ART IS DRUNK. HE KNOWS THIS. HE ALSO KNOWS THAT IT’S COLD OUT. AND HE’S WEARING SHORTS. AND A T-shirt. And sneakers. And he’s drunk. He doesn’t know how drunk he is. His thoughts are spiraling, though. So he’s probably pretty drunk. Patrick kicked him out a while ago. He can’t remember how long ago it was. He does know it wasn’t very nice of Patrick to do that, even if it was because Tashi was coming over. He still doesn’t understand why he has to leave when Tashi comes over. It’s not like Patrick is incapable of lying and just telling Tashi that Art was over for a beer or to catch up. Although it’d get suspicious if he was there all the time, he supposes. So maybe that’s why he gets kicked out.

Art scuffs the toe of his shoe against the sidewalk. He doesn’t know where he’s going. He doesn’t want to go back to his apartment. It’s cold and empty and lonely there. He’s sad right now. He doesn’t want to be sad by himself. A car passes by on the street and he squints against the glare of the headlights. He recognizes this street. He has a friend that lives nearby. He hasn’t seen them in a while, so maybe he’ll stop in and say hi.

Almost subconsciously, he starts walking to their house. He doesn’t know how he remembers the way. It’s been a while since they’ve seen each other. But soon enough he’s at their door and he raises a fist to knock.

“Hey.” He grins, leaning against their doorframe in a failed attempt to look cool. “Hi.” He blinks. “Um.” He sways a bit on his feet and shakes his head. That just makes everything worse. “I’m drunk! I think.” He grins again. “And Patrick kicked me out.” There’s a short pause. “Again.” He frowns down at the pavement for a second before he looks back up, grin once again in place. “Tashi came over and I had to leave.” He says it in a loud whisper and then dissolves into giggles. “Can I come in?” he asks, once his giggles have subsided.

I saw Challengers earlier today and I decided to start a running doc of some of my feral thoughts in an effort to not forget what's currently marinating in my brain after my first watch

I want this movie to get a long theatrical release/run because it deserves it, but that's unfortunate because I also NEED to have it accessible to me in my home ASAP so I can pull on all its threads and take screencaps. Alas.

EXTENSIVE SPOILERS BELOW

might add to this later as I remember things, idk

-The parallel of Art spitting his gum in Tashi’s hand and in Patrick’s hand… My jaw dropped soooo early on. Anyway they obviously both act as Art’s “coach” at different times in his life in different ways. (The jerking off teaching?? Scream???) Art craves their guidance and approval as a form of love (which is also directly responsible for his confidence issues) and initially likes to follow their leads in every situation

-The parallel of Tashi making out with both Art and Patrick up against cars… delicious

-Patrick’s car is his “bed” and it’s where he and Tashi fuck. Nice

-Wait now I’m sad because… lowkey Patrick is homeless because Art and Tashi are his home…………….

-The storm = Patrick and Tashi having sex = the reason why Art’s half of the giant poster/ad on the side of the building falls down so only Tashi’s side is left up. Iconic, loooove a good visual metaphor, especially shown nonlinearly

-The parallel of the forehead kisses??? Art and Patrick on the court at the start when they won the doubles, and Art and Tashi in the sad almost-sex scene towards the end??? I will throw up

-Disclaimer and reminder I’ve only seen this movie once and might reform any of these thoughts later BUT…

One of Art’s main things is, as he tells Patrick towards the start, not wanting to be “left out.” He loves and he wants both Patrick and Tashi (but he doesn’t fully want to acknowledge the extent of his want for Patrick for years, and that repression is part of his problems…). He gets “lit up” about the thought of them together not because he’s jealous of one of them but because he’s jealous of BOTH of them; he wants to know it all, he wants to be in the room, he wants to be with them both, he despairs at the thought of losing either of them (but, at the start, especially at the thought of losing or being of lesser importance to Patrick. Obviously he’s a fucking idiot as evidenced by how Patrick goes to see him FIRST at Stanford. Ugh). We see all of this at the start when Art wants to know if Tashi and Patrick fucked. We see this in Atlanta when he witnesses Tashi cheating on him with Patrick but doesn’t directly confront either of them about it; he only skates the edge of confronting it with Patrick in the sauna while also lashing out at him. Patrick tells Art at Stanford “it’s nice to see you so lit up about something, even if it’s my girlfriend” during the homoerotic churros scene because Patrick’s clocked all of this about Art, too. He clocks it further in Atlanta when he shows up to Art’s practice with Tashi and his mere presence makes Art hit the ball harder. It obviously all comes full circle; the cocktail of emotions that Patrick and Tashi being together gives Art coalesces again for him on the court in the Challengers match: Tashi’s threatened to leave him if he loses… and she’s maybe got one foot out the door with Patrick of all people, who Art already “lost” in the past as the love he’s been mourning for 13 years. But what’s important is that THIS time, unlike Atlanta, Art learns about Tashi cheating on him with Patrick not by accident but rather because Patrick actually tells him. Patrick understands the significance of how this will get Art lit up again and make him play the way he needs to for all of their sakes, and it’s fucked up, but… what this means is Patrick doesn’t leave Art out. He TELLS Art – and he tells him in a way only they understand while they’re on the court together again. Of course Art goes through several stages of emotions in response to that fucked up information… but ultimately that moment of honesty and realization between the boys is what Art needed and puts where all 3 of them stand into sharp relief, shedding a light on who they’ve all always been and what their individual needs are.

