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brokehorrorfan · 3 years

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Blu-ray Review: King Kong (1976)

The recent release of Godzilla vs. Kong revived the age-old debate about which giant monster is superior, but it's not exactly a fair fight when you consider their respective quantity of output. By the mid-1970s, Godzilla had already appeared in 15 films, while King Kong only had a mere four to his name: the 1933 original, its same-year sequel Son of Kong, the 1962 crossover King Kong vs. Godzilla, and its 1967 followup King Kong Escapes.

The first remake of King Kong arrived in 1976 at the behest of Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis (Dune, Flash Gordon, Army of Darkness). Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Flash Gordon) was hired to pen the script, based on James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose's original screenplay, and John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno, Death on the Nile) assumed the director's chair. Richard H. Kline (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Soylent Green) served as cinematographer, while John Barry (Dances with Wolves, Goldfinger) composed the score. The plot largely follows the same beats as the 1933 version, although some alterations and expansions were made along the way.

Hoping to sail into the history books with the biggest oil strike in history, oil magnate Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin, Midnight Run) leads an expedition to an undiscovered island in the Indian Ocean hidden by a perpetual fog. Paleontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski) sneaks aboard the vessel, as he believes an animal occupies the island. In the middle of the ocean, the ship happens upon a life raft with struggling actress Dwan (Jessica Lange, American Horror Story), who quickly hits it off with Jack. Upon arriving at its destination, the crew discovers that the island is not uninhabited when they interrupt the native's ritual. The tribesmen proceed to kidnap Dwan and offer her as a sacrifice to the giant primate known as Kong.

The big reveal is impressive considering the limitations of the time. Per the closing title card, Kong was designed and engineered by Carlo Rambaldi (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Alien), who also constructed it with Glen Robinson (Logan's Run, Flash Gordon), with “special contributions” by Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London, Men in Black). Since Rambaldi's attempt at a full-scale electronic Kong failed, however, the majority of creature work is accomplished with Baker in a costume with mechanized masks. It's fairly convincing as such, although the seams of the composite shots are clearly visible in high definition. Perhaps more than any other kaiju, it's important for Kong to be expressive, and this iteration successfully conveys pathos.

Semple's script drops the filmmaking angle from the original plot yet retains that the female lead is an aspiring actress and the human antagonist wants to exploit Kong on stage - which, smartly, becomes a corporate-branded event here. Kong only fights one monster on the island - a bloody battle with a giant snake - but his path of destruction in New York is much grander, rivaling and often upstaging the Godzilla films of the time. Instead of the Empire State Building, Kong is drawn to the then-new World Trade Center this time around, as the Twin Towers parallel his habitat, leading to his tragic downfall and a brilliant final image.

After Barbra Streisand passed on the role of Dwan, De Laurentiis sought to pluck an unknown actress from obscurity and make her a star. He did just that with Lange, who receives an "introducing" credit. It's easy to see why she won out over innumerable other aspiring actresses, as she radiates on camera, and her naivety works to the advantage of her character. Bridges is serviceable as the leading man and has good chemistry with Lange - but the film's focus is, rightly, on Kong and Dwan. Their bond is palpable, although the sexualization of their relationship is an odd choice.

While the supporting roles are largely one-dimensional, they're filled by a number of keen character actors: John Randolph (Christmas Vacation) as the ship's captain, Ed Lauter (Family Plot) as the first mate, Rene Auberjonois (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as a geologist, Jack O'Halloran (Superman) and Julius Harris (Live and Let Die) as oil drillers, Dennis Fimple (House of 1000 Corpses) as a crew member, John Lone (The Last Emperor) as the cook, John Agar (Revenge of the Creature) as a city official, Walt Gorney (Friday the 13th) as a subway driver, and a young Corbin Bernsen (Psych) and Joe Piscopo (Saturday Night Live) as uncredited reporters.

King Kong has been released on Collector's Edition Blu-ray by Scream Factory with reversible artwork featuring a new design by Hugh Fleming and John Berkey's classic poster. The two-disc set includes the 134-minute theatrical version and the 182-minute TV cut, with its additional footage newly scanned in 2K from the internegative. (NBC paid De Laurentiis $19.5 million for two showings; the highest amount a network ever paid for a film at the time.) It features DTS-HD 5.1 and newly restored theatrical DTS-HD 2.0 stereo audio options.

This version of King Kong lacks the awe-inspiring spectacle of the three other major iterations (the 1933 original, Peter Jackson's 2005 remake, and 2017's Kong: Skull Island reboot), but it has moments of greatness that shine in high definition. De Laurentiis successfully spearheaded a sincere remake that shows reverence for the cinematic icon, and the theatrical cut is smoothly paced despite the lengthy runtime. The TV version doesn't fare as well, as it's padded by nearly an hour of additional footage (along with trims to the more crude sequences). They do little to add plot points, character depth, or anything else of potential value; instead they serve only to fill a programming block at the expense of the pacing. Still, it's nice to finally have a restored version for diehard fans.

King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon author Ray Morton provides a new audio commentary on the theatrical cut. It's very dry but full of information, especially when it comes to the drama between Rambaldi and Baker over the creature design. Having "outgrown the boundaries of a featurette," per disc producer Justin Beahm, an interview with Baker was turned into a second commentary. It's not as long as the whole film, which is fine, but it frustratingly forces the viewer to sit through gaps of the film's audio while awaiting the next soundbite rather than presenting it all in succession. It's unfortunate but worthwhile, as there's a lot of firsthand insight.

Beyond that, there are over 45 minutes of new video interviews with O’Halloran, assistant director David McGiffert, production manager Brian Frankish, sculptor Jack Varner, second unit director William Kronick, photographic effects assistant Barry Nolan, and production assistants Jeffrey Chernov and Scott Thaler. Most are conducted over video chat with mostly fine results (O’Halloran's picture quality is particularly bad), although a few are traditional on-camera pieces, and some subjects are paired together. They all seem proud of their contributions and happily share anecdotes about working on the massive production, even if the experiences weren't always positive.

Other special features on the first disc include the theatrical trailer, seven TV spots, three radio spots, and four still galleries (stills, posters and lobby cards, newspaper ads, and behind-the-scenes photos). The TV cut disc, meanwhile, sports an hour-long panel with Baker, O’Halloran, Kline, Dino De Laurentiis' widow Martha, and Barry's agent Richard Kraft, from a 2016 event at Santa Monica, CA's Aero Theater. Hosted by Morton, it's an entertaining and informative discussion.

King Kong is available on Collector’s Edition Blu-ray now via Scream Factory.

#king kong #kong #jeff bridges #jessica lange #rick baker #carlo rambaldi #scream factory #dvd #gift #review #article #john guillermin #dino de laurentiis #kaiju #king kong 1976

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earthbased · 3 years

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History of Witchcraft Correspondences pt 3: Gardner to Geocities

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] Gerald “I tripped over this totally legit ancient knowledge” Gardner would have had exposure to grimoire correspondence lists, including HC Agrippa’s, through his experience of Ceremonial Magic and the works of noted racist prick Aleister Crowley. (If you love big lists of correspondences check out Crowley’s Liber 777). Crowley’s books were a major source of material for Gardner’s early Wicca. This early Gardnerian Book of Shadows doesn’t include a specific herbal correspondence list. I assume herbal magic in early Wicca was more likely to be incorporated through resin incenses and anointing oil blends, more in line with its use in Ceremonial magic. Those old grimoires and Hermetic-inspired texts have a lot of things that look familiar to modern witches, but they don’t seem to use the lists of single-noun keywords that are common today (e.g. Protection, Healing, Courage, Wealth). I believe this came about in the 80s and 90s, when the New Age movement collided explosively with rapidly growing interest in modern witchcrafts in America. The New Age movement emphasised self-help and self-improvement through spiritual and mystical practises (largely stolen and bastardised from Asian religions) which fitted in well with solitary Neo-Wicca, the more liberal descendant of formal coven-based Wicca. Spells for self-improvement or everyday benefits based on New-Age-style keywords (Love, Healing, Protection etc) plus some generic magical practices (Cleansing, Banishing) were highly popular and fitted both the New Age ethos and the Neo-Wiccan framework. Crystal healing became huge in the mainstream thanks to the New Age movement. Its books and lists of crystal properties often used that familiar keyword format and New Age crystal healing became extremely popular with many witches, who easily adapted it into their magical systems. (Sure, crystal correspondences were listed in grimoires before then, but not used so extensively). It helped that the New Age store with its glittering crystal displays was often the only point of call for those looking for witchcraft books or fellow witches before the internet really got going. New-Age-influenced witchcraft was also very, very marketable. A flood of new books in the 80s (e.g. by the Farrars, Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham) had provided an extensive framework for solitary Neo-Wicca. In the 80s, 90s and 00s authors increasingly used the language and easily digestible formats of New Age books to produce a multitude of beginner-oriented, Neo-Wiccan flavoured witchcraft books (e.g. DJ Conway, Edain McCoy, and Gen X rage-button activator Silver RavenWolf). Llewellyn Publishing was a driving force of this tendency as the largest publisher in the field, and in the circles I moved in during the 00s it had a reputation for printing quantity over quality. Its majority white authors also mixed in Hoodoo and Native American material for uncritical consumption by their majority white target audiences. In my experience among white, English-speaking witches and pagans there was a prevailing attitude that all spiritual and magical practitioners outside of organised religion were “on the same side” and that the material was essentially interchangeable, so any practise or lore we could get our hands on was fair game. (Yep, it was extremely arrogant and harmful. I make no excuses for it.) One of the most popular references for herbal magic to this day dates from this period: Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (1985). Cunningham draws from ancient Greek and Roman medicine, HC Agrippa’s 3 Books, Culpepper’s Herbal and a large number of British folkloric sources as well as a scattering of anthropological texts from various continents. Mercifully, he includes a bibliography of all these sources. He synthesises all of this into a short summary of each herb, including a list of those familiar keywords (e.g. Protection, Luck.) He includes a planetary correspondence for each herb in the vein of HC Agrippa, though without the detailed background cosmology. He then lists an element and gender solely based on the planet, which has continued to confuse beginner witches to this day. I’m not sure if he was the first to do this, but since his work is so widely referenced I’d say he had a hand in popularising the practice of assigning an element and gender to herbs and other magical components. In the 00s many websites about modern witchcrafts and Neo-Wicca (which were very often conflated) sprang up, especially on free hosting sites like Geocities and Angelfire. Copying and passing along the coven’s Book of Shadows by hand was a Wiccan practise, but for solitary witches in the 00s it became much easier to copy information into and out of one’s personal Book of Shadows with digital aids. I often spotted word-for-word plagiarism cycling through various websites from beginner books. It still happens today (though with much better graphic design).

See, I don’t have a problem with reusing the same information - in fact I think it’s awesome to have shared lore and traditions. But when you hide the source of your information you cut it off from its full story, and stories are what I love most about witchcraft. We have these winding stories of the historical descent of our lore, stories of our own direct experience of plants and stones, stories from other witches, and stories from ancient mythology about plant species that we can still touch today with our own hands. And I think that’s rad. So I hope this series helps you understand more about the witchcraft lore you read, and maybe inspires you to mention your own sources when you share material.

#witchcraft #green witchcraft #magical correspondences #wicca #green witch #history #paganism

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starkerintheparker · 4 years

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starker reclist - AUs

Hey guys! Welcome to the second part of my personal Starker reclist, dedicated to AUs. Last week I posted my canon-based recs, you can find them here.

I tried to incorporate as many tropes as I could, hoping everyone will find something special within their interests. There are a few a/b/o and underage fics, all properly tagged in case anyone wishes to avoid them. I also tried to highlight soulmate AUs because I reckon it’s a somewhat popular trope. Enjoy! ❤️

Last updated: April 25th, 2020. All new fics added will be marked with ***

• 007 AU by @darker-soft-starker (T, 4k, completed)

Summary: Undercover and bored at an art auction, Tony finds entertainment in Peter Parker.

Review: Look, I’m a simple woman. Daniel Craig has owned my ass ever since Casino Royale and I was reading 00Q and Hartwin before I even shipped Starker. Point is, I like spy movies, ok?! So naturally I couldn’t leave this fic out of my reclist. I you need further incentive, consider this quote: “What, a little late night espionage not romantic enough for you?” Peter retorts, whipping a pistol out from his jacket and aiming it at Tony’s chest.

• 3 Times I Told You I Loved You & 1 Time You Said It Back by @starkeristheendgame (E) background Peter/Steve, Peter/Bucky, Peter/Scott

Summary: Peter Parker confesses his love to Tony Stark three times. Once at ten, once at fifteen and once at twenty. Finally convinced that Tony will never love him back, Peter ventures out into a different path, desperate to find the love he seeks from someone else. But you know what they say about star-crossed lovers.

Review: This lovely fic holds a very special place in my heart. I’m so invested I decided to wait until it’s finished so I can read it all in one sitting. Peter’s longing and heartbreak hurt my poor soul but I trust Jensen to give me that promised Starker endgame - I know it will be glorious when it finally comes.

• A Night on the Town by @scarletmanuka1 (G, 2.3k, completed)

Summary: Nightclub AU. Years after the events of Endgame, Tony has hit rock bottom. The Snap left him crippled, Pepper has abandoned him and has taken Morgan with her, and he's feeling old and lonely. Peter arranges a night out at the nightclub that he works at to try and cheer Tony up.

Review: I love get together fics, especially if it involves oblivious!Tony getting his shit together and going after his man. Seeing him bitter and broken after Thanos was hard, but special kudos to IronBros moments because that friendship is true goals!

• Age of Adeline by @starkerforlife6969 (completed) background Harley/Peter, Bucky/Peter, Wade/Peter

Review: I’d never in a million years think about this movie as a Starker AU but gosh, this is everything I needed in my life and it completely devastated me but I loved every minute of it. As a devoted monoshipper, I was surprised to realize that I got emotionally involved with all pairings, even more so with Starker, which totally paid off. Gorgeous, powerful and heartfelt. God bless SFL.

• assume makes ass for u and me by @pretty-well-funded (M, 1.6k, completed) tw underage

Summary: In Tony’s defense, he was sure the kid was a rent boy.

Review: This 1.6k fic caught me completely off guard and now I’m crying because I need MORE. I love the premise, the dialogue is criminally good, their voices are amazing and I can’t get enough of cheeky!Peter charming Tony with his wit and filthy mind.

• Bamf!secretary Peter by @starkerforlife6969 (M, completed)

Review: Who could ever resist some corporate espionage drama with bamf!Peter leaving Tony speechless and horny? Not me. I’d read more 30k of this verse because competent, sassy Peter Parker is such a kink, omg.

• Biker!Tony by @starkerforlife6969 (T, completed) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Review: Same age AUs are not usually my thing but I can’t resist cute high school sweethearts written by this fandom goddess. Plus, protective!Tony calling Peter “doll” does things to my heart - and Peter’s.

• Breaking Character by @cagestark (E, 8.3k, completed)

Summary: Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and spy for SHIELD. Working with another SHIELD spy, the infamous Spider, he will take down an infamous human trafficking ring in New York. But the act they have to put on will demand more from Tony than he ever thought he'd have to give. Not that he minds.

Review: The spy trope seriously needs more fic like this one, because I’ll have bamf!Peter lying back to save his country while Tony freaks out any day. Cage hits the perfect balance between plot building, fantastic sexual tension, clever dialogue and the hottest smut sequence. What a ride! (Pun intended).

• Curiosity Killed the Cat by @areluctantsblog (T, 1.5k, completed)

Summary: Peter has been modelling in an art school for years. He's used to strangers' eyes roaming his body - clothed or naked - and he knows that it's not him they are looking at. Not him who they are interested in. He's just a model, a tool for their work. And for a long time he doesn't notice the one pair of eyes that, despite seeing him but rarely, is looking right at him.

Review: Very soft and atmospheric, this fic left me in a bit of a daze and it took me a while to realize it was over. Great writing will do that to you.

• Detective!Tony, Graffiti Artist!Peter by @starkerforlife6969 (M, completed)

Review: Oh don’t mind me, just appreciating this author’s talent at writing from the filthiest smut to the softest “Tony saves Peter in all ways that matter” like this ficlet. We stan.

• Eat at Pete’s by feyrelay + glorious art by @peachbabypie (E)

Summary: Peter gives him an unimpressed look, “If you didn’t do your work, then you wouldn’t be able to earn my time though, would you?” Pfft. “Kid, I have more money than god. I can splurge on your delicious pancakes and attention, trust me,” Tony informs him loftily. Peter smiles that wicked, crooked little smile that's just for him. It's not even and perfect like his the-customer-is-always-right one that's more frequently on offer. “I didn’t say you couldn’t afford it. I said you wouldn’t have earned it.”

Review: How can we ever say no to dom!Peter putting Tony in his place and hopefully on his dick + Tony loving every second of it?? Their dynamics are fantastic and that TASTY COUNTER DIALOGUE KILLS ME. EVERY TIME. Check it out and come scream with me: sub!Tony rights :D

• Fire and Ice by LeafyGreenQueen773 (M, 3k, completed) Soulmate AU

Summary: AU where when someone writes on his or her skin, the same thing shows up on their soulmate in the same place as a Mark that fades away in a few hours.

Review: This was the first Starker soulmate fic I’ve read and it made my heart ache so soft and good. Lovely and bittersweet, quiet and painfully honest.

• Genius, Acrobat, Playboy, Philanthropist by @scarletmanuka1 (E, 28k, completed)

Summary: After Peter's aeriel acrobatics partner, Adrian Toomes is fired from The Avengers Circus Troupe for theft, he is shocked to discover that his replacement is non other than legendary performer, Tony Stark - the man that Peter had hero worshipped since he first learned how to tumble.

Review: After reading this fic I realized I need more Circus AUs in my life. I could read jealous idiots falling in love while doing beautiful acrobatics for the rest of my days. Original plot, nice character development and I really appreciated how the author inserted little canon things here and there.

• Happy to Disappoint by @deaded-blush (M, 60k, completed) tw underage, domestic violence

Summary: Adrian Toomes is in quite deep with notorious mob boss Tony Stark. But when Tony comes to collect the debt owed, he's surprised to discover Toomes has an adoptive son. The chance meeting changes the direction of both their lives...

Review: Hands down one of the best Mafia!AUs I’ve ever seen. Read it all in one sitting and by the end I was SHOOKETH and utterly obsessed with this story. Nothing about it is okay so brace yourself for whump!Peter and lots of h/c. Bonus points for an incredibly satisfying ending that will make you gasp out loud.

• Hey Baby, Slip between my Beta-Pleats and get to know my Alpha-Helix? by @starkerforlife6969 and @darker-soft-starker (E, 37k, completed) A/B/O

Summary: Even though Tony can't tell the difference between Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, Peter really has no other choice. His heat is around the corner, so even though he loathes the party-going, booze drinking, smug playboy know-it-all that is Tony Stark. He'll just have to do.

