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cinema-tv-etc · 2 years

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Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand

(And Three Ways To Fix It)

I used to be able to understand 99% of the dialogue in Hollywood films. But over the past 10 years or so, I've noticed that percentage has dropped significantly — and it's not due to hearing loss on my end. It's gotten to the point where I find myself occasionally not being able to parse entire lines of dialogue when I see a movie in a theater, and when I watch things at home, I've defaulted to turning the subtitles on to make sure I don't miss anything crucial to the plot.

Knowing I'm not alone in having these experiences, I reached out to several professional sound editors, designers, and mixers, many of whom have won Oscars for their work on some of Hollywood's biggest films, to get to the bottom of what's going on. One person refused to talk to me, saying it would be "professional suicide" to address this topic on the record. Another agreed to talk, but only under the condition that they remain anonymous. But several others spoke openly about the topic, and it quickly became apparent that this is a familiar subject among the folks in the sound community, since they're the ones who often bear the brunt of complaints about dialogue intelligibility.

"It's not easy to mix a movie," says Jaime Baksht, who took home an Oscar for his work on last year's excellent "Sound of Metal" and previously worked on Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma." "Everybody thinks you're just moving levers, but it's not like that."

This problem indeed goes far beyond simply flipping a switch or two on a mixing board. It's much more complex than I anticipated, and it turns out there isn't one simple element that can be singled out and blamed as the primary culprit.

"There are a number of root causes," says Mark Mangini, the Academy Award-winning sound designer behind films like "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Blade Runner 2049." "It's really a gumbo, an accumulation of problems that have been exacerbated over the last 10 years ... that's kind of this time span where all of us in the filmmaking community are noticing that dialogue is harder and harder to understand."

Join me and these industry experts as we sort through that "gumbo" and identify some of the most prominent reasons it has become more difficult to, in the paraphrased words of Chris Tucker's Detective Carter in "Rush Hour," understand the words that are coming out of characters' mouths.

It's A Purposeful Choice

When it comes to dialogue unintelligibility, one name looms above all others: Christopher Nolan. The director of "Tenet," "Interstellar," and "The Dark Knight Rises" is one of the most successful filmmakers of his generation, and he uses his power to make sure his films push the boundaries of sound design, often resulting in scenes in which audiences literally cannot understand what his characters say. And it's not just audiences who have trouble with some Nolan films: the director has even revealed that other filmmakers have reached out to him to complain about this issue in his movies.

Donald Sylvester, who took home an Oscar for his work on "Ford v Ferrari" and is currently serving as the supervising sound editor of "Indiana Jones 5," says Nolan is a singular figure in this regard. "I think Christopher Nolan wears it as a badge of honor," Sylvester declares. "I don't think he cares. I think he wants people to give him bad publicity because then he can explain his methods to everybody and we can all learn. But I don't think other people actually understand it."

Baksht thinks the complaints about Nolan's work, specifically the hubbub about unintelligibility surrounding last year's twisty action thriller "Tenet," are overblown. "I think in the case of Mr. Nolan, with ["Tenet"], the characters have a mask, and he wants to keep the original sound because I think for him it's more real," he says. Presumably, that mentality also extends to "The Dark Knight Rises," in which Bane's mask muffled a significant percentage of that character's lines.

Thomas Curley, who won an Oscar as a production sound mixer on "Whiplash" and previously worked on "The Spectacular Now," has also seen this type of mentality at work. "Not everything really has a very crisp, cinematic sound to it in real life, and I think some of these people are trying to replicate that," he tells me.

Baksht says that type of creative aesthetic does not need to permeate an entire movie — it can sometimes change from scene to scene depending on the director's goals in telling the story. Although, as this anecdote illustrates, its effectiveness remains debatable:

"In the case of Alejandro González Iñárritu, he did a movie ['Biutiful'] where all the dialogue was really dirty. They were in Spanish, but you weren't able to understand much. When I asked his sound designer about this issue, he told me the reason they wanted to keep the dirty dialogue was because the situation was so awful in the life of the character that it helped the feeling of depression. I told him, 'Yes, I think the audience got depressed because they couldn't understand anything!' But when [Iñárritu] did 'The Revenant,' the dialogue was pristine and perfect."

I understand his point, although I take issue with using "The Revenant" as an example of pristine dialogue because that film features Tom Hardy in a supporting role, and Hardy is one of the most notoriously difficult-to-understand actors working today.

It's in the Acting

Hardy occupies a unique position in film acting these days, having developed a delivery style that's frequently so indecipherable it's as if he's purposefully challenging audiences to lean in and understand what he's saying. But what about actors who aren't quite on that level of unintelligibility?

"It seems to be a little bit of a fad with some actors to do the sort of soft delivery or under your breath delivery of some lines," Curley says. "That's a personal choice for them. Our job is to record it as well as we can regardless."

Mangini says that in the old days, "you could count on an actor's theatricality to deliver a line to the back seats." But acting styles have changed so dramatically over the years that it has become much more difficult to capture great sound on the set. When actors adopt that more naturalistic style, "it's even harder for the production sound mixer to capture really quality sound. Now we get those compromised microphone positions here in post-production, reaching for a dialogue line that is barely intelligible or maybe even mumbled because it's an acting style, and already, we're behind the 8-ball in trying to figure out a way to make all of those words intelligible."

Karen Baker Landers, whose credits include "Gladiator," "Skyfall," and "Heat," among many others, has her own term for it. "Mumbling, breathy, I call it self-conscious type of acting, is so frustrating," she says. "I would say a lot of the younger actors have adopted that style. I think the onus also falls on the directors to say, 'I can't understand a word you're saying. I'm listening to dailies, and I can't understand.' No amount of volume is going to fix that."

That naturalistic performance style might feel right for actors in the moment on set, but it can be hell for the sound professionals who have to clean it up afterward. "We're very careful to make sure there's clarity," Baker Landers says. "You go in and you volume-graph up a vowel, or one letter. You go in and you surgically – maybe if it's not right on camera, you slow it down. There's all kinds of things we spend hours trying to do that may help a performance. We really strive for that."

But they can only do so much.

Sound Isn't Respected Enough On Sets

Miranda July in an interview setting Criterion

Another ingredient in this complicated gumbo is how the sound team is treated during the process of filming.

"What we see from our brothers and sisters in production is a never-ending [complaint] that they don't get the respect they need to get the microphone where it needs to be to capture the sound clearly," Mangini says. "That's because as movies have matured in the last 15 years, movies have become more visually exciting. And because of that, it is less likely that you're going to be allowed to put that boom mic right where the actor is, because it's probably going to drop a shadow because it's in front of a light that the camera team insists has to exist to get the perfect look of the shot. So [the visuals have] taken precedence over what we hear."

Sylvester agrees with that sentiment. "If the sound guy goes, 'Can you get one more take for me?' they go, 'Nope, we're wrapping. We've gotta move on to another setup.' It's because pictures are the most important thing, and we do a good job fixing sound at the end of the day. So they go, 'We'll fix it in post.' That's literally their go-to answer. 'I just need to get this.' 'Yeah, we'll fix it later.' And we do, unfortunately. But it's not because we want to. It's because we have to."

Another "Whiplash" Oscar winner, Craig Mann, acknowledges that less time on set can have a negative effect on the sound crews. "There's more demand on crews to do many setups a day, and that could be a contributing factor," he says. "The production sound guy is the tip of the spear in terms of our first line of defense, and oftentimes if there are problems, the good ones will approach the director or the AD or the DP and say, 'Hey, this isn't working, you're going to miss this.' Oftentimes it gets handled. But on the other side, sometimes there are a lot of production sound guys that do not feel empowered or have had a bad experience about speaking up in the past, or whatever the reason is, and the material gets back to the cutting room and it's a mess, and [they say], 'Well, we thought everything was fine!'"

"I would blame it more on schedule and budget and maybe trying to rush," Baker Landers says when this topic arises. "It's an art form to be a dialogue editor. It's an art form to be a great production recordist. Then to be able to get the clarity of dialogue in a mix with everything else going on and have the dialogue feel natural and not forced is another art form, all of which take time. Budgets and schedules are crunched on a lot of projects, and some of these are amazing films."

Technology (AKA The Jurassic Park Problem)

One high-profile Hollywood sound professional who wishes to remain anonymous points to the evolution of technology as an ingredient. "The reason people don't remember having these same audio issues with older films is that [now] we have more: more tracks to play with, more options, therefore more expected and asked for from the sound editors," they say. "If you listen to, say, 'Four Weddings and a Funeral,' you'll hear every word ... the sound was cut on film back then, and with limited time, track count, and budget, these are the results you got."

Thomas Curley concurs with that assessment:

"A lot of it has probably happened more recently because of the almost ubiquitous use of digital audio and digital cinema now. Part of the reason with that is because when everything was shot on film and edited with tape, it was a much more laborious process and it was much more technically challenging to do a whole lot with sound design. Everything had to be a very conscious choice and a very intentional soundscape that they create. Since it was so cost-intensive and labor-intensive, they wanted to make sure that the story got across first and emotion gets sort of directed with music, and that's about it. And every pass that you do with an analogue system depletes the quality as well: it's like making a photocopy of a photocopy. But now, they have much faster turnarounds and much more capabilities as far as what they can do with the sound design, including playing around with ambience and sound effects. To put a concrete reason on it is hard, but a lot of it comes down to 'I have this toy, so I'm going to play with it.'"

The anonymous sound pro also pointed to what they view as an increase in the amount of music in modern movies compared to older films, bemoaning directors' over-reliance on music as "pushing emotion" on audiences and the way music and dialogue are forced to jostle for prominence in the mix. "The technology we have today is so vastly improved that there is no limit to what can be added: whatever the director wants, for months on end. We literally have hundreds of tracks at our disposal ... in a final mix, we therefore have a lot to deal with. Unending score smashed up against hundreds of tracks, with the client asking to hear every nuance above every other nuance."

Curley sums it up beautifully. "It might fall into the realm of the 'Jurassic Park' thing: they spend so much time realizing that they can do all these things, but not thinking about if they should do all these things."

Familiarity/Passive Listening

All four of those contributing factors to dialogue unintelligibility are the result of decisions made on sets. But by the time a film makes it to post-production, editors can be afflicted by something Karen Baker Landers calls "passive listening." Donald Sylvester has another name for it – "familiarity" — and it's exactly what you think it is.

"What I mean by familiarity is, when we're making a movie, it takes a long time," says Sylvester. "It takes weeks and months. If there's something that's unclear at first and you turn to the guy next to you and go, 'What did he say?' and he's like, 'Bring the car around the garage.' The next time you hear it, you go, 'Oh, OK, got it. Bring the car around the garage.' But they get familiar with the bad sound to the point where they no longer find it to be a problem."

Mark Mangini puts it like this:

"The director is sick of talking to the writer and giving them rewrites, sick of talking to the actors and giving them line reads, and by the time you get to post, every single syllable is known by heart. So imagine what that creates in a sound mix where we're supposed to correct the dialogue. We're no longer critically listening like we should be. Because we're in fact zoning out on whether or not the audience is actually getting the critical information they need. We know what the critical information is: we've been dealing with it for months. So in a sense, we have to challenge ourselves daily – and we certainly do this in sound – to try to remove ourselves from that equation and re-inject ourselves with a fresh perspective to see if we're actually making clear dialogue such that the audience understands it."

In Craig Mann's experience, though, the idea of familiarity is not a widespread issue. "As someone that does this on a daily basis, I think dialogue clarity is the number one priority on the mixing stage," he tells me. "Dialogue, music, and effects, in that order, is usually the chain of priority. If you can't hear the dialogue, we're going to find a way to hear it. Just speaking of the couple things that we've done even this past year, I can say Joe Carnahan, writer/director, wants to hear every word. Tyler Perry, we just did something with him, wants to hear every word. Sean Penn wants to hear every word. So I don't necessarily agree with getting numb to it. I think it's incumbent upon us to have that fresh ear every time we show up."

Sylvester also points out that unfamiliarity may be an issue in some instances. "What I'm wondering is if, sometimes, some of these films that we see, people are saying words that we don't know what they mean, such as 'Dune,' where they start talking about characters and places that sound unfamiliar. They do it in such a way, offhandedly, where it's like, 'What did he say?' Some of it is the content."

Mixing For Cinemas

One of the most fascinating things I learned when speaking with these folks is the gulf in quality that can sometimes occur between what a film sounds like in the mixing stages and what it can sound like when it plays in a multiplex. Mann says this isn't a new problem — it's actually been happening for decades:

"You mix it at your level in the mixing room, and theoretically, that is supposed to be the same level that is represented in the movie theaters on the Dolby Cinema processors, therefore giving you an exact translation, more or less, of what you've done on the mixing stage. But what's happened is, particularly in the '90s, because that felt like the time when they were doing the loudest mixes – I didn't mix in those times, but the stories were that mixers and maybe directors would want stuff mixed at a level that was just ear-bleeding. And what would happen is, that would get to the theater, there would be complaints from the patrons, and the theater would be compelled to turn down the mix. And when the next feature came in the next week, the level was never reset, and now that level is playing way low for the regularly mixed movie. That's a problem that vendors have been dealing with for many years. I know [it's still happening]. For example, the Landmark Theater chain does not play their theaters above 5.5 on the cinema processor, where the set standard is supposed to be 7 on that processor.

The idea that a significant theater chain would purposefully ignore industry standards for something as crucial as sound is genuinely shocking. I reached out to Landmark's customer service and asked them directly about this issue, but they did not respond in time for publication.

Thankfully, I have not heard any similar stories about AMC Theaters, the largest theater chain in the United States. However, I was curious about the configurations that occur when a new sound system is installed in an AMC cinema, how frequently their systems are upgraded or replaced, and how the company maintains quality sound conditions across its vast empire of theaters. I reached out to AMC, and they responded with this statement:

In general, our guest feedback, both recently and stretching back the last several years, does not match your assessment about dialogue becoming more difficult to understand. Among guest feedback, which is tracked through survey results and through incoming contacts from guests, there has not been an increase in complaints as a result of the audio, regardless of the type of movie. Regarding your questions about our sound equipment, our speakers and sound systems are calibrated upon installation. They are routinely checked, and recalibrated whenever necessary to ensure the best possible sound quality.

Additionally, for guests who would like to follow the dialogue on screen, AMC now offers Open Caption showtimes at 240 of our locations, and in every major market in the United States with at least two AMC theatres.

https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it/?utm_source=pocket-newtab&utm_campaign=clip

#Movie Dialogue #Cinema #Neon #TV #Sci-Fi

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avengerslover-yee · 3 years

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The Interview

Sebastian Stan x Reader

Summary: The reader is RDJ's daughter, and the reader and Seb have been dating for 5 months now. RDJ doesn't know... But Anthony Mackie, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johannsson do... So what will happen when all 6 are doing an interview for Avengers Infinity War...

Warnings: Overprotective Dad, fluff, kissing lol, spelling mistakes most likely, and idk lol.

“Seb we gotta get going.” You yelled from the bedroom in your guys hotel room. “Ok I’ll be right out!” He called from the bathroom. You waited a few more minutes and he walked out. “Finally!” You called out. “I didn’t take that long. Your just being over dramatic.” He said walking up to you. “Maybe I am. What are you gonna do about it.” You said booping his nose. “I don’t know, let me think about it.’ He started to make the thinking face. ‘How about I do this!” He yelled and quickly picked you up and threw you on the bed ticking you.

“Seb! Seb! I-I cant!- Stop!” You said through laughter. He stopped and looked at you. Then he gave you a peck on the lips and helped you up. “We will finish this later.” He said. You looked at the time and quickly got up. You checked yourself in the mirror, and checked Sebastian to make sure he looked presentable. You wiped off some of your lipstick from his lips and you both headed out the door.

Everyone was staying at the same hotel, so everyone agreed to meet in the lobby. To make it not look suspicious, you took the elevator down first. You walked out and looked for everyone. You spotted them and walked over. “Finally! Now we just have to wait for Sebastian. Did you see him?” Chris said with a smirk. You glared are him. “No i didn’t.” You answered. You walked over to stand by your dad. “Hey baby. Are you excited?” He asked wrapping an arm around you. “Yeah a little, but I’m also really nervous.” You answered honestly. “Oh don’t be, you will be just fine, and I’ll be right there if you need me.” He said and gave me a smile. You smiled back at him.

Sebastian came down and you all got in the car. You so badly wanted to sit next to Sebastian. But then your dad will get suspicious. It’s not like you didn’t want your dad to know, but the last time I told him I was dating someone he had someone do a full background check on him, and even with that he didn’t leave us alone, like if we said we were going out to dinner he’d jump up and said he’d take us. And he was never nice to him, always giving him death glares. It got so bad that we both decided just not to be together. So you definitely did not want that to happen with Seb. Sebastian had been your friend since day one of your life in Marvel. And it also helped that you were his love interest. But being the love interest isn’t your whole part.

Your characters name was Thea Avery- aka Shadow. Your first movie was Captain America the First Avenger. You played as the best friend of Peggy Carter. And you would fall off the train with Bucky. Your character was supposed to die, but the fans loved you, so you signed the contract. Now your character is an Avenger, she managed to escape Hydra around the time Steve was found. She tried to get Bucky but he was to far gone. Your character never stopped looking for him, until Captain America the Winter Soldier. Eventually in Civil war she joined Steve’s team obviously. Helped Bucky escape, and helped him while he was in Wakanda. Where the two eventually fell in love. But now in Infinity war what the fans don’t know is Thea is going to have to live without Bucky and everyone else for 5 years.

