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montheline · 4 months

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❦Short Astro Observations❦

☁️ Aries placements always look AMAZING with short hair cuts like ughhh work you bad ass bitch😍🥹

☁️ I notice that a lot of people I know that are only child’s have a Scorpio sun ☀️

☁️ Having Pluto aspecting the MC or Ascendant of a composite chart can mean having random people obsessing/having jealousy over your relationship (ex. ariana grande and mac miller, winona ryder and johnny depp, kim and kanye...etc lol)

☁️If you have an Aries sun in your composite chart with someone, more than likely they’ll probably feel like your soulmate/first love or you were just already profoundly attracted to them at first sight

☁️ Having 6th house/10th house synastry with someone means there’s a 9.9 times out of 10 chance of you meeting them at work or school

☁️ I’ve noticed that men who have a lot of admiration and respect for women tend to have Capricorn, Cancer and/or Libra placements

☁️ If you have a stellium in the 8th house of your solar return chart be ready for a deeply transformative year (deadass....like i'm so ready for 2023 to be over alreaddddyyyyyyy #yesthisisacryforhelplol

☁️ I noticed people saying oh if you have cancer placements that means that you’re gonna have big boobs, which is definitely not true lol but what I have found to be true is that a lot of times people with cancer placements tend to be of shorter stature (they real petite lol, men tend to be short-average height)

☁️ Having Venus or Lilith in your 12th house can make you have pretty feet

☁️ If you have your moon in someone’s 5th house it’s very likely for them to become your favorite person😍

☁️ Having 9th house synastry with someone can be very transformative and growing. However, this also could also mean outgrowing someone with this synastry, doesn’t mean you won’t be together again it’s just so heavily based on growth and if you guys can’t see eye to eye with this synastry sooner or later you’ll have to let it go

☁️ I feel Edge & Lita we’re a great example of 8th house synastry. There relationship had a lot of “8th house” dynamics (Lita cheated on her boyfriend Matt at the time with Edge, overtly sexual couple, has a “forbidden” vibe, as a couple on t.v. and in real life they received a lot of backlash but it was something so compelling and magnetic about them being together that you couldn’t ever really look away from)

☁️You can always tell when a person has Scorpio placements, it’s in the eyes 👁️👁️. Their eyes always pull you in by the smokiness. Like for example: Anne Hathaway (I guessed she had Scorpio placements in her chart while I was watching my comfort film “Devil Wears Prada” lol..but yeah you CAN TELL BRUH it’s the magnetic pull and the “smokiness effect” of her eyes

☁️ Having a lot of 3rd House or 9th house placements can indicate becoming a teacher/professor or something that deals with teachings and education 👩🏾‍🏫

☁️When gemini placements try to listen to other people talk they have the most hilarious resting face i've ever seen, it's like they look uncomfortable/confused/interested/dissociating all at the same time trying to listen, lmaooo its hard to explain

☁️My favorite teacher is a red head and I remember reading something on tumblr saying "aries placements" can give you red hair or something like that and I told her "i swear if you have aries placements imma freak out" and guess what..she has a aries mars, idk i just felt like sharing this with yall lmaoo

☁️ Finding out that Ed Sheeran has a Pisces venus makes so much sense to me. He made songs like “Perfect” , “Thinking Out Loud”, “Photograph”, etc for crying out loud. Like this man’s a hopeless romantic fr lol (makes the best wedding music too lol)

☁️ Scorpio placements (especially scorpio mars) HATE LIARS.

#astrology #astro community #montheline #synastry #astro observations #astro tumblr #astro #astro romance #random astro #astrology notes

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tygerbug · 9 months

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BARBIE (2023) - Toward the end of writer-director Greta Gerwig's Barbie, America Ferrara (as Gloria) gives a speech about the tightrope that women must walk, the impossible and contradictory standards that a woman must navigate in order to be taken seriously in society and seen as a person. It is an overtly feminist moment but also serves as a metaphor for the film itself, which has to balance very contradictory tones in order to please several very different and contradictory audiences and owners. Is Barbie a fish-out-of-water comedy about two fashion dolls traveling to the real world? Is it a serious feminist statement about growing up in a patriarchy which does not value women enough? Is it Blade Runner? Is it a toy commercial? As Will Ferrell's character might say, "Yes." It is all of these things and a lot more, and in the hands of a less capable director that would have been a bigger problem than it is.

Like Barbie herself, Barbie the movie is expected to be everything all at once, to all people. Some of the things this movie is expected to be contradict each other pretty heavily. The film is trying to do a lot, and there's a lot of evidence of roads not taken. So much is unexplained or left hanging, and so much of what happens is silly and frivolous. This is a very smartly-made movie, which at times seems very dumb or makes dumb decisions, partly because what it's trying to accomplish as a film is nearly impossible.

It is possible to imagine a better version of this film, one which explains itself better, leaves less characters unexplored, leaves less plot threads hanging, goes to darker places, and does not make so many compromises. But I can't imagine that film getting funded as a $145 million toy commercial from Mattel, with an extra $150 million spent on marketing. Under the circumstances it's impressive that the film is as good as it is. That imaginary version of the film would be more coherent, and probably Oscar-worthy, but you'd have to call it "Malibu Stacy" or something, as The Simpsons did, and it wouldn't be one of the biggest hits of this year. What we have instead is a very complicated gymnastics act to satisfy many different audiences and the demands of corporate capitalism. The film sticks the landing, and comes out of all this looking as beautiful as a doll-sized Margot Robbie. But it's also full of moments which are out of place, underwritten, confusing and weird, like a doll-sized Kate McKinnon.

The toy company Mattel has been trying to get into the movie business for some time, as Hasbro already did with "Transformers" and "My Little Pony," among others. They've been trying to crack the code of a Barbie movie for adults for years. (And apart from Barbie, the idea of Mattel getting into movies is mostly a bad idea.) At Sony, up until 2017, Diablo Cody was writing a more ironic, deconstructionist version to star Amy Schumer, as a Barbie who didn't fit in. (Cody has said that the more traditional Barbie was not seen as feminist enough at the time, and that they struggled with comparisons to The Lego Movie.) Anne Hathaway was attached to a version written by Olivia Milch (Ocean's 8) until the project reverted to Mattel, and moved ahead at Warner Bros.

Greta Gerwig's Barbie feels like a film rewritten over the scattered corpse of a worse film, or many possible worse films. It walks the tightrope of being both an ironic deconstruction of the character, and an unironic celebration of Barbie which shows her in the best possible light. This film has a lot to say about Barbie's place in pop culture, as an ideal that little girls want to be like, which also saddles them with unrealistic expectations that can be very harmful. Since this film is also a toy commercial by Mattel, Barbie the movie can't interrogate these issues too negatively, but it goes farther than you'd think. It starts a conversation about what Barbie has meant to girls and women since 1959, which gives the film much of its meaning. The film raises some basic questions that it's not actually allowed to answer, while ignoring others. The chaotic script feels like the product of extended battles with Mattel, where the filmmakers are allowed to say certain things, and get away with certain things, only in specific scenes and in specific contexts.

Consider the rebellious teenager Sasha, as she meets Barbie for the first time. Sasha believes this is just a woman pretending to be Barbie, or that this is a crazy woman believing herself to be Barbie. Sasha and her entire friend group unload on Barbie about the negative effects that Barbie has had on society, to the point of calling her a fascist, without quite explaining why. This is a strange scene, because they've just met this woman and have very little reason to see her as "the real Barbie," or a representation of Barbie. They have barely been provoked to unload on Barbie like this, and we don't really hear this kind of talk from Sasha (or the movie) afterward. But the scene is written this way because that's where Sasha and Barbie are, at this point, as characters, and so this is the scene where Sasha is allowed to say these things, and where by extension Greta Gerwig is allowed to raise these questions, without openly agreeing or disagreeing with them. By the end of the film, Sasha will be saying stuff like "Barbie, you got this!"

Or consider Will Ferrell, as an executive in charge at Mattel. While we meet him in the "real world," he is a whimsical and comedic character, whose motivations are concealed behind several layers of irony. We are supposed to read him as "a Will Ferrell character," perhaps identical to his character in The Lego Movie (something that Barbie was compared to often, in development). He could also be Buddy the Elf from Elf, or George W. Bush from SNL. We know who this characters is, because he's played by Will Ferrell, but it would be very hard to explain his character otherwise. That's because this character has been forced into an impossible position, and gets around it by being several contradictory things at once. Will Ferrell, vaguely, occupies the space of an antagonist or villain for this film. He represents the real-world corporate patriarchy that Barbie is really struggling against, and his ostensible goal is to capture Barbie and restore her to factory settings. But he also represents Mattel, in a movie produced by Mattel, so at no point can he actually be the villain. Will Ferrell coats the role in several layers of irony and comedic schtick that make him hard to pin down. He plays the role with a wink. When his men are chasing Barbie, he is doing schtick rather than seriously trying to capture her. He forgets or changes his motivations quickly, while still pursuing Barbie, and most of his lines afterward are about how he's a nice guy really, and the son of a mother. He does that with a wink too, making his character hard to explain generally. He occupies the general space of a villain or antagonist, but also has to assure you that this is not the case in any serious sense. The daftness of the character papers over any holes in the story by assuring you it doesn't matter.

This is equally true late on, for the exact same reasons, when (spoiler alert) Barbie struggles with the Kens. The Kens can't actually be the villain in any serious sense, despite the serious real-world threat they represent, because this is a toy commercial for Barbie and Ken. When the Kens go to war, it needs to be as serious as possible, and as silly as possible, at the exact same time. Tonally, this film always needs to do everything backwards in high heels. It's a tough tone to hit. Ryan Gosling distinguishes himself as Ken, whose job is just "Beach." Gosling must convince us that he's both the generic, harmless (and stupid) Ken doll, and a character with much deeper psychological issues that he's working through, without the one overshadowing the other. Ken becomes a cautionary tale about how someone who is missing something in his life can easily become radicalized into something much darker, but not to the extent that he is irredeemable and can't be Ken anymore. This is a film which puts its actors in a very contradictory position when it asks anything of them, although the other Kens and Barbies are not explored deeply as characters. The film must have it both ways. It tackles toxic masculinity in a way which is both deeply serious and unserious. There is a very cutting remark, at one point, about a recent superhero film, which must only have been allowed because Warner Bros also owns that film, and which could also be very loosely interpreted as saying it appeals to its desired demographic. At one point in the film, Ken tries to figure out the rules of the Real World, and whether the opportunities he wants can simply be given to him. This opens a few questions about the many layers of societal gatekeeping - of wealth, class, race and so on - which makes opportunities harder to attain for the unconnected. Unfortunately these are also questions that are well beyond the scope of this movie. Despite a diverse cast, race and sexuality don't enter into this as themes.

Another thing the film doesn't- and can't- mention is that Barbie was not an original creation of Ruth Handler, but was based on the German "Lilli" doll, based on a sexy comic strip for adult men. The doll caught the attention of little girls precisely because it wasn't initially meant for them. As Helen Mirren's narrator notes, Barbie seemed much more exciting than dolls of little babies. She seemed to open up a world of adult possibilities, precisely because she was originally an adult fantasy. Ruth Handler is played here by Rhea Perlman, with probably a bit less gravitas than the role calls for, although she gets in a few good joke lines about Ruth Handler's real-world issues with financial fraud, yet another thing I'm surprised Gerwig got away with referencing here. (The contributions of Jack Ryan, and his troubled personal life, are not referenced.)

Margot Robbie holds the movie together as Barbie, also known as "stereotypical Barbie," the Barbie you think of when you think "Barbie." While there is a diverse cast of Barbies and Kens played by familiar faces, they're not cast to be "Barbie and Ken" in the way that Robbie and Gosling are. At one point in the film, at Ken's urging, a Nobel Prize in Horses is given out. For her part, Robbie seems to be trying to win an Academy Award in Barbie. Once again, this role carries a lot of contradictory expectations with it. We all know about Barbie, and her perfect, silly, fake little world, where everything is pink and plastic, and about 23% too small. Robbie gets laughs by parodying the doll Barbie, but also embodying her unironically as if it's the role of a lifetime. This is a silly, frivolous, comedic character, which also requires extremely serious dramatic acting, and the one side informs the other. This is both the fashion doll "Barbie," and a real person who is having a nervous breakdown, either because she's becoming a real person, or for other reasons which are only barely explained, and arguably outside the scope of this film. (America Ferrara's "crazy drawings" and parental angst are only hinted at, as is whatever magic connects Barbie to Mattel.) Margot is good enough as an actress that you never question it. She brings some serious drama to scenes which aren't otherwise filmed like serious drama. It is also fun to see Barbie wear all her little outfits, an energy which she also brought to the worldwide premieres of the film, with a different Barbie outfit at each event. I believe the SAG-AFTRA strike meant that we missed out on some of her final Barbie looks, and this thought will haunt me. Margot Robbie fulfills one of the requirements for playing Barbie in a film like this, which is that you should be a little too attractive to be playing someone as bland as Barbie. This is something that Mattel understood when they turned the adult property "Lilli" into the kids property "Barbie." Even Helen Mirren's narration points out, at one point, that Margot Robbie has difficulty playing Barbie as "ugly," even when "ugly crying." She has no such difficulty playing Barbie as a cultural monolith, or with a wink as she floats downstairs as a Barbie girl in a Barbie world.

That song, Barbie Girl by Aqua, parodied the character in a way which got them sued by Mattel, and which would still be inappropriate in this film if played in full. But audiences would also notice if it wasn't played, so once again the film is put in an impossible position, and tries to have it both ways. So the end credits have a song which features portions of "Barbie Girl." The intro also features Lizzo, discussing Barbie's pink world in a way which gives it a little more street cred. And there's a sad ballad by Billie Eilish which better reflects Barbie's identity crisis- and the film's.

I wasn't left wanting more- the film does not call for a sequel- but I was left wanting more clarity on what we got. What have we really achieved, at the end, for the Barbies and Kens, and does it matter? What have we achieved in the real world, and does it matter? Does this journey only really matter for Barbie herself? What does it even mean to have Barbie in the real world? Okay, that's better left unexplained, probably. Like most of our journeys it's about growing up, learning how the world works, and realizing you actually can't go back home again. Even Barbie never really had a choice. The connection between the real world and Barbie world is probably best left unexplained, although the transition is handled well with rear-projection backgrounds. it does raise the question of how "real" Will Ferrell's character even is, as he acts almost like an escaped Ken. How "real" is the real world when it also has magical elements and exaggerated characters? What is Barbie's connection to the ghost of Ruth Handler, who only sort of created Barbie anyway? Why is "Barb" from "Barb and Star" here? Is that to make the movie more "Barb"-y?

