#and paul wesley's definitely growing on me
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okay so personally, i think both Chris Pine and Paul Wesley did a great job as Jim Kirk. the only difference is that Pine's Jim took 10mins to convince me, while Wesley's Jim did take a while - both of which are on me, not on them.
essentially, they are are portraying two different types of Kirk. at the start of Star Trek AOS, particularly in Star Trek 2009, Jim is still a cadet and is put through a life and death situation where he has to earn everyone's trust. he gets thrown in the captain's seat with zero experience and no one is convinced he can get the job done until the end. this Jim lost his dad and still has that rebellious streak in him - something that Pine captured very well.
while in Strange New Worlds, the Jim we meet is already a First Officer on Farragut and has seemingly gone through the ranks. We get a Jim who genuinely wants to be friends with everyone, who hasn't lost his dad and had time to develop his skills outside of the Enterprise. Wesley's Kirk takes time to grow on you cause the first two times you meet him, he's supposed to be a different version of Jim. It's not until Lost in Translation that we see The Real Slim Shady Jim Kirk. And Wesley did well.
and in terms of his relationship with Spock and how they bonded;
AOS: the world is about the end and we have got to work together if we want to save our asses.
SNW: Sam's a dick, isn't he
#star trek#just my personal opinion tho#i do like all versions of jim kirk#and paul wesley's definitely growing on me#also Wesley did capture Shatner's manner of speech right#especially in lost in translation
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Back To You - Chapter 7
Series: Back To You(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6)
For desktop users: masterlist
For mobile users: mobile masterlist
Pairing: Drake x MC(Anna Grey)
Faceclaim: Daniel di Tomasso as Drake Walker, Elizabeth Olsen as Anna Grey and Paul Wesley as King Liam
Book: The Royal Romance
Word Count: ~ 1700
Rating: M for language
Prompt:
Drake and Anna finally face her decision and all the consequences that follow.
Author’s Note:
HEY EVERYBODY!!! I’VE MISSED YOU GUYS AND TUMBLR SOOOO MUCH IT’S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE...
I’ve been away from tumblr for quite a while now, because I’ve been studying and writing like a mad woman but now along with THE ROYAL HEIR, I’M BACK!!!!!!!!!
And so is my good old Back To You fanfic, I’ve finished writing and now I’ll start posting again. It’s a lot of angst until the very end(which might me angst too???) and I hope you all like it, keep reading and comenting about that.
I’m really glad to be back and very excited to be a part of this wonderfull comunity agaaaain. So, grab your tissues and read along!
Let me know if you wanna be in or out of the tag list and I appreciate feedback!(And I’m not sure the tags are working so always check my blog for updates):
@debramcg1106 @simplyaiden-blog @lizeboredom @writtenbycandy @drakewalkerwhipped@naomisveil @nazarihoe @taliahunt @cocomaxley @mymandrake @the-everlasting-dream @honeylightningambition @walkerismychoice @drakewalkerstan@trueauthor @innerpostmentality @liam-rhys @agent-zephyrkah @her-imperial-hangman-s @wolfsterrr @bluediamondsapphire @glorious-fandoms @desperue @bellamystorms@journeytohomesworld @fanfictionrecommendations-com @liamxs-world @easyobsession @nikkis1983 @tacohead13 @findingdrake @beautifulobsessionforpink @jenp02cutie-blog @confessionsofabrokegirl @mrsnazario1223 @trr-fangirl @littleredroseonthevalley@darley1101 @moodygrip @missevabean @pilitella @littlewonderbear @queen-maximoff @puppymaster101 @clarissafics @boneandfur @countrymusicandncis-blog @damienazariostan @mpbeaumont @christopher-powell @bella-ca @asprankle @sue9659 @american-duchess @parkerattano @ads0036 @personthatlovesshippings @eileendannie
Disclaimer: The characters don’t belong to me(except for Anna Grey), I just borrow them from Pixelberry!
The consequences are brutal
We never got it right
Playing and replaying old conversations
Overthinking every word and I hate it
'Cause it's not me ('cause it's not me)
Previously
“Liam proposed.”
“Oh…”
“An-n-nd I sa-aid no.”
The words are as blurry as her vision and Anna’s not sure why the tears are building up, maybe because that’s the first time she told this to someone or because she’s finally confessing just how deep her feelings for him go, either way her hands are starting to sweat. And the time it takes for him to express any reaction is torture, like there’s an ocean of possibilities hanging in those inches between them. She can see her future, their future being decided and it scares her every bone.
On the other side, Drake’s brain is still trying to make sense of what she just told him. Running through many different scenarios where this is a dream, a prank, if Anna is having a delusional moment or maybe if she’s really telling him the truth and she doesn’t wanna marry Liam, but Maxwell or Hana. He’s well aware of how everybody has fallen for her graces and though he doesn’t think anything happened between them, it’s way more possible than what he wishes for it to mean: that she’s not marrying Liam because she loves him and wants to be with him.
“What?”
She tries to recompose herself, breathing deep and letting the air leave her lungs along with all the hesitation from before. The decision was already made and now Anna has to own it, so she repeats the sentence in a firm tone, her green eyes filled with tears now have a gleam of confidence:
“Liam proposed to me, and I said no.”
He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. It doesn’t make any sense and he barely knows what to think, even less what to say. Anna’s already growing impatient, after everything she had to go in order to get this moment and when everything’s finally arranged Drake simply freezes. She takes a step closer to him, her hand coming up to caress his arm to get his attention and it works because his dark irises shift to her fingertips touching him. However he just stands there, looking at her little affectionate move until Grey finally breaks the silence and speaks again.
“It would be nice if you said something right about…” She pretends to check a clock on her wrist “ now.”
“Wh… why?”
“You know why.”
Another step towards him and now she’s standing so close he could easily wrap his arms around her, which is why she moved at all. There’s the hint of a smile on her lips, a provocative one, hope that this will answer his unfounded question. Why the hell would she say no to Liam and then come tell him? For Anna seems pretty obvious, meanwhile Drake struggles not to get distracted with her proximity. He needs her to tell him.
“I need you to tell me Grey.”
She takes his face in her hands, forcing his eyes to find hers, both of them with sparkly tears building up. From this close she can see the how tense he’s by the way his breathing catches every now and then and he can see the loving smile that takes place on her lips. Soon touching his in a gentle kiss.
“Because I love you.”
He doesn't have time to smile and answer because somebody knocks on the door and they both jump, wondering who could that be when the sweet voice of Hana is heard in a whisper:
“Anna, Liam is looking for you and he said it was important. Sorry to disturb.”
Hana hates the fact that he has to do this, but the worry in Liam’s voice and his commendatory tone left her no choice. Maybe he was just hurt from the rejection, or maybe it was something actually serious, anyway she wouldn’t risk it.
On the other side of the door Anna and Drake exchange a look. His is a sad one, like the moment they just lived escaped through his fingers too fast and there’s nothing he can do about it. Hers is an apologetic one, hope written all over her features as she takes one last look at him before opening the door to find not only Hana but Liam standing next to them.
Hana doesn't seem to notice the king right away, not understanding the shocked look in their eyes until a deep voice comes from behind her:
“I was just coming to tell Hana it wasn't so urgent, but I guess I'm too late.”
The words cut through the air like a sharp knife, hurting more than just one heart as the guilt appears in both Anna and Drake’s faces, and the pain in Liam’s. Finding them getting out of a bedroom together definitely wasn’t on his plans and it feels like a punch to the gut, though, with his many years of training if there’s one thing he’s learned is to recompose quickly.
“Well, I was waiting to explain to you how we’re going to present you officially as a Duchess but that can wait, for I know you two have other matters to discuss.”
“Our conversation can wait too Liam, don’t worry. I’ll leave you to it.”
Drake motions to leave, however the King stops him by putting a hand on his chest, staring at his best friend’s eyes with a mix of anger and sorrow. He got the girl of his dreams, he’s been winning her heart during the moments Liam couldn’t be there, and as happy he wants to feel for them nothing could hurt so much as the way Anna’s still staring intently at Drake, not him.
“Please Drake, I didn’t intend to disturb your moment so do not let me. Lady Hana, shall we go? I’m afraid Maxwell might do something dangerous without any supervision around.”
Hana quickly nods, a relieved smile crossing her face as she interlaces her arm with Liam’s. They engage in a conversation about the young Beaumont and leave Anna and Drake alone together with a polite wave.
The second they cross the hallway, getting out of their sight, Anna closes the door behind her attracting Drake’s attention. He looks at her through the could of pain, guilt, shame since he knows Liam to well to realize how badly they’ve hurt him.
“Did you told him about us?”
“Yes. Would you prefer I lied?”
“I don’t know Grey. All I know is that your decision crushed him.”
He brings his hands to his face in a desperate act to calm himself down from the mess they made. Now that she’s not caressing him anymore and the memories of Liam’s devastated expression just a few moments ago keep coming to him, there’s no more comfort to linger on. And Anna’s not giving him anything until he’s done with the bullshit, which is why she answers in a rispid tone.
“I’m not here to talk about him.”
“How can we not? What else is there to talk about?”
“Us Drake! We have to talk about us.”
“But Liam…”
“Why? Why do you still fight this like hell? Why do you put him between us?”
“Grey…”
“Answer me.”
Her angry tone is evident and suddenly everything feels too big right now. That’s why he doesn’t even think before blurting out:
“I don’t put him between us, that was all you.”
“Oh you want to play that game huh? Yeah Drake, I was the one who got involved with the two of you at the same time and I was the one who made Liam fall in love with me but I said no, alright? I said no to him and took him out of the equation, because it wasn’t fair to anybody. And you’re the one who doesn’t let him go.”
Anna lets out a gasp and then a dry laugh, thinking about how stupid she’s for still being there trying to make him understand that they’re free to be together. She’s not sure that this is still what he wants, the thought makes her shake her head ‘no’ to stay there and she starts to walk away from him.
Until he stops her by holding her arm gently, Drake’s eyes finally facing hers after she told him ‘I love you’ and for a moment she believes everything will fall into place. Little did she know that Drake was still confused about the situation, about how anyone would ever reject Liam to be with him, he’s still looking for a hidden reason. And being tired of the subjectivity of their talk, he decides to go straight to the point:
“Why didn’t you say yes?”
“I already told you that Drake.”