Art’s always wanted to play tennis, but that desire is framed around his relationships. Tennis is only something he truly enjoys or that fully makes him happy when he’s experiencing it through his connections to other people: he wants to impress, earn the approval of, or celebrate with those he loves who are watching (like his grandmother or Tashi) – which is partially why he wants Tashi to be his coach in the first place. And of course, tennis all began as something Art found joy in because he was always doing it with Patrick. It’s clear Patrick feels the same. At the start, neither of them cared much about winning for the sake of winning unless it was doubles because they competed as a team and that was “really fun” for them. With the singles competition, they kind of cared less about the wins at the start; Art assumed Patrick would win and didn’t care back then, and then Patrick was willing to let Art win so he could impress his family, and they were both fine with all of those sentiments. Tennis was first and foremost something they did with and for each other. As Patrick later tells Art in the sauna, “I miss playing with you” – and, of course, at that point he’s definitely not only talking about tennis. But in that final match, after so many years, Patrick and Art finally understand each other completely again. It’s like they’re in love (because they are and always have been), they go somewhere really beautiful together… etc. They finally reconnect on the court and feel that thrill as they become synchronized again, which is what tennis was always about for them.

And Tashi, who’s irrevocably connected to them both and whose primary love is and always has been the sport itself, gets what SHE’S always wanted: to “watch some good fucking tennis.” It’s why she pitted the boys against each other vying for her number at the start. Though she needs/wants both boys in different ways on an individual level, she doesn’t particularly need or want anyone to ~be in love with her~; she wants the men who are in love with her to entertain her and challenge her and give her a show. So that’s what she tries to accomplish again in the end by telling Art she’d leave him if he lost the Challengers match… but the missing piece in her making that threat – the element that would get Art truly fired up – was that she’d potentially leave Art for Patrick. That final piece of info, when Art finds out about the cheating, is what reconnects them in all of the above ways. Because it’s about all 3 of them and their triangular codependency. They’ve all been broken for 13 years because they all need each other and tennis to be fully functional. Split any of it apart and they just don’t work.

-Literally this is a film where from the moment of the injury they’re all constantly mourning. They all lose their greatest loves that day… Tashi essentially loses tennis, Art loses Patrick, and Patrick loses the two of them. Everything after that is just them being affected by how they’re all mired in various grief and feeling incomplete… until that synchronization at the match when they finally become whole again. Going from that bed scene that was breaking my heart to the final match was HEALING. Things are still fucked up and in progress, but they’re fucked up in a way they all understand, which gives them a path forward. This movie has a fiercely happy ending in that regard… and what I’m saying is that… after the match, once they communicate further, and much later down the line… Art and Patrick should go back to playing doubles and Tashi should coach them as as doubles team. God they’d eventually all be so happy I wanna CRY just thinking about them doing that. It would take them awhile to get there — because yeah, Tashi is living vicariously through Art’s career as an individual player and maybe if Art retired she’d then want to live through PATRICK’S career for awhile — but I think if they worked out their relationship then their tennis could come to reflect the needs of that relationship too, and doubles can still be “good fucking tennis” in its own satisfying right, y’know? I think they could get there and it would be a beautiful collective restart.

-I gotta say, I can't imagine Tashi pregnant. Wild to me. Sorry to their daughter. Oooo also... I think Patrick would be great with kids... when he gets to meet Lily and become "Uncle Patrick" they're gonna hit it off so fast. Help me

-*holds up Tashi watching them kiss after she orchestrated it* *holds up the Challengers match* It’s the same picture. Except the kisses were kisses whereas the match was actual sex. The moaning and grunting… I’m insane. Also Tashi’s “COME ON!!!!” is arguably the sole orgasm/climax we witness in the whole movie perhaps? Though you could argue the hug is too. In this essay I will, etc.

-Art begging for Tashi’s love/validation saying “Tell me it doesn’t matter if I win tomorrow” vs Art telling Patrick in the sauna “this is a game about winning the points that matter” / Patrick saying “I don’t matter?” AAAA oh my fucking Goddddddd I’m gonna die

-Thank you Luca Guadignino for your dedication to having Art and Patrick hold phallic drinks and food in each others’ presence. Specific shout out to Patrick at the beach party holding the beer bottle on his crotch

-Patrick = comfortable with who he is and secure in his bisexuality; honest and open Art = repressing his queerness and his overall desires Tashi = hiding who she is aka her dissatisfactions with life and the lengths she’ll go to because tennis is her true greatest love and always has been

COMPRESS, REPRESS... REPRESS, COMPRESS... AND THEN JUST SURRENDER, ONE TWO THREEEEE

-I need to rewatch to catch the dialogue because it was difficult for me to hear it over the music, but I think in the 3am Atlanta scene Tashi tells Patrick that Art’s grandmother had a stroke. IF that’s what she said (and if there’s no reason to believe it’s a lie Art told; like I said, I need to rewatch)… my immediate impression was that it’s a nod to Patrick being the voice of accuracy and prediction in this movie. Towards the beginning he tells Art (jokingly) that he hopes Art’s grandmother dies of a stroke, and that’s seemingly what literally comes to pass. He repeatedly clocks both Tashi and Art’s behaviors, describing them brashly to their faces (and to us as the audience), and he was right about his predictions. He’s the one who’s not repressed or unaware of who he is out of the 3 of them: when Tashi first asks if there’s something between him and Art, he looks away because he knows the answer is yes; he’s openly bi on dating apps; he tells Tashi he won’t be her lapdog unlike Art which we see later ends up becoming literal; he clocks how Tashi is hiding some of her true motivations when she seeks him out in the storm; and even from afar he predicts Art’s mindset about wanting to retire. For the most part, what Patrick does / says either seems to be or becomes truth. Hmmm, wait, as I’m typing this… something to look out for: the “I TOLD YA” shirt. Working theory: Tashi briefly wears it, she’s the voice of accuracy; then it blatantly switches over to Patrick and he wears it throughout the film and [waves to all of the above]

-Head in my hands thinking of how the word “love” is used in these tennis matches. Also something I need to make detailed note of when I rewatch

-Patrick grabbing Art’s thigh when they first watched Tashi play… oh my GOD

-Patrick pulling Art’s stool close and Art just smoothly sitting on it with no reaction… the way they kept looking at each others' lips... oh my G O D

-I just remembered Tashi referred to the boys being known as as “fire and ice.” What the fuck even.