At one point an FBI agent calls in, tracking Barbie. This is never mentioned again- I believe that those tracking Barbie afterward are Mattel employees, and not a lot of them. Is Gloria connected to our Barbie because she works at Mattel, and played with a discarded Barbie? Were her "weird drawings" really all that weird? Can we assume that the Barbies reflect the dreams of the girls playing with them, including a doctor played by trans actress Hari Nef, and a President played by Issa Rae? Wouldn't there be a lot of Barbie Lands in that case, with this little town just standing in for all of them? That sounds too complicated. Does it matter?

If this is a current Barbie lineup, without "discontinued" dolls, why are the retro pair of pregnant Midge and rainbow-shirted Allan present? We never see them together either, so what is Allan? Is "Allan" its own gender entirely? What would it mean to be Allan-gender? (Allan appears to be, simply, Michael Cera, no more and no less.) What is Allan's motivation? Is it enough to say that "Allan is Ken's Buddy" and that "all of Ken's clothes fit him?" Probably! Would it fix the Kens' problems if they figured out whether any of this is a gay thing, or not? Is "Weird Barbie" (Kate McKinnon) a gay thing? Isn't she "weirder" in the real world than she is in the "Barbie world?"

I believe we never hear about Skipper, Barbie's younger sister, in the film until hearing that a Skipper once escaped into the real world. Two Skippers, including the bizarre "Growing Up Skipper" (with growing bust) appear as discontinued Barbies later. It is clearer, for this film's purposes, to just refer to a lot of Barbies and Kens when setting up this world. But I'll bet there was a draft setting up Skipper. There have been a lot of animated Barbie movies where Barbie has a family and other continuity, but this film is more interested in a personal experience of Barbie rather than any of that corporate lore. I've heard that some of the animated Barbie Dreamhouse content is jokey and meta.

Basically none of the male characters have motivations that make very much sense or are explored in any detail, which I think was a good choice on the director's part.

And that's just the stuff that seems to matter, until it doesn't, like the entire plot. There are a lot of throwaway moments and details which will make you say, that was kind of weird. Or, I have questions about that.

There's a few jokes in the film about "guy movies," and it seems significant that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, which was originally tracking to open to much smaller audiences than Barbie, has been very successful in piggybacking off of Barbie as a double feature. For one thing, this is Ken behavior. For another, the online reaction was sometimes very toxic. People excited about going to see Barbie on social media were often harassed with all kinds of slurs. Even by itself this supports the very basic point about what women have to put up with. The opening was a huge success for both films, with Barbie surpassing $200 million and Oppenheimer crossing $100 million between Thursday and Tuesday or so, opening weekend.

I was reminded of how Barbie's trailer sets this movie up as really something special, which the movie itself delivers on. The movie has something to say about Barbie, and about the world we live in. It's visually beautiful and funny. It calls back to classic films of the 20th century, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Grease, golden-age musicals, The Matrix, The Wizard of Oz, and the work of Jacques Tati. When I saw Barbie, on the big screen, it was preceded by some of the worst movie trailers I've seen in my life. Often movies based on toys and familiar IP, with nothing interesting to say, saying it in the most obnoxious way possible.

Barbie is a silly toy commercial comedy that also manages to, for the most part, be a meaningful piece of cinema with something to say, crafted masterfully by the director. It does what a "guy's movie" would do backward in heels, making an impossible situation seem relatively effortless. There are things that this movie does not accomplish, but under the circumstances I wouldn't expect it to. Barbie is a concept by which we may measure ourselves, if we so choose. It is the start of a conversation, asking questions that it is not at all prepared to answer. For the Barbies and Kens, nothing needs to be resolved. For us in the real world, nothing ever can be. Barbie does not have the answers. In its desire to please many different kinds of audiences, as well as its corporate masters at Mattel and Warner Bros, there is something inevitably missing at the heart of the film. This Barbie is a gorgeous piece of plastic, but it is also, in the end, inevitably hollow. And in that missing space in the middle, it is inevitable that audience members will insert themselves. That is true whether you see yourself as a Barbie, a Ken, a Gloria, a Sasha, a Greta, whatever Allan is, or something else entirely. This Barbie has more personality than other Barbies have, and I think this movie could be very meaningful to people, but that's going to depend on what they, personally, are bringing to this movie as viewers. I hope, in the end, you too realize that you are Kenough. More reviews: https://letterboxd.com/garrettgilchrst/films/reviews/by/release/

#barbie #barbie movie #margot robbie #ryan gosling #greta gerwig #kate mckinnon #michael cera

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lixzey · 8 months

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The Story of Us.

Best Friends

Timothée raised his eyebrows, his green eyes sparkling as he looked at me.

“That's not too far from where I live. I live in Hell's Kitchen.” He leaned in a little, making sure I could hear him in the crowded room “I live in the federally subsidized apartment building, Manhattan Plaza, you know.” He chuckled softly, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah, just twenty minutes away. I heard famous artists live there.” I chuckled

He chuckled. “Yeah, some do.” A faint blush covered his face, “I'm gonna be a big actor someday, like Leonardo DiCaprio.”

He leaned closer to me and whispered softly so that only I could hear him. “I'm gonna be the star of the next big blockbuster movie when I’m all grown up.”

“I bet you will.” I chuckled, patting him on his hand. He looked at me with sparkling eyes, his head slightly tilted to the side.

“What are you gonna be when you grow up, Y/n?” He asked. “Are you gonna be a big famous actor like me someday?” He chuckled softly. “Maybe you'll star with me in one of my movies.”

“I don't know, I guess a writer? I mean I love to write poems and stories. Though, I love to act too.” I shrugged. I didn't really know what I wanted to be. My parents always wanted me to become an actress, they made me attend workshops, and made me apply to LaGuardia, but I wanted to be a writer.

“Maybe you can write one of my movies someday?” Timothée shrugged, a big smile on his face. “Or I could be the star of a movie you wrote. How about that?” He chuckled softly, his green eyes sparkling. It's making it hard not to stare at him when he looks at me like that.

“Maybe.” I chuckled.

A big smile covered his face. “I know it sounds silly, but I know it's gonna happen. I can feel it.” He sighed, his eyes glittering.

“I really wanna be someone like Leonardo DiCaprio or, like, Johnny Depp, you know?” He seemed shy talking about it, his voice was soft.

“If I'd be an actress, I want to be like Anne Hathaway.” I smiled as I thought about my favorite actress. I absolutely loved her in The Devil Wears Prada and in the Princess Diares made me fall in love with her.

He raised his eyebrows. “Anne Hathaway?” He looked over at me, “I bet you'll be even better than Anne Hathaway when you grow up, Y/n.” He smiled softly.

“But I'm not pretty enough to get roles.” I shrugged. He seemed surprised I said that, “Oh please, you're beautiful!” He chuckled and giving me a small wink. “With your talent and your looks, you will be a star someday just like Anne Hathaway, I'm sure of it.” He seemed confident I was going to be the next big actress.

“You don't even know if I'm talented,” I chuckled, “I mean we only just met.”

He placed a hand over his heart, his eyes twinkling. “I have a pretty good instinct when it comes to people, and I just have a feeling about you.” He smiled, his voice was sweet and calming. “Besides, you won't know unless you try, right?” He looked over at me, his head slightly tilted to the side.

“When's your birthday?” I asked, changing the subject.

He looked surprised that I suddenly asked him that question. “You want to know when I was born?” He chuckled softly. “Um, it's December 27, 1995. Why?” He seemed curious, a faint smile on his face.

“I'm older, October 19th 1995.” I smirked.

“Oh really?” He chuckled, looking at me with a curious expression. “I didn't realize I was talking to a big, older girl!” He teased, his smile growing wider.

He raised his eyebrows. “Does that mean you can boss me around?”

“Maybe,” I giggled, “Do you want me to boss you around?”

He looked at me, his head slightly tilted to the side. “Yes please.” He said, his voice being cheeky and playful. “I love being bossed around by older, powerful women.” A smirk covered his face.

“How do you even pronounce your name?” I asked with a cheeky smile.

“Oh, my name…” He scratched the back of his head. “You say it like ‘tee-moh-tay’.” He chuckled softly. “It's French, so it's a little tricky for some people.”

He looked at me apologetically, his smile returning. “I know it can be a tricky name to say, I mean my last name is Chalamet.” He laughed softly.

“So, you're french?” I raised my eyebrows at him.

“Yes, yes I am.” He nodded and smiled confidently. “My dad is French and my mother is American.”

He smiled proudly as he mentioned his parents, “Um… yeah, that's why I speak a little bit of French too.” He chuckled softly, his green eyes glittering.

“French boy, huh? Do you like escargot, since you know, you're french?” I teased.

“Escargot?” He chuckled before shaking his head, a grin covering his face. “No thank you. There's no way I'm going to eat those slimy snails.” He shrugged. “I mean I'm French but I'm still a New Yorker after all. But, I do like croissants though.”

“You're funny.” I giggled.

“I know.” He smirked. “You wanna hear a joke?” He chuckled.

“Go on, frenchie.” I chuckled.

“Don't call me that.” He laughed

His eyes twinkled with humour. “Do you want to know why you should never trust stairs?” He looked over at me with a cheeky expression, his head slightly tilted to the side. “Because they are always up to something.” He laughed softly, thinking he was hilarious. I giggled, it was a bit corny but in a silly, fun way.

“I know, I know, silly joke, but still funny.” He chuckled softly and brushed his hair out of his face.

I like this side of him, I thought as I studied his face.

“I think we're going to be best friends.” He chuckled.

“Oh, yeah? You want to be like besties?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

He looked at me with a wide grin on his face. “I thought we already were besties.” He smirked and tilted his head to the side with a hint of playfulness.

“Yeah, um, I guess we are.” I nodded, feeling my heart race a bit when he said that. “I mean I don’t mind if we're best friends. It's cool!” I chuckled nervously.

I liked the sound of his voice, it was so soft, it was calming. It's no wonder why so many girls were looking at him, I couldn't help but stare at him when he looked at me.

I laughed, looking back at him, “Yeah, I guess you're right.” I nodded. “You're the first person who actually acknowledged me when I walked in the classroom today.” I suddenly felt my cheeks heat up again.

“I mean… I just feel… comfortable talking to you.” I said sheepishly, “Do you believe people are put into your life for a reason?” I asked.

“I think so.” He nodded. “If there is a God, or a higher power, or whatever, then yeah I believe we are meant to meet people for a reason.” He looked over at me with a wide grin on his face. “Do you believe in destiny?” He asked.

“Um…” I looked down at my hands as I nervously fidgeted with my fingers, “I've never really thought much about it.” I shook my head.* “Maybe that's just me being a realist. I don't know…”

“Do you believe in destiny?” I returned his question, looking at him with curiousity. “Do you think that everything that happens was always meant to happen? Or that some things just happen and we should not question it?”

His head was slightly tilted to the side as he started to think about my question. “I mean, if everything is already set in stone then I guess it would mean there's no free will.” Timothée shrugged, his eyes were glittering with curiosity. “But I believe in free will, and I'm able to choose where I'm going in life.” He sighed and looked at me, his voice calm and collected.

“Well, then I guess that means we meet people for a reason.” He shrugged, thinking about it for a moment. “I know that my dreams of being famous and an actor are gonna happen, that's my fate because I want it to be.” He smiled, his green eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

“I've already made up my mind on it, just like you were meant to be my best friend.” He smirked and winked at me. “Some things just happen, some things don't, and some thing you chose to, you know? We learn something from them or something happens from them and they shape us for the future.”

“You do make a good point,” I nodded. “I mean there's times in my life that I've thought, ‘man, do I really believe in destiny?’ Or ‘what if this is just a big coincidence?’” I chuckled softly, still smiling. “But then, I think maybe, you know, I shouldn’t think about it too much and just enjoy what’s happening now.” I shrugged.

“Like us, for example.” I laughed and looked at him. “And just like that, we're best friends.”

He looked at me, a genuine smile on his face. He nodded, “Best friends…” He let out a small sigh as his eyes twinkled. “It's so funny because when I woke up this morning, I didn't think that by the end of the day that I would meet a new best friend.”

He looked over at me and then looked out the classroom window. “It's like everything happens as it's meant to… you know what I mean?”

I nodded, “You're right. Sometimes I think about that too. Like maybe I met you for a reason?” I paused, looking at him hesitantly, “Um, not that you’re some kind of divine being or anything…” I chuckled nervously.

I looked back at the classroom window, then back at him. “But maybe… you know, you were meant to meet me.” I muttered softly.

“It's like the universe knew what to do.” Timothée looked back at me, smiling softly. “I mean, what are the odds of meeting you in this exact moment? This exact place.”

He raised his eyebrows, “I mean… what if we went into different classrooms?” He chuckled, “Then we might not be talking right now. Might not have become best friends.”

I giggled at his theory. “I guess the universe knew it was the right time to put us in this classroom together.” I placed my hand on my chin, thinking about his question.

“What if we sat in different seats?” I thought out loud, “Maybe I wouldn’t have caught your eye?” I smiled. I liked talking to him, I liked these hypotheticals. “I guess we'll never know.” I shrugged.

“This is true.” He looked over at me with a grin on his face.

He chuckled and brushed his hair from his face. “And if I didn’t sit next to you in this class, maybe I wouldn't have noticed you in the hallways either?” He thought out loud. He took a deep breath as a realization hit him. “I might never have been friends with the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life, and that’s kind of hard to imagine.” He smiled, nodding.

“From now on, I'm calling you Timmy. Timo-TAY is too obnoxious.” I chucked

“So you're giving me nickname, huh?” He asked with a smirk. He laughed, placing his hands together. “I guess you can call me Tim, or Timmy, or whatever you like.” He was trying to hold back laughter. “Just don't call me Frenchie.”

“Nope, still going to call you Frechie.” I chuckled, “Frenchie Timmy.”

Timmy let out a soft groan, looking at me, he then burst out laughing at my comment. “Frenchie Timmy.” He shook his head. “Why must you do this to me?” He teased playfully.