Being Liam’s shadow is a habit as old as himself, and a very hard one to turn away from so Drake can’t help but compare everything about both of them and everytime he does that, someone chooses Liam over him. It’s the obvious choice, the only choice.
“But why? It doesn’t make sense. He wants to pamper you, take you on fancy romantic dates, be the perfect gentleman. Fuck, he wants to marry you Grey, to give you a castle, a title, a crown, a whole fucking kingdom. He wants to give you a future, he can give you a future. He wants to. Liam wants everything with you.”
“And you can’t… or you don’t want to?”
Drake doesn’t know the answer, he has no idea if he’s ready to give her a whole future or if the future he can give her will be enough. The little box in his pocket makes all the situation harder, after everything he still believes she would be happier with Liam. That she should be happier with Liam and that he’s just standing in the middle, being something to distract Grey from her real destiny and love.
To Anna, his silence is answer enough and she doesn’t wait the tears forming in her eyes to fall before unhooking her arm from his hand and walking away. From not just the moment, or the fight, or Drake, but from all what they could’ve been.
To be continued...
#back to you#back to you series#fanfiction#drake walker#king liam#maxwell beaumont#hana lee#anna grey#drake x mc#drake x anna#angst angst and more angst#fanfic#trr#the royal romance#trr fanfic#choices stories you play#choices fanfic#i'm back yas#playchoices
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Be Strong
"I am the sprouting vine, you are my branches. As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you....let my love nourish your heart." (John 15:5-6, 9b TpT)
You and I will determine how strong we will be based on our willingness to build upon the foundation of God’s truth.
Do you ever go through those seasons where you want to be completely enveloped by everything Bible? When I was 19/20 years old, I remember just reading through the Bible like it was an engrossing novel. Any break I had, I was reading, highlighting, making notes and even texting close friends and ministry team members about every verse and revelation that POPPED. Throughout those Bible college days, I even had my Strong’s Bible Concordance as an added reading companion.
In the last week, I have been drawn back into a similar season. Except that now it is unlimited worship streaming, access to video preaching world-wide, podcasts, blogs and social media influencers. While slowly studying the book of John, I have also been drawn to the book of Ecclesiastes, while going through key encouragements throughout the book of Colossians in church. Yet, all point to a similar revelation.
“If you remain in me...” (John 15:5, NIV) Everything we need really is in Christ.
We all have limits - and so we should. It reminds us that God is essential. Paul declares, “[God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” What we feel are limitations, are stakes on the war ground to slow down the enemy. Our weaknesses are where God’s grace empowers us to remain in him and not in sin (remembering that the definition of sin isn’t ‘wrong-doing’ but merely living life our own way and rebelling against God’s ways). “As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you.” (John 15:5 TpT).
Trees are strong. Their roots can tear apart footpaths, ruin people’s driveways and pipe systems and even crack house exteriors. Stump-Fest days require 4-5 mates with pickaxes, a 4-wheel drive and extremely strong rope to pull the roots out of the establishment it resides in, and usually has for decades. And what is Jesus? He is the trunk, the vine, the main supplier of all nourishment and life to the branches. Dr Brian Simmons commentates, “The branch of the LORD is now Christ living in his people, branching out through them. The church is now his lamp stand with seven branches.”
“Wisdom has built her house, she has set up seven pillars.” (Proverbs 9:1 NIV) There is SO much theology in these verses. But in the beginnings of my study, this is my encouragement - be strong! A pillar is a firm and upright, insulated support for a super structure. Like, let’s just unpack that! Firm in God’s truths, upright in stature and righteousness, insulated with guarded hearts as a support for something incredibly massive - like the Kingdom of God! We are strong people! Limited, but graced and strong, as we “remain in Christ”.
We are strong as we remain in Christ, connected to the Vine. Remain growing in wisdom and understanding of who God is and his ways. Remain in pure and sincere worship. Remain knowledgeable in the Word. We can only stand strong when we are grounded and rooted in the real truth. Remain united under the name of our LORD Jesus Christ. Remain in labour for the cause of the Gospel. Remain with our eye on the goal of Heaven; life eternal with God as his people. Remain disciplined. (Adapted from Wesley Simons seven pillars that must be in place in every church in order for it to be a strong productive church for the Lord)
You and I will determine how strong we will be based on our willingness to build upon the foundation of God’s truth and remain in him. Everyday is a day to be seeking the truths found in the Word, turning our eyes to Jesus and praying continuously.
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[1600 Word Essay] Women’s & Minority Representation in DTV Martial Arts Movies
It’s long interested (and, recently, concerned) me how movies represent women and minorities (ethnic and cultural). As of late, I’ve turned this scrutiny on my particular film niche – direct-to-video American martial arts movies. Specifically, I wanted to measure which demographic was most likely to produce stars within the subgenre. I already had an idea, but the results were still a little surprising.
I’ve collected the data as to who’s been a leading star in these sorts of movies since 1985. All of the performers listed below have starred in or co-led at least three US-based DTV/limited release action/martial arts productions. Where applicable, I’ve substituted a starring role in a TV production in lieu of a third film lead.
White Men (not Latin): Loren Avedon, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris,* Richard Norton, Jeff Speakman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jeff Wincott, Michael Worth, Scott Adkins, David Bradley, Bryan Genesse, Michael Bernardo, Paul Logan, Sasha Mitchell, Michael Dudikoff, Ted Jan Roberts, Ron Marchini, Chad McQueen, Scott Shaw, Eric Jacobus, Matt Mullins, Gary Daniels, Olivier Gruner, Jerry Trimble, Dale Cook, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Gary Wasniewski, Steven Seagal**
White Women (not Latin): Cynthia Rothrock, Mimi Lesseos, Zoe Bell
Asian Men: Philip Rhee, Ho-Sung Pak, Leo Fong, Johnny Yong Bosch, Jon Foo, Julian Lee, Jun Chong, Jino Kang, Cung Le, Don Wilson, Ernie Reyes, Jr.
Asian Women: N/A
Black Men: Billy Blanks, Wesley Snipes, Michael Jai White, Fred Williamson, Ron Hall
Black Women: N/A
Latin Men: Fabian Carillo, Hector Echavarria, Lorenzo Lamas
Latin Women: N/A
Arab Men: Jalal Merhi
Arab Women: N/A
Multiracial Men: Mark Dacascos
Multiracial Women: N/A
*Norris describes himself as being of mixed ethnicity, but his claims have been disputed. [SOURCE]
**Ditto. [SOURCE]
[ERRATUM 8/4/18: I may have mis-attributed the ethnicity of Mimi Lesseos, whose Wikipedia article claims she’s actually Latinx and Greek.]
The obvious implications of this data are that (1) white men enjoy far greater representation than all other groups, and (2) women of color are completely unrepresented. Additionally, no other ethnicities or cultural identities than the ones listed here are represented at all, and this includes Asians who don’t fall under the eastern or southeastern headings.
So... What’s the problem here? What’s the issue, especially since we’re talking about such a very specific subgenre? Well, to everybody outside of this niche, there isn’t a problem beyond the degree to which DTV action flicks mirror the larger filmmaking scene. However, representation matters here as much as for any genre because it helps determine the future of this kind of movie. If these films are viewed by customers and filmmakers as primarily a gilding hall for white male leads, the number of women and minorities vying for anything beyond stuntwork or supporting parts isn’t encouraged to grow...and that’s likely to deprive us all of potentially great talent. Women, people of color, and other minorities help comprise the cream of the martial arts crop, and the thought of losing out on the next potential Cynthia Rothrock or Michael Jai White is galling. These movies don’t necessarily thrive on technical or dramatic innovation, but rather the physical innovation of its performers. Given this, it’s within everybody’s interest that anybody with the potential to thrill martial enthusiasts be duly considered.
“Objection: As this data only represents the DTV realm, it’s not an accurate portrayal of representation in American filmmaking or even the action/martial arts genre as a whole.”
The fact that DTV films don’t encompass the entirety of a genre doesn’t negate the significance of their own sector, the same way that one avenue of occupation needn’t encompass the entire job market to have unique implications for those involved. Though often viewed as a derivative of Hollywood, the DTV realm is very much its own place with unique hierarchies and politics. Entire careers are played out within it. What’s more, the DTV circuit isn’t so small as to be insignificant: even if the U.S. blockbuster scene became a beacon of representation, poor practices in the DTV scene could still be enough to unsettle the landscape. When you consider that less than 100 films are given a widespread theatrical release in the U.S. each year, it’s easy to imagine how quickly the smaller, quickly-produced releases can overtake them in quantity. Add to that the popularity of online video streaming services and their equalizing nature, and you can see that DTV flicks are a significant part the national film market.
“Objection: A quantitative measurement doesn’t properly convey how well a group is represented. For example, Wesley Snipes is more prolific and successful than almost every white male star listed here.”
Aside from the fact that too many demographics are still entirely unrepresented, the problem with pointing to a Wesley Snipes or a Lorenzo Lamas as adequate representation for an entire group is that it closes off the chances for anyone else who might fall within that demographic. If you take one prominent star and say there’s no need for additional representation, then what reason is there for someone else from that group to be taken on? Again, the result is the DTV circuit potentially depriving itself of the next great showstopper.
“Objection: The sample is too limiting. There’d be more women and minority entrants if you counted those with fewer than three starring roles and/or counted supporting ones (e.g. lead villains).”
I opted for no less than three starring roles because this indicates an established career within the DTV realm, which indicates a willingness of studios/distributors to repeatedly invest in a performer – this is, to some degree, the mark of a star. I’ve limited the credits to lead roles because such parts convey prestige and social esteem, and this is important. Yes, fans can definitely find favorites among lifetime supporting players, but supporting role or even those of the lead villain typically don’t convey the positive qualities that usually define protagonists. Aside from being promoted the most, lead characters are most likely the ones the audience is encouraged to identify with. By comparison, other roles don’t measure up.
“Objection: Maybe there aren’t more women/minorities in lead roles because there are no viable contenders.”
Here’s but a small sample of viable contenders – women and men with the necessary physical talent to lead a fight flick.