-Tashi going to Patrick asking him to lose the match for Art… she’s literally like, "do this because I love tennis and if I lose Art then I lose the way I live tennis through him. Do this because if he loses this match he'll lose himself." And she's really like, "Do this because I know you’re in love with both of us." And Patrick is like, "A) fuck you because you know I’ll say yes precisely because I'm in love with both of you so how dare you ask this of me, and B) you’re kidding yourself if you think you don’t miss the challenge I give YOU simply by being myself because I don’t take your shit." Something something they're peers, you know

-Tbh for 13 years when Patrick gets his rare opportunities he’s @ both Art and Tashi like “you want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid.” And the thing is that he’s RIGHT. He’s right! Art in particular doesn't want to admit it because he's trying to convince himself he outgrew being bisexual / outgrew Patrick but it's obviously bullshit

-Realizing some of the sounds in the soundtrack intentionally emulate the sounds of tennis balls and rackets???? MADNESS

Episode 103 - Ash Beach

We make money the old-fashioned way. We chemically convert lead into gold.

Welcome to Night Vale.

The Night Vale Tourism Board announced that after 12 years of super-fond site cleanup, Ash Beach reopened today to the public. The Tourism Board’s new brochure shows a young happy family having a picnic lunch and wearing respirator masks, building ash castles and flying kites against the blackened sky. We’re landlocked here in the desert with no body of water in sight, so back in the 1950’s, the city decided to create a public beach made entirely out of municipally burned books that were deemed too dangerous or too boring to reach.

Carlos and I are so excited about the reopening of the beach. We are already planning a trip in the next few weeks with the family. According to the Tourism Board, there will be a refurbished boardwalk there with food trucks and carnival games. Beachgoers can stroll down the pier and watch the surfers lie on their boards, as we all wait for the oceans to rise dramatically enough that Night Vale finally has a waterfront.

This Friday Night, Dark Owl Records will be hosting an album release party for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s new album called “Beyoncé”. Which is a collection of instrumental covers of Leonard Cohen’s greatest hits. Vaughan’s unique approach to music has always been to askew instruments altogether and simply read the name of each chord aloud. Vaughan will be at the store taking selfies with fans and asking everyone how he got here, and why he cannot hold tangible objects.

Sunday at the Rec Center is the annual gun show sponsored by the Night Vale chapter of the NRA. All patrons receive a free trucker hat that reads “Guns don’t kill people, unless you shoot those people with said gun and then they die. But other than that one specific situation, we’ve never known a gun to kill anybody.” Gun dealers from all over the United States will be at the show, selling handguns and hunting rifles and telling fantastical stories about a mythical government that would try, even in the slightest, to regulate gun ownership. The first 500 ticket buyers will have their government-implanted tracking chips surgically removed for free.

We’re getting reports that the grand re-opening of Ash Beach is going.. well, oh, not well as in good I mean well as in.. I’m not sure what to say next. So the beach, which is completely black and not at all connected to any body of water, is apparently really hot. And beachgoers are having a difficult time getting the dark ash stains off their burning skin. Also, there are reports of hazy humanoid figures emerging from the ash. They have long thin arms, gaping mouths with hundreds of tiny square teeth, round glowing eyes, and they shimmer in and out of visibility. Some witnesses reported hearing faint clicks and crunches, like someone rapidly chewing egg shells.

Amber Akinyi and Wilson Levy are celebrating their first wedding anniversary at Ash Beach today. They clam to have seen these ephemeral beings and moments later, experienced a flood of memories that never happened to them. Wilson remembered his wedding six years ago to his high school girlfriend Tanya. The memory was so clear, Tanya in her strapless white gown with ivory piping.. Ew. His best man Aiden accidentally dropping the ring and comically chasing it as it rolled into the third row. The string trio playing Pachelbel’s “Hey Ya” as ushers escorted guests into seats and pushed the safety bars down firmly over their shoulders. But Wilson claimed he never knew anyone named Tanya and was never married to anyone before Amber. Telling this story, he had tears in his eyes. The fond memory of the wedding he never had still fresh in his mind.

Amber remembered a vacation resort a few miles from Mount Kilimanjaro. She was only eight years old, she was standing outside the resort near her mother’s Toyota pickup truck. Her mother was speaking in Luau to an elderly couple. The couple said they wanted to ride to a camp checkpoint at the base of the mountain. Her mother offered them a ride as she was going to the same place. Amber, her mother, and the couple shared the cramped bench seat, as they rode toward the cloud-shrouded peak. The couple smelled like coffee and brand new sleeping bags. They offered Amber some kashata and told her about different types of birds.

Amber said that she had never been to Tanzania and that her mother passed away when Amber was only three. Nor does Amber believe in mountains, nor does she know what kashata is, and she doesn’t know a single word of Luau, so the memory could not be real. But she could understand the Luau in her memory, and could taste the soft coconut crunch of the kashata.

Wilson brushed Amber’s cheek and she kissed his wrist. They both cried quietly as they laid out some small shovels and buckets, rubbed UV protective lotion on their arms, unfolded beach chairs and elected a large umbrella.

More on this story as it develops.

Good news, listeners. Five-headed dragon Hadassah McDaniels and her legion of dragon lawyers, from whatever dragon world they’re from, have stopped crushing local businesses. And eating pets. And setting fire to public parks. The bad news is that we’re not certain what the dragons are doing right now. No one has seen them in over a week. It’s like when you see a spider and then you turn your head, and when you look back, that spider is gone. And that is the true definition of horror, because you don’t know where that spider is, and you miss it so much. It was a really cute spider!