Review: I can’t believe life went on as we know it (or did it??) after these two geniuses wrote together. This is the Starker version of “enemies to lovers” we all wanted and deserve, where spoiled-bratty-posh princess Peter finds the perfect balance for his chaotic energy in goofy-unapologetic-charming playboy Tony. Their falling in love is just so tender, so genuine and so good, it’s impossible not to cheer for these two sweethearts through this delightful, carefully crafted story.

• If you let me by @css1992 (E, 12k, completed)

Summary: Peter had tried dating younger guys, but it just didn’t do it for him. They were often too eager, too fast, too rough. Just too young, in general. Not that older men couldn’t be too much, too, Peter learned it the hard way. The man looking back at him from across the room seemed like a good one. He knew he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but he was gorgeous. Possibly the most handsome man Peter had ever seen in his short life.

Review: I remember the first time I read this fic it hit me in such a powerful way I cried a bit and was too overwhelmed to do words and tell the author just how much I loved it. But I never forgot this fic or the way it made me feel. It’s so evocative, so sexy, so raw, so heartbreaking, so sweet and so gentle. Great atmosphere, even greater characterization and some of the hottest smut I’ve ever read. Treat yourself and check this out right now.

• I’ll be Home by @starkerforlife6969 (M, completed) A/B/O

Summary: The story starts when Soldier Tony comes home for a few days, and is introduced to the love of his life.

Review: Will I ever stop reccing SFL’s works? Maybe, but today is not the day. This gorgeous, breathtaking fic attacked me in my own house during Christmas day and made me cry like a baby. I’m a sucker for reunion stories - the longing, the heartbreak, the power of endurance. This fic reminded me that no matter how long or difficult the journey, love will always find a way.

• Little Spider by @stfustucky (iwillpaintasongforlou) (E, 5k, completed)

Summary: Peter Parker is one of the country's best hitmen, known in the underworld as the Little Spider. He spends his days in the lap of luxury with his billionaire fiance Tony Stark, and his nights doing dirty work for various shady characters. Life is good, right up until someone puts out a hit on Tony and wants Peter to pull the trigger. It... might be time for them to have a talk.

Review: Omg this fic was so deliciously good in a totally surprising and sexy way. Bamf!Peter took my breath away with the perfect balance between his two personas. Tony getting off on that sheer power and confidence is a BIG MOOD and my second favorite thing in this fic. The first being the badass power couple they make.

• love somebody like you (E) by @intoxicatelou

Summary: five times Tony was Peter’s roommate and one time he was his soulmate instead.

Review: Who doesn’t love some forced proximity mixed with the unbeatable soulmate trope? This plot is the hottest take and my heart cannot handle young!Tony with his brilliant mind and sassy charm protecting and flirting with Peter, unfff feels everywhere *cries in Starker*

• Love Thy Neighbour by @darker-soft-starker (T, 2.3k, completed)

Summary: Tony's new neighbour is kinda weird.

Review: I know I keep saying that same age!AUs are not really my thing but I’m the softest bitch for feel-good, cozy domesticity, and I love how this charming story shows that ordinary life become magical when shared with someone special. I could babble all night about how eccentric and confident Peter seduces our man of science that for once has absolutely no idea of what’s going on - but you really should see it for yourself right now :)

• Mafia Boss!Tony Break Up Make Up by @starkerforlife6969 (E, completed)

Review: Man, this fic was so rude to my heart. The heartbreak, the rough sex, the guilt, the hopeful make up, the gorgeous ending. My body literally cannot take the stress, why are Mafia AUs so doomed and beautiful and more importantly, why is SFL so good at writing them???

• Microcosm Series by @bloomblood (M, 32k) tw underage

Summary: Tony and Peter become each other’s heroes after the Snap, saving themselves before they offer aid back to the world.

Review: I haven’t read many post-apocalyptic fics but this series’s raw atmosphere sucked me in. I adore the quiet intimacy, the slow and tentative healing, and all the silent and complex emotions underneath apparent simplicity. Big aesthetic mood, just as its lovely author.

• Musechaser by @nightskygardenia (M, 10.5k, completed)

Summary: Eighteen year old art student Peter Parker is desperately searching for his muse, someone who can bring his creative skills to the next level through inspiration. Lucky for him, his next class just so happens to feature a gorgeous model by the name of Tony Stark, a man Peter's convinced is his muse, to the point of staying after class to ask for private modeling sessions.

Review: Another big aesthetic mood, this fic paints a gorgeous imagery. I love the setting, the slow pace and the building anticipation until the sexual tension finally breaks. Peter is adorable and Tony exudes confidence; their voices are spot on and their chemistry is palpable and intense.

• My Best Friend’s Dad by @darker-soft-starker (M, 17.6k, completed)

Summary: Peter is home for the summer, back from his first year away at college. Having stayed over at Harley's house every weekend since they were fourteen, he never used to think much of his friend’s dad. A few years worth of college experience has Peter noticing Tony in a different way. This time, Tony notices him back.

Review: Turns out that Tony Stark being a dad and a daddy is too much for my body. I worship this fic. I wanna get married to it and have its babies. No words will ever make it justice *sobs* no but seriously, secret relationship is a perfect Starker trope and this one will take you to the edge of your seat until the very end. A+ characterization, lovely build up, infuriating cliffhangers and the wholesome happy ending we all deserve. This is the kind of fic that leaves you a bit depressed once it’s over, because you suddenly realize you’ll never read it for the first time ever again. So get to it and make sure to enjoy every second!

• One Call Away by @readysetstarker (E)

Summary: Tony didn’t need the phone sex gig. He was more than well off, his own sex life was in great shape, but damn, there was just something about listening to someone else get off to his voice.

Review: Omg who could ever resist sex hotline + daddy kink + identity porn? Dev is coming after our own hearts and bodies with this hot combo. I love the balance between their cute chemistry and the hot phone sex, plus the identity porn is deliciously fun. I was so happy to know this fic is getting longer than the author had previously anticipated because I’m definitely not ready to let it go.

• Open Road by @starkerflowers (E, 2.5k, completed)

Summary: It’s not love, but it’s good. TW: implied abuse (not between Tony/Peter); bruises/violence; panic attack.

Review: This refreshing not-quite-a-love-story will capture your heart, make it hurt, make it ache, make it hope and finally, make it heal. This fic is so gorgeously written I honestly cannot rec it enough. Yes, it’s dark and angsty, but it’s also gentle, hopeful and deeply evocative.

• Panty Raid by @starkerforlife6969 (M, completed) A/B/O

Summary: Imagine Tony being forced to do a panty raid as an initiation for his fraternity. So Tony, keeping up his playboy appearances, sneaks into the omega dorms. And he sees sweet innocent Peter who is so alarmed by the alphas raiding their dorm Tony can’t help but comfort him.

Review: Unf this fic is just too charming and cute, my heart cannot take it. Frat stories are so fun they make me forget my preference for age gaps and realize I could read more 50k of protective young!Tony any day, please and thank

• Pete’s Eats by @darker-soft-starker (T, 9.3k, completed)

Summary: Peter has a YouTube channel where he just drinks wine and teaches people how to cook things if they live in a mediocre apartment. While cooking and drinking he just talks about stuff like memes and school and, most importantly, his undying thirst for Tony Stark.

Review: This is legit the funniest shit I’ve ever read, everybody else can go home. I was already sold on Peter being a relatable thirsty dork, but Tony’s A+++ characterization (for a moment I thought it was RDJ on the big screen) and the identity porn side trope killed me for good. And what a way to go. I’m an angst hoe but I could read this forever and would be okay with it.

• pondus, pondera by spqr (M, 9.3k, completed) underage prostitution but not between P/T

Summary: Peter sells his virginity for $5,000 when he’s fifteen.

Review: Ugh I’m so weak for the angsty hooker trope, I just love the potential to simultaneously explore whump, mutual pining and gentle recovery. Trust spqr to deliver it all with a carefully crafted slow burn, god-tier characterization and a heartfelt and satisfying get together. This fic is a gem.

• Powerful by @cagestark (E, 4.6k, completed) SIM!Tony

Summary: After finding out about Peter's abusive ex, Tony privately vows revenge.

Review: This fic took my breath away and made me realize that dark!Tony with a soft spot for Peter is everything I need in my life. Precious Peter being empowered by a viciously protective Tony is now my absolute jam, and it was fascinating to see see their dynamics mutually feeding each other’s nature. This fic is gorgeous, sexy and liberating.

***Red Light District series by @starker-stories (17k, ongoing)

Summary: Everyone knows that Tony Stark is a playboy who has dozens of women passing through his life and through his bed. What everyone doesn't know is that Tony Stark is deeply closeted, longing for something he can't ever have -- a life and a love with another man.

Review: I’m completely in love with this series and not only because it explores the good old hooker trope which I’m very partial to. It’s so well written and atmospheric, if a tad bittersweet and heart-wrenching. Great narrative tension, Tony and Peter’s chemistry is insane, their voices and dialogue are amazing and the smut is looong and scorching hot *chef’s kiss*

• Samadhi by @starkercrossedlovers (E, completed)

Summay: Tony goes to yoga to try and deal with his anxiety and ends up falling for the instructor, one Peter Parker.

Review: Okay so yoga fics are among my guilty pleasures and I can’t get enough of feel-good fics like this one. Peter’s such a sweetheart, so thoughtful and amazing with Tony. I love it when they take care of each other and find solace together, this fic made me soft :’)

• Single dad baker!Peter and lawyer!Tony by @starkerforlife6969 (G, completed)

Review: I’m not usually a fluff girl but this fic is just too wholesome to go by unnoticed. Nothing hits my soft side harder than a cynical character reaching that turning point that makes them start to believe in love. Fuck yes, YOU SHOW THAT MAN SOME HAPPILY EVER AFTER PETE

• Soft Kitty by @ko-fiandfanfiction (E, 33k, completed)

Summary: Peter wasn’t wearing something Tony would call normal, not that there was anything inherently wrong with what he was wearing or anything. It just struck him as…different. To put it plainly. Tony is not sure what to make of this new development.

Review: For those of you who love some occasional feminization, this is the perfect treat. Soft, sexy and sweet, it combines top guilty, pining Tony with oblivious idiots in love, two of my favorite tropes. Amazing slow burn with glorious sexual tension, infuriating dancing around each other and a very satisfying get together. Bonus points for including the “Avengers living together in the Tower” trope, this is the 2012 team building fic we deserved.

• Solitaire by @darker-soft-starker (M, 29k, completed)

Summary: After a traumatic experience, Tony loses his marriage and his business empire in one fell swoop. At rock bottom, it takes real change to pick up the pieces, to dig himself out of the funk he's been living in. It's not pretty. Along the path of healing Tony meets a bright young man, Peter Parker, who makes the entire journey worth it.

Review: Oh man, this was a tough ride on the soul. Few things hurt me like reading whump!Tony but his healing journey is so beautiful it’s all worth it. Top notch characterization, amazing dialogue, FEELS EVERYWHERE, and a gorgeous portrayal of loneliness, friendship, hope and love.

• Someone Who Makes you Happy by tuesday (T, 6k, completed) Soulmate AU

Summary: Peter was born with several marks already marring his skin, including an interlocking AES over his heart. A scar-sharing soulmate AU.

Review: This fic is absolutely stunning and it makes my heart ache in all the right places. Great worldbuilding (I LOVE the scarring concept, so unique and fitting to these characters), A+++ Tony characterization (the wit and the self-hate are so spot on I could weep) and a journey full of longing, until they finally get to be on the same page.

• Splice by Mezzymet (E, 35k, completed) A/B/O

Summary: "He's not...." The doctors polite nature and disposition hadn't been able to mask the odd tone of his voice, like he had been reading someone's death certificate. Only Peter hadn't been on his death bed. "Peter isn't like the other kids.

Review: I keep coming back to this story because it’s such a fascinating and unique take on this trope. Very well thought and put together - the world building is fantastic, the sex sequences are breathtaking, and Tony’s gentle thoughtfulness makes me wanna cry.

• Stopover by @cagestark (E, 10k, completed)

Summary: A stopover is just a break in a journey. Tony is on the run from the organization he used to kill for, and when he stopped for gas and coffee in the small town of Stopover, IL, he had no plans to leave with anything more.

Review: *sigh* this is the mob boss!Tony fic I’ve waited for all my life. Even more impressive than the delicious smut checking all my kink boxes was the phenomenal build up, the overall urgent atmosphere that surrounds those “on the run”, combined with the gentle wonder of stealing a moment in time to find solace in the most unlikely place. Breathtakingly moving.

• Student Body President Election by @starkerforlife6969 (T, completed)

Summary: Tony and Peter are competing for Student Body President and a smear campaign takes things a little too far.

Review: GIMME ENEMIES TO LOVERS AND ALL THE HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA. This ficlet is so fun and adorable it will make your heart smile. Great plot idea and the usual bonus points for protective!Tony being a sweetheart. Will have more 30k, pls and thank.

• Such a Softer Sin by @css1992 (E, 18k, completed) background Peter/Norman

Summary: Tony is a self-made man. Peter is a sugar baby – someone else’s sugar baby.

Review: Another fantastic slow burn that hit me hard in the feels. I love it when fics explore the characters’ personal struggles before they get together, and while the Peter!whump destroyed my heart, Tony’s parallel journey of growth took my breath away. css1992’s talent took the good old sugar baby trope to a whole new epic level.

• Summer Daze by @darker-soft-starker (NR, 4.3k, completed)

Summary: Starker no-powers au where Peter watches construction worker Tony from his bedroom window as the older man works across the street.

Review: Ahh yes, the classic “food as metaphor for love” trope, my absolute jam. This fic is so adorable and endearing, pining!Peter in his wooing mission makes my heart ache and the sweet anticipation is so good. There’s something about this fic that gives me nostalgia; it’s as soft and warm as a summer breeze.

• Tamed by @cagestark (E, 8.3k, completed)

Review: It’s no wonder this is Cage’s most beloved fic. Bad boy!Tony being all soft for Peter is everything we deserve, not to mention a mesmerizing (and HOT AF) first time together. This fic shows how rich and captivating Cage’s writing is - she’s able to transform that old basic trope into something unique and heartfelt. If you need one more reason to read this, please consider: best first bj ever :)

• Teacher!Tony wrong number by @areluctantsblog (T) tw underage

Summary: Peter’s using a replacement phone and mistypes Ned’s number asking for help on a physics problem.

Review: I have such a soft spot for this fic! It was one of the first AUs I’ve ever read and I’m completely in love with their dynamics. Peter’s underage but this fic is carefully written and pretty tame, so I’d rec it to anyone looking for the good old “they probably shouldn’t, but then again nothing’s happening” trope.

• The Bleedover Effect by tuesday (T, 11k, completed) Soulmate AU

Summary: The first time Tony got punched in the face by nobody there, he had a lot of very complicated feelings about it that mostly boiled down to, "I deserve this." A pain-sharing soulmate AU.

Review: Tuesday truly is the queen of soulmate AUs, we have no other choice but STAN. First of all, I adore the concept here - being such a sucker for whump, this could easily become my favorite soulmate trope. As usual, her Tony voice is perfect and his devotion to Peter hits my fragile heart every time. Kudos for the soft and hopeful ending. The series has been discontinued but the sequels are very much worth the read, if you’re up for it :)

• The Catfish Chronicles by @stfustucky (iwillpaintasongforlou) (E, 32k, completed)

Summary: Peter creates a fake profile under the name “Benjamin” trying to catch his scumbag boyfriend cheating. Tony creates a Tinder profile for "Anthony" looking for love late in life. Funny how two geniuses who fight side by side every day can only manage to fall in love after they've accidentally catfished each other. This is... gonna get awkward.

Review: My identity porn thirst might be showing but who cares, I want these two idiots pining after each other in every possible way. This was such a fun and exciting ride! The suspense had me legit freaking out and their get together was lovely and wholesome. I particularly adored how thoughtful and sweet Tony was dealing with Peter’s insecurities, that was handled really well. A treat!

• The Concept of Domesticity by @peters-tofu (E) mpreg

Summary: Tony has accomplished nearly everything he's set out to do, now he wants something different. A family of his own? Sounds easy enough. But he's far too impatient for a relationship, so surrogacy it is. Meanwhile, twenty-two year old college student Peter Parker has just volunteered to be a bearer at an agency.

Review: Can’t say I’m a big fan of this trope but since every rule has its exception, here it is! The only Starker mpreg I’ve ever read is so so good and adorable I can’t help smiling every time I think about it. I just love their dynamics, the soft domesticity, the cute bantering, and the fact that Peter has one baby daddy all wrapped around his little finger but what else is new ;)

***The Date by Neuropsyche (E, 33k, completed)

Summary: Tony has a high society gala and he needs a date.

Review: My favorite fake dating AU so far, this fic is so sweet and wholesome. Confident!Peter is my jam and it was amazing to see their sassy bantering evolving into genuine affection towards each other, not to mention the delicious hot smut with dom!Tony :D

• The Final Heist by @starkerforlife6969 (G, 10k, completed)

Summary: Tony’s only got one more heist. He does this, he can be retired on an island in the Mediterranean in a month. All he needs is a world-class art forger. (White Collar inspired)

Review: Honestly, the amount of times I’ve mentioned SFL in this list is getting embarrassing. I must have done something really good in another life to get such a talented author writing something inspired by one of my favorite TV shows. I feel like this fic was personally crafted for me; it’s original, romantic, sexy, fun, clever and so very atmospheric. I’m a lucky hoe.

• The Heart Benefits of Exercise by @areluctantsblog (E, 14k, completed)

Summary: Personal Trainer Tony and Gym Newbie Peter. Peter can hardly keep it together watching Tony demonstrate different exercises and lift weights. Tony is very much aware of the effect he has on his trainee, and after a session, Peter begs to be shown a whole different array of exercises.

Review: This fic was a lovely surprise, very relatable and entertaining. Love myself an adorable Peter thirsting over Tony (can’t really judge lol), especially if it comes with a good amount of pining and hot, kinky smut :D

• Tipping the Scale by JayPendragon (E, 119k, completed)

Summary: Peter has a rhythm. A system. All runs like a well-oiled machine, engineering pun intended. Every wheel of his life is churning perfectly. He doesn’t expect Tony Stark of all people to throw a wrench in it.

Review: Hooker!AUs are my kryptonite, I’m so here for the “fuck first, talk later” and the general pining + misunderstandings + h/c combo this trope provides. This amazing longfic delivers it all with a well-paced, delicious slow burn told from Peter’s POV, which is always a delight to read and makes you fall even more in love with him. If you also enjoy this trope you’re in for a treat!

