulling him close. He kisses him again, this time at the corner of Kevin’s mouth, enjoying the way it makes Kevin smile.
“Good luck,” he whispers against Kevin’s lips.
“Thanks, baby,” Kevin whispers, giving him a soft lingering kiss before he stands up and walks away.
Nick watches as he walks over to his teammates who are waiting for him, some hooting and hollering while Chris cringes. When he turns around he finds more than one person staring his way, but he doesn’t mind, he’s gotten used to the stares for a long time. Instead he looks back to Matt and Madi, rolling his eyes at the amused smiles they are giving him.
“You two are sickening,” Matt teases while Madi is silently screaming into the air.
***
They head for the pitch each going for their respective stands, by the time Nick has taken a seat, the teams are already on their brooms circling the pitch waiting for the whistle to be blown. As soon its blows there is loud cheering in the stands as Slytherin grabs the quaffle first, followed by hissing and booing when Kevin manages to recover the ball and heads for the hoops, the booing in the Slytherin stands gets louder as he scores, but Nick allows himself a smile at Kevin’s skill.
The game continues, each team evenly matched and always within a couple of points from each other, Nick can see the seekers searching for the golden snitch hoping to win and end the game for their team. Nick is more than ready for the game to finish. He loves his house and is proud to be Slytherin but he knows how aggressive they are about winning and now that they have realized just how good Kevin is at scoring, he’s become their focus, more than once a Slytherin player has tried to throw him off his broom and if the game drags any longer he has a feeling they are going to get their way.
Nick isn’t done thinking that when a Slytherin beater hits a bludger straight for Kevin, Nick watches in horror as Kevin who hasn’t noticed the ball headed for him gets slammed from behind.
“Kevin!” he yells, his scream drowned out from the cheers in the stands. He gasps, watching helplessly as the hit causes Kevin to slip off his broom. His heart beats loudly as Kevin manages to hold on at the last second, one hand gripping his broom as he dangles in the air. Kevin’s teammates rush to help, forming a line of defense to allow Kevin to get back on his broom. Nick holds his breath the seconds it takes Kevin to get seated again, letting it out once he’s back on safely. He watches as Chris talks to Kevin and whatever is said Kevin answers with a sharp nod, his face determined. Nick’s nerves are on edge for the rest of the game and when the Gryffindor’s seeker captures the snitch he isn’t disappointed about his team’s loss, he’s just happy that it’s over. The wide smile on Kevin’s face that he can see even from the stands doesn’t hurt either.
***
Nick is waiting outside the Gryffindor’s locker room, ignoring the looks more than one Gryffindor sends his way as they wait to celebrate with their team. A cheer goes up when the team walks out and Nick presses himself against the wall to avoid the surge, he waits but doesn’t have to wait long. Kevin spots him over the crowd and heads for him, nodding and smiling absently as his housemates congratulate him. He comes to stand in front of Nick with a smile on his face and Nick studies him, his handsome face, his kind eyes, he stands tall and beautiful.
Nick pushes himself off the wall and wraps his arms around him, his nose pressed into the crook of Kevin’s neck, he sighs as he��s enveloped in Kevin’s warmth when he returns the hug. He presses himself even closer, still letting out another happy sound that Kevin answers with a small chuckle as he runs his hands up and down Nick’s back.
“You scared the fuck out of me,” he murmurs.
“Your housemate’s fault.”
Nick pulls back to look up at Kevin’s face. “I’m hexing the fuck out of them, my brothers will help me.”
Kevin lets out an infectious laugh, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “My hero.”
“Damn straight,” Nick answers, grinning. “You’re alright, though?”
“Yeah,” Kevin answers softly. “There’s going to be a hell of a bruise on my back, but other than that I’m fine.”
“Good,” Nick lets out a relieved sigh, lifting his head in a silent request he smiles when Kevin gives him a soft kiss. “I should probably let you go, I’m sure you want to celebrate with your team.”
Kevin shakes his head, holding onto Nick. “Nope, I want to celebrate with my pretty boyfriend. What do you say we sneak into the kitchen for something sweet and then we find a quiet corner in this big castle to make out in?”
Nick grins, a laugh bubbling out of him, feeling happier than he’s ever felt. “That sounds like a plan.”
34 notes · View notes
theapprof · 9 months
Text
Muscle: A Gripping Story by Roy Meals | TAPP 142
Get pumped up for Episode 142, where we have the honor of hosting Dr. Roy Meals, the musculoskeletal maestro! 💪 We're gonna flex our curiosity muscles and explore every nook and cranny of his latest masterpiece, Muscle: The Gripping Story of Strength and Movement. This episode's so dynamic, you might need a protein shake afterward!
0:00:00 | Introduction
0:01:13 | Re-Introducing Dr. Roy Meals
0:04:08 | Muscle Strain & Why We Train
0:13:53 | What Sword Swallowing Teaches Us About Muscle
0:24:49 | Muscle Stories: Learning Should Be Fun
0:38:48 | Staying Connected
★ If you cannot see or activate the audio player, go to: theAPprofessor.org/podcast-episode-142.html
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Muscles are in a most intimate and peculiar sense the organs of the will. They have built all the roads, cities and machines in the world, written all the books, spoken all the words, and, in fact done everything that man has accomplished with matter. Character might be in a sense defined as a plexus of motor habits. (G. Stanley Hall)
  Re-Introducing Dr. Roy Meals
3 minutes
This segment reacquaints us with Dr. Roy Meals, who previously joined us for a chat about his book about bones back in Episode 82. An orthopedic surgeon and clinical educator, has been turning his talents to creating interesting books about the skeletomuscular aspects of human anatomy and physiology.
★ Roy A. Meals (biography) my-ap.us/2UyHrpy
★ Bones: Inside and Out—A Chat with Dr. Roy Meals | TAPP 82 (previous episode with Roy Meals)
★ The A&P Professor Book Club | Bones: Inside and Out (read a review, link to booksellers, earn a credential!)
★ Doctors Demystify (Dr. Meals's online mini-courses) AandP.info/mlj
★ Thanks to listener Dr. David Allard, who started me on the path to connecting with Dr. Meals.
Please rate & review The A&P Professor—it helps others decide whether to give us a try! 😁
★ RateThisPodcast.com/theAPprofessor
  Muscle Strain & Why We Train
9.5 minutes
Join Kevin Patton and Dr. Roy Meals in this segment as they reunite and discuss Roy's new book about muscles. They begin by unravelling the mysteries of muscle health and strength. In this captivating conversation, you'll learn why muscles don't actually "tear" and discover the multifaceted benefits of strength training. Get ready to challenge your preconceptions!
★ Muscle: The Gripping Story of Strength and Movement (the book we're discussing in this episode) geni.us/Bv5fpQU
★ The A&P Professor Book Club | Musle: The Gripping Story of Strength and Movement (read a review, link to booksellers, earn a credential!)
★ The Silent Teacher Special | Episode 49 (where Kevin first discusses training to be a body donor)
  What Sword Swallowing Teaches Us About Muscle
11 minutes
In this segment, Roy and Kevin delve into the unusual art of sword swallowing and how it relates to the role of smooth muscles in the body. Dr. Meals also highlights the underappreciated significance of smooth muscles and their prevalence throughout the body. The conversation touches on the cardiac muscle's incredible durability, as well as the remarkable adaptations of tails in various animals.
★ How to Survive Swallowing a Sword (brief video on what is meant by "sword swallowing") AandP.info/v0v
★ Hadji Ali (clip from a Laurel & Hardy movie showing famed spouter [regurgitation artist], an example of something Roy brings up in this segment) AandP.info/fsm
  Muscle Stories: Learning Should Be Fun
14 minutes
Dr. Roy Meals and Kevin Patton discuss teaching strategies used in Dr. Meals' book on muscles, focusing on storytelling and making learning enjoyable. They emphasize the importance of clear and engaging communication in teaching complex concepts. Dr. Meals shares how teaching helps him clarify his own understanding, and Patton expresses gratitude for the practical teaching resources provided in Roy's muscle book.
★ Link to Roy's blog, Muscle and Bone muscleandbone.info
  People
Production: Aileen Park (announcer),  Andrés Rodriguez (theme composer,  recording artist),  Karen Turner (Executive Editor), Kevin Patton (writer, editor, producer, host).
Not People
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Check out notes and transcript for this episode!
0 notes
mingzisdrgongxuo · 9 months
Text
Mormons returned today, at the wrong time for them.
I was in "drag". Their visit was unscheduled and unannounced, I wasn't being a troll to them.
It's still a phone solicitation game. Trying to recruit non-believers or apostates.
Do they need to put their minds at ease? Or do they need a trophy kill, To maintain power or control over a flock of people?
I'm an American.
The church is powerless. They want me to join because the church wants power, not america.
The missionaries will persist until you take a baptism under their Latter Day Saint's spiritual authority. My past experience is that if you politely humor or indulge them, and find them likeable or agreeable, and you don't? They start getting cold and possibly rude, as if a girl not putting out on the fourth or tenth date.
I politely tell them no. My reasons why. They change their response or philosophical rationale. It goes on and on in this serpent dance forever.
As if it's a fish in the water that won't take the baited hook, so they dive in after it with a spear.
This book of Mormon is about Joseph Smith and a set of tablets from ancient egypt/Isreal that he found written on in gold leaf in Sanskrit, in the North American wilderness, hundreds of years ago, but after the birth of the American country.
On his 3rd grade, illiterate education.
And do you agree or testify that these things are true?
Sure, okay.
You do believe this is true...
Sure. And what if it isn't?
If you have ever seen, the movie "the usual suspects", and his character "Kaiser's Jose'" with Kevin Spacey?
It's like somebody wrote a story about a Chinese painting.
What is the reader getting out of this?
The original Bible, it was written "do not add to these things lest ye recieve the plagues and diseases as described and foretold within"
https://www.bibleref.com/Revelation/22/Revelation-22-18.html
And this is basically about another chapter or supplemental book to the Bible.
It's huge importance on the reconciliation and re-unification. And how it's goal was to restore the broken branches of Is real .
What I know Is.. there's this place called the USA, and they have these things called Laws
The church is like a high school chess club in this part. You all have clubs I'm not part of. You all have athletic teams that I could never be part of even if I wanted to, because I tried.
So, they all add these rules and conditions to my life that the USA Laws do not. Unconditionally. They are unchanging regardless of if I eat meat on meatless Friday. I will not be punished by the government for smoking a joint, or drinking caffeine, or looking at porn.
The church and their spirit's authority (another djinn) will.
It's also a very big no-no to mess around with sorcery of any kind.
So yeah, not my sorcery, are you behaving?
My big question is this.
Do you believe God punishes liars, or punishes people for lying to each other?
these crows over there, they have known me for ten years, I feed them and care for them and shout back and forth from the outfield with my guard dogs with eyes in the treetops at all times.
And they still treat me with apprehension.
Why do you think that is? What does this animal know about me or other humans?
It does not trust. Animal ability, intelligence, and self preservation are the only reason it still lives at all, everyday.
🤘
Acknowledges the presence of a universal predatory force
(that one cannot possibly know the scale of justice hunger or mercy it runs on in the balance of life's positives and negatives)
, and goes clear up and down the food chain.
Also another trend I'm not on board with.
I believe it has its' ripple effect of consequences and that it does not happen overnight.
That brandishing it can hurt you as well as who you point it at.
Some people like to dance on dead tree limbs.
1 note · View note
sungbeam · 9 months
Note
BESTIE BAEEEEEEEEE
I’m back 🤭🤭🤭
Tbh its been a rough few weeks 💀 ALSO HELP HOW COME EVERY TIME I DISAPPEAR YOU WHIP OUT SO MANY SCRUMPDILIUMPTIOUS FICS LIKE??? Not that I’m complaining tho 😋😋
Firstly, Occupied… hmmm mhmnn yeahh lemme just say that your impulsive thoughts are so valid 😔🙏 buT J E S U S DID YOU HAVE TO PUT MY HEART IN THE CROSSFIRE- I think I had to stare at my ceiling for a bit afterwards cause like damn… I love my man🗿
Secondly, Rhapsody Anonymous… had my kicking my feet as per usual 🙄🙄 and tbh the fact that both parties were valid in their reasoning for not wanting to out each other and tbh I would also be struggling on deciding whether to spill my identity or not 😭😭 but it was saUR SITIEKR CUTE 😭 man I feel like I set myself up each time I read/re-read the love in unity series cause each time they just call me more and more single and alone 😔💔 BUT FRET NOT I WILL USE THIS AS MOTIVATION AND LECTURE NOTES ON HOW TO GET A GOOD MAN 😤‼️
ALSO OMG DID YOU WATCH BARBIE YET??? Ok I think I gotta calm down I’ve been using too many caps 💀 but Lip Gloss is so Barbie too and the MV is literally a bunch of Kens doing Beach and you can’t convince me otherwise 😤☝️
My personal ranking of the album would be:
1. Fantasize
2. Fire Eyes
3. Passion Fruit
4. Lip Gloss
5. Lighthouse
6. Fairy Tale
But I honestly love all of them and I’ve listened to the album non-stopppppp!
Also yesss I did watch the zeneration behind and tell my whyyyyy New and Kevin ATE 🫣
Also the newest lip gloss mv behind took me OUT esp Changmin wiping TF OUTTTT with the volleyball net like eye- 💀💀
Also just to sneak in a lil abt the pcs… you din’t want to see the Totoro pcs… TRUST 😨😨 not safe for my mental health at ALL
Ouuu also my turn!