The dragons were last seen visiting the Terrible Court of the Distant Prince. It was difficult to say for certain that it was the Distant Prince, because those who saw this visitation said it happened quite a long way away. Witnesses reported that they definitely saw the dragons talking with what looked like a young man wearing a crown, his form blurred as though moving quickly, even though he was standing still. But he was partially hidden by harbingers, as well as court shriekers and mangled servants. The witnesses did not mention seeing any hollow-eyed weepers, so it may not have been the Distant Prince at all. Maybe a Distant Viscount. At best, a Distant Earl. A Distant Countess, even?

Listeners. Old Woman Josie’s daughter Alondra wanted me to thank everyone for all of the good wishes and gifts to her and her dying mother. She asked that people please stop sending flowers though. She has nowhere to put them. And plus, flowers are sort of gross. “You realize that flowers are just water and manure and seeds and dirt,” Alondra Ortiz said. “They look and smell nice but just remember what the smell is made of. Gross! Stop it,” she said. Then she added, “I mean if you already sent flowers, they’re beautiful, thank you.” And then she rolled her eyes.

Carlos and I visited Josie last Saturday. We brought her and Alondra a framed photo of Josie breaking ground at the New Old Night Vale Opera House. For a picture that’s only a couple years old, Josie looks so young. It’s her smile, I think. Her smile never aged. In the photo, she’s wearing a hardhat, orange construction vest, tanned jodhpurs, and five-toed running shoes. She’s holding a shovel filled with dirt in front of a sign that says “Opera House: coming soon!” She was so proud of Night Vale that day. I showed the picture to Josie who was lying in her bed, eyes open. She didn’t respond. I wish I had visited sooner, but I was glad to have seen her again before she leaves us. Carlos patted her hand and I kissed her forehead. I said, “Josie, Carlos and I love you. As does Alondra. As do all of the angels.” And at this point, I heard the citywide “angels acknowledged” sirens go off, but I didn’t care. There were angels all over her house! There have been for years, and I’m sort of tired of pretending they’re not there. “The angels love you and will take care of you, Josie,” I said loudly over the sound of the blaring sirens, and I think I saw that young smile gently touch the corners of her dry pursed mouth.

In lieu of flowers, might I recommend donations to the Opera House in Josie’s name? Or any place that supports the arts. Nothing would make her happier.

We’re getting more updates from Ash Beach. Everyone at the beach today is covered in dark ashes, their skin burning, the sun muted by a cloud of char. They have all seen the waggling, hazy figures that fade in and out of sight. The figures open their long mouths and point their spindly arms at people, and those people in turn experience vibrant memories that never happened. Frances Donaldson, manager of the Antiques Mall, said she remembered winning a silver medal for figure skating in the Olympic games, but she’s never even seen ice in real life. Green Market Co-opt Board president, Tristan Cortez, said when the figures on the beach pointed at him, he remembered being lost in the wilderness with a Golden Retriever friend of his. They were soon joined by a Himalayan cat. They were all homeward bound, sharing an incredible journey together. But that never happened! Tristan said it was actually a Bullterrier and a Siamese cat, and that this new memory is false. 

John Peters, you know, the farmer, said he had a striking memory of his brother, Jim. The memory was from only two days ago. Jim was cleaning out the tractor shed with John. John said it was unusually warm for late winter and they were both getting tired. It was almost noon, and John wanted to break for lunch but Jim said, “Hey Johnnie, look at what I found!” John said Jim held up an old football. “It’s from when we was kids, Johnnie!” Jim said of a memory instigated by a physical object inside John’s memory from today of something that didn’t happen earlier this week. John and Jim went out into their untilled fields of imaginary corn and tossed the ball around for nearly an hour. John said he wished this memory was real. His brother’s been off serving in the blood space war for nearly 40 years now. “He probably ain’t even arrived at whatever planet he’s supposed to fight yet. What with the, destructive limitations on matter as it approaches the speed of light,” John said, sadly reminiscing about his long-lost sibling. “I bet they gotta be in a kinda frozen space sleep or something like in that documentary, ‘Aliens’,” he added.

Listeners, if you’re at Ash Beach, try not to look at the thin beings coming up from the ashes. Hide from their pointing hands, and above all, do not trust the memories they fill your mind with. They are untrue, they are fever dreams. They. Are. Lies.

Wait, in fact I’m just now getting word from witnesses that large waves are crashing down on Ash Beach. There’s no indication where the water is coming from as Night Vale, again, is in a desert. Some beachgoers began tearing hoods off cars and using them as surf boards. Someone has spelled out “HELP LOST” in seaweed, but the crashing waves washed it all away. Many people are being dragged out into a nonexistent sea by a dangerous undertow. Where is this water coming from? Until we know for certain, stay away from ash beach.

More soon, but now the weather.

[“Faded” by P.O.S. feat Lady Midnight, doomtree.net/pos]

The tide has ebbed, the beach is clear. The ashes are gone, washed out to.. well. Oh, not well as in I don’t know what to say in next, I meant well as in an old well, that appeared in the same spot it had stood two summers ago, draining the water into it in a direct reversal of a well’s usual role and then vanishing again, as old well’s often do.

Well. Ash Beach is neither ash nor beach anymore. Simply a great expanse of sand and less and dry. Those who saw the shimmering apparitions said the memories they were given are as real as ever. They were not merely daydreams, nor vivid hallucinations, they are actual events that never happened.