They arrived at the studio and waited until they were called out. Seb made the mistake of looking at you for too long when your dad noticed him and furrowed his brows. Sebastian quickly made it look like he was looking at something else. They all got called on stage and there was people clapping like crazy. You greeted the host and waved to the crowd before sitting down. You sat in between Scarlett Johansson and your dad. With the three guys behind you. The interviewer started by congratulating us all with the movie, then he said that he was going to give a chance for the audience to ask some questions. The crowd went wild.

“Ok first question.” “Um. Hi! I’m a huge fan of all of you! Omg this is a dream come true. My question is for any of you, Who do you guys think is the most attractive cast member on set?” She asked and everyone clapped. Immediately without any hesitation, “Y/n!” Shouted Anthony. My dad looked back and glared at Anthony who just sat still. “Aww Thank you Mackie.” You said to him. I glanced at Seb and you could tell when he’s jealous and oh boy was he jealous. You smiled to yourself and waited for the next question. “Hi! My question is for Y/n, first off I just wanted to say that I am a huge fan, and you are my idol.’ Your heart melted at this what looked like teenage girl said.’ And now for my question, Can you explain more of what Shadows power is, and her relationship with Bucky?” She finished smiling. Everyone clapped. “Aww, I love you so much, And Shadows power is where she can manipulate the shadows like basically turning darkness into anything she wants, or she can manipulate anything with a shadow. And her relationship with Bucky is a little complicated, obviously they went through a lot together, and they still are, I can’t really say much, but there will be some Buckadow action in the new Movie.” You finished. You made sure not to give anything to big away. Everyone clapped and some people cat called.

The interview went on with question after question until the interviewer asked the wrong question. “So there have been some speculation, and this is just fans being fans, but some people have been saying that Y/n and Anthony are dating. Is that true, is there a secret relationship going on or no?” He asked. Your dad turned and looked you straight in the eyes as if that was his way of asking. But before I could say anything Anthony spoke up. “Me and Y/n? Psh no way. She’s way outa my league, but she isn’t for someone else.” He said smirking. “Oh so she’s not with you but she’s with another cast member?” The interviewer asked. “I- I um-.” I murmured out. “Guess what it’s someone in this group though, and it’s definitely not me or her dad.” Scarlett said. I looked at her with wide eyes telling her to stop. “Oh so it’s either Sebastian or Chris?” The interviewer said looking from me and the boys. Everyone in the audience was going nuts. Chris looked at Seb and Seb looked back at him pleadingly. Chris gave him and me a look saying sorry. “It ain’t me.” Chris said. And I immediately put my head in my hands and the crowd went nuts. “Oh my goodness, so Y/n Downey and Sebastian Stan are together.” Said the interviewer. You couldn’t blame the interviewer this was his job, who you could blame is someone named Anthony Mackie. You looked up and you dad looked at you. “Sorry?” You said to him. “Oh wait Robert you didn’t know?” Asked the interviewer. “Nope, not one bit.” You dad said. He then turned to look at Seb who’s eyes widened with fear. “If you hurt her, I. Will. End. You.” He said poking him in the chest punctuating every word. “I-I promise I won’t.” Seb said nervously.

“So how long have you been dating?” the interviewer asked. “Well since everyone knows now who cares. We have been dating for 5 months.” You answered. Your dad turned to you with wide eyes. “5 months!?” “Yes-.” You answered.

Part 2

#sebastian stan #marvel #interview #sebastian stan x reader #robert downey junior #anthony mackie #chris evans

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lesbiradshaw · 3 years

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Peggy Carter is one of the worst additions to MCU and heres why: They refuse to let her character arc end. What I mean by this is, we keep getting more projects with Peggy being involved. There is so many other female characters in marvel, more specifically woc and you know what... moc too, who can get their projects gaslite by mcu studios but it's so much easier to uplift the white woman who they believe embodies all "Strong Female Characters"

It's already bad enough that Hayley literally told poc/lgbt folks to wait their turn when it came to representation in the Marvel movies but it's even worse when her stans will write off people by calling them sexist for having valid criticism on why Peggy isn't a good person. Yes, she's fictional but her actions are still awful. The fact that she shot Steve for simply being kissed by a woman, even though they weren't together, not knowing the shield would work and then hiring Zola which set up Shield's future with the infiltration of Nazis.

Every time these are brought up, fans either get sexist or they joke about how Peggy's hot. Then they have the audacity to make fun of people for stanning the white men in marvel like?? Peggy isn't white herself. It's very weird and I'm getting sick of the way white women are supposed to represent woc in this fandom when they don't.

Also to the other anon, you are right actually. Hayley is very creepy towards Chris. I don't like Cevans but he should be used for her weird sexual "jokes" she loves bragging about touching his chest, grabbed his chest randomly when she surprised him at a panel. She also doesn't actually care for Peggy's ending because she was actually very happy about her ending with Steve which is very backwards of her. She also loves bullying EVC. She wants Cevans, it's very telling because she is so possessive over Steve (it's really just Cevans) and it's like... creepy. Sorry, just felt the need to state this as a poc having to constantly see Peggy being revived for new projects like there isn't other characters in marvel that could take her place.

i don’t really have much to add to this because i agree with you completely ... while i understand that the actor and character aren’t the same person (hence why i can like steve and bucky even though i don’t really like chris and sebastian), hayley uses so much of her power as a white woman and acts so shittily in direct relation to peggy that it’s very hard to separate the dislike i have for both of them. peggy reflects a lot of White Feminist sentiments in her character writing and hayley holds that same mentality in real life, hence why she shits on other women (esp women of color- her fixation on the AoS cast is weird) and does everything she can to uplift this character that doesn’t need to maintain relevance in the spotlight ... like i get that she’s doing a job but jesus she does too much when it comes to talking about it. she just gets nasty and awful. if she shows up in live action mcu projects ever again ... i might break someone’s neck.

#lord last time i spoke on peggy i got bombarded #called white and misgendered by her stans trying to defend against me saying shes a white feminist character with a lot of stans who share #that same mentality #all they did was prove me right ...#anyways #anti peggy carter #anti hayley atwell #just in case #white people who stan white women but try and say bipoc stans cant like white men are so odd #like who are you to tell me what i can and cannot do #its not sexist to hate peggy and hayley theyre just ... annoying!#there are so many more likable women in the mcu #and dare i say agent c*rter isnt even the best mcutv show ...

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sarcasticace · 3 years

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It wasn’t until ur joking post comparing the “choice to romance a professor” vs what the actual book contains that it really hit me like. PB needs to fullstop with having books where the plot literally hinges on romancing one person while still providing options to romance another. TRR and subsequently TRH make no sense if you romance anyone other than Liam, QB’s plot really wants you to romance Ian/Ina considering whether or not you had any romantic dialogue scenes there was a whole getting exposed / hearing issue. like. I hate single LI books but at least the plot makes sense because you can’t get it twisted w someone else.

Oh, you're ABSOLUTELY right.

And it's not just Queen B or TRR/TRH, Choices has played favorites with their LIs since the start. Even in the original trio, you can see them pushing Dom x Kenna and MC x Chris to the point where one can question why they even added any other options. (Dom x Kenna is bad, btw, but that's another rant) And it's only gotten worse as the years past.

You're right, they need to fullstop because that focus ruins the plot of the book sometimes or even the other LIs. Buckett Harringtoad, for example, just steals the spotlight, taking content away from Aster and Griffin. You can FEEL the quality drop because of it. And don't get me started on Thomas hunt in RCD.

TRR makes me sad because we can't romance the prince or hana as a guy the LIs (Liam, Drake, and Hana) each have a unique twist that would, on paper, change the story. You would essentially get a different experience depending on who you romance in a playthrough. The prince, the prince's best friend, or another contestant.

Queen B's plot would be so much better if they dialed back the profesor romance, maybe promote chloe and carter as LIs and actually give Veronica and Zoey a chance to be full LIs. But yeah that 'you have the option to romance a professor’ warning is a joke. It should read 'you will be romancing a professor'.

I haven't played any of the single LI book, but yeah... gotta agree with you again. They can't mess up the plot (well, they can) when there's only one character to romance.

Sorry if that got ranty, I have thoughts on how Choices handles LIs and I can just go on and on if I don't control myself.

#ask #anon #AntiChoices

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rpd-rookie · 4 years

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Pollen - Chris Redfield x Fem!Reader (NSFW)

Summary: A new type of mutamycete has been discovered in a remote region of South America. As a scientist working for Blue Umbrella, you are sent along with BSAA Captain Chris Redfield and his team to conduct research on it. Unfortunately, everything goes to hell when the infection goes out of control and start contaminating the unit ...

Author’s Notes: This is a request sent by the Queen of Headcanons (@missmamacitaoliveira). It is basically porn with a plot and I chose to characterise it as "mild dub!con" because the sexual interaction depicted in this one shot is definitely the result of an arousal both characters (Chris and Reader) experience because of the mutamycete that contaminated them. Consent is given but the sexual act in itself is still a mix of fear and lustfulness at least at the beginning of it. Read at your own risk.

Warning: Sex Pollen / Smut / Mildly Dubious Consent / Rough Sex / Masturbation / Language

Golden spore-like particles were beautifully floating and dancing in the air outside the sterile plastic tent, shining like millions of innocent little fireflies but killing like a deadly swarm of wasps. They were covering the surrounding forest in yellow, from the trunks of the trees up to their tops, rotting the bark and the leaves, turning them into a thick yellowish mold capable of liquefying even the most solid of steels. A one-of-a-kind fascinating spectacle you had never thought to witness one day. Incredible – yet scary - what this new type of fungus was capable of doing.

Your earpiece crackled loudly in your ear, making you grimace and you dropped your leather notebook on your desk. “We’ve …sot … bit of sit…tion.” was all you could make out, the words sounding like gibberish because of the permanent interferences caused by the large cloud of mutamycete that had spread and contaminated the ambient air and the flora in the forest area by the riverside. “What kind of situation?” You asked, already removing a white Hazmat suit from a hanger. A never-ending sizzling was buzzing in your ear now, making it impossible to ear whoever was trying to communicate with you. “Hello?” You said as you adjusted the device to restore the communication. But all of a sudden, some static electricity – probably generated by the interferences - fried your earpiece in your ear, making you squeal in pain and fear and troubling your vision for a second. “Shit.” You cursed as your threw the broken earpiece to the ground, a low buzzing echoing in your head. “Why does it always happen to me?” You quickly slipped on the rubber suit, put on some chemical overshoe boots and grabbed Umbrella’s latest air-filter helmet before heading towards the exit. Luckily for you, you didn’t have to wander outside for too long as an officer rushed towards you, pointing at the military green tent that happened to belong to the medical unit that accompanied you on this mission. “Hurry, please.” He said with an alarmed voice that sent shivers down your spine. Something was definitely wrong.

You ungraciously followed him to the tent, your uncomfortable get-up making it hard for you to run properly. After all, it was made to work in a lab, not play commando in a remote tropical region of South America. Once in there, you immediately noticed two soldiers convulsing hard on their medical beds, struggling to breathe in spite of the oxygen the mechanical ventilators were providing them. Their faces were bright red, covered with pustules and blisters; their skin peeling off as if some acid had splashed on them. “What happened?” You dared ask, your widened eyes staring in shock at the poor men whose painful screams where muffled by the masks covering their melting faces. “Unsuitable gear. Thank your corporate overlords for that.” You glanced at the man who had answered, recognizing the angry powerful husky voice in spite of the deformation caused by the gas helmet he was wearing. “Captain Redfield, I’m sure…” He waved you to shut up and you obeyed, knowing that now was not the time to start an argument with him. It would not end up well, Redfield being too impulsive and stubborn to have a calm conversation with you even in more peaceful circumstances. His reluctance to work with Umbrella Co., you supposed. “How can I help?” “You’ve been studying this new mold, haven’t you?” Chris asked as he rushed to immobilise one of his men to allow a medic to sedate him with a syringe of morphine. “Might care to explain what’s happening?” “I’ve only studied the infection on the nearby vegetation. I don’t know what’s happening to them.” You mumbled, trying to keep your composure and ignore your growing concern and panic caused by the gut-churning vision before you. “Just tell what you know!” Chris growled as he pinned his struggling teammate down on the white mattress with an incredible strength you found scarily impressive. “It’s basically the same mutamycete that we collected at the Baker’s except that it was somehow genetically modified to have a reproductive morphology similar to plants and flowers. That’s why it looks so much like pollen.” “Make it understandable for a 5 years old, Y/LN, please.” Chris demanded with an annoyed sigh and you nodded though you didn’t really know how explain days and days of complex scientific research in a few simple sentences. “Alright. The previous mutamycete permitted to turn dead people into Molded, sort of. This new version does the same but it can also reproduce … breed if you prefer. A simple contact with a compatible host can lead to fecundation that can ultimately lead to lots of Molded babies. But I don’t need to develop that part, do I? Everyone in this tent knows how to make babies, I believe.” You scoffed, finding a certain comfort and some safety in sarcasm. But now was not the time for humour and you understood it perfectly when Captain Redfield glared at you. “Sorry. I tend to make bad jokes when I freak out.” And you were definitely freaking out right now. “But to sum up, this new mutamycete basically mimics the primary instinct of a G- virus infectee.” “Meaning?” Chris asked, his voice sounding an octave lower certainly because of the knot in his throat the simple mention of the G-virus had created. “It basically has a vital need to procreate, relentlessly searching for the right host to fecundate.” “So you’re saying that my men are what … pregnant with Molded?” He frowned and you could hear all his worries in his voice. He genuinely cared about his men. Very admirable and honourable. “I don’t know, Captain. I’m just telling you how it works on plants. Might be different for humans… I hope. Do you have an ultrasound scanner?” “ No, but we have one at the lab.” The doctor said. “ Then we need to evacuate quickly. And I …” You took some surgical pliers from a medical trolley and a test tube from your pocket. “…am going to need a sample to study all this.”

You approached one of the soldiers who was now basically dozing because of the morphine and slowly removed one of his gloves to cut one of his nails in order to later study his DNA. But as soon as your fingers touched him, he woke up with a start and jumped you, growling like a beast and grabbing you by the waist with a superhuman strength, almost digging his nails in your flesh through your clothes. You first instinct was to scream. Not the most efficient thing to do, you agreed. But, fortunately for you, you were accompanied by men who had better first instincts and reflexes than you. Chris pushed his man away from you and pounced on him, grabbing him almost brutally by the wrists to slam him down against the bed. You put a hand over your pounding heart and stared, terrified and powerless, at the enraged man squirming to get up. His eyes were dark and hungry and fixed upon you as if he was unable to focus his attention on anything else. “What the fuck, Carter?” Chris roared as he used all his weight to keep his soldier in place. But Carter didn’t care. Carter didn’t even look human anymore. And watching those two men struggling on this bed was like watching two lions fighting on National Geographic. Except that it was terrifying. Fucking terrifying.

Twenty-four hours later, Carter and his teammate were dead and their bodies still burning up like hot ember had been placed in the morgue section of the lab for you and your colleagues to study. But, in spite of the disgusting bloody experiments you led on them, you couldn’t take your mind out of the near-death experience you had been through at the camp. It haunted you, making it almost impossible for you to focus exclusively on your work. Those eyes. That darkness in them. That hunger that looked more and more sexual and lustful the more you thought about it. It was making you shiver in fear and discomfort. You had never seen anything like it before. You shook your head to make the images go away and concentrated again on your researches. You had been studying fours little rats in a glass cage for hours, trying to see how their systems reacted to the new mutamycete. But for now, six hours after injection, only an unusual high body temperature could be noticed.

The automatic sliding door of your lab opened with a hiss, making you slightly jump. You briefly checked the clock on the wall. 10:38pm. You didn’t expect any visit that late especially not a visit from Chris Redfield. “Captain Redfield. What are you doing … here?” You furrowed, staring at him with concern. He didn’t look so well. “Something’s happening to me.” His voice was cavernous and raspy and he sounded almost out of breath as if he was chocking under his black turtle neck. You immediately got up, resisting the instinctive urge to come closer to check up on him and took a few steps back. “Alright. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong and I’ll see what …” You weren’t able to finish your sentence as Chris crumbled to the floor beneath him, growling as if he was trying to resist something, his nails dug in the grooves of the white tiles. “Oh my god, Chris.” “I feel like I’m burning up.” He struggled to say. And this time you rushed towards him. You couldn’t leave him like that. You had to do something.

Knelt onto the floor, you grabbed his broad shoulders to help him lean his back against a lab bench. His face was scarlet red and pearls of sweat were dripping along his forehead. You wiped them away with your sleeve. They felt weirdly sticky and had a strange sour smell. But what worried you the most was the heat radiating from Chris’s body. You could feel it brushing your face. It looked like the man had been microwaved. “Don’t move. I’ll call for help.” You tried to get up but Chris’ hand caught your arm in a firm strong grip that made you wince. “You don’t… understand.” He managed to say, panting, his extremely dilated brown eyes staring at your (colour) confused ones.

