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mach-speed-spin · 2 years

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Mayblade day 10: song (reminder that Nickelback was once featured on official Beyblade merch)

Nelvana and Hasbro decided they wanted to make Beyblade be more than just spinning tops with a tie-in anime series. After several attempts, I think they kinda gave up because non of them were successful. Beywheelz, Beyraiderz, and Beywarriors all flopped (despite some cool ideas). Their trading card game back in the og series is so obscure that I can’t get any info on it besides “it existed” and “it seems poorly thought out.” And at one point they got into music. After finding this YouTube playlist with Beyblade songs (openings, endings, the dub insert songs, etc), I noticed that for some reason it included How You Remind Me by Nickelback, California by Phantom Planet, and an AMV. After some research, I found that those songs were released on official Beyblade CD’s back in 2001-2002. So I’m gonna give some thoughts on every single song in that playlist in the context of Beyblade (also to make up for yesterday’s shorter post since I didn’t have much time)

Normally I'd add a cut here but my laptop's still broken and I don't know enough about the Tumblr app to use it properly

Catch a Cannonball by White Pony: This song is considered lost media and if anyone can find it please DM me or something

Let’s Beyblade by Sick Kid ft Lukas Rossi: The original series English dun opening. It’s very early 2000′s and serves as an opening pretty well. I just wish there was an extended/ full version

Fighting Spirits by System-B: As a standalone opening, it’s pretty good. As far as Beyblade goes, it’s wildly different than any opening we’ve gotten since, which makes it stand out even more

Cheer Song by System-B: Not sure how I feel about the song itself, but if it works for anything, it’s as an ED. Also, it’s so different from Fighting Sprits that I had a hard time believing they were both made by System-B

Beyblade by Giorgio Vanni: The Italian opening for the first season. The combination of rock with what sounds like bells(?) later in the song create a weird but interesting feel to it. Also “Boy-blade” is such a stupid pun that it had to have been made ironically, right. Right?

OFF THE CHAIN by TOSS & TURN: Song is a banger. I have no idea who thought it’d fit Beyblade as an opening. Love how it’s in ALL CAPS. Also I don’t speak a word of Japanese but there’s enough English that I can kinda guess what the song is trying to say

URBAN LOVE by Shiori: Another song in all caps, this time as an ED. While I’m normally not a fan of less energetic songs, this is pretty good

Jet by Fairy Fore: The scream at the beginning of the song makes you think you’re gonna get a much harder song than the first verse. And the it slowly ramps up until by the end, you’re back to the same energy as the beginning. Brilliant

What’s the Answer? by Retro G Style: Like OFF THE CHAIN, there is just enough English for me to get a vague idea of what the song is about. I like it, but wish that they had used the song by Retro G Style in G-Revolution for obvious reasons

Beyblade vforce by Giorgio Vanni: IMO a nice improvement over the first Italian opening, but goddamn “Boy-blade” is still here. Why?

Poroporo by Hana Hana: The ED for the V-Force movie. Every other beat is out of tune but it’s done on purpose so I can’t consider it a flaw. It grew on me over time but the decision to be out of tune on purpose is still weird

Victory by Dynamite SHU: I couldn’t find official information on the artist but someone said Victory was performed by Dynamite SHU so I’m rolling with it for now. Also it may be called Victory or Victoria. It’s unclear. It’s also part of the V-Force movie soundtrack and honestly I think it’d make a better ED than Poroporo, if only because Poroporo isn’t really enjoyable on your first listen (even if it really grown on you later)

Go Ahead by Motoko Kumai: Amazing OP for G-Revolution. Probably my favorite from Bakuten Shoot. It gets you pumped for the episode and it fits the tone of early G-Rev perfectly

Oh Yes!! by Sista with Yuka: As an ED, it’s pretty good. It’s also a great way to conclude the early episodes of G-Rev

Kaze no Fuku Basho by Makiyo: Somehow manages to be an improvement over Oh Yes!! while also fitting the middle portion of G-Rev better

Identified by Springs: Finally we learn that the G in G-Revolution stands for Good. It’s also the perfect OP to end the original series on

Sign of Wish by Makiyo: Like Identified is the perfect OP to end on, Sign of Wish is the perfect ED to conclude the original series. I know that the last episode used Kaze no Fuku Basho for the epilogue, but Sign of Wish was perfect for the BEGA arc, itself a great conclusion to the original story

Never Gonna Take Me Down by Anthony Vanderburgh: I’ve been fighting every night an day. I’m gonna do my best to put you away. It’s perfect for more friendly but intense (like most of the minor battles in tournament arcs). Like most of the dub insert songs, they’re bangers but sadly misused

Round After Round by Jason Dean Bennison: Like Never Gonna Take Me Down, it’s perfect for battles where both bladers want nothing more than to just fight each other

All Across the Nation by The Black Europeans: The fact that this was used for any battle in the season 1 tournaments (you know, the ones with multiple countries) is weird, but the song itself is still good

Let’s Go Beybladers by Krystal Band: The vocals have this strange quality to them, like the musical equivalent of a 2004 homemade video project made by a high school student. Objectively bad but charming in its own way

Swing Low by Jason Dean Bennison: The vocals feel out of place, but damn that bass is epic. Also you can kinda hear samples from Fighting Spirits in the background (that “DORAIGA” scream is hard to miss after a few listens)

Underdog by Mudd: In all honesty it’s a shame Mudd didn’t go one to have more success after Beyblade. Underdog was great

Always Be In the Game by Jason Dean Bennison: Normally I’m not a fan of rap vocals over rock instrumentation but Jason pulled it off. Not sure how or why, but it works

Switchblade by Lenz: Good song but someone messed up when they rereleased it. Also the contrast between the music and the lyrics in the chorus is fairly specific. Maybe it was written to be a character theme?

Hang On by Chris Szczesniak and Mike Dunca: It took 20 years for this song to be released. Amazing bass, amazing vocals, and I can’t think of a song that better fits Kai vs Brooklyn (the time where Kai wins, that is)

Rise Above the Storm by Daniel LeBlanc and Creighton Doane: Oddly uplifting yet very energetic. When I say this is one of the most uplifting songs I’ve ever heard, I am not exaggerating

I’m Not Going Down by Jonathan Evans and Gerard Tevlin: If Hang On fits Kai vs Brooklyn, then I’m Not Going Down fits Tyson vs Brooklyn. It’s just a powerful declaration of victory, being the musical embodiment of that final battle

Start the Circus by Far From Heroes: Good song but I don’t see what it has to do with Beyblade. Still a banger

Cinderella by Adam Crossley with 9 Point Landing: Just like Start the Circus, a banger that is completely unrelated to Beyblade

What the Girls Say by Jennesy: For a show with such a skewed gender ratio for characters, this song feels extremely out of place. It’s good, but manages to feel more “off” than Cinderella

Running Away by Project Wyze: A friend of mine likes to say that early 2000′s music was 80% pop rock and 10% rap metal. Running Away is part of that 10% and it is the perfect example of what rap metal is. If you like rap metal, you’ll like this song. If you don’t like rap metal, you won’t like this song

Let It Rip by Ego Massive: It truly relates to Beyblade and it isn’t an insert song. I’m surprised. The song itself is alright, but pales in comparison to some others

Split the Atom by Edwin and the Pressure: Great song. Unrelated to Beyblade. I’m starting to notice a trend

Pretty Girls by Prozzak: Good song and I have though the glass break sound effect was real and in my house on one occasion

Girls & Boys by Good Charlotte: This song is 50% less out of place than What the Girls Say

Year 3000 by Busted: Possibly a warm take, but the Jonas Brothers’ cover of the song was a downgrade

Buck Rogers by Feeder: I first heard this song playing Gran Turismo and forever associate it with that game. I can’t judge the song on its own because of that

Movies by Alien Ant Farm: Honestly it’s probably the weakest song that released on that CD. It’s not bad per se, but it’s less good than the rest

Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus: Hit early 2000′s song that was shoehorned into Beyblade merch and honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea

Nothing by A: Google “A Nothing” and see if you find this song. Other than that, it’s great. Love it

How You Remind Me by Nickelback: It’s Nickelback. That’s all there is to say. Take that how you will

California by Phantom Planet: If only Beyblade saw the US as more than New York and Las Vegas (and later, Moab, Utah). The west coast isn’t even acknowledged. Had they made one of the characters be from California (like any of the All-Starz), this would’ve been more fitting

Metal Saga by Clifton David: While the English OP for mfb isn’t bad, it feels like a remix of the Japanese OP, but without being different enough to stand out

Metal Fight Beyblade by YU+KI: YU+KI did an amazing job in every season of mfb, and the first opening is no exception

Boys ~To the Radiant Tomorrow~ by MASH: I thought Boys was the artist for far longer than I should. It’s a great ED, and has IMO some of the strongest visuals for a Beyblade ED even though it’s very simple

Beyblade Metal Fusion by unknown artist: I don’t know who made the Italian opening for Fusion but it was pretty good

Galaxy Heart by YU+KI: It takes everything that made Metal Fight Beyblade good an multiplies it tenfold. Absolutely amazing

Oozora wo Koete Yuje by Odoriba Soul: Pretty good ED. It kinda gives me similar vibes as Oh Yes!! but I’m not sure why

Beyblade Metal Masters by unknown artist: An improvement over the Italian Fusion opening, taking it from good to great

Spinning the World by Noa: Love it. Great ED for the Sol Blaze movie. Probably on the same tier as Kaze no Fuku Basho for me

Kokoro no Yuki by YU+KI: the 4d opening slaps even harder than Galaxy Heart

Destiny by YCHRO: Just like Kokoro no Yuki managed to outdo Galaxy Heart, Destiny managed to outdo Oozora wo Koete Yuke. God 4d had great music (if only it wasn’t a shortened season)

Shine On by unknown artist: Absolute banger. That’s all I have to say about it besides that the artist deserves to actually be credited

Let It Rip by The Lodge: I did not expect bars of this level from a song made for a toy commercial. Even though the dub adding rap in anime is usually an unpopular decision, this was good

Game Changer by the Lodge: Another banger

To the Extreme by the Lodge: Why couldn’t the XTS toyline go as hard as this song?

Deploy and Destroy: This song is great and makes Stealth Battlers seem a lot cooler than they were irl

Own the Dome: Somehow a team of people got Hasbro’s worst stadium ever, and made the best commercial out of it. And part of that has to do with this absolute bop of a song

Stunt, Race, Crash by the Lodge: Like To the Extreme, Deploy and Destroy, and Own the Dome, this was a great song that advertised a terrible product

Zero-G Bey! Go! by YU+KI: I’d rank it between Metal Fight Beyblade and Galaxy Heart. It’s good, but not as much as the previous Japanese OPs (granted the bar was pretty damn high)

Looking Up Smiling (We Go!) by YCHRO: It manages to be just barely better than Destiny, which is pretty impressive

Beyblade: Shogun Steel by Sugar High Bunny Punch: Does it fit Beyblade? Not really. Is it good? Maybe not great, but better than I’ve seen people give it credit for

Let the Games Begin by Arunachal: The Beywheelz OP that was used for the English and Japanese versions alike. Like the English OP for Shogun Steel, I think it’s better than given credit for. Although like Beywheelz, it pales in comparison to the other seasons

A Better Place by Jonathan Evans: One of the guys behind I’m Not Going Down makes his return. A Better Place is a pretty good ED< even if it doesn’t stand out

Beyraiderz Theme by iSH and Nicholas Walsh: I’ll be honest the chorus is the only part I like from this. The rest is serviceable as an opening, but I wouldn’t call it good

Come Around by SPACEMAN MUSIC: I like Come Around, and consider it an improvement over A Better Place, but I don’t think it fits Beyraiderz as a season

Beywarriors: Cyborg by unknown artist: A better OP than Beyraiderz, but still a tad below Let the Games Begin

Hold Tight by unknown artist: Like anything relating to Beywarriors, the artist name is hard to find. It’s a strange ED, but I can’t put my finger on why. Like Poroporo, it’s interesting, even if I’m not sure whether I like it

Burst Finish! by Tatsuyuki Kobayashi: A good OP that fits the first season of Burst. It’s great

Believe by SHIKURAMEN: The only Burst ED to get a full version, and it’s certainly deserving of it. Like Burst Finish! it fits the first season of Burst perfectly

Our Time by Steven Allerick Chen: A great opening in par with Burst Finish

Battle Above My League by Fenwick & the Futures: The instrumentation is ok I guess. The vocals have this weird feel to them, like lofi but not really. Like Poroporo and Hold Tight, this song interests me because I don’t quite understand what I’m hearing

Evolution Burst! by unknown artist: The Beyblade Burst God OP is great. I'd call it the best of Japanese Burst openings but Cho-Z exists, making Evolution Burst! a worthy second

Beyxercise by Señor Hanami: If we ignore the visuals in the ED (so no Markiplier dancing), it goes from hilariously good to just regular good. The beat is catchy, but the vocals really make this song. It's performed by Hanami's VA, which makes that last "BASUTO FINISHU" so much better

Beyxercise 2 by Señor Hanami: It's Beyxercuse but again. The beat is different, and a bit of a slightly downgrade, but everything else is as good as the original Beyxercise

Evolution by Dave Vives and Steven Pagano: It's a great opening. Not much to say other than it's really good

Made for This by Vaski and Ian Everson: Amazing. Absolutely amazing. It's hard not to sing along and go "We were made for this"

Chouzetsu Muteki Blader by Ryosuke Sasaki: Easily one of my favorite Beyblade openings ever. Everything about it is fantastic

Bey-Pop! by Shun Kusakawa: Catchy and cheery is the best way to describe this. Lovely song

Bey-Pop Swing! by Shun Kusakawa: It's Bey-Pop bit more energetic. Still catchy and cheery, but with a tad bit more excitement

Turbo by Nate Wants to Battle: Best of the English OP's according to many, and a very close second best in my personal ranking. Nathan Sharp has delivered everything one could ask for from an opening

Gatti'n'Roll by unknown artist: I genuinely dkn't know why anyone though this was a good idea. I guess they thought they couldn't beat Chouzetsu Miteki Blader at its win game and went in the opposite direction, being very cheery rather than adrenaline-pumping. For what it's trying to be, it's pretty good. It just doesn't really work as an OP

Rise by Jonathan Young: IMO the best English opening in all of Beyblade. Jonathan Young made a high-energy OP that gets you pumped for the anime. Also his JJBA OP covers are great

Journey Into Tomorrow by Tony Rodini: I have a hard time deciding between this and Made for This for which is the best eyecatcher theme. Journey Into Tomorrow is just as good as Made for This and Made for This was great

Sparking Revolution by unknown artist: Not a bad OP but it doesn't really stand out. It's good, but it's just "there"

We Got the Spin by Konrad OldMoney and Johnny Gr4ves: Like Gatti'n'Roll, they were trying to go in the opposite direction of the previous opening. However, GT was a more lighthearted and comedic season, while Sparking is more serious than its predecessor. This means that to fit the season, we'd need something as intense as Rise, or at least Evolution, and instead we get this. And unlike the original series or mfb using rap on occasions, We Got the Spin lacks the energy present in songs like Shine On and Always Be In the Game

Clash! Dynamite Battle! by NORISTRY: Great opening. Probably my second favorite Japanese Burst OP behind Muteki Blader

We're Your Rebels by Nate Wants to Battle: Massive step up from We Got the Spin, and it's just what we expected from the guy that made Turbo

#mayblade 2022 #beyblade #mfb #beyburst #beyblade burst #beywheelz #beywarriors #beywarriors cyborg

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thephantomporg84 · 4 years

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Is it ever stated where Temen-ni-gru/Residential Area is? Is it in Red Grave City? Some other city? The ether?

Nope! In the first game it’s stated that Dante’s office ‘somewhere in a city the U.S.’, but given that DMC1 was literally just a rejected first script that was ‘too weird’ to be Resident Evil 4 and that Dante was supposed to be Leon S. Kennedy, that’s pretty flimsy evidence at best. Especially when you consider the retcons this series tends to go through.

I assume Red Grave City is in England, and that Nero & Dante aren’t too far from it since they both seem to be within reasonable driving distance of it. That’s not confirmed either, so please don’t take this as canon info, but that seems to be the case. Given the double decker buses, red phone booths, general architecture, and the fact that Redgrave is a real village and civil parish in/around/near Suffolk, England... I think it’s safe to say that the series is largely set in some fantasy version of modern-day Europe. Given that a lot of Japanese game devs love to set things in Europe/love playing with elements of European architecture/history/literature (hi, FromSoft) and/or Christian imagery and themes, I think it’s a safe bet to say that all of the major locations are there.

I also assume Red Grave City is not where Dante’s office is, or they’d have thrown in some visual reference or other throwback to the Temen-ni-gru — like citizens screaming ‘not again’ or Nero making a comment or something. Plus, Dante is basically told to leave/change his name/start over/etc. by Eva, so Dante using the Tony Redgrave alias in Red Grave City would be kinda suspect. Some people also say it’s in a city called Capulet City, but that’s just a place Dante visits in the anime.

I personally have just always taken these games as being set in our world, but it’s just a more... squished together version of Europe. At least culturally or something. Especially since Fortuna is confirmed by the devs to be based off of Italian architecture/Vatican City. Plus, Mallet Island has the castle setting for the first game, too, and if you’re not from the United States uh... well. We don’t exactly have anything remotely like that lmao.

All that being said, though, I would not be surprised AT ALL with this series if Itsuno just poked his head out tomorrow and was just like ‘All of the Devil May Cry series is set in Miami-Dade County, Florida :D’ or Maine or something. Like. I would not even bat an eye and just roll with it.

Sorry I can’t give you more definitive answers that that. :/ I’d personally love to know where the devs see it being set.

#dmc meta #dmc lore #anonymous #replies #devil may cry #dmc #dmc5 #devil may cry 5 #dante #dmc dante #long post #lore #meta

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thebritishblabbermouth · 6 years

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Jungkook Fanfiction- BTS Mafia AU

Heyya :))

@atricksterwithwings requested a beautiful BTS mafia au, and I loved writing this for her. I’ve split it into three parts. Scroll down for the first and for the link to the latter.

A/N: I’ve mentioned Zhang Yixing in this fanfiction aside from the other BTS members. Its totally okay if you dont know who he is...although you probably do, he’s like such a popular sheep ;) Find information about him here .

Tell me your thoughts on this fanfic, Id love to receive any sort of feedback on my work and I totally think that likes and reblogs are recognition too :) Have fun reading, I know I really enjoyed writing this :) Its like 12 pages long on a word doc...idek anymore xP Jungkook is gorgeous. :)

Also...there is cursing in this, mention of the mafia from different nationalities and part two and three are rated M (its smutty xP) Reader discretion is advised if any of these things bother you.

Lots of love :) <3 - Enjoy :)

PART 2

PART 3 (final)

Jeon Jungkook stood at the 77th floor of Euphoria, the headquarters to the largest crime syndicate east of the Pacific Ocean. The height was dizzying for most, but not for him.

Jungkook had no fears; or so was assumed.

The man himself, was built at an impressive 6 feet and constituted of raw muscle, protein and a rather cynical approach towards life. Outwardly, the leader of the most legal crime syndicate was cold, intimidating and the type to burn you to ashes with a glare from his heated eyes.

Inwardly, he was exactly the same.

He was well aware of the effect he had on his employees, men and women who knew exactly of his affiliation with the Japanese Yazuka and the Italian Camorra yet pined to work under Jeon, the sheer power of his company bringing everyone to their knees with respect.

Euphoria was a giant.

It had dealings with government run telemarketing firms, banks, real estate agencies, alongside finance and technology markets. An easy way to convert money earned through extortion, gambling and trafficking to its pure and pristine form. The corrupt politicians whose elections he had funded didn’t complain. No one cared where the money came from and no one dared to ask otherwise. The cause of the founder’s formidable aura wasn’t a secret. Everyone knew how he had been tortured by his father, abandoned on the streets by a mother who seemed to love Heroin more than her own son. The story had been plastered all over the internet, and Jungkook would never deny reading through its many exaggerated versions. They were entertaining and did well to remind himself about how important money and power were, without those weapons, he too would be sitting in a room, writing about a life that belonged to someone else.