He laughed again, smiling softly. “Well, if the Frenchie nickname sticks around, I'll just have to find something to call you then." He smirked.

“Good luck with that, Frenchie.” I giggled.

“Y/n, you’re such a dork.” He tilted his head to the side and smiled. He placed a hand on his chin. “Hey, maybe I could come up with a special nickname for you, you know?” *He smirked.

He leaned back and thought for a moment. “Hmm... Y/n/n.” He nodded, chuckling as he did. “Yeah, you’re Y/n/n now.” He grinned at me.

“Whatever you say, Frenchie.” I giggled.

Who would've thought I'd be friends with the boy I just met?

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tiniestjellifish · 2 years

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The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

This movie came out 16 years ago?? goodness, no matter. I only just got to it because I was a little girl when it first came out. This is going to be littered with many many hottakes. You don’t have to like them but they're gonna be there.

Okay, so for starters, pick a lane. at least with the intro. they wanted to make it clear that anne hathaway was not like other girls (in the fashion industry) and a few minor comparisons of dress would be fine but to some degree it was beginning to look like a “me vs other girls” which whittled away at the value i was giving the scene. very minor issue I had.

secondarily, the film never really gives a clear goal of what Anne, or her character’s name, andrea, wants. which could be argued is a part of the plot but i think it would be clearer to say what she wants out of this job as an assistant at RUNWAY. yes, she says in the beginning she wants this as a stepping stone so she can get any journalism job she wants going forward, but I’m talking about deeper into the movie. they make it very ambiguous as to whether or not she’s actually beginning to care about fashion or if she’s still just trying to get a bag (this can be a pun, thats up to you). and I’m coming down on this because its hard to say whether or not the plot is cohesive when other characters make comments on her not being how she used to and being too sucked into her job. and when she argues back this is what she needs to do, her argument can't necessarily be called out for falling flat if i don’t know her genuine intentions.

because yes, she had become a workaholic and the movie makes what i think is an immaculate portrayal of someone in a job or industry that is very cut throat. even in the minor obligations or things that feel tacked out within your field, you never feel like you have a choice. and maybe there is a bit of illusion of choice, but ultimately it does effect whether or not you keep that job and if you can move up the ladder. they also brought up the wonderful point of how yes, meryl streep is a demanding boss but if she was a man no one would be saying anything. the same i feel can be applied to andrea, now it can still be debated it if the job is worth it and if she actually was hustling or getting lost in it all but i feel like every time they wanted to depict andrea as having done something wrong in her social life, it wasn't actually that awful. the missing the bf’s birthday was pretty bad, so i will acknowledge that one, but i think the bf didn't seem to be very communicative and I didn’t like that he waited till there was a problem to blow things up. and she came home late and wanted to talk about it and he just blew it off. later in the movie when she’s talking to him about her job and about him feeling neglected he’s like “what am I? 4?” yeah,,, you kinda are. I think I just don’t like him as a character, not very likeable and didn't like him in the beginning. I think he’s also someone who fits into only liking women who aren’t like other girls and I feel like if the change was something she really wanted in her life, getting invested in fashion, he wouldn't have supported her. and in the end (SPOILER) when she eventually leaves RUNWAY, and he’s okay with taking her back, I’m like okay?? was it just because she left or because she's following her passions.

Overall, the film does such a good job of having a balance of comedy but a bit of social commentary on the industry of fashion, its harmful grip it can have on women and their bodies, and just how being in a competitive field can trickle down and affect all of your life. and then its up to you if you think its worth it in the end.

minuscule things before my rating:

- i hate her friends. they were so down for freebies from her glamorous job but then make fun of her for answering her boss when she calls?? alright, sure.

- christian thompson was just the right amount of sleazy. her having a bit to drink in paris and the hook up with him worried me though.

-nigel is awesome... that’s it.

Rating: 8/10. There were things I think were unclear or a little too grey even if it was the intent. so a bit of missing direction. but a good film nonetheless.

(day 1 of using this blog to motivate me to get through my movie lists, and I think its fairly helpful).

#the devil wears prada #film critic #hot take #movie review

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d4rkpluto · 3 years

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𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔬 𝔬𝔟𝔰𝔢𝔯𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 𝔱𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔳𝔢

❦ people with many scorpio and virgo degrees are very good lie detectors.

❦ people with sun and moon in the twelfth house tend to be the most secretive and people barely know about them. like barely.

❦ people with taurus in the eighth house tend to get hurt by words a lot.

❦ cancer in the 8th house, MUMMY ISSUES! add the scorpio moon, MUMMY ISSUES 10000X!

❦ when libra/7h placements aren't self-aware they might revolve their lives to love, and it might be the main thing they talk about, thus making everyone around them bored.

❦ remember my astrology eye sanpaku theory? well i remembered that pisces is also ruled by jupiter, so pisces risings are most likely ones to have sanpaku eyes as well, least like if they have it in other angular houses like 4th, 7th and 10th.

❦ uranus aspecting venus culture is literally saying the random thing and people falling in love with it.

❦ the lowest degree planet in your natal chart shows you what you have to work on, for example i have uranus in 2 degrees, and have it in the third house, so i have to work on the way i deliver things, (can be seen as very blunt, straight-forward and cut-throat) and stop talking so fast.

❦ people with libra in the third house can be seen to have very delicate/pretty voices.

❦ people with mercury aspecting neptune might be seen as people who lie a lot, or do lie a lot. while, their voices are dreamy.

❦ having aries in the fourth house can equate to potential generational wealth.

❦ people with mars in the second house might like very spicy/hot food and people with neptune in the second might like a lot of sea food.

❦ neptune in the fifth/eighth house = shower sex.

❦ a lot of sagittarius risings have the bratz doll look, (and no i'm not doing this to boost my ego) but look!

(mila kunis, lailisa manoban and anne hathaway)

❦ and it's mainly because their eyes are big, one of the biggest features on their faces along with their plump lips, their eyebrows are arched and they have a doll-like head shape too.

❦ people with lilith in the 7th house can have a rebellious and bitchy fandom (being a bitch is the way!)

❦ the sign in your ascendant indicates what kind of characters you might favour, i have sag rising and i realised i like characters who have bow and arrows, e.x, alec from shadow hunters, allison from teen wolf and hawkeye from avengers.

❦ majority of the times, pisces risings are hard to identify because of their scorpio in the tenth house, (if they dont have gemini in their fourth).

❦ check where your neptune is, the aspects its making, what is in your 12th house and where pisces is for you to know what tv shows you actually like. (neptune represents visual communication)

❦ for example, i have neptune in the second house and i realised that i like shows that give me comfort, or i have a lot of comfort movies or series where the characters are very rich; with scorpio in my twelfth i like shows/films that include sci-fi, tarot, gore, horror etc. i have pisces in my third, and i like to watch shows with other people around me and have funny commentary on it, and one of the aspects i have is neptune trine lilith, implying my like for very dark and brutal visual theatre that got to do with women empowerment, like salem.

❦ where the ruler of your first house is, is where you're most protective over. for example, ruler of the first house in the fourth house could imply that you're protective over your family or mother; ruler of the first house in the eleventh house could imply you're protective over your friends and your community.

❦ like i said in my aries in the first house post, a lot of aries risings have diamond head shapes.

❦ folks with mercury aspecting lilith are most likely to say words that surprise people in a way it disgusts them, if it's the aspecting person's intentions. they really know how to use their words to bring out a reaction from someone.

pluto ❦

#astro observations #pluto observations #scorpio #virgo #sun #moon #cancer in the 8th house #lalisa #mila kunis #lalisa manoban #anne hathaway #astrology observations #astro notes #astrology notes #sagittarius risings #sagittarius rising #diamond

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ashenpages · 3 years

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Current Projects & Emoji Voting Key

Quick disclaimer: I’m a romance writer in all aspects of the term, so most of my works will contain mature content. Engage at your own risk, you know the rules, you’re responsible for curating your own experience of the internet, blah blah blah.

This post serves as a current mock up of fic ideas I’m either actively working on or considering working on next. You can drop me an ask about any of them, or just vote via the emoji combo I’ve assigned them.

Voting lets me know you’re excited about an idea and makes it more likely I’ll actually work on it. You can vote anytime, there’re no deadlines or winner announcements, just me gauging your interest by what I see in my ask box most often.

You can also ask me about the original stuff I’m working on currently. The current WIPs are Medusa centric and the emoji for them is: 🐍

Support my original work on Ko-fi and Patreon.

- Lupin: 🤑🤠💍 These are all oneshot ideas, between 5-15K each. If you want to vote for a specific idea, send me the emojis and the number of the idea.

Born from the idea that Goemon and Zenigata probably couldn’t be an item, my brain decided to come up with how I could write for them. Goemon’s teaching an ikebana class as part of his training, and Zenigata shows up as a student on forced recreational leave for his health from the ICPO. Zenigata wins the samurai’s heart through flowers. But what happens when Lupin and Jigen find out? (Only good sexy things, I promise. These beans are in a healthy polycule--be gay, do crimes) (WIP)

Jigen/Lupin, but it's Jigen deciding to seduce Lupin while wearing his own Lupin disguise. The thief is waaaaay too into it, and some artistry is taken with the sex so that they don't mess up the disguise too much during their encoutner.

Jigen/Zenigata/Lupin where Jigen has some fantasices about Zenigata, but is pretty sure they'll never happen. Tells Lupin about them. Suddenly the fantasies are coming true, in the middle of a heist, and Jigen doesn't what to do except get swept up in the moment and enjoy. Plot twist, it's Lupin dressed up as Zenigata granting all his gunman's dreams. Plot twist again, Zenigata catches them at it.

Zenigata/Lupin, where Lupin keeps doing good things in illegal ways and Pops has to find a way to punish him for it. Good thing for Pops Lupin's a masochist?

Trans!Lupin and Trans!Jigen premise: Jigen cares for Lupin after the master thief has top surgery, since Jigen has Been There and Done That. Caring, sweet, and a little sexy. Lupin is a much better patient than Jigen.

The one time Zenigata caught Lupin in an alley and kissed him and it was Jigen in disguise. Things get sexy anyway, and Zenigata has crushes on two thieves now. Lupin and Jigen "kidnap" him later for an evening of taking care of their inspector.

The background plot of Jigen's Gravestone where we see Jigen think he's done for and try to leave Lupin. Our thief has none of it, and we get to relish in the inherent eroticism of Lupin sitting in sniper fire, knowing Jigen's got his back. This is the moment I think Jigen finally believes he can be with Lupin forever.

I love the idea of something longer and more plot driven like a Lupin special where Lupin ends up in hot water and Jigen and Fujiko have to work together to save him. Jigen and Fujiko have such an interesting relationship. They're both partners of Lupin, they don't really like each other, they constantly screw the other over, but when it really matters they take care of each other. I'd like to see that highlighted a little more and also give them space to call each other out and bicker. Nothing sexy between them, but maybe a really interesting threesome with Lupin and Fujiko in a strap on once they save their boy.

- Sonic Vampire Novelist Coffee Shop AU: 📚☕💐

Shadow is an immortal vampire who has seen the world change for the worse too many times. These days it feels like he only lives for his coffee dates with Rouge, another immortal who loves each new era they encounter, warts and all. He has to admit that the book series she got him into speaks to him, at least. If someone in this era can understand him without meeting him, it can’t all be bad. But he hardly expected the goofy blue barista at the new coffee place to understand him the way those books do.

This is a novel length romcom romp with some big feelings about what it means to watch as things change, grow, and die. Expect lots of Big gothic feelings from this one, emotionally charged kissing, and overly-adoring sex. But also expect shenanigans from everyone in the coffee shop, which include Rouge, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and more.

- Sonic Blazamy, "Like the Sun": 💖🌸💎

Amy Rose has been in love with Sonic for a while.

Or has she?

When the Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver are trapped as the fuel sources for Doctor Eggman’s newest evil scheme, Amy teams up with Blaze, Rouge, and Cream to save them. With Sonic out of the picture and Amy fulfilling his role, was she ever really in love with him? Or did she just want to be like him?

This is a novel length epic romance with lots of competent women and lots of romantic Blazamy content. Expect flowery hopes and dreams, badass self-actualization, and glancing hand touches that give way to cuddly and sweet sex.

- Persona 5: 🗡🍛☕

After bringing down the Metaverse twice, Ryuji didn’t think graduating high school and figuring out what to do with his life would be so hard. Akira’s back in town, and the gang’s more-or-less all in Tokyo, but everyone else seems to have a plan while Ryuji just floats. How’s he supposed to change the world when he’s not a phantom thief anymore?

This is a novel length fic that addresses how powerless one can feel being just one person in the face of all the corrupted systems and bigotry the world has to offer. It’s about holding on to what you believe in, working through the doubt, and fighting your way to a better tomorrow with the power you do have. The whole gang is queer, featured relationships being Mako x Ann, Ryuji x Akira, Futaba & Yusuke as platonic life partners. Akira is polyamorous and omnisexual, Futaba’s asexual and aromantic while Yusuke is demisexual and very romantic, Makoto’s a lesbian, Ann and Ryuji are bi, and Haru’s pansexual, demisexual, and aromantic. They’re one giant band of queer Phantom Thieves, and even if they’re not really doing the Metaverse thing anymore, they’re still gonna save the world!

Also, I’m gonna make Makoto not a cop. That super didn’t age well. Zenkichi and his boss can work on making them better/abolishing them for other better organizations.

- Hades Game: ❤️‍🔥💀

Oneshot. I just really need to elaborate on the threesome you can have with them in-game, okay? Healthy and canon poly relationships are so few and far between, so often I have to do a ton of groundwork to explain why it’s working in the fic, but NOT WITH THESE KIDS!

Get ready for Meg helping Zag and Than be better at expressing their feelings, lots of kissing, and probably pegging.

- Castlevania Animation Trevor/Sypha/Alucard: 🧛🏰🛌

Castlevania gave Alucard a threesome last season, and I just really need S4 to give me him being taken care of by his partners. They’re probably not going to give it to me, so I’ll need to do it myself. This is just an everybody loves Alucard oneshot, with the gang’s signature banter (to an extent), Sypha being sexy, and Trever being remarkably sincere. This fic is gonna feel like that Ann Hathaway picture with Trevor kissing Alucard and Sypha holding the end of Trevor’s whip while she leans her head on Alucard’s shoulder adoringly.