Marissa Labog & Peipei Yuan – Fight Scene
Chris Balualua – Showreel
Lauren Mary Kim & Amy Johnston – Fight Scene
Percy “Spitfire” Brown – Showreel
Robert Parham – Showreel
Fernando Chien – Showreel
Tamiko Brownlee & Natalie Padilla – Fight Scene
Anna Ranoso – Fight Scene
Emmanuel Manzanares – Showreel
Zara Phytian – Fight Scene
Jawed El Berni – Short Film, The List
Andy Leung & Ray Carbonel – Fight Scene, Contour
Cheryl Lewis – Fight Scene
Gui DaSilva – Fight Scene
Nilo Ghajar-Williams Vs. Ieisha Auyeung – Fight Scene
Natascha Hopkins – Fight Scene
Gichi Gamba – Film Highlights, PowerRangers
Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez – Fight Scene w/Peipei Yuan
Shawn Bernal – Short Film, Flower Thieves
Kristina Hess – Showreel
John Lewis & Alex Meraz – Short Film, The Reward
Cecily Fay – Film Highlights
Rayna Vallandingham – Showreel
Ed Kahana – Fight Scene, Relic Hunt
Eve Torres – Fight Scene, The Scorpion King 4
Marie Mouroum – Showreel
Krystal Vee & Selina Lo – Fight Scene, The Scorpion King 3
Juan Bofill – Fight Scene
“Do you have any good news?”
The good news is that the trend of white guys dominating this subgenre does seem to be abating as we move further into the 21st century. Of the 52 names in the sample, thirteen (13) are individuals who’ve begun starring in these movies within the past 16 years; of these, only 5 are white men – about 38 percent of the total.
White Men: Scott Adkins, Eric Jacobus, Matt Mullins, Gary Wasniewski, Steven Seagal
White Women: Zoe Bell
Asian Men: Johnny Yong Bosch, Jon Foo, Jino Kang, Cung Le
Black Men: Wesley Snipes, Michael Jai White
Latin Men: Hector Echavarria
Though white male performers still enjoy the greatest amount of representation, they don’t completely dominate the pipeline of new stars.
Also, I get the impression that big-budget Hollywood is making an effort to diversify the selection of people it has leading its movies. I’ve said before that the DTV arena isn’t merely derivative of Big Studio World, but obviously the latter plays a huge role in shaping popular trends. If Hollywood capitalizes on diversity among stars as an asset, then low-budget filmmakers may be inclined to follow.
“How do we change this? How do we get new, diverse performers to helm these movies?”
The first step is to find out who’s actually out there. The list of links I provided is pretty short, given the sheer amount of performers making their reels publicly available. Become a fan of lesser-known kickers. Once you’ve found someone whose work consistently impresses you and who you’d like to see lead a production, you can get started. Short of stepping down from a theatrical career, there are generally two ways that new performers acquire starring roles in the DTV scene: (1) they work their way up from smaller parts and/or stuntwork, or (2) they finance or co-finance their own productions. In either case, what you need to do is support them. Help finance indie projects they’re developing via crowd-funding. Feature them and their work on your social media. If they’ve had parts in studio work, review these movies publicly and point out that their involvement is the reason you looked at the picture in the first place. And if a movie they’ve starred in gets released, buy it directly – don’t download or buy it from a third party seller, and for goodness sake don’t post the whole thing online for free.
It’s up to the performer(s) in question to prove that they’d rock a starring role, but it’s up us to make their effort worth it.
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favorite rp experiences, favorite ships, favorite users, good parts of your day, favorite memories.
FAVORITE RP EXPERIENCES
Another great experience I’ve had was a gossip girl, vampire diaries roleplay called Within Temptation! It was the first roleplay where I really learned how to expand on my writing and understand my character, thanks to a few tips from my fellow members. I had always been used to one-liners or a few paragraphs, so when I asked one of the members how she went about writing so much, she told me she just expanded on how her character felt, what he went through to get to this point, and how it aids their situation. I mean, obviously, the answer should be pretty blatant, but it was one of those moments where someone had to say it for me to really acknowledge it. This roleplay also helped me grow my affinity for Stefan Salvatore, who I played, and learned about so deeply. I really appreciate him as a character now, thanks to WT.
positive rpc ask meme!
FAVORITE SHIPS !!!!!! I have so many !!!!!! But, okay… I will attempt to list them all from my poor excuse of a memory, and/or narrow it down to my real real real favs that I can’t live without :-) but, of course, the list will grow as roleplaying lives on~
Richard & Eleanor ( Evan Peters and AnnaSophia Robb — They were this, poor boy / rich girl ship that happened out of nowhere between myself and @vcorhees way back in the day. They really feel like a couple to me, and I guess I love them because a lot of my ‘ships’ take a long time to get to that point where they’re finally a couple, but it just happened so effortlessly for them. They really couldn’t be any more different, yet mesh so well together… they were my core reasons for loving both Evan & AnnaSophia ) — Stephen & Wendy ( Max Irons and Jessica Alba — Okay, I know I know. They’re really new and really fresh and hardly a ship. I might be getting ahead of myself, but I feel like these two are such a classic “opposites attract” or “friendship turned into something more” that it really gets me excited to see where their thread goes. I really like these two, the chem is off the charts !!! )
Alice & Patrick ( Olivia Cooke and Logan Lerman — So these two really helped me as a writer. At the time, Patrick was in and out of relationships with various girls and honestly, it was mostly because I was bored when ships finally became couples. I admit it was a huge flaw I had as a roleplayer until Alice came along, shout out to @nierps for sliding into my life like that. She challenged Patrick in such a real way that helped me admit to myself that your character will be the bad guy, if not sometimes, all the time. I’m so thankful that they happened because now, it helps me shape my characters in such a real way that I wouldn’t have before. )
Indiana & Silas ( Nina Dobrev and Hunter Parrish — Okay, so talk about the slowest of all the burns. I think slow burns are great but are so hard to stay committed to in a roleplay filled with options thrown at your feet. However, when you feel that connection, that you know you’d love to see play out on some sort of screen, that you’d be rooting for sitting in your seat… that’s when it’s easy to stay committed. Contrary to my last ship, Indiana and Silas taught me how to stay committed, and that it’s safe to put your ship through real-life tragedies and struggles, without fearing abandonment as a roleplayer. I want to thank @veronicalodgv for always meeting me with the same amount of enthusiasm that I wouldn’t have if she hadn’t too. )
Sara & Ace ( Phoebe Tonkin and Bill Skarsgard — They are your typical, push and pull, hate to love you type of couple. At first, I assumed my thread with @electricinndigo would turn into some sort of hate sex kind of thing, which I wasn’t totally comfortable with because my smut is shit, honestly, lmfao. But I have to say, Ace and Sara are really turning into a ship that is so promising, that I’d really love to see what else they go through. I think this ship is also really important to me because I find it quite difficult to challenge a ship when it’s in an indie instead of a roleplay community. You’re not being thrown other ‘options’ or having other characters chime in on your character or ship. Frankly, I haven’t been in indie for that long, but I was quick to judge the easiness of shipping when you have no one else to challenge you. That’s why Sara and Ace are special to me, because they challenge each other, and it’s opening more doors for the other ships I have. So, Kellie!! Thank you for that. )
Blake & Cindy ( Matthew Daddario and Lee Jieun — So @requicms and I have been writing these two for a long time now, haha, but no complaints are coming from me whatsoever. My adoration for Matthew is definitely satsified when it comes to these two, as well as my thirst for a POC ship!!! Lbr, I feel like they’re soooo cute. Anyway, Cindy is such a hard character for me to be flexible with, so the fact that I’m shipping her with Blake is such a huge thing for me as a writer. It helps me go through the steps of opening a character up to something intimiate and real, and with these two, it’s just so pure and innocent. It’s not like any other ship I’ve had, so I really love these two for helping me try out something new, with a character as closed off as Cindy. )
These are a few honorable mentions that I really want to give a shout out to. I know some of these are brand new, but it’s just me feeling out the potential with what few threads we have going on~ [ Jude & Hannah ( Jamie Campbell Bower & Haley Bennett ) @eightysixed / Adele & Ben ( Holland Roden & Lucas Till ) @snikklefritsrps / Adam & Jana ( Paul Wesley & Kristin Kreuk ) / Cameron & Silas ( Kat McNamara & Hunter Parrish ) @wisteria1x1 / River & Mallory ( Nick Robinson & AnnaSophia Robb ) / Harrison & Prue ( KJ Apa and Stefanie Scott ) @holywitchkid ]
FAVORITE USERS
Okay, so assuming this means my mutuals…. @electricinndigo, I want to go on and on about how much I love her but I feel like that’s really repetitive because I’ve done it more than twice, haha. She’s just amazing. I love her writing style, her gifs, her muses… the list goes on. @requicms, there’s something amazing about having as much characters as her and being as invested to each and every one of them that blows my mind. I mean, I might be getting ahead of myself, but our plethora of threads really challenges me to not be lazy and put the same amount of effort in order to not just ‘reply bc I have to’. Thank you for challenging me, Lisa! @nierps, LORD don’t even get me started, lmfao. Nie is the god of all writers, I aspire to be as amazing as her ( hence I probably should’ve finished /proper/ college ). I can’t even go on, I feel like I’ll just be babbling with how great and cool she is. @veronicalodgv, okay I know she doesn’t indie enough, but tee has become such a close friend of mine since we’ve met all those years ago. she’s the best admin i’ve ever had the honor to be under, who can so effortlessly handle the stress that comes with it. i think the fact that she’s fair without having to bend over backwards to make people happy is really admirable, esp coming from someone like me, who feels like they have to do that when you’re in an admin position. i can’t wait to work with you the future, you’ll always have a special place in my heart @armyofskanksx, so while I gotta admit that we don’t have a lot of the same favorite face claims (x your kindness is unreal. i really do appreciate your time and patience when it came to helping me learn how to gif, i can’t even explain my gratitude. thank you so much.
GOOD PARTS OF YOUR DAY
While I don’t love going to work and dealing with the bullshit that is the nursing home, I feel pretty lucky to be there. Sitting all day isn’t great for my health, but being in the lobby when it’s 6pm and everyone went home is probably the second place I get the most inspiration for my writing. I also have a time limit, so I try and squeeze in all my writing before 7:30pm, which is when I have to leave because if my husband is home, I can’t focus on my writing. I also love going home (surprising, I know) and seeing my pup. I love the process of getting ready for bed, like taking off the makeup and tending to skin care, getting into your home clothes… while I sometimes rush towards the process, that’s my ‘me’ time, you know? I don’t have as much me time since I got married, lmfao.