Materialism was reality and wealth- it’s currency.

~~~~~~~~~~~

‘’Sir, your coffee…’’ you said, walking through the office doors, a skip in your stride. There was no knock. No hint of awkwardness, no aspect of fear in the way she spoke. If anything there was the undertone of coercion, almost coaxing the man to leave his billion dollar thoughts in the gutter and focus solely on the warm drink.

Your playful extortion had worked, he was focused. Just not on the coffee.

Three months ago, Euphoria had issued an internal opportunity- PA to Jeon Jungkook. The post received 3 applications from his 20,000 employees. Min Yoongi, his chief of finance and operations took to appointing the least qualified of the bunch, a woman- aged a mere 22 years. The pitch to his ever frightening boss had been simple. ‘’You’ve let down 30 men in the last 6 months. I am done handling my job as well your shit. Those Harvard lunatics are too busy tending to their stupid resumes and I don’t have time for the garbage they throw at me when you fire their sorry arses. You’re settling with the woman, she’s got sick parents to feed- she won’t give a damn for ego as long as you pay her on time.’’

Jungkook could only snarl at the curses, the audacity of the man to speak in the way he did. Anyone else and they’d be lying in a pool of their own blood within seconds of the first word spoken against him. But Min Yoongi couldn’t be touched and this was a fact.

Jeon Jungkook was putty in the hands of his elder brother.

Today, he sent thanks to his sibling, for his aggressive outburst and daunting approach. You were priceless and the best decision ever- professionally of course.

He gave no reply to your request, not even a glance spared in your direction as your placed the drink onto his desk. There were just a series of footsteps, the man walking over to his maple work table, ready to do as he was told.

You had no idea of the prerogatives you held, and at that point, neither did him. The slight tease in your voice had mellowed down completely- replaced with the air of innocence and obeisance. Jungkook groaned at the sight.

‘’So I was thinking…it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow…and well…’’ you said... Shuffling your buckled black heels.

‘’You aren’t leaving early.’’

His abrupt command had no thought behind it. Other than the fact he couldn’t let you out of his sight for more than a few hours, often paging you unnecessarily just to make you think of him.

He doubted you ever would if he didn’t.

‘’I am not…my parents are flying in tomorrow…it’s a small get together at my place with a few colleagues. I figured since you didn’t have anything planned…you could join us?’’

Your apprehensive feet clicked across the hardwood with anticipation, the weightlessness behind your request holding the air in a trance.

‘’You’re my personal assistant, not event manager. You do not handle my private affairs so don’t think for a second that I care about your stupid Christmas dinner or the family I saved from crumbling.’’

It wasn’t what he had intended to say. Rather, his mind had flourished a thought he needed to keep locked away. He wanted to tell you that he’d love to join your family, share potato salad and amusing anecdotes across the table... All the while pressing his hand into your thigh- a subtle promise of sinful satisfaction later that night. But he wouldn’t dare to voice his feelings. You didn’t need to get involved with his shit, the scars that graced his back or the life full of gluttony and gambles he had chosen to lead. It was compulsion, to remind you every second of every day that the apartment which he bestowed upon you just 3 floors below his office- was a gracious boon, a gift given to improve your petty life. You had to be reminded of your father and how had been released from Jail after almost overdosing on the crack he had envisioned to peddle. Jeon Jungkook had to remind you of how ugly your tear stained face looked as you begged on your knees- begged for him to save your family.

There was simply no other way.

If you weren’t reminded, you’d crawl your way into his heart and sit there- encasing it completely.

He was just a damned moth to your flame.

‘’I know…and I am trying…I am trying to repay you. Please. Come over. I won’t waste your time.’’ You said. The words articulated with a purpose, were laced with meaningful sorrow but you couldn’t help the small smile that graced your lips.

He hadn’t declined.

Jungkook noticed how your full lips turned upwards, noticed how you had bent your head downwards, trying to hide your amusement. He knew he hadn’t said no, he knew inside the pits of his soul that was going to attend. Your reaction publicised his private notions completely.

It wasn’t hard to hate you.

Rather, it was the easiest thing in the world. His life had been built upon layers of lies, fear, judgement and mistrust. You tore everything apart with one look. He despised the hold you had over him, envied your purity and tried his best to tarnish it with his own two hands. Even if it meant burning your entire persona to ashes. He was well aware of the impact his audacious remarks on your large heart, knew just how much you wished to throw your small fists at his chest in rebuttal- he could see it in your eyes. But he knew you’d never break.

‘’Get out. I don’t have time for you.’’

Fuck.

Why couldn’t he just say no?

Probably because the thought of abjuration had never once crossed his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~

11 pm saw him standing at your door, a bouquet of Lilly’s in his hand. The flowers had almost wilted away. What the hell was he doing? Why was he even here? There was no noise from behind the oakwood and why would there be?

Your offer had been for dinner, not a midnight snack.

He wasn’t going to come, prove you wrong and act smug about the ordeal. However he had shown up, at 7 pm, flowers fresh and suit prim. Ready to tap onto the door and shimmy himself into you…your apartment. But his confidence dropped as he heard your laughter, it was beautiful, natural and something he had never experienced before.

Jeon Jungkook had never made you laugh, but had every thought of hearing you scream.

It wouldn’t have mattered to him if you were any other woman, but the lack of knowledge frightened him, made him think there would be another man who would have the pleasure of witnessing both sounds.

Every. Single. Day.

His heart beat erratically, edging him into a state of worry and insanity. What the fuck was wrong with him? It would be a complete lie if he said he hadn’t just stood in front of your door for 3 hours, praying he didn’t hear sounds of men. The silence at 11 pm provided comfort and he walked away, only after dropping the Lilly’s inside the vase at your desk.

You had been pleasantly surprised the next day, and you knew exactly who they were from. The flowers- drained from their pretty colour -were beautiful nonetheless and you couldn’t help but run your hands over their soft petals.

They were perfect- just like him.

~~~~~~~~~~

‘’See that guy over there…he’s checking you out hon.’’ Lisa, the American-Chinese intern, stirred her tea at an exceedingly sluggish pace. Her eyes were glued onto the 27 year old accountant who stood in the corner of the room, photocopying his work and humming to himself. She’d been a temporary employee at Euphoria Inc. for a bare 3 weeks but had done well to pair 4 couples with her self-praised matchmaking skills.

3 of said relationships had broken up within 24 hours. And thus, It was only natural that her impeccable track record attracted many an employee to her small cubicle, ready for her to set them up with dates and one night stands.

It seemed that you were her next target.

You sighed and turned to look at Jamie. He was tall, considerably well-built and had this collegiate boyish charm to his appeal, his long-slightly raven locks sat faultlessly over his glasses.

The image was so immaculate it made you uncomfortable.

However in your opinion, the man on the 77th floor was nothing short of perfection. His ruffled hair didn’t need to be waxed and placed as it were; it fell naturally and it made you want to run your hands through it. His rugged and damaged personality sheltered his otherwise kind heart and you saw right through the vile facade. You didn’t hope for him to change. Didn’t hope for him to suddenly become a goofy cheeky soul; the kind who would sit and chat with his workers.

You loved the man as he was. A little broken but a hell of a lot confident.

‘’Lisa…I don’t really want to date him…’’ You mumbled, eagerly emptying coffee beans into the machine.

She laughed at your reply and peeled her eyes away from the man. ‘’Who said anything about dating love? I just said he was checking you out.’’

It was hard not to grimace at her words but as crude as they were you had to smile politely. Offices were run on brutal honesty and cut throat depositions. There was no room for pleasantries or hospitality and any that appeared were a courteous formality. You hurried in your steps and brewed the concoction with ease. It was 8 am and he required his morning fix, even though he never actually asked you to prepare it. You had just finished placing his black on the tray and had turned around to deliver it when a firm body crashed into yours, spilling the brew all over your clothes and the floor. The heat burned through your blouse and scorched your skin, it had been hard to not curse at the pain but you dealt through it, eyes shut tight in response.

‘’Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!’’ said the voice. It was a man, sharply handsome, his cheekbones were protruding and you were sure his skin glowed. It didn’t take long to recognise him.

Kim Taehyung.

He had been a prospective fiancé, from a year ago.

From a time when you had no viable job, no future and the money the Kim Family offered in exchange for your hand in matrimony, had been a welcome surprise to your household. They were staunchly against same sex marriages and Park Jimin had been banned from their home with immediate effect. The marijuana had inflected your otherwise gentle father and he had agreed in seconds to the proposal, not once considering your opinion. You had declined Taehyung in private, and he had hugged you in thanks. The man was humble and docile in more ways than one, and his heart had been taken years ago- by none other, than his childhood piano teacher. There was no way Taehyung would’ve agreed.

‘’Tae!’’ You screamed, surprised yet elated at the discovery.

‘’Hey there fiancé. Glad to know you remember me…but really, why do we always meet in the worst of situations.’’ He walked over to the counter as he spoke, grabbing up as many napkins as he could find. His gentle hands took to patting at your chest, handing you the tissues while doing so and it didn’t take long for to dry up your blouse.

‘’I thought you’d be more respectful than that. Letting your fiancé walk into my building and displaying yourself open for the man. Tch Tch…I guess a lowlife is always a low life no matter what her circumstance.’’ Jeon Jungkook stood against the door, leaning onto it with a posture that screamed indifference. But in all reality, Jungkook was seething.

The small Glock tucked into his suit was ready to fire and destroy Kim Taehyung and maybe even leave a flesh wound inside Jamie the accountant.

However in that minute, his primal desire had been to destroy you. How dare you hide the news of your engagement? How dare you wear that damned pastel pink blouse to work, and let another man touch you so unabashedly? How dare you smile when you saw your betrothed? He hated you for everything.

And he hated himself for falling for you.

‘’And who the hell is this Joker?’’ Taehyung turned around to look at Jeon, the tissues in his hand soiled from the spillage. He had been invited to the corporation by Min Yoongi, a dear friend who had promised him help with TaeMin Designs, an upcoming entrepreneurial, founded by his beautiful husband. It didn’t occur to him that he’d meet you, but he was pleased that he had.

You were wonderful.

If it hadn’t been for your confidence, he would have never proposed to Jimin, never left his awful family and never been as happy as he was now. He owed you his life and his prosperity.

‘’Tae…he’s my boss. I’ll talk to you later. Please. I’ll call you hmm?’’ you tried your best to nip the fight in the bud. Taehyung was cool headed but an agitated version of the man could lead to the emergence of fists and blood. You were lucky he understood your pleas, and he grunted towards Jungkook while exiting the room, the daggers leaving his eyes were filled with venom and anger.

‘’I’d like you to pay attention to your job. Not to every single man out there. Why don’t you just do as you’re told? I don’t care what you do and who you do it with when you’re out of here.’’ Jungkook straightened himself against the wall and pocketed his hands. He told himself he enjoyed watching your eyes brim, told himself that his anger was justified. But god knows how much he wanted to cradle you and whisper apologies until you were forced to believe them.

‘’Let’s keep your sluttish acts away from the office hmm?’’

It was a harsh blow, enough to cause the first tear to slip from their confines. Why did he have to behave like that?