- Devil May Cry Nico/Lady/Trish: 💋✨😈

Nico’s gay, okay? Like really, really gay. And Lady’s bi and not into men who make her pay bills, but very into women who make amazing guns for her and demonesses with hearts who fight by her side. Trish is ace, but loves people and is pretty attached to Lady at this point. Plus it’s cute when Lady blushes and says nice things like they’re insults. I don’t have super solid ideas for them yet, and I envision these more like a polycule where Lady’s with Nico and with Trish but they’re not with each other more than seeing it as a threesome, but who knows what might happen. This is probably 1-2 oneshots depending on ideas, but might turn into a series of oneshots if people are interested (or I can’t control myself and inspiration strikes).

- Post FMA:B Blind Roy & No Alchemy Ed: 👀👑🙏

This is actually an old novel-length fic I wrote ages ago and didn’t post that didn’t turn out well because I was new to writing sex when I first wrote it. The plot is good, and is all about Roy learning to work with his blindness to reclaim his ambition of being Fuhrer and changing the system to something that actually cares for its people. He and Ed reconnect, fall into bed, and both set about working through their respective traumas about being “useless” having lost their sight/alchemy. They go to Xing as an ambassadorial party to offer Amestris’s collaboration on Al and May’s Alkahestry experiments--and uncover a plot that might threaten both kingdoms.

- Age of Calamity continuity Mipha x Revali: 🦚🐟💘

The first time Revali noticed Mipha, it was in the heat of battle. She stole his mark, taking them down with a flurry of quick blows from her spear. Violence rained from her like water--and then she healed him on her way to her next battle. No questions, no conditions, just pure kindness. The usual need to measure himself against those around him was quiet in her wake. And Revali couldn’t understand it. But how to get to know more about her? A fish and bird may fall in love, but where would they live?

This fic could be a oneshot or novel length depending on how far down the hole I fall. I need it to cover time, but it could be done in linked vignettes or with actually covering events in detail. I may elect to do a oneshot just to get it done and out of my system faster. So much fic to write, so little time.

Expect trans!Revali, polyamorous Zoras, scary competent Mipha, songbird Revali, love confessions that are made up entirely of berating Link for not loving Mipha the way she wants him to, and breaking these characters a little outside of their assigned roles in BotW and Age of Calamity. Background Link x Zelda, and Urbosa x Zelda’s Mom.

- Epic desert romance about Urbosa and Zelda’s mom: 🏜🏝⚡

I just think Urbosa should kiss women and Zelda’s mom should get more development and maybe a name or something. Also, lightning imagery/metaphors/play.

It also went way over my head that Riju wasn’t Urbosa’s daughter the first time I played BotW, so now I want to write about the Gerudo queen who refused to produce an heir. The Gerudo are fascinating and have a very interesting cutlure, but I think it could be examined from a nonbinary perspective that rejected pregnancy and wanting to find a husband. Not in like a hateful way, but in a way that examines if that’s really right for everyone. There’s that shop in town that sells Voe armor, after all. Maybe finding a husband and having children isn’t something you have to do if you don’t want to. And Urbosa really doesn’t want to.

#age of calamity #Devil May Cry #RoyEd #Castlevania #Breath of the Wild #Hades Game #Sonic the Hedgehog #Lupin III #Persona 5

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springmachinery · 4 years

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The super detailed eyebrow guide Part 1

Hello everyone, this will be my first post on this blog. Let’s cut to the chase, the first thing we will be talking about is eyebrow styling. There is no one “ideal” eyebrow shape that suits everyone and likely you suit a couple of eyebrow styles yourself. There is no absolute “wrong” answer when it comes to eyebrows, it greatly depends on what kind of vibe you desire to give off: cute, professional, sexy, mature, innocent, anything goes. These will just be some tips that might help you to figure out what works for you, just remember that it is very difficult to make an absolutely accurate guess without seeing your full face, this is ideally a self-help resource.

First of all, you will often see the basic styling guide that goes something like this:

However, I found that this wasn’t absolutely helpful to me. What about thickness? The height of the brow? How arched should I go? Some girls look amazing with perfectly straight brows, right? Is this the only arch that looks good? It’s hard to find info on all of this so let me start:

The thickness of the brows

Think of it this way: The eyebrows are supposed to accentuate what is already there or balance it, as such it is important to follow the lines of the face to create appropriate harmony. Faces are complicated and you may even suit a different type of eyebrows when you have more weight on you, I know I do. Along with that, when it comes to eyebrows, the eyes are the most important determinant, but not the ONLY determinant. Some faces need more softness/sharpness so you add the appropriate eyebrows, at other times, you want to play exactly into the type of features that you have.

Would you say your facial features are more elongated, narrow and have a certain lightness? None of your features stand out, rather they all work together, no facial feature is too large. Then go for a thinner brow. Think of celebrities like Taylor Swift

Or Charlize Theron

Heather Morris

Hyuna ( kpop idols rarely rock completely thin eyebrows, but you can see that among them she has a thinner variant)

Another point to present is the “chubbiness” vs “dryness” of your face. The more “dry” your face is, meaning the less facial fat and roundness you have, the more likely thin brows suit you. Let’s look at Halle Berry - the thinner her face became, the more she suited thin brows.

And the midpoint:

One thing to notice is that her eyebrows were never TOO thick - her balanced features would simply never allow for it. Look at someone like Charlize with thick eyebrows, it just didn’t suit her. Her features are simply too delicate for that.

Are your features larger, heavier, more "in your face" - especially the eyes? Consider a much thicker brow like the following ladies. The brows need to follow the lines of your face, if your eyes are very “strong”, they deserve an appropriate assistant! Lucy Hale

Sofia Vergara

Sofia Loren

Lilly Collins

Aisha

Look how much better Beyonce looks with thicker brows, these eyebrows are not that thin to begin with, now imagine how much less flattering thinner eyebrows would be for her face:

The same can be said about Lykke Li, her face is much more balanced when she sports thicker brows due to her beautiful heavy features.

Notice that many of these women have either rounder or wide cheeks, even if their faces may not hold onto more flesh, that’s the bone structure. That is a trait that suits thicker brows, on the other hand, the ladies in the “thin eyebrows” category often have slightly narrower lines and sharper bones. The thin eyebrows soften them up.

However, there are some exceptions to this. If all of your features a very large or maybe even your forehead is smaller than you’d prefer, you may go the complete opposite route and take thin brows.

A youtube Anncy is a beautiful example of someone who made the right call going for thin brows instead of thick ones. Larger brows would wear down her face and perhaps take more space away from the rest of her features. When you have large features, sometimes it is difficult to juggle proportions: adding large eyebrows can take away either from eyebrow height or forehead length so if you recognize yourself in this, consider going for thinner brows even though your features are large. The only image of thick brows on her I could find offhand is this but I felt it would be unfair to put them with the other ones, as I feel the lightning and angle isn’t equal or as flattering, but hopefully you get the point.

Another example of this is Angelina Jolie. She goes for much thinner eyebrows than you’d expect from someone with features as large as those.

Big eyebrows would simply be too much competition for the rest of her face:

However, many people don’t fit any type perfectly and that’s also perfectly fine. Most are in the hybrid category, so they have to pay attention to various features.

Kerry Washington is one such example. Her features are larger, yet her eyes are very delicate. Her face is narrow, but there is much fleshiness to it. She goes for a brow that isn’t too thick or too thin. They’re narrow to follow the longer line of the face, yet not too thin to harmonize with the roundness of her features, cheeks and chin.

Megan Fox has fairly small features and yet she looks better with thicker brows? Why? Because her face possesses a certain sharpness, particularly in her features, that needs thick eyebrows to balance them out. This also has to do with her coloring and contrast, but that will be its own category in a following post.

Also, while it may seem like blondes suit thinner brows and brunettes thicker ones, that may not exactly be it. I put the example of Lykke Li who shows that a blonde can perfectly rock thick eyebrows, and Hyuna and Halle, as an example that brunettes can also look beautiful with thin ones. I’ll go more in depth about this in the Coloring section.

Arched vs Straight eyebrows

The arch of the brow depends on your overall features and the style you want to convey. A longer midface may suit straighter, longer eyebrows to add width to the face. Straight eyebrows also make you look younger and more cute. They can also help the forehead look wider. An example of this is Yoona, this girl has a longer midface and the brows add a vertical line that breaks apart the length of the midface. The straight brows also suit her cute and youthful appeal.

Mina from Twice is another good example of this. The straight brows add balance to the length of the face.

I would suggest straighter brows to people who’d prefer a cuter look usually, however many sexpots, so to speak, go for this look to balance out their features. Look how much width these straight brows, that extend far out, allow Jessica Alba’s longer face.

Straight eyebrows, depending on how dark they are, can also add drama and make the face seem more symmetrical and lifted, especially if the ends of the brows point up - that’s why they’re popular with models. Notice how symmetrical and compact, or even wide, a lot of these faces appear due to this effect. Additionally, these faces appear more dominant or modelesque and may even photograph better, which is why you may want to try them out.

Let’s look at Nyane, her straight brows with a slight elevation towards the end point out the beautiful symmetry and sharpness of her face. When they are arched, there is too much sharpness. Even if they were shaped differently, the elevated arch would take away from a more balanced look.

On the other hand, for the e-girl or cute girl look, the straight eyebrows don’t point up, rather, they point down. Look at the classic e-girl Belle Delphine for that. For the cute girl look, choose either an end that points neutrally or down. Beware that an eyebrow that point down may make your face appear less lifted, but many faces can handle it pretty well. It’s all subjective and not everyone wants the lifted look.

As for arched brows, they definitely bring up the sex appeal and make your eyes appear lifted. This is great if you want to go for enhanced sex appeal or have a negative canthal tilt (downturned eyes) that you’d like to change. Arched eyebrows are a classic and they add that “wow” factor to the face, in addition to that, it’s also a great choice for those who have a baby face and want to stray away from that. It’s great to add that arched eyebrows can break up a wide face and add “length”, it can also shrink the forehead and make the eyes appear larger, but that will be further covered in the placement section.

Gigi Hadid has beautiful eyebrows that make her eyes appear huge due to the high arch point. The eyebrows are her best feature and certainly add something to her look. Pay attention to how babylike her face would look without those eyebrows, if you’d cover them, her face would seem so much softer. The arched brows are exactly what make her face model like. It’s that extra something.

Aishwarya Rai is famous for her sex appeal and beauty and her eyebrows play up that aspect - she often lifts up one or both brows in photos to get an even more pronounced arch.

When her eyebrows are straighter, she loses some of that seductiveness.

Anne Hathaway has beautiful downturned eyes, however, in case one would like to “lift” the area up, so to speak, they could try out this type of style. The arch of the brow is exactly above where her eye ends and goes down, making for beautiful harmony.

Eyebrows can also be more sharply arched or have a more rounded arch. A sharper arch can add more dimension to the face, as well as sex appeal, while the rounded one can accentuate femininity (look Gigi and A,R, or someone like Sofia Vergara). Marylin Monroe, in tune with old Hollywood beauties, sported a sharper arch often, as did Olivia Wilde, to suit her sharp features.

Naomi, is also an example of beautiful arched eyebrows, that mix up both the rounded and sharp aspect by going to no extreme. This can suit you really well if you have a mix of sharp and round features like she does (high cheekbones, elongated face + full lips, rounded cheeks etc.)

If you can’t decide which eyebrow to go for, consider the mix of the two: where the eyebrows bottom line is more straight and the top of it is arched. It is often seen on women with cat eyes that want to add softness but also show off that allure. Notice how the bottom of Barbara’s eyebrow here is straight and the top is arched - this is also great if you have difficulty with shaping your brows as it is forgiving for filling in + it looks very natural.

All of this said, it is up to you if you want to add sharpness or softness to your face - there is no right call and a lot of it has to do with what your style and taste is. Many of these women have tried out all types of arches and found that each look “sold” something, a particular essence. It is up to you to choose what you like, however, I hope this guide helped you in discovering which eyebrows suit what style.

I wish to also address more finely tuned details of the eyebrow such as:

-Eyebrow placement (Low and High placed)

-The placement of the arch and its effects on the look you are portraying

-Having eyebrows compliment individual features (close set eyes, wide set eyes, broad noses etc)

-Coloring of the eyebrows

and perhaps some more. Stay tuned!

#beauty #eyebrows #style advice #style #advice #mua #makeup #brows

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letterboxd · 3 years

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In Focus: Interstellar.

Inspired by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar placing high across three notable Letterboxd metrics, Dominic Corry reflects on how the film successfully hung its messaging around the concept of love—and what pandemic responses worldwide could learn from its wholehearted embrace of empathetic science.

“Love isn’t something we invented. It’s observable, it’s powerful. It has to mean something.” —Dr. Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway)

This story contains spoilers for ‘Interstellar’ (2014).

Although it is insultingly reductionist to both filmmakers, there are many reasons Christopher Nolan is often described as a modern-day Stanley Kubrick. The one most people usually settle on is the notion that both men supposedly make exacting, ambitious films that lack emotion.

It is an incorrect assessment of either director, but it’s beyond amazing that anyone could still accuse Nolan of such a thing after he delivered what is unquestionably his masterwork, the emotional rollercoaster that is 2014’s Interstellar.

In the epic sci-fi adventure drama, Nolan managed to pull off something that many filmmakers have attempted and few have achieved. He told a story of boundless sci-fi scope, and had it be all about love in the end. It sounds cheesy to even write it down, but Nolan did it.

That Interstellar is such an overtly cutting-edge genre film that chooses to center itself so brazenly and unapologetically around love, is frankly awesome.

Love informs Interstellar both metaphorically and literally: the expansive scope of the film effectively represents love’s infinite potential, and love itself ends up being the tangible thread that allows far-flung astronaut Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to communicate with his Earth-bound daughter Murph (played as an adult by Jessica Chastain) from the tesseract (a three-dimensional rendering of a five-dimensional space) after Cooper enters the black hole towards the end of the film.

Matthew McConaughey as Joseph ‘Coop’ Cooper, Mackenzie Foy as Murph, and Timothée Chalamet as Tom.

In transmitting (via morse code) what the robot TARS has observed from inside the black hole, Cooper provides Murph with the data to solve the gravity problem required to uplift Earth’s population from its depleted home planet. Humanity is saved. Love wins again. Hard sci-fi goes soft. Christopher Nolan’s genius is confirmed, and any notions of emotionlessness are emphatically washed away.