Without forewarning, he placed your hand over his crotch, a gesture you found disgusting, salacious and incredibly inappropriate and that instinctively made you squeal and try to get away from Chris’ grasp. He was incredibly hard. “What the fuck?” You gasped, horrified as you tried to quickly get up. But you lost your balance and clumsily fell on your rear. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” He confessed, suffocating. “I’ve been like this for the past hour or so.” “The past hour?” You repeated, not knowing how to react or what to do. “Please tell me you can do something.” Chris begged, truly shamed and panicked and perfectly aware of the how indecent and degrading his behaviour must feel to you. You stood up to focus on your breathing and regain your calm. “Okay. Everything’s going to be fine. Breathe.” You needed to have your mind clear if you wanted to help Chris. You needed your scientist mind back. “Are you … aroused?” You said, genuinely uncomfortable to ask something so intimate. “Fuck, Y/LN!” Chris growled, glancing down at his pants. “ Isn’t it obvious? I’m freaking hard!” “Clearly.” You cleared your throat. “Don’t move.” You rushed towards your cupboard to rummage in it. “I’m going to give you GnRH antagonists. They can suppress hormones like testosterone. It should ease your pain for a while, or at least long enough to be able to find something that might help you. It’s possibly an effect linked to a long exposure to the mutamycete. Got you.” You took the vial with your trembling hands and turned around to go back to Chris. But what you didn’t realised was that Chris was just right behind you.

You bumped into his large chest and accidentally dropped the vial onto the floor. It broke into a thousand pieces as it landed on the tiles and you cursed, internally blaming yourself for your stupid clumsiness and your panic. “Please don’t tell me that’s what I needed.” You grimaced, scared to tell him the truth as you could tell he was getting angry again. Then again, who wouldn’t? “There might be another way.” You tried to reassure him but you knew it was vain. “Another way?” He harrumphed with a growl of pain as he leaned against your desk to breathe deeply. “What way?” “ Well, have you tried to … you know…” You mimicked a pumping motion with your hand, not daring to say the word. “Masturbate?” “You’re serious?” Chris’ darkened eyes widened, refusing to believe you were actually serious. “This is your medical advice? You want me to jerk off!” “Yes, that’s what I want … I mean advise.” You corrected, probably as uncomfortable than him right now, if not more. “Are you guys at Umbrella all dumb or is it just you? I don’t even know how I still can walk, Y/LN. I’ve never been that sensitive in my entire life. I feel like if I touch myself I will actually explode, like literally. I can’t jerk off right now!”

There was an awkward silence that didn’t last long as Chris turned around to shout his suffering again. Though this time it was mixed with an animalistic rage whose cause was still blurry to you. Was it mad at you? At himself? At his condition? At Umbrella? … All of it? You sighed and approached him. Hands on his back you helped him face you. “I can’t believe I’m about to do this.” You told yourself.

You put your hand over Chris’ male parts, making him wince and hiss, to blindly look for the zipper, staring away from him on purpose. “What the fuck are you doing?” He asked, slapping your hand away from him. “You got a better idea, soldier boy?!” You retorted, wishing there was another solution and that this all situation was merely a nightmare. You opened Chris’ trousers and disgustedly slid your hand in his briefs. “Ouch, easy!” He grumbled the second your fingertips touched him. His member was so sensitive and aching right now. “This is the worse day of my life.” You admitted as you delicately took his hot swelling length, which was thicker and heavier than what you expected, in a limp grip. “Pff. I’m sure part of you enjoys it” Chris said in between two guttural moans, a sensation of both suffering and pleasure tensing his abs and clenching his jaw. “You must think it is karma for all the times I’ve been an ass to you.” “What?” You harrumphed as you stopped moving your hand, genuinely offended. “How can you believe I’m enjoying it? You’re sick.” “Then why are you all flushed?” He asked.

All this panic and concern for Chris had made forget about your safety and yourself in general. You touched your cheeks. They were abnormally hot and you could feel their sudden redness tickling your skin. “Embarrassment and panic.” You retorted, trying to convince yourself more than Chris. After all, wasn’t it the most plausible reason? Unless… “Or the mutamycete and in that case it’s all your fault and if I die I’ll come and kill you.” You started panting and Chris stared at you silently. “What? You think that masturbating you arouses me? Pff, you should know better than anyone right now what it means to be aroused.” “Y/N” He called out by your first name. He had never done that before. “What?!” You screamed, pissed at him. “Shut the fuck up and keep going.” He ordered with a severity worthy of his military status. “Seriously?” He didn’t reply, seeing no need for an answer, and you reluctantly resumed your soft motion on his engorged cock, feeling the prominent thick veins throbbing against your palm as Chris suddenly began removing his military vest and his turtleneck “Are you kidding me?” You mumbled in between your teeth, definitely not liking this situation. “I’m burning up. I can’t stand my clothes anymore.” But soon your eyes occasionally started glancing towards Chris’ broad and hairy chest. He had a formidable body. God, what the hell were you thinking? “Please tell me you’re gonna cum soon.” You begged but he didn’t respond. A bad sign. “Gosh, I must be doomed.” “Perhaps if you actually put some effort in it.” Your eyes widened at him. Was it really criticizing the way you were jerking him off? “Seriously, Mister ‘Ouch I’m too sensitive’?” “Don’t mind me. I get it. You’d rather do something else than help me right now. And I know this must feel very degrading. Well guess what? I’d rather do something else than being jerked off by you.” You stepped back. You had had enough of it. “Then go ahead.” You waved at the door. “Leave and get out of your bloody mess on your own. I don’t give a fuck. Actually you should have done that from the very beginning instead of coming to me. Why did you come here anyway?” “I have no fucking idea, Y/N. I was in my quarters and seconds later I was here. I can’t explain it. I was like … guided here. ” You frowned, finding this honest confession extremely weird and yet not so absurd, your scientific brain making a parallel between Chris’s words and the way the mutamycete was permanently searching for a host to breed. The conclusion that Chris might want the same thing froze you to the spot, scared and apprehensive, a bit like a deer caught in headlights. Why hadn’t you thought about that earlier? “And the more I look at you, the more I stay with you… I wanna fuck you so bad. And I hate myself for it.”

You gulped, finding yourself unable to regain control over your paralysed body as an instantaneous wet hotness formed in between your legs. You tried to repress it but Chris came closer, his darkened chocolate brown eyes staring at you the same way Agent Carter’s eyes had stared at you under that tent. It made you shake, expecting with a certain amount of fear what was bound to happen. “Fuck! You have no fucking idea how hard it is to resist the urge to just slam you against that desk and shove my cock into you.” Your heart skipped a bit and the air got stuck in your lungs. You couldn’t breathe anymore. Terrified and yet so atrociously aroused it was making you want to hurl. A strange sensation – certainly a result of the contamination - you had never experienced in your entire life and you didn’t know how to process. “I’m calling security.” You announced as you somehow managed to rush towards your desk. “They’re going to place you under quarantine. That’s what I should have done from the very beginning.” You tried to seize your phone but it was immediately taken away from away from you and thrown across the room before you could even push a single button.

You trembled again when you suddenly felt Chris’s towering body press against your back, his hardened member pushing against your butt as his muscular arms were forming a caging embrace to prevent you from escaping. “Then why haven’t you?” He whispered in you ear, his hot breath tickling your neck and making you shiver, this time more in arousal than in fear. “I don’t know.” You mumbled in a whisper, feeling your heart pounding like crazy in your chest because of the exquisite proximity between Chris’ strong body and yours. This was insane.

You moaned when you felt Chris softly grazing his teeth against the sensitive skin of your neck and then gasped with a certain apprehension when his large hand grabbed your throat to squeeze it, knowing he could choke you to death with ease right now without giving you a chance to fight back. “Tell me you want this.” He murmured, rubbing his pelvis against your rear hoping teasing you would convince you to give in to him. “I won’t touch you unless you want me to. But please, please, tell me you want me to.” You looked back at him to stare at his eyes. In their hungry darkness, you could notice that Chris was still in there, spotting his integrity slightly gleaming behind the veiled pupils. He was fighting the temptation caused by this stupid fungus. But how long could he resist? Or better question, how long could you resist judging by the wetness growing in your panties. The answer? Not long.

“Do it.” You whispered so low, hoping he would not hear you and let go of you. But he did hear you and he didn’t wait. He pulled your skirt up to your waist and ripped your panties with a swift powerful motion that made you squeal and hold on tight to your desk. “I don’t think it’ll take long.” Chris said with a raspy voice as he dropped his trousers and briefs to his feet, finally freeing his throbbing cock that sprang erected and hard as a stone pillar. He watched it for a second, admiring it twitching and begging to be relieved. Then he stared at you, at your naked butt and your glistening red lips. “Gosh, you look delicious.” He said to himself before spitting on his finger to lube his length. Last thing he wanted was to hurt you. “You’re sure you’re up for this?” He asked again, not knowing how he would react if you said no. “I’m sure. Just fuck me, please.” You whimpered and Chris smiled as he guided himself towards your entrance. He moved briefly in between your half-closed thighs, right against your tight lips, to spread your juices along his shaft before kicking your calves to make you spread your legs for him. Once the access granted, he finally pushed himself deep into you, sliding him member so deep it almost disappeared in you. You winced and moaned, nails dug in the wood of the desk, when you felt him stretching you, definitely not used to welcome such girth inside your pussy. “Holy shit.” You cursed, with a small tear in the corner of your eye. “You’re so big.” “I know. Sorry.” He chuckled, his hand wandering down your back. “You’ll get used to it.” You cried out when Chris suddenly pulled out to push himself back inside of you with one single hard move. The force of his thrust made you fall flat on the desk. “You got nothing against rough sex, right baby girl?” Baby girl? The pet name made you furrow. What was next? You calling him daddy? “Cause I’m in that kind of mood right now.” He growled as he repeated the same motion, making you muffle a new loud moan in the leather notebook on which your head was resting. “Let’s get this over with.” You growled, already breathless.

Chris’ pelvis smacked loudly against your ass, making it bounce, as his heavy balls hit your swollen clit. “Fuck!” You shouted, hating the sensation as much as you were liking it. And he did this over and over. With time, you grew accustomed to the brutality and even happened to find a blissful pleasure in his roughness. Hell, you could even hear how wet your pussy was. “You like that? You want it faster?” You nodded and he grabbed your hips to pull you even closer to him and started relentlessly pounding you from behind. You screamed his name, wondering how he could still be that rough and yet that fast. His cock was literally a jackhammer hitting you hard inside, not that you minded. “Yes, just like that.” You said as you brought your fingers to your swollen clit. “Do you want to cum already?” You heard the cheekiness in his voice. He was amused. “Aren’t you the one who said it wouldn’t last long?” You retorted with a mocking smile that he definitely noticed in the tone of your voice since he grasped a handful of your hair to pull you back against his chest. “You’re going to regret this tone, young lady.” He bit your lips, making you almost bleed and kissed you with a hunger and a ferocious passion that would certainly let your lips bruised for days.

And as he did, his fingers crawled towards the buttons of your white shirt to violently tear the clothe apart, reducing it to rags and making the small metallic buttons fly in the lab. “Let me see those boobs.” Chris ordered as his hands squeezed your breasts, feeling the hard nipples pointing through your laced bra that he ultimately removed with the same burning ardour he had shown while removing your shirt. “So perky and pretty.” He confessed in a whisper as he pinched the rosy teats between his fingers. “Do you like them?” You asked, biting your sored lips “More than I like you. That’s for sure.” The rebuke made you sourly laugh. “I don’t like you either.” “Good.” He turned you over to face him and pushed you against your desk to make you sit on it, throwing all your stuff to the ground before laying you down on it. You instinctively wrapped your legs around his waist but that’s apparently not what Chris wanted as he put both your feet above his left shoulder with a grunt. “And don’t move.” He commanded and his hand slapped your breasts. They reddened almost instantly but the overall sensation was exhilarating, making you clenched your walls around Chris’s cock. “Fuck, don’t squeeze me like that.” He complained and you chuckled. But your laugh was brief since Chris caught you by your legs again and resumed his previous pounding.

You head tilted to the side and a stream of OHs and AHs escaped your mouth. You were completely at Chris’ mercy, lost in an intense bliss that made you completely unaware of the world around you. There was only pleasure. Pleasure and Chris. You toes went to feel Chris’ muscular pectorals, curling up more and more by the second. “I think I’m gonna cum.” You confessed with half-lidded eyes that you could barely keep open now. “Yeah?” You nodded. “You want me to help you?” “Please.” You whined, desperately wanting to let the ticking bomb of pleasure between your legs explode. “Alright then.” His arms circled your waist and he hoisted you up against his chest with an incredible ease. You were certainly very light for a man as strong as Chris. His small dark hair tickled your breasts, making you shiver and you wrapped your legs against him as well as your arms around his neck. You could feel it still inside of you and you were waiting eagerly to se how he would manage fucking you in that position which was far from easy. “Hold on tight.” He announced as he squeezed your ass to make you slide up and down his penis. The first moves were sloppy and clumsy but what followed drove you back in intense delight. The perks of being fucked by a man who had definitely been spoiled by Mother Nature.

Your body perfectly angled against Chris’, hands now holding on tight to his large shoulders, you could feel your clit rub atrociously well against the bush surrounding his member that your pussy had excessively creamed. “Chris. I’m cumming.” You shut your eyes and cradled against his body to keep yourself in place when the exhilarating moment you had been longing for finally happened. You shouted so loud as you clenched your walls against Chris’s cock you wondered how no one rushed in your lab to see what was happening in there. “That’s it baby girl. Cum for me.” Chris hissed, his mind split between your pussy squeezing him tightly and your nails scratching his shoulders to the blood. “Fuck, Chris!” Your climax knocked you out, rendering you dizzy and limp, and you let yourself slump against Chris, head over his shoulder. “Alright time to truly finish this.” He chuckled and knelt to the floor where he laid you hot body on the tiles. The coldness made you tremble but you were too giddy and tired to mind. Nevertheless, you sensed Chris lie on top of you, his massive body sprawled over yours almost crushing it under his weight.

His shaft found his way back in your relaxed pussy and he weaved his hand in your soft hair to pound you for the last time. Only soft almost soundless moans escaped your mouth but you could tell that the effect of your powerful orgasm was slowly fading away as your energy was slowly growing back and regaining your limbs. “I’m gonna cum in you.” This was a terrible idea, risky even, and you knew it. But you didn’t know how – or didn’t want – to fight back, actually desiring to feel Chris’s hot sperm spurt inside of you. So instinctively, you managed to circle his waist with your legs and spur his hard rear to make him go deeper inside of you. “Eager girl. You want to take my cum so bad, don’t you?” He scoffed and kissed your lips hard as he pinned your wrists up your head to finally release his sticky white seed in your vagina with a guttural animalistic grunt that echoed in the lab. “Take it.” He growled as he kept pushing himself hard inside of you to be sure not to waist a single drop of his semen.

Chris pulled out of you and gazed at you glistening red pussy, glad to see that his cum was not oozing out of you. “That felt so good.” He admitted before allowing himself to fall next to you with a sigh of content and enjoy the coldness of the tiles against his sweaty body. “And you know what? I actually feel a lot better.” You didn’t answer, exhausted but more especially lost in your thoughts. Gosh, what have you done? “You’re alright?” Chris asked, his voice finally back to normal. You glanced at him and noticed even his eyes had found their sweet chocolate colour back. “ Y/N” Your name echoed in your head and you suddenly got the impression that your body was abnormally convulsing. “Y/LN! Y/N” Chris repeated as he urged to hold you. “Y/LN. Hello?” You felt your mind slowly dozing off, finding yourself unable to answer. What the hell was happening? That was the last thing that came to your mind before it completely shut off. Then everything went dark and only Chris’ voice calling your name remained. “Y/LN! Open your eyes. Wake up!”

You woke up with a start, lost and wondering where you were, your startled eyes scanning your surroundings in search of something familiar. It took you a couple of seconds to realise you were laying on the ground and that you actually were in your tent, a the camp. “Y/LN” Your eyes met Chris’. He was staring at you with concern, his hands firmly holding your shoulders. “You’re alright?” You stared at him, still very astonished and then, you spontaneously jumped in his arms. “Chris! You’re okay!” The relief in your voice made Chis frowned and he slowly pushed you away. “Yes. You?” You nodded with a smile. “So it was a dream?” You asked, expecting an answer from Chris which was completely absurd. “A dream?” He repeated. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did you bump your head or something? Hurt yourself?” “No.” You shook your head, not getting why he looked so worried. “But your ear.” He pointed at it, not daring to touch it and you brought your fingertips to it. A thick liquid was pouring out of it. It was pus and blood. You were bleeding. Why were you bleeding? “What the fuck?” You looked around you only to spot the fried earpiece on the ground next to you. The interferences. The static electricity. It had certainly burst your eardrum and made you faint and … “It was all a dream.”

#chris redfield #chris redfield x reader #resident evil #one shot

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before-whatgod · 3 years

Text

How I Would Fix the MCU Movies (in chrono order)

Black Widow is mentioned but there are no spoilers! also this is super long sorry lol

CA:TFA

--More time with the howling commandos- instead of a montage with their battles with sit with them and feel their struggles. we feel not only capt’s grief but everyone on the team when bucky ‘dies’. idk would have loved to see more of a band of bothers bond

Captain Marvel

--I saw/read somewhere that her story could have work really well with a similar structure as CA:TFA and i agree. they were so concerned with making carol look powerful that they forgot to give her the fiery/badass personality we were promised. there was too much telling not enough showing

Iron Man

--Literally Nothing. Perfect. Great Intro to the series.