Why did you have to love him regardless of the way he did?

~~~~~~~

‘’How long is it going to take you leave? It’s pretty simple. Take the bag to KM Constructions, drop it there and leave. What’s so hard? '' Jungkook’s anger had sky rocketed ever since the incidence in the cafeteria and he didn’t even understand why he was asking you to be a bag drop. Never once in a career spanning 6 years had he ever made a woman a part of a deal. But it seemed that you were an exception with everything.

‘’I am just leaving Sir.’’ You said, buttoning up the grey pea coat.

He noticed how inappropriately dressed you were, how feminine and vulnerable. He knew how lecherous men could be, knew it wasn’t safe. But annoyance clouded his senses and he threw the thoughts away. It was simple enough, no interactions. You’d be fine.

If only he knew.

Part 2

Part 3

54 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years

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Best Horror Movies to Watch on Shudder Right Now

https://ift.tt/30bB2Uk

It’s safe to say that the world is a bit weird right now. Much to some people’s surprise, horror movies can often be a way for fans to make sense of things and confront their fears in a safe space. Streaming service Shudder offers a large array of horror movies, TV shows, and even podcasts covering the full spectrum of the macabre. But how do you know where to start?

We’ve put together a guide to some of the best films the service has to offer. The Shudder catalogue is always growing and changing so we’ll keep this updated – head back for the latest additions and new suggestions.

(All entries are available in both UK and US unless stated otherwise!)

Hammer

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

After literally decades in which the classic Hammer Films library of horror titles was often difficult to see (especially in uncut, properly framed prints), the legendary studio’s catalog has been gradually trickling out in recent years via specialty home video companies and the streaming space.

Movies

13 Greatest Hammer Horror Monsters

By Marc Buxton

Movies

The Vaults of Hammer: 14 Unmade Hammer Horror Movies

By Marc Buxton

The Vampire Lovers — based on a story by Sheridan Le Fanu — was one of the films that marked Hammer’s turn from the somewhat staid films of the 1960s toward the more lurid material of the ‘70s, spiced up with more sex (especially of the woman-on-woman kind) and larger quantities of blood. Polish actress Ingrid Pitt gives a breakout performance as the vampire Carmilla and the movie is entertaining, but one can’t help but cringe at the leering approach to sexuality, no matter how beautiful the subjects.

Hammer

Countess Dracula (1971)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Countess Dracula stars Ingrid Pitt in her second big Hammer role, this time as the title monster, who preserves and replenishes her youth by bathing in the blood of virginal young women. The story has nothing to do with Dracula, by the way, and is loosely inspired by the legend of 16th century Hungarian noblewoman Elizabeth Bathory.

Like other Hammer films of the time, Countess Dracula ramps up the blood and sex in an effort to keep up with the changing film marketplace of its era. It’s not one of the studio’s better efforts, but director Peter Sasdy (Taste the Blood of Dracula) lets the period details and Pitt’s unabashed charms do most of the heavy lifting.

Wake in Fright (1971)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Ted Kotcheff’s nightmarish story of a school teacher who becomes trapped in an outback town after drinking too much and running up a gambling debt is highly unusual horror. This is a nihilistic and bleak view of outback life as the locals coerce the broke John (Gary Bond) into increasing destructive behavior and a full on descent into hell. Wake In Fright is grubby, brilliant and highly disturbing.

Black Christmas (1974)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Stone cold classic slasher film where a group of Sorority girls are hassled by a stalker making obscene phone calls during the holiday season. Black Christmas is that rare beast, a stalk n’ slash which turns out to be actually scary, thanks in part to classy central performances from Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder, and the masterful direction of Bob Clark, who went on to make Porky’s.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

One of the true landmarks of ’70s horror cinema, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains one of the most relentless and terrifying films of all time — even as it barely spills a drop of the blood that its title seems to promise. Its simple tale of a small group of hippie kids running smack into a houseful of rural cannibals spoke to the cultural divide roiling the country at the time, and its low-budget aesthetic gave the whole thing an air of documentary realism. A delirious masterpiece.

American International Pictures

Squirm (1976)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

There’s something inherently gross about earthworms which writer/director Jeff Lieberman milks to maximum effect in this low-budget 1976 chiller, one of that decade’s wave of “nature strikes back” horror movies that included efforts like Day of the Animals, Kingdom of the Spiders and Frogs.

This time, a downed power line sends an electrical jolt into the ground, causing hordes of eyeless creepy-crawlers upstairs to munch on the inhabitants of a small town. Rick Baker provided the gory make-up effects, which led the MPAA to demand numerous cuts to the film upon its initial release. There is some clumsy direction and acting, but the worms more than make up for the movie’s flaws.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Wes Craven’s 1977 cult classic sees an extended family become stranded in the desert when their trailer breaks down and they start to get picked off by cannibals living in the hills. It’s brutally violent but it also has things to say about the nature of violence, as the seemingly civilized Carter family turn feral. The film was remade in 2006 but the original is still the best.

Severin Films

Patrick (1978)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

This 1978 Australian shocker tells the story of a woman named Kathy (Susan Penhaligon), who works as a nurse and begins taking care of a comatose patient named Patrick (Robert Thompson). She soon discovers that not only is Patrick responsive to her, but he has unforeseen psychic powers that he can turn to murderous use against anyone who upsets him.

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Netflix: Scariest Films to Stream

By David Crow and 2 others

Movies

The 20 Best Horror Movies on Netflix UK – Scary Films to Watch Right Now

By Rosie Fletcher

Patrick was a cult hit in its native land, spawning both a 1980 sequel and a 2013 remake, and it allowed its director, Richard Franklin, to get to Hollywood and direct the actually pretty good Psycho II. There is quite a large repository of horror and other genre efforts from the land down under, but Patrick remains one of its most entertaining examples.

The Changeling (1980)

A classic haunted house ghost story that frequently makes horror best of lists The Changeling sees a bereaved composer move into a creepy mansion that’s been vacant for 12 years. Vacant that is, except for the spirit of a little boy who met an untimely death…

An unravelling mystery with a sense of intrigue and pathos that draws you into the narrative, all the way to the sad and disturbing final act revelation.

Anchor Bay

Fade to Black (1980)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

This 1980 psychological thriller stars Dennis Christopher as a lonely, troubled young man who is obsessed with movies — and begins to kill those he feels have wronged him while dressed as famous cinematic characters.

It’s kind of surprising that no one has remade this over the years — the references to other horror movies and self-aware sensibility predate the Scream franchise by 16 years, making this an early example of the kind of post-modern horror that dominated the genre for several years. On top of everything, it’s a witty, crackling yarn with a terrific performance by Christopher (watch also for an early performance by Mickey Rourke as a bullying co-worker).

The Beyond (1981)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Italian workhorse director Lucio Fulci dabbled in many genres, but was clearly most in his element with horror. His “Gates of Hell” trilogy may be the highwater mark of his career, and the second film, The Beyond, is a gruesome, surreal, Lovecraftian treat about a Louisiana hotel that may be a portal to said nether regions. It doesn’t always make sense, but the movie is a must-see and a Fulci favorite.

Hellraiser (1987)

Directed by Clive Barker based on his novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser is an infernal body horror featuring S&M demons who’ve found a way out of a dark dimension and want to take you back there.

This is the movie which introduced chief Cenobite Pinhead (played by Doug Bradley) – who would return for seven more Hellraiser sequels. But the first is of course, remains the edgiest and the best. Hellbound: Hellraiser II is also available.

Society (1989)

This outrageous body horror satire was the directorial debut of Brian Yuzna. It stars Billy Warlock as a young man who suspects his family are into some weird stuff when his sister’s ex gives him a video tape showing seriously sinister activity. Part Stepford Wives-esque mystery part utterly bonkers gross out comedy Society is a cult classic which demands at least one watch.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

A cyberpunk hybrid of Eraserhead, Blade Runner, Scanners, and your worst nightmares about machines run amok, Tetsuo: The Iron Man was the first feature by iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto (who also stars in the picture). Surreal, shockingly violent, and unforgettably relentless, Tetsuo is a fever dream of orgasmic human/metal mating and murder that is almost indescribable and utterly strange. You can’t unsee this perverse triumph of twisted imagination

The Exorcist III (1990)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Of the several attempts at a sequel, only this one by original author William Peter Blatty (who also directed) hits the mark. Woefully underrated at the time of its release, The Exorcist III puts a handful of secondary characters from the first story at the forefront of a chilling new tale that respectfully spins off the original in a new direction. And one central sequence (the hospital corridor scene) remains a minor masterpiece of sustained unease leading to a shocking payoff.

We wrote more about how great this movie is right here.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

It may not the precisely faithful retelling that the title implies, but Bram Stoker’s Dracula — filtered through the vision of director Francis Ford Coppola — remains one of the best versions of the story to date.

Culture

The Bleeding Heart of Dracula

By David Crow

Movies

New Dracula Movie Coming from Blumhouse

By Tony Sokol

Gary Oldman is magnificently over the top as the Count, and it’s terrific to see characters from the book that were never realized onscreen before appear here. Best of all is Coppola’s insistence on practical, in-camera effects, old-fashioned camera tricks and a lush color scheme, making this not just a fine Dracula movie but a love letter to all the great Hammer and Universal films that came before it.

Ring (1998)

Hideo Nakata’s adaptation of Koji Suzuki’s novel is one seriously scary film which marked the height of the J-horror explosion into the West. It features a haunted video tape, which, seven days after you’ve watched it causes the viewer to die with a look of contorted agony on their face.

Iconic J-horror girl ghost Sadako has been riffed on and ripped off so many times by now that her incredible power may be somewhat diminished but this is still a masterful horror film that demands to be seen at least once.

Audition (1999)

Takashi Miike’s horror classic is a weird mix of melodrama, mystery, and excruciating torture as a widowed man fakes a casting call for a made-up movie in an attempt to meet the perfect woman and gets more than he bargained for. Frequently making it to best horror of all time lists, Audition is a beautiful nightmare of needles and piano wire that’s impossible to forget.

Ginger Snaps (2000)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Ahead of its time in many ways, this cult Canadian favorite from director John Fawcett and screenwriter Karen Walton stars Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins as death-obsessed teen sisters whose relationship is put to the test when one (Isabelle) turns into a werewolf. Sharply funny and deeply insightful about the bonds of sisterhood, the fearsome power of female sexuality, and the loss of innocence, Ginger Snaps is a film well worth rediscovering.

Wendigo (2001)

Maverick independent producer/director/actor Larry Fessenden – who runs his own low-budget genre film factory called Glass Eye Pix – had perhaps his finest moment behind the camera on his third directorial effort, an eerie, low-key tale of a family from the city running into menaces both human and supernatural during a trip to the country. Fessenden is adept at blurring the line between what is real and not, creating a hallucinatory experience that is uniquely his own.

Dark Water (2002)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Remember when J-horror was all the rage and you couldn’t move for long-haired, jangly pasty-face ghosts? Dark Water was one of the best of them.

Sponsored

Best International Horror Movies: A Beginner’s Guide

By Don Kaye

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Hulu

By Alec Bojalad and 1 other

Based on a story by Koji Suzuki and directed by Hideo Nakata – the team behind apex J-horror Ringu – it sees a mother and daughter move to an apartment which seems to have haunted water. Creepy but not gimmicky, there’s a family drama at the center of this chiller.

A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Kim Jee-woon’s chiller sees sisters return to the family home after a spell in hospital to be tormented by their new stepmother, and troubled by ghosts in the house. Released at the peak of the J-horror/K-horror boom, this is a highly sophisticated and deeply scary addition sub-genre. It was remade in 2009 as The Uninvited but skip that, the original is infinitely superior.

Oldboy (2003)

Park Chan-wook’s shocking, twisty revenge thriller sees a man held hostage in a hotel room for 15 years with no idea of why. When he’s finally released he has just days to track down his captor and discover his motives.

The second part of director Park’s Vengeance Trilogy (which is also a standalone – though Sympathy for Mister Vengeance and Lady Vengeance are also available in the US), it’s packed with standout sequences like the infamous corridor hammer massacre and the eating of a live octopus. The ending is bonkers too.

Teeth (2007)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Vagina Dentata is the mythical condition at the centre of this satirical horror that sees a virginal young woman bite back when she’s pressured into sex. A comedic take on the rape revenge trope, Teeth casts Jess Wexler as the avenging angel taking down the men who try to assault her in a cautionary tale that might feel even more satisfying post Me Too.

Let the Right One In (2008)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Let the Right One In is a beautiful Swedish supernatural romance between a lonely bullied 12-year-old boy and a little girl (in the film) called Eli who looks 12 too, but most definitely isn’t. It’s a tale of companionship and loyalty but also murder and revenge. Delicate and nuanced, this is one of the most interesting vampire movies of recent years.

The House Of The Devil (2009)

Ti West’s authentically ‘80s looking homage to ‘Satanic Panic’-era movie making is a very successful slow-burn indie, which sees a young woman take a babysitting job and find herself in grave danger at the hands of her mysterious employers. Comes with a slightly bonkers ending but the attention to detail and great central performance should please genre nuts no end.

Buried (2010)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Ryan Reynolds stars in this incredibly tense horror thriller from Rodrigo Cortes. Based entirely around a man (Reynolds) in a coffin with a phone and a lighter trying to work out what’s happened to him and why, it’s almost unbearably claustrophobic at times. Will he be rescued in time to save his life? What the devil is going on? And why are there snakes down his trousers? All is revealed over the course of 95 stressful minutes.

Absentia (2011)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

An early feature from Mike Flanagan, the man behind Oculus, Doctor Sleep and The Haunting Of Hill House this is low budget and not entirely polished at the edges but shows early signs of Flanagan’s deft hand at suspense, slow burn hills and emotional horror. The story follows a woman who’s husband has disappeared discover that a strange tunnel might be the key. Well worth checking out.

Antiviral (2012)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Brandon Cronenberg’s directorial debut is a good-looking but icky body horror that delves into the world of celebrity obsession. Caleb Landry-Jones stars as a man who works at a clinic specialising in selling celebrity viruses. In this world super-fans can pay to be infected by their idols’ pathogens making them feel more connected. But warring big businesses want to control the rights to the hottest celeb diseases and a virulent black market has blossomed.

Following in his father’s footsteps, this is a smart sci-fi horror that’s not for the squeamish.

The Bay (2012)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Oscar winner Barry Levinson directs this found footage eco-horror charting the spread of a deadly parasite in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. Constructed from snippets of news reports, police footage, and personal videos it’s a nightmarish portrait of what might really happen to a town during an outbreak, which was praised for its realism.

Black Rock (2012)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Directed by Katie Aselton from a screenplay written by her husband, mumblecore darling Mark Duplass, Black Rock is a taut tale of former friends on a girls weekend who are hunted by a group of men after a horrible accident. It’s a somewhat generic story elevated by the performances of Aselton herself, Kate Bosworth, and especially Lake Bell who goes full feral in the fight for survival.

The Pact (2012)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

A film of two halves that’s not always entirely successful, The Pact is worth checking out for several terrific scares that’ll have you jumping out of your seats (and then possibly thinking “wait, what?”).

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

By Alec Bojalad and 3 others

Movies

New Horror and Sci-Fi Movies Break Out at Fantasia Fest

By Don Kaye

Caity Lotz plays a young woman who returns to her childhood home after the death of her mother and disappearance of her sister who starts to experience strange phenomena in the house. Is it something supernatural, or could it be something scarier still? Not entirely consistent but when it works it really works.

Big Bad Wolves (2013)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

The second feature from Israeli directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado is a black-as-sin super-violent crime horror about a child killer, the cop who wants to bring him down, and the father of the latest victim. Released the same year as Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners, it plays almost like a brutal and occasionally darkly funny companion piece.

The Borderlands (2013)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

The Borderlands is a British found footage movie with shades of The Wicker Man and Kill List which focuses on a small church in Devon which appears to be experiencing miracles. Men are sent by the Vatican to investigate and discover strange phenomena which could be related to former pagan worship in the area.

The Borderlands is a cut above your average horror movie for it’s great chemistry between the lead, dry sense of humour and an absolutely terrifying ending. Released as Final Prayer in the US.

We Are What We Are (2013)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

This US remake of the Mexican horror of the same name is a slightly different beast to its counterpart, and perhaps better for it (you can watch and enjoy both for different reasons). Cold In July’s Jim Mickle directs this suspenseful, bloody tale of a secluded family who indulge in violent traditions who become more visible to the world than they’d like after the matriarch of the family dies. Ambyr Childers and Julia Garner star in this nuanced cannibal tale.

It Follows (2014)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

A different kind of infection movie. David Robert Mitchell’s breakout horror hit is a terrifying tale of a sexually transmitted ghost – a shape-shifting ghoul that will relentlessly tail its victim at a walking pace until the curse is passed on. Maika Monroe stars as the latest to be tagged, trying to find a way to either pass the curse on or destroy it forever.

Deeply spooky, It Follows will stick with you long after the film has ended.

Starry Eyes (2014)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

This satanic horror takes a swipe at Hollywood as a nervous young starlet, Alex Essoe, sacrifices her body and soul in exchange for fame and fortune.

Starry Eyes is a #metoo movie ahead of its time, and a gross out body horror to boot. It’s directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer who went on to make the not-that-great remake of Pet Sematary from last year, but don’t hold that against them.

The Hallow (2015)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK

Corin Hardy’s directorial debut is a folk horror mixed with fantasy as a conservationist and his wife and son move into a woodland home only to discover there are strange creatures living in the forest. Some effective jump scares, memorable monsters and a weird wistful ending marked Hardy out as one to watch.

Better Watch Out (2016)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Another Christmas horror movie, this one much more recent. Olivia DeJonge plays the young babysitter trying to protect her 12-year-old charge Levi Miller when intruders threaten the house. Or at least you’ll think that’s what the film is about for the first 20 minutes at which point the rug gets well and truly pulled. Violent, funny, fresh and with excellent central turns this is a fun horror at any time of the year.

Train to Busan (2016)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Just when you thought the zombie genre was running out of gas, Train to Busan comes barreling down the track at full speed to give it a jolt again. Director Yeon Sang-ho wisely puts an endearing relationship between a father and his little girl at the heart of the movie, keeping audiences invested as the pair fight to stave off an undead invasion on their bullet train. The zombie action is familiar if also freshly orchestrated, but the movie is gripping to the genuinely moving finish.

The Transfiguration (2016)

Loved Let the Right One In? Check out this similarly arthouse slow-burn vampire-adjacent tale about a troubled teenage boy obsessed with vampires who finds love and redemption through his relationship with an equally damaged girl. It’s set against a backdrop of violent crime in New York and plays like a social realist drama with genre tropes built in.

One Cut Of The Dead (2017)

Very much a film of three parts, it starts as what looks like a low budget Japanese zombie film gone wrong, morphs into an interesting meta movie, and ends with a final third that’s more joyful than you could possibly imagine. The fun is in the discovery so try to avoid reading about this, instead hang around until the end for a clever, funny, and uplifting love letter to indie film-making.

Terrified (2017)

A weird Argentinian horror with some extremely effective scares, Terrified is probably best avoided by anyone shut in alone prone to hearing strange noises in the house. Terrified begins with a couple who hear sounds coming from the sink and rapidly escalates into a story of multiple ‘hauntings’ by otherworldly creatures, and the paranormal investigators who are trying to crack the case. Non-linear and not exactly packed with logic or explanations, what Terrified does have is scares in spades.

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)

Issa Lopez’s horror fairytale is also set against a background of violence, this time in the Mexican drug cartels. We follow Estrella, a recently orphaned ten year old, who joins up with a group of orphaned kids. Estrella believes she has three wishes, but in her world wishes don’t often come true as planned.

Similar in tone to Pan’s Labyrinth, Tigers Are Not Afraid is a beautiful, lyrical fantasy, rich in imagination, juxtaposed against horrific real world events

The Witch In The Window (2018)