FAVORITE MEMORIES
It’s bittersweet, but one of them would have to be all the times I used to just sit in one of my ex-best friends car. We used to be this trio that loved to drive around and just talk about how we felt and our dreams of being this band that made it big ( we were a church band, fyi lmao ) There was something magical about his car and him driving, with me in the passenger seat and @vcorhees in the back. We were best friends that just… fell so effortlessly into any kind of conversation. We’d pig out, smoke pot & *other, confide in one another and just enjoyed the simplicities of being in each other’s company. I mean, we were more than just friends, we were family. It was a hard slap in the face when that fell apart, but I believe God has a reason for everything and even if I don’t know the reason yet, I trust he’s gonna be alright, despite my reservations.
#answered#( eleanor & richard )#( wendy & stephen )#( patrick & alice )#( silas & indiana )#( ace & sara )#( cindy & blake )#( hannah & jude )#( ben & adele )#( jana & adam )#( silas & cameron )#( mallory & river )#( prue & harrison )#warning: looooong af#sierrasrps
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Ian’s Best Man Speech || 23.07.17
Okay so, Best Man speech let’s go! Woo! Hello everyone, for those of you who don’t know, if you’ve been living under a rock or aren’t remotely involved in either Nina or Paul’s lives but somehow ended up here, my name is Ian and I have been lucky enough to have grown up with this amazing pair on the set of The Vampire Diaries. I can safely say that these two are my best friends in the world and I am endlessly grateful that Paul asked me to do this today and actually let me loose on you all with a microphone.
Firstly, I’ll address the elephant in the room and acknowledge that some of you may be sceptical as to why I’m stood here. I can assure you all, I have no plans of professing my love for anyone and sobbing about the fact they’ve now married my best friend but I suppose there was definitely a point in my life where I imagined being Mr Ian Wesley but, Paul, I will try to leave our bromance in the past and keep the crying to a minimum.
I’m pretty clumsy with my words so I will start the nice part of my speech with someone else’s that I feel describe the way in which Paul and Nina choose to live. William Shakespeare wrote “love all, trust a few, do wrong to none,” which speaks volumes to me. This couple are, needless to say, two of the most genuinely kind and forgiving people you could meet but I’m sure you can all agree that the two of them love not only each other wholeheartedly, but love everyone. They love life – I mean if you ask me Nina is slightly unhinged and her adoration of crazy things like skydiving is mental – but they have such adventurous spirits that I love to be around them. I wish I could learn to be as cool and laidback as Paul and as thrill-seeking as Nina but I will continue to admire those qualities from afar. I could go on all day about their traits and quirks but I would literally be here all day so I’ll save it for another time…
Now it’s probably about time for me to annoy Paul and tell you all an embarrassing story so, I have a personal favourite written for you. It must have been the second week of filming the first season of TVD so at this point we had known each other about six weeks and we were chilling on set sat on a couple of plastic chairs. Like I say – we’d known each other less than a couple of months and were still getting to know each other so we were sat chatting away and Paul offered to go and get a couple of drinks. He went to catering and got us a couple sodas and when he sat back down – rather aggressively – he literally put his whole ass through this plastic chair. The flimsy chair broke and Paul fell on the floor, chucking his soda all over himself whilst simultaneously splitting his skinny jeans from front to back to reveal to me his rather fetching bright purple boxers. Not only is that my favourite on set memory of him, it is probably the oldest significant one.
It would be rude of me to tell you something embarrassing about the bride – although I have PLENTY of funny Nina stories so if any of you are interested feel free to quiz me when I’m drunk later – but I will state the obvious. Neens, we all knew you would make the most beautiful bride. Today as with every day, you are one of the most flawless women on the planet and I’m certain Paul is the envy of men around the world right now. Although your beauty knows no bounds, I have to say that in a world of uncertainty and darkness, you are a beaming light of joy and generosity and we all absolutely adore you for it.
I guess I will conclude by saying that two amazing individuals have joined forces and I couldn’t be happier for you both. Thank you for an awesome day and choosing me to be your best man, I can’t wait for what the future brings for you both and I can’t wait for Teegan to grow up a little so I can tell her about how amazing my best man speech was. I love you guys so much.
Also, shout out to the HOTTEST bridesmaid EVER, Jenna. Okay, goodnight.
@greathairdontcare @nina--dobrev @the-impossible-jenna
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Oliver & Amelia: ‘can’t buy me love’ the two of them are in an arranged engagement. Oliver is super serious business man while Amelia is wild child who comes home drunk most nights. The two have a pretty friction filled relationship. matthew daddario and lily james
Wes & Ellie: ‘only me when I’m with you’ the two are basically attached at the hip. They are best friends but also total soulmates. There is def feelings involved although neither have acted on them... yet. chris wood and danielle campbell
George & Gwendolyn: ‘baby steps’ the two met in high school and were instantly that it couple. They were liked by all and definitely a huge deal in their small town and community. That all kind of changed when they conceived their daughter out of wedlock shocking the town with the scandal. George wanted to follow their parents wishes to get married but Gwendolyn didn’t want to do it out of convenience, which resulted in a fight that ended their relationship. Now the two are trying to coparent their daughter they best they can with feelings still lingering from their previous relationship. paul wesley and phoebe tonkin
Zak & Lucy: ‘dazed & confused’ zak had a pretty shitty upbringing, in fact his parents bailed when he was 14 for good leaving him to fend for himself. Zak started growing and selling weed around his town as a way to provide. As a result he became kind of guarded and untrusting of most people, most people that aren’t lucy. Lucy is the only person who zak allows himself to rely on, even so he tries to claim they are merely smoking buddies who hook up. He def cares about her more than he leads on. tom holland and bridget satterlee
Beau & Janie: ‘just down the hall’ Janie is a girl who has had her whole future planned out since about the time she turned 12. She was going to graduate an ivy school, become a famous journalist, & be married to a handsome businessman. So when she entered her twenties working at a lousy magazine, in a tiny studio apartment, with no husband in sight she found herself allowing herself to have hate sex with the playboy down her hall. The two don’t have anything in common other than their annoyance for the other but that doesn’t stop their little hook ups from happening. scott eastwood and kristine froseth
Ezra & Sophie: ‘back in town’ in high school Ezra and Sophie couldn’t belong to two more different cliques. Ezra was more a shy guy with only a few key friends where as Sophie was admired by all. She was the definition of popular so it was Ezra’s complete surprise when she kissed him after one of their tutoring sessions. That kiss lead to a bunch of hidden kisses behind closed doors, and when Ezra confronted her about going public she refused leading to their break up. Now, back for his break from college Ezra is no longer that insecure shy boy, he is catching the eye of more than just his ex who never left town. nick robinson and scarlett leithold
Nolan & Luna: ‘teach me your ways’ Nolan was only known for one thing at his school & that one thing would be his athletic abilities. No one really expects anything more from him and they def don’t expect him to be smart. For Nolan school was never easy, football was easy but school was another story. So when he was threatened to get kicked off the football team if he didn’t bring his grades up he followed his teachers advice and got tutor from an advanced student, Luna. Luna a shy soft spoken girl who might lowkey have a crush on the guy and is showing Nolan he is worth a lot more than just his sport’s ability. noah centineo and courtney eaton
Harrison & Emmeline: ‘as if’ Emmeline comes from a wealthy family, well her father is rather wealthy which as a result has made Emmeline pretty spoiled. Harrison’s mother ends up married & divorced to Emmeline’s dad and you know the rest. The story of the hipster and the princess. Based strongly on clueless. matt hitt and camila morrone
Fitz & Scarlett: ‘my love don’t come cheap’ Scarlett is a girl with a mystery of a past and who came to the city with nothing but a pair of boots & a duffle bag. To make ends meat & provide for herself she quickly took up a job as a stripper but anyways in walks Fitz businessman playboy. He is detached & he wants what he wants and that happens to be Scarlett. So he keeps calling her & keeps her coming back with the hefty tips he gives. Based totally on Pretty Woman. sebastian stan and dove cameron
Milo & Alice: ‘you are a work of art’ Milo and man who seems reclusive and always buries himself in his work thought by the time he turned 30 he’d have another best seller. At the age of 24 he wrote his first & only best seller and since then hasn’t had much luck when it comes to writing anything close. So deciding to teach an English course at the local college he meets a student by the name of Alice and is quickly intrigued by her beauty. Knowing their love is forbidden & unmoral only fuels his writing and she quickly becomes his muse. However, he never lets her get to close and even though she’s smitten with him he keeps her at a distance and craving more so he can keep writing. sean teale and luma grothe
Sawyer & Beatrice. garrett hedlund and ana de armas
Jack & Nora. ben barnes and emmy rossum
Mila & Adam. bruna marquezine and penn badgley
Sebastian & Zelda. wolfgang novogratz and nicola peltz
Daniel & Charlotte. ross butler and kaylee bryant
Tucker & Billie. austin butler and emma mackey
Noah & Edith. aaron taylor johnson and courtney eaton
pls feel free to edit, change, etc.
xo
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New Post has been published on Paul Wesley Chronicles
New Post has been published on http://paulwesleychronicles.com/fan-friday-michele-likes-to-travel-to-see-paul-tvd-events/
Fan Friday ~ Michele Likes To Travel To See Paul & TVD Events
It’s Fan Friday day and this week Michele Mattos from California shares how she admires Paul along with a few encounters with Paul. You may recognize Michele from the conventions or online as she runs a couple of non official TVD Creation convention Facebook pages for The Vampire Diaries fans.
Hi, I have been watching Vampire Diaries from the first episode and have loved Paul from the start. I truly admire Paul as a person and I love that he speaks out and stands up for the things he believes in (animals, the environment, voting). Anytime he is doing a charity campaign I try and support the cause (I have some great shirts and even some lokai bracelets).
My first chance to meet Paul was July 2012 at a Vampire Diaries convention in San Francisco. Paul was super shy but was great with all of his fans. I have since been to many Vampire Diaries conventions (too many to count) as well as other events that the cast were appearing at. One of my favorite events that I was able to attend was the Vampire Diaries / Originals panel at Paley Fest in Los Angeles.