1. My fav bread would have to be seed bread! Not like, multigrain bread and idk if the right name is seed bread but it’s just in the name it’s bread made with a bunch of seeds mixed in 😭😭
2. My quirky snow app filter pics… oooooohhhh I hope those never see the light of day again 💀
3. No. 🗿
(But also just like you said, I’m patient but I’m also getting a lil bit impatient at the same time 😔)
4. The Robinson’s kid from meet the Robinsons…. Also Diego,,, and the Kratts broth-*gets shot*
Oh and maybe a few more questions!
1. Are you a tea person or a coffee person? What’s your fav drink?
2. Do you have a sweet tooth? If so, what’s your fav pastry?
3. If you could recommend any MUST HAVE food from your culture, what would it be?
(Can you tell that I’m craving a midnight snack rn 💀)
Oh also! I finally decided to start of my getting-back-into-reading journey with reading a book that has intrigued me and has been floating around a lot, Bunny by Mona Awad! I’ll let you know how it goes in a lil solo book club way 🫡
“I don’t know what they’re called, the spaces between seconds— but I think of you always in those intervals.” (Salvador Plascencia)
- Smooches + Smooches, 🌷 anon
omgg hi bestie 🤧🤧 what's been rough for u 😔 have u started school yet ☹️💔 im like,,, not ready to go back to uni, i wanna be a professional couch potato pls and thanks 😔
LOL pls (´Д⊂ヽ occupied was such a spur of the moment thing 💀 literally was going through MAJOR eric sohn brainrot and just had to get my thoughts down before i Combusted. bro... stared at my ceiling for a good while trying to find the perfect pics for that banner 😭 why's he gotta look that yummy 😭
aknfksnfkdkdk glad u liked rhaps anon bffie !!! bro frfr like this series is just me PROJECTING 💔💔💔 im projecting so VIOLENTLY it's embARRassing 💀 omg low-key i just remembered i pretty much based sunwoo's anonymous situation w how tumblr anons work 😭😭 but yeah for sure, i would also be kind of panicking over secret identities skfnkdnf
OMG I DID WATCH BARBIE I WATCHED IT ON PREMIERE NIGHT AND GOT GLAMMED UP !!! ur sooooooo so right omG??? lip gloss really is just a bunch of Kens doing Beach 😭😭 they're all Kenough for me tbh skcbsjnf but ugh omg im like obsessed w kevins little kick in the beginning of the choreo, and eric's one other jump thing, and chanhee's red light green light skfnkenfkdnfj such a good mv w so much fic potential tbh !!
hmmmm i haven't been listening to it as obsessively as i did be awake tbh 😭 maybe i'm just tired of summer songs 💔 but i would have to say i liked fantasize, fairytale, and fire eyes the most!! the whole album is a bop tho i do agree 🤸‍♀️😋
OH MY GOSH DO U MEAN NYUKEV ON THE STRIPPER POLES WKFNKENFKDNF HELP I SAW THAT CHANGMIN CLIP TOO 💀💀 I LAUGHED SO HARD IM SORRY CHANGMIN DONT HURT ME— omg but they were filming a variety show too and changmin lost a game and abused his gopro 😭😭😭 i felt so bad for that camera, but also low-key....... can that be me...
VRO I ALREADY SAW THE TOTORO ONES AKDNKSNFJD i was debating getting the album or joining a go for those special pcs but i ended up not doing it 😔
LMAO IM SORRY but when i saw seed bread, i just immediately thought of birds 😭😭 unrelated but i got a birb plush from daiso a couple days ago and i named him clyde 😎😎 THE SNOW FILTER APP SJFJKSJDJD I FEKT THAT DW 😭 OMG DIEGO UR SO RIGHT !!! (゜-゜) like sorry dora, ur cousin is much more entertaining ksnfkend
OMGGG i really need to start reading again 😭 it's awful how i can't even pick up a book anymore it's so embarrassing being an english major like this 💔 BUT YES PLS LMK HOW U LIKE IT o7
"& how many times have you loved me without my asking? how often have i loved a thing because you loved it? including me." - D. Smith, acknowledgements
— i love love loved you, and i'll love you all over again too 💖
0 notes
recentanimenews · 2 years
Text
The Manga Review, 5/20/22
This year’s Eisner nominations have just been announced. In the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia category, VIZ Media garnered five of the six nominations with crowd-pleasers such as Chainsaw Man and Spy x Family, while Seven Seas garnered one for Robo Sapiens: Tales of Tomorrow. The only other manga nominated for an Eisner was Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, which is competing in the Best Humor Publication category. Also nominated for an Eisner is Eike Exner’s Comics and the Origins of Manga: A Revisionist History, a scholarly work published by Rutgers University Press.
MANGA NEWS
Big news from Seven Seas, which just launched two new imprints: Seven Seas BL, which will publish works in the BL/Boys’ Love genre, and Seven Seas GL, which will publish works in the GL/Girls’ Love (yuri) genre. [Seven Seas]
The final chapter in Wataru Hinekure’s My Love Mix-Up! will run in the June issue of Bessatsu Margaret. [Anime News Network]
Brigid Alverson previews three new shonen titles that debut in July. [ICv2]
Over at Book Riot, Carina Pereira highlights eight of the summer’s most anticipated graphic novels. [Book Riot]
How do librarians respond book challenges in their communities? Shawn, Megan, and Tayla offer a variety of helpful strategies for handling complaints about graphic novels, from setting clear policies about who can bring a formal complaint to using peer-reviewed sites to demonstrate that your collection is, in fact, age-appropriate. [No Flying, No Tights]
FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS
Looking for a good read? The crack team at ANN have just posted their Spring 2022 Manga Guide, shining a light on this season’s newest titles. Look for daily updates through the end of this week. [Anime News Network]
Tony explores the complex friendship between Kaguya Shinomiya and Ai Hayasaka in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. [Drop-In to Manga]
On the latest Manga Mavericks podcast, host Siddharth Gupta convenes a roundtable discussion about Yona of the Dawn with panelists from Anime Feminist, But Why Tho?!, and Good Friends Anime Club. [Manga Mavericks]
Geremy and Kevin round up the latest Shonen Jump chapters, then turn their attention to volume thirteen of Haikyu!! [Jump Start Weekly]
Why did Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Gun Blaze West get the axe after just three volumes? David and Jordan investigate. [Shonen Flop]
Did you know that Tokyopop’s Warriors fandom is still going strong after fifteen years? Patrick Kuklinksi shines a light on the fan-made comics that explore “parts of the books that weren’t detailed in canon,” re-write controversial storylines, and introduce original characters. [SOLRAD]
Megan D. jumps in the WABAC machine for a look at Rumiko Takashi’s Rumic Theater, a collection of short stories that VIZ published more than twenty-five years ago. “What caught my notice about this anthology is that they all feature something you don’t see a lot of in American manga releases: adult women,” she observes. “Every lead character is either a currently married woman (be they with or without children) or one who was married in the past.  A lot of their stories are small-scale, focused on their homes and their immediate community of friends and family. True to Takahashi fashion, though, they are also often comical”.” [The Manga Test Drive]
REVIEWS
Are you following Al’s Manga Blog? If not, you should: this review-focused website has been publishing insightful, crisply written essays since 2016. Al’s latest offerings include in-depth reviews of The Music of Marie, a new title by Usamaru Furuya (Short Cuts, Genkaku Picasso); Island in a Puddle, a thriller by Kei Sanabe (Erased); and Sakamoto Days, a new Shonen Jump series by Yutu Suzuki.
Also of note: ANN’s Caitlin Moore draws on her own experiences with ADHD in a thoughtful review of My Brain is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders, while Masha Zhdanova posts capsule reviews of three new VIZ titles.
All-Out!! (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)
All-Rounder Meguru (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)
Awkward Silence (Megan D. The Manga Test Drive)
Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 1 (Seth Smith, Women Write About Comics)
Devil Ecstasy, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
Fly Me to the Moon, Vol. 11 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
A Galaxy Next Door, Vol. 1 (Brett Michael Orr, Honey’s Anime)
Giant Spider & Me: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance, Vol. 5 (Krystallina, The OASG)
The Haunted Bookstore, Vol. 1 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)
Island in a Puddle, Vol. 1 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
Jujutsu Kaisen, Vols. 14-15 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
The Music of Marie (darkstorm, Anime UK News)
My Androgynous Boyfriend (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
The Poe Clan, Vol. 1 (Eric Alex Cline, AiPT!)
Record of Ragnarok, Vol. 1 (Danica Davidson, Otaku USA)
Rent-A-(Really Shy!)-Girlfriend, Vol. 2 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
Sakamoto Days, Vol. 1 (Renee Scott, Good Comics for Kids)
Seaside Stranger, Vol. 2: Harukaze no Étranger (Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?!)
Sensei’s Pious Lie, Vol. 1 (Sarah, Anime UK News)
Short Sunzen (Megan D. The Manga Test Drive)
Stravaganza (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
To Strip the Flesh (Quinn, But Why Tho?!)
Wind Breaker, Vol. 1 (Brett Michael Orr, Honey’s Anime)
By: Katherine Dacey
2 notes · View notes
madsdefencesquad · 3 years
Text
another kevison fanfic none of you asked for (also on ao3):
[Thread] Who's the nicest celeb you've met in real life?
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Kevin Pearson. Was an extra for one of his movies and couldn’t be any nicer. Chatted with us even though technically you weren’t supposed to. He joked around a lot and showed us pics of his family. Real top bloke.
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I met this guy once on vacation in Italy. We were at a table next to him and my newborn was screaming bloody murder, mom was in the bathroom. Couldn’t quite calm my son and I was getting real embarrassed with the loud noise. Some of the waiters came over to their table to ask if they wanted to move but Kevin shut them down immediately. Actually got a bit cross that they even suggested it. His wife suggested to rock my baby on the side to make him stop and he did! She knows a few tricks having twins and stuff. Also shared that joy/misery thing of being first time parents. Anyway, they left first (they got there earlier) and we learned after that they paid for our meals too. Couldn’t believe it.
replied: Wow. That’s the so fucking nice of them.
replied: Yeah made my wife cry haha
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I’ve heard only good things about him too! My mom lives in Philly and his brother was running for city council a few years back and he was there and took photos with all the Korean mamas including my own and my grandma! apparently he smells really expensive :P
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Didn’t know that I was fully chatting up his wife at Starbucks until I saw a pic of them at the premiere for one of his movies. I’d be embarrassed by my god she was fantastic! 10/10 would’ve gone for it if I wasnt such a potato
replied: And wasn’t married.
replied: That too
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My daughter was an extra on one of his movies and says he’s the nicest guy and “such a dad” lol! And her dad’s a real “dad” dad so for her to say that about a famous actor is funny
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I used to teach his kids in my kindergarten class. Daughter’s wicked smart. I can tell you all the mothers would have a fit every time he’d come by to pick them up and if it’s not his wife or them together, it’s him. Very hands on. I’d say that counts for nice.
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Rocked out to a Lady Gaga show with him and his wife in Vegas. His wife and I are practically best friends now! We’re on first name basis ;)
replied: Sounds fun! What were they there for if you don’t mind me asking? Coz isn’t he like sober now?
replied to a reply: I think it was for a niece’s birthday or something? Couldn’t remember, was pretty wild night :P And I didn’t see any drinks.Even his wife wasn’t drinking I think? They were literally there to enjoy Gaga like the rest of us
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I love hearing stories about him like this because it always looks like he’s such a pretentious pretty boy jerk especially back in the day
replied: Getting your life sorted can change a man
replied to a reply: Yeah he’s pretty mellowed out since getting sober. He’s had that DUI and rehab stint but now he’s a real family man and seems to love his wife very much. Good for him.
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Doesn’t he remind you of George Clooney? Got married late and had boy girl twins and is loving life!
replied: True!!
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Not sure if everybody knows but his wife Madison is pretty big in the interior design space especially coz she like pretty much runs their fam construction business. I follow her on Insta and I know everyone has a crush on Kevin but I’d pick her over him any day!
replied: OMG YES SAME! She puts together these amazing DIY palettes and I’m obsessed! I’d also pick her over him any day even just to pick her brain
replied to a reply: She also recommends the best books!!!
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My mom’s in the planning side of construction and met his wife in West Chester. She did a presentation and afterwards her and my mom shared parenting tips like they’re in some mom club. Apparently she was the sweetest and her babies are adorable and also Kevin calls a lot lol
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Met him at the airport, wife’s a huge fan of the manny so sucked my gut to ask for a pic. When he found out it’s for the missus, he recorded a special vid saying his iconic line. Missus was over the moon. Real good fella
replied: MANNY SAY WHAAATTTTT
replied: That’s so nice
replied: He did for my mom as well! All the moms love him!
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Kevin Pearson helped re-build my grandparents’ burned down convenience store. Couldn’t thank him enough even if I tried
replied: Wow, that’s real generous. How are the grandparents?
replied to a reply: Thanks! They’re over the moon. They have a house near the area but gran said he’d come by with his kids from time to time. Even if gran didn’t want to, they always insisted to pay for whatever the kids wanted.