A creepy ghost story which sees a father and his estranged son attempt to fix up an old farmhouse which is haunted by its previous occupant, a malevolent spirit who only grows stronger as the house gets repaired. A family story with successful scares, The Witch in the Window could be a good pick for anyone craving an old fashioned chiller.

The Beach House (2019)

The Beach House is a quirky new Shudder original from debut writer/director Jeffrey A. Brown. It sees a young couple take trip to a holiday home but find friends of the young man’s parents are also staying there. Then as night falls a strange fog descends, bringing with it something strange from the sea…

Plot light, FX heavy body horror that’s slickly executed and well worth a look.

Gustavo Figueiredo/RLJE Films

Color Out of Space (2019)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

The works of legendary horror author H.P. Lovecraft have always been difficult to translate to the screen, since much of his prose is told from inside the crumbling minds of unnamed protagonists who sense — but often never actually see — the evil cosmic presences closing in around them.

Director Richard Stanley (Hardware) has an innate sense of what makes Lovecraft work, however, and Color Out of Space — about a family whose farm is infected by a nameless entity that crashes to Earth inside a meteorite — captures much of the otherworldly eeriness of one of the author’s most famous stories. But the movie also stars Nicolas Cage, who does his Nicolas Cage thing and occasionally ends up fighting the material.

Read our full review here.

Host (2020)

You thought there were no new movies being made during lockdown? Turns out you were wrong. This utterly ingenious horror was conceived, shot and completely in just 12 weeks during lockdown.

Movies

Host Explained: How it was Made, Easter Eggs and all Your Questions Answered

By Rosie Fletcher

Movies

Host Review: Zoom Horror That’s Fresh and Frightening

By Rosie Fletcher

Host is a found footage film told via Zoom and it is comfortably the most current and relevant thing you will watch. It’s also extremely scary, in part because of how terribly relatable it is but also because of the excellent FX and stunt work which elevates this from a cool concept to a genuinely exciting and cleverly made horror that will almost certainly be the defining genre movie of the year.

Shudder

Spiral (2020)

ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE US

Marketed as a gay-themed response to Get Out (and not to be confused with next year’s Saw spin-off using the same title), this Shudder original finds same-sex couple Aaron (Ari Cohen) and Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) moving from the big city to rural Illinois along with Aaron’s teen daughter (Jennifer LaPorte) from his previous marriage. Once there, the family encounters not just plain old homophobia (the film is set in the mid-1990s) but other secrets hidden beneath the peaceful small-town veneer.

Bowyer-Chapman gives a strong central performance as Malik, a struggling writer who is the first to sense that all is not right, but your mileage may vary regarding the fairly obvious set-up and whether the social commentary is woven as successfully here as it was in Jordan Peele’s groundbreaking thriller.

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nikkidee · 7 years

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the secret of the world

A commission for Pedro, who speaks French in a sea of bad-fic loving English speakers.

A carefully hand crafted summary of The Secret World, translated into Japanese, then into Italian, then back into English. Enjoy.

The French Version is here.

Ok, so how is the secret of the world, for these pesky monsters a group of dumbasses you're trying to hit them with a stick to finish a world or maybe something and the center of the earth in an avalanche of dirt? So, it is some random person just swallowed a bee during sleep with so you can go to sleep in the dirt monster fist fucking, you get super powers. You perverted capitalism, participated in the stoners exaggerated or imperialism of self-righteousness, they are forced to say what they want, maybe you will pay as you have 3 whole dollar.

Not paid, your first job as an intern willing bee-based, is to go to the crappy town of New England is infested with zombies and zombie fish. The game is to roll long enough, so as not to be able to stop a name to drop in order to make sense of the old war between Wabanaki and Maya and the Viking I helped the Excalibur. Thus, the fish of zombies, dreamer when the drowning and the sword came to town again, citizens are trying to turn zombies Viking fish more fish, then, it is called into the sea, and died, after you have become a zombie, the total deaths impregnated and the zombie Viking has made them for the zombie fish. In addition, Loki, who end the world, anything so do not try sleeping there to stab the Rubik's cube in which what Gaia to keep the dream, but because it has a punch, he is total old girlfriend and stupid steals Excalibur, everyone does not see her boo HOO. OH the dreamer and I want to be to ensure that is located under the mountain, and the people is a mine has not, but I was still then someone was shot, then, the miners have been killed, it is a cluster full was still fucked. You have a story to the bird a pile of rocks, not only you can save the island, all of which is to die anyway very worried about going to go to Egypt.

So why are in fact, the Egyptian cult worship except perhaps the date of darkness at the center of the Earth was a bit 'named the wrong side of you there is the cult that is the sun. All the followers of the cult that's kind of do not have super-sorry for killing people, he wants to do it again, there is also a purple man to send the devil goo box in Tokyo, is a man of this sexy plums. Thus, in collaboration with plums and handsome dance, to kick off the train a man, what a save and London.

In addition, since the neat about this is, there are archaeologists of some of the gay.

So you killed her children and go near the cliff hell of the desert and turned them into immortal statues in order to keep the Black Pharaoh forever asleep, stole the Orochi shit from them and I now worship there are some old white man who could actually get their devil of a friend back. So, to help children around the large statue, then, the mummy was a punch to the penis, you must save a good job in Egypt.

The following must go to save the Transylvanian vampire. Dracula's wife Mara, there's a super-boring Cuckold conspiracy to fall for some of the whiny emo bitch named Callisto. Mara of the back that has an army of vampires attacking a small village of magical creatures secretly. You and I egg him if I scream to bet a point behind Dracula in order to battle with his ex-wife, it is that here, you have no meaning in this context.

In addition, there is a dirty ancient Romans and human wolves are fighting in both the vampire. In order to have the full report and its triangular shape and the castle suffering, its confirmation, there is a cost in the search for the most despised stealth mission throughout the game please enjoy your trip in Transylvania lesbian.

Orochi is also there, they kidnapped the girl, was in abundance death. Orochi died in interesting things, like gremlin forest, wolf fur, are as good as accurate idea, we used the girl is to drill a hole in the dirt of the pocket that seems. And, even die dirt. You really just it, because I think working on something that role, and the war of vampires, even a vampire, you have to cover a great deal of non-war.

In any case, this is not a new game, and I'm going to soon discover that behind Lilith of all, performs a push-up some nasty hip, then cut into our feet you. And you, everyone will go to Venice to study the bureaucratic hell of hate called the Venice of the parliament. Shocking, it is swollen and diplomat is incredibly damaged, have their dirty for a series of events related to waste and other secrets factions around the world are not supposed to be the story of two E 'was there was a little finger. But, also, gave a simulation in the cold computer to play the stall, I mean, leave in the form ready for release in Tokyo.

When you finally go to Tokyo, the location is sexy plums were destroyed in the dirt bomb that contributed sent to the subway. You can pull your sprint hidden or rhythm percent of all those who, on behalf of the ultra-annoying monster. As a teenager pushed the morning light boy was perverted in the dirt, even bombs, actually the snake to begin tearing a hole, he is like something human dreamer? Lilith, the reality of destroying the world and ripping a hole, since it can kill God, you are trying to restore the old. Dragon Stoner loser, but to get the leader of the hot new faction and one of the other, for you, because he who asked the cause of that bank robbery eccentric supermarket, this time, man. Really Kirsten Gary, there is probably the hell you want to fuck a woman Sonnac warriors and hook-up to a point.

Mr. Orochi is dissolved stuffed toy robots in human organs now, hang religious groups of the new era, they started to commit suicide pact for the children, 30-story tower is full of their different taste in their sexual relationship secret factory in the basement it is full is a monster in the dirt invasion and employees, are on the other hand, you have the same crappy life expectancy've done in the world.

If you climb the tower, a predominantly Lilith complained of a dirt around for shoes, we fight. Then, kill the angels. You get the wing.

The end.

#tsw #swl #secret world legends #spoilers #bad fic #my fic

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ramblingsofthegoldenwitch · 7 years

Note

(You've commented a fair number of times about how you don't like EP7 much compared to other EPs. If you don't mind elaborating, what are your complaints about it?)

It’s difficult to explain my feelings in regard to Ep 7... and they might feel like things that affect just me so, everyone, if you feel like digging in this explanation, consider yourself warned.

In fact, to be honest, some of the issues I’ve with it are a matter of personal taste, for example I didn’t like at all how it was structured (as in the way the whole story was delivered to us) and I felt like many choices in it weren’t really necessary to the plot. All this can of course be countered by another person with a mere ‘but I liked it!’. We’re all different, after all, and my tastes don’t rule the world or dictate what should be likable and what shouldn’t.

Some issues I’ve about it are in regard to how ‘confusing’ its presentation is. No, I’m not talking about Will giving us obscure answers, I’m talking about the huge Meta structure that basically permeates all Ep 7 and that is never well explained. By now I’ve my theories and I’ve more or less sorted it out but the problem is that they’re just MY theories, MY interpretations. People come asking me what in the world is going on in Ep 7 and all I can reply to them is what I THINK is going on but I can’t say for sure and what makes it worse is that I don’t think we needed things to be so confusing. Umineko had better Meta ways to deliver things that had already been used. No need to complicate everything by making new ones. Of course, again, there can be people who loved all this.

Another issue I’ve with it is the Theatre-going authority. We’re lulled into thinking that it will push characters to tell us things, and that their testimony will be the truth. All the people Will uses it on were ALREADY willing to speak (even Kinzo was persuaded to do so by Lion) and they tell us an extremely personal, sometimes even deliberately mendacious version of the truth (Kinzo was the one who wanted to kill the Italians, not Yamamoto). The effect of the theatre-going authority is fundamentally the one of a giant fantasy flashback. We already had them, no need for it... unless they were supposed to be red herring? The only person who didn’t want to talk is Shannon, Will tries to use the theatre-going authority on her and then… gives up. It seems as if the theatre-going authority only existed to let us see Shannon going in ‘freaky/robot mode’ (it varies according to you reading the VN or the manga). It’s one of the things I felt we could go without.

A small issue is about Will, Lion and Clair. Although I love them to pieces, plot wise I feel we didn’t need those extra characters. I wave it off because… well, I love them madly because Ryukishi is awesome at creating characters. This doesn’t change the fact I get the feelings the addition of those extra was a tad forced.

A concrete issue I’ve with it is how it hand waves certain matters, just appealing to our suspension of disbelief on threat that if we think too much at it we’ll get a headache. Those things could have been explained one way or another but instead… no explanation is given for those oddities happening. They just… happens and we’re either asked to swallow them or make up our own explanation about why such odd things took place.

Will’s presence on the island? Hand waved, no one wonders how this strange got there or who he is, even though it’s a private island and he wasn’t on the boat with the adults. He walks in their private property out of nowhere and no one stops to wonder who’s this guy and from where it comes from, not the servants who should know who was invited nor Kinzo, the master of the house or… everyone else, really. Krauss asks him who he is but then he drops him with Lion and ignores the whole matter, because evidently that’s no more a private ceremony in a private chapel in a private island but a public place. Lion is the one who has a vaguely normal reaction and asks Will why he’s at the funeral, when a better question would be how he got on that island.

The portrait hanged in 1984? No reason for this is given in Lion’s world, it’s just something Kinzo decided on a whim.

Battler’s absence from the conference in Lion’s world is unexplained (yes, my Battler/Sayo heart shipper tells me it’s because Sayo wasn’t on the island but that’s my heart talking, not Umineko. Knox would wave it off as a random guess…).

The same goes for Kinzo’s decision to hold Beatrice’s funeral that year… in which nothing special happened. Kinzo just woke up that morning and decided to hold a ceremony to mourn Beatrice. When he didn’t feel like it when Beatrice truly died.

We aren’t told why Natsuhi changed her mind and accepted Lion even though it’s apparently extremely unlikely. Natsuhi just woke up and decided that hey, maybe tossing him off a cliff would be a bad idea.

Kinzo doesn’t notice how Rosa is screaming she killed Beatrice.

The whole story of how an Italian submarine carrying gold came to Japan is historically illogic as submarines in such conditions would historically go to Spain. To make us swallow it we’re told that maybe they had a reason to go to Japan but ‘nobody knows it because who knew died’. For the gold the same principle is used. It was hard enough to think it was Italian but then Will randomly tosses in it could be German which opens up an even huge can of historical worms and again the whole issue is hand waved with a ‘oh well, we don’t know’.

Clair doesn’t ask Will the solution for all the mysteries. Of course we believe Will knows everything but if we accept she believed he knew everything also then why questioning him in the first place? If I’m not wrong Ryukishi claimed somewhere he wanted to focus only on the riddles that seemed difficult but then the whole scene ends up on being a plot contrivance to deliver to the readers some answers in an obscure way. Oh, it’s artistically pretty and I love it for its prettiness, but it’s plot structure is shaky.

Note that Ep 7 (and Ryukishi) also raised questions in points that didn’t need some.

The tale Battler wrote for Beato? The fandom knew it was Dawn only EP 7 described it in such a way people didn’t really find it matching with Dawn plot so people started wondering if there was another tale written for her and it didn’t help that Ep 7 manga version didn’t bother posting the title on the book cover, something that Ep 8 has no problems making (note that, due to how the manga was printed the two scenes didn’t exactly came out at years of distance but were pretty close so I don’t see where’s the problem in confirming things in EP 7).

Battler’s letter? Maybe in the Japanese fandom things were different but I didn’t remember people doubting he merely didn’t write it until Ryukishi in an interview raised the issue there was more about it… before dropping it completely. The letter is never addressed again. Not even in Ep 8. What broke Sayo’s heart is just… hand waved. Battler doesn’t know about it and while in Ep 8 he’ll apologize for not coming back he’ll never get a head up about the letter matter.

We’re all disgusted by Kinzo’s behavior with Kuwadorian Beatrice? If I don’t remember wrong Ryukishi tells us we don’t really know how things went between them… which is true but it’s clear enough they were horrible enough to push her to follow a complete stranger and try to escape. Not knowing the details of the rape doesn’t really erase it. Unless we’re supposed to doubt the whole story Rosa told us as well as what the servants told us and think that Kuwadorian Beatrice slept with Kinzo willingly and that she left Kuwadorian only for a short walk that ended poorly.

The family conference in the year in which Battler should have come back is conveniently skipped. Or handled so poorly it seems it’s skipped. We actually have a scene from 1980… but it doesn’t look like a family conference and people talking about what will happen in ‘that year’s family conference’ (Kyrie will supposedly show up) reinforces this opinion only it turns out that the next conference we’ll see is the one of 1981… Maybe a problem in the translation? Still it doesn’t work well.

Shannon feels up on asking Genji and Kumasawa to lie to Kinzo, Krauss and Natsuhi and also… hire her as Kanon. And no one notices a thing about this boy whose face is the same as Shannon and that doesn’t come from the Fukuin house as no one of the Fukuin servants could know him but… out of nowhere, really.

Kinzo pulls out the epitaph, which is a hint to Genji that he knows Shannon might be Lion and Genji gives hints to Shannon about how to solve it but… he, Kumasawa and Nanjo don’t stop thinking to a less traumatic way to break the truth to her in those almost two month it’ll take for her to solve it as if they couldn’t realize how traumatic it would be for her. No, the idea of Ep 7 is that they had to traumatize her which requires them to be either jerks or dumb… while it could have more or less worked if everything had happened without them having the chance to predict it and so, caught by surprise, they ended up saying things in a poor manner.

We spiral down with the teaparty. We’re left with the adults in a definite situation, Eva and Hideyoshi are arguing with Krauss, Natsuhi is instead arguing with the other siblings… then all of sudden we’re told that Natsuhi jumped on Eva and this caused her to get shoot. The manga worsened things by showing that the two groups were even distant and that Eva and Natsuhi were giving each other their backs and it kept on worsening things when it insisted on how EXACTLY THE SAME THING would happen in Lion’s world as well, with the only difference that Lion would be called in Jessica’s place. I can swallow that the siblings were in economical troubles even if Kinzo was alive and hated each other so much that they would still argue and kill each other but… different conditions should cause minor shifts in the plot. Instead the only difference between a dead scene and the other is in how the gun next to Eva is placed… which can be the result of a mistake done due to the change in perspective… and well, that Beato isn’t there.

Then there’s Kyrie’s characterization. Kyrie is supposed to be suspicious, careful, rational. All this flies out of the window when she decides she can trust that the credit card really will lead them to all that money without checking first, that there’s no way to convert the gold without Krauss’ help when Sayo, in order to get money on that credit card, should have been able to do it, that the bomb will surely explode even through its mechanism wasn’t tested, that the range of the explosion surely won’t involve Kuwadorian, that the safest way to go through it will start gunning down people instead than grabbing some sleeping pills from Nanjo’s bag, drugging everyone and then gunning them down and, worse of all, she doesn’t check neither Sayo or Eva’s corpses and misses their vital points rather badly even though we were told she was good with guns. Note that I can accept that Kyrie would consider murdering everyone… but I’ve issues with how careless she becomes.

Rudolf too comes as a little odd as he knows he has a defective gun but doesn’t go take another one. It’s minor as Rudolf is lazy… but well, when you’re going on a killing spree and a defective gun can cause you troubles you should play on the careful side. But well, I can swallow it.

Battler’s ‘disappearance’ also doesn’t work well. Ep 8 explains us that the solution to this is ‘Battler left the house then, all of sudden, remembered he didn’t remember the way to the chapel and came back to ask about it to Gohda’ which feels silly as: Kyrie shouldn’t have sent him in such a place considering how it was easy to predict he wouldn’t remember where it was or should have made sure he knew the way (it’s well known that the church is hardly used and Battler had been missing from the house for 6 years, you can expect him not to remember were it is) and Battler should have asked her where the church was. So again, Kyrie comes out as careless and Battler leaving to realize he doesn’t know where to and coming back comes out as a plot contrivance.

On a general note… I think that the previous episodes better addressed Sayo’s issues than the whole of Ep 7. Ep 7 focuses a lot on how ‘it’s all Battler’s fault’, when he actually wasn’t the only one to blame, and generates the false impression that this was Sayo’s only problem. It’s true that there are hints in Ep 7 that this actually wasn’t her only problem but after getting all that ‘it’s Battler’s fault’ for so long, with Will agreeing to it as well, the other issues seem minor when they actually played a big role. Sayo also comes out as petty, pushing the blame of her actions solely on Battler, when we know that in Prime she actually took responsibility for them. So ultimately I think Ep 7 did her a disservice.

Ep 7 also lost a good chance to dig deeper into the motivations of minor characters like Genji, Nanjo and Kumasawa for setting up Sayo’s life in a manner that was… simply terrible.

I’ll let slide the whole matter of how they let her believe her sex was female without even bothering to prepare her for the fact she wouldn’t develop secondary sex characteristic or be able to become pregnant because Umineko wanted to keep in the dark Sayo’s sex and use the full trauma of her discovering her own condition as one of the driving forces for the whole thing (even though the fact that Ep 7 completely overlooked on the whole matter ended up making it look less important than it was).

Let’s focus on the fact they kidnapped Sayo and gave her a new identity so that Kinzo won’t make the same mistake and rape her, which is understandable really, but then they took her back on Rokkenjima AS AN ORPHANED SERVANT, when she was too young to work and under the disguise she was actually younger. Kinzo could have recognized Beatrice in her again, think this time Beatrice reincarnated in a person unrelated to him and rape her all over taking advantage of the fact that now she was his servant. It’s a horrible plan and their decision for going through it is… poorly explained.

Then there’s the loss of a chance to let us know more about minor characters like Kinzo’s wife (where was she when the baby was handed to Natsuhi since she was clearly still alive to scold Rosa and push her to escape in the forest and meet with Beatrice? Natsuhi claimed that Krauss and Kinzo were away but what about Kinzo’s wife? Did they drag her along?) or how Asumu, a young woman with no health problem mentioned, suddenly died, to dig a little better in Battler’s six years away from his family and his feelings for Sayo (he’s jealous she chose George but then he can brush it off… so it looks like it isn’t a big deal… only we’ll learn in Prime he risked his life for her more than once and, hadn’t she died, he was willing to spend the rest of his life with her).

Then there are issues I’ve specifically with the manga.

In the scene in which the culprit shows up for the first time… the culprit’s form is slightly kept in the dark but we can see she’s not Shannon, she’s not Beatrice and she isn’t even Clair. There’s no reason for this person in the dark to be an ‘extra’ person.

Kinzo’s wife has no face nor name. I can get over the fact they didn’t give her a name, not on the fact the mangaka didn’t give her a face as there’s no reason to obscure it. She’s not hiding some dark secret. We won’t learn the truth about her later on as we’ll do with Asumu, whose face will be showed only in Ep 8 (bless Ep 8). Yes, maybe they wanted to drive home that for Kinzo she was a ‘not entity’ (his children too get no face) but still… I don’t like this. Personal taste? Maybe.