Simone Rigideau, the transient who lives in the Earth Sciences Building of the Night Vale Community College and who recently began teaching courses there, much to the chagrin of the college administration, said she was at Ash Beach today and she saw the figures. She saw their pointing, wriggling translucent appendages, she saw their numerous flat teeth in their long gray mouths, she saw their bulbous white eyes, she heard the sound of crunching like chewing egg shells, and she had a memory. She remembered the college campus. She remembered it was 1983. She remembered students with boomboxes, Trans-Am muscle cars. She remembered the news anchors that day, Tim and Trin, with their feathered-hair double-Windsor neckties, shoulder pads, and deep maroon nail polish. She remembered the news of missiles already launched, apologies for a miscommunication, a mistake in a training drill. Apologies not accepted. Missiles launched to retaliate. She remembered the news anchors Tim and Trin trying not to cry, trying to report the news. She remembered students and faculty gathered around the television, trying not to cry, trying to receive the news. She remembered… the world ending. Not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with silence. The absence of thought and feeling. Everyone went missing all at once together – time, body, memory… gone.

 Simone then said she remembered something else, from the new memory she received today. A woman with a deer mask had appeared on the television screen, her face flickering through the loud static and obscuring the faces of Tim and Trin. She spoke in a language unknown to Simone but… she recognized the name of the woman. Huntokar. 

[cheerfully] “Oh, I know Huntokar,” I said. “She did this, Cecil,” Simone said. “Huntokar is super weird,” I said, “makes sense that she would be behind this whole ‘Ash Beach’ thing.” “I’m not talking about the beach,” Simone said. “Then what are you talking about?” I said. “She is the destroyer!” Simone said, shaking her head. Simone said she remembered the world ending, it was so clear, so vivid. But it did not end. She touched my arm and said that we are here. How are we here? I told Simone, “You always say the world ended in 1983, I don’t see how this is so special for you.” She said, “I knew it ended. I just couldn’t remember it ending. Now I do. The world ended, Cecil, I saw it on the news!” “Oh then it must be true,” I said. “Are you being sarcastic?” she asked. “Why would I do that?” I replied. “I still can’t tell if you are or not,” she said, eyeing me suspiciously. I don’t understand what she was getting at.

Whatever our truth, Night Vale, you can feel your body. Hear my voice. See the sunlight through dissipating ash clouds. I do not know if we are real. But we are alive. We are tangible, feeling, and whole.

Stay tuned next for the sound of something trying to dig its way out of your chest.

Good night, Night Vale, good night.

Today’s proverb: if you’re not wearing a denim vest, then this conversation is over.

The T List: Five Things We Recommend This Week

Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we’re sharing things we’re eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday. You can always reach us at [email protected].

Visit This

A Colorful Retreat Where Everything Is for Sale

In 2017, Jenny Kaplan, Chris Corrado and Taisha Coombs — the founders of the Brooklyn-based creative agency An Aesthetic Pursuit — launched Pieces, a line of graphic furniture and rugs that has become instantly recognizable for its bold use of color. This month, in lieu of filling a traditional showroom, the trio will open a shoppable vacation property in Kennebunk, Maine, in which everything in the circa 1878 house — from Pieces’ new Wavy Rug to the lilac Vitra sofa to the Great Jones Cookware and Le Labo candles — will be available for purchase on the Pieces website. Kaplan and Corrado, who are married, are from Southern Maine and felt that the quintessential New England coastal community of Kennebunk would be a perfect place for potential customers to get up close and personal with their designs. “It just made the most sense to us,” Kaplan told me. “What better way to get to know someone than to spend a little time in their home?” Book a stay and shop the home at pieceshomes.com.

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Outside Copenhagen, a Fully Immersive Art Show

Years before the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson or the British sculptor Antony Gormley filled spaces with light and fog, the Brussels-based artist Ann Veronica Janssens invited visitors of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie into a pavilion containing thick rainbow-tinted mist — “Blue, Red, and Yellow” (2001) — making her case for art as experience rather than object. I’ve often wondered why she isn’t more famous, but her coming solo show at Denmark’s celebrated Louisiana Museum of Modern Art might be her star turn. Among the featured works in an exhibition that traces Janssen’s output from the 1990s to the present: a reprisal of “Blue, Red, and Yellow,” the eight-foot-tall iridescent glass panels she calls magic mirrors, her chrome bicycles with reflective wheels that showgoers can ride and a tiny crystal prism she has embedded in one of the museum’s windows. And the venue couldn’t be more perfect: The Louisiana — a glass-walled midcentury building on the Oresund Sound 24 miles north of Copenhagen — is one of the most otherworldly artistic institutions in Europe. “Hot Pink Turquoise” is on view from Jan. 23 to May 17 at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Gl Strandvej 13, 3050, Humlebaek, Denmark, louisiana.dk.

The turn of another new year means renewed attempts at dieting, stopping bad habits and getting my life in order. But I’ll never give up sweets, and I ditched cigarettes months ago, so that leaves me with some good old-fashioned organization, which, for me, will be facilitated by the New York-based accessories line Delaroq. Founded in November 2018 by Jennifer Lyu — a veteran of Louis Vuitton, Prada and 3.1 Phillip Lim — Delaroq emphasizes simplicity, an approach that is embodied in both Lyu’s sustainable upcycling practices (she works with excess materials) and the pieces’ thoughtful design; each handbag, including the just-released cross-body pouch and the chain-handle clutch, contains an expandable accordion gusset with three labeled compartments, so I’ll always be able to find my lip balm, MetroCard and glasses. Here’s to a stylish start to a daunting resolution. From $225, delaroq.com.

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Writers Reflect on 100 Years of the ACLU

During the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency alone, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took 119 legal actions to protect the rights of American citizens. But if the nonprofit organization has seemed especially vital since 2017, it has a far longer history of defending civic freedoms. In the new book “Fight of the Century,” edited by the writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon, 40 authors share essays in response to landmark cases from the ACLU’s 100-year history. The novelist Yaa Gyasi tackles Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), a case in which the ACLU acted as amicus curiae, while the writer Lauren Groff reflects on Roe v. Wade (1973). “In this time of crisis, it is critically important to highlight the work of one of the country’s most devoted and active civil rights organizations,” Ayelet told me. Her selection? The 1975 case O’Connor v. Donaldson (“because I have a mental illness and am grateful to the ACLU for working so diligently to protect our rights, too,” she explained). Chabon, meanwhile, chose the organization’s clever campaign, in 1933, to remove the nationwide ban on James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” $27, simonandschuster.com.