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Delivered the cake for his uncle (grandpa’s?) wedding and he gave a seriously generous tip. Oh and his wife packed me pigs in the blanket.
replied: Pigs in the blanket?! What in the middle school
replied: Apparently it was the uncle/grandad’s favorite or something and they double ordered. But who cares free food!
replied to a reply: Did it come with ketchup?
replied to a reply: Hot, wrapped in foil and handful of ketchup packets. I felt like one of the kids
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Not him but his brother who’s like a big shot in politics right now. Real top guy and had the best laugh
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This doesn’t sound real but I’ve bumped into him literally five times over the past year he’ll probably think I’m some stalker. Rarely saw him without his family and once his kid threw a ball at me. He apologised but c’mon you either throw a ball or bounce it no big deal. Besides, that kid has David Beckham’s kids manners. Real like English folk polite it’s insane
replied: That’s always nice to hear that celebrity kids aren’t spoiled brats. We know a few good of them are
replied to a reply: Celebrity kids are different from kid celebrities though
replied to a reply: Didn’t say they were the same? Just saying that for a kid of someone so rich and famous you’d think they’d be a bit more spoiled but they weren’t at all and was beyond respectful and that’s a testament to the parents.
replied to a reply: Agree. I’ve met this particular celebrity’s kids and mind you they’re teens now but god they were just awful and pretentious. Even more than their famous parent which is saying something
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Not him but I did meet that actress that was so embarrassingly flirty around him during the press conference of hat film he did a few years back. She’s a real bitch and so fake and I’m so glad she’s been dropped from the sequel
replied: Oh god yeah I remember her. She was so obnoxious laughing at everything he said like stfu it’s not that funny!!!! The secondhand embarrassment watching her and him being all polite about it *chills*
replied: She’s the worst. No talent
replied to a reply: I was an extra for some scenes in that movie and she was WAY worse and such a diva for someone unknown. Kevin’s a real nice guy though and just let her be. He talks about his wife and kids a lot but she would not take a hint!
replied to a reply: That is just embarrassing
-
Alright story time. Was working as a barista at a cafe and it was one of those really shitty days. He came in, ordered and waited and was all nice and took some pics with fans. Anyway, like I said shitty day so I mixed up his coffee order and got him two lattes instead of cappuccinos. Mind you, it was a busy asf day as well and I was the only one making coffees. He comes over and tells me and I apologise but by this time my manager’s already all up on my ass for serving Kevin Pearson incorrectly. He kept apologising to him and berating me till Kevin himself stepped in and told the manager off. But like calmly and stuff like it’s no big deal and people make mistakes whatever and I kid you fucking not he apologised to me too and said I was doing a good job. He probably won’t know how much that meant to me after an already shitty as day but it did. I made sure to make him the best fucking cappuccinos
replied: I’ve met him in irl too and he is this!
-
I saw him sitting at a cafe with his daughter. Super nice. Asked him if I could get an autograph for my mom who’s a huge fan. He asked me some questions about her and wrote a really nice autograph, for her. His daughter stuck one of her stickers on there too and my mom loved that even more. I told him where she works (at a grocers) and he went out of his way to shop there the next day and made a point to look for her and chat. Great, great dude
replied: That is so fucking cool man. And your mom must’ve been so happy!
replied to a reply: She was over the moon! She loves his wife too! Apparently she was even chattier than Kevin haha
-
Met him at the airport. I was an employee and he had some TSA questions. Genuinely nice and friendly, chatted for about 15min. After he was set, we shook hands, he had his kids say thank you individually with a high five. Adorable. His wife was super nice and friendly too. Very good social interaction, would participate again
16 notes · View notes
dogcopter · 4 years
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Jane is Lore 2020
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Ok, here’s the round up of the ghost part of the situation with @keepbeachcitysafe​ and @keepbeachcityweird​.
Theory: Ronaldo’s girlfriend Jane is the key to figuring out Rose Quartz is not gone, largely via a constellation of background clues. If that sounds ridiculous, I understand. I’m Ronaldo. Actually I’m not Ronaldo, but hopefully I’ll have a post about him too soon. I hope we can all have fun together tho
This post is very, very long and involves a lot of images. It will be confusing at first, but please entertain the thought and keep reading, and I hope it clicks into place. I may need to update it later. 
Three sections for supporting evidence:
1. Restaurant Wars, Jane, KBCW/KBCS blogs’ interaction & contents
2. Astral projection/ghosts/fusions
3. Dogcopter secrets
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Restaurant Wars Saga & Jane’s appearances
So Ronaldo has a blog at @keepbeachcityweird​ - he also published a book based on his blog called Keep Beach City Weird: You Can’t Hide the Truth!!!, which is available for purchase.
On April 23, 2014, Lion 2: The Movie airs. Jane appears for the first time working the ticket booth at the movie theater and sees Lion and the kids fight a killer robot. Dogcopter 3 is playing at the theater.
April 23, 2014, Ronaldo at Keep Beach City Weird also posts about seeing Dogcopter 3 at the movie theater, where the parking lot is a mess, presumably from Steven, Connie and Lion’s robot training fight.
He mentions “First of all, it’s a huge mistake to turn the last Dogcopter book into THREE movies.”, but that’s less relevant to this particular post. The important thing is that he, like Connie, follows Dogcopter, who’s also associated with Jane. (We’ll get to Dogcopter’s appearances in SU in the last part of this once the context is established) 
Ronaldo’s posts in general document specific events and details in his home Beach City, but that’s another post entirely.
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Exactly a year later, Ronaldo on April 23, 2015 posted about receiving a mysterious letter, which might be from Jane because (beneath a great deal of smudging) it appears to call Ronaldo the CUTEST GUY EVER! (This isn’t crucial or anything, just noting it as one of our first Jane points).
I GOT A LETTER TODAY!!!  But for some reason it was all wet and I can’t even tell what it says.  Is it a love letter?  Is it a death threat?  Please tell me!  I need to know if I should lock my doors or open my heart!
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Jane also appears in Beach City Drift. After Beach City Drift, keepbeachcitysafe posts an episode reaction blog, on July 22 2016, and takes special notice of Jane.
Hey did you guys notice that girl that keeps appear. We saw her when Steven took Connie to the movies and now she’s here. I wonder if she’s involved in something. Hmmmm. So Stevonnie raced Kevin down the hill in his Himitsu X12, that’s secret in Japanese.
(Kevin’s Himitsu X12 is his car, in the middle there. We’ll come back to this and what KBCS means in a second.)
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July 25 2016, Restaurant Wars airs, the third of Jane’s four appearances in SU. In this ep, Jane comes a long way to return Ronaldo’s Koala Princess DVDs, and catches Ronaldo with Kiki and is upset. 
KBCS posts another episode reaction blog, pays attention to Jane again, and says they plan to message Ronaldo.
Ronaldo says he can’t do it because of his girlfriend. Ooo, he has a girlfriend, that’s pretty cool, you just know whats gonna happen next.
Ok so, Ronaldo’s, GIRLFRIEND, (imagine me saying that in slow motion) showed up at the worst possible moment.
Everything was back to normal. Except poor Ronaldo, I should sent him a letter to cheer him up. Seen ya next week.
Almost immediately the KBCS and KBCW blogs play out a little interaction online:
Ronaldo goes through some stuff.
No post today.  If anyone needs me I’ll be at Brooding Hill… where I’ll be CRYING. I usually cry at Crying Canyon, but it’s closed right because of some flash flood warnings.  
Then Ronaldo posts KBCS’s letter.
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Note how KBCW caps this message so the name is clearly visible? It’s referring to Ronaldo’s bio:
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It’s not very cheering...but things work out shortly thereafter. Jane likes one of Ronaldo’s posts and all seems well.
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I think it’s going to work out you guys.  Thanks for all your support.
After this, Ronaldo doesn’t post again until Rocknaldo several months later, and one last time after publishing his book. 
That’s April 18 2017. The KBCW tumblr is never updated again. KBCS’s final post is not long after, Jul 4, 2017.
Finally, Jane makes a cameo alongside Ronaldo in the very last scene of Steven Universe Future, “The Future.”
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Koala Princess, Astral Projection and Psychic Ghosts
So some interesting patterns come up when you connect the two blogs, the clues associated with Jane, and some understanding of Steven’s powers. Let’s revisit Keep Beach City Weird, a Ronaldo’s primary blog, and Keep Beach City Safe, which contains mysteries too big for this simple Dogcopter/Jane-hime lore post.
Keep Beach City Weird - Ran from September 2013 to April 2017, with a lot of posts made in October 2015 and July 2016.
Keep Beach City Safe - Ran from June 2015 to July 2017, with most posts in 2016 of course.
Let’s look at a timeline of posts. I’m going to call out things that we’ll connect to the Jane lore at the end.
Keep Beach City Weird: Ronaldo’s blog
Nov 1, 2013, days before Steven Universe first airs: KBCW’s first post is all about Astral Projection.
Astral Projection!  The ability to travel outside your physical body and into other planes of existence!
I began to feel lightheaded and before I knew it, I was floating above my body.  Amazing!  I walked out onto the boardwalk in my new ASTRAL FORM, and you know what the weird thing was?  Nobody even said hello to me.  I was COMPLETELY INVISIBLE!  I mean, usually nobody really notices me, but this was a different kind of not being noticed.  This was not being noticed on another plane of existence - so I didn’t feel bad about it.Anyway, after being ignored in the arcade and Fish Stew Pizza, I got bored and I went back to the fry shop to re-merge with my body. 
Astral projection is a power Steven demonstrates a number of times, and you’ll see among these posts that certain powers of Steven involving this stuff are called out by the blog. 
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Connie: What? Where are you? How are you...? Steven: I’m not sure, but I think it’s a classic psychic ghost type situation. Connie: Ah, of course! So, what’s the plan?
from Reunited
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Steven: Oh man. I fell asleep and had this weird dream. I opened the door and Lapis was there, and- Pearl: Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Lapis is fused with Jasper at the bottom of the ocean. Steven: You’ve never had a dream before, huh? Pearl: Uh, I don’t think so.
from Chille Tid
August 28, 2014, Joking Victim, Ronaldo posts about ghosts. And an arsonist from about 150 years ago.
September 04 2014, Steven and the Stevens, Ronaldo posts about "cross dimensional travelers”
And all the cross dimensional time travelers I know don’t want to go on the record about their experiences.  
Not mentioning posts that don’t mention ghosts/astral projection/dimensions in some capacity, but in realtime Ronaldo liveblogs in response to episode events.
Ronaldo also answers some fan asks. On October 31 2014 after Keep Beach City Weird he answers this question about floaters with “BACTERIAL GHOSTS” in all caps, this one about his first encounter with the supernatural (the events shown in Horror Club, which aired February 12, 2015)
Nov 2014, Ronaldo posts twice about Watermelon Stevens and a review of the anime Soul Blaster, “Like every anime, Soul Blaster is about a high school student.  Our hero is a cool dude, with even cooler hair named Kyosuke.  He battles rogue spirits with the help of his Soul Blaster - which happens to be powered by the spirit of his deceased younger brother, Kettaro. “
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On December 4, 2014 Ronaldo posts about Koala Princess, who will become important in this post when we get back to Dogcopter and Jane. Koala Princess is repeatedly used as a stand-in for talking about Steven’s journey. In this post Ronaldo says:
AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Ok, so I just finished the final episode of Koala Princess and I don’t want to get too emotional on you guys but I CAN’T STOP CRYING!  Koala Princess goes on a walkabout and enters dreamtime and finally MEETS HER KOALA MOTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! SLKDJFSDJ:FS
I’ve got so many feels!  These feels are the real deals!  On wheels!  WHAT AM I SAYING?! I’M GOING CRAZY!!!
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Lion 3: Straight to Video aired on the same day as Ronaldo’s post. In this episode Steven meets Dogcopter in a dream, and then sees his mother Rose Quartz for the first time - she speaks to him via a VHS tape.
After Alone Together, Ronaldo posts about Stevonnie, who is a fusion. He also gets stuck under a fridge for a bit after Future Vision in January 2015.
And I want TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THIS FRIDGE!
He posts like five times about it in the same day because he’s freaking out.
And also I want my body to be shot into space with a print version of my blog so an alien civilization can find me reconstruct my body and worship me.
On February 19 2015 after Winter Forecast, he posts about using time travel to fix bad decisions:
Sometimes I think about all the bad decisions I’ve made and how they’ve affected my life, and I wish I could go back in time and change them.  But unless I can find a way to break into the Pentagon and steal a time bike, I’m just stuck with having regrets.  
After Political Power Ronaldo claims glowsticks are filled with ghost blood.
Anyway, then stuff happens. 
January 4 2016, after The Answer, Ronaldo posts about seeing Dogcopter 4 and shares the poster for it.
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One interesting thing about the poster is that if you invert it and mess with the contrast a bit, a strange diagram appears on the left. A true mystery.
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And after months of avoiding and spoilers or teasers or trailers, I was in line for Dogcopter 4, and then some dummy walking out of the theater TOTALLY SPOILED EVERYTHING and was like, “I can’t believe that Dogcopter’s parents are actually cats.”  
Coming back to Dogcopter in a minute, but these are relevant details.
Dogcopter dies defending the planet but then he comes back to life because he’s actually part cat and cats have 9 lives.
On Jan 5, Steven’s Birthday, Ronaldo posts about celebrating his birthday on a different date every year.
Every year, I celebrate my birthday on a completely different day.  Why?  To keep my birthdate a SECRET so that no clandestine government agencies can steal my identity!
July 2016, the saga with Jane and KBCS above happens. When he’s sad about Jane breaking up with him, the same day Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service comes out (in which Steven astral projects into Kiki’s dream), he listens to sad music.
Ugh, I wish I had some sad music to listen to at work.  All I have is a playlist of video game soundtracks and some EVP recordings of ghost hauntings.  I guess ghosts are sad.  I’ll just listen to those.
But if you’re feeling happy, I do suggest listening to the “Go-Go Gorilla Go-Go Kart Racing” soundtrack.  Some solid 16-bit J-reggae.
This post may partly be a reference to the Sadie Killer song G-G-G-Ghost, which is performed in The Big Show and wouldn’t air for a bit, but is also astral projection related.
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Why can't you see me? Why can't you see me? I think I might be A g-g-g-ghost. Can't you see that I exist? And I don't need an exorcist To let me out Look at me and I'll appear Why can't you see that I'm right here? That I'm right here? Why can't you see me? Why can't you see me? I think I might be A g-g-g-ghost. I'm calling you from the other side
Once Ronaldo has gone through grief and anger, he resorts to begging her to come back. This post is from July 28, the day Alone at Sea aired in which Jasper begs Lapis to return.