• To Catch a Spider by Thekeyandquill (E)

Summary: After the war, Peter Parker left his career as a spy behind to live a simple life in the south of France. But when someone frames him for the theft of plans for a new weapon, he must re-enter his old life and get close to the real thief's likely next target - one Tony Stark. A To Catch a Thief AU.

Review: TKAQ is so skilled their writing should be experienced like fine wine. Amazing research, top notch world building and characterization, and the loveliest atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re inside a movie. Clever, organic dialogue and a sexual tension so palpable you can almost taste it. This is a gem. Make sure to check their other works.

• Two White, Two Black, One Pink by @starkerforlife6969 (E) poly fic: Peter/Tony, Peter/Steve, Peter/Bucky, Peter/Strange Summary: Peter has three (maybe one day: four) men in his life who mean the world to him. Review: Ugh, this fic is pure bliss. It has legit ruined me for any and all other poly fics. Words just cannot describe how gorgeous, poetic and unique SFL’s writing is, or how deeply it has affected me. So if you enjoy Mafia AUs, poly fics and soft-but-also-bamf!Peter taking care of Tony AND being taken care of by the men he loves, give this a chance and experience transcending storytelling.

• Uranium Heart by spqr (M, 11k, completed) Soulmate AU Summary: It’s probably better, Peter thinks, that he doesn’t know who his soulmate is. He wouldn’t want to lie to them about Spider-Man, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to tell them the truth, either.

Review: Be still my heart. This is such a gorgeous fic! Not only it combines two major tropes in a coherent 11k story, but I also appreciate how spqr explores these characters and their dynamics in a very unique and realistic way. I strongly recommend checking their other works, especially Landslide.

• Waiting Game by @cagestark (E, 6k, completed)

Summary: Peter hasn't seen Tony in fifteen years. Not since he had their hasty marriage annulled, graduated college, and moved across the country. Their twenty year high school reunion will find them reunited. They've both changed, but one thing hasn’t. Hint: it's their feelings for each other.

Review: This fic literally made my heart BURST WITH FEELS: the whole build up and anticipation, the slow disclosure of their past, the first uncertain moments of their reunion. I also appreciate the powerful and moving message underneath it all, that true healing comes after we overcome our demons at our own pace. A masterpiece.

• Wooing Peter Parker by Neuropsyche (E, 62.5k, completed)

Summary: Tony and Rhodey dodge the press and sneak into the library where they meet Peter Parker - who immediately catches Tony's eye. But Peter isn't a one and done kind of guy and Tony's going to have to work for what he wants this time.

Review: This is the kind of fic that warms you all over and makes you smile non stop. It has so many elements I love in fic: cute flirting, clever banter, hot sex, soft domesticity, boys being reasonable and talking their problems out for a change. If you’re looking for something light, sweet and honest, this series is a must read!

#starker #reclist #peter parker x tony stark

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daleisgreat · 3 years

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Old Joy

2006’s Old Joy (trailer) is the longest 77-minute film I have ever seen, but I mean that in only the best kind of ways. Director Kelly Reichardt intentionally establishes a deliberate, plodding pace about two distant friends who fell out of touch meeting up to go on a road/hiking trip to find a tucked-away and highly reputable hot springs. The film opens up with Mark (Daniel London) meditating at home when he gets a call from his free-spirited old friend, Kurt (Will Oldham), with an invite for a last-minute weekend trek to discover these mystical hot springs. That opening scene does a masterful job with its minimalist dialog and awkward body language to indicate how Mark is still not quite settling into married life with a kid on the way and comes off a little too eager to jump at the opportunity to get out of the house last minute for the weekend.

The film jumps to sitting in on an extended driving scene with Mark listening to political talk radio, and when he meets up with Kurt is when the intentionally long scenes start to take hold. I like smartly written films with smooth-flowing dialog filled with edgy quips and retorts, but I also appreciate a complete 180 as seen here and in movies like Slacker where the dialog sounds….uncomfortably natural. When Kurt and Mark start off driving, there are many advertent pauses during the conversations where it seems like the two are trying to think of topics to bring up to talk about and catch up. I can 100% relate to that, and it is insanely rare how often I run across that in average big-budget films and pull it off so well like it is done in Old Joy. Highlights from the road trip part of the film include how well shot little moments are like a gas station stop with oblique camera angles that somehow capture the subtle but noticeable moments of the excitement of getting out for the weekend as Kurt and Mark amusingly toss beverage koozies at each other. Watching the pair drive around aimlessly while Kurt tries to remember how to get to the springs and eventually resorting to a makeshift campsite while exchanging philosophical stoner verbiage is another memorable scene of their journey.

I would be remiss to go this long without giving a shoutout to Lucy, Mark’s canine pal tagging along for the journey. In the bonus feature interviews, it was enlightening to hear that it is actually Reichardt’s dog who she had no choice but to include in the film because she could not find a dog-sitter while filming. Reichardt stated she was anxious about how it would work out since Lucy had no film training. Lucy wound up as a perfect third wheel for the adventure. She blended in perfectly, especially with some smart improving with Oldham, where he would instinctually play with her during the hiking spots of the movie. Eventually, the trio found the hidden turnoff to their destination and go on a hike to see the hot springs. The film once again, through exquisite cinematography and intentional drawn-out shots with very little dialog, shows how all the hassle to reach their endpoint was worth it. It is a boldly ambiguous, memorable scene. The film not-so-climatically wraps up with Mark dropping Kurt off, and the movie goes out of its way to capture another little thing so well that few other movies have pulled off in the form of the malaise-filled drive back home and the dread of the return to the normality.

I have the Criterion Edition of Old Joy, and it has four bonus features totaling about an hour altogether. Daniel London and Will Oldham reunite for the first time since production wrapped in 2006 for a conversation filmed in 2019. They exchange many interesting production stories, with the one standing out the most to me being the warning from the park ranger escorting them to the hot springs on how brave they were to go in there because of all the gunk they have fished out of there over the years. An interview with Reichardt is a must-listen on how she decided to film this movie after taking a sabbatical from filmmaking. An interview with the author of the original short story the film is based on, Jim Raymond, on how he met Kelly and how satisfied he was with her treatment of the adaptation and changes she made for the big screen. Finally, Director of Photography Peter Sillen shares a fair amount of production factoids and insights. This being a Criterion release, there is the requisite booklet included, which has a 14-page essay by Ed Halter that thoroughly dissects the film and its production and the entirety of the 22 page original “Old Joy” short story from Jim Raymond. I accidentally stumbled upon this movie browsing through the latest Criterion releases, and the description of the film made it sound right up my alley by how unorthodox it is. This style of filmmaking may not be for everybody with its different structure and laidback style of dialog from the average theatrical movie. I wound up absolutely loving Old Joy, and was thrilled to hear how this film was a hit with critics and was the catalyst for Reichardt directing more beloved indie films following this like Wendy & Lucy, First Cow, and Night Moves. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Endgame The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve The Clapper Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Inglourious Basterds Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut) Last Action Hero Major League Mallrats Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Nintendo Quest Not for Resale Payback (Director’s Cut) Pulp Fiction The Punisher (1989) The Ref The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT Trauma Center The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

#random movie #old joy #kelly reichardt #daniel london #will oldham

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qandnoablog · 4 years

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Heist (Marvel Imagine)

Title: Discovered

Pairing: There is no final pairing (since I follow along with the movies as accurately as I can) but [Y/N] does gravitate towards Loki

Warnings: Based on the movie - Avengers: End Game

Part: 16, [15], [14], [13], [12], [11], [10], [9], [8], [7], [6], [5], [4], [3], [2], [1] Short story: [3], [2], [1]

Key: Y/N - Your Name Y/L/N - Your Last Name

Word Count: 2,474

Summary: Finally it was time to make a come back. Now newly energized with a beacon of hope, the Avengers set out to gather the infinity stones. And though [Y/N] followed on this mission to bring back those lost to Thanos, she also was hoping for something else. Somewhere deep in her heart, she was excited to be able to see a familiar face that always lingered in the back of her mind.

Note From Author: I worked extra hard on this part so I hope you all enjoy!

Part 16 - Heist

“All right, we all have our assignments.” Was the first thing [Y/N] heard when she cleared her head from the dizziness. “Two stones uptown, one stone down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock.”

[Y/N] blinked several times, trying to get rid of her nauseated feeling and suppressing the trauma welling up within her gut. She felt like throwing up, her heart racing and her breathing turning rapid, but she felt the comforting presence of her friends and was able to quickly get herself back on track.

“You alright?” Scott asked as the others were distracted by the past Hulk smashing nearly everything in sight.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” [Y/N] reassured as she took a deep breath, “Just… I just really hate time travel. And portals.”

“Yeah, it can be a little disorientating.”

Oh, you don’t know the half of it, [Y/N] thought to herself but swallowed back her sarcastic remarks and just focused her attention back to the task at hand.

With a couple more words, the team split up.

Before they had left on this mission, the team allowed [Y/N] a choice. Since the others knew that their protectiveness of her was a bit unfair, knowing that she really could handle herself in tough situations based on past experiences, they let her decide who she would follow. She could either choose to go with Cap to get the scepter with the mind stone, Hulk with the time stone, or Tony and Scott with the space stone, or the Tesseract.

Why she chose to go with Tony and Scott, who already had two people, was beyond them, considering the fact that she was already mad that she was joining a team of five instead of the other teams of two. But to [Y/N] she had fairly simple reasons.

The scepter would be with Hydra, and Cap already had some history with them so [Y/N] didn’t think she would be needed at all. The time stone was probably with Doctor Strange, who she still was mad at for portaling her away. And lastly… The space stone would be with past Tony, past Thor, and… And Loki.

“Better hustle, Cap,” Tony said through the comms as he and [Y/N] observed from the roof of a building across from the old Stark Tower. “Things look like they’re just about wrapped up here.”

“Got it. I’m approaching the elevator now,” Steve replied.

Tony and [Y/N] snuck their way into the tower, cloaked in her usual invisibility, and quietly looked on at what was happening in the room. They were peaking through the slits of the designs on the wall when [Y/N] picked up the sound of a familiar voice. One that she had not forgotten in these long, draining years.

“If it’s all the same to you…” He began, his voice raspy with exhaustion from the fight, “I’ll have that drink now.”

Loki, the name nearly slipped from her lips and she quickly covered her mouth before she could make a sound.

This was not the Loki she knew. This was someone who had never met her and neither had this time’s [Y/N] met with him. He was more cruel in this time, hating everyone around him and despising his brother even more. If she met him during this time, he might have very well killed her without a second thought. So she tried to convince herself that this Loki was different. He was not the same god she had come to know on the distant planet of Sakaar.

“Mr. Rogers,” Tony softly scoffed, snapping [Y/N] out of her thoughts, “I almost forgot that that suit did nothing for your ass.”

“No one asked you to look, Tony,” Cap replied, and [Y/N] could practically feel him rolling his eyes.

“It’s ridiculous,” Tony added, ignoring Steve.

“I think you look great, Cap,” Scott refuted with his fanboy nature, “As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass.”

[Y/N] bit her lip to hold back a laugh as she recalled how Peter might have reacted in this situation. He was also the type to ramble and fanboy about superheroes, so she knew where Scott was coming from. Besides, even her own friends from back home had talked non-stop about the Avengers when she had returned from New York. The Avengers were celebrities.

“Who are these guys?” Scott asked as a team arrived through the elevator.

“They are S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Tony said but then quickly corrected himself. “Well, actually Hydra, but we didn’t know that yet.”

“Seriously? You didn’t? I mean, they look like bad guys,” Scott replied, bewildered at the Avengers’ past intuition.

“You’re small, but you’re talking loud.”

“I gotta go with Scott on this one, Tony,” [Y/N] agreed as she shifted her line of sight back to the hydra members. “If the old me was here, she’d book it like there was no tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well the old you would’ve run from anyone, seeing as how you ran from Capsicle too,” Tony rebutted with a smirk.

“Touché,” [Y/N] conceded as she watched the past Steve leave for search-and-rescue and Loki get muffled by Thor after making fun of the Cap’s way of talking.

“Ooh. All right, you’re up, little buddy.” Tony cued Ant-Man and the plan officially went into motion.

[Y/N] used her powers to shield Scott from sight as well as get him onto past Tony’s shirt before she separated from present Tony and levitated herself upward to cling to the ceiling of the elevator just as the targets were getting on. Then, as she and Scott got into position, Tony jumped out the window, using his nanotech to change into his Iron Man suit.

She tried her best to hide her presence, but she had forgotten one little detail.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Thor called out at the same time past Tony shouted, “Hey, hey. Buddy!”

“What do you think?” Tony continued, “Maximum occupancy has been reached.”

While Tony and Thor got Hulk to take the stairs, Loki seemed to notice something and casually looked around before tilting his head up to the ceiling. [Y/N], looking him directly in the eyes, could feel her heart thumping harder in her chest and sweat begin to bead around her palms.

How could she have forgotten? That day on Sakaar, he had realized something amiss about her the moment she used her powers! And now he was sensing it again!

The ride down was long and strenuous as Loki looked curiously at the ceiling. He couldn’t quite see her, but he knew something was there that shouldn’t be. But when he noticed the others in the elevator take notice of him, he withdrew his gaze and just stood nonchalantly in the cramped space.

[Y/N] let out a small breath of relief. It seemed like Loki was in no mood to have her exposed, especially when he did not know if the presence he felt was friend, foe, or some other neutral party.

Finally, the group left the elevator and [Y/N] used her powers to levitate herself to the more open space of the Stark Industries lobby. She had more room to move and less of a chance of bumping into anyone’s head, so she stayed right on top of Tony, Thor, and Loki, trying not to take her eyes off the case with the Tesseract, which was really hard to do when she could feel Loki’s eyes on her every now and again.

His attention was beginning to get more consistent and she was starting to get really nervous.

“Thumbelina, do you copy? I’ve got eyes on the prize. It is go time,” Tony spoke through the comms.

“Bombs away,” Scott confirmed as he slid through past Tony’s shirt and made his way towards the arc reactor.

The moment past Tony started to gasp for air, as if he was a fish out of water, the three knew everything was going according to plan. Though both Scott and [Y/N] were a bit worried for past Tony’s safety, their Tony’s constant reassurance helped alleviate some of their concerns.

As fast as he could, Scott snuck out from the crowd and kicked the case with the space stone inside. The problem was, neither Tony nor Scott seemed to notice Loki’s attention had turned to the stone as well. Only [Y/N], who had an eye out for the mischievous god, caught his eyes following the container.

“Good job. Meet me in the alley,” Tony said as he picked up the case and headed towards the stairs. “I’m gonna grab a quick slice.”

Relax, [Y/N] tried to convince herself, Tony’s got the case. So long as he has it, Loki can’t-

She didn’t even get to finish that train of thought when Tony was propelled to the ground by Hulk, who aggressively swung open the door to the stairs.

The case he once had in his hand went flying and when it clattered onto the floor, the Tesseract within popped out and slid further away. That is… Further away from Tony. Sadly, it had made its way right to the one [Y/N] was worried about the most.

“Shit!” [Y/N] said out loud, thankfully the sound was masked by Hulk’s thunderous roar, as she noticed Loki’s attention turn to the glowing object right by his feet.

Swooping down from where she floated just above him, she was about to scoop up the infinity stone when her hand brushed against another. Shocked by the sudden touch, her concentration on her cloaking had faltered and she flickered in-and-out of focus. However, in that brief moment, her eyes locked on to the one that had broken her concentration.

Loki’s blue eyes met with [Y/N]’s and his gaze went from surprise to curiosity. She saw a vast array of emotions flickering past his irises, too fast for her to read all of them, but then she was startled by what he had ended on. From bewilderment to finally… Astonishment. Like he knew something about her.

She could not see any recognition in his eyes, but she knew he had confirmed something. [Y/N] desperately wanted to know what exactly he saw, but then something even more bizarre happened. He placed the Tesseract in one hand and his other reached out for hers. Stunned and frozen, suppressing the emotions she felt from seeing him alive again, she didn’t react even as his hand was almost about to touch hers.

“[Y/N]! The stone!” Scott yelled through the comms, startling her out of her trance, making her instinctively pull her hand back.

Her eyes locked onto Loki’s once more, her gaze filled with both happiness and grief, but her hand could not hold onto his. His hand hovered there, where hers once was, and he looked at her for a brief second longer, before bowing his head in a form of a silent farewell, and then vanished before [Y/N] could take back the stone.

As she flickered, she stared at where he once stood, her eyes misted with tears. She knew that would be the last time she ever saw him. The last time she ever heard his voice and peered into his eyes. She lamented not accepting the hand that reached for hers, and regretted the time lost between the Loki she knew that was now long gone.

Closing her eyes in resignation, not allowing herself to fall deeper in this unpredictable situation, she wrapped the air around her again and vanished from sight. Then, she wiped away her tears and turned away from the scene, making her way towards where Tony had fallen.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” Scott asked as he jumped onto Tony’s vest while he still lay on the floor, disoriented.

“Oh, we blew it,” Tony sighed, realizing what had just happened.

“I’m sorry,” [Y/N] apologized as she helped Tony get up. “The stone was right in front of me, and… And I blanked. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Leave now, talk later,” Tony spoke up as he urged [Y/N] away just before tons of agents flocked to the lobby.

“Are there any other options with the Tesseract?” Steve asked, interrupting Tony and Scott’s bickering as [Y/N] bit her lip in shame.

She knew that it was also her fault that the Tesseract got away, but no one seemed to be pointing any fingers at her. That just made her feel worse, since it felt as though she had thrown Tony under the bus. Whenever she tried to share the blame, they either dismissed her claims or redirected the conversation back to Tony.

“No, no, no, there’s no other options,” Scott argued. “There’s no do-overs. We’re not going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That’s it, all right? We use that… bye-bye, you’re not going home.”

“Yeah, well, if we don’t try…” Steve rebutted, “then no one else is going home, either.”

Then, Tony had an idea. It was a vague idea, but he had confidence in it. And though Tony was a little rough around the edges, he was still a genius through and through.

“[Y/N], you and Scott get this back to the compound,” Cap instructed as he handed the scepter to her.

“No, I’m coming with you,” [Y/N] refused and pushed the scepter onto Scott.

“No, you’re not,” both Steve and Tony said at the same time.

“I have the ability to cloak us from sight,” [Y/N] insisted, “I can be useful, wherever you both are planning on going.”

Steve and Tony paused for a moment, then glanced at one another before they nodded. There was some sort of silent agreement the two had made, but what it was [Y/N] had no idea.

“I’ll type in the coordinates,” Steve sighed as he held out his hand.