The best grilled chicken I’ve had was in Tokyo, hardly surprising given Japan’s yakitori tradition, wherein most parts of the bird — thigh, neck, gizzard! — and vegetables like mushrooms and zucchini are cooked on skewers over binchotan charcoal. But the second-best grilled chicken I’ve had was in New York, at the recently opened Torien in NoHo. The restaurant is the American debut for the legendary master Yoshiteru Ikegawa, whose Tokyo spot Torishiki is all but impossible to book. He’ll be visiting Torien — little more than a 16-seat counter — twice a year, but it’s run nightly by his disciple, Yoshiteru Maekawa, who has the same savoir-faire with char, crunch, sinew, succulent meat and charcoal (a rarefied sort, imported from Kishu, Japan) that makes good yakitori so transcendent. The 13-course omakase ($150) changes nightly; halfway through, you will be asked if you want to finish the meal by adding a rice or ramen dish. Get the soupy one: It’s broth as near-religious experience, the clarity of chicken — and life, perhaps — revealed with each fleeting spoonful. torien-nyc.com.

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@cannotfly liked for a starter!

[sms -> Johanna]: Hey.

[sms -> Johanna]: Lily said something about having another picnic and asked about you? I told her you were busy but I don’t think she cares.

[sms -> Johanna]: So, uh.

[sms -> Johanna]: If you can’t make it that’s fine! I’ll just let her know.

wishlist

riff lorton

someone confronting him about his suicidal tendencies/inability to see past tomorrow

an argument about something. i just want to write either aggressive angry riff or eerily calm angry riff. whatever riff you get will depend on the topic of the argument.

his grief following tony’s death and how he deals with said grief (he doesn’t) and how him not dealing with said grief affects his family/partner/friends

riff being a cocky little shit (think the whole “you me and my trouble making buddy here” speech; that’s what i’d be going for. so essentially, riff being the leader of the jets)

immediate post canon. riff in the hospital grieving tony and being guilty that he lived and tony didn’t because riff didn’t want to live past the rumble and he knows that tony did

dodge mason

someone asking him about his dad

someone confronting him about the fact that he’s a borderline pathological liar

anything pre-panic (give me moody angsty re-enrolled in high school dodge just trying to get through school so he can play panic and get revenge)

anything with rodeo. he needs more cowboy/cowgirl friends.

connor murphy

high school. i need to write him in school more and i want to stop ignoring the fact that he wasn’t a good person.

hanover. give me connor actually liking school for once bc no one thinks he’s weird for reading older books and having long hair and being somewhat smarter than everyone else.

someone asking him about his anger issues or his drug addiction or his self harming

someone asking him about miguel. (they make me sad please i want to write this so bad)

ghost verse? maybe? idk if i have muse for it but we can figure smth out if you want

jack twist

literally anything pre canon. give me jack just being some ranch hand and living day to day and just being jack

mexico. please. let me write him trying (and failing) to get over ennis.

post canon? someone trying to get him to open up about the accident/attack? maybe?

glenn lawrence

serial killer verse. please i am begging you let me write him in his serial killer verse. idc if your muse is a detective, an accomplice, an unsuspecting civilian that he happens to befriend. let me write him angry and resentful and out for blood.

art donaldson

anything pre canon. art in college or high school could be fun. give him friends! give him random flings! give him relationships!

anything post canon. art post divorce when he’s trying to put his life back together could be interesting. give him friends! give him flings! give him relationships!

jack kelly

anything pre canon. listen writing jack when he still goes by francis will be so funny bc he’s just a kid. he’s got no idea how the world works yet.

the refuge? potentially?

santa fe verse! let me write him in new mexico where he’s happy but also missing ny but also knowing he’s where he wants to be so he’s content!

ok so bc i’m not going to watch the challengers movie, here are my thoughts on the whole art/patrick/tashi situation.

this is my interpretation of their relationship and if you don’t like it you are more than welcome to not write with art. he will likely mention both or one of them a lot in his threads and patrick especially has messed him up a great deal, so if you’re not interested or if you think it’ll make you uncomfortable, please don’t write with art. (tashi hasn’t messed him up but when she’s with patrick she’s not the best but she’s fine with art and art loves her so much).

art and patrick have been friends since college. they met because of tennis and art has always had a little thing for patrick, but he’s never said anything about it because he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. but then they meet tashi and art can tell he’s falling but he can tell patrick is too and he doesn’t know what to do.

i am of the opinion that they did have a threesome in the hotel room and that it was the best experience of art’s life and he left wanting more of it. and then patrick starts dating tashi and they never talk about the threesome except when patrick comes over to art’s for sex and they don’t talk about that, either. sometimes tashi joins them and sometimes she doesn’t but either way it’s not talked about. it’s not good for art because he’s in love with both patrick and tashi at the same time and he knows patrick isn’t good for him but he doesn’t care because he’s getting attention and good sex and he’s always been a people pleaser so he’s not going to deny either tashi or patrick what they want.

and then patrick and tashi break up and art is very happy about this even if he’ll never say it. and he ends up with tashi (he’s also very happy about this because tashi is amazing and wonderful and he doesn’t deserve her at all) and they don’t see patrick much because the breakup was messy. and then he comes back as art’s competition and all the Feelings come back and art is once again in this loop of giving patrick whatever the hell he wants and then tashi starts cheating and he’s just—he doesn’t know what to do

TOUGH SHELL

bruised knuckles. bloody noses. eye-rolling. empty bottles. messy hair. sarcasm. lip biting. unwashed jeans. coffee breath. loud music. broken neon signs. chipped nail polish. leather jacket. always wearing headphones. swearing. sneaking out at 3 am. dark lipstick. frown creases. burning cigarettes. plaid shirts. under eye circles. dark colors.