The manga tossed in a bunch of nameless maids who… go nowhere really (when it would have been so much better if, as someone (myself included) speculated, they also were vessels for things like the Chiesters or the Eiserne Jungfraws) as they don’t get names and just… disappear, while waited to introduce Reinon. This is more or less a direct transposition of how the VN handled matters, only in the VN it worked better as there were no random new faces, just random voices so you could speculate it was a 7 sister maid the one speaking and it wasn’t so clear that Reinon popped up later. The manga makes obvious that’s not the case.

Ep 5 manga version implied the promise happened on the same balcony on which Beatrice, in Ep 4, asked Battler to remember about his sin. This was a wonderful new info but… it goes completely skipped over in the manga transposition of Ep 7. Ep 7 manga version transposes faithfully the novel and just focus on the scene in the garden… where no clear promise is made. Sayo just urges Battler to come and he confirms he’ll do but he never says ‘I promise’ nor they’ll make a pinky swear.

Overall, Ep 7 isn’t fully to blame for most of the issues I’ve with it.

The background behind the Umineko plot is one of an huge amount of extremely unlikely facts happening one after the other, most of whom we’re asked to figure out. While unlikely facts can and will happen, often, in stories in general and in mystery stories in particular the author usually avoids them or explains/excuses them. Umineko just… embraced them as if the unlikely were the ordinary and Ep 7 was the point in which we were asked to do the same, often without being given a convincing reason for having to do this beyond ‘it was unlikely but it just happened, insert devil’s proof here’.

That’s why I wish the manga had at least dimmed some issues I had with the novel version, for example handled better (and not worse) why Eva ended up shooting Natsuhi or how Kyrie and Rudolf murdered everyone in Lion’s world as well.

Most of those issues weren’t IMPOSSIBLE to handle. They just weren’t explained, hand waved with an ‘it happened, don’t think too hard at it’.

As a result, I feel Ep 7 was handled poorly and the manga version did nothing to fix it. It’s my personal impression. I know there’s who loves Ep 7 and how it handled everything and, as usual, that’s fine.

#Umineko #Requiem of the Golden Witch #Umineko VN #Umineko Manga

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cielofics · 4 years

Text

(Old) ICMSAR VI

WARNING(S): OCC's, Parent!bashing, depressing!thoughts, suicidal!tendencies,

NOTES: "Japanese" "Italian" Thinking 'Tsuna's eye speak' [Text Messages]

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Amano Akira does.

[Ienari's P.O.V]

I hate them. Those so called friends of his brother. Why can't they die already? Useless people aren't needed and those bastards are ruining it.

My brother is already a pain in the a** to deal with and now I have to deal with two more?! Yamamoto already took away half of my popularity when I was supposed to be the one on top! Why didn't he die?! Why did he listen to my brother?! He's not the only one though, that's right. There's Gokudera too. That traitor that tried to harm me. Me, who's going to be his boss? Hah, I'll make him realize his mistake too.

Ugh! If those two would've died then their popularity would have been mine! All mine! After all popularity is the best thing you can have in this world. Once you are popular, everyone looks up to you! Soon, you become famous in the vicinity and can then go to the best school ever! Every teacher likes me already, now if only the trashes are killed. There's no need to have many popular kids; I'm enough.

My chance with Kyoko was also blown off! If I had that girl in my hands, my popularity would have risen off the charts! But no, that dame had to interfere. He had to win that stupid match. If he would have lost, I could've shown Kyoko how much of a weakling he is! How pathetic he is! But no. He won. My dame brother won.

I want them gone! They are hindrances to my plan...

That's right! I have to kill them to make them realize their place! First would be my brother and the easiest way to break - kill him would be to hurt others close to him!

So that is the stupid baseball player and that Italian bomber. I'll make them realize what's wrong with going against me. I'll show them who's their boss.

"HaHaHAHAHAH... That's right, if I hurt my pathetic brother then those two will be hurt and if i hurt those two, my brother will automatically die. What a perfect way to bring them misery."

Seeing their faces twist in fear and misery would be fun. With blood leaking out of their bodies? That's even better! I can't wait!

They'll be the perfect experiments for them.

"Just wait, Dame-Tsuna, I'll show you your worth..."

XX..XX

Tsuna was drying the dishes when he felt a chill down his spine. His HI was also warning him that something will happen and it won't be good. Though, it also did say that it wouldn't happen right away but in the upcoming future.

Ignoring it for the time being, he focused his mind back to the events that have so far happened.

Sigh¬ They are getting impatient as time is flowing... it won't take long for them to explode... What should I do?

In the midst of his thinking, Tsuna started humming a tune his parallel self had made. Since, Nana was still away at her friend's house and Ienari was at soccer practice, he could hum out loud.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't notice Reborn coming in and listening to him carefully. He also didn't notice the intense blood-lust coming out of the baby

"Tsuna," that startled Tsuna out of his reverie. Looking back, he saw Reborn with his fedora tilted downwards.

Why do I feel that I won't like whatever he is going to do?

"Explain this," Reborn said, taking out one of my supposed to be well-hidden notebook. Tsuna stilled. Shit, Tsuna cursed. Now don't get Tsuna wrong, there is a perfect reason why Tsuna hid that notebook. After all, how would a dame explain a notebook that has perfect answers written there that are not even at his level yet?!

Tsuna opened his mouth to say something when the front door crashed open and there stood a... cow? Ah, it's Lambo.

"GYAHAHA, LAMBO-SAMA IS HERE TO KILL REBORN!"

Reborn as usual ignoring Lambo continued to glare at Tsuna.

"REBORN PREPARE TO DIE!" exclaimed Lambo, taking out grenades from his afro. I swear how does Lambo manages to hide anything in his hair, he thought as he saw Reborn deflecting the grenades with just a swipe of his hands. Making them land them back at Lambo. Thankfully, the door was open... explosions don't deserve to be done in a compact space.

"Owww, that's hurts... I must've tripped on something," said Lambo, crawling his way back inside. Once again, seeing Reborn ignoring him, Lambo lunged at him. "REBORN! I'LL KILL YOU FOR SURE!"

Reborn, being the sadistic being he is, swatted the baby cow like a fly. Tsuna smiled lightly, recalling how his parallel self met Lambo first.

"WAHH, I, LAMBO-SAN, 5 YEARS, FROM ITALY, A HITMAN FROM THE BOVINO FAMILY, TRIPPED! FAVORITE GOODS ARE GRAPES AND CANDY AND I, LAMBO-SAN, WHO MET REBORN AT A BAR, TRIPPED!"

So nostalgic ~

As much as Tsuna enjoyed seeing the show, he needed to get out of Reborn's grasp for a minute. So, he decided to head towards his ex-Lightning guardian. He squatted in front of the crying cow and produced a grape candy from his pocket.

"You're Lambo, right?" asked Tsuna quietly, missing the way Reborn narrowed his eyes. Reborn noticed that Tsuna only talks to certain people... if he's talking to cow, then that means...

Reborn tilted his fedora downwards.

In the mean time, Lambo had stopped crying as he saw the kind brunet in front of him. Tsuna sighed and proceeded to wipe the tears off of Lambo's face. He, then, smiled and picked the child up, taking him to the kitchen.

Setting him down in the chair, he said, "Lambo, stay here and I'll get you your food. You too, Reborn."

Reborn nodded his head. He may not admit it but Tsuna's cooking was heavenly. It was even better than the ones he had back in Italy.

While Tsuna was setting the food, Lambo picked up the knife and attempted to throw it at the baby hitman. And as usual, the knife was stuck in the cow's head...

"To...le...rate..." Lambo sniffled out. It was at this moment that Ienari decided to make his appearance. "Wahhh! I can't!" Lambo cried out while pointing the 10 Year Bazooka at himself.

Poof!

"Yare, yare... my younger self used it again, huh?" came a more mature yet familiar voice.

"Wh...Who are you?!" screamed Ienari who was forgotten at the door.

Everyone ignored the new voice. Instead, they payed attention at the one who was definitely an older version of the cow.

"That was the 10 Year Bazooka," Reborn began explaining to Tsuna. "A person hit by the bazooka will be replaced by their ten years counterparts. It just lasts for 5 minutes though."

As the smoke further cleared, you could see a teenager standing before them with a lazy slouch. He was obviously observing them with a confused expression on his face before his eyes landed on Tsuna.

Before Tsuna could even move, he was engulfed in a hug. "Tsuna-nii! You're sooo cute ten years ago!!"

Tsuna could feel his face warm up. Lambo stopped hugging him but didn't let go of him. Tsuna blinked at the figure in front of him and nodded in greeting.

Lambo blinked before a knowing smile replaced his face, "Ah, that's right, you didn't speak much ten years ago."

Reborn perked up at that. "Does that means he talks more in the future?" he asked. The Bovino redirected his attention to the baby.

"Ah Reborn," he nodded in greeting before saying, "Yup, thanks to you though~"

"Oi! Don't ignore me! Who's the freaking person?!" came Ienari's exasperated voice from behind. This caused a massive KI to leak out of the cow as well as lightning sparks coming out of his horn, alerting Reborn and Tsuna. Tsuna quickly held Lambo's hand and shook his head, snapping Lambo's attention to him.

Ienari, who was frozen in place due to the KI, shook out of his stupor when Lambo retracted his KI. He scowled, "Why on Earth are you listening to Dame-Tsuna?"

Even if this caused Lambo to snap, Reborn was faster and kneed him in the gut; knocking him out.

"Thanks Reborn. Bye Tsuna-nii..." he smirked lightly "or should I say Mama?"

This perplexed Tsuna and Reborn. Before Tsuna could ask, the young Lambo was back.

"Mama!" the cow exclaimed, jumping in the hands of the brunet. Frozen, Tsuna could just stare in shock.

"Why are you calling Tsuna, Mama, Stupid Cow?" asked Reborn, amused at the antics.

"Mama reminds Lambo-san of his Mama and the food is delicious too," Lambo replied. Tsuna could only stare before sighing. No point in fighting a 5 year old.

"Oh, you're going to allow him to call you that, Mama?" asked Reborn, with a slight of mischievousness present in his eyes.

'Not you too!'

"Make me espresso, Mama."

The brunet could only curse at the turn of events. Why does this happen to me? Did I manage to kill a Deity in my previous life or something?! Oh well at least I managed to direct Reborn's attention somewhere else

XX..XX

"Mama, a new tutor will be coming for Ienari soon. So, Lambo will be sleeping with you," said Reborn while sipping his espresso. "Also, we will be talking about that notebook after Ienari... finishes his training

Tsuna sighed. So far, he hasn't had a good day at all. Lambo had followed him to school and even though Kyoya had allowed him some leeway, he was supposed to fight with him again. And then, he met up with Bianchi while coming back to school. She had tossed him a can of poison food. For some reason, he kept it.

So Bianchi is coming soon... What should I welcome her with?

Tsuna's eyes twinkled in mischievousness, which did not go unnoticed by the number 1 hitman. Reborn smirked. Seems like he has something planned...

XX..XX

While Tsuna was cooking food, he could hear Ienari's voice bellowing at Reborn over a weird woman trying to kill him. Already knowing who it was, Tsuna ignored it. Instead, he was trying to finish something that will surprise his new guest.

Ding Dong¬

Tsuna was greeted by the sound of the door bell and quickly opened the door. "Hi! I'm here for the Italian Pizza delivery for Sawada Ienari! Are you him?"

Tsuna smiled then shook his head. He pointed to the living room and opened the door, allowing Bianchi to come inside.

"Thanks! It'll just take a moment!" She said at the boy's politeness while heading inside towards the destination. Meanwhile, Tsuna went back to cooking since their mother was still not back.

He listened to the piercing cries of his brother while Bianchi and Reborn were as usual having communication problems. Deciding it was time to break up the fight, Tsuna to Bianchi and tapped on her shoulder.

"Oh, you must the older twin. Is something the matter?" she asked.

Tsuna smiled and pointed towards the dining table with the food on it. "Oh, it's time for dinner already?"

"WHY ARE YOU LISTENING TO DA-" Ienari was cut off from his sentence as Reborn lunged at him.

"Be quiet and eat," Reborn said. Yup, he was pissed... I wonder why?

Grumbling, Ienari went to the table and started eating.

Dinner went quite peaceful after this. Literally.

Why?

Ienari fainted. Ienari fainted while showing signs of a certain poison cooking. Ienari fainted while showing signs of a certain poison cooking which was not done by Bianchi at all.

Dead silence reigned.

"...Bianchi, did you poison his food?"

"...No."

"...Tsuna... why did ...Ienari faint?"

'Ah, that's for eating my food, Reborn-kun~'

"...Are our foods poisoned too?"

'Of course not, Reborn! I was just trying out a new recipe and merely used- I mean had my brother test my meal for me.'

"..." Reborn glanced at Tsuna who was happily eating his food as if nobody fainted

Bianchi, a bit distraught, asked Tsuna a question, "Where did you learn how to poison cook and so effectively?"

Tsuna blinked twice before smiling. 'Ah, remember the can you gave me for mistaking me for my brother?'

Bianchi nodded. Somehow, it was impossible to not tell what the kid was trying to say.

'Well, I just used that can in Ienari's food.'

"..."

"Let's finish eating, shall we?" asked Bianchi, trying to avoid the fact that somebody tried to kill his brother unknowingly.

XX..XX

Tsuna was in the middle of washing dishes, when he heard Reborn shooting at Ienari who ran out of the door for some 'running practice.' He also heard Reborn's step coming downstairs with a not-so-quite-happy aura and a i-want-answers-now aura. Tsuna sighed. He couldn't escape this, can he?

"Now that he's gone, let's talk, Mama," Reborn said while tilting his fedora downwards. Bianchi had a surprised expression on her face.

'Sure, chibi-chan~' Tsuna could feel Reborn stiffen at the nickname given. Reborn and Tsuna stared *cough*glared*cough* at each other before the hitman took out the notebook. The notebook that brought more complications to his already complicated life.

"Tell me, why are you acting as a dame?"

Tsuna sighed, 'I have to answer this, don't I?'

Reborn nodded. 'Ienari.'

Reborn blinked before scowling. He should have guessed but still how did Ienari manage to... "Mama, how did Ienari manage to convince you to lower your grades?"

Reborn and Bianchi did not miss the way how Tsuna stiffened minutely before returning back to his activities. 'Sibling Jealousy is a scary thing...'

Reborn narrowed his eyes. Tsuna was avoiding answering directly to him. Whatever he meant by those words was disturbing. It had a double meaning.

"...I'm definitely quadrupling his training," Reborn said with distaste. Bianchi nodded along. She also did not like how Ienari was treating his brother. "I'll make sure to use him as my guinea pig for my poison cooking testings."

While the two hit-mans were thinking of ways to torture the future Decimo, they missed the way how Tsuna's eyes changed from his usual brown doe eyes to a dull red color. They also failed to recognize a presence lurking around their house that caused Tsuna to stop in his activities short.

#katekyo hitman reborn #il cielo ma sempre accettando rotto #old version

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thiswillbereportedtomanagement · 6 years

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GQ's Best New Restaurants in America, 2018Every January, just after new year's, I set out across America in search of what we at GQ call the Perfect Night Out. What does that mean? Well, that's a good question. The easy part of the answer is that I'm looking for superlative restaurants that have opened in the past 12 to 18 months, the places we deem the best newcomers in the land. What makes them “perfect” is more complicated, and figuring that out for myself anew is, in some ways, precisely the purpose of each year's travel. I could give you a list of traits that the new restaurants I love nearly always display: ambition, artistry, heart, style, humor, familiarity, surprise, comfort, conscientiousness, craft—in addition to the more traditional restaurant qualities through which those are filtered, like deliciousness, hospitality, value, service, design, and so on. But the exact way in which any number of those will come together in a particular space, on a particular night, in a way that makes you say, “This. This is the only place in the world I want to be eating right now”—that remains something of a wonderful mystery.Which is what gave me hope in a year that provided abundant reasons to be depressed about dining out, even to wonder whether restaurants should still exist at all. There have been times when it's seemed that behind every inviting dining room lies, as Boston Globe critic Devra First memorably put it, “a Hieronymus Bosch tableau of struggling operators, lascivious chefs, and broke staffers.” To those who believe the only answer is to burn it all down, the 13 new restaurants in which I enjoyed this year's Perfect Nights Out—not to mention dozens of others that offered wonderful moments and meals—are, to my mind, the best argument for why restaurant culture is worth fighting to change, so that restaurants may live on. Futures of dining are like small plates: Everybody's got 'em. The other purpose of my annual journey—this year, nearly 75 restaurants across 18 cities—is to try to tease out a picture of the dining moment, some overarching theme or through line that sums up what it means to eat out in America today. This year, I threw up my hands. On an eight-degree January day in Chicago, in search of where things might be headed, I stopped into a new branch of a fast-casual dumpling chain billed as the city's first totally automated dining experience. It was fun ordering on a touch screen and then watching a bank of high-tech Automat windows for my name to appear alongside little dancing cartoon dumplings. Then the one visible employee, tasked with helping customers order while the rest presumably toiled backstage, leaned in over my shoulder and whispered: “It's the future, bro.” My first reaction was feeling like that eight-degree wind had just blown through my body. My second was to think, Get in line, bro. Futures of dining are like small plates: Everybody's got 'em. We've got more futures than we know what to do with—big, small, formal, casual, avant-garde, nostalgic, all of it up for grabs. (You get a taste of the schizophrenia in the taxonomic mania that has overtaken menus: HOT SMALL PLATES, SMALL COLD PLATES, SNACKS, BITES; FROM THE LAND; FROM THE SEA; FROM THE FIRE. Or perhaps monsieur would just like something from BOWLS?) With a few gloriously messy exceptions, the restaurants I love are ones that approach the question with some kind of clarity, a purposeful path through the clutter. The other great part of my job, of course, is that no two of those paths ever seem to be quite the same.This was the year I saw perhaps the last thing I expected to see in any restaurant, anywhere: a comment card in a David Chang restaurant. This one came with the check at Majordōmo in Los Angeles, where Chang has been spending more and more of his time. “How did we do?” it asked cheerily, followed by a range of smiley faces like those on the International Pain Scale. None of them showed a face contorted in the kind of anguish I imagined a younger Chang might have felt had he been able to look ahead to this moment. Chang, to quickly refresh, began his career as the very embodiment of client- directed hostility. Momofuku was the Kingdom of No: to substitutions, to seat backs, to dessert, to photos. Had it not been for the inconvenience of his being in the food-selling business, you got the feeling he might have done away with customers altogether.You're greeted at Majord-omo, which sits all but alone in an industrial neighborhood on the northern edge of Chinatown, by a brigade of hosts as plentiful and polite as von Trapp children. Looking up at the bay of mullioned windows, you might think the space was used to overhaul engines by day, but below there are comfy sling-back chairs, large, soothing paintings by James Jean, a soundtrack of Steely Dan. You could argue that, for all his kitchen innovation, Chang's primary vocation has been as a restless explorer of American restaurant forms—from fast food to fine dining. This confident, comfortable place is his utopian Cheesecake Factory, an impression aided by the kitchen's use of a loudspeaker ordering system that mimics the call of “Party of two” across a mall's tiled byways.What I'm trying to say is that Majordōmo is really, really, disconcertingly, nice. On the wet and chilly night I was there, Chang was in the kitchen sending out complimentary bowls of hot soup to those huddling outside on the patio. (It was a broth of miso, peas, and Benton's ham, the kind of sort-of southern, sort-of Asian, sort-of farmers'-market-driven creation on which Chang has made his bones for well over a decade now.) Even the name Majordōmo starts things off with a punny kiss of gratitude (domo is the casual Japanese term for “thanks”). It must be maddening to other restaurateurs that Chang, in addition to all his other talents, seems to have a bag of perfect restaurant names lying around. This one manages to also evoke Chang's ongoing fascination with the intersections of Italian and Asian cuisines, a theme he attacked in a more awkward manner at his last major New York opening, Nishi. You see it play out in tapioca lo mein, a purse-shaped spiral of spaghetti-sized noodles slicked with pork fat and twirled with rapini and an underlying bass line of preserved krill. Or in the waves of fermented-fish funk coming off the “bagna càuda” bathing a wedge of braised cabbage. Majordōmo riffs on the craze for Middle Eastern dining, serving steaming bing bread alongside spicy lamb and a hummus-like dip made with a fermented-chickpea substance that Momofuku has trademarked as Hozon. I can't think of a single dish that spans more cultures than what is simply billed as California Rock Crab; from left to right you get simply steamed claws served with a Meyer-lemon mayo, a shell filled with crab-fat rice, and a faithfully spicy version of the Korean marinated raw crab called ganjang gejang. I'm not sure they really make sense on the same plate, but in that, the blend of dissonances and connections, it screams nothing more clearly than Los Angeles.And, of course, all of the components are delicious, which is Chang's gift, even if he has sometimes seemed to think of it as a curse. Majordōmo may be his most unconflictedly delicious restaurant, and his most fun. Chang has said that his generation of chefs were like child actors, unprepared for the outsize cultural role they happened to fall into and struggling to figure out adulthood while in the public eye. Some, the implication goes, are Jodie Fosters; others are named Corey. Majordōmo proves he's in the former camp.If I have any objection to Majordōmo, it's that it was part of a disturbing trend of Big Important Restaurants taking up my usually more freewheeling meals in Los Angeles—my favorite dining city of the year. It was no small consolation that one of those was David Beran's Dialogue, which has 18 seats and is located in what appears to be a repurposed storage closet on the second floor of a Santa Monica food court. Beran is an alumnus of Grant Achatz's kitchens in Chicago, most recently as executive chef at Next, the restaurant that during his tenure changed its entire menu and concept every four months. Quite reasonably, he took some time off after moving to L.A., during which he engaged in such ordinary-person vacation projects as charring, pressing, and barrel-aging hundreds of pounds of onions to create gallons of burnt-onion syrup. If anybody tried to imitate it, he said gleefully, while I sat in front of his station at Dialogue's chef's counter, they were already a full year behind.The onion syrup shows up as a deep smoky note in a dish of maitake mushrooms and smoked-date puree, but not before you've had to find your way into Dialogue's windowless hidey-hole. To get there, you follow a series of e-mailed instructions that involve a dark alley and an unmarked steel door. It's kind of thrilling, but also kind of a cheat, given that you could have just taken the escalator up past the ice cream shop and grab-and-go grain bowls.The menu is built around seasons. Beran plans to change it entirely every three to four months. Mine, perversely, began with tastes of summer, though outside it was full January. You could almost detect the joy of a recent émigré from Chicago discovering L.A.'s season-less farmers' markets in