Much like Koala Princess’ vision in the Eucalyptus Jungle in Season 5, Episode 13 what you saw on the Boardwalk the other day was not what it seemed. I was only pretending to date Kiki to defend my family’s honor, just as the Kanga-ronin did in Season 1, Episode 3!
Here is another Koala Princess reference. There are a couple SU references in the episode numbers in this post.
The events of Season 5, Episode 13 of KP was not what it seemed: for Steven Universe, this is Your Mother and Mine, in which Garnet tells a story told to her by Rose Quartz. It later turns out to be a false origin story to cover the truth that Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond.
Kanga-ronin pretended at something to defend family honor in Season 1, Episode 3, which in SU is Cheeseburger Backpack - where Steven buys a novelty backpack so he can carry things on missions to be useful for the gems, fails his first mission and pretends he’s fine. The events of this ep are later referenced in The Test.
Finally, Koala Princess’ vision in the Eucalyptus Jungle is a reference to Stevonnie’s vision in Jungle Moon, which is Stevonnie’s first interaction with Pink Diamond via a memory dream. In this dream, all was not as it seemed either.
Then the KBCW blog doesn’t post until Feb 2017, after Rocknaldo. A couple ghost and dream-y quotes from here:
In my searches for THE TRUTH, I’ve done a lot of listening.  I’ve listened to haunted houses to hear ghosts from other dimensions.  I’ve listened to radio signals from the cosmos for signs of alien life.
I’ve also learned that HUMANS NEED TO SLEEP.  I didn’t sleep for 48 hours and I PASSED OUT FOR DAYS.
Ronaldo’s final post is an ad for his book, which comes out during a hiatus, and he references Koala Princess again: 
I did have a little help from some fellow truth-stigators I met on a Koala Princess forum, Ben Levin and Matt Burnett, but most of the work was definitely done by ME!  
Now let’s look at Keep Beach City Safe.
Keep Beach City Safe: [???]’s blog
For KBCS, I’m only going to skim to address ghost/astral projection related content that comes back to the business with Jane, Dogcopter, Koala Princess and Rose. The rest of this blog is a little too big for right now. 
It’s interesting that KBCS seems to have mostly flown under the radar, but between the Jane arc and a couple other things I believe it to be legit. Suffice to say I’m treating it as real and you will see why in a minute.
For KBCS I’ll mostly mention which episode a post is associated with, but not the date like with Ronaldo’s.
KBCS’s reaction blog to Nightmare Hospital includes a couple relevant lines:
Where was the Gem M.? I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around! It was mom!
Don’t tell me It’s on the other side of the hall corner. That would mean it saw mo- Connie’s mom!
KBCS posts a blog between Too Far and The Answer, in which they review a number of events. (They post another blog about fusions in which they describe Garnet and Stevonnie’s components as well)
During the movie the TV just shut down and they were being chased around by a “ghost”. It was actually a gem stuck inside the house, making the house seem like it was possessed.
They also get pretty excited about Steven’s birthday.
Only a few more minutes until Steven’s Birthday!
Eeeeh! Only a few mins left until midnight. We finally get to learn about Garnet’s past! Are guys happy, I know I am. I can’t even express how happy I feel, but I’ll try. And I will not act crazy while doing it, Imma keep it cool. So it’s like Peace and Love had a son, and his name was Steven! Then Steven fused with Connie, who was the daughter of Happiness. And they formed Stevonnie, who was made of everything right within the universe!
On Steven’s Birthday they also post about the Dogcopter 4 movie.
I’m gonna be a Smart Spoiler and drop hints in my post for you guess. Only those who have watched it will notice the clues. Yep, watching it 9 times.
This clearly references Ronaldo’s post about Dogcopter having nine lives, but KBCS is a little more considerate about spoilers.
In KBCS’s “It Could’ve Been Great” post, they’re still talking about Steven’s birthday. There’s a promo image attached as well.
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To start things off I just wanted to say: I did see Steven turn into a baby? And I would also like to say: DID YOU SEE STEVEN TURN INTO A BABY!?!?
So, by now your probably wondering what the second image is aren’t you? We clearly it’s a pic of Rose holding a cupcake candle.
We, here at Keep Beach City Safe, thought that Steven would’ve liked to have his mom at his birthday party. Happy Birthday from all of us at KBCS. Hope you like it.
Future Vision reference. (Some of this is less relevant to the Jane thing but I’m pulling quotes that are related to fusion and stuff in the hopes it gets clearer)
This reminds me of the time that Garnet gave Stevens her future vision. I don’t know what happens exactly, but I think you see what’s going to happen in the future hence the name future vision. Being able to see into the future would be awesome, yet terrified at same time.
There’s a great post about Pie Day - in fact, KBCS posts about Pie Day a few times. They call out Pearl, too, which reminds me of a certain prolific fandom video editor’s handle.
You know who else knows about Pi. Pearl, but also Peridot.
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Pearl Doesn’t Like Pie. Happy Pie Day!
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This is not a good photo of Pear let’s see if we can find a better one. Now that’s better.
Sorry for the tangent. Let’s talk koalas now.
KBCS posts about The New Lars. They have thoughts about Steven’s ability to hop into other bodies, namely the question of whether Rose could do this as well.
Steven is worried that Lars isn’t being truthful about his feelings. So through his dreams, Steven jumps into Lar’s body, and trys to make his life better. But he only makes things worse.
Steven somehow possessed Lars’s body through his dreams. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again, we have a word for it now: Dream Possession. But he can also enter dreams.
He did it with Lapis, the Watermelon Stevens, and now Lars. That’s one gem, one sentient plant, and one human. Well with lapis he was merely communicating with her. This, new power, is seems to activates itself whenever Steven wants to help someone, but can’t because something getting in the way. Could this be a power passed down from Rose, or is this a power he himself posses?
#koala vs sloth
in The New Lars, koalas come up twice. Koalas in SU are associated with Steven’s astral projection powers. Remember how Koala Princess met her mother in the dreamscape? 
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Steven: For your consideration...The koala, a marsupial from the forests of Australia, and the sloth, hailing from the forests of South America. Who should be crowned the king of the "Hanging Around Doing Nothing" mammals!?
Steven in Lars’ body: Whatcha doing? Hanging out? Buck: Yeah. Steven: That's cool. Would you say you hang out more like koalas or sloths? Uh, I'm asking for Steven.
Steven: Um... I'm really, really sorry about yesterday. I got you a card, it's got a koala and a sloth.
From The New Lars. Steven references koalas three times.
KBCS gets to Beach City Drift. They take notice of Jane and of Kevin’s car.
Hey did you guys notice that girl that keeps appear. We saw her when Steven took Connie to the movies and now she’s here. I wonder if she’s involved in something. Hmmmm.
So Stevonnie raced Kevin down the hill in his Himitsu X12, that’s secret in Japanese.
So while we’re back on the subject of Jane, here’s something interesting about Dogcopter and the Himitsu X12. They both show up in advertisements together in the background of Empire City.
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Mr Greg
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Same Old World
This is what KBCS is talking about - Dogcopter has a secret.
For Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service, KBCS has more to say about dreams.
She has a nightmare and Steven, coincidentally, falls asleep after eating and enters Kiki’s dream. Now Steven The Dream Warrior, must help Kiki battle her dream, and finally end this nightmare once and for all.
Steven, who for some reason keeps going into people’s dreams, goes into Kiki’s dream.
Steven fought for about week, and he’s was tired by day four. And we know from experience that a sleepless Steven, is a cranky Steven.
This is the same power Steven used in Chille Tid. and look who showed up again?
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After Monster Reunion airs, KBCS posts a liveblog and includes a far-fetched accusation that Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond.
Think about it! A Diamond should have access to all gem controlled tech, right. And if Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond, which she is, then she should be able to too, right. And Steven has Rose’s gem. So now Steven can access gem tech. And one more thing to prove this theory once and for all.
But there’s one thing that doesn’t add up. Rose Quartz… is a Quartz. How could she be a Diamond?????? Maybe I’m wrong, she could have been just working along side Pink Diamond. Maybe this just a crackpot theory about the impossible. I don’t think gems can turn into different gems? who knows, I guess we’ll find out sooner or later. 
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When KBCS gets to Crack the Whip, they take note of Lion and tag him thrice:
Crack the Whip! Is it just me or is that foreshadowing?
Oh, did I mention that Lion was there. He was just there, when Connie opened the door, he walked up and just started hanging. It was so cool! It was like, Just Lion Things 2! So the snack break, that takes the whole day, ends at the beach, where the idea originally began.
Amethyst faces off Jasper, gem to gem, while Steven and Connie, and don’t forget Lion, fight the corrupted gem.
Lion was keeping the Gem Monster busy while all of this was happening. I was so stunned when Steven and Connie fused, without doing a fusion dance! How well they worked, together, they rode on Lion, and defeated Jasper, and poofed the Gem Monster all at the same time!!!
#just lion things 2 #lion fights #lion still fights
There’s also a weird Google Slides slideshow connected to the KBCS account, which includes this image featuring Lion, Tiny Floating Whale, (and Connie and Greg) and the word TRUE with Steven’s affirmative!
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More Koala Princess
Two more Koala Princess references - although only one is immediately relevant - 
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In Gemcation, Ronaldo keeps texting Steven about Koala Princess. Steven’s lockscreen is a selfie with him and Lion.
Also, as a sidenote, Koala Princess is implicated in sneople trolls on anime message boards.
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Dogcopter
These are just the Dogcopter appearances (Thanks to SU wiki as well as my brain) Dogcopter fights robots in at least one timeline, and the book is allegedly really long. Bold Dogcopters are the pink dogcopter, everything else is an ad or grey.
Lars and the Cool Kids - Poster
Lion 2 - The movie they all go see.
Lion 3 - Gives Steven advice.
Chille Tid  - Shows Steven how to find Lapis. Meows. (Dogcopter’s parents are cats.)
Same Old World & Mr. Greg - Advertisement
Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service - flies Steven away.
In Dreams and Growing Pains (Note this is grey Dogcopter) - Flies away in Stefan’s nightmare, proposes to Drew the driver (or at least offers them something) in the Dogcopter 6 Till Death Do Us Bark I Now Pronounce You Man and Woof trailer.
Snow Day - Pupcopter, a spinoff for babies.
And for Steven’s Birthday - Connie points out a Dogcopter constellation.
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Astral Projection
Another quick summary. I’ve written a lot on this psychic ghost stuff so check my blog if you want the tags, idrc. Summary of astral projection powers Steven has shown:
Leaving his body (Reunited, Escapism)
Possessing other bodies (New Lars, Escapism, SWI)
Traveling to others’ dreams (Kiki’s Pizza, Chille Tid)
Interacting with fusion components within the fusion’s mind (Chille Tid, Mindful)
Regarding KBCS’s question of whether Rose could have done this, it doesn’t seem impossible - and as of Fragments and Homeworld Bound, we know that Gems don’t die when they are killed. (Lol.) That is, the personality/soul can appear in the same gem if it’s shattered and repaired. And Steven’s mom’s gem is perfectly intact, inside him. 
Literally what is the point of all this
So after KBCS and KBCW spent so long talking about astral projection, ghosts, dreams, fusions, etc etc. they never actually got to the point - just pointed us in the direction of a bunch of clues that 
Rose Quartz isn’t gone.
Obviously. She’s in his gem in him, like Lapis and the mirror, or the lighthouse gem. She uses astral projection to help Steven in his dreams as well as see him in Rose’s room, like other fusions speak in the mindscape. (There’s a lot more to this but this is enough to ask anyone to wrap their head around atm) 
She also interacts with him through other bodies, the same way Steven takes over Lars’ body, or the Watermelon Stevens. 
Remember this?
We, here at Keep Beach City Safe, thought that Steven would’ve liked to have his mom at his birthday party.
Who came to Steven’s birthday in which Connie points out that Dogcopter constellation?
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Who gave Steven advice when he wished he could talk to his mom?
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Who showed Steven where to find the tape?
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Who else could have asked Steven, “What do you want” in Susan Egan’s voice? 
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(Why did they choose to hire Susan Egan to voice a cameo in Under the Knife in the first few seconds of Fusion Cuisine, where she says “It’s my son!” while Lion is onscreen)
Or reassured him that Rose’s tape was telling him the truth?
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Who first brought him to Pink Diamond’s moon base?
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Who knew where Rose’s armory was and how to train with it? (Note the giant penny)
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Who showed Steven the location of Pink’s fallen palanquin?
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Who found Rose’s lost scabbard?
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and knew where Pearl would run to when she’s upset?
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Who (reluctantly) brought Steven to the landfill and Pink Diamond’s ship?
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Who showed him how to find Malachite?
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Twice?
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Who showed him how Pink Diamond tried to stop the Earth’s colonization, and who to ask for the truth?
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Who tried to entertain him on Mask Island when he was trapped on Homeworld?
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And then rescued him from the open sea?
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Who showed Stevonnie the password to Yellow Diamond’s moon base?
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Much like Koala Princess’ vision in the Eucalyptus Jungle in Season 5, Episode 13 what you saw on the Boardwalk the other day was not what it seemed. 
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So yeah Rose is Lion 2020. Thanks for reading this extremely long nonsense.
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Also thanks to @babybeetlebongos​ for both mindscape lore and fixing Ronaldo’s cheek in the banner image, lol. I made a Twitter thread about this as well (and the more in depth Lion and astral projection theory threads are quoted at the top, if you need them. the #mindscape deeplore 2020 tag/tags on this post have stuff too.)