Iron Man 2

--again really solid movie i wish the villains were a bit more developed by tbh this is my fav iron man movie

The Incredible Hulk

--babes i dont even remember this movie its super cool they keep rossi around from it tho. hes literally the only thing the mcu kept from this monstrosity i would keep a similar plot structure but with mark ruffalo and a better script and tbh a better evrything. cannot tell you where to start with this jesus

Thor

--would have liked to see of the personality thor has later on in the timeline line- but it is interesting to think maybe he developed his humor and friendliness from his time on earth, idk this movie was kinda dull? i mean everything is dull compared to ragnarok and better compared to the dark world so idk how to fix that- maybe less of chris’s weird screaming- definitely less of chris’s screaming

The Avengers

--honestly love this movie-great set up to the team dynamics wouldn’t change anything. i love the nostalgia i get from watching this

Iron Man 3

--another movie i dont really remember but? this is the one with the bunny right? i feel like after iron man 1 the quality of tony’s enemies has gone down hill but i could watch rdj do anything so overall good experience

Thor: The Dark World

--besties what even happened in this movie like, jane babes what are we doing. loki is as amazing as ever tho. but like ‘oh no lokis dead again whatever are we going to do’ i would simply through the whole thing away- keeping jane going to asgard, loki being dramatic, and the relationships of the asgardian gang we get to see. also the reality stone thats pretty important

CA:TWA

--I. Love. This. Movie. my fav in the whole timeline. can you tell im a capt girl? literally the best wow won’t change a thing

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1

--so! much! fun! i love their family dynamics and tbh i love peter quill (we all did until pratt was a dick but)

Guardians Vol. 2

--I wasn’t obsessed with this movie but I cant quite figure out how i would change it- it was visually beautiful and emotionally beautiful but idk something felt off until the very end

Age of Ultron

--hot take- i really like this movie. i like how it completely changes the direction of the series and makes the mcu feel so real, like the friend ship seen- i would have like more clint so his character arc in endgame would have been impactful i dont hate the farm family but man i sure dont love them jesus but yea i love the dialogue and the only thing i would really change is clint’s involve meant. also helen cho deserved to have a bigger part in the mcu

Ant-Man

--super fun! i feel like this movie is great the way it is- a familiar super hero movie when the series was starting to get pretty dense with the lore wont change anything

CA:CW

--i read somewhere this movie was originally going to be steve and sam and the rest of the squad finding bucky and i was robbed. over time the mcu starting telling us how great steve and buckys relationship was instead of showing us. like men can show each other affection marvel that is a thing that happens but tbh i loved this movie- i would change a lot but i still really enjoyed it

Spiderman: Homecoming

--its so cute i love it but I miss andrew garfields peter- he felt more like the comics but besties i love this movie and tom i would just change how ton is characterized to be more comic actuate but also maybe not idk

Doctor Strange

-- tilda swinton owns my heart and sole. but imma be honest i saw this in theaters 3 weeks after a horrid concussion and i remember none of it and thinking about it makes me sick (love head trauma) so imma just leave it how it is

Black Panther

--nothing. its art.

Black Widow

--I’m writing this around an hour after I watched the movie and tbh I dont know how I feel about it. I dont love it yet but im not quite sure why yet- its most likely the pacing it felt a little rushed to me but idk yet ill be able to gather all my thoughts in a later post prolly

Thor: Ragnarok

-- to think i can even dream to improve on anything taika waititi is putting bad karma into the universe. that man is a genius. you can feel just how comfortable everyone is in their characters which makes for a great performance

Ant-Man and the Wasp

--the breather we all needed after iw but i dont think anyone really loved it- no idea how to fix it but yknow it was just bland

Avengers: Infinity War

--I loved it. I loved it so much. obviously there are some bad things here and there but i would not change a thing

Avengers: Endgame

--I hated it. I hated it so much. obviously there are some good things here and there but i would not keep a thing.

(I have in fact written an essay about said topic bc i felt so passionate about it i did not know what else to do)

Spiderman: Far From Home

--I dont know something was off for me with this one- again I think it was a pacign issues but I am not sure how I would change it

I might do the tv shows in another post- but if i do those i want to include the netfilx marvel tv shows as well as the agent carter and agents of shield series(es?)

anyway thank you for reading all of this if you did!

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lanaisnotwool · 4 years

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421 - 401K Rip-Off

https://moneyripples.com/2020/09/11/421-401k-rip-off/

Are 401K’s a good idea?

Is it possible that you are worse off with a 401K?

Where can you invest instead?

Chris runs the numbers to see what happens if you invest with a 401K. It is catered for you and is filled with the information you need to make the right decisions and making a ripple effect to the lives of others.

Listen to our Podcast here:

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/moneyripples/2020/07/30/421--the-401k-ripoff

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Hello, my fellow Ripplers! This is Chris Miles. Your Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor. Welcome you out for a wonderful show. A show that is for you, and it’s about all of you. Those of you that work so hard for your money. And you’re ready for your money to start working harder for you. Now! You want to work because you want to not because you have to. You want to have that cash flow. That freedom. That prosperity. Today! Not 30 or 40 years from now, but right now, to be able to have that life that you love. To do what you love while you can still live. While you still have life in you. And it’s not just about having your own life of comfort and ease and freedom, which is amazing, but it’s about so much more. It’s about be able to create a ripple effect to the lives of others. Because as you prosper, you can use your blessings to bless the lives of others too. And that is a ripple effect. I’m here to create guys. Thank you for allowing me to create that ripple effect through you. And thank you again for bingeing, for sharing with others, for creating conversations, right? Because the only way to elevate your success is to elevate your conversations of success as well. And guys, you guys are doing an amazing job. Thank you so much for being a part of this and allowing me to create a ripple effect through you.

As a reminder check out our website, MoneyRipples.com Well, not only do we have the great e-book, Beyond Rice and Beans, that you can download for free, which will help you find money. Especially if you’re looking for a cash and be able to use and be able to create more freedom. There’s also great blogs. There’s even videos of this very episode being posted as well. So check that out. As well as our YouTube page. So check those out!

Today, guys. So again, I get this all the time because I get it. When the rest of the world is telling you to believe one thing, and you’re trying to do something different. It’s hard to break that pattern, right? Hey, we’re witnessing this in the world right now. There’s debates going on and between majorities and minorities and everything else, and it is creating a lot of debate, but the one thing you don’t see, many people debate is actually in the realm of money, right? When it comes to money, most people would agree going with the mainstream advice. It’s spend little, save a lot, save it in your mutual funds like your 401k is and get that employer match because it’s “Free Money”

Stay out of debt! You know, do all these things that you’re supposed to be doing that should somehow create freedom. Like guys, it has not worked! Period. Now you might think that somehow it has worked. Now, we might look back to grandparents generations, but understand is that there’s a ton of workers, funding, their social security and other things. They had pensions. We don’t! They have their pensions right now. There’s school teachers right now out of pensions, like running out of money. There’s States that are bankrupt right now. Government workers that aren’t getting the things that were given to us even few decades ago. And right now it’s relying upon you to create your own freedom. You cannot rely on anyone else. You cannot trust the government will have a decent amount of cash for you to use. It’s really up to you. So what’s been the answer of course, over the last several decades? It’s been the 401k, right?

I’m here to tell you the 401k is a Big Fat Lie! Now, granted. Does it do what people think it does in the sense that you defer taxes? Yes. You can have employer matches, which is like having free money. Yes. By the way, that’s just means that they’re just not paying you as much, just so you know. You know, it’s just a benefit, the company benefit of the add on, they just take it away from your salary anyways. All of these things, you know, is it essentially a real tool or a vehicle? Yes, it is. It’s a tax code that started back in, you know, back in the Carter era, right in the late seventies and by about 1980 and so on. Even though most employers didn’t really implement it, at least for the average worker, usually by the mid eighties, you start to see the average workers getting offered 401ks.

It became more mainstream. Now you have to ask yourself first and foremost, why does this thing becomes so big? Right? Why did people just keep using IRAs? Or why don’t we keep, you know, why don’t we start making roth IRAs more popular? Since that’s been around now for 20 years. More than 20 years. You know, we’ve had that for a while, but why aren’t people going crazy about the Roth? Now there’s some people that say it’s great, but the truth is you can’t save enough into a Roth. Can you? $6,000 or $7,000 a year is not enough to retire on. It’s nothing. It’s a ridiculous rule that you have the Roth IRA that kind of loses it. You’ve got things like life insurance out there that we talked about before. That is tax free, much like a Roth. It’s the same kind of taxation, but you can dump it a lot more.

But even then guys, if you’re trying to rely on a product to get you there, it won’t do it! There is no one single financial product that any financial advisor will offer you or your employer wall for you that will get you to financial freedom. And that’s what we are talking about today. Specifically, I’m going to focus on the 401k and why it’s a lie. Now understand that when it came out into the Carter era, taxes were much worse. Now there’s an article that one of my good friends sent and he sent it to me. He said, Chris, you should check this out. Very interesting. It’s actually an article in Bloomberg about 401k dated back on July 21st. Now this article, I’m not going to quote from it completely because even as I was reading it, I started to see some inaccuracies. The basic premise is pretty interesting.

Some of his solutions were different. He was talking about changing the 401k to be more flexible. More rules. I’m not opposed to that, but it doesn’t really answer the basic question. But he did bring up some good points about what happened when it started. So for example, the points that were good, right? And by the way, I know these are bad points and not only was it bad, I decided to look at the comments, which is never a good idea. If you want to stay in a good mood. When you look at the comments and people are railing into them saying, Hey, this was inaccurate. This was inaccurate. Right? But even with those inaccuracies that decided to go back and use some of those arguments, people were debating about, well, yeah, tax were higher, but medium income was lower. So I said, great. Let’s pull up the historical bureaus and find out what the census said, you know, on those things.

So anyways, I took a trip back in time to figure out what it really was. So here’s the first thing he said, the Marshall tax rate was higher in 1980, which is true. Your tax rate could be anywhere. It was taxed by just, but get this. We have eight tax brackets right now, right? In the federal income tax. The lowest is 0%. Of course. The highest is 37%. That is the highest bracket possible. Now you don’t get tax all that. It’s a scale that goes up, right? So as you hit each income bracket, that portion of that income bracket is taxed at that rate. So for example, right now missing, I’m not exact on the number. So I just closed them off, but you can get, basically get taxed 0% from like zero to about 18,000 bucks, right. Per year. So you have 18,000 or less of income.

You’re not even getting a tax on the federal side. State, maybe, but not on the federal. Then jumps up to like 10 and then 12 and so on. You know, so the top tax bracket for the median income today, by the way, the median household income today is about $78,500. So the top tax he even hit is 22%. By the way, the tax is owed as of 2020. If you make 78,500 on the federal tax, I’m not talking about the state taxes. Federal tax, you’ll pay 10,332 bucks, which is just over 30% of your income. Your total income. In 1980, the median income was 28,220 bucks. And this is across all races. I found out that white races were actually much higher. It was like 51,000. And I thought that was really interesting to see how it’s such a bigger discrepancy back then. I’m not surprised, but still pretty surprising how much the average white household was making was about 51,000.

But the median household income with all races, just like I did with 2020 was 28,220. Now with all the tax brackets, I did all the math on it. The tax, your taxes owed would be $5,663. So just over half of what you would have you paid today for the median income. The difference is though it’s about a third of the income, right? So that total percentage that you would have paid taxes back in 1980 was 20%. And also here’s the thing. The top tax bracket in 1980 was 70% with zero to 70%. With 16 brackets along the way there. So your top tax bracket even at the median household income, which wasn’t a lot 28,000 bucks, right.

Was still in that 32% tax bracket. That’s the bracket you’re in. The top bracket. So that’s where you’re paying more. So of course, if you’re looking for ways to reduce your taxes, why not find something to give you a tax deferral. In hopes that you would live on less. Here’s a faulty premise of course, is that even if you started saving in 1980, let’s say you have saved for the last 40 years. And I know some of you have. The problem is you’re probably noticing you’re not in a whole lot lower tax bracket today, are you? You know, maybe you earn a decent income, but income goes up with inflation, right? So of course the inflation you’re still having to make more. Now, granted right now is a lower tax bracket, for sure. So if you happen to retire today and you’ve been saving for awhile, you might be pretty happy.

But if you’re saving today, this might be the worst time to try to use a tax deferred account. Because right now we are in the lowest tax brackets we’ve been in decades. You know, this is amazing! These are, the tax rates are awesome! Even better than when I started working. Why would I try to avoid paying taxes now and go for a future date when it’s likely to be higher? And here’s the thing, guys, even if the brackets remained the same because of inflation, you have to consume more money each year to live. If you do, guess what, you’re getting tax on it. By the way, if you’re trying to count on social security, yes, you can get tax on social security. If you pull out more than a certain amount per year, and that’s not a lot of guys, it’s not a lot. So that’s the thing is that right now, it’s just based on taxes alone. The concept was great back then, which was, cause there was high taxes. They’re trying to pay for crazy stuff.

Inflation was going through the roof. It made sense, right? It made sense to say, Hey, the tax rates are ridiculous. I’m likely to be in a lower tax bracket because there’s so many tax brackets. It’s not hard to get to a lower one. So it was easy to kind of contribute to that and lower your tax bracket. But you’re delaying that tax for the future. You’re not really saving any taxes when you do a 401k. In fact, you saved nothing. And remember your employer’s contributions are going in as well, tax deferred and they come out taxed. So that’s a big one right there. Now here’s the thing is that people will say, okay, Chris, got it. You know, what’s the alternative, you know, what about now? You know, what’s going on today? Like what would you recommend?

Here’s the thing guys, again, I’m never going to make blanket statements. I’m not going to make blanket recommendations. I’m not going to give investment advice on the show. That’s because it’s illegal. I can’t do it. Right? But let me give you an example of what can happen because here’s the other problem with the 401k that’s a lie. Now people think with a match, right? This is the other big argument I get all the time. They’re like Chris, does it match though? That’s like a 50% match. That’s like a 50% return or a hundred percent match. It’s like a hundred percent return. So guys, I decided to do some calculations. I said, let’s do it by the numbers. That was another criticism on this guy’s thing. They said they didn’t really go by the numbers. He’s right. He didn’t, he was giving more conceptual stuff. Again, this is why I’m not really sharing the article. Cause it’s not. It’s good, but it’s not great. Right?

It’s not something you’d take as gospel for sure. So look at this way, whenever I talk to people or say, okay, Chris, this is what I’ve been doing. They’re like, I maxed out my 401k. Now when we calculate that with the match, because the match doesn’t go over usually 5% 6% a year. Anyways, if you get a hundred percent, most like get a 3% match or something or 4% maybe. But I said, okay, let’s go for the top that I’ve seen. Usually I won’t see with employer contributions. I won’t see more than 25,000 going in per year. So that’s great. Let’s just say that’s the case. I’m going to run two different scenarios. One have a person that’s about 45 years old with a quarter million saved up in the retirement account. That’s maxing their 401k for the next 20 years. And then I got somebody who’s 25 years old, starting from scratch. Also maxing out their 401k.

Which most people don’t do when they’re 25, but I’m going to say somebody is staying cheap. They’re the ultimate ideal saver, right? And they’re saving for the next 40 years and earning this. Now here’s the another debate. People say, well, what’s the real return? You know, this is why he got, I’ve put the match into this equation, right? With the match. You know, the real rate of return the market is anywhere usually between 7.4% and 7.6%, depending on the day. That’s of course the average I’ve seen like a 30 year average over time. It’s not 10 or 12%, the S&P500 doing at best, right around seven and a half. As of right now, July to July 2020, July 1990 to July of 2020, we went from the first to the first it’s about a 7.47% average.

Now like a real rate of return, not 10 or 12, that’s makes a massive difference when you’re started looking at 20 or even 40 years down the road. I figured, okay, we got that. But remember, there’s also fees in 401ks. And this is something that I saw in those comments. People are like, Oh, I’ve got like 0.04% cause I use Vanguard funds and all that stuff. Here’s the deal, guys. The fees in a 401k, aren’t that bad and even said he’s like, Hey, if you can get outside of the 401k, your fees will probably be less. Right? But here’s the deal guys. Most people never get that. And especially if you have money to go in a 401k, your fees are at least 1% on average. That’s pretty typical. They’re just the administrative fees that are inside 401ks. 401ks by the way, have like almost 20 different fees they can charge you.

So, and they’re all embedded with them. They don’t really make them very public. They’ll make them easily known. This is why people say, Hey, the Mark has been up, but my money’s not going up. Right. If you’ve ever said that, especially if you’ve been in the market long enough, you’ve felt this or noticed it before. You’re like, Hey, the market went up, but my money didn’t. There’s something wrong. This is part of the reason, fees are coming out. So I actually went kind of on the high end. Usually I don’t see people netting more than 6% rate of return. I put this at 6.25, I bonus you a quarter percent because the truth is, my point still going to win out. Even if I’m overly liberal with these numbers. Right? And not even being conservative. I’m actually being liberal against my own point.

I’m playing devil’s advocate against myself. Right? So 6.25%. Again, guys, I know the numbers going out because I just know a few of the guys are going to try to run the numbers yourself. So this is why I’m doing this. So anyways, here’s the deal. So I took that person. I said, Hey, what if you’re 45 years old? You’ve got a quarter million in your 401k as of now, which I know there’s several of you that do around this time. You’re max funding it. You’re going in about 25,000 a year with a match. I’m assuming you’re making that 120,000 or so a year. If you’re making less, it’s less right. But I’m putting this up, you know, kind of on a more conservative end where somebody might be max funding this. So you’re getting in a total of 25,000 a year. At six and a quarter percent after 20 years, you will have about $1.84 million.