the opening act: a geodesic dome of strawberry bubbles over pork belly and caviar. We proceeded through summer—a green leaf of choy sum, stuffed with strawberry nam prik, standing like a lonely tree atop cashew puree and a dusting of freeze-dried strawberries; a finger of lobster in béarnaise sauce, tucked under a blanket of nasturtium leaves, fennel pollen, and fermented-tomato powder; chamomile shortbread with olive-oil custard and whipped honey. And with that semi-dessert, we looped back and began autumn. Too often in this kind of cooking what you miss is…cooking: the smells and sounds of heat applied to ingredients. Early on in this meal, Beran began pan-searing what I thought of as Chekhov's Duck: Appearing in the first act, I thought, it damn well better pay off in the third. This one did, in the form of crisp-skinned breast, a dish of unctuous rillettes, and a sauce made from the carcass in an old-fashioned French duck press.Despite the restaurant's name—which strikes me as being awfully close to that of a fragrance you see ads for around Christmas, probably starring Johnny Depp—I found that my dinner was strikingly quiet, without a lot of the over-explaining that often accompanies such meals. Consequently, you might miss Easter eggs along the way, like the fact that each dish contains at least one element of the one that came before, or that the sound system plays only entire albums straight through, a conscious echo of how Beran wants you to view the meal as a coherent work. No matter: The sensual pleasures here are equal to the intellectual ones; the food speaks for itself. It was my favorite new restaurant of the year.Everything you need to know about the growing meaninglessness of traditional dining categories is that $220-per-diner Dialogue is described on Google Maps as a “New American Bistro.” If that descriptor applies anywhere, it's Julia Sullivan's Henrietta Red, in Nashville, where simple dishes are made dazzling by tiny details: littleneck clams dabbed with a bright escabeche of Calabrian chile and pineapple vinegar and roofed with a single nasturtium leaf; salty cured egg yolk in a beef tartare; the touch of smoked olive in a nourishing lamb sausage with lentils or the bite of whole-grain-mustard emulsion on a simple but shining fillet of wild striped bass.Is it strange that some of the best seafood I ate all year was in notably landlocked Tennessee? Hardly. Two of the best gumbos I've eaten in years were served to me in Seattle and North Carolina—which to many old-line New Orleanians might as well be Seattle for all the kinship it has with the Big Easy. The North Carolina version was at Hello, Sailor, a fantastical midcentury-modern surf shack located on the shore of Lake Norman, in the town of Cornelius, a half hour north of Charlotte. In the summer, I gather, the area is a bustling vacation spot; boaters can approach from the lake and tie up beneath the restaurant's patio. In the middle of winter, it appeared at the end of a pitch-dark road like a hallucination—all buttery wood ceilings, candy-colored fireplaces, and sexy curves. The food riffs on the kind of dishes you might have gotten at the building's previous incarnation as a dockside joint called the Rusty Rudder: crab dip spiked with pimiento cheese and crusted with brown-butter bread crumbs and benne seeds; fried bologna on a roll topped by a near solid caul of poppy seeds; soft serve for dessert. If the haute college-food-hall presentations sometimes veer toward too cute—ribs and shrimp calabash arrive on a tiny cafeteria tray—tastes like that of the gumbo make you forgive a lot: shrimpy, slippery, deep and inky as the water of the quiet lake outside the wide picture windows.The other gumbo was equally dark and contained shrimp, fried in a batter crispy enough to hold its crunch within the murk, and with a housemade Louisiana-style hot link. This was at JuneBaby, chef Edouardo Jordan's astonishing restaurant in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood. If the idea of a great southern restaurant in the Northwest makes you skeptical, consider the benefits. Freed from any particular region of southern cooking, Jordan can roam: from the gumbo-lands of Louisiana up to Georgia and the Carolinas, where he picks up supple strips of fried pigs' ears, drizzled in spicy honey, down to Florida, where the “rice of the day” might be an almost pudding-like confection with coconut and conch.Jordan, who is himself from the Sunshine State, also dodges the dread bullet of “elevation”—a term of defensive insecurity that still gets thrown around when people feel the need to justify restaurant treatment of supposedly low-lying southern cuisine. His food may draw on high-kitchen technique, but it feels no need to apologize or protest on the plate. There's no better example than an appetizer of chitlins, or pig intestines, here served over rice in a rich pork stock. Like the French sausage andouillette, another example of Deep Offal, chitlins provoke a fleeting crisis between brain and stomach, a moment when the mind teeters on the edge, deciding whether to react to the incoming data with revulsion or desire. Then you—or at least I—find yourself downing the entire bowl in ravenous, breathless gulps. On the other end of the spectrum, but no less boldly straightforward, is peach brown Betty, done as it should be: piping hot and barely a knuckle deep, so that each bite is chewy, buttery, and crusty at once.The chitlins, too, are representative of a restaurant that is explicitly about the story of southern food as African-American food—from a hot toddy with rum, the spirit most closely entwined with slavery, to the creamer peas, a legacy of West Africa served here alongside a thick and gravy-covered chicken-fried steak. This is a meal that is narrative without being pedantic. It could only be improved by taking reservations and avoiding the stress of a waiting-list system that keeps tables empty while crowds push up against diners in the bar. More than enough people want to taste Jordan's food; making it more difficult than it needs to be is downright inhospitable, regardless of the latitude.It was, of course, the year of Fire and Fury. Or at least, in restaurants, fire: Across the land, flames continue to blaze in every open kitchen. I guess it's only a matter of time before a restaurant actually places tables inside the fire. Until that day, there's Maydān, hidden down an alley in the U Street neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with an open-fire kitchen located smack in the center of the dining room. Trussed lamb shoulders hang above, turning amber in the smoke, which exits through a soaring copper chimney. A team of chefs led by Gerald Addison and Chris Morgan labor at primitive stations, losing eyebrows and knuckle hair as they tend whole chickens, marinated in coriander, garlic, and turmeric, and lamb kebabs spiked with pistachio. With the baffling exception of bland pita bread that is by turns undercooked and cracker-like, everything is delicious, but the fire's most salubrious effect may be on those gathered around it: Conversations break out among neighboring tables at a rate that one feels wouldn't happen if the fire wasn't activating some caveman instinct for banding together to beat back the beasts and the darkness. (Outside, don't forget, is Washington, D.C., with no shortage of either.)It's no secret that the once sacrosanct categories of High and Low were long ago cast to the wind, leaving rarefied experiential dining on the top end, super-casual eating on the low, and a great, often muddled middle. It sometimes feels as though the real restaurant divide is between Big and Small. If I may vent for a moment about a great American food city that I find myself liking less and less to eat in, what is the matter with Chicago? How can a city known for amazing architecture and amazing neighborhoods center so much of its dining energy in the West Loop, where every “concept” in every oversize industrial space looks like a multi-million-dollar version of Top Chef's Restaurant Wars—cavernous, soulless, hastily assembled, and destined to be gone by next season.What a relief, then, to land at 24-seat Kitsune, far from the Loop, in North Center. This is the idiosyncratic restaurant of chef Iliana Regan, who became a champion of midwestern foraging and terroir at her first restaurant, Elizabeth. Here she applies those principles to Japanese cooking: delicate, wobbly chawanmushi swimming with bits of clam, marinated roe, and bacon; or ramen noodles made with ramps. This isn't gimmicky, or even particularly visible, “fusion,” but quiet, careful, nourishing invention.It's the kind of small, personal, focused place that stood out in this year of chaos, and it was not alone. There are few things I take as a better omen for a meal to come than spotting a baked tarte Tatin sitting near the kitchen pass, waiting to be sliced for dessert. It was one of the first things I saw at Chez Ma Tante, in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, and I was not disappointed. The restaurant's name may come from a famous Montreal hot-dog stand, and one of its chefs, Aidan O'Neal, may have cut his teeth at Au Pied de Cochon, the High Temple of Quebecois offal-heads, but I'd say its most Montreal-like quality is a homey sense of great care and little fuss. There are soft slices of pig's-head terrine; grilled skate on the bone with classic sauce ravigote; a pork-shoulder steak, marinated in a mixture of chile, mustard, and maple syrup that imparts just the right level of heat, like an idle bug zapper. The unlikely star is kedgeree—a British colonial mash-up of curried rice and fish, here as fluffy as pilaf and studded with lightly cured cod. New York is filled with alleged “neighborhood restaurants” that are too cool, too experimental, too self-conscious to be the place you return to over and over again, say on a Tuesday night, when it's too late to cook or you want to celebrate a minor victory. If I lived near Chez Ma Tante, it would be my spot for just those days.So would Lady of the House, especially on cold Detroit nights when there's fog on the windows, Curtis Mayfield on the stereo, and a full complement of diners crowded elbow to elbow at the bar. Kate Williams's Corktown tavern feels like a midwestern twin of Chez Ma Tante, down to their coolly modern dark-wood interiors. One of my favorite single dishes of the entire year was Lady of the House's “Parisian Ham”—a simple plate of slow-poached French-style ham, shaved thin but in slices that still offer a pleasantly spongy bite. It is served on a plate accompanied by a small dish of butter whipped with Dijon mustard and fermented honey, and it takes you a moment to realize what's missing: There is no bread. You look from the ham to the butter, from the butter to the ham. You glance around: Is this some kind of test? Is there a two-way mirror somewhere? Am I supposed to just…butter the ham?So is rich, oily “shrimp butter,” served in a sardine tin in an allusion to Spanish conservas. After a few glasses of Slovenian wine, my companion, a local, began declaiming that it shouldn't be called butter at all, since the texture of the intensely orange paste is closer to that of uni; I got the feeling this was not a new monologue, but also that Lady of the House is that kind of place: where everybody knows your name and your personal pedantic demons. (Mine would be that the “Corn Dog Rillette” is really a rillette corn dog, but never mind.) There are fat slabs of pink prime rib coming out of the kitchen, but also dishes that treat plants as equal objects of lust, like cauliflower glazed with a fennel-olive marmalade and served with Parmesan sauce. On the way to the bathroom, you pass a wall covered with the staff's childhood photos. They seem to sum up everything about this happy, occasionally awkward, deeply personal restaurant.It is, of course, a blessing of our era that personal and neighborhoody hardly has to mean unambitious. That was reconfirmed for me when I sat at one of the counter seats at Houston's Theodore Rex. This is Justin Yu's re-invention of his much loved tasting-menu restaurant, Oxheart, and it reflects the easy, happy feel of a chef released from the obligation of making all his customers' decisions for them. Leon Bridges and Sam Cooke croon from the speakers; the napkins resemble terry-cloth dish towels. The food, meanwhile, is as careful and precise as the surroundings are casual: Pristine Gulf citrus is the ostensible star of a grapefruit salad, but I found myself fixated instead on the warm thin-sliced snap peas scattered across the ruby segments, an inspiration Yu says he got from an old Alain Passard pairing; tasted alone, they were sweet as sugar but, somehow, bites with grapefruit brought out a totally different set of peppery, almost horseradish notes, the way orange juice changes utterly if you've just brushed your teeth. A simple bowl of Carolina Gold rice and butter beans revealed itself as not so simple, its flavors shifting as lemon zest gave way to pepper on the way to the bottom. Steamed snapper in a smoked fumet broth thickened with spinach pistou and filled with rustically cut mirepoix managed to evoke China, France, and Texas simultaneously. I would have been happy to let Yu design my dinner; perhaps I wouldn't have ended up with three dishes that had soupy bases. But until he returns to tasting menus, I'll focus instead on his simple Paris-Brest: two rings of pâte à choux sandwiching a pillow of barnyardy Swiss-cheese pastry cream and burnt honey. I crave it more than any other dessert I ate this year.The Charter Oak, St. Helena, CA: High and low, casual and fancy: All mix delightfully by the light of a blazing hearth in the heart of the Napa Valley.Chez Ma Tante, Brooklyn: A little bit Montreal, a little bit France, this Greenpoint corner outpost is at its core all Brooklyn.Cote, New York City: The happy collision of American and Korean steak-house traditions makes for a raucous and delicious night in N.Y.C.Dialogue, Santa Monica: This tiny tasting-menu joint, tucked into a food court, is a revelation about the possibilities of dinner as storytelling.Hello, Sailor, Cornelius, NC: This midcentury-modern haven features expert cocktails and fine-tuned southern classics.Henrietta Red, Nashville: Pristine oysters and deftly cooked seafood are the anchor of Julia Sullivan's cool and comfortable joint.JuneBaby, Seattle: Southern food has rarely tasted as vital as it does under Edouardo Jordan's hand—way, way above the Mason-Dixon Line.Kitsune, Chicago: “Fusion” isn't a dirty word when it's as delicate as this mash-up of Japanese cooking and midwestern bounty.Lady of the House, Detroit: From the comfy bar to the buttered Parisian ham, Kate Williams has created a neighborhood restaurant to dream of.Majordōmo, Los Angeles: Chang's first West Coast outpost is everything you love about Momofuku, plus everything he loves about L.A.Maydān, Washington, D.C.: Gather around the blazing indoor fire for meats, meze, and other Middle Eastern eats at this literal D.C. hot spot.Theodore Rex, Houston: Justin Yu's latest—delayed by Hurricane Harvey—is an ambitious and welcome successor to his beloved Oxheart.Xochi, Houston: The breadth and depth of Oaxacan cooking is on magnificent display at this slick H-Town jewel from Hugo Ortega.Mind you, big, slick, and ripe for replication can have its charms, too. The concept at New York's Cote is the marriage of American steak with Korean barbecue—the natural and brilliant extension of how accustomed we've become to good beef and how deeply Korean flavors have become entrenched in the American palate. On the relatively modestly priced “Butcher's Feast,” you get pieces of hanger steak, 45-day-aged rib eye, and intensely marbled Wagyu flatiron before ending with slices of more traditionally marinated short rib, or kalbi, scored so that they curl and char on the grill like hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. That grill is located in the center of the table, equipped with a venting system that sucks fumes away through subterranean ducts. In the era of the all-powerful big-name chef, every member of the front of house does the cooking here—fairly leaping over one another to tend to the beef as it curls and spits on the grill before you.The table technology plays an important role, eliminating the need for venting hoods over each table and thus leaving space for such dinner niceties as eye contact and toasting. So does the fact that you end up eating a satisfying but relatively small amount of beef compared with an American steak house, while the acid of the accompanying *banchan—*kimchi, bright green scallions dressed in gochujang vinaigrette, the fermented-bean-paste condiment called ssamjang—further diffuses the impact of the beef's richness. If all this results in a room that gets a little giddy and deafening, it's also incentive to order another bottle of soju and, rather than seek a solution, become part of the problem.Likewise, the highest levels of cooking can thrive in the most sterile nooks. Xochi, Hugo Ortega's Oaxacan restaurant, tucked into a glass-sheathed corner of a soaring Marriott Marquis in downtown Houston, has all the appearances of a safe, unchallenging haven for corporate retreaters and badge-wearing convention-goers. Then you get a taste of its mole. Moles, actually—there are at least eight of them on any given night, a range as wide and varied as a rainbow. Fifteen dollars gets you a sample of four, accompanied by fresh corn tortillas, but there's nothing to say you can't double up and get the whole spectrum, spread out before you like a vibraphone: Here are the bright, clear notes of the amarillo; you'll taste it again later, ringing clearly alongside the brininess of wood-roasted oysters; next, the dusky middle tones of red coloradito and murky chicatana, which is made with ants; finally the deep, burnt bass notes of chilhuacle and chinchillo. That last one, too, will make an appearance later, on beef decorating the wide, flat, and crackling street tortillas, called tlayudas, that are served at lunch. Ortega, whose 16-year-old restaurant, Hugo's, helped revolutionize Houston's Mexican dining scene, introduces a whole world of Oaxacan tastes here. The sopa de piedra, a fish-and-shrimp stew served bubbling furiously from the last-second addition of blisteringly hot river stones, is a deep, orange blast of seafood flavor. A pool of blue-corn cream brings soft, earthy notes to a dessert of corn ice cream sculpted into tiny cobs. But it's those multidimensional moles I keep returning to. “All those famous French sauces?” my enthusiastic companion raved. “These kick all of their asses.” It was hard for me to disagree.And sometimes you just want to embrace the chaos. Witness The Charter Oak, in St. Helena, California, in the middle of the Napa Valley. This is theoretically the casual counterpart to Christopher Kostow and Nathaniel Dorn's three-Michelin-star Restaurant at Meadowood, just up the road. In fact, it's a riot of conflicting signs: The hosts wear blazers; the servers, butcher's aprons; and, for no discernible reason, the chefs, Secret Service earpieces. Cocktails come in pre-batched flasks and punch bowls for the table; water, in curvy pewter-and-glass jugs appropriate for bathing Muses on Greek urns; dessert on a modern butcher-block dessert cart.Does any of it matter? Not in the least. There are some restaurants where you get the feeling that everybody is at least momentarily aware of how lucky they are to be there, and this is one. When you enter the bank-like dining room, you're faced with a massive hearth—a place my server pronounced so that it rhymed with “earth.” Off the flames come thick pieces of sourdough, made with a 25-year-old starter, kissed with smoke and delicious with slices of homemade mortadella. “Tostones” are smashed potatoes, deep-fried and tossed with honey, vinegar, sea salt, and seaweed brown butter. These are potato skins, to be clear, and utterly impossible to stop eating. A luscious beef rib is smoked over the wood from Cabernet barrels and comes alongside blistered beets dressed in rendered aged-beef fat. The dessert cart came by, and the chef pushing it cracked a dome of meringue for a Pavlova with a sharp thwack of her spoon. We perused the whiskey menu, deciding to pass on a $240 shot of Orphan Barrel bourbon.None of it made any sense, but at that moment it was also hard to imagine having more fun. In 2018, would it surprise anyone to learn that the great American style might just be incoherence?Brett Martin is a GQ correspondent.This story originally appeared in the May 2018 issue with the title "The Perfect Night Out: GQ's Best New Restaurants 2018"

https://www.gq.com/story/best-new-restaurants-2018

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Boston’s New Restaurant Openings (2) added to Google Docs

Boston’s New Restaurant Openings (2)

If you tried to keep track of every brand new restaurant in Boston, you might go a little bit crazy. So just read this list instead. These are the new restaurant openings that seem like they have the most potential - although keep in mind, for the ones we haven’t tried, we make no promises. Go forth and be a pioneer.

We’ll be regularly updating this post. Once we check out each spot, we’ll add a note so you know where to read more about it - in our Hit List.

July Drew Katz Revival Cafe + Kitchen $$$$ 103 Newbury St

We’re fans of the breakfast sandwiches at this Cambridge spot, which has locations both in Davis Square and Alewife. Now they’ve opened a new branch on Newbury, making the street even more of a coffee destination (Blue Bottle, Pavement, and Thinking Cup are all there too).

Joel Ang The Lexington at Picnic Grove $$$$ 219 Jacobs Street

The team behind Puritan & Co. was supposed to open three new places in East Cambridge in June, but the pandemic altered that timeline. For now, they’re running an outdoor picnic pop-up of sorts with wagyu hot dogs, lobster rolls, and pretzel Rice Krispie treats.

Season To Taste $$$$ 2447 Massachusetts Ave

The highly acclaimed fine-dining spot The Table at Season to Taste closed in June, and the same team behind that Cambridge spot is opening a more casual gastropub in the space. They’ll have outdoor dining to start, with plans for indoor dining at a later date.

June Jamaica Mi Hungry $$$$ 225 Centre Street

The Jamaican food truck specialists now have their first brick-and-mortar location in JP. Curry goat, oxtails, and the Arboretum are now the top three reasons to move to that neighborhood.

Seis Pies Seis Pies $$$$ 1 Bow Market Way

Seis Pies, which translates to six feet, is a burrito pop-up that was born out of the pandemic. Now their San Francisco “mission-style” burritos are available at Hot Box in Bow Market - the menu can be found here.

Faces Brewing Faces Brewing Company $$$$ 50 Pleasant St

Faces Brewing is the newest brewery in town, and it’s now open for both indoor and outdoor dining. There are sandwiches and pizza to go, along with 11 different beers on tap at this Malden spot. Naturally, half of them are IPAs.

The Nu Do Society Nu Do Society $$$$ 125 River St

We weren’t sure either at first, but we can now confirm the Nu Do Society is distinctly different from the folks at Sandy Terraces. The team was scheduled to open a new brick-and-mortar location in Cambridge, but encountered some COVID-related renovation issues. However, they’re still serving noodles weekly - more information on their website.

Tasty Burger $$$$ 48 Winter Street

Tasty has added a fifth location to their ever-expanding patty empire - this time, it’s a new place in Downtown Crossing.

Mediterranean Grill $$$$ 2401 Massachusetts Ave

Kabobs, falafel, and spanakopita are all available at this new Mediterranean-inspired spot in North Cambridge.

may Dumpling Daughter $$$$ 1309 Beacon St

We suppose life would be a little easier sometimes with well-behaved, pan-seared pork dumplings instead of a screaming two-year-old. This Chinese spot recently opened a new branch in Brookline to go along with locations in Cambridge and Weston.

Chic Chick $$$$ 164 Brighton Ave

If you’ve never had the chance to indulge in Hainanese chicken rice, here’s your chance. Chic Chick in Allston is serving the classic poached chicken on rice and soba noodles. If you’re anything like us, you won’t be able to get enough of that ginger-jasmine rice.

April My Happy Hunan Kitchen $$$$ 1924 Beacon St

Admittedly, we’d be pretty happy too if we were served red-braised pork, spicy shrimp, and lamb stew every day. With this new Hunan spot in Brighton, it seems that a quick pick-me-up is pretty achievable.

Weltkuche Bistro $$$$ 5 Glassworks Ave

Weltkuche in East Cambridge claims to be an “international restaurant,” though it appears most of the items on the menu are more Northern Indian in nature. It adds another dining option for those living in the ever-changing Cambridge Crossing area.

March Sombrero Chiquito $$$$ 197 Massachusetts Ave

Sombrero Chiquito in Fenway opened right before the quarantine restrictions hit, but this Mexican spot is still making things like burritos, nachos, and street corn for takeout and delivery.

Mexicali Sushi Bar $$$$ 199 Sumner St

Mexicali in East Boston serves Mexican-inspired sushi rolls, which is pretty unique for the Boston area. The aguachile roll, in particular, sounds interesting.

February Yellow Door Taqueria $$$$ 354 Harrison Ave