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revolution-john · 3 years
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My Childhood Trauma PTSD as Triggered by the Following Movie Montage
by BENJAMIN DREVLOW
That scene in American History X. You know the one. Or maybe it was Higher Learning, I always get those confused. That curb stomp scene always reminding me of the time I tripped and face-planted in the barn while corralling bull calves, to get castrated, my two front teeth chomping down on all that jagged concrete and manure, it adds a different flavor to the recurring nightmare I have, though in my case, usually nothing to do with race relations. I wonder if everybody else who watched that movie also missed the whole point of it. Except the Curb Stomp. Everybody remembers where they were when their stoner friend with big ideas about ending racism across the world made them watch the movie with the Curb Stomp.
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Mel Gibson getting drawn and quartered in Braveheart. You may take our lives, but you will never take… our… FREE-DOM!
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Mel Gibson ripping his shoulder out of its socket in Lethal Weapon.
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Mel Gibson torturing the shit out of Jesus, then blaming the women and Jews for everything, including his drunk-driving and plummeting career options.
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Fuck pretty much any Mel Gibson movie. Except maybe that one with him and James Gardner and Jody Foster and all their comedy hijinks. It’s the gambler one but not The Gambler. But now that I think about it, isn’t Jody Foster a big Mel Gibson apologist? So I guess fuck that movie too.
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Any movie where somebody gets shot or stabbed or thumbed in the eyeball or has one or both of their eyeballs squeezed or ripped out, which always reminds me of that time I got elbowed right below my eye but also on the eyeball and it literally pushed in my eyeball a millimeter and I still get double vision to this day whenever I line up a shot playing pool or line up a screw to hang a photo on the wall or sometimes re-hang the toilet paper dispenser next to the toilet. I’d been playing pickup basketball and my buddy who was like four inches taller than me elbowed me on a rebound and like I say I went down and lay there on my back and then all the blood started pooling in my eye socket and I couldn’t see anything and my friend couldn’t see my eyeball and he kept hissing through his teeth grossed out by it but then telling me it would okay and the whole time lying there thinking I’m thinking about my eyeball I’m thinking of the scene in Any Given Sunday where the guy’s eyeball is just lying there on the football field. I’m thinking of that closeup all the way to the hospital when they unwrap the mummy gauze from around my head and the ER doctor breathes a sigh of relief after peeling off all the dried blood to reveal that I needed fifteen stitches and I’d broken my orbital bone, but I still had my eye.
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Any movie where somebody’s sitting there reading a book before bed, watching TV, gossiping with girlfriends, when the camera pulls back only to zoom back in on the dark night window behind them—cue the string section.
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If I had to choose one, I’m thinking of that one zombie movie, something 28 Days something but not the one about Sandra Bullock finding love with Viggo in rehab. It’s not even about the zombies. It’s about the dark night window, not to be confused with the Dark Knight window, sorry that was a shitty pun for no good reason whatsoever, but also maybe not completely random with the guy from 28 Days also having played the scarecrow in Batman Begins where he sprays people with a drug and makes them see their worst fears, which never really did it for me, at least not like the secluded house with the zombies lurking around. I grew up in a big old farmhouse out in the barrens of northern Wisconsin. Lots of windows, no shades. In so many ways I grew up in the dark. It wasn’t the zombies I worried about. It was the methheads. Which, sure, I guess if you’re getting technical about it, same thing, fine, you win, I’m scared of zombies.
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The Zapruder film, but as replayed by Kevin Costner in Oliver Stone’s fever dream of a conspiracy theory. The magic bullet, back and to the left, back and to the left, back and to the left. How it gets stuck in my head, JFK’s exploding head replaced with my brother’s exploding head, sometimes my own, except unlike my brother and JFK, my head’s still mostly intact. Back and to the left, back and to the left. Sometimes I think about that too with that one Seinfeld episode with Keith Hernandez and the magic loogie, but usually the loogie gets replaced with a bullet and Kramer’s head gets replaced with my brother, mine, back and to the left.
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The sound of the gun shots in the final scene of that Tom Hanks movie where he plays himself again, a good guy, a family guy, a sly sense of humor, but this time a mob hitman with a strained relationship with his oldest son. The look on Tom Hanks’ face walking back to the house from the ocean—having survived it all, the hit that his old mob boss Paul Newman had put out on him for putting a hit on his old mob boss’s son as played by James Bond who also played Ted Hughes in that movie about Sylvia Plath killing herself. But this is past all that, it’s the happy ending. They’re on beach somewhere, white sand, somebody’s house that Tom Hanks and his kid are going to live in now. The silence before and after. Jude Law! It’s Jude Law’s face, his eye all fucked up, how did it happen, I don’t really remember the specifics but I remember the specifics. Bang, bang, bang. I think it might’ve had something to do with Jude Law being a photographer, like one of those where you pose with your kid or something or say you get promoted to head CEO or godfather of the family. Smile. Click, click, except in this case with a gun.
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The gunshot at the end of American Beauty, pretty much the same thing, different movie. Chris Cooper confusing Kevin Spacey as gay but before Kevin Spacey actually came out as gay and a sexual predator. Not that the latter necessarily had anything to do with the former. Neither in the movie nor real life, well not really, but sorta. You get the point.
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Jared Leto as Angel Face getting his face smashed in by Ed Norton as Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden’s split personality in Fight Club. Not so much Jared Leto, but the wet mushy sounds of it. That part on the audio commentary where Chuck Palahniuk and David Fincher defend the violence of the movie, Fincher pointing out that he was not glorifying violence, he was making it realistic. That’s what it sounds like to punch your opponent into the concrete, Fincher says and Palahniuk laughs and agrees. Don’t worry I’m not going to make any puns about the first rule of fight club.
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That part of that one weird depressing Robin Williams’s movie where Robin Williams’s kids get killed in a car accident while backing out of the driveway on the way to school. The one where Robin Williams later on gets plowed over by a truck going the wrong way while Robin Williams is out trying to help another couple who’d been injured in a different car accident, but before all that his wife kills herself because she can’t take it and then Robin Williams goes to the suicide afterlife to save her. But then there’s fucking Cuba Gooding Jr. who—spoiler alert—turns out to be the ghost/angel of his dead son who then explains to Robin Williams that his wife/Cuba’s mother can’t be saved because she killed herself. It doesn’t matter that she had a pretty fucking good reason too, she’s still stuck face down floating around in that black swamp of bodies of everybody else’s killed themselves and nobody’s getting to heaven. That shit really messed me up—not the car accidents, but the afterlife for selfish losers like me who kill themselves. And/or my brother.
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The bulging vein in Tom Cruise’s head from Magnolia. Respect the Cock and Tame the Pussy, Respect the Cock and Tame the Pussy. I think probably my therapist would have some thoughts about all this, and some questions. Questions and thoughts.
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That one version of A Christmas Carol where the Ghost of Christmas Past undoes his robe to show off the alien children living under his robe.
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I got the worst set of blue balls you could imagine while taking my best friend’s girlfriend to Baz Lurman’s remake of Romeo and Juliet. That Romeo and Juliet. I missed most of it, I kept having to go to the bathroom to masturbate in agony and to no avail. Leo and Claire Danes are hot and heavy on an acid trip, and every time my best friend’s girlfriend reaches for a handful of popcorn she makes sure to wipe the butter off on the inside of my upper thigh. This is what I get for being the good guy of falling on the grenade for my best friend, the grenade in this case being Shakespeare and my best friend’s hatred of literature.
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Mark Wahlberg’s flaccid rotten dick in Boogie Nights.
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The Secret of the Crying Game but not in a transphobic way. No, it’s the smallness of it what got me back when I watched it as a teenager. The tenderness. The growing tent in my pants at its sudden appearance on the screen. Maybe you don’t believe me but I was a naïve podunk kid from off the farm. I didn’t have cable. I didn’t have access to the internet. His/her (now their) secret opened up a lot of questions for me. I often dream of dressing up in drag and someone sucking my little bitty dick and if that makes me a little bit gay or maybe bi or what’s it called, body dysmorphic. I mean I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, it’s the new millennium, we’re all a bit sexually confused aren’t we?
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This one porno my friends and I watched at somebody’s uncle’s cabin up in the U.P. for a three-on-three basketball tournament. The Snapping Pussy. The sound her vagina made, like somebody really dramatic at clicking their tongue and slurping a half-empty malt the same time. The scene of us boys all sitting there with our boners watching a porn and wanting to masturbate but not because we were all boys and we were afraid we’d be gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a little bit gay.
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There was this made-for-TV movie, me six years old and home alone while my big brother, supposed who’d to’ve been baby-sitting me, the only time he ever babysat me that I can remember, maybe because his one time—that time—he didn’t actually babysit me. He went out to a party, while I watched the made-for-tv movie about some kid who’d watched his mother get murdered, and then goes mute, keeps drawing these pictures of Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The kid’s grandfather, one of those big hooks, like the one in I Know What You Did Last Summer, but this was long before that, though I’m not sure it was before the book. Did you know that there was a book I Know What You Did Last Summer? I mean this isn’t about the book or the movie, this is about that kid whose grandfather had molested his daughter for years and then as an adult gutted her with a fishhook and then how he’d then come back to finish the job with his mute grandkid, I don’t know how this movie ever got green-lighted (green-lit?) for TV, but then it’s weird to even think about those made-for-tv movies and if they actually existed or if I’m just making this whole thing up, but then my brother, we had a walk-in basement at the time, this being before I’d accidently burned that house down with two space heaters stolen from the barn, before my brother’d killed himself, he’d come back late, or probably it was only eight or nine, but I was young and alone out in the woods where we lived, and he’d come back through the basement, which was attached to the family room, where I’d been watching and then all of a sudden that kid on TV was being stocked by his granddad with a fish hook and the door to the basement was opening, and for god knows why I’d turned off all the lights to watch the scary movie by myself, and it turns out it was just my brother who’d go on to kill himself in like a year, maybe six months, and he was just playing a little prank on me, or maybe he’d just come through the basement for some reason, he was always hanging out down there and tinkering around with things, but in my mind, I can remember that exact look on his face, that smirk, even in the dark, the light from the television in a blacked-out room, a blacked out house, reflecting off those pop-bottle glasses of his, the shiny too-big-for-his-face silver frames. My mother always tells me I should try to remember the happy times I had with my brother, and honestly, I can’t, I can only remember that smirk, those glasses, the handle turning a moment before he appeared.
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Any and all sequels where it turns out that the dead character didn’t actually die at all, or maybe it’s magic, or maybe there’s time travel.
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Any happy ending ever.
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Every ending in my worst nightmares involves everyone I’ve ever loved or hated, their faces turning to snake faces. Snakeheads, snake arms, snake butts. Snakes snakes snakes. They slip out of their clothes and come up from under my bed, slither under my covers. They bite me, they kiss me, poison me, they consume me whole and regurgitate my bones. That’s how they always end. Me dead and abandoned.
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That scene in the first Indiana Jones with Indiana Jones and getting trapped in the cave with all the snakes. I hate snakes. All my worst nightmares turn to snakes. Fuck snakes. This all might have something to do with my undersized penis. If you want to go down that path. The Secret of My Crying Game.
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Has Mel Gibson ever made a movie with snakes? I don’t know, you tell me, but fuck that movie if he did. Mel Gibson is snakey enough on his own.
~
BENJAMIN DREVLOW is the author of Bend With the Knees and Other Love Advice from My Father, which won the 2006 Many Voices Project, and the author of Ina-Baby: A Love Story in Reverse, which was  released by Cowboy Jamboree Books in 2019.  Buy his books here. He is currently at work on a novel, a novella, and a collection of story-poems. He serves as the Managing Editor of BULL Magazine (@BULL_magazine_) and is a lecturer at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.
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Congrats on all those followers, my dear. You deserve each and everyone and more! For the prompt list: #79. Quit smiling at me, I can’t stop messing up my sentences when you look at me like that.”
Jughead Jones was objectively a jerk. Betty liked to think she normally could give people the benefit of the doubt, but Jughead Jones had long tried her patience.
Strictly speaking, yes, when Riverdale High had combined with Southside High, she had taken some time to get used to the new students. Sweet Pea was giant and had an almost constant scowl on his face, but when she had helped handout new school books to the Southside kids, he had had such a bright, enthusiastic look on his face that she hadn’t been at all intimidated by him since. Toni could have a sharp tongue, and had very little patience for what she called “northsider problems,” but she also had a clear and critical perspective that had already proved to be a great asset to the Blue and Gold since she joined. Fangs rarely spoke outside of the company of his friends, but he and Kevin had taken to flirting in the halls, and Betty had once witnessed him tripping over Sweet Pea’s feet after Kevin had walked away.
Jughead Jones, though, was completely different. And sure, the fact that he was running against her for student body president was certainly a factor. But she had been planning on being student body president since she had first re-established the Blue and Gold in sophomore year. It was a great opportunity to actually address the problems they learned from students through the Blue and Gold, while also being able to prioritize growing student clubs beyond Riverdale’s sports teams. And yes, it would look good on college applications.
None of that mattered, though, because here she was in front of the school, flubbing through her list of arguments that she had spent the last two weeks re-writing until they were absolutely perfect, and it was all because Jughead Jones was smirking at her from the other podium.
Somehow she made it through the debate, but not without feeling completely mortified. She practically stormed off the stage once the audience started clearing out of the auditorium. She kept walking until she found a dark corner backstage that was clear of people so she could at least let herself fume where no one could see her. She let herself imagine what a Jughead Jones shaped punching back would look like, leather jacket and stupidly cute hat included.
She heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her. She twirled around so quickly that her ponytail smacked against the side of her face. The person interrupting her isolated moment of rage, was of course, Jughead Jones.
“Good job out there, today.”
She glowered at him, already waiting for a sarcastic comment to follow.