I have also attended San Diego Comic Con the past 7 years (Yes, I am one of those fans that camps out for panels and trying for autographs). I have also visited Covington, Georgia a few times to see all of the filming locations and recently attended my first Paul Wesley Fandom event which was so much fun.
Over the years, I have watched Paul grow as an actor and come out of his shell with his fans as well. It funny now when I attend events Paul and some of the other cast members seem to recognizes me (seems that way but who knows lol).
I am not a fan of photos with myself in them so I don’t share many of those but I do have many cool items I have had signed. My favorites would have to be my denim Vampire Diaries Jacket, my Wickery Bridge autograph board and my EW magazine signed by Paul, Nina and Ian.
I am very sad to see that the show is coming to an end but I will be going to Covington for the finale and I am also traveling to Chicago in March for the TVD Convention. I will definitely be following Paul and his career to see what the future holds for him. With that said I am really looking forward to him directing an episode of another of my favorite shows of mine, Shadowhunter!
Michele Mattos
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The Vampire Diaries: You Made a Choice to Be Good (8x11)
Ohhhhhhh kayyyyy then. Some stuff happened. It's been a few days since I watched the episode and I find myself still processing.
Cons:
Bonnie and Enzo spend the episode happily discussing their wonderful futures together, as they travel to Bonnie's secret cabin where she has moved Elena. Enzo is going to take the cure and become human. So, predictably, he's dead at the end of the episode, courtesy of one Stefan Salvatore.
I'll give the show this much: definitely didn't see it coming. That is, I didn't see it coming until this episode, where Bonnie and Enzo were all full of sunshine and rainbows and bucket lists. It was pretty inevitable he'd die once all that stuff started happening. But I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed because, despite Enzo maybe not being the most interesting character ever, he and Bonnie's relationship was actually good. This is just another example of a secondary character being axed off as we whittle thing down to our finale, which is destined at this point to be all about the Salvatores and nobody else. I just... hasn't Bonnie suffered enough? You reach a point of diminishing returns when you have a character who never, ever gets to have anything go right for her. In fact, that's another problem with the episode. Bonnie talks about how she finally wants to do what's best for her, making it clear that this momentary self-serving attitude is going to end in disaster. I'm theoretically happy for Bonnie standing up for what she wants, but it's some serious bullshit that she was going to give the cure to Enzo without clearing it with Damon first. Come on.
Cade is in Mystic Falls, and our main plot is all about the deals he made with Stefan and Damon. Kill 100 strangers, or kill your brother's girl. Damon spends the episode trying to figure out a way around this. He doesn't want to slaughter a bunch of people, and he doesn't want to kill Caroline, either. He then learns that Stefan got the same offer, and that he's headed straight for Elena, to finally be rid of her. I liked this main plot, but what I don't like is how ineffective Cade is as a villain. We spent a chunk of time here hanging out in the bar, with Caroline trying to get Matt to drink some of her blood in case things went sideways and he was killed. And Dorian is there too, and we take a lot of really meandering minutes to rehash the old debate about humans vs. vampires. We all know where Matt stands on this issue. Is there really anything new to parse out? I guess it's annoying because it doesn't lead anywhere. It's a closed circle of a little plot thread, and in the end we're back to focusing on bigger and more important elements.
Pros:
On principal, I'm annoyed that Enzo is dead. But the execution itself was sort of a thing of beauty. I have this whole theory about Paul Wesley (Stefan) and his performance in this show. You can tell that he basically stopped caring about the plot years ago, and to be fair, the plot of this show is a silly, meandering thing. At any give point, Stefan is either the long-suffering martyr with a heart of gold and just so much angst and pain, or he's the cold-blooded, sarcastic, yet still slightly bitter ripper who rips out Enzo's heart just because the guy happens to be standing in the way, and has every intention of killing Elena because she poses a slight annoyance to him. It's clear that Wesley enjoys playing evil Stefan more, and in some ways I enjoy watching evil Stefan more.
Parallel to humanity-less Stefan is the newly heartfelt and emotional Damon, who goes to great lengths to protect everybody he can. When he hears Elena's life is in danger, he pleads for her over the phone with Stefan. This conversation is so great, because you can tell that Damon is not getting through to Stefan whatsoever. At one point he says "if you hurt her, you're dead to me, Stefan!" and Stefan's reply is that this is what he wants. He's tired of Damon holding him back. Killing Elena will sever their ties for good. What I loved about this conversation is that Damon didn't threaten to kill Stefan at any point. Even when he was getting in his car to try and beat Stefan to Elena, he tells Caroline that she can't come because she'll slow him down if he needs to "hurt" his little brother. And then he says that Stefan will be dead to him, not that he'll kill him. I just liked this attention to detail here. Stefan didn't kill Damon when Damon killed Lexi. Damon wouldn't kill Stefan, even if Stefan killed Elena. Sure, he'd never forgive him, but he still wouldn't kill him.
Enzo's death isn't the only twist of this episode - Bonnie defends herself from an approaching Stefan by using the one weapon at her disposal - a vial full of Elena's blood that she had just extracted to give to Cade (as part of the plan to kill him). She stabs Stefan with it, then runs to the fallen Enzo, grief-stricken. Human Stefan?! Oh man, this is just rife with angst-ridden possibilities. Damon is supposed to take the damn cure once Elena wakes up, but the cure is a one-shot deal. The logic of this sort of escapes me, but okay whatever. Basically, it's like a relay race. I gather that Stefan can pass the cure on to one other person, and then that person can pass it again? Not clear on the details.
But regardless, this means that Stefan is going to grow older, and now that he's been forced back into his humanity, he'll be begging mercy from his friends, right? And then he could give the cure to Caroline, and the two of them could grow old and die, which would mean when Elena wakes up, everybody would be dead or close to dead. Bonnie, Caroline, and Stefan. Leaving Damon. Who could... then take the cure from Caroline? Maybe? I don't know. Regardless, there's no way for this thing to get passed around to everybody who needs it in the proper time so that all persons involved can grow old with all their loved ones around them. Somebody gets the short end of that stick. Probably Damon. God. It sucks. And it's interesting and challenging and I kind of can't wait to see how it plays out.
The third twist is that Bonnie seems to have her power back. As she wails over Enzo's corpse, a surge of energy comes out of her, seeming to reignite her lost witchy powers. Bonnie, this newly confident, newly heartbroken, newly re-powered individual, could end up being the major player in the events to come. Although the whole thing was a bit on the nose, I appreciated how Bonnie complained about always putting people first. She does, and she'll continue to do so, but every time, it costs her dearly. Having lost Enzo, is she going to be able to forgive Stefan? I mean, clearly he wasn't himself when he did that. But as Matt would say, it was still him. Is Bonnie going to still be on Team Salvatore after all of this? Seems a little hard to imagine.
I don't even know what else to talk about with this one. In some ways, it wasn't a very good episode. The bulk of it felt meandering and uninteresting. But the minute Damon starts racing to get to Elena, everything coalesced into a hell of a final few minutes. Only five more episodes left before this show is done for good. Surprisingly, I'm on the edge of my seat!
8/10
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• • • BASICS
Type of Request: Romance.
Character: For Lydia Montgomery. Please contact this member directly before applying to make sure it’s still available.
Face Claim(s): Tyler Hoechlin, Michael B. Jordan, Chris Evans, Paul Wesley, Ryan Guzman - I’m pretty flexible if you want to suggest someone else! Just message me, and we’ll find someone who works for the both of us. ♥
Basic Details: There’s two options under the cut! This is leaving age, occupation, et cetera pretty up in the open.
Click read more for more information about this request.
• • • INFORMATION
OPTION ONE: I’m a sucker for a good ‘ol fashioned friends to lovers plot. Lydia left Seattle, WA when she was 18 years old to pursue a career in fashion. She’s only been home for holidays since, never really staying for extended periods of time because she’s always had more going on here. In this option, this character would’ve been a good friend to her growing up (or maybe a friends older brother in the case where you’d have a character to make older), and I imagine they haven’t seen each other in awhile. For whatever reason that’s brought him here, he’s moved to New York City; it could be very recent, or within the last year and they just haven’t run into each other because they lost touch. Lydia’s divorce is pretty fresh still, so cue the rekindling of friendship and romance at the same time. Perhaps one of them always liked the other one growing up? Or both ways? There’s lots of room to play here!
OPTION TWO: The second option is based off of “Can You Keep a Secret?” - a book and a recently made movie. In this case, he wouldn’t be her boss, but perhaps he’s someone else in the designing world? Or just someone she met on a plane while coming home from a trip, and now they keep running into each other. I’m pretty open with this one! I just loved the storyline, and Lydia would definitely be the type to spill her guts while she thinks she’s about to die. If you need more details about this, hmu and I’ll gladly explain further if you’re not familiar with the storyline!
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Final Exam
Question #2 Gone but Not Forgotten
The Beastie Boys and MCA Forever
Since High School, the Beastie Boys has been one of my favorite rap groups.
When I was in high school, my musical taste began to stray away from the pop hits the short playlist of chart toppers that streamed all day on 96.7 Kiss FM (the pop radio station in Austin) and I started to explore more obscure, indie music that my friends liked and older music. Both of my parents, my dad especially, have always been old school hip hop fans. When I finally joined Instagram (my dad was on it before I was), he would tag me in or DM me photos of artists who I should check out, like Mos Def, LL Cool J, and Run-DMC. At first, I resisted. But eventually I gave it a try. Run-DMC was the first group I got into, and I really liked the simple beat of the music and their cool style (I am actually wearing the Superstar adidas that I bought in high school). But eventually, because of their collaboration with the group in the mid-‘80s, I eventually ran into the Beastie Boys, one of my favorite groups to this day.
I have gone through a series of phases of obsession with certain artists throughout my lifetime in which I watch all of the artists’ music videos, listen to each of their albums in order, and buy various t-shirts of the artist, and I definitely had a Beastie Boys phase. I liked that the group, Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, and the late Adam “MCA” Yauch, did not take things to seriously, their music was fun, if sometimes problematic. I liked their IDGAF attitude, that was very much the opposite of my self-conscious self in high school. And I liked that their music dipped into the genre-bending and experimental realm. Since the group started out as a rock band, each album usually had a rock song or at least one that combined rock and rap, like the anthem “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” on their first album “Liscensed to Ill.” And “Paul’s Boutique,” although it sounds like a conglomeration of sounds with its various samples, seamlessly blends one song into the next, and I have to listen to it in order every time. I was not yet a Beastie Boys fan when Yauch died in 2012, but the first summer that I spent in New York City for an extended period of time, visiting Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Heights was on my to-do list.