Dorchester staple Yellow Door Taqueria has opened a second location in the South End. There are 12 taco varieties, like scallop frito and sunchoke, to choose from, all of which come on homemade corn tortillas. The restaurant also has a text-a-taco service, which you use to gift tacos to your friends. Turns out technology can actually be used for good.

Sam Swan Krasi $$$$ 48 Gloucester St

Wine bars are opening all over the city, and Krasi has joined the party. This Greek restaurant in Back Bay features lesser-known wines from the region and a large selection of mezze plates like celery root carpaccio and smoked monkfish. There’s also a “Feast of the Gods” for $349, if you’re feeling particularly divine.

Libertine $$$$ 125 Salem St

Libertine is a new North End restaurant that, shockingly, isn’t Italian. It calls itself a “gastropub,” serving a wide range of things from street corn to chicken pot pie to BBQ ribs. There’s also a number of mac and cheese options, probably because any place that doesn’t serve pasta in the North End will inevitably be shut down by the tourism board.

Alma Gaucha $$$$ 401 D St

Southie now has its own Brazilian steakhouse right next to Lawn on D. So this summer you could foreseeably eat an ungodly amount of meat and then play bubble soccer - Boston’s version of the Krispy Kreme Challenge.

Cosmica $$$$ 40 Berkeley St

The team behind Beehive has a new street food-inspired Mexican spot inside the Revolution Hotel in the South End. The menu has a variety of tacos and rice bowls, as well as a selection of larger entrees like cochinita pibil (pork that’s spent hours detoxing within a banana leaf).

Bubor Cha Cha $$$$ 45 Beach St

This Chinatown restaurant, which previously served Cantonese and South East Asian dishes, has now reopened with a focus on Hunan cuisine. Expect some spicy things like steamed fish with red peppers.

Barra $$$$ 23A Bow St

A small Mexican restaurant and bar has opened right next to Celeste in Somerville. There are mezcal and tuxca cocktails, as well as five to six small plates (like aguachile) daily. Weekend brunch is also available.

Mike Diskin French Quarter $$$$ 545 Washington St

The Theater District is now home to a New Orleans-themed restaurant, complete with fleur de lis, sazeracs, po-boys, and gumbo. No word yet on whether Drew Brees will make an appearance.

Lucie Drink & Dine $$$$ 120 Huntington Ave

There’s a new kind-of-American restaurant inside The Colonnade Hotel in Back Bay, and its goal is to become a “great neighborhood restaurant.” We’re not entirely sure what algorithm they’ll use to get there, but having Maine lobster pie and make-your-own-sundaes on the menu is a good start.

Brooklyn Ramen $$$$ 299 Harvard St

The speciality Japanese tea store Gen Sou En in Brookline recently closed, but the space has now been converted into a grocery store. There’s a deli housing Brooklyn Ramen in the back, which serves ramen and okonomiyaki.

Obosa $$$$ 146 Belgrade Ave

A casual West African restaurant is now open in Roslindale, serving staples like meat patties, puff puffs, and Jollof rice.

January Brian Samuels Grand Tour $$$$ 314 Newbury St

The team behind Select Oyster Bar now has a Tour de France-inspired bistro just around the corner in Back Bay. The menu has some unique takes on French classics, like escargot pie and rabbit with parsley salad. The most expensive thing on the menu is the caviar omelette at $60 - even if we were gifted one every morning, we still wouldn’t ride a bike for 3,570 miles.

50Kitchen $$$$ 1450 Dorchester Ave

Dorchester has a new soul food and Asian fusion restaurant, serving unique dishes like jambalaya egg rolls and a smoked brisket bánh mì. It’s more interesting than almost everything at Legal, where the chef used to work.

La Mei Hotpot $$$$ 230 Harvard St

The Coolidge Corner section of Brookline now has another hot pot restaurant in the neighborhood. There’s a “crazy spicy” broth option here - while Denny’s has a similar option, we guarantee it will taste better at LaMei.

Tsurutontan Tsurutontan $$$$ 512 Commonwealth Ave

Osaka udon-chain Tsurutontan now has its first Boston location inside of the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square. Udon’s not the only thing on the menu, though - there’s also sushi, donburi bowls, cocktails, and sake.

Kim Furnald Lulu Green $$$$ 246 W Broadway

Southie now has a Middle Eastern vegan restaurant. You’ll have salads, sandwiches, smoothies, and a mezze bar to choose from, as well as some bakery items. A Turkish coffee cardamom-cherry muffin seems like a delicious option to us.

M&M BBQ $$$$ 1246 Massachusetts Ave

Dorchester Brewing Company, one of our favorite Boston breweries, is now home to a BBQ restaurant. So the next time you’re “working from home,” you’ll be able to pair some pulled pork with an IPA during an important “lunch meeting.”

Poke By Love Art $$$$ 103 Beverly St

The Love Art team already has a sushi and udon restaurant, so now they’re adding a poke spot to the mix. Everything is gluten-free at this Downtown establishment, apart from the spaghetti self-portrait on the wall by local artist Nord Fine.

Bar 'Cino Bar 'Cino $ $ $ $ Italian in Brookline $$$$ 1032 Beacon St

Instead of another dispensary (which was originally supposed to be in this space), Brookline just got a new Italian restaurant from a Rhode Island restaurant group. The menu is made up of a variety of small plates and pastas, as well as a specific type of Rhode Island pizza made famous in the 1980s. Tracksuits and ruffled shirts are making a comeback, so we suppose there’s no reason to discriminate against pizza.

Longcross Bar and Kitchen LongCross Bar and Kitchen $$$$ 501 Fellsway

Detroit-style pizza places are quickly expanding around the Boston area, and perhaps some of them will make it on to our best pizza list one day. For now, you can enjoy deep-dish by the fireplace at this new Medford restaurant.

December Joyelle West Gray’s Hall $ $ $ $ American , Wine Bar in South Boston $$$$ 615 E Broadway

A natural wine bar and small plates spot has opened in Southie. Conveniently, the bar is located next to American Provisions, a full fledged cheese, wine, and charcuterie store, making this a one-stop-shop for all your self-care needs.

JM Leach Sound Advice $ $ $ $ Bar in West End $$$$ 60 Causeway St

If you’ve ever had the desire to drink at a movie theater without actually watching a movie, then this is the place for you. This cocktail bar is located next to the new ArcLight Cinemas in The Hub on Causeway.

Flight Club Darts USA Flight Club $$$$ 60 Seaport Blvd

Cocktails, darts, and cotton candy unite together at this Seaport bar, a unity which management believes will bring you “unexpected, ridiculous joy.” Hopefully it’s not of the Ed Norton variety.

Happy Crab $$$$ 1137 Broadway

Somerville is the location for yet another Cajun-style, eat-with-your-hands seafood restaurant. At this time, we will reserve comment on the emotional state of crustaceans within the institution.

Lily P’s $ $ $ $ American in Kendall Square $$$$ 50 Binney St

Kendall Square is apparently home to a startup that helps you learn the lingo for a variety of different industries. It is also now home to this fried chicken and oysters spot - which means, no matter what you do for work, “yes” is pretty much the only term you’ll need to know.

Cini's Cini's $$$$ 252 Friend St

Bite-sized arancini balls will now be served until 3am on Friday and Saturdays in the West End. Cini’s will also serve pizza until that time, so it may become your go to place for late-night cheesy Instagram photos.

Tavern of Tales Tavern of Tales $$$$ 1478 Tremont St

Board games are more fun when someone else is serving cocktails and your guests don’t have to sit on the couch that the cat constantly sheds on. Pizza and tater tots are also available at this Mission Hill cafe.

iFresh Noodle $$$$ 182 Brighton Ave

Allston is getting a new hand-pulled noodle store, which is great. We just hope that the “noodle-pulling” team is better than the “name-the-restaurant” team.

Tonkatsu King $$$$ 17 Brighton Ave

The Super 88 food court has a new vendor, one that will be royally frying up golden pieces of pork. We would be happy citizens under this monarchy.

Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant $$$$ 41 Warren St

This Bronx-based Jamaican patty chain is continuing its expansion in the greater Boston area, this time in the Dudley Square area of Roxbury.

Only One Jamacian Restaurant III $$$$ 1345 Hyde Park Ave

Can you have three locations as a restaurant and still call yourself “Only One”? This Jamaican establishment, with a new spot in Hyde Park, is certainly not shying away from the question.

NOvember Mariel Underground Mariel Underground $ $ $ $ Cuban , Bar in Downtown $$$$ 10 Post Office Square

Mariel, a great new Cuban restaurant in Post Office Square, has opened a cocktail lounge underneath the restaurant. It’s open Tuesday-Sunday starting a 5pm and taking table reservations 9pm and later.

Woods Hill Pier Four Woods Hill Pier 4 $ $ $ $ American , Seafood in Seaport District $$$$ 300 Pier 4 Blvd

There’s a new seafood place in one of those brand new glass condo buildings on the seaport, and your dad will almost certainly mistakenly call it Woods Hole Pier 4 for years to come.

Omori Izakaya $ $ $ $ Japanese in Brookline , Brookline Village $$$$ 195 Washington St

Brookline has a new izakaya, and it’s right around the corner from a dispensary. If you’ve been in the mood for pot and robata skewers, you’re in luck.

Soup Shack $$$$ 401 Harvard Street

A JP spot for pho, ramen, and Thai noodle dishes opened a second location north of Coolidge Corner in Brookline.

Shake Shack $$$$ 322 Washington St

There’s a new burger option (and source of huge lunch lines) in Downtown Crossing, as Greater Boston gets its seventh Shake Shack

Tatte Bakery & Cafe $$$$ 345 Harrison Ave

We’re not quite at the point where there are as many Tatte’s as Dunkin Donuts in Boston, but we’re getting there, as a new one opened up in the South End.

Lola Burger $ $ $ $ Burgers in Seaport District $$$$ 11 Fan Pier Blvd

The people behind Lola 42 have opened up a burger joint around the corner on Fan Pier.

Bluestone Lane Harvard Square Café $$$$ 27 Brattle St

An Australian chain of coffee shops just opened its first Boston location in Harvard Square. It serves an all-day breakfast menu of things like lemon ricotta pancakes and shakshuka.

Nourish Your Soul $$$$ 208 Newbury Street

If you ever get hungry while shopping for yoga pants at the Lululemon on Newbury Street, now you have a place to eat bowls, smoothies, and other foods your spin instructor loves at Nourish Your Soul.

Dirty Water Dough Company $ $ $ $ Pizza in East Boston $$$$ 20 Maverick St

A Newbury Street slice joint just opened up a second location in Maverick Square.

October Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina $$$$ 110 Causeway

There are plenty of things that Boston has in abundance, like rotaries, wind, and 18-22 year-olds from New Jersey. But we’ve always had a conspicuous lack of donkey sauce. The drought may be over now that we have a Guy Fieri restaurant at North Station.

Distraction Brewing $ $ $ $ Bar in Roslindale $$$$ 2 Belgrade Ave

Everyone is understandably sad about the closure of Mystic Brewery, but thankfully it’s been immediately replaced by Distraction Brewing in Roslindale Square.

Brato Brewhouse + Kitchen $ $ $ $ Bar Food in Brighton $$$$ 190 North Beacon St

And right on Distraction’s heels, Brato Brewhouse is opening in Brighton. It looks like it has way more food options that most breweries.

Six West Six West $$$$ 6 W Broadway

Southie has its first hotel, and it comes with a hotel restaurant that serves potstickers, short rib tacos, and caviar paninis. A rooftop bar is coming, too, but it’s not open yet.

The Kenmore $$$$ 475 Commonwealth Ave

What used to be the Lower Depths in Kenmore Square is now a place called The Kenmore with beer and bar food.

Veggie Grill $$$$ 57 JFK St

West Coast vegan chain Veggie Grill has opened in Harvard Square. Expect salads, veggie burgers, and lots of other quick options.

Izakaya Ittoku $ $ $ $ Japanese , Korean in Cambridge , Porter Square $$$$ 1815 Massachusetts Ave

Ittoku is an izakaya that just moved to Porter Square from Brighton (closing the original location in the process). It appears to largely have the same menu, though it has a full liquor license now.

Lobstah On A Roll $$$$ 254 Newbury St

A South End sandwich shop that makes the [ninth best lobster roll in Boston[( https://www.theinfatuation.com/boston/guides/best-lobster-rolls-in-boston) just opened a second location on Newbury Street.

Pink Taco Boston $$$$ 374 Congress St

A Los Angeles taco chain has opened in The Seaport. They’re open for brunch, lunch, and dinner, serving tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and bowls.

Bulfinch Social $$$$ 107 Merrimac street

The Boxer Hotel in the Bulfinch Triangle has a new lobby restaurant, meaning we have a new place to eat and drink near the Garden that doesn’t have Larry Bird jerseys on the walls.

Rochambeu Rochambeau $ $ $ $ French in Back Bay $$$$ 900 Boylston St

Rochambeau is a big, brassy French restaurant in the Back Bay, which is already probably the capital of big, brassy French restaurants.

Bar Moxy $$$$ 240 Tremont

The brand new Moxy Hotel in the Theater District has a restaurant, and we’re pretty sure it’s the only place in town with a “food truck-inspired photo booth.”

Trillium Fenway $ $ $ $ Fenway $$$$ 401 Park Dr

Trillium has built a new tap room on the lawn outside of the Time Out Market, as it continues its quest to completely take over the Boston beer scene.

september Richard Cadan Mariel $ $ $ $ Cuban in Downtown $$$$ 10 Post Office Sq

Mariel is a big Cuban place in an old bank in Post Office Square. We don’t know why all old banks were built to look like Greek temples, but they make for some cool looking restaurants.

Richard’s $$$$ 1193 Cambridge St

Richard’s is a new American spot in Inman Square. They serve things like pasta and grilled bison.

Ghost Pepper Taco & Tequila Bar $ $ $ $ Mexican in Dorchester $$$$ 120 Savin Hill Ave

Savin Hill has a new taco and tequila bar and, let’s face it, every neighborhood deserves a new taco and tequila bar.

Chalawan $ $ $ $ Southeast Asian in Porter Square $$$$ 1790 Massachusetts Ave

Calawan is a Southeast Asian place in Porter Square. It looks like it has some really cheap wine, so it’s got that going for it, as well as dumplings, curries, and meatier dishes too.

Gantetsu-Ya $$$$ 318 Harvard Street

Gantetsu-Ya is a new Japanese street food stall in the Coolidge Corner arcade. There are few things in life we like more than Japanese street food, so we’re excited.

Roxanne's $ $ $ $ Bar Food in Beacon Hill , Downtown $$$$ 6 Beacon St

The former 6B Lounge - a Downtown bar that existed solely for the purpose of after-work drinks - has been replaced by a new tiki place with a menu of bar bites. Sounds like an improvement to us.

Jamaica Mi Hungry $$$$ 225 Centre Street

You’ve seen the jerk chicken food truck around town, and now you can find it in brick-and-mortar form in Jamaica Plain.

Pazza On Porter $$$$ 107 Porter Street

The owners of Caffe Dello Sport on Hanover Street are branching out with a full-service Italian restaurant in East Boston.

Family Affair $$$$ 554 Columbia St

How many different kinds of chicken and waffles do you know how to make? If your answer is somewhere between 0 and 51, then, sorry, you don’t know how to make as many different kinds of chicken and waffles as this new Caribbean restaurant in Dorchester.

Stillwater $ $ $ $ American in Downtown $$$$ 120 Kingston St

If you’ve ever had a friend visit Boston only to complain about our lack of restaurants that showcase the cuisine of Oklahoma, now you can take them to Stillwater for some Ritz cracker-crusted fried chicken.

Carolicious $$$$ 14 Tyler St

Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville already has Boston’s best brewery dining option in The Tasting Counter. But if you’re not up to a two-hour tasting menu, now you can get arepas at Carolicious.

august Alejandro Ramos OddFellows Ice Cream $$$$ 55 Boylston St

If you’ve never had olive oil and strawberry jam flavored ice cream, now you can at this NYC-based ice cream place that opened in Chestnut Hill.

Orfano $ $ $ $ Steaks , Italian in Fenway $$$$ 188 Brookline St

Now that the people behind Sweet Cheeks, Tiger Mama, and Fool’s Errand opened up an Italian place, Orfano, there’s now an entire block of the Fenway that’s almost completely controlled by one restaurant group. But we’re big fans of the first three restaurants, so if Orfano is any good and the city wants to let them name the street, we’re good with that.

Shy Bird $ $ $ $ American in Kendall Square $$$$ 1 Broadway

Kendall Square has a new all-day counter-service cafe, and this one serves beer and wine along with its specialty rotisserie meats.

Gre.Co Gre.Co $$$$

The fast-casual Greek spot opened its second location. It’s in the Seaport and, unlike the original Back Bay location, it has a liquor license.

Create Gallery & Cocktails $ $ $ $ Bar in Somerville , Union Square $$$$ 1 Bow Market Way

Bow Market may be officially finished now that there’s a small cocktail bar/art gallery that serves draft cocktails created by bartenders from around the city.

Taqueria El Barrio $ $ $ $ Mexican in Allston , Brookline $$$$ 1022 Commonwealth Ave

The people behind Bisq, one of our favorite restaurants in Cambridge, have opened a counter-service taco place on Comm Ave. near BU.

Boba Me $$$$ 1520 Tremont

A new cafe in Mission Hill is serving boba tea and “flaming hot cheese fries.” We’re all for interesting combinations, so you do you, Boba Me.

Pai Kin Kao $ $ $ $ Thai in Central Square $$$$ 80 River Street

What used to be Chick Chick Boom, a Central Square chicken place, is now Pai Kin Kao, and it focuses on Thai and ramen.

110 Grill $$$$ 1 District Ave

A new location of an American chain has opened in the South Bay area of Dorchester, and it calls itself “upscale-casual.” That doesn’t seem to make sense, but we don’t necessarily dislike things that don’t make sense.

july Brian Samuels The Emory $ $ $ $ American in Beacon Hill , Downtown $$$$ 21 Beacon St

There’s a new restaurant at the top of Beacon Hill and and it has a couple of things on the menu we’ve never heard off, like a lobster sausage sandwich and baked potato beignets.

Parlour $ $ $ $ American , Tapas in Brookline , Coolidge Corner $$$$ 308 Harvard Street

Parlour is a new tapas place in Coolidge Corner, so now you have a tapas place to eat at before attending a French film festival at the Coolidge Corner Theater.

The Oyster Club $ $ $ $ Seafood in Back Bay , Downtown $$$$ 79 Park Plaza

We don’t necessarily need more oyster bars, but we’ll always welcome them. This one is just off the Public Garden, and it seems like a place where a lot of people will be paying with corporate cards.

Dolce $ $ $ $ Pizza , Sandwiches , Ice Cream in North End $$$$ 272 Hanover Street

There’s a new restaurant on Hanover Street and, you’re not going to believe this, but it’s Italian. It’s called Dolce, and it specializes in pizza and gelato.

Kingston Cuts $ $ $ $ Steaks in Downtown $$$$ 25 Kingston Street

Downtown Crossing has a new steak-y bistro, with a separate bar and lounge area up front.

Black Lamb Black Lamb $ $ $ $ American , Seafood , French in South End $$$$ 571 Tremont St

The people behind Bar Mezzana, Shore Leave, and No Relation - three South End spots we’re fans of - opened Black Lamb, an “American brasserie and raw bar.” We’re excited.

Silk Road Express $$$$ 1 Brighton Ave

This is the second location of an Uyghur restaurant in Cambridge, and it’s in the wonderful Super 88 Asian food hall in Allston.

Nani Chick'n Bunz $$$$

It’s a delivery-only restaurant, which we’re not sure even counts as a restaurant. But if you live near their kitchen in Allston, then you can get some chicken sandwiches that look pretty good, and hopefully travel well.

Kim’s Tofu $ $ $ $ Korean in Allston $$$$ 160 Brighton Ave

Kim’s is a new Korean place in Allston, and it makes all its tofu in-house.

Peregrine $ $ $ $ Italian in Beacon Hill $$$$ 170 Charles Street

The people behind Juliet, an awesomely casual and affordable fine-dining restaurant in Union Square, have opened Peregrine. It’s an Italian spot in a Beacon Hill boutique hotel, and, as you’d from an Italian spot in a Beacon Hill boutique hotel, it looks to be much more upscale and pricey than their first place.

Sally’s Sandwiches $$$$ 492 Tremont St

The people behind Banyan and The Gallows - a Korean place and a pub, respectively - opened this sandwich spot inside Blackbird Doughnuts in the South End.

The Porch Southern Fare And Juke Joint $$$$ 175 Rivers edge Dr

We’re pretty sure that this new spot for barbecue and live music in Medford is the only juke joint in Boston, and we’re definitely sure it’s the first time we’ve seen the term “juke joint” since reading The Color Purple.

Black Jack Pasta Kitchen $$$$ 1401 Washington Street

Black Jack Pasta Bar was a pasta place in the Fenway that closed last year. This new spot in the South End is a grab-and-go pasta place, which is interesting.

Ilona $$$$

Ilona in the South End is the third restaurant opened up by the team behind Kava Neo-Taverna and Puro Ceviche Bar - two places we really like. It’s Georgian, but Stalin-Georgian, not OutKast-Georgian.

BearMoose Brewing Company $ $ $ $ Everett $$$$ 1934 Revere Beach Pkwy

Cool - we literally just finished our Boston Brewery Rankings, and now we already have to update it. Thanks a lot, BearMoose Brewing, a new brewery and taproom that just opened up with an in-house deli in Everett.

all the time out market places Saltie Girl Saltie Girl Fenway $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The Back Bay raw bar is selling a small selection of its favorites, including lobster rolls (both hot and cold) and clam chowder.

Tasting Counter $$$$ 401 Park Dr

One of the city’s fanciest and most expensive tasting menu places now has a place where you can wait in line for $22 king crab risotto.

Mamaleh’s $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The original Mameleh’s in Kendall Square is one of Boston’s best delis. This is now the third place you can get the shakshuka, along with its stand at the Public Market.

Jaclyn Rivas Ms. Clucks Deluxe $$$$

The team behind O Ya and Hojoko are serving up chicken and dumplings.

Jaclyn Rivas Gogo Ya $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The team behind O Ya and Hojoko are also serving up crispy nori tacos and bento boxes.

BISq $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The real Bisq is an excellent wine bar in Inman Square. This mini-Bisq is serving charcuterie and sandwiches.

Gelato & Chill $$$$ 401 Park Drive

They serve up gelato and wordplay.

Union Square Donuts $$$$ 401 Park Drive

If you haven’t already had one of these brioche donuts (either at the original spot in Union or the stand in the Public Market) now’s your chance.

Revolution Health Kitchen $$$$ 401 Park Dr

Juices, smoothies, acai bowls, and other things your spin instructor loves.

Michael Schlow’s Italian Kitchen $$$$ 401 Park Drive

Michael Schlow used to run, like, 16 really hyped restaurants in Boston. Then he left and closed them all for some reason, and now he’s back with an Italian stand here.

Monti $$$$ 401 Park Drive

Oh, apparently Michael Schlow is also back with a pizza stand here.

Anoush'ella $$$$ 401 Park Drive

Anoush’ella is a popular spot in the South End for fast casual Medeterranean food. Come here for mezze, overnight braised beef, and za’atar chicken.

Bar $$$$ 401 Park Drive

There are two bars at the Time Out Market. They’re both called Bar.

All the Casino Spots Waterfront $$$$ 1 Broadway

We hear it has a view of the table games instead of the water, but the more interesting thing about this seafood spot is that it’s led by the original chef from Neptune Oyster, one of Boston’s best restaurants.

Oyster Bar $$$$ 1 Broadway

It’s a place that sells oysters, in a casino, and it’s also from the old Neptune chef.

On Deck Burger Bar $$$$

It’s a place that sells burgers, in a casino.

Fratelli $$$$ 1 Broadway

The people behind three of our most cliched Italian places in the North End (Bricco, Mare, and Strega) have combined forces to build a (probably) cliched Italian place in a casino.

Rare Steakhouse $$$$ 1 Broadway

They claim to serve the only “certified authentic Kobe beef in New England.” We’ll fact-check that with the governor of the Hyogo Prefecture and get back to you.

Sinatra $$$$

It’s an Italian place, and it’s probably where all the guys who had Swingers posters on their walls in college are going to eat.

Red 8 $$$$ 1 Broadway

It’s a Chinese restaurant franchise of a chain that also has locations in Macau, which is in China, and Las Vegas, which is not.

Mystique $$$$

Izakayas are cool, and this one apparently has views of the skyline instead of a busload of senior citizens being hypnotized by slot machines.

via The Infatuation Feed https://www.theinfatuation.com/boston/guides/boston-new-restaurant-openings Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://trello.com/userhuongsen

Created July 23, 2020 at 12:42AM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

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kidsviral-blog · 6 years

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The Trouble With "It Girls"

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/the-trouble-with-it-girls/

The Trouble With "It Girls"