[Y/N] smiled as she showed him her device. She was a bit worried that he wouldn’t allow her to tag along, but thankfully the two of them gave in. Actually, they had given in rather fast. It was suspicious how fast they had given in, but [Y/N] was too preoccupied with correcting her mistakes that she didn’t seem to register how odd their behavior really was. And then, Cap’s grip on her wrist tightened.

“Cap?” She called out, an unsettling feeling finally washing over her as she took notice of his much too honest face.

“Meet you back at the compound, kid,” Tony called out with one of his signature crooked smiles, causing [Y/N] to instinctively pull back her arm, but Steve’s grip was too strong.

“Don’t! Don’t you dare-!”

But it was too late. [Y/N] was sent back home.

Author’s Note: Thank you everyone for making it this far! I know that there wasn’t enough of Loki and [Y/N] but I just couldn’t squeeze in more with how little we had of him in the movie, End Game. Just in case any of you was wondering what past Loki had realized when looking at [Y/N] in this part: Loki was raised by Frigga, who in turn was raised by witches. Just like how she sees “with more than eyes,” so does Loki [Avengers: End Game]. Although he does not know who [Y/N] is or what their relationship is/was, he can tell that she is from the future and that there is a bit of his own magic (though faint) lingering around her.

[PART 17]

Tags: @themeanestlittlewitch @stressedandbandobessed7771 @moistpotatobear @fxckingfat @e7here4l

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introvertguide · 4 years

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The Silence of the Lambs (1991); AFI #74

The next film we reviewed for the AFI Top 100 was was a thriller that borders on a slasher/horror movie, The Silence of the Lambs (1991). This film was one of only three movies in the history of the academy to win the “Big Five″ awards: Best Picture, Best Director (Jonathan Demme), Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), and Best Actress (Jodie Foster). Jonathan Demme used a lot of extreme close-ups throughout the film and it really gave all of the actors a chance to shine. Knowing the ending and all of the pieces to this movie legitimately spoils it, so I want to give a brief overview that mostly stays away from these spoilers and then come back to describe some of the shots and how they ramp up the thrills:

SPOILER WARNING!!! I AM GOING TO DO MY BEST NOT TO SPOIL THE WHOLE THING BUT THERE WILL BE SOME THINGS MENTIONED IN THE OVERVIEW THAT MIGHT TAKE AWAY FROM WATCHING THE MOVIE COLD!!! IT IS QUITE THE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE AND I HIGHLY SUGGEST WATCHING ON A LARGE SCREEN IN THE DARK AND THEN COME BACK TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PRODUCTION!!!

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The movie starts out with Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) running an obstacle course for the FBI. She is called in to talk to Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn), who is part of the Behavioral Science Unit. Starling is assigned to interview a cannibalistic serial killer named Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a former psychiatrist that is currently in custody and might have information about a killer at large nicknamed “Buffalo Bill.” The name was given due to the killer’s consistent removal of his victim’s skin.

Starling goes to a hospital for the criminally insane in Baltimore where Dr. Chilton seems to be toying with Lecter, making the inmate unwilling to give any information. Starling is a small, pretty woman and it becomes apparent that Crawford thinks Lecter will take interest and talk to her. She gets information out of Lecter because one of the other inmates does something nasty to her (watch the movie, it’s gross) and is told to go to a locker. She finds a severed head which Lecter admits he did not do, but suspects that it was done by Buffalo Bill. Another victim is found and Crawford takes Starling along to examine the body. They find a very rare moth in the mouth of the new body which gives them some possible leads.

We see Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) abduct a new victim who turns out to be the daughter of a US Senator. With this ticking clock aspect, Starling is authorized to offer Lecter a fake deal for information about Buffalo Bill. Lecter instead asks personal questions of Starling (probably the best aspect of the film) and she explains the death of her father and her life on a farm with foster parents. Lecter reveals information that Dr. Chilton records and the warden exposes the ruse offering his own deal so he can get the credit. Lecter is taken to see the Senator in the famous wire face mask and he gives her information about a man named Louis Friend.

Lecter is moved to a giant bird cage on the 5th floor of a Tennessee courthouse where Starling visits him once more to note that Louis Friend is a trick. To find the real information, Starling reveals why she left the farm house, but is unable to figure out the clues from Lecter. Shortly after she leaves, Lecter is able to escape and does terrible things to his guards (it is a real mess).

Starling does not seem to be worried that Lecter will come after her because she says “it would be rude.” She does go over the notes that Lecter had made and, while reviewing the case file for Buffalo Bill, Starling is able to figure out what the killer is trying to accomplish based on what skin is being cut from the bodies. She calls Crawford to inform him, but he says they were able to trace the purchase of the rare moth to his residence. Starling is relieved and she is assigned to follow up with the families of the previous victims. While investigating the first victim killed, she goes to interview a person that knew the victim.

Here is some spoiler territory so go back now if you haven’t seen the film...

The FBI go to the wrong house and Buffalo Bill moved into the home of the woman that Starling is going to see. She quickly realizes who she is talking to and finds that the victim is still alive and in the house. So begins the most intense house search that pits Starling vs. Buffalo Bill. I won’t say exactly what happens but Starling is able to survive.

The film flashes forward to Starling’s graduation from the FBI Academy when she gets a call at the after party. It is Lecter calling from a pay phone. He offers his congratulations and says that he won’t come after her, but he is shown hanging up and following Dr. Chilton through a crowd outside an airport with his last line being “I am having an old friend for dinner.”

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Throughout the film, Director Demme uses distance from the actor’s face to show how close they are to making a revelation. There are a couple of moments, especially when Starling and Lecter are talking, where we get a shot/reverse shot in extreme close up. We get closer and closer to the eyes. A clever use of the bullet resistant plexiglass walls to Lecter’s cell allowed for Lecter’s reflection to appear right next to Starling, almost like a thought bubble (exampled in the top picture above). He is literally in her head.

This is not the type of movie that the Academy generally favors, so it really speaks to the quality of the story and the acting that they did so well. Anthony Hopkins was only on screen for 24 minutes and 5 seconds, the second shortest “lead acting” role to win Best Actor. It was especially interesting since there were many other actors with close to that much time in the same film, yet no other male actor from the film was nominated for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor.

There were a couple of laughable moments that involved the amount of police used when attempting to move Hannibal Lecter. They use something like 20 armed guards in half a dozen cars with a SWAT truck in tow. Also, Lecter is strapped to a dolly and shackled with a straight jacket and full head restraint. If he was actually that dangerous, they would have never moved him. But I must admit, it made for a pretty cool show of force.

Some of the possible slasher aspects of the movie were replaced with good cinematography. There is no “killer eye view” and there are no gratuitous murder shots. The director wants you to understand the killer so as to know what he will do next, not fear his random hatred and be disgusted. In fact, I would say that Hannibal Lecter is the ultimate anti-hero: a serial killer that is a dangerous killer that part of you is rooting for. It is an amazing story telling feat that is complimented by superb acting.

It is weird to think that Jodie Foster would be able to keep up with Anthony Hopkins (at least I thought it was weird) because he is a seasoned actor and 25 years her senior. She was barely 30 when she filmed the role. Yet, it shouldn’t have been surprising since Foster starting acting at 8-years-old, giving her over 20 years of acting experience by the time she took the role and it was actually her second trophy for Best Actress. Agent Starling was a lovely, youthful spark in a world of dank death and decay. Her name is fitting, then, since a starling is a small, almost shiny bird that seems to be able to survive in just about any environment.

So does this movie belong on the AFI Top 100? Yes. Although I must admit that there really isn’t anything deeply “American” about this film besides the location. It is still a fabulous film made in the states that Americans can be proud of. It is a quality film in a rarely recognized genre featuring two of the most stand-out acting performances of the last 30 years. Fantastic film. Would I recommend it? Definitely for adults. There were some things that scared me and some things that I did not understand when I first saw it around age 15. If you are not overly sensitive to violence and/or suffering, then I highly encourage experiencing this film...because it is quite the amazing experience.

#the silence of the lambs #jodie foster #anthony hopkins #hannibal lecter #buffalo bill #jonathan demme #slasher #thriller #best actor #best actress #best picture #greatest films #AFI top 100 #introvert #introverts

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Best Movies Coming to Netflix in May 2021

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Movies are slowly coming back to life at the cinemas. You can see it with each glowing report about a Godzilla vs. Kong or Mortal Kombat doing solid business. And for those with more discerning tastes, films like In the Heights and Those Who Wish Me Dead are definitely going to make their release dates.

Nonetheless, there are many who are understandably not ready to go back to theaters (or have yet to get an HBO Max subscription). Thus Netflix remains an old reliable option. While the Netflix movie selection can be narrow, each month offers some worthwhile gems to revisit or even discover. And May has a surprisingly robust group of Hollywood films from the last 40 years coming to the streaming service on May 1. Here are the best ones.

Back to the Future (1985)

Great Scott! Back to the Future is coming to Netflix. As one of the most beloved films of the 1980s—if not ever—it’s doubtful we need to explain in great detail why this is exciting news. From its star-making turn by Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly to the grand musical score by Alan Silvestri, everything about this movie justworks. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s script is like a Swiss watch in precision, paying off every single setup in the film’s first act when Marty commandeers a time machine made by Doc Brown (a lovable Christopher Lloyd) and accidentally travels from 1985 to 1955… to meet his parents as teenagers!

More time has passed since the movie’s release than the once massive generational gap between the film’s primarily ‘50s setting and 1985. Yet it still plays as a timeless story about family, time travel, and manure. Large piles of manure. By the way, the rest of the Back to the Future trilogy is coming to Netflix, too.

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009)

Forget about all the “sad” dog movies of the last decade where canines have funny voiceover narrations and then die on repeat. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is a very bitter, bittersweet dog’s journey based on a harder truth. A remake of the 1980s Japanese film, Hachikō Monogatari, this American movie is based on the real events surrounding Hachikō, an Akita dog who lived in 1920s Japan. Every day Hachikō would run to the train station, awaiting his master’s return from work. One day, after a fatal stroke, his master never returned. Yet for another 10 years, the dog would escape its various new owners and spend the afternoon waiting at the station.

Directed by The Cider House Rules’ Lasse Hallström, Hachi captures this anecdote about a dog’s loyalty with grace and genuine sweetness. But you’re not going to get through it dry-eyed.

The Land Before Time (1988)

Before it birthed a string of straight-to-video movies meant to babysit pint-sized millennials, the original Land Before Time was a generational touchstone for childhoods in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Overseen by Don Bluth at the height of his talent, and in partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, The Land Before Time is a marvel in animation from the period before Disney Animation’s renaissance. It follows an assortment of baby dinosaurs, including a recently orphaned “longneck” named Littlefoot, after a horrible earthquake has rained devastation on all the isolated herbivores. But together they may just find salvation in a land called the Great Valley.

Essentially a dinosaur road movie for children, to the modern eye it’s told with a surprisingly delicate sensitivity. There is no fourth-wall breaking humor and sideways smirks here. It’s a very earnest fairytale captured in the lost art of hand-drawn animation.

The Lovely Bones (2009)

Based on Alice Sebold’s 2002 bestselling book of the same name, The Lovely Bones has a tough premise: a teen girl is raped and murdered, and goes to heaven where she watches her loved ones attempt to process and move on after her disappearance. The debut novel was not only very popular, but generally well-received for its treatment of trauma, sexual assault, and grief.

The movie, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci, among others… was not as well received, fairly criticized for its prioritization of CGI heavenly visuals over a nuanced, character-driven story. You may wonder, then, why we’re recommending a movie that wasn’t great? Because The Lovely Bones is a fascinating watch for those interested in the limits of adaptation and, in particular, how a great filmmaker with expansive resources (including a very talented cast) can fail if they’re not the right person for the job.

Mystic River (2003)

As one of Clint Eastwood’s best films as director, Mystic River was the first cinematic adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel, and the author’s hardboiled vision of Boston’s tragically seedy underbelly is well realized here. As much about the hard luck community on the South Side as the story of three men, it nonetheless tracks how neighborhood lives intersect.

We meet three boyhood friends in the movie’s unnerving opening and then jump to their bitter middle age. Oe of them, reformed gangster Jimmy (Sean Penn), has a daughter who’s been found murdered in a gutter. His onetime pal Sean (Kevin Bacon), now a detective, swears he’ll figure out who the killer is, and both men’s estranged acquaintance Dave (Tim Robbins) knows more than he’s letting on. All three’s fates are interlinked in this operatic passion play about the traumas we keep hidden until we’re drowning in regret.

Notting Hill (1999)

Though Four Weddings and a Funeral might have put writer Richard Curtis and star Hugh Grant on the map as the kings of ‘90s British romance, Notting Hill is arguably their true pinnacle. Grant plays a foppish bookshop owner who happens to meet the most famous actress in the world, Anna Scott (played by Julia Roberts who might just have been the most famous actress in the world at that time) when she stumbles into his shop.

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From the sympathy brownie competition, the junket where Grant’s William Thacker has to pretend to be a journalist from Horse & Hound, and Rhys Ifans in his pants, there are plenty of funny, moving moments. But it’s the two montage scenes—a walk through Notting Hill as seasons change to Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and the final montage to Elvis Costello’s “She”—that would melt the hardest of hearts. Rom-com perfection.

Scarface (1983)

Reviews were not initially kind to Scarface, director Brian de Palma’s explosive three-hour remake of the 1932 gangster classic starring Paul Muni (that in turn was based on a novel which loosely chronicled the rise of Al Capone). Written by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino as psychopathic Cuban refugee-turned-drug-kingpin Tony Montana, the 1983 film was excoriated by critics for its relentlessly graphic violence, excessive foul language, and over-the-top performances, especially by its leading man. But critics at the time missed the point: Scarface was a reflection of its time—the hedonistic, greed-driven, cocaine-fueled ‘80s—and was appropriately and utterly crazed as a result.

The film did mark the moment when Pacino transitioned from intense, thoughtful character actor to (mostly) histrionic circus barker, but he leaves it all on the field and his mania drives the fast-paced film to its epic, bloodsoaked, and unbelievable (in all aspects of the word) conclusion. As a metaphor for the insane decade of excess that birthed it, Scarface is riveting, breathless, occasionally shocking and often unintentionally hilarious. It’s the gangster movie on coke.

State of Play (2009)

Kevin Macdonald’s remake of a British miniseries by the same name turned out to be a strong thriller in its own right. With a whip smart script by Tony Gilroy and Billy Ray, this movie doubles as both an enjoyable investigative procedural and a love letter to journalism just as newspapers were beginning to die out in the 2000s. Russell Crowe plays Cal McAffrey in the film, the last of the old school guard of reporters, but his ethics will be challenged when the congressman with a dead young woman on his staff turns out to be his old college buddy (Ben Affleck). Rachel McAdams also stars as a young blogger who learns the thrill of chasing a story that takes more than an afternoon to research. Helen Mirren, Robin Wright, and Jeff Daniels also star.

The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

Remember when they made comedies for adults? The Whole Nine Yards is one such anomaly. Really a buddy film about a suicidal dentist (Matthew Perry) and a gangster living under a phony alias who moves in next door (Bruce Willis in one of his last truly charming performances), this giggles and gangsters laugher is a secretly delightful ensemble movie with a deep bench of talent. Indeed, Kevin Pollack, Amanda Peet, Nastsha Henstridge, and Michael Clarke Duncan, as the cuddliest gangster you’ll ever see punch your protagonist in the balls until he’s pissing blood, all get to shine. With a twisty plot, it’s an R-rated throwback to the type of screwball shenanigans that were once Hollywood’s bread and butter.

Zombieland (2009)

It’s rare when calling something the second best zombie comedy ever made is high praise, but in a horror subgenre that also includes Shaun of the Dead, this is high praise for Zombieland. As an R-rated teen comedy, one suspects the filmmakers almost lucked into the absurdly talented cast they assembled with Emma Stone, Jessie Eisenberg, and Woody Harrelson. In the years since this movie’s release, all three were nominated for Oscars (Stone even won one), but in ’09 they’re just having a blast with this goofy stoner hybrid about a dysfunctional makeshift family having fun during the zombie apocalypse.

Also, it features arguably the greatest comedy cameo ever conceived. If you haven’t seen it, I’m not going to spoil it for you here either…

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notebooknebula · 4 years

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https://www.jayconner.com/jim-sheils-and-18-summers/

Jay Conner (00:02): Alright, Scott! It looks like we are live streaming right now. So come on up here up front Scott and join me for a moment and we'll hang out before we officially start. So what's going on in Metagene Columbia right now?

Scott Paton (00:23): Well, it's another beautiful day. We're having a, it's, we're excited because in a few days the quarantine is over and it will be replaced by who knows what it's not going to be like everybody opening up and dancing and sightseeing, and eating and drinking like they did before. But it's easing off, which is really good. We're very fortunate here compared to Peru and Ecuador, and certainly Brazil in that we've had a lot lower number of people who have died and a lot lower number of people who have been sick. So they're a little concerned that if they open it up too fast, everyone will be, will get ill. But I'm suspecting if we've been pretty much alone for a month and a half or two months to the corona virus has done its thing and it's time to get out and get some fresh air and be out in the mountains. So...

Jay Conner (01:13): Yeah. Well, my lands! I've heard you say over the last few weeks that they don't let you go outside for one hour a day.

Scott Paton (01:22): Only one hour a day. Two to three, and you have to be under 60 years old. So I've cheated on that one. But I don't get away with it because I look 25. So...

Jay Conner (01:34): You definitely look less than 60 that's for sure. I was going to say, though, they like to do different hours for different. Like, if your name ends in a P like Paton, you got a certain hour, you go out or they just let the whole world up for an hour.

Scott Paton (01:48): Well, isn't that weird, right? The whole world comes out from an hour. Now they pick two to three, which is the hottest time. So most people don't want to go out and you have one day a week where we're based on the last number of your like driver's license. You can go shopping in the big stores, but the little shops like around me, they are just happy to see me. They don't care what they have of the week. It is. And so it's kind of a little bit loosey goosey that way,

Jay Conner (02:14): Mercy. So if you're just now coming into the live stream, go ahead and type in the comments section and let us know what's, where you are tuning in from. Cause we always like to know. And I got a really special guest that I'm going to be introducing to you in just a moment. But before I do, I want to let everybody know what we've got going on for the next two Fridays, I've got two free trainings. And you can go learn all about it. And these are actually free. This coming Friday, May 29th. And then again on June 5th, Friday, you can go to www.JayConner.com/fortune. And one, we'll be talking about the next two Fridays, this coming Friday, it's going to be a position or teaching you the 30,000 foot view of my foreclosure system, how it is that we you know, locate foreclosures before other real estate investors know about them.