SOFT INSIDE

honey tea. flower crowns. giggling. blowing kisses. dancing without worries. white lace. soft textures. fluffy throw pillows. using too many heart emojis. empathy. constant daydreaming. handwritten letters. fairy lights. bullet journals. designated driver. warm hugs. garden picnics. quiet. smile lines. optimism. flowy clothes. pastel colors.

tagged by: @wysteriafaded

tagging: @carriedghosts, @firstsorrow, @loudnclearspot & @thewalkingmouthdavey

THINKING ABOUT TASHI IS PAINFUL AND ART DOESN’T THINK THE FEELING IS GOING TO GO AWAY ANYTIME soon. “I knew it from the first Old Fashioned, we were cursed,” he says with a quiet, humorless laugh. “We never had a shotgun shot in the dark.”

ARTHUR “ART” DONALDSON

his wife and his former best friend? that’s gotta hurt.

NAME: arthur “art” donaldson

AGE: 30

SEX: male

D.O.B: july 13, 1993

ORIENTATION: unlabeled

OCCUPATION: tennis player

FAMILY: born to george and kayla donaldson, both alive. no siblings. married to tashi donaldson & has one daughter, lily donaldson. partners and children are verse dependent.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: blonde hair, blue eyes. skinny but has muscle. tall and lanky. typically wearing some sort of gym clothing or just a t-shirt and shorts with sneakers.

EDUCATION: graduated high school and attended the local college for sports marketing before becoming interested in tennis and deciding to join the local team.

RELIGION: agnostic

ALIGNMENT: neutral good

ZODIAC: cancer

PERSONALITY:

he’s always been a little bit of a pushover, y’know?

determined. people pleaser but not a pushover. witty. overachiever. falls in love very easily. a little bit guarded.

HISTORY:

Arthur Donaldson was what everyone wants their son to be. Happy, outgoing, charming. He was pretty much the golden child of his family. And considering the fact that he had no siblings, it was easy enough to get the title. He just needed to worry about keeping it.

He graduated high school at the top of his class and went to the local college with the intention to study sports marketing. By chance, he happened to join the school’s tennis team and he fell in love with the sport almost instantly. There was another boy on the team by the name of Patrick and the two quickly became unstoppable. There were rumors of them dating, but the no one ever found out if they were true or not. The boys didn’t care. They were just happy to have a friend that cared about tennis as much.

They remained friends all throughout college and into their adult lives. And then they met Tashi. She was a rising tennis star and both boys may have fallen a little bit in love. Patrick dated her when they were young but it was Art that ended up marrying her. Their friendship fizzled out after that. Tashi had gotten an injury years prior that took her out of the tennis scene, but Art had decided to compete for her. He just hadn’t known his competition would be Patrick, and he certainly hadn’t known that his wife would start seeing Patrick again.

tags

verses

the golden boy of the town//verse - pre canon. art growing up and becoming an independent kid. he’s top of his class all through high school and goes on to maintain good grades in college. he meets patrick and develops a passion for tennis that continues throughout his life.

it’s not just tennis//verse - canon. patrick and art are up and coming tennis players who happen to meet the woman who would eventually become art’s wife. she’s patrick’s girlfriend first, though. an injury during a match takes her out of the tennis scene completely and she and art agree that he’ll compete in her place. neither of them were expecting his competitor to be her ex-boyfriend. neither of them were expecting her to start seeing him again.

put a wrecking ball through the front door//verse - post canon. art and tashi have divorced. he has custody of lily and he’s trying to put his life back in order. he doesn’t know if it’s working or not. but he’s trying and he thinks that’s all that matters.

we’re all guilty of something//verse - art/patrick verse. this verse is of my own devising and if anyone wants to write something in this verse, please ask! i’m always up for it but just know that it’s a very toxic, unhealthy relationship and i prioritize your comfort over anything else. patrick and tashi have been dating for about three months. art is trying to be happy for them. it’s hard, though. especially because patrick keeps coming to him and asking for sex. art’s not the best at saying no, and despite the fact that he knows cheating is wrong, he’s always had a thing for patrick. and if tashi never finds out, it’s fine, right? they keep this up for the whole time that patrick and tashi are dating. art feels terrible about it but he keeps quiet and says nothing. and then patrick and tashi break up. and she and art are going out. and he doesn’t know what to do, so he just doesn’t do anything. and now it’s been six months and art has realized that he’s pretty much nothing more than a glorified cheerleader. and he doesn’t want to be. he knows he’s a people pleaser but he also knows that he’s not a pushover and he’s sick of being treated like one. he doesn’t really do anything at first, but patrick comes to him with the offer of sex (like always) and art, despite knowing (like always) that cheating is wrong and awful and terrible, agrees. after about a month of this, he realizes that this isn’t better than his relationship with tashi. it’s worse. it’s so much worse. but he can’t leave, because leaving means going back to tashi and he can’t do that. he can’t stay with patrick, either. so he goes back to tashi and tries his best to cut off all contact with patrick. this works for a while and then patrick is his competition and art is experiencing all of the feelings he’d felt before. against his better judgment, he goes back to patrick, only to find out that tashi did the same. he doesn’t know what to think. was he just being lead on? and if he was, why? he keeps seeing patrick and he suffers in silence. he can’t tell tashi about it and he can’t talk to patrick, either. so he just suffers in silence and alone, taking out all his emotions on the court (and sometimes in the bedroom)

so what i’m hearing is that he’s crazy//verse - any and all interactions with muses that do not exist in the challengers universe. this includes fandomless ocs. it does not include challengers ocs.