We’ve used the term for nearly a century. But what does it tell us about the way we label women and their work?

View this image ›

Matt Baron / BEImages / Getty Images / BuzzFeed News

On the cover of the February issue of Vanity Fair, Rosamund Pike gives her best icy blue-eyed Grace Kelly. The cover’s intro — “From Bond Girl to Gone Girl to 2015’s It Girl” — is banal: Pike’s beauty here is the real draw.

But still, there’s that phrase, “It girl”: one that Vanity Fair wielded back in 1998 for the then-up-and-coming Gretchen Mol, who struggled so mightily to make good on the promise that the New York Times dubbed it the “Vanity Fair Cover Curse,” and that Vogue uses in its own February cover story on Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, “who exudes the effortless cool of an It Girl.”

Vanity Fair

Vogue

Vanity Fair

In naming someone an It girl, a publication is either hedging a bet (Gretchen Mol will be all that anyone’s talking about in 1998) or trendspotting (Cara Delevingne is everywhere in New York; you’ll be seeing her everywhere else soon). In this contemporary iteration, “It girl” has come to mean some cross of a new, young, generally hot thing known for attending parties and movie premieres and a new, young, generally hot thing who makes her name in a sphere (politics, journalism, golf, rap) broadly delimited to men. It’s a seemingly safe way to declare someone as worthy of your attention without actually articulating what, exactly, merits that attention. These girls are it: no matter that the antecedent to “it” remains unknown.

So what’s the fascination with naming — and reading about — prospective It girls? The term may seem like a cliche, ambiguous, employed out of editorial imprecision, and it certainly is many, if not all, of those things. But the century-long history of the It girl, coupled with a remarkable usage spike over the last decade, points to a broader and enduring trend in which writers flag a certain type of behavior, demeanor, or ambition, name it, and, in so doing, map a certain type of (limited, limiting) career and behavior trajectory in which the woman is forever marked by both her gender and her ineffable thing-ness. There’s no such moniker, after all, as an “It woman.”

The modern It girl age can probably be traced to a seminal 1994 New Yorker profile of Chloë Sevigny in which Jay McInerney dubbed the 19-year-old “the It Girl with a street-smart style and down-low attitude.” The article’s lede set the scene for this ‘90s version of the It girl, which is to say, part socialite, part fashion plate, part indie oddity:

It’s weird, this happens all the time. Chloë Sevigny is sitting at one of the outdoor tables at Stingy Lulu’s on St. Mark’s Place just off Avenue A, absorbing a mixed green salad and devouring the just-out September Vogue. A black girl and an Asian girl huddle anxiously on the corner a few yards away, checking her out. The two are about Chloë’s age, which is nineteen, and they seem to be debating whether or not to approach. Do they recognize her from the Sonic Youth video—the one filmed in Marc Jacobs’ showroom, which was kind of a spoof of the whole grunge thing—or did they catch her modeling the X-Girl line last spring? Maybe they saw her photo in Details, the ones taken by Larry Clark, who has just cast Chloë in his new movie, “Kids.”

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Sevigny in 1994 Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

Sevigny wasn’t beautiful, exactly, or sexy, per se; she was different, and indifferent, and that’s what made her It. Sevigny’s It-ness manifested a particular sort of abrasive, even erudite hipness. So much about her seemed to scream “fuck you, I contain multitudes,” yet the profile attempts, as profiles must, to unite that multiplicity under a single theme: It-ness. In so doing, the New Yorker transformed an unruly woman like Sevigny, with her nontraditional looks and unfamiliar club-kid ways, into a digestible rhetorical pile of It.

And thus began the beginning of the It girl deluge. Entertainment Weekly started a yearly “It List” cover in 1997, and the Times used it for another potentially threateningly different young woman (Fiona Apple) and, in “The Making of an It Girl” (1998), Keri Russell. The Guardian put it to work for “professional posh person” Tara Palmer-Tomkinson in 2000; in 2001, the character of Amelie was an It girl (Globe and Mail); in 2002, it was Parker Posey, snowboarder Tara Dakides, Chelsea Clinton, and Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi; in 2003, the WNBA’s Sue Bird and “Almost It Girl” Jaime Presley; in 2004, Belinda Stronach, CEO of Magna International, Lindsay Lohan, and Joanna Newsom.

Then it gets so ridiculous I can only offer you a semi-chronological It bomb:

Feist, Michelle Monaghan, war zone It girl Lara Logan, Michelle Wie, Margherita Missoni, “dewy It girl of spirituality” Marianne Williamson, lit’s It girl Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, tennis It girl Nicole Vaidisova, Carey Mulligan, Katherine Heigl, “It girl of the social network scene” Facebook, opera’s It girl Anna Netrebko, Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto, George Clooney’s ex-girlfriend Sarah Larson, gymnast Shawn Johnson, The New Yorker cover of the Obamas fist-bumping, “It girl for the poorer, darker Russia” Agniya Kuznetsova, Alexa Chung (who published a book simply entitled It), Betty White, Blake Lively, CBC radio personality Frances Bay, Freida Pinto, “lesbian It girl” Ruby Rose, Frances Bean, San Francisco It girl Rose Pak, Elizabeth Olsen, Zooey Deschanel, “Russia’s Scandalous It Girl Kseniya Sobchak,” Carly Rae Jepsen, Lena Dunham, Gabby Douglas, “fashion’s new It girl…and boy Andrej Pejic,” Sofia Vergara, Suki Waterhouse, Annie Lennox’s daughter Tali, Kerry Washington, reality star Gigi Hadid, Lupita Nyong’o, Jennifer Lawrence, Pantone’s Color of the Year “Marsala,�� model Cara Delevingne, Rita Ora, Kendall Jenner, hip-hop’s Jhené Aiko, “indie It girl” Aubrey Plaza, Ariana Grande, “director-DJ-designer” Vashtie Kola, softball player Mo’ne Davis, Emma Watson, Felicity Jones, Dakota Johnson, the Nine West It girl tote, French actress Clémence Poésy, Gossip Girl character Jenny Humphrey, “Piperlime’s new holiday It girl” Shay Mitchell and, from Vogue in 2014 alone, slideshows of British It girls, Japanese It girls, Korean It girls, country It girls, and Parisienne It girls.

According this list, an It girl can be a serious war reporter, a fearless politician, an impressive athlete, a person of color, over 40, over 80, a color, a magazine cover, a persona who buys an $80 tote, a social networking site, an androgynous man, a celebrity scion, a model, an Oscar-winning actress, a writer, a lesbian, a person who drinks wine from a terrifically ugly glass. The It girl’s gone democratic. But to what end?

Jonathan Short/Invision / AP Jonathan Short

Theresa Bouche/Invision / AP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

You could argue that today’s hazy, often imprecise use of “It girl” isn’t indicative of lazy writing so much as an expanded understanding of what sex appeal, charisma, and the type of personality that can “change the chemistry of a room” might look like: women of different nationalities, sexualities, backgrounds, and careers.

That’s something worth celebrating, of course. But the persistence — or at least the resurgence — of the term in the mid-’90s also aligns with the rise of postfeminism, an ideological attitude in which the advances of second-wave feminism are traded in for the rhetoric of “choice”: freedom through self-objectification and consumption of goods, empowerment via the capacity to attract the attention of men, “girl power” in the place of systemic progress against patriarchy.

Those goals are a throwback to the 1920s understanding of female empowerment, a decade in which women reconciled freedoms enabled by suffrage, conspicuous consumption, and the entrance of women into the public sphere with the endurance of patriarchy. These “New Women,” as they were called, were “free” — to have jobs as shopgirls, to use their wages to buy things — but in a profoundly limited sense of the term.

And no one crystallized those contradictory freedoms better than Clara Bow, the original It girl. Bow was the cat’s pajamas, the bee’s knees, the real fucking deal. She was pretty, sure, but so were a lot of girls on the silent screen.

Photoplay Magazine

Motion Picture Magazine

She had something more: a curious and beguiling mix of sex appeal and modernity and charisma that no one really knew how to describe — save cultural commentator and author Elinor Glyn, who, over the course of the ‘20s, coined the designation of “It” and held forth as its arbiter. While some equated “It” with sex appeal, Glyn made it something more complex: “The It factor lives in the girl who doesn’t know she’s beautiful, who’s utterly without self-consciousness or pretense.”

For years, Glyn resisted attributing “It” to any single star or public figure. But then Paramount optioned her It novella, crafted a very loose adaptation thereof, and cast Clara Bow in the lead, effectively marrying her name to the concept.

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Motion Picture Magazine

Watch a clip from It, and you can come close to understanding the power over audiences Bow had in 1927. I think it probably felt like watching joy, or the future, or the first time you saw a firecracker. Part of the attraction stemmed from her cool-girl antics offscreen; part was her embodiment, vis-à-vis her character in It, of a specific ethos of female liberation and consumerism, shot through with the overarching goal of marriage. It was sex appeal, but it was also just short of truly transgressive.

Because when Bow did cross the line of acceptable female behavior — stringing too many men along, gambling, drinking — is when she fell from It girl favor. In 1927, she was arguably the biggest star in the world; by 1932, having weathered a string of scandals and high-profile breakups and a truly awful tabloid smear campaign, she retreated from Hollywood completely.

Yet the mantle of It girl remained hers: At her peak, during her decline, in retrospectives and film revivals, and in the obituary of her husband, actor and Nevada lieutenant governor Rex Bell, she is invariably referred to as “It girl Clara Bow.” Even as new stars (Jean Harlow, Mae West, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner) took up the mantle of Hollywood sexpot, the press and studios resisted dubbing them the latest It girl.

Outside of Hollywood, “It girl” was used to describe criminals and what would later be referred to as femme fatales: The “It Girl of Chicago Gangs,” mentioned in the Chicago Daily Tribune (1931), was “known to the police as ‘death angel’” and “all of her suitors met death by bullets or other violence.” Or, in the newspaper Afro-American, It girl Helene Morgan’s love meant “astonishing and tragic things” for the four men who fell for her.

“It girl” could also be highly localized: The Philadelphia Tribune followed the social life of “It Girl Miss Peggy Dee” in 1937, while the industrious men of MIT made elaborate plans for “a special meter, replete with electronic tubes” for a “unique method of testing college girls, office girls, and those who are ‘at home’” to devise “the amount of ‘It’ in their make-up.”

“It” was clearly still a concept with currency — and one plebes could possess in limited, apparently quantifiable amounts — but that concept remained powerfully linked to Bow. In the 1940s, however, “It girl” took on a new valence: a smart woman, usually one of few in her field, who played by men’s rules with wit, cunning, and style. The New Yorker used it for a 1940 profile of Dorothy Thompson, the so-called first lady of American journalism, who was a foreign correspondent, wife to author Sinclair Lewis, and a widely read columnist in the years preceding World War II.

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Dorothy Thompson with husband Sinclair Lewis. AP Photo

Thompson was a former suffragette and what my granddad would call a total pistol: stubborn and aggressive; sexy not for her body, but her mind. Lewis referred to the “international situation” (the burgeoning conflict in Europe) in relation to Thompson as “It,” thereby rendering her the It girl. It’s a play on the term, but it fostered a connotation of uniqueness, even brashness, that clings to contemporary uses of the phrase.

In 1946, for example, the Boston Globe called Clare Boothe Luce the “It girl of Congress,” a reference that referred not only to her status as a “glamorous representative” married to one of the most powerful publishers in the world, but also the presence of a fiercely intelligent, occasionally combative, and unequivocally beautiful woman in elected office.

During this period, the press also applied the term to various non-Hollywood spheres: Broadway’s It girl (Mabel Scott), It girl of European capitals (Una Mae), It girl of opera (Geraldine Farrar). But it wasn’t until Bow’s death in 1965 that the term was transmuted on to another type of girl.

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It’s coincidence, really, that Edie Sedgwick began hanging out with Warhol the same year that Bow died. Yet the rise of Sedgwick — and the particular sort of waifish ingenue she represented — would guide another iteration of the It girl, this one marked by privilege, excess, and decline.

Sedgwick was an It girl without the specific designation: In June 1966, the New York Times grouped her with Warhol’s other “superstars”; a month later, Vogue featured her in a full-page spread, declaring her a “Youthquaker.”

The Times followed her around town, describing her antics with Warhol and Chuck Wein (“They made a scene in Paris by turning up at Castel’s with 15 rabbits and Edie clad in a white mink coat and black tights that have become her signature”) and habits (losing jewels, stripping to her bra and dancing in a pool, biting her nails). “It’s not that I’m rebelling,” she told the Times. “It’s that I’m just trying to find another way.”

Underground superstar, Youthquaker, but never an explicit It girl. She would be retrospectively dubbed as such — in the 2000s, reviews and publicity for Factory Girl, the Sienna Miller-starring film about Sedgwick, repeatedly made use of the term — but for most of the next three decades, the term was wielded only intermittently, affixed to a horse named “Bowl of Flowers,” the apparent “IT Girl of the Turf Scene,” Diana Ross (1988), young Jessica Lange (1983), and literary bête noire Tama Janowitz (1987) before the 1994 Sevigny profile sparked the It girl deluge.

In the early ‘30s, Clara Bow was forced to recognize the limitations of her freedoms when fans turned on her particular brand of sex appeal and behavior. Dance on tables, the instructions for It-ness went, but not too many tables. The label of “It girl” thus becomes a sort of rhetorical disciplinary device: a means of channeling a woman’s potential in a sexualized yet ultimately contained direction in which she attracts the gaze, but never controls it. Even the term’s application to Dorothy Thompson in 1940 or Benazir Bhutto in 2007 is a means of containing an otherwise unruly, powerful woman, transforming her accomplishments into a fad, a spectacle, the playful and ultimately unimportant work of a girl.

When I first saw the Rosamund Pike cover, I thought I was annoyed because of the misapplication of the term. Pike, I thought to myself, is no Clara Bow. But as I’ve thought more about the term, it’s become clear that maybe I’m just subconsciously irritated by the way in which popular magazines wield the term as the ultimate backhanded compliment.

Because it’s one thing to look back at Bow, and analyze, understand, and bemoan her It-ness, a label that simultaneously elevated her to the height of stardom and anchored her asunder. It’s another to see the term — and all its insidious, objectifying power — resurface, proliferate, and thrive nearly a century later. Only this time, it’s saddled not on one woman, but any woman who seems primed to be more than an object — an It, passive and pliable — in the narrative of their own lives. And that’s nothing to be celebrated on the cover of a magazine.

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/the-trouble-with-it-girls

#chloe sevigny #clara bow #Dakota Johnson #dorothy thompson #edie sedgwick #feminism #fifty shades of grey #gone girl #jennifer lawrence #keri russell #lupita nyongo #rosamund pike #vanity fair #vogue

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instantdeerlover · 4 years

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LA’s Best Takeout & Delivery For A (Quarantine) Date Night added to Google Docs

LA’s Best Takeout & Delivery For A (Quarantine) Date Night

Quarantine makes every facet of life more difficult, but finding and sustaining love? It’s basically impossible. Whether you’re quarantining alone, in an apartment full of roommates, or with your spouse and three screaming children, there’s no easy way to be romantic during self-isolation. That said, there are ways to rekindle the flame. In particular, ordering delivery/takeout from the right places. From high-end sushi bars to French bistros to neighborhood Italian restaurants, here are 14 spots we guarantee will at least help set the mood.

All restaurants featured on The Infatuation are selected by our editorial team. LA’s Best Takeout & Delivery For A (Quarantine) Date Night is presented by Uber Eats. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, supporting our local restaurant community has never been more important. Uber Eats is offering $0 Delivery Fee for delivery orders from independent restaurants directly in the app. Order now to support. See app for details.

THE SPOTS Asanebo $ $ $ $ Sushi in Studio City $$$$ 11941 Ventura Blvd 8.3 /10

If you’re anything like us, sushi is always a go-to date night move. And while to-go fish admittedly loses a bit of its luster, one place where the quality never dips is Asanebo. The classic Studio City sushi spot is offering tremendous $40 sushi combinations with your choice of roll. That’s an incredible value for a place where a regular dinner can set you back several hundreds of dollars. Now, you can spend that extra money on a few bottles of sake. Call (818) 760-3348 to place your order. Takeout only.

Belle Vie $ $ $ $ French in Brentwood $$$$ 11916 Wilshire Blvd 8.5 /10

We’re guessing your ground-floor apartment doesn’t have the festive bistro atmosphere of Belle Vie (ours sure doesn’t), but it’s still worth ordering from this Brentwood French restaurant simply because the food is that good. From cheese plates to duck rillettes to mussels, this menu is stacked with well-constructed dishes that look fancy without being too expensive. And that’s the kind of economic model you can get behind right now. Both takeout and delivery available from 4-9:30pm.

Black Market Liquor Bar $ $ $ $ American in Studio City $$$$ 11915 Ventura Blvd 7.6 /10

Let’s start with the bad news - the five-country vacation you and your significant other were planning to go on this summer probably isn’t going to happen. The good news? You can somewhat make up for it by ordering delivery or takeout from Black Market Liquor Bar. The Sherman Oaks spot has a wide-ranging, worldly menu that features everything from spicy Korean chicken wings to tagliatelle to carnitas bao, and it’s all very good. Throw in a few cocktails to-go and you’ll be stamping your passports from home.

Order delivery Cassia $ $ $ $ Southeast Asian in Santa Monica $$$$ 1314 7th St 8.5 /10

Sure, it’s date night, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t in the mood for some hearty comfort. Call up Cassia. The upscale restaurant in Santa Monica has a fantastic menu that pulls influences from all over Southeast Asia. Think kaya toast, spicy wontons, beef rendang, and one of our favorite bowls of laksa in the city. Both takeout and delivery are available daily from 4-9pm.

Order delivery Esters Wine Shop & Bar $ $ $ $ American , Wine Bar in Santa Monica $$$$ 1314 7th St. 8.0 /10

If good wine and cheese isn’t an easy way to get to your date’s heart, you need to stop quarantining with them immediately, because it’s never going to work out. If it is though, order from Esters. The Santa Monica wine bar is offering wine packages, cheese platters, charcuterie, and much more for both delivery and takeout. Open Tuesday-Sunday from 12-4pm.

Order delivery Little Dom's $ $ $ $ Italian in Los Feliz $$$$ 2128 Hillhurst Ave. 8.3 /10

Ordering Little Dom’s legendary rice balls to your doorstep is enough for anyone to fall in love with you, but couple that with pizza-making kits, three-course meal boxes, and batch cocktails to-go, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be ordering from this Los Feliz Italian spot tonight. Just be sure to get a pint of gelato for dessert. Available for takeout and delivery 11am-9pm daily.

Madre $ $ $ $ Mexican in Torrance $$$$ 1261 Cabrillo Ave 8.2 /10

Madre is a Oaxacan restaurant with locations in both Torrance and Culver City, and a great way to say “I’m sorry” for tricking your wife into eating grocery store taquitos last week. The entire menu is available for both takeout and delivery, in addition to meal kits, pre-made batched cocktails, and mezcal by the bottle. Your wife already forgives you.

Marvin $ $ $ $ American in Beverly Grove $$$$ 8114 Beverly Blvd 8.2 /10

Marvin in Beverly Grove is basically the sexy version of Cheers. It’s the kind of spot you go to by yourself for a nightcap, then return the next night for a seal-the-deal date. But since you can’t actually go anywhere right now, ordering takeout from this restaurant/wine bar is the next best thing. The exact dishes on their $75 set menu for two change daily, but you can expect everything from New York steak to chicken parm to fettuccine with black truffle. Email ([email protected]) to place your order and keep an eye on their Instagram for menu updates.

Messob Ethiopian Restaurant $ $ $ $ Ethiopian in Mid-Wilshire $$$$ 1041 S Fairfax Ave 8.1 /10

Ethiopian food might seem like a bold choice for date night, but so is attempting love in the time of quarantine, so just go with it. The classic spot in Little Ethiopia is offering their full menu for both takeout and delivery, and while you can get any dish a la carte, we recommend the Super Messob Exclusive. It’s a massive plate filled with nine dishes from all sections of the menu, ranging from collards to spicy lamb stew. At $33, it’s also a tremendous value.

Papilles $ $ $ $ French in Franklin Village , Hollywood $$$$ 6221 Franklin Ave 8.5 /10

Sometimes keeping it simple on date night reaps the most rewards. If that’s the school of thought you’re adhering to tonight, order from Papilles. The criminally underrated French bistro in Franklin Village has a limited takeout menu that includes burgers, a chicken sandwich, and most importantly, a tremendous coq au vin. Two Jidori chicken thighs braised in red wine, bacon lardons, confit fingerlings, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and glazed carrots - all you need to do is heat and serve. See, it pays to keep it simple. Takeout only from 12-3pm and 6-9pm daily. Don’t forget to take home some wine, as well.

Ronan $ $ $ $ Pizza , Italian in West Hollywood $$$$ 7315 Melrose Ave 8.5 /10

Ronan is one of our favorite pizza spots in LA, but don’t overlook the other items on their menu, either. From risotto to a French dip calzone to wood-fired cheesecake, building a full meal around their pizza (get the margherita and the Sweet Cheeks) is a requirement, not a suggestion. Curbside pickup gets you 10% off your final bill, or you can always do delivery.

Same Same $ $ $ $ Wine Bar , Thai in Silver Lake $$$$ 2835 W Sunset Blvd 8.0 /10

Healthy romance and a government-mandated quarantine might not be the best combination in the world, but do you know what is? Wine and Thai food. And that’s why you should order from Same Same when you’re planning an at-home date night. The Silver Lake Thai restaurant has excellent food across-the-board, plus good wine at reduced prices. Delivery is available, but if you can do takeout, you’ll get an additional 10% off your bill.

Order delivery Shunji Japanese Cuisine $ $ $ $ Sushi in West LA $$$$ 12244 W Pico Blvd 8.3 /10

Shunji has long been one of LA’s premier sushi bars, and as such, it’s also been one of the most expensive. That’s why you should be taking advantage of their sushi box special for $48 per person. It’s essentially a ten-piece omakase plus one roll, and the perfect way to say you’re not only into your significant other, but fiscal responsibility as well. Order here for takeout.

Union $ $ $ $ Pasta , Italian in Pasadena $$$$ 37 E Union St 8.9 /10

Blame Lady and the Tramp if you want, but the fact is pasta will always be the sexiest dish to order on a date. So lean into it and call Union. The Pasadena Italian restaurant makes some of our favorite pasta in the city (and maybe anywhere), and now, nearly the entire menu is available for takeout and delivery. We’re not saying you have to do the noodle kiss thing, but it’d be rewarding for everyone if you did.

via The Infatuation Feed https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/romantic-restaurants-la-takeout-delivery Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://trello.com/userhuongsen

Created April 14, 2020 at 12:29AM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

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