So you have nearly $2 million. Now you might think that’s a lot, but you got to understand. There’s another thing working against us, which is inflation. Now I went conservative on this number. Again, playing devil’s advocate against myself, but I just decided to make this a number of conservative. I put it at a 4% inflation rate. Do not trust the government says about what, you know, their consumer price index and the inflation rates are. They’re messing with those rates to slow down the increase on social security payments to you. You know? So they’re trying to let that money stretch and last longer, they’re manipulating those numbers in real life, though, if you notice your real life, it’s not too far fetched to say, you know, about every 10 to 15 years, you know, my lifestyle has to kind of double.

Like what I’m living on today. I’ve got to have about double that within 15 years. You know, if you’re living on $4,000 a month back in 2005, you’re probably living on about $8,000 a month now. Again, changing circumstances with the life that’s the thing with inflation is kind of weird. You can’t really count on it because life situations changes. It can go more or less, but I put it 4%. There’s debates that it could actually be like 6% or 7%. It’s more closer what it’s been. Since we’ve been taken off the gold standard back in the early seventies. So anyways, I put it at 4% just to make it better. Here’s the key guys. When you’re looking at lifestyle, cause $1.84 million sounds great in 20 years. But when you look at the after inflation adjustment, that’s almost like having $840,000. So, and by the way, you haven’t paid taxes on this money yet. You still gotta pay taxes.

So say a quarter of that goes to taxes. You’re now left with about $600,000, right? And we’ll say 650,000. Again, I’ll be overly conservative on this number. 650,000. Here’s the key, again, financial buyers have taught this for years. Some people will say 4%. You can live on, right? That you’re not supposed to take out more than 4%. That’s an old number. That’s a number that worked before, back in the seventies. Most advisors that they’re, if they’re up to speed, won’t say more than pulling out 2% or 3%, especially with people living longer. So if you want your money to last, you want to pull out more than 2% or 3%. So what if you pulled out 3% of this after inflation adjustment of 650,000, that means you have about $19,500 a year lifestyle living on. You have a quarter million right now, you max out your 401k for the next 20 years.

And that’s like, you know, that’s a lot, right? They were putting in like over 18,000 19,000 a year into your 401k only to live on about 19,000 a year after you’ve paid taxes. That doesn’t sound so great. Does it? What if you started brand new? What if you’re a brand new person coming in and you’re like 25 years old, starting from scratch. You start immediately max funding that 401k, just like everybody tells you, you do that for 40 years. Six and a quarter percent with inflation working against you. Well guess what? The ending balance is almost 4.4 million, but after inflation, it’s more like 900, just over $900,000. So when you live on that, and remember you have to take out taxes. So let’s say a quarter of that goes into taxes. You’re left with less than 700,000. Again, you’re living on about, you know, if you factor in 3%, you’re living on about 20,000 a year. It doesn’t get any better.

This is why I say that 401k is a lie! You can not retire of 401k alone. Roth IRA won’t get you there by itself. And you can’t put in enough to make it work. You know, you factor in, even with the 401k, even with the match, you’re max funding it, unless you’re making a half million a year and you’re trying to stuff at full, most likely you can’t even do it that way. No, you can’t even do that much. It doesn’t matter. After some point you actually get restricted IRAs too. Some of you might say, well, I’ll do a SEP IRA. So I can do more of my income. I know some of you I’ve talked to, you put in 50,000 a year. It doesn’t matter, guys. You’re putting in 50,000 a year. You just double that number. And by the way, when you’re putting in SEP IRAs, you’re putting in your own match.

So the truth is you’re not even getting free money. You’re putting in all your own money to then live on about 40,000 to 50,000 a year down the road. If that. You get my point here? Is that whatever you’re trying to max fund into it. If you’re lucky, if the market smiles and you just right, stays around the average, you’re lucky to maybe pull out the same amount of money you’re pulling in. So whatever you’re putting in that’s about what you can pull out. That’s not fantastic, guys. That’s actually seems ridiculous because you can say, wait, I can just take that money, save it. You know, I can save it. Just keep it certain, not have to gamble the stock market. Because if you do like what happened to my dad Y2K knocked his retirement downright before he retired. It postponed his retirement. 15 years guys. That, I mean, this is again assuming averages. This is not assuming what if the market crashes, what if you’re trying to retire next year? And the market crashed in the next few years. Are you going to wait another five years to retire? That’s what some are doing. That’s ridiculous. It’s crazy. It’s insane.

Now let’s look at the alternative. Cause you say, Chris, what’s the alternative. So, you know, we’ve talked about different things. So I took the example of like AHP. Again, never guaranteed, right? But American Homeowner Preservation, you know, you hear their ads on this radio sometimes. They’d pay 10% a year right now. So what if you did the same thing, but here’s the thing. You’re not getting an employer match. Right? So say that you won, you had the 250,000 sitting in your 401k. You cash it out, right? Well, you might be able to avoid the penalty depending on COVID and the cares act, right?

But at least with taxes, you’ve pulled that money out. Let’s say you lose 60,000 of that quarter million. You’re left with 190,000. Okay. There you are. You’ve got 190,000. You can invest it. So say you go and invest in there. Again, this is not a recommendation. I’m just using this as an example of numbers, right? So you get 190,000 leftover after you’ve paid your taxes. You only put in 14,000 a year, not 25,000 because there is no employer match. And because now you’re getting paid that money after taxes, you got to pull taxes out. So even though you might be paying like 18,000 19,000 a year into the 401K, because now you’re taking the money out. Now you’re getting taxed. So I’m actually putting you in what would be viewed as the worst tax scenario, right? Because negative tax pull, you know, not taking, putting the money into your 401k.

Now it’s just coming out. You’re using after tax dollars. By the way, yes, you could invest in AHP pre-tax or with IRA money. But I’m using this as after tax where you get taxed every year. On the grow. So not only did you get taxed on the money, you know, that’s of course you’d actually finally put in, but now the interest you earned, which is at 10% also gets taxed and you still have to fight inflation. But again, it’s at 10% a year, right? After 20 years, here’s the thing, the end balance is almost one and a half million dollars. And this is, using this sort of person that’s 45 years old, right? So that person that said, Hey, I had a quarter million put in 25,000 a year with a match. Now they got 190,000. They’ve put into something like an AHP type fund at 10% putting in 14,000 a year.

They’re just putting their 401k contribution now into this. At 10%, they actually have one really about $400,000 less than they had when you’re putting in the 401k. You might think, well, Chris, even though they made a better return because there’s less money to go in. Yeah. There, of course it’s less. But remember too, when you’re cashing out of that money from the 401k, you gotta pay taxes. So it kinda actually owns breaks even at that point. And, but, well, actually you might end up paying a little bit more in taxes. So you might actually be a little bit under at the 401k, but remember the 401k says you should only be pulling out no more than 3% a year, right? The difference is this is that, again it’s about cash flow. Not accumulating money and then trying to live off less in the interest. It’s cash flow. Because if you had almost one and a half million dollars and you’re getting paid 10% a year, guess what?

Now you’re not pulling off, you know, and now using the numbers, of course, using the, now I’ll use after inflation number. So I just gave you that before. After inflation adjustments about, you know, $667,000, right? So that’s about what you got in, you know, in real dollars after inflation. 667, but you’re being paid 10%. It’s like having $66,700 a year lifestyle. Versus what I just said before with about an, you know, what was that $19,000 lifestyle. So you’re more than triple the lifestyle. Why? Because even though the numbers are about this, end up about the same, the cash flow is way better because the interest that’s paying you, the cash flow that’s coming from that is at 10% and not at 3%. So that’s why you’re getting more than triple the money back. Right? And yeah, you’ll pay tax on it. But so what, like maybe after the other money, your stuff pay tax on that too.

So again, same thing. That’s the person that has got 20 years of retirement. Right? So understand you can now hit those numbers faster. I use the example with that person that’s fresh start. Brand new 25 year old, right? Starting from scratch. So they just put 14,000 a year to AHP or something that earning 10%, right? Well, they’re going to end with about 3.4 million, but after inflation, that’s only like 716,000. But once again, because even though it’s like at $716,000 type of thing after inflation, the lifestyle that you can have is your pull off 10% a year is 71,000 a year. Much better than going about 20,000 a year. Right? Once again, kicks the crap out of it because it’s about cashflow, not just about accumulating money. And again, like I said, the 401k, it has to work at the right timing. You have to retire just the right time.

Otherwise it could be worked wrong. You got to make sure that taxes don’t go up dramatically. I was just pretending the taxes were staying similar, which they may or may not. If taxes go up, you’re getting host on your 401k. And people often will tell me that, Chris, I don’t know if I was a betting person. I would say that taxes are likely to go up from now. And I say with the way they’re printing money right now, either they’re going to cause massive inflation, which if you cause even worse inflation, that means you have to pull out more money, which means still more tax. Or they raise tax rates keep inflation down. So then you now have more money coming out, either way you lose when you start using that 401k. Or an IRA or anything else. Again, there is no product that a financial advisor can offer that will get you to that freedom. To be able to get you to that number.

You know, you have to be saving a ridiculous amount of money over a hundred thousand a year in hopes that you’re gonna make something. Or just live on a really cheap, you know, fixed income type lifestyle, right? Where you just try to do nothing. Don’t travel. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t visit grandkids. Just sit in your front porch and drink lemonade. Why? Not because you know, you want to, but because you can’t afford to go anywhere else and Lemonade’s on sale at the store. That’s why. This is the key factor here guys, is that it’s all about cash flow. And by the way, this is that 10% with tax with no tax advantages. If you do things like real estate, you can make better than that amount of money. And I’m not throwing those numbers out there. I’m staying on the low side. I’m basically going conservative with my point.

And I liberal against my point. Just to prove a point. Which is, is that there is a different world, a world of much better hope. If you look outside with the mainstreams, trying to pitch you and they’re selling you. And they’re selling you because they make billions of dollars in management fees off that. They want to keep the money in there forever. They’re the ones telling you to live on 2% or 3%. Why? Because then their money keeps growing. Their stock prices keep going up. Their CEO’s get keep getting paid more. They’re making more money because you’re not! And guys, that is one of the big reasons why I’m so passionately against things like 401ks, IRAs, which by the way, the government determines the rules and they can change the rules at any time. There’s no certainty. There’s no planning that can be done in those situations because you can’t maneuver with it.

You don’t even know what the rules are going to be like in 10, 20 years, how you, unless you’re retiring today, you have no clue. And even then they could change the rules. Look how they’re changing the rules on us right now because of a little virus, right? They’re freaking out. And they’re using that as a way to be able to change rules on us. We have a very different life today than we had six months ago. Wouldn’t you agree with that? Why couldn’t they change it on you? With the financial tools and things like that? The vehicles that they’ve been recommending. Of course they can. They need more taxes. They know where to go. They go for the people that are poor and middle class that don’t know what they’re doing. That are going and investing in these 401ks have zero tax advantages. And with the match, it’s just golden handcuffs.

You know, that little employer match does so little compared to the cost and the risk. But guys, just like you might’ve heard Robert Kiyosaki say, he says, the people that get the best tax breaks, the best tax advantages are the business owners or investors. If you’re in that category, if you get out of the employee mindset, you get out of that traditional mainstream mindset. Now you can actually have hope to break free. And guys, that is the kind of stuff that we’re talking about. Again, each of your situations are individual and different. I get that. Sometimes there are rare occasions, I think 401k works. Especially if you can pull money out right away. Like I get, I’ve had people get the match, pull the money out and go invest it on their own and they can work great. But, it is solo 401ks, by the way, guys, for those of you that are investors doing solo 401ks, I don’t trust those either because anything can change those rules and not to mention that we just don’t know.

I mean, plus if you get sued, I mean, there’s other issues that can happen there. You have assets they’re exposed that works against you in different scenarios. Either way, money getting locked up, get your money out of prison, get into a place that works for you. You guys want to know what that is. If you haven’t listened to show. There’s great examples of that. You know what, if you’re at the point you say, Chris, I think now’s the time I got to change my strategy. Shoot me an email. Say, Chris, what do you think about my situation? What do you think I should do? Just shoot me an email. [email protected]. And yes, I answer my emails. I shocked a guy he’s like, I can’t believe you keep telling me to email you. And I finally did it. And that guy, it was a slam dunk.

I was like, man, like, I’m so glad you actually had the courage to do it. Because for him it was like a 70,000 a year difference. You know, like a passive income that he could create from his current situation. I’m not saying that’s you, it could be, it might not be. But either way, if you think there’s a calling or a feeling with in you saying, I think now’s a time to do something different. The marks recovered. Maybe now’s the time to do something different right now. Why? While there’s still money in the market, you know, while the market’s still overvalued drastically, right? This might be the time. So again, if you have questions about that, shoot me an email. [email protected].

Guys, I hope this valuable. I hope you start to see why the 401k just cannot and will not work. And this is why I’m so passionate against it. Cause I’ve run these numbers over and over and over. And it comes up with the same results. Guys. You can’t expect to get something different when it hasn’t ever been different. This is how it’s been. This is why I left financial advising. And this is why I did something different. They gave me different results that got me to retire when other financial advisors can’t retire. And by the way, great question for financial advisors, ask them, Hey, did you get financially free off the advice you’ve been giving? Not from the commissions you’re earning, but actually from doing the things you’re telling your clients. And I can tell you honestly, I’m doing the things that I tell people to do as well. They don’t! They aren’t retired off that their mutual funds and their 401ks and IRAs. They aren’t! They are making money by selling you this lie!

This needs to stop now! This is why I’m here. This is a ripple effect I want to create. Guys, I hope you share this episode too. Share this other people. They need to know the truth. This has to stop! There are too many dumb pundits out there teaching this crap because people are putting money in their pocket, telling them, Hey, you do this. We pay you money. We will give you a little perks and benefits if you do this. So much money being thrown, at these 401ks and other plans. So you buy them and you buy a hook line and sinker. But the only person that loses is not the person telling you on the radio, right? Or on the TV or on interviews. Those people aren’t losing. The financial companies aren’t losing. It’s only you. This has got to stop. Guys, I hope this is valuable for you. Make it a wonderful and prosperous week and change your life now. It’s all about action and taking action to do something different. Do the opposite of what you’ve been told to do. Make it a wonderful week. We’ll see you later.

#Chris Miles #Anti-financial Advisor #Cash flow #Cash flow Expert #Debts #Entrepreneur #Financial Freedom #Money Ripples

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dreamingofscully · 4 years

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4x24. “Gethsemane” - X-Files Rewatch

Since this episode and Redux & Redux II are intimately intertwined I'll be doing my season 4 summary after those episodes, so it will be more like a season 4/cancer arc summary.

Ah, the teaser. The Mulder-is-dead trope is almost as unbelievable as Scully-as-betrayer, so... I don't think fans were too worried during original run. Especially with the "Believe the Lie" tagline. There is always that 2% thought that they'd do it though.

Scully family. You know, I don't even hate Bill. Fanfic fixes everything. (In this case, its the post-s8 "AU" fic "Hurricane Season" by beduini and rah. He's still a jerk in that one but... well, just read it.)

Scully's being treated for her cancer. She still looks luminous. Her pretty sweater. ❤️

Poor Scully. No one remembers her birthday. EXCEPT HER MOM of course.

I love seeing carefree, laughing Scully. We definitely didn't see enough of it. 😥

"I have strength" - Scully to Father McCue (Mulder ❤️ )

Mulder's hand on her back at the Smithsonian.

Scully has no opinion. Proving the existence of alien life isn't her "last dying wish". WHY DID YOU USE THOSE WORDS. STAHHHP. Mulder's flippant about it because that's what he does. He's disappointed in her reaction, not knowing that she's not going because she's getting sicker.

She didn't tell him her cancer's metastasized. She never had the strength to tell him for a few reasons:

even though Mulder pushed to be included in Elegy, perhaps the news she got was only recently.

after what Mulder went through in Demons, she might not have thought him strong enough to get the news about her health. He was vulnerable in his recovery from the treatment.

Scully regrets not letting him in, not letting him be a comfort to her. But now she kinda views it as being too late. 😥 Scully did tell her mother though, and that's what prompted her to invite Father McCue to dinner.

Kritchgau knocking Scully around. FUCK THAT GUY. SRSLY.

"It doesn’t mean I’m not responsible to what's important to me." - Scully Bill asks: "To what? To Who? This guy Mulder?" (Scully's silence speaks volumes!) "Well, where is he Dana? Where is he through all this?"

Scully feels bad because she knows that its HER fault that Mulder's not there. If she tells Bill the reason Mulder's not there, though, he'd probably still think it was Mulder's fault, that maybe he wouldn't be there anyways. I definitely believe that Mulder would be there, though, if he had the knowledge. And that is perhaps another reason why she didn't tell him just now. It wasn't a good time - she didn't want to hold him back from something he's wanted for so long.

Even though she wants him to go and get his proof, she may have been trying to dissuade him from leaving anyway - when she asked him if he believes what does proof matter? Maybe if he agreed with her, & wouldn't go, she could tell him about her illness with a (clearer) conscience.

Scully has blood all over her shirt. Nosebleed? 😥

Scully tells Mulder what convinced her was that they gave her the disease to make him believe. Why Scully Why. Feels like an inordinately harsh thing to say, knowing that Mulder would take that to heart, that it would consume him that it was HIS fault she has cancer. But perhaps she needs to tell him to get him to believe this guy. I think the only reason she said this is because it would make Mulder’s suicide seem more plausible. (Writer: Chris Carter.)

Also - Kritschgau KNOWS Scully has cancer but he knocked her down the stairs anyways? FUCK THAT GUY TWICE.