Jay Conner (03:19): And as pertains to COVID-19 I had to learn how to do this virtually. So again, that's 9:00 AM Eastern to 5:00 PM Eastern, this coming Friday. And then again on June 5th I call it, I'm gonna be teaching how to get what I call free private money. And that is of course you all know I'm known as the private money authority, but how you can actually get your deals funded without even having to raise private money. So again, you can go over to JayConner.com/fortune and learn. And get registered. Okay. Get registered to attend for these two upcoming Fridays.

Scott Paton (04:04): So Jay I just want to cut you off just for a second, and just say that we had our first Friday last Friday, it was awesome. We had over 2,500 attendees for the, throughout the eight hours. Pretty amazing. And when you go to JayConner.com/fortune at Jay is talking about private money, he's the private money authority last Friday. And I put the embed of that full eight hours of training on that same page. So you can watch it, whether you register or not. But if you want to see the next step, like these all fit together very nicely, then make sure you go, you register, see what happened last week, and then you'll be prepared, really prepared for what's going to happen this coming Friday. And we're really excited about what we're going to be sharing with you.

Jay Conner (04:50): And there is Dan! Hello, Dan Mewhorter. A mastermind member. Jay, these free sessions are incredible packed full of content. Anyone enters through the learning how to get into real estate investing or need to up their game need to be on this. Awesome. Dan! Thank you for the shout out. Alright, well, Scott, I'm ready to officially start this show and podcast. How about that?

Scott Paton (05:16): Alright, here we go.

Jay Conner (05:17): Alright. I'm going to give you three seconds of silence and here we go.

Jay Conner (05:31): Well, hello everybody. And welcome to another episode of real estate investing with Jay Conner. I'm your host, Jay Conner. Known as the private money authority. And I'm just so glad you're here. So you may be viewing live on the stream yard right now, or you may be listening to our podcast. It's on iTunes and Google play. Or you may be watching on YouTube or et cetera. Regardless as to whether you're watching or listening live, or you are listening or watching the replay, we're glad you're here. And, you know, we launched my podcast, we've launched the show. My lands! It was June, 2018. I can't believe that much time has gone by. Anyway, we have another show today and I've got a very special guest we're in a high end mastermind meeting together, and his name is Jim Sheils. Let me tell you a little bit about Jim and then we're going to bring him in from the green room.

Jay Conner (06:27): So Jim has been a full time real estate investor all the way back since 1999. So Jim's been doing it longer than me. I went full time in 2003 and Jim's ventures have done over 1000 acquisitions and rehabs. That's a lot of properties. So, getting a star in the Bakersfield, California, a left there in 2005, headed over to Northeast Florida. That's where he is now. So thought of the longterm growth patterns that were predicted for that area. So after 2008, and of course it was your recall. It was because of 2008 and 2009. That's how I became known as the private money authority. I was cut off from the banks and learn how to get a lot of private money fast. Nonetheless, after 2008 Jim's company did a bulk of foreclosure properties until switching their model to new construction, to adapt to the changing market conditions and needs.

Jay Conner (07:29): So Jim, forming a very dynamic of building partnership called Jack's wealth investments. They now focus on catering to investors in single family and small multiunit development in Jacksonville, Ocala, Palm coast and Atlanta, Georgia as well. Now, the big reason that I've got Jim here on the show today is because he runs a family education company called 18 summers. And I can't wait to hear the story behind him naming it that. But what this education company does it specialize in talks, workshops and retreats for entrepreneur families. They all, Jim also wrote his bestselling book titled the family board meeting that went to number one and categories of relationships, parenting and entrepreneurship. So Jim is an expert in training and teaching on how to have balance in your life and in your business. In addition to that, Jim is also an avid surfer. Andrew was traveling with his family, particularly when we come out of COVID-19, the travel will be turned back on and especially loves traveling with his beautiful wife, Jamie. And their four children. So anyway, what an adventurous guy and Jim's greatest adventure today was donating a kidney to the greatest guy on this planet from his perspective. And that of course, was his father. So with that, Jim, welcome to the show.

Jim Sheils (09:06): Hey Jay, good to see you! Good to be here,

Jay Conner (09:09): Great to see you fellow CG member. Great to have you here on the show, Jim. So I'm just so excited to have this conversation with you about balancing life, balancing business, and to learn more about your workshops and your, and your retreats that you do. But I gave, I gave the folks part of your background, but you started back in 1999. How did you start? What got you into it?

Jim Sheils (09:35): Yeah, I had always wanted to do something on my own and like most entrepreneurs, I started delving into everything from franchises to other business opportunities and I kept falling back on real estate and I like the tangibility of it. It made sense to me, you know, how to, how to take something and pull the levers to add cash flow, to add equity. That made sense. And so I just slowly started going into real estate investments out in central California, where it was where, Bakersfield, California was the blood of Johnny Carson's jokes for years, but it was an investor's playground where property started at 40 to $50,000, which is a lot better than you know, Santa Barbara County to two hours over the medium price is 900,000. So I just I had always had, yeah, it was crazy, crazy, crazy. So, yeah, that's how I got my start. I knew I wanted to do something on my own. I just started getting training in real estate and pulling the trigger, you know, and I always joke, what's your, what's the best real estate class you ever took? And I say 432 North M street. That was the first property I ever bought 21 years ago. So that was my best lesson ever.

Jay Conner (10:49): Wow! That's an amazing story. So, in your introduction that I was sharing with folks you did like over a thousand acquisitions and rehabs and et cetera, but what was it that caused you to switch over to your new model and tell everybody more about what your new model is?

Jim Sheils (11:12): Yeah, well, I guess I always wore that badge on my shoulder, right? I'm a rehabber! I'm a rehabber! And you know, it's tough to teach the old dog new tricks and I was the old dog by then. You got used to something and we did really well coming out of 2008 here, you know, when there was all that bank inventory, we got really good at finding foreclosures and renovating them and putting them in our own portfolio or working with other investors to build theirs. And the problem was Jay, about five years ago, man, those numbers started to change. You know, they were getting bid up. The numbers weren't making sense. You'd have to cut corners if you really want to make the numbers work. And I don't like to cut corners. So my now building partner who I had done deals with before said, you know, we should try some new construction.

Jim Sheils (11:59): And that was almost like, wow! What are you saying? Don't, Those are, that's a terrible word. We're rehabbers. And sure enough, it was the right thing to do because we weren't able to find old house inventory anymore where the numbers worked, but although new construction, so we basically do build a rent. Now we build new construction homes that are designed just for investment property and we focused on single family, duplexes and quads. But what we've been able to find is better inventory. It takes longer, there's more effort to it, Jay, you know, so we had to, you know, learn some new muscles with developing and zoning and longer timeframes, but overall for ourselves and our clients, it's more predictable, better areas, better properties, better longevity just a stronger overall investment. So it's, it was a big jump five years ago, but I'm really glad to the point now where I used to have that big rehab badge on my shoulder. I refuse to do rehabs anymore. I just won't do. I've just completely switched over to the other side.

Jay Conner (12:59): Okay. Excellent. Excellent. Well, let's dive right on in to 18 summers. And what that is? How you got the name? And why you started doing it?

Jim Sheils (13:14): Yeah. So 18 summers was a lesson that a mentor of mine taught me. I first started doing family talks and I had written my book, you know, a bunch of years ago. And he said to me, Jim, you're really onto something because there's so much out there that's available for the entrepreneur to grow their business, but not to keep their family intact. And what I always wanted to see, and I saw this at a young age, I got, I was able to get on stages at a young age at different events. Cause I had some success in real estate, but I saw some people who were highly successful in business and they were completely failing at home. And frankly Jay, that scared me. I didn't want that to be me. So this was out of my own necessity and need to make sure that I stayed in that success in business and success at home combination.

Jim Sheils (13:58): And so my mentor was talking about that and he said, look, the years are not all created equal. You've got 18 summers. And he's like, and I looked it up. The stats show 85% of quality time people. The average person ever gets with their family. Their children occurs by the end of the 18th summer because then they start to go off and the amount of timeframe goes down and that just gave me a positive motivation. And now when I went into my talks and workshops that gave the same positive motivation to others, how do we make the most of that time without taking away ambition? Cause I'm very ambitious, you know, being an entrepreneur, but I want to have that double success, Jay success in work and success at home. So 18 summers became, I believe the only family education outlet designed specifically for entrepreneur families to make sure that you can have the best of both worlds.

Jay Conner (14:46): I got you. That's fantastic. So let me let you put on your training hat on your coaching hat right now and share with our audience, what are some of the strategies that you, that you teach and train at your workshops on how to achieve that kind of balance.

Jim Sheils (15:12): Sure. Let's go through a couple of principles that I think will stick with people. One of the best compliments I get is what we teach is very, stickable, it's easy to understand, easy to buy into, easy to apply and see results. So let's give a couple of those today. You know, going through our world changed as you know, Jay post COVID, you know, it's, everything got brought home work, family school, you know, everything's happening from home. So couple of things came into life. And one of the things is the importance that you have in the position of your family, of setting the leadership tone, you know, focus, breeds, increase, and people were talking about toddler meltdowns and teen grumpiness. Can those things be eliminated? No, but they can be minimized. And I believe a lot of it has to do with how are you handling your self in front of your family?

Jim Sheils (16:02): You are setting the tone. And sometimes we forget that. That it's, that trickle down effect. And so I always try to remind people what tone are you setting at home? You know what tone are you setting? And one of the worst tones that you can set when you're having a bad business deal, when everyone's pulled up onto the sidelines, by something like a COVID-19 is, do you have the awareness to step back and say, Hey, this is not my family's fault. Now, a lot of people don't even think about that, but that's really important because you get wrapped up in a deal going wrong, or you're taking a call in your living room, which you shouldn't be, you should be separated and your kids act like a kid and yell and you get upset, you know, or you say, well, no, I'm not taking it out on them.

Jim Sheils (16:47): But when you stop and think, if we're showing shortness, anxiety, a little bitterness and our family's feeling the brunt, and it has something to do with business and not them, that's not a good tone to set. We got to remember, it's not our family's fault when these big things happen. And also we set the leadership tone. And if we can show ourselves to be stronger leaders, more calm, more playful, more not, I'm not saying overly optimistic, you know, like purple, you know, the Rose colored glasses, but that sets a tone that will trickle down to your spouse and children. So one of the most important jobs is as the leaders, that...

Jay Conner (17:25): What I love about that principle and I'm glad you call that principle because what you just said is so foundational. What I love about it, it reminds me of a Jack Canfield's very first principle in his book, success principles, which is, I am 100% responsible. Right? And what you just went over is you are bringing to light there that what we're experiencing in our home life is a manifestation of us. That's excellent. Excellent! Very foundational.

Jim Sheils (18:07): Then it gets us back to the foundation back to the core. And that's really important, especially when you're thrown into a bunch of deals or you're thrown into a pandemic, we all get shook up. So then we have to breathe in and reground our feet. And that's one of the best things to remember. I set the tone. And I'm not going to set it perfectly, but the better I set it, the better things are going to be. So that's a big one. A second one Jay, that I love is, we all heard about in COVID again, not to keep going back to COVID COVID about social distancing, right? That's I get it. That's, that made sense. But what about tech distancing? The principle of tech distancing, Jay is absolutely essential right now essential. And it's got two parts to it. First, if your home don't be worked puking in your living room.

Jim Sheils (18:58): So let's say you're standing there, your family's having a great family moment that buzz in your pocket happens with a text where you're taking a phone call. And then all of a sudden you're getting heated in front of them, or you get off the phone and you're standing there with a scalp because something didn't go right. You've now just mixed over the lines. And that's just not fair. It's your, we call it half in parenting. You're trying to be part of the family. Take the tough work call and especially through pandemic or something. They might have been some pretty heavy conversations and maybe it's not something our younger kids needed to hear. I always say first step in tech distancing is you gotta distance yourself from your family to take calls, emails, and then before you step in and take a few deep breaths, and then you go back again.

Jim Sheils (19:42): But I can tell you the day two of the pandemic, Jay, I was helping someone who was in a bad real estate way. And they were in commercial. They had a bunch of lease stores. It was heavy. And I was feeling like they're getting taken advantage of, and I was, I was passionate. I cared about this person and their deal. Well, I'm texting, I'd put the thing away. And I'm kind of talking to myself like the crazy entrepreneur I am. My little five-year-old standing in front of me. And she goes, daddy, why are you so mad at me?

Jim Sheils (20:08): I didn't even see her standing there. And so it's like, wow! Again, talking about setting the leadership tone. I said, there's a time and a place for these calls. And it's not right in the kitchen with my kids around me. So the first step of tech distancing have a time and a place. Whether if you couldn't get to your office, I don't care if it's a closet or your car, we're going to take those emails. You're going to take those calls. You're going to find a quiet place. Even though I have four loud kids to do a podcast, right? So that we can talk and we can do this. And then the second side of tech distancing, Jay, is you have to have times of being completely and totally unavailable to work, to be with the people in front of you.

Jim Sheils (20:44): If you're always snagging that text or that Facebook thread or that call or email, you'll never truly be present. You'll always be getting pulled out of things and then you'll be going, geez, we don't really seem that connected. And we've all tried that where we fake, like we're listening to our spouse or one of our children. And they notice, we think maybe they didn't notice that we didn't hear what the hell they said, but it just sets a really bad tone. So you gotta have times where you're completely and totally unavailable. Shut off. We do a shut off every day at our house, Jay 5:30 to 7:30. It is the tech fast tech distancing. There's no phone, no laptop, no TV. Everyone is just, we're not sitting there staring at each other, but all tech is off. So that way, you know, the people right in front of us. So the conversation can flow without an interruption.

Jay Conner (21:34): That is an excellent suggestion. I mean, what I do to where I'm not even tempted to, you know, respond to this, right? I can put it in another room. Where I can't see it. I can't hear it vibrate. And I love this again, principle that you're sharing and it, you were explaining it. It reminds me of a mentor that I had decades ago. And he used to tell me all the time. He said, Jay, wherever you are, be there!

Jim Sheils (22:15): I'll tell you real estate investors. We wear this badge. Like I'm always available. I gotta work this deal. Almost anything can wait two hours. Almost anything. And there is nothing more rude. We say, well, we got to provide, we've got to protect. We've got to get the deal through. I get it. I've been a real estate investor 20 years. But to jump up from the dinner table for a mundane detail is setting a really bad example for what matters most. And for, would you want your kids doing that down the road? The answer is probably no. So a little bit...

Jay Conner (22:49): Again, you're setting the example. I love it.

Jim Sheils (22:53): Exactly. It'll go down. It's tech distancing is a very powerful and simple. When people think about it, it's okay to turn off and recharge. Even as a real estate investor, you know, a one hour a day can do wonders if you're doing it during the things during, during certain hours where you're around your family, you'll start to see, wow, we're having a deeper conversation. I actually am seeing things I'm actually listening. This is incredible. But even if that phone just on, you're waiting for that "zzt-zzt", you know, in that pocket, your brain goes out the window. So practice tech distancing, Jay, it works huge. Another thing that's really important right now, especially this is good. Especially you being the private money guy, you know, non QM money went away.

Jim Sheils (23:33): You know what I mean? There's lots of stuff that's changed. I believe certain real estate is going to do phenomenal. Others are going to be challenged, but Jay, if I learned anything in 2008 and we survived 2008, we were heavily invested in California, in Florida at the time, that was not a pretty sight to go through 2008. You know, values dropped 60% wrench dropped 40% a totally different time. And I'm more excited now, obviously then I wasn't no wait, but let me tell you, Jay, there's two things people have to look for right now. This is going to be good for real estate investors. You should get support, but there's two types of support out there. There's moral support and there's technical support. Now in 2008, I would take as much moral support as I could get. You should be given some of your friends and family coming through the pandemic or a challenge, moral support, but you might not be in the position to give technical support.

Jim Sheils (24:24): And there's a big difference. I remember in '08, people were wanting to help me, you know, through the real estate things. They wanted to give me technical support and they weren't really in the position to do so. Where I'm sure Jay you've had the same thing where, you know private money. But there's sometimes you see that out there. It's almost like the Baker's trying to teach you how to cut meat. It doesn't go together. Right? If you go to the butcher to learn how to cut meat, not the Baker, go to the Baker for baking the bread, but there's always that crossover. So I always encourage people to save efficiency and effectiveness, to have more time with your family. There's two types of support out there. There's moral support take as much as you can and give as much as you can. There's technical support, technical support, Jay.

Jim Sheils (25:09): There's probably, I bet you you'd say there's probably maybe three, four people in the world. You'd feel comfortable talking on your niche and that's it. And that's what I've learned. There's only about two to three groups that I go to for overall, what's the economy going to do real estate wise. And I go to people who have a track record, people who called things for many more years than I've been even investing. And have real teams set up that show track record. And I think that's really important right now in today's day and age, you want to get the best results, like exactly what you're doing. You're giving technical support. Cause you've been there done that, but the problem is sometimes we still go for technical support to people who aren't really in the position to give it, if that makes sense.

Jay Conner (25:48): Yeah. What does giving moral support mean to you? What does giving moral support look like or sound like?

Jim Sheils (26:00): So for example, I had friends that really struggled in retail post COVID. I could give them moral support, Jay. I've never done large retail. I've never had thousands of employees. That just wasn't my thing. So there was a fringe type of technical, but for the most part of saying, Hey, I'm thinking about you, you know, hang in there, you know, there's, there's gotta be other guys going through this, find out what they're doing, but I wasn't going to be the one to stand up on the lifeguard chair and point for where they should go. Cause frankly, I didn't know. So, the advice is more to tell him, to keep going to hang in there. Call if you need anything, don't get too down on yourself. Remember self-worth and network's got nothing to do with each other. Your family is still gonna be there no matter what happens, your real friends will be there. That's that's moral support. Technical support is saying, look, here's how you renegotiate a, you know, a multi package lease. Here are the groups that are holding off on inventory control, where you could get your inventory paid down to a third of what they would have charged you. I don't know how to do that. I'm no, it has to. So I'd be, I'd be faking it and that wouldn't be right to do to them.

Jay Conner (27:15): Yeah. Yeah. I believe I agree with everything you just said. And in addition to that, sometimes the best moral support that we can give people is a sincere listening ear.

Jim Sheils (27:31): That's a lot. Sometimes you don't have to say anything, they just get it off their chest, you release it. I remember I had a lot of releasing conversations in 2008, Jay. And people just listened and that's sometimes that, it clears your head just to get it out. And that's really powerful.