This earnest centering of love in Interstellar is key to the film’s universal appeal, and undoubtedly plays a large role in why it features so prominently in three significant Letterboxd lists determined by pronoun: Interstellar is the only film that appears in all three top tens of “most fans on Letterboxd” when considering members who use the pronoun he/him, she/her and xe/ze. (“Most fans” refers to Letterboxd members who have selected the film as one of the four favorites on their profile.)

To get a bit reductionist myself, sci-fi adventure—in cinema, at least—has traditionally been a masculine-leaning genre, but Interstellar’s placement across these three lists points to it having superseded that traditional leaning, hopefully for the better.

Yet the film reliably still provokes reactions like this delightful tweet:

few movies make me as mad as Interstellar. who the fuck makes 3/4 of an excellent hard sci-fi movie backed up by actual science and then abruptly turns it into soft sci-fi about how the power of love and time traveling bookshelves can save us in the final 1/4? damn you, Nolan

— the thicc husband & father (@lukeisamazing)

February 13, 2021

Although this tweet is somewhat indicative of how many men (and women, for that matter) respond to the film, I think it’s pretty clear the writer actually loves Interstellar wholeheartedly, final quarter and all, but perhaps feels inhibited from expressing that love by the expectations of a gendered society that is becoming increasingly outdated. The “damn you, Nolan” is possibly a concession of sorts—he’s damning how Nolan really made him feel the love at the end. It’s okay, @lukeisamazing, you don’t have to say it out loud.

Conversely, it can be put like this:

“The emotion of Interstellar is three-fold: Nolan’s script, co-written with his brother as with all his best stuff, masters not only notions of black holes, wormholes, quantum data and telemetry, but it also makes a case for love as the one thing—feeling, fact, movement, message—that can mean more and do more than anyone in our current time, on our existing planet, can comprehend.”

The writer of this stirring summation, our own Ella Kemp, is paraphrasing a critical section of the film, when Nolan goes full literal on the concept of love and has Cooper and Dr Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) debate its very nature, quoted in part at the top of this story. It comes when the pair are trying to decide which potentially humanity-saving planet to use their dwindling fuel reserves to travel to. Brand is advocating for the planet where a man she loves might be waiting for her, instead of the planet that has ostensibly better circumstances for life.

Brand: “Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that even if we can’t understand it.”

“Love has meaning, yes,” responds Cooper, heretofore the film’s most outwardly love-centric character, exhibiting a stoic longing for his dead wife, while also abandoning his ten-year-old daughter on Earth for a space adventure (albeit one designed to save humanity) than has now inadvertently taken decades. “Social utility. Social bonding. Child rearing.” Ouch.

McConaughey with Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand.

Brand: “You love people who have died. Where’s the social utility in that? Maybe it means something more. Something we don’t yet understand. Some evidence, some artefact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive. I’m drawn across the universe to someone I haven’t seen in a decade who I know is probably dead. Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that even if we can’t understand it yet.” Amen.

Cooper remains unconvinced by Brand’s rationale, but this dispassionate display presages him going on to realize the true (literal) power of love (and his poor, science-only decision-making—thanks Matt Damon) when it provides him the aforementioned channel of communication with Murph in the tesseract. Nolan has a female character make the most eloquent vocal argument for love, but it’s the male character who has to learn it through experience.

So while Interstellar does initially conform to some prevailing cultural ideas about love and how it supposedly relates to gender, it ultimately advocates for a greater appreciation of the concept that moves beyond such binary notions. That is reflected in how important the film is to Letterboxd members who self-identify as he/him, she/her and xe/ze. We all love this movie. Emphasis on love.

Brand’s speech—not to mention the film as a whole—also can’t help but inform the current global situation. Interstellar argues for a greater devotion to both science and love, in harmony; such devotion might have mitigated the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic where both concepts were drastically undervalued by many of those in charge of the response.

Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck as the grown-up Cooper siblings.

Despite the reactions cited above, responses to Interstellar aren’t always split down gender lines. We’re all allowed to feel whatever we like about it, and substantial variety comes across in the many, many reviews for the film.

Zaidius says Interstellar is so good that, “after watching [it], you will want to downgrade all of the ratings you have ever given on Letterboxd.”

On the other hand, Singlewhitefemalien takes issue with Dr. Brand’s aforementioned love-based decision-making in her two-star review: “She wants to fuckin’ go to Planet Whatever to chase after a dude she banged ten years ago because women are guided by their emotions and love is all you need.” A perhaps fair assessment of the role Nolan chose his sole female astronaut to play in the film?

Sam offers food for thought when he writes “First, you love Interstellar; then you understand Interstellar.”

Letterboxd stalwart Lucy boils it down effectively in one of her multiple five-star reviews of the film: “I needed a really good cry.” It’s hard to say whether Vince is agreeing or disagreeing with Lucy in his review: “Fuck you Matthew McConaughey for making me cry.” The catharsis this movie provides for dudes becomes clearer the deeper you venture into our Interstellar reviews (and I ventured deep): “How dare this fucking movie make me cry… twice,” writes John. Let it out, John.

Then there’s Rudi’s take: “I sobbed like an animal while watching this but I’m not exactly sure what animal it was like. Like a pig? Like a whale? I don’t know but I do know that I cried a whole fucking lot.”

Emotionless? With all this crying?

Christopher Nolan inspires more debate than any other filmmaker of the modern age (when we’re not getting unnecessarily riled up about something Marty has said, that is) and while Nolan has the passionate devotion of millions of viewers, I’d argue he still doesn’t quite get his due. Especially when it comes to Interstellar.

By so successfully using love as both a metaphorical vessel and a palpable plot point in a sci-fi adventure film, he built on notable antecedents like James Cameron’s The Abyss and Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, two (great) films with similar aspirations that didn’t stick the landing as well as Interstellar does. In Contact, McConaughey engages in a similar debate about love to the one quoted above, but notably takes the opposing side.

Steven Spielberg (who at one point was going to direct an earlier iteration of Interstellar) did a pretty good job of showing love as the most powerful force in the universe with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but there hasn’t been a huge amount of room for such notions in the genre since then.

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar’s most obvious forebear, is often accused of being the director’s most brazenly emotionless film. And while that’s perhaps a bit more understandable than some of the brickbats hurled Nolan’s way, there’s more emotion in the character of Hal 9000 than in many major directors’ entire oeuvre. It’s also, in part due to Hal’s place in the examination of queer consciousness in the sci-fi realm, the film currently in the number one spot on the xe/ze list.

Two films that notably exist in Interstellar’s wake are Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, which expands upon Interstellar’s creative use of time-bending (and like Contact, features a female protagonist) and James Gray’s Ad Astra, which tackles the perils of traditional masculinity with more directness.

Interstellar doesn’t solve the sci-fi genre’s cumbersome relationship with masculinity and gender, but it makes significant strides in breaking down the existing paradigms, if only from all the GIFs of McConaughey crying it has spawned. Its appeal across the gender spectrum is an interesting and encouraging sign of the universality of its themes. And the power of love.

Fans out of touch with their feelings may complain about the role love plays in the film, but that says more about them than it does the film. Love wins. Also: TARS. How could anyone not love TARS?

TARS and Christopher Nolan.

Related content

Men/Boys Crying: a master list

“I Ugly-Cried Like Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar”: Amanda’s list

“I Liked Interstellar”: Sar’s list of what to watch afterwards

Follow Dominic on Letterboxd

#interstellar #christopher nolan #2001 a space odyssey #stanley kubrick #letterboxd #science fiction #sci fi #sci fi film #sci fi movies #queer consciousness #the meaning of life #love

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taylizmasterpost · 3 years

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Jake Gyllenhaal and Jealous Liz (October 2010 - February 2011)

Now, there’s a lot to say about Jake and Taylor. The time they got together was a time when he was promoting his movie, Love and Other Drugs, and she was about to drop Speak Now. So at first glance, it look a lot like a traditional PR stunt. However, they do not have a first public meeting -- something that Taylor has with a lot of her other PR relationships (think Calvin at the Fund Fair or Harry at the KCAs), and seemed generally more camera shy.

Jake’s costar in Love and Other Drugs, Anne Hathaway, was also single at the time, and arguably a PR relationship between the two of them would’ve drummed up significantly more buzz for the film, so stunting with Taylor seems an odd choice.

Jake also reportedly annoyed Taylor with how much he wanted to hide from the press, which is interesting. I’m not totally certain if they were real or not, but I’ll put all of their stuff in here, because it’s interesting to note Liz’s reaction to all of it, despite her relationship:

23 October 2010 - Emma Stone hosts SNL. Both Taylor and Jake G show up to support her, supposedly they’ve already started dating at this point and this was their first public appearance together.

"They walked around together backstage, but they were careful not to be seen too close. It was hard to tell if they were together, but everyone was shocked that she brought him," a source told People magazine.

Notice the lack of public meeting. Strange that they just showed up together dating.

24 October 2010 - Liz tweets about listening to Never Grow Up

October 2010 - Taylor writes All Too Well, the first of the three “Nashville songs” -- All Too Well, State of Grace, Stay Stay Stay-- that were written for the Red album before she moved to LA, based on the fact that she said she started writing for Red slightly before Speak Now was released.

We also know All Too Well has to have been written in 2010 because what the copyright record for it says:

Now, it seems to me that this is too soon to be about Jake. It’s obviously a breakup song, and Taylor and Jake have only just started dating (unless they had a secret dating history we don’t know about). It would be weird for her to be writing all this about him while they’re still dating.

All Too Well could be about any of the three women I’ve spoken previously about in this masterpost. However, I’m going to try to make the case that this song is for Liz:

All Too Well is Liz’s favorite song from Red. She has said so on multiple occasions. Years later, when she came to watch Taylor’s Reputation tour in Glendale, Taylor even played it for her as the surprise song. Sure, it could just be that Liz is just a fan, but the song fits where we are in the timeline. Liz has moved on with someone else. Taylor is trying to get over it, but she can’t help but think back to the past she remembers “all too well.”

If the song is about a woman, lines like “back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known” reads to me as Taylor making a (possibly unfounded) dig at closeting. All Too Well also carries the bad driving metaphor with “almost ran the red,” which runs throughout a lot of the other Liz songs on Red, and which Liz will later reference herself in her own music. The lines in the bridge about “asking for too much” and “running scared,” remind me of Taylor insisting she was single during Valentine’s Day, despite spending it with Liz, only to turn around and miss her once Liz got a boyfriend. Lines about loss of innocence are also interesting, when we think about that L Chat post about Liz from earlier...

Of course, obviously, you can think this song is about whoever you want. If you wanna claim it for JH or Joe Jonas or Taylor Lautner or maybe even some girl Taylor went to high school with, be my guest. I personally don’t buy it being about Emily in a post-Dear John world, and the timeline doesn’t read as Jake to me, so I’m giving it to Liz!

25 October 2010 - Speak Now is released. In the album’s prologue, she specifies that the song “Long Live” is for her band, which is interesting to me, considering that the bridge of the song sounds like it might be about a relationship, and the secret message of the song is “For you,” which sounds oddly specific:

Will you take a moment? Promise me this That you’ll stand by me forever But, if God forbid, fate should step in And force us into a goodbye If you have children someday When they point to the pictures, Please tell ‘em my name

The secret message for Mine is “Toby,” which is the name of the actor who played her love interest during the song, making it make no sense for the song to be about him (and, in my eyes, making it more likely she was trying to cover up who the song was really for). We’ve already discussed Story of Us having “CMT Awards” and Back to December having “Tay,” so I won’t beat you over the head with those.

Unlike the original handwritten lyrics to Sparks Fly, which featured the lyric “Get me with those brown eyes, baby,” the version that Taylor put on the Speak Now album had the lyric “hit me with those green eyes, baby,” with the eye color presumably being changed because Liz has green eyes:

The secret message for Sparks Fly is “Portland, Oregon,” which is where Taylor and The Agency covered Tom Petty’s song American Girl in May 2009 during the height of early TayLiz.

26 October 2010 - Taylor and Jake are spotted together in Brooklyn getting lunch with Emma Stone:

Liz does a sound check for Taylor for the Today Show. A video later gets posted on YouTube and someone leaves this comment noting Taylor and Liz’s chemistry:

31 October 2010 - Taylor and Jake are spotted in Big Sur together and stay at California’s Post Inn Ranch.

Liz spends Halloween with her boyfriend:

1 November 2010 - Taylor’s appearance on Ellen airs. Ellen asks her about Jake. Taylor says “I’m always optimistic about love. Yes, always, sometimes.”

2 November 2010 - Taylor and Jake are spotted in Santa Barbara together. They get ice cream, interact with fans, and Taylor reportedly laughs at everything Jake says.

16 November 2010 - Jake attends the Love and Other Drugs premiere alone. This is interesting to me, considering if this was a PR relationship you would’ve thought he’d bring Taylor as his date. Still, Paula made some weird decisions in her time as Taylor’s publicist (like putting her with a carousel of 18 year olds), so this could just be Paula thinking that Taylor showing up at the premiere with him would be too obviously read as a stunt. Doesn’t rule it either way. Still, I think Anne would’ve been a better choice for PR for this.

Mid November - Perez Hilton alleges that Jake has picked up Taylor on his private jet to fly her to London because she was “feeling lonely.” Jake was in London promoting Love and Other Drugs so this seems very stunty to me personally.

22 November 2010 - Taylor attends the American Music Awards and wins Favorite Female Country Artist.

Liz tweets congratulations at her and seems generally excited.

24 November 2010 - Love and Other Drugs is officially released in theaters.

25 November 2010 - Taylor and Jake spend Thanksgiving in Brooklyn with Jake’s family.

26 November 2010 - Liz seems to have spent Thanksgiving with Jason:

27 November 2010 - Taylor and Jake are spotted in a coffee house in Nashville:

And, maybe in response, Liz makes this weird and vaguely jealous Tweet:

Now, I don’t know what this means. Maybe the “you” refers to Liz and she’s having what Carly Rae Jepsen would call “boy problems” -- feeling torn and overburdened between a best friend and boyfriend:

youtube

Or, perhaps, the “you” in this Tweet refers to Taylor, and Liz is trying to say that Jake is “using her up,” maybe meaning taking up her time. Or maybe Liz wasn’t referring to any of this. We can’t really know. Still, it’s interesting.

29 November 2010 - TayLiz hang out and Liz tweets about it. Perhaps to make up for the lack of time spent together since they both got boyfriends.