Scully is desperate to keep their deception a secret, to give Mulder the time he needs, so she pulls out all the stops and delivers quite the performance (although we don't 'know' it at the time). What a shit cliffhanger to leave us on BTW.

#xfiles #x-files #x-files rewatch #x files rewatch #msr #msrheadcanon #mulder and scully #fox mulder #dana scully #season 4 #cancer arc

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theliterateape · 3 years

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Wonder Woman 1984 Couldn’t Save the Story

By David Himmel

I’ve been looking forward to the sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman since the film ended with Wonder Woman herself leaping from the top of a building and soaring into the credits. So when it was announced that Wonder Woman 1984 was going to be available on HBO Max Christmas Day, I went to bed each night with visions of indestructible bracelets dancing in my head.

Then it finally arrived. Christmas. WW84.

My wife and I settled into the couch with a bucket of Cherry Coke, a cornucopia of candy, and two obnoxious bowls of fresh popped popcorn soaked in butter. It was the movie-going experience I had been missing this year.

I love Wonder Woman. I didn’t grow up on the source material. I grew up on Lynda Carter. Reruns of the campy Wonder Woman TV show, which originally ran from 1975–1979 were a favorite of mine as a little kid. Not only was it an entertaining show for a preschooler in the eighties with the jumping and bullet-blocking and running, but I was also in love with Lynda Carter both as Diana Prince and Wonder Woman.

You see—sounding all Freudian alarms—my mother is a brunette and, from what I could tell at that young age, she could do anything and everything, so I grew up likening my mom to the Amazonian goddess. I also thought any pretty lady with brown hair was my mom including the woman on the Sun-Maid raisins box. (Despite my mother being a beauty queen and model—just like Lynda Carter—the real Sun-Maid Girl died at age 90 two months before I turned four.) From my vantage point, my mom was completely capable of saving the day and harvesting yummy raisins. A true wonder woman.

I wasn’t a big reader of the Wonder Woman comics. Blame that on my time as a boy in 1984. Wonder Woman comics didn’t make their way to me and by the time I was old enough to choose my own reads, I was too deep into graphic novels about the Vietnam War, X-Men comics, and other Marvel titles. But I always knew Diana’s story and powers, and recognized her as one of the most powerful characters to grace the pages of comic books.

Settled into the couch, we hit play and HBO Max glowed to life to give me the Christmas gift I’d been waiting months for.

The opening scene set the tone. A thrilling action scene showcasing the abilities of Diana’s people back on Themyscira. It dropped a few hints of what challenges Diana/Wonder Woman might face and the lessons she will learn or be reminded of. Good opening. And then the film fell apart and Christmas was ruined.

Nah, Christmas was fine, but Wonder Woman 1984 was a disappointment. And not as much for me as for Diana and Wonder Woman. And for actor Gal Gadot. She was robbed of an interesting story. There is no character development in WW84 for our hero. Diana is in the exact same place as she was at the end of the first film. She picks up a few new abilities along the way, but one, like flying in an invisible jet felt like director/writer/producer Patty Jenkins was force feeding me a MacGuffin only to throw it away after I agreed to swallow it. Flight is a big thing in this film but Wonder Woman learning to master it seemed wasteful as I was convinced she was learning to fly based on the way the first film ended. That’s on me.

When we left Wonder Woman in the first film, she was heartbroken for Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). When we meet her again in 1984, some seventy years after his death, she still pines for him. (See what I did there?) By the end, she’s the same. Closed off, unwilling or unable to open herself up to people, most notably to people who could love her and she could love in return. This, despite that Steve tells her that’s a stupid thing to do—remain closed off. When he comes back to life through a wish, he is filled with a zest for life, a chance to experience something again. Pine plays Steve with an almost childlike wonder and it’s fun to watch.

They missed an incredible opportunity to build an interesting story tying in time, the struggle and pain of being ageless—timeless. Maybe that’s how Steve comes back. He exists in a tear in time. What is the hardship of a god living among men? Not her challenging duty but her struggle.

And why 1984? For the fashion jokes? The nukes? Missed opportunity there. Especially since the year is in the title.

Kristin Wiig is great. She’s surprising as she anchors her Ghostbusters (2016) character into Barbara Minerva/Cheetah. But I wanted more form her relationship with Diana. When Barbara wishes to be like Diana, “Sexy, cool… special,” there’s a chance for her to also face the backlash of being an ageless goddess. That opportunity was dampened when Barbara cartoonishly chooses to become a full baddy. But you can’t blame Barbara, she was written that way.

Everything was written as a MacGuffin. One little thing to get us to the big moment with the big baddy—a Donald Trump-ish huckster played by Pedro Pascal. Pascal as Max Lord at first is a slimey but sympathetic character. That quickly devolves into him being a super-duper bad guy bent on world domination that overcorrects in heightening the stakes. The manner in which he goes about dominating the world is trite but also is based on a lazy Orwellian approach to what technology would be like in 1984. It gives the sense that the film was written during Lynda Carter’s heyday where 1984 still seemed futuristic.

There’s so much opportunity squandered. Diana/Wonder Woman is an ageless goddess with a lonely heart and incredible powers. How does one live like that? In the first film, Diana is learning what it means to be human. This film could have had her learning what it means to be a god among humans. Instead, the character is a pawn. She’s not driven by anything. And that’s what gets me.

Diana could be relatable. Make her the troubled messiah. She lives among us so long, she longs or struggles to be like us. And maybe losing her power—the unknown risk she takes when Steve comes back—is attractive to her so she can live and love. And if they had to bring back Chris Cline, the could have dipped into the mystique and magic of Diana’s world. Something more than a silly wish. Something more interesting that pushes Diana to face new internal struggles while working to defeat the external forces of evil.

The film sets itself up as movie that’ll deal with time. There’s a date in the title. But why 1984? For the nukes? For the broadcast Max Lord needs to tap into? For the fanny pack jokes? Jenkins and Co. could have given the theme a little more oompf by leaning into their own ideas of time and address the hardships a an ageless, nearly all powerful goddess faces. Instead, we get a joke about modern public art being trash and a WWI watch coming to life because… because the ghost of the man who owned it has come back from the beyond. Two completely unrelated things. But they didn’t have to be.

The film takes its time with the wrong beats. There are many big moments, often in the middle of the action, where Wonder Woman’s face is the focus. The only takeaway from these slowed down moments of intensity are for the sake of empowerment. And, okay, fine. That’s cool. I get it. Wonder Woman is empowering. The movie, however, is not empowering. It’s a vehicle that reduces Wonder Woman to a physically strong woman who does not develop as an individual. She’s the most dimensional inspiring cinematic female character since the offensive Captain Marvel.

Time proves to be a major influencer in the film in the way it’s wasted. When they have to fly to Cairo, they do so by stealing a jet that Diana has access to thanks to her job at the museum, and allegedly will face no consequences for hoarking a fighter jet for personal reasons. Regardless… They have to get from Washington D.C. to Cairo, a trip of just over 5,000 nautical miles. A modern Boeing 747 can fly 8,255 nautical miles on a full tank of gas. A fighter jet with a smaller tank would likely need every last drop and the wind at their backs the entire time to make the tip without refueling or plummeting into the ocean. Instead of being concerned with that, Steve and Diana choose that time to have their romantic scene. Flips and tricks and dawdling through a Fourth of July fireworks show. And why was Steve surprised by the fireworks and it being July 4th? He just arrived in a new body the day before. He certainly checked the date on a newspaper or heard something on the radio or a TV. And the Fourth of July was already a holiday before he was killed in World War I.

These gripes would be nitpicking if they weren’t so easily remedied by giving the main character an actual story arc.

Wonder Woman 1984 was a fine superhero movie. Far from the best (Captain America: Civil War). Better than the worst (Justice League). It had its share of fun action moments, but even in an action film, the action must be secondary to the story.

After watching the film, we turned on the old TV show. There’s not much character development there either. But it’s a 1970s network television procedural. It’s meant to be campy. And it was more than enough.

Following the three-hour Lynda Carter bender, I realized that you could totally edit scenes in WW84 to make a trailer about a woman who takes care of, then falls in love with, a mentally handicapped man. And that would be a great story to tell. Wonder Woman with Hollywood blockbuster money behind her deserves something interesting.

#Wonder Woman #Wonder Woman 1984 #WW84 #Gal Gadot #Kristin Wiig #Pedro Pascal #Lynda Carter

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photolover82 · 4 years

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The Masked Singer Season 4 Episode 4: Group B Playoff Time! A Reveal That Had Me Shook AF... Commentary and Guesses

Hi fellow Masked Singer lovers! Welcome (once again) to Ana's Masked Singer recap, where I, Ana, recap every single episode of the Masked Singer. If you are new, welcome! So what I do is pretty much start with the eliminated contestant, give my thoughts (this one's juicy based on the title, I promise you that), and then go into my guesses of the remaining contestants/my thoughts on their performances. Alright, so explination out of the way, let's get started

(Warning: The below info contains spoilers for the episode, read at your own risk... don't comment that I spoiled it for you because this girl warned you.)

Alright, so first and foremost, let’s talk about the shocker of the night, the eliminated contestant who was...

*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

The Baby Alien 👽

Performance: You know his performance of It’s Time by Imagine Dragons was actually pretty good, I am kind of sad that he left so soon. I knew it was either him or Whatchamacallit who was going to leave, but my money was on Whatchamacallit so I was kinda bummed to see Baby Alien go. However, it made for a great reveal, like damn I am still shocked and it’s been days (apologies for the delay in this btw, it’s been a busy couple of weeks).

So Baby Alien was revealed to be to my surprise...

Mark Sanchez

Ok so if you don't know who he is, neither did I. The shocking part for me was that he is a freaking NFL QUARTERBACK and I was totally expecting an actor or a comedian under that mask. That Russian accent really got me, oh my God! Having said that, I am really impressed by him since he had to carry a 40 pound thing & learn how to maneuver a puppet. It's super cool to see an athlete really into acting, Broadway, and musie gives me low key Troy Bolton from HSM vibes and I love it!

Here are some clues that you (and me too) probably have missed:

Hot dog, Friends clues, NY clues in general- I mean he was the NY Jet quarterback so there’s that

Parade with the roses- his college team was USC and he played in the Rose Bowl helping them win in 2009

Horseshoe, horse clue- other teams he played for like Denver Broncos or USC Trojans

Alright so yup, now that that’s cleared up (omg still surprised), let’s go into the 4 remaining Group B contestants:

1. The Serpent 🐍

Performance: His performance of The Bones by Maren Morris was amazing and omg I am in between 2 people when I listen to this, but nevertheless he is one of my favorites on the show so we stan.

As for my guess, I still gotta believe that it is Broadway sensation...

Leslie Odom Jr.

Ok so when I said I was stuck between 2 people, I meant him or Chris Jackson (who is also in Hamilton and played George Washington), but I feel pretty strong about Leslie because of the clues:

Rent reference= he began his Broadway career in the show Rent at the age of 17

Crossaint= could be either a reference to a Smash episode he was in called “Coffee and Crossiants, anyone?” or that he was involved in the 2018 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Childhood (Physical on-stage) Clue: the baby bottle and “Got Clues?” = He did a commercial called Got Hamilton for the Got Milk campaign

2. The Crocodile

Performance: So he sang Toxic by Britney Spears which was an interesting song choice ngl, but I really enjoyed it more than the first one for sure. His falsetto was insane in this song and I really enjoyed it, you can tell he’s a pro singer, and I can recognize that voice anywhere...

I am still gonna go with for my guess as one of the Backstreet Boys...

Nick Carter

The clues really sealed the deal for me to think it’s Nick:

Orange Tree- he grew up in FL

The whole father story with the $100 paycheck= he wrote this in his book

“Toxic” parts of his past= he does have a very toxic relationship with his family (his parents were unhappy and him/his siblings didn’t really get along, i.e. his public feud with his famous brother Aaron Carter)

The 5 on the door= 5 Carter siblings including Nick

3. The Whatchamacallit

Performance: This time he performed “Money Maker” by Ludacris and Pharrell Williams and honestly he got moves but he is the weakest vocal wise, he reminds me of Frog from last season but not as strong of a rapper. For sure, he isn’t a pro rapper, but I do still think he is an athlete

As for my guess, I changed my answer and this time I am gonna go with another athlete...

Lonzo Ball

Ok so I changed my guess due to a YouTube comment telling me to watch his rap battle with T-Pain, and guys if you hear that, they sound very very similar.... but I am also convinced due to the clues:

3 Bees 🐝 = BBB aka the Big Baller Brand, his family’s brand

His mom being in bad shape= she suffered a stroke in 2017 which is right when he was drafted for the Lakers which explains the whole I was at the height of my career until I got the call thing

Childhood clue: book “hairy tales of the whatcha dam by Doodad doohickey” = idk this tbh, there are no books by him or his family maybe it’s because his family and him own a business together and are super close?

4. The Seahorse

Performance: OMG her performance of “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion was the best performance of the night! I was shook, she is amazing! I mean I knew she was amazing, but I didn’t expect that level of amazingness wow she’s so good. Bet anything that a woman is going to win The Masked Singer again this season because the females are the strongest, and the only people leaving so far have been male.

I am certainly positive that she is former American Idol contestant:

Tori Kelly

Ok so the clues are very telling:

9pm clocks and the fail stamp= she lost the 9th season of American Idol during the Hollywood round and Simon ripped her a new one like damn he was super harsh on her I remember that

I posted up in my room= probably a reference to her YouTube covers

Smile with slash= her song unbreakable smile

Well guys, we are done here! Thank you for reading and I’ll see you all next week (hopefully because this week is World Series and if that doesn’t get extended, we will be back next week... if not, in 2 more weeks we’ll be back) when we introduce the remaining 5 masks that I (and hopefully all of you as well) have been waiting for, Group C! Don’t forget to comment if you agree/disagree with my guesses, what your guesses are if they are different from mine, who your favorites are, and if you guessed the Baby Alien (if you did, damn you’re good!). Bye everybody!

#babyalienmask #mark sanchez #the masked singer #themaskedsinger #the masked singer season 4 #music #celebrities #dancing

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Lance Henriksen on His Career: ‘Every Job I’ve Ever Gotten Was a Gift’

https://ift.tt/39QbXna

Lance Henriksen has been one of the screen’s most distinctive character actors and overall badasses for going on 50 years. A genuine working actor who always seems to be showing up in a film or TV show, the New York-born Henriksen’s early film career featured small roles in some of the most iconic films of the 1970s, including Dog Day Afternoon, Network and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Even though his long and varied run on the big and small screen was just getting underway, he managed to work with directors like Sidney Lumet and Steven Spielberg.

He also didn’t have a clue at the time that those films would endure decades later as classics of their era.

“I had no idea,” he says while speaking to us on the phone about his latest film, Falling. “I was just grateful to have a job and do my best and try. It was a gift. Every job I’ve ever gotten, I feel it was a gift. I don’t make any bones about that. It’s just a lot of luck.”

Now at the age of 80, Henriksen is a statesman of cinema in Falling, Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut. However, the older actor wasn’t always sure luck was going to come his come his way. His father was a merchant sailor who was away at sea most of the time. His mother, who worked as a dance instructor, a model, and a waitress, divorced Henriksen’s father when her son was just two and struggled to raise both Lance and his brother on her own. Stints in foster care and abuse at the hands of other family members followed, with Henriksen out of school after first grade and out of his home for good at 12. He didn’t learn to read until he was nearly 30 years old.

It was around that time that he began working in theater, first in set design and then eventually on the sets themselves as an actor. His first film appearance came in 1972, in the long-forgotten It Ain’t Easy for director (and future Star Trek: The Next Generation producer/writer) Maurice Hurley. Three years later, he was an FBI agent in Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon, which got him a call from Spielberg, the red-hot young director of Jaws who was then prepping his alien contact epic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

In that film, Henriksen played one of the many scientists and technicians on hand for the arrival of the alien mothership and its crew.

“[Spielberg] was getting ready to shoot the mothership leaving, with all the little creatures and all the astronauts going up onto the machine,” the actor recalls now. “And I ran over and said, ‘Hey, listen, Steven, I’ve got an idea. What if I take my coat, throw it over one of these little creatures, and run into the Porta-Potties with it, so we’ve got proof, because this thing’s going to take off and disappear.’ And he looked at me and goes, ‘Lance, listen to me, that’s a different movie.’”

Following that mid-1970s run, which also included the 1978 horror sequel, Damien: Omen II, and the truly bonkers sci-fi cult film The Visitor, with John Huston and Glenn Ford, Henriksen wouldn’t see his next big break until 1982. That’s when a first-time director named James Cameron cast him in Piranha 2: The Spawning, which Cameron was shooting for exploitation producer Ovidio G. Assonitis.

“I like Jim,” says Henriksen of the man who would later go on to make game-changing, record-breaking blockbusters like Titanic and Avatar. “I met him on Piranha 2. Neither one of us liked that movie, but we did it. We had to do that movie. We weren’t supported very much by the producers…And then when the movie was done, we all went home and I remember they fired Jim the last day of shooting so that they could edit and control the movie.”

According to Henriksen, the producers of Piranha 2 took the film out of Cameron’s hands and presented their own edit to distributor Columbia Pictures, which rejected it.

Says Henriksen, “Jim took the same footage that they showed Columbia. He re-edited it and brought it back to [the studio]. And that’s the cut that released. It’s a great story. I hope it’s true.”