ships

i am not a cheerleader; treat me like an equal//otp: art/tashi

i’d like to be my old self again but i’m still trying to find it//otp: art/patrick

we don’t normally have the same type//otp: art/tashi/patrick

every time i see you i am overcome//otp: art/johanna

it’s never too late to come back to my side//otp: art/dorothea

to live for the hope of it all//otp: art/august

dynamics

it was more like art//dyn: art/tashi

since when did you have it made//dyn: art/patrick

miscellaneous

long days and even longer nights//aesthetic

my brain won’t shut up//headcanon

he looks like a golden retriever//faceclaim

@wysteriafaded said “I know you don’t do it on purpose, but I wish you’d stop coming home bruised.” ( art from Elena )

THE BRUISES AREN’T THAT BAD TODAY. HE’D TAKEN CARE TO AVOID GETTING HIT WHENEVER HE COULD. He drops his keys on the tv stand and rubs at a sore spot on his neck. “Workplace hazard,” he says with a grin. He doesn’t mean to come home bruised. Sometimes he just gets hit too many times with a tennis ball because the other guy doesn’t know how to serve. “The other guy had no clue what he was doing. I’m surprised I didn’t get hit more.” He’s happy that he didn’t, though.

@sapphiredhearts said a masquerade ball. ( elena + art )

ART, IN ALL HONESTY, HAS NO IDEA WHY HE’S HERE. HE’S PRETTY SURE TENNIS HAS NOTHING TO DO with masquerades and yet here he is, standing in the corner with a champagne flute in his hand. It’s not a bad party. There’s good food and good music. It’s just not really his thing. He shifts his weight, sipping at his champagne as he scans the crowds. He hasn’t seen anyone he recognizes yet. His eyes slide over one woman before they skip back to her. He frowns. He didn’t think Elena would be here, but he’d know her anywhere.

He sets his champagne flute on the tray of a passing waiter and heads across the room to her. When he’s within earshot, he speaks. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you here.”

@mystictragedies said sender kisses receiver's neck. ( elena at art )

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH BEING A PRO TENNIS PLAYER IS THAT WHEN COMPETITIONS ARE happening, Art doesn’t get much alone time. Nor does he get to be in his own house very much. He makes do as best he can, though. They’ve been staying at this hotel for a while and Elena has dragged him off to some corner near a stairwell. They talk for a bit about tennis and some of the interviews he’ll have to do and then she leans up and presses a gentle kiss to his neck.

Art melts back against the wall instantly. He’s always been a fan of neck kisses and Elena is probably the best at giving them. He tilts his head back a bit, letting it hit the wall with a quiet thud. He’s pretty sure his eyes are half closed. “Can you do that again?” he asks quietly. He hates how breathless he sounds.

@cagesings said ✿ for art

bold for things i could definitely see or want, italics for things i could see or am unsure of and striked out for things i don’t want or cannot see.

FRIENDSHIP.     childhood friends  /  work buddies or coworkers  /  family friends  /  friends with benefits  /  smoking buddies  /  adventure buddies  /  fake friends  /  recently friends  /  party buddies  /  friendship of need  /  dying friendship  /  circumstantial friendship  /  partners in crime  /  old friendship  /  [ your muse ] is the good influence  /  [ your muse ] is the bad influence  /  [ my muse ] is the good influence  /  [ my muse ] is the bad influence  /  opposites attract  /  ride or die  /  frenemies  /  roommates or flatmates  /  penpals  /  exes to friends  /  enemies to friends  /  other

ROMANCE.     childhood sweethearts  /  [ your muse is mines ] childhood crush  /  [ my muse is yours ] childhood crush  /  exes  /  exes to lovers  /  forbidden lovers  /  highschool sweethearts  /  secret relationship  /  opposites attract  /  long distance  /  unrequited [ from your muses side ]  /  unrequited [ from my muses side ]  /  unrequited [ from both sides ]  /  skinny love  /  friends to lovers  /  enemies to lovers  /  spurious relationship  /  power couple  /  newly entered  /  soulmates [ metaphorical ]  /  soulmates  [ literal ]  /  awkward  /  turning toxic  /  toxic love  /  cheating [ on your muse ]  /  cheating [ with your muse ]  /  other 

FAMILIAL.     siblings [ half ]  /  siblings [ step ]  /  [ my muse ] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure  /  [ my muse ] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse  /  [ my muse ] is a parental figure to yours  /  [ my muse ] is a child figure to your muse  /  guardian figure  /  legal guardian  /  adoptive child  /  foster child  /  [ your muse ] is taken under mines wing  /  [ my muse ] is taken under yours wing  /  other

ANTAGONISTIC.     dangerous to each other  /  dangerous to others  /  unpredictable  /  rivals  /  petty  /  developing into sexual or romantic tension  /  based off family matters  /  based of off circumstance  /  based of professional matters  /  based off misunderstanding or lies  /  conflict of ideology  /  betrayal  /  hero - villain dynamic  /  enemies  /  fight club  /  friends turned enemies  /  lovers turned enemies  /  exes turned enemies  /  other 

@wysteriafaded said i don't think i'm meant to be loved. ( art from katniss )

ART HAS TO TAKE A FEW SECONDS TO MAKE SURE HE HEARD KATNISS CORRECTLY. AND THEN WHEH HE realizes that he has, he stands there frowning at her. “Why would you say that?” Everyone’s meant to be loved in one way or another. He crosses to where she’s standing and slides his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Katniss, you’re meant to be loved. And you have people that love you.” Peeta is the first person that comes to mind. That boy is so far gone for Katniss it’s a miracle she doesn’t see it. “You’re meant to be loved,” he repeats. “Just because you don’t think you are doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Challengers Throuple – "I Don't Wanna Talk, I Just Wanna Dance"

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