30 November 2010 - Taylor and Jake have coffee in Nashville:

1 December 2010 - Taylor writes a MySpace post about the CMTs.

Liz tweets about watching Glee, meaning she’s the one who got Taylor hooked on the show and therefore interested in Dianna. Hilarious.

2 December 2010 - Taylor calls Love and Other Drugs a “good movie” when asked about it, and won’t say anything more. She also adamantly refuses to talk about her personal life (This gives me 2018/19 Joe vibes, whatever that means).

3 December 2010 - Liz tweets that her favorite song on Speak Now is Last Kiss. She also tweets at Jason about his cooking:

5 December 2010 - Jake is asked about Taylor and says this:

“One of the greatest parts about being in a relationship is the intimacy you share, but it can be difficult if you’re being watched the whole time.”

This reminds me so much of what Taylor’s currently saying about Joe. Interesting, looking back on it.

7 December 2010 - Jake and Taylor do the “maple latte” pap walk stunt in Brooklyn with Maggie and her daughter. This is the only series of photos of them that I think was a set-up, but that means it’s pretty gross this is the one they chose to bring a child into:

I think the reason this was so obviously a pap walk was to get the “maple latte” in the shot. I’ve already speculated that Taylor had written All Too Well prior to her relationship with Jake, and this stunty pap walk would make sense if she needed to use him to cover for it.

8 December 2010 - Liz makes another weird vague possibly jealous tweet:

Now, in the context of Mine possibly being about Liz and Taylor saying that song is about her “tendency to run from love,” it’s possible Liz is shading Taylor’s pap walk with Jake the previous day. This tweet feels very “back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known.”

However, maybe she’s just really happy with Jason. I don’t know. I don’t know these people.

9 December 2010 - Taylor and Jake drive around LA, Jake yells at the paps.

Compare these to those photos with Taylor Lautner earlier in the timeline. These are not nearly as staged. Take away from that whatever you will.

13 December 2010 - Taylor turns 21. Liz and Caitlin bring her a pizza. Liz tweets at Taylor that she’s changed her life. This is supposedly the birthday that Jake didn’t show up to that The Moment I Knew is about. Liz and Caitlin bringing her pizza if she’s sad about it would make sense...

31 December 2010 - Taylor and Liz spotted together in Nashville. They get Pei Wei and JustJared calls Liz a “gal pal.” Taylor seems upset, possibly about her whole Jake birthday thing. Or possibly something else.

Liz tweets about going for a run and listening to Speak Now:

5 January 2011 - Taylor and Jake break up.

19 January 2011 - Taylor and Jake are spotted together by fans in Nashville, first at a coffee shop and then at dinner. Jake did not have any other business in Nashville, so it can be assumed he came there to talk to Taylor:

CONCLUSION: Were Taylor and Jake real? I don’t know. They really only ever did that one pap walk and didn’t seem to publicly promote each other’s work, as far as I could find, despite both releasing projects while together. The one pap walk they did seems to maybe have been to cover for All Too Well, which had possibly already been written (likely about Liz) before Jake and Taylor started dating.

Were those tweets from Liz jealousy? Or am I reading too much into it?

Either way, Taylor’s had her fun, and now it’s time to maybe start thinking about getting back together with Liz. There’s just one problem: her boyfriend.

The Speak Now Tour Begins (February 2011 - May 2011)

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bbysamu · 3 years

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im an INFP but lemme start with how surprised i was knowing its really hard to find a character that shares the same mbti as me and those who im quite familiar with are only yamaguchi and junpei. but here are some of our similarities i figured out with my mini big brain 💆🏻‍♀️

yams. (1) were both open for new ppl even tho were obv shy and easily flustered and the tendency of us doing stupid things or say random things to new ppl are high af— hence why its soooo hard for me to grow a crush on someone bc i always embarrass myself in the end (2) were both an empath? i do like to study ppl and sometimes i get too emotionally attached that it could be a troublesome if im involved with other ppl's problems, which also why we both cry over small things— yesterday i almost cried in starbucks bc i saw a mom and her son (a junior high student) and i suddenly felt how nice its to be a junior high student with no huge life preassures (yet) and getting his fave starbucks drink bought by his mom and just enjoy their quality time while hes telling his mom ab his day 🥺 (3) OVERTHINKER hh no explanation needed

junpei. boy i there isnt much to tell since hes uh.. hes.. yeah🧍🏻‍♀️but dw i can spot some similarities (1) we both hv trust issues— as for me idk exactly when it first happened or what caused it but its really hard for me to let ppl be super close to who i actually am, not that i might not like them the more the closer we get but its actually the other way around— im not sure if they could handle the 'real' me let alone willing to stay if they get to know be better (does that count as trust issue??) (2) im not sure if junpei actually did this but i kinda take a hint from his scene with itadori— we tend to push away ppl we care so we wouldnt hurt them much further (3) WERE MOVIES MANIAC LMAO IDK IF THIS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH MBTI BUT IM REALLY A NERD WHEN IT COMES TO THE MOVIES I LOVE

— ☃️

I loved reading your analysis - i mean you already know it, I always love hearing your thoughts 😭

1) baby Yams!! you both have a heart of gold from what it sounds like to me. But also I wanna say high-five for crying over same things. Sometimes the scene unfolding in front of us isn't even sad per say, its just we think about other things right? like you thinking about your time as a junior high student. I remember watching the Intern with Anne Hathaway and Robert Di Niro and I just started crying bc of how hard women have it sometimes in the professional world. My friend was like 👀 you good bro? LOL

2) POOR JUNPEI...dude that JJK opening was the biggest fake spoiler ever. I literally thought he was going to come back. yeah your observation was pretty spot on, Junpei did try to push people away. And I think its because of both reasons. He doesn't want to hurt people and he doesn't want people to hurt him as well. And yes, movie maniac is absolutely a personality trait. high-five because I am one as well

#pretty thoughts #darling ☃️

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inejkaz · 4 years

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i was tagged by @mollyweasly to answer the following 73 questions! thank you for tagging me steph ♥

on a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about life right now? i'm actually pretty content and the only thing that i'm rdreading right now is my upcoming finals so maybe 6!

describe yourself in a hashtag? #alwaystired

if you could do a love scene with anyone, who would it be? no one comes to mind but steph's answer was chris evans and i'd say the same tbh 👀

if your life was a musical, what would the marquee say? uh maybe "dumb bitch" or "chaotic mess" LMAO idk honestly my life isn't that interesting most of the time

what’s one thing people don’t know about you? that i'm lowkey depressed. most of my old friends know this but they don't rlly know how bad it makes me feel sometimes & i don't think i'll ever tell my college friends abt this except for one person!

what’s your wake up ritual? lay in bed for another 5-15 mins, check the time, and brush my teeth. next i'd either shower, workout, or attend online class

what’s your go to bed ritual? just on my phone looking at useless things and answering my friends' messages. i'll get tired soon so i'll just daydream and sleep. lately i've been listening to music to help me sleep!

what’s your favorite time of day? late night and early morning

your go to for having a good laugh? i love watching lip sync battles. my favorites are by emma stone, tom holland, anne hathaway & channing tatum!

dream country to visit? the UK! my cousin talks abt it all the time and now she's taking her postgrad degree there which makes me incredibly jealous 😢 but honestly i'm dying to travel europe as a whole!

what’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever had? probably when my high school friends bought me the doc martens shoes that i LOVE for my 17th birthday! i love them and miss them even tho many are not in touch with me anymore

heels or flats/sneakers? flats/sneakers definitely! i've never tried heels tbh i can only endure wedges and they alr hurt SO much

vintage or new? both

who do you want to write your obituary? probably my best friend!

style icon? taylor swift during the red era, noora sætre, orion carloto, ashley aka best.dressed!

what are three things you cannot live without? books, internet, family

what’s one ingredient you put in everything? salt

what 3 people living or dead would you want to make dinner for? taylor swift, chris evans, audrey hepburn

what’s your biggest fear in life? the unknown, anything horror & reptiles esp lizards (i can't stand reptiles AT ALL i'd literally cry and die if i have to touch one or sleep in the same room with one)

window or aisle seat? window

what’s your current tv obsession? haven't been watching any tv lately but i've been watching mukbangs on youtube a lot

favorite app? line (a messaging app mostly used by indonesians. i rlly like the stickers and themes i own lmao)

secret talent? i can play guitar just a lil bit

most adventurous thing you’ve ever done in your life? either drinking beers with my friends on a school field trip or not telling my parents that i went to the city alone during college just to hangout by myself

how would you define yourself in three words? introverted, chaotic, anxious

favorite piece of clothing you own? an adidas jacket that was on a 50% sale for international women's day!!!

a must have clothing item that everyone should have? black pants

a superpower you would want? invisibility and mind control!!!

what’s inspiring you in life right now? since i was a little kid, i've always been inspired by my cousin. she's my role model!

best piece of advice you’ve received? to literally BELIEVE in yourself

best advice you’d give your teenage self? don't be so self-aware bc everyone's busy with themselves, make more friends, cherish your time in school more

a book everyone should read? harry potter series, the raven cycle

what would you like to be remembered for? for being a good, positive person

how do you define beauty? beauty is whatever that evokes a positive feeling out of oneself i guess!

what do you love most about your body? my eyes

best way to take a rest/decompress? skincare, listen to soothing music, drink a warm beverage, watch smth that's easy to watch, and just sleep!

favorite place to view art? galleries, but i've only been to one sadly

if your life was a song, what would the title be? maybe "paradox" or "misunderstood"

if you could master one instrument, what would it be? piano! but it's expensive and not portable so if i'm being realistic, it'd be guitar

if you had a tattoo, where would it be? in the back of my neck! also maybe on any of my fingers or below my ribcage

dolphins or koalas? koalas

what’s your spirit animal? deer!

best gift you’ve ever received? doc martens shoes given by my friends!

best gift you’ve given? i think i wrote my friend letters to open when she's in different moods once

what’s your favorite board game? monopoly

what’s your favorite color? pink, purple, yellow, monochrome

least favorite color? i just dislike bright obnoxious colors

diamond or pearls? diamonds

drugstore makeup or designer? both, but i mostly can't afford designer anyway so..

blow-dry or air-dry? both

pilates or yoga? i've never tried any actually

coffee or tea? both, but i'm leaning towards tea

what’s the weirdest word in the english language? can't think of any right now..

dark chocolate or milk chocolate? milk chocolate!!!

stairs or elevators? elevators

summer or winter? winter

you are stuck on an island, you can pick one food to eat forever without getting tired of it, what would you eat? burgers!!

a dessert you don’t like? basically i won't like anything with fruits

a skill you’re working on mastering? photoshop i guess? i'm planning to learn coding too now that i have the time!!

best thing to happen to you today? probably finishing my gifset! but honestly, i was supposed to be studying lmao

worst thing to happen to you today? i didn't study lmao

best compliment you’ve ever received? i don't think it's anything that memorable so i can't really think of one

favorite smell? jasmine

hugs or kisses? both

if you made a documentary, would it be about? space, mythology

last piece of content you consumed that made you cry? i get a little teary eyed if i come across a touching content on instagram/twitter tbh lmao. but i'd say the last movie that made me cry so bad was her (2013)

lipstick or lipgloss? lipstick

sweet or savory? savory

girl crush? emma watson

how do you know your in love? don't think i've ever been in love, i've only experienced like a very long crush so...

a song you can listen to on repeat? there are a lot... but for now, woman by mumford & sons and anything by taylor swift

if you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would it be? taylor swift!!!

what are you most excited for about this time in your life? i've just been enjoying editing for tumblr a lot, i haven't really posted consistent content in my 10 years of being here so that's been fun. i also want to learn coding and become an overall healthier person by working out regularly & eating mindfully! honestly i'm trying to build my confidence and become healthier, both mentally and physically

tagging: @dianaprincie @cllianmurphy @cinderllas @edgarallan @rosamunqpike @gamoora @nataliamaximoff (sorry if you've done this before, feel free to ignore!)

#this took so long!!!!!#tag games

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curious-minx · 4 years

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Hollywood Hillbillies, The Ballad of the Boomers.

This image turned Norman Rockwell into a socialist.

Hollywood fed and bred celebrities are finally starting to wane much like franchise family restaurants, simple no-frills shotgun weddings, Budweiser, and egg-based mayonnaise, and for the most part, most American lives are probably not feeling impacted by this loss. In a world of Amy Adams and Glenn Closes two women in make believe professions whose biggest hurdle remains whether or not they will reap the Industry awards they so richly deserve, and seeing as real life underdogs give you fleas you might as well root for these Queens. For starters, one of these talented performers has BIG EYES, while the other is elegant and old, but not too old, and they are both perfectly fine at what they do. One thing millennials and mineral-based Americans are not kidding around about are award shows, because we’re all stabbing and shaving ourselves with all of the trophies that line the walls of each and every day spent doing our best. Egad, Josh Gad will one day get an Egot and a new species of animal is eradicated each and every day.

Wait I thought that the new Dark Crystal series was cancelled?

The trailer for the Ron Howard picture Hillbilly Elegy is coming in hot off the tepid and apathetic trails of a Star Wars film more forgotten than the Life Day special, Ron Howard also feels like a man awarded more and more opportunities for simply doing his best. Come gather around the Battle of the Boomers! In Netflix’s corner is a conservative personal parable of someone born and raised in Ohio warding off the festering influences of his parents Appalachian Kentuckian upbringing. According to the great powerful Wiki the book is concerned something of a conservative doggrel beating the same wife beater wearing fiction about the horrors of the Welfare Queen. As someone who recently became a welfare queen himself, as well as someone overcoming substance abuse issues I feel like a venture capitalist from Ohio and Okie’s golden son Ron fucking Howard are really going to get down to the real truth about poverty and substance abuse.

There are three types of Terminators in the World: Neutral Terminators, Good Terminators, and Bad Terminators. I’m Glenn Close.

Netflix and friends are the only buffet any of us without a death wish can frequent in the 21st century. As of the date of this writing Netflix has already released 85 a total Netflix Productions (not counting documentaries). This noticeable leap in quantity benefits from the amount of international non-English language movies spanning languages from Akan to, Netflix has gone from releasing only 2 movies to its name in 2015 up to 105 movies by the end of 2020. How many of these exercises in funny accents, prosthetic transformations, Horse Girls, Lost Girls, Tall Girls, Sweet Girls and The Girls I’ve Been can we claim to be really moved by? Will you remember me come next Girlfriend’s Day? You could keep stringing Netflix titles along and find some meaning or come up with nothing but a Bird Box. Nobody but Netflix has been releasing a movie or two or three a week, and that’s because Netflix dueling CEOs Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings are cut throat dynamos of Men of industry who dared to ask, “What if movies, but on TV?”