_____________________________________________________________________ Question 3 The Significance of Wesley Morris’ “The Last Taboo”
Morris combines historical context and personal essay to critique the 2016 film “Moonlight.”
“The Last Taboo” by Wesley Morris, published in the New York Times, is a piece of criticism that made me think about the role of the critic and offered a new perspective on what a piece of criticism should look like. In this critique, Morris uses the black penis as a motif to explain the ways in which the depiction of black male sexuality in film has changed over time, how it affected him as a gay, black man, and how we eventually got to see a film like Barry Jenkins’ Academy Awarad winning film, “Moonlight.”
The main thing that makes Morris’ critique effective is his use of context. Before getting into the history of the depiction of black male sexuality in films, he begins the piece by discussing more modern depictions of or representations of male sexuality in modern films and television shows, like “Ted 2” and the HBO series “The Night Of,” comparing and contrasting the way that these shows and films depict the sexualities of black men versus white men. Then he goes into the introduction of and racist history of black men in mainstream film and TV in “Birth of a Nation” and he goes into explaining the significance of Blaxploitation films. So before Morris gets into the main work that he critiques, the reader has a clear idea of where he is coming from, why what he is talking about is important, and because one of the main points of his critique is explaining how we got to seeing a film like “Moonlight,” he shows the reader exactly how by laying going through all of the context.
Towards the end of the essay, Morris talks about “Moonlight” and the importance of Jenkins’ nuanced depiction of, the main character of the film, Chiron’s sexuality in the movie. And then at the very end of the critique, Morris gets into the personal piece of the essay and provides a personal anecdote that sums up how the depiction of black male sexuality affected him growing up and why “Moonlight” and this topic matter to him. Morris’ piece made me reevaluate the role of the critic and the importance of the critic’s point of view. Not only is the critic able to display their response to and opinions on a piece of art, but why the piece of art matters to them specifically and most importantly, why they are writing about it.
_____________________________________________________________________ Fun (but serious!) 1: Thundercat’s “Walkin’” is a Futuristic Bop
“Walkin’” from Thundercat’s 2011 album, “The Golden Age of Apocalypse” has an old school beat with more futuristic sounding instruments thrown on top of it with upbeat lyrics sung by Thundercat himself, Stephen Lee Bruner.
The song begins with the drum beat and then, a guitar with what sounds like effects pedals begins and Bruner sings, “When it’s just you and me, there’s no place I’d rather be.” And the repetitive lyrics throughout sound like a love song that a 1960s boy band like the Beatles sang at the time. The song, only about two minutes long, is short and sweet, like a walk down the block with a friend on a nice day.
The song’s music video was produced as seemingly simply as the song itself. It looks as if Bruner and some friends stepped outside their front door with a digital camera on a sunny day, took some footage, and put it together with Windows Movie Maker. In it, Bruner walks down a suburban sidewalk with a girl, both in matching glasses and t-shirts as some weird things go on around them, a zombie offers them snacks, and a guy in a wizard beard blows bubbles with faces in them. The greatest Blockbuster effect of the video occurs at the end, when a friend shoots lasers out of his eyes, blows up another guy’s head, and then Bruner and his laser-eyed friend go for a high five which ends in an explosion.
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Fun (but serious!) 2: Arts, Culture, and Fashion Criticism
What sticks out to me on the worksheet and its summation of my interests now and in the past, is how much my interests growing up affected me as a writer/critic. In my personal essay on “Mean Girls,” I think I wrote that in high school, my friends and I were pretentious and purposefully listened to music, watched movies and TV shows, and liked things that went against the norm of what everyone else at school liked. I also remember that we used to discuss the arts and culture that we consumed as if we were critics as well (i.e. why we thought the Arctic Monkeys were a better group than One Direction.) So I didn’t realize it at the time, but now I have realized that I was beginning to form opinions on and think about the music I liked in a critical way, even though I thought sometimes that perhaps we were a bit too opinionated.
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101 Quotes for Instagram to Inspire Love
Looking for the best quotes for Instagram?
Instagram is one of the world’s biggest social media platforms today. According to recent statistics, the social networking app boasts of over 1 billion monthly active users.
Such popularity makes it a powerful platform to connect, engage, and influence others. It also makes it a great place for sharing inspirational narratives and spreading love and positivity.
While a picture is worth a thousand words, words can improve a picture by telling a story, providing context, or triggering curiosity. Instagram captions are a great opportunity to tell a powerful story and give information that the audience can’t see for themselves.
To help you channel the positive power of Instagram and help brighten you audience’s day, we’ve gathered these quotes that you can use for your Instagram captions. Use them to spread love to yourself and others.
101 quotes for Instagram to inspire love
1.) “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” – George Sand
2.) “Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.”— Leo Buscaglia
3.) “Love in its essence is spiritual fire.”— Seneca
4.) “We love the things we love for what they are.”— Robert Frost
5.) “Love is like a good cake; you never know when it’s coming, but you’d better eat it when it does!”― C. JoyBell C.
6.) “You don’t love someone because they’re perfect. You love them in spite of the fact that they’re not.” – Jodi Picoult
7.) “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”— James Baldwin
8.) “Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
9.) “Love is not maximum emotion. Love is maximum commitment.” ― Dr. Sinclair Ferguson
10.) “Love For All; Hatred for None” ― Mirza Nasir Ahmad
Inspirational quotes for Instagram
11.) “The only thing we never get enough of is love; and the only thing we never give enough of is love.”— Henry Miller
12.) “A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.” – Max Muller
13.) “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”—Robert A. Heinlein
14.) “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.”— Plato
15.) “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” – Willa Cather
16.) “Better to have lost and loved than never to have loved at all.”– Hemingway
17.) “To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already 3-parts dead.” – Bertrand Russell
18.) “Love is a divine being.”― Lailah Gifty Akita
19.) “A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” – Charles Dickens
20.) “To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.” – Madonna
Uplifting and beautiful quotes for Instagram
21.) “Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.” – Sir Arthur Pinero
22.) “Self-love is the source of all our other loves.” – Pierre Corneille
23.) “The greater your capacity to love, the greater your capacity to feel the pain.”– Jennifer Aniston
24.) “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”—Lao Tzu
25.) “The art of love is largely the art of persistence.”— Albert Ellis
26.) “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much a heart can hold.” – Zelda Fitzgerald
27.) “Love, it never dies. It never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it. Love can make you immortal” – Gayle Forman
28.) “Hate generalizes, love specifies”― Robin Morgan
29.) “One day spent with someone you love can change everything.” – Mitch Albom
30.) “Everything that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.” – Franz Kafka
Inspiring quotes for Instagram that’ll warm hearts
31.) “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”– Ali MacGraw
32.) “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” – Victor Hugo
33.) “The more the soul knows, the more she loves, and loving much, she tastes much.” – W. H. Murray
34.) “Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.” – James Thurber
35.) “If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.”— Benjamin Franklin
36.) “A bird cannot fly with broken wings. Your heart cannot love without learning to heal.”― Kemi Sogunle
37.) “Our first and last love is self-love.”—Christian Nestell Bovee
38.) “Love is a great master. It teaches us to be what we never were.” – Moliere
39.) ”My wish is that you may be loved to the point of madness.” – André Breton
40.) “And if our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky.” ― Kahlil Gibran
Quotes for Instagram to inspire love and friendship
41.) “Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.” – Iris Murdoch
42.) ”The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being.” – Tom Robbins
43.) “The only language you need is the language of the heart – love.”― Simran Silva
44.) “Love is just a word, but you bring it definition.”– Eminem
45.) “We loved with a love that was more than love.” – Edgar Allan Poe
46.) “The first duty of love is to listen.”—Paul Tillich
47.) “Love does not dominate; it cultivates.”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
48.) “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.” – Sophocles
49.) ”There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” – Jane Austen
50.) “Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Quotes for Instagram that’ll make your day
51.) ”To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
52.) “Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.” – John Lennon
53.) “Let the love not escape from within.”― Suchet Chaturvedi
54.) “True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.” – Erich Segal
55.) “We are most alive when we’re in love.”— John Updike
56.) “Love cures people—both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.”—Karl A. Menninger
57.) “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
58.) “Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.” – Washington Irving
59.) “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.” – William Butler Yeats
60.) “The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.”
–Elisabeth Foley
Beautiful love quotes for Instagram
61.) “A simple ‘I love you’ means more than money.”– Frank Sinatra
62.) “Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.” – Rabindranath Tagore
63.) “Love is flower like; Friendship is like a sheltering tree.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
64.) “The love we give away is the only love we keep.”— Elbert Hubbard
65.) “If I know what love is, it is because of you.” – Hermann Hesse
66.) “Love is the greatest refreshment in life.” – Pablo Picasso
67.) “A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.” – Thomas Carlyle
68.) “Man’s best support is a very dear friend.” – Cicero
69.) “Love is ease.” ― Noorilhuda
70.) “Spread love everywhere you go.” – Mother Teresa
Quotes for Instagram that will make you appreciate love
71.) “Love is a promise; love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.”– John Lennon
72.) “I’m gonna fight for you until your heart stops beating.” – Stephenie Meyer
73.) “Life is a game and true love is a trophy.” – Rufus Wainwright
74.) “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”— Sophocles
75.) “A life lived in love will never be dull.” – Leo Buscaglia
76.) “You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.” – Barbara de Angelis
77.) “It’s not what we have, but who we have.” – Winnie The Pooh
78.) “Love is an endless act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is me giving up the right to hurt you for hurting me.”- Beyonce
79.) “The only thing that really matters in life is to love and be loved.” ― Andrew Critchley
80.) “Be in love with your life. Every minute of it.”—Jack Kerouac
Quotes for Instagram about love and friendship
81.) “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”– Aristotle
82.) “Share your smile with the world. It’s a symbol of friendship and peace.” – Christie Brinkley
83.) “True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice.” – Sadhu Vaswani
84.) “We need not think alike to love alike.” – John Wesley
85.) “The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.”— Hubert H. Humphrey
86.) “To love someone means to see them as God intended them.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
87.) “Trust your intuition and be guided by love.” – Charles Eisenstein
88.) “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” – Carl Sagan
89.) “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” – Thomas Aquinas
90.) “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn
Other inspirational quotes for Instagram
91.) “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” – Walt Whitman
92.) “One must not trifle with love.” – Alfred de Musset
93.) “Constant use had not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship.”- Dorothy Parker
94.) “And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.”— Paul McCartney
95.) “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent van Gogh
96.) “We love because it’s the only true adventure.” – Nikki Giovanni
97.) “If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
98.) “I get by with a little help from my friends.” – The Beatles
99.) “Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us, and see the beauty in ordinary things.”—Thomas Merton
100.) “Don’t ever think you are nothing. Somewhere along the line, there is going to be someone who thinks you are everything.” ― MHS Pourri
101.) “Those who listen with their hearts will begin to see patterns everywhere.” ― Grace-Naomi
Did you enjoy these quotes for Instagram?