Jay Conner (27:51): Dan Mewhorter is here with us live. He just come in one of the great things about Jay Conner's masterminds that we give and get moral support and technical support. Well, that's so true. And that's a great thing about masterminds. You know, the mastermind that you and I are in Jim. That's all about giving and receiving the technical support and the moral support, you know, and plus another thing that I've discovered over the years when it comes to us entrepreneurs and I'm, my experience has been this relates to men and women. There's just not the majority of the people walking around. Don't understand us, does not understand balls. So it's like, you know, like a lot of people don't understand on people that are listening to this podcast, they get it because people listening to this show have an entrepreneur spirit, or they're interested in entrepreneurial things. But now we have this thing called it's hard to turn this real estate off in between our ears. Right? And you know, people accused us of being workaholics. Well you know, it's really a challenge not to do what I did because I don't even view it as work. It's just what we do. But anyway, these are great strategies. If you have one more strategy you want to share with us or did you, or do you keep it to three?

Jim Sheils (29:26): Yeah, I do keep it to threes, but let me, let me give you a bonus one that's been really powerful for people. And this is like the cheat of cheats. You know, if, if you want a healthy shortcut, this is one of them, your spouse, your children. If you want to have a good relationship with each of them or up the odds of that. You gotta have one on one time, one on one time, this is something I learned in our retreats. Cause we would do whole family retreats and just two retreats with one parent, one child. The potency of one on one time, like a date with your spouse a day with your phone off. And just one of your children, let's say you're crazy like me and have four. It just, it puts the magnifying glass on the relationship in a positive way.

Jim Sheils (30:10): And it opens up new conversations and attention that, you know, big family gatherings won't. Like I come from an Irish Catholic family, which means I have like 7,000 cousins, you know, and that's, that's great, but those big, those big events are great, but it's the one on one time that had the biggest effect on my marriage and on the relationship with my kids. So I would say just like, you're going to schedule with your biggest investors to find your deals, schedule one on one time with your spouse and your children. And you'll be amazed the difference and the depth that you get to just by those deposits of one on one time. It works.

Jay Conner (30:48): I love it. I love it. But Jim, I can tell you what I also know, just in our visit here on the show, you've got a servant's heart. I pick up on it. And I appreciate you coming on here and sharing just fantastic information on how people to really take care of themselves, grow their relationships, nurture the relationships that they have. So let's give out your website, Jim, because I know our listeners and audience would really like to continue to connect with you.

Jim Sheils (31:21): Yeah. If you're interested in our build to rent model, you just go to JaxWealthInvestments.com And if you want a little help on the family side, making sure that your family is successful as your business grows just go visit us at 18summers.com. That's 18Summers.com

Jay Conner (31:42): That's awesome. Jim, thank you so much. I appreciate you brother.

Jim Sheils (31:46): Thank you, Jay. Good to be here.

Jay Conner (31:48): Okay, everybody there, you have another show. I'm Jay Conner, the private money authority. Everybody stay safe. You're in the midst of a COVID-19 as we come out on the other side and I'm wishing you all the best here's to taking your real estate investing business to the next level. We'll see you on the next show. Bye for now.

To listen to our Podcast, click here:

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/10662/jim-shiels-and-18-summers-part-one

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/10664/jim-shiels-and-18-summers-parttwo

#Jay Conner #Private Money Lender #Real Estate Business #Real Estate #Real Estate Investing #Real Estate Investor #Real Estate Profit #The Private Money Authority

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chris-evans-indian-fanfic · 4 years

Text

Across Seven Seas

Chapter 12

Description: This fanfiction series is set in the year 2022, after the horrid COVID-19 has finally come to an end. In this fanfiction, Chris Evans holidays with his family in India and meets Meera Shankar. The story explores their rollercoaster journey and raises a question, whether two people, from two contrasting backgrounds and cultures, can build their future together?

Series Masterlist

Chapter 13

Main Masterlist

This series is Chris Evans x OFC with Chris Evans' family and friends having recurring appearances. Please find below a lot of Original Characters-

Meera Shankar - The female lead

Meera's Mother

Poppy - Meera's maternal grandmother

Rohan - Meera's elder brother who is 6 years older than her.

Ankur - Concierge of the Hotel Maple-Fawn in Mussoorie

Warning: Curse words, beginning of rape, alcohol consumption, angst

This is a work of fiction. The names of the hotels and companies have been changed to avoid copyright issues. Meera Shankar and her family is based on the author and her kin. No offense is intended.

I don’t consent to have any of my work published or featured on any third party app, website or translated. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but tumblr, it has been reposted without my permission. In that case, please do share the link and let me know.

...

Chapter 12

Meera rang the doorbell of the Evans suite. Situated on the top floor of the hotel, the passage way to the suite was lined with ornate arches, marble statues and impeccable sophisticated lighting. The entire decor screamed opulence in capital letters. It also made her feel uncomfortably out of place.

Scott opened the door and let her in. He welcomed her to take a seat in the living room of the suite, along with Lisa, Chris, Shanna and Carly. "Did all of you see the news?" Meera asked as she took a seat, wincing a little. "Yeah we did. We just wanted to ask a few questions. Thank you for coming up here even though you are exhausted. It means a lot," said Scott.

Meera brushed him off, "It's okay. I will try my best to put your mind at ease." She looked around at their silent faces. They looked a little nervous and Meera soon realised why. She was sitting in her usual position, legs wide apart, back slightly bent, forearms resting on her knees with her palms meeting in the middle. While she felt comfortable in this position, her Mother had always reminded her that women sat with their legs closed and not like mobsters planning to threaten people.

"Umm... Yeah so… I mean…" Scott struggled, clearly hesitant.

Meera chuckled under her breath, "Why don't I start with the obvious questions. You can ask me later on if I miss out on anything." Scott nodded.

"So first of all, why did I not take any credit for the fight? Simple. I wanted to protect my family, especially my brother. He works with a cruise ship in the US and," she sighed, "stuff like this will make it harder for him to renew his visa."

Meera looked at Chris, "You gave your honest statement to the police officer. It was I who translated it and signed the false statement. So… So please be assured, you will not get into any legal trouble." She removed her phone from her bomber jacket, "I have a voice recording of your original statement. I can give it to you right now if you want. So that just in case, in the future, if this matter ever comes to light, you will have proof to back you up."

The 5 looked considerably relieved now. Scott gave her his email ID where she could send the recording. Once she did, she deleted the sent email and his email ID from her contact list in front of them.

"Now for the next question, how and when did I manage to plan all this? I spoke with Inspector Rima when she came to arrest those 3 gentlemen. I explained to her that since you were US citizens, you were planning to file a complaint with your embassy and would see to it that this matter received international coverage. She understood that her police force would be insulted and she would definitely get suspended. So," Meera sighed again, only this time pain visibly flashed across her face, "she agreed to take the credit and include you guys in the report as just tourists."

"From whatever little I know, there were 26 members in the gang and all of them have been caught. So you guys are all safe. Plus, the hotel is…," she groaned a little with pain, "is providing us with increased security. Nobody can enter our respective floors without avoiding the hotel guards. So yes, you can stay here for the remainder of your trip," she ended.

She looked around at them with a small smile, "Any questions?"

"I do," said Shanna slowly, "Why did you not use your knife to fight those guys? I mean they had knives too right? You were lucky only your sweater was torn."

Meera nodded, "I was incredibly lucky today. The fight could have gone sideways very fast. I didn't use the knife because…" she paused again, running fingers on her forehead, "Aah... because it would have further complicated the crime scene. See you can easily explain punches and kicks as self-defence to the police, but when a knife or any other weapon gets involved, it comes close to the murder-territory. I figured if… if I could distract them with my laughter and insults, I could take them on one-by-one."

She looked at Chris again. He was still wearing her sweater and cap, "That reminds me, can I please have my sweater and skull cap back?"

Chris became tongue-tied. He could feel everyone's attention on him now. Quick! Say something smart! He kept looking at Meera. He knew her body must be paining, but he saw a greater pain in her eyes. Her pink lips were slightly quivering, as if she could cry in an instant. Her eyelids were heavy with sleep. He knew she needed rest, yet here she was, reassuring his family. He wanted to hold her, hug her tight and tell her everything would be okay. But would she let him? He should have protected her today, and instead, he was a coward. Would she ever forgive him for that?

"Umm Mr Evans?" Tell her why can't you return her belongings. SPEAK YOU FUCKING MEATBALL!! His breaths started coming in rapid successions as his eyes grew wider. You are a fucking 41-year-old man, TALK!!! But the more he thought about talking, the more he shut himself.

"Oh God baby no it's okay," said Lisa, lightly rubbing his hands while Shanna and Carly started fanning him with the newspapers. "Hey do you want to sing the Little Mermaid song?" Scott suggested, kneeling in front of his brother.

Meera got up, headed to the refrigerator and brought the ice cube tray in front of Chris. "Pop one in your mouth," she suggested in a commanding tone. Chris looked at her, a little confused but still panicking.

"What are you talking abo…" Before Scott could finish his sentence, she said, "Trust me. Pop one ice cube into your brother's mouth."

Raising his eyebrows and shaking his head in disbelief, Scott still did as she instructed.

The confusion on Chris' face grew, then the cold hit him. "AFHASGHAHAGHHFA," he said with his mouth open, his panic attack now forgotten. He looked at Meera, dancing a little on his feet with the cold ice cube in his mouth. She just nodded, "Yes you can go and spit it out now."

She placed the ice tray back in the refrigerator.

When Chris came back, she asked him, "Feeling better?" He nodded, managing to say "Thanks" quietly.

"Umm why… and how?" a stunned Carly managed to ask her.

She addressed them, "There are 3 reasons why putting an ice cube in your mouth works while having a panic attack. One," she raised a finger, and immediately winced in pain, "...the idea acts as a distraction. Two, the cold shocks your system and confuses it. And three, I figured... you might not be drinking enough water, which would have caused your mouth to produce more… ummm…," Meera shook her head as if thinking, "more saliva, which would calm you down."

She stood while they took a seat. "Mr Evans," she spoke gently, "I am sorry I caused you to have a panic attack. When I asked for my stuff, I didn't mean immediately right now. You can return it tomorrow," she closed her eyes and gripped the chair as she felt a little dizzy, "I didn't mean for you to shed your clothes in front of me if that's what you thought."

"Oh no no," Chris finally found his voice, "I didn't... I didn't think that. Please take a seat, you are clearly injured. Have you seen a doctor yet?"

Meera smiled again, "No I haven't. I don't need to. I will be fine. I will take your leave now."

As she was leaving, the family thanked her once again. Lisa asked her, "Are you sure you want your sweater back? It's been torn quite horribly."

"Yes," Meera looked even more exhausted now, if that were possible. "I… I come from a family of… of…" she shook her head and again placed a few fingers on her forehead. "Ummm you know those people who… who do repair work… but of clothes… and they sew new clothes as well? What is the word? What are they called? I am sorry I am having a hard time translating things into English now."

"No don't be sorry. Did you mean a tailor?"

"Yes! Yes a tailor. I come from a family of women tailors. Yes tailors. Thank you. I will stitch it back together," Meera bid goodbye to them, thinking about her bathtub and soft bed longingly.

…

Back in Meera's room, her phone chimed again. Vikranth: 20 missed calls flashed across the screen.

…

Meera collapsed on her bed. She closed her eyes, the pain in her arms and legs increasing with each second. She groaned as her mobile buzzed. Can't I have a minute of peace? Slowly reaching out for the phone, she saw it was Rohan.

"Are you okay?" he asked on the call.

"Yes. Will order room service and go to sleep."

"What's your room number? Ma is freaking out here," Rohan sounded concerned, "Look she is worried. Don't do this to her."

"If I give her my room number then she will come down here. She will not give me an iota of space or freedom. Tell her I am in the hotel and I am safe. Explain to her all the security measures the hotel is taking. Even after that, if it doesn't help her paranoia then I cannot do anything about it. No, Rohan, YOU please understand," she interrupted her brother, "I am in pain right now. My hands and legs hurt like crazy and I cannot take any medicine. Right now, I just need my space and time to heal. I am in the hotel so she has nothing to worry about. If she still chooses to worry then I cannot help it. Good night," Meera disconnected the call.

…

2am

Meera was back on the road. 6 big, strong men headed towards her as she ran. She knew she couldn't fight all 6 at once. She tried to run fast but couldn't. Her foot got stuck in the uneven road and she fell face-first. She felt multiple hands on her, ripping her clothes apart. Rough hands turned her around, and she saw her rapists as they started devouring her body in front of her family.

She woke up trembling with shock. Her mouth was open in a silent scream as her body was covered with sweat. She felt breathless. It took her a solid minute to realise she was safe in her room. It was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare, she tried to calm herself down. Switching on the lights, she headed towards the refrigerator, and popped an ice cube in her mouth. She was on her 3rd ice cube when she finally stopped trembling.

Reaching for her phone, she decided to watch anything to divert her mind. That's when she noticed the multiple missed calls and messages. She clicked on the notifications and saw her Mother's messages first.

I gave you my life and this is how you repay me?

I have done everything for you! Cared for you, cleaned, cooked, drove you around, was with you every step of the way and you left me all alone? No mother deserves this.

You should be ashamed of what you have done.

No parent should have a daughter like you.

Look at how your brother is supporting us in these times of crisis. And you did nothing. You didn't even ask Vikranth for help because of your ego.

You don't deserve to have anybody in your life.

I am extremely disappointed in you.

Wow, Meera thought as she held her head in her hands. She tried to cry, but maybe her body was still in shock, because no tears came to her eyes.

Nodding her head, she hugged herself and kept repeating, Okay, okay we will get through this. We are okay. We just need to freak out and cry right now. Okay, okay. Freak out and cry. We need to leave this room now. Okay.

…

Chris couldn't sleep. It was all just too much for him to process. The light snores of his brother filled the room. They had all decided to sleep in the suite after the day's events. He couldn't even think straight, let alone sleep. Deciding he needed a drink, he quietly crept out of his bed, taking the room key with him.

He headed towards the hotel's 24x7 bar, hoping to find it deserted. As soon as he entered, he saw the bar was empty, except for one chair in the corner. He couldn't see the person except for a corner of their shawl hanging from the side of the large armchair. The person was playing soft music on their phone. Chris approached the bartender, noticing the shocked and… almost repulsive look on his face as the bartender kept looking at the person in the corner. 3 bottles of different soft drinks were open in front of him but he only focused on the person, his mouth slightly open.

"Ahem," Chris slightly coughed, drawing the attention of the bartender towards him. As Chris asked for a whisky on the rocks, he swore he heard the bartender murmur "Thank God."

He turned to look at the figure in the corner. While he still couldn't see them, he saw their reflection in the floor-to-ceiling glass window. He saw Meera.

He glanced at his drink on the counter debating whether to approach her or not. He couldn't afford to have another panic attack in front of her. He had to be strong. He took two large gulps of the strong whisky, immediately regretting his action. As he coughed and sputtered, he asked for a refill.

He felt his throat and chest burn, somewhat fuelling his courage. Taking his drink, he approached her.

As Chris neared Meera, he heard the melodious song more clearly. Even though it was in Hindi, he understood the sad tune. He saw her tear-stained cheeks and stopped. There wasn't another chair besides her where he could sit and comfort her.

Maybe she needs to feel the pain. I should just leave her alone. She might not like me interrupting her… Chris thought, but he couldn't help himself. Taking another step towards her, he gingerly asked, "Meera?"

She turned her head to look at him. Squinting her eyes, she was still unable to see the person. Putting on her glasses, she spoke through tears, "Mr Evans?" her red eyes registering slight surprise.

"Do you want to talk about it? What can I do to help you?"

Meera wiped her nose with a tissue, "Please leave me alone Mr Evans. I just want to be alone," she begged.

Chris nodded, but still stood in his spot. He looked around and decided to bring another comfortable armchair near Meera's.

He dragged it and placed it right besides the sidetable where her phone and glasses were kept.

Meera looked at him in disbelief, "Mr Evans I just want to be left alone. So please! Leave!" she said, her voice breaking.

He looked at her, feeling his own emotions overwhelming, "I am not asking you to talk to me. Just think of me as another guest in this bar. I will not interfere in any way. I promise you I will stay quiet. But if you think I will leave you alone, after everything that you have done for us, for me, after what you have gone through, then you are wrong Meera. I will not leave you."

"Why do you not understand," Meera broke down further, "I need to cry, I need to feel this. This is going to get ugly. You will feel uncomfortable! Please just leave."

Chris considered her for a moment, then nodded and left. He soon returned with a stack of paper napkins and placed them on the table besides her phone and glasses. "This should get you through the next hour," he said.

She looked at him, helpless, then sunk her head in her hands, crying further. Chris settled back in his chair, his body angled towards her. He wished she would let him comfort her, but somewhere, he also understood the importance of going through this alone. God only knows how many nights he had cried himself to sleep, refusing help from his own family, all because he wanted to stay alone.

Slowly, her sobs lessened. She used the new tissue and wiped her face, discarding it in the nearby bin. As she reached for the phone, Chris placed his hand on her mobile before her. "Don't change the song." "But you don't understand the lyrics," she said, her voice still broken. "No, but I like it. Let it play on loop," Chris said kindly. She nodded and took a sip of her drink. It looked a lot like neat whisky. Chris wondered, Why was the bartender repulsed? Was it because she was crying? That asshole.

After a few more sips, she said in a quiet voice, "Our Night."

"Hmm?"

"Our Night. The name of the song is Our Night. It is about how our night is a friend of the moon, but after a long time, she has come alone. She is darkness." Meera took another deep breath, "In the song, the singer wants to switch off all the lights and talk to the darkness. She understands that the darkness is hurtful. It is crazy even, but it is still hers. She just wants to be alone with the darkness."

Meera looked ahead and started crying again. Chris just looked at her, his own eyes brimming with tears now. He knew something had happened after she had left their suite. She didn't look like the type of person who broke down easily. He would give anything to find out who or what had upset her.

He looked at her reflection in the window, his own tears trickling down his cheeks. Finally, he allowed his emotions to take over.

That night, the stars in the moonless sky smiled down at them, as two people, from two different walks of life, cried together over what had happened, completely unaware of what the future had in store for them.

(This is the song if you want to listen ⬇️)

youtube

#chris evans #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fanfiction #chrisevans #chris evans family #chris evans x india #chris evans fandom #india #chris evans x ofc #chris evans x poc!reader #chris evans x plus size reader #chris evans x oc #chris evans x original female character #chris evans imagines #chris evans imagine #scott evans

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enabledarmy · 4 years

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Bored in quarantine?

Want some good movies to watch but don't want to support the careers of racists, r!pists and general jerks?

Worry not! There are plenty of good movies out there that you might not know about

If you liked:

Baby Driver

Watch:

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

Why?

They have the same editors (Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos), director of cinematography (Bill Pope) and the same director (Edgar Wright) so that cool style and pace is there that a lot of people love about Baby Driver

And if you loved the music aspect of Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is full of it! The soundtrack is awesome and includes original songs written for the film (and performed in it) including 'Black Sheep' by Metric, and you can even listen to songs by the bands in the film on Spotify. Another great addition to the album is 'It's getting boring by the sea' by Blood Red Shoes.