Oh the Caucasity!

////////

Whereas, HBO asks no questions, stands completely nude (as ordained by HBO’s Ministry of Nudity) , and proud. HBO does not need to ask any questions, because they are the answer. HBO is the movies (as of 1982). HBO has been quietly churning out direct to TV movies in the years where the cineplex was becoming strictly for the Haus of Mouse and the Captain Reboot was dealing with his worst bout of necrophilia yet! This other movie I am discussing isn’t an HBO movie though, but an HBO Max feature. The first of a strange new breed. The other trailer in question to drop this week is by yet another historically Hollywood director is Bobby Zemeckis, who let’s be very clear is not directing the upcoming Roald Dahl Witches adaption he is only humbly re-imagining the material. So if this movie tanks like Marwen don’t blame Zemeckis, because he only re-imagined this one. As someone who has no soft spot in my skull for Dahl I am not coming to this project with anything but cautious fascination.

The look people give me when I tell that my favorite movie of all time is Alice Through The Looking Glass

Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams both talented actors that get under a lot of people’s skins in the way peculiar to successful women. I will say that Hathaway looks like she is having a lot more fun these days. At the very beginning of the year I had watched one of her more recent leading lady vehicles Colossal an indie movie dealing with alcoholism through emotional kaijus, a big foolish swing. Hathaway really succeeds for me whenever she is in Rachel Getting Married fuck up mode , and it looks like here on the Witches she’s back at being an actor having fun getting themselves dirty for the sake of expression. This looks like a performance built around a silly accent and prosthetics, but Hathaway is too startling a screen presence to be drownedout. Maybe I am actually really hyped for this frivolous dark family fantasy comedy? Or maybe I’m just really into horrifying animal transformations which the trailer doubles down on, which makes me believe that this is just the tip of the green screen abominations!

So if you’re am embittered actor out there that feels spent and drained of all naturalistic energy as the horizon of live performance fades further and further out of view. I implore these thespians to reach down into their silliest accent cabinet, for God’s sake make sure you’ve gotten rid of your racist silly accent drawer, and most importantly be very pretty so that the process of uglifying you is more of a process. Accomplish both of these grand feats, and maybe you too could be working alongside the classic American directors and studio wizards keeping the Dream alive by slathering their dolls and action figures in enough digital magic to close the circle. Movies are Dead! And the coroner is sorting through her wigs.

#netflix #hbo #Hillbilly effigy #the witches #Roald dahl #hollywood #americana #anne hathaway #Amy adams #glenn close #halloween #movies #trailers #upcoming

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twiststreet · 4 years

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Favorite 10 Movies 2019-- Didn’t see the Irishman, the Farewell, Little Women or the San Francisco movie; didn’t think that Marriage Story movie would be on my list anyways but didn’t see that one either (though I always end up liking those Baumbach movies...); or the movie in that Dave Ehrlich video that I’d never heard of that I’m curious about is the Souvenir-- that sounded interesting:

1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The only movie I wanted to see twice in a theater. I like where I live, and that movie just showed off a bunch of it in a really romantic way. Just the long sigh of that movie, or just how many movie pleasures it has to it-- Brad Pitt just driving, and that’s enough cause he’s a fucking movie star. And just a thorny movie-- not a movie I’d want to “defend” necessarily, sure, I’m more sympathetic to the “I wish it didn’t all have to change” at the heart of the movie than maybe I want to be, I don’t know if that’s the healthiest shit. I liked thinking about it, good and bad.

I didn’t like the conversation around it at first, all the clickbait, but I liked how once you got past that, it did feel like a movie people could enjoy arguing about-- that was the New York Times thing this year, how all these movies felt worth arguing about for a change. I think it’s been a pretty great year in movies-- I liked more than 10 movies, anyways, and the ones I didn’t like, like something like Hustlers, I get that someone else could be super-into it and make a case for it and... Or I had no interest in Joker but seeing people argue about it after it came out (instead of before)... I mean, I want movies to be that-- something people give a shit about...

2. Uncut Gems

I’ve met a bunch of guys like this, so I don’t even know how to talk about this one, except just “Yeah, I’ve met that fucking guy.” I enjoyed it as like a family album of people I’ve met in the last 10 years. I guess it’s not a huge hit with mainstream audiences or I’ve seen people online who are like “I don’t get it,” and that’s fine, whatever, but when people are talking like, oh I haven’t met someone like that (or like Sandler’s just a gambling addict)... I just don’t know what to even say about that... Plus, a lot of faces in that movie.

3. Andadhun

This Indian suspense movie was really fun for me the way Breaking Bad or something like that was fun. It’s pretty surprising it didn’t catch on more. It’s silly the way one of those shows is silly, and it’s got one or two twists too many, but I just think if you can go along with the premise, this was just a real fun time. Just a fun suspense movie.

4. Cold Pursuit

Oh fuck, I just think it’s the comedy of the year. It just threw so many fucking people because if you go and look at reviews, a bunch of reviewers are like “this Liam Neeson movie is his strangest revenge movie yet.” And they don’t pick up on the fact that they made an extremely straight-faced parody of Liam Neeson revenge movies... starring Liam Neeson. There’s a scene where Liam Neeson’s beating the hell out of somebody and he’s screaming “Where can I find Santa?” Because the guy he has to kill is named Santa for no reason?? Or there’s a scene where an angry Asian woman makes Liam Neeson awkwardly sit there and watch her make out with her husband. And it just builds to this finale that... I can’t even imagine being in an opening night theater for the final scene of this movie. Like that first audience watching this and thinking they’d be getting a normal Liam Neeson movie and then getting a movie with an ending that this movie has, or a scene where Liam Neeson gives a speech at the beginning because he’s, like, the Snow Plow Man of the Year or ... I don’t even know.

I know it didn’t work for a lot of people because it’s so straight-faced and so deadpan and maybe indistinguishable from an actual Liam Neeson movie in a lot of ways, but I just laughed and laughed watching it... And I think that was intentional... I think...???

5. Dolemite is My Name

Eddie being entertaining for the first time in a long time. I mean, Bowfinger was ... 20 years ago? More? And Bowfinger was his comeback movie when it came out. Bowfinger was “Eddie’s still got it” after some of those family movies. A++ Wesley Snipes; just a nice, entertaining “root for the underdog” movie. I wanted to show it to my nephews but there’s a bunch of like sex and swearing and dirty jokes that make it pretty inappropriate for kids, but in my head, that movie’s like a Karate Kid or something like that, just a great scrappy-losers-win movie. When was the last one of those that landed? There are so many kinds of movies that just work and I don’t know why they have such a hard time making them...

6. High Flying Bird

I didn’t see anyone really mention this on any top 10 lists, but I really dug seeing Soderbergh and his iPhone just making something as Soderbergh-y as this one. Where it’s just... guys in a room talking obliquely about money. There’s some hokey shit at the end, a couple notes I wasn’t into (the girl reading the book beat), but I just remember really digging just watching people talk in this one, especially when he’s just letting Andre Holland rip... I don’t know why it didn’t connect more with other people. It’s Soderbergh just really, really doing a “Soderbergh movie”... I don’t know it that’s lost its cache with critics, but I’m still into that...

7. The Lighthouse

Not a great story movie, but just seeing two of the better/best? actors (Dafoe’s pretty great) just get handed all the rope you’d ever want to see them get handed to just go nuts and scream crazy shit at each other...? There’s a ton of stupid reasons to make a movie, but that’s not one of them. I didn’t think much of the story, and I’m not into the director, but that’s one of the biggest “who gives a shit if everything else in that movie sucks shit” things I can imagine. It’s got Dafoe and Pattinson screaming at each other about fucking Poseidon or whatever the fuck for 2 hours. Why the fuck wouldn’t you want to see that??

8. Midsommar

I want to fuck like the Swedish fuck, it turns out.

9. Parasite

I didn’t really like this movie in the hours after it was done, but you know, fuck, I gotta admit, it’s pretty fucking good. I’m not into the director. But the execution of this is just pretty strong, just thinking about the whole of it afterwards-- acting or production design especially or some of the choices they made in term of ... not overselling the poor characters as being especially noble in a way that’d be phony. (Though I just don’t share some of that movie’s thematic ideas about... there’s a couple parts that are supposed to be “profound” that I just don’t find agreeable or that I’m not sympathetic to, as just a crabby fuck). Or it was a movie I was pretty impressed by up until the ending, where I really didn’t love that last 10 minutes or so, is the thing, where the movie had shifted genres and tones so much that I don’t think i was where the movie wanted to situate me or where the rest of the audience was situated (i.e. I might have been the problem there. Or there are things about it generally I’m not into-- some of the shorthand on why we’re supposed to judge the rich family I don’t know about. I just had little weird issues with it or things that when it was over, I was frustrated with. Or I just...

It’s just one I didn’t like as much as other people did, but I gotta give it up that I’m not saying I’m especially right to not feel more strongly about it, because I can see the merits and I can see why it’s good and I don’t disagree with any of that, either. Or it’s... the design of the movie is just... It’s just a well designed movie, physically, writing-wise, just... It feels like things are in the right place with that movie, even if I had my reactions to it... i don’t know-- sometimes things are good and I’m not into them anyways, and I gotta chalk this one up as one of those, but like... This is one that I did keep thinking about afterwards and have to eventually just go “yeah, my initial reaction on that one was wrong”...

10. Knives Out.

Nothing to really talk about. I just like mysteries.

Other Movies I Liked This Year, as Someone Who Didn’t See a Lot of the more Acclaimed Movies: Crawl (not one of my favorite movies of the year, but you could tell they really beat the living shit out of that actress filming that movie and by the end that alone kind of made me impressed with it), In the Tall Grass (bad movie but GRASS, just a bad movie with more grass in it than I ever dared to dream could be in a movie, grass, grass, grass), Good Boys, Ready or Not (dopey movie, but I had a great audience for that one-- they were cheering and shit), Murder Mystery, John Wick Chapter 3, Always be My Maybe, Plus One, maybe SOME of Under the Silver Lake but not all of Under the Silver Lake (not the parts where it was trying to be about men and women which I had issues with and felt were unearned, but huge yes to the scenes of Spiderman beating the shit out of little kids), Prospect, Six Underground (particularly the opening scene and Bay trash talking Edgar Wright-- I enjoy Bay just being a competitive asshole), and the Netflix Fyre Festival documentary (specifically the blowjob guy).

Honorary Mention: the McConnaughey-Hathaway Serenity. I saw that in a theater, after I heard it was a car crash, and it was a CAR CRASH. There were movie stars in that movie! There were actual movie stars who read that script and were like “alright alright alright” when they signed contracts to star in that movie. Anne Hathaway was like “Do I get to say Daddy in every single scene, a couple times a scene? Just point to me to wardrobe.” Memorable. Memorable. I don’t think it’d work outside of a theater, and just that experience of... of being like “oh my god they got this a theatrical release.” My regret is not seeing it opening weekend.

Worst Movie that wasn’t Star Wars 3: the worst movie this year was Star Wars 3, that was the one where I was just constantly looking around at other people in the theater with my jaw open like “Are you seeing this? Are you fucking seeing what they’ve made here? The dagger has a fucking protractor in it? Are you fucking seeing this??” A movie that made the prequels seem better, and the other movies in its trilogy somehow strongly worse.

At some point I really felt like I was just exclusively watching Wrong Moves, except for Adam Driver who I thought came out of it kind of unblemished by the thing...

But setting that aside, my worst movie was Ad Astra, where I just hated the story and all the themes and the performances and really how little they used Brad Pitt and what Brad Pitt can bring to a movie and just ... Everything it had to say. I just felt a lot of hatred towards it. I was calling Ad Astra a Star Wars for men who hate their dicks, but then Star Wars came out and was worse, so I don’t know if that works anymore. Or because I don’t know who Star Wars is for anymore-- Star Wars is just a thing angry shitheads fight about now online. Have you seen people fighting one way or another for this movie? Embarrassing! It feels embarrassing to have opinions about that movie. How did Star Wars get even more embarrassing than it was before that trilogy started???

But yeah, Ad Astra-- I thought it was woke nonsense, with a bunch of psuedo-profundity and third-rate “men: be better” posturing tacked onto a super-hollow core and an absolute shit story; not redeemed for me by its (for me) overrated visuals. I think all the critics who were counting how many lines women had in Tarantino movies went and blew a lot of hot air up this movie’s ass cause they wanted to celebrate a rambling monologue with fourth-rate 2013-Tumblr “men: be better” cliches as a “critique of toxic masculinity” and signal that as professional film critics, they get that all men everywhere are bad, they’re one of the good ones; but when I think about toxic masculinity, “Oh no what if astronauts were awesome at their jobs” isn’t keeping me up at night... The movie’s conception of what toxic masculinity is and why it’s bad were incredibly fucking stupid to me. I just thought that movie was fuck-stupid. I already look at the dumbest shit on Tumblr all the time-- I don’t need Brad Pitt turning that shit into a Matthew McConnaughey Lincoln car commercial...

#year in review

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ashenpages · 3 years

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Current Fic Ideas & Emoji Voting Key

Quick disclaimer that I’m a romance writer in all aspects of the term, so most of my fics will contain mature content. Engage at your own risk, you know the rules, you’re responsible for curating your own experience of the internet, blah blah blah. This post serves as a current mock up of fic ideas I’m either actively working on or considering working on next. You can drop me an ask about any of them, or just vote via the emoji combo I’ve assigned them.

You can also ask me about the original stuff I’m working on currently. The current WIPs are Medusa centric and the emoji for them is: 🐍

- Lupin: 🤑🤠💍 These are all oneshot ideas, between 5-15K each. If you want to vote for a specific idea, send me the emojis and the number of the idea.

Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon always play rock-paper-scissors after a big heist to decide who’ll give the group a striptease, and who will get showered with money. Based on a piece of fanart that is basically this sequence of events in a 4koma (except in their version Jigen loses and in mine, it’s Goemon). (written, just needs editing)

Zenigata cuffs Lupin four times, and Lupin steals his heart. Very NSFW conclusion. Zenigata is the most caring lover you’ll ever find. Lupin is as thirsty as usual and twice as intense. (written, just needs editing)

Jigen protects Lupin from poison darts during a treasure hunt in an Aztec temple, and Lupin nurses him back to help--forcibly, since Jigen is a horrible patient. Born from my desire to spoil Jigen and talk about what ridiculous domestic husbands these two are. (WIP)

- Sonic Vampire Novelist Coffee Shop AU: 📚☕💐

- Sonic Blazamy: 💖🌸💎

Amy Rose has been in love with Sonic for a while.

Or has she?

- Persona 5: 🗡🍛☕

Also, I’m gonna make Makoto not a cop. That super didn’t age well. Zenkichi and his boss can work on making them better/abolishing them for other better organizations.

- Hades Game: ❤️‍🔥💀

Get ready for Meg helping Zag and Than be better at expressing their feelings, lots of kissing, and probably pegging.

- Castlevania Animation Trevor/Sypha/Alucard: 🧛🏰🛌

- Devil May Cry Nico/Lady/Trish: 💋✨😈

- Post FMA:B Blind Roy & No Alchemy Ed: 👀👑🙏

- Age of Calamity continuity Mipha x Revali: 🦚🐟💘

- Epic desert romance about Urbosa and Zelda’s mom: 🏜🏝⚡

I just think Urbosa should kiss women and Zelda’s mom should get more development and maybe a name or something. Also, lightning imagery/metaphors/play.

#sonic the hedgehog #Lupin III #persona 5 #Devil May Cry #Hades Game #Castlevania #fma #Breath of the Wild #age of calamity

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bbclesmis · 5 years

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The inside story of the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables... by the man who sexed up War and Peace

On a summer’s morning in a park outside Brussels, one of European literature’s most wretched characters is having a laugh. In Victor Hugo’s gargantuan 1862 novel Les Misérables, the naive young Parisian seamstress Fantine is dealt a rotten hand: she loses her wealthy boyfriend, her daughter, her job, her hair, her two front teeth and her life – all within the book’s first act.

If you are one of the 130 million people to have encountered Fantine in the world-conquering stage musical (or 2012’s big-screen incarnation of it, in which Anne Hathaway enacted the character’s misery through an Oscar-winning outpouring of tears), you will know her as a figure of abject tragedy.

Yet here she is in the Belgian sunshine, as played for the cameras by Lily Collins – the 29-year-old daughter of musician Phil – bonnet off, flirting on the lawn with her lover, Félix (Johnny Flynn), while her giggling girlfriends lark about on a swing, like a Fragonard painting come to life.

In her pale empire-line dress, hair plaited with flowers, she looks almost bridal: untroubled and in love. Later this month, you’ll have a chance to meet this unfamiliar Fantine for yourself, in the first episode of the BBC’s lavish new six-part series. With a screenplay by Andrew Davies, it attempts to show us an aspect of Hugo’s classic we’ve never seen dramatised before; one that is, well, less miserable.

Until last year, the director – 50-year-old Tom Shankland, best known for the lost-child drama The Missing – was ‘one of those few people in the universe who didn’t know much about the musical or the film’, he says. But after receiving Davies’ screenplay, he plunged into the novel and found a story bristling with ‘so much life and drama and violence and tragedy that the label “costume drama” just can’t contain it’.

Setting out to make a version that would ‘bring a level of 21st-century psychology to the realm of 19th-century melodrama, keeping one foot in then and one foot in now’, his spiritual guide would be David Lean, who, in cinematic masterpieces such as Lawrence of Arabia, proved ‘so brilliant at judging when to be intimate and when to be epic. I think that was always going to be the game with Les Misérables: how not to lose our heroes against this vast historical canvas.’

It’s day 79 of the 89-day shoot and sitting in front of a monitor – headphones clamped to his ears, an approving smile on his face – Davies is the first to admit to being no fan of the musical. ‘I hated it,’ he tells me, ‘couldn’t bear it.’ Yet when he first read Hugo’s book six years ago, he was struck by a sophistication that, he felt, no adaptation had come close to capturing.

In the sprawling saga, set in a nation discombobulated by Napolean’s defeat at Waterloo, Davies says he found ‘such a lot of resonances with our time now. There are the haves and have-nots, the extreme strata of society in terms of riches and poverty. I thought how good it would be to show that on television.’

At the moment we join the narrative, in 1815, he says, ‘France thought it’d had a revolution, now it’s got a monarchy again and it’s back to the bad times. So while people like Fantine can have fun for a bit, they are always in danger of dropping through the cracks. There is no safety net, no welfare state. If you take one wrong step, you’re f—ed, basically.’

To anyone else, the prospect of reducing Hugo’s 1,500-page leviathan to six hours of primetime drama would have been daunting. But to Davies – who, at 82, is British television’s undisputed doyen of the literary adaptation, as the brains behind such memorable series as 1995’s Pride and Prejudice, 2005’s Bleak House and, in 2016, War & Peace – it was an itch that just had to be scratched. ‘I felt it had never been done properly before,’ he says. ‘But then I always think that. “Hmmm, you need my version of it.”’

His first step towards reclaiming the story from the musical (‘a very partial version of the book, more concert than drama’) was to introduce the viewer to Fantine not when she is plummeting into the abyss, but, as Hugo does, before she has the slightest inkling of her fate. ‘As for Fantine, she was pure joy,’ writes the author early on. ‘Her magnificent teeth had clearly been given her by God with one purpose only, and that was to laugh.’

During a break in filming, Collins, towelling dressing gown now slung over her dress, tells me she spent her childhood summers in Switzerland (‘where I would dream in French’) and begged the filmmakers for an audition the moment she heard the project was in the pipeline – with Davies’ emphasis on this happy phase of Fantine’s story part of the appeal. Not only did it free her from the spectre of Hathaway’s portrayal, it also deepened her sympathy for the character. ‘Because you get to see just how in love she was with Félix; it heightens the heartbreak.’

The result contributes to a telling of Les Misérables that the bullish Davies suggests may rank as ‘the most psychologically satisfying version there has been so far of the book’. Having set out to improve upon the musical, he now finds himself wondering if, in places, he’s also surpassed the novel. ‘We tell Fantine’s story more fully than I think Hugo did,’ he says. ‘We’ve explored the Javert and Jean Valjean relationship more deeply, too.’

If Fantine is the book’s emotional heart, then the intense cat-and-mouse struggle between Jean Valjean – the convict who serves 19 years’ hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread before rehabilitating himself as the mayor of Montreuil – and Inspector Javert, his jailer-turned-stalker, is its moral centre. While the lawman is a monstrously rigid incarnation of the unbending principles of justice, Valjean, who works his way back from brutal to beatific, represents the possibility of grace.

As Javert, David Oyelowo, the British actor who made his name in BBC drama Spooks and forged a Hollywood career with such acclaimed performances as Martin Luther King in Selma (2014), was the first cast member to sign up for the new Les Misérables, on which he also served as executive producer.

‘Partly why I really wanted to play Javert is that, having read Andrew Davies’ script and then the book, he remained enigmatic to me,’ Oyelowo says, speaking over the phone from his Los Angeles home about a character often dismissed as more archetype than man.

‘I didn’t see him as a simplistic villain, but as a very complicated human being. I felt there was a lot of work for me to do in order to explain some of what one might call his malevolence, his drive, his ambition and especially his attention towards Jean Valjean. I found something primal in his fastidious, continuous, inexorable need to get hold of this man.’

Back on set in Belgium, I spot that man – or at least the actor who plays him, Dominic West – loitering in his breeches outside Vilvoorde prison. With its brick-vaulted ceiling and cracked paintwork, the abandoned 18th-century building south of Brussels is an atmospheric kind of place. Shankland says it has a ‘melancholic aura’; a production assistant says it smells of ‘dead rat’.

Inside, in a recreation of the book’s Montreuil bead factory, Collins’ Fantine is sitting with her fellow grisettes (among them Lily Newmark and Erin Doherty) at long wooden tables strewn with black beads, waiting for make-up designer Jacqueline Fowler to give them the once-over. This seems to involve her making sure they haven’t washed behind their ears. ‘I like to see sweat,’ she explains afterwards. ‘And neck hair. None of the girls have make-up on today; it’s a very natural, realistic look.’

Later, the costume designer Marianne Agertoft says that she, too, favoured a pared-down style, so historical pedants had better beware. ‘We’ve kept bonnets off the women quite a lot of the time, even at moments when they would have worn them then,’ she tells me. ‘Why? Because they can very much get in the way.’

Outside, West (also an executive producer), who slotted in Jean Valjean between shooting seasons four and five of American melodrama The Affair, admits he found Tom Hooper’s 2012 film of Les Misérables so ‘bloody awful’ that he walked out of the cinema before it had finished. So when he was first approached for the new series, he hesitated. ‘I thought, “It’s a musical, it’s been done, we’ve just seen the film and why do it again?”’ he explains, while Fowler (previously seen applying her make-up brush to the abs of Poldark’s Aidan Turner for his notorious topless scything scene) attends to his stick-on sideburns. ‘Then I read the book and it just knocked my socks off. Best thing I’ve ever read.’

West is similarly enthused by his character, whom he describes as ‘the greatest superhero in literature, a strongman who spends the whole time rescuing children and saving entire communities’. He treasures Valjean as an anomaly in television drama: a public servant celebrated as a figure of high moral standing. Isn’t it also pretty rare, I suggest, for West, a 49-year-old Old Etonian who sealed his reputation playing a morally dubious Baltimore cop in The Wire, to be the good guy? ‘It is,’ he says. ‘I’ve played a lot of villains and I don’t want to do it any more. [Portraying] Iago and Fred West in one year was annihilating. To live with Valjean, as I have for six months, is invigorating: it opens your soul.’

Oyelowo acknowledges that there will be those surprised to see him cast in ‘the kind of role which, to be perfectly frank, even 10 years ago probably would not have been afforded me’.

Born in Oxford in 1976 to black Nigerian immigrants, he says, ‘Something I have found problematic with period drama over the years, in terms of what we have done in Great Britain, is to deny just how long people of colour have been part of the fabric of British life – and European life as well, as it pertains to Les Mis.’

To those viewers who struggle to reconcile him with Hugo’s ‘slimy spook’, Oyelowo would say, ‘I am sure a lot of French people think it’s not right to transpose Les Mis on to British culture, which is what we’ve done by having the characters speak English and talk in London or posh English accents. But if you are going to make something that doesn’t stink of mothballs, you’d better be speaking to the world that we live in. And I think the show that we have cultivated absolutely does that.’

For all that the series strives for contemporary relevance, it also remains an epic feat of historical reconstruction that required a roving six-month shoot across Belgium and northern France, a principal cast of more than 100 (which also includes Olivia Colman and Adeel Akhtar as the dastardly innkeeping Thénardiers, and Sir Derek Jacobi as the irreproachable Bishop of Digne), a tapestry maker, a horse handler and 3,000 extras.

For producer Chris Carey, the high point of the process – its literal pièce de résistance – was the episode at the barricades, inspired by the 1832 French uprising which, in Hugo’s words, ‘turned the centre of Paris into a sort of colossal, impenetrable citadel’. To shoot those scenes, says Carey (whose last production was the thriller Apple Tree Yard), ‘We used a real street in a real French town, Sedan in northern France, which looks how Paris looked pre-Haussmann. And we blew it up over the course of two or three weeks. You can imagine the complications of keeping the town happy and on side when you are running through the streets at 5am with bayonets and cannon firing.’ I can also imagine such an operation burning through the kind of budget of which most BBC dramas could only dream. ‘You can’t do that stuff on a shoestring,’ concedes executive producer Faith Penhale, ‘but I won’t tell you a figure.’

West gives a less guarded assessment. ‘In terms of American budgets, this is nothing. This whole series is probably costing less than an American pilot would cost,’ he says. ‘We do these things very cheaply, which is not a good thing… For what we have to do, it’s peanuts.’

Does he in turn receive a significantly smaller fee for a drama like this than for something like The Affair? ‘I couldn’t possibly tell you,’ he says. Perhaps because they’ve blown a sizeable chunk of the budget on the services of a certain Mr West? ‘No, they have not,’ he yelps, before offering an answer to my previous question: ‘Yes, I do, very much less.’

If money is in relatively short supply in Les Misérables, then so too is sex. One of the most curious aspects of Hugo’s book is that, although it was written by a man known for his erotic appetites (it is said that on the day of his funeral, on 31 May 1885, the brothels of Paris pulled down their shutters as a sign of respect to a valued client), sex scarcely gets a look in. ‘It’s odd,’ says Davies. ‘We had this sudden realisation when talking about it that both Javert and Jean Valjean appear to be virgins.’ You might have assumed that Davies, who has long since had a reputation for sexing up the classics, would set that right – he is, after all, the man who injected incest into War and Peace and whose Pride and Prejudice planted the image of Colin Firth’s Darcy in a figure-hugging wet shirt in the nation’s consciousness – but no.

‘I don’t have to have sex all the time in things,’ he laughs. ‘I’m an old gentleman now.’ And indeed, although Fantine is taken to bed by Félix more than once in the first episode, their scenes together are characterised by a coyness that borders on prudery. In fact, the only real nudity to speak of in the drama’s first hour – which opens with jaw-dropping aerial views of the battlefield of Waterloo, a grim patchwork of uniformed corpses and dead horses – is a disarming shot of Valjean’s bare bottom. ‘Yeah, when I leave prison I get stripped off and thrown my old rags, so we thought it was a good excuse to get my ass out – somebody did, anyway,’ West tells me with a wolfish grin. ‘Let’s hope they can CGI it all right.’

Talking of ideal forms, before I leave the set I ask Davies if at any point in the process he felt the story of Les Misérables had already found its perfect expression in Hugo’s pages, and that the act of wrestling it on to the screen was always doomed to feel like a succession of compromises? ‘No,’ he says, with unwavering confidence. ‘It’s just finding its perfect medium now. If TV had been around at the time Victor Hugo wrote, I believe he would have made it as a six-part television show.’

Les Misérables starts on 30 December, at 9pm, on BBC One

Benjamin Secher, The Telegraph, 08.12.2018

#les mis bbc #bbc les mis #Interviews #Lily Collins #fantine #david oyelowo #javert #dominic west #Jean Valjean #Andrew Davies

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