Cameron cast Henriksen in his next two movies, both of which turned into sci-fi/action classics: 1984’s The Terminator and 1986’s Aliens. It was in the latter film that Henriksen created the first of several iconic performances by playing the enigmatic and ultimately heroic android Bishop. Other 1980s standouts for Henriksen included Prince of the City, The Right Stuff, and Jagged Edge, while the latter half of that decade yielded lead roles in two horror cult classics, Pumpkinhead and Near Dark.

Millennium After the Millennium Documentary Revisits the Cult TV Series

By Kirsten Howard

Movies

Aliens and Terminator 2: How James Cameron Crafts Perfect Sequels

By Ryan Lambie

Although Henriksen continued to work steadily in movies throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, it was a TV show that yielded perhaps his most famous character after Bishop: ex-FBI profiler and serial killer hunter Frank Black in creator Chris Carter’s nightmarish thriller series Millennium. The series was Carter’s follow-up to The X-Files and it ran for three seasons and 67 episodes on Fox from 1996 to 1999.

“I think the thing that I admired the most was when I was offered the role, I didn’t right away know it was television,” says Henriksen, who also admits that the show’s oppressive nature and the tormented psyche of his character wore on him during its three-year run. “I got to a restaurant with Chris Carter and the director. I said, ‘Let me ask you something. This is so dark. A lot of serial killers. A lot of bad people. Where’s the light going to come from?’ And all Chris Carter said to me was, ‘The yellow house.’ And then I got it right away. It was about [Black’s] family and I agreed to do it.”

Henriksen adds, “Occasionally it sucked me in,” referring to Millennium’s relentlessly grim atmosphere. “But it was a tough show. It wasn’t an easy one. It was also kind of a groundbreaker at the time, I think.” Henriksen has been quoted as saying that it took him “a year” to get out of the head of Frank Black after the show was cancelled, and has often noted that he finds it difficult to detach himself from a character after the project has finished shooting.

When it came to Falling, Henriksen says he was actually leery at first of playing Willis Peterson, the conservative and homophobic father of a middle-aged gay man named John (Mortensen, who also wrote and scored the movie). Nearing the end of his life, perpetually angry and having pushed two wives and his children away from him, Willis is perhaps the most complex role of Henriksen’s career but one which he says was exhausting to play.

“I have to tell you the minute we were wrapped and we finished the movie, I said, ‘Viggo, I’m going to disappear for a while. I got to get myself back,’” Henriksen explains. “I was a little afraid to do it. I got so deep into some of it that I got a little afraid that I’m going to get a form of Alzheimer’s of some kind–I won’t be able to shake it. But I was able to shake it. But anyway, it was intense. It really was, the stakes were very high. And we had a short time to do it. We shot it in five weeks.”

Henriksen’s relationship with Mortensen–best known to genre fans as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings–stretches back to the 2008 Western Appaloosa, in which both men starred alongside Ed Harris. “We both love Westerns and we all enjoyed it,” says Henriksen of his first collaboration with Mortensen. “All three of us: Ed loves Westerns. He knows how to ride, he knows how to do it. It was nice to meet Viggo. He’s as good a guy as I’ve ever met. I liked him right away, really good guy.”

Nevertheless, Henriksen–a graduate of the Actors Studio and a practitioner of method acting–still wasn’t sure he wanted to play Willis when Mortensen sent him the Falling script. “It scared me,” he admits. “He said, ‘Would you do it?’ I said, ‘Sure, I’m scared, but I’ll do it.’ And then we lost the original backing and it took two years to finally get new backing, and he said, ‘You still want to do it?’ And I went, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘That didn’t sound very enthusiastic, Lance.’ I said to him, ‘The truth is, I’m going to have to visit some real dark places from my youth, my childhood, all of that, and I’m nervous.’”

In Falling, John brings Willis home to Los Angeles with him to stay with his family, including husband Eric (Terry Chen) and their adopted daughter Monica (Gabby Velis) while they look for a new home for Willis closer to John and his sister Sarah (Laura Linney). But Willis is resolutely against leaving his rural farm in heartland America, determined to stick to his sheltered lifestyle even as the onset of dementia begins to blur the past and the present in his mind.

Despite his anxiety about delving into Willis’ tortured, embittered psyche, Henriksen now imparts that participating in the film became an instant highlight of his career. “It was the best experience I’ve ever had as an actor,” he says. “The support to do it and [Mortensen’s] appreciation level and all of those things were everything that I hoped for… I have nothing but gratitude. This is maybe the best role I’ve gotten in my lifetime. I really think that.”

Those are strong words coming from an actor who has appeared in many of the definitive films of the last five decades, but Falling may well feature some of the most emotionally raw work he’s done during his lifetime in the business. “I’m grateful to be an actor,” Lance Henriksen says with sincerity. “I’m an apprentice to every new subject. It’s been my education. I’m a lucky guy, I really am.”

Falling is out in theaters, on digital, and on demand now.

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woodshorenews · 4 years

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upon waking up on valentine’s day morning, many residents will be excited to find a glass vase ( or perhaps, even, more than one ) left outside the door to their room containing freshly cut, fully bloomed red roses. miraculously, it seems like not a single one has a thorn on its stem. some of these flowers come attached with a note and name, while other senders have chosen for the thrill of remaining anonymous. the arrangement would look beautiful on your kitchen counter, don’t you agree?

did you get one? keep reading to find out...

ANONYMOUS RECIPIENTS.

Aiya Ren – 1 ' ;) '

Aiya Ren – 1

Alek’ha Arand – 1

Anakin Skywalker – 1

Anakin Skywalker – 1 – for making me remember

Anastasia Romanov – 1

Andromeda Tonks – 1

Anduin Wrynn – 6

Anna Minkova – 3

April Kepner – 12

Arya Stark – 1

Bellamy Blake – 7 – 'for all the times i've wanted to punch you in the face'

Bellatrix Black – 1

Ben Solo – 1

Ben Solo – 3

Brienne of Tarth – 1

Buzz Lightyear – 12

Caleb Widogast – 1 – i hope you remember soon. i miss you.

Clark Kent – you know i’m terrible at words, but thank you. i remember what matters because of you. – 12

Daenerys Targaryen – 12

Daenerys Targaryen – 3

Daphne Greengrass – 1

Dean Winchester – B====D – 1

Derek Morgan – 6 – from your pretty boy

Evelyn O’Connell – 3

Faith Lehane – 1

Four (Tobias Eaton) – 1 – You're something I never expected and it both frightens me and excites me.

Georgie Weaver – 1

Irene Adler – 1

Han Solo – 1

Harry Hook – 1 – don't get cocky

Harry Hook – 1

Hayley Marshall – 1

Hayley Marshall – 6 – happy valentines day. hope we can talk again soon.

Henry Mills – 1 – "Surprised?"

Hermione Granger – 1

Hope Mikaelson – 1

Jessica Moore – 1

Jester Lavorre – 1

James T Kirk – i’ll let you guess who this is from. – 1

Jon Snow – 1

Jon Snow – 12

Jyscar Ren – 1

Klaus Mikaelson – 1

Laszlo Kreizler – 1

Laszlo Kreizler – 1 – thank you for being as you are.

Leia Organa-Solo – 12 – 🐾

Leia Organa-Solo – 6

Lucifer Morningstar – 1 – cool name.

Lucifer Morningstar – 12 – ;-P

Lucifer Morningstar – 1 – you don’t need more than one rose to know how much i care about you.

Luke Skywalker – 1 – for keeping my memory alive

Lyanna Stark – 1

Maleficent - 1

Marinette Dupain-Cheng – 1 – Daredevil

Matthew Murdock – 3

Mandalorian – 1

Merlin – 1

Mike Warren - 1

Miles Morales – 1

Narcissa Malfoy – 1

Nick Scratch – 1

Nyota Uhura – 1

Olivia Parker – 1

Phyrra Amakiir – 1

Regulus Black – 1

Remus Lupin – 1

Remus Lupin – 12

Rey – 1 – for a fellow scavenger.

Rhaella Targaryen – 6

Sam Winchester – 3

Sansa Stark – 1

Sharon Carter – 1

Sirius Black – 1

Sirius Black – 12

Snow White – 12 – ;)

Steve Harrington – 1

Thor Odinson – 1

Thor Odinson – 6

Tony Stark – 1

Will Solace –1

Woody – 6

Wynnona Earp – 6 – 'beautiful but deadly sums you up'

Wynonna Earp – 1

Wynonna Earp – 1 – cool name

Zaeda Z'shysa – 12

Zaeda Z’shysa – 1

KNOWN ADMIRERS.

Aang – 1 – Suki

Ahsoka Tano – 1 – Obi-wan Kenobi

Ahsoka Tano – 1 – Stephen Strange

Ahsoka Tano – 1 – You’re a sight for sore eyes! – Padmé Naberrie

Aiya Ren – 12 – i love your perfume, what is that? the stench of death? – Harley Quinn

Alice Kingsleigh – 12 – Through all the craziness and mayhem, you've always been there. I could never thank you enough. – Harry Osborn

Anakin Skywalker – 1 – Wynonna Earp

Anastasia Romanov – 1 – Clarke Griffin

Andromeda Tonks – 12 – "For the woman of my dreams" – Ted Tonks

Anduin Wrynn – 1 – Dana Scully

Andy Trudeau – 1 – don’t tell the others, but you’re my favorite. Thank you for the lovely chat, inspector. – Astoria Malfoy

Andy Trudeau – 4 – Thank you for always having my back. It's never taken lightly. Love Prue – Prue Halliwell

Anna Arendelle – 12 – happy Valentine’s Day, best friend! – Jasmine Badroulbadour

Anna Arendelle – 12 – For my sister and my best friend. I’m sorry for everything. I love you. – Elsa Arendelle

Anna Minkova – 5 – It doesn’t make up for the years I was gone. I’m sorry. – Wanda Maximoff

Annabeth Chase – 12 – love you, blondie. Thanks for putting up with me. – Piper McLean

Annabeth Chase – 1 – happy Valentine’s Day, little sister – Haven Barthelemy

Annabeth Chase – 12 – happy Valentine’s Day to the best big sister I could ever ask for. – Estelle Jackson-Blofis

Annabeth Chase – 12 – I love you, wise girl! We can finally celebrate Valentine's day without any monsters interrupting us for once. – Percy Jackson

Anne Shirley – 3 – you are a princess in every sense. – Ella

Annie Marks – 12 – have you considered ponytails? we could start a club! – Harley Quinn

April Kepner – 3 – Happy Valentine's Day, April! – Nancy Wheeler

April Kepner – 1 – Dana Scully

April Kepner – 2 – One for you and one for Harriet! – Rose Granger-Weasley

Arya Stark – 6 – Jon Snow

Arya Stark – 1 – Tony Stark

Astoria Greengrass – 1 – Welcome to the family! – love, Melinda Halliwell

Astoria Greengrass – 5 – I figured your boyfriend has you covered with flowers, but as your brother I wanted to get you some more.– Lukas Zapolya

Ava Diaz – 12 – Thank you for being the best mom to our twins, and the best wife and friend to me. I love you, mi amor. – Lorenzo Diaz

BB-8 – 1 – Rey

BB-8 – 12 – I love your face, friend! – D-O

BB-8 – 3 – Jyn

Beauregard Lionett – 12 – for my favorite expositor of the colbalt soul. – Jester

Bellamy Blake – 3 – Clarke Griffin

Bellamy Balke – 1 – Emori

Bellamy Blake - 1 - Happy Valentine's Day! - Hermione Granger

Ben Hanscom – 6 – Here’s to remembering this time around. For better or for worse. – Mike Hanlon

Ben Solo – 1 – i hope you have a good valentine's day! – Leia Organa

Beverly Marsh – 6 – If only you knew how good it was to see your face again. – Mike Hanlon

Bruce Wayne – 6 – To your memories. I’m sorry for the bad ones. – Clark Kent

Bruce Wane – 12 – kisses!!!! xoxoxo – Harley Quinn

Brydda llewellyn – 1 – from your secret admirer... happy Valentine’s Day, baby. – Kasey Monroe Sawyer

Bucky Barnes – 5 – I hope you’re having a good day! – Hermione Granger

Bucky Barnes – 3 – Before you say anything, I tried. – Steve Rogers

Buttercup – 12 – "I love you" – Westley

Caleb Widogast – 12 – for my favorite stinky wizard, even though you’re not stinky anymore – Jester

Cassian Andor – 3 – Leia Organa

Cassian Andor – 9 – thank you for being my guiding force – Jyn

Castiel – 12 – has anyone ever told you you look like you’re trying to pass gas all the time? – Harley Quinn

Catherine Alexander – 12 – I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me most. I love you, little sister. – Haven Barthelemy

Chloe Decker – 12 – As usual, I am sorry. Come to Lux this evening so I can make it up to you. – Lucifer Morningstar

Chris Halliwell – 12 – I love you, Chris Halliwell. I always have and I always will. Happy Valentine’s Day! – Astoria Malfoy

Clarke Griffin – 2 – Regulus Black

Clarke Griffin – 12 – A reminder to grasp that chance at happiness. – Thor Odinson

Clio Celestia-Palpatine – 1 – Rey

Connor Murphy – 1 – 'love you bro' – John Murphy.

Connor Murphy – 12 – The son of Aphrodite being terrible at writing love notes, can you believe that? But I hope you enjoy the roses because a cutie like you deserves them all. – Lukas Zapolya

Cordé – 3 – Sabé

Cordé – 1 – Padmé Naberrie

Cordé – 12 – Thank you for taking care of Alex like he is your own, and just being his other mom. You were and still are the exact person we need in our lives and I'm glad to call you my girlfriend. Love you, sweetheart! – Narcissa Black

Daphne Greengrass – 12 – I love you, Daph. You’re the best big sister I could have ever asked for. – Astoria Malfoy

Dean Winchester – 6 – see you later ;) – Sharon Carter

Diana Prince – 3 – Bruce Wayne

Diana Prince – 6 – We wouldn’t be a team without you. – Clark Kent

Diana Prince – 12 – you’re deadly and beautiful. like a poisonous snake! – Harley Quinn

Dominique Weasley – 1 – happy valentine's day, cousin! – Roxanne "Rox" Weasley

Dominique Weasley – 1 – happy valentine’s, cuz! – Rose Granger-Weasley

Dorothea Wildes – 12 – I can have two valentines, right? – Georgina “Georgie” Weaver

Dorothea Wildes – 12 – Don’t tell Georgie. – Sirius Black

Dorothea Wildes – 6 – For a woman with taste. – Lestat de Lioncourt

Dorothea Wildes – 2 – Best professor ever. – Rose Granger-Weasley

Draco Malfoy – 1 – Rose Granger-Weasley

D-O – 1 – Rey

D-O – 3 – Jyn

Eleanor "Nell" Crain-Vance – 3 – Happy Valentine’s, Nell! – Nancy Wheeler

Eleanor “Nell” Crain-Vance – 1 – I carry your heart with me – Olivia Crain

Eleanor “Nell” Crain-Vance – 2 – I love you, Nellie. – Steve Crain

Eleanor “Nell” Crain-Vance – 1 – Sending you wishes of happiness. – Laszlo Kreizler

Eleanor “Nell” Crain-Vance – 12 – Let’s adopt that lizard. – Jim Halpert

Ella – 12 – Cherie. – Lestat de Lioncourt

Ella – 1 – To a life free of unkindness. – Laszlo Kreizler

Elsa Arendelle – 2 – "Sisters forever, love Anna" – Anna Arendelle

Emma Swan – 6 – Killian Jones

Emma Swan – 11 – Eleven roses for the eleven years it's been since I found you in Boston when I was ten. Love you, mom! – Henry Mills

Emori – 12 – 'for the future mrs murphy' – John Murphy

Emori – 3 – happy valentine’s day! – Anduin Wrynn

Enjolras – 12 – Grantaire

Eros – 12 – for the god of love and beauty on the day of love from a beauty! – Estelle Jackson-Blofis

Estelle Blofis – 3 – For my partner in crime. – Varian

Estelle Blofis – 5 – Happy Valentine's Day, Starshine! – Eros

Faith Lehane – 1 – to prove that i am very sweet and not scary. – Jester

Finn – 1 – Rey

Finn – 12 – Poe Dameron

Finn – 2 – Congratulations. Give one to Poe. – Mando

Finn – 12 – happy Valentine’s Day, sunshine! Thank you for always seeing the good in me. – Sonia Tate

Finn – 1 – Leia Organa

Finn – 12 – Congratulations, friend! – D-O

Frederick Frankenstein – 6 – for my favorite doctor, even though the traveler is a way better doctor because he’s the coolest – Jester

Flynn Rider – 12 – I love you so very much! – Rapunzel Corona

Genevieve “Genna” Fair – 12 – Thor Odinson

Genevieve “Genna” Fair – 1 – I hear sorcerers are especially sweey on Valentine’s Day. Just a thought. – Liv Starfleet

Genevieve “Genna” Fair – 1 – I’ll do my best not to step on your toes next time we dance. – Stephen Strange

Genevieve “Genna” Fair – for my doppleganger. – Ella

Georgina “Georgie” Hart – 12 – you make my tail wag! – Sirius Black

Geralt of Rivia – 1 – Get that DICK! 8====D – Wynonna Earp

Ginerva “Ginny” Weasley – 2 – You’re the coolest auntie ever. – Rose Granger-Weasley

Han Solo – 6 – Leia Organa

Harry Osborn – 12 – to my bestest friend and my partner in crime. Love you, darling! – Alice Kingsleigh