Here's a gif that showcases the classic whip-pan that Wright's work often uses so well

Note: Given the context that prompted this post, I feel I should make you aware that at the start of the film, Scott (22) is dating 17-year old Knives. Although they only ever hold hands, are never alone together and her parents are aware and ok with it, please don't watch if this will be triggering for you. To give an example of the nature of their relationship, Knives wants to kiss Scott and says "I've never kissed a guy before". Instead of kissing her or initiating any contact, Scott responds "Hey... me neither". Scott decides he's too old for her but doesn't handle this particularly well, not wanting to upset her (don't worry- he gets called out for it) She remains a key character throughout the film and really develops as the story goes on. Bonus points for having her own arc and not being there as the foil for the white love interest. I love you Knives!

I also love the female characters in general they're so different but cool here are some gifs ok bye

Attack the Block

Why?

Attack the Block has the same composer as Baby Driver (Steven Price), and is also edited by Jonathan Amos (Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) and co-produced by Edgar Wright.

It stars John Boyega, which is of course a reason itself to watch it, especially because supporting his work makes it harder for Hollywood to drop him (if you didn't know, he is a vocal leader of the BLM movement in the UK and so stated he might lose his career). He is also just a good actor and general good person which seems rare these days.

Its cast were mostly unknown at the time, and a lot of the dialogue is based on quotes from real teenagers- in the same demographic as the characters- spoken to during research. Joe Cornish (writer/director) also discussed with the actors any changes they wanted to their characters' dialogue and the last drafts were influenced by their choices.

This is especially important as the movie also deals with race and class issues, as well as treatment of black British people and people of colour by authority

I won't write a lot about it since I don't know it as well as I do Scott Pilgrim, but will be rewatching soon and if you need to know if there's any subjects that might be triggering for you check the website doesthedogdie

I'll just leave this quote from the film here:

"They arrest us for nothing anyway"

"No, I reckon yeah, I reckon, the Feds sent them anyway. Government probably bred those things to kill black boys. First they send in drugs, then they sent guns and now they're sending monsters in to kill us. They don't care man. We ain't killing each other fast enough. So they decided to speed up the process"

Cast members you may also recognise!

Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who)

Frank Drameh (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow)

I can do a pt.2, if there's particular films/actors you want alternatives to let me know 💜

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aromoji · 4 years

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So I’m finally getting around to do that aspec Q & A that @ace-and-aro-wlw-positivity posted, and I have quite a few aspec ocs so this could get rather lengthy but here we go

1. What was your inspiration for your character(s)? Are they modeled on yourself, a person that you know, or a character that’s already been established?

My first aspec oc, Abby Scott, was based on myself when I thought I was a biromantic ace girl. So she takes a lot after me.

Theo Yamada, on the other hand, was a completely new character. I don’t exactly remember why I made him alloarospec, and I’ve been flipping from one arospec identity to the other, but no matter what he always remained alloaro.

Mina Nicholson was my first character that I had predetermined to be alloaro from the start. She’s based on an old tumblr post about some super hero series idea called “Aces and Arrows.” I obviously didn’t make Mina into some superhero, but her guitar skills make her come pretty close :D.

Brittany Olajobi is also based on an old tumblr post. Remember the “All or Nothing” idea thing that was floating around here?(Yes, I’m aware it turned into a scam, but I thought the premise was cute). Since no one actually made anything out of that I decided to make the characters my own. The asexual and pansexual girls were roomates....but also girlfriends. That idea kinda evolved into one of my newer series called “Play the Rainbow”, but that’s gonna take a while to explain.

Queenie Brooks...is based on a crude caricature someone made of an ace person (the “artist” has probably never talked to an ace person outside of tumblr but whatever), so I took that character and fleshed her out. She’s an aroace trans girl who’s evry big in activist circles, especialy the sex worker industry

2. How much, if any, has your character(s) changed since they were first created? What caused this change?

Abby and Brittany haven’t changed much besides in their appearance, Queenie and Mina underwent drastic appearance changes since they were created, and Theo’s kinda been going back and forth on the aromantic spectrum, from strictly aro to demiromantic to aroflux. I’ve finally settled one greyromantic, which coinicdentially is what I identify as.

4. Do you intend on publishing your story one day? Why, or why not?

Probably not. I’m closeted in real life and likely to stay that way as long as I’m financially dependent on my parents.

7. Time to get serious for a bit. There’s been heavy debate on having non-human characters identify as ace, aro, non-binary, etc., but never actual humans. As someone who’s aspec, how would you explain to someone who’s allo why this can be and is seen as hurtful?

Ace and Aro people have been seen as inhuman and robotic for not feeling attraction, especially not in the same way that people who aren’t aro or ace do. Please reconsider making that animal/robot/alien oc aspec unless all or most of your characters aren’t human as well.

8. It’s a sad reality that many stories in mainstream media don’t have characters that are aspec, not to mention without resorting to harmful stereotypes. Besides there being nothing wrong with IDing as aspec, why did you choose to have your character ID as such? What would you tell other authors who’re interested in writing characters that are aspec, but are afraid of offending the community?

I make my characters aspec because. I’m aspec. Also there aren’t a lot of aspec representation (the little we get lol) that isn’t white or cis or yes, heteromantic./heterosexual. Considering the fact that I’m none of those things, all of my aspec ocs are poc like me, some even trans as well. To authours who want to write aspec characters but don’t want to offend the community, PLEASE ask around. Ask more than one person of that specific demographic. Their opinion should not be the only one that shapes yours! Also, if you’re writing an alloaro character, don’t ask someone who’s alloace or aroace. Similarly, don’t ask an alloaro person about writing alloace/aroace characters. Aspec people are not a monolith, our experiences are not the same

9. If you’re comfortable with sharing, what is your characters’ identity? Do they use any microlabels? Does theirs reflect your own?

Abby is a biromantic ace, Theo is a greyromantic bisexual, Mina is an alloaro bisexual, Brit is an ace lesbian, and Queenie is an oriented aroace trans woman.

11. Why do you think that not just representation is important, but GOOD representation? Can you offer any examples?

Fiction affects reality. Therefore, how people see us in the media affects how they see us in real life.

14. What’s a brief biography of your character? Is their history, personality, and/or looks similar to your own?

Uh I don’t necessarily have biographies for them but I have an oc carrd with their details

15. What are the themes of your story? Is it a lighthearted adventure, or are we talking deep, ocean-sized levels of angst? Why, or why not, did you choose them?

It’s a mix of light hearted fun and lots of angst. But everyone (who deserves it) gets a happy ending so it’s all good.

16. How long have you been writing? Has your style changed from when you first began to now? What are some tips you’d give to those who’re interested in writing a story of their own, be it professionally or as a hobby?

I’ve been writing since I was 8. I once won an honorable mention in a writing competition in the third grade believe it or not lol. My writing has definetely changed a lot, and that’s partially thanks to my English teachers I had along the way. My advice to people interested in writing a story on their own is to invest in a laptop/notebook and find time to write. Any time at all.

17. What’s your process for writing? Do you plan your story out first, write whatever you want then edit later, or both? How might this help others?

Planning? Ha! I write as I go. Sometimes I go back and edit entire scenes before publishing tho.

18. Your book’s become quite popular, easily reaching the New York Times Bookseller list, and now, you’ve been picked to lead a writing workshop. It goes swimmingly, and afterward, someone comes and tells you that your book not only inspired them to write a story of their own, but also helped them discover and accept their identity. What’s your reaction?

I’m...not good with compliments.

20. Just for fun, write down a paragraph of your most recent writing. It can be an action-packed scene, some witty dialogue, or a colorful description that you really enjoyed. (Be sure to properly tag any possible triggers!)

Here’s what I’ve started working on:

Theo smooths out the wrinkles on his blue uniform, giving himself a once over in the mirror. All his belongings of 5 long years were packed and ready to board on the ship the higher-ups would issue to him He turns and takes down one last poster and rolls it up, placing it in his duffel bag. Perfect. Now all he had to do was go through the graduation ceremony and he’d get his first assignment. His hard work being at the top of his class was finally going to pay off.

“Heyyyy, my older twin’s looking sharp tonight!” Trent exclaims, leaning in the doorway with his own uniform in red. He whirls into the room, flopping on the now barren bed. “Ahh, this bed has so many memories. Come on, sit with me!”

“Trent, the ceremony’s so soon.”

“Theooooo,” he pouts. “This may be the last time we see this room, because we’ll be in space!”

He wiggles his fingers in Theo’s face for dramatic effect. The older twin chuckles, taking a seat on the bed.

“Let’s see,” Theo muses, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I remember when we first got here. We were 10 years old, tiny, adorable and innocent little creatures. You were so terrified because they had put us in separate rooms.”

“I was not!” Trent argues. “It was just…a bit of a shock considering I always slept with someone else in my room instead of…all by myself.’

“Whatever. You crept into my room in the middle of the night, poked me awake and gave me the whole puppy-dog-eyes-and-quivering-bottom-lip routine to get me to beg me to let you sleep in my bed that night.”

“And you pretty much told me to go play in traffic,” he laughs. “And I still got in your bed anyway and slept there the whole night!”

“And you kept doing it until you turned 12!” Theo finishes with a playful shove.

#✨.txt #text #aro awareness week #aro #acetag #long post #arospec awareness week

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thewritingcaptain · 5 years

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Bloody Thing and Broken Wings

It’s been six years since the Snap. In a world where Tony Stark never met Peter Parker and said hero wasn’t snapped, he had no motivation to go back and reverse it. But what happens when an injured Spider-themed vigilante crashes into his daughter’s balcony in the middle of the night?

I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, but it’s become really popular elsewhere so I decided I would move it here, too. I’ll probably transfer all my stories over to here as well eventually, but it might be a while, admittedly. There’s a lot.

Also, I can’t take credit for the title on this one, although I love it dearly. Anyway, I won’t blabber too much. I hope you all enjoy! Chapter 1 below the cut!

He's sleeping when it happens.

Well, if he's being honest, when is he ever sleeping? Rarely, even these days. So no, he's not sleeping. He's laying in bed with his wife, holding her close and wishing he was sleeping when it happens.

The sound of lots of glass shattering from a short distance away is what jolts him up. Tony bolts up in the bed, hissing out a panicked breath through his teeth and already letting the nanotechnology take shape around him.

"Tony-" Pepper is sitting up too, her eyes wide as she stares at him. "What-"

"Stay here until I'm sure it's safe," he orders without waiting for her to finish, and is gone from the room after his daughter in an instant.

This is why he hates coming into the city. Pepper had to come in for a big board meeting, and since Morgan also wanted to come, and he's the one who'd have the time to take care of her… well, here he is. But when he's at home, at their cabin in the woods, far removed from the rest of the world, life-endangering shit like this doesn't happen. No one even knows they exist out there except for a select handful of people, and certainly no one does anything crazy or dangerous like attack a tower and bust out a window.

Not that he's sure it's a window necessarily that was knocked out, but a direct attack is the most likely option. He's always had a lot of enemies, and now a lot of people blame him (and/or Cap) for the Snap. He'd done the best he could, though, and it wasn't his fault Cap didn't listen to him when it mattered. He knows that; the general public didn't necessarily know it, though.

He was fine with that. Was used to living that way. And now, after six years, the worst of it was over. It was awful, but the world had started spinning again, had picked up and kept moving. He had been spared from the worst of the grief going on around him; no one majorly important to him had been dusted. He knew people, sure, many of them heroes, but he had Pepper and Happy and Rhodey and most of the team were still around. So while he had moments where he was upset, and he'd certainly been affected, he isn't half as bad off as most people. If anything he is grateful for it to an extent, for giving him the possibility of the future he now has.

A future that's possibly now in danger with that loud crash.

He runs into Morgan's room, expecting to find his daughter probably freaking out or hiding in the bathroom to avoid whatever made that sound. Instead he finds an empty room.

"Morgan?" Tony shouts. If there's someone in the Tower, if someone took her-

"Daddy!" His little girl's voice comes from outside of her room, somewhere else on the floor. Tony rushes out and into the living area, which of course, has a glass wall to the outside, and maybe that's where it came from, and Morgan is out there, although he has no idea why and if someone is out there with her he's going to-

All of his thoughts skip to a stop when he sees the sight in front of him.

Morgan is there, all right. She's kneeling in a pile of glass, but she appears to be okay. The person she's kneeling beside, however, is not. A crumpled form of a person in red and blue. Blood is spreading rapidly underneath them, but Morgan seems too preoccupied with the masked vigilante to notice it's getting on her too.

"Morgan?" Tony calls cautiously.

Her little head snaps up, wide brown eyes full of heartfelt despair fixing on him immediately. "Daddy! Help! It's Spider-Man, but he's hurt!"

Tony stifles the groan in his throat at the look in his daughter's eyes. Spider-Man. The only hero post-snap, really. Sure, the Avengers were around still, most of them, and they'd come to duty if they were called, but… they'd failed. None of them really wanted a repeat. Although considering just how badly they'd failed, it probably wasn't possible for it to happen again on that scale.

Especially now. The stones are gone; Thanos destroyed them shortly after the Snap. Cap and Scott had come up with a half-baked plan of time travel, a little over a year ago now, but Tony hadn't been able to figure out how to make it work. In truth, he didn't really want to. It wasn't worth the risks, not for him. And so the Avengers had mostly retired, and stayed retired. Spider-Man was the only one who could still be found swinging around all the areas he always had, although he'd expanded to cover more ground in recent years. He could be found almost anywhere in the city, now, but Tony remembers the days when he was still just a Queens superhero. He's always kept tabs on him - probably more diligently in recent years, what with his lack of old preoccupations and also because he knew inside that if by some twist of fate he decided to go bad, he was the only one around who could be close enough and willing to try to stop him. His fears in that area had always proved to be folly, but he didn't stop.

He's also saved his neck a few times from keeping those tabs on him, in everything from keeping the authorities away to sending them in depending on the situation and the danger of it. He was also the one who'd anonymously donated his new suit. Still, no one knows that but him.

The suit he'd given to the vigilante was in shreds, based on the look of it. Lord only knew what he'd gotten into or how he'd ended up here, but Tony knows he has to act fast, or there'll be no saving him.

"Daddy!" Morgan cries, more insistently, apparently mistaking his thoughts for hesitation. "Please!"

"I'm coming," Tony responds immediately, walking over and carefully crouching beside the vigilante. "But you gotta go, hun. Back to bed with you." He tries to shoo her gently away, but the little girl dodged his attempts.

"I can't!" she exclaims. "He's stuck to me!" She holds up her arm, which indeed has the hero's hand clamped around it, and gives it a slight shake to show she's telling the truth. His hand doesn't budge at all.

Tony sighs. He knows he could just make her take the jacket off and be unstuck, but… Spider-Man is her favorite hero. He knows trying to make her go anywhere will be greeted with a tantrum that will know no bounds. "Okay," he concedes. "Well, I need to move him to be able to do anything for him, Mo. Why don't you grab his legs and we'll haul him to the Medbay-"

"No!" Morgan looks at him like he's insane. "You can't take him to the Medbay! All the doctors and nurses will see his face!"

"Yes, but they'll also save his life," Tony explains as patiently as he can. "He's really hurt. I don't think I'm qualified-"

"But you're Iron Man! You've been hurt before and patched yourself up! Mommy has helped! You guys can do it together!" Tony frowns, unconvinced, but she pushes on, giving him the puppy eyes. "Please, Daddy! You can't trust them! Not with that, not without his permission!"

It's the last part that makes him pause. If it were him, he'd be pissed to find out that someone had exposed him without his permission, even if it were to save his life, he admits to himself, begrudgingly. Sighing, he nods. "Grab his legs, then. We'll get him into a room and-"

"Oh my God!" Tony looks up to find Pepper standing in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of her with horror. Of course she didn't stay in the bedroom until he gave her the all clear like he told her too. She's just too stubborn for that. "Tony, what the hell is going on?"

"I don't-" he starts, but Morgan cuts him off, springing to her feet.

"He crashed through the wall, Mom! It looked like he was already asleep when he fell." Then she raises her arm, beaming, showing Pepper the same thing she had Tony. "Look! He's stuck to me!"

Tony and Pepper exchange a look. They both know that the Spider-Man is not exactly asleep but neither of them really want to say it. So Tony clears his throat and asks instead, "How did you see what happened, Morgan?"

The six year old shrugs. "I had come out to the kitchen to get a snack. He crashed in while I was on my way back."

Her parents exchange another look, but neither of them wants to ask her what she was really doing up right now and they both know they don't really have the time to waste interrogating her. So he just nods and gestures Pepper over, and together they all carefully lift the unconscious hero and carry him to the nearest guest bedroom. The only thing they get in response is a feeble groan.

Well, that's a good sign. At least he's still alive. But he won't be for much longer if they don't staunch that bleeding.

Tony looks over at his wife and daughter. At some point, the hero's hand had fallen off of his daughter's arm, and now Pepper is kneeling in front of her, looking over her for cuts and making sure none of the blood on her pajama pants is actually hers. Tony lets out a long breath, running his hands through his hair. This is a bad idea, and he needs help Tony isn't sure he can satisfactorily provide, but he doesn't have much choice, now. Even if he hadn't agreed to Morgan to take care of him himself, it's the middle of the night. A little after three am, a quick glance at the nearest clock confirms. Even if he decides to call an outside doctor, it would be too long before any of them get here.

"Take Morgan and get her cleaned up and back to bed," he tells Pepper, stifling a sigh. "I'm going to see what I can do here. I'll call for you if I need you."

Pepper nods, throwing one last worried glance at the vigilante spread out and bleeding on their guest bed before picking Morgan up and sweeping out of the room.

Tony retrieves the nearest first aid kit and returns to the bed. This is the uncomfortable part. At the very least, he and Pepper and probably Morgan too will end up seeing the masked hero's face. Not to mention with the extent of his wounds, he's going to have to undress him. He knows how to get the suit off - he designed it, after all - but he feels semi-bad for invading his privacy. Still, it's be revealed to (and be seen nearly naked by) a total stranger or die from his injuries, so assuming the young hero has any sense, he knows what he would have picked were he conscious.

So Tony hits the spider emblem on the chest and watches all the bits of it that are still cohesively attached un-suction from his body, then carefully maneuvers him out of the suit. There's some faint moans coming from above him, but he ignores them for the most part.

Once it's off, he simply tosses the remains of the suit to the floor. The room is already going to need a major cleaning after this anyway, and he'll deal with it when he gets the time.

He approaches the top of the bed again. He's left his mask on up until this point, but if the way it's soaked with blood is any indication, the man underneath has at least one head wound. Leaving it on is not an option. So, as gently as he can, he grips the edge of the mask and pulls it off.