He cleared his throat again, his jaw set tight and brows furrowed. From afar, she had seen him smile happily, and even laugh from time to time, but whenever he was around her, he almost always had this same frustrated expression. Except for when they were debating. Then he always had that annoying, amused smile.
“You too,” she eventually replied with a sigh, hoping this was all he was expecting from her.
He didn’t move to leave, instead he just continued to stare at her. Maybe he expected her to leave first.
Just as she was about to move passed him, he spoke again, “I have a proposition for you.”
She hated the chill that ran up her spine as soon as he spoke. To cover it, she folded her arms over her chest, and just stared at him expectantly. He took a few steps forward, until they were only a foot apart. She didn’t know why she was holding her breath.
“I’ll drop out of the race, if you make me your vice-president.”
She huffed out a breath, “I can’t do that. I’ve already promised Kevin he’ll be my vice-president, and I can’t just drop him.”
He responded with an amused half-smile, “Word has it that it wasn’t his idea, and that you roped him into it.”
She looked away from him, scrunching her face up in frustration. That was technically true, but it wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge. It didn’t exactly help her campaign to have a vice-president that wasn’t all that motivated about the position. Kevin knew better.
“I don’t know where you could have possibly heard something like that.”
Jughead laughed, so lightly that she barely heard it, “Maybe tell your friends not to be so loose lipped when they’re being flirted with.”
Fangs, she realized in frustration.
She tried a different approach, “Why are you conceding? You don’t think you’ll win against me?”
He shrugged, “A Southsider winning against the straight-A daughter of the woman who has been running a smear campaign against the Southside in the Register for years? I always knew it was a long shot.”
She winced, “I’m not my mother.”
“I know,” he said, with an unexpectedly genuine smile that left her at a complete loss for words. 
“So,” he continued. “Partners?”
She stared back at him, her heart hammering in her chest. Everything he had said was true. She knew Kevin would probably be thrilled to be relieved of his promise to run beside her. He enjoyed the limelight, but he would much rather gossip about school politics than participate in it. 
After a moment, she sighed, and put her hand out toward him, ready to shake his in agreement. “Fine, it’s a deal.”
He smiled again, and reached for her hand, but instead of gripping it into a handshake, he pulled her hand closer to him and kissed the top of her knuckles. “Partners, then,” he said as he pulled away. He nodded at her once before turning away, leaving her alone in the secluded corner.
Jughead Jones was going to be the death of her.
Read part two of this fic on AU
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whatladybird · 4 years
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tagged by the bug @pooraurora <33
Quarantine Q & A
Are you staying home from work/school?
I sure am... luckily I have the ability to work from home but it suuuuucks. If you’d told me two months ago that I would miss the office this much, I’d have called you a liar. 
If you’re staying home, who’s there with you?
THANK GOD I have my boyfriend and my dog with me :)
Are you a homebody?
I am a homebody and I love being home. I love my apartment and snuggling on the couch with my boyfriend and watching movies but I am a very physical person and Zoom calls with my friends are only fulfilling about 75% of my need to be close to them. When this is over, I am going to tackle hug every single person I know and just lay on top of them for hours.
What movies have you watched recently? What shows are you watching?
Movies: Evan and I are re-watching all of the Mission Impossibles (we skipped MI:2 and we’re on Ghost Protocol now, which is my personal favorite). Jessica and Mallory and I are watching the High School Musicals, and Mallory and I also watched It Chapters One and Two last week. Evan and I also watched PTA’s The Master last night which I liked. Also watched in quarantine: Hitchcock’s Rope, Contagion, Knives Out, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Network, Chinatown, & Some Like It Hot.
Shows: Evan and I are doing a big Scrubs re-watch (first watch for them). We’re also watching Devs on HBO, which is INCREDIBLE. Also watching: Little Fires Everywhere (extremely good), Four Weddings and a Funeral (not as good), Superstore, and Grace & Frankie. 
An event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled?
The only thing I was really looking forward to that got cancelled was the Legally Blonde Drink-a-long a the Music Box. I have some trips coming up in June that I’m a little worried about though :(
What music are you listening to?
I’m listening almost exclusively to my Spotify On Repeat playlist, which makes me laugh because it’s a cycle of me listening to the same music over and over, which just means the songs on the on repeat never change because they’re always... on repeat. 
I’m also currently obsessed with the Bleachers album Gone Now and the Walk the Moon album Talking is Hard. As always, I’m listening to Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, and Jukebox the Ghost a hell of a lot. 
What are you reading?
Currently, I’m reading @pooraurora‘s book club book Intercepts by T.J. Payne! It’s very creepy so far. 
Here are some other books I read in March that I recommend: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, Bloom by Kevin Panetta, Recursion by Blake Crouch, and Crooked House by Agatha Christie.
Also, so much Reddie fic. Just SO much. 
What are you doing for self-care?
Dyeing my hair, dyeing my boyfriend’s hair, doing face masks, watching comfort films, taking naps with my dog, writing indulgent fanfiction, pretending to learn how to needlepoint. I’m going to order some bath bombs once I get paid because a good bath really picks me up. 
tagging the buds @sloanemadisons @caterjunes @bishakespeares @eggstiel
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lildevyl · 4 years
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Could someone explain the appeal of wrestling?? Not that I think it’s bad, I’m just confused how it’s just the most popular thing lately?! I can understand other sports but how is WWE so huge?? I’m so, confused? How would you describe it?
Well, I can’t really answer “How is WWE so huge?” because it’s been like seven?  Ten?  Years since I’ve watched WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).
But I’ll glad to geek out about Wrestling!!!!!
Okay, so a little disclaimer here.  One, I am not in shape, way, or form, what someone will call a professional. I am a fan.  Also, this is just my opinion on this subject matter.  I’m a huge fan of wrestling going all the way back when I first started watching in ‘95!  And finally, I am not sponsored by any of these companies.  Ghoul, I wish!!!!
Alright so with that outta the way.  Let’s begin!!!!
Wrestling in itself is a very old and traditional sport going all back to the early eighteenth century.  Where wrestling in the Traveling Circus/Carnivals were very big and popular.  Now, during those days, they would have a very big and strong guy, usually around the 6 feet to (I think but don’t quote me on this) six foot six inches tall.  Now, back then that was extremely tall and big for man!!!!  Now, days the average height for a guy is around the five feet ten inches to six feet range.  During that time period, wrestling was a “Side Show.”  A way to draw in the big crowds by having their “Champion” take on any takers and see if they could defeat him or last I think it was five minutes in the ring with him.  If that won, they would win the big money.  I think it was a hundred dollars which would be around a thousand or so today.
Over the decades wrestling became more of a profession for a lot of people.  The 1940′s and 1950′s had so many legends during their days!  Some of the most famous ones are the Fabulous Moolah.  Moolah still to this day holds the World Record of the longest-reigning of the Women’s Championship.  1956 (when she first won it) - 1984 (when she lost it).  We also were introduced to Mae Young!  Another incredible wrestler then turned trainer for many young aspiring girls.  For the male side, we had Gorgeous George.  This man literally made the promoters of the 1940′s & 1950′s money!!!!  Buddy Rogers, one of the famous NWA Heavy Weight Champions and trainers there was.
Now, before Vincent McMahon Jr. came into the picture when he took over his father’s company in the 1960′s.  WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation), NWA (National Wrestling Association before was known as the National Wrestling Alliance), AWA (American Wrestling Association), ECWA (Eastern Championship Wrestling Association) and many others were known as Territory Promotions.  Meaning in many states you were only allowed to broadcast or work in that company and defend their Championship.
So, I don’t want to bore you with all these cool and fascinating details about all these companies and how some of them are still around and others faded out.  So, let’s fast-forward here.  Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr. took over his father’s company and along the way literally re-institutionalized and re-visioned professional wrestling!  Now, we go to the 1980′s!
The 1980′s-1990′s we had quite a war!!!   WWF was literally the very first company to ever invent the term and the way to use it of pay-per-view!  And did their very first ever pay-per-view live!  WRESTLEMANIA!!!  I’m sure you know a lot of the wrestlers from that Era such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jesse “the Body” Ventura, Ric Flair, The Four Horseman, Srg. Slaughter, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Sting, “The Brain” Bobby Heenan, Andre the Giant, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, The Ultimate Warrior, and many others.   But there was also another huge wrestling company that was also making its waves into the sport.
WCW (World Championship Wrestling).  This one you had many different wrestlers but the big thing that many people remember of WCW was the fans all-time favorite wrestler Hulk Hogan made a huge decision and it made headlines.  He left WWF and went to WCW (WWF’s competition).  When that happened many people started to tune in and watch.  Then Ric Flair also came by and the Four Horseman reunited.  Sting made his presence known and still many people remember his “Crow” face-paint and his vigilantly like style.
But the big thing that a lot of fans remember is when the “Face of the Company” the “Fans Hero” the “Face/Hero” turned on all the fans and joined the enemies!  Alright so let me fully explained this!  When Hulk Hogan left to join WCW two other wrestlers from WWF decided to give WCW a chance: Kevin Nash (aka Diesel) and Scot Hall (aka Razor Ramon).  When they jumped they truly made an impact (pun intended)!  When Nash and Hall came to WCW they were literally invading.  Crashing the broadcast booth, mocking the commentators “So, this is where the big boys play huh?  Well, we challenge any of the WCW guys to the two of us and our mystery partner”
Everyone including me was scrambling to figure out who the mystery partner was.  Every kind of theories was going around from another wrestler jumping ship to someone from WCW who was going to help Hall and Nash.  The big moment came at Bash at the Beach.  Hall and Nash cleaned house and Hogan came down the ramp and everyone including the announcers and commentators were cheering with fans upon seeing Hogan!  (I admit I was secretly bouncing in my seat).  But then, we all bared witness to the shock of all shock!  Hogan turned on WCW and joined Hall and Nash!  Forming the NWO (the New World Order) taking one anyone and everyone, taking over and seeking to bring down WCW.  This was a really good story-line and it was one the biggest swerve and one of the biggest story-lines that worked so well!
Now, I’m sure you saw me mention another wrestling company earlier in this post and might or might not have sounded familiar.  ECWA (Eastern Championship Wrestling Association) now, this company is still around.  It’s pretty big in the Indie Circuit (Independent Wrestling Promotions Circuit).  But in the 1990′s it was also known by another name thanks to the “Evil Genius” Paul E. Hayman.  ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling).  This was the first time that “Hardcore Wrestling” came about in the United States that was televised!  For the first time ever blood was actually seen on television!!!  Now, ECW was more than just the hardcore aspect and the blood.  It was all about giving the best show with very little money and minimal equipment.  Think, developing a fan-made movie and then post it on YouTube.
They didn’t have the money for lights, pyro, and all that jazz.  But what they did have was high-quality talent in wrestlers, best interviews, great promos that didn’t need a lot of effects.  Many of the fans really enjoy ECW and yes, the 2200 Arena is known as the ECW Arena.  That’s why when many companies perform out of there and they may have an ECW alumni wrestler, the fans will chant “ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW!”  ECW literally helped reshape wrestling today.
Okay, so that’s the history there.  As for why wrestling is so popular.  It’s basically a life story coming to life.  You have the faces (heroes) that the fans truly love to cheer for.  They’re the ones that you want to rally behind and believe in and are the face of the company in a way.  Then you have the Anti-Heroes.  They’re the ones that basically do what they want to do.  They’ll follow the rules if they wan too and at the same time they have no problem in breaking every single rule in the book!
Then you have the heels (the villains).  They’re the ones that break every single rule in the book known to man.  They don’t care about being liked.  They don’t care how they’re seen or portrayed.  They don’t care about lying, cheating and stealing they’re way to victory so long as they’re the ones on top!  Now, I’m not going to lie.  Sometimes, the villains are actually cheered when they’re not supposed to be.  Some examples are, Tripple H, The Undertaker, Kane, Abyss, The Main Event Mafia, LAX (Latin American Exchange) The Elite, Bullet Club, The Broke Hardy (although they were more the anti-heroes then villains), you get the idea.
Many, companies today like ROH, AAA, MLCW, New Japan, AEW, MCW, literally have sports of wrestling.  Where you get to see the pathetic abilities and the “Mic Skills” during promos and interviews and a combination of story-line to give the fans and viewers the best show there is.
Hope this helps.  And sorry for the long post.  If you can’t tell.  I’m a huge wrestling fan!
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Esther Stoley
Is she going to whip her brother into shape? Esther has been accepted! Please send in a faceclaim to be featured on the main page.
out of character info
Name/Alias: bea / trizzy / beatriz Pronouns: she / her / he / him / they / them / trash Age: 19 (20 in May) Join Our Discord: sure thing !! Timezone: est Activity: 6 – ish ( i’ll be on at least every other day c: ) Triggers: nada !! Password: jimmy can fast pass my ass ;)) Character that you’re applying for: Esther Stoley Favourite ships for your character: Esther / Chemistry
in character info
Full name: Esther Lyn Stoley Birthday: June 18th Sexuality, gender, pronouns: Bicurious, cis female, she / her Age and grade: 17, senior Faceclaim: Ha Young / @dull_ouuo on instagram Appearance:  Head / face: Smooth, nearly flawless, pale skin is the product of Esther’s constant skin care routine and her jet black, shoulder length hair frames her heart shaped face. Her features are soft but defined with a jaw line that could cut diamonds. Her eyes are a deep brown, followed by a button nose, and plump lips that are, more often than not, lightly coated in lip tint. Her only “imperfections” are two small moles – one on her left cheek, and the other on the left side of her nose.
Body: Her body is rather thin, but still healthy. She stands at approximately 5’1 and weighs about 102 pounds. She hates the fact that she’s so short, and would definitely fight you if you start picking on her about her height. Aside from her height issues, she is happy with her body.