Although social media can sometimes lead to bullying and negativity, it can also be a place for positivity, diversity, and support.
As one of the most successful social networks today, Instagram provides a great opportunity to inspire and uplift others. Hopefully, these quotes will help you inspire love using your Instagram channel.
Did you enjoy these quotes for Instagram? Which of the quotes was your favorite? We would love to hear all about it in the comment section below.
The post 101 Quotes for Instagram to Inspire Love appeared first on Everyday Power Blog.
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We talk with Walt Austin of Forgotten5.com about this weekend’s game.
After a little over a month hiatus, ladies and gentlemen, I am back. Jack has done an amazing job since taking over here at College and Magnolia. My articles will be few and far between, now, but this is one I promised I would write and there’s no way I couldn’t deliver on it.
The first game of the season is almost upon us. After the long, dark offseason (though one that - football wise - has been much less dark than previous years), it’s time to get down to business. So, with that, it’s time to also talk Auburn’s opening opponent. For that purpose, we’ve brought in a special guest. What follows is a transcript of my conversation with my good friend, Other Walt. Other Walt covers the Eagles for Forgotten5.com.
Walt: Good evening! How are things in the world of Georgia Southern football?
Other Walt: Well, after the horror show of last season, things are going fairly well, right now. Tyson Summers - after a rocky first campaign - made the changes that the fan base wanted, and now we’re back to our identity as a Triple Option team. How about Auburn?
Walt: Well, it’s been an up-and-down tenure for Gus Malzahn, but it seems like Auburn has always been just an injury (and a QB) away from doing something great on the order of the 2013 team. The addition of Jarrett Stidham to a team that returned pretty much every other skill player has Auburn fans primed and ready.
Other Walt: That’s just the offense, though. What about that defense? There are some big pieces to replace there, right?
Walt: Yep. However, even with Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams gone, this is still a stout defensive line. Marlon Davidson was the first true freshman to start on the defensive line for Auburn in, well, ever. He returns, along with a ton of other talent on the line like Derrick Brown, Jeff Holland, Paul James III, and now Big Kat Bryant. Also, Nick Coe will play inside and outside and he was a state champion wrestler for a few years in a row in North Carolina, so you know he has the moves to get to the QB. How about Georgia Southern’s defense?
Other Walt: The Eagles lost a lot on defense last season - including Ukeme Eligwe to the NFL Draft as the first Eagle to leave early and was ultimately drafted by the Chiefs. The secondary may be the strength of this year's defense, though. They were a big question last year, but overall acquitted themselves fairly well. Honestly, I think Georgia Southern’s defense in 2016 was actually pretty good at times, but the lack of offense kept them on the field way too long and wore things down.
Walt: We know how that goes with offensive struggles hurting the defense at times over the last few seasons ourselves. Let’s get back to the offense since the Triple Option is what’s always on people’s mind. It’s often referred to as a “high school offense” by its detractors. What makes it such a part of Georgia Southern and the Eagles’ success?
Other Walt: First off... high school offense? The option in forms like the wishbone has been around for a long time and some of the best teams in history have run it. Even though some seem to think it’s boring, it really is a big-play offense. It’s not like it’s a form of spread brought up by a guy who was a high school coach just a few years ago or anything, right? But, to answer your question, it’s a part of Georgia Southern because almost all of the Eagles’ success has been with it. They’ve been successful with it in part because it’s so rare these days, but it’s also an offense that demands precision by the defense. One missed assignment can be the difference between a loss or no gain and a touchdown.
Walt: Sorry to ruffle some feathers there (no pun intended). I’m just repeating what plenty say.
Other Walt: I know, and I’m sure you’re used to the same type of statements. So, how do you think Auburn’s defense will match up against the Option?
Walt: Auburn has a ton of speed on defense. The defensive backs may be the best group we’ve had in years. The same goes with the linebackers. These linebackers were excellent at shutting down Deshaun Watson last year. They’re old-fashioned head hunters just like their coach, Travis Williams, was. The defensive line is also beastly. From watching Option teams like Georgia Tech play big, talented lines, it’s much harder for them to gain yards when they can’t get that initial push. That will be Auburn’s goal, of course, to disrupt the play at the line and get into the backfield at the mesh point of the dive and force pitches outside where the speedy defensive backs and linebackers can wrap things up.
Other Walt: Fair enough. I know Georgia Southern has their work cut out for them against that Front 7. That’s especially true with a brand new QB in Shai Werts. But, hey, the Eagles did pretty well the last time they were in Jordan-Hare with a freshman QB!
Walt: I remember, I was there! I was 7 years old, but I remember it well.
Other Walt: Hey, I was there, too!
Walt: ...
Other Walt: ...
Other Walt: Back to the conversation, though. The Eagles have a ton of talented skill players. You wouldn’t know it from last season when the coaching staff took the Ferrari they’d been handed and turned it into a Vespa, but they’re there. Don’t sleep on running backs LA Ramsby and Wesley Fields. They’re a powerful 1-2 punch. Even with Matt Breida gone to the NFL to the 49ers as an Undrafted Free Agent (who is set to make the team because he’s awesome but didn’t get drafted because of the horrific offense that didn’t showcase him last year and cut down the production of a guy who had double-digit 50+ yard TD runs in 2014 and 2015 but I digress), the Eagles have a strong backfield.
Walt: I’ve seen footage of Fields, he reminds me a lot of Tre Mason.
Other Walt: That’s fair, he has some good moves, is elusive, and has a real quick burst when a hole opens.
Walt: That’s some good football talk, now we need to address something else... Y’all copied our Eagle flight. And, you joined the ever-growing legion of teams who have copied Tiger Walk, too. You know we started that, right? We refer to it as “the most copied tradition in football,” now.
Other Walt: The first to have a team walk to the stadium. Big whoop. At least our eagle hasn’t run into a window.
Walt: Oh, come on, like you have reason to talk. I have it on good authority that the VERY NEXT WEEK your Eagle flew off into parking lot and landed at someone’s tailgate!
Other Walt: Oh yeah, well what’s with the mascots? Why do you have two of them? Or three, if we count the whole Plainsman thing.
Walt: First off, what the hell was up with this? On the mascot front, Auburn only has one mascot. The Tiger. War Eagle is a battle cry. Plainsman isn’t really used much, but it is a way to refer to the students.
Other Walt: Still sounds kind of stupid.
Walt: Yeah, well, calling a drainage ditch “Beautiful Eagle Creek” and risking necrotizing fasciitis for the seniors is kinda stupid, too.
Other Walt: Oh, hell no, you’ve gone too far, now. And don’t worry, we’re bringing some of it with us! We sprinkle it in the end zones. The gnats work to keep you out, you see. That’s a tradition started by the great Erk Russell. I believe you’ve heard of him?
Walt: Absolutely! The last 4-sport letterman at Auburn. That’s some common ground we definitely have. Erk is the greatest.
Other Walt: Erk belongs in the College Football Hall of Fame. We can even work together to get him there.
Walt: Oh! I found another thing we can agree on! Brian Van Gorder is the worst.
Other Walt: I’m sorry, I do not know that name. I think you’re talking about a gentleman who has coached at both of our schools. A man who so ruined Georgia Southern football that the sweetest southern woman I’ve ever met (who never cusses) refers to him as “That Damn Yankee Sonuvabitch.” But, yeah, he is the worst.
Walt: Well, Also Walt, thanks for taking the time to talk with me! I take it you’re going to be at the game?
Other Walt: Sure will! Thanks for inviting me. And be sure to look for my game preview at Forgotten5.com this Thursday or Friday! I’ll go a little more in-depth on what I think of the game and the match-ups, then.
Walt: Go luck this weekend. I hope it’s a clean game with no injuries and great times had by all fans involved! War Eagle!
Other Walt: Thanks, and Hail Southern!
from College and Magnolia http://bit.ly/2vsYmzC
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Saying Goodbye To 'The Vampire Diaries'
After eight successful seasons, CW’s “The Vampire Diaries” is closing the doors of the Salvatore mansion and saying farewell to Mystic Falls.
The supernatural series, which starred Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Candice King, Kat Graham and Nina Dobrev, is wrapping up on March 10, leaving behind a legacy of wacky, witchy, blood-sucking, doppelgänging storylines.
But how will it all come to an end? Below, “The Vampire Diaries” showrunner Julie Plec and stars Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore) and Candice King (Caroline Forbes) reflect on the show’s run with The Huffington Post, and hint at what’s to come in the series finale.
The episode is not without its share of heartbreak. Like Elena says, 'Sometimes you have to feel pain in order to know that you’re alive.' Those are some of her words from the finale and are certainly true of the finale itself.
Julie Plec on death in the final episode
Bidding Farewell To The Characters
Julie Plec: I told everybody at the read-through that we would be saying goodbye to every set, every person and every important prop along the way, up to and including, literally, the last shot of Damon’s Camaro. [Laughs]
Candice King: I think the only time I kept getting choked up was at the mention of saying goodbye to Caroline. I’ve been lucky to play a character for so long that I kind of felt like I knew who she was. I didn’t really have to dive into it too much after eight years, and so whenever anyone asked me what it would feel like to say goodbye and put that character to rest, that’s when I started tearing up a little bit. This was my first show, it was my first significant job, and for the first couple of years I didn’t know if I was going to be lucky enough to keep my job because they killed a lot of characters off. So she just represents so much of who I became as an actor. I feel like playing Caroline prepared me for whatever happens next in my career, wherever that takes me.