Harry Osborn – 12 – I will love you always – Peter Parker

Harry Potter – 2 – one from each of the dumbasses you look after. Thanks for keeping us alive, babes! – Estelle Jackson-Blofis

Harry Potter – 6 – Thinking about you! – Hermione Granger

Harry Potter – 2 – Not to scare you or anything, but you’re a bangin’ uncle. – Rose Granger-Weasley

Harley Quinn – 3 – Bruce Wayne

Harley Quinn – 1 – for my fellow chaos agent – Jester

Haven Barthelemy – 5 – I know these don't fit your aesthetic, but still I hope you enjoy them. – Henrik Mikaelson

Hayley Marshall – 1 – I would be remiss not to send you a rose the color of my now blood stained shirt. – Lucifer Morningstar

Helga Hufflepuff – 1 – Roxanne "Rox" Weasley

Helga Hufflepuff – 1 – Sirius Black

Hermione Granger – 6 – You’re the best mum. I love you! – Rose Granger-Weasley

Hope Swan-Jones – 12 – "Did I make you smile?" – Killian Jones

Hope Swan-Jones – 5 – For the sweetest little sister, I just actually met! I hope you like your flowers! – Henry Mills

Isobel Reinwood – 2 – Regulus Black

Isobel Reinwood – 12 – Thank you for making me a father, and just the happiest I've ever been in a while. Through the good and the bad, I'll always love you. – Sebastian Blackwood

Jack Frost – 2 – Thank you for always making me so happy, I can't not smile around you. – love, Hope Swan-Jones

Jack Frost – 1 – Royal Dupuis

Jack Skellington – 3 – from your dearest friend. I love you, jack. – Sally

Jaskier – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Jaskier – 1 – I owe you this. Meet me by the shore. – Geralt of Rivia

Jasmine Badroulbadour – 1 – "To my best friend, love Anna" – Anna Arendelle

Jasmine Badroulbadour – 12 – I've never been the best with words, but I love you more than anything in this world. – Varian

Jennifer Jareau – 10 – thank you for showing up – Spencer Reid

Jessica Jones – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Jessica Jones – 1 – I told them to pick the least romantic. – Matt Murdock

Jessica Jones – 3 – for a fellow archivist – Karen

Jessica Jones – 12 – you look like you’ve never smiled a day in your life, so: knock knock – Harley Quinn

Jester Lavorre – 12 – happy valentines day, valentine! xoxoxo – Mollymauk Tealeaf

Jester Lavorre – 1 – happy valentine’s day! – Rapunzel

Jester Lavorre – 12 – you’re cooler than the traveler – Sirius Black

Jester Lavorre – 1 – Your new look is rather horny. – Lucifer Morningstar

Jester Lavorre – 5 – i hope these find you well. frumpkin sends his love as well. happy valentines day. – Caleb Widogast

Jester Lavorre – 12 – welcome to earth, we love aliens! – Harley Quinn

Jim Halpert – 5 – Eleanor Crain Vance

Jo Wilson – 2 – April Kepner

Joey Potter – 12 – It was good to see you again after all this time Jo. Happy Valentines Day. x Pace - Pacey Witter

John Murphy – 6 – Emori

Jon Snow – 5 – I’ll always be on your side, Jon Snow. – Daenerys Targaryen

Jon Snow – 3 – You’re my favorite person. – Arya Stark

Jyn Erso – 1 – thank you for being there. – Cassian Andor

Jyn Erso – 1 – Leia Organa

Karen Page – 1 – Sharon Carter

Karen Page – 1 – I missed your voice. – Matt Murdock

Kaz Brekker – 12 – you look like the kinda guy who really puts the ‘fun’ in ‘funeral’! – Harley Quinn

Kiarace – 1 – Anduin Wrynn

Korra – 3 – Thank you. – Elsa Arendelle

Lara Croft – 3 – Happy Valentine’s, Lara! – Nancy Wheeler

Lara Croft – 6 – for giving a damn. – Max Rockatansky

Leia Organa-Solo – 1 – Rey

Leia Organa-Solo – 1 – I love you. – Ben Solo

Leia Organa-Solo – 1 – Not even my dreams for the future could have captured everything you’ve become. I love you. – Padmé Naberrie

Leia Organa-Solo – 1 – here’s to many more years together again. – Jyn

Leonard “Bones” McCoy – 12 – thanks for not sticking a needle in me for the last 12 hours – James “Jim” Kirk

Leonard Snart – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Lestat de Lioncourt – 12 – i cannot fit all the reasons why i adore you on a note, monseuir. – Ella

Lexie Grey – 2 – April Kepner

Lexie Grey – 2 – I’ve heard so many stories I feel like I know you. Happy Valentine’s! – Mike Hanlon

Liv Starfleet – 12 – I love you so very dearly. – Loki Odinson

Liv Starfleet – 1 – Have a good Valentine’s day! – Genevieve "Genna" Fair

Loki Odinson – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Loki Odinson – 12 – please send anonymously – Thor Odinson

Loki Odinson – 4 – Is that magic in the air, or are you just happy to see me? – Liv Starfleet

Lorenzo Diaz – 10 – for every year we were together, for every year we were apart, and one for every person I left behind. – Ava Diaz

Lucifer Morningstar – 8 – One for every inch ;P – Wynonna Earp

Lucifer Morningstar – 6 – proof that i am very sweet even if i do make fun of you sometimes – Jester

Lukas Zapolya – 12 – missed you, brother! Thank you for always being their for me. – Piper McLean

Lukas Zapolya – 12 – thanks for being stupid with me, lover boy. – Estelle Jackson-Blofis

Luke Castellan – 1 – 'happy v day, asshole' – Faith Lehane.

Luke Castellan – 6 – for every year I wasn’t there. I’m sorry, little brother. You’re stronger than I ever was. – Haven Barthelemy

Luke Crain – 1 – I carry your heart with me – Olivia Crain

Luke Crain – 1 – Eleanor Crain Vance

Luke Crain – 1 – Steve Crain

Luke Skywalker – 6 – Leia Organa

Luke Skywalker – 1 – I’m so proud of you, and I hope I soon find the courage to tell you personally. – Padmé Naberrie

Lyanna Stark – 1 – Tony Stark

Mal Florian – 12 – For each year i've loved you and more – Ben Florian

Mal Florian – 12 – Did I mention that I love you and always will. – Ben Florian

Malcolm Bright – 6 – i hope you have a great valentine’s day! – Anna Minkova

Mando – 12 – You'll always have a place in my heart. – Finn

Mare Barrow – 12 – don’t be afraid of the lightning that comes from inside you – Thor Odinson

Maria Stark – 6 – Tony Stark

Marinette Dupain-Cheng – 1 – From one hero to another. – Clark Kent

Matthew Murdock – 6 – Karen Page

Max Rockatansky – 3 – 'a reminder that earth is beautiful' – Lara Croft

Max Rockatansky – 1 – happy valentine’s day! – Leia Organa

Melinda Halliwell – 2 – one for you and one for our darling nephew! – Astoria Malfoy

Merlin – 3 – to my favorite magician. – Ella

Mike Hanlon – 12 – April Kepner

Mike Warren – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Mike Warren – 1 – happy v-day, man – Jim Halpert

Millie Harcourt – 12 – what would I do without you? – Mike Warren

Minerva McGonagall – 12 – Thank you for always believing in me, professor. I’m sorry I was never as strong as you thought i was. – Emma Vanity

Minerva McGonagall – 3 – happy valentine’s day, professor! – Hermoine Granger

Minerva McGonagall – 1 – happy v-day, mcgonagall!! – Georgina “Georgie” Weaver

Minerva McGonagall – 1 – Dorothea Wildes

Mollymauk Tealeaf – 5 – i know my memory isn't much, but i felt like i should still send you something for today. i hope your day is well. happy valentines day.– Caleb Widogast

Mollymauk Tealeaf – 12 – for my favorite tarot card reader. – Jester Lavorre

Montgomery “Scotty” Scott – 12 – fix my ship. – James “Jim” Kirk

Montgomery “Scotty” Scott – 3 – add some rose to your teas, it tastes delicious. – Ella

Naivara Galanodel – 3 – Rapunzel Corona

Nancy Wheeler – 1 – Lara Croft

Nancy Wheeler – 12 – Thor Odinson

Narcissa Malfoy – 12 – the love of my life, the mother of our son, my reason for coming back. Happy Valentine’s Day, beautiful! – Cordé

Natasha Romanoff – 3 – Thinking about you for Valentine’s day. – Steve Rogers

Natasha Romanoff – 1 – have a good valentine’s, romanoff. – Tony Stark

Natasha Romanoff – 1 – they said to keep this short, but remember italy and that forged painting? – Sharon Carter

Nick Scratch – 12 – I know things are a little complicated right now, but know that I love you. – Harvey Kinkle

Nyota Uhura – 12 – no one speaks klingon like you, but please don’t yell at me in it anymore. – James “Jim” Kirk

Obi-wan Kenobi – 1 – Rey

Obi-wan Kenobi – 1 – You have the kindest smile in the universe. – Padmé Naberrie

Obi-wan Kenobi – 1 – you are the force and the force is with you. trust it. – Jyn Erso

Octavia Blake – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Olivia Crain – 1 – Eleanor Crain Vance

Olivia Crain – 1 – Steve Crain

Olivia Crain – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Padmé Naberrie – 1 – Rey

Padmé Naberrie – 1 – Happy Valentine’s, Padmé – Sabé Andierre

Padmé Naberrie – 6 – happy valentine’s, padmé! – Obi-Wan Kenobi

Padmé Naberrie – 3 – reaching towards a better tomorrow – Jyn

Percy Jackson – 2 – two peas in a pod, water boy – Piper McLean

Percy Jackson – 1 – I love you, big brother. – Estelle Jackson-Blofis

Percy Jackson – 1 – You're my something permanent, seaweed brain - love, Annabeth Chase,

Persephone – 12 – i love you – Hades

Peter Parker – 2 – thanks for putting up with me, petey! Glad to have you back. – Estelle Jackson-Blofis

Peter Parker – 12 – I couldn't image my life without you. It's always been you, Pete. – Harry Osborn

Peter Parker – 12 – enjoy the day of love, spiderling! – Thor Odinson

Phyrra Amakiir – 1 – Sharon Carter

Phyrra Amakiir – 1 – Have a magical day! – Snow White

Pietro Maximoff – 3 – Anna Minkova

Pietro Maximoff – 12 – Thor Odinson

Pietro Maximoff – 12 – for every minute between us. – Wanda Maximoff

Piper McLean – 1 – A beautiful rose for a beautiful girl - love, Annabeth Chase

Poe Dameron – 1 – Rey

Poe Dameron – 1 – Leia Organa

Poe Dameron – 12 – For my future husband, the absolute love of my life. – Finn

Poe Dameron – 12 – Congratulations, friend! – D-O

Poe Dameron – 1 – thank you. – Jyn

Prue Halliwell – 1 – thank you for giving the family I never had – Astoria Malfoy

Prue Halliwell – 1 – Andy Trudeau

Rapunzel Corona – 12 – will you m... just kidding. not yet. – Flynn Rider

Rapunzel Corona – 6 – Elsa Arendelle

Rapunzel Corona – 3 – You're the best friend I've ever had. Thank you for accepting me as I am. – Varian

Rapunzel Corona – 3 – have a day as beautiful as you. – Ella

Rebekah Mikaelson – 5 – Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, Sister. – Henrik Mikaelson

Rebekah Mikaelson – 12 – remember, barbie: boys stink! – Harley Quinn

Red – 1 – Sam Winchester

Red – 1 – Steve Crain

Regina Mills – 12 – happy valentine's day, i love you! – Tony Stark

Regina Mills– 12 – Roses as red as the apples from your apple tree. I wish I can give you twenty one as that's how long it's been since we first met when I was a baby, but twelve would have to do. Love you, mom! – Henry Mills

Remus Lupin – 3 – Georgina "Georgie" Weaver

Rey – 1 – i hope you have a good valentine's day! – Leia Organa

Rey – 1 – Obi-wan Kenobi

Rey – 2 – Ben Solo

Rey – 12 – You are the best friend! – D-O

Rey – 1 – I’m so glad I can be a part of your life. – Padmé Naberrie

Rey – 12 – Thank you for seeing me like no one ever has. – Finn

Rey – 5 – here’s to new friendships – Jyn

Rhaegar Targaryen – 5 – Daenerys Targaryen

Rose Granger-Weasley – 12 – roses for my rose <3 – Royal Dupuis

Rose Granger-Weasley – 5 – i hope you have an amazing valentine’s day! – Anduin Wrynn

Rose Granger-Weasley – 6 – Happy Valentine’s day, love! – Hermione Granger

Rose Granger-Weasley – 1 – happy v-day, cousin! – Roxanne “Rox” Weasley

Roxanne “Rox” Weasley – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Roxanne “Rox” Weasley – 3 – happy valentine’s day, rox! next time i go off a cliff i’m taking you with me. – Rose Granger-Weasley

Royal Dupuis – 12 – You always know how to make me smile. – Rose Granger-Weasley

Sabé Andierre – 12 – You have a nice laugh but I’m bad at telling jokes on paper, so hopefully this at least gets a smile. – James “Jim” Kirk

Sabé Andierre – 1 – Padmé Naberrie

Salazar Slytherin – 2 – from the twins – Isobel Reinwood

Salazar Slytherin – 1 – "Thanks for everything" - Anne Shirley Cuthbert

Salazar Slytherin – 12 – "I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together" - Helga Hufflepuff

Sam Winchester – 3 – happy valentine’s day! – Sharon Carter

Sansa Stark – 6 – Jon Snow

Sansa Stark – 1 – Tony Stark

Sebastian Blackwood – 3 – one from each of the people who love you the most. Happy valentine’s, darling! – Isobel Reinwood

Sherlock Holmes – 1 – Cheers! – Lucifer Morningstar

Sherlock Holmes – 1 – Don’t forget to celebrate. – Laszlo Kreizler

Sirius Black – 6 – sorry for painting a dick on your door, next time i’ll choose a more tasteful place ;) – Jester

Sonia Tate – 12 – To my absolute best friend, and platonic soulmate. – Finn

Spencer Reid – 1 – Malcolm Bright

Spencer Reid – 6 – i hope you have a happy valentine’s day! – Ella

Spencer Reid – 12 – it’s nice to see a fellow freak with a phd! – Harley Quinn

Spock – 12 – happy valentine’s day, you pointy-eared bastard. – James “Jim” Kirk

Stephen Strange – 1 – happy valentine’s day! would you be mine? :) – Genevieve "Genna" Fair

Steve Rogers – 3 – I’m glad we got you out of that ice. – Natasha Romanoff

Steve Rogers – 12 – I’m glad you kept the beard! – Thor Odinson

Steve Rogers – 1 – For believing in me. – Wanda Maximoff

Steve Rogers – 1 – You’re a terrible flirt. – Bucky Barnes

Steven Crain – 1 – I carry your heart with me – Olivia Crain

Steven Crain – 1 – Eleanor Crain Vance

Suki – 6 – happy valentines day! thought you'd like something :) – Aang

Thalia Grace – 1 – Wynonna Earp

Thalia Grace – 1 – I'm so grateful to have you as a best friend/sister - love, Annabeth Chase

Thor Odinson – 6 – I hope you have a good Valentine’s Day! – Nancy Wheeler

Thor Odinson – 1 – Clarke Griffin

Thor Odinson – 1 – happy valentine’s to the strongest avenger! – Genevieve “Genna” Fair

Tinkerbell – 12 – I just have a question, would you like to be my girlfriend?– Wendy Darling

Tommy Shepherd – 1 – I hope I can be the mother you deserve. – Wanda Maximoff

Tony Stark – 6 – Thank you for being mine. – Regina Mills

Tony Stark – 1 – Get over it. – Natasha Romanoff

Tony Stark – 12 – Thor Odinson

Valis – 12 – happy Valentine’s Day, darling. I love you, my deliciously beautiful wife. – Damaia

Varian – 12 – happy Valentine’s Day, baby! You make me so happy, and I fall in love with you more and more each day – Jasmine Badroulbadour

Varian – 2 – guess who’s partner in crime is back? – Estelle jackson-Blofis

Varian – 1 – smile, kid! – Flynn Ryder

Varian – 1 – happy valentine’s day, varian! – Rapunzel Corona

Veronica Lodge – 1 – Royal Dupuis

Vex’ahlia de Rolo – 2 – one rose for you and one for trinket! – Jester

Wanda Maximova – 3 – Happy Valentine’s day! – Anna Minkova

Wanda Maximova – 1 – I hope you have a good Valentine’s Day, Wanda. – Steve Rogers

Wendy Darling – 12 – you’re it. You’re my dearest thing. My darling little Wendy bird. I love you. – Tinkerbell

Wes – 1 – Royal Dupuis

Westley – 1 – farm boy... love me, will you? – Buttercup

Will Byers – 1 – Roxanne "Rox" Weasley

Wyatt Halliwell – 6 – You deserve more. For what it’s worth, you’re still my friend. No matter what. - Astoria Malfoy

Wyatt Halliwell – 12 – "I know I fucked up" – Newt Glade

Wynonna Earp – 2 – One for the day you penetrated me, and one for the day I penetrated you. – Lucifer Morningstar

Wynonna Earp – 12 – coolest. gun. ever! – Harley Quinn

Zuko – 1 – Suki

Zuko – 6 – i hope you're doing better. i miss you and am here if you need to talk. happy valentines day. – Aang

#woodshore: news

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