Style: The clothing that Esther chooses to wear can be described Asian Street Style. Her outfits are self-described as eclectic and eccentric – which essentially means each ensemble varies and can possibly be viewed as strange or extraordinary, especially for the South Park norm. Her face is often lightly painted with makeup – her eyes are usually lined with a dark brown or black and have either light or neutral colored eye shadow, and her lips vary from dark, matte lipsticks ( usually shades of red ) to soft, glossy tints. Personality:  Smart, conniving, hopeless romantic, and chic – that’s Esther. She maintains straight A’s in school with the occasional B plus, but anything below won’t satisfy her need for success, so she tries her hardest and can often be found locked in her room, listening to music and studying for her next quiz. Despite her smarts, she can often be a bit air-headed and forgetful at times – which stresses her out, especially when she knows that she had forgotten something and she just can’t remember what it was, no matter how hard she wracked her brain. She often dreams about finding love – but she usually doesn’t put herself out there as much as she should – so she usually doesn’t get into relationships ( although she does had the occasional secret fling ).
She can be found at parties quite regularly, but she is more of an introvert and would much rather be snuggled up in a big, fluffy, fresh-out-of-the-dryer blanket with a plethora of snacks at her disposal while she watches some random movies or reads some books. She does keep a lot of secrets from just about everyone – especially anyone outside of her family – she’d hate if she came upon some gossip of herself. She can be overly emotional at times – but she hardly ever shows that to anyone. On the days she feels like she’s gonna burst out into tears at any second, she stays home and locks herself in her bedroom, somehow convincing her teachers that she was bedridden and sick on those absent days. History:  Like her brother, Esther spent a good portion of her childhood immersed in a whole ‘nother world away from the mess of a town that they lived in – however, instead of comics and syfy – she indulged in love stories and cringy fantasy novels. As she got older, she started to stray away from her false world and came back into reality. She interacted more and more with the girls at her school – even becoming pretty popular and being brought into the “inner circle” of girls. Of course, a great deal of things changed over the switch from elementary to middle school – Esther even made changes to her personality. She became more secretive and hid the softer and kinder side of herself so she wouldn’t accidentally get involved with the wrong people and hurt herself and nobody would see her as weak or as easy prey. She kept her emotions to herself and acted colder to people around her. Puberty hit her like a freight train – she was covered in acne as a pre-teen and all of a sudden her skin was soft and clear with hardly any marks or blemishes in sight. Esther felt better now that she looked better ( in her opinion of course ). She started gaining a ton of positive self esteem and held herself in a way where she exuded a level of confidence. She honestly felt like a queen. As she made the transition into 12th grade, she – thankfully – kept that confidence and self esteem boost ( though she did still get emotional at times, because, who doesn’t? ), but she did start taking time away from being social to live another life through books once again. Sample paragraph:  Esther had just gotten off school and since she hadn’t had anything else to do for the day she decided to sit down and relax with a nice book. In order for her to really enjoy said book, she had to set a mood. She threw her backpack into a corner by the door and took off her shoes, running to start up a pot of coffee. The short girl quickly put on a pot of coffee and quickly and quietly, ran to her room – she shut the blinds and lit a few floral scented candles, making the room dark, but well lit enough for her to be able to read her book. She purposely messed her bed up, forming a nest of blankets in the center and ran back down to her kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee. She poured the freshly brewed instant coffee into a teal mug, mixing in a small bit of sugar before carefully bringing it up to her bedroom and sitting it down on her nightstand. She went over to one of her several bookshelves and pulled out a book that she’d planned on reading for a while called ‘Siren’ by a woman named Janet Fox.
She went over to her blanket nest and made herself cozy, pulling one of the blankets over her shoulders. Before she started to read, she took a long sip of coffee, then she opened to the first page. For nearly two hours, she was fully immersed in her book – reading about gangsters in the 1920’s. However, as soon as her brother opened her door to see if she was home, her set mood was ruined. She accepted that she was no longer to envelope herself in as much comfort as she was in before and put her book away. She blew out the candles and allowed natural light to shine through her blinds once more as she sipped up the last bit of her coffee. Headcanons:  ✧ Sometimes, she ( not-so-secretly ) reads Kevin’s comics. ✧ She would 10/10 fight to protect her brother. ✧ If you get into a relationship with her, she can be a bit clingy, so beware. ✧ She secretly crushed on all of the Goths in middle school, with the exception of Firkle, because she thought they were all really cool. ✧ She changes her hair up every other month – it’s always one of these 3 colors – grey with slight blue tints, brown, or black. Black is by far her favorite hair color for herself and she has that color most often. ✧ She’s almost always up-to-date on the latest gossip and drama in town. ✧ She has an intense love of poetry. ✧ There’s a raven that is often in her backyard and she feeds it when she sees it. ✧ She has 3 full length bookshelves in her room and one small bookshelf that doubles as her nightstand. ✧ She may not say nor show it much but she loves Kevin with all of her heart. ✧ That being said, if anyone hurts Kevin, you better avoid Esther as much as you can or else you’re in for a beating. ✧ She knows quite a lot of Chinese; and she often shouts in Mandarin when she’s angry. ✧ She has at least 4 cups of coffee a day. ✧ She smokes when she’s stressed ( strictly cigarettes ) ✧ She lost her virginity at 15 to Bradley Biggle – not her greatest achievement. ✧ She broke up with Bradley shortly afterwards – he thinks it was mutual and they’re on good terms – but she sent him home sobbing and she would most definitely stab him if it was morally accepted and she wouldn’t go to jail for it. ✧ She has a Siamese Cat named BaoBei – meaning “baby” in Chinese. ✧ She’s head of the school newspaper. ✧ She’s considered joining the poetry club – but she doesn’t think her own poetry would be good enough for it – and so she didn’t. ✧ She took up a job at Benny’s as a waitress for some extra cash. ✧ She really likes looking at art, but she’s not really into art, if you get what I mean. ✧ She loves the vintage aesthetic. ✧She’s not the best cook, but she can microwave stuff, and that’s better than nothing. ✧ Her favorite color is dark teal. Anything else: tell me if i should change anything !! thank you guys !! also, sorry i gave such random hc’s i just got a ton of muse + ideas. in addition, this blog i’m sending from will be esther’s once i do some re-vamping uwu
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Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (69): Sat 21st May 2022
I was having trouble getting to sleep tonight so I re-watched the amazing travelogue Stephen Fry in America. I think this might be the best travel series ever made. Fry is essentially the perfect personality to host any sort of programme as he's brilliantly witty and cleverer than Einstein would have been if he blended up Carl Sagan and Kevin Ashman's brains and drank the resultant milkshake. To be honest I would have loved to have seen this series be 52 episodes long and have each episode focus on a different state in the America. This would likely put a huge strain on Fry but the guy has been through worse. Also I doubt that they only shot a few minutes of footage in each state, they probably shot a days worth of footage anyway so for the DVD they could have released the complete cuts from every state. At work today they had us watch a couple of videos about how to deal with suicidal customers. I get the sentiment behind it but the stuff they teach you is pretty tame. All the scenarios feature customers who just off-handedly hint at the fact that they might be suicidal. This is literally the case scenario in this kind of call. What if one of the customers says "I am going to kill myself if you don't give me a shitload of money"? I really want to ask one of the managers if I can play the part of the suicidal customer in a mock call and see how they react. I would say "And don't bother asking me where I am because I know that's so you can send the police" but I know that they would never go for it. I have sympathy for anyone who's been driven to the brink of suicide due to their addiction but I could just go to pieces if one of them called through to me because I'm not a mental health professional. I've got my own mental health struggles going on at the moment so if I can't make myself feel better how the fuck am I supposed to make other people feel better? When I got home I went through the books I no longer have any interest in reading. Back in the day I bought a shitload of books, mainly ones that I'd learned about while randomly browsing the internet and many I'd learned about from other books, films and TV shows. For instance in an early episode of Mad Men there's a lengthy discussion about DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover. Upon learning how controversial it was I bought it and read it but struggled to get through it because the rich, poetic, descriptive language Lawrence uses is just too high above my reading level and it's just been sat on my bookshelf for years now. After the clear-out one of my bookshelves is almost full bare. I'd love to be a dedicated reader but my attention span means that reading will always likely be a casual thing for me. Richard Herring has started a book club spinoff to his podcast in order to ensure that he reads the book so that he can chat to the guest about it. I think I need something like this to put pressure on myself so that I HAVE to finish reading my book. Maybe I should hire a hitman and tell him to sneak into my house every fortnight and quiz me about the book that I've just read to make sure that I've given it my full attention.
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firehawk12 · 6 years
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Crazy Rich Asians (2018): The Flawed But Necessary Asian-American Cultural Milestone
(Apologies!  I keep forgetting to update my Tumblr... repost from my Medium account)
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There is so much to unpack before you can even talk about Crazy Rich Asiansin any meaningful manner and understand why so much of the Asian-American community has gotten behind the film via the so-called #goldopenmovement.
I think the easiest way to begin is to imagine what life would be like if you had no sense of belonging within the culture you inhabit. Books, music, television, film, theater, fashion — none of it reflected who you are and how you were necessarily different from everyone else. For the last half-century, this is essentially how Asian-Americans (and by extension, Asians-Canadians) lived their lives.
I can only write on my behalf, but I knew at an early age that I would never really be considered a “Canadian”, because as much as we like to pretend we’re in some kind of post-race multicultural utopia, I still feel foreign despite having lived in Canada for essentially my entire life.
But obviously that’s not necessarily unique to my experience — certainly a lot of people feel alienated within their own homelands because they don’t look like, act like, or otherwise inhabit the space of normativity that defines “Canadian-ness” (or “American-ness”).
But I can’t really claim to be “Chinese” either. Certainly I am racially and ethnically Han Chinese, but culturally I am as far removed from being Chinese as one possibly can be as a “Canadian Born Chinese”. I can functionally communicate in Cantonese, read Hanzi at a grade school level, and I’ve never actually been to China or Hong Kong, and my Chinese cultural references are old John Woo and Stephen Chow movies. There is a cultural void that I’ve felt for most of my life, and it comes from — as Crazy Rich Asians explains — being a “banana”, where my race and my cultural context have created the extreme feeling of alienation that is familiar to most, if not all, minorities living in North America.
So this is where we land on the North American notion of the hybrid identity that has developed over the last century. I’m not Chinese, I’m not Canadian, but I exist in some undefined border — the liminal space between the two — as a “Chinese-Canadian”. But what does that even mean when there is no culture that defines Chinese-Canadian identity? I don’t want to deny the great cultural contributions of artists such as Mina Shum or Wayson Choy and many others (Double Happiness is still a foundational text for me in terms of being able to articulate the fact that I don’t have an identity whatsoever), and I mean no offence when I suggest that these artists aren’t household names (and I’d much rather re-read Choy than yet another Atwood novel…).
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I came to Double Happiness when I was in my teens, already feeling the anxiety of not having an identity and being unable to articulate it because there was simply no outlet for me to express my inability to connect with the greater culture around me. I saw myself in Sandra Oh’s Jade, a woman who would never be Chinese enough for her parents or other Chinese people, but who isn’t Canadian enough to be accepted by Canadian society as an actress (I’m sure this was something that Sandra Oh had to fight against during the early parts of her career). I think it was at that moment that I understand that I would always feel like an outsider in my own homeland, not necessarily because I was marked with a visible difference, but because it took so long for me to see myself reflected in the culture that I consumed.
This isn’t necessarily a unique Chinese or even Asian-North American experience. As I wrote several years ago when I began to unpack the importance of yet another seminal Asian American cultural moment — the debut of Fresh Off The Boat — both the “real” and fictional Eddie Huang embraced hip hop because he was able to relate to a culture defined by alienation. Meanwhile, Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese ends by having the main character admit that he can never be white and escape “Chin-Kee”, the specter of Chinese-ness that haunts his every waking moment, and accept that being Chinese is a part of what defines him even if he doesn’t necessarily explain how that acceptance manifests itself.
But the fact that I can make references to a hit ABC sitcom and an Eisner award-winning graphic novel in order to try to articulate some notion of Chinese-American identity is precisely why it is so crucial to have a culture that represents the unique situation of being neither Chinese and neither American (or Canadian).
I love James Hong and respect him for his long career and the work he has done in order to help insert a Chinese face into American culture, but my entire identity in the early 90s was essentially tied to this clip:
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The fact that I can’t remember any other “role models” from my childhood except James Hong putting on that accent and annoying Jerry, Elaine, and George is perhaps a sad reflection of my limited worldview as a child of the 90s, but also a condemnation of what happens when there is no one for you to look up to.
We are so hungry for representation because we live in a cultural vacuum, where the only other cultural reference you can make is to The Joy Luck Club or how fucked up it was that people thought this was okay:
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It’s interesting because Hari Kondabolu’s attempts to address the problematic nature of Apu from The Simpsons touches on this exact same anxiety, where being South Asian is defined entirely by a single cultural touch point that can influence your life forever (that’s even before addressing the indignity of being represented by a white man putting on an accent in a bout of modern brown-face). Thankfully between The Mindy Project, The Big Sick and Master of None, South Asian-American representation has certainly improved in the last few years.
That’s not to say that East Asian-American representation, both on screen and off screen, hasn’t improved either. In film alone, Justin Lin basically built up one of the most improbably popular blockbuster franchises in recent history out of nothing — made more miraculous when you think about how the Fast and Furious films were culturally diverse before Disney decided that maybe their superheroes didn’t all have to be white men.