Then he freezes.

Under the mask is… a kid.

Well, he's not probably legally a kid, but even if he isn't, he's definitely not very old. Tony would bet the tower he's standing in right now that he's not even old enough to drink.

Just his luck. Although whether it's good or bad, he isn't sure yet.

And then he sets to work on him. First stopping all the bleeding he can find, then cleaning the wounds, sewing them up if needed, bandaging them, setting the bones that he can see are broken. He doesn't know what Spider-Man got into, but it clearly messed him up good. Broken ribs, a leg that seems to be shattered in a way he doesn't know if he can even set properly, burns and lacerations all over, a nasty head wound, and multiple other wounds that appear to be similar to gunshot wounds but are cleaner and with no clearly defined enter and exit holes.

When he's done, he's a mess. His clothes are probably ruined, what with the amount of blood all over him, and he's also got it all the way up to his elbows, literally. Still, the kid is still breathing, and the worst of his injuries are taken care of, so he considers it a win.

He goes into the bathroom and scrubs his arms off the best he can, knowing there's no point in changing clothes before cleaning the kid up but still wanting rid of the nasty feeling of another person's blood coating his hands. So he washes his hands before filling up a small tub with soapy water and returning to the kid on the bed.

He sets the tub down and carefully gets the comforter, which had soaked up most of the blood, out from under the kid so that he's no longer laying in it, then tosses it to the floor with the ruined suit before laying him back down. There is no point in cleaning him up while he's laying in a puddle of his own blood.

It's while he's working on cleaning him up that Pepper finally returns. She stops in the doorway and looks apprehensively over the scene in front of her. "How is he?" she finally asks, quietly.

Tony looks up at her when she speaks and then turns his attention back to the kid in front of him. "Young," he murmurs, before he can really think about it. "And… it's pretty bad, Pep, but I think he'll make it."

"You think?" She glances at him, brow furrowed.

Tony simply sighs and looks at her, pained. "He lost a lot of blood, okay? And I have no idea what the inside looks like. He could be bleeding internally or something and I wouldn't have any idea." He looks back down at him, brushing a lock of wet hair absentmindedly from his eyes. "He's so young. I never expected…" He lets the sentence trail off, realizing he has no idea what he'd actually expected, but this wasn't it.

Pepper always seems to know what he's thinking without him actually having to say it, though. She just shakes her head. "He's probably barely an adult," she agrees, her voice barely above a whisper. "I wonder if anyone is missing him right now."

"No way to know until he wakes up," Tony says. He sighs, rubbing his eyes once. "Help me move him to a clean guestroom? Preferably where we can keep an eye on him." Closer to them meant closer to Morgan, too, he knew, but he needs to keep an eye on him. If something changes before morning… Anyway, it's not that he's worried that the man in the suit would hurt her, but more so that she'll sneak in and bother him, but there isn't much he can do about that besides have Jarvis keep an eye on her room too and alert him to it. Hopefully he can catch her before she can bother him, come morning.

"Of course."

A few minutes later, they have Spider-Man settled into a clean guest room down the hall from where they're sleeping, and have the other one cleaned up as best as they can do. Tony knows he's out of stuff to do, that he can and should go back to bed and hopefully actually sleep, but he just can't do it. He's got too many thoughts swirling around his head. He showers, thinking maybe that will make him feel better, and maybe help him relax enough to sleep, but no such luck. So after he checks on everyone else in the tower, he does the only thing he can do: he goes to his workshop and goes to work.

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libertyreads · 4 years

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The Cruelty Book Review

The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom. Rating: 2.75 1.5 stars.

Read from June 25 to June 26.

This is another TBR veteran off of the shelf. I had originally picked this one up in 2017 and planned to read it right away. Then some information came out about comments he’s made and I’ve wanted to stay away from this book. But after the recent things other authors have said on social media I came to the conclusion that this man had already gotten my money before I knew how he felt about women and about women’s bodies. So I might as well read it. The real thing to stay away from is the idea of giving him any more of my money. (Which wouldn’t have been a problem anyway since this book didn’t do so hot for me.)

So I read this one and have a lighter TBR for it. I wanted to like this book because it’s about a badass teenage girl saving her father after he gets kidnapped in Europe. However, there were too many problems to overcome for me to rate it any higher than 2.75 stars which is starting to feel like a generous 2.75 stars. I first had a problem with the voice of the narrator. She’s a 17 year old girl who has grown up all over the world but she sounds like a 45 year old man who’s never left his hometown. And this is why I almost always hate when authors write from the POV of a gender they aren’t. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It lead to the main character making choices that she would never have made if she had the background she supposedly has. Even before the start of the action, she’s doing things that no girl living in New York would ever do based on the risk alone. Not to mention when she gets to the seeder parts of Europe.

There were also structural issues in the story in that there are aspects of the main character’s personality that supposedly grow throughout the story....but we never see them at a base level before the action. What do you mean she was a scared little girl in New York? Because I never saw that. Not to mention the inherent body shaming, misogyny, and classic girl vs. girl story line. Throughout the novel she’s described in more glowing terms as she trains harder, gets fitter, kicks more ass. It’s frustrating because you don’t have to be a lean monster to be a strong female character. In this novel we get a snapshot of a strong female character, but again, she’s a monster and a bitch. She can’t have feelings because she’s a fucking spy trained to kill. Bullshit. And in the FOUR different places where we see the main character work her way through the underbelly of the city the only time we see women there is as whores or the significant other of a crime boss. Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? God I’m getting mad the longer I write. I obviously have to adjust my rating.

The only thing that I found to be interesting in any way is the spy side of the novel. Which is the whole point I suppose. It could have been a stronger story if the characters acted like real people with depth but anyway... I DID enjoy seeing the main character develop into a stronger, more street savvy person who could kick ass. That’s always good to see. Especially when it’s to save someone she loves. I think the best scene of her doing this is the auction where she saves the women being sold. That was the most cold hearted way to kill a bunch of men and really manipulative too. I thought that was done really well. I love morally grey characters. I especially love it when they just do this one bad thing in the name of something good. Oh but then that leads to having to do this other one bad thing in the name of something good. And so on. I think it’s a great way to show the duality of man when you can show them not wanting to take these actions, but then enjoying them anyway.

I have to emphasize that I don’t recommend anyone going out and buying or even borrowing a copy of this book. I think it could have been a good action movie. I think it needed a lot more work than it got as a novel. And I think the author needs a lot of therapy to undo his internalized misogyny and ableist bullshit.

#the cruelty #scott bergstrom #do not buy this book #I read it so you don't have to #book review #booklr #bookstagram #books read in 2020 #2020 reading challenge #Goodreads challenge #goodreads

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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For the fic ask meme, 4, 16, 24, or 28

I will answer 16 now, because No Reason, Just Whimsy, but stay tuned as I’ll probably end up answering 4, 24 and 28 at some point anyway, because like. No Reason, Just Whimsy. *Shrugs*

16. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

I can’t tell you, see, because I would simply make that one pairing endgame and everything else leading up to it like, contain all the other ships I could not bear to be without. (Hahahaha this is why I could never be a romance author, I can not abide by the rules of HEA or HFN in relationship stories to save my LIFE). So, y’know, SPOILERS.

No but also I’m completely aware that this is cheating and not the point of the question. But I can not choose though, that is the point, like, have you met me? I am the original poster child for ADHD. I’m THAT old.

So instead I will simply say that in the realm of Teen Wolf, Scanny is very very very important to me, which like, surprises no one. But also I would still fight someone who tried to take either Scira or Scallison from me, I remain obnoxiously fond of Scackson’s potential, and I’m still out here being like, the sole Scosh (Scott/Josh Diaz) shipper in all the land, I’m pretty sure, lmfao.

And I mean, also there’s Scyle, of course. I could never give up the Scyle.

As far as Marvel goes, like, I am going to be riding the high of Bobby/Christian being canon for quite some time, as anyone who has known me long knows that I have been shipping this ship since Christian was first introduced and then written offstage like two issues later….seventeen years ago.

(I have a lot of issues with straight writers making gay characters’ gay-specific tragedies and traumas like….someone ELSE’S angsty back story, while they themselves are just shuffled off the page and considered irrelevant. For those who don’t know, Christian is Emma Frost’s gay older brother who she adored and when their father had Christian institutionalized against his will because he was gay, this was what made Emma break away from the rest of her family for good and set her on the road to becoming the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.

And then, despite like, this being life-defining for her, not a single writer in the next fifteen damn years ever thought to ask themselves…..hmmm, why would Emma Frost, one of the most powerful telepaths in the world and someone whose personal morality in no way makes her above using those powers, her wealth or Hellfire resources however she damn well pleases in the name of protecting herself, those she cares about, and advancing her agendas…..why would this woman who has never let anything stand in the way of what she cares about before like….simply just…never once in all the years since she was a teenager think to herself….hmm, what if I simply go to the institution where my beloved brother is kept against his will, and just…..made them release him?)

So, aside from always thinking Bobby/Christian would be a great ship with amazing potential given Bobby’s unique history and dynamic with Christian’s sister and the fact that Christian shares a lot of the same traits, backstory and other elements that make Emma an amazing and multi-faceted character and he’s just been sitting there in Limbo for fifteen years with all this untapped potential just waiting to be mined….

I’m always going to be gleeful about this ship and with a special fondness for Sina Grace for bringing Christian back from comic book Limbo and laying the foundation for this ship, like, just because like……I feel its long overdue and the only way to ACTUALLY make anything decent out of the bullshit that was mining his oppression for the sake of another character’s angst: by finally giving HIM the chance to be a character who is affected by all that, developed and moved forward from all of that, is the FOCUS of all that…..and even more importantly, now after being left offscreen for fifteen years by writers who considered his narrative nothing more than tragic filler….he finally has a chance to be an example of a gay character who gets to come BACK from all of that and move FORWARD from it, and like…find healing and happiness with another character, like Bobby.

So Bobby/Christian is actually hugely important to me for a variety of reasons, especially right now since this is all just happening recently, and I will love them forever and in defiance of the inevitable bullshit some future writer pulls that will piss me the hell off. Y’know, just going off of Vegas odds or whatever.

Aside from Bobby/Christian I’ve also always had a weakness for Bobby/Johnny Storm because they are the most iconic ice and fire characters out there and I am basically twelve. I also have blogged at length in the past about all the reasons I’m a huge fan of Bobby/Bishop and not just because their ship name would make them a literal bop. Again, I refer you to the thing where I’m basically twelve. But yeah, there’s a whole history there where when Bishop first came back into the past and met the X-Men who’d all been legends in his time, he kinda fanboyed a little over Bobby because of Bobby’s future legend, and then was kinda like….oh, that’s it? about him once he got to know Bobby and Bishop became like, the physical embodiment of underwhelmed.

And ever since then Bobby’s always low key been like, a hyper-active puppy around Bishop, like, trying not to SEEM like he cares an awful lot about whether or not he’s managed to impress Bishop but because he can’t be subtle to save his life, mostly just coming across as “am I living up to the hype now? how about now? am I legendary NOW? What about now?” and I dunno. Its just kinda cute and a fairly unique dynamic, and Bishop has this deliberately bland, blink and you miss it sense of humor with the right writers and that I’ve always thought has a ton of potential for him to be privately amused by this tendency of Bobby’s, enough that he’s unwilling to confess to him that Bobby actually earned his respect years ago by this point, and he just doesn’t want to let Bobby know because then he’d stop.

And then in terms of DC, I’ve posted a lot a lot a loooooooooot about my love for Dick/Kory in canon, and how they - and by extension we - were robbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbed, and if DC doesn’t give me my canon Mar’i and Jake Grayson one of these days, I don’t care if they have to import them from another universe and then have this universe’s Dick and Kory awkwardly try to co-parent them while living their own lives separately before finally coming back together and falling in love all over again and then becoming a single united family unit forever and ever in the most ridiculously complicated comic book version of the Parent Trap ever, like…..

I can’t even think of an over-exaggerated threat creative enough to convey just how badly I want and need this, DC, give it to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And then also, I’ve actually posted a lot a lot a loooooooooooot (though not in a few years, probably, so those posts are all super old, lol) about how I think Kyle and Donna are a criminally under-rated canon couple and were actually really really good together because they went through so much together and Kyle literally grew so much as a character specifically on the things Donna called him out for the first time they dated, like, literally so he could be BETTER, and then with how anticlimactically they ended...because the thing is, they never actually even broke up! It was this thing where like, when Donna went to LA with Kyle for his high school reunion and to literally MEET HIS MOM, like HELLO, that is not a basic relationship step, that is Advanced Dating, like…..that is where they were at in their relationship when Donna literally got the call then and there that her ex-husband and her son had just died in a car accident.

And Donna was devastated of course, and Kyle was devastated too - for her, and also in his own way, because he’d adored Robert and like, there were these issues where they were super cute and took him to the zoo together and Kyle was bonding with him and just like, melting over this kid, and Robert and Terry were killed by a drunk driver, and like, there was a later story where Kyle just went apeshit on this drunk driver he encountered because he had all these repressed feelings about Robert’s death and how it had hurt Donna and he’d made sure not to show any of that to her or even let on that he hurt for Robert’s loss in his own way, because he didn’t want to make it about him, he KNEW better…

And anyway, the point is…they never actually broke up in the sense of either of them at any point being all, oh we no longer love each other or think this can work, we need to end it. Instead, Donna said that she needed to take some time away from Kyle and everyone else and just…come to terms with what she’d lost and figure out who she even was now in the wake of that….and Kyle totally understood, didn’t argue or try and change her mind, he just said take as much time as you need, I’ll be here when you’re ready, and oh btw, here’s this lantern construct of a locket that I want you to keep because as long as it exists you’ll know that a part of me is still thinking about you and wanting you to be happy, wherever that is.

And then like…..less than a year later, DC did their super weird Dark Angel story where Donna was erased from reality and then had to be ‘recreated’ from Wally’s memories, and for awhile just existed in the form and identity she’d been recreated from, which was based entirely on what Wally knew of her and thought and felt about her, and so there were huge gaps in her identity where she was missing stuff she should have known but didn’t now because WALLY didn’t know about it.

Such as how when Donna met Kyle’s subsequent sorta-girlfriend Jade some time later - I say sorta because she and Kyle were still figuring things out at that stage, and Jenny-Lynn in part didn’t know if she wanted to actually get into a relationship with him because she thought he was still in love with Donna - well anyway, when Donna and Jenny-Lynn met in a later issue and she said all this to Donna, Donna reassured her not to worry about it, she was reading more into it than actually existed because she and Kyle had never been that serious anyway.

Which. SCREECH! Brakes please. HOLD UP.

Like, I’m sorry JAY FAERBER YES I REMEMBER IT WAS YOU WHO WROTE THAT ISSUE UGGGGGH, but like, in what UNIVERSE is “dated, broke up, then got back together later because she thought Kyle had matured a ton since they first tried dating and now they were so much stronger as a couple that she oh I dunno, introduced him to her son and they went on playdates together, went with him to meet his mom, had a never-vanishing lantern locket construct that signified just how much he would always love her” uh…..’never been that serious anyway’? I’m. What? Does not compute.

BUT WHATEVER.

LOL. Anyway, point is, so things like that actually make sense when you factor in the role Wally’s memories and perspective played in who Donna literally WAS for awhile (and the understandable existential crises she went through as a result). But like, at the point in time when Kyle and Donna were most serious, Kyle was still fairly removed from a lot of the rest of the DC universe, he wasn’t a core member of the JLA yet and usually operated independently, and he and Wally were NOT close at all yet, let alone friends….in fact, for as long as Donna and Kyle dated, Wally pretty much still actively hated and resented Kyle for just existing, since he’d always been close with Hal since he was a kid and Hal was his Uncle Barry’s BFF-and-homosexual-life-partner-in-all-but-name.

Like, it was only after Kyle became one of the core JLA alongside Wally that the two of them finally worked out their mutual antagonism and became friends, but before that, Wally was NOT shy about expressing he hated this new GL guy and wanted nothing to do with him, even though it was for unfair reasons, sooooo……like, its not really that shocking that even though Wally and Donna are two of each other’s oldest friends and super tight, like, he was never going to be the friend she called up to let him know how great things were going with her and Kyle these days, lol, y’know?

So it makes sense that when Donna was first magically reconstituted thanks to Wally’s memories/view of her (btw, this was because Wally was out of phase with reality and was in the Speed Force at the precise moment that Donna was erased from reality by the Dark Angel’s magic, and that’s why he alone remembered her and was the template for undoing what the Dark Angel had done). But anyway, it makes sense that she would for a time have had very little memory or even knowledge of her and Kyle’s prior relationship, and basically just know/remember what little Wally actually knew of it. So from her perspective then, it could very well have seemed that they were never that serious, and everyone but Kyle like….kinda just nodded and figured okay, you would know after all, and just…..everyone ended up walking away with the idea that they were just this brief fling and neither had ever had strong feelings for each other, let alone love.

The problem I’ve always had is that eventually Donna DID regain her full memories and her own sense of self, and like….she was Donna again, through and through, existing as she always had without being limited to just Wally’s view or memory of her.

Soooo, at THAT point, she should have been perfectly aware of what her and Kyle’s relationship had ACTUALLY looked like, in its entirety, and I mean, I can understand them not getting back together at that point. It’d been years, they both were in very different places, Kyle had eventually gotten together with Jade after it was expressed by Donna herself that there was no reason not to, given that its not like they were ever that serious….so by the time Donna herself would have realized otherwise, I can totally understand her feeling that the moment had passed for them, that Kyle had moved on (just as Kyle had only ‘moved on’ once he felt there was no longer a chance of them returning to what they were). Like, all of that is super weird and complicated even by ridiculous comic book soap opera standards, so I mean….lol, how do you even BEGIN that conversation, y’know?

Buuuuuut, it just kinda sucks that at no point after that Faerber issue has any later writer ever had either Donna or Kyle discuss their previous relationship(s) in terms of what it ACTUALLY was, for BOTH of them, rather than just this trivial, ancient history fling that neither had ever been super invested in….even though for several years in the nineties they were one of THE major hero couples in comic books.

So. Yeah. As evidenced, I have a lot of unresolved Donna and Kyle feelings lol.

And then of course, there are and always will be my epic “OMG DICK AND KYLE COULD BE THE GREATEST SHIP AND END ALL THE SHIPS LIKE COULD YOU EVEN IMAGINE” feelings, but like. That’s a thirty pound tome in and of itself, so. Like. Just picture the two of them standing staring soulfully into each other’s eyes and then me, creepily fixated on them twenty feet away, chin propped up on my hands and going awwwwwwww while my own eyes like, sparkle anime style but also are the heart-eyes motherfucker meme at the same time.

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