Paul Wesley: Saying goodbye to the character Stefan and the things that came along with being on the show [was hard]. Honestly, the show went on for so long that you sort of start saying goodbye by Season 6. It’s not a sudden jolt — you’re already starting to transition into a different phase in your life. So it wasn’t like I was splashed in the face with cold water and in complete shock. I’ve sort of been saying my slow goodbye to the character for about three years now, which I’m grateful for because it makes it easier to transition.
Last Day On Set
CK: The last day on set was incredibly emotional. I knew that I needed to cry … a lot. And luckily Julie was directing and wrote the last episode and she’s a crier, so it made me feel comfortable to cry as much as I did. It felt like an important moment of closure. “The Vampire Diaries” represented the majority of my 20s. I booked the show when I was 21 and I’m about to turn 30 now, so it’s really defined a decade of my life — and a pretty significant one as far as growing up and who you become. It really did shape me, and a lot of that is because of the people I got to work with. It felt so significant to stand next to so many people that had seen me grow and change and who’ve I’ve seen grow and change. We’ve all been with each other through life and death and marriage and divorce, and to be able to all stand in the Salvatore House great room set and hold hands and put arms around each other and really say goodbye to the series was a powerful moment I’ll never forget. A lot of tears, and silly string. The silly string brought the laughs after the tears.
JP: In that last moment, we really wanted to get Paul and Ian [Somerhalder] at the same time and so I had Candice and Kat [Graham] work with the art department, props and the AD department so that they could ninja-style launch an attack with the silly string and all the poppers and the sparkling champagne and all that. So we ended up wrapping on a party note.
PW: Oh, it was really funny. It was a bit surreal. I finished my take in my final scene and literally they hadn’t even yelled cut yet and someone just sprayed silly string directly into my eye. [Laughs] I have grown up on the set of “Vampire Diaries,” and, in many ways, it’s a beautiful thing and, in many ways, I have a relatively myopic view of things because you’re on set eight months out of the year. I’m 34 and I certainly want to be able to honor some of the artistic feelings I have in terms of my taste level. “The Vampire Diaries” is a fantastic show and I am so grateful for it and I think that it’s been incredible, but it will be exciting for me to do a series or a film or a play, as an actor, that is definitely a little more focused on adult stories.
The Finale Script
JP: We wanted to accomplish both tying it in a bow and leaving it open-ended, and give a sense of the future for each character ― whether they lived or died, understand where they were heading in their lives and what they were feeling. So you get a real sense of what’s to come but also a real sense of feeling like, “OK, these people, in their own way, are each going to be fine.” And that was important, since the launch of the series for me personally, to give it “a happy ending” in the midst of heartbreak. And then being able to have Kevin [Williamson] there to shape the “the how,” “the who” and “the what,” and help make the choices with me, and say goodbye to these characters with someone else who’s loved them equally for eight years was a real pleasure. In the directing, the burden was on me not to mess anything up. I’d rather have that burden on me then put it in the hands of somebody else. [Laughs] So, I took it upon myself to make sure we got it done.
CK: I was so proud of the writers and what they accomplished in writing the finale — specifically Julie and Kevin, but the whole team, too. It really gives the fans of the series everything that they wanted. I read it and it felt so good as a fan of television knowing how much space they had to fill and all these doors they had to close. I felt like they did a really, really wonderful job.
JP: The first challenge was just figuring out the cleanest and most powerful way to wrap up Season 8. Then, we got into how we were going to wrap up the series. And when it all comes down to it, we were actually able to balance the two really nicely. The first half of the episode is the roller-coaster ride of resolution to Season 8 and the second half of the episode is the emotional roller-coaster of saying goodbye to all the characters.
Reuniting With Former Cast Members
CK: Season 3, we were still having goodbye parties for when people left, but by the time everyone started coming back as guest stars, that stopped. [Laughs] We’ve seen a lot of the characters come back and forth throughout the years, but it was so special to have everybody back for the wrap party. There are some more people making an appearance in the finale, so it was really fun. It was a walk down memory lane ... I don’t want to list people because I don’t want to get in trouble! But yeah, you’ll see a bunch of people in the finale.
JP: These are good people whom we’ve had good friendships with over the years and characters that we love and said goodbye to very early, so being able to bring them back into one spot and celebrate their existence as characters but also as actors who are a part of the family was really great.
It’s just amazing how you can take people eight years later, plop them in the exact same situation, and they’re completely different human beings.
Paul Wesley on the original love triangle
Nina Dobrev’s Return
PW: It was wild. I kept having these kind of flashbacks of Season 1 on specific sets — I don’t want to give away the sets because I don’t know what I’m allowed to say — but I just remember we were like kids and our lives were completely different. Ian’s priorities and his sort of outlook, as well as mine and Nina’s, were all so radically different than what they are now. I had this surreal moment where I just looked at both of them and I just thought, “Oh, my goodness, we’re doing a very similar scene to what we did eight years ago yet the way our brains are wired and our priorities have completely shifted.” It’s just amazing how you can take people eight years later, plop them in the exact same situation, and they’re completely different human beings.
JP: They kind of slipped right back into their roles with each other and shooting scenes with the three of them was a nice nostalgia.
CK: We all knew from the beginning that Nina would be coming back, so it wasn’t a surprise for us. But yeah, it was great. It was nice to have everyone there for those final moments. We were all so young when the show started, so it was fun to be able to go back through old pictures from the pilot. Also, It was great to be a part of a show that encouraged female friendships as opposed to female backstabbing. This show actually celebrated women being friends and I think Nina, Kat and I were very proud of that.
Will True Love Win?
CK: Stefan is still human and Caroline is a vampire — and with people coming back to Mystic Falls, we’ll see what kind of chaos they bring with them. All of your questions [concerning Stefan & Caroline, Damon & Elena and Bonnie & Enzo] will be answered, and not everyone always ends up with what they wanted, but that doesn’t mean they’re not happy with where they end up.
PW: I’m not sure that because Elena has suddenly awoken Stefan is going to leave Caroline to jump into another woman’s arms. Stefan is very loyal. I’m not saying that it won’t be challenging, but there’s going to be a variety of different things that test their relationship. Look, I don’t want to give away too much but it’s definitely going to be emotional, that’s for sure.
JP: I think that “how” we wrapped up the love stories is a less answerable question than “we did.” I’m not sure how we managed to pull it off, but we did. Whatever form it comes in, everyone will have a sense of hope for what the rest of their existence will look like.
Death Is Upon Us
CK: “The Vampire Diaries” has never been scared of saying goodbye to characters. So as we’ll be saying hello to a lot of characters we haven’t seen in a while, we might be saying goodbye to some, as well.
PW: Look, there’s definitely a death coming, and potentially multiple. Someone is dying, I’ll tell you that right now. It is and it isn’t surprising. We’ve had people die and come back to life, but there’s no coming back [now]. This is the final episode, so whoever dies here is dead. I think that’s the difference.
JP: The episode is not without its share of heartbreak. Like Elena says, “Sometimes you have to feel pain in order to know that you’re alive.” Those are some of her words from the finale and are certainly true of the finale itself.
Spinoffs, Sequels, Revivals, Oh My!
PW: No spinoffs. There’s no going back, which is a bigger deal in many ways.
CK: Oh man, I’m not going to mess with that answer. I have no idea. But as far as this season and this series and this version of “The Vampire Diaries,” it’s answered. You kind of see where everyone [ends up]. You’re finally not going to end the episode with a bunch of questions, you’re going to get your answers.
JP: I would never say no to continuing to explore the — somebody coined the phrase for me the other day, which I love — “TVDU,” “The Vampire Diaries Universe.” I have no desire to exploit it, but I also know that there are plenty of opportunities for stories left to be told. That being said, I don’t have that plan right now, it’s just something that’s always living in the back of my brain as a future opportunity.
The Cultural Significance Of “TVD”
JP: I remember my freshman year of college sitting in my TV room at the end of my dorm hallway with one other girl watching the premiere of “Beverly Hills, 90210.” And then, a year later, walking into a room packed with college students watching “90210,” and I thought, “I wonder what it must be like to be part of a phenomenon like that.” And when all is said and done, I think that if you look at the success of this show across all international platforms, and Netflix, and on streaming, and the run that’s it’s had on The CW, it’s been that and I’m so proud of that.
PW: I really worked pretty diligently to get onto a series that I thought was going to have an impact and I thought was going to last a long time. I really wanted it to have a pop cultural significance and I think we accomplished that. What I learned from playing Stefan is to really enjoy the process. I look back and I think about the times when I was worried about how something was going to turn out or a certain character choice when I should have been enjoying the ride a little bit. Stefan, in a synonymous sense, can be a little brooding and self-serious, and I think that is parallel to my life a little bit. So whatever I’m doing now and as I’m getting older, I learn to appreciate it and be in the moment and more present as opposed to always thinking about the future and the past.
So Long, Fake Fangs, Red Eyes and Prop Blood
CK: I’m excited to see what happens next for me. I love television and I love working in TV, but I’m open to any medium that will have me. I might need to take a break from fake blood and prosthetics, and always being on the cusp of death or someone always being about to die. I just need to laugh instead of cry for a while. But I’m just so grateful that this has been a career that I’ve pursued and had some success in at this point, so I just want to keep working.
PW: I think saying goodbye to fake blood and fangs for a little while is kind of an understatement. [Laughs] It’s been a great chapter. I find genre can be an amazing metaphorical phase and can convey human stories on a very analogous level. But I know that unless it’s the absolute role of a lifetime, I don’t think I will ever be able to play a vampire again, that’s for sure. I mean, never say never. The original conceit of a vampire dating back to “Dracula” or “Nosferatu” or movies like “Shadow of a Vampire” with Willem Dafoe, they’re obviously great stories. So, I wouldn’t turn a blind eye to that, but I think in the near future I can’t imagine playing a vampire again.
JP: I want the fans to know that we loved this show over the years as much as they did and we wanted to honor these eight years by telling the best end to this story that we could. We have had a very emotional experience putting it together and are all collectively really proud of it, and so we hope that they can enjoy it along with us.
“The Vampire Diaries” series finale, “I Was Feeling Epic,” airs Friday at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.
These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
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