But even so, it’s been contingent on the Asian community to just accept things the way they are and not raise too much of a commotion about cultural representation. So when Tina Fey decides to double down on her racism with an episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt about how Asian-Americans humourless internet trolls who don’t understand comedy, we’re just to accept the fact that she above criticism. When Ghost in the Shell ends by explaining a Japanese girl had her brain carved out and placed into Scarlet Johansson’s body, we should be grateful that they mentioned the character’s Japanese origins at all. When Scott Buck refuses to address Iron Fist’s Orientalism, we just have to accept that no one is allowed to change the origins of a character because comic books are sacrosanct.
All of that explains why Crazy Rich Asians is such an important film for the community. With all of this cultural baggage on their backs, I respect the sacrifice Kevin Kwan and Jon Chu made when they eschewed an easy Netflix deal in order to bring the film to theaters even more than I did when I had initially read the interview.
It’s not that there haven’t been countless great Asian-American films made between The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians. Justin Lin’s own Better Luck Tomorrow, or Only the Brave, or Saving Face, or Eat With Me, or the recently released Gook to just name a handful are great films in their own right for telling stories about Asian Americans that simply aren’t reflected in the culture otherwise
(Edit: I’ve been told that I’ve been remiss in not including the Harold and Kumar trilogy in the above list. Apologies to John Cho and Kal Penn!)
But the only way to get the culture to pay attention — not just the people consuming it, but also the people producing it — is to make the biggest impact possible and even in 2018 with streaming services and video on demand, the path to cultural relevance is still through a major movie studio that can both promote your film and widely distribute it across the world. It’s unfortunate, but that’s why people still point to The Joy Luck Club and don’t mention any of the smaller independent films that have come out since then. The fact that the last film before The Joy Luck Club to feature an all Asian cast to be distributed by a major movie studio was Flower Drum Song in 1961 (which is a film/musical that probably has as much, if not more, cultural baggage associated with it than even The Joy Luck Club) points to the significance of Crazy Rich Asians and why it has become a moment for Asian-Americans.
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Kevin Kwan made another important production decision that drives home how much is riding on this film’s success. During pitch meetings, Kwan recounts meetings where producers suggested that having a white actress in the Rachel Chu role would make for a more successful film — to pull a quote from the interview, apparently he was told that “it’s a pity you don’t have a white character” — makes his decision to option the rights to his book for a dollar in order to maintain creative control a moral stance against Hollywood producers who don’t see any value in Asian actors.
Certainly the film’s fish out of water story could have easily been adapted so that Rachel Chu became Rachael Churchill (starring Scarlett Johansson or Emma Stone, of course) and many of the beats would have been the same. But his film is so powerful precisely because Rachel (Constance Wu) is Chinese-American. She isn’t Chinese, as Nick’s mother Eleanor (performed with perfect stoicism by Michelle Yeoh) constantly points out throughout the film, and that’s actually not a problem for her. In fact, the film goes out of its way to show how her Chinese-American identity helps her navigate the precariousness of Singapore’s socialite lifestyle, allowing Rachel to be proud of being a “banana”.
Are there problems with the film? Undoubtedly. The fact that the one time South Asians are shown in the film involves using them as comedy propspoints to narrow focus of the film and how much it ignores of the realSingapore. Or how Oliver (Nico Santos) is queer, but is never actually shown with another man, perhaps because gay sex is technically still a criminal offence in Singapore. Of course, the title itself points out that the only poor people shown in the film are the servants who presumably slink back to their cramped government subsidized high-rises after they are done serving the crazy rich Asians who employ them.
Even if you ignore the social issues, the film itself isn’t perfect either. It has the feel of an adaptation where they didn’t want to cut any of the cast, but had to cut all of their supporting stories in order to get the film to hit the 120 minute running time. And I mean this with utmost respect to Jon Chu’s career, but I still haven’t forgiven him for what he did to Jem and the Holograms a few years ago and there are times when the film feels just as workmanlike and banal as that failed outing. You’d think the climatic moment where Nick chases down Rachel in order to propose to her (again) would be wonderfully cinematic, but it’s perhaps the least exciting visual moment of the film. Similarly, the much written about Mahjong battle at the end was a great moment in spite of the direction, not because of it.
There is a lot wrong with the film. That’s unavoidable. Do I wish a studio picked up George Takei’s Allegiance and I was writing about about a big budget film about a Japanese-American family torn apart by the forced internment policies of a racist United States? That would have been great.
But in a way, this is very much like Fresh Off The Boat (and not just because of Constance Wu). When the real Eddie Huang quit narrating the show because it deviated so far from the harsh reality of his childhood experiences as a Chinese-American growing up in Florida, I totally sympathized with his decision and understood his rationale. Fresh Off The Boat isn’t an unvarnished look at the Chinese-American experience, nor is it ever going to touch on issues of race in a meaningful way. For better or for worse, it’s just not that kind of show nor is it trying to be. But the producers of the show were able to include an episode where the entire B-story was in Mandarin, a first for a family sitcom in America.
Crazy Rich Asians is very much in the same position as Fresh Off The Boat. It’s telling the world that Asians and Asian-Americans are just people like everyone else, facing similar problems as we try to carve out an existence in the world and live our lives. We fight with our in-laws, we get cheated on by our husbands, we have rivals who try to sabotage us, we deal with friends that we only talk to because we grew up with them and not because we have anything in common with them, we even deal with racism from time to time (although most of us don’t have the money to humiliate a racist by buying their place of employment).
It’s not the Asian-American of Do The Right Thing, let alone BlacKkKlansman, but I have to hope that if this movie is a success, then those types of stories will come in time. Maybe they’ll make a spin-off featuring Nico Santos’ Oliver called Crazy Rich Gaysians and have his character confront Singapore’s endemic social and structural homophobia. Or maybe they’ll make a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead-like movie about the two guards where they discuss the existential crisis of life defined only by serving as a backdrop to the stories of the rich. I believe that we can get there eventually, we just need to use Crazy Rich Asians as the push to get us there.
Anecdotally, the movie feels like it is appealing to more than just Asian-Americans desperate to be represented on screen. When the credits started rolling at my screening, a couple of Jewish women (who went out of their way to build a connection with me by telling me that Jewish culture and Chinese culture are connected by Mahjong and Chinese food at Christmas) told me that they had a great time watching the film. And in the moment of hesitation I felt when they unknowingly asked me to represent my entire race and culture by asking me if I liked the film, I told them that I did.
Maybe I don’t like the film for all the same reasons that they did, but that’s the point. Crazy Rich Asians is a film that is miraculously both culturally specific and broadly appealing. Even if you don’t care about any of what I wrote and just want to watch a good romantic comedy, you would be hard pressed to find one as good as this one in recent years. But if you are that Asian-American who has been waiting for over two decades to feel like you belong to a culture that has largely ignored you and taken you for granted, you will be witnessing a moment of cinematic history. That alone is worth the price of admission.
I didn’t have any place to put this, and it’s such a minor point that really isn’t worth including, but as a former teaching assistant I felt compelled to at least mention it.
So the film is supposed to take place during Rachel’s spring break. We see early in the film that she has a TA (that she tortures), so it’s possible that she dumps all her papers on him and tells him to grade everything while she’s having an adventure in Singapore. That’s perfectly fine, but it seems clear that she ends up staying in Singapore for much longer than a week (there is at least 3 days of flying time depicted in the film).
This means that there is no way she gets back in time to teach her class, assuming she even goes back after getting engaged, which means the poor TA is stuck holding the bag with a bunch of undergrads who will probably blame him for their grades not being in or for class being delayed.
Won’t anyone think of the poor teaching assistants who don’t have billionaire partners to sweep them off their feet?
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becumsh · 6 years
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YOUR FAVORITE NIECE FOR THE HEADCANON THINGY :D
*laughs diabolically* my time has finally come. Thank you so much, sO MUCH.
Headcanon A: what I think realistically 
She has a slightly dysfunctional relationship with Richelieu which with other relationship might be considered as toxic, but it’s Richelieu family we are talking about. Mind games and manipulating is like their way of ‘hello, how was your day, by the way, if you leave for Carmelites I’m most likely going to die‘ showing affection and feeling the feels. The woman never re-married even though Richelieu’s been needling her for decades, I mean, it takes ovaries of steel and some character to make Richelieu give up. ‘Uncle, I will not leave for Carmelites if you leave me the fuck alone with all that ‘marry Gaston’ shit, ta’.
JUST TO PUT IT OUT THERE, I headcanon her as aromantic asexual, just so we get it out of the way. And I’m serious about it.
She’s probably the cleverest woman in the Court. She’s probably the most cleverest human, period, in the Court.
She’s the only person Richelieu ever truly listens to. She knows it and only uses it to her advantage when absolutely necessary. And Richelieu hates to upset her, which she ALSO knows, but rarely uses against him.
The head bitch in charge. The Rihanna and Beyoncé of 17th century France. Except, like, religious, and pious, and all.
Anne of Austria probably has a low-key crush on her, even though she’s *shudder* of Richelieu’s blood *toilet emoji*
It’s virtually impossible to hate her. Marie de Medici, the nemesis, the arch enemy of Richelieu couldn’t hate her until her dying days, can you believe???
she’s smol mum friend
The most Wholesome™️ person in France.
Headcanon B: what I think is fucking hilarious 
Even though Marie-Madelaine is NICE, in the truest sense of the word, she’s the snarkiest. She’s very polite, but she’ll troll you and snark you, and you won’t even know what hit you.
Richelieu and Marie-Madelaine judge inane nobility at Court together. I just can picture them, like that, sitting in the chairs next to one another and exchange snide remarks about those inane noble people. ‘Oh, her dress…’ ‘I know, right… Have you seen what that Duke has done?’ ‘A true embarrassment…’ ‘I’ve never seen anyone embarrass himself more than he did that morning…’ ‘We, my dear, are surrounded by idiots.’ ‘and honestly, mood.’ I can’t, just Richelieu and his niece JUDGING everyone, a) it’s probably very likely canon b) it’s very funny.
OH EM GEE, she’s literally a female version of Kevin Cozner from B99!! She is!!!
Headcanon C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends
I literally cannot fathom anything more angsty than actual history.
She believed until the very last moment that Richelieu is going to pull through. She was all like ‘The Carmelite nun had a vision that you are going to be fine!’
And then he felt like his end is near, so he held her hand and asked her to leave, because ‘My dear niece, I feel very bad, I think I’m going to die right about now, I can’t watch you being in pain, so please leave because I don’t want you to watch me die’ - END ME, I JUST, FUCK.
DON’T GET ME STARTED ON RICHELIEU’S TOMBSTONE, THIS IS LITERALLY ENOUGH TO GET MY TEARS FLOWING.
Also, it’s very sad to say, but Duchesse d’Aiguillon was never happy, and it really saddens me. She never got to marry the man she once loved, she was surrounded by Richelieu’s enemies, after his death she kept battling them or her relatives because of Richelieu’s will, and she never got to leave for the Carmelites even though that’s what she wanted the most. The woman just couldn’t get a break.
You know, I don’t actually need to write headcanons, I can just open up her biography and copy-paste it here because honestly? Headcanons pale in comparison to all that fucking angst that really happened.
………..she doesn’t like cats all that much?
Headcanon D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway
*cracks her fingers* okay, you thought this answer is long, prepare for some real stuff, for some real long post because honestly, I can write an entire paper on this.
Concept: BBC Musketeers are not pussies and they are closer to history than to books (they, in real life, are neither). And while I’m at it, Dumas rectified Richelieu in the sequel and wrote an apology book that he never finished (i’m still pissed), and people STILL THINK that Richelieu is evil, when even Dumas himself realised that he was an idiot.
Marie-Madelaine actually makes an appearance, and it’s not some lame guest-starring for one episode, hella no, she’s a recurring character with some JUICY moments. I’m literally crying right now over the POTENTIAL
She’s played either by Jenna Coleman, Felicity Jones or idk, Romola Garai may be.
So, like in history, she’s a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne, but in fact she’s obviously Richelieu’s spy (duh). But despite the fact that she’s Richelieu’s niece, Queen Anne is favourable of her and trusts her because Duchesse d’Aiguillon is nice. And beware of the nice ones because Duchesse d’Aiguillon is the only clever one in the Court. Basically everyone underestimates her because they all think of her as of a nice pious religious woman totally incapable of scheming which gives her an ample opportunity to observe and spy on everyone. She’s very unassuming and everyone thinks Richelieu stuck the Duchess in her position so she can marry someone rich, but we all know the truth.
Cue evening chats with Richelieu, discussing their day and the idiocy of the nobility. Also I want some quality family moments between them, both in Palais Cardinal and in public.
She’s probably quite friendly with Milady and has serious talks about how Richelieu treats his favourite assassin, but it’s mostly in vain, but she’s getting there, baby steps.
Treville and Richelieu, mid-rant shouting session, cut to the niece in the background, low-key rolling her eyes.
Ninon de Larroque’s secret women club SUCKS compared to Duchesse d’Aiguillon’s book club, Richelieu probably wanted to burn her because her club is an abomination lbr, also we’d get Pierre Corneille.
Let’s be real, the whole Queen’s assassination idiocy would have never happened if the Duchesse was in the show. She’d probably nick some letters from Anne to her brother, thus bringing her downfall or whatever, you know, doing it the cool way, not the BBC lame way.
The evening of the day when s1e10 happened? ‘The Queen is with the musketeers’ child.’ ‘Yeah, I know.’
S2, ooooooh, Richelieu faking his death/Spanish prison style/whatever of your choice, Rochefort targeting her in order to lure him out? Or, even better, musketeers doing something to her because they find out she knows about the parentage of the Dauphin? I can write an entire another post on that. Treville and the Duchesse bonding at the Court because they are the only two sane people there???
S3 never happened. Or it’d be La Rochelle and Buckingham business, SOMETHING INTERESTING.
Literally everything I wrote is useless and boils down to LET THE DUCHESSE ON THE MUSKETEERS BBC, STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF.
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